02-24-10 Call backs!

Today was a pretty good day. Curtis came to get me and we went to see "An Education". We made it this time and I gotta tell you that $6 deal for the first matinee showings of the day is AWESOME. Highly recommend it! It was a good film, we both enjoyed it. I think the ending got wrapped up a little too quickly and neatly but in this case I was totally ok with that because I had to pee for about the last 40minutes of the film and had it gone on longer to explain more I might have peed my pants. That's what I get for not peeing right before the movie started. In any case though, yeah, we both really liked it. Just 4 more movies to go to see all 10 Best Picture noms. But I'd also like to see a couple other nominated movies as well. Hopefully I will be able to.

Then, Curtis went back to work and I went back to work prepping for my call back. That's what today's photo is of. My script otherwise known as "sides" for the call back. I also took Frankie for a walk (of course) and chatted with my friend Karen while we walked. That was nice. We hadn't talked in a bit so it was nice to catch up.

The call back went pretty well. I felt very good about my read. But musically, I don't know this particular show. I hadn't ever heard them before the call back so I had to learn the songs on the spot. I think that put me and the one other girl who was also in my situation at a disadvantage but, in the end I think that both she and I did well considering. In the end, I won't be crushed if I don't get in. But it does seem like a fun show to do. All of the 8 other girls at the call back were very good so they have a tough choice to make. There are only two female and two male roles. I'll just leave it up to fate. There are other shows coming up that I would like to audition for so, much like dating, if I don't get this one, there are other fish in the sea! :)

02-23-10 Audition!

Today I woke up wanting to take advantage of the first matinee of the day $6 movie price at the Century Theater near my house (on Katella right past The Pond/Honda Center if you live around here) to see one of the Oscar nominated films "An Education". Curtis was going to come with me. Well, we ended up not making it in time and so, we just went home and he ate some leftover gumbo and cake. Because seriously, we needed help finishing that stuff off! After he left to go back to work I got prepped for an audition. It was for a musical and so I needed a song. I hadn't really prepared much in advance so I used a song I had used before.

Then I walked Frankie (really loving my new skechers shape ups!) and then got all cleaned up and pretty-fied for the audition. It went much better than I expected but I think it still could've gone better. Either way it was fast (always a good thing in theater auditions) and they asked me to come back to call backs- yay! I haven't done a musical in years and so, musical auditions make me very nervous. But I got through it! It felt good to get out there again!

02-22-10 A Pleasant and Full Day.

So, I today I had a day mixed of running errands and just taking some time for me. I had to exchange a birthday present and so I headed over to the Anaheim Garden Walk. It's a nice place filled with good restaurants, shops, a very trendy bowling alley and a very cool movie theater that has a section with a bar/lounge area for those who are 21 and over. As someone who kinda hates being in movies with obnoxious teenagers I really appreciate that. That side of the theater also has very comfy seats. But I digress... I wasn't there for the movies I was there to exchange my very awesome skechers shape ups from black and white to pink and silver. The guy who helped me remembered my dad from the day before when he had picked them up and then proceeded to chat me up about just about everything including the bad economy and lay offs and my unemployment. Apparently he had been laid off last year as well from his job in computers and was now working at skechers. If I had to work in a Skechers store (and I am not above that) I would like to work in that one. It was nice. He seemed like a nice guy, I hope that he finds a new job soon. After that I couldn't help but wander around a bit. It was a lovely day and The Garden Walk was all but deserted which, was good for me, but bad for them. I've heard that business has been slow there and that makes me sad. It's a really great place. If you live in the area you should check it out. It's way better than most of the malls around here. It's outdoor and it has a really great atmosphere.

I typically hate shopping but I wanted to look for some cute tops. So, I went next door to the skechers store and found a great little t shirt and cardigan for under $20! A little birthday present to myself. (side note: I wore it the next day and got lots of compliments on it)

So, then I left a bit reluctantly, there was a part of me that wanted to stop at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for some chocolate covered marshmallows or something to that effect and then go to see a matinee and have some wine at the 21 and over movie theater. I kinda wanted to make a day of it since it was so nice and quiet there. But alas, I had stuff to do and I am still somewhat fearful of spending money when I don't have to so... off I went in my new pink and silver skechers!

One of the things I had to do was to pay my car registration. So I stopped at the Auto Club since they can handle that easier than the DMV who didn't even bother sending me a renewal notice this year. But I forgot that they only accept cash or checks at the Auto Club so it was back home for me to grab my check book because I didn't know how much cash to get since I didn't have the notice which would have told me how much my registration was. So I went home, had a late lunch and then went back to the Auto Club. I was relieved that my registration was under $100. Just barely but it was. You see, last year my registration was $64 I think. So, it should have been even lower this year. (My car is VERY old) But they recently raised every one's fees because, I don't know if you've heard, but, uh, California is pretty much bankrupt. I really want to move. Seriously. Where else can I be an actress/film maker, have my pitbull, and yet not be poor while living in a state that is now poor and therefore making it even MORE expensive than it already was to live there? Any ideas? Just let me know.

