The anniversary of my arrival to LA was this week. The time has gone by so fast. It seems like only yesterday I was popping a Xanax, saying goodbye to my family, and pouring myself into the backseat of my Mazda, which my sisters and I were getting ready to drive across country in order to move me to the city of angels. As I watched my family out the back window, the reality of my adventure set in. Where will I live? How will I pay my bills? What if this doesn’t work out? Did I pack more Xanax?
Thankfully, as my nerves were about to reach their breaking point, a gust of wind sailed through the open windows of the car and sent pictures I had packed flying around the inside of the vehicle, sending my sisters and I into a giggling fit. After that, I calmed down a bit and was able to enjoy what turned out to be an awesome and fun-filled trip.
Then we got to LA. We immediately began the hunt for an apartment. After seeing several, I decided there was one I liked more than others (mostly because it had pink tile in the bathroom), and set my sights on gaining employment so that the apartment manager would let me rent. Some day I’ll write a book about all this chaos, but for now I’ll just sum things up in my blog.
LA is a tough city to live in. It took a while to find decent employment, a better apartment, and to feel like I had a life here. Now, after finding these things, and embracing the LA woman I’ve become, I realize many things I wish I could have told myself back then. Things like, “Take a big deep breath. Now, take an even bigger deep breath.” And, “Most of it is out of your control. Focus on doing what makes you feel productive and what makes you feel like an actor.” This one is important, because if at the end of the day, you feel more like a temp than an actor, something isn’t right.
I would also tell myself that it’s not a race, and no one has the same path. My new teacher, Steve Eastin, advises that each of his students always be reading something that’s good for their hearts and spirits. I could not agree more. As an actor, if you lose touch with your heart and your spirit, which is easy to do in this crazy town, you’re in trouble. There are so many other things I wish I could have told myself during my first days in LA, but I will divulge more when I write my book.
For now, I will simply wish myself and LA a very happy anniversary, and look toward the future with hopefulness, as I sense something big is on the horizon.
Ok, so last week was a bit of no fun for me. To give a quick recap, my car broke to the tune of 670 bucks, my toilet cracked and leaked all over my bathroom and the new toilet they gave me was definitely made for people 7 feet tall or higher, and my debit card info was stolen and I had to wait foreeevvveerrr for a new one in the mail. Meh, these things happen. So I’m told. But, let’s be clear that that is all over. Done-zo (pronounced dun-zoe), as I like to say.
And now I’d like to give a very warm welcome to a brand new week! Oh the possibilities! I’m very excited to attend my class at Steve Eastin Studio this week, since the highlight of last week was the fact the I had a “door opening” experience during my class. This is how Steve describes when something clicks. It’s a very accurate analogy because that’s exactly what it feels like. You hit a wall, and hit a wall, and hit a wall, and then you find the door and it opens. And it is a great feeling. We happened to be filming last class so not only did I get to experience the feeling of the door opening, but then I got to see the difference in my work. It was very rewarding and exciting. I can’t say it enough, I love love love this class!
A couple days ago, we wrapped on “Big Green Nightmare” and I had such an awesome time shooting that film! We got to see the first cut of it this weekend and it was really cool. It’s always strange to see and hear myself, but exciting too, as we actors are so narcissistic  .
That is all for now. Wishing you all (and myself) a fantastic new week!
Hope everyone had a nice Easter and got some time off of work like I did! It was so great to visit my family on the other coast! I found out a couple days before I made the journey back to LA that I booked an audition I had last week for a short film! I am very excited about it and will be shooting this weekend. I will let you all know how it goes!
I had a couple new headshot sessions recently and will be posting those pictures for your viewing pleasure very soon! They turned out really nice, and I’m looking forward to handing them out to casting directors at auditions and workshops, as well as sending them to agents and managers. I’m also working on cutting a new demo reel featuring some new work I’ve done. I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be awesome  .
