Custo Barcelona/Betsey Johnson show

Due to the Great Black Out we had in early Fall the huge nation-wide "Fashion Night Out" parties/shows/festivities at local malls had to be cancelled. A month later, Fashion Valley decided to hold a smaller version showcasing Betsey Johnson and Custo Barcelona designer lines. It was held at the very cool, Alice-in-Wonderland-like wine bar downtown, "Vin de Syrah". I had good friends from the agency modeling with me: especially my best model friend, Allison. Thanks to Fashion Valley, the Syrah staff and Pam Wilson for hiring us and holding the show!

watch me throw my favorite flower - the large sunflower to a lucky guest at the very end of the video! I am glad I didn't poke his eye out with my impromptu gesture!

Fine Magazine

I did a few jobs this year for Fine Magazine. Starting with runway shows for 3 events: a couple Health and Beauty expos they had as well as the large charity Polo event benefiting Kids Korps. I also shot their July issue editorial which was a real treat when I found out it was for the Del Mar Race Season so we had a racehorse to shoot with. It must have been my lucky day because the race horse turned out to be my favorite breed - an Arabian (like what I had growing up!). I was so enthusiastic and enjoyed myself so much that I didn't even care that although they had originally wanted me to have the cover riding the horse - they switched on-location to my blonde co-model Amber - her honey-colored hair definitely popped better anyway! :)

Below is video from the Polo event:


Click on slideshow below for more pics of all events:

Fine Magazine events

The Surreal House of the Future - fashion

Going along with supporting local designers - I did 2 shows in June and October at the amazing house/gallery called The Surreal House of The Future. Ian Ashley and her husband have the most amazing place in a gated community near San Diego State college. And, boy, can they throw a party!! Their house is also an art gallery and it truly is a spectacle. Their parties last all night and they invite all their neighbors so as no complaints are filed. Everyone comes in costume or some theme - I don't even know if I can explain these parties - full of creative, artistic people in wild, absurd costumes, with performance artists, music, food, drink... it goes on and on. The first show I did was for my fellow latino designer Francisco Medavog (hailing from Tijuana) back in June and then for Osbaldo Ahumado in October. Photos courtesy of all participating photographers. Hair and makeup: William William and his Bellus Academy students.

The Surreal House of the Future

Stacie May - "Beatles" show

Catching up this weekend on my old blogs since I am really sick and not working today. Late last Spring when model jobs typically slow down for a couple months I made the decision to model and support some choice local designers and get to know more people in the San Diego Fashion community. In June I walked for designer Miss Stacey May. A wonderful, positive spirit and hard-worker - I like her very much (and that isn't just because she commented she could see me singing the role of 'Cosette' in Les Miserables). We were featured in a huge Beatles Tribute at the Oceanside Art Museum. A fun night with good friends - I know my Beatle-loving Aunties Nora and Linda would have truly enjoyed the festivities!

Video footage of "Carrousel du Louvre" show

Again, thank you to Fine Magazine for the editing and footage of a lovely show! I loved our circular catwalk- like a merry-go-round!

Fashion Plates Runway video

I blogged about it earlier this year but I found on Fine Magazine's youtube footage of some of our shows late last winter 2010. My favorite part is around 2:30 with the prancing poodles not walking well and overcrowding the stage in their diamond collars!

Here is the "Fashion Plates" show!

Dia Del Sol - Project Runway's Gordana

In October we did another Dia Del Sol Fashion show benefiting the United Cerebral Palsy kids - those kids have so much working the runway and getting dolled up! Once again, the talented Gordana Gehausen and her GOGA line from Project Runway 6 fitted us to her gowns and her new Ready-to-Wear collection! We also had Nicole Miller, Karen Millen, Lily Pulitzer and Kate Spade. Men wore Hugo Boss. It was at the lovely Hotel Grand Del Mar - - a beautiful site. Be sure to support Gordana and watch her in February on Project Runway All-Stars! Whippee!

