Blue January...

January! The Blue January... Lets start from the beginning.

- We landed back in London on the 5th of January  at 10 am. As soon as I turned off the "flight mode" on my phone, I got a call from my agency saying I had an audition for a commercial  at 4pm. It felt like a promissing landing I must say. I completely forgot how tired I was from being awake since 3 o'clock in the morning. I was feeling great and lucky. Well... In fact...I didn't  get the part!!!

- The day after we got a call from our  landlord. Bad News! He wants to destroy the kitchen and the toilet, refurbish the whole house dedicating the next three months on constructions and on renovating the flat.

- We decided to start  looking for a new flat. A studio  flat. We've  been sharing for a while now. I did the count. In three years, we shared the flat with 10 people from all over the world: German, Portugal, Australia, Italy, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland... Which was great but at a certain  point you start missing your own place and privacy, especially if you're in a relationship.

- Looking for a flat in South West London at a considerable and reasonable price is just a nightmare. We felt hopeless especially because we were running out of time. Making important decisions  under financial pressures and under a limited amount  of time makes everything  very stressful.  Time to say  that money does bring  happiness  and does make certain decisions a lot easier. I lost the count  of the amount  of phone calls I made and of the number of studio flats we saw. I lived in almost 10 houses, rented places in three different cities. I got smart when it comes to spot trouble  in a potential  flat. The first impression  might be good but an experienced and a clinical eye tells me right away if in a medium term I'll have a serious problem. For instance: never  rent a room that faces a street, a busy  street. You'll hear cars passing by all day and night, even with  double  glazing... Just the view of cars rushing all the time, the  stress and pollution... in a long term all these things  will cause you anxiety. 

- I had to record three audition tapes. I was successful  in one of them! I had a day of rehearsals and another day for filming the scenes.

- Apart from my acting and modelling Cv, I try to build a non acting Cv with a list of things that I actually do and did professionally to support  myself. Costumer service, promotional work, teaching and reception work.  In January  I went for a couple of interviews in order to get a new part time job.

-  I did a voice over as well.

- I travelled a thousand times to the vet  to save our cat from kidney problems. Not to mentioned the money spent on vets and special food for pets.

- We completed our Tax Return!!! What a relief!

- It took us three days to pack everything, to throw things away and give other things to charity. We're moving to small studio flat so we need to learn to be minimalistic. I have two boxes full of books and right now I regret not having their kindle edition instead. I honestly  prefer paper but when you're moving house, kindles and "clouds" and virtual storage  places are your best friends. I wish I could  scan all my clothes and send them to a "cloud" as well.

- 1st of February and after so many changes in my life, I decided to change my haircut too. Rachel Bartlett from Tony and Guy did a wonderful job: She is the best and I refuse to let anyone else cut my hair. Only Rachel can touch my hair! I like Jamie as well from Tony and Guy! They re definitely  the ones who I feel confident about asking for advice and changing  hairstyle.

- Remember the topics I wrote  about my website. In January  I took  some time to make some changes  on my website. I'll talk about this  topic later. One of the main changes was to eliminate most of the pictures on my Headshot Gallery and Photography Gallery, cutting down the number of them to the bare minimum. Less is more. 

- I cried in January... Stress and a lot of toxic thoughts in my head were the main triggers. It's good to cry sometimes.

- Moving to the new studio was not so straightforward as I thought. We actually decided to paint the whole flat before moving in. We bought some furniture as well. We spent some time researching the best options considering the size of the studio. 

- I feel like celebrating New Years Eve now, in February, after settling down and having all the things in the right place. Tomorrow morning I'll go back to the gym and I'll restart writing sessions and other projects I have. Thanks for being there. For reading these thoughts. I confess that I write to organise my messy head and my experiences and to connect with people. I want to connect more this year. Sometimes I can be extremely silent and live in extreme isolation sometimes. I need those moments. I am an introvert, I was always an introvert... An introvert desperate to connect. I think that's why I love acting, for the opportunity to share a story, to connect with people. 

Love, lilly