Happy Halloween

Once again my fishy friends it's been a little while since I've updated. Tomorrow is Halloween and most of us on the East Coast are enduring Sandy's winds and rain!

Things have been moderately busy on the mermaid end of things. Now that Fall is in full gear with winter right around the corner business has slowed down and I've had a chance to get caught up on emails.

First up, my next public event will be on November 18th at  5:45pm at the Light Up Bedford Parade. I'll be on the float for Save Bedford Waterfront.

I also just donated a birthday party to the Point Pleasant Park Daycare Auction fund-raiser. I donated to this daycare last year as well and had a really great time performing for the auction winners. If you'd like to bid on a Raina birthday party the Auction is being held this Saturday night, (Nov. 3rd) 7pm at the Canteen at SMU (Behind Canadian Martyrs Church). The birthday is a 300$ value including pool time, professional photography and editing (individual photos with every child as well as party photos), a mermaid presentation about the environment and or mermaids, mermaid treasures, and mermaid hair + makeup (or scales!). It does not expire but some blackout dates may apply.

If you haven't read yet, Glass Dharma featured me in their blog this month. 

If you haven't seen yet I recently got to appear in a music video! Local musician Jon Mullane released his video for his song New American Girl . I appear at the 1:57 mark.

If was a great experience to meet all the people involved, to work with RPM Productions and to attend the video release party. I was lucky enough to get some behind the scenes footage as well as photos. You can see the videos here and as always my behind the scenes photos here.

Another great experience I got to have this month was my own home grown mermaid-meetup! I met up with two local mermaids and brought my sister, Mermaid Ama. It was so amazing to spend some time with other mermaids. It can get lonely sometimes being the only fish around! In Canada we are very few and far between. We enjoyed ourselves and got a few photos. Mind you, these aren't photo shoot shots, just a bit of fun.

See more photos on FB see more videos on youtube

I've updated all of my merchandising and print stores. To make it cheaper and easier I've made a featured album on facebook that contains all the links. I don't make very much on the purchases, anywhere between a few cents to 2-5$ depending on the product. The markup from the companies is pretty high. I am hoping to find some local alternatives. For now, this is the best way to get prints.

I still work from time to time as a model, and this month I did some modelling for a photography student that one of my long time photographer friend was teaching. I picked up a few tips as well! The student was being taught portrait lighting and sun flare. Here's a few shots:

 

Pretty neat stuff! I'll be modelling for my photographer friend again in November for his students. Can't wait to see what they come up with.

That's really all there is for now. I am still trying to secure professional (non mermaid) employment, and working hard to feel healthy. My mertender is getting ready to travel to England for his work, and my birthday is coming up next month (November). I'm sure I'm forgetting something in there but I guess that will leave for another update!

Much love, Raina

Playing Catch Up

Hi my fishy friends!

I'm sorry it's been a bit since my last post- my computer has been in and out of the shop! Posting now from an alternative one. So I'm playing a little catch up

First off, due to illness I was not able to attend the Save the Bedford Reef meeting. However, quite a few things happened leading up to it, during it, and after. So let me catch you up to speed! The official website is: http://www.savebedfordwaterfront.ca/ Dr David Suzuki (One of my eco-idols) actually spoke on the topic. He thought it was insane that in this day and age my city is even CONSIDERING dumping in the ocean. We agreed, and so did a lot of people in the city. The meeting was standing room only, over 300 people showed up including Waterfront Development, local politicians, and kids too! (I'm so proud of them). For now, everything is put on hold for further study. We'd like it to be stopped totally. So we're still spreading awareness, collecting signatures, and participating in community events. You can read this article too http://metronews.ca/news/halifax/386431/hundreds-voice-opposition-over-bedford-waterfront-development-plan/

 I've been in talks with one of the founders and it looks like I'll be on their float for the "Parade of Lights" holiday parade here in November. It's the day after my birthday! So it'll be freezing. Haha. trying to find a way to wear the tail but keep warm ;)

I'm also working out details to see if I'll be appearing at Hal-Con. I can't confirm anything yet, I think it's going to be very much determined by a few factors but it's coming up so I'll try and let people know soon.

I've done my last outdoor photoshoot for the year. I posed for a photogrpaher but my mertender also took some amazing images. I'm so proud of him! He's been learning so much in photography. Here's a few. You can see the rest on my Facebook Page. :)

 

Some more highlights, I recently received my set of glass straws from  Glass Dharma. I'm in LOVE with these straws. I'm going to do a photoshoot with them, and team up with GD to do a special guest blog post about mermaids and our love of the environment. These straws are perfect because you can re-use and re-use and they have a LIFETIME warranty. NO MORE PLASTIC STRAWS. 

 

While you all know I have a Mermaid Creations tail now, I haven't been able to give it much use myself thanks to my recent health issues. So, instead I've made it my mission to get some girls in this tail who have always wanted to try being a mermaid. First I have the lovely Karen. Karen is the person who booked me for the Pride Parade this past summer. That was one of the best experiences I've had as a mermaid so I wanted to make sure she had a mermaid experience too. We teamed up with her husband who was the photographer from the shoot I mentioned at the top of the post. (I'll post his images in another blog) I had Karen in my MC tail and I was in my Merbellas tail. My mertender snapped this shot of her husband trying to carry her out of the water. It was tricky... that tail weighs 50lbs!

 

And a fun behind the scenes of my mertender trying to help out. PS it was so cold our skin went numb on contact. Not summer anymore, totally fall.

The next person on my list to put fins on is the lovely local model Jacqueline Lundrigan. Jacq has been a LONG time supporter of my mer persona online. She's always been giving me positive feedback, sharing my stuff, and really just been a shining light to be around. Now that she's tried out my tail I'm convinced she's one of the additional mermaids I'd like to add to my company. People want to book more than 1 mermaid sometimes, and I'd love to bring more girls into it. Here she is looking cute as a button

We also took some video while we were working on our mermaid swim. For some reason Youtube automatically edited it so it's not the best quality, but it's not bad. The chlorine was pretty bad, lol.

She's also super sweet and gave me this vintage original US magazine that features Splash on the cover. Basically, this is the reason I started out as a mermaid. It's 1 year older than I am this Magazine. Crazy

Here's something also pretty fun for you. A local musician wrote a song that I am in love with about mermaids. Click here to listen. Make sure to press play.

Speaking of music... no the music video isn't on TV yet. Fins crossed it'll be soon. I can't wait for you all to see it. I hope I don't embarrass myself too. Haha.

It's also Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend! I am so thankful for all of you. I'm hoping to find time to make a specific blog post thanking everyone with their own individual links :) So keep an eye out for that!

On the personal end of things I am starting to feel healthy, I am just very tired. I am still working very hard to gain employment in my field. That's a bit stressful. But I'm getting through it, putting myself out there, going to interviews etc. It's just sad that there is no teaching work. But I will find something else that is meaningful I know it! :) I'm on Linkedin now if you'd like to add me

In the meantime I've been working hard on the next issue of Tail Flip, a few mermaid projects on the go, and writing some tutorials. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, thanks for stopping by my blog.

Much Love,
Raina