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!

All you need to make several servings are:

• Several shots of espresso
• Almond milk (as much or as little as you like-I use unsweetened)
• Stevia drops (chocolate flavored) several drops to your liking
• Raw cacao powder (a couple tablespoons-full)
• Light agave syrup (several tablespoons)
• Ice

Put the liquids in a VitaMix (blender) first and then follow the liquids with the cacao powder and ice. Blend everything together all at once and that’s it! I chose to top the drink off with some raw cacao nibs for an extra punch of fiber (11 grams per serving!) and because I prefer some crunchy texture in my smoothies.

My first time making this, I drank waayyyyy too much of the Chocolate Espresso Shake and was beyond high off of caffeine. So if that’s what you’re going for, then by all means! But I have to admit, the caffeine-high was fun while it lasted, and next time, I’ll stick to one 8 oz. glass!

Bottoms up!

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!

Coretta Scott King became a vegan after she was inspired by her son Dexter’s friend, human rights activist, Dick Gregory.

In Dick’s memoir, Callus on My Soul, he wrote:

“I had been a participant in all of the ‘major’ and most of the ‘minor’ civil rights demonstrations of the early sixties. Under the leadership of Dr. King, I became totally committed to nonviolence, and I was convinced that nonviolence meant opposition to killing in any form. I felt the commandment ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’ applied to human beings not only in their dealings with each other—war, lynching, assassination, murder and the like—but in their practice of killing animals for food and sport. Animals and humans suffer and die alike. Violence causes the same pain, the same spilling of blood, the same stench of death, the same arrogant, cruel and brutal taking of life.”

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!

After all the trial and error, I came to realize that finding the right products can certainly be a daunting task when you’re staring down an endless isle of beauty products, all promising that they’ll make your skin look like Halle Berry’s or Jessica Biel’s. So, once I found my go-to products, I thought I’d pass along my skin secrets to all my friends faced with the same issues.

For me, the hardest part of finding the right skincare products was really realizing that I would have to buy my way to “facial freedom.” Alas, I spent my hard-earned dollars trying to find the right combination for my skin. I even consulted my dermatologist about special face creams, and she told me Neutrogena would do the trick as well as any other lotion or cream. After all the searching, I learned that this is not necessarily the case, at least for my sensitive skin. One thing my dermatologist recommended to me was my one-and-only favorite new face wash, Neova (radiant cleanser).

I go to the gym enough that having a serious tried-and-true face wash is very important to me; Neova totally does the trick. It looks like you can buy Neova online, however I buy it for $40/ bottle from my Dermatologist’s office.

Also, I have recently changed my face creams from Neutrogena to the semi-pricey holistic skincare line, Dr. Hauschka. What an amazing difference!!! With my old creams, I used to think that every time I applied them to my face, the painfully uncomfortable Home Alone face was just a part of the routine…

My old face creams always burned and stung my sensitive skin, and left an unattractive oily shine. Now that I’ve made the switch to Dr.Hauschka–though I would say it has made a bigger dent in my pocketbook–my skin looks absolutely amazing. There’s not a burn, sting, blemish or shine on my skin.

If you’re interested, you can buy the Dr. Hauschka skincare brands online, or if you’re like me and want to test them first, Whole Foods (Whole Body) carries the line and offers testers for you to try out the products before you decide to make a purchase.

Here are the Dr. Hauschka products that I use on a daily basis. The next product I will add to my sacred collection is the Moisturizing Mask (not pictured).

Products from left to right: Daily Revitalizing Eye Cream, Toned Day Cream, Lip Care Stick, Moisturizing Day Cream, and Cover Stick.

The Cover Stick is by far the best I’ve found yet, for one reason. The ingredients in the concealing stick (like tea tree oil) actually work against your blemish while covering it up at the same time. If you wear makeup a lot, or keep it on for a long part of the day, I highly recommend this Cover Stick.

My last beauty trick is one that I learned as a sophomore in college, during my summer internship at Allure magazine. The wonderfully fashionable people that I worked at the magazine with hired a guy they all called the ‘Eyebrow Guru’. He came to the office every two weeks or so to groom all of the beautiful people’s eyebrows. What set him apart? He told us that no two eyebrows are exactly the same, and in order to get that supermodel symmetry, we needed to saturate the end of a Q-tip with women’s Rogaine, and swipe the Q-tip across any part of the eyebrow that is not symmetrical to the other.

After trying the Eyebrow Guru’s tip, twice-a-day for several weeks, I started to notice little hairs growing in places they never used to grow. Eyebrows will always be a work in progress especially as the styles change, so it is nice to have a little help from Rogaine to ‘expedite’ the hair growth process. This little trick is my biggest secret to keeping my eyebrows looking naturally gorgeous.

I hope these beauty tips and tricks can save you some time and money next time you’re staring down that long isle of products! Blessings and beautiful skin to you all!

xxEmily

It was a great feeling to volunteer my time to help out such a worthy cause, and doubly great to leave the shoot thinking about how many amazing and talented people I had just worked with! …Especially one of my favorite photographers, Douglas Sounders. Here is the link to Doug’s blog with a sneak peak of what we worked on all Saturday night!

Douglas Sounder’s Photography

A final thank you goes out to Bubba’s East Coast Rods and Customs for letting us invade their shop and parking lot for this shoot! Did you guys know that Bubba’s has a top-rated reality show called Hot Rod Reality? …and it’s shot right here in Fairfax, VA! I had no idea…but then again, what do I know about cars!

Working with such a talented group of people was really an honor and on top of it all, so much fun! I’m excited to see the final product!

Hugs + kisses!

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!