Ella's World

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!

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!!