things just got real

I just got accepted into my first principal database by a known local casting director. I am on cloud nine right now. I don’t know the significance of that saying but I know it’s supposed to be very awesome and I feel very awesome right now.

I auditioned for this office back and January and never got a call back. So I knew I sucked. That is actually why I decided to do the Improv and the Theatre classes. Guess it has finally paid off! Now if I could just book a gig…

I performed the monologue I studied in class at MET during the summer session. I even got real tears going! It felt good!

So now when (ahem – speaking) roles become available for ladies with my stats I will be emailed to go audition. I can’t wait!!!!

wild canoeing

C’s brother and wife invited us wild canoeing. I know that’s not actually a thing but it was canoeing in the wild, we would be canoeing all day and then set up camp on the river bank, then canoe again all the next day to get back down to our trucks. I was totally excited to do something so crazy, but C was like, uh — whaaaaat, that sounds like so much work. It took some persistence but I finally convinced C that we were going hard-core wild canoeing. He was absolutely certain that I wouldn’t make it but I assured him I could survive.

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I packed only the essentials since we would be loa   ding all our stuff on our canoe for the two day trip. I was actually really freaking out because I had never done this before and I was worried we were going to flip and all our gear would get soaked and we would be in the middle of nowhere, cold, wet and hungry. Or we would just get eaten by a bear. It could happen.

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We never flipped, it was awesome and I had so much fun. I did however have a hard time sleeping because I was terrified a bear was going to eat me. Luckily I am still here today to happily report we didn’t see any bears. Lots of fishing! –no bears, thank god.

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OBX Family Vaca

8/2014

I wait all year for this trip. 1 week in the Outer Banks. It’s amazing. No work, the sun, lots of shopping, never having to cook… I could get used to living like that. Too bad I’m not independently wealthy and have to work for a living.

Last time W was at the beach she was an infant so I was a little worried how this trip would be with a 16 month old running around. When O was around that age she wouldn’t touch the sand, which made it very easy to hang out on the beach since she confined herself to the beach towel. I doubted I would be so lucky again with Miss Independent pants (W). So I just planned on lots of baby pool time since it was fenced and I wouldn’t have to worry about the girls getting too far if they decided to run away.

w pool

pool O

We did end up venturing to the beach. I may have mentioned I have slight paranoia about certain things, like the ocean, so I brought a baby gate with me for peace of mind. As crazy as we looked it was so worth it. And several passer-byers came over to give us parent of the year awards.

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O loved the ocean, a little too much for my taste but what could I do. She did wear her life jacket.

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Counting down the days until next year!

reclaimed

Hand painted, then messed up re-sanded, and hand painted again. So it is essentially doubly reclaimed. If that is possible. Go figure.

Why is it that everything I see on Pinterest makes me think “pshhhhh, I can do that!” I must have an inflated sense of artistic ability. Plus my manic obsessiveness totally messes with me. I decided a few weeks ago I was going to repurpose furniture bought off Craigslist, then resell it and get loaded. Well, I have shined. I am a professional at purchasing from Craigslist and getting loaded, just not the right kind of loaded. I originally thought I was going to get rich, not drunk on wine and paint fumes.

But today is a milestone. I have finally completed my first piece and listed it on Craigslist and Ebay and, well that’s it. I couldn’t think of anywhere else to list it. But I have faith! It will sell! Hopefully. Here it is in all it’s original glory, or lack thereof… I didn’t even take a pic of it’s partner in crime. Here they are. Coffee and End table, let’s call them Bella and Edward. (I just watched Twilight)

coffe table orig

Oh, wait – look who it is back there, so shy.

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These little buggers gave me a fit. I sanded, stripped, stained and then painted a couple times. Then I distressed, stained some more, ooops stained too much. Had to sand back down, repaint and re distress, uggghhhh. But now they do look great, if I say so myself.

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Table 1

So now onto the next ones, I have quite the lineup of furniture too. Many of these I plan to keep. At least until something else sparks my interest.

Until next time.

Ensemble Theatre

I hate theatre, harsh I know. I thought it was cheesy and who in the duck can memorize an entire script anyway? But this is my year of trying new things and getting out of my comfort zone so I signed up for an adult acting class at the community theatre.

Class one was cool. There was about 7 people in the first class and I warmed up pretty fast. We did some emotional exercises and some warm ups but all together it set up a good feel for what was to come.

Class two on the other hand was a bit more surprising, about 12 people showed up. All races, ages and mixes. A real melting pot, which is cool. Class started like normal –a warm up to get our creative and emotional juices flowing, we had to circle around passing the emotion. Then came the weird stuff…

We were given a monologue directory at the end of the first class and were told to at least memorize the first sentence of a choice monologue. We then performed the first sentence of our monologue whilst thrusting different emotions from our hips. Imagine dry humping the air with your hips and hands, palms up. (I know my mom will eventually be reading this and probably seriously reconsider sending my kid brother there for any form of drama camp but it isn’t as bad as it sounds.) It actually, surprisingly made a lot of sense. We did a 10 count of thrusting – counting, then we made some weird noise while doing it, then we said our line. We did, happy, sad and angry. It made you try the line in different emotions and stop thinking about what you were saying and just go with it. It did make for an awkward conversation when I got home and C asked me what I did in class…

Just go with it. If I can dry hump my way through my monologue in front of a live audience, what else am I capable of?

improv 101

Improv 101 is over. What an amazing opportunity. I’m so glad that I bit the bullet and got out of my comfort zone and did something like that. While I find myself personally hilarious I would never suggest that I am by any means skillfully funny. Although from what I learned in class, and read on improv-haters blogs, improv is not supposed to be funny. Huh, who knew?! Anyway it’s totally helped me with off the cuff and public speaking work-wise so brownie points.

