I was in bed last night flipping through Bobbi Brown’s Makeup Manual when I thought of a fun little topic for us to discuss! Ever since I bought Kevyn Aucoin’s Making Faces in junior high I’ve fantasized about becoming a makeup artist. I love the transformation from beginning to end and the ability to show women just how glamorous they are from the outside in. Becoming a makeup artist has always been a little dream of mine, probably not one I’ll ever pursue (my plate is full, thank you!), but something fun to dream about…
So now I want to ask you ladies, what fun careers have you always dreamed of pursuing? Forget if they’re realistic or not, I want the truth—you’re among friends and ridiculous and/or silly is encouraged. These little tidbits of your lives are what make blogging worth it. Let’s hear it! What do you want to be when you “grow up”?
i love those books! i always wanted to be a cafe owner. i worked in a coffee shop in college and loved it.
i took tap when i was like 5 years old, and ever since, i have wanted to perform on broadway. if i could do anything in the world, that would be it. 42nd street, here i come!
I want to work for NPR and be the next Terry Gross or Dick Gordon!
Oh, my dream was to be the next Grace Coddington super duper fashion editor. My other dream career was to do hair color – not cut hair, but just do color. What a great question to ask! I haven’t thought about those things in a while :o)
I would love to run some kind of shop. A toy shop, a bakery, really anything actually! I just love the idea of a home grown shop that’s been there for year. Hopefully when I’m 80 I’ll own a store that I’ve run for 20 years or so. That’d be great.
I would love to be a make up artist too. I have a serious addiction to Sephora! My daughter hates to go in there with me because my eyes glaze over. Prom time is so much fun because I get to do make up for all of my nieces! When I was really little I wanted to be Zsa Zsa Gabor at the beginning of Green Acres when they show her in her Manhattan sky rise with all her little lapdogs!
A dancer – I’ve taken dance classes since I was 5 and still do. Ballet & tap when I was little, modern in high school and college and now I’m doing belly dancing & bhangra and really want to pick up a hip hop class. I’m not that good but if I could dance all day for my job, I would be in heaven!
I would love to run a little book store like Meg Ryan did in You’ve Got Mail. I just adore the quaint bookstores/coffee shops that are a hidden gem. I’m also a freak about organizing & would enjoy taking that to a professional level. :)
My dream has always been to open up a little boutique! I’d fill it to the brim with beautiful dresses and accessories! xx
While I love the book shop idea above, I would have to say interior designer OR film director.
MT
These are all fantastic!!!
Joanna — I worked in a cafe too! So much fun except that I gained 10 lbs eating scones and drinking lattes…sigh.
Jordan — Love this!!! My family is obsessed with Broadway shows! My little brother is studying Musical Theater at Pace next year and three kids in his class of 20 have already been on Broadway. Can you even imagine? Maybe you two will be in show together someday : )
Emily — I have no doubt that you will work for NPR someday. I will be listening to your podcasts!
Jenny — Grace Coddington is amazing, isn’t she? You should totally go for it. The style I see on your blog shows you know what’s what! And as for hair color–that would be equally awesome. I’m always in awe of colorists…there’s such a science to it!
Kate — I share this dream of yours. I think being a little brick-and-mortar shop owner would be such fun. Forget 20 years, by the time you’re 80 you could have had one open for a good 40 years!
Debby — My kindred spirit! I could happily get lost in Sephora for hours I love it so much! What lucky little nieces you have!
Lauren — Shush, I bet you are a phenomenal dancer! I dropped out of ballet in kindergarten and have been in awe of people like you ever since. I say go for it. You never know where it will take you!
Jeanie — I sooo understand you on this one! I’ve always loved the idea of owning a little bookshop. There are so few of them these days. Did you just love the one in Notting Hill with Hugh Grant too? I always thought it was a gem as well!
MT — I can already see you in your director’s chair ordering about today’s biggest starlets! Film is a medium that has always captivated me, yet I know so little about. I’ll live vicariously through you!
Lindsay — You can only own a boutique if I can come shop there and buy the pretty dresses. With your taste I know they’d be to die for! xo
LOVE YOU ALL!! CHEERS TO DREAMING BIG!!! xoxoxo
I have two dreams…I have always wanted to own a boutique that combines an Anthropologie style, with shabby chic furniture, with my own designed stationery. The other is to be a costume designer/producer on a tv show or movie. I have such ideas…:)
Interior designer! I love all the pretty fabrics and colors. So far I haven’t even managed to have my bedroom decorated, though. Someday.
I have SOOO many. I’m really lucky that I’m actually doing one of them I’m a sports anchor for 2 statewide radio networks and a radio producer as well. I always wanted to be a journalist like Lois Lane. I also want to open a Bakery/Winery someday, be an undercover CIA operative, have a show on the travel channel, and wanted to be an olympic gymnast. I’m still keeping the olympic dream alive. I swear I’m going to take up curling and be on the olympic curling team one day.
