Ella's World by Ella | English, baby! Blogs

Canadian Bacon Please

Ella — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:27:51 GMT

Canadian Bacon Please

Hi Ebaby! friends! I hope you have all been busy and learning lots of English! How are you liking the updates to the site? I know for some of you, it may be frustrating adjusting to the changes, but in the long term, it's for the best and only intended to enrich everyone's English learning experiences!

As for the soap series, what do you guys think about Devan's international match-making idea? It is quite interesting isn't it? It was so fun putting the episodes together for this plot line! Stay tuned!

I've been busy planning my next adventure and trying to decide where to go for Halloween. Right now, I am torn between Las Vegas, Nevada, and Washington, DC. Where will I go?!? You will find out in my next blog !

This month, I went to Pacific City, an amazing beach town along the Oregon coast. Me and my friends stayed right on the beach and had some beautiful views of the famous landmark in town, Haystack Rock. We took naps on the beach, had late night campfires and tried out the local brewery. It was a great time!

After my adventures at the Pacific City, I headed north to CANADA!

My friends and I decided to do a girl road trip to Vancouver, BC, about a 7 hour drive. It was a great trip! The weather could have been better, but otherwise, Canada was a super cool country! It took forever to get into Canada. We waited at the border for almost an hour.

However, after we made it past the border, it was all fun and games! We stayed at an International hostel. We got to meet a lot of people our age from all over the world. It was awesome, it was as if English, baby! had come to life! However, accommodations were a little tight.

There was lots of cool graffiti art to see, as well as street art. We went to the BC aquarium and later found a great viewpoint of the city. And for some strange reason, everywhere we turned, there were crepes and coffee stores on EVERY corner. I had to get a bite.

Canada was a great place. I got tons of amazing clothes and hats. It was good to be back home though. The drive was quite tiring and it was fabulous to come home and crawl into my comfy bed.

Modeling-wise, things have been slow. I've been busy with my regular nursing job and travels so my schedule has been tight. I was able to squeeze in a mini-shoot with one of my favorite photographers (www.sltvisuals.com). Final product:

Well, I hope you've enjoyed my photoblog! As usual, have fun and stay safe wherever in the world you are!! Til next time...

Amazing August

Ella — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:48:58 GMT

Amazing August

I have decided that August is my favorite month of the year. Not only is it my birthday month, but there are no national holidays in the United States to distract from it! At English, baby!, we've been working hard to produce some great lessons for you. Especially with the soaps, the plot is thickening. Since inheriting $200,000, Devan has been contemplating what to do with all that money. And I've been thinking the same thing!

1. Pay off debt

2. Put 1/3 in savings

3. Give $$ to friends and family

4. Travel

5. Charity

Speaking of travel, I kicked off the beginning of August in New York. New York has definitely become one of my favorite cities. I had a great time. I stayed in my own apartment so I really felt like a New Yorker. I went to visit my friend in Southampton which was an amazing place. So much fun!

After returning home, I had some birthday celebrations. I did a fancy dinner with some close friends and then had a bowling party, courtesy of Dale! Here are some pictures from those celebrations!

In other news, although I didn't have any photo shoots this month, I recently found a book cover I did from over a year ago. It is quite a funny story. My friend had been reading a book and had told me the main character on the cover looked EXACTLY like me. I had not seen the cover, so I had her send me the name of the book, and behold, it actually was me on the cover! I hear the book is really good too, so if you want to check it out, it is called The Fruit of My Lipstick by Shelley Adina!

Well Ebaby! friends, August has been great, full of parties, celebrations and surprises. I'm heading to the beach this weekend and then Canada next week so I will have tons of adventures to share. Like always, be safe and have fun wherever in the world you are!

Taking it easy

Ella — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:32:21 GMT

Taking it easy

In a recent episode, my character, Ella, decides to quit her job and do whatever she wants. Sometimes I wish soooo much I could do that! Life can get quite hectic sometimes with work and juggling my multiple activities, but I would never know what to do with all the free time! Thank goodness for vacation times!

I just got back from California. I went to visit my best friend for her birthday! We went shopping in San Francisco, sun bathing (after putting on sunscreen of course! ) in Santa Cruz and killing time in San Jose. It's always so much fun when I visit!

After coming back, I went to the Columbia River with my friends on a speedboat. I went inner-tubing for the first time! Basically, inner-tubing entails connecting an inner-tube to a boat and then holding on as the boat moves along. It was fun, but after losing my grip, I hit the water pretty hard and bruised my thigh pretty bad. Overall, good time and I'm glad I did it.

For the first time in a while, I didn't have a photoshoot this month, but I was in an independent movie about modeling. I'll keep everyone posted as things get more finalized.

