Tag Archives: acting

Was I Bold? (or Recapping How I Did With My Word Of The Year)

For this year, I decided to do a word for the year for the first time. I was inspired by my fellow bloggers and decided to go for it. The word that I had decided on was “bold” and I really felt like it was the perfect word for me to use for 2015. Now that the year is about done, I’m looking back at my year and trying to think if I was bold.

I worked hard to remind myself to be bold when I could. I used the word as the background of my computer and used a similar graphic without the word as the background on my phone and iPad. So I was constantly reminded of it. There are still times that I feel like I can’t or won’t be bold, but I think I made a good effort at it.

Bold

The place where I think I was the boldest in 2015 was my acting career. I took new risks in my auditions and wasn’t afraid to make a wrong choice. I know that making an incorrect choice is really better than no choice at all. I decided that I was going to make each character strong in my mind and go with it full force. I know that not all my choices were right (and I didn’t book much this year), but I know that casting directors will remember me for being prepared and taking a risk. So many auditions of mine are in offices that I’ve been in before, so I know that they like me as an actor. It just might have been in the past that the part wasn’t right for me.

Not only was I being bolder in my auditions which allowed me to leave the audition room feeling better, I was bold in my actions outside of performing in the acting world. I never would have thought of running as a SAG-AFTRA delegate in the past, but this year when I was asked to do so I said yes before I could talk myself out of it.

Running as a delegate wasn’t always easy (some of the hate messages I got still are stuck in my head), but I’m so glad that I did it. I met some amazing people and I really had the best time at the National Convention. I’m actually sad that the National Convention isn’t every year. I don’t know if I’ll run for local or national board in the next elections (I’ve got plenty of time to think about that), but there’s no question that I’ll be running as a delegate again. The education that I got about the union during the convention was invaluable and I know that it will make me a better union member for it.

I was also bold in working on overcoming my eating disorder this year. I got a new therapist and I’m now trying medication to help me win this battle. I’m still in the depths of my battle and it feels at times that I will never get over my eating disorder, but I’m done being a victim of it. I’m working hard at it and hopefully sometime soon my hard work will pay off.

Finally, I think I was bold in my social life. Not in the sense that I was bold as a person at events but in the sense that I stopped being scared of saying no to an event and staying home. While I’d love to go out every time that someone has a fun event, sometimes I need to be at home for the evening. I might be tired or not feeling well or I might just not feel up for it and don’t want to force myself to go. But I don’t care anymore about missing things. Sometimes I wish that I could go, but I’m not feeling like I’m missing out on things as much as I did in the past. So saying no is a bold choice.

I’m still finalizing what my word for 2016 will be and I’ll be sharing that next week. But I’m really happy how I embraced bold as my word for 2015 and the results that I got from it!

Graduation Show (or Completing Improv 101)

This past Sunday was the graduation show for my improv class. The way that UCB runs their classes is that the class has 8 classes that are 3 hours each (typically 1 class a week unless it’s the intensive class which means 4 times a week for 2 weeks) and at the end you have a graduation show.

I had been a bit nervous about the graduation show because it felt like we hadn’t been told too much about how it would work. But I’m used to short-form improv where it is game based and not scene based. So the nerves were unnecessary because we pretty much did the same thing that we had been doing in the past few classes.

Our class was split into 2 groups (there were 12 of us doing the graduation show) and each group thought of a team name. My group was going second so we sat in the audience for the first half and got to watch our classmates perform. The audience was made up of us from the other group and friends and family that we invited to the show (I didn’t have any friends or family in the audience, but I only told people about it a few days in advance). Before I knew it, it was our turn to go backstage and get ready.

When my group started, we got a suggestion of one word to start things off. Then one person said a personal monologue and we created 3 scenes from that monologue. After the 3 scenes were done, another monologue was done followed by 3 scenes. In total, my group had 3 monologues and 8 or 9 scenes. And I initiated a few, joined in on a few, and did walk ons in a few. We had about 25 minutes on stage, and it rushed by so fast. And since the lights on the stage were so bright, I never felt like I was performing for an audience. I felt like we were performing to our classmates the way we did in the classroom.

Overall, I feel pretty good about how I did and how the entire class did as a whole. And I think that we were all pretty excited about completing the graduation show.

