life

it’s october 3rd.

/ authors, life, living in chicago, pictures, ronni, sick

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How in the world is it already October? Time really does fly. In the meantime, I’m trying to get over this cold that settled in nearly two weeks ago and shows no signs of leaving me any time soon. I’m on some good meds, so that’s a concession. Except I can’t DO anything when I’m on the meds except stare at my computer screen and try not to fall asleep. That’s no good. But I do NOT want another four month sore throat, so I’m taking advantage of being in the position to get a lot of rest so I can get better. There’s a lot coming up this month! Two workshops, an author visit, finishing up my Acting 1 class, filming for Sirens, a visit from Aidan, and new books to read! I need to get better and QUICK.

What have I done? This is just today's haul!! #books #ya #andersonsbookshop #abyalitconf #yafandomfrenzy #noregrets

Even though I was sick, I powered through and was able to do a few neat things. The main one being the YA Literature Conference that Anderson’s Bookshop puts on every year. This is the first year I decided to go, and I’m glad I did. Something about being around authors, and books, and watching the panels and talking to people–it’s soooo inspiring. Plus, I got to meet Stephanie Perkins, who is one of my favorite authors. She is super lovely and just amazing all around.

Me and Stephanie Perkins
me and stephanie

Yeah, that was kind of a dream come true right there. 🙂

Among others, I also met Kendare Blake, Demitria Lunetta, T.M. Goeglin, Joan Bauer, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Jenny Han…man I could go on. So many good books and authors and people. It was a very inspirational weekend.

Monday I started filming for Sirens. That was a lot of fun. Yes, I was half-crazed with exhaustion and trying not to cough while the cameras were rolling, but I met some really cool people and had a really fun time on set. And the food was soooo good. Looking forward to going back next week.

This week, my TO DO list was so long that all of it couldn’t fit in my planner. And of course, I was sick! So I lost Tuesday to sleeping, went to the doctor on Wednesday, and lost the rest of that day and some of yesterday to sleeping again. Today I managed to drag myself to a Bar Method class (barre workouts kick my butt but I love them) and over to Native Foods to have lunch with some of my favorite yogi friends, but about halfway through lunch, I started fading. Big time. 🙁 I was glad to get home.

I finished up a big project that I’ve been working on since August; it’s a relief to have that done. I didn’t realize it was almost 900 pages because I was so into it (plus it was broken down into manageable chunks), but when I look back, I feel proud that I did all that work.

Now it’s Friday night, and being the lame person I am, I’m going to take some medicine, have something to eat, and go to bed with a book and my teddy bear. And possibly a cat. Crookshanks has just plopped himself down very close to me and doesn’t seem inclined to move any time soon. At any rate, I am done for the day.

Till next time….

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long update.

/ life, pictures, ronni, summer

Summer 2014 Collage

Oh hi! Long time no see! 🙂 Sorry about that. It’s just that every time I thought about blogging over the past few months, I just felt like BLAH, nope. Overwhelmed, maybe. I don’t know.

Summer’s on its way out. Yesterday’s high was 60F but it hung out in the low to mid 50s all day. You can only imagine how sad that is making me. I feel like we barely got a summer.

In my long absence from the blog world, I hung out with Aidan, we all went to Jekyll Island for a week at the beach, and I read a lot of books. We went to Ohio and Aidan started middle school. I went to two launch parties for ClassPass and attended a Flywheel class (my first ever spin class. I didn’t like it. My butt was sore for five days because of that hard bike seat. I did like the part with the weights, though.), and a class at The Dailey Method (my first ever barre class. I LOVED it.)

I started acting classes at the Second City Training Center and so far I like it. A lot. The teacher has a real gentle and patient nature about him which I appreciate. Plus he has us do a few yoga moves during the warmup. Cannot ever go wrong with that! This week we started off by playing Red Light Green Light. So fun. We’re working on monologues, and this week I’m doing beat work. It’s challenging. But I know it’ll do nothing but help me.