The Call of the Wild

The other day I once again heard my kitty Jordy growling at the upstairs window. He likes to sit all day at the top windows looking into the yard and canyon. It's like his TV.

Sure enough, the bob cat I saw a year ago was back. Actually, this time there were 2. They are so beautiful and they were right on the other side of our fence we erected to keep the coyotes out of our yard. That said, my cats jump the fence and go into the canyon daily so there really isn't stopping what is Meant to Be. I have my peace with it: I don't believe in keeping my cats in only indoors. They are happy. And they love to hunt.

Back to the bobcats - see previous blog here for my first encounter when we had just bought our house. This time around I quickly grabbed the Canon EF 300mm Telescopic lens that we had sitting on my Olympus EP Pen 2. That lens is huge and AWESOME! I got some quick amazing shots and I swear those cats posed for me. I did have to shoo them away, though, as it's not good for them to get too comfy around our house. They clearly weren't that scared of me - - I swear they know I was a cat in another life. That, or that I'm a Crazy Cat Lady (!) ;)

Community Uptown Magazine shoot

I got a call a couple weeks ago from my dear model friend, Feben. She told me her friend's magazine lost a model and needed a Middle Eastern/East Indian model for a cover shoot of her Community Magazine. It was the middle of the week but I was free for a couple hours in the evening - so why not? I've done work before as an East Indian model and Feben, herself, is Ethiopian, so I figured we could pass.

We shot at Bombay Restaurant in Hillcrest - in their stunning Sapphire Room - the big private party room in the back. I loved it - the details and ornamentation were amazing and authentic!

And don't get me started on our authentic saris and jewelry from India! They brought out 10 decked-out saris in different colors and I wanted to try them all on but only tried on 2 before colors were chosen.

Frank Bongiorno was the photographer. Makeup and Hair by the highly esteemed Flora Wade. In the shoot we also had Gloria - a latina dancer and Valentina - a Russian bellydancer from LA who even brought her snake and did some shots with her eating fire, etc.

What a fun shoot! The Community Magazine puts out those free Uptown and Downtown and coastal coupons which, when I had roommates, we used to fight over (not really) since some of those 2-for-1s were highly desirrable! The magazine came out last week and since then I've been getting texts and emails from people all over San Diego asking if that is me that came in the mail. The first to recognize me was one of my nephews in the Kensington area who asked my sister, "Mom - isn't that Aunty Elsa?" To which she replied, "No, I don't think so." HELLOOOO!!! I realize I can clean up well and look different, but I work all the time, so by now my family should know that they only hear and see 1/5th of what I do so if they come across something looking like me - it probable IS!

This shoot was extra special due to my being enamored of the Bollywood culture - I have longed to go to India since I was a teen. It's on our Top 3 list - along with Cuba and Argentina. Plus, I really enjoyed myself shooting once again with my beautiful model-sister and meeting new people.

It was easy money in addition to a gift certificate to the restaurant which my husband and I promptly engorged on the following week after Bikram yoga class.

Not too shabby - - enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a lovely fall day at Mom's for Turkey Day. I am most appreciative of my family, my husband, my health, our jobs, our home and pets. God Bless us all!

Road Trip Finale

After shooting photos and walking all over Bodie we had a difficult decision to make. We were absolutely starving having had a big breakfast in Yosemite before doing a large waterfall hike, no lunch, and then exploring all over Bodie. In the middle of nowhere hwe knew it would be some time finding a halfway decent place to eat. Then the question remained: do we get a room for the night and drive back in the morning or do we plow through after dinner to Southern Cal?

Tough decision to be made on empty stomach. It took a while to get back to a main highway and find a place to eat in a tiny trucker stop town. We did eat heartily at the diner - and decided to go for it and drive all night back home.

I am not going to lie - it was a painful drive home - we were physically tired by then and had been on the road since the previous Saturday. To push through all night at that point we just wanted to get home. Plus we had to detour the big "Car-maggedon" in the LA area where they closed the 405 freeway and people were freaking out about the traffic.

