18 hour day of OOF

Hey everyone!

So I didn't get a chance to blog at all yesterday, as my alarm clock went off at 4:45 AM (yep, you read that correctly) so I could take my bestest friend in the whole wide world (you can call her Alyssa) to LAX so she could catch a 7:30 international flight.

Ooof.

Then I headed straight to work, worked until 4, and headed out to Santa Monica to do a freelance gig until 7. Ate dinner in my car, came home, fell asleep on my bed from 9:30 to 10:30, woke up, did some chores around the house that I was supposed to do earlier, then dropped back into bed like a sack of potatoes.

And then lay awake. For over an hour. Ever have that -- your body is exhausted but your mind just won't shut up? I have that, oh, almost every night. And then when I do fall asleep I don't have very good dreams most of the time. I think it's anxiety, whether from past, present, or future events, playing itself out in my sleep. Either way -- do NOT appreciate.

Anyways, some thoughts, questions, and the best lemonade stand I've ever heard of for y'all before I sign off:

Either my brother also reads my blog or it was just plain serendipity, because my mom called and said that not only had my brother found the chair hammock I recently blogged about in her garage, but that he'd brought it over to my aunt's so I could pick it up. I'm thinking about hanging it on my balcony and lounging in it while reading and sipping lemonade.

Summer drinks. I love cool, refreshing, fruity drinks -- but I don't drink alcohol, so about 95% of these recipes I can't use and have no idea what to substitute instead of booze. Ideas, tips, or recipes, anyone? At any rate, enjoy the link -- it's 50 cool summer drinks, all of which look amazing.

Also: I love buying things intended for the kitchen and using them someplace else. I have a pots and pans rack from IKEA mounted above my bed that holds all my necklaces and pretty picture frames and cards I get in the mail, and I just found these at Sur La Table and instead of using them to identify summer drinks, I will be labeling each one in chalk (I'm thinking DREAM, LOVE, and BREATHE) and hanging them on a wall somewhere. I'll share pictures, I promise.

Finally, as I'm noticing an accidental lemonade theme here for my blog post (when life throws lemons at you for 18 hours straight, make alcoholic lemonade while buying things at Ikea?) so I leave you with this amazing virtual lemonade stand -- it's the cutest idea in the world from a kid whose heart is in the most amazing place.

Happy Tuesday, guys!



photo credit: I got it here

imagine all that is shining and new

It's the end of what's been a long, frustrating week for me, not without its good moments, but certainly a few bad moments as well. Today I had another setback and felt, well, a little defeated, to be honest. Feeling discouraged and a little beaten by life, I did what I usually do when things aren't going well -- I go someplace else, in my mind. The change of "scenery" always gives me new perspective, and I remember how transitional life is, slipping from one moment to the next like a cloud changing shape, and nothing is forever except love.

I close my eyes. I breathe. I open them. I am in Laguna Beach, with my mom, sitting on the warm grass in the Friday sunshine, watching the aqua blue waves crash against the shore, the volleyball players, the little kids swing on the swings. We eat mozzarella and tomato sandwiches and ice cream cones and I listen to her tell me stories about when she moved to Boston by herself without knowing anyone, or how she once got to interview the prime minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, before he was assassinated.

My toes are warmed by the sand and I can practically feel my shoulders freckling, and there are jokes and stories told and a lot of them are about all the cats we've owned, and we give each other advice and make references to how we still think The Gilmore Girls totally borrowed from our lives, and when my mom gets home she will play Jeopardy! over the phone with me because there was a Shakespeare category again and she loves how I know 95% of the answers to all the Shakespeare category questions. And when I get home I will dust the sand off my flip flops and put some aloe on my shoulders and go to bed, dreaming of summer days of warmth and love, and I will know that yes, this too shall pass. It always does.

Have patience with everything unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them.

And the point is to live everything.

Live the questions now. Perhaps then, some day far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it,

live your way into the answer.

- Rainer Maria Rilke

Also:

My push-up count is now 40.

Hells yeah!

happiness is a warm list

I'm recovering from the bummer that was yesterday with a list of things that are making me happy right now. It's cheaper than drowning my sorrows in a swimming pool of Rocky Road. (Also, easier on the thighs.)

I am really craving owning a hammock again (I owned a small chair hammock at one point, and it might still be in my mom's garage), and this one looks super-comfy.

Lately I've been putting fresh sliced strawberries in all the lemonade I've been drinking. I've been getting them at the farmer's market, but Trader Joe's has organic ones on sale for $2.99/1 lb container. Awesome! Also, they are now selling sweet potato fries, so maybe I can learn how to cook them for my very self. And then dump a large amount of bleu cheese dressing on them.

I found the EASIEST recipe on the planet for chocolate croissants. I served them up for guests at dinner the other night, with sliced fresh strawberries on top (noticing a theme? I'm obsessed) and they came out AMAZING. Ready for the recipe?

Grab chilled Pillsbury crescent rolls from fridge/supermarket
Unroll into triangles on cookie sheet
Place about 10 chips of semi-sweet chocolate chips on the larger end of triangle (usually makes two rows of chocolate chips)
Follow instructions on crescent roll package for which temperature to bake at
Bake about 9 minutes, until crescents are golden brown and chocolate is oozing out just a bit
Eat. Then celebrate how awesome you are.