In any case, after taking care of that and few other errands, I went back home to walk the dog. I was really excited to try out my new skechers on the walk. I could feel a bit of a difference in my muscles working. We walked about 3 miles. Then I came home and watched the dvd they give you with the shoes. They have workouts on it! Bonus! I did the 15 minute one they do balancing moves which are hard to do in those shoes! I liked it. Now I have another workout option. Always good.

Then I stretched and called it a day. Apparently though, you're only supposed to wear those shoes for about 25-40 minutes a day for the first few days. I went quite a bit over that in mine, and I was afraid I might be sore the next day, but I was not. :) I could feel it a little bit in my inner thighs and that was nice since that's a problem area for me. But nothing really hurt. Yay!

I ended the day with Olympics, leftover gumbo from my birthday dinner and some leftover red velvet birthday cake. Mmmm. Birthdays are delicious!

Update

I just found out that my cast mate is out of the hospital and will be able to continue the show this weekend. I'm so glad he's okay and so glad we can finish up our show as planned! Yay! Oh the drama that is live theater. :)

02-21-10 Birthday!

Well, today was my birthday. It was also my niece Katie's official birthday and singer Nina Simone, singer/actress Tyne Daly, writer Erma Bombeck, director Sam Peckinpah, actress Ellen Page, devilishly wonderful actor Alan Rickman, feisty, sassy actress Rue McClanahan and an adorable koala named Peter Parker that I held and cuddled on my last trip to Australia all share my birthday too! It's a good day to be born I think.

But this day didn't start out so well. I woke up and checked my phone and I had a voicemail. Who would have called me so early? Well, it was my director telling me that our star of the show had been in an auto accident the night before and was in the hospital and our matinee performance was cancelled. I was shocked. I was sad. And I was worried. We didn't know much about what happened. We didn't have any details as to how the accident occurred or how serious his injuries were. So, with that phone call, a bit of a pall was cast upon the day.

I had not been all that into making a big fuss about my birthday anyway. Some years I want a party, other years, not so much. This year I hadn't wanted to do much. I had been looking forward to performing on my birthday because I'd not really ever done that before and the audience love you get from a live performance is really something so it seemed like a nice way to spend my birthday. But in this case, any disappointment I had at not performing was completely overshadowed by concern for my injured friend.

We had planned on me doing my show and then going over to my brother and sis in law's house for a dinner and cake and to open my presents. Curtis was going to be working while I was at my show. Since I didn't have my show I ended up with a day to fill. I really didn't know what to do. Everyone I knew was pretty much already doing something and nobody had planned to see me because I was supposed to be doing my show.

As Curtis was leaving to go to work he said "Well, you could go see 'Murder on the High C's' today." which is a show that a friend of ours wrote and that 3 of our friends were in. I had been wanting to see it and had almost auditioned for it but I decided to do "Jake's Women" instead. They had the same run as us though so I wasn't supposed to have been able to see it. Since I had the day off I decided to go to their 2 pm matinee. I had to rush and I was almost late but I made it just in time!

I'm really glad that I went. It was a really cute show and I was glad I could be there to support my friends! I really enjoyed it! It was at The Rose Center Theater in Westminster and it is a beautiful theater! I'd love to do a show there sometime. My only regret was that Curtis couldn't see it with me because I think he would've liked it.

Then I went home to meet Curtis so we could head over to my family party. We had a nice dinner. My mom made me a gumbo and a red velvet cake. Mmmmmm. My niece's made me a card and it was super cute!



Curtis and I were supposed to go to a movie after dinner but we were both REALLY tired at that point so we just wanted to relax. We had to stop at the store on the way home for some groceries and then we just went home. I watched some Olympic Ice Dancing and Curtis caught up on the computer with some stuff and then he gave me a foot massage and then I fell asleep.

So, though it was certainly not the best birthday, it was certainly not the worst. I have a lot to be grateful for, like being alive, not having just been in an auto accident, having family who loves me and cooks for me, and having a boyfriend who gives really good foot massages. So, while it was definitely a low key birthday, it was still a nice one!



As of now, while I write this on Monday morning, I still don't know how my cast mate and friend is doing. I really, really hope that he's okay.

02-20-10 Party!

Today was a Saturday and I started it with a nice long walk with Frankie. Then I went to my oldest niece Sarah's soccer game. It was a tough game but in the end they tied. After that I had to finish birthday shopping for my niece Katie who shares a birthday with me. I must love her a lot because I braved South Coast Plaza on a Saturday afternoon to get part of her present. I hate shopping malls as a general rule. I don't mind them on a midweek day but on a Saturday or Sunday? It's insane. I thought we were in a recession and nobody had money but apparently that doesn't keep people from frequenting shopping malls. I nearly got run over by giant trucks and SUVs in the parking lot, I nearly got mowed down by a group of teenagers in full "Gossip Girl" fashion attire and there were busloads of tourists spending their foreign dollars in Gucci, La Perla and Coacj stores. Luckily the store I needed wasn't too far in and I was able to get in and out relatively quickly.

