“Chaplin”

I recently posted about a wonderful day I spent shooting with some of my favourite people in the Irish Fashion industry – including my own little girl AND my Mum’s new puppy Sophie.

I’ll admit it wasn’t easy playing Mother and Model at the same time while on location. Trying to stay in character while attempting to look pretty and composed as your child is squirming for the bathroom, hungry or jumping off railings on the street is not as easy as it looks but regardless we had tonnes of fun and LOVE how great everyone’s hard work paid off.

The editorial will be in October’s issue of Ireland’s Social & Personal Magazine.

Here’s a l’il sneak preview of the spread …
“CHAPLIN”

Photography – Agata Stoinska
Hair – Paul Davey
Make-up - Ken Boylan
Styling – Roxanne Parker

I hope you all like it as much as we do

Much love

Kojii

x

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A week in the life of Madness

Wow what a week.

I honestly don’t know how I’ve managed to fit everything in and it hasn’t ended yet!

I’ve scribbled to-do lists everywhere to try figure out how I can fit it all into my days.

In the last seven days I’ve had photo-shoots, video shoots, writing sessions, castings, meetings about scripts, searching for shooting locations for my own projects, sanding my new/old dining table, unpacking some more boxes in our new home, chasing people who owe us money, editing video footage, seeing old friends, family gatherings, exercise, recording music in the studio and TAXES to do!!

Not to mention the 100 miles a day I usually drive in order to achieve all this.

(N.B. In case you’re wondering the ♥ is my code for Croí – her name is the Gaelic word for heart)

I have to admit, it’s really tough juggling so many things at the same time. I try to prioritise to make it easier but it doesn’t always work out the way I want it to.

My priorities usually go in an order something like this:

Mother

Wife

Friend

Music

Acting

Modeling

At least that’s how I try to make it work. Modeling as you can see is my last priority but it usually gets bumped up to number 3 or 4 as it’s the “DAY JOB” that pays my bills.

Classic example of the undesirable Priority Bump is coming this Wednesday – I’ve booked a modeling job that is pretty mundane but pays well. I had also happily agreed to shoot another scene for Juliette Lewis’ new music video (as unpaid  favour for a friend) and they both fall on the same day.

There’s no doubt in my mind that I’d MUCH RATHER shoot the fun, creative, artistic video with Juliette but I have bills to pay.

So…decision made and disappointment twists my gut.

You know what?….

The crazy thing is…. With the kazillion things I’ve done in the last 7 days…I still feel like I’ve nothing to show for it all.

When will I ever learn to focus on just ONE thing????

P.S. New Blog posts will be coming on Tuesdays…don’t forget to subscribe

“What’s in a name?”

“that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;”

~ Shakespeare , Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II

I get a lot of people asking me about my name and where it came from.

Amanda Elizabeth Barden

writer of “Baby Names Made Easy” (published by Simon & Schuster)

is based out of San Francisco and also asked me about my name in an interview recently.

You can read the full article by clicking the image below.

Amanda’s BLOG IS HERE

and her TWITTER IS HERE.

ENJOY!!

xxxx

The blogs, the blogs

I saw a blog last night where someone was ripping the piss out of

Project Runway and Models of the Runway as well as those of us who thought taking a job in a crappy economy might help with the bills.

I won’t link to it because it’s lame and I can’t understand why someone takes the time to watch a show they clearly hate?

Anyhooo they got to pondering about whether I have anything else in this head of mine aside from missing my daughter and wondering if I should be a full time mum.

I guess the show had no call for my political and art confessionals. hahaha

If you ever want people/cameras to leave you alone…Talk politics.

I think maybe I had TOO many other things to say that couldn’t be used because it was irrelevant to fashion and the show.

As are most things I have to talk about.

Fashion just doesn’t rank that HIGH on my mind, it’s just my job.

sooo with that said……

I AM LIVID that the Lisbon Treaty was passed!!

I’m still too infuriated to even discuss it.

NO vote Lisbon Treaty campaign posters in central Dublin, Ireland. Photo by EPA/BGNES

So I’ll save those thoughts for another day.

Downtown LA Artwalk…TONIGHT!

I wanted to remind everyone that TONIGHT is ART-WALK Night in Downtown LA.

You can find all the galleries who are involved, plus special deals around the neighbourhood on the official site.

HERE

There’s even a shuttle now!

Personally, I love to soak up the atmosphere on Main St between 4th and 6th. If you wanna grab something quick to eat before you dig in try the little Deli on 6th St, east of Main St, next door to Salon Pure. Yummy sandwiches!

Or try Blossom for some Vietnamese food, then stop in to Stella Dottir’s quirky little store next door.