I’ve also been doing freelance work for Berlitz, which has been fun. I’ve been doing various gigs all over town for Chicago PD (the director was great to work with–he kept calling us “background celebrities”), T-Mobile, etc., and I did a live event for Ravinia which was too much fun. Long days on set. Tiring but I learn a lot and really learn to exercise patience, dig down into the reserves, and call on my experience of working long days in ad agencies. I also realized that no matter how exhausted I am, the word “ACTION” still gets me pumped. So there’s that. Working hard…maybe one day you’ll see me with a speaking part. WAIT. I did have one for the movie Cool Apocalypse. That was fun. 🙂 And I’ve been selected to be part of the hospital core on the show Sirens, so hopefully I’ll start working on that soon and you’ll see me being a nurse or something more often than not.

(I was in that commercial. You can’t see me. At all. But believe me I was there. I have confetti to prove it.)

I’ve been writing a lot. Eating too much. Not getting enough exercise (I know you are SO surprised about that!). I went to a house concert and saw Ginger Doss perform for the first time since 2011, and it was sooooo amazing. She is one of my favorite people to see perform because her voice is magical and her energy is golden. She has so much joy and gratitude to be doing what she loves…and it’s palpable. God, that was a good night.

Jekyll was a lot of fun. A week in the sun, on the beach. I got burned and good, but I don’t even care because now my skin is a gorgeous golden that will be fading way too soon. C’est la vie.

Adam’s mom got this idea for our family photo from Pinterest: we all wore blue, white, or khaki. No shoes. You know the boys grumbled about it but they went along with it anyway. And it was a great idea. Look how amazing we look:

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I honestly can not complain. I had a pretty good summer. Depression is a funny thing. There were some days that I didn’t even want to get out of bed. I hate that there were days I was feeling sad and overwhelmed when it was summer, my favorite season. I should have been out playing and doing yoga and hanging out. Instead, I just wanted to hole up in the house under a blanket. Sucks. And now it’s getting cold and darker earlier and I hate that. I’m a night owl but even I find it hard when it’s pitch black at 4pm.

My 2015 Erin Condren Life Planner arrived. I LOVE it. It’s the first time I ever used the custom colorway and asked for customizations other than the stock photo. I am very happy with how it came out! It’s my two favorite things: rainbow and pink. And polka dots. BONUS. 😀

She is here!! My 2015 planner!! #lifeplanner #eclp #erincondren #eclifeplanner14 #weloveec #organizedlife #pink

I want to start taking The Dailey Method classes all the time. I went Sunday and I’m going again this coming Sunday, and will probably go the next Sunday if nothing else is going on. I need to figure out how to budget that in. Either that place or any barre place really. I plan to try out The Bar Method as well. I also want NEED to get my yoga practice back up and running. Seriously. My pants are all too tight and that is NOT OKAY. I was going to Betty’s Tuesday class but my acting class conflicts, so I need to pick a new class to attend and I think I know which one I’m going to for sure. I want to add at least one more class a week as well. I need something to keep me accountable is what I need.

My child is now in middle school. Can you even? Look at this handsome kid:

Aidan
You guys, I swear he is so super awesome. I hope I’m still saying that when he’s a teenager! 🙂

Anyway, that’s the gist of what I’ve been doing while avoiding my blog. 🙂 I hope to be better about updating. I really do. But for now, I leave you. Just like summer is leaving me. 🙁

Summer 2014 Collage

Goodbye summer. I know you technically still have 11 days until you’re gone, but it’s pretty much autumn already. I hope it’s a good one.

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in my bag.

/ life, pictures, ronni

Here’s what’s in my bag for May 2014.

In My Bag May 2014

– water bottle
– various snack bars (NuGo, LUNA, etc.)
– lip balm (this one is Lavender from Young Living)
– face powder (Cover Girl CG Smoothers in medium)
– Tic Tacs (orange because Paulie Bleeker knew what was up)
– wallet
– checkbook
– keys
– assorted pens
– composition book
– idea book
– planner (Life Planner is STILL MIA so I got a new one… but it’s so not the same)
– phone
– iPod
– tissues

What’s in your bag these days?

