Awesome Day Twenty-Two: An Introduction to Hair

Sometimes when I go to Hollywood, I can't even fit myself into the same category as the other women I see.  Manicure-wearing, whitened-teeth-flashing, implant-flaunting, perfectly-styled-hair-tossing, designer-clothing-donning, stiletto-marching Los Angeles women really freak me out.

It's just not me.

I never learned any of that--never learned how to grin through the pain of heels every moment of the day, never learned how to hate my small breasts enough to validate a multi-thousand dollar purchase of new ones, never learned that what I wore was a definition of my self-worth, never learned that buying a new body was a legitimate way wander through life, never learned the importance of a weekly manicure.

I grew up on a prairie in Wisconsin, you guys.

That's not to say I'm totally removed from it.  Of course not.  Those of you that know me, know that.  I have nice clothes.  I wear make-up.  I care about how I look.  I love me some heels when I feel up to it.  But I also wear jean shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops on a regular basis.  I get my face ready for work in about one minute flat.  I think I've had three manicures in my whole life.  And I have no idea what to do with my hair. 

I had a minor freak out the other day when I realized that, if I'm going to dive into this whole television world, I am going to be judged on how I look all the time.  And while my headshots look perfectly polished, I might severely surprise some casting agents if I walked into an audition looking as I do in real life some days.  

Fight it as I might, as a woman in the TV world, I am expected to look picture perfect if I want a job.  

And I could really use a job.

So thankfully on Awesome Day Twenty-Two, my friend Vanessa (after hearing me express my concerns about my lack of hair knowledge), invited me to come over.  She's an actress.  She has audition-ready beauty secrets.  I desperately needed in.

Vanessa introduced me to the magic of hot rollers.  I remember them from my days in high school theater, but honestly had forgotten such a thing existed in the world.  Over girl talk and superfood salads, Vanessa walked me through the (super quick) process.  

Ta-Da!

I had hair with volume.  I was one step closer to life as an LA presentable woman.

I don't think I'll be getting implants or botox any time soon.  And those butt-hugging mini skirts just aren't really my thing either.  I can only T&A so much before my sense of self is completely gone.

But at least now I know how to do my hair.  And this is a huge, Awesome step forward.

In other Awesome News for the day:  We checked out a rad set of music at downtown's La Cita last night.  The Cypress Junkies, comprised of Eric Bobo on percussion (from Cypress Hill back in the day) and DJ Rhettmatic (from the Beat Junkies), are a super rad, super Awesome DJ-drummer combo that mixes electronic beats with real ones.  These two men know their craft, and they have passion.  It was really cool to see.  You can check out their soundcloud here, but I don't think it even begins to describe the Awesome of seeing them live.  Keep an eye out for them.

Awesome Day Twenty-One: Wine School(ed)

I worked at a winery for all of three months when I lived in Oregon when I was 22.  I pretty much hated the job, but it was a job when I really needed one, and I did learn at least a little something about wine.  I also learned that you could kinda make up anything to describe the bouquet or the flavor profile of a wine, and 90% of the customers would agree wholeheartedly.  Wine is one of those things everyone wants to pretend they understand, but only a few people really do.

I've been working in bars for the last four years, so my wine knowledge has gotten somewhat better.  I know the basics--what's sweet, what's dry, which one is more buttery, which one has more of a berry flavor, what will taste good with the steak and what is better with the salmon.  It's kind of a requirement of the job.

But to say that I know wine would be a lie.  That statement is reserved for sommeliers, in my opinion--you know, the ones that study for years and years to actually acquire the knowledge.  The ones that have special tastebuds and have passed all those tests.  You guys, that master sommelier test has a lower pass rate than the Bar exam.  In fact, it's one of the hardest tests in the world.  Respect.

Anyway, wine is still something I love to know more about.  And I really love to drink it.  So when this (super Awesome) wine bar in downtown LA started hosting Wine School once a month, I was intrigued.  When I found out that "wine school" really meant drink-ten-samples-of-wine-til-you're-tipsy-and-maybe-learn-some-stuff, I was in.

When you arrive at wine school, you are handed a packet of questions and a pencil.  There are three questions for each of the ten wines featured.  A panel of three wine experts (and personalities) answer each question; you pick who answered it correctly.  After each set of questions, a trained (and Awesome) sommelier gets up to thoroughly explain each wine and gives the correct answers.

I really did learn things.

I learned that Rieslings are characterized by apricot and peach aromas.  I learned that noble rot is a fungus on the grape that actually enhances the flavor of the wine (unless it turns into grey rot, and then you're screwed).  I learned that Petite Syrah and Syrah grapes are not in any way related.  I learned that if you have to rinse your wine glass in between wines to not use water, as water is a polar molecule and wine is a non-polar molecule, and the water will create a barrier between the wine and the glass (you should instead swirl your glass with whatever wine you will be drinking next).  I learned that Moscato is the perfect wine to sip while listening to a rap song and eating wedding cake.

