Really, instead of continuing to lament about car models, I will continue to try my best to be one. Then I can prove that a car model can not only know about cars, but truly love and appreciate them as well.

I am also prepared to do what I have to do to get where I want to go. One of my goals so far is to be an HIN girl, as well as try and work with PAS magazine. (I have a profile on PAS Nation, so if you do as well support would be fantastic!! Check out my support blurb in my sidebar, —–>)

Cars & Girls

Refer to the captions to see my thoughts on each photo below. I won’t feel bad if you don’t read them, though. I can’t blame you!

Quite honestly, I think the look on the model's face is bad... I will probably do bikini poses next summer, I have tan lines to fix!

Her outfit is a bit skimpy for my tastes. (I think just because I'm very self-conscious of my small chest...)

I absolutely love pin-up style. I need to get some clothes and try it out...

I dig the outfits here, I'd totally put that on. How the girls look... Well, they're not my type. But the clothes? Hell yes!

I find the composition of this photo to be interesting, but it's neither here nor there.

Not a photo, but this is just begging for a photo recreation...!

Agree or not?: Girls are sexier with more clothes (well-fitted) than in skimpy bikinis?

Miki Taka is probably one of the models I look up to most when it comes to cars. You can't know anything about car models and not know of her!

Some of what you usually think of when "car model" comes up. (It's not below me, I'll just say that. Lol.)

What once annoyed me (magazines with models), now seem like opportunities to me.... I hope that one day you'll see *me* on the cover!

So.... You will create a PAS Nation account and support me, right? RIGHT?!? Great love to everyone who does! I definitely want to be in a magazine for being a pretty car girl.

Cars & Models

Depending on what we’re talking about, models generally have an overall reputation of being retarded.

If you ever watched an episode of Beauty and the Geek, you’ll know that yes, some models are absolutely freakin’ retarded. There doesn’t seem to be anything but space between the ears.

But that’s not always the case, and sometimes girls end up acting dumb because they think that’s what’s expected of them. (Sad but true.)

I, however, refuse to act dumb. I will continue my education, I will continue to work and learn and better myself. But I also want to be a model.

Here's a shot from my second ever photoshoot... I *had* to play with the checkered race outfit.

It only made sense to me that I’d want to work as a model with cars. Sure, the tattoos are a disadvantage overall with modeling, but come on… Cars? I can do that, right?

Still Uncommon

It’s still uncommon to see female models with tattoos, at least as much ink as I have.

In retrospect, perhaps it’d have been a smarter decision to start from my shoulders and work down, instead of the wrists and work up… 3/4 sleeves then would’ve covered my ink and I probably could do more. Alas, I had to make everything harder for myself. (Figures.)

Thankfully, there are still things tattooed models can do, and I am still actively working on becoming a car model… As much as I can, my location is still fairly limiting though.

Gotta Practice

What I’d like from you, my dear readers, is for you to understand just how difficult modeling actually is. It’s far, far beyond “stand there and look pretty.”

First off, you have to keep yourself to some fairly high standards. Weight gain is always an issue and flexibility helps greatly with shoots.

It’s also pretty killer to stand around in high heels for a few hours at a time, often stretching and contorting your body into unnatural positions just to look natural, only slightly better.

Yeah, I kid you not: looking natural is pretty hard work in front of a camera. It’s a developed skill, just like playing chess or writing code.

Secondly, in the beginning you have to be a great stylist, makeup artist and hairstylist. It’s all up to you to create the looks for shoots, unless you have an idea from an outside source. Then you still have to recreate it. For me and not always being into fashion, it’s been an interesting journey… (I definitely don’t want to default and end up wearing only a few outfits in all my photos.)

Honestly, it’s just hard work and it can be exhausting. You work really hard for a handful of good photos.

Finding Inspiration

My favorite thing to do is to browse through photos and find those that I really like. That way I have some concepts in mind and can find different photographers to partner with and create some of my own images, following my inspiration.

