Category Archives: Fun Stuff

Escaping My House For A Bit (or Enjoying Some Time In My Car)

Posted on April 7, 2020 | Comments Off on Escaping My House For A Bit (or Enjoying Some Time In My Car)

Between the regular isolation we are supposed to be doing and avoiding going to the grocery store on my own since I’m sick, I’m not seeing anything other than the inside of my house much. I did walk my trash can to the curb and bring it back, but that’s about it. I’m not going for walks in my neighborhood because I don’t have a mask right now and I know that I’m a higher risk of getting sick. I am doing this for my own protection, but it’s not easy.

I’m not used to only being inside my house. And this past weekend I was going a bit antsy and stir crazy. I needed to get out of my house but I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t going to go to get supplies and there aren’t many other places to go. But I needed to not be home and I realized that I probably also needed to drive my car. I hadn’t driven it in a few weeks and I didn’t want the battery to die. So I decided on Sunday that I was going to go out for a drive.

I didn’t have a place in mind to drive to when I got into my car, but I decided to head toward the beach and see where I decided to go. I knew the beaches were closed and that the parking lots were likely closed too, but I figured if I couldn’t find a place to go I would just drive around for a bit and then drive home. No matter what, it would be something different than being home.

And when I got to the beach, I started to drive up PCH and thought I wouldn’t find anywhere that I could park unless I went much further north where I could park on the side of the road, and I didn’t feel like driving that much. So I drove toward Malibu and then found a place to turn around and head back. But on the drive back, right before turning away from the beach I saw a side street and decided to take a chance on finding some random street parking. After driving up and down a few streets, I found a parking meter and pulled over. And it was a parking spot with an amazing view!

There were a few people on the beach path, but there weren’t many people out (which is a good thing). I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the beach this empty before. Even on a rainy day, I would see people out there. It was so eerie seeing it like that, but it was also a bit nice because I had a really pretty view of the sand and water. I sat in my car for a while just looking out at the water and feeling lucky that I had the option to drive there and have a good view. And then I headed back home.

Even when I can start going to the grocery store again, I might have to do these random car adventures from time to time. It really helped me feel better just getting out and going somewhere different. I needed something to get me out of the feeling of every day being a repeat of the day before. I wish I could have done more, but for now, just driving somewhere might be my only option. But at least I have an option to do something and I need to make sure I plan to do more things like this to keep myself sane.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailRandom Driving Around LA (or Anything Is Entertainment) Default ThumbnailDriving Around For No Reason (or Finding Places That Make Me Happy) Default ThumbnailLA Adventure (or How To Enjoy A Day Without Your Own Car) Default ThumbnailUnexpected Car Shopping (or New Year New Car) Default ThumbnailEnjoying More Food and Wine Festival (or Enjoying A Hot Day At Disneyland) Default ThumbnailThe Roadrunner (or More Memories In My House)

Comments Off on Escaping My House For A Bit (or Enjoying Some Time In My Car)

Posted in Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged ,

A Virtual Musical Night (or Trying To Replicate My Routine)

Posted on April 2, 2020 | Comments Off on A Virtual Musical Night (or Trying To Replicate My Routine)

With everything except for essential businesses closed in Los Angeles, anything that I had on my calendar has been canceled. This includes going to the shows that I have tickets for. Obviously, this isn’t the most important thing and I know that having places closed is necessary. But even though I know those things, it is still disappointing when things I have been looking forward to aren’t happening anymore.

This past Sunday, we were supposed to see “Spongebob The Musical”. Originally, when things started we were told that the show we were going to was canceled but we could move to another night. Then, all dates for the show were canceled. So there was no chance to reschedule. Since then, the entire tour was canceled so there wasn’t going to be a way to see it at a different venue in the future. I was sad because I was really looking forward to seeing this show. Dani was sad because we both knew it would be a fun night out, even if she didn’t know if she was going to like the show or not.

Somehow, I remembered that there was something about the musical being filmed and being on tv recently. I have no clue why I remembered that, but I’m so glad I did. I did a little research online and found how we could register to watch it! So Dani and I decided that we would each order in some food to our own places and we’d watch the musical online at the same time. And we could text our commentary to each other while we were watching.

We had a few technical difficulties when trying to start it, but we figured out a way to make it work and we were watching the musical very close to the time that the show would have started if we were seeing it at the Dolby.

And I’m so glad that we did this! The show was so cute and fun to watch, and it has some really snarky moments! There were also a few things about the story that felt a little too close to home with some people seeing a problem and others thinking they can ignore it and it will go away. But overall, it was a positive and silly show. It was exactly what we needed to watch. And Dani agreed with me that it was a really great show!

