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Obligatory bathroom selfie.

Podcast with friends. It's terrible; no one listens to it.

Sunset view from the Berkeley Hills.

New Canadian friends we had dinner with.

Religious wall in a home I was visiting.

Sorry for the small photos! I forgot that I was doing this post, and 'cleaned up house' on my phone and laptop. I won't do that for next week! Happy Sunday and Australia Day.

Melissa

Find your spine

With my sleep back to normal, I was able to focus on the TBA general I had on Monday. For those not in the Bay Area, TBA stands for Theatre Bay Area. It's a great group that I am a member of, and among the countless things that they do, they host general auditions for the Bay Area. It's all weekend, with Equity being seen on Monday. You are asked to prepare material no longer than 3 minutes, being two monologues or one monologue and a song. I obviously choose to do two monologues. Casting directors from theater companies come to watch, and it's a great way to be seen by a bunch of them in one day.

So many Me's

Many actors I know and have worked with, have their own warm-up routine that they do. I don't. This is not necessarily a good or bad thing, but there are some days when I wish I had a routine to calm me down and focus. What's one to do? YOUTUBE! I punched 'actor vocal warm ups' into the search box and the first one that popped up was the one for me.

How relaxing is that?! I love her pep talk at the end. 

Paper towels are my secret weapon. So, so sweaty.

I felt really good about my monologues and the general vibe of the whole day. Cole and our friend Anthony, met up with me after for a drink and then we caught The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on IMAX.

The following night, I attended the premier of 'Looking', the HBO show that filmed in San Francisco. I was allowed to bring a guest, so I let Cole tag along (I'm so kind). They played the first two episodes, and we were able to see my face, but my lines were cut. That's how it goes, and you can't get upset over it. The after party was a blast, and the free booze was a lovely touch.

This guys job was to just dance all night. I helped him out a bit.

Thanks for reading!     

Melissa

New Year, New Challenges

What's good for the Goose is good for the Gander. Or in my case, what's good for Jay-Z and Beyonce is good for me and Cole. Right before we started our gestational tour of Australia (we ate kangaroo!), Cole thought it would be a good idea to do a month long vegetarian diet once we returned. Well, wouldn't you know that one of the world's power couples had just finished their own 22 day vegetarian challenge, and I was all for it.

Many of my life's decisions are based around theirs. Courtesy of Bey's tumbler.

San Francisco is a fantastic city to live in if you're a herbivore, with all of the specialty stores and restaurants (one aptly named Herbivore) that cater to the diets. I've gone farther with our challenge and am going Vegan. Of course, if a box of Cheez-its comes across my path, I'll destroy it with my mouth.

I've woken up in my bed covered in Cheez-its. Dirty nomnoms. Courtesy of amynameisamy.com

I'm not a fan of New Years Resolutions, because who actually keeps them? I'd rather do a challenge that has an end and that I feel good about completing. 

Thanks for reading!

 Melissa

Desynchronosis

You guys! Lilly Pulitzer is having a sale right now that lasts for another day. I successfully bought two adorable items and was thankful to have been up for the 5 A.M. start, even though it's because I am experiencing TERRIBLE jet lag. Cole has had the same strange sleep schedule as me, so we keep each other company. We learned that the recovery time for your sleep cycle is one day per time zone crossed, so we have a few more days to go. Yes, we've even tried sleeping pills, but my body rebels and wakes up anyway. I've decided to keep going with the blog, though I may not have as many daily adventures as I did in Australia. I'll try to keep it relevant and consistent.

Happy Monday and thanks for reading!

A day at the races

For our final full day, we headed down to the racetrack! It was a fabulous way to start the New Year and end our time in Australia. While I was only placing $1-$2 bets, I walked away with $83 in winnings (minus the amount spent on the bets; I still walked away with more money than when I went in!) Mom had kindly purchased a fascinator for me, and I think it's going to become part of my everyday wardrobe.

Cole thought he had lost...

He had won!

Dad was put up to the challenge of wearing a tux. He was by far the most handsomely dressed.

It was a great send off, and we capped off the day by taking a bottle of wine down to the beach to watch the sunset. I'm on my way there now, for my last dip in the Indian Ocean. We have an 11 hour flight to Dubai and a 10.5 hour layover! With any luck, we'll get some vertical sleep during that time.

Thanks for reading, and Happy New Year in the States!