5.19.2012

Happily Ever Cottage

Sooooo right now is like the dead season in the industry. Pilot season is long gone. Most TV shows are on hiatus. Its dead. There are legit tumbleweeds rolling down La Brea Blvd right now.

Rather than leaving you guys hanging (considering this IS a blog on my life as an actress . . . in the industry . . . which is currently tumbleweed infested . . .) I thought I would blog about my life as an actress-who-likes-to-do-things-outside-of-LA-when-I-start-to-see-tumbleweeds-rolling-down-La-Brea.

Down? Down.

There is a magical land about 348 miles north of La La Land called Santa Cruz, CA. Santa Cruz, which will henceforth be referred to as SC, somehow manages to be a tranquil forest community, a dreamy beach city and a poppin college town all at the same time. Its a paradox. I get that. But its happening.

Tucked away in the forest community live two lovely young Goddesses named Noelle & Camellia (or Cam for short. I actually secretly call her Caminator. I've never called her that to her face. Its more just when I'm referring to her when talking to Noelle. Its not a reflection of her personality. I just think myself super clever for coming up with it which is why I continue to use it). These are mah girlz. My bffs. My soul sistas. I haven't seen them in 6 months (that's an effing lifetime in bff years guys. For serious.) AND WE WERE FINALLY REUNITED THIS WEEKEND!! What?! Stop. Right?

The weekend started off with Noelle picking me up from the airport. (Yes I said airport. I prefer to fly for an 1 hr and 5 mins to reach my destination versus driving for eternity. I hate road trips. I hate feeling like I can't pee exactly when I want to.) She was wearing these super adorbs leopard print tights which, according to Mindy Kaling's blog post that I had read the day before, has become a "basic" in a Woman of the Now's wardrobe! I meant to tell her how cute and on-trend she looked but we started talking about food and I completely forgot. Per usual.


Talking about food lead to eating food. (Duh.) We went to a tre cute lil sushi spot and ended up eating all VEGETARIAN sushi. Why? Because I'm DEATHLY allergic to ALL creatures of the Sea. AND because my bff is a badass and supports me in my quest to not die from seafood exposure.This is why we're best friends.


After stuffing my face with veggie rolls (Yes. Its possible.) all I wanted to do was go see The Cottage. Notice how I capitalized it. Like you would capitalize The White House or any other historical monument slash proper noun. Because that's what it is (in my book). Its where all the magic happens. Literally. 


**The above photos are courtesy of Paul Winner of Paul Winner Photography (www.thepaulwinner.com)

This is where Noelle and Caminator live. It's a direct reflection of them. Calm, cool, collected, serene & untroubled. Yeah, The Cottage is all of the above . . . until a wolf shows up in the kitchen . . .

You guysssss I'm like not even kidding. There was an effing WOLF in the kitchen.

I was in the back of The Cottage and heard the little puppies (Merlin and Bow Bay) whimpering slash squeeling so I decided to go see what the fuss was all about.

I walked to the front and there it was. A wolf. In the kitchen. Staring at me. Probably contemplating eating me. For those of you who have never experienced this . . . it's rather frightening ok?!

I knew the next few seconds were crucial to my survival. This is how it went down:

Me: (In a whisper so as to not agitate the wolf) WTF? Noelle?

Noelle: (From the bathroom) Yeahh?

Me: (Still in a whisper) There's a wolf in your kitchen.

Noelle: What??

Me: (Still somehow managing a whisper) There's a wolf in your kitchen!

Noelle: A what??

Me: (Fuck a whisper!) THERE'S A WOLF IN YOUR KITCHEN!!

Noelle: Haha! Oh that's just Kaya. She's my neighbor's pet. She's super sweet. We're friends with her!

Me: -_-

Soooo THAT happened. BUT WHATEVER. We're in the FOREST! Its totally plausible that a crazed wolf wandered into our kitchen to come eat us!

I found out that Kaya was actually there to see Merlin:

Me: Sooooo do Kaya and Merlin like . . . have a romance?

Noelle: mmmm well Merlin is in love with Kaya. But Kaya is like an older sophisticated rich cougar lady. She loves the attention but Merlin will never be her main man. It took him a while . . . but he gets that now. 

Me: Ah. Of course.


Kaya & Merlin. In the kitchen.

All the wolf mania made us hungry so we grabbed Cam and went to get something to eat. Noelle had asked if I would be willing to go to this great vegan place that she's been wanting to try called Cafe Gratitude. Another reason why this girl my best friend is because she basically knows what I'm thinking at all times. I had been DYING to try the Cafe Gratitude down in LA! And better yet . . . the Cafe Gratitude Franchise actually started in the Bay Area. So we ended up eating at one of the originals. heh heh heh I like that. I like to experience the original forms of things instead of the copy cats. For whatever reason it does something awesome to my ego.



My favorite thing about Cafe Gratitude is that all of the menu items are affirmations like I AM TERRIFIC, I AM VIBRANT, I AM EXTRAORDINARY. And when you order, the servers are trained to repeat the affirmation back to you. So, it would go like this:

Me: Hi I would like I AM TERRIFIC please

Server: You Are Terrific

Me: Omg thank you for noticing!


heh heh heh clearly I will be going back. 

Full of TERRIFIC-NESS, the gals and I were making our way back to the car when I noticed a shady man with crazy eyes eyeing US. He was j walking towards our side of the street but to go in the opposite direction from where we were heading.

I got this gut instinct to look back behind us to make sure he didn't start following us. There was a slim chance that he would have completely changed his direction to start following us right? I mean that kind of stuff only happens to other people . . . not me and my friends.

So, deciding that it would be better to trust my gut instinct and be safe than sorry I turned around only to find the creepy man FUCKING FOLLOWING US.

Hmmmm okayyy . . . maybe he forgot where he parked? So I gave him a couple of steps to figure out where he was going. Turned around a second time only to find him STILL following us.

Dudeeeee I just had an awesome meal and am full of TERRIFIC-NESS and I'm really not prepared to run away right now should you try and get crazy.

Figuring that this guy wasn't gunna GO AWAY I prepared myself to give the most serious I'm-Not-Fucking-Around look that I've ever given anyone in my entire life. With mah girlz on back-up (one holding mace the other holding VERY pointy car keys) I whipped my head around and gave that mutha f*cka crazy eyes RIGHT BACK!!

It must have worked because he sharply changed directions and went down a dark alley. Sucka.

I'm flying home tomorrow. And although I'm gunna miss mah girlz, The Cottage, the puppies, the wolf and being thoroughly affirmed by severs at restaurants . . . There's No Place Like Home!

And for your viewing pleasure . . . I give to you the two baddest bitches in all of SC!! Ummm gorge riiiight??



 Noelle & Cam looking fabulous

And they all lived Happily Ever After

THE END!