After we finished watching it, we decided to video chat. We could have just talked on the phone or texted, but anything that feels more like a real conversation is good right now. And we had a nice long chat about the show and lots of other random things. I didn’t realize how much I needed to talk to a friend like that until we had our talk. I’m still struggling with feeling isolated, but having someone else who understands helps me feel a little less alone. And having a communal experience with someone else, like watching a show online together, is one of the best things I can do right now. It’s not as good as the real thing, but it’s close.

We are hoping that things will be back to normal by the time our next show is supposed to happen, but we also know that it might not be that way. As of right now, the other shows we are scheduled to see have not been filmed so we might not be able to do this again. We were so lucky that this one was so we could at least experience it a bit. And if other shows get canceled, maybe we will luck out again and will find a way to see it together virtually.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailKicking Off A Musical Season (or Seeing A Cartoon Brought To Life) Default ThumbnailA Night Of Magic (or Not Quite A Musical) Default ThumbnailA Weird Night In Hollywood (or Another Musical In Our Season) Default ThumbnailLast Musical Of The Season (or A Classic Pantages Night Out) Default ThumbnailBig Musical Instead of Big Game (or Another Sunday Night Out) Default ThumbnailAnother Musical Season (or Enjoying A Repeat Musical)

Comments Off on A Virtual Musical Night (or Trying To Replicate My Routine)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged , , , ,

An Isolation Monthly Challenge (or Just Trying To Keep Things Going)

Posted on April 1, 2020 | Comments Off on An Isolation Monthly Challenge (or Just Trying To Keep Things Going)

When I set up my monthly challenge for March, I had no clue what the month would end up being like. I really had all the best intentions to work on my budgeting and to get back on track with where my money was going every month. I know that this is something I need to do and that’s why I created the challenge. And for the first week or so, I was doing ok with trying to figure out a good plan for myself with what I wanted to do.

But then everything went crazy. I’ll do another post another time about my mental health right now because it’s been a lot. I’ve written a few things about it, but I feel like how I feel is swinging back and forth a lot. And part of the struggle with mental health has meant that I have neglected to do some things that I wanted to do. And budgeting did slip off my radar.

I have tried to catch up this month with getting back on track and I know I am making some good strides toward it, but there is a lot that I wanted to get done this past month that I didn’t even get close to doing. I wanted to do the online classes with how to use the software the best way possible and I never did that. I occasionally had to look up how to do something so I did learn a bit, but nothing like what I wanted to do. I still feel like there is so much I need to learn in order to feel comfortable with budgeting things the way I was able to do it before.

But I had to be gentle with myself because I know that I had the best intentions going into the month and I didn’t have any control over things going crazy. I know that maybe some people would have been fine and able to continue working on the goals that they had set up for the month. And maybe under other circumstances, I would have been able to do so. But that’s not how things worked out this time for me and I am ok with that. We are all dealing with something that we have never experienced before and we don’t know how we will react or deal.

And being in an unknown situation is what made me think of my monthly challenge for this month. I know that there is a chance that I will settle into how things are right now, but there’s a good possibility that I will be struggling the same way that I am now. Things keep changing so there is no way for me to feel settled or like I can be comfortable with how things are. I cannot control the world around me, I can only control my reaction to it.

And that’s what my challenge is for April. I want to stay more in control of how I’m dealing with everything. And the main part of that for me is trying to maintain a somewhat normal schedule. I do still have 4 days a week that I have to get up at my usual time to do work, but I have 3 days a week that I can sleep as late as I want. I did take advantage of that last week, and it’s thrown off my sleep schedule. Things aren’t my normal schedule and I can’t always do everything when I’m used to doing them, but I can create a new schedule for myself that is as close to normal as possible.

And along with that schedule, I can get better about regular meals. I have been cooking more, but I haven’t been great about eating as often or when I should. Having dinner at 9pm isn’t good for me, but it’s happened more than once. I usually don’t eat breakfast, but I have been doing that lately and I think it is out of boredom. I need to plan meals the best that I can and work on scheduling when I am going to cook and when I am going to eat.

The only thing I have been ok at trying to maintain is having a few fun things in my life. They are limited to things I can do on my computer or phone, so that is a bit of a struggle for me mentally. But it does help when I have something to look forward to in the afternoon or evening. I’ve mainly been doing movies with friends, but I should try to find other things that I can do virtually with friends. This will be over one day, but it might not be soon. I need to get to work on adjusting my life so I will thrive during this time. Surviving isn’t enough for me right now. I need to find ways to continue pushing forward and working on myself. And I think figuring out a plan for this time is the best way I can do that right now.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailTaking A Month To Reset (or This Doesn’t Really Feel Like A Monthly Challenge) Default ThumbnailAnother Monthly Challenge Down (or The Prosperous Heart) Default ThumbnailThinking Of Changing Up My Monthly Challenge (or I Guess This Would Be A First) Default ThumbnailStill Trying To Get Back To Normal (or Isolation Monthly Challenges Really Are Not Easy) Default ThumbnailAnother Monthly Challenge (or What To Do When You Are Crazy Busy) Default ThumbnailNot Perfect This Month (or Challenged With The Monthly Challenge)