All I can say is thank God for Sirius Radio and a little bit of caffeine. I know the animals were happy when we pulled up :) It was a wonderful week together in nature. I felt really blessed to have that time with my husband.

click on picture below for the slide show:

Road Trip 2011

Bodie - Official California Ghost Town

Believe it or not, we left Yosemite by 3 to then make the couple hour drive north (some of it by dirt trail - boy, did we wish we had taken our 4-Wheel Drive Honda Element at that moment) to the Official Ghost Town of California - Bodie.

The place had a ton of photographers crawling about through the ruins. Of course, my P loved it for that reason as well. I like it because it was in the boondocks, off the beaten path and had such an interesting history about it. It boomed in the late 1800s when gold was found. According to Wikepedia: "As a bustling gold mining center, Bodie had the amenities of larger towns, including two banks, four volunteer fire companies, a brass band, a railroad, miners' and mechanics' unions, several daily newspapers, a gym, and a jail. At its peak, 65 saloons lined Main Street, which was a mile long. Murders, shootouts, barroom brawls, and stagecoach holdups were regular occurrences. As with other remote mining towns, Bodie had a popular, though clandestinely important, red light district on the north end of town."

Two major fires in the past 100 years destroyed a lot of the town that stayed after all the gold was gone. Only about 5% remains but it was fascinating to walk around the preserved buildings - some you can only peer through windows but clearly see remnants inside of a once Wild West lifestyle.

Day 6 - Part 1, Yosemite - Vernal Falls

After a wonderful sleep and hearty breakfast we headed back to the crowded Yosemite Park. The traffic was atrocious - - there is a main loop, essentially, where cars have to go with pull outs at specific trails. It was slow-going, parking was bad. Yikes. Once we did park we decided to do the popular Vernal Waterfall Trail. I am glad we went at the beginning of the day because there were hundreds of people on the trail coming back. It's a longish trail, and it was a lovely warm day without being too hot. Many people don't make the whole hike as it gets pretty steep and slippery on rocks the last bit of it. Now we know why some smart people were hiking with those rain ponchos - you needed them the last couple hundred feet as the several hundred foot waterfall sprays the trail 24/7 and we were getting soaked - - more importantly, our camera equipment was getting soaked. No way- Jose - - we had to turn around at that last bit of trail.

Now that we know what to expect we will return to tent camp and do more trails at a leisurely pace. I hadn't been to Yosemite since I was 15 so there were some things I didn't remember clearly. Sadly, 2 days after we did that waterfall hike we heard 3 people perished falling in - well, one young gal climbed over the rail for a picture (!!!!!) and 2 jumped in trying to save her - all 3 dying. People - learn to respect nature - this was very scary to hear and hundreds of people saw them perish from the trail. :(

Day 5 - west to east - Yosemite!

After leaving the beautiful northern Cal rugged coastline we headed back south towards San Francisco before heading east to Yosemite Park. What a treat! It was a looong drive that day - - getting into Yosemite around 4pm - just enough time to drive the main loop and do one shorter hike to a waterfall. The best thing, though, was that this was P's first time to Yosemite and it was my pleasure to share it with him. Also, coming at that time of day meant a lot of the day-tourists had left to drive back to their hotels, and all the campers had headed back to their camps for dinner and campfire. This meant the usual traffic of cars and people was substantially less and we enjoyed it greatly at the Golden Hour of sunset.



As the sun went down and we were exhausted from driving 8 hours that day we knew we needed to find a place to camp or stay. Of course all the campsites were full so we headed out of the park in a southern direction. I was on the phone with the closest town about an hour away trying to make hotel reservations for that night. As we exited the park and only about 10 minutes out of it was a large hotel that clearly was meant for those who wanted quick access to go back and forth to the park without camping in it. We were so tired, but we decided to go for it and see if they had availability and how much. (I told P of the story of when my ex and I went to the Grand Canyon and paid almost $200 to stay at the closest piece of junk motel to the park entrance.) Patrick didn't even park and stop the car but let me out at the lobby and I went in - where, miracle of miracles, I got the last room AND it was only $129! A DEAL!!! E loves a good deal!

