Minding My Mondays

Another Monday, another blog post.
Today marks the fifth day of Lent, which for many Christian Americans means only 35 more days of begrudgingly giving up something in observance of penance and prayer before Easter. Though I myself am Catholic-raised-non-practicing, I have decided to observe this annual ritual this year in my own way. While I have "given up" soda (not particularly difficult to do considering I only drink soda on the rare occasion it is the first thing I grab on a break from work), I have decided these 40 days would be better spent "adding" something to my routine (like spending more time with friends, dancing more, putting aside more investment money from my paycheck each week).
So for 40 days, I vow to set aside another 10% investment from my weekly earnings (a money-wise "add" if I do say so myself!) AND to wear a bright splash of color every day. This latter is admittedly a little silly, but for the past five days I have found myself in a better mood because of it. Even if only I know my socks are florescent pink, it gives me an extra bounce to my step to get me through rough days. Today, I wore my favorite bright shoes for an audition. A pair orange alligator Bandolino ballet flats were the perfect splash of color to compliment an absolutely gorgeous day in DC!
So what will you "add" in observation of Lent this year?

Two Book Tuesdays

     It occurred to me earlier this week that I have become quite lax in my literary endeavors. I can recall my years in high school when I still managed to read a full book (not a play, mind you), often in addition to those required by JC Smith's English curriculum. I have disappointed myself of late. With work, auditions, grad school applications, and the like I have found ample excuses to leave the books on the shelves, opting for a sitcom rerun on Netflix or a flip through the glossy pages of a magazine instead. And yet I miss devouring a good book, creasing the binding for the first time, dog-earring the page to keep my place, writing in the margin if I find a phrase amusing or interesting.
     In an attempt to inspire a good read, I will keep up with Oprah's book club, the NYTimes latest reviews, and suggestions from friends or the lovely folks at my local bookshop.
     Earlier today, NPR featured a segment called "Three Books". Today's, a special for Valentine's Day, featured books for the lonely hearts out there - those of us tired of the sappy love stories in which boy and girl meet, fall madly in love, and live happily ever after. Exeunt the betrothed! Enter the independent!
     And so, with a tip of my hat to NPR All Things Considered, here's to Two Book Tuesdays. The rules: the first book will be one I have finished (either a favorite from years ago or one more recently completed) while the second will be one I have only just picked up (either that I've stumbled upon in a bookshop or one I am reading on the Metro, the Northeast Regional, or in the late hours as my head struggles to hit the pillow).

The Giver Lois Lowry
I have to say this is one of my favorite books of all time, and so is an appropriate first book for this post series. I first picked this up in 5th grade, assigned reading for Mr. Stankiewicz, and have been absolutely in love ever since. Winner of a 1994 Newbury Medal, The Giver follows a twelve year old boy names Jonas through his coming of age, of sorts, in a dystopian society. The book presents the profound notion that with great knowledge comes great power but also great responsibility. Though I certainly did not appreciate the finer nuances of this quick read in 5th grade, I have reread The Giver several times since and have found new ideas in it every time. It was particularly interesting to read in my freshman year of college alongside Foucault and Marx essays. 


Up In The Old Hotel Joseph Mitchell
I picked this one up earlier today in a secondhand bookshop near DuPont Circle. Here's what the back cover says:
"Saloon-keepers and street preachers, gypsies, and steel-walking Mohawks, a bearded lady and a 93-year-old 'seafoodetarian' who believes his specialized diet will keep him alive another tow decades. These are among the people that Joseph Mitchell immortalized in his reportage for The New Yorker and in four books...that are still renowned for their precise, respectful observations, their graveyard humor, and their offhand perfection of style. Now some thirty years later, these masterpieces (along with several previously uncollected stories) are available in one volume, which presents an indelible collective portrait of an unsuspected New York and its odder citizens - as depicted by one of the great writers of the or any other time."
High praise, no? I am definitely looking forward to cracking this one open later tonight. I'm fascinated of late by literary, performative, or visual portraits of real people. I suppose its the anthropologist in me breaking through after almost a year's hiatus from formal, thorough cultural study. Whatever the case, I will be sure to give a thoughtful review of the stories in Up In The Old Hotel very soon.

** And, yes, I do know this was posted on a Wednesday. I did, however, originally write it yesterday during my very quiet shift at the restaurant. 

Forget-Me-Not Friday

            Another week brings a new series (hopefully) for my growing blog. I’ve been sorting through my room recently (a little early spring cleaning, if you will) and have been coming upon new ways to recycle old things, those things I don’t want to toss outright. It has been particularly amusing to sort through those odd items that made it into my moving boxes last October, seemingly haphazardly. As the saying goes, “Out with the old,” and yet to actually achieve that clean space I’m excluding the “In with the new.”

            The first thing to "go" has been my piles of old magazines. With every trip for auditions, grad school interviews, and holidays up north, the latest copy of Vogue, Elle, Arrive, and Women’s Fitness has found its way into my carryon luggage, eventually landing in a heap (often only quickly skimmed) on my bedroom floor on my arrival home. The dilemma, I usually discover some great ab workout, a yummy recipe, or a gorgeous dress design among the other 87 or so glossy pages, and don’t want to lose track of it.

            Thank god for George Brooks – the Kansas resident credited for the 1924 “invention” of the corkboard, or at least the first to stick pins in one!

            Rather than losing track of those fun finds I have dedicated a portion of the wall above my desk for a layout of corkboard to hold all these cool clippings. Sounds simple, sure, but every once in a while I look back over the pages to spice up my exercise routine, add a dash of something new to my dinner menu, or throw an old skirt and top together in a new way. Once I’ve tried an idea out a couple times I toss the magazine clip. There are, after all, more magazines and more ideas to flip through among those glossy pages. 