Oh! and be sure to see what my favourite bookstore Polyester has going on!

Kojii & Croí Helnwein at LA Artwalk photo by CitizenLA

Tonight also sees the Closing Event of a Gallery who has been there since the beginning of ArtWalk.

This will be the last artwalk at the MJ Higgins Gallery.

“After four years and two locations the doors are closing so please stop by and see my work and the works of others.”

If you haven’t been there yet now is your last chance to support this downtown institution.
400 South Main Street #103

She will be selling her inventory of antique furniture as well as offering gallery discounts on her in stock art!

Some great stuff as you can imagine.

If you’re still not sold on coming out tonight..

Check out this fun little video I found of a corner at a previous Artwalk.

(I just found this randomly on youtube and it occurred to me that while this was being filmed I was standing off-camera to the left dancing and taking silly photos with my girlfriends while we were shooting a scene for a tv show. Pity you can’t see our silly-selves )

Last, but not least

If you have kids…TAKE THEM WITH YOU!!

This is a fantastic and cultural evening for the next generation.

Have Fun!

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

24th January 09…today

24th January 09 Kojii Dick Tracy...Another drizzly wet day. So refreshing. I started the day at a casting then I enjoyed good food with my baby girl and in-laws. Croí was photographed by Gottfried today, she says she wants to "work like Mama".

Eli Lilly Pleads Guilty!

Please watch this Video.

This is a topic that drives me particularly crazy! It’s disgusting!

As a mother to a three year old, I can’t imagine giving my little ball of purity drugs/chemicals/crap to alter her!

I must admit, when I moved to the US first I felt so naive because I had never heard of Xanax or Ritalin, to name just a few. When I was growing up in Ireland it was almost unheard of to prescribe a child any sort of psychotropic drugs. The most I’d ever been aware of was the usual antibiotics, which I even avoid now as much as I can as it will weaken your immune system in the long run.

I am a little gung-ho about the whole anti-drug thing. I confess to having done my time recreationally in the past but being a mother has made me see how toxic we make ourselves. I see in my child how perfect we all were before we allowed all these chemicals to take hold of us. I even went as far as having a drug free home birth (which I’ll blog about another day) to avoid any drugs entering her body through me.

I won’t preach but I, for one, am happy that this company was caught and held accountable!

Photo a Day for 2009

Honestly, I don’t know why I’m doing this.

Recently I decided to post a photo a day in my private Facebook. No matter what state I’m in there’ll be a photo. Be I in the height of a hangover, flu, bad day, good day…whatever…it’s a stab at honesty. No photoshop, no hair stylist, no make-up artist…just me wherever I am at the time.

In a way it’s incentive to get dressed every day, even if I have no work. I do have a tendency to laze in my nighty when I’m not working.

I’m missing photos from the first few days of the year but I was fit for nothing but a horror movie after the New Years shenanigans and yes, the day of my birthday party is also missing…there is a photo from that day somewhere.

Anyhow, I was asked why the photos weren’t being posted to here so here goes!

A photo a day for 2009.

4th January the sun was going down

4th January the Moon was rising

5th January Photo by my daughter, after shooting with Byu-ti Salon for their NAHA entry.

6th January, Cyril, a flame and I. I had spent this day shooting a Jack Rabbit catalogue, time for a quick snapshot before I settled to a glass of wine in candlelight with my husband.

7 January, on my way to a casting

8th January, my Birthday. I spent most of the day on hold with the Insurance and Phone companies. Thrilling stuff! I made up for it by taking Croí and her friend to the LA ArtWalk that evening.

10th January with my baby girl.This is early morning after a very late night Birthday party that was thrown for me at Scorpion in Hollywood. I was exhausted. Croí is exhibiting her love for organic apple sauce here ;)

11th January home alone with my guitar. My husband took our daughter to Photo LA to see some artwork while I stayed home to write some music. I eventually gave up and cooked up an Irish storm and invited our friends over to eat with us.

12th January. at home, on my couch taking a break from song writing. Resting my finger-tips and drinking some green tea

13th January 09 Kojii, On our 3rd Wedding Anniversary, on my way out to meet a photographer.

14th January 09 Kojii & Juno. This photo is way over exposed but it’s the only one where my l’il dog Juno was looking to camera. Even my dog has outta control bangs!!

15th January 09 Kojii..work emails from the bedroom floor

17th January 09 Kojii Downtown LA, quite little rough around the edges after a late night of beverages at a karaoke bar in Little Tokyo the night before…good times were had though :)

18th January 09 Kojii. Lazing in bed snug in my favourite Briggs hoody after a long day at Santa Monica Pier with my little girl.

