I read such a beautiful quote this week and I had to stop and share it as I get ready for my 27th Sunrise Service:


"Only that which is apart from my own being is capable of being doubted by me. How then can I doubt of God, who is my being? To doubt of God is to doubt myself."
-The Essence of Christianity


I wish you all a blessed and awe inspired Easter celebration.
He is risen!
Emily

My friend Stephanie is brilliant and also a computer master. I have (with her permission of course) posted some charts that she made up for her upcoming trip to Vegas. I thought they were funny and because she refuses to make her own blog I will steal her genius.

#1 Itinerary for Vegas:


#2 Food in Vegas:


#3 Evenings in Vegas:



Only 2 weeks to go!
Emily

Hello All!

I hear from some of my friends that the east coast is getting bombarded with snow and my heart goes out to you. Currently I can peek out my LA window and see only a sunny, cloudless sky. I want to thank all of you for the emails and calls asking how we are doing and I apologize for not updating the blog sooner. Things are definitely getting crazy here. You will find that when you work for free you tend to do a lot more than you usually would with just a 9-5p job. There's a lot going on for the both of us so I thought I would compile the update in a list form so that it is easier for me to write and much easier for you to read (Note: the list is in no particular order just what popped into my head as I wrote it). Enjoy!

-I have joined a Jane Austen Book Club. We have finished Pride and Prejudice and next week will be discussing Sense and Sensibility. The girls I meet with are so amazing and it's really nice to meet people who share my same interests. Also if you haven't seen "Jane Austen Book Club" the movie, rent it!

-Dave is currently working for the Census these next two months. He had training all last week and is now out in the field knocking on doors and counting out apartments. Thus far he likes it because the schedule is flexible and he can work on any freelance projects that come along.

-We did get that snoring infomercial. We got our makeup done, our clothes picked out for us and sat in front of a camera for 15 minutes talking about the advantages of the ZQuiet. If you're up at 3AM sometime don't be alarmed if you see us on television.

-I finished my first SoSauce assignment. I had to write 7 reviews for 5 cities in a month. It was fairly easy considering I had just come off a huge cross country trip (Thanks Amanda for the help with Atlanta). They liked my stuff and have asked me on to continue writing for them. I can now pick my own categories so I think I'm going to focus on Los Angeles. It will also help me get to know the city so much better.

-Dave worked his first paid gig Sunday and Monday. Unfortunately, he had to work during our friends Alaskan Crab BBQ (Alex works for The Deadliest Catch and brought back a ton of crab for us to enjoy) but he couldn't pass up paid work. He helped out the camera crew for two music videos including one for a musician, Tilly Key, and the other was for a spoken word poet, Micheal Creagh. He also did a lot of schmoozing and hopefully will get more paid work from it.

- I am currently writing like a mad woman. I actually feel confident enough to call myself a freelance writer now as I am officially working for SoSauce. I may also begin writing classic movie reviews for a website called WildCard Pictures (http://www.wildsound-filmmaking-feedback-events.com/classic_movie_reviews.html) and am working on my first screenplay. I would love to take a screenwriting class but I think eating and paying rent are my first priority right now.

-If I have been writing like crazy then Dave has been filming just as much if not more. He is working on freelance gigs all over town, meeting people and having a blast. He is also helping out our friends who have their own production company: 9924 Films (http://www.9924films.com/). Check out their website and see what's going on.

-We haven't had much of a chance to sight see. We haven't even made it to the beach yet but we have driven by a bunch of places (Santa Monica, Grauman's Chinese Theater, Beverly Hills, etc.) and hope that we can take more time to learn this new city we live in.

-We did, however, take a day to head down to San Diego again to see Lee and her new cat, Oreo. We enjoyed hanging out, eating pizza and unpacking more stuff. We also plan to make a trip to Las Vegas the weekend of April 24th where surprisingly enough Dave's parents will be visiting. Dave's dad won another trip and couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Vegas and the Grand Canyon. The plans aren't final but we're pretty sure Lee will pick us up in LA on Friday and then we'll head to Vegas and spend the weekend. What's also awesome is my friend from New York, Stephanie, will be there for the weekend so we plan to have a lot of fun while there.