As girls go I am a bit of an anomaly in that I really don't enjoy shopping. I only go shopping when I need to get something and then I pretty much get in and out as quickly as possible. I do not like to browse that much and I don't like "window shopping". What's the point?

Anyway, so, after that I was able to swing by Target (again with the crazy Saturday crowds but at least it was just soccer mom's and families and not so much "Gossip Girl" wanna be teens and seemingly rich beyond all reason tourists). I also didn't get run over in the parking lot so, that was a bonus.

Finally I was able to get to the birthday party. It was a "Pizza, Pajamas, pedicures and plaques" party. The girls painted ceramic plaques for their walls, got pedicures by one of the moms, did paraffin wax treatments on their hands and then ate pizza and "pupcakes" (cupcakes designed to look like dogs) all while wearing their pjs! The girls had a good time and even Curtis and I got to do the Paraffin wax treatments!

Katie liked her presents that we got her so I felt like my efforts at the mall were not in vain. Yay!

Then I had to go to my show so we left. The show went well! We've really never had a really "off" or "bad" night. We had a really good audience again which always helps. Afterward we had planned to go out as a cast.

So, we headed out to a restaurant/bar that wasn't too far away. We had some drinks and munchie kind of food. We talked and bonded. It was nice because we really hadn't done much as a cast so far. Our Director and his wife had some great stories about their times in the film industry over the years and we discussed acting and plays and what parts I might try in the future and it was just a really nice time. Curtis got to bond a bit with them as well even though he's not in the cast.

We left and everyone seemed fine and I felt pretty good about the day and night. Since my birthday was on Sunday and we were there past midnight I felt like it had been a nice way to start my birthday!

02-19-10 Showtime!

Today was a Friday. After a week straight of running around I was a bit slow this morning. Still, I did finally get around to doing a relaly good workout and getting a walk with Frankie in. After that Curtis came over to get me to go get my birthday present from him~ a new phone! Well, when he got here Frankie and I were just returning from our walk. So I had to stretch and then I ended up acting out the men's figure skating finals from the night before for him. I think I was very funny. Curtis agrees. :) Then I got ready and we left.

Before we could get the phone though we had to detour over to my niece's new gymnastics class because I had really been wanting to watch her do her thing and finally had the chance. It was a really cool place! I wish I could take a gymnastics class there! Katie was awesome and I think she has the possibility of being a really good little gymnast! Since I was a gymnast when I was younger that makes me happy.

Then we went to get my phone. I got a Palm Pre and I love it! It has a touch screen and a keyboard which is the best of both worlds for me and it can do a lot of really neat stuff! Thank you honey I love my new phone!

Then it was back home so I could get ready for my show and Curtis could go get ready for his Improv Shmimprov Haiti Benefit show.

My show went really well! The audience was great and I even got a little applause when I left the stage after my scene! That's never happened before! Very exciting! then I went home to wait for Curtis to finish up the benefot show. They did very well too and raised $1200 for Doctors Without Boarders!

All in all it was a good day! A busy day, but a good day all the same!

Today's photo is of me after my show and I took the photo on my new phone!

02-18-10 Disneyland!

Continuing to "Stir Things Up" even though I am poor! It's my birthday week so, it's been pretty busy! Have I mentioned that my niece's school district gets the entire 3rd week of February off for "Ski Week"? Well, they do and my brother and sis in law do as well because they both teach in the same district. So every year they do a lot of stuff during this week. Me and my niece's birthday is also during this week usually so, there is that as well. Every year me, my sis in law, my nieces and Curtis go to Disneyland for the day for me and my youngest niece's birthday. Usually we go a whole day and then have dinner at my mom's house. Sometimes my brother and/or my mom will join us. This year it was just me, my sis in law, my nieces and Curtis along with some family friends who usually join us for part of the day as well. But I joined the group kind of late because I prefer to sleep in if possible, Curtis was even later due to a meeting and audition he had and then my sis in law and nieces had to leave somewhat early because my oldest niece had soccer practice for their final All Star games this weekend and she had already missed a couple practices. So.... it wasn't quite the same this year. We definitely had a fun time but it wasn't like it normally is. What can I say? Sometimes, life happens.







But we also got to see my friend Julie who just happened to be there for a work lunch at the very exclusive private Club 33. It was great to see her because while my and my niece's birthday isn't until Sunday it was actually Julie's birthday so I was glad I got to spend a part of it with her!


All in all it was a pretty darned good day!

02-17-10 Lake Arrowhead

So, we woke up in Big Bear, had breakfast, cleaned he cabin and went to check out Big Bear Village. It's really cute! Big Bear is a nice mountain town. I'd like to visit again even though my skin and body really hate the altitude. ;-)

After the quick little stop in Big Bear Village we went down the Mountain a bit to Lake Arrowhead. It was really cute too!




