Tag Archives: event

Express Headshot Day (or Another Fun Podcast Event)

Posted on October 25, 2016 | Comments Off

The podcast I work for has been trying to do lots of fun stuff for our listeners. We’ve done some pretty great parties in the past, but now we are looking to do monthly events to benefit actors and anyone else in the entertainment industry. I’ll try to remember to share these events on here in case any of you want to join in (sorry I didn’t do that before!).

Last month, we did a vocal class with Darci Monet (who is a friend of mine). It was a class for all levels and was an introduction to how she teaches. I was an observer for that class, but I had a great time and we were inspired to do more events like that. While the vocal class could have been for all levels, we know that some people might have been intimidated if they have never taken a class before. So we wanted the next event to be something that doesn’t seem to have levels of expertise so everyone felt like wherever they were in their career that it would be a great opportunity for them.

So this past weekend, we did an express headshot day. The idea of an express headshot day is to do really amazing photos for less money and taking less time than a normal headshot session. It’s great if you have one look you want to do that isn’t something you already have. Or if you are a writer and need a professional photo to use. I even joked with my friends that they could do it to have an awesome photo for an online dating profile!

We were hosted again by Acting Up Network (we will totally be partnering with them again and again in the future) and our photographer was Adam, who did my last round of headshots. I didn’t need any extra looks right now, so I didn’t sign up to do a session (and that was for the best since I got sick). But since Adam was the photographer, I knew that everyone who signed up would be getting incredible shots and nobody would be disappointed.

Not only did we feel so lucky that we got Adam as our photographer for the day, the day we had our express day was his birthday! He said that he was happy spending his birthday doing what he loves to do (he really does love taking photos), but we wanted to make sure that we didn’t forget about his birthday! So toward the beginning of the day, one of our hosts (who was getting his photos done during the express day) got some cupcakes so we could celebrate!

happy-birthday-adam

I’ve seen express headshot days in the past and they don’t always work. But Adam really had things set up to make this work the best it could. I watched almost each of the sessions, and every person left with a huge smile on their face and very impressed with some of the shots that they were able to see at the end of the shoot.

express-shoot

Doing headshots can be a fun time, but not everyone loves doing them. But it made me so happy to watch people walk in a bit nervous or unsure if they will get a good photo and walk out looking like they hit the jackpot because they got a photo that they never knew they could get.

I wasn’t able to stay for the entire event (I was there for almost 6 hours and then I needed to get home to rest), but the time I was there was really fun and inspiring to watch. I know that we are going to make these express headshot days something we do at least once a year. It was a hit and I know that good headshots are a necessity that not everyone can afford (most shoots are $300-500 and we did our express day for $100).

I feel great that we can do something that benefits others in the industry and it is something that others have done for me so I just want to keep paying it forward. If any of you want to know all the events the podcast will do (in case I forget to share it on here), I recommend signing up for the podcast email list. You’ll get an email for each episode we release, but we put podcast and community announcements in them too.

I’m not sure what our next event will be, but I have a feeling it’s going to be something else incredible!

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, event, headshots, Inside Acting, podcast

Anna Faris Is Unqualified (or Listening To A Live Event)

Posted on September 15, 2016 | Comments Off

I’ve written in the past that I’m a bit of a podcast junkie (currently, I listen to 39 different podcasts). I love podcasts and I also work for one. One of my favorites is Anna Faris Is Unqualified. If you aren’t listening to this yet, download it and I know you’ll love it! It’s so much fun and everyone on the show are always entertaining to listen to. Unqualified is one of the few podcasts that I listen to on the day that it is released and I’m sad it doesn’t have episodes more often.

A few weeks ago, they announced that they would be doing a live show for the podcast and the tickets were going to be a lottery system. Everyone applies to buy tickets by a certain date and then after that passes they select the winners and they are the ones who get to have the tickets. It’s actually a pretty great system because the scalpers can’t try to get all the tickets the second they go on sale. So I entered the ticket lottery, but since I rarely win anything I figured I wouldn’t get to go.

