Flower Market and Crochet Bombs!

My friend Amy and I took a trip to the Flower District downtown today. Man, now I know where to look for flowers whenever the mood strikes! It's a great place for orchid shopping if you're looking for one. I definitely think I'll hit up this area a few days before the wedding to grab whatever flowers I want. I'm still not sure yet if I want a bouquet or any kind of boutonnieres, but I know LP likes them enough to want them on the tables. I don't find them necessary, especially since we'll be surrounded by plenty of green, but... meh. It was almost overwhelming. So many choices!

photo by my friend Amy!

After our trip downtown, I showed her the crochet graffiti at Griffith Park!

I love this stuff!  Amy had shown me photos of parking meters with little yarn cozies before and I knew she'd flip over this crochet graffiti!

Some people call it yarn bombing.

I call it awesome.


My favorite part was the little bear statue! Someone got him all dressed up for Valentine's Day and he clearly decided that being nekkid was no fun! I hope he gets some new digs for St. Patrick's Day.

 

Will you be my Valentine, little bear?

Signed and Ready to ROCK

There's so much going on lately that blogging has definitely taken the back burner. One fabulous piece of news is that I've signed with a print agent! They offered to send me out for non-union commercial work, but since I'm SAG eligible, I decided that I would continue my hunt for a union commercial agent.

Helping me in that hunt is the commercial casting director I talked about last time. I called him a few days after we met and he told me to e-mail him my headshot/resume and he'd forward them to some agents he thinks might be interested. I'm also going to be taking his commercial workshop on scholarship in the next couple of months! Oh, and if you're afraid that this guy is some kind of sleaze bucket, don't worry, he's well-known, has an excellent reputation, and several people I know (including the fiance) have met him before and say he's a great person.

On the wedding front, we've decided to book the L.A. Zoo for sure! All we have to do is sign the contract and pay the deposit before the end of March. That means catering and booze is settled, too! Although we still have to pick the menu, but that's the fun part! The Los Angeles Zoo hosts a lot of events, but not many weddings and they were actually extremely well-priced compared to everything else in this city.

We've also got our officiant settled (that was settled a long time ago), because one of our best friends is ordained through the Universal Life Church. The spot we picked in the L.A. Zoo already has some cute orange and green wooden picnic tables and chairs. They're really new and pretty cool looking, so we're sticking with what's already there! I also know which bakery I want to get my cupcakes from, Lark, of course! Between the partner's work peeps, our friends, and my dad, there's so many photographers and people with pro equipment that we should be good to go on that front. We just have to lock in solid commitments.

The only stressful thing left is invites! Everything else should be at least somewhat fun to do and research. Maybe I'm getting myself, but I feel like the hardest part of the planning is over! I even have a good portion of our website ready to go!

The other thing I had been stressing out about was what I would wear. I'm unconventional enough that I felt like I had the entire world of fashion open to me. Was I daring enough to wear something like Janelle Monae?

Or did I just want to wear a gorgeous dress that I loved, in a flattering as hell color, that I could wear again?

Like this absolutely incredible Eva Franco? Which is actually slightly more than I was hoping to spend. 

Or, just maybe, did I want something that actually looked like a wedding dress? Would some kind of white look OK on me? I just tried on this dress today and it was lovely, but it wasn't quite perfect, I'd have to add some kind of straps or jacket as I abhor strapless dresses. It also looked better with a sash at the waist.

Here's my point, however... I decided to not let this stress me out. I will buy whatever I feel like buying that's in my budget. And to hell with what anyone else thinks about it!

Now, I have an extremely ill partner to check on. The poor guy came home, fell asleep, then woke up an hour later puking his guts out and has been doing so for the last three hours. I feel so bad for him. I've already e-mailed his boss, bought some Powerade, some JELL-O, saltines, and some chicken noodle and tomato soup for when he feels up to it. Just because I wouldn't eat half those things doesn't mean I won't buy it for him. Let's hope he gets well soon.

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!