The Lake wasn't frozen and it was really very pretty. We walked around a bit, fed the millions of ducks and 4 seagulls that live there (Seagulls? That far inland and that high in the mountains? Yup. Don't know how they got there.) and then had lunch at a cute little boat themed place called Woody's right on the Lake.

After that we headed home. Something about the mountains makes me exhausted. Like I said, I don't really handle high altitudes very well. My family is all from New Orleans where they are below sea level and we settled in Orange county, CA where we are pretty much at sea level, so, I think I will blame my lack of altitude stamina on that. :)

02-16-10 To the Mountains We Go!

Today was Fat Tuesday, otherwise known as Mardi Gras! My family (which is from New Orleans) celebrated by a trip to Big Bear Mountain. It's not the usual way to celebrate, but it WAS fun. My mom, dad, brother, sis in law, my two nieces and myself all went up to the mountains for a couple of days. My sis in law had a deal on a great cabin that her friends own so we took advantage of that. It's a wonderful cabin, really cute and cozy with 3 bedrooms and it's walking distance to the ski resort Snow Summit. If any of us skied that would be great. But we don't. I've skied in the past and I even snowboarded once but without health insurance I wasn't willing to risk it. Also, I didn't have the funds available for a lift ticket or ski rentals anyway. So, instead, we went sledding nearby. We had a great time! We sled down the hills and even made a really cute little snow woman!

I'm pretty poor right now as a struglling actress/documentary and film producer and otherwise unemployed from any real day job so, I could never do the things that I have been doing in the past few months if not for the help and support of my family, Curtis and friends. None of this slid by me as I enjoyed a free trip to the Mountains and got to stay in a lovely little cabin. But I wanted to mention it because sometimes, we think that if we're poor or struggling there can't be anything good. But in all actuality, I've been lucky enough to have lots of good things due to the help and generosity of loved ones. I intend to pay back the love and generosity. I think I do a good job of paying back the love already, but I can't wait for the day that I can pay back the genrosity and do some awesome stuff for them again. So, if you are able to help a hard working yet struggling friend or family member out- do it! And if you're struggling please try to remember the good things. It's very easy to forget the good when you are constantly facing the bad every day. Don't lose sight of the good.

Then we took a walk to check out Snow Summit and saw the skiers and snowboarders and some cute dogs.


After that we drove around a bit to look at some of the big fancy houses/vacation cabins nearby. Big Bear got a HUGE Snow storm a couple weeks back and everything was still covered in a ton of snow! There was snow several feet high on many buildings and patios, porches and stairways were still totally full and covered in snow!

Later we checked out Big Bear Lake. It was mostly frozen and really pretty.


After that we grabbed some dinner at a great place called Maggios. If you're in Big Bear I recommend it. Casual, fun, and good food! Then it was back to the cabin to make s'mores and watch the Olympics. All in all a great day!

02-15-10 Movies Day and Night!

Well today was a Monday and it was also President's Day. Curtis couldn't get much business done due to the holiday so we had a nice day hanging out together. I've been wanting to try and see all the Oscar Nominees and am very, VERY behind on that so Curtis (being the nice guy that he is) decided to help me catch up. So, we went to see the movie "Up in the Air" in the early afternoon. It was really, really good! I really loved it! Well written, well directed and well acted! I liked the slightly ambiguous ending as well. Then we went home and Curtis went to teach one of his acting classes and I took Frankie for a long walk. Then, after his class we went to see "Avatar" in Imax 3D. I have been conflicted about this movie for quite some time because I had heard that the story wasn't that great but that the 3D and the special effects were AMAZING. I also had listened to about 18 podcasts from Slash Film (/film.com) about this movie as well as "Up In The Air" so, I had heard all kinds of discussions on both of them and interviews with directors and also knew some spoilers. So, I knew what people had been saying about them both good and bad. I think that the guys at /film were right when they said that you really had to see "Avatar" in Imax 3D to fully appreciate it otherwise it was kind of a waste of time. But I have to admit I was impressed and I liked it. It made me cry though.

So, yeah, if you haven't seen either of these movies I highly recommend that you do. If there isn't an IMAX theater near you then at least try and see "Avatar" in 3D. It's apparently much better that way.

02-14-10 Valentine's Surprise!

Today was Valentines Day. Normally, Curtis and I don't do much for this holiday. My birthday is also exactly one week later so, Valentine's day was always kind of the precursor to my birthday. Also, Valetine's Day seems kind of forced and I prefer people do something nice for those that they love without being forced by a special day to do it. Generally speaking, my boyfriends usually couldn't really afford to go all out for Valentine's AND my birthday since they are so close together, not to mention it was often tough for one or both of us to get both days off of work (when you are in the hospitality industry, that can be tough) so, I often had to make a decision- Valentine's or My Birthday? Well, as I mentioned, Valentine's feels forced to me and also was a day that EVERYONE went out for and my birthday was just my birthday. So, I usually chose my birthday and so, most of my Valentine's Days when I was with someone were low key events which was just fine. When I was single, it didn't much matter at all. I also hate dealing with over crowded restaurants and masses of people all trying to prove how in love they are. I tend to avoid crowds whenever possible. So, yeah, it's never been a really big thing. Usually Curtis and I exchange cards and call it a day and I am just fine with that. :) So, when he told me he had a surprise for me this year, I was surprised by that fact alone. It also made me suspicious. But I kind of thought that he was just trying to do something nice for me because I'd had such a rough couple of weeks and he wanted to make me happy. Because he's awesome like that.