But then about a week ago I got the email that I won and got tickets! I was so shocked and excited! So this week my friend Erin and I went to Meltdown Comics (where the show was held) to check out Unqualified Live!

meltdown

We got there right before the doors were supposed to open and I’m glad we got there then because we were toward the beginning of the line and so many people showed up a few minutes after us. After we got checked in at the front, we all lined up in front of the Nerd Melt Showroom to wait to be let in. While we were waiting, I got to look around Meltdown a bit. I’m not a comic book person, but the store looked pretty cool and I think a ton of my friends would love going there.

comics

Once we got inside the room where the show was happening, Erin and I found some seats in the first row on the side. We were so excited to be sitting so close to stage and our great luck in getting amazing seats!

front-row

The show started with the theme song for the show being sung live by Josh Ostrander and that was really fun to experience (sorry, I didn’t get any photos of that). Then, Anna and her producer came out to start the show! And as soon as they sat down, I learned that maybe our super amazing seats weren’t as amazing as I had thought. Because this ended up being my view for a good chunk of the show.

sim-sarna

Fortunately for Erin, she was able to see just fine and I’m happy she was able to enjoy things. And it totally was my choice to sit there so I only have myself to blame.

And my view wasn’t totally ruined the entire time. When Anna brought up Allison Janney up on stage (Anna and Allison did a demonstration on how to slap another actor for a scene), they moved up toward the front of the stage so my view wasn’t as obstructed.

allison-janney

And then about after an hour I finally got the courage to tap the producer on the back to ask if he could possible move his chair back a bit so I could see. He looked so apologetic and moved his seat back so I could see the rest of the live show. I wasn’t expecting him to move his seat at all (he was busy working and making everything go smoothly), so I was so grateful that he went out of his way to make sure everyone in the audience was having a good time.

And even though I couldn’t see most of the show, that really didn’t ruin my experience. I’m used to listening to podcasts so not having a visual made it seem just like any other podcast I listen to. And just being in the room with all that creative energy made me so happy and I had the best time that night!

Toward the end of the show, Anna wanted everyone to stand up to hold hands (she ended up borrowing my hand sanitizer so she didn’t have gross hands while doing it). Because I was so close to the stage and everyone up there, I ended up holding hands with the producer and Erin and we had to stand on stage to reach. We both found it pretty funny that somehow we ended up on stage with the team for the podcast by the end of the night. It just was amazing.

After the show was done, I got to talk to some of the podcast team a bit (love talking with people who understand what it’s like to produce a podcast!) and then Erin and I got a chance to talk to Anna as well! I have to say, while all the celebrities I’ve met have been kind and generous people, Anna is on a totally different level with how wonderful she is! She was so patient taking photos and talking to everyone who wanted to meet her. She honestly was grateful for every person who got a ticket for her show. And she was just a delight to get to talk to. And of course, Erin and I had to get a picture with her.

anna-faris

While I’ve run live events for Inside Acting in the past, this has inspired me to do so much more with our next live event. Unqualified really did an amazing show and I only hope that our podcast is this much fun for our listeners as this was for me. It’s been a full day since seeing the live taping and I’m still on a high from the wonderful energy that was in the room and how much fun I had there!

I’m just hoping that they will have another live episode, I’ll be able to get tickets for it, and maybe then I’ll pick a different seat so I can experience the entire live event!

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, event, podcast, winner

I Wish I Could Go To Comic Con (or Your Chance To See The Rock Opera)

Posted on July 1, 2016 | Comments Off

A while back I wrote about the screening of “Once Upon A Time: The Rock Opera” that I got to go to. I really loved the movie and I feel so lucky that I got to check it out! I love how talented my friends are and I hope that I get to do a project as fun as the rock opera is one day. It’s really inspiring to see my friends create projects and get to see the success they have with them. Maybe “Single Parent Date Night” will be like that? I still feel as much excitement for my friends’ projects as I do for my own.

After that screening, I started to work with my friend Erin (the creator and star of the rock opera) on another project. While the other project fell through a bit (it just wasn’t something either of us could do), Erin said that she would want to work with me again. I knew that we make a pretty great team together and I’m always looking for more day jobs to add to my day job collection. Plus, I was pretty excited about that because it is awesome to work with friends and even more awesome to work with incredibly talented friends!