19th January 09 Kojii at home… I went from this clean and tidy girl to a mess in under 10 minutes when I decided to spring clean my entire house. I should have taken before and after pictures hehe

20 January 09 Kojii…Plain and simple…”Target friendly” for a Target callback.

21st January 09 Cyril & Kojii about to enjoy an evening of Deadwood and merlot

22nd January 09 Kojii just home from a casting with Dear Creatures then off to pick Croí up from school

23rd January 09 Kojii is cold. Yes that’s a hat and scarf and I do realise this is LA but you try going out in the cold pissing rain wearing shorts and strappy shoes! (as requested by casting directors not my choice:) ) This is my attempt to warm up after this mornings castings left me cold, wet and feeling sorry for myself. (I know everyone in Ireland will be rolling theirs eyes at me right now) oh well! Off to a 90′s theme party tonight yippeee!

24th January 09 Kojii Dick Tracy…Another drizzly wet day. So refreshing. I started the day at a casting then I enjoyed good food with my baby girl and in-laws in Little Tokyo. Croí was photographed by Gottfried today, she says she wants to “work like Mama”. uhoh

25th January 09 Kojii on a Sunday mornin’. We spent this day with Croí at her friends 3rd birthday party in Altadena and made some new friends for ourselves :) The perks of parenthood.

26th January 09 Kojii and Juno face-off..someone shouldn’t be on the carpet..tutut

27th January 09 Kojii Elf…after a day of attending castings and partaking in the odd afternoon, beverage induced conspiracy theory in The Bounty with my favourite cupcake Katie, I somehow wound up looking like an Elf. (remember, I didn’t photoshop this, aside from the burning out of some clutter on the coffee table behind me)

A car hit Kojii on the 134Freeway today

So once again, I was driving in my car today. I had just been to collect my acting headshot which has been beautifully printed by Argentum in Hollywood.

It was an eventful return home!

The driver behind me decided to ride on my ass for much of the way. This of course resulted in a collision between he and I when the person in front of me hit his breaks. Luckily I had left plenty of stopping room between me and the car in front and was able to continue with the force of the car that hit me from behind. It eased the impact on my car a bit and the crash resulted in nothing more than a few little scratches on both of our vehicles.

My neck hurts as the cargo I had in the back seat hit my seat with some serious force but I’ll be ok. Where’s my chiropractor when I need her huh?!

Of course I’m pretty shaken over what a lucky escape  I just had. I’ve been in a couple of accidents before (none of which where my fault ) where I was lucky to be alive in the end. So far, I always manage to emerge with nothing but some scratches or a sore neck.

This little accident at 60 miles an hour has certainly made me think about Life vs. Survival all over again.

Would I have any regrets if this were my last day?

Am I on the right track with my life?

Would I have left a positive impact on my world?

I’m happy to say that I feel pretty good about life right now. Things are going where I want them too, not as quickly as I’d like but no matter.

6 years ago I thought I’d be living a very different life a this stage. A life I’m glad to say did not become reality. I would have been working in the same industry but my personal life would never have been as rich and beautiful as it is today had I followed the road I was on.

I was a single woman who thought of nothing but work. I never wanted marriage or kids, never wanted to live in one place,  I thought money and success where all that mattered. I was positive I’d be an old spinster with a 100 cats by the time I hit 70.

A very good friend in NYC had more faith in my ability to love and he tried to make me see I had myself pegged all wrong.

He must have opened my eyes a little because two weeks later I met my husband! Nine months later I was carrying our daughter in my belly.

Today has reaffirmed everything I said in my Life vs. Survival post.

Live your life to the fullest.

Live your dreams.

One thing I intend to do is follow my dreams with more confidence and tenacity now.

I’m gonna learn all the things I wish I’d learned when I was on the wrong track.

I’m gonna live my life MORE!

WILL YOU??

Recent shoot with Melissa Keller

I recently shot a beauty story with the fabulous photographers Melissa Keller and Will Calcutt in Silverlake. This was such a fun shoot. Toby Fleischman was the make-up artist there to work wonders on myself and another model Stella from Next.

I never take my daughter to work with me but this day was different. We all had so much fun with Croí (pronounced Kree). She joined in and tried her hand at being a make-up artist, a model AND a photographer. Melissa was wonderful and gave her an old Holga camera to shoot with. Croí arched and contorted her body in all the same ways Melissa moved while taking photos. Will even had Croí step in front of his camera for a few shots of her with a toy gun! So cute.

I loved working with this team. They were all so down to earth, full of laughter and creativity.

I can’t wait to share the images with you all!

much love

Koj