Blogger Guilt

Ever have those moments of blogger guilt when your life gets so incredibly busy that you barely have time to shower, let alone write about it?

Yeah, that's so me right now.

My days are 15 hour days where literally the only things I do are school, work, sleep and repeat.  It's been hard but in a good way.  I love having a busy schedule and going to school and working.

Plus, it's great for my diet, not having time to eat and all.  Kidding.  Sort of.

Now, on my first day off (no school or work, squee!!!) the first thing I do upon waking is order a big lunch from my fave Indian restaurant and get online to catch up on all the other bloggers that I stalk follow and finally write a damn update.

This week at work has been great tho.  I work at a restaurant and because it's been so freakin' frigid (actually in the negatives at night, ugh..) business has been down, but the owners have been fighting against that by doing different entertainments.  So, even when I'm locked away at work I'm still getting a little culture.

Wednesday nights are Jazz Nights.  We got an amazing group of musicians that come in and play for 3 hours.  A few women in the restaurant sang jazz so they each came up and sang a few times which was a lot of fun.  At one point our bartender, who has a beautiful voice, got up and sang.

Then on Thursdays we have a belly dancer and Moroccan band.  The belly dancer was great; she was very friendly and very talented.  She pulled people up from their tables and danced with them and everyone had a great time.

Other than that not much has been happening outside of school and work.  Thanks to some good time management skills I've been able to stay on top of school work and have been doing pretty well, all in all.

Next goal?  Using said time management skills to insure that I have time for blogging during the week.  Only having time to write just once a week?  

That shit sucks.

My walk to school

Last week, after the snowstorm, I was on my way to school and I was inspired by how beautiful the snow had made everything.  Even tho I had been walking the same way to school for 4 months everything looked brand new and breathtaking and I just had to take some pictures to share with everyone.

I just love snow.

If anyone is wondering, this is all in Gramercy/Chelsea. :)

You are what you read

The other morning I rolled over and one of the first things my eyes landed on when they opened was the stack of books on my nightstand.

Now, I'm a big believer of the saying "You are what you read."  It's true.  What you read says a lot about you.  About your personality, secret hopes, fears, dreams, whatever.

I think it's certainly true in my case:

Let's evaluate, shall we?  What I've been reading (from the bottom up):

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
Vampire Academy: Last Sacrifice - Rachelle Mead
The Secret Holocaust Diaries - Nonna Bannister
The Secret - Rhonda Byrne
Full Dark, No Stars - Stephen King
Classy - Derek Blasberg
The New Yorkers - Cathleen Schine
Bogus to Bubbly - Scott Westerfeld
Audition - Michael Shurtleff

From this list I would think the reader was perhaps in their 20's with an eclectic taste.  Perhaps leaning towards the dark issues when the mood strikes but also with a whimsical outlook on life.  Someone that cares about their image and wants to improve in life.

Then again, I could just be projecting who I'm hoping I am.

Who knows. 

I do know that I have excellent taste in books.  Dragon Tattoo is a reread for me.  I am in love with the trilogy and was so disappointed when I read that Larsson's father and brother (who control his estate) won't be allowing the release of the 7 additional books that he wrote, intending the trilogy as a series.

Audition is a great, quick read for any actor.  I read it for my Auditions I class and thought it had some great info.

Who doesn't love Stephen King?  Fantastic storyteller.  He's one of the very few authors whose short stories I bother to read.  This one is a collection of 4 that a very dark.  

The Vampire Academy series I started reading because Mead is a Seattle author and it was her first book.  I go out of my way to support local authors when I have the cash to spend.  It turned out to be an interesting story with a slightly different take on vampires.

I read so much.. I probably spend far, far too much on books.  This is what prompted me to finally purchase an e-reader.  I once said I would never make the switch from actual books to an electronic device.

That was before I moved to one of the most expensive cities in the world.  With no space.

