Since I have a lot of upcoming events I have to attend, I decided to do a bit of last-minute shopping. So, here are a few of my most recent last minute purchases:

 

A polka dot dress from Body Central, to wear to a friend's upcoming wedding. I'm thinking I may be a bit taller than the model, so I'm hoping it will be long enough, or I may have to have it altered a bit. I forgot to measure it before I ordered it =/ and I don't want to come off as looking too "hoochie" because my dress is too short.

 

Floral skirt and black crop sweater, both from Body Central. I plan on wearing these to a few graduations I will be attending soon. Two of my cousins are graduating from high school, and one from college in the upcoming months, and this is prefect graduation attire.

 

I loved this green sundress from Anthropologie. This will be great for summers at the lake. Light and comfy.

I'm sitting in the Charlotte - Douglas Airport as I am posting this, happy to say that I am on my way HOME!

Finally! I can't wait =) heheh.

Last Saturday I had a job for NYLON Magazine, shooting with photographer Ruvan Wijesooriya and fellow model Adrian Hurtado. It was fun. Nice shoot, and with "quirky, nerdy style" lol. I think I pulled that off quite well. I only wish I had some pictures from the shoot. It is supposed to be used in the June/July issue of NYLON, but I'm not holding my breath that it will wind up in the magazine, yet, and if it didn't it wouldn't be the first time that it had happened.

Sunday my roommates Alice, Claudia, Claudia's mom, and another model and her mother, took me to a traditional Brazilian restaurant in Queens. That made Alice so happy =) I can relate - I remember how happy I was to have a cheeseburger and fries while in Japan - so I know exactly how she felt. Afterwards Alice, Claudia, her mom, and myself, went to the American Museum of Natural History. I tried to take pictures before my camera battery died =( I managed to get a few of the North American Mammals section, which was about it. But at least I did get a picture of the wolves =)

That place is so amazing. I think it is something everyone should visit at least once in their lives. There is so much to see and do, it's hard to take it all in in only a day. I wish I could have spent four days in the museum, one for each floor. I will try to upload pictures from the museum to flickr soon.

I am going home on Sunday the 13th to take my Driver's Licensing Course (DLC) on Monday the 14th. Last night my agent called to tell me that she will book the flight, but that I needed to come back to NYC on the 16th. I was pretty upset about that. I called my mom and once she found out why I was so upset and what was going on, she called my agent back to talk things out with her. She explained that I needed some down time, at least until the beginning of May, which is only two weeks, and that what with my grandfather in such bad medical condition, I wanted to be home. Not to mention that I haven't seen my family, or Justin, in over a month.

I hate being a doormat for everyone, and even though having my mom step in when I'm upset like I'm a kid is somewhat embarassing, I'm glad she does sometimes. I have a bad habit of letting people in this industry walk all over me, and if my mom didn't step in sometimes, I'd probably be gone for 9 months out of the year, constantly, from one country to another.

 

My booker told me that I had a casting today at the agency at 3pm, but once I got there I noticed that no one was in the main office room. She told me to walk into the conference room, which was "where the client was", but once I walked in everyone was there, with a cake and balloons, and started singing happy birthday to me. My friend Katie (a fellow model) was there, and her mom was the one who made the cake for me. They are so awesome and I am so glad that they did that for me, I wasn't expecting it at all!

It was a very nice April Fools Day trick, and a nice birthday surprise at that.

 

Today I'm 19. Wow. My last year as a teenager! It's hard to believe that at 11:45 tonight I'll have been here for 19 years now =)

Things are looking up for me. I'm on option for Target (as are half the girls, on every board, at every agency in NYC lol), and for CosmoGirl, Elle UK, etc. I talked to my booker today and he is booking my return flight home for next Sunday, April 13th, so that I can take my driver's course on the 14th. So far, everything is working itself out. No one yelled at me today, though my other booker still teased me. I guess he'll never stop.

I wonder how long it will be before everything goes to pot again ;P lol.

My friend Stephen called from Paris this morning - at 7:30am, because he wanted to be the first to wish me Happy Birthday and I couldn't be annoyed with him. Michael called me from Paris a few hours later to wish me the same. My roommate's mom doesn't speak English, but she asked the other girls in the apartment how to say "happy birthday" in English, just so she could wish me happy birthday and she knew I didn't understand Portuguese, which made me smile =)

My mom e-mailed me a birthday card, but it hasn't gotten here yet. She also sent me some money so I could buy myself a birthday present while I am here, since I won't be getting my MacBook until I go home. Justin also called to wish me a happy birthday, but then he had to take his grandmother somewhere. So far today I've only talked to him for fifteen minutes, which kind of sucks, but I'm not going to let it ruin my day.

 

All in all, the birthday is going well, considering the circumstances =)

 

I'm not sure where I remember hearing the quote "a creature of vanity" from, but it is the inspiration for my new vox layout / header.

