Bow-tastic

I just found this ring online and I simply have to vent about it somewhere. It is sooo cute. I have a severe affection for bows, and rings happen to be my favorite jewelistic expression (there's a new phrase for ya). I already have a bow ring, but it's marcasite and only goes on one finger. ha. Oh man oh man, this ring is out of control, and it's STERLING (really a must for me).

♥ ♥ ♥ To splurge or not to splurge . . . ♥ ♥ ♥

Belated Update

So, I've been wanting to create a new post for a while now, but I never took the pictures of my thrift store finds that I promised I would in my last post! haha. So much has happened since then though that it no longer seems important. Maybe I'll still get around to it one day. . .

Let's see. Well last month I chopped off all my hair! That was an experience. I was a "hair model" for the Frederic Fekkai salon in Beverly Hills which simply means they practiced their cut and color techniques on me. I didn't come out loving my hair (my stylist didn't do a great job), but after my mom fixed the unevenness and intense bulk in the back, I now like it much better. Since it's been about a month now, it's actually already grown out a bit. I like it even better now that it's a little longer. It's a fun change and I'm enjoying it while it grows out. It's sooo much harder to deal with than my long hair though! I still struggle every day with what to do with it. Oh well. I guess that's part of the fun?

Before

After

I also went on a trip to Lake San Marcos (about a half hour from San Diego) for a convention with my church. My family rented a house on the lake that came with a pontoon boat called the Aquaholic. :) The boat went out multiple times every day, to be sure! It was a good trip overall. Lots of interesting memories. haha. I'll leave it at that! How about a very small sampling of my photos?

My brother and dog on the Aquaholic

Trying out a velcro wall :)

Sitting on the beach while my bro & friends surfed

Trying on tutus!

A brave seagull attempting to steal my friend's wallet & keys

My friends frolicking on the beach

A random guy stretching before going out to surf

Oh! And last week the episode of Heroes that I was an extra in aired! I saw myself five times which was awesome. I was really surprised because the two days I was there there were 100 extras. I lucked out! (On House, even though there were only about 20 extras, I bareeeely saw my shadow at the very end. haha.) I look forward to doing extra work again, but it has to wait until school is on break. Bummer.

There I am on the left!

And on the right . . . (sorry these are so dark)

Well that pretty much sums up everything that is even slightly interesting. haha. Maybe now I'll be able to post more regularly? I'm not going to tell what's coming next or else I'll be in the same predicament I was in before. You'll just have to be surprised. :)

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

In the end, the clothes swap didn't end up happening. It was just too much of a hassle for all three of us (I still can't believe that out of close to 30 people, only two were going to come)! The fires here in So Cal were in full swing and the smoke at my house was unbelievable, both inside and out! With the smoke, the anorexic guest list, and everyone's busy day, the party just wasn't in the cards. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the boxes of clothes I had set aside for the party. I'm thinking a garage sale might be in order.

A few weeks ago there was a 30% Konad sale that I, of course, had to take advantage of! :) I bought image plates m19 (plain french tip), m56 (tip decorations), m73 (sheet music, a cool square geometric pattern, others. . .) and the brand's top coat (everything else smears their "special" polish).

The tips take PRACTICE, let me tell you. Those are so hard to get on straight! I still can't figure out how to use the decorative tips over the original since they are two different shapes! I'll work on it some more. Some of the decorative ones probably look better alone.

After many reapplications, this is my first official Konad french manicure. I had to cover it with glitter to mask the imprecise tip placement and replacement. The bow placement was suggested by a friend, and I quite like it. :)

I've decided that every post from now on will have at least one picture, whether one I've taken or one I've "borrowed" ;) from the internet. Life is so much more interesting when visually expressed.

OK, well I'm going to enjoy a margarita my mom whipped up (panic not, my friends, it's legal) and then eat with the fam! I hope you have a great weekend. (Highlight of mine will be a Gossip Girl catch-up get-together at my friend's house. Ooh baby! Only three more days until the new season! I haven't seen it for over a year. I hope it's as interesting as I remember.)

