oh the places you'll go!

last night my roommates, teeter & chick, took me out for an early bon voyage celebration.  we had cocktails and appetizers (tails n teasers, as we like to call 'em), salads, and delicious seafood meals...  at red lobster.  yup.  classy, huh?  it is hilarous to me that some of our favorite traditions involve places like red lobster & the olive garden; i'm usually not a fan of chain restaurants & would much rather find a local gem, but duuuuude, teeter gets gift cards to the ol' lobster every year - we racked up a bill of $120 and ended up having to pay only $16 (plus a nice tip, of course)!  com'on you know you'd do it too.  besides, their cheesy biscuts are to die...

anyway, during that dinner, they asked me for my itinerary, so now like 4 people have asked for it so i can actually say this entry is by popular demand.  well, maybe popular as in the coolest kid in a small group of nerds, not really popular.  i digress.

i leave LA on october 17 & arrive in Sydney the morning of Oct 19  (it is SO weird to me that the 18th of october, 2009, won't exist in my life - my flight's only 15 hours but bc of the time difference i skip an entire day!)

then: Sydney shenanigans!

i leave Sydney for a 3 day adventuring bus tour to Melbourne on Oct 24 & arrive in Melbourne Oct 26.

then: Melbourne madness!

on Halloween (and i just realized i'm going to be staying in a possibly super-creepy population 4 town on halloween night... this is not good. i do not do well with creepy things) i leave Melbourne for another 3 day adventuring bus tour to Adelaide.

then: Adelaide amazement!

i leave Adelaide November 7 for a 6 day adventuring bus tour to the Red Center & Alice Springs.   I'll be flying out to Perth on November 13 - friday the 13th!  Ack!  why are things creepy?!?

then i get to hang out with my super good friend AB & her fiancee the Scot & work the Awesome Arts Festival (yes, that is the real name of it) for some Perth pleasantries.

i fly out of Perth and across the continent to Cairns Dec 8.  i'm not sure at this point how long or what days i'll be in Cairns & when i'll be heading out on a boat to sail the Whitsunday Islands, but it'll be Queensland Quaziness until i fly out Dec. 15.

I'll arrive back in LA around 4:30pm Dec. 15, all tan & exhausted, with loads of pictures and juicy stories, i'm sure.  :)

all images via we heart it 

today i am so happy & grateful for:
~ it's raining & chilly in LA!
~ good times with good friends
~ feeling confident in my self & brave enough to take this adventure

xo! n.

git 'er dun

i really enjoy bartending. everyone loves the bartender; she's everyone's buddy. it can get stressful when you're slammed and it's not great being on your feet for long hours, but generally it's easy work (tho i still get nervous that someone's going to ask for something i don't know how to make) and people are usually nice to you because A: they want a good pour, and B: you're making them happy & drunk. it's a win win.

this year at NASCAR we had the usual drunk rednecks (best - and by best i mean worst - shirt i saw, on a skeezy old guy of course, was: "i'm not a gynecologist but i'll take a look." VOMIT), there were so many toothless smiles, and one guy, "plumber jerry," asked to touch my hair & said he wanted to lick my head - ewwww. luckily, the bar is deep, metal, and you'd have to go through the kitchen to get behind it, so we had a good safety buffer.

pretty sure i served this guy a jack & coke or a coors light...

my favorite customer this year - and by favorite i mean favorite - was Sue. she was THE sweetest lady & she wasn't even drinking. first, she tipped me really nicely & the bar was slow so we got to talking. she liked to rhyme in a sing-song-y way; she'd say things like "hi my name is sue, how do you do!" adorable. she was so bright and happy - every time she came back to the bar she called me "my angel" and on the last day of the races, she brought me & my roommate starbucks gift cards and fresh doughnuts! how cute. i wish i'd gotten a picture with her. loved her.

in other news...

i leave saturday. holy crap. yesterday i did a test backpack pack & i'm pretty sure i can get everything i need in there. it's going to be dang heavy, but i can do it. made lists (i love lists) of things i need to put into my carry-ons, what goes in which bag, what i need to pack the day of my flight... sigh. i'm excited but i'm weighted down by the minutia...

all images via we heart it

found out my friend T is coming to cairns with me; she got her ticket! i haven't even thought much about that leg of the trip yet, i've been so focused on the first part of it, so hopefully everything will work out awesome with her there. i haven't seen her in years, so it should be interesting :) but she's an independent girl & i'm confident we'll get along just fine.

coming soon, by popular demand (and by popular i mean requested by my parents), i'll post my basic itinerary so y'all have an idea when i'll be where. i seriously can't believe i leave so soon. that is knuts.

today i am so grateful & happy for:

~ cash tips

~ free food & goodies

~ psssst! dry shampoo (i can be all dirty unshowered & you won't even know it *evil laugh*)

xo! n.

feed your ears

Last night i saw my friend, the ever-wonderful (or as our italian friend likes to say, "wouuuuuunnderrrrfoooool"), RJ Chesney play live.  his album's coming out next month - i'll be continents away! :( - and if you like old folk & stripped-down gospel, you'll love it.

promo photo - i think this is going to be the front of his album, "Wayward Son"

i left after he played bc i was woooorn out, but before he went on, i got to see two really great female artists & i wrote their names down because i really enjoyed them.

