Most wonderful time of the year...

 How was your Thanksgiving?
Overall, my entire trip to Arkansas was great. I love being with my family over the holidays. It seems though, that my bad luck hasn't quite gone away, because my car decided to break down ON Thanksgiving (you might remember I wrote about spending far too much money to get repairs done on it just last week!). We were on the way to my sister's that morning to bake pumpkin pies. Being stranded on an exit ramp (in traffic) and emergency towing on a holiday was really not in the plan. Thankfully, the transmission shop where we had it towed was able to fix it by the end of the next day, even after telling me they didn't think they could even look at it until Monday! Whew! I was so thrilled. It actually turned out to be a relatively minor fix, but I am hoping the charges are going to be taken care of by the shop I used in Austin last week. I'll be putting my game face on when I go in there this week.

The rest of the weekend was filled with friend time, family time, a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at my grandma's house, the traditional cousin-gathering at Golden Corral (I don't know why we think a buffet is appropriate on Thanksgiving weekend, but we always go!), watching lots of football (and one Millionaire Matchmaker marathon at my sister's. Haha), tree decorating at my mom's, whipped cream vodka with hot cocoa (highly recommended for this holiday season!), Starbucks and political philosophizing with my dad, a little bit of shopping/browsing stores (but we avoided the Black Friday madness. Really not my thing), dinner at a Japanese steakhouse with a funny waiter on the hibachi, and overall bonding time with my sweet boyfriend.

Now begins one of my favorite times of the year. I am eager to begin my Christmas shopping and start thinking of fun ideas for everyone. I'm glad I'll be heading back up to Arkansas again so soon. Now, I just have to get through these three weeks of real life! I only wish I had some leftover pumpkin pie for breakfast...I love it cold.

Best friend

RIP Dawson. 1998 - 2011.

Best little mutt anyone could ask for. 

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. You can imagine why. 

I leave town to spend Thanksgiving with family tomorrow. It's going to a busy week, so I will plan on seeing you after the weekend. I hope you have a lovely holiday!

Thanks

With Thanksgiving coming up (my, how time flies), and with a lot of rough life-stuff going on lately, I wanted to compile a list of things I am truly grateful for. I do those " little things that make me smile" posts a lot, which often helps me to remember to appreciate the simple stuff that brightens my week, but here's a more indepth list. It still includes some of those small, simple treasures (they are important, too!), but also some of those bigger things that I really try not to take for granted.

I'm Thankful...

- for hot coffee and a long, cozy robe on cold mornings

-  to not be sick anymore after catching a long-lasting, strange virus a few weeks ago

- that my ankle is healed, whenever I think about how badly sprained it was earlier this year

- that I have always been able to be with my family over the holidays, each and every year thus far

- that I have an amazing man in my life, and that I didn't settle for anything less

- that my family still remains some of my best friends, and I know they always will

- for friends, new and old, who have humbled me with their loyalty

- for the nicest, coziest, coolest apartment I've ever lived in

- for my steady job, that for the first time in my life, more than pays just the bills

- that I have never forgotten how to be a kid and have some crazy-fun!

- fashion magazines, for the ultimate escape, inspiration, and decompression

- swimming pools and frozen drinks in the summer & fireplaces and hot cocoa in the winter

- pumpkin pie + whipped cream...lots of it (as my mom used to say, "would you like some pie with your whipped cream?")

- everyone who supports me as an actor, even when it's slow going and I want to give up

- music

-my lovely blog readers, of course!

So, my friends, what are you especially thankful for this year? What's been on your mind? I want to hear your list! :)

Holding on

All I want to do today is this:

But... I have to be productive today. I have to. It's been really hard to focus on anything for the past couple weeks, with all the negative stuff going on (namely, a very sick dog, car troubles - both of which also meant financial issues - some personal dramas, being sick myself for far too long, and now, movie roles I'm all-too-sure I didn't get. Etc. It just all keeps piling on.)
I've basically been a lazy lump all this week and done absolutely nothing (except maybe eat too much). It's getting old quick, and I hate it, but that motivation just isn't there. I really need to get back into the gym, as well. But today, I am at least going to focus on getting work done that should have probably been done last week, and tackling a few errands. It'll probably be good to get out.