One more fun thing to add: I’m taking a new class at the Steve Eastin studio and I am absolutely LOVING it! What a great philosophy this man has. Since I’ve been taking his class I’ve felt so much more confident in auditions and about my work in general. He’s a great teacher and I’m really pumped about going back to class next week!
Happy weekend!
21 Jump Street and The Hunger Games are out in theaters and you should see both!
It’s been a long time since I saw a fantastic comedy with a well-written script, great acting, and just all around awesomeness. Thank goodness for 21 Jump Street! I laughed so hard at one point, it actually hurt and I had to restrain myself. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill were a great duo and I couldn’t get enough of them. This movie is a guaranteed good time!
Now, onto The Hunger Games. First and foremost, if you haven’t read the books, you are seriously seriously seriously missing out. SO. FREAKIN’. GOOD. You should go to a book store, or Amazon, or one of those old-fashioned library things that I hear are still around, and buy/check-out these books! Once you have read the first one, you MUST go see this movie. (I realize I’m using a lot of capital letters in this paragraph, but it’s justified. Trust me.) The movie has a great cast mixed of new-comers and long-loved favorites. There is a huge amount of imagination that went into the creation of it, and you can tell that the author of the books, Suzanne Collins, had a hand in it. There were so many scenes that were exactly as I saw them in my head while reading. The characters were fantastic, the art direction so interesting, and all the incredible things that were part of the original story exist in the movie. I am SO excited for the next one to come out!
In closing, I shall reiterate: You must go see these movies. You won’t regret it. Have a great day.
Well, happy new year! We’re already almost half-way through January, and I feel like the past two weeks have gone by so fast, I should probably just go ahead and get my Christmas shopping started since it will be here before we know it! If it weren’t for all these darn resolutions taking up my time, I could head to the mall right now… Speaking of resolutions, I was reading an article this morning about how to actually stick with your new year’s goals. I’m not usually terrible about sticking with mine, but let’s just say I’ve often fallen short of my pre-defined finish lines. That being said, I’m thinking if I make my goals public, perhaps it will be easier for me to continue the battle of achieving them. This means that all of you are now being tasked with the job of holding me accountable. See how I just did that? Gave you a job you didn’t even sign up for? And you thought you were just innocently reading a blog post safe from the comfort of your desk chair…
So let’s get this list started, it’s not terribly long since I’m trying to be realistic, but it’s specific. (The article I read in the am stated that this is the key to accomplishment.)
New Year’s Resolution #1:
For heaven’s sake, finally get into the shape I’d like to be in. I like to give credit where credit’s due, so let me say that over the past couple years I have drastically changed my eating habits and workout routines. However, I have recently discovered two things: I have celiac disease, and I have hit a wall. The celiac disease has been an interesting road so far. It’s been amazing to feel better and to feel like I have some control over the symptoms I used to deal with every day when I wasn’t aware that gluten was like poison in my body. While it has been great to finally know what is wrong with me, it’s also been very difficult learning how to eat healthy in a completely new way. I got a great gluten-free cookbook for Christmas, and so my specific goal this year regarding diet, is to learn to cook delicious and highly nutritious gluten-free meals. As far as the ‘hitting a wall’ thing goes, I have lost weight over the past couple years, but I am now at a standstill, which can only mean one thing: I need big changes! So, the specific goals pertaining to workout routines is to exercise with weights three times a week, and get in cardio 4-5 times a week. My workouts with weights will change every month so that I keep my body guessing. My cardio will consist of long distance running, tempo running, walking, and swimming when the weather gets warmer.