-I have been helping out a production company, Mystery Inc. Entertainment, for a few hours each week on Wednesday's and Friday's but decided that they weren't really that organized and if I was going to donate my time then I wanted to get something out of it. So I am beginning an internship this week with a casting director who is currently casting a feature film (will keep you posted on the name of it) at Culver City Studios.

-Easter is this weekend and I plan on attending my 27th Sunrise Service, Dave's 5th at Saddleback (Rick Warren's church) in Irvine, California. Don't worry mom I haven't missed one yet!

Thanks for being patient and I hope each and everyone of you is doing well.
All the best and much love, Emily



P.S. Some of you have been asking me for an address and seeing as I have been bouncing around sublets lately our friend Alex is allowing both Dave and I to use his as our official address. Please email me if you want it.

I tried to do a search of my name on the SoSauce website to see if my article would pop up but unfortunately, I think you need to know the name of what I reviewed. So I have posted this link so you can go directly to my article. Just copy, paste and enjoy!

http://www.sosauce.com/travel2/viewGuide.do?level=poi&targetId=51391&alert=false&destPlaceId=14242&categoryId=2

Hello to all our loved ones!

I just wanted to give everyone an update on what's been going on in Sunny California.

Dave has been working very hard on various productions around the city. He has met so many new people from AFI Grad Students to other struggling Independent Filmmakers. He's not getting paid (yet) for his efforts but he has been making a lot of very valuable contacts. His thinking is that one of these people is bound to succeed!

I have been looking for a full time job. Some of you may not know that my bosses at HLP have been giving me the run around and have not responded to any amount of emails, phone calls or texts. So I have been frantically searching for some form or really any form of making money.

Dave and I auditioned for a snoring infomercial and received some monetary compensation and I have found a job making a little extra cash to write travel reviews for an online blog called Sosauce (http://www.sosauce.com/). I just found this out today so if you log online you will find only one review by me. I have five city reviews due by April 1 so I know I will be very busy finishing those up while I continue to look for work.

Life is so very different in LA but the sun is shining and we have our health.
All the very best to you on the East Coast. Spring is sure to be on it's way.
Love, Emily

On our first day in LA we stopped at an In N Out Burger and yesterday we were in a Ralph's. I'm living the life of the dude. Today I auditioned for a game show so as you can see life on the coast is great. We've been driving around a lot getting to know various neighborhoods and see as much of the city as we can. Today we ended up in Cerritos so Emily could get a taste of Chick-Fil-A. Tonight we are headed to a party for someone who had an extreme makeover of their apartment and tomorrow Emily and I are both taking a test to apply to be 2010 census takers. There is an impending actors strike so the job market is a little slow but I'm enjoying life out here so far. I am a little disappointed to hear that it has been 60 in NYC the last few days and it was only 50 here!


This concludes our broadcast day.

Dave

Suggestions welcome.

We drove through the Santa Ana mountains at night, in the pouring rain and through the clouds at 4000 feet. Needless to say we didn't arrive in Del Mar (San Diego) until a little after 7pm. We were greeted warmly by Lee with Domino's pizza and lots of time to catch up. We were so happy to finally spending a few "free" days in one place before it was back to realize in LA!

Friday - 2/6
We used this day as our catch up on real life day. We did laundry that hadn't been done in a month, we finished up most of our postcards and tried to catch up on our journals. Lee got out of work early to spend the afternoon with us so we could have lunch. We decided on Chinese food at Panda Express and then ran some errands. Dave dropped off his film, we dropped off our mail and I convinced Dave to get a haircut. While we waited for him to finish I wandered off to get a pedicure and Lee caught up on some work over the phone. There was a huge line at the Sports Clips Dave went to so I was actually finished and waiting for him. Afterwards, we made a trip to the local grocery store to pick up some things for Lee's fridge and cupboards. I'm told that I'm not allowed to make it seem that she doesn't have food so I'll just leave it at that. We enjoyed shopping in the strip malls of California and headed back to rest a little before meeting Lee's friends Terry and Carl for dinner at Burger's and Brew. This hamburger joint did not disappoint and the company was pretty good too. We spent a couple of hours chatting, eating and emptying out the place. What a wonderful way to spend a Friday night.