Comments Off on An Isolation Monthly Challenge (or Just Trying To Keep Things Going)

Posted in Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged , , ,

Craving Social Interaction (or Staying Away And Staying Online)

Posted on March 20, 2020 | Comments Off on Craving Social Interaction (or Staying Away And Staying Online)

Even though I’m not someone who goes out every single day or spends a ton of time surrounded by others, I’m already feeling extra isolated and lonely right now. The few regular things that I do that are social (such as my workouts) are gone from my schedule. And the events that were coming up that I was excited about were canceled. My calendar is empty with the exception of work right now. And even though I can chat with my co-workers while I work, it’s still a solo thing.

I know that being isolated is the best thing for my health and the health of others. I might be at a slightly higher risk of getting sick, but I’m still low risk. But I have many people in my life who are very high risk and it’s not worth it for me to potentially pass something to them. So I’m staying away from people and I know it is for the best. I have no clue how long we will have to do this, but I don’t see it ending in the next week or two like some others were thinking. I hope it’s not more than a few months, but I know I have to work on not feeling more isolated already. It hasn’t even been a full week and I’m already feeling it and notice changes in my mental health.

But on Wednesday, I did get a nice dose of some socializing. In the morning, one of my friends came over because she needed to borrow an iPhone cable. It turned out I had the wrong cable, but it did allow us time to talk. She stayed in her car and I was by my front door, so we were easily more than 6 feet apart (what the current recommendation is for keeping distance from others). We were talking about a few random things and it was probably under 10 minutes, but it was the most in-person socializing I had gotten this week. It really did improve my mood and outlook and I’m so grateful I got that little boost.

And that evening, I had my first movie night in with friends. I think I’ll be doing a lot of these, but we used an extension for our web browsers so we were all watching the same thing at the same time and we had a text chat on the side so we could talk to each other. This was with one of the dating Facebook groups I’m in and we decided to watch “Always Be My Maybe” because we wanted something light and upbeat.

Even though we weren’t seeing each other or talking out loud, having something where we were seeing the same thing at the same time and could talk about it really did help make it seem like we weren’t apart. Texting randomly is good, but having some sort of community event was so much better. We have already planned to do more of these and I am planning movie nights in with several other groups I’m a part of.

And I’m also working on scheduling virtual happy hours with friends over Skype. The good thing is that it’s not as hard to schedule now as it usually is since nobody really has anything planned. The only thing we have to work around is any other virtual hangouts that people have with other friends. And it seems like everyone is doing these types of things now, so at least it seems like a normal suggestion.

Because there are so many people doing virtual events, there is a chance that my calendar can be more full than it was before. And I think I will need that because nothing replaces in-person time with a friend. But that’s not an option right now and we have to accept that. We need to find ways to not feel alone and being together online (or in-person but far enough apart) is all that we can do right now. At least I know that I’m not the only person who feels this way and that there are so many people who understand how I feel and we can help each other try to feel a bit better about this temporary situation we are all in.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailFinding A Social Life Where I Can (or Virtual Parties and Distance Hangouts) Default ThumbnailJust Taking Things One Day At A Time (or Handling What Is Right Now) Default ThumbnailTrying To Avoid Holiday Burnout (or Staying Home For Self-Care) Default ThumbnailAnother Santa Barbara Day (or A Little Bit Of Social Interaction) Default ThumbnailAnother Union Holiday Celebration (or Being Social And Working Social Media) Default ThumbnailFinding A Community (or Online Motivation)

Comments Off on Craving Social Interaction (or Staying Away And Staying Online)

Posted in Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged , , , ,

Being A Marathon Supporter (or Cheering On My Cheering Buddy)

Posted on March 11, 2020 | Comments Off on Being A Marathon Supporter (or Cheering On My Cheering Buddy)

It’s been a tradition of mine for a few years to go out and cheer on the marathon runners. A lot of the time, I don’t know anyone running or I’m not able to see the people I know who are running. I just go out to cheer on the runners and enjoy the positive environment. It’s really a great way to boost my mood and I know that the runners appreciate having people out there to encourage them.

I haven’t always made signs for my cheering, but I have gotten into making fun and clever signs. I usually do some searching online for signs other people have made and sometimes I’ll use the same idea and sometimes I will get inspired to make something different because of something I saw. I’m not the most creative person when it comes to making the signs, but I do have fun with them and they aren’t too difficult to make.

