Category Archives: Celebrations

Oscar Prep (or A Hollywood Adventure)

Posted on February 25, 2013 | Comments Off on Oscar Prep (or A Hollywood Adventure)

This past Friday, I was done with work at 1pm, so my friend Kate and I decided to take a bit of an adventure and go to Hollywood and Highland to see all the prep work being done for the Oscars.

There were a ton of streets closed in the area, so we tried taking the Expo Line (light rail) to the Red Line (subway) to get there.

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On the map, we went from one end of the light blue line to connect to the red line and got off at the Hollywood/Highland stop.

The light rail wasn’t bad. I had taken it once before with my dad. But I had never taken the subway in LA before. It wasn’t bad, but it was really crowded. On the ride out, Kate and I both ended up standing (it was like a core workout when the subway stopped and started). But it took 50 minutes to get from my place to Hollywood, which isn’t too bad.

Once we got off the subway, we checked out the prep going on on Hollywood Blvd.

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It was pretty crazy. And while we were walking down the street, we ran into my friend Daniel (who works for a show that tapes right where the Oscar prep was going on), and he told us to go into the lobby of the Dolby Theater. You were able to walk on the red carpet (while it was cover by plastic).

So we headed straight over there, and I have to admit, it was pretty awesome!

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(the last picture shows the red carpet under the layers of plastic)

Kate and I were people watching for a while. There were a couple of categories of people. Those who were regular tourists, those who wanted to see where the Oscars were happening, those who were working for the event and were just trying to get stuff done, those who just wanted to shop at the Hollywood and Highland center, and then the oddballs (included 3 Spidermen and a woman dressed as an astronaut with a white wig).

After checking things out for a bit, we headed back down to the subway (the station was pretty cool looking), and headed home.

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Seeing everything in person really made me even more excited to watch the show this year! And being in that environment had such an exciting energy that it made me smile for a couple of days.

Tomorrow’s post will be my recap of the award show (and showing off my costume from my friend’s party!).

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Having Something To Celebrate (or Another Bodega Happy Hour)

Posted on February 21, 2013 | Comments Off on Having Something To Celebrate (or Another Bodega Happy Hour)

Yesterday, my friend Rayshell and I had a happy hour hangout. We hadn’t seen each other in forever (I’m pretty sure the last time was at her New Year’s party). And since it was my early day at work, a happy hour adventure fit in perfectly with our schedules.

We met at Bodega, which is right down the street from my work and one of my favorite happy hour spots.

And it worked out perfectly to meet up today, because I had something to celebrate.

After all the craziness at my work with not shutting down like we thought we would, it was finally decided that we were going to have a temporary shut down in March. So as of right now (and this will probably change 100 times), next Thursday is my last day at my current day job until possibly sometime in April.

I’m so beyond excited for this! I will be filing for unemployment benefits so I will have a little money to get me through this time, and I’m hoping to get some substitute teaching jobs next month as well.

So after I told Rayshell my fun news, we got down to ordering some great happy hour foods!

We had the bruschetta (which is one of my favorite things at Bodega).

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And we also split the grilled cheese and bbq sliders based on the recommendation of our server, Wade. He was totally right on the recommendations (and decided to be in this picture of our food).

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Overall, it was another wonderful happy hour adventure with a wonderful friend.

Now I get to spend the next week preparing for my unemployment. This includes getting my paperwork filed for my benefits, trying to see if there are any substitute teaching jobs at my old job for me, and cleaning out my desk at work (I am a post-it fiend and need to start tossing some out).

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The SAG Awards (or I Am An Actor)

Posted on January 28, 2013 | 1 comment

We are in the middle of awards season. The Golden Globes already happened and the Academy Awards are coming up.

And in the middle are the SAG Awards.

As I’ve mentioned before, this is my first year getting to vote since I only joined the union prior to the merger last year. I loved getting to have the opportunity to see pretty much all the nominated films (I still haven’t finished all my iTunes rentals and have about a week left to try to see them).

It was very exciting to see the winners, and I was very happy when the people/projects I voted for won. Also, my friend Woody was one of the producers this year and I got to see his name in the credits at the end.

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Besides enjoying watching the winners and all the fun fashion (I’m looking forward to “Fashion Police” tonight), my favorite part of the SAG Awards is at the very beginning.

A couple of actors are chosen to share their story a bit. Some of them are silly and a bit made up, but others are serious. I loved how Hal Holbrook shared that he took a drama class because there was no homework.