Today I shot with photographer Amy Fronczkiewicz from 9am-4pm. It was by far my favorite shoot ever. Not only were the photographer, assistant, and make up artist / hair dresser wonderful people whom I all got along with, the shoot went quick and the photos came out awesome! On top of that, Amy e-mailed me the jpegs before I was back on the subway!

Afterwards I shot with photographer Nick Heavican. It was a very quick and easy test shoot, involving the story of a particular suit and how it photographs on each girl. Interesting, quick, and easy. My kind of shoot.

I was supposed to be finishing up around 10pm, but luckily I was done by 7pm and came home early.

Now I'm hitting the shower, but not before I showcase some of my favorite snaps from the shoot.

Today I went with my agent's mother, Susan, and one of her students, Bianca (both are from St. Thomas), on a boat tour around Manhattan.

We had a lot of fun, and I tried to take plenty of pictures despite all of the people who were constantly standing up to take pictures themselves, not caring that they were inconsiderately blocking the view of others =/

 

 

 

 

It was a very pretty, yet cold and windy day in New York, especially on the water. Thank God for hot chocolate =) Afterwards Bianca and I walked around the various shops of Soho, and went to Starbucks before she and Susan went back to where they are staying in Brooklyn. Hopefully we can spend more time together before they leave on Tuesday!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter, or if you don't celebrate Easter, I hope you have a happy Spring =)

Today roomie Alice asked me to go to Central Park with her to take pictures of the Alice in Wonderland Statue, because Alice in Wonderland was always her favorite childhood book and Disney movie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterward we took a walk through Central Park

 

 

And then we went to the Central Park Zoo to eat lunch and see the animals. I got lots of nice pictures of the animals, even if the lighting inside the zoo wasn't the best.

 

Seals playing in the water!

 

The two Polar Bears on exhibit at the NYC Central Park Zoo. The female, Ida is the one playing with the treat ball, and the male, who's name I didn't catch, is the one sleeping.

 

Duckies!

It isn't the best shot in the world, but the Red Pandas were cute!

The Tamarin Monkey is an endangered species =(

How cute is this sleeping lizard?

 

A very pretty type of amazonian frog.

 

I love the vibrant color of this snake, so pretty!

 

A Rhinoceros Snake. I could never be afraid of this snake, it is just too funny to be scared of! =P

 

Is this a Cockatiel? Is that even the right spelling? Cockatiel? It's a very pretty bird, whatever it is =)

 

 

I had no clue what a Greater Malayan Mouse Deer was, or even that they existed! They are very cute though!

 

 

The Scarlet Ibis is very colorful, and very beautiful. I love this picture!

I got to feed this fruit bat! I wish I had a picture of it, but I didn't get anyone to take one for me =( this is the cutest little bat, and very friendly too!

 

 

The Penguins at the zoo during feeding time!

 

 

 

A very friendly penguin who followed me back and forth around the tank as I was taking pictures.

 

 

A cute little puffin swimming along in the tank =)

 

It took me 20 minutes to finally get this photograph of a very elusive sea lion at the NYC Central Park Zoo.

My little brother's birthday was today. He turned 14. I couldn't be there, but I designed him a cute little "Happy Birthday, Skyler" card in Photoshop and e-mailed it to him. He was happy about it. I just feel bad because I wasn't there for his birthday, and I still don't have a present for him. But I do plan on buying him something and bringing it back with me.

I had a return request for CosmoGIRL today, which was great, and also the only thing I had to do for work. I met with the photographer, and he seemed to genuinely like me and my book, so hopefully I will be shooting with them soon! I think getting CosmoGIRL would be a good thing for my career, and hopefully other things would come of it. For the rest of the day I have just been lounging around the apartment, talking on the phone and being lazy in general. I am contemplating walking to the corner for Starbucks later, since yesterday I had Starbucks for the first time in over a month, and I tend to get hooked on it pretty easily...

Today would be the perfect day to start working on getting my website up again. I closed it because of stalker issues with a few people I know in real life, and I remember promising myself I would open it again in January as my New Year's Resolution... here it is almost April, and still no website. I think trying to get started on it now would be a waste though, as I will be switching a lot of files over to my MacBook once it arrives, and because I know I will be busy again in the next few days and will not have time to work on anything or do anything productive. I miss my website though =( ... soon... very soon, I promise.

My agent's mom called to see if I wanted to come over (my agent is away with her hubby for two weeks while they are on their honeymoon, her mom is house / dog-sitting), but I missed her call. I got her voicemail, and should probably return the call as soon as I am done typing this up. I found out this morning that one of my roommates has been eating my food (and everyone else's). I locked my expensive Pepperidge Farm cookies up in my suitcase, and am thinking about going to the store later to buy Oreos, some toothpaste, and some laxative... hehehe.

