Camping Kitty

Took my cat camping on Mt. Lemmon here in Tucson for a few days. I wasn't sure how she would do out in the wilderness, but I wanted to see. So I packed up her food, some litter, stuck her in a harness with a long leash attached and we went camping!

As I set up camp, Marilyn hopped into a chair and nuzzled her way under a pile of blankets, pillows and jackets, and stayed there for the remainder of the day. I had her on a harness attached to a long leash that was anchored at camp so she could move around, but she wasn't interested in that just yet. She just sat in the chair shivering. So, I pulled her up close to the fire.. She really didn't seem to like the crackling flames, but it was too cold and scary for her to jump out of that chair. It was too cute!

M got more adventurous the next day and decided it was okay to go on a walk. She really enjoyed all the new smells and seemed so excited to look at everything. I have taken her to other people's houses and to the park before, but this was her first time in such a different environment. She seemed excited to explore and I was highly entertained by it. I had myself a camping kitty!

Most of the time Marilyn was more than happy to stay in the tent. So, if I didn't want to keep my eye on her, I would just zip her up in there. It worked perfectly! Especially when it was time to go find & chop up some more wood.

I love chopping wood! I feel so productive when doing it and its a great stress reliever. I got down with that axe and did some choppin'! Kept the fire blazing all day and night :) Which was quite necessary, because I'm a big baby when it comes to being cold. Most of the time I was just like M on the first day...in a chair close up to the fire, huddled in blankets. If the fire started to die down a bit I was throwing another log on asap!

I got to relax and read a lot. It's so peaceful to sit outside and read without any city noise around. It was during mid week too, so there wasn't any other campers around either. I finished the book World War Z by Max Brooks! It's a big deal for me to finish a book, because I'm well known to start several books throughout the year and never finish a single one.

This book was awesome! An intelligently written account of the zombie apocolypse, as if it was the future and humans just barely survived the "Z War". It's a collection of interviews about the war from numerous survivors from various countries. It was a fantastic book! However, I don't know if I would recommend reading about a zombie war at night out in the woods. Every time I heard the smallest noise, which happened often, I would shine my flashlight away from the book and into the woods scanning the trees, ready to pick my axe and lop off a zombie head at any moment.

Road trippin' through Cali after Burningman

Once the festival was over, it was time to pack up and hit the road.. I crammed all my camping gear and 2 full grown men in my car...not an easy task! The car was so packed with stuff that things came falling out after us when we got out of the car!

I had scheduled some shoots through California on our way home to AZ so we had a nice road trip ahead of us. My boyfriend Josh had never been on the road with me before, so it was exciting for him to see a little more of the "modeling world" and get a better idea of what I do day-to-day while I'm on the road. Matthew, London's best friend from high school, had also joined us. This kind of trip was nothing new to Matt since he had been on the road with London several times before, but it was my first time traveling with him. He is a lot of fun to be around and highly entertaining, so it was wonderful having him along :)

My first shoot of the trip was in a gorgeous area of Sacramento. It was at a park with a large lake surround by big beautiful trees. It was real early in the morning, the air was crisp and their were ducks waddling to the water. It was so beautiful and peaceful there. It felt wonderful to get undressed and press my body up against the trunk of a gigantic tree. I felt very peaceful that morning, like I was one with nature. After the shoot, I went back to the hotel, rounded up the boys and we headed north through the gorgeous Nappa Valley to Harbin Hot Springs.

Harbin is an AMAZING place! It's a nude resort built around natural hot springs in a mountain north of Napa. There are both cold and hot pools and the hottest one is 115 degrees! The natural minerals in the water are also healing and nurturing to the skin, body and mind. There are cabins and community rooms to stay in or you can camp, which is what we did. It was a nice change of environment from camping at Burningman where there is no vegetation or even rocks or dirt, just the white dust. We camped across a stream under a bunch of trees. Wild turkey and deer strolled through our camp site often, which I thought was awesome! We spent the next two days bathing in the pools (which are available 24/7), eating & laughing with the other guests, dancing, hiking and attending drawing & yoga classes. When we left Harbin, I felt wonderful! Refreshed and Rejuvenated! It was a nice revival to get me back into model mode and I felt ready to take on California!

Matt and Josh got along great on the road and were able to entertain each other while I was busy shooting, which was real nice. We had fun adventures through San Fransisco and a hilarious time at a motel on our way to LA. To save money I only got a room for one person, but the room ended up being directly across from the office. I had a hell of a time sneaking the boys in, especially since the manager kept taking smoke breaks outside in direct view of the room. It was a crazy night, but we got away with it ;)

Once we were in LA we stayed with Denny, a good friend that London and I stay with whenever we're in town. He is a fantastic host and I always look forward to visiting him.The best part was that Denny had a new kitten!!! I could not contain my excitement. It was such a great surprise, especially since I did not think Denny was the type to get a kitten. Apparently, the kitten was from a stray litter that was living on top of the roof next door. The kitten climbed down Denny's tree one day and walked right in through the back door and made himself at home. The kitten was so cute and turned out to be really smart, so Denny let it stay. And since the dad is believed to be a tomcat, Denny named the kitten Tomson for Tom's son. So cute! I adopted him as my home away from home kitty. I can't wait to see him again, although I know he won't be so itty bitty the next time I see him.

