Amelia

Rachel Hanel took these at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago. The model is Amelia W/ FORD .I had been waiting to work with Amelia for a REALLY long time.

Bella

This was a CRAZY day. Rachel shot these in about ten minutes. The model is

Bella w/ Ford. She is amazing.

Ad for the Palmer House Hilton Chicago

Cori

This is Cori W/ Ford, and the photographer was yet again Rachel Hanel. It was a bit of a high drama day, but as you can see, was worth it.

Lupe Fiasco for Chicago Magazine

KC, Brea, and Laura

Two of my most favorite photographers-Gordon Macpherson, and Rachel Hanel took these.

Sharon

This is Sharon w/ Ford. From a Make-Up artist perspective, I was a little overly obsessed with her eyes and lips. Rachel Hanel took these, and of course, did a most fabulous job :)

Grace

Pepe the magnificent

Yup. He's a little crazy. In the most endearing way :)

The funniest Monkey...

This was the ONLY caged animal(not one person had their dog on a leash, or had a cat that was not and "outdoor" cat.) we saw the entire 2 weeks. We figured he must have been in rehab or something. He wanted my camera desperately, and at first I thought it was cute and funny, but then I felt bad because he was getting so pissed he couldn't have it. He sure was cute though. The 2nd to last pic is me taking a pic or Brett going through a creek while we were on a VERY long atv tour. We were so dirty and muddy when we were done, we had to throw our clothes and shoes away. It was soooo much fun :) The last pic is Brett on a boat on our way to a snorkeling tour. Our snorkeling pics did not turn out that well this year :(

More monkeys and stuff.....

Costa Rica has no military. It is a very peacful country. They pay 9% taxes. 5% for Education, and 4% for medical, both of which are completely free. (College is also free.) They have a 93% literacy rate.

The first pic was taken while zip lining, second is and indigenous hut, third is a view from horsebackriding, fourth is a monkey on a telephone wire that I took from our bus.

Zip Lining in Costa Rica

I was a little confused about zip lining. I thought it was one big line. Oh, no. You zip line from tree top to tree top like a monkey. It was so fun. We went a few times, but it is quite tiring. The scenery is very beautiful, and the tree tops covering you keep the heat away. Even when it rained, it was only in certian spots. This was actually not a rain forsest, but a temperate forest.

Nicaragua

What can I say about Nicaragua? WE LOVED IT. I actually had to talk my big, bad, brave husband into this one. The immigration office was a bit frightening, but it turned out to be quick and painless, PLUS, we got a ton of cheap (but GOOD Nicaraguan Rum at the duty free store) I have never seen so much farmland in all my life. The farmers acutally drive on the highway (the one highway that runs from Alaska to Panama-the "PanAm highway") with the double steer and cart. It was amazing to see. There were cows everywhere. We went to Granada first, which was beautiful. The architecture alone was worth seeing. Then we went and climed up to the top of an active volcano (in the picture you can see our bus). The only way I can describe it is to compare it to looking into the Grand Canyon, but instead of seeing the bottom, all you see is sulpher. It is funny when you leave America, because I guess in other countries they assume (as they should) that you have some common sense. There were no big "WARNING" or "CAUTION" signs at the top of the volcano. No gates so you don't fall in. No barriers on the highway so your bus doesn't skid off the mountian. (there was one sign at the volcano that stated if the volcano started erupting, to please go hide under your vehicle) No signs from your raft telling you to keep your hands inside due to the crockodiles. When we got back to O'hare, I actually got yelled at for walking down the escalator because I could fall and get hurt or hurt someone else. Brett and I just chuckled at eachother.

Later we went shopping at the Market in Masaya. We hired a teenage guide (which was recommended to do because it is so big) to show us around and he was so sweet and gracious. He told us it was his last day there, because in a couple of days, he was moving to Costa Rica to start college. His name was Edmund. :)

Later (and we would see this many times after) we actually saw men ride their horses up to the bar (they call them "sodas" there) and tie up the horse right in front of the place.

Costa Rica III

This was definately not your ordinary horseback ride. It was about 2&1/2 hours up the mountian, and it was steep and VERY scary. My horse almost slid off the side of the mountian twice. (I was scared to death, and I have never been scared on a horse) Our guides were again, fabulous. There were no trails, and he was machetting his way through. Literally. It was very scenic and beautiful, and we have about 200 pictures fron this day alone. This was definately the most physically challenging day, but it was worth it, even though neither of us could barely walk the next day. The following morning was our zip 2nd lining tour, and when we arrived, guess how we were getting up the mountian? Yup. Horseback. It was a miracle I got on my horse that day, cuz my ass was KILLING me.

Costa Rica II

These are some pics from our resort........