However, Curtis told me over a week ago that he had a surprise for me for Valentine's Day. I love him and think he is wonderful but, I don't know why he does this. It drives me crazy knowing that there is something secret going on and so as soon as you tell me that you have a surprise for me, I start trying to figure out what it is. One or two days of this is fine. Over a week and I actually start to get cranky about it. Some people might call this ungrateful. But the way my mind works it is just mean to tease me this way. Curtis calls it funny. I call it mean. ;-)

In any case, my first guess as to my surprise was that he was taking me to one of our favorite places, Capone's for dinner. He wouldn't confirm or deny this. But the more I guessed other things the more he confused me. Eventually, I gave up trying to figure it out but I still knew that it was going to involve dinner because I was not to eat the dinner at my sister in law's house which is where we were meeting before we headed out to have some King Cake that my mom had brought back from New Orleans.

So, Curtis had to work that day and I had a matinee show. My parents came to the show and that was nice. They had a good time.



Then we went to my brother and sister in law's house to have the King Cake. Curtis met us there and from there we headed out to my "Valentines Surprise"! So we got changed into some fancy going out clothes and we set off. Curtis took the long way to dinner to throw me off a bit more but in the end, we ended up at Capone's! I was really excited about this because it had been a year and a half since we had been there and they have really good food and the owner Dino is nice and always remembers Curtis (even if he doesn't remember me) and so, it was nice to finally be able to be there.

On Valentine's Day, Capones has a set menu. You have three choices for appetizers, two choices of salads and three choices for an entree and then you can have any of their desserts for dessert. All their food is wonderful, but because of my mostly vegetarianism my choices were somewhat limited. But that is okay at Capones because, as I said, it's ALL good. For appetizers Curtis had mussels and I had some mushrooms in a garlic cream sauce baked with bread crumbs on top. We both decided that my appetizer was better than his even though his mussels were good. The sauce on my mushrooms was perfection. I dipped some of their fresh baked and delicious bread into the sauce too. Then we both had an Italian style salad that they call "The Romeo Salad" it was so good. They have a great vinaigrette there and the salad had lettuce, kalamata olives, celery and red onions in it. It was quite good. Then for the main course Curtis had Lobster Ravioli and I not eating Lobster or Lamb Chops went with the chicken in a lemon butter sauce. It came with carrots and asparagus. The vegetables were quite good. The chicken was also good but being that I don't eat a lot of chicken and also am not especially into "picatta style" sauces like the one it was in, it was just "okay" to me. I could tell that if you liked picatta you would LOVE this chicken. But it just wasn't quite my favorite kind of food and it was really, really rich to me. So, I didn't eat much of it. Curtis really loves it so I got it boxed up for him and I finished off the bread by dipping it in the "vodka sauce" that his ravioli came in. Mmmmmm. In the end I was full and happy. But we still had dessert to go. I got a chocolate mousse cake and Curtis got one of their amazing cannolis. Both were amazingly good. But I kind of wished I'd gotten the cannoli too. The cannolis are just so good there. It's okay. Curtis let me have a few bites of his. :)


There was also a singer there providing entertainment. Her name is Kathy and her website is www.kathybee.com if you wanna check her out. She did a wonderful job and she even invited Curtis to sing with her a bit. For his efforts we got a free cd of hers! As it turns out she is also a red hat lady. My mom is a red hatter so that was kind of neat.

After that we chatted with Dino a bit more and then we called it a night. We got home just in time to see the last bits of Olympic coverage of the pairs ice skating.


All in all, it was a lovely Valentine's Day! I am very lucky to have such a wonderful boyfriend who took the time to surprise me with something he knew I would love. I love him so much!

02-13-10 Showtimes!

Today was a busy day! I had to run a lot of errands, attend a birthday party, do my show and then do a benefit improv show.

Curtis's nephew Dylan turned 3 recently and his birthday party was today. After running a bunch of "must get done" kind of errands, I finally made it to the party. Curtis couldn't make it because he had to teach his classes and I missed his party last year so, it was kind of doubly important that I made it this time. It was at Chuck E. Cheese's. Birthday parties there are kind of a controlled chaos. By the time I got there the kids were busy playing games and so I mostly just talked with Curtis's mom and one of his sister's neighbors and her sister. It was a nice time.