UCB 101

The only thing that I was a bit sad about was that we didn’t really seem to bond as a group until the last week or so. There was the awkwardness at the beginning and then just feeling the personalities of the group out. And we really felt like a team at our last class and then again in the show. I’m not sure if making the class longer than 8 weeks would have helped, but it was a bit sad to say goodbye to everyone when I felt like I was just getting to know them.

UCB Graduation

We don’t find out if we failed the first level of improv until we register for the next class (if we failed, they will let us know that there was a problem). I’m still thinking that I’d like to go on to the next level and possibly do all 4 levels eventually. I’ve got a year to sign up for level 201 before I have to repeat 101 and I have a feeling that I’ll be signing up sooner than next fall. I just need to get the money together for it (I might have extra money left over after I pay my 2015 taxes) and figure out a time that works with my schedule.

I’m so glad that I finally jumped in and took another improv class. While I still miss Kip all the time and wished I had heard his laugh in the audience (he had the best and most distinctive laugh), I think he would have been happy that I moved on and continued my education. I don’t know if I want to join a troupe after I complete all the levels (if I do that), but I’m taking things one step at a time and just focusing on taking level 201 now.

Last Official Mentee Meeting (or Planning For 2016)

This past week was the final mentee only meeting for my Women In Film mentoring group. We’ve been meeting for about a year now, and we only have one meeting left with our mentors.

It’s been a pretty awesome year with my mentoring group. I’ve become friends with all the women in my mentoring circle. I’ve hung out socially with them outside of our meetings and we’ve discussed working on a project together in the future (the benefit of having women in all parts of the industry in the mentoring group). And I’m sad that our year is coming to an end.

Our last mentoring group was pretty small. Due to holiday conflicts, only 3 of us were there (out of 8), but we still had a nice time. It was more of a social hangout than an official meeting, but that was fine with us all. We chatted about things we have been doing in the past few months and what we are working on in the start of the new year. We also did a gift exchange (I got some greeting cards with amazing artwork on the front done by one of my fellow mentee’s husband).

With the end of the official mentoring circle time here, we also discussed what we wanted to do going forward. In my past mentoring group, it seemed like the end of our official time was a natural end to our group. We had never met outside of the meetings with our mentors, and while I do keep in touch with some of them over Facebook we’ve never gotten together after the end of our group.

But with my current group, we’ve gotten to know each other so well and have really bonded as a group. So we started talking about keeping our current schedule of meeting every other month as just a group of mentees. It’s going to continue to be an accountability group as well as a sounding board for questions or issues we might be dealing with in our professional or personal lives.

We’ve already started to plan how to continue our meetings into the new year. I think that we will be meeting again in February and I have to say that I’m so happy that it seems like the rest of my group is also looking forward to continuing with our meetings. I’d be pretty upset if we stopped meeting. Our meetings have become evenings that I look forward to. It’s an evening with my friends and an evening that always leaves me feeling inspired. I still feel like I’m the most beginner of our group, but if anyone else feels that way about me they don’t show it. They treat me with so much respect and have really helped to push me further in my career.

I’m so lucky that Women in Film partnered me up with the mentoring group that I have. I know how tough it can be to create a bond within the group when all the women are extremely busy and have crazy and complicated schedules. But we all tried to make our meetings a priority and it really worked. I have the opportunity to join a new mentoring group in the spring or fall next year, and I’m not sure if I will do that. I would love to have another great group, but I’m also scared that the new group wouldn’t be able to live up to this group and I wouldn’t be able to be as involved as I would want to be. I’ve got time before mentoring circle applications come around again, so I don’t have to rush to a decision yet.

But for now, I’m so grateful for what I’ve gotten out of the past year and I can’t wait to see what the next year with my mentoring group will bring to me.

Making Strides In Class (or Relaxing And Having Fun)

My improv class this week went really well. In fact, I think this might have been the best class I’ve had so far. I’m still on the fence about moving on to the next level of improv, but like I said before I’m focusing on how much I can get out of the class I’m in.

I had a few moments in class where I either didn’t hear things correctly or said something off that threw the scene or game that we were doing, but none of those moments were big screw-ups like I’ve had before. It’s not that I wasn’t listening before, but my focus in the past was to unlearn “bad” habits from my other improv training. And when I’ve been doing that it’s hard to focus on the game at hand. So I stopped trying to ignore and unlearn what I’ve learned in the past and I used it in class.

