Last night Carrie Fisher threw glitter all over me.

No, not some weird Star Wars themed dream. Wouldn't need Carrie Fisher for that one, as I'm ALWAYS Princess Leia in those dreams. I went last night to see Wishful Drinking at Seattle Rep.

It was a two hour tell-all of her life's story. Accompanied by toys, props, a Princess Leia life size doll, several tumblers of Coke, and copious amounts of glitter. I was lucky enough to get a seat in the front and center, so during the opening number of "Happy Days Are Here Again," she walked up and down the front row throwing handfuls of tinsel, and I'm still brushing it out of my hair.

It was a very good evening. Lots of great speeches, and her usual gift at alliterative sentences and witty reworkings of old folk sayings. There was plenty of audience participation during a gameshow called "Are They Related?" (Chronicling the twisted Hollywood Intermarriage rate, can Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynold's granddaughter date Elizabeth Taylor's grandson?) And lots of dishy stories about Carrie Fisher's life and scandals.

I wasn't called on for anything, which was a relief. Except for when she was talking about how her second husband came out of the closet, leaving her blindsided, and later how a grief counselor told her, "I can't even imagine what you're going through." Having had a rather similar dating history, and a therapist see me come in the room, settle back in her chair, and tell me my life story was her "own personal episode of Will and Grace" (All she needed was some popcorn) I could have related, if she'd asked me to. And, in sheer numbers, I have her beat. Though, I was never married to any of mine.

Alright, I'd love to type more, but several jobs are calling my name. My feet are in terrible shape. I would tell you how bad, from constant walking while both waitressing and in retail, but the words were too scary on paper. Suffice it to say, I need a pedicure. If I can ever find some spare time.

A very old friend is back.

Long ago, when I was actually MAKING money, I had a friend who went everywhere with me. I'd check in with it everyday, find out where I stood, move numbers around and retotal everything.

It was my faithful,trusty 12-column ledger.

It went by the wayside once my student loans and my car were paid off. I tried to start it again when I started acting, but it was simply too depressing to have no money to move around, and simply talley overdraft fees from time to time as my bank accounts (once again) cascaded out of control because someone decided not to pay me on time.

But now. For the first time in over a year, I'm making more money than I know what to do with. I've bought some clothes. Replaced some makup. Bought new headshots. And this morning, upon deposit of my retail paycheck, I paid off one of my (two) credit cards.

I still have one more to pay off, with a much larger balance than the first. So out came my trusty rusty ledger. I dusted him off, made columns for each credit card and bank account. Colored over the SUM TOTAL and NET WORTH columns, and (just for fun) used my old colored pencils to draw vines of flowers in the header - for decoration. I don't know why getting to color in my ledger makes doing finances more fun, but it TOTALLY does.

And for those of you who thought my color coded dayplanner was the geekiest thing I'm capable of - welcome to a whole new level of fun!

An unexpected morning off. Well, an hour. One of the girls I nanny is sick, so Dad came home, and I got a few minutes to myself.

The film I costumed last Winter has been chosen by the Seattle International Film Festival. It's an Oscar nominating venue, and two very big directors will be coming to watch. Spike Lee is one, and I forget the other.

I'm working 60-65 hours a week, and trying to get more Lachellybelly items done, as well as prepping for auditions, practicing tap dancing, and sleeping. I can't do all of those in the same day, though.

The ledger is back as a new incentive to pay off my debts and get back into the black for next year. I'm so glad to have the opportunity to catch up for a change.

And I'm deciding whether or not a corset counts as a "layering piece" as per BR standards of apparel.

Not much time.

I'm pretty much working around the clock right now. It's lovely to be making money again. Enough to pay bills, buy groceries, replace things that are wearing out, and even plan how to pay down my debts for next fall when I'm certainly going to be acting again.

I have 8 auditions in the next month, four in one week. Several generals and a few plays and musicals.

Yesterday I waitressed all morning. Of course on the day that I have a 4:40 audition in West Seattle, we get slammed with no hope of closing on time. By 4:10 I was panicking, waiting for the other waitress to drop her bank, wondering how I was going to get to the bus in negative time. Well, stripping down and changing into my skirt happened behind the counter, I put on my blouse and makeup and fixed my hair on the bus, to the amusement of all the people sitting around me. The bus let me off one stop too late, and I ran in heels dragging my little suitcase (I had too much to carry for a shoulder bag, back three blocks, only to find the doors locked. I thought I'd missed it, and was really mad because I'd had to miss a callback for an experimental play to come to this audition. Then they came to fetch me, gave me a moment to catch my breath, and I auditioned.

Next I bussed back to downtown, bussed home, grabbed some mini burgers from Jack in the Box on my way off the bus, jumped into my car and went to work retail.

Afterwards my LOD and I went out for a drink - two for him, plus half of mine, and half for me. I have the lowest alcohol tolerance in the world. Still had to drink three glasses of water to drive.

