Finally I’m off to a start on the house renovations. I mean, I’ve been at it for a while on the little things, although painting is quite the task, but now the big projects are starting to take shape. On Monday I went to a few flooring warehouses to pick out my hardwood floors. I thought my mind was already make up before going in, but I found the most unbelievable flooring! It’s called Vintage Timber, it’s a brand new product. I believe that they are 7 inch planks, oak, and handscrapped and hand stained to the deep, dark walnut that I’ve been envisioning. And the best part is that because it’s a brand new product, the warehouse has it on sale…even cheaper than what’s on their site. So today the installer is coming over to give me an estimate and to let me know how much wood I have to order. I’m SOOOOO excited! Hopefully they can put it in next week…it’d be a great birthday present to myself!

Speaking of my birthday…don’t think I’m going to be able to go anywhere this year. I was thinking about heading up to Santa Barbara to go wine tasting…but with all the house stuff, I just don’t think I should spend the money on a trip as opposed to investing it in the house. And as the years go by, birthdays just don’t seem to have the same effect. Although I’m only going to be 25, still…it’s just another year older…I’m almost a quarter of a century old! Hahahaha. But seriously, it’s nothing really special anymore. All that this year holds is the lowering of my car insurance and I’ll be able to rent a car at any car rental location and not have to pay an extra fee. Yipee. Kelle Marie’s birthday is on Sunday so I think that maybe sometime next week we’re going to try to get a girl’s dinner together with everyone. We’ll see what happens.

So as always, not much has gone on work-wise since I wrote last week. I had my magazine shoot with Nicolas Sage on Friday but nothing really stood out from it. I was in and out. Starting next month…probably more towards mid-month…I’m going to pick back up in shooting. I’m actually so far ahead on shooting photos for the site (video is a whole different story) that I may have all my content for 2007 shot by the end of this year! I’m just trying to get as far ahead as possible so that I can take more breaks and vacations and also still run the site after I decide to quit modeling. The plan is to shoot enough content to still run the site 3-5 years after my modeling is finished. This way I have the content already shot and all I have to do is maintain the site and hang out with all of you on the board and in the chats. That way I can pursue other interests at the same time. Always have to plan for the future! But right now I have a day of Girl/Girl shooting with Adriana Sage planned, I’ll be shooting some Pinup content, some bondage, and I have to shoot a full video only day to catch up on that. But things are slowly going as planned!

As you all saw from this week’s candid shots, a big group of us girls went out for dinner and dancing. I haven’t gotten the dancing photos yet because I didn’t take my camera into the club…so I’m waiting on someone else to get them to me. The reason we went out is because it was Aria’s last night out in Los Angeles…well as a Los Angeles resident. Most of you probably don’t know unless you’re a member of her site, but she is moving to New York. She already bought a place there and is making the big move. So we went out for a little farewell party and had a blast. Aria, myself, Adriana Sage, Kelle Marie, Crystal, Klein, Shay LaRen, and a few other non-model friends went out to dinner and then hit a couple clubs in Hollywood. Then we went out to eat afterwards. I’m going to miss Aria, but the great thing is that I now have a friend in New York and can go out and visit her all the time. And since I’ve never been there before, it’s a great opportunity. So I might go out in November for her birthday, but we’ll have to see how schedules work out. I wish her nothing but the best and I commend her for following her instincts and doing something as brave as moving to a big city in which you know NO ONE!

Last night I went out on my annual Knott’s Scary Farm excursion with the same group of friends I go with every year (none of them in the biz). As always, it was so much fun! The only problem though, is that I’ve been so many times that I don’t get scared anymore…everything is so predictable. It’s only fun because of the friends that I go with…we cause chaos! There was a total of 17 of us…it was great. And they now serve beer at Knott’s…so we drank before we went…and pounded beers there…glorious…made it that much better.

