Spa Day Ya'll!

My sister and my mom are visiting this weekend. A "Girls weekend in Chicago" was my mom's mother's day gift and really an excuse to get my sister to take time off and come visit me. She is an attorney and works/travels A LOT. And she never gets to travel to fun places, like Chicago.

Today our big event was a day at the spa. I used to make fun of people who spent time in spas until a former boss of mine gave us employees a spa day for Christmas a few years ago.

I get it. I love the spa. I love it. I love to get a massage and bake in the sauna. Drink the fancy water, eat the special fancy food. Sit in a steam room and hack up a lung because of my allergies. It feels so good.

I just had the best spa experience of my life. My first spa experience was at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. That one was good. The Bliss Spa....the one we went to today. Words can't even describe it. And the view tops it all. The Spa is on the 8th floor of the W hotel which is right on Lakeshore Drive. I tried to get a picture of the beautiful view of Lake Michigan....I had to be discreet though. It is spa and people are mostly running around in towels.


Yum.

Happy Chicago Anniversary!

Today is my one year anniversary in Chicago. Celebrate by drinking cheap champagne with friends while watching High School Musical. Once that's over go to the airport to meet your mother and sister for a weekend of girly fun. Because that's what I'm doing. :)

Oh Elena...

Elena is really the glue that holds this thing together.

Goodbye Coffee Life (Pt. Dos of the weekend that rawked)

I officially don't work at unamed coffee shop that I will now call Starbucks because that's it's name. Now if I use the word Starbucks on my blog, I won't be fired because I don't work there. Starbucks.

My friend Katie is done working there as well. Last Saturday was her last day so we said good-bye with a little pre-celebration evening extravaganza. That made sense in my head. Look at this Starbucks gear that I can put on my blog because I can't be fired for putting it here because I don't work there anymore:








In truth working there was great. I loved working for Starbucks....that sounds so corporate, but it's true. They've always been good to me. The part that sucks is the early mornings and...the customers. I am one and I know I suck. People don't realize what they do to the poor Barista's behind the counter. All I ask is that next time you purchase coffee at any coffee establishment...smile, ask how the Barista is doing, and remember that even putting only a nickel in the tip jar does count for something.

My Weekend Rawked...Pt. Uno

Friday night I had a date with a group of talented writers I am writing a show with. Isn't that funny? Writer's writing a show....the comedy and timing is amazing. Dinner and a movie. How romantic. Griggs and Brett Lyons came along too. We saw King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. That movie is really good. Like, maybe one of the best movies I've seen in 6 months or so... Afterwards we did our best Steve Weibe impression.


You know what's not funny? Louie telling us all to wear sweater vests and then not wearing one himself. Nevermind that Curt and Brian didn't wear one either. Jeannie and I wore one. It's okay though. We had a nice family dinner to make up for the lack of sweater vest. Lots of fun was had by all.

Curt and Brett shared their hopes and dreams.














Brian and Griggs laughed at people being funny and the fact
that pizza parties are just plain fun.


















I'm not really mad about the sweater vests. Louie is moving and all of his are packed, so it's understandable. Brian and Curt both wore fun pants so that's equally as fun.

Yay Funnn!

Fun With a BMW

I have Zipcar. I love Zipcar. I don't really use it often, but I like knowing that I can rent a car at any given moment for whatever I please. Like this Tuesday I rented a BMW to go to Trader Joe's. Why a BMW? Because why not.

My love affair with the Beemer started when I first got to drive one on a course with my dad several years back. If you've never driven one, you've never truly driven. For serious folks. This one had a start button.



My friend Katie accompanied me. We kept piling on groceries until our cart actually started veering to the left at every push because it was too full. We would worry and then remember, "We have a car." The answer to every problem and situation Tuesday was, "We have a car." I even bought a filing cabinet because, "I had a car."

Zipcar Zipcar Zipcar. BMW BMW BMW. Both companies are totally paying me for every time I use their name in this post.

Also, yesterday...I found $50 lying on the ground in front of an abandoned warehouse. Not kidding. Pretty awesome.

On Hold...

I finally have a decent picture of my Dirk Nowitski. Isn't he handsome?

Last night was my first 5b show at iO. It's crazy to think that I've almost lived here a whole year and classes at iO are officially done. Over. Finite. You know what else? The show last night was a lot of fun. My class was the first of the night and I went in the first group. Then I got picked for the Grasshopper show.

