I got my new car!!!

And it's sooo puuurrrrttty.

Don't you just love it when you have a weekend that is surprisingly nice, even when you didn't expect much out of it? Well, that was my weekend.

Minus a couple of bumps.

Such as this: On Friday night, I had made plans to go out for drinks with a guy that I used to work for, and coincidentally also used to date. He works in my industry so we still talk every once in a while, and since it had been a long time since we last saw eachother, we finally made concrete plans.

It's always interesting trying to figure out the right way to tell your current boyfriend that you are going out with an ex for drinks. I was worried that Chris wouldn't take it well...but he did. Chris knows that there is no interest there anymore, and after our meeting, I wonder how I ever was even the slightest bit attracted to the guy. Isn't it funny how you could take a girl and a guy and put them together and there will be a spark, and then put them together during a different time or place in their lives and there is NOTHING? Let's just say that that was the case.

On Saturday the sun was shining and it was absolutely beautiful. After breakfast with my boss, I met up with Chris and friends over at one of our friend's son's bday party. Who knew wine and bouncy-houses were so fun? At night, Chris and I went to dinner and then to an improv comedy show, which surprisingly was a lot funnier than we had anticipated.

Sunday had to have been the most GORGEOUS day. We went down to the beach and rode bikes for an hour (always a fun thing to do), then met my dad for lunch, and ended the day finishing off the Sports Night DVD's (what a fantastic show!) with some Sushi and wine. AAAAHHHHH....

And today it is back to Monday. But the sun is still shining.

Thank you to everyone who wrote such nice comments about my last post. A new website that details everything that's going on was created, and if you have a second, go check it out and see all of the amazing quotes we have received supporting our cause.

Today I was given the day off, as it is the calm before the storm and my boss wanted to be nice. However, my nice day was turned into a depressing one because of a particular annoying subject that I have mentioned over and over but do not feel like talking about now, because I may cry. Yes, you heard me. I have now reached the point of CRYING because of this. And I'm talking hours straight of it.

Tonight the OC is on, and until it starts I now promise and go read all of your blogs because I have to admit I have been lagging. Bad Dana!

Oscar Question of the Day...

Best Supporting Actor?
Thomas Haden Church in SIDEWAYS?
Alan Alda in THE AVIATOR?
Jamie Foxx in COLLATERAL?
Clive Owen in CLOSER?
Morgan Freeman in MILLION DOLLAR BABY?

My answer for the Oscar Question?

I love Natalie Portman, but since I never saw Closer and Cate Blanchett was amazing in The Aviatior, I will go for her on that one.

This morning was different than most, as my office and I went to the Writers Guild in Beverly Hills for a press conference for the threatened work stoppage of casting directors and associates. There have been articles written up in some major newspapers recently, so maybe some of you have heard about it. I'll give you a quick idea of what the situation is about. You can also read more about it here.

*Everyone that works on a production, whether it be the actor, director, producers, writers, costumers, props, all the way down to the craft services (the people that provide the fantastic food on set) are unionized.
**Everyone that is, except Casting Directors.
**This means that casting directors and associates are the ONLY people in this industry who do not get health coverage, work protection, and most importantly, pension plans.
**The AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) who happen to represent the studios, are not willing to recognize us casting people as a union. If negotiations are continued and they don't give us what we want and deserve, then we will be forced to strike as early as next Tuesday. SCARY.

Well, this morning's press conference was awesome. The very feared International Brotherhood of Teamsters (the over hundreds of thousands studio drivers, location managers, and location scouts) are on our side, meaning that if need be, ALL of these men will stand with us on the picket line. They have done amazing things like this before and have not failed. I wish I could describe a typical teamster to you. The closest I can compare them is to Tony Soprano from the Sopranos. Heck, I'd be scared if I had to cross them on a picket line!!!

We also had some great guest speakers, including the actresses Marcia Gay Harden (Mystic River) and Megan Mullaly (Will and Grace), while actors such as Tom Arnold, Frances Fisher, and almost the entire cast of The West Wing sat amongst us in the audience to support. "Access Hollywood" and "Extra" were there reporting.

It's sad to see that we even have to go this far to just get treated the same as the rest of our fabulous industry. But if that's what we need to do to get some respect, than so be it!

As Marcia Gay Harden said this morning, the first thing you ask about a movie is "Who's in it?" Without the casting directors, there wouldn't be a cast. People should no longer take our services for granted.

Sorry about the more serious post. Just had to get that off my mind. Any thoughts?

And haven't had any time to post.

