Hi Streemit!!! So Happy to be here
Who am I?....
My Name is Audrey Blake. I am a glamour model living at the base Of Mt Hood, Oregon. I Love traveling, Hiking, camping, skiing, horse back ridding, cooking and my job modeling and using it as a platform for what I am truly passionate about, hosting a rescue and half way house for rescued farm animals.
What exactly DO you DO?....
Eight years ago I started working as a full time glamour model. Working as an under paid preschool teacher I was just scraping by, living paycheck to paycheck. Looking on the internet one night i found an add for modeling. Now before I continue I must say that some people may consider my job a " little too much". I decided you only live once and jumped into the world of online nude glamour modeling ( Think live playboy style chat-rooms, photo shoots and video shoots) .
(At a Photoshoot in Mexico)
When signing up I never though it would be something that would work out for me, let alone become a eight year career. At this time I had zero self confidence in my looks but I was so desperate for a change and tired of working for someone else. The idea of working from my home , making my own hours and working as much or as little as I wished was extremely tempting to me. I was amazed at the outcome of this job and decided to quit my teaching job and became a full time self employed model. Now most people enjoy the job for the usual perks... make your own hours, work from home, good pay. But over the years I have found another amazing thing from this job that I think most models do not see or do not care about and that is meeting, inspiring and bringing happiness to people around the world. I enjoy hearing about peoples days, learning about them, learning things from them, making them laugh, turning bad days into good days for them.
I am defiantly not the model your looking for if you want the " perfect girl". I am goofy, real, clumsy, dorky and never claim to be anything else then that, but through all of that I seemed to shine and become even more popular. It was crazy to think that after all , a majority of men didn't want that perfect barbie doll women, they just wanted a genuine, honest, funny girl next door.
Sometimes when I may be having an emotionally bad day ( don't we all have those days?) I get online and try to make other people smile and believe it or not just doing that small action for a stranger can and will make your day better. Because of my job it has allowed me to live my life the way I always dreamed but never imagined could become possible. Living on an farm on a beautiful mountain, traveling the world, making people smile, owning an animal rescue.
A huge change in my life......
Several months ago I took a step into a direction that would lead me down an amazing path. Like Most people I was researching different diets. I came across some articles about veganism, which at the time i told myself " I could NEVER do that" . Knowing that i was not ready to turn my world upside down by changing my eating lifestyle I started researching what animal and animal byproducts do to our body. I found myself later that week trying out the vegan diet for 30 days. About 5 days into what at the time I was calling a " 30 day challenge" I made the decision to never eat an animal product again.
My entire life I have been an animal lover. As a little girl I was always begging my parents for every and any animal i could have. I had dreams of having a farm, animal rescue and of course like any little girl inspired to be a veterinarian. My biggest animal love was horses, i begged my parents for a pony for every birthday and Christmas but of course they waited it out assuming it would be a phase.... needless to say I never got out of that phase. At 13 years old my mom and dad bribed me to stay in home school one more year until i got into high school. A bribe for a horse of my own. Through high school i was extremely active in high school equestrian team and high school rodeo. Later got into competing in professional rodeo in roping and barrel racing and even had 5 rodeo queen titles.
(My horses Tupac, legs and Larry)
As any serious anima lover, my love does not stop at one particular animal. I honestly can not count all the animals, pets and rescues that have been in my life, But needless to say I don't discriminate from a tiny wild baby bunny to a 600 pound hog, they are all special and loved in my eyes. Do you also love animals or have a special or unique pet? please post them in the comments i love to see pics.
( Yep thats a baby skunk, with a broken leg)
Several months into deciding to join the vegan lifestyle I was sitting on my deck outside my 20 acre farm trying to think to myself " How can I do more?" Some people join groups, some people blog, some people even protest. I was trying to think what I had to offer to help a cause that I believed in. Then it hit me like a pile of bricks! I have a 20 acre farm with a barn and only had a few small house pets and my two horses.... i had all the space in the world to offer homes and temporary housing for local and factory farmed animals that other wise would be killed.
(my Farm)
The way I saw it was that there were all kinds of people that could offer foster dogs and cats homes but who had the space to foster horses, cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks and any other farm critters. So that is where my farm animal foster and rescue started.
(A rescue goat I named Pocahontas)
My first rescue was unique and special to say the least.... and surprise surprise he is still with me. I seem to have a hard time finding him a home because of his "different" circumstance. A one year old rooster that came with the name " Sharkbate". Sharkbate holds a special place in my heart not only because he is my farms first recuse but because he is a survivor to say the least. Anyone who is around farm animals knows that roosters are born with a slim chance to begin with. Hens provide eggs, they grow much faster for meat. So most roosters are killed at birth in factory farming and in their teens on private farms. Sharkbate was born with one deformed leg. He was nursed back to health after being trampled by the other chicks and somehow made it. Although unfortunately during his first winter suffered from frost bite on all of the toes except one on this good leg. So as of today he is a one legged, one toed rooster that can not provide any of the " services" that people would like out of roosters. He is just one of the many amazing story from my little band a misfits at my rescue farm. I cant wait to share their story's and pictures here on steemit with everyone and bring awareness to what we can do for animals.
(Sharkbate)
(One of my hens, Marilyn Monroe)
Who doesn't love food?.....
I have never been shy about the fact that I am a huge foodie. Always has been and always will be. I love spending time in the kitchen not only cooking and baking but coming but with my own recipes. I host large dinner parties with family and friends. one of the reasons i bought a house was because it had the space for a 12 seated dinning table. I love to cook for people and wow them with my recipes. When going vegan, I cant lie i thought i would not be able to host large dinner parties any more because really... what do vegans eat?
(Pineapple fried rice, Pad Kee Maw, Peanut butter banana vegan ice cream)