new mexico run

Last Sunday, we went on a long New Mexico bike run with my man Red Light and fellow Mad Hatters Obe, RayRay, and RayRay's wife Judy. From El Paso, to Carlsbad, to Artesia, to Cloudcroft, to Alamogordo, and back.... 13 hours, about ten (!!) of which were spent on the bike... I never knew how bad it can hurt to simply have your butt fall asleep, but oh man does it ever. It was a hard ride, but also a beautiful one.... from the desert to the mountains, plains and forests, from early morning sunshine to deepening dusk... we saw so many awesome things along the way. We also stopped off at the legendary haunted Lodge in Cloudcroft, which was great because I have adored that lovely, spooky place since I was a kid, and nobody else had ever been there before, so I totally got to show it off to my peeps... *grin*

Here are some shots from our run. Enjoy!

introducing the fabulous & amazing desert pirate dog

So I'm sure it will come as no surprise to most everybody that I ended up keeping the scruffy little ratdog known as Minx that I was fostering back in January. Yeah, I couldn't help it.

Well?? Look at that face!!



The Minx became a really important part of our motley little family very quickly; she's lovable and kinda crazy- so she fits right in. As she has gotten more acclimated to her new home her weird, funny personality has been emerging. She of course still has a doggy-sisterly relationship with Mia- she had that right away- but even cuter is how she has gotten to the cat. The cat loves her! It is seriously adorable.




One of the best things about Minxie is how she has shown herself to be a true desert pirate dog- look what she does! This is not something anyone taught her- she will just jump onto/perch on your shoulders like a wannabe parrot, it's hyterical. Weird dog!




I really love this little freak. She has wiggled her way into my heart and she's there to stay. I think it's safe to say the feeling is mutual...




...right, Minx? ♥

el paso rides

Just a lil un-subtle promo for the website I recently created, eprides.com. Feel free to visit. Nudge, nudge.

(vr)ooh(m)-la-la

It's been such a long time since I posed for pictures that I forgot how much fun modeling can be... *makes Zoolander Faces*... this afternoon, I had an totally impromptu photo shoot w my man... I got to play pinup on the bike and vamp it up and we had such a killer time. We'd been out on a bike run and had a few drinks in us, and we started talking about shooting photos again which led to us deciding to spur-of-the-moment ride out to the desert to shoot some pics like we've been talking about doing for forever now (well ok 2 months) So we left the bar, swung by my place, I stuffed a few dresses in the backpack, we rode out to the desert on the fringes of town and found a random remote dirt road to turn on. It was windy as Hell out there, and the wind kept whipping my hair into my face and making my right eye water like a leaky faucet, but despite the challenges, we pressed on with our spontaneous desert photo shoot (what troopers! :P)


The result was a great ride on a beautiful day and some photos (shot by him) that I really, really love.

Here are a few of them, hope you enjoy :)

(special thanks to my Red Light for taking such wonderful shots of me, he did such stellar job that I felt like a pinup babe all day long... *muah* baby!)

artful dodger

After having one of the most blood-pressure-raising, hair-twisting, nail-biting stressful weeks I have had in recent memory, I decided to go into 'hiding' and submerge myself into a nice warm mental-bubbly-bath of all things art. I needed to strip it all down and reboot my life, and that is the best place to start. I've done nothing but draw, paint, draw... and it's been lovely.

I woke up yesterday feeling like I had somehow gotten my mojo back :D
I have been waiting for this.
Watch out, world.

Here is a portrait called Doll, which I did for my BFF dollface... it had been languishing unseen & unfinished on my desktop for months, and now, it is whole (and per usual, click the pic to see the much-superior large-sized version):




And a photo of the lady herself for comparison:



She loved it and I am glad. I have another one lined up for finishing tonight, I am determined to finish all of my unfinished babies. Art is saving my life right now.

As always, I am available for custom portraits, so contact me if interested. Ciao.

from Rogue to rouge

After 2+ years of having 20% more fun, I finally decided I needed a change from the blonde streaks. Behold, my new (non-Jamaican non-alcoholic) red stripe...



As much as I loved my pale Rogue streaks, 2+ years of bleaching totally puts a strain on the hair... I'd been thinking of going to a darker color for awhile now cause my hair definitely needed the break. I always knew I wanted to try red but wasn't sure which shade... I wanted something that would still be high contrast and I am happy that I found just the perfect color for what I had in mind.

Red dye is a bloody (pun intended) mess, though... my bathroom looked like a murder scene when I was done.



My hair has grown out a little too, and I am liking the length right now... I can get a little more girlygirl with it if I wanna. I can't wait to try putting up those 2 little front pinup twists in my hair now that it's red- it's gonna look like little devil horns mwahahaha >:D

Funny that I have come full circle with the red; the first time I bleached out my streaks originally, I got a very um, interesting reddish hue, unintended and unwanted...



It took many months and many bleaching/toning sessions to get the red out (sorry visine) to the point where it finally looked blonde...



A few more months got it to a pale-white blonde at last, I loved it but it was a lot of upkeep to keep it that way, James Marsters I feel your Buffy-era pain.




So last year when I needed a big change, I chopped my hair off for the first time in over 10 years... 10 years!! Whatup, shorty?





And I am loving the shorter do, especially when I think about how I have cut my shower time down by like half a freaking hour (waist-length hair is a damned pain to wash-rinse-repeat) It was just time for another change. And the red was it. What do you think, dahlinks?

*heads off to jam out to Moulin Rouge soundtrack*

Minxed!

So I got myself into another foster situation (this year so far I have fostered & found homes for 2 stray cats and one wayward turtle)... this time it was 2 little dogs- a snow white poodle & a jet black terrier- whom my uncle found wandering near an intersection together, lost, dirty & hungry. The poodle was obviously boss lady, with the little terrier shadowing her every move, which was cartoonishly cute. Both dogs had (dirty grimy) sweaters on, but had no collars, tags, or microchips to identify them, so we ran ads in the paper and alerted all the vet clinics in the area. No one claimed them.

The poodle was eventually adopted by a friend of my aunt's and is reportedly doing great in her new home, with new friends both canine & human. The little terrier is still here with me, however, and I have a sneaking feeling that I'm being slowly but surely seduced by the pint sized thing.

Because of her feisty personality I began calling her The Minx, and it sorta stuck. And this is The Minx (chillin' here w my chihuahua Mia):



Check out those ears! The vet said that Minx is about 10 months old and is most likely full grown, which is funny because this dog is practically pocket-sized. I've always thought my chihuahua Mia was tiny, but this pooch makes her look like a big dawg. They are close in age- both still in puppy mode- so they've been tearing shit up like trashed rock stars in a fancy hotel together. Ah, puppies.




My sis-in-law thinks they look like peanut butter & chocolate- so I guess that together, they combine to make an adorable canine version of a Reese's PB Cup..?



So what to do with this insanely-cute, Muppetlike little creature? I think she wants to stay- she sure seems to have become at home here, she's even made friends with the cat.

And every time I think about finding her a home, she gives me those heartbreaking puppy eyes (see image above, doh)... it's like she knooooooows and she is saying 'pleaseplease let me stay, lady'!

We shall see, puppy, we shall see...