Thanksgiving = Christmas Decorations

So we just celebrated Thanksgiving which means that it's now acceptable to put up Christmas decorations.  It's not yet December, but Xmas here we come!  We brought just about all of our xmas decorations from Colorado, so today I took the opportunity to decorate.  I got the tree up and all it needs is our ornaments.  Evan had rehearsal this afternoon, so I'm waiting till he gets home so we can do it together.  Other than the tree, we have a few xmas knick knacks here and there and that's about it.  I also have this really sweet Christmas Village, but I don't have a good place to put in the apartment.  I have some options, but none of them are really convenient for minature buildings and fake snow. 

We are going home to CO for Christmas and I couldn't be more excited!  You realize just how homesick you are when you have booked a flight home and comfort, family and friends are only weeks away.  Because of Evan's show, we can't stay in CO very long, but I plan to enjoy every minute of it.  There are so many things that I love about Christmastime and we are fortunate that we don't have to miss them even though we moved away.  Here are just a few of the things that bring me so much joy during the holidays:

• I love my mom's house at Christmas.  She goes all out and makes sure every room is decorated some way.  I used to always help put up the decorations and had to learn where each decoration lived and how everything was supposed to be stragetically plugged in.  I didn't get to help this year, but I can't wait to enjoy the decorations.  The house is really magical this time of year.
• Stocking stuffers at the Marquez house.  My siblings and I stopped getting stockings when I was about 10.  Kinda sad.  Luckily, I married into a family that will never stop doing stocking stuffers.  I have my own stocking at the Marquez house and I LOVE opening them first thing on Christmas morning. It's full of all sorts of small, fun trinkets and it's always an adventure to see what's in the stocking. 
• Watching all the little kids open stuff at my mom's house on Christmas Eve.  What I particularly love is that because they are kids, they pretty much get their way, so when they want to open presents the second they walk through the door, they get the fun started right away.  They have so much fun and it's great to watch. 
• As much as it might be frustrating, I love how my dad tries to put off gift opening to the very last second.  We always need to cook, eat, clean the kitchen, do the dishes and sit around for what seems like forever before we can start the gift exchange.  It used to drive us crazy when we were little, but now we expect it and I think it's kind of funny. 
• Lastly, I LOVE getting gifts from Evan.  Not just cause it's neat to get presents, but because Evan's gifts are always thoughtful, unique and just so "Evan."  It reminds me just how great he is, as if I could ever forget.  He pays attention to everything and applies it when giving gifts.  If I mentioned something in passing 5 months ago that I thought was neat, it will show up under the tree at Christmas.  And there is usually something surprising and funny - Something that makes me giggle and something that no one else would ever think of getting me. 

So I can't wait to get home and get to experience all these things again this year.  26 days until Christmas...but only 24 until our trip home and I can't wait!!

Skittles.

I had plans to go to the gym in our apartment complex this evening.  Instead, we went to the store and bought candy.  Yup, nothing says health like skittles and snickers.  Perhaps I'll still go later, but I'm pretty dang good at finding excuses not to work out. 

Let's see, so what else is going on?  Thanksgiving is the day after tomorrow and Evan's sister is coming to visit!  I have a big ol' meal planned that will, no doubt, yield mountains of left overs.  I'm looking forward to cooking all day, especially since one of the first things I'm making is pumpkin cupcakes with a cheesecake filling.  I really hope they turn out because otherwise there isn't another option for dessert except for eating frosting out of a can.

What else...oh I've been applying to jobs like mad.  It's really becoming quite annoying.  I have applied to so many jobs that I'm PERFECTLY qualified for - like they couldn't have written it more for me unless they put my name on the job posting.  So I submit my stuff and hear nothing.  Not even a stinking interview.  I don't understand.  I get that the economy is shit and there are like a billion people searching for jobs.  But why wouldn't a company want to interview those who are most qualified?  Ugh, oh well.  Something will come along.  And it's not like I'm desperate for money quite yet.  Severance will be here for several more weeks, and when that ends, then I really panic.

Still no auditions or agent yet either.  I know I've only been here a few weeks, but I hope and pray everyday that something will happen.  It's also super difficult to answer questions from loving friends and family about what's going on here when nothing is going on.  It's really hard to believe that I made the right decision to move when all I do is sit at home all day.  I believe in my abilities, I just need a little outside help to kick things into gear.  I've researched, researched and researched and know exactly what I'm doing...and other than shelling out hundreds of dollars for acting classes, I'm doing a lot of things right.  And yes, I know that acting classes are important, and I may very well take a whole slew of them, but right now I can't justify the expense - especially when I know that I don't learn well in those situations.  I learn the best on my own when I can watch, absorb, experiment on my own and then apply.  Or just by doing it!  Ugh, anyway, enough venting for now.  Time to work on some monologues.

I need a hobby.

Ugh...the days are certainly starting to drag on. Evan works from home full-time, but I'm still on severance searching for a job. Since he needs to be on the computer all day and with the dismal offerings that daytime tv provides, there really isn't much to do. I've been trying to read, but that gets boring. I should clean more often, but it's hard to find the motivation to do so. Today I chose and worked on 2 monologues for drill, but even that only took an hour or 2.