Then it was home to rest a bit before the evening events. My mom was also getting home that day after being away visiting family in New Orleans and Mississippi. Curtis got back from teaching and then my mom got home. We greeted her and then took Frankie for a nice long walk. Then Curtis went to bartend and I went to my show. We had a GREAT audience that night. Very full and very appreciative. They laughed a lot and they really seemed to enjoy the show. This photo is of me and John who plays "Jake" in the show.


After that show I was participating in a special fundraising show with The Costa Mesa Playhouse's resident Improv Troupe Comedy Kaze (pronounced like Kamikaze). It was for V-Day awareness and to help raise money for a place called "Laura's House" that helps abused women and their children. So, it was for a good cause, but,I was really, really nervous about performing. So were the other girls from my show who were participating. I don't have all that much improv experience when it comes to actual improv "games" so I was especially nervous. All of us really wanted to back out at the last minute. But we didn't and I am glad. Not only did we participate in something that was for a good cause (my good deed by the way), but the show actually went very well and I had fun! That's kind of the thing I am realizing this month as I try to do good deeds more often- normally I seem to get more out of it than the people or animals I am helping. It feels good to do good. Anyway, it was a good show and you can read all about it on Curtis's blog for this same day, HERE. He was very sweet and he finds me quite funny. :)


And that was my day. It was a good day. Exhausting, but good. :)

02-12-10 Family and Good Deeds Continue

Today was Lunch with Loved Ones day at my nieces' school. Because my brother and sister in law are both teachers at other schools they couldn't make it so my sis in law asked me if I would mind bringing my nieces a couple of McDonald's Happy Meals as a special treat for lunch and having lunch with them. I love my nieces so I said yes.

My youngest niece Katie will be seven in about a week. Her lunch time was the earliest at the school and so it was just she and I at first. She was happy to see me and happy to have a Happy Meal. Normally the girls get milks with their Happy Meals but I was flustered when I ordered them due to being in a rush to get there and having had to deal with some unexpected construction delays on my way there so I forgot about that and when asked what kind of drinks I wanted I said "cokes". When Katie saw that she got a soda (something they are only very rarely allowed to have sips of) she said "Wow! I got a soda!I'm like the coolest kid here because I got a soda!" no joke. Ahhh to be seven again. Things were much simpler back then. I was glad that my mistake was at least a mistake that made her so happy. She continued to chat with me about the toy penguin game that came in the Happy Meal and we had a nice time playing the games on the bag of the Happy Meal. My older niece Sarah is 10 and her lunch break started while Katie was finishing up her lunch. So, for a brief moment they were both with me before Sarah ran off to play a bit before eating. Then Katie's lunch was over and she had to get back to class so she gave me a hug and a kiss and went back to class. A little bit later Sarah came back and started to eat but was a bit distracted looking for her friends. Eventually a couple of her friends came over and wanted her to come sit with them and their grandma who was also there for Lunch with Loved Ones Day. Sarah looked at me to answer and I knew that she wanted to be with her friends and so, I said "You can go be with your friends, it's okay. And with that she hugged me, thanked me for bringing the Happy Meal and then ran off with her friends. My feelings weren't hurt, I mean, she's 10 now and so of course her friends are important to her at that age. I didn't want to make her feel left out so, it wasn't a big deal, but it did remind me of how fast they're growing up.

After that I went to run some errands. One of them was getting dog food. While I was there I purchased some wet dog food and a treat for a shelter dog. It didn't cost very much (less than $2) and it will make some poor shelter dogs who normally survive on boring dry kibble and no treats, very happy.


Oh and for the record, I don't consider visiting with my nieces a good deed. Just the dog food part. :)

02-11-10 Winding Down the Week

This was a nice Thursday. I had a visit from Curtis after a meeting he had near my house. We took Frankie for a walk down to the Produce Market nearby for some produce. My house was severely lacking in produce this last week and I was jonesing for some. I'm a girl who really loves and needs her fruits and veggies. The place by my house calls itself "Farmers Market" but it's not really a farmers market cause it's more like a store, not individual farmers selling stuff. But still it's pretty much just fruits and vegetables and it's REALLY cheap. So then we came home and Curtis and I watched a bit of bad daytime tv before he had to get going to get ready to teach that night. After he left I squeezed in another longer walk with Frankie and my dad before heading to my "pick up rehearsal" for my show. A pick up rehearsal is a rehearsal that is had after a show opens to either refresh everyone on blocking and stuff like that or to add in replacement cast. In this case it was just make sure everyone is still doing the correct blocking and to go over lines since we only do our show on weekends. It was fun and easy and quick. Then I stopped by my brother and sis in law's house since I was nearby and that was pretty much my day. My photo is actually a photo of a photo that I took today while at the pick up rehearsal. If you look carefully you'll see the reflection of my camera in the photo hovering above us kind of creepily. :) They have photos from the show around the lobby area and this is one of the ones of me as my character Sheila. I heart Sheila. She's a lot of fun to play!

02-10-10

This day was a Wednesday. Today I did stuff that had to do with looking, applying for and interviewing for jobs. I probably did other stuff but I don't really remember now and that's a good thing because it means this day was at least mostly drama free. And after the past couple of weeks, that was a nice change of getting back to "normal". I did also take Frankie for a nice long walk. My photo is from that walk.

