Pictura Perficio…

Some shots from a photoshoot we did yesterday for JD’s modeling portfolio…

Don’t ask. It was a personal favour to my boyfriend’s older bro. Plus I got to photoshop the darn things…and there was Pina Colada and Americano Coffee in the mix (JD does know how to cut a deal ).

Went off without a hitch up till some Peeking Paco decided it would make his pop to watch me towelling off behind the Suburban after the beach shoot. Like being a Wuerra means my alien vision would mistake greasy black locks for sand dune turf. Perv.

Fortunately years of changing in front of little YC boys as a child led me and my sister Oli to invent the Foolproof Changing Technique – which I enacted, much to Paco’s dissappointment. He left shortly afterwards, much to MY dissappointment as I was hoping to persuade JD to run him over on the way out .

In other headlines: Chris and Marrianne, Nat and Amada, Eric AND Gaby are all taking their leave off the home simultaenously (and it wasn’t even a conspiracy) !

...This ...

Oh well. At least there’s the silver lining of Chris and Marianne moving to San Antonio. I plan a tour of the States this year and Chris promised to take me camping in Yellowstone .

Looks like it’s going to be just JD and Hana, Andrew and Joy, Mel, and me ‘n Andy for a while. Might be a whole lotta fun, who knows …

Current Mood:

Tired

Scriptor Clausus…

My current scourge

“Writer’s block may have many causes. Some are essentially creative problems that originate within an author’s work itself. A writer may run out of inspiration. The writer may be greatly distracted and feel they may have something that needs to be done before hand. A project may be fundamentally misconceived, or beyond the author’s experience or ability.

I do not suffer alone

Other blocks, especially the more serious kind, may be produced by adverse circumstances in a writer’s life or career: physical illness, depression, the end of a relationship, financial pressures, a sense of failure. The pressure to produce work may in itself contribute to a writer’s block, especially if they are compelled to work in ways that are against their natural inclination, i.e. too fast or in some unsuitable style or genre, and they are not willing to adapt. In some cases, writer’s block may also come from feeling intimidated by a previous big success, the creator putting on themselves a paralyzing pressure to find something to equate that same success again.”

Freaking great. And I have to catch this wonderful condition by the tail directly at the PEAK of my current book and directly AFTER closing a deal with a site for a six-book series.

My muse only seems interested in music video ideas these days…that and hoarding more Pilates routines.

Albatross, sometimes I just frigging hate you .

Current Mood:

Frustrated

En Vino Veritas…

...'A little wine for thy stomach's sake'...

WARNING: RANT ENSUING…

Why is there such prejudice in some circles when it comes to women drinkers?

The other day one of the SGAs in my home declared that I drank the most and the oftenest of any family girl he’d ever met – and this is a guy who has not only been around but who is NOT prone to exagerration. And the others in the room were quick to agree.

Y luego?! (as we say in Mexico ). What’s the big deal with moderate consumption of the light adult beverage (in this case, beer – it’s not like I knock back a bottle of vodka every night)? Ever since I started drinking (which was, granted, a little too young) I’ve been forced to endure the judgemental eyes (and often, remarks) of a startling number of my peers.

Well now I’m sick of it. Keep to your own freaking end of the sandbox if you’re not going to play nice. You have your down-time habits and I have mine. At least mine promote social behaviour. I could always stay holed up writing or photo maniping till the cows come home, but I prefer to spend my off-hours in the company of living, breathing entities (and computer fans do not count anymore).

If you’re a sloppy or emotional drunk, that’s your dealio. Personally, I get the giggles.

PS: I am well aware of the drawbacks of alcohol ABUSE and am not making light of them or intending to offend. But a beer a night can’t come under that classifaction even if you strain the details. Look it up, Sparky .

Current Mood:

Incredulous

Atrum Pars…

'A Better Picture of My Hair'

...Well, except that it’s a webcam shot (again). Andy lost the wire to my phone, so it’s useless as a camera at the moment.

It’s starting to grow on me. It’s still sort of a shock every time I catch a glimpse of my reflection (‘is that my voice? is that…MY voice?’ ) but all in all, I kinda like it. So do most people here (though of course there’s still Andy to win over with my ridiculous good looks).

Blondes may have more fun – but Brunettes remember it the next morning…

Got a couple bottles stocked up for tonight to run a little test on that particular saying …

PS: Is that my Ten Inch Hero download completion popping up in my UTorrent box? I think it is …so long.

Current Mood:

High

Veinte Uno II

...Twenty One Years...

