My Country Estates

Being that traffic laws are what they are in the city, I've decided to store my car at my "country home" for the winter, i.e. Viking Boyfriend's apartment an hour outside the city.

After rehearsal last night I got in my car and started driving out to 90. There's something so familiar and refreshing about getting in a car and going somewhere that the El can't take you. Trying to get out of the city and on to 88, I know how a hot wheels car feels, minus the loops.

I munched on raisins and pretzel goldfish until I approached The Estates where I saw a raccoon, wildlife! All I ever see in the city are dogs, cats, and the parrot that lives across the hall, and I screeched like I had never seen one in my life. Today I hope to see a possum, or perhaps a squirrel.

I fell asleep, woke up, and found an e-mail in my inbox: "thank you for your interest..." It was a job I was qualified for and they even offered to let me interview for management. It felt like it was a matter of filling out the paper work. I have more promising leads that I'm really excited about, so here's hoping.

In the mean time Viking Boyfriend is going to play his guitar and drive with me to Dunkin Donuts. I'll get the oil changed, my new Illinois driver's license, and an iced coffee.

The Sniffles

I went to sleep last night with the sniffles and woke up feeling ache-y and drained. I committed to staying in bed all day and eating leftover pesto and jelly beans, but I do feel very accomplished! I registered my ipass and applied for one job which will hopefully lead to an awesome theatre gig.

When I was in college, two long years ago, I imagined I would have a part time job until I was accepted for an internship. Then I would get a full time job in the artistic department of a theatre company during the day, stage manage at night, and would give me weekends or Mondays off to write and submit plays to theatre companies.

My part-time summer job was extended and the internship applications kept bouncing back with "thank you for your inquiry but..." letters, and internship offers I wasn't sure I wanted. I had these moments of panic where if I got an internship doing something I didn't want to do that it's all I'd get hired for in the future. So I'd refuse them or botch the interview and apply somewhere else.

Instead of hoping the opportunities would come to me from afar I decided to bring myself to the opportunities and move to Chicago just to see where it would take me in my career. I had a plan for that too which didn't pan out. What has served me the best since I've been here is applying for things I would really love to do and trying my best to prove to the company how much I really want to be there. That way I feel like I'm not cheating myself and the company is getting a highly motivated and enthusiastic employee. That's what we in show business like to call a "win, win" situation.

I'll keep you updated as always and try to share the secrets of my success when I have them...secrets or success, whichever comes first!

picture via

Post Christmas Sale-ing

I want to post some things that Mom scored at post-Christmas sales. We've never been a hardcore Black Friday shopping kind of family, but we decided it would be fun for Mom and me to go shopping on the Mag-Mile and the Loop when she came to visit. After getting some awesome stuff at low prices, I might have to make shopping after x-mas a tradition.

 I finally found a pair of red jeans. They also match the new addition to the apartment, my new vacuum! We were getting pretty overrun by dust bunnies so I am very glad to have it.

I've been on the hunt for a pleated skirt since this fall, but couldn't seem to find one the right length or a color that I liked; this one is perfect! Fourth, rust orange jeans (and the re-appearance of the Lebowski sweater). They look more brown in this picture, but I assure you they are a funky 70s shag carpet colored orange. They looked so darn cute and unique peeking out from under my long winter coat.

  

 Lastly, a Chicago local staple, a big chunky scarf. Were I to hang it on my neck it would drag the floor, and it's so thick it's impermeable to wind. I love it.

Did anyone else score some good stuff at the after Christmas sales?





2012: The Eve

I know it was my first New Year's Eve in the "big city" but even when I lived in Columbus driving downtown to pay for an expensive ticket to drink and eat and having to drive home in traffic didn't seem like a real party. In college I'd gone party hopping from house to house, and last year I rang in the new year with close friends at a small bar near my house, which was one of my favorite New Year's celebrations. But since I don't have a ton of friends living here (yet) and therefore no place to hop, I was kind of stuck about what to do this year.

Luckily Viking-Boyfriend cast his anchor in Chicago for the weekend so we could do something together. The only thing I truly cared about was being able to wear the new dress Mom bought me while she was here for a whopping $18! Post-Christmas sales: worth the crowds.

First, Viking boyfriend used his new Ninja blender to make pesto penne with roasted grape tomatoes and goat cheese crumbles. I am guarding the leftovers in the fridge.