So when Erin asked me if I could help with the Comic-Con event that she’s doing for the rock opera, I said yes without thinking about it! She’s going to be putting on such a cool event and I knew I wanted to be a part of it. It’s going to be a sing-a-long concert plus screening. There is going to be a DJ there and lots of cool merchandise, food, and fun the entire night. It’s really going to be one of the best after parties at Comic-Con this year and I know that it will sell out in advance. I thought it was the coolest thing ever that I was asked to help out. I’ve actually never been to Comic-Con, so to get to go to an event there is a dream to me! I’ve been applying each year to get a press or performer pass, but I’ve never been successful at getting one. So any way I can get there is very exciting to me.

Then I looked at the dates of comic-con. That’s the weekend I will be back east for a family reunion so I can’t attend the rock opera party. I’m not skipping my family reunion (most of the family that will be there will be family I haven’t seen in 16 years) so there’s no way I can be there in person. While that’s a loss for me, I’m hoping that some of you will be able to attend (and maybe tell me how awesome it is)!

The event is going to be on July 23rd (doors open at 7pm and the screening starts at 9pm) at the 10th Ave Arts Center. You can buy your tickets at INDIETIX, but if order before July 5th and you enter the promo code SDCCROCKS15 at checkout you’ll get 15% off tickets!

Rock Opera Comic Con

I really hope all of you already planning on going to Comic-Con will get tickets for this party and get to experience not only a great party but such a fun movie! And if you don’t have a Comic-Con pass, this party doesn’t require one so you can come and experience a part of Comic-Con without needing to have a pass!

I’m already jealous of all of you who will get to go to the rock opera party. I know I’m missing an incredible event (it’s for a good reason but I’m still sad) but I hope that a bunch of you will be able to go! If you do, make sure you say hi to Erin for me!

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged event, friends, movies, party, screening

Missing Out On Some Fun (or Flexible Time Management)

Posted on May 12, 2016 | Comments Off

This week has been a pretty crazy busy week for me. I’ve been very busy with the day jobs, including learning how to do a new task for my research job. I now have 4 extra hours a week plus a new aspect of my job that takes up 50% of my hours. I’ve done some phone training, but we’ve also had a bunch of technical issues and it’s required so many phone calls and emails back and forth (I’m so grateful that my boss is chill about all this).

I’m very happy to have the new tasks and the additional hours because the extra money helps and I want to make sure that this day job continues beyond when my contract ends in October. But learning new things and trying to balance the hours split between the two jobs for one job has been a bit much. I’m finally starting to get into a good groove with the new work and things are much more normal, but that definitely affected the beginning of my week.

And the beginning of this week was supposed to be pretty packed with social events. But because of the stress I was dealing with from the job, I had to make the decision not to go to them.

I’m not too happy about missing the events. Both of them were actor events. And I know I’m been slacking a bit with my acting career lately. I need to make more of an effort to make my career a priority. But that’s not easy when the money-making jobs need to happen too. I thought I had figured out a good balance, but all the technical issues really made me have to reorganize my time and figure out what things had to be sacrificed. And sadly, the free acting related things had to be sacrificed over the money-making jobs.

Time management isn’t usually my weakness, but I’ve realized that flexible time management is. I get my schedule set for the week (or day), but I don’t allow for issues to come up. I have to get from one thing to another really quickly at times, and if there is a delay it can affect multiple things at once. The delay isn’t usually traffic (I typically give myself double the time I’m expecting it to take to get somewhere), but something in my life that stops me in my tracks and requires my attention before I can move on. Sometimes, these things aren’t avoidable like health issues (panic or gallbladder attacks can easily ruin an entire day). But I need to be aware of other issues that might need extra time and to build that into my day at some point.

I am glad I stayed home to work on the things I had to do, but I can’t help but feel that there may have been another way for me to deal with them and still make it to the events that I want to go to. I’ve been looking at my upcoming calendar and the fun events I have planned. I want to make sure that I can add in some flexible time in there to help make sure that I can do whatever needs to be done without missing out on the events.

