I recently watched the Oscar award winning documentary, “The Cove,” which documents the slaughtering and shipment of beautiful bottle-nose dolphins in what’s referred to as, the cove, in Taiji, Japan. Richard O’Barry, the dolphin trainer for the once popular TV show, Flipper, demonstrates a massive amount of courage in his gripping documentation of the fate of these dolphins in Japan. Each year in Taiji, the Japanese “fishermen” slaughter 23,000 dolphins in one cove alone! These dolphins, which are extremely high in mercury (toxic levels) are either sold to places like SeaWorld to live in captivity for the remainder of their lives, or they’re slaughtered among their brothers and sisters and intentionally mislabeled as a high quality fish in the markets including being fed to children in the school lunch programs.

I often encounter people that choose to not eat “meat” which they categorize as coming from land animals; “The Cove,” presents a totally new perspective on our fishing industry and how healthy seafood actually is for humans due to the high mercury levels that fish consume through their food chain (which humans in turn consume). The FDA should require that the tender cuts of meat that we see nicely packaged in the store be required to have an attached DVD on fishing and farming practices throughout the world; because so much killing happens behind closed doors, we must spread the word and expose to the people around the world just what they are consuming and supporting when they choose to consume what was once living, breathing, playing, and loving.

Documentaries like, “The Cove,” are always a great reminder that we all share this planet and even though we are all from different countries, this Earth belongs to all of us. I highly recommend watching this documentary and supporting the dissemination of this critical information to all of the people you love and care about.

This documentary is available for rent on Netflix, and the website is available here: The Cove

Other important websites to visit are:

Save Japan Dolphins

Dolphin Slaughtering in Taiji (Ocean Preservation Society)

Contact Authorities, the Japanese Consulate, local dolphinariums, and SeaWorld

Thank you for being so caring!

Miami’s vegan food truck, Mac’n, is owned and operated by the sweet, Francesca. With an entirely vegan menu, including gluten free options,  I bought one of everything that was gluten free on the menu. Between my boyfriend and I, we enjoyed a very cheesy macaroni and cheese, a barbeque sandwich, watermelon and basil salad, fried green tomatoes, and sweet potato fries; a whole lot of food! I have to say, the fried green tomatoes were definitely my favorite. They were super hot a crispy and Francesca drizzled a delicious white sauce over top of them…yum!

If you want to follow Francesca on twitter, her handle is @macnfoodtruck. She posts where you can find her truck throughout the day; and if you’re lucky like I was, it will be parked outside your building one day!

Thanks for servicing the community with kind food options, Francesca! I’ll certainly be back for more!

This is my new favorite t-shirt. It says, “Animals are my friends.”

Sunflower Restaurant in Vienna, VA had an amazingly delicious vegan booth.

Grow your own mushrooms in 7 days! Love. Food for thought: What do you call a 12 inch mushroom? …A ‘fungi’ to be with!

Vegan dessert. My weakness! Good thing the line was outrageously long and I have no patience.

All you need is a bunch of bananas and chocolate (I like Enjoy Life chocolate chips–vegan and gluten free). Pre-freeze thin slices of the banana (freezing banana takes no time at all), double boil the chocolate chips and dip the frozen banana slices into the melted chocolate. And Boom. You’re done.

The chocolate will harden within seconds and you can serve immediately–or pack them away in the freezer for all the, “I’m crazing chocolate moments!” …which seems to happen more often than not in this household!

I love to freeze a bunch of them and let them sit out for 10 minutes before I serve them. THIS is a DIY party HIT! Good thing the NFL made it past the lock-out this year: this is definitely a recipe I’ll be serving up in the fourth quarter. …there is a fourth quarter, right?

Dip these bad boys in a hot cafe au lait or cortadito, and enjoy your sinfully sweet and crispy few minutes in heaven.

God Bless America.

Admittedly so, I had to think for a while about where on earth my local firehouse was. With the help of this handy website, I found it in a snap: http://www.localfirehouse.com/departments

Join me in celebrating and remembering the lives our American heroes this Sunday.

God Bless America!

Here’s a few teasers so you can see what I’ve been up to:

After I dropped Angela off at the airport, I made plans to go out with my girlfriends–whom I hadn’t had much time to see–and blow off some steam. In other words, we went to a wine bar in South Beach. The wine bar is called 555Bistro, maybe some of you have been there! It has a great vibe. We sat outside and the weather was beautiful; a little chilly for South Beach, but I was in a thin shirt and jeans–no complaints here! We drank a healthy amount of wine and as the heat lamps outside started to run out of gas, we started to freeze in the 60 degree weather. Whomp whomp whomp. That’s when we decided to head over to a local spot called, “the room.” It’s a cozy little watering hole.