Saturday - 2/7
Today was a day spent being "lump like". We stayed in our pj's and watched Tivo (I want one!) most of the afternoon. It rained all day so we didn't feel too guilty about laying around. We didn't leave the apartment complex at all so luckily we had prepared for a Saturday like this and had bought everything we needed to have a pasta night. Spaghetti and garlic bread really hit the spot. I can't even tell you how much I have missed having a kitchen and being able to cook.

Sunday - 2/8
The sun was out intermittently throughout the day so when we got up we decided to take our first walk down to the beach. We ate a quick lunch of Kraft Mac and Cheese (oh how we have missed the blue box) and headed for our walk. The Pacific Ocean is beautiful. Lee lives right near the beach so it was only a couple of blocks walk to the bluffs and then a couple of miles down to the actual beach. We enjoyed the bluffs and seeing the differences between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. We made sure to take our flip flops off and sink our toes in the sand. I wish we could have had more days on the beach but unfortunately, Dave's power is still strong and it began to rain after our walk. We did enjoy seeing the sun for a couple of hours and a quick walk through Del Mar. Dave grilled BBQ chicken on the apartment complex's communal grill and I kept him company by soaking in the hot tub close to the grill. We marinated the chicken with the sauce we got from Dreamland BBQ and invited Lee's friend Terry over to dine with us. We had BBQ chicken, au gratin potatoes, sweet peas, salad and bread. We finished our meal with some brownies Lee made the night before. We have made sure to feed Lee well while we are here.

Monday - 2/9
We originally were going to leave today but the rain stopped us. We also had to go through the boxes we had shipped here back in December. We started off the day with a trip to Bruegger's (I had no idea these existed outside of Rochester) and I finally caught up to the San Diego part of our trip in my journal (Dave's still a tad bit behind). When we got ready to leave we looked out the window to see a small hurricane brewing and hurried out in the storm to make it to the shelter of the post office. We finally sent out the very last of our postcards so keep your eyes out for mail! I had been craving sushi for a few weeks so we took Terry's recommendation and tried out Matsuo's in Solana Beach on Highway 101. We were the only ones there and enjoyed spicy shrimp and tuna rolls while watching XMen. Can you believe Dave is not only eating fish but sushi too!? After that we headed back to Lee's apartment and waited for her to get back from work. After a short hiatus we got back up off the couch and she took us back to where she works at UCSD so we could see the experimental aquarium as well as take a walk along the very exclusive Scripps pier. What a treat! Even though I still don't quite understand what Lee does or how her mind is capable of understanding it we both enjoyed seeing her home away from home. We then took a little side trip to Fry's (a huge store just for electronics) and helped Lee do a little flat screen TV shopping. She used Dave as her personal shopping guide and picked out one she liked only to find that that particular model was sold out. It's a sign! Back to the apartment where Dave made us some very yummy meatloaf and broccoli while I handled baking the potatoes. Mrs. Edsall you would be so proud of Lee she actually ate the meatloaf even though it was ground turkey and Mr. Edsall you will be interested to know Lee had no ketchup in her home so she had to trudge back out into the rain to go get some for our meal! We vegged out in front of the TV the rest of the night switching between Family Guy and Terminator 2. Our time has been very well spent in San Diego, I just wish I could have seen more of the beach. Oh well, there's always next time.

Tuesday - 2/10
You stay classy San Diego (We'll be back).

Del Mar Beach.


Looking out over the bluffs of Del Mar Beach.


Dave and Lee (Yes that's Dave rockin' a mustache).


All in!


The Scripps pier.


Emily "smarting" it in Lee's lab at UCSD.

February 4, 2009

We stopped for gas after checking out of the hostel and made our way to The White Sands National Monument. We arrived at the park in the early afternoon and made a quick stop in the visitor’s center. We decided to first drive through the dunes and then find a place to get out so we could see them up close. The dunes are 8 miles of beautiful, natural white sands and so much fun to play in. We parked in the picnic area, which looked like it was directly out of Star Wars, and got out to walk around. After writing notes in the sand and taking pictures I tried to slide down the hill (there was a family there that had sleds) but that didn’t work so well. Emily sat under the shade while I did this because we didn’t have any sunscreen.