New Year’s Resolution #2:
I want to feel more involved with my acting career. So far, I have been working very hard, have learned a lot, and made progress, but again feel like I’ve hit a wall. So, here are the specifics: My friends and I are writing a web series that I will be acting in and I couldn’t be more excited about it. Each day I will do a cold read exercise and a vocal warm-up. I will use the next couple weeks to strongly focus on getting a new agent and possibly a manager. There are many ways I am going to do this which I won’t bore you with, but rest assured, there is a plan . I am going to create a new demo reel and get new headshots by the end of February. I am going to continue taking classes with Matthew Barry because he is awesome and brings out the best actor in me. Furthermore, every Friday I will spend some time evaluating how things are going with my career and make adjustments accordingly. I would like to also take an improv class, just because I think it would be lots of fun!
New Year’s Resolution #3 (the last one):
Have more fun! I want to see more movies, see concerts, and take dance classes. I got a new camera for Christmas and I will be shooting my own footage and exploring all the ways I can have fun with that. I also love writing so very much and so a part of this goal will be to do more personal writing as well as updating my blog more! Also, I have been able to travel a lot over the past few years and I most definitely want to keep that up since there is nothing else like it! That being said, I will now post some pictures from my most recent traveling adventure in Taipei, Taiwan.
Happy New Year everyone, best of luck
Fall is my favorite season and I am so glad it’s here! Football has started (Go HOKIES!) and the extreme heat is starting to leave LA (thank goodness.) I have started taking a new class with casting director Matthew Barry. It has been wonderful so far and I am really looking forward to my next month of it! We’ve done some really interesting and challenging work, but it’s been an absolute blast!
I just had another headshot photo shoot, pictures soon to come! I can’t believe it’s going to be October tomorrow, it’ll be Christmas before we know it! I’m looking forward to Halloween, but I have no idea what I’m going to dress up as or where I will be celebrating. I’m really really really looking forward to November because I will be going on a fantastic trip to TAIWAN! I’ve never been to Asia and I can’t wait!
Hope you all have a marvelous first month of Fall, and please, all you East coasters, enjoy the leaves changing for me because we don’t get much of that out here!
I can’t believe 2011 is already a quarter of the way over! It’s crazy how time just slips by, isn’t it?
I’ve discovered this website (http://www.brainsofminerva.com) and am completely in love with it! The first thing I saw on this site was the audition footage of stars who booked the roles they were auditioning for. It was so much fun to watch! Rachel McAdams was just amazing, I watched her audition twice. I was also really impressed with Russel Brand’s audition for Forgetting Sarah Marshall. He was so relaxed and confident and totally comfortable in his own skin, which I can assure you, if you’ve never been in the hot seat in an audition room before, is quite an accomplishment. He was hysterical and his improv was awesome! Loved it.
What I also found on this website was a great list of how to overcome self sabotage. It seems like such an odd thing that one would sabotage their own career, but it is easy to do, and difficult to stop. But I was really inspired by the whole article and loved the affirmations they supply. I said them all outloud just before writing this! Very motivating.
Just thought I’d share this great website, for anyone who’s interested.
In travel news, I recently took a trip to San Francisco with my handsome boyfriend and we had lots and lots of fun! I attended my first ever wine tasting (how have I been missing out on these for so long??) and stayed and watched the irritable and sleepy sea lions at Pier 39. Please see below photo.
They were so cute! They were either barking at each other or sleeping on top of each other, very entertaining. I loved Ghirardelli Square too! They were giving out free chocolate everywhere! It’s what I would imagine Heaven is like… lots and lots of chocolate.
I hope you all are having a great April so far! More updates on the crazy world of acting soon…
Hello everyone! Don’t you just love February? It’s just full of wonderful things like chilly weather, my birthday, Valentine’s day… the list goes on. Although, I suppose if you’re on the east coast and still buried in snow, this month might not seem so special. Personally, I can’t get enough of February. There are so many excuses for me to eat loads of cookies, chocolates, and really anything else comprised mostly of sugar. My birthday was very nice this year, and I have my fabulous friends, very cute boyfriend, and wonderful family to thank for that. The weather in LA is not as chilly as I would like (75 degrees is hardly chilly) but I’m coping with the sunshine and pleasant breezes.
