Model Behavior

I had a big post all ready for you on Monday and of course my computer crashes while I’m posting it and my Internet goes down for days This is the first chance I’ve had to get online at a local coffee shop. I guess I can’t complain though since I don’t actually pay for internet at home, I live close enough to the apartment club house to steal theirs Anywho, prepare yourselves for a glidingcalm style food photo post, then later on some fitness updates:

I used to drink about a pitcher of crystal light a day until some of the new information came out about artificial sweeteners, now I switched toe La Croix as a more natural alternative, although it’s expensive so it’s not an everyday thing! I can’t wait till crystal light comes out with a stevia sweetened product!

I busted out the first of the squash stock with this little guy, not sure what kind he is, but he made some delicious squash fries a la mama lovin!

Eaten alongside an orange and more La Croix as a post run hydrating snack

I also enjoyed three cups of tea while I ate Wonderful book, very moving, educational, and motivating!

I LOVE these crisps from brothers all natural and I was so happy to see my local grocery started selling them! I used to go far out of my way to a health food store on the other side of town for them! I mixed them into some soy yogurt, coffee flavored…not a great combo I admit.

And enjoyed along side plain toast, my favorite way to eat toast!

Chips and wholly guacamole, a little too tasty….and good news, the chips were only 2 dollars!!!

Bret’s been bugging me to make caprice salad so I picked up the fixin’s while we were at the farmers market on Saturday, 3 heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese, and basil straight from our deck.

Sliced thin and marinated in balsamic vinegar

Then I cooked up a few of these puppies to have on the side, again, not sure what kind this was, and honestly it wasn’t my favorite, it wasn’t bad tasting, it just didn’t taste like anything

And topped with the strips of basil…summer on a plate.

Fitness Fun!

I have continued to run since my somewhat disappointing experience with the half marathon, but have mostly been concentrating on speed rather than distance. I participated in a 5K “thunder run” this Sunday with the goal of pacing 10:00 minute miles. I know this is painfully slow for a lot of you, but this is really fast for me and it was a pretty intense goal, some of you may remember when I was trying to hit 5 miles in one hour during my half marathon training? That should give you some idea of how fast this is for me. Well, I made my goal….barely! 9:56 miles! I was feeling really good about myself until I got this email from the Lincoln Track Club with my results:

Name: Jessie Popelka
Distance: 5K
Time:   30:51
Pace:  9:56
Overall Place: 220 of 328
Place in Gender: 128 of 150
Division M2024 Place: 19 of 19

128th out of 150 in my gender and LAST PLACE in my division?!?!?!?! OUCH All the more reason to get my butt in gear for the next run I guess. The next race is September 12th, it’s a 5M run at a very hilly and challenging park south of town. Since I know from the half that hills are my week point, I know I need to do a lot of hill training between now and then, hence this workout plan was born:

Monday: 3 mile hill run

Tuesday: incline walk + weights

Wednesday: 3 mile hill run

Thursday: incline walk + weights

Friday: Long run (4-6 miles) on semi hilly path

Saturday: weights/shred

Sunday: OFF

I found a very hilly park by my house with a 1.15 mile loop that goes around it. Monday was my first attempt and it was horrible. I only made it 2 laps around the park and it took me an embarrassing 34 minutes I was stupid to wait until 11:30 to go and the heat was a major factor, it was 88 and blindingly sunny out there, I was nauseous and drenched in sweat the whole time.

Today’s attempt went much better, I got my butt out of bed and was at the park by 8:45, it made all the difference in the world! It was cloudy, rainy, cool, and wonderful! I finished my 3 miles in 36 minutes! Still not great, I mean it’s still a 12 minute mile, but it’s a huge improvement from the first try and I have 5.5 more weeks to increase my speed! I’ll keep ya’ll posted on how this progresses!

Out with the old, in with the high tech!

My ipod is piece of crap, it no longer creates playlists and the battery life is about 40 minutes from fully charged to dead. My phone, is an even bigger piece of crap and I have only been able to use it on speaker phone for months now (this gets embarrassing when your in a crowded store…)

Both of these problems were fixed in an instant when my wonderful mother presented me with this little gizmo:

A new blackberry storm!!!!! My mom works at verizon and got this as a promotional giveaway for free, she used it for a few weeks, decided it was “too much phone for her” and lovingly passed it on to me! My first reaction was extreme excitement, but then I realized I couldn’t afford the plan attached since the Internet service brings the service plan to almost 80 bucks per month! But my mom graciously agreed to pay my phone bill for a while until I get settled in NY, she said she would feel better knowing I had something like this in the big city anyway, THREE CHEERS FOR MOM!!!