Later, I promise I'll take some time to post...SINCE IT'S RAINING again in LA.

I'll leave you with the Oscar question of the Day...

Who should win Best Supporting Actress this year?

Cate Blanchett for THE AVIATOR?
Laura Linney for KINSEY?
Virginia Madsen for SIDEWAYS?
Sophie Okenodo for HOTEL RWANDA?
Natalie Portman for CLOSER?

And why?

Coming home tonight, I decided to be productive by cleaning up my apartment as thoroughly as possible.

Outcome?

Dry, cracked hands, a headache beyond belief, and a big bleach stain on my shirt.

I'm taking this as a sign that cleaning should no longer be allowed.

So, the weekend of fumigation is officially over. I have to admit, I was a tad bit worried about spending the entire weekend over at Chris's. Even though it wasn't necessarilly any different than what I do on many weekends, I suppose the idea that I had no place to "escape" scared me a bit. But it went fairly smoothly with only a couple of bumps in the road.

The weather was gorgeous - in the 70's both days. I feel badly for all of you in the Midweast and Northeast... believe me, I see the pictures. Too bad I DON'T HAVE MY CONVERTIBLE YET, or maybe I would be able to enjoy my drive on the Pacific Coast Highway A LITTLE MORE!!! (Do you get the sense that I am frustrated beyond belief with my car situation???)

Speaking of the car, this is a quick rundown of the situation:
**On December 15, I go to Toyota and sign the lease for the Solara Convertible. They need to install a GPS system so they tell me it is only available for pickup come Dec. 30.
**On December 31st, I go to Toyota to pick up my new car only to find that they installed the WRONG navigation system. Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that they installed one that didn't fit the alloted area, didn't match, and was a different brand.
**They tell me that they have to find a car that is factory made with the GPS system that I thought I had ordered already.
**They also tell me that this will be a three day search.
**On January 8, they tell me that they wont be able to find the car for at least another week.
**The problem here is that I have to return my Nissan to it's dealership by the 12th.
**On January 11, I return my Nissan and struggle to get Toyota to cover a rental for me until they find the car.
**They do rent me a car, and promise that by January 17th, my car will be ready.
**Well, the 17th comes and goes, and then they promise that by the 20, my car will be ready.
**The 20th comes and goes, and they give me the final guarantee that my car will be ready by TODAY, JANUARY 24th.

Get it? Today!!!

Hey, ya think it's ready?

Yeah, I knew you were smarter than that :)

So, there is some good news and some bad news regarding the fumigation that I'm having to go through this weekend.

The good news is...
*it made me do my spring cleaning (albeit in the winter) in my kitchen and my bathroom. For the first time in a VERY LONG TIME, my roommate and I went through all of our kitchen cabinets and refrigerator and threw away anything that we felt we didn't need and would never use. This includes the quart sized jar of olives and the extra large box of super fiber cereal that sits on top of our fridge.
*same goes for my bathroom. I went through every single one of my lotions, shampoos, soaps, perfumes, etc., and threw away things that were so expired it's embarrasing to tell you by how much. My home feels a little less "heavy".

The bad news is...
*I spent about 4 hours last night doing this.
*My hands feel dry and yucky from all the cleaning materials that I used.
*Almost everything I own now is either in a bag in my apartment or in a bag in my car. I became extra paranoid that all my belongings would be ruined so I pretty much just took them all to my trunk. My car is now 5 gazillion tons heavy.
*I got absolutely NO sleep last night. This is because a) I couldn't fall asleep, b) I woke up on the hour, every hour (except for five times during the six'o'clock hour) thinking that I had overslept and was going to be fumigated along with the building AND the termites, and c) because we had to wake up at 7.
*I just remembered that I left my only plant in the house. That means I am a killer :(
*Wait. I'm really sad about the last thing.

In other news, HAPPY FRIDAY!!! This weekend I am staying at Chris's, so my plan is to enjoy the sun either by his pool or at the beach, hopefully (cross your fingers) get my car, and just have fun in general.

What about you? What are your plans?

For those of you who have never had their homes fumigated, this is the process that must be taken:

-You get these large clear plastic bags from the company. You DOUBLE bag all of your food, condiments (for me, that will be it's own bag), spices, and open bottles of alcohol. Notice how they say double bag. I may triple bag knowing the paranoid that I am.

-You then proceed to double bag ALL of your toiletries. I mean, your shampoos, soaps, lotions, shaving creams, EVERYTHING!!! Do you know how much stuff I have that goes into this category??? Yeah, I may need 18 bags.

