Several years ago, a glamorous event planner from New York City moved to mid-Michigan because she fell in love with Chris, a friend of mine. Since becoming part of our community, Sabrina has managed to maintain a thriving business, has gotten married and become a mama to Isabella, who is almost two years old, and has joined my girl gang better known as book club. Let’s read about a day in her life.
7:00 am Good Morning! Woke up – still catching up on sleep after a 4-day event at the Four Seasons Palm Beach with Marcy Blum’s team. She’s consistently named one of the best event planners in the world and it’s an honor to work her events. I learn so much every time. She’s the gold standard and so are the people on her team.
My husband Chris jumped on a Peloton ride at 6 am, but that sweet man got the coffee going at 6:50 am so it was ready when I woke up. I’m obsessed with Fairlife skim. It’s so good in coffee. I threw in a load of laundry, made the bed, let Bob Wiley — our loving, fluffy Coton du Tulear – outside to chase squirrels and do his thing, skimmed The New York Times headlines, put The Daily on the kitchen speaker, and planned out my day.
7:50 am Our 19-month old daughter Isabella woke up (a long night of sleep!) so we read and played with puzzles for a bit. Chris makes breakfast most mornings, and today he put together a delicious veggie frittata which I top with this spicy Verde hot sauce our friend Scott in NYC makes for Dos Toros. His #1 (mine too) Amber is a saint and sends us a giant box of hot sauces every so often. Having these little threads of connection to NYC reminds me that the city is not that far away. And eating breakfast together as a family feels grounding and peaceful before the stopwatch of the day starts.
9:00 am Chris left for work and our nanny Hayley arrived. She helped Isabella finish up breakfast and get dressed for a morning at the Impression 5 Science Museum in downtown Lansing (we’re members – it’s wonderful). They’re out the door by 10 am. I spend 9-10 am replying to emails from the night before.
One of my clients this fall is Performa. It’s their Biennial year (Nov. 1-24 in NYC) which kicks off with a 300-person gala and Artist Party on Friday, November 1. We’re honoring artist and filmmaker Rashid Johnson, and Dasha Zhukova. She is the founder of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Russia and Garage Magazine. She was also recently engaged to Stavros Niarchos, so she’s been busy this summer/fall, but her team is incredible, and she’s been actively involved in this year’s event. She helped bring on Stella McCartney as a Co-Chair; Stella will also dress select guests at the gala. I love working on projects like this with fashion houses. The fall 2019 collection is bold and strong. Rashid has inspired support from many of the big galleries across the country – Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, David Kordansky, Richard Gray, Pace, Marian Goodman, and Monique Meloche. He’s well loved by so many galleries and collectors; it’s an honor to work with him and his team. The evening will also honor the legacy of Oskar Schlemmer, founder of the Bauhaus School – 2019 is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the school. In fact, the whole gala evening will be run like an “art school orientation” – tables will be divided up into the various disciplines of the Bauhaus – drawing, architecture, sculpture, etc. and headed up by a prominent artist today leading their field. Performa galas are interactive, unpredictable, and wildly fun. Can you tell I love this work? Last year we honored Christo & the late Jeanne-Claude (NYC’s “The Gates” artists) and in 2017 it was Yoko Ono. Having proximity to these creative minds is inspiring and forces me to learn more about the world around me. I naturally gravitate towards opera/classical music, but Performa has exposed me to many great artists outside of what I studied growing up.
10:30 am I took a 45-min arms & intervals Peloton ride with Ally Love. The music was great; it flew by. Lots of sweat.
11:30 am I spoke with Job Piston, Director of Special Projects for Performa, about adding names to the Co-Chair list for the Nov. 1 Artist Party. We want to be sure the starry friends of Performa (artists, fashion, music) lend their name to the invite, and attend the party this fall. They help garner press and add appeal to the party for other attendees. The event is run by the Performa young patrons’ group, the Visionaries – they’re a remarkable group of young people with already-astounding roles in the NYC – and international — art world.
12:00 pm I mowed the front lawn of our house. We have an acre in the front, and an acre in back. I’m not very good at the turns, but I kind of like doing it. Then I weeded for a little bit. It was still overcast, and I’ve decided that yard work is more fun in 60-degree temps than 80. It was good to get up from my desk.
