Estelle Harris thinks I'm adorable!

No, seriously, last night I waited on Estelle Harris and she said that I was "just adorable." My response?

The exact scene that popped into my head.

"Ma'am. I think YOU'RE adorable."

She asked if I knew who she was, and I said the minute I heard her voice I was transported to watching Toy Story 2 & 3. We talked about it being nominated and how I thought it was the best movie I'd seen all year. She noticed my ring and asked if I was married and said that my fiance was a lucky guy.

It made my freaking night. To top this all off, an extremely well-known commercial casting director gave me his office number so that he could help give me references to commercial agents. And tipped me twenty bucks on a sixty dollar bill.

Wow. I feel pretty lucky. Now I have the next two days off to get some serious work done.

January has been a pretty busy month for me... obviously, given my lack of updates. I've been..

1. Working a lot. Of course. But I feel 10x better about January 2011 than January 2010 where I thought I was going to be fired every other day. It seems like business is up and my managers like me. Can't ask for more than that as a server. Busy. Flexible schedule. Awesome.
2. Helping out with an "Acting for the Camera" class that's now over... My mentor is amazing and I learn a ton from him every time we work together. Plus, that's extra cash in my pocket and the life partner's (he helps film the final scenes and edits them for the students)
3. Planning a wedding. The success story on this front is that we now have a date set in stone and we think we've decided on a location. We haven't booked it yet, but I'll give you a hint... It's home to our favorite pachyderm.
4. Editing my dad's novel. He's retired and has a lot of time on his hands. I don't, but I'm helping him anyway.

It's been a good month.

I also turned 25 this month and am now old enough to audition for alcohol commercials! Woohoo! We went snowboarding and ate at Susan Feniger's STREET... Which was slightly disappointing, to be honest. I liked it well enough, but wasn't thrilled enough to go back for the price. Maybe if cost didn't bother me, it would be a different story. The snowboarding, however, was excellent. Conditions were pretty awesome for such warm weather and every time I get better and better. We spent the majority of the day on the intermediate slopes and I was pretty pleased with myself!

I decided to get over my vanity. This is a terrible photo, but it's the only one!

The day after my birthday, I had an interview with a print agent, and while nothing has come of it, I do know feel more confident all future interviews of that sort. The agent was incredibly nice and now I feel like I know what to expect a little bit better.

Overall, January was great, here's to fabulous February!

Elephants in my Life

Recently, Billy the Elephant at the L.A. Zoo got to move in to a completed section of his new exhibit. The beautiful elephant enclosure is due to open on December 16th and Billy will be joined by two female elephants (rescued from a private owner) on loan from San Diego.

Check out this video and tell me if that isn't the happiest elephant you've ever seen!

I have a very special place in my heart for elephants. Besides being beautiful, fascinating creatures, they always remind me of my Grandma G who has been collecting elephant objects for years. I once tried to count them all (excluding jewelry and clothing items) when I was a little girl. The number, I believe, was over 75 items.

My collection pales in comparison. Only four items! The bag was given to me by my friend Brittany. She bought it for me while she was in Thailand on her honeymoon as a thank you for being a bridesmaid in her wedding. 

The big gorgeous elephant statement necklace was a gift from LP. He was filming a designer, Leslie Homan, for her Kitsch 'n' Kouture line. He happened to mention me and after talking a bit, she let him pick something out! Small perks. :-) It's now one of my favorite pieces of jewelry.

The other two items, the pin and the bracelet (many tiny elephants in a row) belonged to my grandma. She gave them to me several years ago. She's still alive and kicking (fiercely, I might add) and I'm sure these aren't the last elephant items I'll receive from her!

LP and I have a very special connection to Billy the Elephant, in particular. We're members of the L.A. Zoo and go there as often as we can. When we were both unemployed and exceedingly broke, we were there about once a week. For over a year, the zoo has been working on a state-of-the-art enclosure for Billy and the friends that will join him. But there's been controversy. There were a lot of attempts to halt construction by animal activists and celebrities. There was even a City Council meeting on the matter, and the zoo invited members to come and speak. I wasn't able to make it, but LP went, spoke, and got to meet Betty White who said that he was a "very nice, well-spoken young man." (HE'S MINE, BETTY! BACK OFF!)  ;-)

But the L.A. Zoo won and Billy's new home will be unveiled to the public on December 16th. Eventually, as many as 11 elephants could live there and it will be the largest elephant habitat in North America! We're very excited for Billy, and we're pretty sure he's happy, too!

Cooking and Voting and LACMA-- oh my! EPIC POST

Okay. So I'm a slacker. It's Saturday and I'm going to write about Monday through Wednesday. It's been a busy week. So sue me. But it's been a great week and I feel like I've had the perfect blend of productive and fun. I've also been submitting for roles on LA Casting and Actors Access every day. I even booked an audition, but the director changed her dates and I couldn't go at the new time. C'est la vie... but it's nice to be considered, at least.