The best part of the evening was watching my girls. Tahnee and Alexandra are both in the 9 o'clock group. I was like a proud mamma watching my girls perform. And they were so good. So lovely. So beautiful.

At this moment I'm on hold with RCN. I've been on hold with RCN for 50 min. I've been on the phone with them for 53 minutes, but 3 of those minutes were actually spent talking to a live human. I'm hold again and the first thing I thought to do was blog. Blog blog blog.

A Fun Little Saturday...

Tahnee and I signed up for a free Shakespeare/Stage Combat workshop. Didn't make it to the workshop. I went to the wrong building and Tahnee was almost late to the right building, but not early enough to figure out how to get me to her. So, we met up on a streetcorner, did some window shopping and ate some lunch.

We got fortune cookies. Our fortunes were terrible.

Tahnee's read, "Face any problem with dignity."
Mine read, "Be tactful, overlook your own opportunity."

Really? Really? Whatever happened to things like "You're kindness and generous of spirit will be returned to you tenfold," and, "A smile is the shortest distance between two people."

Those are uplifting. I did find a dress for my sister's wedding finally. It's pretty awesome. Once I get some pictures of me rockin' the little black dress there will be pictures posted all over the damn place because that dress is my new favorite thing.

Saturday night I went to watch The Wizard of Oz in Oz Park with James, Katie and Sherman. Tahnee had to work. It was fun. There were so many dogs. We did not sneak in wine and I definitely do not have a spider bite that looks like a hickey. Actually I do. I have a spider bite on my neck that looks like a hickey. I can't wear my hair up because I think people will whisper and point at my hickey looking spider bite. Boo...


After the movie, Katie hit James in his lower heart. She swears she didn't do it. Pictures don't lie K. Clady.

These guys are funny.

They were also my first improv teachers. The one with the boxers and the beard at the beginning, he's the reason I moved to Chicago. Thank him. Actually, I should thank him because moving here has been pretty awesome.

I will warn you the video starts playing immediately and there is a shrill scream at the beginning. If you're in your cubicle, you might want to turn the volume down.





Click here cause you like me.




I had a lot firsts while taking classes at Four Day. It was the first time I did improv, the first time had a boyfriend, and most importantly the first time I smoked a cigar. Wait...my dad doesn't know that. Now he does.

A Very Rotic Evening...

Let me give you a quick explanation of the word "rotic:"

rotic - romantic, without the man.

I believe it was my friend Melissa who coined that phrase a few years ago. A rotic evening is usually spent with close girlfriends. They are awesome. It's like a date night without the date.

My friend Heather is moving back to Ohio for a few months and we spent last night sipping champagne and listening to jazz in a candlelit club downtown. We dressed up and did our hair. It was fabulous and quite rotic indeed. I'm going to miss Heather, but alas we all must do what we have to do sometimes. Hurry back Green.

I would also like to introduce you to the newest edition to the Molly household:


This is Dirk Nowitski. The fish. He's pretty awesome. So awesome that in the only picture I have of him (the one above) he lets off a brilliant glow and looks as though Heaven itself is summoning him for great things...or something of that nature. Come by and say hi to him, he likes people. And if he really likes you he will blow bubbles at your face. I call them kisses.

What Goes Around Comes Around...

I've always sort of believed that. Really. I got an e-mail from my good friend Melissa a few days ago. It proves this little saying to be true.

A few years ago I went on a mission trip with my church in Los Angeles, along with Melissa. We flew to Albania for awhile and played with kids. It was amazing. What was not amazing was the travel experience. It was awful. The only thing that didn't go wrong was us not dying on the way there. Pretty much everything else frustrating and weird happened. I would love to tell you the whole story, but we'd need a bottle of wine and a few long hours to sit and chat about it.

The cause of most of our problems getting to Albania and back home again was Alitalia Airlines. They were terrible. Even the Italians hate them and they're an Italian airline. This is the e-mail Missy sent me:

I was reading The Economist at work today (I know, I'm lame), AND guess who is desperate for someone to buy out their company as they lost over $785 million last year?

ALITALIA

Ahh, that is music to my ears.

Miss you and love you!

I don't relish in other peoples pain. Except for right now. Sweet sweet revenge, victory, whatever you want to call it, it's sweet.

By the way, I miss you and love you too Melissa.

Bye Bye Wii...