And that actually paid off! I’m not sure why I was so scared of doing that before. I know that I didn’t want to feel like a show-off or do something so weird that the teacher wondered why I did it. But that fear had really set me back and I think prevented me from performing to the best of my ability in the previous weeks. This past week, I had some really great scenes and I felt like I got more positive notes from the teacher than critiques.

I do feel a bit like a show-off at times or that I’m commanding the scene and I’m really working on that. I’m trying not to overshadow my fellow actors if it feels like the scene is going that way. It can be tough because sometimes I can feel that the other person might be struggling and I just want to help them. But helping them can also prevent them from having their fair time. And when only a few people out of the group get to do something special (we used a few personal monologues this past week to help inspire scenes), I’m not always trying to take a turn.

It’s a fine balance I’m trying to find between performing to the best of my abilities and hogging a scene. I know I’m not the best person in class, but I also know that I’m a bit of an aggressive performer. I’ve had to learn in the past to be fearless and to just go with it. But sometimes that can seem like I’m trying to show-off or steal the spotlight from someone else.

I think it was easier for me in the past because with the first improv troupe I performed with, we all kind of came into the class at the same level. We had dabbed in improv, but none of us have really taken a class. In my class now, there are some people who have never taken a class before and there are people who have done years of improv training (I’m kind of in the middle). It also might have been easier in the past because I was either working with a group doing short form improv (which are the quick fun game) or working alone doing an improv interview when I was in Kip’s class.

Now, we are doing longer scenes and there isn’t a gimmick to the game. It’s just trying to be as truthful to the scene as possible. I think that this is better for my acting career than learning the games that I’ve done before, but it’s not easy. It’s hard to stay based in reality when you have no idea what is coming up next (or if you get a super weird suggestion). But I’m really enjoying the challenge and I think having fun in the class is the most important thing.

Halfway Through Class (or Not Thinking About The Next Step)

I’m halfway through my UCB class. In about 4 weeks I’ll be doing my 101 graduation show. That show still terrifies me a bit because I feel like we (or at least I) won’t be ready in time, but I’m trying to put that fear in the back of my head and focus on what we are doing now in class.

Each week in class, we do focus on a particular aspect of improv. This past week was all about characters. While I’ve done character work before, I really enjoyed this class because new ideas on character types were mentioned that I’ve never used before. I’m surprised that I never thought of some of these types (like being high class vs. low class) never came up in my past studies. But I’m glad I know them now for the future.

I did have a bit of difficulty in class with some of the character work. There was one mimic game that we played and I went first. I was a bit unclear on the instructions (if I was supposed to mimic an accent or just the general attitude of the other person) so I had to start over several times. I also hate having to do accents because they are extremely tough for me to do. I’m partially tone deaf (it’s why I’m not a music person) so accents sound funny to me. I can hear someone and thing that I’m mimicking it perfectly but in reality I’m not doing any accent.

After starting over several times, I decided to just focus on the attitude of the other person and made it through the game. But that set back really was tough on me. I don’t think I’m the best actor or best improviser out there, but since I was so confused I wish that I had more instructions or that I asked more questions so I knew what was expected. All the other students seemed to mimic the attitude and not the accent so I guess I made the right choice.

This week I also went to another improv show. This one was a show that was performed by teachers from UCB (my teacher wasn’t in it). It was a really great show and even though I’ve fulfilled my 2 show viewing requirement I’m thinking of going to that show again next week (it’s a rotating cast).

Some of my fellow students are already starting to think about taking improv 201 as soon as we are done. I’m still torn on if I’m going to continue or not. I’d like to complete all 4 levels just to say that I’ve done it. The cost is a bit of a set back. I think I have a year from the time I graduate improv 101 to decide if I’m going to take 201, so I’m going to allow myself some time to think about it all. I like not having to commit to the next level right away and I want to make sure that I’m making the best choice financially as well as for my acting career.

For now, I’m just going to focus on enjoying the last few weeks of my class, having a great graduation show, and doing the most growth I can in the class.

Time For New Headshots (or Adding Some Personality Into My Photos)

I changed my hair a little over a month ago. As soon as I did it, I planned on getting new headshots taken. Since I don’t have the same hair color anymore, I wanted new photos that reflected my new look more accurately. I had every intention of doing the shoot within a week or so of the hair color change, but due to crazy schedules, that didn’t happen.

