With a Little Patience, 'Leaving Bliss' Has Arrived

My friend Shanna's hilarious webseries got reviewed by tubefilter! You should watch all the episodes so that you'll be caught up by the time I have a part in Episode 7...

With a Little Patience, 'Leaving Bliss' Has Arrived

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March 12 of 12

My March 12 of 12 is live in Decatur, GA, where I'm home for my grandmother's funeral. Good to be home and to see my family while we celebrate Mama Sue's long life.


1 of 12 - 9:30 am - Up and at 'em. View from the bedroom in my Mom's house.


2 of 12 - 10:00 am - Mom doing some morning emailing.


3 of 12 - 10:45 am - Brunch with my dad and sister at Sun In My Belly in Decatur. Got my grits fix!


4 of 12 - 12:00 pm - Time to wake up our brother.

5 of 12 - 2:45 pm - Shopping with mom and sis. Looking for funeral wear...found awesome tracksuit instead. That should work, right?


6 of 12 - 4:12 pm - Trying to cash in the change Mom's students brought in for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We think we broke the machine.


7 of 12 - 5:45 pm - Mama Sue was a looker in her day. I love looking at these old pictures.


8 of 12 - 7:30 pm - Peter, my brother, climbing a tree per usual on our walk before dinner. Loving daylight savings time right about now.


9 of 12 - 7:35 pm - Whoever preceded me in the Candler Park parking lot shared my sentiments.


10 of 12 - 8:07 pm - Artistry to accompany paella at La Fonda Cantina.


11 of 12 - 10:45 pm - Peter on the phone with his ladyfriend.


12 of 12 - 11:55 pm - A trip down memory lane before bed. Love that Mom has all these pictures out in the living room.

Effie Mae is looking for a date

Effie Mae, my alter ego, is lonely. She decided to do something about it.

Le sigh.

So I was waiting to post because I thought I was going to have some Really Exciting News. But the longer I wait, the less likely it seems that that specific Really Exciting News is going to pan out. Hence le sigh.

So I'll just talk about the good part. Monday night I had an awesome audition that turned into a callback for a theatre in Glendale. It was a blast. The material was fun, I was right for the part, and I nailed it. They had me read over and over and over again with different people and seemed impressed and were very complimentary. At the end of the night, they sent everyone home but me and another girl, and had us read another scene together. Then they sent her home and sat me down and talked to me about cutting my hair, what my work schedule is like, where I live, etc. I left at midnight and felt like they had basically said everything except "We'd like to offer you the part."

And that was Monday. Sigh. But! It's the nature of the biz! And I'm not completely giving up hope.

I've also started another venture, which I think could turn out to be really cool. It's a blog of free stuff in LA. Please check out BrokeLA. If you don't live here, it will let you know all the cool stuff you're missing.

I got a cute message from my mom and stepdad this week telling me I could come home because they're shooting a movie in my hometown of Decatur, GA. It's actually sort of tempting, because I'd probably have an easier time getting my last SAG voucher being an extra there than here. So maybe I'll go home for a much desired visit in pursuit of my SAG eligibility. And their awesome cooking.

Balls in the air

What up gees.

February is closing out. I'm not sorry about that. I'm ringing in March and Mardi Gras by drinking a lot and dancing to live music at my friendly neighborhood Southern bar. Can't wait.

I had five auditions last weekend, four of which I made it to, and two of which I felt good about. Haven't heard anything. Le sigh. Such is the life of the actor. I had another one today that went well, and she said she'd call me tomorrow. We shall see.

Just checking in. Don't really have much to say. Peace.

Day 4 of unnaturalness

I've refrained from blogging about the master cleanse/diet because I didn't want this to be a blog about the master cleanse/diet. Let's just say that my body has...er...produced things I didn't know were possible, I miss eating food, and I'm super excited about drinking fresh orange juice tomorrow morning to start the tapering off phase. Extenuating circumstances necessitate me eating on Sunday (those extenuating circumstances may or may not be the Oscars and the party we are hosting), so I'm starting to come off tomorrow. I set out to do five days, and I have done that. Not to say that I was steadfast - I almost broke Tuesday night, but was safe thanks to Xan asking "Do you really want to do that?" when I called him and asked if he wanted to go to Souplantation for dinner. (Have you been there? It's amazing. Soup and salad bar with awesome vegetarian soups and fresh bread and foccacia and desserts and A SOFT-SERVE MACHINE. Call me Southern, but I sure do love a good buffet. Especially when it has A SOFT-SERVE MACHINE.)

So that's the what about this thing that I'm doing. Oh...this is an acting blog you say? I'm supposed to be talking about that? Oh yeah. Well -

Last night I did another casting director workshop with a CD who saw me in the Cricket Feet Showcase. I really can't say if it went well or not, because I was so frustrated by other factors (the guy who runs these particular workshops is a buffoon, we started reeeeally late, and there was an odd number of folks so I didn't have a scene partner) that by the end of the night I really just wanted to be done and get home. But I liked her, she had good things to say, and I think I did alright. Nothing to write home about. But I really do need to figure out how to put aside frustrations and aggravations and distractions and still do my best every time. Until I learn how to do that, I'm just adding yet another obstacle for me to hurdle.