Last Saturday I had a photoshoot lined up, and my partner was my Miata. The very first shoot I did was with the S2000, and since I want to work with cars more I wanted to expand my portfolio to include more car shots… Plus I want some with all of my cars.

I figured I’d share some of my favorite car & model photos, as well as one or two of the regular ones I promise to never do… (Oh, and when I get the shots from this past weekend, I promise to share!)

Eye Candy

I’ll confess, even as a girl I like looking at photos. I either like them, don’t care for them, or love them so much I feel compelled to recreate them!

This is probably my all-time favorite car & girl photo... I love *everything* about it!

While I have a chest no where near this size, nor a Takata harness, I am planning on recreating this photo with my Corbeau harness.

This is a photo that I don't entirely mind, but I'm not sure I'd go there... Maybe, maybe. If I had this car.

This I *really* like! (I just found it for this post, and I love it. )

This is one of the photos I found that I liked, and wouldn't mind doing something similar.

Super gorgeous car, with a very classy model. All around I love this! (Though I doubt I'll ever get to do it... )

And since I’m having so much fun finding photos with cars & models, I’m gonna do another photo post for you all. <3 Look for that next Tuesday!

August 21 was a first for me — we went to a car meet that was being held at the local theme park.

Some good friends of ours and friends of theirs were going so we got to tag along. It was nice because we got to park inside a section of the park (for free) and got discounted admission tickets. Yes, please! I love roller coasters!

Meet not Show

Apparently in years past this was a pretty big car show, with the usual judging and trophies and what not. Citing the economy as an excuse for loss of sponsors, this year was just a car meet.

But you got all kinds.

There was our group, the classy ones of course! A few great Nissans, our S2000 and a Lotus Elise. All got their fair share of attention, especially our friends’ 180SX with turbo KA (SUPER clean car) and the Elise, the two cars we parked between. Kept some people away from ours, ha.

There was a group of Mazdas, mostly 3’s with some bad taste. I’m not kidding.

Some ricers… Normal.

A Ferrari 348, my favorite, besides a super clean 240Z that I was also in love with.

(At this point I’ll confess I have zero photos. Sad, yes, but it was safer for my camera to stay home.)

Then a couple of Hondas that pretty much made me angry and why I tend to hide my tattoo…

The Issue

Here’s my issue with show cars: They’re built to look like track cars by people who know absolutely nothing about building a track car.

They get racing seats and harnesses and expensive light-weight racing wheels then think they’re gods, but heaven forbid they’ll never risk their money on the track to, you know, learn how to freakin’ drive in the first place.

AKA posers. Hate, hate, hate.

I think we annoyed some people by being too opinionated and open about the hate, but I’ve put up with SO much crap from these people online about what I do, what I drive, etc. that I just hate them and will openly say it. I don’t need to hide behind a computer.

When you’ve put up with as much crap as we have, mostly just for our choices of car (mine being a Miata, his being a Honda) you get pretty damn cynical about everything. Especially the crap that’s so stupid, yet all the kids want to worship them.

How Bad was it?

Awful.

The riced out cars don’t bother me much, I see too many. The real posers, though, had my blood boiling.

There was a Civic coupe and an RSX, both white and both done up as wanna-be Type R’s. First issue: Civic coupes were never Type R’s, buy a hatchback you retard.

Second issue: All red Bride seats. Again trying to be Type R’s, again failing. Type R’s had red Recaros.

Third issue: Improperly installed Takata harnesses. I kid you not, these harnesses will kill them if they ever get into an accident wearing them. (And I assume they are, no other seat belts were present.) There is a certain angle you MUST mount your harness on for it to be safe and not snap your neck.

What this means is you usually have to install a mount bar, like the bar that’s part of my Miata’s roll bar — yes, her Corbeau harness is 100% safely and correctly installed. Needless to say, these cars had no roll cage or harness bar. The harnesses were mounted to the floor.

As if not bad enough, retard Civic guy criss-crossed his harness straps in the back… Again, even if you don’t deal with harnesses, you should just understand that’s not a good idea.