I think the reason why this has never really been an issue for me before is that I’ve never been as busy as I’ve been lately. I miss the days where I only had 1 day job and that was it. It was super easy to schedule around that because my hours were pretty set and nothing would change. While my box office job hours don’t change (unless they need me to cover for someone or I have to make up hours), my research hours can be at any time. I try to do them around the same time as the box office job, but sometimes they have to be done late at night. I try to keep things as stable as possible, but life happens and since my job isn’t restricted to certain hours I can’t say that if I miss work at a certain time that I get to skip it. I have to find the time to make it up.

I can’t go back in time to fix the scheduling issues so that I could attend the events that I wanted to go to. All I can do is learn from the mistakes that I made (or the issues that I experienced) and try to make things better for me for the future. Hopefully, I can find a great way to balance out life and work and I can make acting events a priority in my life again.

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Posted in Acting, Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged acting, busy, event, job, scheduling, work

Going Out While Exhausted (or The Opposite Of Fear Of Missing Out)

Posted on September 18, 2015 | Comments Off

After all of the ENMNCon excitement, I was hoping to have a bit of a lazy week the next week. Sadly, that wasn’t going to be the case for me. Of course I knew I’d have work to catch up on and errands to do (those few days of ENMNCon seemed to take up my entire time so I didn’t do a lot of housework), but I was hoping to keep my evenings as free as possible.

I knew that there was an event that the podcast I work for was co-sponsoring on Monday evening and I had it on my calendar for a while. And I figured that somehow I wouldn’t be exhausted that evening to attend so I told everyone I would be there.

Of course, Monday comes around and the day is just beyond full for me. I was exhausted from the weekend, I had a workout in the morning, and then a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon. I had every intention of going to the party, but I didn’t think I was going to make it.

After a team phone call with everyone from the podcast (we have those every other week) I realized that everyone else was going to be there and I should try too.

I got out of my junky clothes (I don’t care to dress up to go to the doctor so I wore workout clothes) and put on some jeans and a cute top. I also tried my best to do some makeup and make my hair look better and then headed out the door.

The event was in Chinatown, so it wasn’t too far of a drive for me. I was a bit lost because the venue was on a pedestrian only street and wasn’t sure at first where to park, but I managed to find a meter (it was free at night!) and headed inside.

As soon as I got in, I knew that this was going to be a quick appearance for me. The noise and lights were bothering me and I was so tired that I wasn’t feeling very social.

I saw a bunch of my friends and managed to say hi to them all, but after about 30 minutes I was getting ready to go. Of course, I stayed long enough to be in an awesome photo with the entire podcast team!

As soon as we took the photo, I said my goodbyes to everyone and headed back home. Before I knew it, I was in my pjs on my couch catching up on my DVR (there were a lot of shows I hadn’t had a chance to watch).

I’ve written before about fear of missing out and I was scared that if I hadn’t gone to this party that I would feel that way. But I almost had the opposite reaction. I am glad that I went and said hi to my friends, but I almost regretted spending that time driving there when I knew I wasn’t going to be all in for the event.

It’s hard to say no to social obligations. And because I had told people for a while that I’d be going, I didn’t want to disappoint anyone. But I know that if I hadn’t been there and had explained that I was exhausted from a 3 day conference that people would have totally understood. But I also don’t want to let people down. It’s a struggle of balancing obligations and needs that I need to work out.

And I know that I’m going to have to focus on that struggle a lot over the next few weeks. I’ve got a lot on my plate right now and there are weeks that I’m getting very close to overbooked. I’m going to take some time between things this weekend and take a good look at my schedule. I’m going to have to decline some things that I’ve wanted to go to in order to keep myself sane. I have to focus on what’s most important in my life right now (I’m thinking day jobs, workouts, and doctors appointments) and then add in what else I can when it fits.

Hopefully that focus will allow me to stay rested and at my best self over these next few crazy weeks!

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged event, party, podcast, scheduling, tired

The Rest Of ENMNCon (or Learning How To Improve My Blog)

Posted on September 16, 2015 | 4 comments

While going to KOA and having an adventure day was fun, the main point of ENMNCon was to learn about blogging and how to make the best blog you can. When I won my tickets, that was the part that I was most excited about. While I have been blogging for a couple of years now, I still consider myself a newbie blogger. There are so many things that I don’t know how to do (or don’t know that I should do) and I want to learn as much as I can!