For this shoot, I shot with my friend Adam Emperor Southard. I’ve previously done a fun shoot with him, but this was my first time shooting headshots with him. And I used Kate Hollinshead for my hair and makeup (Kate did my hair/makeup for my last 2 headshot shoots and I love what she does!).

The hair and makeup took about an hour (that’s pretty normal) and we were ready to shoot as soon as that was done. I’m still in the post-college/young mom/office worker category a lot for auditions, so that’s the look that we were going for. We did a mix of studio photos and outdoor photos, but all of my favorites came from outside.

Headshot Options

All of those photos are unretouched, but they look almost good enough to post on the online casting services already! I think that Kate did a great job getting the perfect natural look for me (which of course takes more makeup than I’m used to) and Adam was able to get some great shots with fun expressions. I’m always self-conscious at shoots because I feel like I don’t have enough looks. And when I try to replicate looks I’ve had in the past, they come out looking weird.

Even though my shoot was only a 2 look session, I convinced Adam to let me do a couple of photos with my new Mighty Petunia top (if you shop there, don’t forget to use the promo code “Bombshell”!). I love that tank top so much and I figured it would be fun to get some photos that I might use on the blog or other places where I don’t necessarily want to use my headshots. Since I was doing non-headshots, I told Kate that we could go bold with the hair and makeup. I was ok with whatever she wanted to do, so she went with curly hair and a bold red lip.

Fun Options

I love how those shots came out and I’m so grateful that Adam and Kate indulged me in adding a bonus look.

I’ve already sent my favorites to my agents and included some of the crazier photos with them in case they wanted to use one for fun. They picked their 6 favorites and 2 of them came from the crazy look (including the tongue out one for a kick ass rocker look)! I’m so glad that I took a chance with these photos because I never take chances like this and it seems like it’s paying off!

I’ll be getting my retouched photos today or tomorrow and then I’ll be getting them up on the casting sites, ordering new printed headshots, and doing new business cards (that link gets you 10% off that site!). It’s not cheap to do all of this, but thankfully I will get getting some money for Hanukkah at Thanksgiving so I will be putting a bit of that toward my acting expenses. It takes money to pursue this career, but it’s totally worth it to me.

I love when I work with a photographer and I get exactly what I need plus more! I’ve had some not-so-great experiences with photographers in the past where even after multiple reshoots I don’t have what I need and the money I spent on it was totally wasted. I’ve learned which photographers I work well with and I love having a couple of people who I trust to do headshots for me. I’m sure that within a year or so I’ll need to do photos again. But right now, I’m just so excited to get these photos up and available for casting directors to see the attention they get me.

More Comfortable In Improv Class (or Making Friends With My Classmates)

I’ve gone through 3 weeks of my improv class so far. So I’m almost halfway done with this first level! I still miss Kip quite a bit in class, especially when the things we do are very similar to what I did in his class. But I’m also feeling much better about moving on.

I’m getting comfortable in the class too. It’s always awkward at first when you are thrown into a class with 15 strangers. And we’ve had a couple of people who either haven’t been able to make it to another class after the first one or who have dropped out. But the 14 of us still in the class have started to bond a bit.

When I went to the improv show after my first week of class, I went by myself because I didn’t have anyone to go with. I had a good time there, but I wished that there was someone there to laugh with and chat about the show afterward. But I’m starting to friend my classmates on Facebook so we can try to meet up for a show in the future (I’m still required to see 1 more show, but I’m hoping to go to more than that).

I went out to lunch after class this week with one of my classmates and really got to know her better. She and I are some of the older people in class (many of them seem to be in their early twenties) so it was nice to get to chat about more grown up things. And it turns out that she had a very similar hip surgery to what I had!

Getting to know my classmates has made my performances in class better. I’m not trying to look good or impress anyone. Even though I’ve had several years of improv training (and doing shows), things at UCB are different and I’m working on breaking old habits as well as rebuilding new ones. But the freedom that I’m starting to feel is really great.

Just this past week, we had a game where we had to sing different songs. That was going to be an issue for me for a couple of reasons. First, I can’t sing and I’m pretty much tone-deaf. And second, I don’t know many songs. Fortunately, I do know show tunes and was able to use them for the game (I actually think every song I sang was a show tune). Nobody made fun of me for my horrible singing. And when I didn’t know more than one line of the song, they sang with me so I could try to remember.