  Sarah Roberts sounds like a mix between Dolly Parton and Joni Mitchell, but i say that only in comparison, not to take anything away from her originality.  her lyrics really caught & held me, and her phrasing & musicality kept me interested to hear what was coming next.   unfortunatley, i came in just at the last two songs of her set; i really would've liked to hear more.

Julia Jordan is acoustic optimism.  her songs are poppy and catchy and not too deep (the ones i heard anyway) and they're just happy.  she's got a great stage presence too; she was friendly and warm & i felt like i could've chatted with her after the show... if i hadn't been so dang tired.

i love going to see live local music.  i love discovering new (to me) artists. love it love it love it.

i'll be away bartending the NASCAR races in Fontana this weekend so i'm not sure if i'll be posting anything.  if i do, it'll be from my phone (so you'll get a taste of what my australian posts will mostly be like) and it might not be the most inspiring of posts - we work looong hours on our feet & i'm usually exhausted - but they might be pretty unintentionally funny.  later potaters!

today i am so grateful & happy for:

~ a great conversation with an old friend

~ new music

~ my favorite radio station coming in clearly this morning

xo! n.

 

team awesome

last night i went out with a friend & we stumbled across a triva contest at my favorite dive bar. we didn't win but we did have a great time, got butted out of musical chairs (literally - i was shoved out of the way by some dudes big butt), had a draw-off, had a very honest conversation, and drank a bit too much. my head is tired. but i'm happy, and i'm drawn to happy images. so today i just want to express my gratitude that the following three things exist in the world:

adorable animals

i'm usually anti-pet-clothes, but oh my these are so effing cute!

brightly colored shoes! too fun.

blissfully happy babies

that baby is sooo happy to be covered in noodles - noodlebaby!

and the boy in the fountain looks just like my brother when he was little.

i love it! (all images via we heart it - obviously i heart we heart it)

what are three things that express joy to you today?

xo! n.

creaky & musty...

...are the best kind of books - crack them open and smell the pages and imagine who read them before you...
i love to read.  i always have.  as a kid, i would go to the library with a canvas bag & literally fill it with books.  i used to read 3 or 4 books at a time, sometimes more - and by books i mean novels with chapters, we're talking about middle school here - and somehow keep them all straight.  i'm not really sure how i did it, though i have been known still, on occasion, to vacillate between two books, as long as they're different genres; sometimes i need to take a breather from a heavy drama with a silly rom-com.  and i think it's rare not because i've grown out of it, but because i just don't have the time to read much anymore or the room in my brain to keep track of multiple plots on top of all the other crap i've shoved in there.

however, the one situation in which i know i'll have time to read is on an airplane - and i'm gonna have a LOT of airplane time on the way to Australia!  i generally go to the library for books, but when i'm traveling, i always let myself buy at least one book in the airport.  they're more expensive, i know, but it's a treat i indulge in to reward myself for the patience it takes to travel.

this trip is different, though.  i have to carry everything i bring on my back, so i do not want to be lugging around big fat juicy books that i've already read  - because i DEVOUR books on planes - i've read three whole novels (300+ pages) on a trip before, so you know they don't stand a chance.  a lot of hostels have book exchanges, which sounds perfect - it'd give me something to read on the way back - but i don't want to spend $25 on a book i'm going to give away.  SO today i went to the bargain rack at barnes & noble to find myself a cheap, lightweight read under $10.

not an easy task for such an indecisive book-lovin' girl.

i was seriously in the book store for an hour - and the parameters were strict: under $10, paperback, fiction - can you imagine how long i would've been standing there if i were willing to buy any book my little heart desired?  i had a pile of books around me; i read a page or two of one, gauged how much i wanted to read more, sorted it accordingly & moved on to the next book... over and over...

this could easily be me - i've sat in the most uncomfortable places for hours because i was really into the book i was eating (ahem) i mean reading.

finally, i narrowed it down to three: a historical drama, a historical romantic comedy (man, i'm a sucker for historical fiction), and a modern comedy/makes-you-think.  it was sooo hard to decide!  but i ended up buying the historical drama & modern comedy - that way, if i get all historied out, i can switch to something modern & funny.  these are the books:

hmm... wonder if you can tell which is which?  ;)

nope, they're not classics, and nope, i didn't get the one because Oprah endorses it - i don't even watch Oprah - i got them because the first paragraphs hooked me.  hopefully i won't embarrass myself by talking or laughing out loud, gasping, crying or flinching while reading them on the plane - yes, yes, i do do all of those things.  my roommates make fun of me for it.  but what can i say, i really get into a good book.

