by Stuart Wall of Smash Pictures
Our LAX flight was at 6 a.m on Friday Dec. 19th to arrive to CT. for the first night of the weekend signings.
Of the 4 girls scheduled, 3 made it to the airport on time to board the plane. From there we arrived in D.C. around 2pm just to be told that all flights are cancelled due to the weather.
(Tori Black)
Christian chose not to mention there are such things are "Mother Nature" and an awful snow storm hit the east coast. The only flight out was 10pm and the standby list was near 50 people and your ranking was based on your miles, I was #11 on the waiting list and the girls were #23, 24, and 25. The airline said there’s a good chance we could get out due to people not wanting to wait. Nobody likes killing time in the airport but things do happen.
Through out all this, Derek Hay the owner of LA Direct Models was very understanding and it was nice knowing he saw this for what it was and it was nobody’s fault but the weather. They begin boarding and unfortunately only my name was called and it was all of us or nothing so we didn’t get on.
(Phoenix Marie)
From there we’re told you won’t get out for 48 hours and would miss both signings, time to think quick. What do we decide to do but jump in a cab to head over to the Union Station Amtrak Station in D.C. and get on a 3 a.m train for 7 hours, our last resort to travel by and arrive on Sat. the 20th in CT.
Before doing this we went down to the baggage claim to take our luggage with us just to find out it was already scanned to arrive in CT., interesting how Christian chose to word it that I purposely checked the girls bags in so there would be no turning back, funny.
(Tori & Phoenix)
At this stage we were all extremely tired and the girls were a pleasure to be around due to the circumstances. We were lucky in choosing 3 very friendly girls. While on the train we went through New York City, PA, NJ, and other cities. Once in CT. the owner of Smash Pictures arrived to pick us up and get some food in our system. So the girls could get some rest we checked them in the hotel first and from there Dan & I went to the airport to pick all our luggage. The only luggage there was mine & Lexi Belle’s the one girl that didn’t make it. I know what its like to lose my luggage so we grabbed Lexi’s and 3 day shipped it via UPS from our warehouse back to CA. for her.
When the other girls found out their luggage didn’t arrive yes it was difficult. Dan the Smash Pictures owner went out of his way in offering to take them to the mall to buy them jeans, shirts, and shoes so they had some fresh clothes to wear. We felt this was extremely nice to offer to buy outfits on our own dime since nobody likes to be without their luggage. Its now around 3-4pm and we made one last stop at the airport, to our luck what is there but everyones luggage. We rush to the hotel and the girls mood instantly changes and we’re all happy now.
(Tori, Phoenix & Ashli Orion)
The girls shower & change clothes and are ready for makeup. Since Dan owns a chain of strip bars back east called "Kahoots" thats where we stopped so the girls could get their makeup on. The girls looked great and we’re ready to meet their fans for the signing. We arrived at the "Luv Boutique" store and fans are ready to meet their favorite stars.
In between snapping shots of the girls during the signing, I was finally due for some sleep and slept on one of the couches, somehow Christian switched that around to me being drunk, go figure?
(Tori, Phoenix, Ashli)
The signing lasted till midnight and the girls had shoots lined up for Monday and didn’t want to risk getting stuck in this storm so even though we had our own hotel rooms for the night and flights for Sunday at 2pm they chose to get on a 5am flight and do an all nighter.
Christian switched things around that Stuart was drunk and couldn’t join them on the plane which in truth I chose to enjoy my hotel room and fly out the following day which worked out great.
(Ashli & Phoenix)
Before leaving some of the girls chose to do some shopping in the novelty store for glass vibes & sexy outfits which they asked for us to deduct from their pay, instead we let them shop for free. I would like to thank all three girls for pulling through this and making the Sat. signing a success.
As you can see in the photos everyone was happy & had a good time. Thank you Ashli Orion, Phoenix Marie, and Tori Black.
See you all in Vegas,
Stuart Wall-VP
Smash Pictures
http://www.smashpictures.com