What was really nice this year is that during the acceptance speeches, several actors talked about how they got into the union.

Jennifer Lawrence said how she got in after doing a commercial for MTV’s “My Super Sweet Sixteen”. Ben Affleck mentioned that he got his card in 1986 (I learned at one of the screenings I went to that he got it doing an afterschool special).

It’s always nice to be reminded that the Jennifer Lawrence’s and Ben Affleck’s of the world started somewhere.

It reminds me of a quote I once saw on Pinterest: Don’t compare your page 1 to someone else’s page 20.

This is great advice for all parts of my life! I might only be on page 1 now, but I’m excited to turn the pages of my life and make it to page 20!

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Awards Season (or I Have No Idea How I Can Watch All The Movies)

Posted on January 14, 2013 | 2 comments

This is my first awards season as a SAG-AFTRA actor. This means I get to vote for the SAG Awards this year.

And since I get to vote, I have to see all the movies in order to make an educated vote. SAG-AFTRA actors are invited to screenings (like I went to for “Lincoln”), get free iTunes movie rentals, have free movies passes, and my favorite is getting DVD screeners.

This year, I got these three movies as DVDs:IMG_1257 IMG_1262 IMG_1249

Since I had seen “Les Miserables” in theaters, I don’t have to watch it again, but I definitely want to. I watched my “Silver Linings Playbook” DVD when I was babysitting over the weekend. And I went to a SAG Foundation screening of “Argo” on Sunday morning which had a Q&A with Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin, and Bryan Cranston before the screening.

But I still have a bunch of other movies to watch, mainly my iTunes rentals. I have at least 5 that I feel I need to watch in order to be able to vote fairly.

But with only 1 day off a week (which is now Monday, but that’s a blog post for another day), I don’t know when I’ll have time to watch them. I’m planning on trying to watch at least 2 movies tomorrow.

I know that this is a total first world problem and I sound like a spoiled kid (too many free movies to watch, poor me), but it just bring back my issues with creating a work/life balance.

It is a reminder to me that I need to figure out a new way to get through this time in my life where my work is not my career yet.

But when I was watching the Golden Globes last night, I was reminded that it can be possible to make acting my work and career. I need to stick it out and not give up yet.

Who knows, this struggling time could be the perfect thing to say in my award acceptance speech one day?

😉

 

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Ringing In The New Year (or Starting 2013 On A Great Note)

Posted on January 2, 2013 | 1 comment

I’m not a huge fan of going out for New Years Eve. You spend way to much for the cover at a bar, drinks are extremely expensive, and it’s horribly crowded. But it’s not fun staying at home alone either.

So in November, I was out to lunch with my friend Rayshell and she decided to throw a party for New Years Eve! Yay!

I had a great time celebrating with everyone. Most of the people there were either single or their significant other wasn’t able to be there, so I didn’t feel like the only single person in the room.

The evening started off fun and we all picked out our hats.

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Rayshell’s boyfriend is from Australia, and he’s back there spending time with his family, so Rayshell sent him this picture to let him know what he was missing out on.

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The party had a ton of great people and great food. But I was pretty good for the evening. I mainly had veggies (without the dip). Over the course of 7 hours at the party, I had 3 drinks and then the rest was water. And the only splurges that I really had was this spinach pastry thing I ate after midnight to get something in my stomach so I wasn’t hungry when I drove home and a taste of the red velvet cake that was brought (I only ate a little of it, the frosting was too sweet).

I’m glad that I was able to stay away from the chips and dips and all the other tempting goodies. I drank a bit more than I planned, but I also drank way more water than expected too. So I think it balances out.

I love how I started 2013 surrounded by friends, both new and old, and having a ton of fun. I hope that this is a sign of what is to come this year!

And thank you so much Rayshell for throwing an awesome party! I had the best time!

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My 2013 Goals (or I’m Not Calling Them Resolutions This Time)

Posted on January 1, 2013 | 4 comments

Welcome 2013!

I’m excited to see what I can get done this year! In the past, I’ve always made resolutions, but for this year, I’ve decided to call them goals. Somehow they don’t seem as scary that way.

Here are my goals for 2013:

Continue on my weight loss journey. I didn’t lose as much in 2012 as I would have liked, but I did lose. And I’ve got my brother’s wedding in September and you know that those pictures are going to be around forever. I want to look back and not be embarrassed.

