MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Back in LA, really tired...but I was greeted with great news from my agent! I have officially booked CSI:Miami again :) I shoot 1/10/07. That's what I call a Merry Christmas AND a Happy New Year!!

Oh, and I looked up some info on the Super Bowl, and from what I can gather, it looks like my commercial will air on Feb. 4th (the "making-of" CBS stuff will air the 3rd or the 4th, too) and my first CSI:Miami episode will air on Feb. 5th. It'll be a whole little Jillian weekend, lol. What a way to end the year :)

Shoot!! I had a 5am wake up call, but I must have fallen asleep again! I woke up to the phone ringing at like 5:50am. The production assistant was like, "Where are you?". I was so sleepy I couldn't even respond...it think I said something like..."what do you mean", LOL. He was like "Did you get the times confused?"....I quickly woke up and thanked God that he'd thrown me a bone. I didn't quite understand why he thought I'd been given the wrong time until I got downstairs and saw Kat getting in the car....turns out we'd both overslept and ended up being ready at the same time! How's that for being in sync with your scene partner, lol.

I felt SOOO bad about being late, but I ended up doing alot of my own make-up in the car to save time when we got to set. We ended up being ready with plenty of time to spare, thank goodness!

Everybody on set was really cool. Apparently, all the other actors/dancers in the commercial were from NY so Kat and I were regarded as a pretty big deal, which is kinda funny to me.

This commercial was a really unique experience for me. First of all, its really, really funny. I'm talkin' Super Bowl funny!! That's right...my Chevy commercial will debut on Super Bowl Sunday (God willing, lol)!!! Secondly, it turns out the the girl who wrote the commercial was an 18 year old college student who won a contest sponsored by CBS (I'm tellin' reality can pay off if you work it right! I'm still thankful to FFF for my SAG card!). Because of this CBS was filming behind the scenes footage for a "making-of" show...the filmed us acting silly and we did a few interviews with them which was a bunch of fun! Oh, and talk about coincidence...when we wrapped shooting today, the guy who was in charge of all the CBS footage came up to me. He was like "Hey, Jillian, right?? I don't know if you remember me, but I was the casting director on Fight for Fame." How crazy is that? It's such a small world! Anyway, the "making-of" show is supposed to air on CBS the night before or the morning of the Super Bowl, I'll keep ya posted!

After we wrapped Kat and I grabbed a few drinks with the director and producer of the spot. They were such cool guys and it was really good to get a bit of networking in considering we were on such a tight schedule. This is such a small business and relationships are key to being successful in it. I just saw the CD from Fight for Fame for goodness sakes!

After that I got together with my good friend Eric Abrams. I know Eric from South Carolina! He was my cast mate in my last undergrad play "Blues for an Alabama Sky". It's so good to be around southern folk! We hung out in Harlem then came back to mid town and again I stayed out way too late, lol. But I had a ton of fun. In fact my entire weekend was Awesome. I love NY, and I thank God for each and every blessing he's bestowed upon me!

Started shooting today. It's going to be a really, really funny commercial! It's a Chevy spot that consists of 3 girls in a car and some very "interesting" men that attracted to said car, lol. I don't want to say to much b/c I don't want to ruin the surprise...but trust me, it will be unforgettable, lol. We shot from sun up to sun down, which is pretty awesome considering the sun sets at like 430pm! Plus it's like the easiest shoot ever (at least for us girls), all we do is sit in the car all day! The car has microphones so we don't even have to wear them, it was pretty sweet.

Even though the day ended early I was still pretty exhausted. I was already working on very little sleep in LA and it hadn't gotten any better since arriving yesterday. Still, I made the probably unwise descision to hang out with a few friends this evening. Nothing too crazy, my friend Brian and I met with my friends Lorraine and Andrea for dinner at this cool restaurant called "Bread" in SoHo. I insisted that we go to dinner early, and then I ended up being really, really late, lol. It was pretty bad. Being late that is, not the dinner. The food was great and it was good seeing my friends again (though I'd just seen them 2 wks earlier). I always have such a great time in NY....I wonder if I could move there?? I think Los Angeles weather is spoiling me a bit, lol. Anyway, we had a great time...I stayed out a little too late, but luckily tomorrows call time is 530a instead of 5a. Plus, I'm leaving in 2 days...I can rest on the plane, right??