Up next. . . pictures of my recent thrift store finds!

I Want Cake!

Thanks to a friend's tweet, I just rediscovered this website that features some of the most delicious (and disgusting) food you'll ever see. When I first saw it, I went through every single page because the pictures are addicting! Anyway, I found many today that look sooo tasty, but this one is just plain pretty!

Magical Rainbow Tower Of Dreams (link contains credits)

If you look at this site, make sure dinner is soon! I know I'm hungry . . .

Clothes Swap Blues

I've been planning this clothes swap party for monthssss now but have had the HARDEST time getting people to come. I had to reschedule it because so many people were out of town and yesterday was the RSVP deadline for the new date, and I still only have the two original "yes!"s coming. (THANK YOU, you two. You know who you are!) Out of like 30 people invited, two said yes, many (again!) are out of town, and a ton have completely ignored both invitations. Some of them really good friends! I don't exactly understand it . . . I would behave in the quite the opposite fashion, even if I didn't want to come. Oh well. I just thought it was an awesome idea for poor people like me to have some fun and get free, new-to-us, threads. Whatevs, people. I'll blog about the end result after the 3 of us swap. Ha.

My mom e*mailed me this cute pic of SHOES:

I'm always a fan of both hot pink and zebra, and together is even better! :)

Today I had my first full day of classes as an art major. I feel SO incompetent with art supplies; it's scary. I survived my first figure drawing class! We only did basic cubes and abstract blob things but it still took quite the effort on my part! I do NOT draw, and the last (and only) drawing class I took was 3 & 1/2 years ago. Sitting there watching super artsy and talented people draw around me was quite intimidating! I really need to practice when I'm not in class.

Well WOW, this has been a boring post. I applaud you if you read through all of it! I hope whoever you are, you are having a good day. :)

Playing House

8:36am. Hello! I'm writing from the set of House M.D. which is pretty cool if you ask me! I don't watch it so I don't know any of the characters or storylines, but I have plenty of friends that do! I called an agent at Central to submit for an 18 to look younger part for another show and ended up getting booked for House as a parent (and also a secretary?)!! Kind of a blow to the ego! Haha.

This experience is WAY different than Heroes. There are around 20 extras which makes the whole experience far more intimate. Also, we're on the actual set in-studio rather than outside on location. I got kind of lost walking to set because the studio grounds are pretty big! I walked through a pretend scariesville to find the right soundstage and ended up walking past the facade for Nolita, the restaurant for the 2005 show Kitchen Confidential (which I just rewatched on Hulu and am currently reading the book it was based on). I had to ask two people along the way but I eventually ended up in the right place.

We got to go to set about half an hour after checking in with wardrobe, which was awesome. The scene was cool but I felt pretty self-conscious at the beginning because everyone else here seems to be actual actors who have already been on House for quite a few episodes (some even having been on previous seasons). No one ever yelled cut because of me, so I guess I was OK. Haha.

Right now we're back in the holding area listening to some guy snore. I'll go back to trying to stay warm (soo cold in here! My teeth are literally chattering. Returning background brought blankets. Smart.) and reading Kitchen Confidential. Until later. . .

. . . 7:31pm. Well we didn't get called back to set until about 6? hours later. (Maybe it wasn't quite that long, but it seemed like it!) We didn't do very many scenes but we did do a lottt of takes. One thing learned today, Jesse Spencer is fun to look at. hahaha. Just an observation! It made the 100 takes around his character quite bearable.

The hardest thing about today was that everyone around me knew the crew and each other and clearly knew what to do! Granted, it's really not hard to get the hang of, but there is something to be said about that initial intimidation! Everyone knew their way around set and knew the routine. It's like your first day at school being in the middle of the semester.

Call time was at 6AM which meant in order to get to the studio on time, I had to wake up at 3:45am!!! Boo to that. I managed to get there without falling asleep at the wheel. Always a good thing! About an hour before we were dismissed, those of us who had a "change" (me being a secretary) were told to put on our alternate clothes. After waiting for about half an hour, we were dismissed because we were coming up on our 13th hour and they didn't want to fork over double pay! Unfortunately, that means I didn't get to be a secretary, which I had really been looking forward to!