Most of the time, I’m not alone when I’m going out to cheer on the runners. My friend Liz joins me and we each will usually have a sign (I don’t mind making signs for us both). But this year, Liz couldn’t join me because she was going to run the marathon! I was sad she wouldn’t be out there with me, but I was so excited for her to do her first marathon and of course, I was going to cheer her on! I tried to find a friend to come with me so I would have a buddy out there, but I wasn’t able to so I went by myself. But at least I had a sign I really thought was clever this time to hold up.

I had also made the “tap here to power up” sign in case a friend could come with me, but since I was alone I thought this one was a bit funnier.

Liz had sent me a link to follow her progress live online, so I knew when she was getting close to the cheering spot. I didn’t head out until I knew she was getting close, and I made it about 15 minutes before she would get there. So I held up my sign and cheered on everyone who was going by.

This sign might not have gotten as much attention as the power up sign gets, but the reactions I got were much bigger! So many people were laughing when they went by and read it. Several of them joked that I’d be their hero if I did that for them. I even got smiles and thumbs up from the police officers on bikes going up and down the street. It made me so happy to see how much joy people got out of the sign. That’s exactly why I made it and I’m glad it accomplished what I wanted it to do.

While I was holding it up, I was watching the tracking for Liz to make sure I knew when she would be close. Fortunately, since she’s normally cheering with me, she knew exactly where to look for me and I didn’t have to worry that she would go by and I’d miss her. And soon enough, I saw her running toward me with a huge smile!

I was screaming and cheering so loudly for her! I was so proud of her and she looked so strong! I cheer around mile 19, so she was well past halfway through and she looked like she had only been running for a mile or so. And she was able to stop for a moment for me to give her a hug and for us to take a quick selfie.

And then she was off again! She had another 7 miles to go and I knew that she was going to do amazing and finish it with a great time. Of course, I would have loved to have her hang out a bit longer with me since it’s always so fun when we are hanging out and doing the cheering together, but she had to keep going so she could get to the finish line.

I stayed out there for about 20 more minutes cheering on the runners. I knew I wouldn’t know anyone else running past me, but every time I thought about maybe heading back to my car someone else had a really awesome reaction to my sign and I decided to stay out there. But I couldn’t stay all day for a few different reasons so I did have to get back home.

This was exactly the boost of positivity I needed. I know there is a lot of scary news out there and some people even said I was crazy for going out there to be around a big crowd. But I don’t want to feel isolated and I knew the runners would be out there no matter what. So I wanted to be there too and do the small part I can do in supporting everyone running the marathon.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailAnother Year Of Marathon Watching (or We Tried Our Best) Default ThumbnailLA Marathon (or Cheering On My Friends) Default Thumbnail26.2 (or No Marathon For Me) Default ThumbnailMarathon Viewings (or Olympic Trials and Workout Friends) Default ThumbnailDoing Some Marathon Watching (or Helping Random Runners Power Up) Default ThumbnailMarching For Maddie (or Being A Supporter And Not A Walker)

Comments Off on Being A Marathon Supporter (or Cheering On My Cheering Buddy)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged ,

A Santa Barbara Afternoon (or Celebrating My Future Nephew!)

Posted on March 10, 2020 | Comments Off on A Santa Barbara Afternoon (or Celebrating My Future Nephew!)

Even though my brother and sister-in-law live pretty close to me, I don’t make it to Santa Barbara that often. I haven’t been up there for a while and I know that I should make plans to do that more. It’s only about 90 minutes away from me, so it’s not that far. But I know I will be going up there more often soon because my sister-in-law is pregnant and my nephew should arrive in about a month!

I’m so excited to be an aunt and I’ve already got a lot of things that I can’t wait to get for my nephew. And when I found out the date for the baby shower, I immediately started to think of a good gift.

I looked at a bunch of different websites to get inspiration for a gift, and I found something that I loved and could make myself. They were bookplates (stickers that say “Library of Baby Levin”) and I knew that would be perfect! I know what my nephew is going to be named and I knew the theme of the nursery is safari animals, so I made some really cute stickers with different animals on them. The only problem is that they aren’t telling most people the name yet (only family knows right now), so I couldn’t give a gift with his name on it. So I had to get something to go along with the bookplates to give at the shower. The obvious gift was to get some books, so that’s exactly what I did!

I wanted to find books that relate to things that my brother and sister-in-law like so they could be an introduction to those things for the baby. So I found a book on San Francisco (where they met), Santa Barbara (where they live), world-traveling (which they love to do), and wine (which is one of their favorite activities). I will say, finding a baby book about wine wasn’t easy, but I was so thrilled when I found it!

The baby shower was this past weekend and I drove up to Santa Barbara just for the afternoon. I drove with my great aunt (who lives near me) and we went a bit early so we could spend time with my parents and dog. The dog had knee surgery recently so I really wanted to get to see him. And I hadn’t seen my parents for a few months and I knew they had some stuff for me. We got up there about 2 hours before the shower started, so that allowed us some time to relax after the drive and hang out. Shockingly, I didn’t take a single photo of the dog when we were there!