I’ve already talked about the first session that we had while we had lunch at KOA. The other session that we had on Thursday was in the evening at the PJ party we had at Dave & Busters at Hollywood and Highland. I’ve only been to a Dave & Busters once (I think) and I didn’t have time to check this one out too much, but I have it on my list of things I want to do around LA!

At the PJ party, Genevieve Goings (from Choo Choo Soul) taught us how to do a 5 minute face. I’m totally not a makeup person (I really wish I was!), but the instructions that she gave were pretty simple so I think I might be able to manage it! We also got some really great stuff from Pur Makeup!

The next day was a pretty full day of sessions. We were at the Hard Rock Cafe at CityWalk and I was there so early that CityWalk was basically empty (I’ve never seen it like that before!).

It was so nice of the Hard Rock to open up early just for our group! We had the entire upstairs to us and it was nice and quiet so we could hear all the speakers.

I learned so much that day! We heard from some people who work with affiliate marketing. I haven’t really ever done that before but I think it might be something great to add to here. I’d love to be able to share with you all products and businesses that I love and think you would all love too!

We also heard from some bloggers who have gone the next step with their blog. One woman has sold her blog (don’t worry, I don’t plan on selling Finding My Inner Bombshell any time soon!), another has created her own conference and has worked with legislatures, and the last one has written a book!

We also learned even more about travel blogging (I really need to look more into that!) and finally there was an expo where we got to meet with some vendors who want to work with us bloggers! I think I’m going to have some great things to share with you all very soon about some of these vendors!

The last day of ENMNCon was at the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood and Highland (where I was for the Hard Rock 5K event last year). I didn’t get a ton of pictures because I was so busy with my note taking! There’s one speaker we had that I’m going to be sharing with you tomorrow (you don’t want to miss it because I’ve got something special for you all!), but everyone who spoke was awesome! My friends Leah and Helenna were there as part of one panel so I got a quick photo with them between sessions.

After all the sessions were done, there was a tour with Starline of filming locations. I ended up missing that part, but I heard from my fellow attendees that it was amazing!

But even though I missed the last activity of the conference, my afternoon wasn’t spent sitting around doing nothing. First, I hung out at Hard Rock Cafe with some new and not-so-new friends. We had drinks and dessert (and maybe over-ordered desserts) and discussed our blogs and things that we learned over the past few days.

I also got to hang out with my new blogging buddy Jana at the host hotel. We hung out at the pool and planned to have an epic adventure the next time she comes to LA!

Overall, I’d say that my first blogging conference experience was a huge success! I learned so much and made a ton of new friends! I don’t know how many conferences I could afford to attend (especially if they aren’t local) and right now my job isn’t the most flexible one. But hopefully I will be able to do more and more of these in the near future and continue on working on bringing you all the best Finding My Inner Bombshell that I can!

Thank you again so much to the Entertainment New Media Network (especially Erica and Margaret) for putting this all together! Thanks Ventura Ranch KOA, Dave & Busters Hollywood, Hard Rock Cafe CityWalk, and Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood for hosting us! And thanks to all the sponsors who helped to make sure that we all had the most amazing time those days!

4 Comments

Posted in Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged blogging, event, Hollywood, Los Angeles

200 Episodes (or We Managed To Throw An Amazing Event!)

Posted on July 2, 2015 | 3 comments

This past Monday was the live recording of the 200th episode for Inside Acting. I still can’t believe it. It doesn’t feel that long ago that we did the 100th episode.

This time, we did another event at SAG Foundation. They are really awesome to work with and they are so helpful. We were able to set up at Q&A with the creative team from the show “Defiance”.

For the past month or so, I’ve been sending so many emails and texts trying to get this organized. I’m sure I panicked more than I needed to, but I’m a perfectionist with anxiety. I had to make sure that everything was going to be ok.

As soon as I got to SAG Foundation, I started to relax a little. We had a line of people waiting to get into the room for the Q&A! There were a bunch of listeners as well as several past podcast guests there to support us! While everyone took their seats I was hanging out in the green room with the panelists and hosts of the podcast. And before we knew it, it was their turn to head on to the stage!

