Ok so it’s been two weeks since my fantastic weekend at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards, but I just found time to put up my pictures.  I decided it was about time to write a post on it too!  I don’t know where to begin.  The entire trip was just so incredible.  So here goes my attempt:

We landed in NYC on Saturday around noon.  I had a late lunch with my friends from Cherubs (the summer journalism program I went to at Northwestern).  Lily and Sam live in NYC and Ross, DJ, and Jesse came in from Connecticut and we all went to lunch.  It was so much fun getting to see them.  I love that no matter where I go, I most likely will have a Cherub there to visit!  We hung out for a while after lunch and as we were walking back from lunch to Sam’s, DJ stopped us at a newstand, purchased a copy of Glamour, and started to parade the copy around.  We then proceeded to take a picture:

I then went back to my hotel and went out to dinner with my parents at AQUA GRILL. It was so delicious.  I love fish and this place had the best fish.

We woke up late on Sunday because we went to dinner at like 9:00 the night before.  My dad and I decided to go for a run out in Central Park.  The NYC Marathon was that morning as well.  We went out and ran around all of the setup for the marathon and pretended we were super fast marathon runners.  We couldn’t get into Central Park so we just ran up and down the closed street that bordered the park.  We then went back, showered, ate breakfast, and decided to watch some of the finishers as we waited for my fitting.  It was so fun to see all the runners come into the finish.  People came from all over the world to run this race and as we watched the finish, we heard more of other languages than we heard English.   Someday… someday… I will run a marathon (I think.. maybe). Maybe… I said.. don’t hold me to that!

Then I had my fitting to choose my dress for the awards.  Rachael Wang, a stylist at Glamour Magazine, brought like 12 dresses to my hotel and tons of shoes and I tried on shoe and dress combos until I found the one.   She was so patient and so sweet.  Rachael told us of her experiences styling and it was so exciting to hear how she began styling, and who she’d worked with in the past.  She was also dressing Mia Hamm and Cher for the event.  You know.. Mia Hamm.. Cher.. and me! Haha.. love it.  Here we are at the end (note: this is not the dress I chose, but it is similar):

After the fitting, we went shopping in SoHo and out to eat at one of Mario Batali’s restaurants: Otto Enoteca Pizzeria. Again, it was another great meal!  Haha, I am starting to feel like this is a food blog!! Here’s a picture of my mom and I at dinner:

The next morning my dad and I ran again, this time, in Central Park.  It was hailing out!  What a beautiful day for a red carpet event right?  I was a tad worried.  After running we went down to SoHo for lunch at a cute place we love: Bread.  Again…the food!  This is totally reflective of my mind, just saying.  If you think I have food on the brain all the time… you’re probably right.

At around three, Kerri Urban came to do my hair and makeup.  I felt very pampered and honestly… what girl wouldn’t like getting their hair and makeup done!?  We ( the 20 Amazing Young Women ) all met in the lobby at five and rode to Carnegie Hall.  We were presented with these security passes:

We then had time to meet eachother and were briefed on the events of the night.  I was pulled out of the session to walk the red carpet (because I was the Reader’s Choice Winner as well as one of the 20 Amazing Young Women).  On the red carpet I met and took pictures with the Editor In Chief of Glamour Magazine, Cindi Leive and I also took pictures with Constance McMillen (one of the Glamour Women of the Year).  Here’s my picture with Constance (she’s pretty brave ; ) ):

And then, as I was walking out of the tent I saw Devin Tomb, an Editorial Assistant at Glamour, and the person who wrote my article!  I love her!  It was so weird meeting her in person because I felt like I already knew her from all of our phone and email conversations.  I am so excited that she’s working at Glamour Mag already, right after she graduated from college. Pretty impressive right?

Finally, after waiting since September 1st (the day I found out about winning the Reader’s Choice Award) for the night to come, the show began.  Here is a video to show you some highlights:

Awards Recap!

The show was spectacular!  I felt so inspired and motivated and I even left feeling like a bit of a slacker!  These women are amaaazing.  I mean WOAH.  It really made me feel like I could change the world.   I left with some new found girl power and my dad left wanting to change his gender?!  Haha.   Some of my favorite moments were:

- when Dr. Hawa Abdi and her daughters accepted their awards.  They are from Somalia and have had 90,000 refugees living on their property.  They are so inspiring.  I really couldn’t think of a group of women more deserving.

-when Fergie cried when she accepted her award and was so dear and real.  She was kind of a mess and it was really refreshing to see.  She said “I guess big girls DO cry”.

- when Julia Roberts gave girls three pieces of advice: “Know when to say yes, know when to say no and never tuck your hair behind your ears because it never looks good”.

-when Chelsea Clinton introduced and honored me!  She looked super cute too!

- when Cher said perhaps my favorite quote of the night: “No is just some BULLSHIT word that somebody made up”.  Cher was soooooooo cool.  I never knew much about her and now I’m obsessed and I want to see Burlesque so badly.

- when I met Tavi Gevinson, 14-year-old fashion blogger known as “style rookie” and one of the 20 Amazing Young Women.  I’ve been reading her blog for about a year now and I was so excited to meet her.  We actually ended up sitting next to each other and going out to dinner with our parents after! Here’s a picture of us together:

-when I met Tabby Tibbetts, founder of She’s the First (an organization that supports the education of girls in third world countries) and one of the 20 Amazing Young Women.  We actually went out for coffee the morning after the event!  I loved getting to talk to her about her organization and her experiences living in NYC.  Here’s a picture of us together:

The entire weekend was incredible.  I couldn’t help myself but sit back in my chair in Carnegie Hall, take a second and think: “How did I get here?”.  I like to attribute it to God, for none of this would have even been in my imagination without Him.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

-Kendall

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