It gets hooked up the 19th of August, I can’t wait!

See ya on the flip side!

Yo yo yo! I know I don’t always report on my fitness endeavors but rest assured I am still an avid runner and continue to do strength training a few times a week. After the half marathon last May I decided to focus more on increasing my speed and I have made dramatic improvements! Remember when I was struggling for the half and I was trying to finish 5 miles in one hour? I have been really pushing for a 10:00 minutes mile pace the last few months and I signed up for today’s race knowing my goal would be to hit that pace…and ….I DID IT! 9:56 minute miles to be exact! It was only a 5k race but I was feeling very proud of myself until I received this email when I got home:

Name: Jessie Popelka
Distance: 5K
Time:   30:51
Pace:  9:56
Overall Place: 220 of 328
Place in Gender: 128 of 150
Division M2024 Place: 19 of 19

I know that running is more a race against yourself than the other people…but really? 128/150 for my gender and LAST PLACE in my division? OUCH All the more reason to move my booty during the next race! I will be participating in the buffalo run on September 13th which is a 5 mile race, and my new goal pace is 9:45, although I have heard this particular course is EXTREMELY challenging and boarders on a trail run, but I have 6 weeks to get into shape for it so…bring it on!

After the race we hit up the farmers market and scored big time:

This obscene amount of squash (approximately 40 lbs!!)was only FIVE DOLLARS! Apparently this farmer had a huge surplus and was worried they would go rotten before they sold so he was selling them by the bucketful for dirt cheap!

We had to drag it around the market in a black trash bag, one guy actually asked us if we had a dog in there…creeper.

Does anyone have any ideas for how to prepare squash? Clearly we will be eating A LOT of it in the next few weeks I will be posting some of our many squash endeavors this week, stay tuned!

Are you guys getting tired of the random modeling shots yet?

I have a few personal projects in the works right now I would like to share with you. The first is my new personal mission to streamline my life. In 6 months I will be moving from Lincoln in my own one bedroom apartment to an efficiency in Astoria New York with Bret. There will be a lot of changes brought about by this but the most glaringly obvious is that we will lose A LOT of space. I can’t stand clutter or mess so we will need to be diligent about only having what we need and use regularly in the apartment. To get a head start on this I am attempting to begin living a streamlined life, I have gone through a lot of my clothes, beauty products, movies, books, etc and gotten rid of many things I no longer use or need.

I thought this would be a scary and daunting process, but actually it has been quite freeing! Getting rid of old hair care products and clothes I haven’t worn since high school is something I really should have done years ago and I’m saving a lot of money by asking myself “is this just clutter or do you really need it?” when I’m in line to checkout. The more I cutback and simplify, the more I want to cut back. I canceled my cable and Internet a while back to save money for the move and I actually like not having it, I get more done and I am a more productive person. I started picking up a book instead of the remote and I have made a serious dent in my “to read” list in the past few months.

So what am I doing with all this free time and extra cash you ask? Why, I’m learning French of course! I took French for 4 years in high school but my teacher focused too much on reading and writing and not at all on listening or speaking. Now I can read French fairly well but can’t speak it at all. Since French is somewhat of the official language of modeling and fashion I decided it would be well worth my while to brush up on my skills. It’s coming back to me really fast and I’m improving a ton! I bought a software program that colleges use to teach the language and it is so great and fun to use, Bret even started doing the lessons! When we finish with the French we decided we are going to start learning Italian, very cool!

(the above picture was taken in New Zealand, you will understand why this is relevant in a second)

And one last change I’m extremely excited about, I got a new job! My current job is laying more and more people off every day (and transferring more and more jobs to India) and I’m sure my departments is coming up on the list here quick so I started applying and got a job at….

OUTBACK STEAK HOUSE!!! (New Zealand, Outback, Australia….get it??) Haha, what better place for a quasi-vegan health nut like myself right? Perhaps I could treat myself to a fried onion and 500 calorie piña colada after work one day!!! But seriously, I’m actually happy about this, I have a few friends that work there and they say it’s a really great environment, and my job just plain sucks so I’m really ready for a change. I have orientation on Saturday and than start next week! Bret is taking me out for Indian food at our favorite restaurant tonight to celebrate! I better enjoy it because this job is going to be a drastic pay cut from what I make now so the eating out thing will become really rare here soon!