-I'm also going to take all of my bedding with me. Not that you need to, but more because I don't want to have to fight with my whole apartment building over the washing machines upon return on Sunday night.

-Tomorrow morning I have to be off the premises by 8 AM! I mean, they couldn't have made it 9? I only have to be at work at 9:30, and my commute to work is sometimes less than 3 minutes (yeah, I know...poor me!) Oh well, I guess I'll just have to park myself over a bagel and a latte at Starbucks.

I suppose life could be worse.

In TV news, Lost was awesome last night. I never thought I'd get so into a scary drama show, since most of everything I like tends to be reality / comedy, but this show is just sooo good. It just gets better every week. I missed last night's American Idol but I heard it was better than the first nights. Oh, and I watched Tuesday night's episode of "Amazing Race". I can't tell you how happy I am that Jonathan and Victoria were eliminated. Those two were hurting my ears already.

"Point Pleasant" started last night. Since I helped cast the pilot episode, I had seen it already, but some of the characters were recast, so I had to watch it. Did you guys? What did you think?

Who actually was crazy enough to sit through 2 HOURS of American Idol last night?

Oh, yeah. That would be me.

I've watched American Idol on and off for the last three seasons, so I can definitely be classified as a fan. But in all honesty, how many times can we watch the William Hung-esque auditions that are so bad they make you want to cover your eyes out of embarrasment for them? What I still like, even though people may say that it's old, is Simon Cowell and his remarks. Watching him is pure entertainment. He acts as if there is nothing less in the world that he wants to do at that particular moment then be on this show. "Acts" being the key word. Because you know he loves it.

This weekend, they are fumigating the apartment building that I live in. For termites. YUCK! The whole building (and it's a LARGE one) has to be out of their homes by 8 am on Friday, and may not return until after 5 pm on Sunday. That, and we have to bag up everything that is ingestible in the house and put it in the refrigerator. I almost feel like I shouldn't go home for 3 weeks after a serious fumigation, right? I mean, there has got to be some poison leftover once the termites are dead!

Aaahhh... to be back from a three-day weekend is never vey fun:)

My weekend was really great though. On Friday night, I met up with my best friend at a gay bar in West Hollywood. I'll put it this way... when there is two for one margaritas, fun gay boys, and your best friend, fun is gonna be had.

On Saturday, I hung out with my sister and my mom for lunch, and then took Chris down to the OC where my friend Jill was having a party. It was important for Chris to come along, as sometimes I feel like neither he nor my friends know eachother all that well. That's because I hardly have time to see my friends, and when I do see them, its usually for a girls night out. Well, it ended up being a blast - beer pong, poker, wine, music. We all had a great time and as far as I know, everyone liked Chris :)

Sunday was my hungover day mentioned in the last post. I ended up teaching my workshop which was a ton of fun, and then went over to Chris's for the Golden Globes. And I was really happy about them. Some great winners and didn't everyone look so beautiful???

Finally, yesterday I went with Chris to see "Million Dollar Baby" after hearing so many good things about it. It was fantastic. Cried my eyes out, but I really loved it. Go see it. And take kleenex.

Well, I suppose I must go back to work :)

P.S> I still haven't gotten my car. For those of you who don't know, it has been 20 days now that Toyota is lagging. I'm about to cry.

I am hungover.

How in the world am I going to be able to teach a workshop to 30 people in 2 hours?

And more importantly, how in the world am I going to be able to choose between Desperate Housewives and the Golden Globes tonight???

Thanks to everyone who told me things about them that I didn't know. Believe me, some things things I probably still don't want to know. Just kidding.

Yesterday was a stressful day at work. We're still casting this pilot that has been going on for over 17 weeks and we have found NO ONE. I think we have honestly seen every single actor and actress between the ages of 22 and 32. It's getting quite ridiculous. But we're testing some girls at the studio today so I'm hoping things change a bit. Keep your fingers crossed.

I also have the wonderful task of finding a good, easy online traffic school for my boss. She's a self-confessed moron at the computer, so any help I can give her she needs. Do you by any chance know any good ones?

Lst night I watched "In Good Company" on DVD at Chris's house. He got it through a coworker through the Producer's Guild. Cute movie...a little un-developed at some parts, but I absolutely LOVE the cast. Who knew Dennis Quaid was so likeable...and what was Meg Ryan thinking when she left him??? I think you should see it this weekend when it opens wide.

I just said "opens wide". I can't believe that my mind just went there. HeeHee.