Monday was spent cleaning the apartment and researching for the Tuesday election. I posted to my other blog, as I wrote about last time, and got tons of hits. It was really a shock. But I felt good about making a conscientious effort towards my voting and made myself a tasty veggie medley to nibble on while I researched. Look at the color! Roasted potatoes, carrots, and red onion with just a little EVOO, fresh thyme and basil, salt, pepper, and fresh sauteed spinach. It was soooo tasty and satisfying! I also made a homemade vegetable stock (LP helped, thanks!) to use for a soup recipe the next day. I hadn't been able to cook as much lately, so I felt great about this. I did all this and worked the dinner shift!

Tuesday was just fantastic. I slept in a little, made myself a healthy berry-banana smoothie and an egg on a bed of spinach, then walked to our polling place with my current and former roommate. Yay for voting! I felt really informed and prepared with my little sample ballot filled out and ready to go.

After voting, I took our five full bins of recycling to the center--a herculean task, I assure you! Turns out we actually had $17 worth of stuff! WOW! There was about 72 lbs of glass alone. And I hauled that around by myself! It makes me glad that we don't throw all of that away. (Random side note: when driving back I was listening to Market Place on NPR and even that reporter commented that on Project Runway, MONDO was robbed. Completely unrelated to the topic at hand, and I totally agree. It just had to be said.)

After that, my friend Amy and I got fancy coffee and shared a crepe at Solar de Cahuenga in Hollywood. Nutella and Strawberries....mmm. Amy swears that she saw Josh Radnor of "How I Met Your Mother" out on the patio where we were sitting. I was completely oblivious, but she was probably right.

We waited until 5 PM, which is the magic hour for me in LA, because after that the LACMA is free to local residents. That leaves 3 whole hours for leisurely browsing before they close. The museum has a great collection for being as small as it is and I've been there quite a bit. And I always have to take a peek at my favorite painting of all. I geeked out the first time I realized it was there!

But we especially wanted to see their newest building and the latest exhibit on the History of Fashion. The clothes were GUH-OR-geous. Amy and I had an interesting conversation about feminism and fashion. She regrets not getting to dress so outstandingly today, but I feel like you can dress however you want... hoop skirts and corset? SURE! But if I felt restricted in my clothing options, you can sure as hell bet that I would rebel against whatever it was I was expected to wear. Even as recently as my mother's generation, girls could get sent home from school for wearing pants. PANTS, ladies! I can't imagine not getting to wear jeans, and I love that I have the option of wearing a skirt if I feel like it, men's clothes if I feel like it. Punk one day and feminine the next. Isn't it FANTASTIC that we have choices? I feel privileged.

I love the outside "sculpture" at the LACMA... its iconic light posts. One of my favorite LA image.

After a couple hours at the museum, I took Amy home and then went home to cook! I used my homemade stock in a Butternut Squash, Green Apple, and Leek soup! I took the recipe from the November/December issue of Vegetarian Times. My brother got me a subscription for Christmas and I definitely want to renew. They have a lot of great ideas and are a major source of inspiration for me. I wanted to test-drive the soup before Thanksgiving. It's one of my favorite holidays and I asked off for it this year so I can really make a feast! My oldest brother hosts, but I always bring something vegetarian. The soup was definitely a winner!

Tuesday was a great day, and I was so eager to make Wednesday great, too. LP got me up early when he forgot his keys, but I thanked him for it because that gave me the time to make Vegan Buckwheat Pancakes for breakfast! From a technical and taste standpoint, these were the best pancakes I've ever made. I even had leftovers that I ate the next morning for breakfast, spread with a little peanut butter (to go!). I spent the rest of Wednesday running errands before going to work at night.

And the rest of this week? Well, I doubt I'll have much time to update, but right now I'm in IOWA for my cousin's wedding! I'm so excited to see family that I haven't seen in two years or more, but I'm not so excited about the chilly weather. Going from 98 to 27 degrees is freaking brutal. But more on that to come!

Tim Gunn, please love me!

I adore Tim Gunn.

LOVE. 

Tim Gunn has been promoting his new book around Los Angeles and I KEEP MISSING HIM! I check his Facebook page too late and miss out on his random appearances. A few days ago he was in Santa Monica at the Borders. Missed it. And a few days before that, he was filming at CBS for Craig Ferguson. And guess where I was????? Working NEXT DOOR! I was a mere football field's distance from Tim Gunn and I did not see him.

Tim Gunn, don't you like Italian food? We can be very vegetarian friendly! I know you're into PETA and all that and SO AM I!!!! However, had I actually waited on Tim Gunn, I probably would have fallen to pieces.

...Like the time Eric Idle came in and I kept getting his songs stuck in my head and was whistling in the kitchen and then became paranoid that I would whistle by his table. It's a good thing I wasn't his server because I probably would have said something idiotic.