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And now what you all really came here for….GIVEAWAY RESULTS!!!

Miss AnAppleADay, congratulations, you are the winner of a shiny new gift card!!! Send me your info snowjes at gmail.com

And since miss Christie stood me up for the Oikos giveaway, I chose a new number (I use random.org) and Little miss Talia is the winner! Don’t pull a Christie Talia, send me your info!

Congrats to you both, hope to hear from you soon!

I had an incredibly stressful day, who knew transferring colleges would be so intense! As I mentioned I have my eye on 2 schools Hunter college in Manhattan and Queens college in Flushing, and I have spent the better part of the last 2 weeks since returning from our trip attempting to apply to them both.  Today I finally got the online application cooperating but could not for the life of me locate the spot to choose my major as dietetics. I called the admissions office and the man who answered informed me THEY DO NOT OFFER THIS MAJOR!!!!!

Needless to say I had a major meltdown, there were tears people! These are the only two colleges besides NYU I could find with dietetics majors listed and I can’t afford 30,000 a year to go to NYU!

Long and horrible story short, 5 hours later I called another person who informed me that that gentleman had no idea what he was talking about and both schools have wonderful dietetics programs. I submitted my application and immediately felt relieved, UNTIL I checked my email and found a 9 page document from them containing further hoops I have to jump through before they will even look at my application.

What I really was craving after all this stress was a few shots but I settled for some soul soothing artwork instead

I grabbed up this cheap paint set at a back to school sale a while ago on a whim and for some reason it was totally calling my name today. I painted something I thought might help calm my nerves and soothe me.

Yes that is a Buddha, and yes I sincerely apologize to anyone of the faith that I have offended with this terrible rendition! Clearly I am no artist lol. Bret joined in on the fun as well

It was exactly what I needed and I didn’t end up needing the shots after all…however I may have had a glass of wine while I painted

This was delicious and affordable, I highly recommend! Not to oaky or had too many tannins (thank you Jenna for teaching me the meaning of this word!) plus it has such a fun label!

Don’t forget to enter the AMAZON.COM giveaway! (below)

Have a great Thursday/Friday people!

I still  need to hear from Christie C, winner of the Oikos coupons, if I do not here from christie by Friday I will prick a new winner.

I am keeping this weeks giveaway open for one week, so you have until Wednesday at 5:00 pm to enter.

Leave a comment and link back (same rules) to win

an amazon.com gift card worth $15!!

I don’t have a picture because I will order it and have it shipped directly to you when the winner is chosen.

Make sure you check back to see if you are the winner or you may just miss out on a fabulous prize!

A lot of people think that modeling is a parade of perfect women in perfect clothing. They open a magazine and see the so called “physical ideal” in a five thousand dollar dress laying casually on a bed of pine needles looking as absurdly comfortable as if they were curled up on the couch in a snuggie. If you look at this image and think the point is “this woman is comfortable in any situation, that is how cool and collected she is in her Dior” your are seeing it all wrong.

Modeling is all about celebrating the imperfections and differences in people. Tyra Banks, while absolutely stunning, makes jokes about her own obviously gigantic “five”head, and the incredibly famous Lauren Hutton has been banking on her front teeth gap (a trait tons of women get fixed every day) for decades. Some of the most successful models I have met in my career are bug eyed, awkward, and in no way fit the description of the typical “American Beauty”. Do you think you would ever see the heroin chic Kate Moss in a Victoria Secret catalogue? Would you ever compare Mariacarla Boscono to the girls in playboy? These are women you would perhaps never give a second look at on the street. Their sexuality is subtle and dark, their true beauty only fully shines through in precise lighting and proper makeup, but it’s there, lurking, and given the proper chance, it can explode off the pages of an Italian Vogue and make you positively yearn for every scrap of cloth in the picture, even if it is a ten thousand dollar bathing suit.

There is a reason these women are paid thousands of dollars to appear in these clothes, THEY SELL THEM, and they do it well! These women have imperfections, just like us, just like everyone does. They don’t hide from them, they don’t fix them, they use it.

I challenge you the next time you flip through a fashion magazine, to search the ads looking for the imperfections, note how the photographers tweak the lighting and position to transform something off and bizarre into something interesting and fantastic. Sometimes you’ll look at a picture and something draws you into it…but you can’t quite put your finger on it. keep looking until you figure it out. That thing you can’t quite identify, is probably the awkward angle at which the model holds her knobby knees, or the freakishly huge hands with which she holds the perfume bottle, for it is the imperfections that make us beautiful, wonderfully strange, and different from one another. Don’t hide them, figure out how to flaunt them!