Totally easy, right? One of my favorite things to munch on in Paris was the chocolate croissants -- and they weren't all dry and flaky like the ones in the U.S., just doughy with just a bit of crust to them. These are a fairly good substitute until I can get my butt back to France.

I just got this book and I am so excited to read it, you have no idea. Jane Austen + Zombies = loveliness.

I also just got the first half of the last season (got all that?) of my favorite TV show, Battlestar Galactica (what? I'm a nerd and I'm okay with that) and I Can't.Wait. for season 4.5 (the second half of the last season) to come out on DVD on July 28th. FRAK! Why do I have to wait so long?!

And finally, I am celebrating the fact that my very first post over at Examiner.com is up! It's not the most fascinating post I'll do on an actor's life in LA, but give it a read and lemme know what you think! (Oh, and try to be nice in the comments section, although I know all of you guys already are. My blogging partners-in-crime have been encountering some swirling negativity out there in the comments section these last few weeks, and we in the blogging community are wondering if it's the weather or a sugar-low.)

Have a perfectly lovely rest of your Thursday, people!

fun with coping mechanisms

This morning, I got a speeding ticket.

For going 61 mph in a 55 mph zone, while accelerating up a hill.

I asked the cop for a break, to which he replied, "We don't give breaks, because people have died on this street."

Which I understand, and respect, and I would never snark or be sarcastic about the dangers of driving recklessly. But I'm not quite sure that if I (or someone else) could have died going 61 mph, I, or someone else, would not have died going 55 mph.

It's just...if you've met me, or driven with me, I rarely speed. I've never received a speeding ticket before (probably because I don't speed. I'm the rare person who doesn't have to brake on the freeway when a cop comes up behind me, because I'm actually doing the speed limit.) I obey all traffic laws, I'm an incredibly safe driver, and when good drivers get tickets it makes them less supportive of obeying the laws in the first place, especially as I endure, on a daily basis, people tailgating me, cutting me off, and racing up and down that very same street at 80 mph, with no cops around.

I got home tonight, did two loads of dishes, scrubbed the oven and the kitchen floor, cleaned out the fridge, took out the recycling, and then re-organized the entire two cupboards of pots, pans, lids, and Tupperware. My coping mechanism is to clean, which I suppose is healthier than World Of Warcraft.

I feel better about my day. I'm still pissed about my ticket.

breaking news

For those of us in the entertainment industry of LA, not even necessarily SAG, this is good news. Read it and opine what you will, but to have acting jobs again is a very good thing, regardless of what you (or I) think of the negotiated deal.

Word.



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Screen Actors Guild Members Overwhelmingly Ratify TV/Theatrical Agreements

Los Angeles, (June 9, 2009) – Screen Actors Guild announced today that members have voted overwhelmingly to approve its TV/Theatrical contracts by a vote of 78 percent to 22 percent.

The two-year successor agreement covers film and digital television programs, motion pictures and new media productions. The pact becomes effective at 12:01 a.m. June 10, 2009 and expires June 30, 2011.

The contracts provide more than $105 million in wages, increased pension contributions, and other gains and establishes a template for SAG coverage of new media formats.

Approximately 110,000 SAG members received ballots of which 35.26 percent returned them – a return that is above average compared with typical referenda on Screen Actors Guild contracts. Integrity Voting Systems of Everett, WA, provided election services and tonight certified the final vote tally upon completion of the tabulation.

The vote count in the Hollywood Division was 70.70 percent to 29.30 percent in favor. In the New York Division, the vote count was 85.74 percent to 14.26 percent in favor. And in the Regional Branch Division, the vote count was 89.06 percent to 10.94 percent in favor.

Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg said, "The membership has spoken and has decided to work under the terms of this contract that many of us, who have been involved in these negotiations from the beginning, believe to be devastatingly unsatisfactory. Tomorrow morning I will be contacting the elected leadership of the other talent unions with the hope of beginning a series of pre-negotiation summit meetings in preparation for 2011. I call upon all SAG members to begin to ready themselves for the battle ahead,” Rosenberg added.

Screen Actors Guild Interim National Executive Director David White said, “This decisive vote gets our members back to work with immediate pay raises and puts SAG in a strong position for the future. Preparation for the next round of negotiations begins now. Our members can expect more positive changes in the coming months as we organize new work opportunities, repair and reinvigorate our relationships with our sister unions and industry partners, and continue to improve the Guild’s operations.”

Screen Actors Guild Chief Negotiator John McGuire said, "I want to thank the SAG members and staff who dedicated their time to the negotiations process. We emerged with a solid deal that the members have now voted up. The negotiating team worked tirelessly, building on the work of the first negotiating committee, to deliver these improvements to members.”

Screen Actors Guild began talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on April 15, 2008. Guild Chief Negotiator John McGuire, Interim National Executive Director David White, and Deputy National Executive Director for Contracts Ray Rodriguez, working with a 10-person negotiating task force comprised of Screen Actors Guild board members and officers representing the three divisions, reached the tentative agreement on April 16, 2009 after 12 months of periodic negotiations with the motion picture studios and television networks.