This Day...

RIP Leonard Knight of Salvation Mountain

I found out that gentle Leonard Knight son who spent roughly 25 years building his artistic Salvation Mountain, AKA God's Mountain in Niland, Imperial Valley, finally succumbed to cancer on February 10. I had the pleasure of going with Patrick 3 times to this magical place. I will always remember it fondly for several reasons. My previous blogs in 2007 and 2010 already wrote of my description and experiences here.

I of course will thank Patrick for introducing me to it first. And here are clips from my youtube channel - look how little Ciara looks! Watch minute 1:40-to the end to get Leonard's love and joy for mankind and God. Leonard was known around the world. National Geographic and museums had featured him and his Mountain in the middle of nowhere. But he is also immortalized in one of my Top 10 favorite films of all time, "Into The Wild". Sensitively directed by Sean Penn and featuring a fabulous Kristen Stewart before her lackluster "Bella the Vampire" days and the uber-talented Emile Hirsch: Here is the Italian edit that I love of the movie: RIP, Leonard. God Bless you for the beauty and joy through God's Love that you brought so many...

T-Rex TEASER - - Brick by Brick

Come on, Mark and Patrick: you should be so proud of E ;)...

Much more to come...

cheers, everyone

E is back

"Lucky 21s" goes the saying...

Hawaii parasail videos 2012

Big brother Gabe does the UFO parasail in Kona, Hawai'i. I go along for the ride on the boat and video tape - - enjoy!

Aloha - HAWAII 2012

Back in November we took our timeshare trip to the Big Island of Hawai'i. Neither of us had been to that island and P really wanted to photograph volcanoes - it wasn't quite what we expected but it was still lovely to get away for a week. I had unfortunately sprained severely my back the previous week in Bikram yoga and was in major pain but nothing was stopping me as usual (think Peru back in 2006 limping through the Inkan Trail trek and camping/hiking at high elevation for several nights with my bad runner's knee). I tend to live in pain and deal with it :) So our timeshare Worldmark at Wyndham was wonderful. Big, 2 bedroom with nice living room and kitchenette and porch. It was so large that I extended the invite to a couple people hoping to share it and it ended up my big bro and his girlfriend accepted. Even though we were on 2 totally different agendas it was nice for once to treat them as they do a lot for me over the years. Patrick and I rented a jeep and of course made our long, daily roadtrips all over the island- as we like to drive and explore, take photos, etc. There are different parts to the big Island - our timeshare side was in the dryer terrain (less rainfall) of Kona. We loved Kaleui in the north west tip where the big ranches and small towns were. We loved it so much - the highlight of our trip was not just 1 but 2 horseback rides on the last 2 days of the week. One, at sunset and the next day an even longer picnic ride. Patrick and I both rode horses as teens and owned Arabians (was it a match made in heaven??? Hmmm) and I cannot express how much I love him more being there with me riding and looking strong and rough in the Australian rancher leather coat and hat they loaned to us for the severe winds and light drizzles. *Remember the Aussie horsey movie, "The Man from Snowy River"? That was my P - I remember the part of the rides where they allowed us to slow gallop and I went first on my Thoroughbred then turned to watch P behind me - - it's a technical thing but he still knew how to ride and sit a horse, holding the reins correctly and slowing down to a trot where he 'posted' instinctively. (Horsey people get it - it was such a turn-on seeing him ride knowingly and confidently). It was gorgeous on those rides - across the green meadows with the sea and rainbows as backdrops. I can say easily that was the most beautiful place I had ever ridden - - I am used to dry, hot, dusty San Diego. For P it reminded him of riding in green, wet Ireland. The fact that we did it 2 days in a row was beyond my expectations - and even with a very bad back I still enjoyed myself immensely. Other highlights were the drive to the waterfalls and wetter part of the island. Also exploring the crater and volcano National Park. We also crazily did a bit of off-roading in our jeep (yes, even with my bad back) trying to find a green sands' beach the locals told us about. That was NUTS and stressful - especially with my bad back and the sun was going down so we could barely see the pot holes and risked getting stuck!! See youtube videos and click on slideshow below! Aloha!!

Hawai'i 2012

Happy 2012 Highlights!

This is the deal, folks. Today is officially my last only-day-off-of-the-week that I will have for starting tomorrow I go from working 6 days to 7 days a week. That means I am making the herculean effort to get a little blogging done as it will be even harder in the year(s) to come and I am already back-logged about 2 years!! :( Now, it is 2013 and I hope everyone had a wonderful holidays and 2012. I certainly had a big year. It was chalk-full with some more (still?? I'm an old lady!) major modeling jobs with new regular client Bloomingdales added to my roster; being the current face and lookbook/print ad model for "Animal Fashions by Jordan"; plus 2 more published editorials in the wedding bible of Orange County - "OC Bride"; a promoted position from previous years to producer assistant and Festival Ambassador of this year's International La Jolla Fashion Film Festival; 2 big commercials shot in the Fall for Sea World and SDGE; adding teleprompter work to my acting resume as the spanish voiceover and host for numerous Industrials; trips to Hawaii, Ireland, 3rd anniversary in Palm Springs, cabin camping with best friend Di and family; getting slowly back into my singing and music a bit more and adding 'adjudicator' to my resume as I judged on a panel for 2 major highschool vocal competions; plus especially working my arse off to train, complete and get hired with my license to teach Pilates. I almost killed myself last Spring trying to do the 500 hour program while working full-time. With only 1 weekend off from January - May: Whew! It was an extremely busy year. I am proud of myself. I always work hard, but this year, especially - - was very transitional and focused. So, I have a lot to be thankful for - and a lot to blog about and as I sit here this last day off that I plan to have for quite some time, I stare at my barely-hanging-on laptop that I bought when I moved out and onwards from a big chunk of my life and started dating Patrick - - I am trying to just save all the info, pics, music, novels I started writing to Icloud and googledrive before the laptop completely dies at the old age of 7. (Sigh) I hate technical, gadgety stuff.. You might notice in the title pic I also have a coffee cup there to the right - - In 2013 I officially turned the big 40 and worked so hard with little days off that I began to drink 1-2x a week a skinny vanilla latte hahahha. I never drank caffeine my whole life but this girl is TIRED nowadays! Click on my 2012 highlights' link slideshow below!

2012 Highlights

Thanksgiving 2012

The holidays flew by this year with such a busy Fall. Here are our family pictures from Turkey Day at mom's in November. Ciara had recently turned 14 and grew a ton this year. She is almost as tall as me!

RWA final dinner

Here is a video of our final dinner when all my RWA college roommates from UC Irvine were in town last September. I love their precious kids - ! Good times - -