A gloomy time of year

The Holidays are the one time of year that is joyous and cheerful, when families are meant to spend time together. It's a season of giving and receiving, of love and happiness. However, this time of year can have the opposite effect on people. While all that love, joy and togetherness can be a wonderful thing, it can also swell all those broken hearts in the world. Many people experience a heartbreaking loss in their lives and our day to day menial tasks can help to mask the difficult times. However, when Christmas rolls around and everyone is meant to be with their family and loved ones having a merry time, the loss grows more significant and it is not as easy to run away from. It stares you straight in the eye and it hurts. It hurts more than ever, because you know there is a hole where a person, a pet, a happy family should be, or whatever that loss is.

I know this is a depressing blog for this time of year but it has been on my mind quite a bit. I know a lot of people who have either experienced a devastating loss in the past or in particular this year. Personally it's been a tough year and I've seen it all around. Of course the Holidays remind us of the difficulty we have faced and it feels so unfair...especially when you look around and see all the joy and merriment of the season all over. We must continue to remind ourselves that the Holidays are a mark of the end to the calendar year, and as of January the 1st we are all allowed a fresh start. While it is quite possible that the difficulties may continue, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. We all have dark times that we may feel we will never come out of, but we also have positive highs that we must continue to look forward to in our future, for it will make the difficult times seem non-existent. Vice versa, the difficult times will make the good times so much sweeter.

So, while this Christmas may be difficult, who says the next won't be the best one ever? My heart goes out to all of those individuals and families that are celebrating Christmas under difficult circumstances. Stay positive and keep your eye on that light at the end of the tunnel, because it will just keep getting brighter.



Merry, Happy, Merry!

Happy Christmas!

Hey all you little elves!

I'm sure you are all baking and last minute shopping in the last few days before Christmas. This time of year is always pretty overwhelming for some people. For me, the overwhelming part is being back in America. I just got in last night after being on a flight for 7 1/2 hours! I walked into the baggage claim area and saw a baggage attendant holding a large Dunkin' Donuts Iced Coffee and I'm sure he thought I was crazy or hitting on him because I just kept staring at his coffee. What I would do for a D&D Iced Coffee! Unfortunately the current weather doesn't inspire an iced coffee. I also nearly lost it when I got in the car and we started driving on the right side of the road. That one freaked me out which I didn't expect.

I went to the Cape Cod Mall today to do some last minute shopping and kept thinking the prices were in pounds. I have to say it is an extremely strange feeling being in the States. I hate to say, it but I'm not sure I like it. I feel out of place. I guess it's sort of because Cape Cod is a life that is so far away now...since I left high school really. It is where I grew up and where my family is, but I've started creating a life for myself in other cities... New York and now London. I do of course miss all my friends and family that I don't get to see when I'm in London. This trip is really just to see them and spend time with them. I will be spending New Years in Washington DC with my best friends and stopping off in NYC to see all my friends from that area. It will be fun to reunite at our  old hang outs.

One of the best parts about being here is being with my two amazing puppies and my kitty. I plan on doing a photo shoot with them before I leave so I can have some framed pictures of them in my flat. They are the best! Spending the next two weeks with them is what I've been looking forward to for the past three months. I'm also looking forward to two weeks of rest and relaxation because as soon as I get back school, placements and work will quickly kick into full gear.

Wishing all of you a healthy, happy and restful Christmas and Hanukkah! I'd like to leave all of you with this lovely choreographed number of the 12 Gays of Christmas.

Happy Holidays!!!

I'm still here!

Oh hey everyone!

I bet you thought I forgot about this whole blog! Well I'm sad to say that over the past few weeks I've been forced to forget this poor blog! I have not even had a second to check emails. Of course now that it's the end of the term, everything has come together and its mad. I've finally gotten 10 hours of babysitting a week but of course now it completely conflicts with my school and three placements and work at the bar. My mind was seriously exploding. BUT...I had my final presentation of the semester and I am done with school until after the holidays. It's a serious relief. I mean of course I have that 3,000 word paper due in January...Oh and that 1,800 page paper also due in January...but at least I will be on holiday and can relax at home in America.

I honestly cannot believe it is already Christmastime and I am on my way home this Tuesday! Where did the time go? This scares me because I don't want the year to go by in a flash. I am so enjoying being a student again and learning and researching subjects that I am interested in. I don't want to have to find a job....especially one that I must accept solely because it is a paycheck. If I go through this entire course and then end up in a job I'm unhappy with because no one will hire me, I will be absolutely "gutted" as they say over here.

Now that I can finally put school work off to the back burner for a moment, I can enjoy the holiday season, Christmas shopping and all the lights all over the city. I've got to buy all of Matt's presents before I leave, but that should be easy as he has created a specific list for me and each member of his family. He's been given budgets and worked it out so we get him everything he wants within each of our budgets. He is too funny with his Christmas list. He's like a little kid at Christmas. He has a list of toys and just keeps adding to it. Now I must get creative and add an element of surprise...but how???