During the live recording, I hung off to the side monitoring our twitter account to see if anyone was tweeting questions that they wanted to have Trevor and AJ ask the panel. And every so often, I glanced over to the audience and was so amazed at everyone who showed up to support us.

The recording went great and I think that the panel and the audience had an amazing time! And once we finished some technical stuff at SAG Foundation, we all headed over to the after party at The Parlor.

The after party was something that caused me a ton of anxiety. This was going to be set up without anyone from the podcast there. But we were fortunate that some great friends offered to get there early to set up and help our sponsors get their things set up as well.

And as soon as I got there, I breathed a sigh of relief. Not only was the after party exactly what I was hoping for, it beat my expectations so much! The place was packed and everyone was having an amazing time!

As soon as you walked into The Parlor, we had a photo booth/red carpet setup with photography from The Headshot Truck.

I know that before the event some people wondered about if the red carpet and photo booth setup would be cool together. And I’m happy to report that everybody loved it! There were some traditional red carpet photos taken, but there were way more fun photo booth style photos taken with the props that The Headshot Truck had brought for us to use.

I definitely enjoyed the photos. And since there was wifi at the venue, the photos were added to Facebook immediately (you can see all the photos on their page). I really feel like that having them there turned the party into an event!

We also had some amazing treats that Brandi from Sugar Swag Bakeshoppe made! We had some regular cookies that everyone was eating all night. But the coolest thing was the custom logo cookies that Brandi made for us!

I think those cookies were the most photographed thing at the party!

I spent a lot of time at the party running around making sure that everyone was having a good time. I wish I was able to relax a bit more, but that’s just not who I am. But from everything that I heard from everyone and that I read on social media, everyone had an amazing time.

I still can’t believe that we pulled this off. It really turned out better than I ever could have imagined. And because I feel like things need to continue to get bigger and better, I now have to top this for our 300th episode.

At least I’ve got about 2 years to plan it.

Seriously, I’m so incredibly lucky that I get to be a part of the Inside Acting Podcast team that has created an amazing community around it.

(we left a space in the middle because one of our team members was out of the country for the 200th episode)

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, celebration, event, Inside Acting, party, podcast

Celebrating 200 Episodes Of The Podcast (or Come and Celebrate With Me!)

Posted on June 12, 2015 | 2 comments

Remember a while ago how I shared that the podcast I work for was celebrating 100 episodes? Well, enough time has passed now that we are now getting ready to celebrate our 200th episode!

200 episodes of a podcast is a rarity. I hate when I find a podcast that I love and they quit after a few dozen episodes. It isn’t easy to have a podcast go up regularly (we post one once a week), so it’s something to be proud of when we hit major milestones like this!

We’ve got a 2 part celebration for our 200th and you can celebrate with us even if you aren’t in LA! Both parts of the event will be coming up on June 29th (a Monday), so mark your calendars now!

First, we will be doing a live recording at SAG Foundation. We will be doing a Q&A with the team behind the tv show “Defiance”! While this event is being done at the union, it is open to both union and non-union guests. But RSVPs are required and seating is limited. So if you’d like to join us for the first part of our 200th episode celebration, go to this link and reserve your spot. But if you’d like to watch our live recording and you aren’t in LA, that’s ok! We will be live-streaming the event through SAG Foundation’s live-stream. To join us for that, you can come to this link on the 29th at 7pm.

After what I’m sure will be an awesome recording, we will be moving from SAG Foundation to The Parlor on Melrose to have a great after party! We will be partnering with the LA Actors Tweetup for the after party and will be having a photo booth by The Headshot Truck and sweet treats by Sugar Swag Bakeshoppe.

You can see the event invite on Facebook as well. Only the recording requires RSVPs. The after party is open to all and no RSVP is needed (although you can say you are attending on Facebook so we can be excited to see you!).

This is going to be such a fun evening. I know that the live-recording will be great because we have amazing guests for it. And I think everyone can agree that an after party that has a photo booth and treats is a win!

I’m so excited to be able to celebrate the podcast’s accomplishments. Even though I am a part of the team, I’m really celebrating our two hosts Trevor and AJ. They did this podcast for a long time without ever having any help. I was the first team member added and while I helped to coordinate interviews, they still had to do so much of the work on their own. Now we have a slightly bigger team, but this is all done with the leadership of the hosts. They are the captains of the ship and we should all celebrate them for creating (and maintaining) not only an amazing podcast but the wonderful community that they have created around it.