Mindful on Monday

I have returned to the DMV from a very busy and stressful week of graduate school auditions in New York. Getting back to the daily grind is certainly going to be a bit of a shift this coming week, so to get in gear I took to the gym early this morning - today was cardio day after all. While treadmill running I caught up with the Nate Berkus show (a fun show that I so rarely take the time to enjoy). This morning's feature was a designer from the OWNetwork and Home Made Simple. With an eye out for design, organization, and apartment living tips, I loved some of the tips this designer had for sprucing up old and found items on the cheap. A little more digging post-gym and I found the Home Made Simple homepage - a true trove of recipes, crafts, party hosting tips, design guides, and much more! I'm in idea guide heaven! Looking for some fun tips for yourself, check out this fantastic site homemadesimple.com.

(They should seriously pay me for this incredible pitch!)
And oh, by the way, the tip that had me hooked?

 (From www.homemadesimple.com)

The "Functional Fan-Folded Book". Takes all of 10-20 minutes of less and is actually a lot of fun! A suggestion for paperback books - cut a piece of heavier cardboard to the size of the opened book (back and front cover and binding) and glue that cardboard to the cover. This will give your organizer a little more structure and heft so it won't fly off your desk as easily.

Willfully Another Wednesday

(Okay, so it's Thursday! I plead a crazy week full of auditions. Enjoy!)


Anyone who stops learning is old. ~ Henry Ford

This week I am in New York and New Haven jockeying my way through a gauntlet of graduate school auditions hoping that my journey to a full fledged acting career will include additional formal training at the hands of the masters. It is often strange to think, after even just eight months in the real world, of returning to school. Then again, I don't know that I will ever truly leave the role of student. There is certainly something to be said of "learning something new everyday". At the risk of sounding too cliche or corny, I will leave it by suggesting the wealth of knowledge available to us daily, even by the second, is incredibly humbling.
As an actress, I continue to workshop with fellow actors, train physically with companies in my area, and exercise my instruments daily. As a businesswoman, I continue to explore my skills set by applying to jobs and fashioning impeccable cover letters and resumes that would make my alma mater's Career Services proud. As a young college graduate still settling in to a new locale and new relationships (professional and otherwise), I find it best to take one day at a time. With so many options and opportunities for my future I am relishing the sense of plasticity. And through it all I continue to learn about myself, the path I want my career and my life to take, and the person I want to become. I certainly haven't taken the easy road - eight months post-graduate, I am not exactly looking at the big bucks or the penthouse suite. And yet with every challenge met, with every new discovery made, I remain a life-long learner, forever young Mr. Ford!

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

    Hoping to initiate a precedent here – writing in every Wednesday with some words of wisdom from my experience in this big wide world of ours. While working my way up the real life ladder, I have a feeling these posts will be full of the “should’ve”, “could’ve”, “would’ve” ‘s of finding the right job, the dream job, the right apartment in the right location, maintaining friendships (maybe relationships) while trying to figure of all this out.

   So here’s today’s:

   We all know the age old, so-called sage advice, “Don’t quit your day job”. Too often it is mentioned in jest, perhaps at a person’s frustrated attempts to carry a tune in a bucket. However, all to frequently we actors, artists, and soft-scientists alike are offered this counsel as wise and successful family and friends try to sway us from a path littered with wanderers, broken-hearted, and penniless. One would think a mere glance at the numbers who actually “make it” would certainly dissuade us quitting our day jobs. But perhaps I am too naïve and optimistic.

   I recently took on a day job with the hope of making a little extra money in between acting gigs. It’s a restaurant job - how cliché, right?! - but it’ll pay the bills for a little. However, I came home this evening to find my inbox full of casting notices and audition appointments in the next few weeks in addition to a posting for a job I’d be perfect for and would absolutely love in New York. My head told me to ignore the job posting and hang onto the stable day job I just started working a few local auditions in here and there, but my heart, gut, and every other piece of me told me to submit. Would it be so wrong to have options?

   And so, in spite of my head, I continue to submit my headshots, resumes, cover letters, and references for auditions and dream-job openings alike. I am too young to squelch opportunities that arise. And so I offer this age old, so-called sage advice, “It doesn’t hurt to try”. Options are opportunities.

   So, no, I will not be giving up my day job. Not just yet at least. However, I’m also not about to let it get in the way of my career. I’m living in the moment for now, taking one day, one audition, one day job shift at a time, awaiting new opportunities to throw a shiny golden wrench in my all too full Google calendar. Good thing there’s an “edit’ button.

A New Blog Out There

Hi there Blogger world!
I told myself two years ago that I would start and maintain a fantastic blog. All too soon, however, my classwork, honors thesis, rehearsals and performances required more time and attention and my dreams of blog-dom went by the wayside.
But here I am, trying again. Now a college graduate and finding my big break into my perfect career a steady but certainly slow journey, there is definitely a greater possibility of keeping this up.
So here goes nothing.

Welcome to my blog, 360and365! The 365 is, hopefully, obvious - the 365 days of the year. I hope to write in for at least a third of them. The 360 is for the 360° in a full circle. My blog will be about the things that make me me, a full circle. It will be a little music, a little food, a little friends, a little healthy living and exercise, and a whole lot of fun.

Perhaps my journey will provide inspiration, guidance, insight, or even just a good laugh for the day. I have found much motivation, hope, and downright genius in blogs, the books I read, the Tweets I track, and the daily explorations of living in a new city, and am hoping to give some of that back here.

So here's to the self-indulgence of another blog out there, and may it bring you a little something for your day, your week, your month, or even your year as so many have already brought to mine. 

Thanks for reading and following. 

Enjoy!