Yeah.  So after a few days of research I settled on the Kindle 3G.  It should be arriving in a couple days and I am extremely excited.  What really sold it for me was this 1 series that I've been longing to reread.  Unfortunately most of my book collection was left in WA due to the fact that if I brought all my books I would have had to rent a whole other apartment to house them all.  Because this series is packed away among the many boxes it wouldn't be feasible to ask my parents to go searching thru all the boxes for these 5 books.

I would love to just buy them again but bookstores no longer carry them.  I looked them up online and can get them but I would have to pay almost full price and shipping. 

The Kindle has each book for less than $5.  After seeing that I was sold.

Hard to beat that, no?

Life flipped - Part 2

So, after my first night of work I literally limped into my apartment.  Yes, literally.  I underestimated how "comfortable" my short-heeled boots were.  

Never again.

Second evening tho, I was much more prepared.  Cute little brown flats to go with my maroon and brown hostessing outfit.  Except tonight was so slow we closed early.  Wish I could complain about that but after a 7 hour school day, working just 3 and a half hours totally drained me.  

I did meet the other owner tho.  And he had heard about my impressive first day.  He was so impressed with my performance, with my personality and my way with people that he asked me to start paying attention to all the other positions in the restaurant so that if anyone ever needed help I could jump in and lend a hand.  He also told me the reason he wanted me to do this was because they decided that I would be the perfect person to fill the manager position in a couple months (!!!) and they couldn't be happier to have me as part of their team.

I about ran out of there.  I seriously couldn't believe it.  I mean, let's face it.  I've been slacking on my "gainfully employed" life for the past, oh I dunno, forever.  So when I find a job that's something I enjoy and to be actually recognized as a valuable asset to the business so early on is incredible for me.

I am so extremely grateful to have been given these opportunities and I have felt so blessed by God.  

I only hope that I can continue the good work and show my bosses what I am capable of.

PS Sorry for such a brief post but it is so late and I am BEAT.  I'll have more details (and pictures!) tomorrow.  I don't work again until Tuesday.  :) 

Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped turned upside-down..

Ever since New Years I've been trying to write as often as possible which, let's face it, could have probably written about 7 entries with all my free time, but yeah.  ANYWAY.

I started work.

I know, I can hardly believe it either.  First day was Friday after class.  Here's a breakdown of my schedule:

7 AM  Wake up.
9:10  Start walking to meet Mare.
9:30  Meet Mare at our regular corner.
10  Comedy class starts.
1PM  Break for lunch.
2  Voice Over class.
5  Classes done.
5:15  Arrive at work.
6:45  Super slow, but thank God since it's my first day.
7:30  SLAMMED with customers.  So many that we ran out of menus.
11:45   Last table leaves, all 9 of them.
12:30 AM  Walk in front door of my apartment.
2  Fall asleep, finally.
7 AM  Wake up and repeat.

Seriously, I'm not complaining in the least.  Even though we were so busy every table was full, we only had 1 waitress, the bartender had to come out from behind the bar to waitress and there was no one to train me.. I actually had a lot of fun.

People didn't realize it was my first day; I was able to help the waitress and bartender by taking over a couple of their duties (refilling water, taking a few drink orders, delivering checks and uncorking wine bottles) and I did it well.

I want to say now that I have never worked as a hostess before.  Nor a waitress.  Hell, I've never even worked in a restaurant before.  And if I'm being completely honest, the past year and a half have been spent completely on school.  The last job I had was summer of '09 working as an office assistant for my dad.  Not exactly a demanding position, ya know?

But I have never felt so good about myself as I did Friday night.  Actually working my ass off at a job that I got without any contacts or pulling any strings.  

And I did really, really freakin' good too.

Booyah.

Snowstorm Aftermath

So, I didn't get my much hoped for snowday.  I was so positive that we'd get one that I didn't hesitate to B's suggestion to take our pups out at midnight to play around in the storm.  I ended up not getting to bed until about 2 and then I was up at 7 getting ready for my first official day back at school.  

