They Like Booty in South Beach

So, my ass was too Cuban for Tokyo, I went back to Portland where I shot an Intel commercial and a campaign for Brooks running shoes, packed my bags, got on a plane with Amber, got fed processed meat sticks, felt my eyes sting and water from the violently explosive flatulence of the guy sitting in the row in front of ours, arrived in Miami where booty is appreciated, had Jean-Paul meet us curbside, drove to our apartment at the Decoplage, met up with Ned, Paul and Kari...this was a very "Real World" a la MTV moment....and so Season Two in South Beach had begun.

That night we fought off all vestiges of tiredness and managed to go out. We partied with Rupert Everett at Touch, and kicked it at 320 with Rod Stewart, Sting, and one of us managed to drop a glass of alchohol on the floor (I think it was a gin & tonic) breaking it and splashing Kid Rock as he was exiting the building.

Yeah, once upon a time this was my life......

More on Tokyo and the Pity Party that Ensued

Ah, yes....nothing like a little body image dilemma when you're a model......words from my travel journal (aka an invitation to my pity party)...

8/27

Sitting in Narita. This is all so fucking surreal. I have spent 7 days in Tokyo and now I am going back home. Total mind fuck. I'm physically and emotionally exhausted. I had a great time with Debbie and Michelle yesterday. We walked the grounds of the Imperial Palace, rode the subways, got lost, went shopping at Harajaku and partied at Gas Panic and Lexington Queen with two of the boys from N'SYNC, experienced a minor earthquake this morning and now my trip is over. Whirlwind? I'm going home.

I really like Tokyo. It's a pristine city, beautiful in its modernity, full of brilliant and positive energy. The people are so nice. I'm glad I got to come even if for such a short amount of time. I just wish I could've stayed longer, to experience this place if nothing else. I amstill angry, sad, shocked about getting sent home without being given any benefit of the doubt. I feel insulted and hurt and cand see a serious body and food image issue starting to form in my psyche.

As soon as I found out I was leaving I binged on crazy amounts of food both healthy and not. And now I feel disgusting and fat. I'm paranoid to go to Q6 when I get back and have them think of me as fat and gross. I don't want to end up with some sick obsession. Why the hell did this happen?

Tokyo & My Big Cuban Ass

My summer in Portland ended, I packed my bags, kissed my cats good-bye and headed back to the Land of the Rising Sun. I was high with wanderlust and ready to get on with my traveling....maybe a little too high. I got to Tokyo, fell in love with the city instantly, moved into my little high rise apartment with an incredible view of Roppongi, and met my roommate, yet another sweet as sugar Canadian girl. What could possibly go wrong? Well....let my journal entry answer that question for ya...

8/25

I am going home on Sunday. I was told by the agency that I am "too fat" to work in Tokyo. What the fuck? Me, fat. That's a first. I just wish I could've laughed when my booker measured my ass and told me that I had "too many butts". Yeah, I have an ass and they want me to remove it? My booker took me out for a drink to break the news to me. He said that I would never work in Tokyo unless I could lose 2 inches on my butt and hips in one week. I was reeling. I measured in at 34.5 inches. Totally normal, totally regulation measurement for the biz. I could lose half an inch easy......but TWO? In ONE week? So I'm going home. Oh my God. I haven't had 33 inch hips since before I hit puberty. Oh my God.

I didn't sleep last night, having been in total shock. So much bullshit and I lost a really good booking at home to be here. But I have to look at the bright side of this. I got a free side trip to Tokyo. Now I can say I've been here. Tomorrow I'll explore the city and then I'll go home.

This is why girls go anorexic. Now I know.


***************

That night I did what any good little model would do.......I went to Gas Panic and Lexington Queen and drank my huge Cuban ass off and got to watch Justin Timberlake making out with three rather young Brazilian models in the VIP of Lex. Arigato my friends......

Of Hiking in the Moonlight & Crushing on Fashion Editors...

I have to say that the best job I've shot in Portland (fashion-wise) was for Ministry Magazine out of London that summer. The photographer happened to have grown up in Oregon and wanted to shoot a story up on Mt. Hood. I booked the job and this is how it went:

8/14

I worked Friday & Saturday with an amazing team. Finally, a real editorial shoot in Portland. We shot in the wilderness of Mt. Hood and the Columbia Gorge. Truly stunning. On Friday we finished so late that we ended up hiking down the mountain by the light of the moon. It was both terrifying and beautiful. The fashion editor of the magazine is only 22 and hilarious. He drove out to location with me in my car and had me in stitches the entire time. At one point we pulled over so that he could take a picture of a morbidly obese family to show his co-workers in London what an "American family" really looks like. He wants me to come to London.....I think I'm smitten.

(and then for some reason I tacked this quote to the end of the entry...)

"Close your eyes, that is the difference. Sometimes you can't believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel."

A shot from the editorial (yes, those were Burberry stilettos and everyone was freaking out that they would get wet in the stream...all this as I attempted to look like a fabulous wood nymph while balancing on 3 inch heels on a slippery, lichen covered rock. I love fashion.)