My dream life at 25.

I will be living someplace that looks like this:
or this:
Not including Ethan Hawke. I will have one of these:

And one of these:

It's true. A cat and a dog is a little lofty. I would start with the cat and add the dog later. But I really want both.

I haven't figured out what the job part would be yet. But at least I know what I want my apartment to look like.

Sometimes when I am working at Williams-Sonoma and I'm showing a customer the knives, I have a Six Feet Under moment. We're in front of a wall of knives. Good knives. Huge knives. And they are covered with a glass cabinet thing which only staff, obviously, have the key to. So I open it up and lots of times a customer likes to hold a knife in each hand, comparing the weight and the grip. And I suddenly see that person, that nice, normal, housewifey person, abruptly turn to me and start plunging both knives into me, repeatedly.

It's disturbing. But also funny.

Some pictures

My room at the Hyatt Regency. It was a pretty fancy hotel.
Randomly, Barrack Obama was staying at our hotel on Super Tuesday night. He had a big rally and speech in the basement, so we went. We didn't have tickets, I think we were supposed to, but we got in anyway and were actually pretty close. It was a pretty good speech. We were surrounded by people who LOVED him. It was fun and interesting.
He also had some good music choices for his entrance and exit.

Cloud Gate in Millennium Park. I am still beating myself up for not having my camera on that first foggy night because those pictures would have been amazing. Oh well.
I love this sculpture. I think it is beautiful.
Standing inside Cloud Gate. Or 'The Bean'.

Art Institute of Chicago. There's an Edward Hopper exhibit opening this week! Even though it's probably about the same one I saw in London, I was sad that we missed it. But the Institute was free for the month of February so that was pretty awesome. And I really loved their collection.

And now for Memphis. As you know, I was really nervous to see what my hotel would be like. Caitlin put the idea of cockroaches in my head and then I couldn't get it out. But it's actually pretty awesome in an eclectic vintage sort of way. There's hardly anyone here now. I have a king bed all to myself. Here's what the lobby looks like:

I was kind of excited to see the glass bowl sink. It makes me feel luxurious. There are 8 mirrors on my walls.

I can't believe I am going to audition again tomorrow. I am so done with auditioning. With the judging, the nerves, the trying to look my prettiest, the not being able to eat, searching for my name on endless lists. Even though driving home on Tuesday will be torture, it will kind of be a relief.

What a weird week and a half.

I just had a bizarre experience at the gas station down the road. Which is now hilarious. But bizarre.

And I've been noticing all night how every guy we are near looks at us. They Check Us OUT. Like literally, every guy. Stares. at. us. And though I've experienced many big cities on my own, and this isn't exactly a big city, I'm actually a little nervous about staying here alone for two days. In a $50 hotel.

Elvis stayed there once...

Thank you, thank you very much.

Alone in Memphis, Tennessee. I'm not actually alone quite yet, but Lauren and Caitlin have been auditioning/callbacking all day so I have had quite a bit of alone time. And tomorrow I truly will be alone. It's kind of weird to be totally by yourself in a city you've never been to or have any connections with. Our UPTA experience started this morning with an Elvis impersonator. Yes indeed. And it's kind of sad that I have no appreciation for Elvis because that is pretty much all there is to do in Memphis. But I am enjoying the wonderfully warm temperatures.

Last night we went to a very kitschy diner place. Elvis themed of course. There was much southern hospitality. And there was much fried food to be had. A pink cadillac picked us up and dropped us off. It was very enjoyable.

I drove through Arkansas yesterday and sang along to the Arkansas song from 'Big River'. That was also enjoyable.

I can't believe I am going to drive 15 hours on Tuesday. And WHAT am I going to do with myself tomorrow? I am moving to a hotel that is $50 a night, and that makes me scared a little bit.

Save this show!

If you are reading this blog, you probably know me. And you therefore probably know that I hate inspirational sports movies. So why in the world would I start watching a show that was spawned by an inspirational sports movie? Because Christopher Clark recommended it. I started watching this show soon after I moved home and and nothing to do for days and days. I watched the first season on nbc.com and COULD NOT STOP after the first one. I love it. Sure, the actors who play the students don't really look like they're in high school. But the writing is so good, the acting is so good, the production quality is so good, that I don't mind that at all. In fact I enjoy it because then I don't feel guilty about having a crush on Tim Riggins. Bottom line, I LOVE this show. And you will too. It is in danger of being cancelled.

Read this.

Watch episodes here.

You will really enjoy it. I am pretty sure. So you know all those hours you've wasted on the awful reality shows that fill the tv prime time hours now? Turn that tv off, and enjoy some quality television on the internet. PLEASE. Because I will cry if they cancel this show.

Maybe I'm falling in love with Chicago.