Just thought I’d drop in and wish everyone a happy Valentine’s Day and fantastic rest of the month!
The weather is starting to get chilly and I am loving it! Cold weather fashion is just awesome. For example, right now I am strutting down the blog runway in a luxuriously soft gray sweater, comfy skinny jeans, and over-sized fluffy slippers. Life is good, and I am one snazzy blogger.
With the temperature dropping and the cool breezes blowing, it is definitely snuggle-up-and-watch-movies weather. At the theaters, I have recently seen “Red” and “Morning Glory.” Both were great, in different ways, of course. “Red” was very entertaining, an overall fun well-written ride. The characters were just fantastic. The acting was, well, you saw the cast line-up: A-Listers who have been on the A-List for quite some time, and for good reason. The humor was clever, the story was well-spun, and I left the theater thinking, “I bet they had an absolute blast making that film.”
“Morning Glory” was really wonderful. I can’t wait to see it again! Harrison Ford was perfect as the successful, grumpy, older man. And Diane Keaton was lovable and funny as an impossible morning show diva. Rachel McAdams was simply outstanding. She carried the movie quite beautifully. She’s just so much fun to watch! The movie was excellent; I give it an A+ and highly recommend it.
And now, I would like to announce the new project I will be working on in December. The film is called “The Day After,” and I am very excited about it! I play a woman who has been taking care of her dying father, and is now trying to repair her damaged relationship with her brother. I’m really looking forward to our first rehearsal.
On a more festive note, last weekend I went to see the Christmas tree lighting at The Grove! It was beautiful! There was fake snow (which as silly as it was being shot off the tops of roofs over the crowd, it was still a lot of fun) and fireworks! I LOVE fireworks! The event was a nice kick-off to the holiday season. I tried to post a picture of the tree below, but my website is giving me trouble about it. But you get the idea.
Anyways, happy holidays everyone! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I have been watching lots of movies lately, many of them from the AFI List, as I have not given up on my quest to see all 100.
So, for starters, I saw “The Godfather.” Yes, for the first time. I know that is shocking, but at least now I’ve seen it! It was pretty great, I must say. A little on the downer side, but a great film nonetheless. Ever since I saw “You’ve Got Mail” and the characters made references to “go to the mattresses” I’ve been dying to understand what that means. And now, I do! Thanks, Godfather.
“Gone with the Wind.” Oh how I loved this movie. It’s a long one, but it really just flew by. Such a beautiful piece of film about humanity, the flaws we are all born with, and the struggle for life. It was fantastic.
Now, I tried to watch “Lawrence of Arabia.” I mean really tried. Really really tried. Something about it just couldn’t keep my attention and after three days of attempting to get through it, I quit and sent it back to Netflix. I understand what was “epic” about it and why it is classified as a great moment in film history, but I just couldn’t sit through it. It was very slow, and though the acting was good, I didn’t quit make it to the end.
The next movie I watched is much further down the list, number 46, “A Clockwork Orange.” This was another one that I just couldn’t sit through. The opening scenes of violence and rape I doubt many women could stomach. It was upsetting and very disturbing. What wasn’t upsetting and disturbing was outlandishly weird and vulgar. None of these things strongly appealed to me, so I skipped ahead a few chapters of the DVD to see what was next, but the bizarre scenes kept coming and I was uninterested and worried I was going to have horrendous nightmares, so I sealed this up in the red Netflix envelope and sent it on its way. I did not watch the entire film, so I feel it’s unfair to make the statement I’m about to make, but I’m gonna do it anyways: Why in God’s name is this film on the top 100 list and why do so many people like it and dress up like Alex for Halloween? If you can answer any of this, I’d be interested to know.
That brings us to the end of the top 6 films of all time. (“Casablanca,” number 2, and “The Wizard of Oz,” number 6, I have already seen.) Next on my viewing list will be “The Graduate” and “On the Waterfront.” I’m looking forward to seeing both of these.
Have a fabulous week
|
|