My crazy friend Lorraine and her Hubby Andrea

Me with my friends Lo and Brian outside of Bread

I flew in EARLY this morning and since it was such an long flight, they upgraded me to business class...which was very nice! A girl could get used to this kind of thing, lol. On my trip to NY earlier this month we ended up getting bumped up to first class. As far as I can tell the biggest difference between "Business" and "First" is a warm chocolate chip cookie, lol. In "business" class they give the tired old pre-packaged sugar cookies. Not that I'm complaining mind you, I'm just very particular about my cookies (as you can tell by the girth of my hips, lol). Plus, I made friends with the flight attendant who ended up sneaking a warm chocolate chip cookie from first for me, lol. I guess the other difference would be that first class is really isolated. They don't really come in contact with anyone who is not in first class. In "business" everyone walks past you going to the regular seats, which I will admit was a little uncomfortable. I guess it just really highlighted this crazy class structure we have in this society. There I was sitting in this big, plush nice leather seat with a constant birage of free food, drinks etc...and I turn around to see people packed in like sardines having to pay $5 for a meal on a 6 hour flight! It's odd, because I was very grateful, but I also felt a little...i don't know guilty I guess. I really don't like that we live in the richest country in the world and so often people without alot of money are treated like second class citizens. Now I've been from first class to Greyhound and trust me, poor peole get a raw deal! Ahhh, the complexities of life...I'm obviously dealing with a lot of conflict on this subject, lol.

But, I digress, lol. So we land in NY and I realize that the girl sitting a few rows in front of me (also ironically the only other black person in business class) was also the girl that I auditioned with. We both booked the commercial, which was very cool! Production had arranged for a car to pick us up from the airport and take us straight to our fitting. We got to the production offices, got our wardrobe, met the director again (who was AWESOME, by the way) and got our per diems.

Next they gave us cab fare and put us in a taxi to our hotel. I get to the hotel, go to check in and realize that I don't have my wallet!!!! I had left it in the cab. Unbelievable, right?? You'd think I never lived in the city before, lol. I was more concerned with not having my ID than anything else. Luckily I had most of my cash on me so I just had to cancel a few cards and try to figure out how to check in at the hotel and get on a flight to go home without an ID. The people at the hotel (Hotel QT)were cool, and they let me check-in since the room was paid for already. I went to my room dropped my bags, met up with Kat (the other girl in the commercial) and we retraced our steps just in case my wallet had fallen out on the street. It's funny though, because for some reason I never really freaked out or got upset. I was annoyed with myself, but not like frentic or paniced or anything. Anyway, we searched for the wallet but we didn't find it, and it was starting to get late (it was like 8pm but we had a 5am call!) so we decided to grab a bite to eat. We were about a half a block away from the hotel when we turned the corner and BAM!! Somebody turned on the lights, lol! We were in the middle of time square with all its bells and whistles. Kat and I just stopped in our tracks and looked at each other. With all the chaos of the flight, the fitting, the hotel, the wallet, etc...we suddenly realized how tremendously blessed we were. Here we were in the middle of New York City on an all expense paid trip, to shoot what is supposed to be a pretty big commercial, and even though I'd lost my wallet, I really hadn't lost that much in terms of money, my beautiful friends in Los Angeles were taking wonderful care of the twins (HUGE thanks to Michelle, Laconya and Adrian...I LOVE you Guys!!!)...I just felt so blessed. All my worries faded and I knew that if God had brought me this far, he would certainly take care of the rest. Both Kat and I decided to call our parents just to share how great everything was. We walked around a bit and then decided to grab a bite to eat before heading back to the hotel. While we were eating at this great little Italian restaurant my phone rings. I answered it and the conversation went something like this....

Guy on the Phone (GOP): Jillian??
Me: Yes
GOP: Is this Jillian?
Me: Yes, who is this??
GOP: This is the guy who has your wallet.

How awesome is that!? He told me where he lived and that I could come get it that evening. He returned it to me with everything in tact...not one dime missing. I offered him $20 as a thank you, but he refused to take it...told me to go buy myself a cup of coffee, lol. I went back to the hotel and prepared for my 5 am call. All was well. Now THAT'S God :)

Times Square right around the corner from my hotel

My Cute Little Hotel room

This is like Ikea meets Courtyard Marriot, LOL

They Like Me! They Really, Really Like Me....I think!

