Oh for Shame....

A year ago I hopped on here to let the world know that Peacocks on Leashes was being brought back to life. ONE. YEAR. AGO. And then nothing....complete and utter silence. For shame. I am so embarrassed....really. Life happens, and I got caught up in the roller coaster ride that is motherhood and modeling in Los Angeles. One month ago I decided to go into semi-retirement from the Industry (meaning direct bookings only...and shoots with artists that I respect) and what a relief that has been. No more spending ungodly amounts of time and gas on driving around this great city for a quick snap-snap of polaroids. I found that between being a real mom, as in REALLY there for my kids and all of their school activities, taking care of my house (because yes, I really do clean and do the laundry...and cook), being new mom to our wonder Poodle, and trying to fit in some self-care (like CrossFit), all of the running around to maybe, just maybe book a job or two was getting to me. I realized that while I enjoy the random booking and the money that comes along with it, I was no longer the same girl I was "back in the day". My passion was no longer in getting to my next location/market/season...I have kids to pick up from school by 3pm. I needed to move on and get back to my first love...writing. Not to mention, the longer I've been away from this blog the more faded my memories of my model-gypsy years are becoming, and I really don't want to forget all of the moments and stories that made me feel so alive...the rockstar years. Some of my best friendships were forged during that time...and while I'm not 100% sure that I even know where my old travel journals and boxes of pictures are after our last move....I can certainly pick-axe my way through the chambers of my subconscious and drag out some good stuff until this blog finally comes to an end. There. I did it. I've returned.....and it won't be another year before my next post comes around. ;)

Name Droppings....Better Than Bird Droppings?

I'm not a fan of name dropping...it induces in me a irresistible desire to roll my eyes and walk away from the name dropper as quickly as my wee feet can carry me....However, I just realized the other day that I have forgotten many of the *ahem* well known people I spent time with during my days of Peacocks on Leashes.

My drop dead stunning cousin, Christie, was in town recently after touring with Disney/Pixar working PR for the Cars 2 movie. My kids, husband and I had a blast showing her around town and hearing about the movie, her work and seeing pictures from behind the scenes. At lunch she asked me who some of the famous people were that I had met, partied with, conversed with or just graced with my presence (bahahahaaaaa!) and I sat there over my stuffed Portobello mushroom drawing a blank...so...in case Alzheimer's hits me a little prematurely, I've decided to write this list down for posterity.

Here goes:

P.Diddy (on a yacht in Monte Carlo and at his house in Miami)
Naomi Campbell (Monte Carlo)
Tyson Beckford (Miami)
Ice Cube (Miami)
Sugar Hill Gang (Miami)
Emelio Estevez (LA)
Prince Albert of Monaco (Monte Carlo)
Princess Victoria of Sweden (Monte Carlo)
Karolina Kurkova (Miami)
Art Alexakis (Portland)
Stephen Dorff (Miami)
Salt & Peppa ( Miami)
Billy Corgan (Miami)
two of the Backstreet Boys (can't remember their names...lol) ( Milan)
Liam Neeson (Milan)
Julia Stiles (Milan)
Tony Hawk (Miami)
Lenny Kravitz (Miami)
Stephen Baldwin (Miami)
Steven Seagal (Miami)
Robin Leach ( Miami)
Eva Longoria (Portland)
Justin Timberlake (Tokyo)
Coco Lee (Taipei)
Carson Daley (Miami)
Ed Kowalczyk and Chad Gracey of the band LIVE (Miami & Portland)
Pauly Shore (Miami)
Angelina Jolie (did a student film with her in high school in LA WAAAAAAY back)
Chad Allen (LA)
Steve Allen (LA)
LeBron James (Portland)
The Dandy Warhols (Portland)
The Counting Crows (Milan)
Liz Phair (LA)
Lil Bow Wow (LA)
Lil Kim (Miami)
Enrique Iglesias (Miami)
Julio Iglesias, Jr. (Miami)
Rod Stewart (Miami)
Sting (Miami)
Kid Rock (Miami)
Rachel Hunter (Miami)
May Andersen (Miami)



OMG, I know there are many, many more...but here I go...losing those memories faster than I'm harvesting gray hairs! I'll be sure to add to the list as I think of more....and if any of my friends reading this remember any please let me know who I'm missing! ;)

Now back to cooking mac and cheese for the ragamuffins....

Changing Pace

Ok, that's it....I just can't seem to stay chronological anymore with this travel shite. I'll be adding in some of my last journal entries, perhaps some more pictures of raging insouciance and hot (hahaha) fashions and then I'll be turning this blog into a current day view into my life as a model with some random posts where I "look back" with certain bouts of melancholy and deep sighs at what my life as a model once was....on the road.....

So keep checking back in for a new & improved Peacocks on Leashes...this new format will have me posting far more regularly. Woot woot! =)

My Crazy Model TV Addiction

I just have to cut in here and talk a little about what it was like for me the first few hours I would move into any models' apartment in any part of the globe. For some reason, I would more often than not, move in and have the entire place be empty. Not empty as in I got the apartment to myself for the entire season...more like, empty because everyone was working or on castings. So, what does a girl do in a foreign country, in a new apartment, and all on her lonesome? TURN ON THE TV.

It didn't matter if I was in Italy, Japan or Taiwan...the first thing I would do upon entering a new home and setting my luggage down, was to turn on the television. It's not like I expected the experience to be anything like turning on my TV at home and having my shows pop up as if my cable services had magically followed me abroad.....but I did want to hear and see something.

That eerie quiet that comes from being alone in a strange new hovel was always disheartening to me. Despite my travel addiction, for those first few seconds in a new and empty place, I would have a flash of homesickness...I would want to grab the phone and pay unreal sums of money just to "connect" with someone. So, instead of a phone call, I would turn on the tube and watch really loud and bright Japanese game shows, or Italian music videos which were often (as in the case of Piero Pelu) too unbelievably bad to look away from....or the VTV music videos in Taipei that played anything from Brittney Spears terribleness to some really cool Korean hip hop. Once in a while, I scored and would find a show in English...some ancient Fresh Prince or Little House on the Prairie episode that was somehow bouncing through space off of a satellite....and that was good. Real good. And then there were the apartments were the TV's sat there covered in dust...like a relic from the Eastern Bloc...some random looking contraption that would not work no matter how much I cursed at it and tried every knob (mind you most never had a remote)...and those were always the creepiest nights. Sitting there in silence until a roomate would finally appear and save me from the quiet.....

This model TV addiction never lasted long. Once in and integrated into my new life and home I barely had time to sit and watch anything on TV. And when I did it was to watch DVD's with friends....When I would return home to the States though I would always make sure that my cable would always be set up and working.....and it always was to my great relief....because after being gone for 3-6 months at a time, coming home to the States and my apartments there was always strange and oddly disheartening as well. I would want to have the company of whatever news anchor or sitcom actor was on at the moment I would walk in the door....

And it's funny for me to even think about all of this now....since at this point in my life I crave nothing more than silence and solitude...and a large chunk of chocolate....but back then, the silence of an empty apartment after being on planes full of people, photoshoots surrounded by crew, and parties embraced by friends...was just not comfortable.....So, yes....I guess in that way I was a typical American, needing my TV and finding it a source of comfort. No wonder some of my Eastern Euro and Brazilian roomies would roll their eyes at me when they first met me...."aha! look at the American! always with the TV on even if she isn't watching it!".