So yes, posers to the extreme. Let alone it looked like Christmas threw up in the cars between the bright red and green. Icky icky icky. No taste. (And I bet all credit card done too, or they are way too old to be driving poser cars like that.)

Not all shows are bad…

I have a big disdain for this style, because it’s only cool in car shows. And I hate that it’s even cool there.

You want people to think your car is hardcore and fast, yet for those of us who actually race we see right through you. You’re a wanna-be, or worse, a street racer. You’re a stupid punk with an agenda and a hate for anybody who has a car that’s better than yours.

Let’s think about it: We could afford to either build a killer Civic, or buy a Porsche. And you know which way we’re going. It’s Porsche.

As much as I love Japanese cars, sometimes you just have to admit when it’s time to move on to a better chassis. In my Miata’s case, she’s perfect for what I use her for. Will she win car shows? Doubt that, but she’s a damn good race car when the driver’s up to it.

I’m way tired of people who throw money at a car and then think they’re totally badass, period.

Anyhow, moving on from crazy philosophical discussions…

Hint, Hint

So I’ve already announced we are considering a Porsche Cayman S as our next car. We went and got in touch with the Porsche dealership and even peeked at a 2007 Cayman S they just got in.

We weren’t totally sure right afterwards, because it’s such a huge commitment. The car isn’t cheap, and she’ll be more than twice what we paid for our S2000. It’s no small feat if we want to pull off the purchase of a Porsche that’s only a few years old.

But then we started to see Porsche everywhere…. And we’re taking it as a big hint that the Porsche is the right move for us.

Porsche Biography

Our first hint came in the form of seeing the biography of Ferdinand Porsche.

If you didn’t know, Ferdinand Porsche was a very, very interesting man. He was an engineer from the get-go, and believed in participating in races as a way to learn more about engineering better cars.

He’s also the man responsible for the Volkswagen Beetle, at Hitler’s request.

It was Ferdinand Porsche’s son, Ferry, that created the first Porsche — the Porsche 356, though Ferdinand himself did found Porsche as a company.

I was lucky enough to see one of these rare gems in person!

Ferry’s son, Butzi, was the one who created the car that endears Porsche’s famous name today — the Porsche 911.

Takeaways from the show: The Porsche family is incredibly smart — all of the mentioned members contributed greatly to the Porsche brand. Thank you, Hitler! Without Hitler, there would be no VW Beetle, the basis that led to the first Porsche.

Also, family businesses usually don’t last… Porsche eventually went to outside management when family drama threatened the company.

While Ferdinand Porsche gets much of the credit for Porsche, and he should, he really didn’t deal much with creating Porsche’s cars as we know them. He was taken as a prisoner by France, and his failing health at his release prevented him from engineering a Porsche. However, when Ferry showed him his Porsche 356, Ferdinand approved and felt he couldn’t have done it better himself.

Oh, and knowing the history of a company makes you appreciate them so much more…. No?

911 Building

As if the biography wasn’t enough, shortly after that I watched half of a show on the building of a 911 GT3.

That I can’t say too much about, since I admittedly wasn’t paying full attention, plus I missed the entire first half of the show. But the best part I thought was when they explained the differences between an in-line six, a V6 and a flat six engines.

Naturally, the flat six is part of what makes the 911 so iconic. It’s that, the shape/silhouette and the fact that they’ve always been rear-engined.

There's hardly anything about a 911 that isn't iconic.

Oh, there were also many clips of driving GT3’s, and all you heard was the car… Bliss.

So, hints?

I’m taking these Porsche programs as hints. My knowledge and appreciation of the Porsche company has increased substantially, plus I’m learning little facts here and there about their cars.

While I’ve always loved the 911, I haven’t been the best student… But it’s time to sharpen my skills. Even if we get a Cayman, I still need to know about all of their cars.

One last thing

I say if we get a Cayman….

But we are, so it’s when.

I love the decorations, the photos, the layouts. And, of course, the cars. I love playing into the fantasy of bringing a new baby home with me.

Porsche Dealership!