I wish I had more interesting stories to report on! But alas, this month has been low-key and relaxing. Heading to New York this week, so hopefully I have some adventures to share soon!

Take care, be safe and have fun wherever in the world you are!!

Sizzling Summertimes

Ella — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:36:09 GMT

Sizzling Summertimes

Hi Ebaby! friends!

It's been a while since my last post and as usual, I've been keeping busy! Unfortunately, I didn't get to travel anywhere exciting this month, but I did have a couple photoshoots that turned out great!

I also got a haircut! Even though that sounds petty, it was quite traumatic! The anticipation was horrendous because I had no clue how it would turn out, but I ended up really liking the final product. It was the first major change for me in 3 years!

Also, some of you already know this, but I am a registered nurse. I work for a dermatology (skin), allergy and asthma practice so we see a lot of different things. This past month, my clinic diagnosed a lot of people with skin cancer. I feel it is my duty as a health care worker and teacher to advocate for prevention! Especially with summer here for us in the States, sun exposure is at a peak! (Please bear with me as I do this mini PSA- public service announcement.)

No matter where you are in the world, you get sun exposure, even on a cloudy day, ultraviolet rays still penetrate through. It is really important that you wear some type of sunscreen that has UVA protection. A lot of sunscreens have UVB protection, but it is UVA that is the most damaging to the skin. Any type of sunscreen with at least 20 SPF against UVA will suffice. Please go out and enjoy the sun as much as you can, but be sure to protect yourselves! You DO NOT want to end up with a basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma!

Okay, I'm done ranting!

As for English, baby! we worked on some really hilarious and fun soap episodes ! I can't wait to hear your feedback on them! We're trying some new things, so it's going to be an adventure for us as well! Stay tuned....

Photoshoots for May!

I went to Pacific City to shoot along the Oregon coast. We had actually climbed up a very high cliff to take one of the pictures! I was trembling in fear, which was particularly unusual for me because I've bungee jumped and skydive before. Nonetheless, the pictures turned out pretty great! Shout out to the photographer, Logan Lefler http://www.sltvisuals.com/

The next shoot I had this month was Japanese Rocker/Pop themed. I don't know very much about Japanese music... except for Utada Hikaru, but after thumbing through some magazines, I was very impressed by how creative and artistic the style of J-Rock and J-Pop was. The hairstylist, Jayla, wanted to give me a rocker look, hence my previously mentioned hair change. Two other girls were involved in the shoot too, so the pictures we did with Andy Pierson was very rocker magazine themed. Here are some of my favorite shots:

This was a really fun shoot and I made a lot of new friends! Well friends, I hope you've enjoyed my update! Have fun and stay safe wherever in the world you are!

Coast to Coast Trip!

Ella — Sun, 17 May 2009 22:13:03 GMT

Coast to Coast Trip!

Hi friends! I hope you’ve all been staying busy these past few weeks and are having fun doing it! We just finished up some new episodes for the soap series and as I always say, you won’t be disappointed! It is always so fun filming. One of the biggest challenges though with doing English Baby is trying to speak slower! In normal everyday life, I generally talk really fast. I actually speak a lot faster than my friends and it gets worse when I have a lot of caffeine or sugar in me, words begin to slur and I concoct up new words. But speaking slower definitely makes me think more about what I am trying to say and I think it’s a good habit to put into place, especially when trying to help people learn English.

This month, I’ve been staying pretty busy. I decided to throw a Metallic-colored theme party this month just for the heck of it. I did not realize how much effort and time went into party planning. It is a tedious task. Have you ever had to throw a party? How was the experience for you? I feel like there was a lot of unnecessary stress I put upon myself but in the end, the party turned out fantastic. Here are some photos from the party!

I also did some traveling this month! I went to California and New York!

In California, I went to San Francisco, San Jose, Palo Alto and Vallejo. It was a lot of fun. One of things I was really excited to visit was the Winchester Mystery House! I am a big history buff and the story that surrounds the Winchester house is very interesting. I had wanted to visit this place for many years so it was a thrill to finally go! You can probably google the Winchester house to find a more comprehensive history, but I will give you a quick low-down. Basically, the house was built by Sarah Winchester, of the Winchester rifle fortune. What makes this house so interesting is that Sarah was building this house under the direction of a psychic who told her there was a curse on her family due to all the lives lost as a result of people that died from Winchester weapons. In order to protect herself, she had to basically build a house that she could live in with the spirits. One of the conditions was that she could never stop building or she would die, so as long as Sarah was alive, the house was under nonstop construction, even through the night and on holidays!