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, event, Inside Acting, party, podcast

A Day Of Allergies (or Book Nerd Fail)

Posted on April 21, 2015 | Comments Off

This past weekend was the LA Times Festival Of Books. I was so happy to find out that I was going to be getting a media pass again.

I knew that because of my work schedule I couldn’t go for the first few things on Saturday, but I was all set to spend as much time at the event as possible.

Then I got invited to something fun on Saturday evening (more on that tomorrow) so I figured that I would go all day Sunday and maximize my time there with the media pass.

Then Sunday came and I was hit with one of the worst allergy attacks I’ve ever had.

I have no clue what caused this allergy attack (I’m severely allergic to olive trees but I’m not aware of any in my neighborhood) and it didn’t seem like it would be going away on its own. I know that this sounds gross, but I wasn’t able to breathe through my nose and it was running like a non-stop faucet. At times it was hard to catch my breath and I felt like I might throw up. I wanted this feeling go away as soon as possible so I took my allergy meds and hoped that they would kick in quickly so I could still spend the afternoon at the event.

Sadly, I wasn’t feeling better until the afternoon so I ended up missing the entire weekend.

I’m trying not to be too upset by this. None of my friends could go so I wasn’t missing any hang out time. And while there were authors and panels that I was excited to see, there wasn’t an event with one of my favorite authors like last year. And of course, there should be another event next year and hopefully I will be able to make it then. And maybe next year there will be an author that I love speaking there.

But while I was sad about missing the event, I figured that the most fitting way to try to wait out the allergy attack would be by reading. So I got to spend a nice morning and afternoon reading in bed (even though I wasn’t able to breathe through my nose and was sneezing every 2 seconds). And while I haven’t necessarily been tired lately, having a day of doing nothing really did revitalize me.

So maybe this allergy attack was just my body saying that I needed to slow down for a couple of hours and relax. And I did just that and didn’t feel guilty about it at all.

Comments Off on A Day Of Allergies (or Book Nerd Fail)

Posted in Tough Stuff

Tagged book nerd, books, event, sick

Disneyland Afternoon and Evening (or Spending Time With My Evil Twin)

Posted on February 26, 2015 | 4 comments

I recently renewed my annual pass for Disneyland. The level of pass that I have is only available for renewals, so I wanted to make sure that I renewed in time. I also made the decision to pay for the parking add-on, so I don’t have to spend $17 to park every time I go. I’m super glad I made that decision because just the other day, Disneyland eliminated the option to do a parking add-on (it’s only available now with the highest level pass which is about double the cost of my pass).

Right after I renewed my pass, I got a text from my Evil Twin Shey asking if I still had an annual pass. I told her I did and she said that she had been invited to an annual pass holder event and wanted to see if I wanted to be one of her guests! It was on this past Monday, which worked out perfectly for me!

When I got to the park, I took a few moments to enjoy the lack of crowds inside.

Good to know that Monday afternoons are pretty empty. I’ll have to go to Disneyland more often then!

Shey and her friends who were joining us weren’t at the park yet, so I decided to do a trip around Disneyland on the railroad.

I love the circle tour around the park. It’s so nice and relaxing and I get to see how crowded different areas of the park are that day. And my favorite thing is between the Tomorrowland and Main Street stations. They have the Grand Canyon and Primeval World dioramas! The Grand Canyon diorama was looking great. But when we got to the Primeval World section it was dark and covered by tarps. I guess that they were doing some work back there, but it was sad that we still were hearing the audio for the dinosaurs without getting to see them.

After getting back to the Main Street station, I realized that the parade was about to start. Since none of my friends were at the park yet, I decided to see if I could find somewhere to sit and watch it. And there was actually a bench right on the parade route with one seat left! So I sat back and watched the entire parade (I can’t remember the last time I did that).

The parade was pretty cute and as soon as the last float went past me, Shey texted me to say that they were all outside the gates of the park ready to get our wristbands for the event that evening! So I headed out to meet them and get checked in for the private event.