Road Trip - Driving video

Driving the tree-lined roads between the coastline and the inner freeway 5 and the wine country. We'd look for deer (see video) and noticed all the random, middle-of-nowhere "No Trespassing" signs and sudden dirt roads leading into the forests. Pot-growing establishments, no doubt. The week we returned we heard someone got shot for trespassing on one of those dirt roads on that 14 highway.
hehhe I love how quietly I am speaking so as not to scare them off :) I was really worried they were going to get hit head on by another car in the opposite direction!

Road Trip - Day 4 - Westport, CA, Howard Creek Ranch

Bright and early on Day 4 we left quaint Mendocino, had breakfast in the not-so-quaint Fort Bragg up north on Highway 1 and then overshot our next stop - the highly recommended Howard Creek Ranch. Upon our first evening in Oakland with cousin Maddy, she spoke of the Ranch and said how unique it was and with animals running around.




Well, we found it and luckily during the middle of the week it had it's best room (the suite, actually) available. We took the Captain's Quarters and marveled at the old place. There is a small house that serves as an office for the ranch hotel as well as 2 small dining rooms where the small amount of guests that can stay there eat at every morning. A DELICIOUS, fresh breakfast. It did NOT disappoint - especially the bisquits!

Our room was on the 2nd floor of the Carriage house - literally. An old carriage house, you could see where they would drive in the horse and buggy and leave it parked there in the middle of the building (there is a big open space for it - see video). Animals run around, sheep, horses, a llama, for example. It is old, musty, completely decorated in antiques. You can walk down to the beach or up into the foresty hillsides. Sally, the owner, would leave random hidden guest books or books open to write poetry or thoughts down. One was even wrapped in plastic in a hollowed tree at the end of the lovely Magic trail. It was so relaxing and beautiful! I am so pleased we stayed there! At night we took our firewood and went to the beach where we made a fire into the wee hours of the night - we had done this once before in 2006 in the Big Sur (see blog). Patrick took long-exposure photography of the waves crashing and the moon was out. It was priceless and such a joy--

Road Trip - Day 3 - Mendocino

From there we continued onto artsy Mendocino - which we had heard plenty about and was highly recommended. It was a lovely town and we had the best time walking around the main cliffs, around the quaint buildings and shops. Stopping into an organic pizzeria and ice cream parlor I almost lost my mind how good and fresh it was. So much so that P took pics of me enjoying myself!

After walking the cliffs behind the big jazz music festival tents that were set up we decided to drive up to the Lighthouse and trail up the road about 20 minutes near Caspar. This was a long walk, but very nice and we saw deer.


After that we decided to stay in Mendocino after all and drove straight to the oldest and largest (although small, by most standards) hotel there: The Mendocino Hotel. It wasn't cheap, the room was smaller than anything I'd ever had, no TV, and you had to share bathrooms and showers down the hall, but it had a magnificent decor, old bar down below, and a wonderful patio that overlooked the cliffs and festival tents across the streets and big, cozy white robes to wear and lounge around in.

We found the Irish pub a couple blocks away (there's always one everywhere in the world we go to) and enjoyed a beer and cocktail before retiring the night. It's interesting how much tourist traffic is there in the town during the day, but by nightfall it became a ghost town as most tourists opt to drive within an hour for cheaper hotels. So at the pub we were mostly with the locals - an entirely different feel.

Road Trip - Day 3 - morning in Manchester Beach

After leaving the Bay Area we continued without a plan, itinerary, or reservation anywhere. It was exciting to do a road trip like this! We stayed on the inland freeway passing countless vineyards before cutting across west to the coastline. (No, we drove through but no wine-tasting for us - it's not our thing although the countryside is lovely and I certainly appreciated that!)

