Little House - But a new one!

Jason and I get our little house this weekend, and we are SO excited about it! Send us good thoughts for our packing and moving! We have lots of stairs to negotiate!

There are two things about the house that we are especially excited about. 1) it's a HOUSE - there is no one attached to any of our walls or in an apartment above us. 2) Indy gets a backyard (and so does Erin - yay for gardening!)

In addition, it's in an AMAZING neighborhood in Redondo Beach, close to everything, but quiet. And it's a two bedroom house with a big kitchen (at least for a two bedroom!), so we'll have enough space to start our lives together without being choked out by stuff or furniture.

Here are some "before" photos that my sister and I went to take yesterday. I'll update with "after" photos when it's all organized and done!

View from the front - it doesn't have the same character and age as the 100 year old front house, but it's clean, well-maintained and has a very nice owner. :) (and a big lavender bush - which I love).

Kitchen - yes, the countertops are two different colors, but there are TONS of cabinets, room to put in an island of some sort, and I'm thinking Anthropologie-esque colored glass knobs on the cabinets. :)

Breakfast nook looking into the living room.

Living Room - it's big, which is amazing - with a built in for the TV and all of the things that go with it.

Bedroom - pretty standard, but the closet is HUGE!

Bathroom - I have an amazing shower curtain ready to go (yes... shower curtains can be amazing).

The side yard - my herb pots, bbq and a patio table - maybe some roses along the wall.

The yard around back - small, but with so much potential, and I'm going to plant some creeping plants to crawl up and hide the back wall!

Shooting a Spec!

Last week, I heard from the parent of one of my former students who is a Marketing Specialist. She was putting together a proposal for a certain project, and was shooting a spec commercial to go with the proposal. She was hoping I would do her a favor and be part of the project!

A favor?! It felt more like she was doing me a favor! Any chance to work on camera is a great one, and if all goes well, the spec will turn into a contract for her and airtime for me!

We shot it last night. The best part was that it was a well organized, speedy shoot in a beautiful location with a great group of people! That's a whole lot of pluses! I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Such a GREAT time! And just another reminder that I need to push through my distaste for the LA scene in pursuit of what I love to do.

So... happy July! Here comes August!

La-La-Land (OR the agent hunt begins again)

Acting is my great love - more than dance, more than singing, more than directing - not more than my fiancee Jason, but as far as what I want to do.... well, it's acting.

And I was born and raised in LA, so you figure... perfect!

WRONG.

I have a hatred of the "Hollywood Scene". You see, even though I was born and raised in LA, I was actually born and raised in the South Bay, which is SOOOO much more relaxed in vibe and lifestyle. You can meet a new person, have a conversation, and unlike in Hollywood, they're not trying to size you up for who you know or what you can do for their career. So, I choose to continue to live in the South Bay for my sanity and only drive up to La-La-Land whenever I absolutely HAVE too.

I must be a masochist.

I hate Hollywood, but I want to act. And since I've promised myself that this time I won't settle for mediocrity in an agent (been there, done that) and that I'm shooting for the stars, I've spent the last two Fridays up on Wilshire Blvd., interviewing and then being called back for a top commercial agent. While I waited in the building's hallway (only actual clients get to wait inside on the couches... oh Hollywood), I experienced again the desperate behavior of actors and actresses in this town. Some of them break my heart while others make me want to stab my eye out.

This was definitely a "stab my eye out" day, mostly thanks to one woman. You can always tell if someone is talented or not... it reeks off of them. This woman... I'm not sure how she even came to be there. She giggled every time someone came in and out of the office, she was so nervous she couldn't "practice her read" in the lobby, so she continually rode the elevators up and down. Maybe I shouldn't be so judgemental, but she was making me batty!

What it really reiterated to me was that I don't love the scene, but I love the craft, and thanks to the encouragement of Jason, am ready to really try for it again - irregardless of my distaste of the desperation I always encounter.

Maybe I can learn to be more patient. Certainly, I could use to at least ask others I've known and worked with for favors every once in awhile. After all, that's networking, right? But how to do it tastefully and with humility, not developing those characteristics that I so despise? Hmmm...

I'll get back to you on that.