I was super excited when we rolled through Spokane for the first time. Passing through Liberty Lake showed us a gem of a place here — the local Porsche dealership.

We safely assumed we’d be happy in a place with a Porsche dealership. We haven’t been wrong.

We went to get some information on the Cayman S, a car we’ve been seriously considering buying.

The guy who talked to us was super friendly and helpful. He even took us into the back to show us a 2007 Cayman S they had just picked up and were looking over. It’s always a treat to be invited back through those “Employees Only” marked doors!

The Atmosphere

Anyhow, the entire place oozed class. While you may assume it would because it’s a Porsche dealer, there’s always a chance it won’t — but this one definitely did.

The photos were absolutely gorgeous, and I was in heaven. If I needed some inspiration they absolutely provided it.

There were multiple quotes around from Dr. Ferry Porsche as well, which were awesome. I only snapped a photo of one, but I’m sure the others will come home on my camera eventually.

This is exactly how Porsches earned their pedigree -- Racing and learning and using that knowledge to build and improve.

Oh, then there were the cars. Lots of new and slightly used Porsches… And only Porsches. Love.

Meet her…

While there were plenty of girls to love, and we did go to see their 2007 Cayman S, this was the girl who seriously caught my eye.

Hello, beautiful.

I made a point of it to flirt with them all, though. I’m a sucker for a gorgeous sports car… And I did want to leave with the gorgeous purple-blue Carrera 4 that was being in-processed to be sold for her owner. (1999, decent mileage, $29k. Yeah, I wanted to cry. I loved the color too.)

To ease my thoughts away from the Porsche I could take home and yet couldn’t, I enjoyed the company of her some more:

A couple of the show room's gorgeous girls.

Really, what’s not to love? Nothing. Other than maybe not being able to afford her. But this particular dealership stop was heavenly…

Simply lovely!

I can’t wait to go back.

So far…

So good, I suppose. I’ll admit right off the bat that I did miss one day. I feel horrible, awful and evil and guilty as hell about it, but it happens. I can’t make it worse by lying about it, right?

All I did was make up for the photo a couple of days later with what I had wanted to do that day and moved on. Mostly it sucked because I had gone nearly eight months with no skips and then that happened… Ooops. Lesson learned! And I’m happy to say that was the only one.

Camera?

My Nikon D3000 has been my partner in this project, and I’m happy to say that so far every photo posted in my 365 Project set has indeed been taken with my D3000.

At the beginning of the year I had to figure out how to bring my camera along. Carrying a dSLR was very new to me, and I had just gotten it on Christmas when I figured a 365 Project would help me learn my camera better by forcing me to use it and figure out all these things.

I started out with a small backpack sort of bag to carry it in. Eventually I added a larger zoom lens to my setup, and moved to the camera bag my husband got me for Christmas. That worked well for a few months, until I started looking into getting more lenses… And the bag wouldn’t hold all of my stuff anymore. So I used part of my money from our move to get a camera backpack.

Sadly, the backpack is simply too much for everyday use for me, but it’s absolutely great for trips! It came with me to Formula D and was very handy to have, plus it joins me on autocross days. I love how I have a spot to pack a snack or something else, besides my camera equipment.

Lately I’ve been back to just carrying the camera by itself, actually. It’s worked out pretty well so far, mostly because I hardly go anywhere anymore! If I’m going somewhere specific I may bring a bag, otherwise it’s naked camera now.

Lenses

So far, I only have two. I’ve got my kit lens, the 18mm – 55mm lens and a 55mm – 200mm zoom lens. I’ve been craving more lenses since I got the camera, because increasing your tools increases the things you can build. (In this case, it’s photos.)

I was lusting over the 70mm – 300mm telephoto lens, but I’ve decided I’d rather go with a 35mm prime lens instead now. Part of that is price, since the telephoto is nearly $600 and the 35mm prime I’d like is $200, but it’s beyond that. I’d love to see what it’s like to shoot with a prime lens, and I think it’ll bring a new level to my photography.

