The last couple of weeks or two have been full of challenges, mostly related to losing over 3 grand's worth of stuff as mentioned in my previous post, but at the same time, it has been a unique opportunity to discover how wonderful my friends, family and internet friends/ fans really are. I truly don't feel like I'm scrabbling desperately to create a silver lining here- it's right there and all sparkly-like.
Apologies if you already saw my glittery fairy flowers on Instagram :)
One stranger in Leicester fucked me over, but many, many strangers, acquaintances, friends and family from the UK and USA have appeared out of nowhere to help me :') Totally unexpected and amazing.
Thank you so much everyone for the hundreds of likes and shares on my last two blogs about the break-in- just seeing that people "cared enough to share" helped me, as did all the sympathetic pm's and emails. Just... all the feels :')
Going through that depressing list in my "mayday" blog...
- I had enough non-modelling clothes at home to tide me over on a day-to-day basis, except for jumpers and cardigans, which I probably won't need for another month anyway, and underwear, because my laundry bag got stolen for some unknown reason. I was so depressed for the first couple of days that I just lived in my dressing gown- the one that didn't get stolen, that is (along with my slippers!).
My mother appeared out of the blue like Superman and took me for a hearty vegan lunch with local cloudy cider, and then on a shopping trip to Bristol Cabot Circus. Thanks to her, I now have a full quotient of big black knickers (my favourite kind), beige thongs and tee-shirt bra for modelling, Bare Minerals makeup brushes, natural foundation, natural lipstick and lip-liner for commercial work (luckily I keep my trusty red lipstick and liner in my handbag, so I still have them), MAC Red Chestnut Pro Longwear Waterproof Brow Set, lots of stud earrings, a pearl necklace and some new rings, as all my costume jewellery was stolen. Thank god for Primark. The MUA in Bare Minerals felt so sorry for me that he gave me a sparkly new makeup bag to put my new purchases in :D and the MUA in MAC gave me a free mascara :D I actually hugged them :D - Ivory Flame came with me to get my
- My luscious supportive boyfy got me a new diary identical to my old one :') It feels so good to have it "back"! I like a big A4 hardback unlined notebook so I can get creative in it and write/ draw in it anywhere :)
- All the cash I lost has come back to me in the form of unsolicited donations and the buying of "shoot vouchers" from friends, family, photographers and fans. I will never forget this, you guys :')
- I got a new big suitcase out shopping with Ivory Flame in Leicester the day after the break-in, and the nice man in the shop gave me a fiver off, so it was only £25. It's not nearly as posh as the one that got stolen, but much prettier- retro white polka dots on a navy blue background, and waterproof, which should come in handy.
- My favourite studio/ indoor location messaged me out of nowhere to offer me free use of the place to help get me back on my feet :)
- I've also been getting what I call "Red Cross packages" in the post- a big bag of floaty fabrics and pretty sheer hand-me-downs in soft colours from Ivory Flame, so I'm back firing on all cylinders for art nude work, and with new pieces to play with, all road-tested by Holly, at that! :D
- Holly also put me up in Leicester, fed me, watered me, hugged me, held my hand, found a safe place to stash the car with no window overnight, came with me to get the window fixed the next day, came with me round all the sketchy Cash Converters/ "we buy gold" type places in Leicester (dee-pressing) giving them lists of stolen stuff to look out for, and actually made posters to stick up in the car park where the break-in happened! Thanks to Magpie Photography for texting me to suggest going round all these pawnbrokers; I probably wouldn't have thought of it.
- The lady who bred my cats posted me her spare sat-nav, so now I can definitely get to any shoot, anywhere again. Praise Jesus!
- Sale in Boots yesterday = I now have an almost fully functional makeup kit again! I bought nine eyeshadows, a set of Ecotools brushes, face powder, an eyebrow pencil and an eye liner pencil for like, £43!!! then got a free mascara (another one!) and free highlighter cream, and a voucher for a free lipstick. I'll use it to get a dark red wine colour, and wait for my order of blushers and concealer from Bare Minerals to arrive, and then I will have a full makeup kit again! And this time, it will be almost 100% vegan natural products, rather than MAC (except the eyebrow gel and the free mascara). I think if I feel good about the products I'm using it will show in my pictures :)
- I just ordered the remaining makeup I need online from Bare Minerals- two blushes, one vintage peach and one natural pink, concealer, and free samples of yet more mascara and a free £18 lipstick :*
- Wonderful Paul Carr in Newcastle gave me his spare Nikon D70 and lens! Now boyfy and I can go ahead with our plans to create a members-only area filled with cool videos on anitadebauch.com when we get our own place :'D Apologies again for blubbing down the phone at you, Paul! xx
- I found the same laptop as my old one refurbished on Amazon for £79 inc P&P. Lucky for me, I like cheap laptops.
- Lady Lucie has lent me a cool "catsuit"- an actual latex cat costume! I can't wait to buy a giant ball of string and shoot it :D I also ordered a new pair of black latex leggings before I left on tour, which have now arrived, yay. And I got a bottle of baby talc, a jumbo can of rubber shine spray, as well as a new giant can of hairspray, hair mousse and volumising powder.
- Two other designers messaged me out of the blue on Facebook to offer to make me new pieces to replace some of what I lost, one British and one American :') So, so touching. I don't know if they want to be named here, but I'll be getting some kickass photos for them and pimping them like mad when I have the outfits, for sure :')
- Another fellow internet model (don't know if she'd want to be named) posted me some of her hand-me-down modelling clothes and a set of hot rollers, which just so happened to be identical to the set that got taken! So now I have a full hairstyling kit as well as a full makeup kit for my shoots and I'm back in action :D
Okay, so I'm probably never going to be able to replace the designer bags, but I feel like it's worth having them replaced with supermarket bags for life atm for having my eyes opened to the kindness of strangers that's everywhere :) Thanks to my parents, boyfriend, "sisters" and fans, I'm now able to make a living again. I'm kicking ass and taking names. I'm driving all over the country with my awesome new shoot wardrobe in Tesco bag for life bags. I'm me again!
One love x
