Life Update

I will get back to blogging about American Idol soon kids. I know, I'm like a week and a half behind, but things have been crazy around here. This is going to be a long one...

First of all, my roommate Gina and I had a terrific housewarming party last weekend! If you asked us the afternoon before, and even in the thick of the party, we would've told you we were about 82% sure we would be served an eviction notice in the following week because of the shindig. We invited about 50 people, 25 of which rsvp'd "yes", and then 40 of which actually showed up. It was loud, and crowded, but very fun. We had tons of food, cranked the music to 100, and mingled. It was great. And everyone was gone by midnight. Perfect.

The big news of my life is that I am leaving Reveille. Yes. The day has finally come, I didn't forget the promise I made to myself. I was offered a job at the new Soho House that is opening at the beginning of March on Sunset. If you don't know about Soho House, you can get some info at sohohouse.com, and read about each individual house, or just google "Soho House". I will be working 30 hours (tops) a week there, either the breakfast, lunch, or dinner shift, being paid $14 an hour. I will be a part of guest services, pretty much a personal assistant to each member for the duration of their visit there, whether for a meeting, or for a meal, or just hanging out. A true blessing. A respectable, fun, classy job, that pays well, and has the hours I need to pursue what I'd like to actually pursue. Everyone at Reveille, especially Jeff, is really excited and happy for me. One of the best parts is that a few of my executives are members of Soho House, so I'll still be seeing them on a regular basis. I told Jeff last night that I will be starting at SH on February 17th, which means I have two weeks of full time here, and then I'll be back periodically until the end of February wrapping stuff up and training someone new when I can. Which will be perfect.

I'm really excited about my new opportunity and my new found time. :) I'm also really scared. I don't have an excuse anymore for not auditioning and putting myself out there. Before it was that I had a 60+ hour a week job, and I was tired at night, and had to catch up on life on the weekends. Now, I'll be a bit poorer, but I'll finally have the freedom to get the ball rolling. We'll see what happens.

I am going to miss my Reveille life so much. I don't know anything else but them. They were here for me when I had no one else. They have literally become my family. I moved here with nothing and no one, and they took me in, took a chance on me, welcomed me and loved me like I never thought anyone here in LA ever would. They have taken such good care of me, on so many different levels. I have never been more grateful for an opportunity in my life, and talking to Jeff last night about leaving, I started to cry.

Jeff and I are usually the last ones in the office. Everyone goes home around 7 or 8, but him and I are still here, plugging away, and in his worst times of procrastination and/or ADD, he'll come up to my desk, or I'll go back there, and we'll shoot the shit. Last night, I sat on that couch in his office for probably our last "life" talk. He was nothing but supportive, as always. I explained to him that this was probably the last thing he needed right now with how busy we all are, especially him, but I got another opportunity that would be best suited for what I want to pursue. We talked about it for a while, and it was a lot less scary once I got talking. I was so worked up all day, scared about how he might react, and I really think the grace of God was in that room when we talked. We had a pretty solid conversation about the new position and the possibilities, and then he started to talk about this past year and the my waterworks began. He told me that he couldn't have picked someone better to grow with and to teach, and that I should be extremely proud of myself for coming straight out of undergrad to LA and into the thick of it all and doing a better job than most. He was so proud of me, and he wants me to follow my dreams, and knows without a doubt that I'm going to do great things. He also wanted to make sure that my parents knew and approved. He said, "Okay, wait, do I need to call Norm and Val?"

I do not like my job. I love my company, my boss treats me well and takes care of me like family, but I don't like my job. Its boring, its not what I want to be doing in the slightest. Mostly, the hours are so extreme that it wears on me emotionally and mentally that I don't have time to do what I really want to do, which makes me hate it for a whole other reason. Jeff agreed with me that staying here is just going to stagnate me. If I really want to do this "acting thing" as he called it, I need to get out there and see what happens. When we talked before the holidays about where I want to go, what I was contemplating about my career, etc. He offered to give me a few random afternoons to audition. As long as I told him in advance and was sure to only take a few hours. He had no idea how it worked. Its not like a dentist appointment. I can't guarantee its going to be a certain number of hours, I can't even guarantee I can tell you a day in advance. But, he told me that after we talked, he spoke to an agent friend of his who gave him a reality check on how time consuming it actually is to pursue an acting career, and that's when he knew he had to let me go.

It was just a blessing that we could have a conversation about me moving on and be on the same page. He didn't try to bribe me to stay, he didn't try to talk me out of it, or make me feel stupid for taking advantage of a "lesser" opportunity. I stayed late last night, after Jeff went to his dinner appointment, and hung out with some of my friends around here. We sat around, ate sushi, talked about our jobs and our dreams and our opportunities. They congratulated me and just loved on me. Its going to be so hard to leave them. My family. Alex, JD and Chris coached me all day on what to say to Jeff and literally would stop what they were doing to take me aside and console me before my "big talk". Alex stayed later to make sure that it went okay, and she even helped me practice what to say beforehand. This whole week she has checked on me every few hours to see how I was doing, if I had heard from my new employers, how I was feeling about it all, etc. The loves of my life. I can't believe I was given the opportunity to be with these people, and to call them my friends. I can't believe they let me work here. I can't believe I got placed at one of the most upward moving, caring, companies in LA. I hear horror stories of other jobs and other employers around this town, and when I mention to someone that I work for Reveille, they go on and on about how lucky I am to work for "such a great company". I'm truly blessed. And I know I can always come back and have a place here. Not necessarily to work (I mean, if I ever wanted to, I probably could come back for that) but if I ever want to come visit, I'll be welcomed with open arms.

So, I guess you will never have to hear me bitch about my desk job ever again. :) I hope this new opportunity proves to be as helpful and promising as it seems to be. By the way, I got to pick out my uniforms yesterday morning and they are BALLER. They are all made by Keiss out of the UK, and I got to mix and match a whole rack of clothes and they're ordering my sizes. I felt like Lauren Conrad. :) My training starts the 17th, and then the opening is March 1st. They aren't open to their members for the first two weeks, because its reserved for private Golden Globe parties only. You heard me. This is going to be a legit job. And this is going to be a legit 2010.