After enjoying the dunes for a few hours we were on our way to Arizona. The plan was to find a room in Tucson for the night. The funny part of that story is a few hours early I had said, “We haven’t had any trouble finding a room yet” to which Emily replied, “Great. Now you’ve jinxed us.” We get to the Econo Lodge in Tucson after having to go about five miles out of our way. It seems Arizona doesn’t believe in signs so the exit we needed was blocked off. Emily was a bit frustrated but we went into the lobby and waited our turn behind a couple that seemed to have never been to a motel before (i.e. questions about the continental breakfast). We tried to get the guys attention but he obviously could only help out one person at a time. So we waited and waited and finally when it was our turn we ask for a room. He tells us that there is a Gem Show this weekend and he just sold his last room to the couple before us. So why couldn’t he just tell us that while we were standing around like idiots? We leave even more frustrated than before and head to the Rodeway Inn down the street well they are charging $80 a night because of the Gem show. Our last resort is to call the hostel in Tucson and they are charging $35 a night instead of their usual $20 so we decide to keep driving until we get very far away from the Gem Show.

We called a Super 8 in Eloy, Arizona for the night and they were pretty reasonable. It was supposed to be right off the exit but when we arrived we could not locate it. We see a Red Roof Inn and hurry over only to find that it is closed due to reconstruction. The only other motel we see is an America’s Best Value Inn. Emily has been against these since the beginning but we figure we’re tired and this is our best bet. Emily jumps out and wouldn’t you know it, it used to be a Super8! We watched The Matrix on HBO and called it a night on the hardest bed I have ever slept on. In fact, I was pretty sure it was box springs.

Are we in San Diego yet?

This concludes our broadcast day.
Dave (with Emily’s expertise!)

February 3, 2009

The original plan was just to just stay in Truth or Consequences for the night, soak in the hot springs before check out at 11am and head to the White Sands National Monument for the day. After which we would then drive five hours to Tucson, Arizona. One dip in the hot springs and all thoughts of moving on melted away. We were so sick of driving and just wanted to a day to collect our thoughts and have to ourselves. Well this was the perfect spot for it.



We soaked all day long at the Riverbend Hot Springs. In fact one of the women asked us at the end of the day "Did they not let you into your room?" To which we happily replied "Not today!" We loved it. There are five hot springs overlooking the Rio Grande. Three of them (107, 106 and 105 degrees) are all under a shade on a platform. The last two (103 and 100 degrees) are outside right over the Rio Grande. Throughout the day we pool hopped and then we would sit around the many comfortable chairs soaking up that New Mexican sun. We got caught up on journals, wrote some postcards and sat around to talk with some of the locals.



The only non-relaxing thing about the springs was our roommate. She was an older lady who obviously didn't like the fact we had moved into her space. She also cooked the stinkiest dishes I have ever smelled in my life and did not ventilate the area. The stench just hung in the air and permeated every surface the minute you walked in to the living room. We finally had to air out the room all the next day if we wanted to sit in there at all. Dave said he caught her giving him the evil eye more than once so let's hope there was no malicious voodoo in her stare.

We did get out for lunch around 1pm and made our way into "town." I expected with a name like Truth or Consequences that they would have a pretty big gift shop selection. After we ate our lunch at the Pacific Grill we headed to Broadway, their main stretch. It was a ghost town, I swear I saw a tumbleweed. Most of the shops consisted of crystals, brightly patterned skirts and thrift shops. There was one lone souvenir shop called "Loretta's Gift Emporium." You can just imagine what we found in there. We perused dusty shelves piled high with items people hadn't bought since 1964. I bought some more postcards from their meager selection and decided on a pin that boasted the name of the town and the symbol for the sun. Good Enough.

But my disappointment wasn't long lived. I jumped back into the springs and forgot all about it. We soaked again until dinner and got out again to head into town. This time we were headed to an old favorite, Pizza Hut. This is one with a red roof and hasn't been tainted by the new promotion of Wing Street. The pizza was phenomenal but the service could have used some help. We used our coupons and had leftovers for breakfast the next morning (my favorite) and headed back to the hot springs for the last dip of the evening.



The next morning we got up early again to soak before checking out and moving on like our plan had been to begin with. We were so happy we made the side trip and took time to stay in a place with a name as cool as it was. It was also a perfect place to end after our very long journey.

Emily