The Glamorous Life of a Model...

When we arrived at Narita Airport, we had a few errands to run, including getting my phone a data-only SIM and grabbing food for Ashlynn in case she had to go straight to work. While wandering the airport, a television crew interviewed us for a show about traveling to Japan. No idea if the footage will ever air, but hope it's a good sign of things to come. 

We were instructed to take a bus to the Tokyo City Air Terminal where someone from IMAGE Models, Ashlynn's Japanese modeling agency, would meet us and drive us to the agency. It was much nicer than we'd expected after watching a documentary on the shady side of modeling in Japan. Imagine how thrilled I was when we were greeted by Ashlynn's picture on the wall (here's her portfolio).

After filling out some paperwork, we were dropped off at our apartment so Ashlynn could take a shower. She was picked up at 3:30 p.m. (which was just a first day courtesy as all other days she'll need to walk about 10 minutes to the agency) and didn't get back to the office until 9:30 p.m. Turns out that was actually a short day! Yesterday, she was at the agency at 2 p.m. and didn't get back until nearly 11 p.m. At least she got to sleep in.

Basically a typical day consists of sitting in a van with around six other models (all the other girls are either Scandinavian or Russian) and going to possible jobs--anywhere from eight to ten "castings" per day. Most are for catalogs or websites, but yesterday she went to two magazines. This morning was like something out of America's Next Top Model. She had an audition for a TV commercial for coffee. She was supposed to act like a Bond Girl, throwing her arm around James Bond, who was "at least 30," and act sexy while handing him a cup of coffee. She said it was hilarious as she managed to choke him and spill on him (luckily the cup was filled with water). Can't imagine that she'll be getting that job! In fact, no idea if she'll be getting any jobs as apparently there are too many models and not enough jobs--we'll just have to wait and see.

Off to Tokyo...

If you've been following my blog, then you know I've only posted through mid-April. Next up would have been how we celebrated our first King's Day, but instead I'm going to interrupt our normal programming for this late breaking bulletin: Ashlynn and I are spending the summer in Tokyo! Instead of you having to wait months to hear about our trip (and risk me forgetting most of the details), I'm going to blog from Tokyo as time allows.

On Sunday, July 26, just two days after we returned from Poland, Ashlynn and I headed to Schiphol. It was nice that Jimmy came along to have lunch with us and to help with our heavy bags.

The day before was our 22nd wedding anniversary. Instead of having a nice celebration, I spent the day doing laundry and packing, while Jimmy set off to do some last minute errands for us. The weather was insane as Holland experienced the worst recorded July storm with nearly hurricane strength winds. Luckily, the weather was nice and calm for our departure and our flight went smoothly.

Our Mini Pizza Oven...

For Jimmy’s 50th, Sally and John gave him a mini pizza oven.

One month later we finally had a chance to try it out. Ashlynn even experimented with crusts made from cauliflower and also sweet potato.

It was a big hit!

Photo Wall...

By now you probably already know that Jimmy never does anything the easy way. Rather than just hanging up the collage picture frames that we’ve had for years, he decided to design his own framing system.

He cut out four different size pieces of wood, painted them black and drilled holes for magnets. It was a lot of work, but in early April he finally finished preparing all the frames. Then we lined them up on the floor so we could color coordinate the placement of each photo before finally clicking them into place.

It looks fantastic! Jimmy’s timing was perfect since we were hosting a party the next weekend, although he didn’t know that at the time. He’d love to figure out a way to get his system manufactured out of plastic so it would be lighter and easier to use. He dreams of filling our whole wall with photos. Perhaps a Kickstarter project could be in our future?

2015 Flower Parade...

Jimmy and I cycled to Voorhout to watch this year’s flower parade; unfortunately, we were a bit late and were very disappointed to have missed the kiddie parade. This year’s theme was royalty in honor of the 200th anniversary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Here’s the golden carriage...

...and Queen Beatrix’s hat.

Clearly this t-rex wasn’t royal, but rather the entry from Naturalis, the national natural history museum.

This gorilla was also not royalty, but rather part of an ad for an upcoming musical.

Co-Chair of Environmental Committee...

For the last two school years, Veronica and Nora have co-chaired the school’s Environmental Committee. Mr. Weston sent me this photo, taken last year in the eco garden that Veronica helped to plan, of “Mother Goose and her goslings.”

In mid-April, Jimmy bought pizza for the committee to celebrate getting the Green Flag Award.

A professional photographer happened to be on campus and took a few photos.

Veronica proved to be a natural leader. Hopefully she will continue to be one in the future.

Green Flag Award...

One of Veronica and Nora’s big goals as co-chairs of the Environmental Committee was to apply for the Green Flag Award, the highest level of award granted to a school for its commitment to being green.

It was great seeing Veronica and Nora presented the flag at the Year 13 Awards Reception in late April.

Mr. Weston, the school’s archivist and big supporter of the committee, was extra proud of the girls.