Continue paying down my credit card debt. Again, I didn’t do as much as I would have liked in 2012, but I’m working on it. I may not reach my goal of being debt free by my 30th birthday, but that’s ok.

Do at least 5 5Ks. I do enjoy walking various 5K events. In 2012, I did 3. This year, I’d like to see if I can do 5. I have my first one planned for February (unless I decide to do another one sooner).

Do my first 10K. There’s going to be one at Disneyland 6 days before I leave for my brother’s wedding. Unfortunately, due to that timing, my parents won’t be able to come and see me do that, so I’m looking at maybe finding one another time so they can come see me accomplish this.

Find alternative income. I love my day job, and I don’t plan on leaving it anytime soon. But I also need to find a way to make more money to help me work on my debt. And if I can find a way to support myself without having to go to a job 6 days a week, that would be great for my future.

Take an improv class that counts. I’ve taken improv classes in the past. I did a few years at LA Connection Comedy and also studied weekly with Kip King for almost 8 years. But in the commercial world, they want you to have classes from one of the main schools. So I’m looking at maybe taking classes at UCB this year so I’ll have that competitive edge on my acting resume.

Keep blogging. I think this one is pretty self-explanatory.

Any of you have some goals for this year that you are really excited about?

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2012 In Review (or Looking Back Is Fun!)

Posted on December 31, 2012 | Comments Off on 2012 In Review (or Looking Back Is Fun!)

I can’t believe that this year is over! It seems like as I get older, the years go so much faster.

So as I prepare to have an awesome 2013, I’m looking back at some of my favorite memories of the past year (and some of the blog posts about those memories).

Favorite acting moment: joining the union. I had been SAG-eligible for a couple of years, but I had been putting off joining because then I couldn’t book non-union work anymore. When the union merger looked like it would happen, I finally joined (mainly to save a lot of money). I’m so glad that I did it and I don’t even miss the non-union bookings I used to get.

Favorite class(es): I took 2 different but both amazing acting classes this year. I took Marci Liroff’s Audition Class and Porter Kelly’s Commercial Class. They were both amazing in their own ways so I have to mention them both. I learned so much and feel like I’m going into 2013 as a much more prepared actor.

Biggest Laugh of 2012: the giant wine pours at Aria V. My friend Kate and I couldn’t believe the size of the “tastings”. And I might have had the biggest laugh of my life when I realized in the car ride home that they never asked for our Living Social deal and didn’t charge us for a thing!

Best (Almost) Additions To My Family: Technically, neither of these people are in my family yet, but I found out in 2012 that I’m going to be gaining a sister-in-law plus my cousin will be having another baby! I’m so excited! I will officially have a sister-in-law in September and my cousin’s baby should be here at the end of the spring, beginning of the summer.

Best Day Job Moment: when I got my current day job and was finally able to leave my old day job. At my old day job, I wasn’t treated so nicely. I was penalized for doing well at my job. I had personal items stolen from there, and was laughed at when I wanted them back. But in May, I was finally able to get out of there, and I’ve never looked back!

Best Social Events: There were a lot of fun events that I went to in 2012, but the ones that I seem to always tell stories from are my girls night out adventure to The Magic Castle and my friends Marie and Chris getting married. All the events I’m going to in 2013 have a lot to live up to!

Best Overall Moment of 2012: starting this blog! My friend Heather had encouraged me a while back to start a blog, and I never seemed to know when to start it or what to write about. But I did start it and now I can’t imagine not writing here! I’m hoping to be improving the blog next year (self hosting so I can add some more fun stuff is at the top of my list). If I’ve been able to get this far in half a year, I can’t wait to see what another year brings!

And on an unrelated note, if you are going out tonight to celebrate, please don’t drive drunk. It’s a stupid risk to take with your own life (and the lives of others on the road). I was in a drunk driving accident when I was 6, and even though I wasn’t injured, I still think about why the woman who hit us decided to drive drunk. If you do drink and feel even a bit unsafe driving, call AAA for a Tipsy Tow. It’s free to everyone (even non-AAA) members and they will take you and your car up to 7 miles home.

Have a wonderful New Years and I’m excited to have you all continue this journey with me!

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(My favorite pictures of my from 2012)

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Christmas Hangout With My Birthday Twin (or Witnessing A Real-Life Romantic Comedy)

Posted on December 26, 2012 | 1 comment

Right before Christmas, my birthday twin Joanna and I had a hangout. We hadn’t seen each other in a while and knew that we had to fix that. We didn’t exactly know what we were going to do, but we knew that we’d hangout on the 23rd.