It’s fun to see everyone elses dreams too :)
~K
It’s never too late! I decided at 23 that I wanted to be an Interior Designer, went to school, and now it’s my job! But I share Jeanie’s dream about owning a small, independent book shop! You’ve Got Mail makes me swoon :)
Definitely owning a boutique. My fiance is encouraging me to pursue it since I hate my current job and don’t have a passion for journalism like I originally thought i did. My mom wants to help too, so someday soon you just might stumble upon my cute little this-and-that boutique!
I would run a bed and breakfast! Coincidentally, I just posted on this a couple weeks ago. :) I hate to sound tacky and self-promoting, but since it’s been on my mind lately, here’s the link:
http://everydayattic.blogspot.com/2010/04/when-i-grow-up.html
Haha Kate I love this! Becoming a make up artist is one of my sister’s dreams, too – I don’t think she’s ever read Making Faces, I’m totally sending it to her! I used to have my heart set on running for Senate one day. Ay yi yi, am I ever over that one! When I first moved to D.C. I spent a morning in the Senate gallery – I was so taken with the dark mahogany walls, the luscious velvet upholstery, all the gilded accents and seersucker suits… whatever bill was up for discussion that day, not so much. I think the dream had more to do with the pomp and circumstance and getting to keep a Georgetown house than it ever did with actually serving the good people of America.
The biggest dream is always to be a writer living on the North Sea, but owning a little bookshop or antique store sounds wonderful. And even though I definitely cannot sing opera, it would be a wonderful dream to be the opera diva and travel the world performing for royalty and other heads of state.
Secretly a writer. I love writing so much. But right now I wish I was a mother. That would be grand!
I would love to have a job in fashion, maybe in merchandising or as a buyer for a really cool company. A little toned down and possibly a bit more realistic is that I would love to work at a high end boutique and do their buying/styling/merchandising.
my secret job fantasy is to become a set designer for a tv show or movie. i would LOVE doing the historical research and going shopping in all the different antique stores to buy just the right lamp. my dream show to work for would be Mad Men. its visually so stunning! what a great question!! thanks for opening this question up!!
xoxo
tod @ http://bibliochicshop.blogspot.com/
I actually want to do make up as well! I looked into doing it on the side, but I could not afford the school. maybe someday…
My other dream jobs that are never going to happen:
#1-Marine Biologist
#2-Private Detective
#3-CIA Agent
Well a rockstar, of COURSE.
But secretly (grossly) I always wanted to be a facialist because I love messing with my skin, but I dont think I could get upclose and personal with a strangers face crud. TMI? Probs.
I love all these ideas! I have always wanted to craft and create beautiful things, travel the world shopping for a self owned boutique and own a large farm where animals could live out their days being free and well fed. I will do it one day!
First off- Bobbi Brown! What a sick obsession I have with their make-up…my everyday make-up bag and my fun make-up bag are filling to the brim with all things BB! You should go to them for a bridal consultation! They did an ahh-maze-ing job for my bridal look! I have pics if you want to see!!
Second, I just wrote about “big dreams” today! Most lofty dream job would have to be a singer- I would love to belt it out and give people goose bumps like Celine haha
But really I would be completely content (beyond ecstatic) right now to be a writer or editor for a fabulous fashion or interiors mag :) Although I’m clueless as to where to start, I’m going to make it happen!!
p.s. I left you a little something today if you have a moment to check it out!! xo!
My dream that I’m actually working toward is being a published author.
Other fun dreams I’ve had along the way (I mean more recent than high school): interior designer and flight attendant.
Ooh, newest dream that my hubs is teaching me: photographer!
I agree that it’s never too late to go after a dream job.
P.S. Kevyn Aucoin– that was genius talent.
I have too many: singer/dancer (so I could be in Broadway musicals) OR some sort of visual artist OR an interior designer OR owning my own store (and even this would be hard for me to narrow down exactly what I’d sell).
But I’m lucky, because I took the plunge and went to grad school for writing, rather than have that end up on my list of things I wish I could do/be. Now, just for the publications to roll in, sigh.
XX Lauren Stacks
http://lauren-stacks.blogspot.com [book ends]
Abby — Anthro and shabby chic combined, I’ll be shopping there!
Alexandra — Yay for interior design! You’ll tackle your bedroom eventually and it will look fabulous.
Kristen — I love a girl with serious ambition! I’m sure the CIA and the Olympic curling team would love to have you : ) Keep up the good work!
Karen — I need to rent You Got Mail, haven’t seen it in ages and I loooove cute bookshops. Oh and yay for interior designers. It’s never too late is right. I’m 24 now and have no idea what I’m going to do with my life—all that matters is that I love what I’m doing now, right? xo
Meagan — You should take the leap! You will probably work more and harder than ever before, but it is so worth it when you’re doing something you love. I just know you would sell such cute things!
BB — Checking out your link now, nothing wrong with self-promotion, I love your blog! And I love B&B’s—they’re so charming and home-y and well, fantastic.
Natalie — You crack me up. I bet you were all over those seersucker suits, hahaha. I love you. Maybe someday you’ll be their decorator! So excited to see what your future holds love xoxo
Elizabeth Rose — Knew you’d come up with something romantic and fabulous! I can totally see you belting it out for Prince William. Love you.