can i puh-lease have this staircase in my house when i grow up?

all images (except the two book covers) via we heart it

what are your travel indulgences & favorite ways to pass the time?

today i'm so happy and grateful for:

~ the written word

~ getting things sorted for my trip

~ dinner & drinks with friends before i leave

xo! n.

looking back

So, today i tackled another thing on my to do list : my taxes.  yup, that's right, i work for an accounting firm & i've been procrastinating doing my own taxes since february.  what a turd.  anyway, i finally buckled down & got all my info together, and in trying to figure out what big expenses i can write off as acting expenses, i got out my 2008 calendar.

oh my, how interesting that was.  early 2008 feels like five years ago; i have changed so much.

in 2008, i felt like a mess.  i felt like everything was out of my control and that i was spinning my wheels, going crazy reaching for something that was just barely beyond my fingertips.  i looked to other people to make me feel better about myself.  i was doing the best acting of my life, but i was frustrated to the point of bitterness with the state of my acting career; i wanted to believe every company and workshop that said they had the key to my success, and then was angry at myself for my empty wallet when they, of course, did not.  i was stuck.

in october 2008 - one year ago - i had a gut-wrenching, sob-til-you're-gasping-for-air, paralyzing breakdown.  and, though it didn't feel like it (but i knew, deep down, even then) it was really a breakthrough.

i decided to allow myself to not be an actor.  i decided to give myself a break.  i realized most things are out of my control & it's much better to let things be.  i decided to get off the packed-gym-treadmill of this career and go sit quietly by myself in the grass.  i decided to allow myself to be single, directionless, and lazy for the first time in my adult life.  and subsequently, i re-calibrated my views of "failure" and "success."

i've been growing like weeds ever since.

in letting go of my idea of what a "professional actor" is, i've become so much more fulfilled as an artist, not just an actor-for-hire.  creative opportunities have found me, without me looking for them.  in being single, i've discovered what i actually want in a relationship and that i'm ok with waiting for it.  in being lazy, i've discovered how productive i can be when i'm enjoying what i'm doing.  i've opened up time to explore things i'm interested in, and i've been able to save a lot of money.

if i hadn't had this "breakdown" i would not be going to australia.

sometimes you have to do something that hurts like hell in order to get to the good stuff.  i still have to remind myself to let go & trust, that things will always work out.  i still get stressed about things that are out of my control.  but i've found, with about a 99.9% success rate, that when i do let go, things work out pretty damn splendidly all on their own.

my life is not the "ideal" life.  it's not the life little girls are raised to want when they grow up.  i have no prince charming, no house, no white picket fence, no you-can-do-anything career.  i'm 28 years old, single, unsure of my life's direction, renting a little apartment & driving my grandma's inherited car.

...BUT...

i'm my own person.  i'm free.  i'm self-sufficient and i have the most amazing friends & family to lean on when i need a shoulder.  i work three days a week in an office and once or twice a week at jobs i enjoy, bartending or babysitting - always meeting new people - and i'm able to not only live in one of the most expensive cities in the world, i'm able to enjoy that city.  and i'm able to travel - for two months! - to another continent.  i may not be where i thought i'd be by now, but i'm exactly where i need to be.  and i'm open to the future.  wherever the wind may take me.

all images via we heart it

take a look around; i bet you're exactly where you need to be too.  funny how that happens... :)

xo! n.

the best and the worst and the maritimes

image via we heart it

oh holy overwhelmed.  i'm moving so rapidly i can't see what's around me.  i leave two weeks from tomorrow and my to do list is about to eat me alive.

AHEM.  i don't know if you heard me...  i leave for australia TWO WEEKS FROM TOMORROW!!  yikes-a-bee.

yes, that's my actual to do list.  and yes, it goes on to the other side; in fact, it's getting dangerously close to the bottom of the other side, where it threatens to spill over to the next page and SUFFOCATE me.  ok maybe i'm exaggerating.

...a little.

to give myself some credit, i have gotten a lot done.  it's just that it seems like every time i cross one thing off the list, two more things sneak on & i'm all like, wha??

sigh.  sigh of sighs.

i really should be sleeping right now, not eating cheetos and drinking a bud light and blogging.  and yet...   here i certainly am.  oh!  but i did finally clean my room - i've been knee-deep in clean-ish clothes and unopened mail and crafting supplies for over a month now (ridonkulous).  and i created a great Pandora station - based on Maritime, whose music makes me happy & this station makes me doubly so.  guuud stuff.  so i'm grateful for that.  and for the fact that i am going on this trip that is causing me so much stress now - it could be so very much worse.  ;o)

done.  goodnight.

xo! n.