I try to think of that constriction
as a long distance hug
The tears as small kisses
of remembrance of lost time.

Three years later and all my time
spent picking up the pieces
reminds me that I’m still learning
to smile again.

Seriously though it is quite disconcerting to awake at 4 am and toss and turn, finally get up at 5 and sit in a quiet house and wonder why the hell I’m not sleeping until 8 am like I should. I mean, seriously I don’t even have to work until 10 am. ARGH! Ah Well. Not even sure why I’m having an issue sleeping today…I guess too much on my mind.

And you? How did your day start???

And by the by – having a snow day and watching reruns of wifeswap is a fun thing! HA!

Enjoy your snow!

So since I’ve last written…I quit my work with Planet Four Films…for a ton of different reasons.  Then I got my first Kidney Stone….Thanks Dad!  Then at the end of August my absolutely beautiful and stunning niece Mirabella was born!  And I got to be there!  Proud Auntie Alert.

I’ve been working part time at Somerset Mall in Troy, MI for Lush Cosmetics.  It’s my absolutely favorite place to shop – and its also a great place to work.  So that brings in some extra funds.

The coolest thing that has happend lately is my work with Boxtruck Productions.  I was asked by the Owners Wes Knodel and Roger Fowler to assist in producing ther newest short “Michael”.  We spent 3 days over 2 weekends getting everything filmed, with the final culmination happening this past Saturday at our home.  It was an absolute blast!!!

So things are going well.  Just planning Peter’s 30th birthday celebration in June and at the end of June a fun filled trip to Gulf Shores with my best group of friends.   I guess this is a short update…but it’s what it is!!!!!

Take it Easy!

I have to say that being laid off hasn’t been all that bad.  Is their suckage…well of course.  Less income coming in even with unemployment…and not being able to find a job in your field can be  a little disheartening.  But in all actuality, it has given me the impetus to work on what has always been my heart and soul – Acting.

As I told you all back in January I started taking an acting class in Royal Oak.  Well when the beginning classes were done I signed up for the film class as well as the independent study classes.  Well along with the film class I have been working hard on the actual film.  I have a role in the film as well as working crew.  I am learning many of the aspects of being a production coordinator as well as being on most of the film shoots doing whatever is needed of me at the time.  Our goal is to wrap production in September in time to submit our film to Sundance.  So it’s pretty exciting stuff!

This weekend we held/are holding a varietal theater show at a black box theater in Detroit – 1515 Broadway.  Not only has this been an opportunity to showcase the talent in our group, but we are  also utilizing this time to celebrate The Actors Workshop’s Silver Anniversary as well as fund raising for the Film.  In July our director will be heading out to California to do some casting for a name actor to be a part of the film.   Keep your fingers crossed!

For the 25 show this weekend – I have had 2 major and one supporting role in the 3 theater productions.  It’s been a ton of rehearsals, work, time and fun!  Opening night went off pretty darn good.  We had some small oops’ (not from me of course) but that’s what happens in a live show.  Peter was there – and I have to say…nothing made me feel better then to find him after the show, and to see nothing but naked adoration and pride in his eyes.  It really made me feel like I might be good at this after all!  It was awesome.  I had a lot of wonderful compliments, and some really spot on suggestions.  Tonight is the close of show – and then it’s back to the film world.  But I have LOVED this quick foray into theater. Actually our director is looking to possibly direct a showing of Streetcar Named Desire this fall. I hope I can work with them on that as well….I love Tennessee Williams.

Through my work with The Actor’s Workshop I was introduced to Wes and Roger from BoxTruck Productions and was invited by them to be on their team for the Detroit 48 Hour Movie Project…can you say honored and excited.  What will happen is at the end of July our team will be given a genre and some other information – and we will have to write, shoot and edit a film with those parts within 48 hours.  All the entries will be shown at the Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak on the following Wednesday, then onto the Best of 48 Hour Movies which I belive will be held in Atlanta and then the 10 best of the tour will be heading on to Cannes in 2010.   So it’s really an excellent and exciting opportunity. And I cannot wait to be a part of all of this.

Whew!  Busy, Busy, Busy Bee!  But thought I should update you all!   Love and miss you – and I’ll try to be better on this!

I’m also joining the ongoing class which is held on Thursdays.  For that class I need to have a monologue…Yikes.  I’m trying to find a good one….Any suggestions?  For a couple of weeks, I’ll be doing double duty – but I can’t wait to be honest.  I’m getting so much out of this, and really enjoying myself.  GOD how I’ve missed acting!

This weekend was the first in a long time that Pete and I had no where to go!  Yea!  We went to the mall and Bahama Breeze on Friday.  Then we were hanging around on Saturday, when I decided I wanted to check if the new Tomb Raider game was available for the 360.  So Pete and I drove the mile and half to the Village, and headed to Gamestop.  Well that one did not have a copy of the game, so we began debating driving another 1/2 mile to the Adam’s road Gamestop or just going home.  We walked back out to the car, got in (still debating mind you), and Pete turned the Key.  Nothing.  Not a crank over, not a light coming on, nothing.  The battery was dead, and it was cold, and neither of us was really dressed to walk a mile and a half…but we did any way.  Back to the house.  In the cold.  My ears were frozen!  We picked up Pete’s car and drove back up to the village and jumped my battery.  Then we drove to Sears – which by the time we got there was too full, and back home…no new battery in site.  We got up and left the house around 11:30 on Sunday and drove back to Sears, where we were able to FINALLY get the battery changed – YEA!  Then we grabbed lunch at Kabob Grill in the Village and went to the Adam’s Road Gamestop and were able to find the New Tomb Raider – a used copy at that!  And I spent the rest of the evening playing to my hearts content!

