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.

All Wrapped Up

We closed ALL SHOOK UP last Sunday. It ended up being the most incredible piece of youth theatre I have ever worked on or seen (and that's really not my bias - it was a constant rave from those who saw it). It was a great production, and a testament to the hard working staff and cast who were part of it!

Those that love the theatre know that every once in a while you are privileged to be part of a production that isn't just fun or great, but is genuinely special and (dare I say it) MAGICAL. That's what ALL SHOOK UP was... I had a gut feeling when we chose ALL SHOOK UP that it was THE show. That we needed to do this one, RIGHT NOW. I specifically remember that conversation with my producer and dear friend Nancy. Being a girl who likes to roll with the punches, can adapt to almost any situation, and is TOO good at seeing things through others eyes (or walking a mile in their shoes), I rarely make decisions with the conviction that "it's my way or the highway". This time, though, I just knew it in my gut. And my gut was absolutely right - it was the right show for the right cast at the right time. When that happens, it really is a special kind of magic, and I'm so grateful to have been a part of that magic another time.

That's not to say that this production was without its own set of troubles, though. From the beginning, we were always playing catch up because the show was just so MASSIVE, and the cast had an unreal amount of scheduling conflicts. Then, there were the insane demands that we placed on the shoulders of not only teenagers, but KIDS. Add to that the reality that when you put 45 kids and teens in confined spaces for days upon days in a row (kids and teens who have a flair for the dramatic) that drama inevitably ensues. Boy did it ever! And still, STILL, after one very difficult tech week, we were able to open the show with the magic that I knew in my gut was there. I was enthralled with this show that I knew so well by then, and so grateful for this light at the end of what had become a very dark and difficult tunnel.

In the midst of all of the struggle, drama and magic, we also had to say goodbye to some students that have grown up in our programs and are just too old to stay in them anymore, and to a choreographer, Tiffany, who has become my left hand, and without whom I will struggle to go on when the time finally comes for another production.

So that was my weekend June 11-13. It is now nine days later and I am STILL exhausted. Proud, relieved that we made it, and totally creatively and emotionally wiped out.

Thank you to those of you who were part of or who made it out to this truly incredible production. Seriously. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Wild West Roundup - Monument Valley, Arches and Canyonlands

Last leg of our trip. It was a wonderful time for us to have some quality alone time as a couple without all of the distractions of each of our lives.

Monument Valley, Utah.

Arches National Park - this place was a ZOO. We had to hike to Delicate Arch early in the morning just to make sure we got there without the massive crowds. It was worth the hike though - it really is so massive and gorgeous!

I'm not sure what's with the Mr. Cool Guy routine - I think Jason was just tired of the incessant sniping with the camera. :)

Canyonlands National Park - it was so beautiful, and I hadn't expected to be wowed. It was just so vast and massive. It seems like it goes on forever!!!!

Wild West Roundup - Bryce, Powell, Antelope and Grand Canyon

Part Two of our Wild West Roundup - leaving Zion we spent the day in Bryce Canyon, hiking the rim and then down into the canyon and back out. Gorgeous!

It was just incredible - check out the reds and oranges on the hoodoos (that's what they're called!).... WOW!

Thor's Hammer at Bryce Canyon.

Cottonwood Creek - 40 miles of off-roading from Bryce to Powell. This was one of our favorite parts of the journey.

Antelope Canyon on the Navajo reservation just outside of Page, AZ. If you've never been, you MUST go someday. It's stunning!

Jason doing his thing in Antelope Canyon. He was shooting 30 second and one minute exposures in there!

Lake Powell. :) 20-30 mph winds the whole time we were there.

We were so sick of the winds at Powell that one day we took off and made the two hour drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I'd never been to the North Side. SOOOOO different!

This little piece juts out into the canyon - it's so windy and the ground is so uneven and unstable that it actually has to have a guard rail around it!

Wild West Roundup - Zion National Park

Jason and I were able to get away for nine days at the end of May - it couldn't have come at a better time for either of us, and we had an amazing time. Here are some of my photos from Zion and the area around it. It was my first visit to the park, and I just loved it!

I just thought this was hilarious... Poor Jason - I spent the whole trip sniping him while he was busy shooting... By the by - he took some incredible shots on the trip. He's already printed a few from Zion in the snow (yes it snowed)... amazing. He does not generally shoot places like the Wild Ass Saloon. :)

jasonspeerphoto.com

On the Northwest side of Zion, away from the crowds.

Sniping Jason... He hates being in photos.

At the end of the Angels Landing trail...or just before the beginning depending on how you look at it.

Up in the mud above Kolob Reservoir at about 8500 feet.