Maybe I'll even put some make up on for the first time in 3 days (that might be a record for me).

I know this is all just a bad phase, and it will pass. But ohhhhh, I can not wait 'til it does.

Gear shifts

 While I'm still in shock by how much I had to pay in car repairs this morning, after having my car in the shop for a couple days, I must say, there is nothing like that first drive out of the lot after you know it's been all fixed up and running smoothly. The car feels great. I'm going to choose to focus on the peace of mind I now have, instead of the gigantic bill. Hopefully, this means I wont need to have anything major done in quite a long time. Everything should be in good shape now.

These last two weeks have kind of been full of unexpected woes. Life feels messy. I am looking for that light at the end of the tunnel and appreciating those I am lucky enough to have with me during the rough moments.

Tell me how your week is going!

Birthday Weekend

I wish I'd been more diligent about taking pictures over my birthday, but cest la vie. Here are a few highlights from the weekend:

Steve took me to PF Changs for a pre-birthday dinner Friday night. I WISH I could remember the name of this delicious coconut/lemon cocktail. I highly recommend it, if you're ever there. It's easy to recognize on their cocktail menu. We had a drink at the bar while we waited for our table, and then enjoyed a marinated lamb dish and shrimp with lobster sauce, paired with brown rice. I tried a pear Mojito with dinner, which was also quite good.

 

On Saturday (my actual birthday), we headed to Dallas for a day trip. My dad happened to be in town for business anyway, so we met up with him and his wife for a bit, and had a nice lunch together at Five Guys' hamburgers (my first time there! Very yummy). Steve and I spent the rest of the day exploring some of his old stomping grounds in the city, and browsing the beautiful (and large!) Galleria mall. Even though I think they should wait until after Thanksgiving, the mall was nicely decorated for Christmas, complete with a tree that stretched through all four stories of the building and was surrounded by an ice rink!  I got a kick out of browsing some of the very high end shops there, but my favorite part was going to The American Girl store. I have a huge collection of their stuff from when I was a child. For now, it's all safely packed away in my mom's attic for when I can pass it on to my little girl.

Dallas actually works alright as a day trip, but it was definitely a bit exhausting. Especially because we left so early in the morning. It felt great to just veg out on Sunday. Steve and I had breakfast in bed (strawberries, croissants, and Ruby-Red grapefruit mimosas) and watched "A Goofy Movie", something else nostalgic from when I was younger! The rest of the day was more of the same...movies and lounging around. Quite nice.

This Saturday, Steve and my friend Kady are throwing me a little belated party at Chuck E. Cheese. I can't think of a better place to be a kid again for a day, and forget how old I'm getting. ;)

Waiting game

 I struggled to get a blog post in today, but here I am. I woke up super early (as in 7am) to take my car into the shop before Steve needed to be at work. I had an important film audition today (ok, they are all important, but this was a particularly good opportunity), so he was generous enough to let me borrow his car for the day. Reeeeaaalllly hoping my car will be done by the end of today though. It needed its gear shift cables replaced...or something along those lines.

I have a love/hate relationship with auditions, as I'm sure most actors do. I'm always incredibly excited about them, but they also put me in a position where I am consumed with scrutinizing myself and wondering how I did. The waiting game afterwards is both fun, suspenseful, and agonizing at the same time. But I must say, the experience today was really fun and the audition was for a role I am very excited about. We'll see if I get asked to the second round of callbacks. I had my initial audition this morning (I was so tempted to sneak onto the set of "The Lying Game", an ABC Family series, which was filming in the lot next to my audition!), and was asked to come back again in the afternoon, after the director gave me some ways to rework the scene. It's always great to get notes and then have the chance to incorporate them later.

Anyway, as usual, I'm doing my best to just "let it all go" at this point. I'm having myself a little afternoon coffee break and watching Dirty Soap on my DVR. Hopefully I'll be motivated to get some work done after this...if I can quiet my brain and focus.

Tomorrow I will try and post a recap of my birthday weekend! I was awful about taking photos, but I'll see what I ended up with.

Hope you're having a great day! xx

And many more...

Happy Birthday to me (tomorrow)....


and to all you other Scorpios. xx