As the owner, Lorena, stated at the end of the night, "We hope you had fun tonight.  If you didn't have fun, we hope you learned something.  And if you didn't learn something, we hope you're hammered."

Yep.  Wine School is Awesome.

Awesome Day Twenty: Blank Pages

August has been full of grown-up moments for me.  I finally became a California resident.  I made my first payment on my own individual health care plan (whew!).  I started paying way too much for car insurance.  I mentally committed myself to a career.

And on Awesome Day Twenty, I parted with one of the most prized possessions of my adult life:  My passport.

To be clear, I didn't part with it for good; it's about to expire and I am getting a new one.  But that passport tells the story of my life in the last ten years, right down to the photograph my dad took in the living room when digital cameras first became a common thing ("Why pay someone to do it when you can do it yourself now?").  Parting with that passport was like parting with a dear friend, one that traveled with me through some really good times, and some really not so good times.  Trading it in for a blank one seems kinda like putting down a sick pet or breaking up with someone you still really love.  I don't want to, but I know it's what needs to be done.

Maybe this is dramatic for some, but I know my fellow travel junkies out there get where I'm coming from.  The stamps in that passport define moments in my life.  Big moments.

The time I went to Costa Rica as a sixteen year old and saw my first sloth.  The 90 day visa when I moved to Japan for a summer on my seventeenth birthday.  The stamp upon entering Germany with my family when I was 19, only to realize my dad's wallet had been stolen on the plane (that is a fantastic family tale).  The resident visa when I moved to Jordan for a year when I was 20, and my life changed forever.  The postage-stamp-like visas from multiple trips to Syria, and the memories of waiting hours at the border.  The time I went to Turkey with five complete strangers (who became five incredible friends) when I was 23, to film a travel show for two weeks--and change my career path completely.  The stamps from Belize, Costa Rica, Mauritius, Azerbaijan, Zambia, South Africa, and London that outline the story of my time filming with ProjectExplorer.org for the three years following.  And somewhere in the midst of all that, a shiny visa from Indonesia when I landed in Bali in 2012--a trip I had dreamt about for years and a place that got under my skin and calmed my soul.

And then, of course, there are the entry stamps upon returning home, the ones that remind me of how each journey changed me, how coming home always meant finding new things to appreciate and new things to miss.

My passport, to me, is like a story book of my journey into adulthood.  My milestones are not when I got my first car or when I graduated high school or when I went off to college; my milestones are every time I learned a little more about this huge, beautiful, interesting, Awesome, and sometimes overwhelming world we call home.  My milestones are connected by airplanes and in-flight movies.  My milestones are full of foreign languages and culture shock and misunderstandings and souvenirs.  And my passport was there for all of them.

I really love my passport.

Still, I suppose a blank passport means a whole lot of new journeys, a whole lot of new milestones and realizations and adventures and heartbreaks.

I can only hope the next ten years are as Awesome as the last.

Awesome Day Nineteen: Stairways and Street Art

Awesome Day Nineteen started out a little rough.

First off, my quads were pathetically sore from the dancing we did in that music video the day before.  (Really.)  But Awesome Day Nineteen was also one of those days where all the little things started to pile up--and not the good little things, but the not-so-good ones.  The kind of little things that just slowly start to nag at the back of your brain until you're so paralyzed by the overwhelming amount of Little Things that you simply shutdown for an entire afternoon.  Or at least I do anyway.

Awesome Day Nineteen was precariously close to a shutdown.

During 30 Days of Awesome, however, afternoon shutdowns are not an option.  So instead, I decided to take a walk around my neighborhood, which--as I'm sure you've already read--I love.

Two Awesome things (among many) are notable about this corner of the city by foot: Stairways and street art.  Echo Park and Silver Lake (as well as other neighborhoods) have winding, somewhat hidden networks of stairways that connect the high up hilltops to the more popular walking streets down below.  Unassuming and usually in some form of disrepair, these stairways remain unknown to the average Angelino; you kinda have to live nearby them to even notice them, much less use them.  They are off the beaten path in sections of the city known for gang activity--not exactly a great endorsement of their safety or practicality--and they are steep.  These things will provide a workout no Stair Master ever could.

They are also starting to get a lot more attention.  (Odd that the BBC and I had the same stairways in mind on the same day, but kinda Awesome, if you ask me.)

All in all, Echo Park has about two dozen stairways scattered throughout the hilly terrain.  They harken back to a time when cars didn't rule the landscape of LA, when a sophisticated trolly system took residents from point A to point B.  These staircases were the most convenient way to get from one's home to the trolly tracks below, to run errands or go to work or socialize.

People must have been really fit back in the day.