The most fascinating thing about this house is all the trap-doors, tricks and oddities that comprise it. There are stairs that lead up to the ceiling, doors that open up to nowhere, closet doors that are really just walls and many other weird things. The house was beautiful and the plants surrounding the house were just as amazing. It was a wonderful experience!

In San Francisco, my friends and I visited Chinatown, which was very interesting. We bought a lot of neat little trinkets. We also went to a very cool Mediterranean restaurant where we smoked hookah and I danced with a belly dancer! We also drove on the most crooked street in the city and visited the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a very fun trip!

From San Francisco, I flew over to the east coast to New York City! I have been in NYC before, so I got a lot of the touristy things out of the way at that time, so this time I really wanted to experience the typical life of a New Yorker. My friends and I went out at night to a lot to different clubs and restaurants.

I also had a photo shoot while I was there. Thomas Subtil, the photographer, did an amazing job! http://www.thomassubtil.com

The life and pace of New York City is so fast. The attitude is very, GO GO GO, so it was fun trying to adjust to that. I did a lot of shopping, one of my favorite past times and attended parties. It was sad to leave, but I was happy to be home!

Now that I am back, it’s back to the daily grind of everyday life! Work, sleep, and eat on constant rotation. It’s good to be back!

Well friends, I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the new lessons! We’ve been working hard to make sure the lessons are fun and jam packed full of new words you can incorporate into your everyday life!

Like always, stay safe and have fun wherever in the world you are!!

Model photos!

Ella — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:05:29 GMT

Model photos!

Wow! Isn't it amazing that English, baby! now has a million members?! This is so great and I am glad to be a part of it! The gang and I worked on some stuff for the site tonight that will have you followers utterly captivated! For those of you who watch the soaps religiously and those novices who have just come upon the site, you will not be disappointed as things get more riveting! Please stay tuned!

Time sure flies when you're always on the go! Since my last post, I have been staying very busy. I've been hanging out with my friends, going to the beach, parties and anxiously awaiting for the signs of spring weather to appear.

In other news, I have begun a new chapter in my life- I've started a new job! I'll be working as a registered nurse at a specialty clinic. It is pretty fun helping people and learning new things, but starting a new job can be quite stressful, don't you agree? It's like a juggling act trying to learn how to work with the doctor and other nurses, the procedures and right protocols and all the technicalities that goes into maintaining a properly functioning clinic! It's nice to be receiving a paycheck, but that will go directly towards paying off all my credit card bills! I'm trying to have a goal to save up for though! I would like to go to Thailand sometime this year, so I'm going to put aside some money for that. I think it was about time I return to the homeland :)

In addition to my nursing job, I also work as a model. I've been modeling for about four years now and it's quite fun! I love meeting new people and bringing something different to the industry. This recent month, I've had about three photoshoots. The photographers were great and we got some really amazing shots. Props to Liz Wade and Logan Lefler! Here are some of my favorites:

Well Ebaby! friends, I hope you learn lots of new English terms this month! Stay safe and have fun wherever in the world you are!!

Fishing Trip

Ella — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:50:50 GMT

Fishing Trip

So I just got back from the wildest weekend with my friends. We wanted to get out of town for a while and decided to go to a cabin out in Washington. Nearby was some fishing and crabbing so we decided to drop our crab pots in and throw out our fishing lines. We were there for almost two hours and got nothing! Nothing legal or edible anyway. The crabs were smaller than a dollar bill so we couldn’t have taken them home to eat. But we did catch several giant starfish.

This is what I had previously imagined starfish to look like:

Instead I got this:

and this

It was a good weekend though, surprisingly a lot of snow.

Nice to Meet You

Ella — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:48:29 GMT

Nice to Meet You

Hey guys! Tonight's the first night I get to meet everyone and they are all so nice! I feel like I'm just shying away and trying to get a grip on how things operate! I'm excited to be apart of this!

January is a big month! So much is going on! Not only is there a new president of the United States, it's also Chinese New Years! Happy new year to all! In addition to that, I feel like I'm so behind on catching up with all the movies that are coming out! On my list of movies to watch is Slumdog Millionaire , Taken, He's Not That Into You and My Bloody Valentine. I'm also trying to discover some different music and have recently began listening to Lily Allen. I'm a major fan of her new single, "The Fear." It's got a great message. However, my current favorites will continue to be Hangar 18, Nujubes, John Legend and Savage. My musical voyage continues!

It's almost a whole month in and I'd like to share my new year's resolutions with everyone. First, I am trying to floss every day, travel to nine places and be active/sporty at least once a week. So far, I'm doing okay! I've skimped on flossing a couple times, but the will is still going strong! I went to Manzanita beach over the weekend and I've gone snowboarding every week since January. Let's see how well this goes! Stay tuned!