I'm excited for the new year because of one big reason....a NEW TV show! For those of you in the States, you've probably already seen advertisements for it, but I advise all of you to watch SMASH on NBC when it premiers Monday, February 6th. This is the show I worked on as an assistant in casting almost a year ago. This was one of the best projects I've ever been involved with and I am so excited for the premiere. It has an absolutely AMAZING cast and is somewhat of a grown-up, more mature version of Glee without all the campiness. Please watch it in February and let me know what you think! I know it will be wonderful!

On that note, I will leave you to watch the clip and next time I write, I will be in America!

Cheers!

It's been too long!

I cannot believe how long I have been in between blog posts. I'm really sorry everyone! It's just that things are starting to get crazy. I've been working a lot, I've started babysitting and school is getting to be a lot busier. Since I last posted, I still didn't have a placement. Well, now I sort of have three! The two unofficial ones came along when I was getting fed up still without a placement. The first is one hour a week in a school with a group of under confident girls doing a workshop with two other classmates. We will be facilitating whilst the teacher is elsewhere in a meeting. I'm looking forward to putting the skills I've learned into practice as it will be just us teaching the group. The second "unofficial" placement is with a group of 16-18 year olds creating their own film. I happened upon this as I started talking with a group of people who run the project at the bar where I work. The project takes place at Wembley Stadium and the group leaders meet for a drink every week after the project. They are getting me involved and I'm actually heading over for the first time today! And finally, my official placement is with The Almeida Theatre and their educational department. I'm really excited to spend my last three weeks of the term working with them as they are a very reputable company here in London! So now you can imagine how busy I have become and with babysitting and work on top of that!







Thanksgiving is this week and Christmas is right around the corner! The holidays are already here in London and have been for a few weeks because they don't have Thanksgiving to really kick off the season. The lights are stunning down all the main shopping streets. My mom is in town as of tonight and I plan on bringing her shopping ...especially at night so we can see the lights! Speaking of Christmas I have to make a little complaint about London. I am sad to report that UK Starbucks disappoint me. This time of year obviously, Starbucks rings in the holidays with their iconic "red Christmas cup"...always an exciting time. HOWEVER, my all-time favorite drink at Starbucks is NOT on the menu over here. That would be the CARAMEL APPLE SPICE. If you have tried this, you know how AMAZING it is! I don't understand! First iced coffee, now this? Can it be true? Anyways, I am being denied which is probably a good thing as I cannot afford Starbucks on a daily basis. I am proud to say I went in today for THE FIRST TIME since living here. I have been drinking Costa and Caffe Nero because I find Starbucks so overpriced. Alright I'm done with my rant.

To finish up my blog I just want to mention two things. The first is that Matt and I went to his hometown this past weekend: Upton-Upon-Severn in Worcestershire (yes that's where they get the sauce). We spent time with his family and many many pets. I have been missing my pets so to get some furry TLC was amazing. He's got his border collie Darcey who is a love! Carl (Matt's Brother) has a little Jack Russel named Tink. And on top of that, four cats: Geb, Teal, Rocky and Cuffy. For those of you know my dad's store, I'll have you know that their cat was Cuffy BEFORE we met. It's a strange coincidence, I know. Anyhow, that was really nice! The second and final thing to mention is that I  had my Olympic callbacks. I have to be super secret about what I did, but all I will say is it was fun, hard/exhausting work and I don't find out for 6-8 weeks. I guess I can be patient.


Until then, Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Lots to catch you up on!

Hi everyone!

It's  been a while. . . hasn't it? I'm sorry, I've just found myself pretty busy. What have I been up to? Let's see if I can give you the highlights as bullet points:

*Halloween happened and I dressed as Where's Waldo (or Where's Wally as they call him here)
-This was the cheapest costume I could make that fit the '90s Cartoon party  theme (red tape, white hat, yarn for the pom pom). The party was held at my old flat when I lived here as an undergrad student in Kilburn Park (2008).
*My friend Graig came over to visit from across the pond. He, Ian and I (my firends from Drew) spent the afternoon walking along the Thames.
*I auditioned for the Olympic Ceremonies. Can't tell you much about it as we were sworn to secrecy, but there was a lot of dancing and moving. It was a lot of fun.
*I got a callback for a role specific audition for the Olympic Ceremonies. Wish me luck!
*Matt and I celebrated Guy Fawkes Night (Bonfire Night) by throwing a  bash at our place with all of our friends.
*AND I'M STILL WAITING ON MY STUPID PLACEMENT!!!! I was hoping to have started a placement at least a week or two ago, yet I STILL don't know anything! My tutor told me that she is almost 100% certain as to a pretty awesome place that will take me, but they haven't made it official. I know where it is, but I'm not going to tell until it's confirmed. I'm trying not to get my hopes up. Hopefully by next post, I will be able to discuss further. Obviously, this placement portion of my Masters is so important to me. I am dying to get started and gain experience as well as connections. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

So that's pretty much the update. Other than that, I've just been working and doing school work. Tonight I made my own recipe for the second time. I suck in the kitchen as I've mentioned in the past, but a couple weeks ago I concocted a delicious dumpling soup. Tonight I've made it again but with chicken and leeks this time. I snuck a bowl before Matt gets back from playing football and its tasting fantastic! I am very proud of my work and may even start enjoying it in the kitchen!