02-09-10 Getting Better

Well, today was a little better than Monday. I actually got through to the unemployment people. They are working on the problem. Might take 2 weeks before I see any results though. Sigh.

In the meantime, on this rainy day I had a 2nd job interview for a restaurant job. I think it went well. We'll see. Unfortunately they were running behind so my 3:45 interview didn't happen until 4:25 or so and I didn't get out of there until 4:45 which put me back on the freeway at rush hour in Southern California during a rain storm. That is to say, it put me into one of my own personal versions of hell. Almost an hour later (it took me 15 minutes to get there earlier in the day even in the rain) I arrived home starving and a bit cranky and tired. I haven't had to deal with traffic in a long time since being laid off and well, it was a shock to my system for sure. Man how I hate it. I had a snack and then I worked out.

My workout was one of my own little creations for at home workouts. I have many, many workout DVDs but sometimes I want to work out to my own music doing stuff I want to do. So, tonight's workout was me dancing around my room while also incorporating jumping rope, doing some other cardio and toning exercises that I got from various health and fitness magazines and then literally chasing my dog from room to room to give him some exercise on this "rainy no dogwalk day" too. It's fun and I can moderate the intensity on my own and I find it to be quite effective. Then I did some stretching. I hadn't stretched in a couple days and man... it felt so good.

After that I felt much better about my day overall and got ready for Curtis to pick me up to head over to "Lost" night at our friend Dean's house. He has a viewing party every Tuesday and some of his friends come over and make food and they eat and watch "Lost". Then they discuss it. This was my first attendance for the viewing party and I had a great time. We ate some healthy delicious tacos, shared some funny on line videos and then watched "Lost". Then we ate some cookies and talked. Dean and Curtis broke out some old junior high yearbooks and we all laughed about how atrocious hair and fashion styles were in the late 80s early 90s and then about how tiny both Dean and Curtis were back then. :)The photo of the day is of Curtis doing some yearbook show and tell to the group.

Never underestimate the healing powers of good friends and good food! :)

Also, I had not hung out with Dean or his roommate Angel in quite some time so, I am counting this as another meeting up with old friends. :) Yay for two birds with one fun stone!

02-08-10 On the phone

I spent 3 hours today trying to get through to unemployment. THREE HOURS. For some reason they don't just let you hold when there are a lot of calls. They just hang up on you. So you have to just continually call over and over and over and over and over....

Eventually I had to give up the quest to go meet up with an old friend from my acting class last year. Her name is Erica and she is a sweet girl who is moving to Brooklyn at the end of this month! Very exciting right? Well, I hadn't seen her since our class ended last March so, it was nice to see her. AND...She counts for meeting up with an old friend! Yay!

I didn't get a photo of us though. Drat! I totally forgot. I was a bit frazzled from my day of worries and being on the phone though, so, I think that's what happened.

Anyway, it was a nice way to spend some time. We got all caught up and talked about life, friends, and acting. :)

02-07-10 Who Dat?!

"Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? Who dat?!" is the chant of all New Orleanians when talking about or cheering for their football hometeam, The Saints. So, for those of you who may not know, my whole family is from New Orleans. I'm the only one in my immediate family not born there. Because of this, just about my whole family, both my immediate family here in California and my extended family in New Orleans and Mississippi are HUGE Saints fans. For years this has been a rather heartbreaking team to root for. But through all the bad years my family remained loyal. I even had a Saints nightshirt when I was little. My brothers had Saints t-shirts and hats as did my dad and uncles.

One year when I was 8 or 9 I think, the Saints had a pretty good season and so when we were there for our yearly Christmas vacation visit we were treated to a whole city with "Saints Superbowl Madness". They had even taken the Monkees' song "I'm a Believer" and remade it into a song about believing the Saints could get to the Super Bowl. Please remember that at this time the Superdome in New Orleans was still where all the Superbowls were held so having the Saints in a Superbowl would have been in their hometown on top of things! Oh the hopefulness. I think that by the time we got back to California the Saints had stopped winning and, unfortunately they did not get to the Super Bowl.

But in recent years they have been coming along and improving year by year. This year they started out strong and stayed undefeated for quite some time. Even though they did have a couple losses they still managed to get to the Super Bowl! This was the most exciting season for them that I can remember, but then again, I don't really follow football much anymore. Until this season. It was hard not to fall under the spell of the excitement that was created in my house by the Saints being undefeated for so long. So, I started to watch the games when I could. They were always pretty exciting and I was always really happy when they won! For those of you who don't know, I prefer to root for underdogs and well, the Saints are true underdogs and were due for a win like this! Even Curtis became a Saints fan after hearing my family go on and on about it for so long!



So, today I had a matinee for Jake's Women. The game started while I was at the theater but Curtis was watching the game at my brother's house with my family so he kept me updated via text. At first the Saints were losing. Not good.