Big Secret: I'M ENGAGED!

Some readers of this blog may already know that because they know me "in real life," but I've been avoiding saying anything about it on the blog until pretty much everyone in my life knew about it and until we started actual planning.

The Life Partner (LP) and I are officially engaged. In fact, we have been since October 9th, when he proposed to me on our anniversary. We've been together for six years and were in no rush to actually get married. We debated the moral/ethical quandaries of marriage in the modern world, including whether it was right to get married when others are denied the right. But, in the end, the decision we came to is obvious.

Now, please indulge me while I share our engagement story. I just can't help myself.

Jake and I had a big day planned for our six year anniversary. I got the entire weekend off of work, and we knew we wanted to spend the morning of October 9th at the Griffith Observatory (which you can see from our apartment window), followed by a Thai Massage, and then dinner at Mozza. I had absolutely no clue that Jake was planning on proposing to me... until we got to the observatory. He started wandering around aimlessly, restlessly, until we got to the roof. I went to the ledge, trying to spot our building.

When I turn around, Jake is kneeling, rummaging through his backpack.

"Oh! Did you bring your camera?"
"No..."
He pulls a huge fairytale pumpkin out of his bag...
"Will you marry me?"
Jake takes the lid off the pumpkin, which he's carved out, to reveal two cupcakes from my favorite bakery.

I might have said something ridiculous like, "for realsies?" at this point, but when Jake started talking about wanting to get a ring custom-made and how he'd been talking to a goldsmith... that's when I realized that this was actually happening and started smothering him with kisses. And then he asked, "Did you say yes? I kind of blanked out there..."

Oops. "Yes! Yes! Of course, yes!"

And then I devoured the cupcakes... and Jake bought me some flowers.

Then we got a fabulous massage, went home, changed, and went out to dinner. It may have been one of the most perfect days I've ever had. I was so excited the entire time.

We told our families immediately, and I tried to tell as many of my friends in person as possible. Then we began the process of designing the ring with our goldsmith.

He's semi-retired, so I won't share his name, but he came recommended to us by one of Jake's co-workers who had his wedding rings and engagement ring done by him. I'll call him MG (master goldsmith) and he's the most fabulous man. He has a huge, bushy, white handlebar mustache, and lives on a sailboat for about half the year. We met with MG and his wife on the boat to talk about the design together.

I brought some of my favorite jewelry, my personal aesthetic, things that Jake and I like to do together. And after the initial meeting, MG e-mailed us some sketches, and we sent him some photos of things that inspired us and we nailed down some concrete ideas.

After that, MG sent us a wax carving of the ring, along with some ring sizers, so we could OK the final design and take photographs of the wax carving on my finger. Then, on December 23rd, MG was back at his sailboat, with the ring, and we met him there.

We are talking about over two months of waiting for the ring at this point, and the suspense was killing me. "Do you want some wine?" "No, nope. Just... I'm fine." Finally, MG pulled out the box and gave it to Jake. And inside that was another box. And then finally, the ring!

I've had it for over two weeks now and I still can't stop looking at it. What's amazing is how comfortable it is. MG made a curve in the ring to accommodate the webbing between my fourth and middle finger. It's not your typical engagement/wedding ring, but it's exactly what I wanted and very much who I am and I'm thrilled with it. I especially like that the stones are off-center, so it's sort of a surprise when you see them on my finger.

We're going to have MG make Jake's ring sometime in March and I'm even MORE excited about that!

Now, I swear I won't talk about wedding stuff too much. There's definitely a lot of other stuff going on in my life that I need to focus on, as well. 2011 is going to be a busy year!