We decided to go to a movie in Evanston, specifically this movie which was awesome. The bartender in the theater tried to scare us by saying that there were a lot of walk-outs due to confusion about the plot, but assured us that the presence of Viking Boyfriend's beard was proof that we were intelligent enough to handle it, and we were! That beard is magic I tell you. But we were the youngest audience members by about twenty years, and the blue-hair next to me threw her arms up in the air every time someone drew a gun.

We peeked in a bar on the way home and realized that the ball already dropped. We're on central time so it happens at 11pm instead of midnight which was kind of funny. We drove home just in time to ring in the New Year with Roommate and our neighbors. They got locked out of their apartment and the their other roommate had the keys, so we came in to them laying on the floor (damn it I need to buy a couch) and watching this until midnight. Then I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and went to bed at a respectable hour.

Since I only got one drunk dial from my brother, I'm curious, what did everyone else do for New Year's Eve?

Post Title: 2011

I wasn't particularly in the mood to be retrospective today, especially since I don't feel like I've accomplished a lot this past year. But as I started looking through pictures it made me want to do a little re-hashing.

January:

I was working Wildlights at the zoo back in Columbus and still teaching children's theatre. I started interning and Stage Managing for a local start-up theatre company and met some pretty rad people along the way. This is also about the time that I put in applications for spring internships in Chicago, and didn't get any of them. One offered me an education internship once another person dropped out, but I couldn't justify uprooting for something I wasn't really in to.

February: 

I started interning and stage managing for these guys for the Valentine's day show, which is easily one of the best and most hilarious things I've ever done in the name of entertainment. Viking Boyfriend and I celebrated 3 years, check out those mutton chops! People would stop their cars to compliment his fine beard accomplishment.

March:

Viking Boyfriend and his family invited me to Florida. We hung out on the dog beach, layed out by the pool, and contracted the stomach flu. Boo. I finished house managing for Bat Boy the Musical.

April:

Major freaking life change!!!...I got bangs. I swiftly grew them out afterwards deeming them too much work. That's all I got April.

May:

SM'd and wrote for the SBN Two in the Pink show. We ran (in a lobster suit and felt blanket lamb-y pants) for Race for the Cure in Columbus. It was discovered that Bill did not, in fact, have the stomach flu from March, but a bum gal bladder which was hastily dispatched.

June:

My golden year birthday began, 23 on the 23rd. I made two cakes, had too many drinks, and danced allllll night. Speaking of partying...went to this and will recommend it to everyone in the central Ohio area for the rest of my life.

July:

My cousins Hannah and Hayden and my aunt Beth came to visit from Louisiana. Not wanting them to be bored we carted them to King's Island, Cosi, the Zoo, and Zoombezi Bay. On the third or fourth day they practically begged to stay home and watch TV.

August:

Working Zoo Crew for the summer which is one of the most fun jobs ever. Just walking around the park, talking to people, and playing games with kids. Oh, and meeting Mr. Jack Hannah! Also, I finished the original Star Wars trilogy. Indeed.

September:

Celebrated Ms. E-Rose's birthday and decided that I needed to start looking for an apartment in Chicago. Although I don't have photos of that glorious process I can tell you that it was fun and nerve wracking. "Is it close to the el? Is heat included? What the hell is the matter with that tub?!"

October:

SBN had their Halloween show which I regret that I didn't take more pictures of. I started saying my goodbyes, to my teaching job, my job at the zoo, and to Ohio and everyone I adore that lives there. It

was still is extremely scary and I miss the consistency of life there every day. But you have to take risks, and I'm just working towards the pay off.

November:

I moved in to my first "big girl" apartment although it's still hard to consider it that. I went on three interviews and filled out fifty or more applications and was hired on as a production assistant to a theatre company. Went home for Thanksgiving to see the family and started to feel homesick.

December:

Everything starts to fall ever so slightly in to place. I get in to a routine of rehearsals and talking on the phone to a lot of close friends, and I started this blog! Inspired by the numerous blogs I read every day I thought I'd give it a shot. Some 20-something young professionals must be feeling the way I feel so why not put it out there? Besides that Mom was very encouraging about me starting a blog so she'd know how I was doing...not that I don't call her on a daily basis.

Stay classy 2011.