Thanks

I feel like I've been waiting for the holidays since January of this year. I am incredibly happy they made it. Tomorrow, very early, I will be on my way to Decatur, IL to celebrate Thanksgiving and other various milestones with Matt's family. His whole family. Virtually every single member. No big deal.

I am also 3 days from my 29th birthday. As Amy so rhetorically reminded me, it is in fact the last year of my 20s. I have to say I'm pretty ok with that. Aside from this annoying biological clock, I'm pretty excited to get the hell out of this decade. My 20s have been fun and interesting and important...but they're also pretty overrated. There's a humorous, but humbling, comfort in looking back on things I did 7, 5, even one year ago and think, "Oh yikes, I would never do that again." So here's to being older and having more life to carry with me.

Think of things you're thankful for. And EAT!!

Slow Blog Year

I'm going to say it's because of all the exciting things I've been doing. Or it's because I'm ashamed to blog about sitting in my apartment. It's a little of both. But either way I've come back like I always do. What have we missed?

Girls Night Out! Great show, great cast, and I'm sad it's over. But we will continue to hold reunions at douchebag bars.

More girls, but the CSz kind. Ladiez Cook and Clean at TNo's place with a good percentage of CSz women represented. We got serious and made pasta. Serious pasta.

Halloween! Matt and I both went the cartoon route (ugh, I get it, the Flash is a comic not a carto-zzzzzzzzzzzzzz). Regardless here we are, The Flash and Jem!

Other things to report...I was thisclose to being in a commercial for the first time in my life. That was an exciting four days of jumping whenever my phone rang. But really, it was. Despite my lack of funds and the adjustment to rejection, I manage to remind myself how happy I am to be in the position to get that phone call.

And speaking of life progress, I'm fully embracing the fact that I can't live without TV. Maybe some elitist "readers" or "outdoor enthusiasts" will look down their noses at me, but I'm not afraid to admit it anymore. A few weeks ago for financial reasons I decided to go without cable for the first time in my life. Without a digital converter, I've had nothing but DVDs, radio and buffering internet video. Until today. The digital box I borrowed from a friend at work finally decided to cooperate with my TV and like magic, network television appeared. I had never been so happy to see Two and a Half Men. TV is just a fixture. I had all these aspirations of silence and work and self discovery. But instead I would just take too much time to locate my desired Buffy episode on DVD so I could have something on while I stood in the kitchen doing dishes. When you live alone, the TV is your roommate. And if my roommate can't passively talk to me, I'm not ok. So I said it. I need my TV.

And now I have to go and fall asleep watching the Home Shopping Network. Or telenovelas.

Stuff I'm Currently Not Doing

Here's what's going on in my apartment that I've been meaning to address for...5 years. I keep moving the same crap over and over and thinking I'll get rid of it "next time." So let's take a look.

Top Shelf: Coke stuff. Ok, fine, no issue there. What you don't see sitting in front of the truck's front wheel is my severed Lollapalooza bracelet from this year. Fine to keep, but it needs to go into my oft-idealized, never realized scrap book. In the cup there you may noticed some braided palms from Palm Sunday this year. Again, great to have, but I forget that I never properly disposed of the ones from last year. Sorry, JC.

First shelf: lots of books. Too many. Several of them could stand to go to a nice open space where they can run and play with other books.

Second shelf: Eesh. This shelf is broken. So I've balanced a bunch of light crap there that I don't have any other space for. Stapler, tape, pens, sewing kit my aunt gave me when I went to college....great. Glittler glue pens from an art project for my Sunday school class in 2005?? I'm a mess.

Bottom shelf: Tools. Three hole punch. Mini-speakers for my computer. Giant binder containing my Second City understudy packet. Notepads from a gift set and a two-pack of Silly Putty from my mom's Easter package this year. Come on, Sullivan.

So what have we learned? Well, I've taken the time to share this assessment on my blog while drinking coffee and watching Price is Right rather than actually doing something about it. But maybe the accountability will catch up with me. You know, before I go back to the office next week.

Fall Back On

Well happy fall. I know it's a little premature, but as soon as Pumpkin Spice Lattes hit Starbucks, it's that time again. The weather in Chicago has been perfect and I'm ready to love things again. The past month or so has been tough. Maybe I hate summer. Maybe I missed Bar Harbor just a little. Maybe...a lot of things. But mostly I think I fell victim to jobless depression. I've been without regular work for 3 months, and I think it took about two months for the fun to wear off. I hate not being busy. If I'm not swamped I get nothing done, I start running late, and I just complain a whole lot more. So it's time to shake off the weirdness of summer '09 and move on.