Echo Park has big hills, meaning that some of these staircases are hundreds of steps tall.  I decided to take a walk (a power walk, to be fair) to (probably) the tallest stairway in Los Angeles.  With more than 230 steps, the stairs over by Baxter Street and Echo Park Avenue lead all the way up to a stunning view of the surrounding city: Downtown stands proud to one side, while the Hollywood sign and the Griffith Park Observatory shine on the other.  Not a bad reward after panting my way to the top.

It was about a two mile walk each way to the staircase from my apartment, but walks in Echo Park are always enjoyable thanks to the rad amount of street art that inevitably lines the way.  Multi-colored, positive, and done with an amount of artistry that deserves appreciation, these murals are not synonymous with the negative connotation of graffiti.  They are something to be respected.  There are even murals about the stairways; Echo Park residents are proud of Echo Park.  I think that's pretty Awesome.

I returned home after my walk, sweaty and tired (it was hot out yesterday and those hills are no joke), but reinvigorated in a way no afternoon shutdown could have provided.   Little Things are a way better problem to have than Big Things.  Perspective is a wonderful thing.

Sometimes it's good to get a big, sweaty breath of fresh air.

Awesome Day Eighteen: My First Music Video (with Jesus)

Continuing on the musical theme for the weekend, I set off on the morning of Awesome Day Eighteen into Hollywood to help shoot a music video for a friend of a friend (who is now a friend of mine, I suppose).  This was a first for me; dancing isn't really my "thing".  But when an opportunity to be a "sinner in the Den of Sin" in a "parody Christian rock song" comes along...well, you just don't pass that up.

My friend Samara had posted a Facebook shout-out a few days back to anyone interested in the shoot.  This is relatively normal in LA; I see posts to participate in something entertainment-related a few times a month through friends.  Despite all the actors in this city, I guess it's always hard to find people.

Normally, I don't do these things.  I don't consider myself an actress (despite all those chorus roles I kept landing in high school and community theater), and I definitely don't consider myself fit for a music video.  But because it is 30 Days of Awesome (and because I've been meaning to hang out with Samara for a while), I decided to give it a go.

And boy am I glad I did.

I came armed with a variety of sequin-filled outfits, ripped stockings, and heels not made for dancing (my best interpretation of "sparkly nightclub attire"), not knowing what to expect.  In my mind, the day would most likely include some kind of clumsy whirl at synchronized movement by yours truly, and an awkward attempt to look sexy on camera, while everyone around me was polished and comfortable with their on-camera presence.  It was a good prediction--but instead of being mortifying and scarring, it was FUN.  Like super fun.  Like why-don't-I-roll-out-of-bed-once-a-week-to-do-this-kinda-thing fun.

To say that the day was a blast would be a shameful understatement.  It was hilarious.  It was spontaneous.  It was highly entertaining and over-the-top ridiculous.  Anytime you assemble a group of twelve strangers and a man dressed as Jesus to learn and record choreographed dance moves in a matter of minutes (all the while being told we were aiming for "a rejected episode of Glee" kinda feel), you can be sure there is something truly Awesome happening.

We filmed in the basement an old apartment building.  It was hotter than hot inside, with sweat dripping off faces and the sweet smell of body odor clinging to the thick, stale air.  But it didn't matter.  As far as I was concerned, it was a pretty accurate portrayal of a Den of Sin (or Hades, I suppose), and the moisture on my face would just add a kind of glow on camera (this is the same thing I tell myself while filming in tropical countries, too).

With all the hilarity, it was still an organized and professional chaos--kudos to the team assembled for that.  In between off-color religious jokes and even a brief (yet contained) fire incident, we were done, choreography and all, in a matter of hours.  Paid in Two Buck Chuck and chocolate (not bad for a day off), I left with a new appreciation for grabbing odd opportunities by the horns and dancing til you can't dance no more.

Oh, the life lessons of Awesome.

The song, called "Holy Roller," is performed by Christian rock recording artist Phil Little and his band the Little Sins, produced by Zach Villa.  The song, and the music video, should be released sometime in the next two months.  It's going to be Awesome.

Stay tuned...

Awesome Day Seventeen: Street Festivals and a Fish Platter

Street festivals are always cool.  Music festivals are equally rad.  Music and street festivals in my neighborhood, however, are just downright Awesome.  (Especially when they are free--and you all know how I feel about free things.)

We're talking walking distance, guys, walking distance to numerous live bands, vendors, and a beer garden.   Awesome Day Seventeen was looking good.

The festival was Echo Park Rising, a festival in its third year, meant to keep music and fun affordable for all.  It highlights my favorite neighborhood in LA.  Echo Park is Awesome.  Yes, it's full of hipsters, but it's also full of culture, music, street art, staircases, dive bars, and really good tacos.  Plus, I've decided that hipsters aren't really all that bad.  I practically am one, except that I have a job to pay my rent (and not my parents) and usually don't spend hours making my full-of-effort, ultra-expensive outfit look thirft-store and effortless.

