Someone signed a lease for our apartment!

So come Saturday, we are moving to here...

I can't wait!

What a difference a week makes...

On December 16, 2009....

-I (Ellen) had a job as a nanny. This is a job that made me miserable and made me no money

-Matt was second in line to be on the Creative team at his Apple store

-We lived in a 400 square foot studio apartment that's an hour+ drive from Matt's work.

On December 23, 2009...

-I (Ellen) have my dream job as the Office Assistant at our wonderful church Pacific Crossroads! Seriously, I said I wanted this job before the job existed. I can't wait to work in an encouraging environment with people I have come to love. I also cannot wait to be involved in ministry again.

-Matt is first in line to be promoted to the Creative team at his Apple store.

-We found our dream home! Last Thursday I found it on Craigslist: a cute one bedroom, 1000 square foot, spanish-style duplex, IN our price range, with original built ins, hard wood floors, granite countertops in the kitchen, marble countertops in the bathroom, a dishwasher, a washer and dryer, a 2 car parking garage, minutes from both of our jobs! (I could go on) On Saturday, we went and saw it in person and it was better than the pictures. On Saturday night, we turned in our application. On Tuesday, our application was accepted!

There is just one pesky little problem: we need to get out of our lease. We approached our Landlord and explained to her our issue of living outrageously far away from our jobs. She was incredibly understanding and immediately contacted our building's owner to see what could be done. He says we can get out of our lease as soon as we find some new tenants for our apartment. So now we are DESPERATELY trying to find someone to move into our cute little Pasadena studio. We are praying that the Lord will provide someone to take our place at the Brookmore. So if you want to pray too, well, that would be swell.

All this to say: one week and our lives are completely different!

It's Engage-a-Day!

2 years ago today:

Lost Underground Art Project

So Matt and I did pretty much the coolest thing ever last night, so get ready to be jealous (if you are a Lost fan that is). We went to an art show opening at Gallery 1988. The art show was called the Lost Underground Art Project, which all started with Paul Scheer's "joke" piece of art called "Damon, Carlton, and a Polar Bear" that he revealed at last years Comic-Con.

Well this piece started what is now known as the Lost Underground Art project, best explained here:

In celebration of LOST's final season and as a project of fan appreciation, 16 top designers and artists, who are also fans of the show, were commissioned to create artwork celebrating one of the series' most memorable, and unforgettable, "water cooler" moments. This ultimate "fan art" was then turned into labor intensive, hand-pulled screen prints, limited to an edition of just 300, with less than 200 available to the public through our websites. Each beautiful poster tells its own different story, allowing the fan to relive memorable and influential moments in an artistic manner, as the show's storied run comes to a close.

Each print was unveiled at a specified location all around the world. Fans could find out where the unveiling was going to take place by going here. Well last night all the prints were in one spot here in LA at Gallery 1988 along with some other artwork inspired by the show. In fact, my favorite piece of art there wasn't one of the infamous prints (If I find an image of it I'll post it).

Here are a couple of my favorite prints:

You can go here to see the rest of the prints.

Anyways, the night was really great and it was fun to be geeky and be around other Lost geeks. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse were actually there! If only I could pick their brains.

February 2 is not that far off. The end is near...

The Rescues

Tonight we went and heard The Rescues at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. You should do yourself some good and check 'em out.

My Acting Career Thus Far

As you probably know, Ellen and I moved out to LA primarily because this is where we feel we need to be for me to start my career in acting. Well, we're here, and I pretty much hit the ground running trying to make the most of the opportunities that I've got by auditioning for every project I could find. We've been here almost 5 months and while I don't quite have the exposure (or the figure) of Brad Pitt, I actually think my career is moving along pretty well.

Without an agent, however, the quality of the auditions I was getting was lower than what I needed to really gain high-level exposure. January starts pilot season for all the major TV networks, which is when they cast all of their new shows. Ellen and I had been praying for the Lord to give us an agent before pilot season so that I could go on some of those auditions. Well, as of a couple weeks ago, I found an agent who is representing me!

I had been calling around to agents in town, and no one was willing to give me an appointment to interview me. I met an actor at an audition who gave me the contact info for his agent, and this guy turned out to be really cool and willing to give me a reading once I did a little bargaining. After he saw me read a few scenes for him, he wanted me to make another appointment and come back later to read some more scenes. Before I could make that appointment, however, he found a role that he thought I would fit in a new Fox TV show written by the Greg Garcia, the guy who created My Name Is Earl. With the help of my father-in-law and brother-in-law Mark and David, I made a video audition and sent it to him, which he really liked. He decided through that video that he would sign me and officially represent me, as well as send my video to Fox's casting department. Fox eventually said that I didn't have the look they wanted for the show, but hey - at least I'm auditioning for higher profile projects now.

Lordwilling, this will lead to more auditions for more projects, and maybe this pilot season I'll book a show. Ellen and I are just counting our blessings everyday, and this new development with the agent is a big one for us. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers, and we'll keep you updated....