you wanna be on top?!

Yes. So America's Next Top Model Cycle 11 auditions are tomorrow.

I had many weird and coincidental run-ins with the show in general in the past few days, you know, having a marathon watching all the ones I've missed from this season at Kelly's house, joking about being on there, secretly really wanting to be on there, etc. Then the other day I walked into work and the hostess at Cheesecake Factory handed me the business card of the casting director for the show. I shot this CD an email with my stats and pictures and whatnot, as to gain knowledge of the wheres and whens of this audition. Then it was posted on the CW's website tonight. It's an open call tomorrow from 10 am- 3pm.

At first, I was sure I wanted to do this. I mean, common, it's crazy exposure, and its probably a blast to do. Plus, if you won your life would be changed forever. If nothing else, you can't beat having it on a resume.

Then I really started to think about it...
- I can't exactly go to the audition tomorrow because I have a shift. (A shift which I released, but doubt anyone would want) Plus, hello, its an open call. You might as well say cattle call. Every girl and her grandmother is going to be lining up to go to that audition.
- As a result, I'd end up camping out in line with my pictures and bathing suit in hand, but by the time it actually came to be my turn, I'm sure I would not be looking so hot. (Waiting in line doesn't do much for me).
- Plus, anyone who watches this show knows very well what they do in the second epsiode: Makeovers. Sure, it sounds fun. You've got these amazing makeup and hair stylists on hand to make you into the best looking you possible. But for some reason, they have a nasty habit of forcing the girls with pretty, long, gorgeous hair to cut it short. I don't know how I could handle this. I mean, I could handle it. Tears would be shed...buckets of tears...but it is hair, and it does grow back. I'd suck it up I'm sure...but still....
- And lastly, there's always some photo shoot where they wear next to nothing, or less. That might be a little difficult to do. Lord knows the 'rents sure would not appreciate it. And I don't think I would like doing it so much either.

Plus, I could stand to loose 5 pounds or so before going out for a thing like that. It would stink to be known as the "plus size girl" even though I'm a size four.

happy monday....

You know you live in LA when you walk into the grocery store and there's a video crew filming the Super Nanny at work turning another bratty kid into an angel. I'm just sayin'.

In other news...Its monday! swell. I'm sitting at home, alone, taking care of business while Jake is at work. Its his first day, so yay for Jake and his awesome new job!

Anyhoo...since arriving in la la land (as my dad so fondly calls this town), I've gotten quite a few calls from old friends and family wanting to hear the latest about my new life. And in all these conversations, one question is always the constant: "So, how's the acting career?"

Yes. I understand that this is what I came out here for, so why shouldn't they ask this? That being said, I've been in the LA area for roughly...three weeks, and moved in for about two. Now that I feel that I've finally got everything together, I'm going to start hacking away at the acting career. I'm not going to lie, I feel totally overwhelmed every time I think about all the things there are to do...researching agents, finding reputable, good ones, what is my "type?!" (showbiz is certainly not for those who don't like to have labels slapped on them, that's for sure) is my current headshot ok? if so, I gotta mail a hell of a lot of headshots out...if not...what photographer is the best person I can hire without paying them with my right arm, leg, and first born child? And then, hell, where am I gonna find the money for all this?!

so to answer all your questions...yes, I am in the process of beginning the process of having an acting career in Los Angeles. Its very daunting though...give me some slack!

Thanks.

In an effort to make sense of this craziness, here are my first orders of business:

1. call the contacts my dad sent me
2. get registered at an extras casting agency...GET THAT SAG CARD
3. research acting classes (perhaps some improv to get started? hm.)
4. research headshots in LA
5. research photographers of headshots

that's all I can think of for now....for the time being I'm just hitting craigslist up like crazy and seeing if I can snag anything there.

peace, love, and 140 calorie, lowfat, cookies and cream ice cream! ;)

beaches, stars, and parties...oh my!

So, Jake and I did indeed make it safely to LA, CA, found a place to live, unpacked the boxes, and got settled. However, in the midst of work, we found some time to have some fun and see some sights. One sight which I was desperate to see was Santa Monica. But first, Jake insisted he introduce me to an old, west coast friend of his:

mmmm mmm...my fellow tennesseans at home, all those crazy rumors are true, these really ARE the best burgers everywhere, especially when you get them "protein style," which substitutes lettuce for a bun to be super Jessie friendly. Their strawberry milkshakes will rock your world too.

This, obviously, is Santa Monica


this is a crazy chinese man on the boardwalk who claimed to have an "amazing balancing show..."

it wasn't really so amazing. I wasn't coughing up any dollars.

Jake is always hungry. espcially for crappy food that I just don't let myself eat...but wish I could...


lucky duck.


some guys doing amazing capoirera stuff on the lawn...


the hug deli...i wasn't sure if the girls in the booth were famous or not...the girl on the left side of the screen proclaimed to them that she would have them up on "perez" by the end of that night though...


some guys playing raegae in venice


sunset on the beach


Ok. A few days later, I insisted we go to Hollywood, because I'd never been.