Not much to say really. Andy’s gift to me was a half-day WNR (compulsory, apparently – he had armed guards at every turn ), but my guilty attempts at a sleep-in were mercifully squelched by my work team (Joy, Andrew, Chris, Marrianne and Mel – sans Andy cuz he was teaching) clanging pots and ladles and singing Happy Birthday at the top of their lungs .

I was then treated to a birthday breakfast of eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, pie, coffee, orange juice and ice cream (thankfully everyone else was eating it too or I would have fainted from embarrasment ). It was so nice to just sit and chill with friends – nobody in a hurry to rush to work or trying their hardest not to look at their watches every few seconds. People were there because they wanted to be.

Went out with Gabi in the morning and bought the dye which now colors my hair as you can see (for those who don’t like it, chillax – Andy’s on your side right now so we’ll see who wins out). Worked the rest of the day then kicked back and watched Meet Joe Black (one of my faves) with the gang, drinking my large bottle of beer ala Eric (bless him – he does know the way to a girl’s heart ).

All in all, it was a terrific birthday, and the gifts are still coming in (Timmy, my fellow Aquarian who turns 12 tomorrow, got me Oreos – I love the damn things!!). BIG thanks to everyone who sent me offlines or messages of congrats.…especially my dear sister for your interesting remarks:

Oli (25/1/10 7:29):

you are now offically too old for cradle snatching
Oli (25/1/10 7:29):

and the joys of lying about how much you’ve had to drink/making excuses from the empty vodka bottle under the bed are now sadly gone forever.

Too true, Ol, too true .

And Nic, for the HORRENDOUSLY ancient and HIDEOUS picture you posted on your blog:

I was FIFTEEN, Nicholas. Turnabout is fair play, except a FOUL teenage mugshot of your OWN to resurface on this site

Oh and thanks for the hippie cake, Moni .

Piece, out

Gotta sign out before I get clobbered for doing this while clocked in on company time . So consider your asses saved from the lavish ‘omg now I’m an SGA run-and-scream’ speech I had all planned out . In its stead, however, I will hotlink this very fitting blog post a friend of mine pushed out just in time to save me from potential stupidity. Peace, gang.

Current Mood:

Determined

Matris Singulus…

I miss my Honey

Vacation’s up and my lil’ team of five have all adopted foster children for the next 12 days.

Of course Andy and I would have to automatically inherit the Rosers . Not that they’re all that rough, it’s just that there’s a baby in the mix and Tiffany is REALLY sensitive (as in the grouchy, whiny sort of way) to the heat that is beginning to set back in.

It’s not like Andy (who volunteered us for the task ) isn’t pulling his weight or anything. He took over JD’s teaching hours for him which means busting his ass from 6 AM till 11 AM at the kids’ school. It’s just that he and Chris went on the road this weekend to raise the 4,000 pesos that they, Marrianne and I still need to bring into the home to clear the budget for the month…

Which means I have the kids ALL to myself. And being a single mother to three children and a baby is just a little much considering there’s no stern surrogate father figure to send them to when they run circles around me .

Do NOT be fooled by that innocent little face...it's Brendon's Puss-In-Boots routine

God, I would never survive single motherhood . I don’t know how my mom managed, but she did.

Thank God Andy gets back tonight…for more reasons then that it’s my 21st birthday tomorrow . Plus sleeping alone has more or less been a non-event for long enough to make it oddly uncomfortable (for those of you who know my usual thoughts on the matter lol) .

Okay, must sign off. But before I do, I shall leave you all with a little Foreigner for your stomach’s sake .

Current Mood:

Stressed

Novus Expiscor…

...Wuthering Heights...

Some of my satisfying discoveries of 2010 so far:

Foreigners

Screaming Trees

Castle

Current Mood:

Bored

Novus Visum…

Hitchiking to our selected mountain

That’s right. I, Heather Wilkinson, who hasn’t scaled a grand height since I was nine and unafraid , have conquered one of Mexico’s peaks.

...With a little help from my friends in the form of a few leg-ups from Chris and Andy .

I was originally talked out of going by Andy who was worried I wouldn’t make it and would break a leg or something, but Chris (the far more vocal of our little circle) pressured, cajoled and even guilt-tripped me into dragging myself out of my warm, comfortable bed…

…He’s just good like that. For anyone familiar with the Sam Winchester Puppy Dog eyes, Chris has got them down to a T.

That's our baby - she's a lot bigger then she looks (I think it's the clothes she wears ..)

Anyway, what started out as a blustery day quickly turned scalding (fortunately, six years in England has turned me into a flighty weather buff, and I dress in layers – lots of’em), which made hitching rides in the average Dodge pick-up a little more agonizing then planned, but PTL.