I got up and driving before the sun and made great time to Chicago. I arrived here at 4:00 EST, but 3:00 Chicago time. I have a very nice room. After parking my car for an exorbitant fee, I headed to my beloved hotel of last year, the Hampton Inn Majestic, because there is some great shopping around there. Why shop first thing instead of napping (which I should have been doing)? Because after sharing my audition outfit with my family yesterday I felt less than stellar about it. I feel better now, after purchasing a really cute white shirt to go underneath my vest. Small adjustment, but makes me feel way better. And why, may I ask, are the stores here 100% better than their sister stores at Eastview Mall? I speak specifically of H&M, Forever 21, and Macys. The Macys here makes the Eastview Macys look like K-Mart, the lowest of the low in my opinion. It was super fancy with a Lush! I smelled it before I saw it, and I smiled. Not to go on and on about a Macys, but you should have seen the building, it was a gorgeous building, all art nouveau and mosaic tiled. A dream. And they had like every cosmetic and skin care line you can think of. I love being in a city.

Moving on, this is why I am falling in love with Chicago: today, the city was shrouded in fog, and it was so beautiful and so eerie. I don't know if I've ever seen fog like that in a city. It's what I imagine London fog to be like, but it never happened when I was in London. The moisture just hung in the air, so thickly. There is So much beautiful architecture in Chicago and the buildings would just disappear and reappear around you. And WHY OH WHY did I not take my camera with me?! There were people taking pictures all over the place and I was so sad I couldn't capture the evening myself. The buildings are beautiful, and people here are pretty friendly, and it was NOT freaking freezing like last year. Perhaps that is why I was so surprised to see how lovely Chicago is today, because last year I couldn't notice it as I was freezing to death every time I stepped outside. I walked around sans coat and was just fine. Chicago actually seems preeeeetty artsy.

I bought my soy milk, hung up my clothes, did a little yoga. Now if only I could just go to sleep. But Caitlin and Phil's flight was way delayed, and I HAVE to show them my monologues before I head to my first audition tomorrow morning.

Well I love Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell and Daniel Craig. And I love WWII dramas. So this is looking pretty good to me.

It's a privilege to pee

My hydracoach is my new best friend. As some of you may know, I hate water. I hate drinking it. I hate that I have to drink it. I am chronically dehydrated. Which, my trainer man told me, is not good for losing weight. It is also not good when you are auditioning and you're way nervous, and your mouth is dry as a bone! So this time around in Chicago, I will be so hydrated I will have to pee every hour. I got the hydracoach yesterday as an advanced birthday gift. I started using it at 5:00 PM, and by the time I went to bed at 3 AM, I had drunken at least 70 ounces. I say at least because my hydracoach wasn't entirely working at the beginning so I drank probably a bottle full of water that was not measured. Today, I have drunk 103 ounces! My hydracoach goes everywhere with me. That is key. I know it's silly that it takes this water bottle to get me to drink water, but for whatever the reason, (the numbers? the straw?) this is the best I've done with my water goal, which I've had for 8 months. Hurray for me and my new friend.

And yes, it is 2:48 in the morning, and yes, I have to work at 8:30. But here's my reason:

My auditions are next week. I have had trouble coming up with times to practice my pieces since I rarely have the house to myself and feel uncomfortable working on my pieces when there's someone else here. It's just weird. So I finally had this brilliant idea earlier this week: my mom, the primary pres., has the keys to the church building. So I go down to the church in the middle of the night when there will be no one else there to bother. I'm usually there for a couple of hours because I spend some time singing, and some time working on my four monologues. It's creepy. It's 2 in the morning, and the building creaks, and I imagine I see someone passing by the little window in the nursery door out of the corner of my eye.

Funny story:

Tonight some cops showed up as I was going in. They thought I may be a highschooler making trouble. But I explained myself and everything was fine. THEN, at 2 in the morning, I heard a car in the parking lot, doors opening and closing. I read a lot of Nancy Drew when I was little and it has permanently affected me. Pretty much every night, I think someone has broken into our house and is going to chloroform me and kidnap me or some such equal or worse horror. So I was scared. I knew Slate was still awake so I called him to just be on the phone in case it was someone up to no good. I stood there in the nursery, trying to decide what to do for probably two minutes. Eventually I opened the door and just listened for a while... and I heard noises! SOMEONE WAS IN THE BUILDING!!! My heart quickened as I gathered my courage to say 'Hello?' And then someone answered and he sounded totally normal and I felt much better. Don't ask me why this man from the Fairport ward just had to make copies at 2 in the morning in the library, but I'm sure he thought I was equally or more strange when I was yelling at King Henry in the nursery.

And now Slate thinks I am crazy. But really-- imagine it's 2 in the morning and you are a girl. Better safe than sorry, right?