And now back to my job – and the neurotic people I work with!  It’s a real examination of the human psyche in this joint!  It’s really fun to play with people’s minds as well (insert evil laugh here).  Afterwork, my coworker Caitlyn and I headed off to Royal Oak for an Acting Class at the Actor’s Workshop.  Yup…You heard me right an acting class.  I used to be a part of theater in High School, before I lost my confidence in myself…so here I am getting my feet wet and trying it all over again.  Our class has 11 people in it…5 women, 6 men.  So last night was interesting.  We started with a relaxation excercise, and then onto a warm up exercise.  Then we proceeded to do a memory imprinting.  We were paired up, and one person told a very vivid memory to another person, and the second person was to tell the memory with imagry as if it were their own.  This week I was the one taking possesion of someone else’s memory, and next week I’ll be telling my memory.  Then we did a repitition excercise, and then onto Inprove.  I am not very good at this whole improve thing…so that’s my goal to get better at that.  All in all it was a great experience!

So the long and short of it…I had a wonderful New Years…an eventful and relaxing weekend, a normal day at work and a fantastic first class.    Happy 2009 – Hope you try something new this year!

So Pete and I took most of last week of to head down to Memphis to spend the Holiday’s with his family.  It was a great week!  We left Saturday morning with Stanley in tow and headed down to Evansville.  We spent the night with Steve and Lindsay (Thanks Guys) and had the opportunity to see my Nephew Rowan, Jess, Andy, Aunt Amanda, Paul, Lora, Chris and Emily. It was fabu to see everyone!   We headed back out Sunday morning to Memphis.  We had beautiful weather.  We arrived in the afternoon to Memphis and Susan and Thomas we extremely excieted to see their Granddog Stanley and kind of happy to see us! LOL  We spend a wonderful Christmas with the family and got an opportunity to see friends and to see Pete’s Grandmother.  So it was wonderful!!!  I love Christmas.

We headed back Saturday morning for the 13…Yes I did say 13 hour drive back to Michigan.  We arrived about 10:30 pm on Saturday, unloaded the rental car and went to bed.  We were both bushed!  Woke up at 5 am to NO POWER.  We had a major windstorm that killed power to many places around Detroit.  Like 55-60 MPH winds.  It was crazy.  It wouldn’t be so bad, except that EVERYTHING in our house is Electric.  Yup Heat – Electric, Water Heater – Electric.  It was nuts.  We got up about 10:30 and got changed and headed out to breakfast, then did some errends.  We got back to house about 3 to find…still no power!  So I hung out on the Couch under 3 blankets with a book…and by 6 was an ice cube.  So we headed out to Mr B’s (Local pub) for dinner.  By the time we got back…WE HAD POWER!  YES!  I could do laundry, turn on any light I wanted to, take a hot shower, and have heat.  Real heat!  It was fabu!

So Today, Pete and I are back to work after a fantastic and pretty much uneventful holiday!  We are heading out tomorrow night to Wolcott, IN to spend NY with Amanda, Chris, Carrie and Miles and some of the folks there.  So that should be fun!  You all have a fantastic time and stay safe New Years Eve!  Miss you!

Downtown Rochester Lights

So last night – Pete and I headed to Downtown Rochester for the Festival of Lights and Lagniappe.  Lagniappe stands for a little something extra.  If you go shopping that evening (which we didn’t) each store gives out a little something extra.  We go to see the official lighting of downtown.

Each storefront has these entire sheets of lights, and at 7pm, they do the official lighting.  It’s really spectacular.  We just love it.  Then everyday at 5pm, they light up downtown until sometime in January.  This pictures doesn’t do the scene justice, but it really is quite beautiful.

So what has everyone been up to?  In November we celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary.  We took a weekend trip to Chicago and had a fantastic time.  We ate a some wonderful resturants – Heaven on 7th, Roys, Billy Goats, and went to the Art Institute.  The rest of the time we spent wandering around Michigan Ave and other streets.  It was such a beautiful and relaxing weekend.  We loved it.

Pete spent most of the month traveling.  He spent a week in Chicago for a training for work, then a week with My Step-father, Uncle and some buddies Pheasent Hunting in S. Dakota, then a week in Evansville working out of their office.  So we didn’t see each other much.  But overall it was quite productive!

We spent Thanksgiving Day with my mother’s side of the family. Somewhere around 30 of us in my Grandmother’s home with a fantatstic fest, Trivial Pursut (The origional Version) and Euchere!  It was fun.  Then we had My Dad, Step-Mom, Grandmother, Aunt, Uncle and their 2 kids to our home on Saturday.  I cooked a fantastic Turkey with Port Gravy, Cornbread Stuffing and had tons of other food.  It was a really good time.  Sunday was spent relaxing.  We took a quick trip to the mall, then Pete played video games while I napped on the couch.  We got about 3-4 inches of snow (LOVE IT), and have had flurries ever since.  It really is quite beautiful. I just love Winter!!!

Okay – back to work!!!