We called it quits at an early morning hour, and I took a cab back home with the girls and a new neighbor I met earlier that day. I convinced my neighbor that I had to see the rooftop Club 50 on top of our building; so many people had boasted about to me, so I had to see what they we’re talking about. We took the elevator up to the 50th floor and I was sucked in immediately by the gorgeous infinity pools and Latin music. We called it a night soon after we arrived and before I shut my eyes, I made sure to put Club 50 on my, “top places to meet hot Latin men,” list. Oh yeh.

If you’re curious, I am including some pictures of my new apartment at the Viceroy, designed by renowned interior designer Kelly Wearstler. I am just so in love with the simplicity and the style. I feel so comfortable here, and I’m happy to call this home–for now!

I’ve been shooting video for you guys on my trip to Miami, and I am working on putting together a, “Model in Miami,” video series. I’m new to editing film, so be patient.

Hope you all are staying warm up north! Ta for now!

Here are some pictures of the recent models the site has featured:

If you’re interested, you can find my interview on Plus Size Models Unite here.

Thank you Angela and Elizabeth for your interminable contributions to the ‘plus’ modeling industry; you ladies rock.

Emily

I hope you were all able to ring in the New Year the way you had imagined you would, and that you’re starting to now make those resolutions a reality! One of my resolutions this year is to be an honest and compassionate friend to everyone.

I was able to ring in the New Year with a group of my amazing girlfriends at the Washington Redskins Masquerade Ball! It was my first masquerade that I’ve ever attended, and I was so excited to channel my inner Gossip Girl by wearing a fabulous mask to a ball.

Before the new year, I went to visit my Dad’s side of the family over Christmas in Florida, and it was certainly an eventful holiday. By chance, I  was able to meet Nigel Barker, his wife Chrissy and twin sister-in-law Kimmy in Fairhope, AL at the Grand Hotel. They were all very sweet and genuinely such kind people. Nigel and Chrissy wished me good luck with my modeling career, and Nigel pulled out a personal book he had in Chrissy’s bag, and signed it for me.

…posing with my little brothers in Grand Hotel lobby.

On the way back to our house in Florida, my family decided at the last minute that we wanted to take a quick trip to New Orleans. What a great idea!!!

The first thing we did when we got to New Orleans was, “house shop,” in the Garden district around Audubon Park, and then actually shop when we got to Magazine Street. I picked up this gorgeous top and scarf from the lovely boutique Pied Nu.

I love this sheer linen top by Erica Tanov for of the beautiful fabric and details…and for the fact that it’s made in America.

I love the scarf by Epice because of the arrangement of beautiful colors; I love orange, pink and teal together.

After some much needed retail therapy, we checked in to the stunning Waldorf Astoria hotel and I could not believe how beautifully decorated the lobby was for the holidays…breathtaking!

Later that night, I walked around Royal Street with my family and my little brother Corey helped me pick out my mask for my NYE masquerade ball…This is the mask we decided on!

After a wonderful dinner at NOLA’s famous restaurant Muriel’s, we were ready to get back to the hotel to rest up before the early morning ahead of us. Before our quick two-day trip to the the Big Easy came to an end, we had to experience Cafe du Monde, a bakery that is wildly famous for their beignets and cafe au lait. Sadly, the only vegan options on the menu were water and coffee, but I was perfectly content just being the designated photographer that morning.

…It was a day away, and I had the perfect mask, and the perfect story to go with it. My first masquerade ball. I showed up to the Washington Redskin’s Masquerade Ball wearing my elaborate mask which I had toted all the way back from New Orleans. For my outfit, I chose to wear a purple and white Oscar de la Renta shirt dress and a pair of Dolce & Gabbana jewel encrusted heels. To show off my figure, I wrapped my dress with a black patent leather Prada belt, and wore diamond hoop earrings. I also opted to bring my small black studded Be&D purse.

The masquerade was an absolute ball! Here are some pictures from the event.

I hope you all have equally wonderful New Year’s stories! I will always remember the holidays and NYE of 2010.

…On to the next decade! Wishing you all happiness and health this year.

Love, Emily

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