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Giveaway Results

See how I do that? I make you read my rambling thoughts on modeling before I tell you who won the Oikos coupons? Haha, deal with it

The winna is numba 25! 25 come on down! Ms. Christie C please email me your info and I’ll get them in the mail! If I don’t hear from you soon I’ll pick another winner so please respond soon!

I have another giveaway planned, I’ll announce details Wednesday, stay tuned!!!

I started my blog one year ago on July 22, which means my one year is almost up. I paid the 15 dollars for the next year, but I keep getting renewal notices from wordpress, has anyone had this problem before? Anyway, If the blog goes out I’ll try to figure it out ASAP, dont’ stop coming, and don’t forget to enter the contest!!!

Loves,

Jess

I think I have fallen away from this modeling blog, because the longer I am away form the modeling lifestyle, the less connected I feel to it. That all changed last week when I went to New York to meet with a new agency, and my passion for sharing my experiences was rekindled. I will begin with a massive recap of the last month:

Before we committed to moving across the country together, I wanted to be sure that A) Bret would like New York, and B) that I could still model! We flew out last Sunday and I met with Ford agency. I was THRILLED with how the meeting went, everyone at Ford was incredibly kind and were really interested in working with me. Also Bret absolutely adored the city. He didn’t want to leave when the trip was over, this was exactly the reaction I was hoping for! I also found a college that has a wonderful Dietetics program, Hunter. I put in an application a few days ago so fingers crossed that I get in! Queens College will be my backup school.

The plan is still to move in February when my current lease is up. Bret hasn’t found an agency for drumming yet but he’s working on it. For now, I am done with school for the summer (took 2 summer classes that were pretty intense, this partially explains my absence from blogging) but they are over and I don’t start again until August 23.

What do all these changes mean for the blog? I want to shift the focus of the blog from food to fashion/modeling/lifestyle. Food and nutrition will always be a huge part of my life and I’m sure it will still make it’s way onto the blog now and then, but I am going to focus more on the life of a model, stories of past modeling experiences, and just in general getting myself back into that fast passed NY mind set, a drastic contrast from the slow Midwestern attitude I’ve fallen back into. I fully encourage you all to submit any questions or comments you have about modeling or fashion!

Giveaway

I feel like I owe you guys something for my long absence. So to win you all back, and generate more interest in the blog, I am jumping right in with a giveaway, one of a series I will have over the summer to get back into the swing of things. the first giveaway is a stash of Stoneyfield farms coupons, free products and etc. You know the drill, one entry for commenting, one for linking back. Winner will be chosen at random Monday night (July 20th). Let the games begin!

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Who knew being healthy could be so cost efficient? How often do you hear people whine that health food costs too much, that they can’t afford to be healthy? Welp, IMO that’s just a bunch of crap.

When we last spoke (I know, it’s been a while, don’t hate me) I was just starting to cut meat out of my diet. I would not call myself a vegetarian because I have eaten small amounts of meat in the last few months, about once a month or so always at a family function, however my household has become almost completely meat free (Bret still eats it occasionally). In fact I went one step further and cut out 75% of the dairy from my diet. I no longer drink cows milk or eat yogurt, but occasionally I will have small amounts of cheese.

So how am I liking this new diet? Well for one thing, my wallet sure loves it! Replacing the meat and dairy in my grocery cart with more fresh produce and beans has cut our grocery bill significantly! Previously Bret and I were spending about $110 per week on grocery’s. The last few weeks we’ve managed to cut that back to around $75 per week, FOR BOTH OF US! That includes buying pricier almond milk and more organic produce!

You know what else likes my diet? My skin! Seriously! I have heard that dairy can have a negative effect on some women’s skin, but never took it seriously until about 3 weeks into my semi-vegan lifestyle I noticed my breakouts had done down significantly; so much so in fact that I stopped taking an antibiotic I have been taking for 2 years for my skin, and STILL no breakouts! it’s a friggin’ Christmas miracle I tell you! I feel good knowing I’m not pumping antibiotics into my body just for vanity’s sake anymore. If you have skin issues (isn’t that all of us?) I really recommend trying cutting down on dairy. I know it doesn’t work for everyone, but I think it’s worth a try, give it a month and if it doesn’t look better than incorporate dairy again, no harm no foul.