Oh my goodness...things have been so busy lately!! Between this business and life stuff time is FLYIN' by and I just can't seem to keep up, lol.

I got great news tonight...well potentially great news that is. My agent called me and asked my avail for Jan 4-10. I told him that I'd be around, and he was like "Great, CSI: Miami is checkin your avail, they might want you back." How AWESOME is that! It's funny b/c we'd had just had a conversation earlier today and he asked how the shoot was, I told him it went great and the best part is I didn't die so maybe I'll recur. Crazy, huh? Maybe I spoke it into existence...God is SO good! I dropped off a little Thank You gift to Nan and her staff yesterday...without them thinking about me non of this would be happening! It's good to have CD's who think of you, especially when you don't have an agent or manager fighting for you.

It's pretty late so I'm thinking I'm not going to NY for Chevy tomorrow, lol. I'm officially booked for the 15th, but they were holding me for the 14th. It's really strange for me to be flying out in 2 day and I haven't heard anything. I keep thinking something is gonna go wrong, but my agent assured me that this is typical. I know that usually you get the shooting info the day before, but it's a little nerve wracking when multiple days of travel across the country are involved. BUT, I'm rolling with the punches. I'm still kinda under the weather from my last trip to New York...the weather is MUCH different than here in sunny California. I don't really mind the cold, but I do have to be prepared for it!

I actually kinda miss the cold weather...somehow it doesn't really seem like Christmas when its 75 degrees outside. It's kinda a bummer too b/c I think me and the kids will probably stay here for the holidays....I really, really don't want to, but it may be unavoidable :(. I miss my family, I miss my friends on the E. coast and I miss E. It's funny, I've been running around so much in the past weeks this is like the first time I've had a chance to actually "feel" those things. Does that sound crazy?? It's like you get so busy that you look up and a month or two have passed without you really being aware of yourself. I haven't really had time to sit still and just be...to just feel. Just look how long it's been since I've blogged about anything meaningful, lol. I guess its the stopping to smell the roses thing...
and being home REALLY helps me do that. Maybe there's a way for me to make it happen....we'll see I guess....

Anyway let me end this entry by saying I am very, very Blessed and I say "Thank you, Jesus" for all of the wonderful opportunities I've had of late. My first trip to NY was a true blessing, I met wonderful people who I feel are going to open the door to International opportunities. The Charter Commercial has been a TREMENDOUS blessing. The Chevy thing is just icing on the cake. My CSI: Miami Co-Star was awesome, but a recurring role is beyond what I could have hoped from my first episodic role. I was hoping to just be able to qualify for SAG insurance, now it looks like I might not only qualify but make enough money for the best plan they offer. Isn't it funny how God not only gives us what we need, but also provides some of the stuff we want too :)?? I know this is only the beginning of a simply Amazing 2007 and I owe every good thing in my life to God. I love him, I appreciate his favor, and I give him all the praise and Glory!!

CSI Miami Shoot

BOOKED!!! 2 FOR 2!!!

What a wonderful day this has been!!! If I wasn't a good Christian woman, I'd go play the lottery, lol. But seriously, I'm so psyched! I booked the Chevy commercial I went out for last week! I have to go back to NY next week to shoot for 5 days!

AND

I booked my FIRST Episodic!!! It's a Co-Star role on CSI:Miami (HUGE thanks to Nan Dutton!!!!!! I Really appeciate the LUV!!!!) I auditioned yesterday, cast today, and shooting tomorrow! I'm in a scene opposite David Caruso...I'll let you know how it goes!

Back from NYC

Got back from New York today and hit the ground running with a callback and an audition! I had an AWESOME time in NY and met some really wonderful people. I think I see some international travel in my future :) I know I keep sayin' this, but I REALLY will write more about my trip when I have a little more time, lol.... For some reason it's becoming harder and harder for me to live life AND write about it, lol!

But fareal, more info about the trip to come soon!

LET'S TALK Airing today at 12:00pm EST!!!!!!

Check it out!!!