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slow bloom.

/ life, pictures, ronni

Hi!

The temperatures are slowly climbing, then sinking, then climbing, then sinking. Spring always comes very slowly to Chicago, but this year it’s been the slowest I’ve ever seen it. The trees are just now starting to make leaves. And it’s still too chilly for me!

But at least the temperatures ARE rising. That’s something to be grateful for. And we’ve had a few sneak peaks of what’s to come once the weather breaks for good, and it was nice. I even wore shorts out one day. Loved it.

Aidan had his Spring break already and we had a lot of fun. He’s such an awesome kid. Eating everything and all the time now. Definitely growing. Almost too fast!

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My friend Tami asked how does Aidan keep looking older but I never age? 🙂 Me looking so young used to be my nemesis when I was a teenager. Now I love it. The reaction when I tell people my age never ever gets old.

Although I’m seeing more grey hairs than I used to.

I’ve been experimenting with makeup. I’ve been pretty much makeup free for years, but recently I’ve been playing with colors again. I like to stay pretty light and natural, but sometimes I want to do dramatic things with my eyes to make them pop. The funny thing is that what I do is definitely not all that dramatic! I don’t do the winged eyeliner or the smokey eye or anything like that. But I am falling for eyeliner and all the funny colors they have. So I’ve been having fun with that. In this picture, I’m wearing eye liner, shadow, and mascara.

Hi It's Me!

If I do anything to my eyes, that’s pretty much all I do. But I change up the eye liner colors and the shadow colors sometimes, just to see what I can see. Oh and concealer under my eyes to mask the dark circles? Priceless.

I’ve been feeling ungrounded because I lost my life planner. I KNOW. I got a Bloom planner as a substitute but it’s sooo not the same. I miss my big ole life planner with all its spaces to write and put things. I know it has to be somewhere in this apartment–I don’t believe I took it outside in a long time. The last I remember having it was April 1, on the couch or in the bedroom. So it has to be around here.

Now, my room is a hot falling down mess, and I just need to clean it and I’m sure the thing will turn up. But yeah. Cleaning. Hmm. I’ll have a lot of time to devote to *that* particular chore next weekend.

I’ve been working onsite for VSA, entertaining guests, and getting used to driving my car again. It hadn’t been moved since November, so needless to say, it was pretty dead. And one of the back wheels was stuck. That was due to brake issues. The battery just needed a good recharge, which it got while I was waiting for the tow truck to take Little Ronica to the garage a few weeks ago. Now she’s all fixed and running again, and I drove her around a bit today. Feels good to drive again. I do enjoy driving, but only when the traffic is light or I’m out in the country and it’s night.

There was a s00j show last week and it was awesome! And I got to see her at the end of March as well. I always love hanging out with her and with Ryan. 🙂

Sound checking. #s00j
s00j rehearsing with Alexander James Adams

Yuck. I have to apologize for the picture quality. For some reason, my iPhone’s camera has been failing a lot, even in natural light, and I don’t know why. It’s a decent camera and I used to get really great pictures with it. I think part of the problem is that I need to quit using the “enhance” tool in the phone. That makes it all grainy and yucky. And… I just need to get used to carrying around my DSLR or my point and shoot again. I just can’t with these grainy yucky photos anymore.

For example. This should have been a super cool photo:

Herbs for making lavender incense.

My friend Hilary came over and we made lavender incense. This was all the herbs and resins she used. Lavender, myrrh, rose, and more. It looked so pretty. And this picture looks like crap. Bah. It’s time for me to make the good camera my primary camera again. Yep.

Other than that, nothing much as been going on. I’ve been craving sushi all the time as usual. We’ve been eating at a cool placed called Chi-Town Eatery. The guys who work there are super cool. Yesterday I ate at Sunrise Cafe and had the best grilled cheese sandwich of my life. It had cheddar cheese, brie, and swiss, and ham on sourdough. And tator tots on the side. SO MUCH YUM. (Adam and I eat out a LOT.)