And when we were at the shower, I didn’t take many photos either! Part of the reason I didn’t take photos was that I was dealing with a lot of nausea that day. It’s unfortunate that a bad nausea day fell on the same day as the party, but I can’t really control that. But the other reason I didn’t take a ton of photos was that I was focused on enjoying being there. I wasn’t sure how many people I would know there, but I did end up knowing quite a few people. I knew I’d know my family and my sister-in-law’s family. But most of my brother’s friends who were there were people that I have known for a while too. I think the last time I saw them was at the wedding, but since everyone stays in touch through social media it didn’t seem like it had been that long. And I did chat with some people that I didn’t know so I did end up feeling like I knew everyone there.

The few pictures I did take were of some of the decorations.

And of Ross and Krystle when they opened up gifts.

I had given them a heads up that there was a part of the gift that had the name on it, so they opened that without showing anyone else before opening up the books for all the guests to see. I think they were just as surprised as I was that there was a baby book about wine! And I think they loved all the other books I got them too.

After they opened the gifts, the party started to wind down a bit. My great aunt and I hung around for a while so we could catch up with family, but we didn’t stay too late since we did have to drive home. We were there for quite a while, and I should be back soon since I will go to Santa Barbara when my nephew is born. My parents will be staying there next month so they don’t have to worry about driving down when she goes into labor. I’ll just be in LA basically waiting for the call to get into my car and head up. I can’t wait!

I’m so excited that there will be a new member of our family soon and I can’t wait to see what he’s like and what he will add to the family dynamic!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailI’m Officially An Aunt (or Welcome Rory!) Default ThumbnailHaving Fun With Photos (or My Brother And Nephew Are Twins!) Default ThumbnailForgot To Share Some Awesome News (or I’m Going To Be An Aunt!) Default ThumbnailA Little More Time In Santa Barbara (or Hanging Out With My Sister-In-Law) Default ThumbnailSanta Barbara Weekend (or Family and Friends Time) Default ThumbnailAnother Santa Barbara Day (or A Little Bit Of Social Interaction)

Comments Off on A Santa Barbara Afternoon (or Celebrating My Future Nephew!)

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged , ,

The First Dolby Show Of The Season (or Having Some New Things And Some Familiar Things)

Posted on March 6, 2020 | Comments Off on The First Dolby Show Of The Season (or Having Some New Things And Some Familiar Things)

As I mentioned before, this season the musicals I go to were split between the Pantages theater (where they typically have been held) and the Dolby theater. The Dolby is where the Oscars are held each year and I’ve been to another event there years ago. But I definitely wasn’t as familiar with that theater as I am with the Pantages. And this week, we had our first show at the Dolby and we tried to start a new pre-show routine.

The Dolby is inside the Hollywood and Highland center, which has a few different restaurants to choose from. Dani and I decided that we would go there early to have some dinner and then get to our show. I’ve been to Hollywood and Highland a bunch in the past, so I was familiar with the area. And since we were going to the show on a weekday, we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time for traffic. We were shocked when the traffic wasn’t bad at all and we got there much earlier than we expected.

We weren’t sure where we wanted to eat and we had so much extra time, so we did a little walking around the area before getting food. It’s so interesting how that part of Hollywood feels so different from the part of Hollywood by the Pantages. And the two spots aren’t that far apart. But I guess a few blocks can make a big difference.

We got some dinner and realized we still had almost an hour and a half before the show started. So we decided to do one of our normal pre-show activities and head over to Wood & Vine for some dessert! We took the subway one stop to get there (there is a stop at Hollywood and Highland and the next stop is next to the restaurant) and got a seat at the bar to see what we wanted to eat. We decided to go with our favorite dessert which is the butterscotch one. And it was just as good as it always is!

Even though we didn’t have a full meal there, getting dessert somehow made things feel more normal and more like we were used to before a show. It’s funny how the smallest routine thing can make everything feel right again. We didn’t have a lot of time to hang out at Wood & Vine because we had to get back on the subway to get to the theater. We made it back 10 minutes before the show started which was the perfect amount of time to find our seats and get settled.

I had been worried about how shows would look in the Dolby because in my memory it’s a much larger theater. And it might be a lot larger, but I don’t know if the top two balcony sections were used. So nobody was seated that high above the stage.

Our seats weren’t the seats we will have for other shows because we had to change the date of our tickets. But these were close to what we would have. We were in the balcony, but we were in the second row which was not too far from the stage.

And because we were in the second row of the balcony, we weren’t that high above the stage so it didn’t feel like we were looking down at the show instead of out at the show. It did feel bigger because the ceiling was so high up, but it didn’t feel like we were seeing a show in an arena instead of a theater. That was a nice surprise since I had been pretty worried about that. I’m glad my fears were wrong and that it seems like the shows we see at the Dolby are going to feel just as close as our shows at the Pantages.

