Another personal blog update..

I know this blog is totally turning into a "diary of" rather than pictures and thoughts on things..
I guess I use this to throw out my feelings, its like the nice feeling you have when you are singing and nobody is listening!

To be honest I've not done a whole load of shooting recently, have something on this weekend but everything has been on the back burner while trying to sort out this new house. So the last update was about us budgeting our already small amount of money, well this one is basically saying we need to budget even more.

We had the nicest man out to report on the woodworm in the property earlier this week, the great thing about it was no estate agents. He picked up the keys and met us at the property, we were there for around an hour so we kind of got a better look around the place. The woodworm guy was great, not only did he look at the timbers he had a swatch at the boiler/roof and chimney. His company might even have a kitchen in a warehouse which he can give us for nothing!!!!

So I was right, there is woodworm.. and its active :( but I did kind of suspect this although I hoped it was an old infestation. Thankfully its not widespread and only noticeable in a couple of rafters in the attic space, its not caused any serious structural damage and wont set us back "that" much really.

What was discovered was the flashings on the roof need looked at urgently, he actually said "first thing you need sorted is the roof, everything else can wait". He gave us a rough cost so when we get the people into quote we know a general guide price so we wont be ripped off.

Another thing is the current boiler is basically fooked, its ancient. Never been serviced and he recommended that being the 2nd thing we need to fix. So to have hot water and heating we kinda need to do that asap, the guide price for that was a fair whack of money - infact it would eat up so much of our budget that we wouldn't have much left over. I mentioned the need for the boiler and radiators and my sister reminded me that my brother in law used to have his own underfloor heating company and he still has the equipment and enough pipes to do most of the flat and he has offered his services for nothing - although his usual rate is a packet of fags and an irn bru so providing we get the boiler replaced the heating is pretty much sorted, we will need to buy a few bits for him to do the job like new floor coverings and it will be messy but we can't turn our noses up and its awesome he has offered to do this for us :D

Chimney flashings are letting in water, another issue. Currently there is work going on outside the property and there is scaffolding up.. the issue may have been caused by the work going on outside, so ive been advised to contact the person in charge of the work to ask if they will fix it, if not we can piggy back their scaffolding and save some mollah there too!

We informed the landlady that we are moving, bought a car..
So if this deal falls through we will have to live in the car :(

Its still scary, actually owning something worth so much money.. although to others the price is pretty pathetic compared to their homes but its the most we have ever spent EVER. I think the scary thing is the settling in and work needing done, if we uncover more shit wrong with the place there is no more money there to make it right. It was a terrible idea watching "help my house is falling down" programme last week, they had woodworm/roofing issues and damp so it struck a few chords with us, thankfully their property was like a billion years old ours is only 110.

So now we wait for the bank to say yes again after getting the report on the woodworm, then we contact the solicitor to do the deal.. then we get all the savings out and wait till the 12th of July.

in the meantime I will continue packing, pacing the floors and doing online research into really silly things. I was up at 4am earlier this week watching videos on re-facing kitchens, they are a bloody fantastic way of entertaining yourself!

xxxx

Shoot with Carl Grim & New house :D

 Well I had a shoot with Carl Grim alongside Britalicus recently and Carl kindly sent me to all the shots he got, here are just a few of my favourites. I can't believe how much variety and settings we ended up using in such a short space of time :D

 Don't get used to this sight, my backside is one of my least photographic parts of me. I know every model has something about them they dislike, usually its something which other people say "don't be silly" about. So many times on shoots people have asked to shoot me from behind, I always warn them and say photographically it just looks crap. They think thats a challenge to get a nice bum shot, most fail. A couple of people have managed to get a decent bum shoot, I still hate the way it photographs but below is a shot I don't hate with a passion so its being added.

Other good news is that the offer we put in on a property was accepted earlier this week, there is so much to organise and do though and that thought scares the shit out of me. I guess I never really want to grow up and thinking about having a mortgage is frightening for me.

Whats also frightening is the work which needs done on the place, we didn't get as much money as we hoped. We kind of thought "well it costs X amount for the place and will cost y amount to repair it".. Well the X meant putting much more savings into it and the Y well, we didn't get any Y money from the bank so we need to put all our money into it but even that still falls a few thousand off what we estimated the work would come to.

Our plan of action is this..
New kitchen, Ikea is much cheaper than anywhere else we have seen plus the kitchens actually look like good quality. New bathroom - a cheap take away one, Ideally I wanted to move the bathroom or extend it but theres not enough money in the budget for that because of a supporting wall needing to be moved so its staying as a dark small pokey bathroom for the time being. The roof has some slates missing so thats getting fixed straight away, a section of the roof leaked through into the livingroom so a chunk of the ceiling in there has to come down an be replaced. The radiators all need replaced, we wont know if the boiler works until everything is switched on so thats another thing which needs sorted out straight away. All flooring needs done.. Aye we need to buy a car also and sort out and pay for all the insurance stuff.

We own a tv and a laptop, a couple of cheap storage things so we have to buy the basics like a sofa/bed/table.. washing machine.. which reminds me in my initial list I forgot microwave and little kitchen things - the amount we need to spend is going up everytime I remember something else. I did buy a toaster when I was on tour with the girls so atleast I have one of them!!

Ok so all that work needs done, we get the keys next month - around the 8th...
We should be leaving this flat we are in at the start of August so that gives us 23 days to make it liveable but I have a few things on during that time so make it 20 days. I'm getting in a family friend to help with things like kitchen/bathroom/ceiling and light fittings but other than that I think I'm on my own. Chances are Rory will just need to drop me off in the morning at the new place and leave me with a pain brush until he finishes work!