May is going to be so busy! I have something planned for almost every weekend, and I’ll probably be getting in some freelance work (which is good, more $$ is always good!). I’m working onsite for VSA again, and acting classes start up again May 6. There’s a retreat, travel to Normal, IL, and visiting friends. I will try to take a lot of photos, and also try to figure out WTF is going on with my phone camera that photos are coming out so crappy suddenly.

And… I think that’s all for now. I now have a purring kitty on my lap and he’s also trying to hold my hand down so I can stop typing and pay him attention I presume. So, till next time….

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baby steps.

/ life

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I’m using this lovely photo from last summer, just to remind me of the warmer, prettier days to come. Hopefully soon. We did get a touch of nice weather today–it was in the 50s and sunny. The sun hurt my eyes because I’m just not used to seeing much of it these days. It was nice. So… the official start of Spring is in 11 days or so? Baby steps getting there. Trying to be patient… I’ll need a lot of that over the next several weeks.

Acting is a series of baby steps and huge leaps, and many steps back. All in the same class sometimes. When Adam isn’t here, I look up and practice random monologues. If the neighbors can hear me, sorry I’m not sorry. Not after what I hear coming from up there all the time.

Yesterday I had a pretty good day! I know a lot of people were upset because of the time change–Spring Forward is never easy–but I’m glad for the later sunsets. Longer days mean warmer days (soon) and warmer, longer days means more yoga! And speaking of yoga, I went to Ashley Turner’s Urban Priestess workshop on Saturday and as usual, it was lovely. And inspiring. She is actually going to host an Urban Priestess training beginning in October. I have some months to think about it, but I might do it. Ha, I feel like the kid who has no idea what she wants to be when she grows up. Yeah, that is what I am, isn’t it? I’m lucky I’m in a position where I can explore.

Anyway, I was talking about yesterday and why it was good. The first thing is that I was downloaded my digital copy of CATCHING FIRE, and wondering why I didn’t have THE HUNGER GAMES downloaded. Then I realized I’d never opened the DVD. When I did, there was an expired digital download in there. That annoyed me. Why should I even buy the Blu-ray discs with the digital download if the downloads can expire? But then I reread the wording. It said the download “may” not be available. So I tried it. And it worked. I got my movie. So I decided to pull out a bunch of other “expired” digital downloads to see if they’d work. They TOTALLY WORKED. One had an expiration date of 2011 and it still worked. I was so excited. Now I have a bunch of movies on my computer, I don’t have to schlep the DVDs around or worry about an internet connection for them to work. I can just watch them. This will come in handy when I am traveling. Something I plan to do a lot more of this year. So, the moral of the story is… if you bought those three-disc sets with a Blu-ray, digital copy, and a DVD, and you never got around to getting your digital copy before the expiration date, try it out. It might work. I’m glad mine did.

Another good thing is that my favorite pair of jeans? My 7 for All Mankind jeans that I got back in 2006? Well, in 2008 or 2009, I outgrew them. 🙁 I could still get them on, but they were not comfortable to keep buttoned for very long. But I held onto them because I was determined to fit them again. I tried them on yesterday and THEY TOTALLY FIT. I am soooo thrilled about this you have no idea. Those are my most comfortable jeans ever and I just love them. It’s taken me years to be able to fit them again comfortably and honestly, I’m still worried that it was a fluke…but as of last night, they were super comfortable and looked amazing. Yay.

The bad thing that happened was when I went to get my external hard drive to back up the movies, and I couldn’t get it to connect. I was worried that it had died, but it turned out to be something weird with the cable housing. I had to wiggle it just so. I managed to get everything off of THAT drive and on to a new one, and I have another back up one for my most precious things. I was scared I’d lost a lot of great stuff! But nope. It was all good.

Now, I am off to read. Just wanted to shoot a quick, pointless update. Till next time….

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