As of the publication of this journal, Eric is still away, so I decided to write it in the "first-person." I miss Eric's input, but he'll be back soon!

Laurie's Birthday

Turning 30 was not the problem. Honestly. I had so much more on my mind at the beginning of June 2001. I was still unemployed, and furiously searching for a job with no success. Eric was about to leave home for 10 weeks. Every time I was offered freelance work, it would be cancelled by the client. Life seemed to be taking a general down-turn, and that is why this was a rough birthday. It was just icing on the birthday cake that this was all happening as I hit the big three-o.

The evening before, Eric took me to my favorite Mexican restraunt- The Gardens of Taxco. We hadn't eaten that extravagantly in a long time, and it was wonderful! The next day we made time for one of my favorite activities, hiking in the mountains. This time we went to Will Rogers State Park where you can tour his home, watch a game of polo, and hike up to Inspiration Point. That evening Lisa and Gretchen hosted a great birthday party for me. There was tons of food, many great friends and acquaintences, and a birthday cake with pictures of me on top! I'll confess that I had a bit too much to drink and got overly emotional at the end of the night.

Overall, 30 is not bad. However, I am hoping that 31 will be better!
Pictures of the Party

Eric's Summer of Shakespeare Begins

Eric left for his job with the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival on the campus of California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks on June 4th. It's a ten week program in which he is an apprentice in his first Equity theatre production... Hamlet. The average day consists of taking classes from 9:30 until noon, building sets and props from 1 to 5 PM, and rehearsing from 7 till 11 PM. Eventually, he will also be teaching classes to students in Camp Shakespeare.

Eric lives in a dorm room on campus, and is able to come home only once a week on Mondays, when he is usually studying lines for his role as Hamlet's understudy. Hamlet opened the last weekend of June, and has received good reviews. Since Eric is an understudy, he plays 3 minor roles in the show- the Norwegian Captain, a Courtier, and a Player. Before the show each night, the apprentices perform the "Green Show." They use Shakespearean premises to do improv comedy skits. It's very impressive!

He is working very hard, and I miss him very much, but we are certain this will be a great experience, and certainly a stepping stone to more professional theatre in the future.

Long Beach Island

I have the most wonderful aunt. First of all, she travels a lot with work and has managed to find reasons to travel to the Los Angeles area a few times. It's always wonderful to visit with "Aunt Winkie" when she's here. In June she called me with the news that she would be visitng again, and made me a wonderful offer on top of it: she had enough frequent flyer miles to buy a plane ticket for me to join the rest of my family at their annual vacation to the Jersey shore!

So, for the third time since moving to LA in November, I found myself on a plane heading to the East Coast. It was an incredible week. On Friday night, Dan and Angie drove from Pittsburgh to pick me up at the Philly airport and the three of us spent the night at Winkie's house in New Jersey. Saturday morning we drove to the beach house on Long Beach Island and unpacked. My family arrived throughout the day, and I felt like a million bucks! I had just seen many of them at my mom's wedding, but this time I was able to truly relax and visit with everyone. The sense of being with the people who have known me my whole life is a very peaceful feeling that I miss when I'm in Los Angeles.

We followed all the yearly traditions: going out for a great dinner together (this year at Montebello's...yum), having a cookout on the grill, watching the sun set over the bay, laying on the beach, eating Winkie's incredible brunch casseroles, drinking much more than usual, and perusing the shops in Beach Haven. We poured over Mom's wedding and honeymoon pictures several times (something I wouldn't have been able to do if not for this trip). On Thursday, I had a very promising phone interview for a job back in CA, which brought my spirits up even higher. Many thanks to Winkie for the ticket, food, booze, etc; to Mom-Mom for renting the house each year; to Mom and Jerry for several great meals and good company; to Angie & Dan for making the long trip; and to all my family for your support and love.
Pictures Here