May 2017 was a crazy busy month in my life. I had two interviews, 4 auditions, several rehearsals, 2 seminars, and 4 performances. I even had two random celebrity sightings, and attended a Q&A with a THIRD celebrity! (Brian d’Arcy James, Kelly Ripa, Bryan Cranston, ya nosies.) I worked my first New York temp job, and today started my next one. I audited a class, and continued to attend the Write Now Workshop on Tuesday afternoons. A close friend came for a whirlwind visit, and my mom and sister came to visit this weekend. (They’re heading home tomorrow.) On top of all these things, Kendall and I had to find a new place to live, and since he’s still looking for full time work, signing a lease on anything is difficult, if not impossible, so we focused on sublets. AND THEN ON WEDNESDAY I GOT SICK. I tell ya, if there is any time to get sick, it is certainly NOT the weekend before you’re supposed to move, and you have three performances, and your family is coming to visit, and you haven’t actually found a new place to move to yet.

May 2017 has been the hardest month this year for me. I had a lot of intriguing opportunities for classes and seminars come up that I simply couldn’t afford to pursue. My wonderful husband, who has been trying for months to find work, kept hearing “No.” Our sublet was reaching its end, and I didn’t have really have time, especially in the last two weeks, to look for a new sublet, because I was in rehearsals all the time. Kendall and I were at the end of our emotional rope. We were thinking about how to move back to Dallas, and maybe regroup and try again in a few months.

But through all of that, we prayed. And we were reminded, time and again, that we are not alone. We have loving friends and family who will stand with us and pick us up. Our time in New York isn’t finished, yet. It can’t be. So we keep the faith. We keep praying. We cry, and yell, and hug each other, and pray some more.

Then, after seeing one apartment that turned out to be a bust, and hearing from another potential sublet that the move date wouldn’t be until the 10th (another bust), we finally found one. We have an apartment for the month of June. Praise God! So while I am spending my day as a Receptionist, my husband, mom, and sister are working on moving us from one apartment to another. I am so thankful that Mom and Caroline were able to come visit this weekend, because with Kendall and I both being sick, we needed some Mom-brand love and care. And having them here makes our move so much less stressful, because Kendall isn’t having to do it all himself while I’m sitting at a desk all day.

In the end, having my family visit this weekend was a great blessing. My mom and sister got to see me in my New York City Acting Debut in the EstroGenius Festival, playing “Tara” in a short play called “By Any Other Name.” We got to see The End of Longing at the Lucille Lortel Theater, starring Matthew Perry, who also wrote the play. It’s a clever play, and I had a good time. It’s definitely not a laugh-riot, but it has a lot of humor in it. If you get a chance, you should see it! After the show, we got to walk down the street and see Monica and Rachel’s apartment building.

 

 

We have ridden the subway, taken a couple of taxis, and simply walked to where we wanted to go. Mom and Caroline even went by themselves to a few places, and only got lost a little bit! 🙂 We went to Times Square, Central Park, Union Square, The Strand, Greenwich Village, the East Village, and Brooklyn! This morning, Caroline and Mom took Monroe to play in the park so I could go to work and Kendall could get things squared away with our apartment, and now they’re all best friends!

 

 

I don’t know what’s going to happen next. Kendall has at least three interviews this week, and we are prayerful and hopeful that those will go well. In a month, we could be right back here, worrying and scared about what we’re going to do. But I have a really strong feeling that that won’t be the case. We have so many faithful friends and family who remind us of what we’re capable when we’ve forgotten, and I think that a month from now, we’ll be signing a lease on our own apartment, and stepping confidently into our finally-permanent New York Routine.