And, finally, I just wanted to share that I've really had New Orleans on my mind lately. This is the first year in two years that Xan and I aren't scheduled to go (yet! staying positive!), and it's where we got together, and I love it...if anyone wants to have a ridiculously good time, they should go to the French Quarter Festival April 17-19 and take us with you. We dance on command. What's more fun than that?

Cute dog ridiculousness

Yep. Xan and I went to the Haute Dog Bulldog Beauty Contest yesterday in Long Beach, and this was just some of the awesomeness. I have a borderline ridiculous love for pugs. I will own one, someday. (I found out about the contest by looking for pug rescue places, which I was thrilled to find out exist! In SoCal! I can get a pug and be socially responsible! Yay!)

Here's one more for your enjoyment, and then I'll stop. The rest are viewable at my Flickr page.



And I'm hiding this down here under the cute pictures of dogs because I'm a little ashamed and I'm not really sure why except for the fact that it makes me a hypocrite but here goes I'm admitting it - I'm doing the master cleanse/lemonade diet. It's day one. I'm doing okay, but I am a little hungry. Also there are strawberries and Sprinkles cupcakes in the kitchen. But I will stay strong. More on this later, I'm sure, when I'm so grumpy from hunger that I'll have to share it with you all.

My first 12 of 12!

So the "12 of 12" is a cool thing started by a guy named Chad Darnell that I heard about through Bonnie Gillespie...thought I'd try my hand. The idea is you take 12 pictures on the 12th of each month and post them...you know, for fun.


1 of 12 - 8:06 am: Commutage clusterfuckage. See the green light? And the truck blocking everything? Yep. That was within the first four blocks of our drive. But all was made good by boyfriend, coffee and the Dr. Horrible soundtrack. (Don't worry, I wasn't driving and taking pictures at the same time.)


2 of 12 - 8:40 am: Cubicle time. I was a little late today...only 8 hours and 50 minutes to go...sigh.


3 of 12 - 10:54 am: Looking at the headshots from my shoot with a friend last weekend...I hate the looking at a million variations of my face part.


4 of 12 - 11:08 am: Snack and Bonk. Love the book, but given the context, the snack is pretty amusing.


5 of 12 - 12:50 pm: Lunch. Veggie chili from Fresh & Easy with Ak-Mok crackers. Crackers not pictured. I'm sorry.


6 of 12 - 1:15 pm: Freedom! Sunshine! Artsy-ness!


7 of 12 - 1:47 pm: Call me immature, but this definitely made me look twice and then laugh. Hard.


8 of 12 - 3:15 pm: Walk to visit Marilyn. She resides in the cemetery behind my office building.


9 of 12 - 4:57 pm: Self portrait and view from the window that I don't sit anywhere near.


10 of 12 - 8:15ish pm: Myself and some other lovely folks in Bonnie's business of the business class - I'm stealing one of her 12 of 12 pics! Has a 12 of 12 crosspost ever been done before!? I'm an innovator! (Or thief!)


11 of 12 - 11:40 pm: I came home to find a wonderful Valentine's Day package from my momma - replete with cookies, a card, and a AAA Bail Bond Certificate. Seriously. My mom has a more exciting idea of my life than is realistic.


12 of 12 - 12:10 am: Bedtime with my two boys. Good night!

This is hard.

Waa waa waa. Acting is haaaard. There's so much to leaaaarn. It's pilot season and I'm not going ouuuut. Waaaaaa.

Whining is done. I just whined to prove that the title of the post isn't whining. Cause I'm not going to whine. I'm going to say something shocking:

It's pilot season in LA, and I'm glad I haven't been sent out.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?" you may say. "Whyyyy?" you may ask.

It's simple: I ain't ready.

I am in a fantastic audition technique class right now, and every week the value of it is re-affirmed because I make HUGE mistakes.

Last night, we worked on auditioning for co-stars, roles where the whole part consists of somewhere between two and ten lines. The first sides were from a sitcom. A situational comedy. A COMEDY. And in my first read, I was not funny. Neither were my classmates. The scene was a nurse talking to a guy who got beat up, and we all read it like we were auditioning for Grey's Anatomy. Our teacher, who is also a casting director, pointed out that no one in an audition situation is going to say "That was good, but can you do it again and be funny?" They're going to say "Thank you, Next!"

Last week, we spent the evening working on one-liners. I must admit that of all the things I have worked on in acting classes, nothing has made me hate myself and want to quit quite like one-liners. They're HARD. You have ONE LINE to nail it. And it's HARD.

Okay, sorry. That was close to whining. But I'm not, I promise.

I'm learning a lot. I'm glad of it. My ability to kick ass is getting stronger every week. But man it's hard to realize all the things you have to learn and all the mistakes you have been making. But that's what class is for. And I won't make those mistakes again.

That's why I'm glad I'm not going out right now for pilot season. Because I would probably do something stupid and shoot myself in the foot, or make some common green-actor new-to-LA mistake that would result in a very quick "Thank you, Next!"

So, Dear Agent, now that I know everything and have learned all the mistakes I was making, feel free to send me out for pilot season. K thanks.

Mondays need rainbows and unicorns

...so here you go. Glorious. Just click the button. Just do it. Then do it again.



That did nothing but make me smile and wonder where my old Lisa Frank sticker collection is.