On the 23rd, we decided that we were going to have dessert and drinks at the Cheesecake Factory at The Grove shopping center.

It wasn’t too bad parking there (which surprised me), and while it took us a while to get a seat at the bar, we are awesome table stalkers. While we were waiting for a spot at the bar or a table to open up, this random girl came up to us. She had a pager for a seat in the restaurant, but since she found a seat in the bar section, she was gifting us the pager. She said that someone had gifted it to her, and if we happened to get a bar spot first to share the love. That was awesome! We ended up finding two seats and the end of the bar before the pager went off, so we passed it on to another group waiting (the original reservation was under the name Adam, so whoever Adam is, thank you for sharing the holiday giving spirit with us all).

As soon as Joanna and I sat down, we got our drinks.

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I had a Dirty Shirley and Joanna had some sort of tropical martini which was yummy! And yes, I know that I have almost the same pose with my drink as I do in my other post.

We both ordered cheesecake. Joanna had chocolate coconut and I had red velvet. Red velvet was clearly the winner.

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After enjoying our desserts and chatting for a long time (we both have brothers who are getting married and are planning on having destination weddings), we decided to walk around and enjoy all the pretty holiday lights.

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We were taking funny pictures in front of the giant tree…

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When Joanna got a text from the guy she had just started seeing saying something like: “Have you ever been to The Grove? The lights are cool.”.

All of the sudden we both started looking around for the guy (I don’t know why I was, I had never met him). We didn’t know if he was at The Grove and had just spotted us and was trying to be cute or if it was a random question. Joanna tried calling him, but there was no answer. We walked around looking for him, hoping for another text. It was seriously like a romantic comedy.

Finally, the guy texted and we met him for a moment at the Veggie Grill. And I felt like I had just seen the happy ending in the real life movie.

Between the yummy food, being gifted the pager and then passing it on, and then randomly running into Joanna’s new guy; it was the perfect amount of pre-Christmas magic!

 

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Merry Christmas! (or Happy Movies and Chinese Food Day!)

Posted on December 25, 2012 | Comments Off on Merry Christmas! (or Happy Movies and Chinese Food Day!)

Just a quick post to say that I hope you are spending today with those you love and doing whatever happens to be your tradition.

I’m not spending time with my family today, but that’s the norm for me. My brother is with his fiancé, my parents are driving home from Tahoe, and I’ll be hanging out with friends.

I’m planning on having a day filled with going to movies (including a free screening of “Lincoln”) and ordering Chinese food from my favorite place. That’s exactly how I want to spend my day!

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It’s The Most Social Time Of The Year (or I Wish There Were Two Of Me)

Posted on December 5, 2012 | Comments Off on It’s The Most Social Time Of The Year (or I Wish There Were Two Of Me)

I love how many events there are to go to this time of year. I’m learning to not say yes to all of them, but there are still plenty I want to attend.

There are the usual holiday parties, happy hours, and New Years Eve parties. But this year, it’s the first year I’m a member of SAG-AFTRA (an actor’s union in case you didn’t know) and there are a ton of screenings that I’m invited to for movies that are coming out now.

I wish I could go to them all. This week, there are 4 screenings that I wish I could go to. But since I work late 3 nights a week, I can’t go. This is the end of the season for my job, so I really can’t ask for any time off. If I get an audition or something, I know that my boss will let me go, but I don’t think asking to attend a screening is very appropriate.

I’m trying to pick out screenings to go to on Wednesdays (the one day a week I work “normal” business hours), but either there aren’t any on that day or they are for a film that I don’t care to see.

Fortunately, I will have some days off around Christmas and New Years so I can attend events then. One of the girls in my Girls Night Out group is throwing a New Years Eve party that I’m going to go to. And I’m not totally sure what I am doing for Christmas, but the “traditional” Jewish thing to do is to go to a movie and then have Chinese food. I’ll probably do that, I just don’t know if anyone else will be joining me.

In the meantime, I have to be careful with my time. I can fit a couple of events in between my work shifts, but I also need to remember to take time out for myself and time to sleep. For example, next Sunday I have acting class until 10pm. Then there is a LA Actors Tweetup that I want to at least make an appearance at. But then the next morning, I am babysitting at 9am until my work shift starts and then I’ll be at work until 8:30pm.

That’s a whirlwind couple of days!

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