Since the private event in Disneyland didn’t start until 8pm, we decided to spent the first part of our time at California Adventure. Most of us wanted to ride on Tower of Terror, so that’s where we headed first. 4 of the 5 of us went on and I think we got a pretty funny photo (we are in the first row).

Next, we headed over to one of my favorite rides, Radiator Springs Racers. Again, only 4 of us rode and I think 2 of the girls in the group had never been on the ride before. We all had a great time, and our car tied in the race.

We also rode The Little Mermaid and Toy Story Mania. I rode alone on Toy Story Mania, so I couldn’t do some of the cool Easter Eggs on the ride (you really need 2 shooters for those), but I did get the second highest score in our vehicle.

Before getting some dinner, we went on California Screamin’. To make the wait shorter, we all went in the single rider line. I sat next to a guy who didn’t seem as enthusiastic about the ride as I was.

For dinner, I got baked potato soup in a bread bowl. It isn’t the healthiest thing I can get at the parks, but it’s definitely far from the worst. Plus, I kept my calories low for the beginning of the day and I know that I usually walk over 5 miles during a day at Disneyland. So the splurge was worth it (plus it was getting cold so soup warmed me up)!

Then we headed over to Disneyland where there was only about an hour before the private event started. Our first ride was Space Mountain. I decided to tell all the girls about my mom’s rule how you have to ride with your hands up the entire time. They all decided to try it and I think we all had a great time on the coaster.

After that, the park was starting to clear out. Only guests who had reserved spaces for the party could stay, and it was shocking how few people remained in the park! Our next stop was Star Tours, where we basically walked right on.

Followed by Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. I don’t know if I’ve ever walked on a ride as quickly. Shey and I rode together, and this was her first time on this ride. So I tried to help guide her to find the good targets, and I’m super impressed by her score! I never did that well on my first few times on the ride.

After Buzz Lightyear, I wanted to get an evil photo with my Evil Twin. So we found some pretty awesome evil hats for a quick photo.

One of the features of this private party were some awesome photo ops with characters that aren’t always out. We decided to check out the villains photo-op but the line was pretty insane. We guessed it would take us about an hour to get through the line, and since we wanted to maximize our time, we didn’t wait. Instead, we went on some more walk-on rides.

I love Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and I haven’t had a chance lately to ride it at night. So of course, that was next. The ride instead is already amazing, but what made it magical was what happened at the top of the mountain. The fireworks for Fantasmic were going off as we were on the ride! It was a super cheesy and magical moment that I loved!

We followed that up by riding Pirates Of The Caribbean where we got stuck for 5-10 minutes in the very beginning of the ride. It was right next to the Blue Bayou restaurant which is usually pretty busy. And it was closed during this event so it was completely empty and quiet. That was a little creepy. We finally got moving again and by the time we got off the ride, I realized that I only had time for another ride or two before I wanted to head home.

I really wanted to ride the Storybook Canal Boats at night to see all the buildings lit up. Plus, they recently added a “Frozen” section and I wanted to see how it was done. As soon as we got into the main part of the ride, I gasped. It looked amazing and beautiful!

The archways were all lit up with fairy lights and I really enjoyed the new “Frozen” castles.

I was planning on leaving then, but as we walked by Dumbo we realized that nobody was in line! I’ve never seen Dumbo without a crazy line, so of course we went on Dumbo!

I got my elephant all the way to the top and just spent the ride up in the air checking out all the amazing lights and sights of Fantasyland.

And as we were leaving the park, we noticed a dance party going on with a princess DJ and a guy walking around with a glass slipper. So we got a final group picture with the glass slipper.

By then, I had been at Disneyland for about 10 hours. It’s not the longest I’ve been there, but it was almost midnight so it was the latest I’ve been there. Plus I still had a drive home and had to work the next morning. But even though I left before the rest of my group, I felt like I had a super wonderful and full day at Disneyland!

I’m so grateful that my Evil Twin invited me to this event. It’s a rarity to see the parks so empty and I got to ride pretty much all of my favorite rides! This was the perfect way to start another year of having an annual pass!

4 Comments

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged annual pass, California Adventure, Disneyland, event, rides, theme park

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