So my wallet and skin are happy, what about my tummy? Thumbs up there too! I think I have finally broken my mild salt addiction and have really began to appreciate the taste of vegetables, not just the taste of lemon and salt, or salad dressing I encase it in. I don’t use salad dressing anymore, I usually put a dollop of humus and occasionally a touch of balsamic vinegar if I’m feeling feisty, other than that it’s just me, a plate full of fresh veggies, and a fork, paradise.

And last but not least, my new diet has resulted in a completely unintentional 3 lb weight loss! I haven’t increased my workout at all, in fact I’ve decreased my mileage significantly since the half marathon training is over, so this weight loss is strictly diet related. I wasn’t trying to lose weight, nor did I think I needed to lose the 3 lb, but still.

Retraction

Let’s talk about this organic thing shall we? Some of you may remember my rant on unnecessary organic foods a few months ago. While I hold my position that buying organic sugar filled cookies aren’t as healthy as people like to tell themselves, I would like to retract my statements about organic produce. I have done some personal research in the last few months (more on this in another post) and have decided I feel better about buying pesticide free organic produce as much as I possibly can. Plus, I think certain foods, such as spinach and carrots, actually have a stronger flavor when grown organically.

HUMGWEE!

So without further ado I present to you an example of some of the delicious, fresh, mostly organic, meat free meals I have come to love:

Flat out wrap filled with romaine, humus, sprouts, red onion, and hot sauce, served along side my favorite fashion magazine and the new Dave Matthews CD,  perfecto.

Side of one of my new obsessions, organic berries. These are worth the splurge, and another food I think tastes better organically grown.

And I was still hungry so I snacked on some organic baby carrots from my favorite brand Earthbound Farm.

Ok blog friendlies, it’s Sunday night and every college student knows what that means: last minute homework time! I’m LOVING my summer class, it’s only 5 weeks so it doesn’t ruin my whole summer and it’s really fascination. The class is science of food preparation and the lab is basically a cooking class with some mild chemistry and physics thrown in, not too shabby! I have to write a paper on whole grain pancake mix…easiest paper ever

I can’t believe I forgot to mention this in yesterdays post, but my plans to move to NYC are gaining momentum! I’m no longer in a contract with Elite since I have been gone so long, but I have spoken to a friend at Ford agency and I plan to meet with them this summer. Ford and Elite are 2 of the largest agencies in the world so I know I will be in good hands with either one! Bret did a photo shoot of his own, he wrote a biography and made a CD of his favorite drum parts and is in the process of sending press kits to various managing companies. I also am going to try to hook him up with a modeling agency a friend of mine works at for some extra cash while he looks for jobs. We can’t move until my apartment lease is up in February but we are going there to meet with people and look for neighborhoods in July! I haven’t been to NY since I moved back 4 years ago and I absolutely CANNOT WAIT!!!

Juicy Juice!

Eats so far today included lots-o-liquids

Started off the day with some fresh juice! Here’s what went in it:

2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, half a cucumber, and an apple. Gave me just enough blood sugar to get me through my workout!

Brunch around 10:00 am included my usual spinach smoothie and some Ezekiel toast with smart balance and jam. I had an assignment for a class to track my eating for a week and discovered I was unintentionally eating an extremely low carb diet! This is no good for a girl in training for races, so I have been trying to incorporate more carbs in my diet now.

Training

As I said in my last post, I’m working on increasing my speed for an upcoming 10k run that I would like to finish in 1 hour. I’ve devised my own training program for this:

Monday: X train/ weights

Tuesday: .5 mile speed intervals

Wednesday: X train/ weights

Thursday: .5 mile incline intervals

Friday: X train weights

Saturday: “long” run 5-6 miles

Sunday: Rest

On Tuesdays I plan to do .5 mile intervals at gradually increasing speeds. I want to average a 10 min mile for the 10K. On Thursdays I want to do .5 mile intervals of gradually increasing inclines at a lower speed. I seriously underestimated the effect of the inclines during the half marathon. There were several 1-2 mile stretches that we at a gradual incline, and they kicked my ass! In order to keep up a good pace, I need to get better at hills!

My official training starts next week but I did go for an easy run today (my first since the half!) I did 4 half mile intervals at 6 mph, 0 incline. Here are the stats:

Duration: 38:01

Max HR: 212??? I think this is wrong

AVG HR: 156

Distance: 3 miles

Cals: 347

The speed intervals felt AMAZING! Much more interesting than the steady 3 miles I was doing before!

I’m off to enjoy the day! Have a good one!