I try to apply to at least 1 job every day, but after days of this you realize just how few jobs are posted during the week. I have had one interview in the week we've been here, but I was outrageously over qualified for it and therefore haven't heard anything back on it. I've also been self-submitting myself to acting jobs, but that hasn't yielded any auditions yet. I have also sent my stuff off to agents, so now I just wait to see if, by chance, someone calls me.

So everyday I sleep in, eat breakfast, watch the today show, get ready for the day, eat lunch with Evan and then honestly do nothing until it's time to cook dinner. It is really a pathetic existence. And the hard part is the longer this goes on, the less motivation I have to actually do anything. What's extra sad is that it was BEAUTIFUL outside today, but I couldn't think of anything to do or anywhere to go to enjoy the weather. Sigh...something needs to happen soon or I just might go insane!!

Home Sweet Apartment

Going from a 3 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom apartment was quite the transition. We packed up a TON of stuff to store in my mom's basement and still moved quite a bit of junk. Well, here we are 1 week and 1 day as residents of California and I think we are finally all unpacked. We still have some shelves to hang up, but I think we're all settled. It doesn't quite feel like home to me yet. I'm stuck in some middle ground between home and a hotel. All of our stuff is here, but it still doesn't feel quite like ours.

There are a few features of our apartment that we prefer over what we had in our house. First, we have a bathroom that is adjoined to our bedroom. In our house we had to go out into the hall. Second, the living room is very large and open. There is a really nice flow from the kitchen to the eating area to the living room. There is also a long wall that fits our furniture nicely. Third, it's kinda nice to not have to worry about a lawn. Don't get me wrong, I love outdoor spaces and flowers and what not, but it's one less thing to have to worry about and spend money on.

Then of course there are few things that aren't quite as nice. The first major one is that our washer/dryer is in a closet...in the living room!! Yep, right there in the middle of the room is a damn closet that screwed up my whole furniture plan. Next, the dishwasher is not only kinda small, but is the loudest damn thing I have ever heard. We can't even hear each other talk while that thing is on. And since it's smaller, we have to do more loads, ugh. And lastly, the shower head was meant for really short people. We both have to kinda of bend down or squat just to wash our hair. It's a little ridiculous.

Ok, enough of the descriptions, here are the pictures I promised:

Here are some closets we have in the hallway:

One wall of the office:

Another wall of office that was apparently the magnet for ALL of our stuff:


Our bedroom as seen from the far corner:

Our bedroom from the door:

The second 1/2 bathroom:

Hallway from living room to bedrooms:

Living Room:

Living Room:

The dining area/front door as seen from the living room:

The kitchen:

The Kitchen take 2:

First Post From the Great State of California

So, first let me say, pictures to come, so hold your horses. :) Here are some things to know about CA...

The apartment is great. There is lots of room and one extra bedroom that is currently designated as the storage closet. Basically, if there was a box we didn't quite know what to do with went in that room. Apparently, we had a ton of boxes that we weren't quite sure what to do with...oy. Also, just about ALL of the electric, phone and cable outlets (outlet, singular, in the phone and cable instances) are in the most inconvenient places. We have cables going every which way just to be hooked up - it's ridiculous.

Ah yes...the parking spaces. Only 1 designated parking "space" came with a 2 bedroom apartment. Luckily, there was another "space" that we could rent not too far away. Ok, so these "spaces" are under the building and all have poles separating each space. Our 2 spaces are also right next to walls. These "spaces" are just barely large enough to fit a standard sedan. We have to pull in, back out, turn, and pull in again just to get in each space.

We are right next to a grocery store so that's really convenient. We even walked over to get our groceries. The grocery store is VONS which is just a fancy California word for Safeway. They have all the safeway products and my safeway card even works there.

Everyone, except for the drivers who think that lanes are arbitrary, is strangely nice here. Very talkative and friendly folk everywhere, so that's nice.

Half of our channels are spanish. Seriously. Also, everything is on an hour later and it's really hard to stay up late to watch our good shows. Then, everything on in morning is infomercials - like on 15 channels. Any product you could ever want to buy is being hocked on nearly every channel in LA on Saturday mornings.

2 Days and Counting

Well, here we are, 2 days away from the big move. The moving company came on Saturday and hauled all of our stuff away. Movers are definitely the way to go! 2 guys moved all of our stuff in about 3 hours and we didn't have to do anything but sit there and watch them. It was amazing to see how fast they carted all of our extremely heavy boxes away in a flash. So now I sit on the floor typing in a big empty house. There are a few things here and there that still need to be packed up and put in our cars, but really the move has begun. We leave Wednesday and will get into CA on Thursday. Then, hopefully, our stuff will arrive on Friday.

Ugh, I've been such a mess lately. I'm stressed, worried, sad, and stressed again. I should be excited, but I don't think I will be until we are there. Right now, I feel as though I'm just going through the motions of moving, but my head really isn't in the game yet. Tomorrow we will make the rounds of saying good-bye to family, and I really don't want to. I hate saying good-bye. Especially when there are 2 little kids that we will miss so much. It's really hard to grasp the fact that we will miss portions of them growing up. That will be the hardest part. I'm trying to think positively about the whole thing, but it's kinda difficult. Luckily, we can keep up with everyone through the internet so we will never feel far away. Oy, so long, Colorado!