1:00 pm I jumped in the shower and because it was still cool out, I put on my fav AG jeans, and Aviator Nation sweatshirt – a gift from my little sister. I love that fall is nearby.
1:30 pm I warmed up a bit and sang through some of the pieces for the December concert with the Arts Chorale of Greater Lansing. I’ve sung with them for the past 3 (4?) years and I especially admire our conductor, Dale Bartlett. I’ve met so many great friends through this organization. This is my way of being involved in the local community. The concerts are free, it’s a small ensemble that performs a range of choral music, and the members are talented musicians. (PS – thanks to Gabe for taking an ad in the program last year!)
2:00 pm I took a call with Anne Fitzgibbon, Director of the Harmony Program in NYC. They’re planning a gala for March 2020 honoring a friend of mine, Roy Niederhoffer. Roy is brilliant in many ways – especially musically – and he’s a thoughtful, dedicated philanthropist. They’ve had the same planner for the past 8 years, but they want to shake things up. I’m sending a proposal over tomorrow, and hopefully will move forward with them this winter.
During Isabella’s nap the nanny put away two loads of laundry, cleaned the playroom and kitchen, and ran to the grocery store to do some of the shopping. She is a lifesaver, and one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. We love her. Isabella adores her. We feel very lucky to have her in our lives. Before she left she hired a face painter for our upcoming housewarming party, and reached out to a few venues in LA on behalf of the band I manage, Mr. Chris Norton. We’re working on a new sizzle reel for him and it’s going to be AMAZING! Watch for it on Instagram soon.
3:00 pm I had a call with Dasha Zhukova, Roya Sachs – a fabulous Performa Board member, and Esa Nickle – Producing Director (SO CREATIVE!), to discuss the creative concepts behind the Nov. 1 gala. Dasha was energized by the plans – great!
3:30 pm Emailed BITE Catering in NYC to get them lined up for the Nov. 1 Gala. I have a colleague crush on my contact there, Austen. Can’t wait to see what they come up with.
Ate some leftover shrimp, quinoa and veggies from dinner the night before (add sriracha) and read one of my fav newsletters: ‘til next Tuesday by DoSomething Strategic. Then fielded three requests for the band I manage – Chris was free on all three dates, and I love the planners who reached out. Fingers crossed we can make it work for their clients.
3:45 pm Prepared a contract for review by a potential new client, the Lycée Français de New York. They run an annual gala that hosts 1,000 people and raises $2.1M. They need help with event logistics (run of show, vendor management, honoree care, etc.), but they have the fundraising under control. As a Francophile, I jumped at the chance to work with them. If we lived in NYC, I’d love to send Isabella here. Getting to know more about the school through this event would be wonderful. This is the last step before officially starting our work together, so fingers also crossed here.
5:00 pm Went to Costco to shop for the weekend. My family and some friends are coming into town for our housewarming party on Saturday, so there was a lot to buy! The best part was picking out the prizes for the pie contest winners.
6:30 pm Chris is home and we have dinner with Isabella – a chopped salad (she loves lettuce!) with roasted chicken and Sauvignon Blanc – Matua is my current favorite “house white”.
7:30 pm After dinner, Chris went outside to do some yard work and I played and read with Isabella. She knows the whole alphabet now so a lot of our “reading” is pointing to letters and calling them out. And making animal noises. Lots of animal noises.
8:00 pm Isabella went to bed and I finished putting away the laundry and unpacking from my trip. Chris helped me move some furniture because our couches are arriving tomorrow (FINALLY! After 5 months of waiting!)
9:30 pm I read a few chapters of our book club book “The Most Fun We Ever Had” by Claire Lombardo, and uploaded photos/videos to Tinybeans, the photo sharing app we use to share Isabella’s life with our family and friends, before turning in for the night.
10:00 pm Goodnight!
This schedule brought to you by Sabrina Potterpin, of Soigné Events.
As someone who could never have the discipline to work from home, I was so intrigued to find out how Sabrina gets everything done in her day. Thanks for sharing a peek with us, my friend!
