Hey Ya'll

On I-75

As I write this I am on the good old I-75 leaving beautiful Tampa Bay on my way to my relaxing home base in Orlando, Florida. To be completely honest I have the ITIS like nobody’s business because we just left what has to be one of the BEST southern cafeterias in existence PICADILLY’s. OMG…the food there is NUTS!!

Taking it back a little… my grandfather’s family is from Oklahoma and as a little girl we spent time there and one of the places everyone loves to eat at is Picadilly’s. It is reminiscent of a Golden Corral or other buffets except it is a cafeteria so you literally go down the line with your tray and pick out your food. Salad, fruit, meat, side dishes and desserts (bread too)! The food is sooo cheap (HELLO NYC) it’s like $5.99 for a fried chicken platter that comes with 2 sides like macaroni and cheese and fried okra like I got (I LOVE okra : ). Anyway I am just stuffed like a turkey on Thanksgiving and the peach cobbler did NOT help. Sorry for all the food talk but I LOVE to eat, and with the fast life in NYC I am luck if I get a bite. You have to give credit to the SOUTH because nobody does it like them!!!!

Besides eating we also did another one of my favorite pastimes………….SHOPPING! I actually did pretty well and didn’t bankrupt myself as the potential was there. I have become a smarter shopper and also my closet is already nuts so it has to be something I don’t already have, ya dig? Although the mall does leave a little to be desired I won’t bash you TAMPA, ya’ll are aight.

Busch Gardens was really nice and TONS of fun. We took the 1st bus from the hotel at 10AM to get there early. At this point we are amusement park connoisseurs as we have been to so many; Disneyland, Disney World, Sea World, Six Flags, and now Busch Gardens. They had nice animals like; fat alligators, cute chimps & gorillas, slithery lizards, an amusing anteater, a sweet sloth, and of course the BIG momma lion. She inspired me to let my inner lion ROAR and let my WILD mane go free!

The weekend has been short but I do feel good, rested, filled with great food, sun and family QT. Before I came I debated…. what do I bring? To laptop or NOT to laptop. I decided that even though this was a vacation it isn’t a BIG deal if I did bring it as well as my script. I am not ready to leave these things behind, I am not at a stage in my career where I can, and as long as it didn’t interfere with my QT then what’s the big deal?? So soon I will hop back on the plane and return to my regularly schedule programming of work and rehearsals but I am so happy I took this little commercial break!!!

Hello Again : )

Hi friends.......

Well, well, well..........let's see. First, today is such a BEAUTIFUL day in NYC. I am not sure how things are poppin your area but the city is just BUZZING!! Spring is here and there is probably no better time than Spring in the city.

As I finally made myself leave the bat cave today to pick up my drycleaning (sexy clothes CLEAN, YES!!) I was in my sweatshirt hoodie trying to be all undercover in my neighborhood. Little did I know it was so gorgeous out and of course you have the old men holding down the bodega, the kiddies running around and the fellas in the barbershop. I just smiled as I felt the beautiful sun on my skin, the heat, the Spanish music in the streets... it was lovely.

Despite all the beauty and fun I still had business to handle. I came right BACK home to finish my usual emails & stuff and then got ready to take the good ol' train into the city for acting rehearsal. We were finally assigned our production for this semester called "The Wayside Motor Inn" and I will be bringing the role of "Ruth" the early forties mother who is in the middle of a divorce with her doctor husband, to life. I am really grateful to Janice the chair of my acting program because for once I feel like I have been given a role in school that I can really connect with.

Ruth and I share many traits (of course) and I can really relate to some of her feelings. Despite her divorce she really still loves her husband and it is obvious he loves her too. She is insecure at times because her husband left her. Other times she is fierce, witty, sarcastic and VERY protective of her children and the situation they have been put in. I really look forward to continuing discovering who I am (Ruth) and bringing her to life. As I said before the show will be at the end of June, OPEN to the public at the AADA on Madison Ave. in NYC. Stay tuned for more details.

Aside from that I just booked a gig for Pepsi so we will be filming that later on this week & next week I will be back at All My Children. In the meantime I am still doing the auditions (2 tomorrow) and working on getting my hardcopy submissions together (ugggg).

Things have really changed in my life since even 2 weeks ago. You probably can't tell the difference which is good, it isn't important to you but the situation is so much better for me as I continue to move towards my goals and really take a chance, a risk, step out on faith in this career and my life in general.

I keep missing really fun & important parties and networking events so that is probably the only thing I would change (besides seeing my family EVERYDAY *tear*), but I am working on getting my networking together and I plan a very active and visible summer!!!

Next week I return to the "O" and it feels like it has been forever, I am actually kind of ashamed at how long it has been (*tears & more tears*) but after June I plan on spending more time with ya'll..love you!

Well that is pretty much it, nothing too crazy but just where my delirious mind is at 1:54:13AM on Thursday May 10, 2007.

Oh yes, if you want to see Nique in a bubble bath click here Elexa Excuses Commercial and look for "Elexa Excuses". It isn't much but when you are first starting out in the industry you got to take whatever parts you get and make them WORK!!

Lots of LOVE from my little heart to yours,

Nique

P.S. I forgot to add 2 things; 1) I will be back on All My Children on May 15th & 16th as a "Fusion Intern" in the Fusion Office with the ladies; Kendall, Babe, etc. so look for me wearing the red outfit above in the background 2) I will be back on Maxim Radio May 22, 2007 from 7PM till... Maxim Radio is on Sirius Satellite Radio. Muah!