Chris and Andy - my own personal Sam and Dean, trudging the long, lonely road

The climb was sort of gruelling initially - hopping the barbed wire fence (so it was next to an Aztec grave site they milk tourists for – how exactly is a neighbouring mountain under their jurisdiction?), hiking through the bramble-ridden base, but it got easier, oddly enough. I think that’s because at first I was huffing and puffing and had to stop every ten minutes or my chest would explode, but as we continued to climb, there was so much awesome scenery around me, I sort of forgot to be breathless .

My phone is terrible quality and fails to capture the majesty of nature, but nonetheless...

Some flowering cacti at the top of a very steep incline we'd just climbed - pretty, huh?

So yeah, I got all banged up (though most of my injuries were inflicted during the hike through those stupid brambles at the base that we didn’t even NEED to go through). And there was also this one part of the climb, near the summit, that was right at the edge and up such a smooth, steep rock face that someone had left a rope tied (mercifully, or we wouldn’t have been able to continue in our gearless fashion) where I came pretty up close and personal with the possibility of death. But I think we all know how exhilirating something like climbing a mountain can be, and I got this major adrenelin rush that just got me up there somehow, despite my insistence at the halfway point that I would just wait for the guys as I could barely breathe.

Close to the summit (don't ask about the bandana - I forgot to bring a hair elastic and Chris came to the rescue with one of his two uber-cool bandanas lol)

Being at the summit, looking out at the ocean, watching the giant hawks fly so close we could see every feather, and yelling ‘Vacaciones’ (vacation ) at the top of our lungs, made me realize something I’d lost sight of. I still can’t quite put my finger on an actual term, but maybe the closest thing to it is that life is so much bigger then our tiny little personal situations. There’s a whole world out there to see an things to experience that I just couldn’t if I stayed steeped in depression about people being douchebags sometimes. My happiness is not contigent on those people and their behaviour doesn’t have to dictate mine.

At the top...

I’m very blessed in that I can look back on the last 20 years and know that I did so many amazing things for my age – things like steering a whale-watching boat off the coast of Iceland, or hiding a Kurdish reporter from the Greek mafia in our home when I was just a kid, or doing a children’s party in the houses of Parliament (okay well that one is a little less glorious in my mind). I’m not trying to boast, but you get where I’m going with this. I’ve had an amazing life so far in regards to my personal aspiration for adventure and experience. And that’s not something any person or any circumstance can take away.

I guess now I just need to look forward, assess my priorities, and choose what’s most important to me. And then decide to how get it. Because like climbing that mountain just reminded me; nothing is impossible

While we’re knee-deep in mushy, gushy topics, I (for my own personal gratification as this is MY blog and therefore a platform for any and all of my personal quirks) would like to congratulate Jared Padalecki and Genevieve Cortese on their unexpected engagement announcement.

They do look WAY too pleased with themselves...

These kids managed to date under the press radar for over a year - a noteworthy feat these days – before suddenly smacking the media hounds in the face with their engagement and sucessfully causing a major stir.

If you’re gonna do it, may as well do it all the way .

Current Mood:

Optimistic

Vicis Pro Sileo…

...Vacation Time...

12 days…started from the 7th and is going till the 19th. And I am spending all of it chilling out and doing NOTHING at all.

Well, except for drinking, sleeping and imbibing ’secular media’ in abundance .

Andy and I had all these plans to go hiking in the jungle and explore some Aztec ruins, swim across the river and fish on the island etc, etc…but this huge Norte hit Veracruz and I’ve been huddled in every piece of winter clothing I own (and on occasion, a fair few blankets).

It’s been nice though, having time to think about things (something I normally scare away from). And to exfoliate and all that other girly crap .

Oh – speaking of girly crap (if this falls under said category): I have decided to dye my hair. Brown. Yeah you read that right – dark, chesnut brown. Blonde is so out these days unless you want to be forever stuck in the ‘dumb, cute and easy game’ section of the board.

Current Mood:

Uncertain

Servo Fides…

For anybody out there going through rough and rugged times. You have my admiration and my prayers. Keep fighting the good fight and slaying those demons, whether they be personal or universal, and believe in His love if no one else’s.

(Especially dedicated to my sister Olivia and my mother Claire, who I know have had it exceptionally hard these past few years)

(Disclaimer: I made this video with clips from Supernatural, so if you find the subject matter disturbing on any level, as Lemony Snicket says, it’s not too late to go to Screen 7 and watch The Happy Little Elf )

Current Mood:

Optimistic