And tonight we have yet another episode of The OC. I'm willing to bet it wont be nearly as good as last weeks, but hey, I gotta give it a shot.

OH MY GOD I just had the most disturbing experience. I was flipping through channels and landed on "The Surreal Life". Since I was utterly disappointed with last season, I told myself that I wasn't going to start watching it again.

And then I saw Verne Troyer. You know, Mini-Me! But wait, that's not all.... He was NAKED, on his skooter, wasted, peeing in the corner of the gym. I can't shake the gross image out of my head. I wish it only upon my enemies :)

So, this next thing is a variation of something I got from Debby. Many times I wonder more about you guys, the fabulous readers. So I want you to tell me more about YOU (50 percent of why I continuously write on this thing). So regular commenters and lurkers alike, do me the following favor pretty please, with sugar on top???

Tell me where you live right now, and then tell me three odd things about you that I don't already know.

I'll start:

I live in Hollywood, CA
1. I sleep with Skooter everynight religiously. He is a stuffed animal dog (shh, don't tell him I told you!) that Chris bought me last Valentine's Day. He has since completely become part of mine and Chris's little family. It's sick at times, I know. But I just can't help it. And he's the best cuddler.
2. I could eat Raisinets for breakfast, lunch and dinner and be a VERY happy person.
3. Many mornings after I get out of the shower, I find myself doing crazy interprative dances in front of the mirror naked. I then realize what I would do if someone saw me and I break down laughing at myself.

YOUR TURN!!! (And I mean ALL of you)...

That's what Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston said on the set of the last episode of "Friends". It's also what people said when the six season "Sex and the City" culminated last year.

But it better describes how I feel today, after dropping off my Nissan Pathfinder at the dealer after 3 years and three months of a fabulous car/owner relationship.

I leased my silver SUV in October of 2001. It was when I was a junior in college. I remember being in LA over the weekend and knowing that it was time to trade in my beat-up 1995 Jetta, I forced my mom to join me at the Nissan dealership so she could see the car I had my eye on. We test drove the nicest one that they had on the lot: leather, power everything, 6 CD player, navigation system and GPS, and even a VCR in the back. Needless to say, I fell in love. Since my sister and stepbrother also needed new cars at the time and liked the Nissan as well, we all got a great deal. Two days later, I drove off the lot with it.

The following day I had to drive up north to Santa Barbara, where I was going to school. I remember the drive like yesterday. It was sunny, and I had the windows down. I was cruising the 101, through Ventura County overlooking the ocean, absolutely loving life. Listening to Dave Matthews on the radio, smoking a cigarette (when I used to smoke), anxious to get back and show my friends. I will never forget that drive.

My Nissan was with me for numerous days and nights of me and my girlfriends listening to our music and singing along like we were Britney Spears.

My Nissan was with me through the times of anxiety and depression following 9/11 and my grandfather's death.

My Nissan was with me through all my dating mishaps and Sex and the City-esque experiences I had while in college.

My car was with me the numerous times I drove it to Vegas - whether it was with the girls, or one particular time, when my friend Jill and I sat in the back seat and watched episodes of Sex and the City while our two guy friends drove the full five hours (OK, that is the THIRD time I've mentioned Sex and the CIty in this post).

My Nissan was with me when I turned 21. I wasn't in the car necessarily, but it sang Happy Birthday from the driveway. I know it did.

It was with me as I graduated from UCSB and took that lonely drive back to LA with just me and my clothes.

It was with me when I got my first job in the entertainment industry, fell in love with Chris, and finally started to feel secure in a stable job.

Although I turned in my car today, I will never forget the memories I had with it.

So, to me, today was an end of an era.

IT'S STILL RAINING!

LA has turned into one big puddle over night. My mom's nice house in the Hollywood Hills has leaks all over the 2nd floor. The cars are all driving ten miles per hour. I'm having a bad hair day.

Yesterday Chris and I and some of our friends went to Barney's Beanery to watch the Illinois Basketball games and some football. I'm not that much of a football fan, but since Chris is, I try to get involved. After all, he used to watch Sex and the City every sunday night with me.

Speaking of Sunday night TV, tonight we have a fabulous lineup: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, followed by Desperate Housewives, and then the new show Unscripted, which I'm very excited about being in casting and all.

Perfect for a rainy Sunday :) I hope yours are just as nice...

