Baby Loves Xmas

Last weekend me and Erika helped out at this event called "Baby Loves Xmas" at dragon-i on Sunday afternoon. It was a Christmas party for kids and was super cute. There were different stations they could visit and play at; I was at the hair braiding station, Erika did temporary tattoos, there was face painting, dancing, etc. I thought I was just volunteering which would have been cool, but then at the end when I was paid it was a nice surprise ;)

Here are some pictures:

Fresh Fruit Shake

Across the street from my apartment there is a little fruit stand, and they sell fresh fruit juice shakes. You pick your fruits and veggies and they juice them right in front of you. Erika always got them, so I finally tried it and loved it.

They barely speak English, so communicating the fruits I want is always pretty challenging. One day I asked for a plain orange juice, but the guy didn't understand and messed up and somehow I ended up with orange, pear, and carrot...and it was amazing! So now I get one every day for 8 HK dollars, so about 1 US dollar (so cheap!).

I've never been so good about eating my fruits and veggies..I need to find somewhere to get this when I get home or I will experience withdrawal (mom we need a good juicer... ;)).

I am currently enjoying my orange/pear/carrot juice right now.

An Awesome Test Shoot

The other day the agency sent me to a test shoot. I was expecting something really lame and completely un-book worthy that would have just been a huge waste of my time, but I was pleasantly surprised for a change :)

It was a huge production shoot; there were 13 people total on set between photographer/assistants/hair/make-up/wardrobe people and what have you. I think the pictures are going to be awesome. I'll post them when I get them.



I was handed this packet when I first got there so I could see what they were going for. The above shots were posing references.

These shots were references for the lighting; how they planned to manipulate the colors and tones. I loveeee it.

So when they first put this wig on me I was like oh my god..this is going to be ridiculous.


I'm a rocker.

But then I got dressed and into hair/makeup/wardrobe and I was feeling it. I think it could be cool haha.

The set for the first series. It was so dark in there because they had different color light bulbs and colored wraps in front of the lights to get the crazy color effect they wanted.


These were just some random shots. I took a pic of the screen just to show the color effects which were bad ass.


And they fed me lunch, which is always an easy and reliable way to capture my heart <3.


These are the fresh flowers they put in my hair for the second set.


There they are pinning them all to my bun. My head was so heavy!


The flowers were soo beautiful. I smelled good ;)


They're testing the lighting before I jumped in there.


Some other random shots on the screen; I took this pic to show how cool the lighting was.


I thought I looked like the lady with all the fruit in the basket on her head, only with flowers. And those eye lashes were ridiculous...and so annoying.


Before I left the studio I washed all the make-up off so I didn't have to travel home looking like a freak like I usually do. Back to normal me...much better :)

<3

Construction

My apartment building is under construction, and it drives me (and Erika, and probably everyone else living here) insane.

It starts early in the morning, every morning and doesn't stop until around 7 pm. Drilling, hammering, sawing, GAHH.

Last Saturday morning when all I wanted to do was stay in bed to catch up on some much needed sleep, they started jackhammering at 7:30 am, and our entire bedroom was vibrating. SERIOUSLY??? Necessary to start with the jackhammer that early?

Today I was out in the living room getting ready, when all of a sudden 2 workmen appeared right outside my window. I live on the 8th floor. This scared the shit out of me.

I just needed to bitch. I am done :)

Manicure Number Two

As I was walking along in Causeway Bay, a lady shoved a flier in my face (as is the usual despite the fact that I obviously can't speak Cantonese) for a nail salon called "Natural Nail". My nails were looking as terrible as ever, so I decided to go.

With a name like "Natural Nail", wouldn't any normal and logical person assume that they specialized in dealing with NATURAL NAILS, and not all this crazy stuff they love over here like the 5 inch long fake acrylic nails with jewels, decals, sparkles and airbrush designs? Why can't it ever be easy???

I walked in and was excited because the place was clean and nice; I asked the ladies at the front desk for a "regular manicure" and they had no idea what I meant. Red flag number one. Someone who worked there finally came over who spoke English and explained to them what I wanted.

Vicky was my manicurist and she had no idea what she was doing. I had to tell her that I wanted my nails filed and that she could cut them if necessary, and that I wanted two coats of polish. She was cute, but seriously...should I have to explain to a manicurist what a regular MANICURE is? She kept asking me if I wanted jewels and sparkles like she had; no thanks Vicky, I really just want you to cut, file, and polish but apparently that is too much to ask. The stupid manicure probably took an hour and a half when it should have taken 30 minutes at most. I hate to say it but even "Suki Nail", my first place, was better than this.

Sigh. And the search for a decent manicure in Asia continues.

A Test Shoot

I did a test shoot today, it was alright. I was having one of those days where I barely felt like rolling out of bed let alone shooting something. I didn't feel great today; I have a cold which I likely caught from Erika and a sore throat. Of course I am a bundle of joy.

Anyways, I shot some beauty with some crazy make-up. Three different looks, and the make-up artist took a long time every time and I was dying because I have no patience and hate sitting still. And I don't know how the shots will be...on the screen straight off the camera with no post work they looked pretty iffy, but I am a tough critic. I am not holding my breath but hope I will be pleasantly surprised.

After we finished I went to dinner with the team, which included photographer and his two assistants, and MUA and her assistant. (The number of assistants seemed a bit excessive to me but what do I know). We went to eat at a completely hole in the wall place, the type that I would never walk into on my own, not to mention the fact that they have no English menus. Often in Hong Kong the food is served "family style", meaning a bunch of dishes are ordered for the table on platters so everyone gets a bit of everything.

Chopsticks were the only utensils (of course) so I was a bit puzzled how I was supposed to eat the chicken and steak without a knife and fork because they still had the bones in them. I was told to just use my hands. No problem. The thing that I thought was hilarious (and a bit gross) though, was that everyone just dropped all of their chewed up half eaten pieces of chicken and steak bones right onto the table; there were piles all over. I was dying to take a picture but knew that would be so rude so I just cackled to myself. Heh heh heh. I guess that's just what they do over here.

My New Roomie

So the agency asked me if I would mind moving into another model's apartment because the one I was in otherwise would be packed with FOUR girls which would have been ridiculously tight. I was super annoyed at first, thinking about how much it was going to suck packing up ALL my stuff and then moving.

But now I am SO glad I did! My new apartment is right across the street from the agency, 2 second walk from the metro, and my new roomie is amazing! Her name is Erika, and she's 20 years old from Canada and I love love love her. We share a bedroom and joke that we're like a married couple because our room is so small and there is only a foot and a half of room between our beds so it's a good thing we get along lol.

I love the Canadians and the Australians that I've met here because they are most like people in the states. We're loud, sometimes obnoxious, boisterous and fun. And it's not that Europeans or Asians or anyone else isn't like this, it's just that I feel our cultures are the most similar so we share the same sense of humor and laugh at the same stuff and are just generally more on the same page if this makes sense. More in common. And I'm sure English as a first language helps too because we can talk and talk and talk and don't have to worry about slowing down our speech or using simpler language.

Anyways, Erika is great. Here are some pics from our last week together:


She's so cute

Dragon-i
Heh. I love this pic.






This wine bottle was not opening. We even took it down stairs to see if our doorman could open it, which he could not.






We went bowling the other night. A friend has a two lane bowling alley in his apartment building..so cool.


We went to IKEA and decked out our room! We bought mirrors and flowers and candles and lights for our room. lol it's cute.