Even tho I was a bit tired, I think venturing out into the blizzard was completely worth it.  It was gorgeous and our dogs love trying to catch snowballs and running around in the snow.  

As you can see we ended up with about 8 inches.  None of the schools or colleges in NYC closed tho, thanks to the city's advance planning.  Jersey and Connecticut weren't so lucky and ended up having to dig themselves out yesterday and today.

In other news my girlfriend Mare and her bf BK and I ended up at a little bar/bistro by our school after classes yesterday.  We stopped in for some wine and got to catching up with each other (well, BK and I.  Mare and I kept in touch thru-out break) and just BSing.  It was a lot of fun.  

Since B works just down the block I stayed at the bar and waited for him.  After chatting the bartender for a bit (she was super nice) we got on the subject about jobs and whatnot.  I (kinda jokingly) asked if they were looking for a hostess and she said they actually were.  She grabbed the manager and he met with me and we talked.. And now I'm going back tomorrow after classes to see how I do.

I'm not sure if I'm excited or scared.  I've never hostessed before but my friend's have said it's not hard to pick up.  


Ahh!  I finally got a job.

Guess we'll see how I do tomorrow.  
I got some great pics too:

First walking out the door.

Down the path with the pups.

Pretty pic.

Snow was coming down hard.

Always time for an old fashioned snow angel!

Jake in the snow.

Lila in her Seahawks jersey.

We were playing on the hill and Jake didn't quite catch his snowball.

Some of the Christmas lights are still up.

The AC right before bed.  8" total.

Let it snow!

Third snowstorm to hit Manhattan in 3 weeks.. I wasn't here for the first one, which I was bummed about.  I went home to Seattle for Christmas and planned to fly back the 28th.  Unfortunately a blizzard blew in and stranded me on the West Coast until Jan 2nd.  I have a serious love for snowstorms.

Tonight they're expecting about 9 inches to fall overnight.  Currently we have almost an inch.  I use an extremely scientific method to measure the snow accumulation.  Observe:

Almost an inch in just an hour.

A few other pics:

Somehow this ended up as a snowball and on B.

A pic of all the snow coming down.

View from 11 floors up.  Gorgeous.

Don't tell any of my teachers but I'm praying to the snow gods that they'll deliver tonight.  I could definitely use a couple more days off.  My break ended officially on Monday, but as my first class isn't until Wednesday I've gotten an extra long break.  2 1/2 weeks just aren't enough, especially in NYC when there is SO much to do.

I know, I know.  Cry me a river, right?

I'll shut up now.

New Year's Resolutions

OK, OK.. I don't even want to know how many ladies out there have a New Year's Resolution of writing (and keeping) a blog but this year I am determined to do it.  I've roped my fiance, B, into this project to help keep me accountable.  He was super excited about that.  Heh.

I never know what to write on these first posts (yeah, not exactly my first blog..) so I suppose I'll go to the old standby and blabber on about myself.  That's interesting, right?

Anyway.

I'm a 20-something girl that sold everything to follow my dream to move to Manhattan and become a professional actor.  I auditioned for a highly competitive acting conservatory in March of 2009, was accepted and by end of July I had an apartment signed and we moved to NYC in August.

The fiance, B, was incredibly amazing and supportive throughout the whole process.  And when I was accepted he gave up our comfortable life in Seattle to follow me to NYC without a single complaint.  We sold our house, our cars, most of our furniture and possessions.  What we didn't sell, my parents graciously let us put into their storage warehouse that they own. 

One of the hardest things to leave behind was my collection of books.  I own literally thousands of books.  A rough estimate would be somewhere around 5,000 to 7,500 books. 

Crazy, I know.

But what is even crazier is selling a 2,300 sq ft home to move into a 550 sq ft, 2 floor walk up with 2 dogs. 

I've done crazier shit.  Believe me.