The show we saw this time was “Escape To Margaritaville”, which is another jukebox musical.

We’ve had a lot of jukebox musicals in the past. Sometimes I am familiar with the singer or band and knew that I would know a lot of the songs. Sometimes I go into a show thinking I won’t know any of the songs and it turns out that I know most if not all of them. This time, I went in thinking I wouldn’t know any of the songs and that turned out to be true. There were 2 songs that I knew, but the rest of them were completely unfamiliar to me. I thought maybe I would think that I would recognize a little bit, but there wasn’t. It was interesting being in a theater where so many people were singing along and got really excited when a song started because they knew what was coming up. I just wasn’t a part of that crowd and it did make me feel like a bit of an outsider.

But no matter how I feel about a show, it’s always such a fun night out. I will always enjoy going to a show, especially when it’s a new show. I love seeing what musicals are out there and it’s such fun when I discover a new favorite too. We got several more shows at the Dolby coming up this season and I can’t wait to see what shows will connect with me!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailTaking Time For A Show (or Seeing Summer) Default ThumbnailFunko and Frozen (or The Last Pantages Show For A While) Default ThumbnailAnother Round Of A Repeat Musical (or Seeing A Show A Different Way) Default ThumbnailMore Musicals! (or Another Season At Pantages) Default ThumbnailThe Last Show Of The Season (or Ending On A High Note) Default ThumbnailAnd Another Season Of Musicals (or The Next Season Will Be A Bit Different)

Comments Off on The First Dolby Show Of The Season (or Having Some New Things And Some Familiar Things)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged , , ,

Finally Seeing My Mentoring Group Again (or Our First Brunch Of 2020)

Posted on February 25, 2020 | Comments Off on Finally Seeing My Mentoring Group Again (or Our First Brunch Of 2020)

The last brunch meeting I had with my mentoring group was quite a while ago. I know that we decided to not meet as often because it was getting tough for the group to plan, but I don’t think we ever thought we would have 5 months between brunches. Part of this was due to the holidays and we knew that it would be very difficult to meet when so many of us were out of town or celebrating certain holidays.

Even though I am the organizer of our brunches, nobody blamed me for taking so long to schedule the one we had this past weekend. Everything understood that we were really busy and that we would see each other eventually. And we did consider trying to meet in January, but when we all shared our availability it was best to meet this last Sunday.

And I’m glad that we waited because we did get all 6 of us together for brunch! It’s not easy to mind a day and time that all 6 of us are free, but somehow we did it! I don’t remember the last time we were all there, and I think we all forgot about how crowded our brunch table could be with 6 people instead of 4 or 5. We sat in one of our usual booths, but we did have to squish together a bit to make it work. But that was fine because we did want to be able to hear what each other was sharing and saying.

I don’t think any of us believed that it had been 5 months since we had been together because it didn’t really seem that long ago. But we did all have lots of things to share and I loved hearing all of the updates everyone had.

And this time, I finally had quite a few things to share with the group. The last brunch we had was before the union convention, so I shared about that and how I have been going as an observer to the local board meetings. Even though I had shared things about past conventions, being an observer at the board meetings is something new and it was fun getting to share what I could about those.

And the last brunch we had was also before I finished writing the first draft of my book! They all knew I was trying to write a book about online dating, but I don’t think I had shared with them how I changed the concept of the book and I know they didn’t know that I had finished writing my first draft. I think they all loved the new idea of how I organized my stories and they all thought the book would be something that should be published and could sell quite a bit. I’m glad they all felt that way because I’m feeling that way about the book too. None of them have published a book so they didn’t have referrals to literary agents or had specific advice for the next steps, but they were really encouraging with what I need to do next and I know that if they think of someone who could help me that they will connect me to them.

Everyone else had lots of news to share. Some things were good and some weren’t as good. But everyone had progress that they had made in their lives and careers since the last time we were together. And making progress and not getting stuck is the key to this industry because it’s so easy to get frustrated and not keep pushing ahead. If you get a rejection, that’s not a dead end. You have to find another way to make it happen. That’s what all of us reminded each other because there are so many things that we could believe was the end of the road when it’s just a detour we need to get around.

As always, hearing everyone being so encouraging to others is such a huge benefit I get out of this group. It’s not easy to find people who not only understand the process you are going through but help you stay positive and working toward your goals. I always say how incredibly lucky I am to have this mentoring group, and I really can’t express how grateful I am for these women. We’ve been supporting each other for so long and it has benefitted my life so much. And I know that I will continue to get so many good things out of this group because I don’t see an end to our support. This has become such an important part of my life and I really look forward to seeing the successes we each have in our futures. I know it will happen, it’s just a matter of time.

