100 Days of Gratitude

For those of you who don't know, I've been practicing gratitude for about 100 days now.  Every day I try to practice an hour of giving thanks, giving love, and feeling good.  Granted, I don't do a full hour every day, but I've found that it is a lot easier for me to elevate my feelings now, especially when I notice that I'm not feeling very good.
And through this positive thinking and self awareness, New York City has opened up to me more than you can ever imagine.  Now, a lot of what I post on this blog is the "good" stuff.  I don't normally tell you the struggles, self doubt, and disappointment I have faced.  And now I am proud to say that those moments are becoming fewer and less strong.  I have definitely gone through some low points here in the city but I've noticed that the more I practice the more good I see and the more comes to me.  It really is all how you look at it.

Last Wed. I had an audition.  I had looked up the show beforehand and I was positive it was something I was perfect for.  And when I got there, they loved me, and I was hired!  It is called "Never Sleep Alone" a raunchy variety show and cabaret one woman show.  She plays a "sex therapist" helping all the single New Yorkers get laid!  Hilarious.  Then I went home and worked out, worked on monologues, and literally couldn't sleep because I was so excited for the rest of the week.  Sometimes I try to sleep but I start practicing monologues in my head and then I get distracted.

Thursday I worked with my organizing client.  We got to a project I really enjoy-cleaning her closet.  She has two closets, one is a walk in, and she also has a whole rack against her main wall for her clothes.  I spent 9.5 hours going through it and folding, color coding, and figuring out how to make it all fit.  For those of you who aren't anal/designers/organize freaks this may sound terrible, but I LOVED it.  The whole day flew by and the only reason that I left was because I had somewhere to go.  I love loving what I do.
I headed to Brooklyn to meet with the All Souls Young Adults PROM COMMITTEE.  Our group is throwing a prom as a fund raiser and I'm super excited.  First of all, the six people on prom committee are so fun and I'm pretty sure I have never laughed as hard as I did Thursday night (there were fake tattoos involved... and red wine) and being able to go to "prom" again with my friends and lots of booze will definitely be a great time.  And it is for charity.

On Friday I went to April's again, then I had an audition.  I went home and crashed for a few hours before I headed out to Little Italy to have dinner with Tyler (a friend from college) and his family.  His sister is just moving into the city and I got to meet her and have some yummy dinner.  It is fun to have 'family time' even when it isn't your family!  (And Mom and Dad pay.. lol) They were really great and I'm excited to have another friend in the city.
Afterward, I met up with Hillary and we went to see Never Sleep Alone.  I had gotten tickets to see it before I work on it... and of course who is there?  My BOSS.  Luckily, he is awesome and it is totally cool that we're both at this strange raunchy show the same night.  We have some drinks, enjoy the show, and I head out to the after party with the girls from my table and end up meeting some interesting people... including a very attractive NYC actor.  Mr. Actorman gets my number and when I'm at work the next day I get a call from him and he invites me to see a show.
He is part of an acting company at the Flea Theatre called The Bats which is not easy to get into and a great place for a non union actor to be.  We saw the Serials which is five episodic shows, the audience votes and the top three get to come back the next week with a new episode and the bottom two are replaced with new shows the next week.  A very cool concept and awesome shows.  Afterward we went to the bar with all the actors and writers and I got to meet a bunch of people and network yay!

Sunday was Mother's Day and my FINALLY I GET A BREAK day.  Things had been so totally crazy and I was exhausted.  I laid around all day and then cleaned up my apartment and got groceries for everyone who was coming over on Monday.

On Monday I found out the girl who works above me put in her two weeks notice.  Very sad to see her go cause I love her, but then Tuesday morning I got a call saying they don't want to hire from the outside and I got promoted... woo!

Monday night prom committee came over and I cooked a huge batch of stir fry and we made homemade margaritas and put together the invitations for prom which look awesome if I do say so myself!  It was an amazing time!  The friendships I've made through All Souls are hands down the best I have here, with the exception of Jordan & Co.

Tuesday I got promoted (wee!) then I went to Japanese with Jordan for her birthday.  It was also another of her work friends bday so 10 of us had a bunch of sake bombs and tons of food and had a great time.  The waitress was wearing a shirt that said "you only live once" and was not amused when all ten of us shouted YOLO!!!!!!!!! every time she walked by.  After dinner we headed back to Dylan's and chilled, the party was over fairly early because it was a Tuesday and because... well, sake bombs.  Luckily, I had held back a little, but it wasn't my birthday.