Of course, no job means no new toys… The last thing I got to buy for my camera was a replacement lens cap when I somehow misplaced my original one. (But I got it with a cool thing that attaches it to the lens… So no more losing the cap! I need another for my other lens…)

Learning!

Honestly, I’m learning a lot. I feel like I’m getting better, but I have a long, long, long way to go!!

A week or so ago I went through my photostream and removed some ugly old pictures from it. Well, I thought they were ugly anyhow… But I wanted to spiff up my photostream — it’s kinda like an online portfolio and I wanted it to be neater.

I did keep my entire 365 Project, no matter how bad. I don’t think anyone who seriously does the project does it 100% perfect. Some days you just do not feel like creating a photo, and you’re down to the wire trying to get something, anything for the day. It happens, so you deal.

But using it every day definitely helps you get used to it. I only shoot on manual mode now and I’m pretty handy with manual focus. I couldn’t imagine doing these things right when I got my camera, but it’s second nature now. (I’d still love to do one of Nikon’s schools, though… I still have a lot to learn.)

What’s Next?

Of course, there’s still plenty of 2010 left so I need to keep the focus on the 365 Project now. But what’s in store for me and my camera next year?

I can’t say I’m going to do another 365. I’m quite honestly tired from this one! It’s a lot to think about and focus, and it may be nice to not feel the pressure to get a photo in every day.

I do, however, have some plans for projects. I’ve found a couple of groups on Flickr that I’d like to participate in next year, when I don’t have a big project already on my plate. I know I’ll need something to keep pushing me!

Then, perhaps in 2012 I’ll try the 365 again. Who knows, that’s quite a ways away anyhow.

Total Photos

One last tidbit from the project: Thanks to it, my Nikon D3000 has taken over 4,000 photos so far, since it became mine last Christmas. Not too shabby, eh?

Feeling Creative

Lately I’ve been feeling pretty creative. I’m not so sure what it is, but I’ve been getting ideas at a higher rate than I have in the past few months. I’m definitely not going to argue with it though! It’s a very nice change.

Naturally just before school starts, but that’s beside the point.

I’m running with the juices and trying to get some posts written up for the blog for when life threatens to get in the way again. It’s been over a year now and my twice a week schedule isn’t something I want to break.

The Catch Phrase

If you were around before my big move to self-hosting, you may remember my old tag-line: Modern car culture as seen by a female tuner. While that’s still appropriate, I wanted something that would reflect my new changes as I seek happy balance in my hobbies. (Read: A life not entirely dominated by cars!)

In fact, it felt that I was so far into it that I was hardly girly at all… Beyond wearing skirts and liking shoes. I’d buy car parts over shoes every time, for fear that I wasn’t into cars enough any other way.

Not a good way to live, let me tell you. A girl who loves shoes and is deprived of shoes is miserable, no matter what. And especially so when the buying of car parts is gone… Change was imminent.

Isn't this the perfect blend of girly and cars? Spotted at Formula D Seattle.

But now I can show you that I’m a girly girl who’s still a car girl! Something many guys seem to forget is possible, lemme tell you. I’m here to bust the stereotype. (Also the one where car girls aren’t very attractive/pretty/thin/whatever. I’d like to think I’m fairly cute. You can tell me otherwise though, I’m not super thin-skinned.)

What is it?!

Okay, okay, without further delay, the new tag-line for CarsxGirl is:

The misadventures of a girly car girl.

Please tell me it’s not that bad! Haha. I really like it, honestly, and I think it sums up the blog pretty well….

Feedback is always loved and appreciated! The crazy people who read my stuff are the best people in the world. <3

What I didn’t expect was to find so many great photos that it would feel absolutely wrong to not give them an entire post of their own!

Here are some of my favorite finds, for your viewing pleasure. Happy Friday!

Just to note, all photos are linked back to the source provided by google. These are NOT mine, I’m simply congregating them here for you to see and appreciate. (I so wish I could take photos like these though, haha. If you were wondering, all of my own photos in posts are not linked back to anything, or if they are, to my Flickr.)

