Drive by Posting

I've had a very serious mishap since my last posting... You see, I was trying to make my bed (something I NEVER do) for the anticipated arrival of a new roommate in my studio-sized model's apartment, when I tripped over the cord of my Apple iBook G4, and well, the whole thing came crashing to the floor.

Amazingly enough, it seemed relatively unscathed: the only discernible problem was that my airport (wireless) had stopped working.  That wasn't a huge deal, as I had an ethernet cable in my laptop and was able to still connect to the internet.  I figured I'd knocked the wireless card loose, and all I needed to do was re-seat it, which is pretty simple, except I couldn't figure out where my airport card is located.  For future reference, in these models, it is located under the keyboard.  Who knew?

So, I took it to the Apple store, where they "fixed" my problem, but then diagnosed my poor computer with a whole host of other problems such as not having enough memory, and possibly having a failing logic board.  And, when I left the Apple store, my computer wouldn't start anymore.  It's as if all those terrible things they said about my computer was true.  So, I came to the Apple store with a simple problem (wireless not working) and left with a very serious problem (it not turning on at all.)  I have no idea what they did to it!

Now I am alone in Miami, without a computer:(  I'll probably be taking so time off from this blog, as my only source of internet is, ironically enough, the Apple Store.  I've been making daily stops here to check my email and whatnot, but I won't be able to upload pictures of the amazing Miami sunsets, or my modeling escapades in this city.  I have another date with the Apple store on Friday night-- I'll let you know how that goes.

Bienvenidos a Miami

Where I was last week-- San Juan, Puerto Rico

You may have noticed that I've taken some time away from my blog. I went through a phase a few months ago where all I thought about was entries that I could post. I looked forward to checking my Google Analytics page each day to see how many hits I had and where my visitors were coming from, and I enjoyed the comments that readers would post to my blog.

Lately, though, I have felt completely uninspired. I can't seem to figure out what my focus is-- whether I want to write really personally, or focus on fashion, or crafts, or do something totally different. I am unsure what my readership is-- whether there's anyone out there who reads what I write and gets a kick out of it.

I am now living in Miami for the next month or so. I have an agency down here, Mega Models, and they asked me a few months ago to consider spending my winter down here (you can view my portfolio here). Few people seem to understand how it works, but the short of it is that I am not here on a job. I do not get paid to be in Miami. Like an actor who moves to LA to try and find work, a model moves from city to city in order to find work. I have the luxury of picking which city I want to live in (most major cities have at least a little modeling work, although the top three cities to make a living as a model are New York, Paris, and Milan). That said, I pay all of my expenses-- I book my plane ticket there, find accommodations, and pay my own day to day expenses. It can get quite expensive, especially if I don't end up finding work in that city. So far, I have lived and or worked in New York City, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; Athens, Greece; Mumbai, India; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Istanbul, Turkey; and Amman, Jordan.

My lonely little apartment in Miami

I arrived in Miami last Saturday, and found that I am living in a small, studio apartment that my agency is renting to me. I was expecting to be put in an apartment with other girls, as is customary, but instead find myself all alone in this foreign city. My apartment seems to be located on a stretch of road that is mostly other dilapidated-looking apartment buildings. So far, I have not found any places to eat, nor have I found a grocery. The agency is located about a half hour's walk from me on Lincoln Road, which is, thankfully, much more populated.

I've found that I am pretty bored living all by myself in a city where I don't have many friends (I think the count is up to two-- my friend Christina, who has a three week old baby, and Amanda, another model living here that I have just been reaquainted with-- we actually met for the first time in 2003 in Athens, Greece). I am not much into exploring places by myself. I think having a twin has spoiled me so that I don't like to do things by myself. So far, I've walked along the seashore (which my apartment building backs up to), gone to the library (where I actually read a whole book in one sitting), and toyed around in the Apple Store on Lincoln Road.

Me and Amanda make friends at a hostel

Last night I finally had some excitement as Amanda and I decided to explore the South Beach area a bit. We were pleasantly surprised when we stumbled upon a barbeque at a local hostel. For $5 we got all-you-can-eat burgers, and made instant friends with some other out-of-towners. We hung around there until midnight, then we headed to Ted's Hideaway, a local dive bar, with some of out new friends. I had a great time, and was immensly relieved to be out of my solitary apartment for a night.

Nothing Is Original

Taken from swissmiss' blog.

DIY Valentine for Charity

Hey folks-- I've been busy working on my Valentine for fredflare.com. I've finished, though, and am ever so proud of my results!

This is what I came up with:

A kissing silhouette printed on red ticking and glued to cardstock

The inside of the card. I used a Charles Rennie Mackintosh-style font.

And I'm really proud of the envelope, which I sewed out of muslin and red ticking.

I put pin tucks down the front to add visual interest.

The envelope stays closed with the help of three buttons.

This Valentine, and others like it, will be sold at www.fredflare.com to raise money for charity. To read more about it (and get involved yourself), go here. To view other Valentines that people have made, be sure to check out the Flickr Fredflare Valentines for Charity Pool.

Make Your Own Valentine

I think this is such a clever idea. Fredflare.com (known for its cuteness extraordinaire-- check out their shop for tons of cute shopping ideas) is encouraging us to make Valentine's Day cards and send it to them to sell online and in their Brooklyn-based store. All proceeds go to charity. I like arts 'n crafts, so this seems like a great way to flex my creative muscles. I leave to Puerto Rico a week from today, so I don't have much time, but I wanted my blog readers to get involved too. Why not make a Valentine's Day card for charity? And better yet, send me a link-- I'd love to see what you come up with!

Click here for all the details.

FREDFLARE.COM