Since the city is so huge, shooting in LA is long and exhausting. I was too tired to go out at night, but Matt met up with some friends and got to experience some LA night life, which made him very happy. Josh hung out with Denny a lot, learning about printing film photography and playing blow darts. I was happy they got along so well so I didn't have to drag him to all my shoots. I did take him to a fun one though! Josh got to go with me to a full day of shooting with WetandMessy.com. He got to see me pied, painted, shot with whip cream and take a slim bath. He even got to get up on a ladder and pour a bucket of chocolate pudding over my head. I think he enjoyed himself quite a bit that day ;)

After about a week in LA, Matt flew to Austin to stay with London and contemplate the next move in his life, and Josh and I started the drive home to Tucson. On the way we stopped in Joshua Tree National Park to camp for a night. It was so beautiful there and we were able to build campfires, so we stayed another two nights. The giant Joshua Trees and rock formations are unlike anything I've seen before. It is a gorgeous place and the rocks are so much fun to climb on. We hiked and climbed a lot. I can't wait to go camping there again!

Black Rock City 2010

My third year at Burningman was yet another magical experience!

This year's theme: Metropolis
Popluation: 51, 500
(about the size of downtown San Fransisco)

I settled in at 6:45 & A, which is prime real estate in BRC, like achieving Boardwalk & Park Place in your first few moves of Monopoly. Still not even sure how I found such a perfect spot, other than it was meant to be. Our prime locale kept us super close to Center Camp and the Esplanade, which means quick access to ice, playa info, recycle camp and all the main camps in town, such as medical, rangers, post office, bike repair shop, radio station, etc. This part of the city is basically the downtown of BRC, with Center Camp featured in the middle, the heart of the city.

Under the colorful tent and flags of Center Camp I feel as if I am no longer on this earth, but transported to a timeless, magical place far away as I watch people from all over the city converge in various forms of song, dance, poetry, art, exercise, movement, laughter, relaxation and sleep. I found myself at Center Camp many more times this year. It was great to recharge my batteries with a nap on a random couch, to wander around gazing at art pieces, watch beautiful people hula hoop, or to let everything go in dance during a musical performance. Ahhh, I love the serenity of Center Camp and am glad we camped closer to it this year so I could experience it more :)


Other great benefits of our camp location was the quick & easy access out to the playa & closeness to the porta-johns. We were also one block from Heebee Geebee Camp for steam baths, yoga, dance, meditation....all around goodness and happiness for the body & mind...one of my favorite camps. The best part however, was the awesome neighbors I found myself surrounded by! They were all amazing people and I was thoroughly entertained by them. They continually surprised me with endless amounts of food, music, stories, knowledge, laughter and love.

Between...my camp mates and I,

the large group from Chicago/California,

the small group from Israel,

the couple from Santa Fe,

a lone wolf from Japan,

and the veteran Burner, who always had the good times rollin'...


we had everything covered!

There was gourmet food, drinks, drums, singing, great stories, massages, stilts, electronic skateboards, jumping, hanging, hammocks, makeup, companionship, laughter and all around good times! I will never forget the people I met this year and I hope to meet up and camp with them all again next year :)

Beautiful Photos of Burningman 2010...

I have many photos of Burningman, but none as beautiful as these. Check out this burningman blog full of gorgeous images!

10th annual Fetishcon

It was another great year at Fetishcon! I arrived at the Hyatt in Tampa, Florida a week before the event and stayed a few days after to get in as much work as possible. Even went down to Sarasota for a few shoots and got to relax on a gorgeous white sand beach. The best part of the Con was that I got to see all the model and producer/photographer friends that I work with all over the country all year. It was such a blast and I was go-go-go all of the time! I'd shoot from 10am-8pm, networking and mingling every minute I had between shoots, somehow squeeze in time to grab some dinner and then party all night at the pool. Three nights in a row I watched the sun rise over the Hyatt skyline with some great people that were also having to much fun to let the night end! I'd then drag my waterlogged butt to my room, throw myself into bed and try to grab 2-3hrs of sleep before starting the routine all over again. I was completely exhausted by the end of the week, but it was all worth it! Best time I'd had all year :)

Highlights included:

-Having awesome roommates for the first part of the week, NY models/producers Jamie Daniels, Goddess Dee, Jacquelyn Velvets and Tara Bush. These girls were a blast to get ready with every morning. One morning Jamie woke us up by putting a clown nose on us and taking pictures. She's silly fun :)



-Helping the NY girls set up and decorate their booth


-Attending the meet n' greet. Networking, mingling, meeting new friends and seeing old ones, with everyone all dressed up and lookin' sexy!





-Hanging out with Kimberly Jane. This was Kym's first Fetcon and a great opportunity for us silly girls to run around like 6 year old bff's. We had an absolute blast together and I would not have had as great of a time without her!



-Pool Time! Ended every night at the pool...and I guess you could say I started it there as well since I watched the sunrise in the pool a few times ;)






-Birthday dinner with Debbie! It happened to be Debbie's (Jasmin Jewlz) birthday so we got a group together and went and had a wonderful steak dinner treated by Dave of Lonestar Damsels. So delicious!


-Friends, friends, friends and more friends!




-Finally relaxing on a beautiful white beach in Sarasota