Dancing Branflake — Well I know you’re an excellent writer so I guess the mother part is next! What a wonderful answer. I so look forward to being a mom someday too. I’m sure you’ll be a great one. If there’s a will there’s a way.
Stacie — You can do it! I can totally see you being a buyer for Barney’s or somewhere fab…you do, after all, have impeccable taste! xo
Tod — Mad Men set designer, can you say soul mate? Adding that to my list of dream careers. That would be AMAZING.
Stevi — I love you for being so well-rounded. CIA agent, marine biologist and a makeup artist. You are my hero. Someday, someday… after St. Louis, right? xoxo
Bailey — I just cracked up. I think a lot of people have weird things like that they love to do. Being a facialist could actually be kind of fun. I’ve never had a facial though so come to think of it I don’t really know what I’m talking about. They scare me…I know, big baby.
Kimberly — I want to visit your farm! And travel the world with you…and…all of it! I love it all!
Roxy — I have no doubt that if you’ve set your mind to it you will be the editor of a huge, stylish magazine. And I will certainly have to consider BB for my wedding makeup, good call! Thanks for the award, you’re such a sweetheart!
Amy — Love that you love Kevyn too, may he RIP. And I can’t wait to read your book someday, you go girl! And I love photography too and have always thought it would be so cool to be a flight attendant. Great minds think alike!
Lauren — You will be published ten times over, just keep at it!!! We’re all rooting for you! xoxo
WHAT A FUN POST THIS HAS BEEN!!! Thank you everyone for sharing! I have the most driven, creative readers in the world! We’re going places ladies, I can feel it : ) xoxooxoxo
Well when I was younger, I wanted to be a professional backup dancer, or in a broadway dance company…but I’ve kind of given up that. Currently I’m thinking it would be FABULOUS to plan children’s birthday parties…preferrably those with large budgets! haha. The decor, the favors, the cake, the activities! I would rock that.
Kevin Aucoin…(sad) I too wanted to be a make up artist…for real! That, and a rockin DJ either on the radio or live at clubs (I still kinda do)!
I LOVE Making Faces…wish I still had my copy from about ten years ago.
I always thought I would be screenwriter/director and go to NYU. Now my career fantasies are elementary school teacher or children’s librarian.
Oh what a lovely post……. I want to be a style news reporter……. I knew I always wanted to make things when I was a kid…. but I love talking and I love being in front of the camera……..
Thanks for all the great posts Katie, they make me smile everyday!!!
xxx
CEO
Theater Dancer!!! :D
XXX
http://gypsy-diaries.blogspot.com/
Hi Katie,
Thanks for the note you left on my blog:)
Your web is beautiful and I am facebooking it. Do you have a button that I could put on my blog, so my readers can easily access your web?
Keep in touch,
Diana
exPress-o: http://diana212m.blogspot.com/
A dancer! Oh it’s a popular career choice huh? :D
Nicolette — You’re onto something with this birthday party idea, make it happen!!! Barney here you come!!!
Sue — Only you are hip enough to be a DJ! I love it, I say go for it. Never say never, right?
Elizabeth — A director is certainly glamorous, but a schoolteacher is HIGHLY commendable. Any young student would be lucky to have you. My aunt and grandmother were both librarians and I grew up surrounded by books—very, very cool to say the least.
CEO — Something tells me you’d be very good at this. I mean, I know you have serious style, but if you’re one of the few people that actually enjoys being in front of the camera, well, you must have a gift. I’d be too concerned about the adds ten pounds factor… You go girl.
Gabby — Theater dancer, what fun that would be. I’ll come see one of your shows!!
Diana — I will comment you back, but I actually don’t have any buttons yet. I’m totally tech/graphic challenged, but I’ll have my people whip something up and get back to you! So glad you like the blog—welcome!
Adriana — It is a popular choice, but nothing wrong with that! I’m envious of all of you. My little brother studies dance (the one who wants to be on Broadway) and it just blows my mind when he jumps into the splits and such. My day for the splits has yet to happen… I’ll live vicariously though you and your moves!
Musician, always, still :)
I love this post – such a great question! oh boy i could go on and on :) i started off as a dancer actually so my dream was to perform on broadway! and i always loved the idea of opening a cafe where you could go and grab a coffee and take classes, or listen to music, and there would even be a little shop :) that’s my far off dream! i’m hoping to at least get the little shop part off the ground!
I love this post, and I have both of the books that you mentioned in your post. I never wanted to be a make-up artist but I love knowing how to put my best foot forward. What a great question, I would have to say that my big dream is to be a Life Artist and Yoga Instructor. Life Artist you say? Someone who adds their own creative spark to their everyday and inspires others to do the same through living fearlessly, photography and the written word. Cheers to dreaming big!
Oh I love this! I have a signed copy of Making Faces, so happy I have it:) What did/do I want to be? Where do I begin? First it was to be in fashion, then own a flower shop, start a stationary line, open a boutique, start a kids basics line, writer on comedy show. Yes, I actually dream of writing one-liners with Tina Fey. Isn’t that funny?
It made my day to read this! I used to break out my Kevin Aucoin books before parties in college – whether it be a proper date function or a theme/costume event! It always makes me smile to think about those memories.