Today was uncomfortable at times, but I think it was a good step up in learning the ropes. (I'm really glad I did Heroes first because it was a nice stepping stone for House. Today I would have been WAY more lost than I already was.) It should be fun to watch the episode because I think I'll be able to catch a [really quick, small, fuzzy] glimpse of myself.

Well this is certainly long enough now. If you bothered to read this far, thank you so much! I hope the rest of your week is amazing. :)

As promised

Thursday and Friday were so fun! Thursday just after midnight, I learned my call time had changed from 10:30am to 8am which meant in order to wake up and get to set on time, I'd have to get up at 4:30am. I am perpetually late, so I wanted to give myself plenty of time to ensure I was punctual (completely required for this business). I ended up getting to set around 7:30am and followed a girl in and found an empty seat in the extras holding area. Check-in wouldn't begin until 8, so I opened up my book. All around me people were eating breakfast that was provided by craft services, and I was trying hard not to feel nauseous from the smells (I was soo nervous!).

Anyway, after signing in, we were told to make a line for wardrobe and makeup so they could OK what we all looked like (we had been told to dress in young, bright, fun clothes that looked appropriate for early summer). After we got checked, we had to wait another couple of hours until we were finally brought to set.

I love being on set. It's so cool seeing everything and everyone that makes up what we watch on tv. I could hang out on set for hours (which, of course, is why I was so excited to be an extra). There was more standing around while ADs (assistant directors) placed the 150 extras (we were there for a carnival scene) in various places around the set. In the end, everyone had been placed except me and two other girls. We seemed to have been forgotten about! We ended up staying where we were while the rehearsals took place. It turned out to be a great place to watch everything because the action went SMACK (2 ft) past us (including Zachary Quinto). Once they actually brought the camera in, us three were told we were "stacking up" in the camera's view so we had to move around the corner in front of a dart throwing/balloon popping booth. haha. Oh well. It was still a good shot once, halfway through the scene, the two actors passed right next to us.

New villian Robert Knepper was there all day!

One highlight of the day was when Zach came up to the three of us and started popping the balloons with the darts. (For the first 12ish darts, it was him, girl #1, girl #2, then me lined up at the counter and then he moved between girl #2 and myself for another like 20 darts. Awesome.) Of course, as lowly extras, we couldn't throw with him, but we certainly savored the situation and eagerly replied to his chatter (well, honestly it was mostly expletives for when he missed the balloons. haha) and one of the set guys was complaining that he'd have to replace all the popped balloons. He didn't in the end so all was fine. Anyway, it was just a cool element of the day. :)

At a few times during the day, one of the ADs was working on a list trying to figure out who was coming back the next day. My name was never called, so it didn't look like there was any way I would be recalled. In between takes on the last scene, she said that the whole group I was booked to be a part of (18+ to look younger) was being recalled. I was sooo happy to be able to come back!

I was there for about 12 and 1/2 hours and at the end of the night was certainly looking forward to bed. At 1:30am, I got a call saying my call time had been pushed back half an hour which meant half an hour more of sleep! (But because I had been roused from a dead sleep, it took me like that whole half an hour to figure out what time to adjust my alarm clock to. haha)

Friday was wayyy more boring. We sat there for . . . 8? 9? hours. Ugh. We only got to film like 3 scenes. Sitting in the holding area was frustrating because I so badly wanted to be back on set watching the crew! Oh well. I ended up being there for 10 and 1/2 hours.

Not the actual set, but a mockup for Comic-Con

All in all, I had a great experience meeting people, learning the ins and outs of pantomiming ("talking" and interacting on camera while being completely silent) and crosses (extras walking on camera from and to a certain spot), seeing some sneak peek Heroes' storyline info, eating good food (craft services is awesome!), and stepping out of my comfort zone to try a new experience! One girl I met overheard a crew member say we were working on episode six, so I'll look forward to watching it!