After a dance recital with my older sister Sara.
Performing during a cruise to Bermuda with my family when i was 8 (nice pigtails kid.)
Fake pouting for the camera in my 90's grunge gear.
Performing as Minnie Mouse!
My Family thought it would be fun to put me on top of an air conditioning unit and do my best "Marilyn" impression... I was 3.
It has been a while since I have taken the time to sit down and write about what is going on in my life. So I will start with a quick update from where I left off. For my friends and family that read this to keep up to date with my travels and overall hectic lifestyle (mainly my grandpa & aunts and uncles that are constantly asking for updates), I apologize, I suck. It has just been quite the crazy ride since I returned to the states!
As most of you know, I returned to Scottsdale at the beginning of this past July. I spent the first couple of days hiding out with a close friend and didn't even really tell anyone other than my immediate family that I was back in the states. Now, for those of you who know me that is probably pretty surprising in itself. Me? Stay off of social media and not announce my return for DAYS?! Ha, not very typical of my social-media addicted self. However, I had some really mixed emotions about returning to America, a large part of me yearned to try to find an under the table serving job in London and live out my days surrounded by men with manners, cockney accents, and switch my coffee addiction for a love of tea and crumpets. I left two beautiful little girls that I had truly come to love, their parents who had truly become my friends, and many other people who had impacted me in ways that they may never truly even know. I was leaving behind this whole other life I had created for myself, one that my friends in the US may never know anything about.
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Pit stop in Chicago with my cousin Carly before heading back to Phoenix!
Luckily I was home JUST in time for the birth of my beautiful niece Adalyn and got to meet this adorable baby girl on her first day on this Earth. So for that I am thankful beyond measure!
The 2 months I spent back in Scottsdale were difficult to say the least. I felt as if my outlook on life had changed so drastically yet nothing in Arizona had changed- with the exception of a couple new bars opening. Everyone I knew was still stuck in the cycle that is Scottsdale, Arizona. Don't get me wrong Scottsdale is a beautiful city with great people in it whom I adore, albeit there is not much variety in things to explore. I fell back into my old patterns with my friends and that is when i KNEW that moving to Los Angeles was 100% the right decision for my life.
Fast forward to September 1st, 2013. I had packed everything that I possibly could into my car, had my friend Brandon load about 1000 songs onto my iPhone, grabbed myself a pumpkin spice latte, and hit the open road; taking the i10 freeway west to Los Angeles & I haven't looked back.
I got to LA in a shockingly fast 4 1/2 hours (sorry mom, at least I didn't get a ticket, oops) and pulled up to my new apartment- which I had never been to- to meet my new roommate- who I had only spoken to through texts and facebook. Thankfully, you will not be seeing me on the news as one of those girls who was duped by a fake craigslist ad and murdered. Turns out my roommate Leticia is not only a real person- she's an awesome person and the apartment is super cute & reasonably priced.
Then came time to find a job, go to open casting calls, auditions, and try my best to make enough money to stay in Los Angeles. Thankfully I am one of those lucky people who secured agency representation before even moving to this city, yet another thing that I am thanking God for. The rumors about this city however, are in fact, true. Gas is extortionate ($5.09 at Olympic and Fairfax?!?!-- remind me not to run out of gas near Beverly Hills!), traffic is ridiculous, you'll pay double what you paid in your hometown for an apartment that is half as nice, and even a simple juice will run you about $9. Finding a steady job took a while, the good news for me is that I already have an incredible group of talented young friends who live in this city and were willing to help me find one and buy me a beer every now and then when I was feeling down on my luck! Rodney, Amanda, Renee, Rachel, Jake, Erin, Whitney, Abril, Amber, Haley Lauren, Lindsey & Savanna- you are my saviors, thank you for keeping me sane.
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Myself, Haley, and Amanda at No Vacancy
Rachel and I at a LAFW event at Box Eight!
In the last month I have not only found a serving job, a job assisting a wedding planner (which most of you know is what I actually went to school for), I have also been booked on TWO television shows. For those of you who don't know much about the entertainment industry, that. is. HUGE. Many people move to LA with big dreams and it takes not months, but YEARS to get a paying acting job. Now, neither of these gigs are going to catapult me into stardom over night but regardless they were real live, paying acting work on actual Hollywood sets and I could not be more thankful to be so lucky!!
So far I am in love with this city. I spend an hour getting ready, then an hour in traffic, just to spend 10 minutes with casting directors & half the time be told that I am not what they are looking for, but I love it. You have to have a VERY thick skin for this business and know that when a director says you are "Not what they are looking for" it does not mean you are ugly or a no-talent wanna-be. They are not insulting you. They just have a very specific image in their mind of what the character you are auditioning for looks and sounds like and unfortunately today, that just was not you. Life goes on.
In the past month that I have been out here I have encountered nothing but supportive, driven people who for the most part want the same thing I do- to be successful doing something that they are passionate about. Whether they are in LA for acting, fashion, event planning, music, etc, everyone here has BIG dreams and no one is willing to settle. I love surrounding myself with people like that. It just makes my days so much better.
Things I am still getting used to:
* Paparazzi - this is a weird thing to me... Obviously, I don't live under a rock, I know that paps exist, but seeing them outside a bar or restaurant waiting to see someone famous is weird. There are even sometimes paparazzi outside of the bible study I have been attending due to the fact that certain "young Hollywood" people attend. It is strange and they are creepy. Ew. Go. Away.
* Traffic- I'm sure I've already mentioned this because LA traffic (along with laundry and doing my own hair) is my nemesis. It took my friend Rachel and I 40 minutes to get from my apartment to Beverly Hills during rush hour. That is only a 4.5 mile drive. Seriously, if you're driving LA give yourself 10 minutes per mile and 20 minutes to find parking. I wish I was kidding.
* Seeing/Meeting famous people everywhere- Ok, I shouldn't really be admitting this because everyone in LA claims to be so "used to" this. I call BULL SHIT. Granted, I am not running up to every person I recognize from TV and asking for a photo and their autograph, that would be rude and probably ruin my acting career before it ever even starts. But, running into people from your favorite bands and favorite shows or sports teams on a regular is... awesome? weird? interesting?. These are people I admire, people that have accomplished the very thing that I myself am trying to accomplish. Of course I am intrigued by them! I won't go into detail about who I've met and where because 1. I'm not an entertainment reporter and 2. Everyone deserves their privacy, but this is something that I am still getting used to- and frankly I think anyone who claims otherwise is a liar.
Well, there you go friends and fam- a quick little update on my life in LA and my return from my European adventure. I will try to be better about writing from here on out! Xx & God bless.
