Month: January 2015

Date Night with a Stranger

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Dear Readers,

If you have read my blog for any amount of time, you will know I am unabashedly in love with my husband. He is my Prince Charming in every sense of the word, I love him in a besotted way. I could go on and on and on… and often do!

My birthday was this past weekend and among many things we did was a movie night/date night. I got a free movie because it was my birthday (go me!) and we are on a budget so he also used a coupon for 2.00 off so because of that, we were in two different lines and he used this opportunity to pretend not to know me in the ticket line. At first, I thought, this is so cute, and was ready to give it up, but he kept flirting and pretending not to know me, so we made up names and peppered our conversation with little snippets of things only we know after being together for 7 years. The great thing about this is that we switched personas and pieces of each others story. That first brush of the hand near the popcorn was truly electric and it felt like the first time all over again. As a lifelong fan of “revisionist history” and “time space stories” such as Back to the Future, it was fun to play pretend especially because the longer we played the more I became convinced that we end up together in any timeline!

It was fantastic and I highly recommend you do it with your partner, because its very exciting to flirt with someone who already belongs to you!

New Year New Goals!

HastonHelpingHands3 Comments

Dear Readers,

I woke up today filled with inspiration and excitement to talk to you about the new year! What’s that you say? New Years was 15 days ago? Au contraire.. In Jennifer’s world (which, let’s face it.. this blog is Jennifer World) my New Year starts on My birthday which is 1/19/2015 and it got me thinking about the following things

My friends are up to some pretty wonderful things!

One friend is applying to graduate school and I am so proud of him (you know who you are!)

One friend is living in NYC and living her dream of being an actress and REALLY doing it, not just talking about it

Another friend is readying herself to buy a house!

Another friend continues to work on her budget, finances and career simultaneously with specific goals that are measurable and I am VERY Proud.

Yet another friend started a new job and it was hard and difficult to do something new but she is SO glad now.

As for me, I am planning the following things-

1. To prepare a Ted talk and apply to give said Ted Talk.

2. To exercise three times a week no matter the weather or my mood

3. To continue exploring my spirituality in whatever form that takes

4. To find ways to random acts of kindness through the year.

5. To get out of debt! creditcarddebtfree112913(this picture is when we got out of consumer debt on 11/28/2013– all we have left is the car!!!

SO here is the point– January 19th is my birthday and also my New Year. What I ask of people is to do one random act of kindness, you choose what and where and who and all I ask you to do is to tell me about it. That is my present from you, pretty simple and no shipping required.

Ready, Set, GO!

It’s all about perspective….

HastonHelpingHands5 Comments

Dear Readers,

I talk a LOT about perspective on this blog, but you know its an important topic.

If you are someone who is starting a new diet, your perspective might be, “wow, I have a really long way to” but a better way to look at it is. “I am starting something new that is healthy and will take time for me to figure out how to do well”

If you are someone who is planning to run a 10 mile race in three months (insert scream here) you might say.. “gosh I haven’t worked out nearly enough to get to that goal.. but a better way to say it “I have thrown my hat over the wall and made a financial commitment to be more responsible about my health and that will take time and patience”

If you are someone who auditioned for the show “Chicago” with dreams of singing and dancing to “All That Jazz” and didn’t get a callback or the role, you might think, I should just give up, show business is so hard and its really unforgiving, a better way to look at it is. “I held my own with career dancers and brought it with a song” I may not be what they are looking for right now, but one day soon, I will be, I just need to keep working and playing and auditioning and studying and treating myself as the artist I am and it will lead to wonderful things.

So if you are not feeling particularly Pollyanna or Tony Robbins at the moment, I hear that, (that is kind of why I wrote the blog today to snap myself out of a funk) just don’t stay in the funk, take a beat and think about what you can reframe or change in your kaleidoscope and find the best possible way to look at it and think of this…. and be sure to yell, that is the best part of this advice! IMG_0258

Be BIG, be BOLD, be BRIGHT!

HastonHelpingHands1 Comment

Dear Readers, its 2015! Hooray!

Every year we get a chance to do something new, start over or just plain start.

This year, I am starting off by auditioning for a show I love. It’s absolutely not something that I would have thought possible without the help of my very intense Meissner class over the last year and a half. The instructor said in one of our early classes, “I coach principals” and to clarify for my non-actor readers perusing these words.. that means he coaches Hamlet, not Horatio.

I have worked harder this year on my craft and opened myself up more than I have ever done before and its scary, soul-shattering stuff. In case you thought being an actor was easy, you were wrong. I am living proof.

I find it important to write these words BEFORE the audition when the hope wells up inside of you like a fountain ready to burst forth with all the energy and enthusiasm you can muster. I have auditioned a lot this year and felt good about each and every one but you don’t have control over casting. As a director, I know this but it doesn’t mean I like it. On the other side of the coin, part of being an actor is full-time auditioner, part-time role taker. It really is that simple. A no comes a lot more often than a yes but the no’s make you savor the yes that much more.

I do not know what will happen with this audition on Sunday, I only know that I am preparing myself and working as hard as a I can to be the best I can be and that’s where my control ends.

The thing I hold fast to is these words-

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” -Marianne Williamson

So I hope that by bearing my soul to you, my dear wonderful reader, that it encourages you to shine your light, to be BIG, Be BOLD, and BE BRIGHT!

What do you have to lose? Nothing. What do you have to gain? Everything!

Think about it….

SwirlyGirlJenniferHaston

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