My friend James bought a Wii a month or so ago. He didn't have a TV at the time, so it got to live at my house. See the fun we've been having:


James bought a TV last weekend. He took the Wii away.

My fun naked-ferret-dancing-naked-picture-taking-webcam neighbor also moved away last weekend.

Too much sadness. Too much.


Bye bye Wii. Bye bye Melanie. You know what they say, out with the old, in with the new. Hopefully the new is just as fun.

I'll let the video speak for itself...

This is a Big One Guys...

The new Harry Potter came out last night. Yes I was here to buy it at midnight. After the show (Unaware, Donny's Skybox 9pm, Fridays) Tahnee, James and I went to buy the book. We all pre-ordered it at the same store. So sweet you guys.


Sherman came along for moral support.

Yea Happy....

So the week I was supposed to start temping my parents came in town. I also got hired to work a day at the casting office.

The second week I was supposed to start temping I landed a gig from my day working at the casting office. I impressed some people with my ability to read aloud (who knew that was such a skill) and was hired to read an off-screen voice for a series of commercials shooting this week. This means by the end of tomorrow and I will have spent 5 days in Oak Park being a "crew member." It's been awhile since I've been one of those. I love it. I wish you could do both acting and "Crewing" (my made up word) but that's not an option in this world.

I have also taken the Green Line. Who does that?

Fun facts for the week:

- I like sitting in the front of the train because it has the best view of downtown AND is like riding the Runaway Mine Train at Six Flags Over Texas.

- I left for the shoot Monday and my parents left later that day. I came home to discover they had washed my towels, Swiffered my floor, bought me new detergent, a microwave (I've been without since I moved here) left me a bar of dark chocolate (my favorite) and $40. I like them. I think I'll keep them around.

Good Days...

I have had some really good days and some positive things happen in the past couple of weeks. To make things even more great and wonderful, my mom and dad are visiting for the next few days. I like them. They like me. It's cute.

One good thing that happened is that I finally got to hang out with my old friend Tim. We went to high school together and did improv together back in Texas, but since we've moved here really haven't seen each other in awhile. Ten months to be exact. Look at Tim and his iPhone:

Tim and I vowed not to wait ten months before we hung out again. I then stole is book on Coldfusion to ensure this would happen.

Also, Monday was first official Funday (or Nerdnight if your name is Kate). We played board games. Mainly Catch Phrase. Two notes on Catch Phrase:

- Iraqi Spider Hole is actually a phrase in the game.
- This game is WAY more fun in the dark.

It was also Sherman's birthday. My friend Katy and I surprised him with cake. We couldn't find candles so we substituted toothpicks. Crafty, I know.






















Fun Fact: Meeting people at the airport is one of my favorite things to do. It makes me happy.

The end of an era...

This is the last morning I will wake up 4:3o and walk through drug deals and tranny hookers to serve coffee to grouchy businessmen and waspy mothers. My smile is way to big right now. :)

Something even better then the Twilight Zone...

I got Police Tickets. Yep.

It all started around 7am when a regular at my coffee shop said his friend had some to sell. I got the cash from a handy dandy little ATM next door and when I returned the friend had sold them.

A few hours later I arrived home and proceeded to sit down, relax and cry for awhile. I got a call from work that another regular had some tickets for sale. This one worked out folks and for HALF of what I was going to have to pay the other guy. Seriously, I got a good deal from a very nice man and his very nice wife.

So I got to see my favorite band ever play Wrigley Field and it was amazing. Did I mention amazing? Because it was amazing.


That's me being happy. This was one of my favorite things since I've moved here. The Police! At Wrigley Field! Oy.

Happy 4th!

What better way to celebrate a holiday then with a Twilight Zone marathon? I live for days like this. :)



This show is one of my favorite things.

So Happy...

I have today off. Can I tell you how amazing I feel? I just had two giant bowls of chocolate Lucky Charms and am happily trudging through my DVR. I am three weeks behind on most of my shows. In fact, I just got around to watching the Lost season finale last Saturday night.

I also finally loaded all the pictures I've taken in the last few weeks onto my computer. I want to share this one:

Unnamed coffee shop had us doing some mandatory volunteer work a few weeks ago. It was fun. We participated in the Chicago Cares volunteer day and painted a school on the south side. This was the bulletin board in our room. I know the teacher used "da" instead of "the" on purpose...but it still...it still...just gets me.