We are still trying to meet 3-4 times a year so we have somewhat regular meetings. I feel pretty certain that we will find a way to meet up at least 2 more times this year. But hopefully, we can get in that last meeting so we are able to meet up once a quarter. But no matter how long it takes before we all can be together again, I know it will be amazing when we see each other and that I will leave our brunch feeling inspired and ready to get to work!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailEnd Of The Mentoring Circle (or One Final Lunch) Default ThumbnailLast Mentoring Group Brunch For The Year (or Switching Things Up For Next Year) Default Thumbnail4 Years Of My Mentoring Circle (or Celebrating With Brunch) Default ThumbnailAnother Business Brunch (or A Delayed Mentoring Circle Meeting) Default ThumbnailFinally Having Our Brunch (or Almost All The Mentees Together Again) Default ThumbnailBrunch Time (or Keeping Up With Our Group)

Comments Off on Finally Seeing My Mentoring Group Again (or Our First Brunch Of 2020)

Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , , ,

A House Anniversary (or A Decade In One Place)

Posted on February 18, 2020 | Comments Off on A House Anniversary (or A Decade In One Place)

In my life, I have had times that I haven’t moved homes a lot and other times where I was moving constantly. Growing up, my parents bought their house before I was born and that is the house that they still have. So my first time moving was when I went to college. I lived in dorms for my first 2 years and I sublet a room in an apartment for the summer between my freshman and sophomore years.

But housing was only guaranteed for freshmen and sophomores, so I had to enter a housing lottery in my college to get housing after that. And my group got such a bad number that we knew there was no chance for us to get campus housing. I don’t remember exactly why we didn’t find an apartment off-campus together, but for my junior year of college, I got my first apartment. I lived there alone and I hated how isolated I felt. There were probably a few different reasons why I felt so lonely, and it didn’t help that the apartment never really felt like home to me.

So after that lease was up, I got an apartment with a friend. I only had 1 semester of college left, but I knew I was going to stay in LA so I didn’t think twice about signing a lease for a year. Since I had been moving every year, I probably thought at the time that I would be there for a year and then move on to another apartment. But my roommate and I renewed our lease and we gained another roommate. Then the original roommate moved out and I was back down to 1 roommate again. Then that roommate left and I had a few different roommates over the next few years. I was in that apartment for about 5 1/2 years and had more roommates than I can remember. And when my last set of roommates said they would be moving out, I knew I had to find a new place because I couldn’t keep searching for roommates all the time. And that’s when I found the house that I currently live in.

I lucked out when I found my house because it’s in a great location and the price was really low. I was suspicious about it when I found it, but I think the small size was stopping others from wanting to rent it. But it was perfect for me to be on my own and the price was less than what I was paying for a portion of my old apartment. So there was no question that it was the right house for me.

I was hesitant about living alone again because I really didn’t like it when I lived alone in my first apartment. And there was an adjustment period for me to be used to not having roommates around. But as time went by, I discovered how much I love living alone. I think part of why I hated it before was that so many of my friends were still living on campus and there was so much community around them. I didn’t have that. But when I moved into my house, I was several years out of college. I wasn’t feeling left out or missing something that my friends were getting. And the more comfortable I got living alone, the more I wanted my house to feel like home to me and not just a place I was renting.

And I feel like I have accomplished just that. I have made several changes to things in my house over the years to make it feel more adult or more like me. And there is no question that it feels like my home to me. And that’s good because I literally cannot afford to move. The rents in my neighborhood are significantly higher than what I pay. It can be double or triple what I pay to get a 1 bedroom apartment. And yes, those apartments may be bigger or have more features than my place has, but I can’t afford anything that expensive. I love my little house and I love how it is affordable for me to be here.

And it’s a good thing that I love where I live because this past weekend marked 10 years since I moved into my house! That’s a lot longer than so many people live in a rental. That’s the longest I’ve lived anywhere except in the house I grew up in. And for some reason, I have always thought about how often I’ve moved because of how much I moved in my first years in LA. But I’ve been in my house for 10 years and my apartment before that for over 5 years. So the majority of my time in LA has been in 2 places. The other 4 places I lived were just condensed into a very short amount of time.

I don’t expect to be living in my house for another 10 years, but I also don’t see myself moving out any time soon. I’m here until I can afford to buy a place or until I move in with a significant other. Even if I got a huge raise and had a lot more money, I wouldn’t leave my place until I buy something because I don’t see the need to spend more on rent than I currently pay. Yes, there are things that I would love to have where I live (a dishwasher and in-home washer/dryer top that list), but I have lived for 10 years without those things and I can keep living without them. And the things I would love to have are going on my list of what I want in a place when I buy it. But because I haven’t had as many amenities as I have in the past, that list is much shorter now and I have realized what I really need to improve my quality of life and what would just be fun and nice.