All of these things are making me feel better about having our class performance in a little over a month. It’s coming up so quickly and hopefully we will be pretty bonded as a group and will be able to do a fun show. I’m thinking about going to another level 1 graduation show to see how it works. That might make me feel a bit better about what I am expected to do. Right now, I have it in my head that it will be like a full-out show. I don’t think that will be the case, but unless I see it for myself I will have that same idea.

I know I’ve said this before, but I’m so glad that I was able to get the money together to do this first level of classes at UCB. I’m still debating about doing the next level, but I don’t have to decide that anytime soon (nor do I have the money to do that anytime soon). But the feeling that I’ve gotten from being in this class now has made me so happy and my only regret is that I wasn’t able to do it sooner.

Homework and Other Work (or Taking My Class Seriously)

I’ve now completed two weeks of my 8 week UCB Improv 101 class. The class is going well so far. It’s still a lot of review of basics for me, but that’s never a bad thing. And some of the basics at UCB are different from the basics in other improv classes I’ve been in since this is long form improv and not short form improv (short form is about games like on “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”). It’s a little crazy to think that we are a quarter of the way through the class and at the end we are doing a show, but I’m sure things will be moving faster the closer we get to our show and it won’t seem as odd that we are performing in front of guests.

I’m debating if I will be doing Improv 201. I have a feeling I will be doing it because that’s more of the scene work and less of the basics, and that’s what I want to do. I’m not sure how soon I’ll have the $400 for class ready, but I’m hoping it won’t be too long (I think there are also some work-study opportunities at UCB to help bring down the price of class).

Even though my 101 class is the basics, I’m taking things seriously. I do take notes during class and I’m listening to all the critiques that the teacher gives me and the other students. There is a book that all students are required to read and I’m working on it.

UCB Book

I’ve actually had the book for a while because I knew it was a requirement for the class and I was hoping to do the class earlier in the year. So I got it on Amazon a while ago and have had it in my room waiting for when I got into the class (I’m not sure why I didn’t start reading it sooner, but what matters is that I’m reading it now).

The other thing that all students (or at least students in Improv 101) have to do is to see 2 shows during the 8 week class. We really don’t have to see the 2 shows until the end of the class, but it’s recommend that we see them as soon as possible because it will help us in class.

So I took that advice seriously and went to a show last Thursday. It was a musical improv show (not something that I’d do myself, but I was happy to see it) and it was so awesome! The performers were super talented and it’s so impressive that they can sing a song that is being made up on the spot together and they really tend to be singing the same thing (I don’t get how they do that?!?).

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to see a show every week, but I’m really going to try to. It might be tough with some of my schedules for the next few weeks, but maybe there are a few weeks that I can see more than one show. Just because we only have to see 2 shows doesn’t mean I’m only going to see 2 shows.

I’m starting to make friends in my class, so that will help make my scenes better in class (not as awkward) and we are trying to go see shows together as a group since when I went alone it was a little lonely and not as fun as it could be.

Just because the class is all about the basics doesn’t mean that I’m not trying to get the most out of it that I can and hopefully doing that will help me make the decision if I want to keep doing more levels. I’m really enjoying being back in class and I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I started at UCB. I’m glad to have this back in my life and I know that it’s only doing positive things for me.

I’m seriously so glad that I finally got the money together and over my fear of going back into improv class.

Back To School (or Another Round Of Improv)

I’ve been saying that this would be a goal of mine for a while, but yesterday I officially started improv classes at UCB! I was able to save up the money for the class in August, but I had to wait until there was a class time that worked with my schedule (I wasn’t going to quit my job to attend a class that lasts 8 weeks).

Finally, there was a Monday mid-day class on the registration list and I paid right away to guarantee my spot. I signed up a little while ago, so I’ve had a lot of time to think about going back into an improv class.

This is my first improv class since my beloved acting coach, Kip, passed away 5 years ago. Maybe if money and the schedule wasn’t an issue that I would have taken a class earlier this year. But before this year, I wasn’t ready to do an improv class. Kip was very influential in my life and I was scared that doing improv was going to make me sad.

