worst follow through EVER

And no, unfortunately I'm not talking about the few horrible seasons I thought I'd try my hand at basketball.

I'm talking about this. The blog. The big thing I wanted to do because I love reading them and seeing about other people's lives and I thought maybe someone reading mine would get something nice out of it.

Well, hopefully that person didn't check for the MONTH I didn't post anything.

I do have some excuses though, if you want to hear them.

I started working full time! It was just for the month of December and this is my last week of 8 hour days, but for a little while I was a real high-faluootin' adult! I think that's maybe a real phrase but also I think I just liked writing it. I'm really enjoying my job and I get to speak that French erryday.

Two weeks ago I got into a really horrifying car accident! 

This lovely chickadee ran her red light and just smashed my little car to pieces. I never saw her coming. The moment I realized I had been in an accident was also the same moment I thought I might explode. My car smelled like fire ( the EMTs told me this was the airbags) and I could see there wasn't much left of my front end. I also couldn't get out of my car, because she messed up my door. However, my fear of exploding was SO MUCH BIGGER than my desire to stay in the car, so I adrenalined that lil' sucker open. And promptly fell on the ground and just looked at my car for a bit. So if it had been in danger of exploding, I didn't actually help myself all that much.

But I was okay! They put me in a neck brace (yuck)

HOT DANG Y'ALL I am just extra cute and my face is all raggedy red because I had all these lovely abrasions that were bleeding. They were bothering me so I wiped them off. Hindsight I should have left it for insurance purposes but all I could think at the time was I MAY NEED TO POST THIS ON MY BLOG!

Not really. It's just super bothersome to have blood on your face.

Also, look! -----> 

Yum! I definitely thought my wrist was broken. And that burn was super nasty y'all. But it was probably the worst of my injuries. The sum of that accident was 1 totaled car, 1 neck brace, 1 back board, 1 gurney, 3 police cars, 1 police cycle, 1 ambulance (and ambulance ride! so fun, why even go to six flags?), 1 fire truck, 3 fire fighters, 2 EMTs, 1 CAT scan, 4 X-Rays, and 1 extremely unhappy Shelby.

I'm still bruised and sore, but it could have been so much worse, so mostly I'm thankful. At first the lady lied and said she had a red light, but her insurance company called me today and told me they wanted to settle. And I said whoo! But also let me get some advice on this because this is a totally new experience for me!

Anyways.

Those are my excuses. I feel like we need something to cleanse our palates

OKAY HOW DID THAT PIECE OF UTTER PERFECTION GET HERE?

Palate cleansed?

Good. In all seriousness, I am still loving LA. I wish one of my big welcomes hadn't been something so stinking awful. It did definitely knock all my plans back and derail me, but I'll be all right. For right now, I'm going to eat some chili and watch some Netflix.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas (mine was grand!) and that they take advantage of all 2014 has to offer.

DON'T RUN YOUR RED LIGHTS. JUST DON'T.

and now i'm employed

My dad is actually the one who reminded me of this. Before I moved to Los Angeles, I talked about the job I would have to support me while I began to pursue my career. At various times, I said different things that would be nice to have in a future job. I wanted something I could do early in the morning so I would have my afternoons free for auditioning and my nights free for events and class. After a not so great experience at an extremely corporate restaurant, I craved something small. And, in a sort of pipe dream, I talked about how nice it would be if I found a job where I could speak French.

Never once did I think that I would find a job that I did. It's funny, and I didn't even realize it until my dad pointed it out, but it fits everything I had talked about. The things I talked about were not things I had hoped to find all in one job. I thought maybe I'd find a job that fulfilled one of the things I wanted, maybe two. Right now I work as a sort of cashier/hostess/server at a French cafe/crêperie in a town called Sierra Madre. I go to work at 6:30 and am home before noon five days a week. I get to speak French everyday with the multiple French people who work there, including the Parisian owner. It's small, and there aren't many people who work there. I'm so content.

Of course, it's not perfect. It does, however, have the potential to be wonderful. This job alone is not going to be enough, and I'll be looking again for a second job come the new year until I am getting enough auditions that turn into jobs. For now, I'm feeling much happier. I've got a job I don't dread going to everyday. It allows me the freedom to pursue what I came here for, while still getting to work on my love of languages and be immersed in the culture I miss. 

I'm still getting used to things here, but much less surprises me. Last friday was my monthiversary with LA! It's not as terrifying to drive into Hollywood anymore. (Nobody's lying to you when they say the traffic is awful or the people are ridiculous drivers. It's all true, and my least favorite part so far!) It's fun that on my way back home from the bible study I go to I get to see the Hollywood sign. My apartment is almost finished and soon I'm going to put up Christmas decorations! Things are clicking. Things are great.

Thanks for reading! Sorry for the hiatus, these past couple of weeks have been a bit tumultuous. Sometime this week I'll have a post full of pictures so you can really see what I've been up to.