Wednesday I came to work and had my first day of training (agh!) and afterward I went up to the Upper West Side and had a voice lesson with the woman I met at church.  It was so fun, her place is beautiful, and it was great to have someone helping me sing.  And I sing well apparently so that was a nice confidence boost.  After I headed to a meeting with some people about my acting career... without saying anything to get anyone too excited, I may have a very big opportunity opening up for me soon and I'm pretty excited about it.  More on that as it comes.

Thursday I officially started training for a half marathon.  I figured since I'm getting up there in mileage I might as well get a training program together and run a race.  Now I just need to pick one, in mid-July.  13.1 miles!  Crazy.  After a day of rest, cleaning, and thinking I headed to the Access Theatre with Mr. Actorman and saw a show called Woyzeck.  I liked the acting and the directing choices but the story was a bit hard to follow.  When it was done we decided to go to see this weeks Serials and they were even better than last week!  Hilarious.

Today I was on my way to go running when I got called into work... I'm not mad, I can use a few extra dollars and I actually do enjoy being in the office.  Tonight I'm going to see another show, yay!

So things are going really well.  So much acting, so many shows, great friends and opportunities and good things at work :) all it took was 100 days of gratitude.  I can't wait to see what happens in the next 100 days!

Massacre: Sing to Your Children

I am very jacked right now.
I just ran 6 miles and I feel AWESOME and full of energy.  I got a lot of stuff done tonight.

What have I been doing...
I picked up some checks for work and met one of our clients, the owner of one of the huge nightclubs here in NYC.  We chatted for a bit and traded cards, hopefully that is a great connection for me!  It is all about who you know, you know!

OMG.  This is so exciting... On Thursday one of my friends flew in from Michigan and brought with him two tickets to 30 ROCK LIVE!  He had an extra one and brought me with him.  I was in the studio where the shoot SNL!  There were pictures on the wall of everyone who has participated over the years.  We watched the episode filmed live, saw all the celebrities and actors, Paul McCartney was a special guest and it was AWESOME.  And very inspiring.  Nothing like a live show to remind you why you moved to NYC to begin with... I just can't explain how awesome it was, the energy of the crowd, excitement of everyone who was there.  And if you watch the east coast show you can hear me laughing at one point.  Awesome.

Marcus and me with our tickets to 30 Rock Live!

The rest of the week was fairly uneventful.  I saw Titanic in 3D by myself and cried like a baby... it was awesome.
Last Wednesday I met up with one of my friends from the show I worked on because he had free tickets to see a show at the Rattlestick Theater.  I had no idea what we were seeing but boy was I surprised when I got my program and it had a picture of a bloody knife on it and the show was titled "MASSACRE: Sing to your children"

...

The set was a slaughterhouse.

The show opened with BOOMING music and flashing lights and a bunch of bloody people in masks bursting through various doors.  It was scary!!!  But the show ended up being AMAZING (the writer was nominated for an Oscar) and the acting was fabulous, great concept and the SET.  Wow.  They had a working bathtub and shower.  It was really cool, I loved the show and I'm so happy I got to go.

On Friday I had a meeting with a real estate broker about getting my name out there to help stage houses and organize for people.  We met for drinks and even had a visit from some girls I went to college with who were visiting the city!  It was awesome seeing some familiar faces.

Adrian Alums in the big city

After the girls left Ben and I decided to have dinner cause we were hungry and kinda drunk and he was paying because... well he's real estate broker in NYC so you figure that out.  I had escargot!  It tasted good but was definitely a little chewy.  Overall, it was a great night, I have a great contact and had a delicious expensive dinner.  And that was the night the moon was CRAZY!  So beautiful.

The weekend was awesome.  After work on Saturday I spent the night in, working.  I applied for a ton of auditions and have a few this week.  Sunday I went to see the Avengers.  It. Was. Amazing.  Just... so amazing.  Movies like that are why I want to be in movies.  The show was sold out and the whole crowd cheered and clapped at all the big moments.  It was awesome!!!  What an experience.  I wish I had super powers!  I guess I'll have to keep auditioning and someday I can play a superhero.  That would be a dream come true.

This week I've been working a lot, getting a lot done, feeling very grateful for all I have, and getting excited about the future.  I am super happy and can't wait for all that is coming my way!!!  (Endorphins are great)
Hope everyone out there is feeling great as well :)
<3