I am going to keep this post short and end with some pictures from the party. The night was a lot of fun and involved some Dance Central on the XBox Kinect, Beer Pong, card games, fireworks and even the Stadium was lit up for the Rugby. All and all a very successful night!

It's been a while

And so, after weeks of being bored and wanting to start school, I am deep in school work and lectures. I know it sounds nerdy but it feels good to be back in the library study cubicle, taking notes and seeing friends come and go. I am still working on finding a placement but until then we've been having some amazing extra-curricular lectures and performances outside of our regular school work. One day we went to a high school in South West London to participate in a drama class while the other day we watched a performance by a theatre company that works with prisoners and ex-prisoners. Not as fun, but I just finished two days straight of lectures. Going to an all day lecture session on a Saturday isn't exactly what I hope for, but its now over and time to enjoy the Halloween weekend.

Besides school I've been bartending away and actually bartended the craziness that was the NFL at Wembley Stadium this past Sunday. Every year the two teams from the NFL come over to London to play one of their regular season games. Powerleague hosted a touch football game with fans, old Superbowl players from years past, and the scariest mascot I have ever seen in my life. Check him out in the picture. That's the Tampa Bay Buccaneers mascot. Terrifying. Anyways, we hosted pre-game drinks. There were four of us bartending at this tiny bar and hundreds of fans...English and American. People fought to get to the front of the bar. It was insanity but fun at the same time.

On a different note, I have to say I love this season with its warm foods...spiced apple, cinnamon, pumpkin galore! I love the holidays...Halloween, Thanksgiving and the gearing up for Christmas. I even love all the fall fashions. There is nothing like wearing a good pair of riding boots and a warm scarf but having it still warm enough to take walks outside. The fall air is so crisp and smells amazing. Ok, now that I've gushed over fall -- which may only be because apparently they had a blizzard in the States today and I'm bragging -- it is time to get to the point. I made my family's famous Old-Fashioned pumpkin cookies this week! I made about 40 and within a day they were almost totally gone! They rarely use pumpkin in foods here so it was nearly impossible to find pumpkin puree in a can. I had to go to a specialty store just to get it. People thought I was crazy when I described the cookies, but once they had a bite, they were in love. They are seriously the most amazing cookies ever! The icing on top is literally the icing on the cake. It just makes them perfect.

I would like to end this post by saying how sad I am that Halloween isn't as big of a deal over here as it is in the States. For a person who obsesses over creating creative homemade costumes, I am very sad that I haven't had much of an opportunity to dress up this year without spending a fortune. Matt is working every night this weekend AND Halloween so there is no opportunity for us to do anything. And if I wanted to go out with friends, I'd have to come back late and alone which is not an option in my book. I'm trying to get a little spook in my life and going to a ghost tour with friends but we shall see. Since Matt and I aren't working next Saturday night, and are hosting a Bonfire Night party. Over here, the 5th of November is a celebration of the day when they caught Guy Fawkes just before he was about to blow up Parliament. In celebration they sometimes burn a scarecrow-esque doll representing Guy Fawkes, but it is mostly an excuse to set off fireworks and party. Our balcony will allow us to see fireworks across all of North Western London which is going to be so fun. I know that because as I sit here writing this, there are Fireworks out my window in celebration of Diwali. We are also making the party a costume party to celebrate our delayed Halloween. Can't wait to post pictures!

Making Friends

It's been a couple of days of recovery from whatever cold/flu thing many people around here and I had. They call it the Fresher's Flu because we've all been herded into different lectures and auditoriums constantly over the past week and our immune systems were completely unprepared. Luckily thanks to the help of many over the counter drugs I am doing much better!

My main task this week has been to find my first placement for school. I know I want to work with a well-established theatre or broadcast company and see how they run their educational programming. In particular, a company's programming for bringing the arts to children and teens. I can't wait to officially land my placement and tell you all about it. I'm looking at educational programming from programs such as The Royal Shakespeare Company's, The National Theatre's, The Old Vic's (Old Vic New Voices), The National Youth Theatre's and even programs included as part of the Cultural Olympiad (the arts part of the 2012 Olympics). Speaking of the Olympics, I have been desperately trying to get involved with the ceremonies and signed up to audition for as a volunteer performer. My audition will be in the beginning of next month.  Who knows what will come of it but it will be an experience.

Oh and good news, I've been making friends! We even had our first social tonight after a long day of lectures. Making friends and being in a new environment is so daunting and I was admittedly nervous but there are some great people in my program! It's so great to hear everyone's experiences and to just bounce ideas off of each other is so exciting. We are all passionate about (generally) the same thing which makes it so great. We have a HUGELY packed year ahead of us with everything from courses, practical work, projects, dissertations, jobs etc. All so scary but exciting at the same time!

Also good news, Emily, your clone on the X-Factor UK is STILL in the competition! The judges put her into this really cool girl group called Rhythmix and they are killing it as the only girl group in the competitiion. Em, I am so proud of you! (See earlier blog posts to better understand this joke)!

She's the one on the left but Emily is even prettier...for those of you who do not know her   ;)