Today I have a TON of things to get done. I have to do some banking, mail out auction items, go to the gym, go tanning, dye my hair, get my friend a wedding gift, and get my dog a birthday treat…he’s 2 now! And over 160 lbs…such a big baby! I love him to death though…as you all already know. I may also get my nails done today if time remains…if not maybe I’ll do it in Denver tomorrow. I also have to pack for my flight to Denver in the morning. A good friend of mine from High School is getting married in Denver on Sunday so another friend of mine and I are going to travel and room together. I’m leaving early tomorrow morning and I’ll be back Monday evening. So as usual when I travel, I won’t be on the site from tomorrow morning until Monday night. Take care of everything while I’m gone…and please behave!

Until next week…

xo
j

So as most of you know, I bought my first house back in July. I used to live in a really cool brand new loft in Downtown LA…lived there for a little over a year and a half. I loved my loft, I loved the building…but I got sick of having to walk my dog there. Most of Downtown LA just isn’t dog friendly. So back in April I was contemplating renting a house but once I looked into house prices and did some research, I realized that I was able to buy one with my excellent credit.

So the adventure began. I looked at a ton of houses and finally found one that I definitely wanted. It needs a little more work than I had originally aimed for, but it definitely has a layout and the size that I wanted. It’s a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with a den/family room, and a large kitchen. One room is the master, the other a guest room, and the other my office. The kitchen needs to be gutted and both bathrooms still need a lot of work, but I wanted to change things to my tastes anyway. It also has a huge yard for my dog…and he’s been loving it! My neighborhood is really nice too…no more sirens! Yay!

Once getting the keys, I spent the rest of July painting and doing some work on it. I moved in the last day of July and still haven’t been able to unpack most of my stuff! The front part of the house has hardwood, but the rest of the house is carpeted. I HATE carpet! So I’ve been planning on getting hardwood installed but it’s taking longer than I had hoped. I didn’t want to just go with anyone…I’d rather go with some that is referred to me through someone I know. So I had an installer come by and he was supposed to call back with an estimate but never did. So finally today a family friend gave me the number of a company that refinished their floors…hopefully this will get started very soon. Once the flooring is down then I can unpack, get some work done, and then get started on more housing projects.

I’m so addicted to renovating and all home improvement…I watch HGTV all the time and I seriously just want to spend all my money on my house. I can’t wait for the day that it’s mostly complete. I say mostly because everyone tells me that it’s an ongoing project…you may think you only want to do so much, but then there’s always something else you want to do. As of right now I want to get the hardwood installed, install all new baseboards and door casings and stain them, refinish the craftsman built-ins in the dining room, paint the guest room and get that set up, gut the kitchen and two bathrooms, put up a new fence around the perimeter, do all new landscaping, repave the driveway, build a new deck, install a jacuzzi, and paint the exterior of the house. And that’s just for starters!

At first everything overwhelmed me but I’ve learned to take everything one at a time and to cope with it all. I’m the type of person that needs to do everything now now now. But as with most things in life, it just isn’t possible. So for now I have to get one project done and then move on to the next. Last weekend I stained bifold doors for my house for the first time! They look pretty good…I just need to polyurethane them and then put them up when the rooms are ready. I’m so domesticated, I know…so far from what everyone expects a nude model to be!

Other than the house, not much has been going on in my life. I haven’t been working too much for other people lately because I’ve been trying to take care of things at home. Since I last wrote, I’ve shot content with Aria Giovanni for the site, I went to Chicago for the Crobar Party, I went to Magic Mountain with some friends, shot for a new site called glamouredge.com, and interviewed Bobbi Billard and Anita Dark for Twistys.com…I also shot a set with Anita for the site as well! This week all I have planned is a night out with Aria and the girls tonight and a photo shoot with Nicolas Sage on Friday. After we shot the last Xmas themed set for some European magazine, Nicolas called telling me that the editor LOVED my bush (thank god someone loves it!) and wanted another set. So I’ll be shooting that on Friday. And sorry that I don’t have many candid photos to update with…my digital camera broke and is being repaired…not sure when I’ll be getting it back!

Hope all is well on your end…talk to you soon!

xoxo
Jelena