And now I'm off to waitress. Then. HOME. FINALLY.

Another day, another audition.

I'm going to have to find another heading for these days, since I have quite a few auditions in the next few weeks.

Tonight I auditioned for a new work at a local theater. They told us we could bring in any monologue in any genre, and I had a new one I wanted to test out. Actually, upon reading the sides, I'm quite interested in the production. My monologue went really well, thanks to coaching by Nicole, and they asked me to read some sides as also.

5th Ave told us that we should audition for everything we can to improve our auditioning skills. I'm glad I went to this one. Next up, The Music Man audition on Saturday.

This week has more breathing room than last. I don't have all the extra shifts I picked up last week, and waitressing has settled, so I have free chunks of hours here and there. I've been so busy all spring, I found myself with three solid hours free and no earthly idea what to do with them. I'd already taken a nap.

Now that I've paid off my library fine, I can check out new reading material, prepare for auditions, and make the next batch of dresses for Emma Jeans.

We'll see how productive I end up.

The Latest

The original tablecloth was coffee-dyed and separated. I used half of the oval to make the skirt, then cut the bodice and waist from the more heavily embroidered center sections. The dress is backless with a zipper closure center back and hooks to close the halter neck.

I hate telling people what I do.

It always leaks out, here and there, and anytime I'm in a new place I hear the impression they gather from the bits and pieces that come out in normal "getting to know you" conversation, and it doesn't feel like a reflection of myself at all.

I sound WAY flakier than I am, or way cooler.

Today, for example. Imagine the answers to these questions:
Where did you go to school?
What did you study?
And are you still using it?
Oh, when did you live in Asia?
What area code is 805?
So you just moved here recently?

See what I mean? Flakey. Or extremely artsy and bohemian. And then I pull out my dayplanner...

Twinkle Toes

And now for the exciting news of the week - I am picking up a new skill set! TAP DANCING!!

I've always wanted to learn, plus I need to spruce up my resume, plus get more dance experience before general auditions that include On The Town and 42nd Street. (Of course I won't be good enough to REALLY be a dancer by a month from now, but it may put me in the running for singing chorus if I can at least move my feet with tap shoes on them)

Tuesday I flailed around trying to Shu-ffle. Step. F-lap. Step. I've been practicing and I can do it fairly regularly but very slowly.

I feel very uncoordinated in class, but I'm screwing up with a big smile on my face. It's so much fun. I can't wait to be good.

Day tripping to Yakima. Not as exciting as friends of mine who are currently taking a road trip around the country, but a nice break in the routine of working (finally!) way too much.

I'm on my way to take the dogs home. And hopefully put the watch back in for repair that I repaired two years ago, spent a year trying to get back to Yakima to pick it up, finally had Mom and Dad pay the balance and give it to me as a birthday present, got it at Christmas, only to find that the watch was mis-repaired and picks up five minutes on the hour. I'd take it to a new place, but it cost so much to fix (it's a wind up watch - beautiful) that I want them to try to redo it before I pay someone else more to.

Banana wants to up my hours. Waitressing wants me all three days I'm available, and nannying continues with a four chapter reading of Hatchet each morning.

I'm preparing for my many upcoming auditions. I've pretty much settled on one song for sure - freakish high notes, bubbly acting, and flirting all in two verses of a song. I'm going with that one. I found a monologue for my Oklahoma audition that can be played Southern Belle, several other monologues for general use, and am still looking for the perfect Lloyd Webber belt song that's in my range. Drea gave me more suggestions from obscure shows, and I may just pick something meant for a tenor, since most of his belt ballads are for altos. I can SORT of sing them, but no way does it show me in the best light. I can bellow well, but belting is beyond me.

And trying desperately to get the last of my next batch of Emma Jeans consignments done. I've got 5 projects going, one finished, in an effort to keep going when I'm tired by switching project. I wanted to be done by last weekend, but kept picking up shifts and training, and had less time than I imagined to sew. And no capacity for creativity after a three job day.

I'm off to run some errands, then over the pass I go.

Suddenly, I'm working.

After several months of barely enough hours, begging for more if possible, and sweating it out whenever a school holiday interrupted my nannying schedule, I've gotten a third job. And as soon as I did, my other job starts asking me to pick up extra shifts as well.

It never rains...

I have a few more minutes of leisure, then I'm back to the sweat shop to make another round of clothing for Emma Jeans. I have five partial projects, and I just need to finish them so I can take them over tomorrow.

I'm hoping with my new waitressing job to be able to pay down the debt, and maybe even buy some clothes. On sale, of course. And junk food. I've been aching for chips and chocolate!

Emotionally I'm a bit fragile right now - with money stress, my car window having to be fixed, and recent audition letdown, I've been feeling a bit lost. But we have a sunny week ahead of us, and that always makes everything cheerful.