Porsche Cayman

Enjoy!

The Miata is mine. The S2000 is his. The 240SX was supposed to be ours… I kinda call it mine most of the time. (She’s really back to being more “ours,” though.)

Either way, the next car was another choice by my husband. Who can’t make up his mind about what he wants to save his life. (Love you though! )

Project EK though…?

I’m going to be very blunt here: It’s not gonna happen.

As much as I thought it would be a good fit, it won’t be. We’re kinda fed up with the Japanese import community and all the stupid BS. It’s time to take a step up and move on to bigger and better things.

No more starter cars, it’s time for the big leagues. The other imports. It’s time to go European and not look back.

Addition not Subtraction

I say this and I don’t mean we’ll be getting rid of our Japanese cars. Definitely not! We own them outright and have absolutely no reason to ever get rid of them.

It’s time to add another daughter with another level of class.

We’ve talked about a lot. A Mercedes. A BMW. A Lotus.

But there’s one that speaks to us more than the others….

Yes, Porsche.

A Porsche.

No Substitute

Porsche has always spoken to me. I’m obsessed with the 911. I’m obsessed with the flat-six. I’m obsessed with their heritage.

It’s a distinguishable step up. An upgrade. When you have a Porsche, you have a Porsche. There’s no denying that a Porsche makes for a great car.

And while I crave my first 911, the hubs wants something a little newer than what we can afford 911-wise.

Enter the Cayman

Which leads us to the Porsche Cayman.

What’s not to love? Absolutely nothing. It’s the perfect starter Porsche for us.

I’m excited to start shopping. I really think this is it… It’s a matter of waiting for the financial stars to line up and then find one to fall in love with and take home.

And dammit, they are SO photogenic! Part of every car post like this I do entails searching for good photos of the car to add to the post… But, well, I think these will take the cake. They have to wait until the end, or else you’ll never even bother reading anything!

Wait…

I’m going to be more evil. You’re gonna have to wait for some great photos. They truly deserve a post of their own! *Evil cackle*

So pretty...! ^_^

So JDM!

My husband was joking that now the S2000 is really JDM. Not only does she have a Spoon steering wheel, but now a Bride seat to match…

Eventually a Takata harness, once we track down an FIA approved one. It has to match the seat. (And yeah, he had to have FIA approved to my SFI approved Miata set up… *Roll eyes*)

I guess it’s more JDM now, but I covet Bride seats more for the comfort than anything else. If you’ve never sat in one, find one and sit in it. It’s a dream! Or don’t… Because you’ll want it afterwards.

Oh, he went and got the Zeta III too. The seat I wanted for the 240SX. Boo.  :(

Easy In

I sat outside to supervise the install. Mostly because I’m pretty much zero help when it comes to anything like this.

But it really did go in nice and easy, and I don’t think he got frustrated at all. Maybe it was being so happy that the seat was finally here… After nearly two months of waiting.

It works really well for him since the seat is lower in the car, making you sit lower than the stock seat. Good for him, since he’s tall. Not so good for shorty me. I sat in it and I can hardly see over the steering wheel anymore… Yikes.

Not that I drive the S2000 all that much… I haven’t driven her yet with the Spoon wheel. It took me a while to drive her after the PW:JDM intake anyhow, so I’m kinda used to it. Really I’ve just been enjoying driving my 240SX, she’s a quick one now that her SR20DET is all sorted out!

The Look

It’s a nice fit with the car though, I must say. Even with the gradient it doesn’t stand out all that much, unless you get right up on the car to look. (Sadly, people do that…)

Considering the S2000 stock seats are some of the most sought-after seats on the market, we aren’t too worried about having a Bride over the stock one. It’s more important where she parks at night anyhow, and that’s why we live on base.

I suppose eventually we’ll get one for the passenger side, just like I’ve always meant to get a second Corbeau…

Next up is a new driver’s seat for the 240SX anyhow! (Another Bride.)

Hmmm... Same for the 240SX? Or a plain black one? I'm not sure...