Patrick loves the sea, of course: growing up in a seaside town in Northern Ireland and being in the navy... he adores being by the water. I enjoy it, too - don't get me wrong. But I love trees. Trees are my thing. Even more than the desert and coastline. Heck, I even partly chose my college: UC Irvine, just because it had huge, luscious, gorgeous trees all over campus and especially the center park.

So, we needed a little break and a place to figure out where we were and what our plan for the day was. We saw a sign and pulled into Manchester State Park - which was a pleasant, empty beach save the white carcasses of dried and washed up huge redwood trees on the sand. Patrick immediately started shooting his black and white film. We made the mental note that we might actually spend the night there at that beach - - there was a campground and we had brought our tent and gear in case we never found hotels. After a bit of photography we decided to see what was up north, noting we could always return to camp at the beach.

Northern California Summer Road Trip!

Patrick took a week off work in early July so that we may take a road trip to Northern California. Neither of us had been north of the Bay Area so we were quite anxious to see more of our beautiful Golden State. There wasn't much of a plan outside of the first day driving straight up to the Bay Area where we spent a wonderful evening at the home of my dear cousin, Maddy, her baby boy and her gazillion cats - - she has 4 cats of her own but outside she traps to fix and feed ferrel cats. (heheh and you all thought I was a crazy Cat Lady).

After a relaxing time at Maddy's we left the next day to have lunch and visit Patrick's 91 year old 2nd cousin Dick. This is the 2nd time I've enjoyed visiting with him and it is just a joy to hear his family stories, see how meticulously keeps photograph records and what not. I told him that he should leave all those photos to Patrick as he is worried what will happen to them. I do hope that he does. All those stories he tells us are just wonderful and will one day just be forgotten if not passed down.

He showed us his music room which he hadn't on our previous visit. I couldn't believe he pushed me aside and started playing some old ragtime tunes - challenging, because the left hand (or bass line) jumps back and forth. God bless him - what a show!

ABC - HOB - Rainbow flags - Jonas Brother = a heckuva night

Yup - it's the last day of August and I haven't posted since June. Whew! I have stories, travels, concerts, TONS of modeling to blog about but I guess being a wife, homeowner and stepmom really takes my freetime from blogging. :(

I am posting about the concert of one of my top 80s band faves, ABC, that Patrick and I went to The House of Blues on Sunset Strip earlier this summer. I am happy to report that lead singer Martin Fry is still thin, still has his hair, and his high notes. What a great concert - in a small, intimate venue with us standing close-enough to the stage that at one moment, debonair Fry actually locked eyes with me. Now don't think I am crazy because even my husband saw it. HAHAHAHHAH! Now, of COURSE, Martin Fry locked eyes with me - - I am beautiful-enough, tall, big eyes, singing along every word to every song - - oh, and I was also one of the few women there. The HOB on Sunset Strip is right next to West Hollywood - rainbow town, if you know what I mean. The whole crowd was gay and over 40. And if there were any women, they were over 40, faghags having a fun 80s night out with their gay BFFs.

Thus, Martin checked me out which led me to the rest of the night throwing my arms in the air and shout, "Me - - Martin - - Look at mEEEEEE!" I can't believe it, but it's true and P still teases me about it to this day. Well, I tell him that had I not been there with my husband I am quite positive a bouncer would have singled me out post show and taken me backstage like some underage groupie. Uh huh. "Like, Totally."

*Editor's Note - at one point we got even closer to the stage and I realized the youngest Jonah Brother, Nick - was there alone, trying to be inconspicuous at the tender age of 21 going alone to a concert where most were old enough to be his parents. I commented in P's ear who he was and just when that youngun thought he could enjoy his Budlight and watch the band in silence a drunk younger couple in their late 20s recognized him and became IDIOTS, hugging him, taking tons of pics of him, constantly talking to him. P and I honestly wanted to tell them to leave the kid alone. He clearly didn't want to be bothered and was trying to be nice. Finally it got so bad that he had a word with them and they kind of backed off, to which he left my side and sidled up to the stage and speaker to get away from them.
It must stink to be a celeb. Really.
Enjoy my beloved ABC!!!