Every day I check Giulia Noni's portfolio, hoping my pictures from Gioia Magazine will be up. I know selecting photos and editing them takes forever, but I can't help but want to see them! I have seen a few of the raw, unretouched photos and they are going to look amazing once she is done with them. She's an awesome photographer, and a pleasure to shoot with although I probably made her impatient on more than one occasion (I can't help it if I can't look directly into the sun for fifteen minutes straight!) My friend Alli found Giulia's assistant's blog, Sammy Talk (you can google it if you want). He has some nice photos of the location we shot at, Club Ed, in Lancaster, California (and a good sense of humor, in my opinion).

Justin caught me looking through the videos and tutorials on Apple.com (again!) when he called today. He says I am becoming obsessed, but really I just want to know how to set up a lot of things straight out of the box when I get my MacBook. Of course everyone says this is really easy, but I'm a bit sceptical never really working with or having to set up a Mac before. It doesn't hurt to look things up before hand =P As of today I have six days until I go home, and a week and four days until my birthday.  I think once I am home we are all going to Peking's (a local Chinese place), to celebrate my birthday. I love Peking's, so I can't wait =) In the meantime, I guess I'll design some e-invitations to my birthday dinner for my friends to keep me busy and a birthday card I can e-mail to my dad since his birthday is Monday... it's so boring in NYC sometimes, as crazy as that sounds, being bored in a big city...

 

So I talked to my mom last night about my proposed birthday presents, and she agreed to let me order my new Mac early, in time for my birthday, after I promised to clean all my "junk" off of my HP laptop and give it to her, and give her the $200 that my grandma will give me for my birthday.  I agreed. She told me whatever money I got from friends / other family / etc. I could use to buy whatever I wanted, so I am thinking about using that money to buy an iPhone. My BlackBerry has really been messing up lately (including dropping calls to do System Check, dropping calls when another call comes in (I have call waiting), and dropping calls when I get text messages. I'm in New York, so I know this has nothing to do with lack of service coverage from AT&T). I know the iPhone is expensive and probably just a waste, but my local AT&T said I could try one for 30 days and bring it back if I didn't like it, and get a total refund. So I figure it is worth a try, and if I decide to keep it, great! If not, I'll send it back and keep using my BlackBerry, which I love to pieces even if it does mess up half the damned time =P

I would ask Justin to buy my iPhone as my birthday gift, but I don't feel comfortable with asking him to buy something so pricey for me... even though he's offered I still keep turning him down. Maybe he can just give me a little money to help pay for it if I need some after adding up the rest of my birthday cash. If not, I'll just make up the difference myself.

So here is what I have purchased so far:

• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2x2GB
• 250GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
• SuperDriver 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

I also bought the Apple USB Modem, which solves the problem of how to use my internet on my Mac while I'm at home, without re-wiring the entire house with high-speed cable or DSL (my biggest fear about getting a Mac was that I wouldn't be able to use my internet while I was home without getting either a wireless router, or having someone install cable / DSL, problem solved! Now that I have figured that out, I am completely sold on a Mac!). I am going to have iWork '08, Final Cut Express and Aperture 2 preinstalled (my uncle is paying for this as my birthday present from him, and is giving my mom the money back after I get the Mac). I am also debating having Microsoft Office installed on my Mac, but I've heard mixed reviews about it... I am also getting a 1-year membership to .Mac, which is being paid for by my aunt as my birthday present from her.

To keep my parent's (and mine, and everyone involved) investment of such a small fortune in good shape, I bought this:

The pink neoprene sleeve from Incase for the 13" MacBook. I love it already. I've heard it can leak dye onto your MacBook though so I am going to be sure that I wash it thoroughly first just incase. It also has a fleecy lining on the inside. Justin will be rolling his eyes as soon as I unpack this from the box. He knows that I always wanted the (fairly old) pink iBook when it first came out =P So the fact that I have pink accessories for my Mac can only make it better. I really don't understand my attraction to the color pink actually... I'm not a girly girl but it is still my favorite color.

And I bought this: 




The Apple Wireless MightyMouse. I don't really need one, but I am annoyed with the fact that my hyperhydrosis (sweaty palms) makes using a touchpad mouse a pain in the ass. If my hands get too sweaty I have to hold a towel in my lap and constantly dry my hands and the mouse off before it will even work., which happens quite often. I think that this may help solve a bit of this problem... although I keep having visions of this slipping out of my hands like a bar of soap and flying across the room... 

I also bought this case for my 3rd generation iPod nano from Incase (I love Incase products, and I bought this myself, not as a birthday gift), since my Incase case for my 2nd generation iPod nano obviously won't fit the new one (I think Apple does this on purpose =P) :

   

 

And, if I decide to get the iPhone, I will be getting this case: 

So that is the end of my showcase of Apple and Incase products lol. Maybe some more pictures when I actually get the stuff ;)

Happy Birthday to me =D