Leading up to my last class, or the “showcase’ was weird. The “what if’s” were in full force, “what if I say something disturbing”, “what if I go-up”, “what if I pee my pants”, “what if everyone thinks I suck balls”. Then all would be cool and I wouldn’t stress a bit. Then I would get back all in my own head and have all these crazy thoughts swirling around and little voices taunting me. I know, so freaking nuts. It’s an artistic brain or something, I read about artists being sensitive and weird all the time. But then our teacher sent us this guy Jimmy Carrane’s Blog called Improv Nerd.

It. Was. Life changing.

Not because he’s this great improver or hilarious, which he may very well be – but it was how he articulated pre show nerves and the range of emotions he would feel before and after a performance. He claims to have all kinds of emotional anxiety and maybe that’s why I related so much but it gave me the courage to get out of my own head and pretend to feel confident. And I did. And the show was awesome. And apparently I was always the mad, angry or yelling character, which maybe leads me to think maybe improv is my outlet for repressed emotional anger. That’s deep.

I love summer

It’s been so long since I’ve blogged. I often think about doing it but just haven’t had the time. It’ mostly because I love summer. The days are longer and there is so many more options to do stuff other than sit in front of a computer. And I have been doing so much recently. Here is a mini update on my kind of exciting life;

I finished my improv class. What a success!

I signed up for an acting on camera class. This has been a rollercoaster class, it’s on Saturdays and I’m alllllways late, arriving disheveled and stressed. But it’s great to practice on camera and I do get to see myself on the silver screen!

I also signed up for an acting class. Guess if I am going to continue to go on these auditions I should, oh I don’t know, learn the basics? I have taken a hiatus from submitting for auditions to work on this script analysis class. The first class was also a success! Woo-hoo me.

I have a recent and almost disturbing obsession with thinking about refurbishing furniture purchased from off craigslist. I have made 3 large furniture purchases from craigslist in the past two weeks and cannot stop myself from stalking the site every day for more.

I have moved on from the days spent on frivolous Target purchases to become a compulsive Amazon Prime shopper. They lured me in with the 30 day free trial and I am smitten. I love when I run out of something these days because I just hop on amazon and wham, bam, than you ma’am it’s delivered to my door step within 3 days. It’s so exciting seeing boxes on my door step awaiting my arrival home. What is it, what is it?! Oh, it’s the vacuum bags I ordered. Fun!

its tuesday

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Yay for Tuesday. So close to Friday, yet so far. This is a nice big holiday weekend coming up and we are going camping. I love camping, the girls love camping, and even C loves camping. We have a big group going too so there is sure to be endless entertainment of the cheap and disturbing kind. I feel so close to nature sleeping out in the woods and sitting next to a campfire for umpteen hours drinking beer. While our version of camping is probably slightly different than most because it involves a travel trailer complete with a flat screen tv, full shower, toilet, microwave, heating and A/C we do park it at a campground so it is technically called “camping”. We originally invested in a small Wolf Pack toy hauler which is a travel trailer you tow behind a truck. A toy hauler is where the backdoor comes down like a ramp and men can drive their “toys” up in it. We’ve carried small boats and golf carts but often people carry motorcycles and ATVs. Our Wolf Pack was such a delight we upgraded to a Fifth Wheel toy hauler. One of those big suckers that have to hook into the bed of the truck. That was the worst mistake ever. It was an amazing condo like trailer that could sleep like 27 people and got us about 9 miles to the gallon. That hurt driving up and down the coast to the beach. This year we did an even swap with that fifth wheel and got something midgrade in size. It is awesome. I can’t wait to enjoy copious amounts of adult beverages and too many s’mores. My agenda includes parking my butt in a lawn chair and watching my kids play with sticks and rocks for three days straight.

grumpy gills

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Nothing serious. Just that nagging feeling that starts building up one iota at a time… sat in traffic for two hours, binged on multiple bags of chips, haven’t worked out, haven’t lost any weight (duh, chips much…) haven’t gotten any call-backs, am dead zombie tired, all is lost, where is my life going, what is the meaning of existence… you know that kind of gloom. It’s even a gloomy day. And once you start feeling sorry for yourself every red light you catch, every stubbed toe, every damn overcooked meal feels like 100 additional pounds weighing down on your shoulders. Until you crack. Bring forth the waterworks. Heavy stuff, shoulder shaking, air gasping – reaching to the sky and screaming out kind. Think like the movies. But it’s so true, and once you start sobbing like a little baby it almost feels good. So you start thinking of all the awful horrible things that have happened to you and make yourself cry even harder. My personal favorite is to cry in the car, I like to turn on a miserable song – something by Sarah McLachlan and just reminisce about every bad thing that ever happened in my life. My BFF says she like to do it in the shower, just lean up against the wall and let the hot water beat you down in defeat and sob your little heart out. Ahhhh. I need that soon. I actually feel better already just talking about it.