Fortunately, the class didn’t do that to me yesterday. There were times that made me think of him because the lessons we were doing were identical to things I used to do in Kip’s class (which I found ironic because Kip was a founding member of a different improv company), but I think that overall the class was great and I’m looking forward to the next 7 weeks.

Besides my classes with Kip, I’ve done a couple of years of improv training with a different troupe. But because it wasn’t very well-known (even though it’s based in LA), many casting directors are asking for actors to study improv with one of the big schools. So taking this class at UCB is helping me accomplish that.

In the first class, it was a lot of introduction to improv. There are some people in the class who have never taken improv, and I needed to learn the style and rules of the improv games that UCB does. And it was a good refresher course for me to make sure that I’m the most supportive team member that I can be.

I have to say, I was very impressed with the UCB setup. I’m used to taking improv classes in a casting room (after hours) or at the theater where the shows would take place. But at UCB, they have a big building with dozens of classrooms, a theater, and a cafe. It was more like a school than a theater, and I really liked that.

UCB Classroom

I have a bit of homework to do before my next class on Monday next week, and I’m really going to try my best to get it all done plus do a little extra. Just because this is an introduction to improv class doesn’t mean I’m going to slack off. I’m taking this seriously and maybe after completing this class I will feel at home here and will continue to take the next set of classes.

I’m glad that I was able to get together the funds and a class worked out with my schedule. After taking my first class, I don’t feel the same pull holding me back from taking classes that might “replace” Kip. I’m aware that that was a weird issue to have, but because Kip was such a huge part of my life, I had trouble moving on. But I feel like I’m finally at that point and I’m excited to see how I can use what he taught me over the years in a new space with new people.

Evil Twin Brunch (or Catching Up On Life)

With being super busy with the Convention, being sick, and just trying to catch up on my day jobs; I feel like my fun time has been limited. I’ve been working on scheduling more fun things (adding them to my calendar is helping me remember to actually do the fun things and just not plan to do them). Going to the screenings helps me relax and have fun. But I also need to be social (going to the movie with a friend isn’t exactly social).

I knew my Evil Twin had the same pilot audition that I did, but we weren’t there on the same day. So I suggested that we get together for brunch to discuss our auditions and just have a fun day out.

We decided to meet up on Sunday at Luna Park (I’ve been there for dinner, but never for brunch) since it was between where we each live. We got there pretty much when they opened (we weren’t sure if it would be really crowded or not) and ordered some drinks right away.

While they have bottomless drinks for brunch, I knew I only needed one mimosa with brunch. We ordered pretty quickly so we could start with our catchup chat.

While I had a pretty good audition for the pilot, my Evil Twin didn’t have as great of a time. There were issues with the office running behind (it happens), parking difficulty, and construction blocking how you would normally walk to the office where casting was located. I was so grateful that she warned me about all of that after her audition so when I had mine the next day I gave myself extra time to deal with all of that. These issues with auditions happen from time to time, but they can throw you off your game if you aren’t expecting them.

She also told me about another audition she had this past week (I wasn’t asked to audition for that one, so it was cool to hear about it) and then we moved on to our usual random catch up.

Of course there was talk about Disneyland (she’s going when I can’t go but hopefully we can do another Disneyland day soon), family, and her cat who happened to get out the other day and seemed traumatized by whatever he saw on the other side of the door.

Eventually, our food came and I might have ordered too much because I took a really long nap at home that afternoon. But their brunch was just as delicious as their dinner and the mimosa I ordered was so strong that I couldn’t even finish half of it!

Evil Twin Brunch

After hanging out for a couple of hours, we both had to head out to do our Sunday errands. Even though it was a somewhat short visit, getting one on one time with my Evil Twin really did boost my spirits and help me feel back into the normal swing of things. It’s always good to spend time with someone who completely relates to a crazy and sometimes unknown schedule. We are lucky that we both were able to schedule our brunch easily and didn’t have to reschedule a time or two.

My schedule is still a bit crazy, but it’s starting to normalize and should be relatively normal (unless I get a ton of auditions) until Thanksgiving week. It will be nice to have some normalcy and expected things in my schedule before things get crazy again with time off at Thanksgiving (and going to spend time with my family) and the craziness that my day job experiences around the holiday. It’s so weird that I’m already thinking about the holidays, but they will be here before you know it!