Overwhelmed.

I have so much to write about I don't even know where to begin.

Maybe I should start with my friend Lauren's visit from Australia and how excited she got over the prices of everything ("everything's hell cheap here!!") and driving into the 90210. How we went out to a gay club in WeHo for monster sweet tea vodka cocktails and were the only girls gawking at the half-naked guys dancing on the bar, and how the next morning, hungover, we went out for her first American pizza.  How we threw her a movie-style Frat party, complete with keg, toilet-papered bushes, and an all-night game of flip cup.  How much fun it was having her around, and how I considered my sightseeing with her a bit of a goodbye LA for me.

Or maybe I need to tell you that we had to put Chick's sweet kitten Gumshoe to sleep; the news hit us like a stab in the back, completely unexpected, he had kidney failure and a mass in his abdomen. He was only 2 months old. The house feels so empty without him hopping around like a little bunny, sunning in the windowsill, or going all cutest monster on our toes with his tiny snake-mouth teeth. Some things just aren't fair, but he certainly was smothered with love from us, and we miss him.

Or maybe I should bypass the sad stuff and describe how our house is buzzing with creativity in preparation for our art show, Unstill Life, in Hollywood tomorrow. If any of you are in LA, please come by and check out the show - there's tons of original art, from paintings to sculptures to video, even an interactive exhibit, and there'll be live performances and free wine and cheese! Here's the information for our Friday show: Side Work Presents: Unstill Life. And our Tuesday show at the Magic Castle: Unstill Life at the Castle.

Or maybe I should try not to sound like an advertisement (sorry, I'm excited!) and just get to the big news...

I've been cast in Atlas Shrugged. It's a movie adaptation of the Ayn Rand book and I'm a real character with a name and lines. I'm stunned.

I found out on the same day that I sold all my furniture; I am literally sleeping on a mattress (sold, just not picked up yet) on the floor surrounded by boxes in a room someone else is moving into in two weeks. Have you ever heard that when you let go of something, it happens? Well, that is the damn truth. I've been working hard, waiting for an opportunity like this for 6 years, and just when I finally decide I'm ok without it & will be happier doing something else, here it is, slamming into my life like a pie in the face - I don't know whether to laugh or cry, but it sure does stop me in my tracks.

Filming has started, but they think they won't need me until July, so that postpones my road trip and move home indefinitely. I have mixed feelings about that; I want to do the movie (I'd be crazy not to!) and at the same time, I just want to go ahead & get on the road. I was all prepared to move, to start new, and now this almost feels like the past has reached out and grabbed me by the back of the neck. Don't get me wrong, I'm estatic for this opportunity & experience, and I'm so very grateful for it. I guess it just goes to show you can't plan your life, you just have to accept it as it comes...

On top of all that, it is effing cool to see my name in Variety!!! Check it out: Cameras roll on 'Atlas'


Today I am SO incredibly happy & grateful for:
~ having Gumshoe & giving him a good, loved life
~ hanging out & being crazy with Loz from Oz
~ letting go
~ being creative & productive
~ unexpected opportunities
~ the biggest acting job I've ever gotten
~ making myself happy - everything else just falls into place

xo! n.