Trip to Iowa!!! Weddings and Family

My cousin got married in Iowa this weekend, and since I can't go home for Thanksgiving or Christmas (and probably won't be able to visit again until MAY), it was the perfect opportunity to see family I haven't seen in ages. Highs of 98 in LA, Lows of 22 in Iowa. I had to borrow a coat.  BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

On Thursday, I flew to Cedar Rapids, where my friend Keri picked me up. We've been friends since Kindergarten-- great to see her. We went out for drinks in Iowa City that night with her boyfriend (also known since high school) and I spent the night at her place. We got incredibly trashed on cheap booze ($3.50 martinis, WHAT?!) and watched a horrible movie at her house called "The Room"... a long standing tradition of ours. When we were broke in high school, we would rent bad movies for 50 cents at Family Video and make fun of them in classic MST3K style (before we even knew what that was). The next morning she drove me to Davenport.

Friday night, my parents, Keri, and I went to my old high school to see a performance of "Seussical." It wasn't as horrific as it could have been...it's a pretty easy show to put on. And the girl they had playing the Kangaroo was actually better than the girl who played that part at my University! So props to that young lady, she had an incredible voice and lots of sass. Mostly, I was glad to say hi to my old band, drama, and choir teachers!

Saturday was the wedding in Indianola (near Des Moines) at 4 PM. They had it at the local nature center, and even though it was breezy and bit chilly, the ceremony was outside. But the view was really gorgeous and they kept it short, so we all survived. Super cute was when my other cousin's 4 year started shouting "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!" when the couple was pronounced husband and wife.

 One my favorite elements of the wedding was the couple's personal logo. The husband is a graphic designer and he created this cute little cartoon of them. They had it on everything! It was on their invitations, the RSVP, the couple's wine glasses... but my favorite was their boxy wedding cake topper and their Yahtzee score card! Apparently, my cousin is obsessed with Yahtzee, so she had these and a bunch of dice at every table. My family played (mom won), and since there wasn't dancing, I thought this was good alternate entertainment.

The cake was cute, too. My uncle (her dad) made it for her. I guess it was a childhood tradition for my uncle to make them angel food cake each year with his special "7 Minute Icing," which the girls could have in whatever color they wanted on their birthday. It was tasty! They also had angel food in cupcake form, as well. I think I ate five. It's my favorite!

I was also extremely pleased to discover that my cousin is now a vegetarian, and while everyone else got pulled pork sandwiches (it's Iowa, this is very common at weddings), we ate black bean, sweet potato, and barley patties that were very tasty. They also had veggie meatballs. YUM! One of the first weddings I've ever been to where I got something besides vegetables and salad! She also made sure all of the table runners were reusable (muslin, for the groom's canvas art projects) with bio-degradable plates and napkins and silverware! The centerpieces featured bamboo (that people could take home) and Christmas lights (obviously reusable). Some people had gripes, as will always happen at weddings, but I thought it was lovely and personal and very thoughtful. At least it reflected the couple! I'm really happy for them!

After the wedding, the younger part of the crowd went out to a German Beer Bar in Des Moines and I stayed the night at my other cousin's apartment... Thanks Chelsea! We're 51 weeks apart in age (she's older, I'm the baby on both sides of the family) and we were shocked to see each other sporting the exact same haircut/color! We look so much alike, it's freaky. Except that I'm practically a foot taller...but other than that. Super short blond hair. Is it genetic to have a hairstyle preference? :-)

We drove home this afternoon and I was surprised by a big family dinner at Grandma's! I didn't know that my grandma and grandpa were hosting dinner at their house and had invited my cousins and aunts and uncles! I was so glad because I don't get to see them all very often.

Random thought: does everyone else refer to their uncles and aunts' spouses as their uncles and aunts? I always say "my aunt Jackie" because that's what I called her growing up. She's not blood related, but of course she's my aunt! I didn't really think about it until my one uncle got divorced and re-married. His wife Pam is lovely and so thoughtful and friendly. I like her a lot. In fact, I like her much better than my cousins' mother, the ex-wife. But that's who I grew up calling Aunt. And I don't automatically refer to Pam as my aunt. I would say, "my uncle's wife." But that's not fair when I would introduce my other uncle's wife as "Aunt." Confusing? Yes.

I've only got Monday left, and then I fly back home to L.A. on Tuesday. Short, but sweet!