So thats the 6 month plan...
After 6 months we can release money and get down to fixing other things -

There is old evidence of woodworm - we are getting a specialist around to check it out - Gutters and chimney need seeing too. Maybe get some insulating sorted out in the loft.. If there is any money left over (i would need lots) then I want to get planning permission to make the attic space into two bedrooms - currently 1 is a bedroom without permission and the other half of it is a basic attic space I would kind of like them to stay pretty similar but just do it all officially. There is beautiful skylights up in the loft, the light that gets in there is gorgeous! Infact its one of the things I liked most about the place, seeing a pool of light coming from above always impresses me!

So yeah, scary - exhausting times ahead!
I'm sure oodles of fun will be had along the way :D

xxx

and a few more...

Well we were planning on going out for the sunset but the grey sky just got darker so it wasn't "ideal" shooting weather so i went for a bath and shouted Rory through..

I have a couple of other shots I wanted to post up from my shoot with Mr Steve Gabbett with Rachael Lyon and myself, I actually had trouble selecting which ones from that shoot I liked and I have tried not uploading all of them to my various portfolios but my blog is unrestricted so here they all are :D

i actually think I look like a half decent fashion model in these shots.. i guess its better late than never.
I'm trying to do more fashion and things just now because well time is never on anyones side and I want to do it well before im too old to do it :D

Next blog I MUST post up is from my shoot with Carl Grim :D I also have a couple from Mike Niccoll from our recent shoot..

xxx

a few more :D

xx

Our weekend with our future camera :D

 Well Rory had a little borrow of a friends camera this weekend so we had a play around last night, i know they are similar but I love them all.. He still has more to edit, if he doesn't edit them by sunset then he can forget me going out with him this evening to shoot more :D

xx

Not at all related to model things..

Last week I had a cancellation for this week, I was trying to fill it..
I'm really rather glad I didn't.

I found out my little cat died this morning, its sad really that an animal passing away can result in me crying hysterically for 4 hours. I guess when people say cats are a very big part of a family are right. So this little blog entry is for my special little boy Pinkey!

Although Pinkey and I have not lived together for over a year now (and the time I lived in Glasgow) he was always closeby. In my parents house there was a rule that the cats were not allowed up the stairs, everynight while I lived there I would sneaky him up.. I actually used to use him as a pillow most nights :D He was a good age, and had the nicest temperament ever - I think he bit me once and It was when we introduced him to spongebob teddy, for some reason Pinkey hated the thing. It was the only time I seen him go mad for a toy trying to attack it. Pinkey pretty much slept, stole peoples seats, hung about under the diningroom table waiting for me to pass him under some turkey.


I have a rubbish long term memory but I actually remember the day we got him, I had just got home from school and there in the livingroom was two tiny little black and white kittens. My sister went for the usual one, the one who everyone would say looked like a nice cat - just like felix the cat (she got called felix and ran away a few weeks later). I was glad that the one I picked had funny markings and quirky looks, he was a little fatty too which made him even more cute. We called him Pinkey - daft name for a boy cat though but I didn't think so at the time!

Anyway theres not much I can say now, I just wish I had the chance to give him one last hug but he's not suffering and I will never forget my special little boy.

Mumma will always love you stinks

xxx

Some other things :D

 Well I'm enjoying the sunshine, had a look at another massive property which again needs so much work done to it.. Taking a nice family friend back to view it with me to tell me how bad its going to sting us to put right. Here is a list of things which need doing -

New heaters for the central heating (they all burst over winter)
Kitchen
Bathroom needs moved
Complete decoration..

Things that need done but not urgently -
Apply for permission to legally convert the attic space, its half been done so one side is an attic and the other is a cute little bedroom.
Doors need moved because the layout is weird.


It's a nice place, in the loft there is skylights which I bloody love and the side which still looks like an attic would be perfect for shooting in. The hallway is pretty big both width wise and length so it would work as a pretty decently sized studio space. I really hope the work needing done doesn't cost too much though. Will be nice to have a project to do :D

First shot above is a self portrait I done a couple of weeks back, same as always though that I'm lazy when it comes to editing..

Rory and I went out yesterday evening, it was a rush to find the light if I'm honest so its not exactly what we were going for but I did ask for lensflare and to me it does have that "summer" feeling to it which is what I wanted..

 Pureple dress again :D by Rory

 From a shoot I had with my mate Simon on Monday while we were on our travels :D

another purple dress shot which I edited :D

This week is a quiet one, wish I had lots of bookings in but afraid I don't.. I hope this isn't the start of me drying up.

x

Mike Nicoll

Well its been a quiet week so far, I went out with Simon & Rory on Monday.. We ended up as always going about 200 miles but we did get a couple of shots which is the most important thing. I totally hadn't realised it has been a year since Si and I worked together, we have went out and took random snaps but not actually done a nude shoot... Madness I tell you.. Well next time we wont leave it so long. I should get the shots  back from Simon soon so keep checking back.

 I got a nice little e-mail with some pictures attached this afternoon :D nothing beats that sort of e-mail.
I know photographers don't HAVE to send you images back from shoots so I'm always dead pleased when they do, I guess its because I care. Pictures might not always end up on my portfolio but I do genuinely always want to see how things turned out. I loved working with Mike, I know he's not a photographer or atleast he doesn't call himself one but I really love the tones in the white shirt pictures he shot of me!

 I really cannot wait to see how his paintings of me turn out. It's a pleasure having someone want to spend their time photographing me but to spend the time in actually putting paint on a canvass is really something special. I have worked with a couple of other artists in the past but never got to see their final photographs or paintings.. I might end up seeing them in a gallery a few years down the line though

Anyhow theres my dinner been served so time to go!

Mucho's love'as!

x