I am trying to tackle some writing projects as we speak, which means I'm easily distracted. Hence this blog. Also, I fell victim to trying to clean out some email. Which lead me to go all the way back to the beginning of my yahoo account in March of 2005. Four and half years ago my life looked a lot different. Do this. Look at your sent box as far back as you can and see how many of those people you still talk to. Or how many of those emails make you roll your eyes or laugh or groan. Of course I realize the difference between 24 and 28 is significant. So I'm giving 24 year-old me the benefit of the doubt. Plus the space-time continuum doesn't allow me to punch myself, so there are things I just have to shake my head at, chuckle and try to forget. I'm sure I'll do it all over again when I'm 32.

A September 1, 2009 update, in the spirit of time-dashing...

• I really appreciate the intentions of raw-food vegans, but I am not meant to be one.
• 2010 will be my year of superficiality. In a good way.
• I love spending full days at home cooking and cleaning. But after two months of it, I begin to break things.
• A year ago this time I was preparing to go to Novi, MI. I really loved that.

I'm ready for my first fall at home since 2006.

My Favorite Things

When I started this blog my intention was to focus on things I love. Well I am suffering from a serious lack of geek-out. This needs to be remedied.

So what am I doing these days...well, I'm involved in some super awesome things.

District 9!! No, not the movie. And not just these two ladies. I just don't have any full team pictures. But Bev and Julie are 20% of this kick-ass CSz Rec League team. It's been an honor for me to coach them.

Uniformless! It's been a fun summer with these guys. Shortform players doing longform...without our UNIFORMS. Come see a show, you'll get it.

I'm very lucky to be in this van. Girls Night Out has been great so far and the cast couldn't be better. Our rides to and from Arlington Heights every weekend are ridiculous. Totally ridiculous. Speaking of ridiculous...I found this magazine backstage and it has clearly left me dumbstruck. DramaBiz Magazine, tagline: Giving You the Business. YES!!!!!

I miss reveling in my lameness. More to come.

Summery

A couple months ago I said I wasn't going to blink until after Lollapalooza. I got to blink!

So I went to DC and did my show and saw this.

And this...

And Bethany! Here we are on the tour of the Capitol that I tagged along on... And Matt came to see my show! But really he came to see the Air and Space Museum.

It has been a ridiculous summer. Good ridiculous. It's nice to settle down and be doing a regular show. Girls Night out opened last weekend and is going along very well. I haven't done a regular show run since Novi, and I forgot how nice it is to saunter into a theatre, put on make up, gossip, do stupid bits, flip through a magazine and then make a bunch of normal folks laugh at a song about dicks. It's nice to be home too.

Speaking of home, thank you, Chicago!

Forsythe and I were the only serious ones. Open to close.Roommates! Former roommates. Rob's made a tradition of coming back from Hollywood every year for the occasion.Hot ladies. No, really, it was really hot out there.

So about settling. Now that things are quieting down, and I have a show going on, and I have a return to the office on the horizon...this is where I tend to get weird. I like when things are in flux and I get uncomfortable when they're stable. Well. I'm waiting.

2009: The Fastest Year in the Entire History of Forever

I still have to make the conscious effort to write '09 on checks, etc and it's July! Holy F.

So I've taken a real summer vacay in a lot of ways. Literal ones...

Portland! Sarah really was having the best time ever. Bob and Stacey hosted us at their theatre, and we held an official Firecracker reunion.

Oh man, I'm having so much fun!

Portland led to Sun City, AZ.

Uncle Pete: Here, Nat, take this. In my chair with a right wing book and a remote. This is me.

Back to my days of liesure...Uncle Carl visits! A pic of him taking a pic on the lakefront Loyola campus.



These kids got married! The wedding was a great time. Thanks and congrats, John and Tracey!

And speaking of lovely couples...in the tent backstage of the CSz Taste of Chicago shows.

Happy 4th! At Tamara's annual bbq. Matt and I are strategically placed in front of a box of Twinkies. Pure coincidence.

CSz Chicago represents at Tournament in Milwaukee! A few of us dropped in the last night and hit up some shows and partying.

So Chicago didn't win tourney, but man look at these prizes!

In addition to the literal vacation, I've clearly taken some mental time off. It's a bad sign when blogging is a chore. Or a good one? I've been busy with travelling and shows and preparing for the trip to Washington DC for the Fringe Fest. After that, I start rehearsal for Girls' Night Out in Arlington Heights. That's mostly what I have to report.

I hope the 8 of you are happy for the update.