First things first: TV. Last night's episode of the OC completely redeemed itself after a string of sub-par episodes since the beginning of the new season. It was written well, with many lines that actually made me laugh out loud. Wardrobe finally got their heads cleared, since even Misha Barton was dressed well. It gave me hope that maybe the show wasn't a one-season wonder like I had thought earlier this season.

Last night on TV during every single commercial break was a teaser for the morning news. Why such a big deal? Because LA was expecting another storm to come late last night. Now, I'm sure most of you are aware that in LA, our average weather is 72 and sunny. So when there is just a little drizzle it usually turns into "Storm Watch 2005" on the nightly news in BIG RED LETTERS. Well, since there was going to be a bigger than normal storm coming in, the news completely embraced it. Not only did one network put reporters in ten different sites to report what the storm was doing EXACTLY at that spot, but they were starting their morning newscast at 4:30 am instead of 5 am. As if a little rain were a world crisis!!!

I told Chris last night that it would just be too funny if we woke up and it actually was 72 and sunny. Well, it wasn't. It was 56, windy, and rainy. Yuck!

Well, I've gotta get back to work. HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Can you believe it's already Thursday? It's funny how there are some weeks where you are counting the minutes, and then others where you don't know where the time went.

This week has been crazy for me: moving offices, getting everything together since coming back from Chicago, dealing with my car etc...

So busy that I haven't had time to return any emails in over a week. Emails from college friends, exes, even one from an elementary school friend.

So busy that I haven't had time to pay my bills that are due today. Ouch!

So busy that my hair's roots are over an inch, and my nails are long overdue for a manicure.

So busy that had enough time to read all my favorite blogs this week.

But not too busy to watch LOST last night. What did you guys think by the way?

My resolution this weekend is to take care of things that I haven't had the chance to this week. Good luck to me!

Last night I went to Chris's house after work to watch the end of the Orange Bowl with a bunch of (thankfully) USC fans... I say thankfully only because I have no idea how Oklahoma fans must have felt after losing so badly after last night's game. I'm not either a USC fan or a Oklahoma fan or even a football fan, so I suppose none of this even applies to me anyway :)

What I did find out about the game this morning that I missed last night was Ashlee Simpson's horrific performance during halftime. I should preface this by saying that I have been a fan of Ashlee Simpson for a long time, ever since she started out on her reality show. I thought she was cute, real, and I have to be honest here...I love her album. I stood up for her during her horrible SNL spectacle. But after hearing her awful performance last night of her song "You Make Me Wanna..." followed by a long set of boos, I can honestly say that I have a hard time standing up for her anymore.

Ashlee: Do us all a favor and PLEASE go get a voice coach. Or just stick with partying and showing up on the cover of US weekly.

I just now read the end of my last post which stated that I was going to spend my New Years Eve on my couch with champagne and cookies.

How wrong could I have been?

Chris and I decided at around seven that evening that we were going to cook a big dinner, get drunk on wine, and then go to a great dive bar near his house. So we went to the store, bought tons of groceries, champagne, wine, and vodka. When we got to his house we saw that his roommate was there watching a movie. He had tentative plans to go to a big party in the Hollywood Hills but Chris and I could both tell that he wasn't really in the mood for that. Since his girlfriend was still in Georgia visiting family, we figured why not have him join us in our own festivities. Plus, it didn't hurt that he used to be a chef at a restaurant. We had him do a lot of the cooking while Chris and I did a lot of the drinking.

Well Chris did anyway. By the time we left to go to The Cozy (the bar), Chris was wasted. That equals hilarity. I laughed so hard at him that night because I rarely see him that way. Usually he is the more sober, rational one and I am the loud one.

We got to the bar, where there was a good amount of people but not too many, picked up some noisemakers and more drinks (Chris's drink of choice at that point was water) and just partied. It was a good crazy time, where we all did things we would have been ashamed of if it were recorded. Chris even got down on one knee to ask me to move in with him...

The next day had to have been the MOST hungover Chris and I had been in a LONG time. We spent the morning on the couch, got up to get stuff for lunch at the store, ate greasy grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for lunch, got back on the couch, and got up again at night to rent a movie at Blockbuster, and then right back on the couch for the rest of the night. As you can see, alcohol makes people very productive.

Yesterday was all about tying up loose ends and running some errands before work started back up today (**Weep**). In fact, today was even more stressful than normal as we moved offices about fifteen blocks away. It should be interesting in new offices - a little bit of a change for the new year I suppose. We shall see.

Oh, and I'm sure you never thought that there could be HAIL in LA, right? Well, there was tons of it today, along with a huge lightning show and thunderstorms. Ah, the joys of winter.