Happy New Years...Eve!

Here's to my first New Years in Chicago! I'm headed to dinner shortly with my roommate Thom and a gaggle of his friends and then we're headed back to our apt for the champagne at midnight. Can't wait! I'm not usually a partier on New Years Eve, but I'm in Chicago so it comes with the territory.

It's gonna be weird getting used to writing 2010 on everything. I say this about every time a new year rolls around. Whateva!

I guess it's time to get on those New Years Resolutions!

Have a great night everyone!

T

what a weekend

My entire family was in town this past weekend for a pre-Thanksgiving get-together. It was great, since we won't actually be able to have Thanksgiving together. I played tour guide and made them walk everywhere(and I mean everywhere). Such is the Chicago way. I'm used to it, but I kind of forgot that out-of-towners may not be accustomed to all of the hoofing. By the third day, my parents were looking pretty lethargic. If I had to guess, I would say we walked about 10 miles total, give or take.

I'm pretty sure everyone had a good time and saw everything they were hoping to see. I am exhausted. I could sleep for 2 days now.

ZZZzzzzzzzzzz......

November in Chicago

It's November! It hasn't snowed yet or anything but I'm breaking out the cold weather stuff. Actually I've had it out since September. Yeah, we had a short summer for sure. Anyway, they've started to put up Christmas lights around town and everything is beginning to look festive. The family will be here in one week for an early thanksgiving and it's going to be fun showing them around my neighborhood.

In other news, I got some headshots taken a few weeks back and can't wait to start auditioning for stuff. YAY!!

That's it for now!

The leaves, they are a changin

It is most undoubtedly fall, people. The leaves have begun to fall and everything is crisp and crunchy. It's really fantastic to see the bright colors and the streets full of leaves. I need to get my camera out and capture some of the autumn colors before winter takes over. It's on my list.

In other news, all is well at the job and I recently had headshots taken so that I can begin to audition for things and feel semi professional. It's about time!

I have big things coming up in the next few weeks. I'm going to my cousin's wedding in Ohio, and then I have friends and family visiting so my holidays are gonna be jam packed! I love visitors. Then I can do all the touristy Chicago things. Wheee!

Ahhh...Music in the park

Millennium Park is awesome. They have a summer music series and this weekend it happened to feature songs from one of my favorite Gilbert and Sullivan shows, Pirates Of Penzance. This time I arrived about 15 minutes prior to the start and was able to sit in an actual seat as opposed to lawn seating(which is actually just as awesome since there are speakers everywhere and you can see just fine). It's such a great show and the songs they picked were superb. My favorite by far had to be "Poor Wandering One", although I would have liked to hear "Paradox", but I guess they can't sing them all without charging admission. ha. They also sang music from the Mikado, which was very enjoyable although I wasn't as familiar with that show.

Good stuff!!

Here is a picture of the pavillion(not taken by me. It was cloudy and yucky out so I cheated and found this online).

Week the Sixth

I've been in this fabulous city for 6 weeks now. I have a job at a restaurant 1 day a week and I like not working 6 days a week. Curse bills!!! If only they would go away so I could keep living in my funemployment filled happiness. JOBS ARE FOR CHUMPS! CHUMPS I SAY!

The Tempest and Second City

Being jobless allows for lots of time to peruse local newspapers and such. Yesterday, I was looking through the Red Eye and found an ad offering $20 tickets for The Tempest at Steppenwolf Theatre, so I jumped on the opportunity. I am so glad I did. It was an amazing production. The stage dressings were minimal, but the actions were brought to life by audio and visual efects. This was apparently the first time Steppenwolf has attempted Shakespeare, and it was truly enjoyable. I followed the plot pretty closely and was rarely confused. This is not to say that I understood every Shakespearean syllable uttered, but pretty damn near close, I would say. I stayed after for a meet and greet with the artistic director. I love hearing thoughts on the play and really dissecting scenes and ideas. So interesting!

I went to The Second City orientation today. It basically went over the program and what to expect from each level. I met a few people who had come from all over, like D.C. and Maryland, just so they could take classes there. Well, I guess I came from Florida so that's pretty far too. HAHA.

YAY.

Unemployed and lovin life

I am having a blast. So what if I don't have money rolling in at the moment. This town is gorgeous in the springtime and I have been enjoying every minute being here. Today I walked along lakeshore drive and into Lincoln Park. The flowers are amazing. There are tulips lining pretty much every street. :)

Enjoy some pics from todays stroll(mostly of Lincoln Park and surrounding area):

Grrrr. Technical difficulties. Will try again later.

Update

funny fish at the shedd aquarium

YAY!

I'm here in Chicago. The eagle has landed. :) I'm really having a great time. My dad was nice enough to come along for the 2 day moving trip, and it went pretty seemlessly. We stopped in Nashville just in time to see my brother perform with his band, which was cool. He played at this dig called the "Twin Kegs" in Nashville. His band, The Stateside Menace did awesome. I love their sound. I told him they reminded me of the counting crows.

We booked a hotel in Nashville for the night and were able to have a nice dinner with the bro before heading the rest of the way the next morning. Since, we didn't have any time constraints the next day, we decided to take our time and enjoy the drive. Since we were heading to Chicago and the high was 57, and my dad forgot to bring a jacket, we stopped at several stores to try to find him one. We ended up just going to goodwill and he found a pullover sweater thing there for like $4.00. I have to say it was the cleanest goodwill I've ever been in. My only complaint was the lime green walls that were near the bathrooms. I think I burned my retinas.

After being on the road for about 9 hours, we finally made it to the apartment and met the roommates(who are awesome!) and moved all of my stuff into my new room. It's amazing that it all fit. The room is a bit on the small side, which is the theme in these old chicago buildings, but I'm not complaining because, I'm close to everything and Johnny Depp filmed parts of a movie on our street last summer(details to follow) so I am ecstatic.

There are occasional loud obnoxious cubs fans wandering around the streets but they're pretty much harmless.

Ok, I'm stopping for now. I could probably write all night. I'll be starting my job-hunting ASAP so I'm sure that's what you will be reading about next.

Wish me luck!

5 days!

My time here in Florida is dwindling. I've been a bit like a be-headed chicken, scuffling about in one direction or another, mostly trying to hang out with every single person I know or have come across while living in Florida. This is quite a task. As the last few days approach, I'm more inclined to let the people come to me. I made a big effort with the select few(i.e. inner circle of friends), and everyone else, should they desire to see me to wish me well and whatnot, should call, or write, or e-mail, or text or smoke signal. God knows the technology is out there. And if they haven't I won't lose any sleep.

Let the packing continue...

Excitement

I'm moving to Chicago. I can say that with confidence now. I have secured an apartment with some really awesome roommates and I am set to move May 1st. That means that over the next month I will be condensing my belongings to an appropriate level in order to make the big move. I plan on being pretty minimalist for a while. You can always accumulate more stuff(if you want to).

I'm already looking into improv classes and tap dance classes and whatever else I can dive into once I get into town. I am sooo excited and only a little nervous, which makes me think that this is absolutely right. It just feels right! :)

More to come on my exciting new adventure!