I thought that billboard proclaimed a strange but profound message....


Jake walking the walk of fame


Graumann's Chinese


sean connery


clint eastwood


woohoo! had to do it...japanese tourists and their tourguide be damned....




A few days later, we decided to take a trek back to the beach to show Jake's cousin Stephanie the sights.



You probably can't tell...but this dude is wearing a turban, a visor, some sort of middle eastern garb, and jumbo sized roller skates. He is also playing a strat via a portable amp that is attatched to his belt. Kinda wild.


view from the back


nowhere else in the country do you see this....


of course, we had to take a spin on the pacific wheel, however long of a line or over priced the tickets were...

Views from the top:




Stephanie, Jake, and me










In other news... thanks to a wonderful new friend of ours, Jake and I were invited to a very exclusive party the other night. It was the Scandinavian Style Mansion soiree, hosted by Lindsay Lohan herself and sponsored by Skyy vodka (which was the base for every drink mixed, shaken, or stirred up by the bartenders), and Paris Hilton Handbags.
There was a red carpet set up and everything...apparently Britney Spears was orginally the hostess, but she was "relieved" of such duties after being admitted to the psych ward. Lindsay was given her spot.
This article will tell you all about it much better:
http://www.eonline.com/gossip/hum/detail/index.jsp?uuid=21111aea-93be-4342-80f0-8e1b03ce5302


did I mention Paris Hilton was there? Yeah. Before the celebs showed up, it basically went like this: You walk around to the various designers, and pick out whatever you want, be it clothes, cool tee shirts, sunglasses, watches, kids clothes, kitchen stuff, or cosmetics, put them in a bag, and they're yours, for free. yeah, crazy huh? It ROCKED.

It was also kind of bizarre to be so close to Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. I literally rubbed shoulders with Paris at one point.

Life in CA is pretty interesting, I must say. ;)

the roadtrip, part deux!

So....I guess where I left off was our initial arrival in New Mexico. I just have to say, the next day was quite interesting. We set off and the weather seemed perfect for driving. But, in fact, the sun and mild temperature was very deceiving. The wind was horrendous! It was blowing so strong that we had to steer very sharply to the left just to continue going straight down the highway. There were also some spots where we had headwinds while going uphill. Our gas tank really benefited from that, I must say. The countryside is gorgeous in New Mexico...


A lot of signs look a lot like this one...the upkeep around this part of the country is not too keen.

For lunch, we happened to stop off at another historic, route 66 town, so we looked for an authentic restaurant to stop at. We found El Rancho, a hotel/motel and restaurant built by D. W. Griffith.




At first, we didn't believe the signs that advertised the patronage of movie stars...but apparently they were true. This place used to house all sorts of old movie stars back in the day...



The menu looked good too...it had all the different entrees named after a different movie star. Jake ordered the "John Wayne" burger, which at the time seemed appetizing and different, since it was a cheeseburger with guacamole on it. (Unfortunately, in the wee hours of the next morning, Jake found himself quite sick with food poisoning. DO NOT ORDER BEEF HERE. lol. My "leading man" salad was very good though. I recommend it to anyone.)

This is Jake, very studiously driving against the wind. We HAD to make it to Mesa by that night, so we were booking it.


We made it to Mesa and stayed with some very nice relatives of Jake's. Because Jake was set to buy a car two days from then, we knew we'd have a nice day of reprieve from driving. All kinds of plans were made for us to go around and see Jake's hometown, where he grew up, his old schools, favorite places of interest, etc. But sadly, as I mentioned before, Jake came down with food poisoning early that morning. Everything pretty much went out the window at that point and so we spent the day getting Jake back to health. Thankfully, he pretty much 80% ok by that night, and much better the next day. We went to a car auction with a family friend to get his car, and that was an interesting experience in and of itself. It really opened my eyes to car dealers and all their wiley ways. ;)

We anticipated leaving AZ at the latest by 2, and although we found Jake's nice Solara relatively early in the day, many unforseen needs regarding the car arose, one after the other, so we didn't end up leaving Mesa until about 6pm. Yikes. With Jake at the Uhaul and me driving the new car, we sped as fast as we could into LA and arrived in the OC (our destination) by about midnight. It was late, and we were exhausted, but we had made it! I was very disapointed in my inability to get a picture of the "welcome to california" sign, but I was even more disapointed that I didn't get a picture of Jake crossing the California checkpoint in the Uhaul getting searched. Hahaha. California is weird about bringing in plants from the outside, apparently.

What they don't know is....I brought roses with me (MUAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!) well...dried roses that is. :D

More songs for the road....most of these are california themed, and appropriately so for the home stretch of our drive:

1. The Mammas and the Pappas: California Dreaming
2.Tom Petty: Free Fallin'
3. Kings of Leon: California Waiting
4. Barry Louis Polisar: All I Want is You
5. Phantom Planet: California
6. Weezer: Undone (The Sweater Song)
7. Sheryl Crow: All I Wanna Do

peace love and sunshine-
~*Jessica*~