But still.

I like festivals for a couple reasons.  First, obviously, is the community vibe.  I like anything that brings together otherwise strangers in a common pursuit of music or art or farmed goods or culture.  Second, festivals transform spaces from desolate, ordinary places into something extraordinary.  Driving streets become pedestrian-dominated, desert fills up with state-of-the-art sound equipment, parks turn into outdoor art galleries and food courts.  You can drink booze in places you would otherwise get arrested.  You can romp and wear fun clothes and eat street food--and in LA street food means food trucks, and I really love food trucks.

There also usually a lot of fun things to buy.  This particular festival was full of vintage clothes and artwork.  I like both those things.  We bought this (Awesome) fish platter--or as it was described on the tag, "A Fishy Fishy Fishy Fish Platter":

I can't claim that I knew most of the bands playing (again, I'm a sad excuse for a hipster), but we did catch Chicano Batman, a local LA band that totally rocks.  I've seen them a few times; they are always solid.  Everyone else was pretty great too.  That's the great thing about LA: free music is almost always Awesome.  There is a lot of talent in this city.

Awesome Day Seventeen got cut off a little early by work.  On a Saturday.  Unfortunately, this is life, but just because it's a work day doesn't mean it can't be Awesome.

In Other Awesome News:  Let's note the Awesomeness that is happening to protest the anti-gay laws in Russia, especially with the Olympics looming around the corner.  Personally, I think we should boycott the whole deal.  I'm over this anti-gay bullshit, and people acting like it's even remotely okay.  But I love this story about the Russian athletes proving a point.

Awesome Day Sixteen: The Little Things

Awesome Day Sixteen was one of those days where Awesome was not the central theme.  I woke up late after a late night of post-bartending card-making and letter-writing the night before.  By the time I got moving, work was looming right around the corner.

So what do you do when there isn't a whole lot of time for a big kind of Awesome during your day?

You focus on the little things, and how Awesome they are--because I guarantee any day has at least one Awesome attribute, one moment where you stop and smile, one small silver lining.  Even days like Awesome Day Sixteen, which came precariously close to being un-Awesome by a challenging (and dare I say it: bitchy) over-demanding, de-humanizing, down-right-not-nice customer at the bar.  Sometimes service jobs just kinda suck.  (Clearly this woman had become lost on her search of Awesome in life.  Bummer.)

But I digress.

Awesome Day Sixteen didn't have any huge crafting projects or nature hikes or life changes.  But there were a few great Little Awesome moments that happened, and I decided to spend my day celebrating those.

1) It was my brother's birthday.  He is Awesome.  That is reason enough for an Awesome day.  Here's how cute we were when we were little:

2) I've been attempting to regain my control of literacy lately--namely, by reading again.  I used to devour books, and then college hit and reading became kind of a chore.  I didn't have time for fun reading anymore; it was all textbooks and political jargon and academic papers.  I got out of the habit of searching for (and hoarding) good books; without good books sitting around, I filled my free time with other pursuits, like television, until that just became the norm.

But I recently finished an Awesome book--my first novel read for fun in probably (sadly) a year.  It was the kind of book where I read the last chapter reaaaaallly slowly; it was so good, I didn't want it to end. So I committed myself to finding a new book on Awesome Day Sixteen, and while I did download one option on my Ipad that looks promising, I decided instead to take a stab at one of the (many) books that have been collecting dust on my bookshelf, forgotten:  Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential.

I have mad respect for Anthony Bourdain.  In my mind, he's in a tie with Mariana van Zeller for Most Awesome Career award--although, honestly, I think Bourdain might be slightly ahead in the category.  I respect his writing. I respect his presence on television, the way he owns the camera and keeps his audience engaged and talks like he has a brain and an opinion.  I respect his Awesomeness as a traveler, as someone who clearly takes the time to understand where he is and what it's about.  He is Awesome.

But I've never read his book, the one that kinda jump started the whole famous-tv-star path he's currently on.  So, on Awesome Day Sixteen, I sat down with a pint of beer and a good book, ready to be enlightened about the restaurant world I already know too much about.

3) That online commercial I made after getting my headshots done last week is live, and it's not as totally embarrassing as I thought it was going to be.  I'll be signing autographs later today, if you stop by the brewery (I always look that happy while pouring beers, in case you're wondering).  You can watch it here.

4) I found this pretty Awesome speech by Ashton Kutcher at the Teen Choice Awards that happened a few days ago. Unlikely source for super inspirational, REAL talk for teens (and adults, for that matter).  Watch it; he has some good stuff to say.


Sometimes, it's all about the little things.