So here’s to 10 years in my current house and now I’m just curious how long I will end up living here until I move to the next place I hopefully can stay for at least a decade.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailMy LA Anniversary! (or 13 Years Have Gone By Quickly) Default Thumbnail15 Years Later (or Reflections On LA) Default ThumbnailAnother LA Anniversary (or What Will Year 15 Bring?) Default ThumbnailAnother LA Anniversary (or Almost Half My Life Here) Default ThumbnailAnother LA Anniversary (or I Kind Of Already Celebrated This Once) Default Thumbnail19 Years In LA (or The LA Anniversary Between Two Big Milestone Anniversaries)

Comments Off on A House Anniversary (or A Decade In One Place)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged , ,

I Do Enjoy Valentine’s Day (or Celebrating All Love In My Life)

Posted on February 14, 2020 | Comments Off on I Do Enjoy Valentine’s Day (or Celebrating All Love In My Life)

I know that Valentine’s Day is a love or hate holiday. Some people love being able to acknowledge love in their life or showing how much they love another person. Some people hate it, and I seem to be more familiar with the reasons people hate it. I’ve heard how it’s a holiday that is made up and only to sell things. I know some people think it’s an excuse to have a bad and overpriced date. And others say that it leaves out single people and they aren’t able to celebrate since they aren’t in a relationship.

I’m not going to debate that going out on Valentine’s Day might be overpriced and I have no clue if it’s really a made-up holiday. But I will dispute the idea that it’s only a holiday for people in relationships. I believe that any love can be celebrated on Valentine’s Day. And I’ve written a post about how I celebrate love in my life before explaining this. Things haven’t changed much for me. If anything, I believe even stronger now that everyone should be celebrating all love in their life and not just romantic love.

I’m incredibly lucky that I have as much love in my life as I do. Of course, I do want romantic love and am still searching for it, but my life isn’t less than because I don’t have that just yet. I have amazing friends and family that I love and that I know love me. They support me in all my craziness and I know I could turn to anyone if I needed help. If something happened to me, I wouldn’t feel alone because I didn’t have a boyfriend or husband. When I thought I needed liver surgery, I had friends that said they could come over to help me do the things I couldn’t do for a few weeks. I know that having someone I was in a relationship might mean I automatically have someone who could do that for me, but I have friends who can fill in and I’m fine with that.

For several years, I have celebrated the idea of all the love in my life on Valentine’s Day. But this year I feel that even more. I think that’s due to a realization I had after having a talk with a guy that I was trying to get closure with. In that talk, I realized there is a difference between wanting to be with someone and needing to be with someone. That realization actually gave me the closure I was searching for with that guy. And it made me understand why he and I never could have worked even if he hadn’t done the things he did that hurt me.

But it’s gone far beyond just that closure. I have realized that while I do want a relationship, I do not need it. I am living an awesome life without having a significant other. I am not looking for my missing piece. I am looking for someone who can add amazing things to my life and not someone who needs to fill what is missing. And I think having that thought in my head has helped me remember that my life is full of love even if I don’t have a boyfriend or a husband. And it’s important to remember that love and to celebrate it.

I do try to celebrate the love in my life throughout the year and not just for Valentine’s Day. Life is short and I don’t want to miss the chance to tell someone that I love them or how much they mean to me. I thought about doing something for Valentine’s Day for the people I love, but I just didn’t get it together in time. I did send out holiday cards just about 2 months ago to the people I would have sent Valentine’s cards to, so I do know they know how much they mean to me. I would have loved to have sent out cards again, but it just didn’t happen. Hopefully, next year I can do that.

And as far as my Valentine’s Day plans go, I don’t really have anything planned yet. I have my normal Friday routine with my workout and work, but nothing is planned after that. I might see if a friend wants to meet up and do something. I might stay home and be lazy on my couch. I might end up having a random date (which has happened on Valentine’s Day before). I’m not worried about making plans and whatever I do tonight is going to be the right thing to do. The only thing I know I will do is that I will celebrate the love in my life no matter what because I am so lucky to have what I do have.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailEnjoying Valentine’s Day (or Celebrating The Love I Do Have In My Life) Default ThumbnailSo Many Birthdays and Anniversaries! (or A Month Of Celebrating And Remembering) Default ThumbnailCelebrating My Friendship Love (or I Don’t Hate Valentine’s Day) Default ThumbnailCelebrating Some Anniversaries (or Remembering Awesome Family Moments) Default ThumbnailSpreading Some Holiday Cheer (or Finding Cheaper Ways To Make People Smile) Default ThumbnailAnother Day Another Audition (or This Is The Life I Love)

Comments Off on I Do Enjoy Valentine’s Day (or Celebrating All Love In My Life)

Posted in Celebrations, Dating, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , , ,