MLEstyle » Travel

DC VegFest 2011

MLEstyle — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 18:56:19 +0000

Nothing excites me more than vegan food, especially when the community comes together to celebrate it. Here are some pictures I took from the DC VegFest on the campus of George Washington University in my beautiful hometown, Washington, DC.

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.

Model in Miami

MLEstyle — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 23:58:40 +0000

Hey everyone! My first week in Miami has been really busy and so exciting. It’s finally the weekend and after all of the meetings, castings, and the stress of moving in, my girlfriend Angela Jones with www.PlusSizeModelsUnite.com flew in on Friday from Seattle to work, and we winded up spending the entire day together. We had lunch at the wonderful EOS restaurant in my building, the Viceroy, and then we made a quick trip to the Fontainebleu Hotel on the beach. There, we tried my favorite drink called Il Gaucho, which is made with gingerbeer and jalepenos, and Angela had the Raspberry Sin, a raspberry concoction mixed with champagne. Sinful! We sipped on our drinks in the beautiful hotel lounge–aka bar–and then decided that it was time we dipped our toes in the warm ocean water and watch the sunset over the hotel. I was so happy Angela came to spend time with me! We shared so many great stories and had a fabulous time together.

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!

Ahhhhh, a break!

MLEstyle — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 19:44:22 +0000

I had the pleasure of escaping with my family to Wrightsville Beach, NC last weekend. When we weren’t out on the boat, I spent most of my time reading magazines and shopping. The weather was amazing; it took every ounce of me to keep my long sleeve James Perse cotton shirt on over my bikini–oh, the temporary downfalls of being a model!

Here’s my favorite picture from last weekend. I love spending time with my Grandpa!

XoX, Emily

I Know the Feeling

MLEstyle — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:41:34 +0000

This is what it’s like to work for the family, and even more so, for your Grandfather. Wanna know what it’s like to live a day in the life of me? Just check out the new Heineken commercial I caught during a Washington Nationals baseball game:

At the end of the day, I can’t say that working for my family is all so bad, but I do thank the good lord that modeling requires A LOT of travel! Of course, not for any reasons linked to me being an eligible bachelorette…

Hugs + kisses.

XoX

PS- If you don’t know my Grandfather…he is the MAN! I’ve put a picture below of him teaching my best friend Mike (@MrMikeLights) how to cut down trees last Easter. Go Grandpa , go!

Attention all Deal-Lovers! The Ritz Carlton delivers…

MLEstyle — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:19:00 +0000

I just received this promotion from the Ritz Carlton. The words promotion and Ritz Carlton in the same sentence make my heart beat a little bit faster than when I hear the word sale! Can you believe that?

I can’t emphasize enough, just how much I love this hotel. The staff always makes a tremendous effort to accommodate their customers. The Ritz Carlton does a fantastic job at exuding the, “home away from home,” feel with every over sized brown leather sofa, every Oriental rug, and every homely amenity that they offer.

And, if you can get access to the Club lounge, you’re in luck! The lounge is usually on the penthouse level: It’s a suite where you can kick back and relax in style with an aprés dinner drink, like a nice cordial or a glass of wine, and enjoy their beautifully crafted assortments of dessert.

If you must ask, what’s for breakfast? Well, head back upstairs to the lounge to satisfy your palette with their deliciously appetizing offerings. Oh, and don’t forget to grab your newspapers and a cup of coffee to-go before you run off to work! What a way to start the day! So, if you don’t know about the Club lounge, you ought to ask about it next time!

Here’s the offer for all you deal-hunters out there:

With summer winding to a close, we know your expectations are running high for that last vacation of the season. That’s why we’ve designed the perfect experience for you and your family.

Enjoy up to 3 complimentary nights with our Peace of Mind package which includes accommodations, daily breakfast, Internet, local calls and overnight parking.

Jump into exciting outdoor adventures at any of our resorts or explore the unique sights at our city locations worldwide. Choose your favorite backdrop to create memories that will live in your
heart forever.

The Ritz-Carlton^® Destination Club invites you to discover a distinct view of Maui. Receive 3 complimentary nights with the purchase of 4 — a total of 7 consecutive island evenings in Kapalua Bay.

Choose a 2- or 3-bedroom Club residence with gourmet kitchens, private lanais, and stunning oceanfront views.

Enjoy, world travelers!! I know I will!

xoxo,

MLE

Attention all Deal-Lovers! The Ritz Carlton delivers…

MLEstyle — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:19:00 +0000

Here’s the offer for all you deal-hunters out there:

With summer winding to a close, we know your expectations are running high for that last vacation of the season. That’s why we’ve designed the perfect experience for you and your family.

Enjoy up to 3 complimentary nights with our Peace of Mind package which includes accommodations, daily breakfast, Internet, local calls and overnight parking.

Choose a 2- or 3-bedroom Club residence with gourmet kitchens, private lanais, and stunning oceanfront views.

Enjoy, world travelers!! I know I will!

xoxo,

MLE

Locked Up Abroad with One Humble Prayer

MLEstyle — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:56:00 +0000

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com

Last night, I caught a rerun of, “Locked Up Abroad,” on the National Geographic channel. The show is so captivating, especially if you’re into traveling; it makes you think, “Hey, that could happen to me!”

The episode I saw last night was about an 18-year-old Aussie boy that was living in Kuwait with his father. As many of us don’t realize, Kuwait is a dry country; that means that they do not tolerate any drugs or alcohol. As a matter of fact, if you’re caught distributing or using drugs or alcohol, you can be punished by the death penalty; which in Kuwait is administered by hanging the convicted. Now you’re thinking, “Holy smokes!” Right?

So here’s the scoop. The boy described himself as, “living for the moment,” which meant smoking hashish and drinking alcohol like the crazy college freshman down the hall from you (…right? ). Until one day, the boy met a man in Kuwait that begged and pleaded him to sell some of his hash. For weeks, the man was breathing down the boy’s neck about it. He’d say, “Sell me some! Sell me some! I can’t get it anywhere and I need it!” And as a naive and scared 18-year-old boy would do, he left his friend’s party to meet the man that kept pressuring him, and finally, the boy sold him the hash; he went through with the deal. It was the boy’s first drug deal. And it was the boy’s last drug deal.

The man he sold the hash to was an undercover officer. After the deal, the boy nervously drove off, and unbeknown to him, he was being followed by undercover officers. He was followed back to his friend’s house, where he returned to the party he left to do the drug deal from. Needless to say, the officers raided the party and arrested all of the kids for possession and use of drugs and alcohol. Need I remind you that the punishment for that type of conduct is the death penalty???!

After the arrest, the boy was thrown into jail and tortured, even though torture is prohibited in Kuwait’s legal system. He was told he wouldn’t be given the death penalty, but rather 25 years in Kuwait’s central jail system. 25 miserable years. Still, that was unbelievably devastating news.

So, while the boy was in jail, he had a life changing experience, an epiphany where he mentally let go of everything in his life. In solitude, he allowed himself to experience euphoria; he started reading about the profit Muhammad in the Koran, and began to understand the fundamental roles of life.

He looked to the Koran for the one passage that gave him the strength to go on. In front of the camera, he read, gasping to fight the emotions from the crushing experiences in his past:

“God don’t let me feel arrogant when I succeed, and don’t let me feel hopeless when I fail, but remind me always that failing precedes success. God teach me that forgiving is the highest level of strength and taking avenge is the first sign of weakness.”

He then commented on the passage, with huge tears running down his face, and said, “I don’t know why I always find it difficult (to read the passage), probably because it take me back a bit. I believe I’m wiser from my experience, and the way I looked at it, and the way I learned from it, and through the people that I met. Happier no, wiser yes. I wish I hadn’t gone through it.”

This, to me, is what I describe as a raw moment in life. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing beautiful about the situation the boy (now a man) was in. But, what was beautiful was the boy’s clairvoyant thoughts and dynamic perspective on his life when he was faced with such a devastating situation. He was forced to give up everything that he had, and expected to live for years in a blazing hot cell in the middle of Kuwait.

Fortunately, many of us cannot relate to being thrown into a Kuwaiti jail at age 18, but what we can relate to are the times that we’ve been alone in a bad situation where we were forced to think and make decisions on our own. Forced to be our only support system. Forced to self-talk our way through a difficult situation.

Maybe you were lost in a foreign country without knowledge of the language, and no cell phone reception? Or maybe it was the time where you were alone in Washington DC, took a cut through at night in a dark alley, and were abruptly greeted by a group of no-good hoodlums? Those times. When we feel most alone. When our thoughts come so clearly and so quickly. When we unknowingly adapt our character to the situation at hand.

That feeling of personal empowerment is what I am aiming to share with you. The time where you faced adversity and were scared, but yet you prevailed; when all the odds were against you and you made out like Seabiscuit. Those feelings inside, like you were King Leonidas leading your men into battle with the Persians. Alone but in charge. In control of your mind, body, and spirit.

In addition to sharing that moment with you, I wanted to provide the wisdom that’s offered in the Koran; the one humble prayer that changed the boy’s understanding of the world. My intention of referencing this passage from the Koran is not to offend the world’s infinitely differing religions, but rather to RT (for my twitterers ;-D) and pass along the wisdom that we can all strive to live by! Here it is again:

MLE’s Request: I would love to know what were some of your, “It moments,” were! Please share your stories in the comment section below for everyone to read!

xoxo,

MLE

Locked Up Abroad with One Humble Prayer

MLEstyle — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:56:00 +0000

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com

He looked to the Koran for the one passage that gave him the strength to go on. In front of the camera, he read, gasping to fight the emotions from the crushing experiences in his past:

MLE’s Request: I would love to know what were some of your, “It moments,” were! Please share your stories in the comment section below for everyone to read!

xoxo,

MLE

Tamarack Resort, Idaho

MLEstyle — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:13:00 +0000

Tamarack is my favorite place in the world to spend my winters! It’s a beautiful resort, exclusive to 3,500 people at one time. Homeowners range from the Agassi’s (who brought the Fairmont Hotel), to the Getty family, and the Mexican entrepreneur Alfredo Miguel’s family, and oh…my family! Haha. With all the celebrity names and the wildly successful business czars that vacate there, I occasionally catch myself feeling like I’m in the land of giants!!! Especially since I come from a “simple” family from Fairfax Station, VA. We’re not from L.A. like the other real estate entrepreneurs residing at the resort. Unfortunately, our family has no A.M.W.s (Actor, Model, Whatever) from NYC. And, we’re definitely not from Miami either, though sometimes I wish! Just a simple family from Northern VA that happened to get lucky along the way.

So, with that said, I have an entertaining short story for you:

One morning, I was asked by my Grandfather to scoop the snow from the road that was plowed into our driveway. Of course, my Grandfather monitored my progress so he could get an ETA for his business friends (at the bottom of the mountain) as to when he could get the Jeep out so he could meet with them. So, Papa went back inside to get changed and warm the car up, and I saw opportunity knocking. Meanwhile, while my Grandfather’s getting ready, I’m still scooping snow. Actually, scooping and sweating, in grossly over-sized black Mark Jacobs boots. So, I sat on top of the big pile of snow (that I still had to shovel) and waited for a friendly person to walk by and chat with.

The man that lived next door who was walking to his H2 parked on the street looked like a great prospect to share a casual conversation with. This is especially true because the alternatives for conversation were…well, nobody! So converse I did. He said his name was JP, and stated that he was my neighbor (to which I had to act delightfully surprised). “Oh, how fantastic! I was wondering when I would get the chance to meet the neighbors!”… and the conversation continued.

I suppose it could have been the neighborly charm, but somehow, I enlisted this man into conquering the big pile of snow at the end of our driveway. After our conversation, and once he finished the shoveling (okay, I helped too!), I invited him in for some water.

So JP and I continued inside, where I introduced our “lovely neighbor” to my family. After a warm conversation by the fire and a change of socks later, JP gracefully departed and my Grandparents both jumped to drop the bomb on me.

“Do you know what you just did?” My Grandmother shrieked.
“Well I was just being friendly with a neighbor. He offered to help shovel snow,” I responded curiously. “Why?”
“Because that was JP Getty, as in Getty Oil!” she blurted. “And there you were, asking him to help shovel snow! Oh boy.”
I shrugged my shoulders and quickly laughed, “Hah. I was wondering when we would meet.”

So, this is a great example of where the, “Land of the Giants,” theory applies…

Because my love for Tamarack is so huge, I added some pictures (below) that I took from some of my favorite trips! And please forgive me for leaving my summer mountain biking pictures (don’t want to relive the memory!) and the holiday party pics (you’ll have to take a trip to see what the parties are all about!) out of the quick recap….Here ya go:

My Grandparents just returned from their summer visit out there, and they said at the hottest it was 75, and at night it would dip below 35! And on the same day, DC registered a blistering 102 degrees. Needless to say, this resort is so magical during every season of the year. During my Grandparent’s visit, they sent me this picture that they took from our back porch.

If you’ve ever seen a double rainbow in Washington, DC, please inform me!
Here I am at Tamarack in the winter.

I love to snowboard! I know…kinda boyish, right? But still, so much fun!!! This picture reminds me that I need to get my friend’s travel plans coordinated so that they can all come out this year. I’m so excited!

Okay, so here’s the winter view off of my back porch

Well that’s a wrap folks! Watch for more MLE Resort News!

PS- The rumor is the Trumps are moving in! And the gossip continues to spread!!

xoxo,

MLE

Tamarack Resort, Idaho

MLEstyle — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:13:00 +0000

So, with that said, I have an entertaining short story for you:

So, this is a great example of where the, “Land of the Giants,” theory applies…

If you’ve ever seen a double rainbow in Washington, DC, please inform me!
Here I am at Tamarack in the winter.

Okay, so here’s the winter view off of my back porch

Well that’s a wrap folks! Watch for more MLE Resort News!

PS- The rumor is the Trumps are moving in! And the gossip continues to spread!!

xoxo,

MLE