But then I put on my Fleur de Lis (the Saint's logo and also the symbol of French Aristocracy that is all over New Orleans) hoodie and Curtis texted me that the Saints had gotten a field goal. Right before he left to pick me up at half time they scored another field goal. We got back to the house just as the 3rd quarter was starting and they quickly took the lead! It was a roller coaster for a bit after that including an interception by Porter of the Saints where he then ran the ball in for a touchdown taking the lead again! In the end the Saints really just dominated the second half and won 31-17! Very exciting game!

I'm very happy for the Saints. They totally deserved this win! And my family is over the moon happy. I'm really only sad that my Uncle Francis didn't live to see this game. He'd have loved it too. Stupid cancer. :(

All in all it's been a great weekend! My shows all went very well, I spent some time with Curtis and Frankie and my family and THE SAINTS WON THE SUPER BOWL! Doesn't get much better than that. :) Have a great week everyone!

02-06-10 FINALLY, I can breathe.

So, this day was a Saturday. On Thursday I had a major freak out. On Friday I had calmed down some and several of my friends had come to my aid to help out in anyway they could which was comforting and humbling. I have good friends. Oh yeah, Friday was also the opening night of my show "Jake's Women" at The Costa Mesa Playhouse. It went VERY well. The audience really seemed to enjoy it and Curtis came to see and he loved it! So, YAY! Whenever you're cast in a show you have no idea if it will be good or not. It's always nice to get validation that you are entertaining on that first night!

So, on this lovely Saturday I went to the bank to deposit money that was given to me as an early birthday present to help me out of my financial hole. I took Frankie with me because he likes car rides and dislikes being left at home when I go places so I take him with me whenever I am going somewhere that I can easily take him. And I was going to the ATM not the actual bank so it was fine. Well, the bank is right near the Santa Ana River which we had visited before when it was a dry riverbed. It had rained on Friday so I figured we could check it out with water in it.
Picture of the rain on Friday (in fact I've also added it to Friday's log because THIS is my photo of the day for Friday. I've decided that my good deeds will only be in the photo of the day if they are easily photographed):

Pictures of the river!







Frankie had a great time exploring a bit and I got some pics of the actual river as a river. Then we headed home.

It was a lovely, relaxing day after a very stressful week! It felt good to relax and just breathe. Then, that night was my "Gala Opening" for my show. It went well again and Curtis joined me and the cast after. We had some nice talks and it was a lovely day AND night all in all. :)

02-05-10 Donation Day

Today is a lovely rainy day. Very pretty in it's own way.

However, that's not what I will be talking about today. In the spirit of my "good deed month" I thought I would talk about two causes I support. My good deed today was my monthly donation to one of the causes. I make two donations each month. One goes to the ASPCA mostly because they called early last year and literally BEGGED me to donate each month despite the fact that I was newly unemployed and worried about my funds. I couldn't really turn the guy down so I pledged $10 a month. Besides I DO love animals and the ASPCA does a lot of good work out there. The other donation is to Tazzy Fund a Los Angeles based rescue group. But the donation isn't to them really, it's to help an elderly man in L.A. keep his dog Dakota. The money goes to make sure Dakota is up to date on shots, vet visits and gets enough food and daily walks because the man can not do all of this on his own but Dakota is his best friend and he didn't want to give him up. I was heartbroken at the thought of the man and dog being split up and the poor dog having to be re homed with a stranger so I couldn't help but to donate $10 a month for this cause. Also, it reminded me of my Uncle Francis who passed away 2 years ago. He was a wonderful man who helped a lot of people during the course of his life. Had he been on of the elderly man's neighbors I am certain that he would have volunteered to walk Dakota every day before and after work and would have driven them to the vet for check ups and when needed. It's just the way my Uncle was. And so, in the spirit of him, I could not ignore this elderly man's plight.

The man has sent out several messages of thanks to those of us that donate for him to keep Dakota. The most recent was a Christmas Card to us. I took a photo of that today too, because it reminds me why I do things like this even though I am beyond broke myself right now.


See, the donations are withdrawn automatically from my account. I may have mentioned some financial woes recently due to my unemployment running out. I might get an extension but in the meantime it has been weeks since my last check and well, until it's sorted I am literally out of money. Anyway, I was already in the red today when my payment to Tazzy Fund went through. Sigh. Another overdraft fee. I hate banks. But, I am not nearly as mad about this occurrence as I am the one from yesterday because this was for charity and even if I had remembered it was going through today I wouldn't have stopped the payment because I want to keep supporting the elderly man and Dakota in any way I can. The bond between dog lovers and their dogs is so strong. I can not imagine having to give up Frankie for any reason. He is family to me. I like him more than most people. He is often the only bright spot during these tough and difficult days.

I am hoping to be "Back in black" by the end of this month when the next payment goes through for the ASPCA because I am so proud of them for helping some military families keep their dogs even though they were unfairly supposed to be banned. You can read the article here. ASPCA
Yay ASPCA!