Hello November!

Hello November!

It doesn't seem as unsettling to me that its November already as much as the fact that it's still sweating hot in the middle of the day. I will try to be positive in the fact that the evenings have been getting a little better and last night I could have actually used a jacket which I of course didn't wear.

Halloween has passed and the Turkey Day is before us, I unfortunately won't be going home for it but I look forward to the festivities none the less. L.A's mixing pot and land of misfits demeanor makes for gatherings of a different kind of family and although I miss my sisters dearly and the smell of my mamma's home cooking, it's nice to give thanks and having an excuse to make a dubious amount of trips back to the food table is not bad either.

Above: Performing at the Dragonfly on Santa Monica

Not just as a good friend of mine but as a huge fan of Kandace Ferrel, I've been attending her shows for some time now. Although I can't remember how many times I've heard her sing whether at a venue or at the kitchen counter, I find myself continuously inspired by not just her obvious vocal talents and stage presence but her ability to write again and again songs that tell a story with there words and melody that connect to not only her own experiences but experiences of life.

I had the great pleasure of seeing her perform last night at The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. The room packed and backed by a full band, I stood amongst a group of my friends remembering what it is about live performances and small quaint venues that I love so much. I'm thankful to all my friends that came out with me and to my friends like her that let there creativity, talent and heart guide them and remind me to always do the same.

Please check out her website and listen to her music

www.myspace.com/kandaceferrel

Below is a photo I took of my friend Jason that I like a lot, perhaps because it was taken in the rain on the one day that its rained so far :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40488733@N07/

I don't even know her.

Abigail Frank~

Halloween Artwalk @ The Dragonfly

Good Day Good People!

Among the many events that Everyday (http://www.myeverydayshop.com/blog) has put on in the past at the Dragonfly in Hollywood, this past one that took place on Monday the 26th was one of my favorites. Mainly because of my love for Halloween and all things spooky and involving an excuse to dress up or put fake blood somewhere. Besides the always amazing drink specials that Everyday sponsored by Hornito's provides, there was lots of live art, mask painting and great performances by bands such as the Rhythm Natives.

Myself and my roomie dressed up as Wayne & Garth from Wayne's World, got our posse together and spent the evening with the wonderful eclectic crowd that always gathers for Artwalk and enjoyed soaking in the Halloween spirit, the talents of some amazing artists of all different kinds as well as some very fine tequila.

Check out my Flickr for some more pictures :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40488733@N07/

Abigail Frank~

Memories in the Rain

I sat in my room this morning as the rain started falling down outside my window. I picked up a book to bask in the silence of the overcast day as the pitter patter played a song for me. Perhaps it means I'm a bad reader or that the book is just not keeping me inside it's story but frequently my mind falls to things while I read and I find myself a few chapters later knowing everything going on in the fictional world between my hands as well as the stream of thoughts and memories that I suppose my unconscious mind brings to the surface.

We so rarely just let ourselves "be" whether in silence, in music or in conversation. This is why I suppose I love drinking and eating so much because its a great activity to do while spending hours just talking with someone while letting the conversation jump from subject to subject to when you have no recollection of where it began.

My best friend Ashley and I used to as weird as it sounds, go into my little bathroom as kids with blankets and my tape recorder and talk for hours. Every time we thought up a funny voice or bit, we would record it and laugh so hard that tears would stream down our faces. If I can add more of a visual as to how "small" our small bathroom is, it's a room where literally one person could stand in so she would usually be under the sink with a pillow. Since I shared a room and people often slept in my living room especially during the winter because the only source of heat was the fireplace, there weren't many options for solitude.

I love having things remind you of things in your childhood that you temporarily forgot about which happens nearly all the time but the other day I had a blast from the past remembering what it was like to not have hot water. Once you've lived away for a while, you forget the annoyances like pre-starting your car, shoveling your tired and scraping your windows. A memory I was reliving was my mom's showering rules with my sisters and I. One of us had to take a shower at night and we usually had cycles to know who and the other two and my mom would shower in the morning. We had a hot water heater but it only lasted for about a bath (we had no shower) and than usually someone would have to share that water because the time to run pots of hot water from the stove to the tub took a long time. Remembering that makes me cringe at this age because I can't even fathom bathing in someone else's filth, I might just not shower and enjoy the gradual increasing of my own.

As my mind wandered off on these subjects, I realized perhaps the sound of rain reminded me of home and that was perhaps why I loved it so dearly. Although it doesn't snow all the time where I lived, snow was about fifteen minutes up the hill always and there was no lack of rain. I talk to people that lived in the really rainy cities in America and can't even imagine what it was like because I truly felt like it rained a lot in the winter and non-stop sometimes.

Here are some pictures that make me smile.

A picture I took one winter of my sister and cousin-

One of my sister and her boyfriend in the snow-

When the sun breaks through the clouds after the snow-

I have always been obsessed with shooting random objects-

The family when it started snowing...than we went snowboarding down the car's tire tracks in the street.

Ahh memories...

Keep it up rain, I have more reminiscing to do :)

Abigail Frank~

Abigail Frank Renewal

I checked my e-mail this morning and have a message from my Website manager saying that my website is going to expire soon if I should want to renew it. This at first sent me on a thought roller coaster as most birthdays, holidays and annual events do making me recall how in the world so much time had gone by so fast. It seems not too long ago that I started doing shoots for profit and had a friend yell at me about buying some domains immediately while the gettin was good. My friend Ally who is a here and there painter has always wanted to take that passion farther so in the hopes of doing so bought quite a few domains not knowing which she would eventually use but was then complaining how she had been paying for them as they sat gathering what you might call world wide web dust.

Although it's definitely better to own them than not, I bought mine in the hopes I would actually put forth more of an effort than she. Now semi close to a year later, I basically used it as a blog for months than deleted the whole thing and started anew when I started shooting events regularly but than slowly had it turn back into a blog. Although my meandering thoughts are incredibly interesting I know, at some point I want to use this renewal as a wake-up call to make it into a somewhat respectable site.

First things first, get my computer working fully so I'm not having to bother other people for there's. Than second step, win the lottery so I can not worry about money and just take pictures, make movies and spend all my time being worry free and creative! No biggie.

In other "time going by freakishly fast" news, this morning I got a picture text from my sister who is living in a small town in the middle of nowhere going to Medical School, of a horse and buggy that was apparently at a stop light in front of her going through town. I laughed thinking not of the hilarity just in that image but the fact that where life has taken us at least at this date in time can be so different. When the prospect of her coming to Southern California for school was active, I was out of my mind with excitement. Imagining hanging out with she and her boyfriend all the time because every time they have visited, all my friends loved them immediately and they fit right in. I'm remembering last Christmas sitting on the couch with her studying for her MCAT's in pajama's with momma cooking in the kitchen and discussing the medical books we had been passing back and forth for the past few months. It seems not that long ago yet now she and my other sister who moved to the same town to join her aren't coming home for Thanksgiving and are buying houses with the obligation to stay there for all of her medical schooling.

Not that my family was ever really close during the past five years since I've lived here but this concept makes me realize how real the whole situation is and that I'm only going to see my sisters once or twice a year and I'm going to be missing out on having the kind of relationship that we used to have. Although I write a lot about my amazing friends and how I truly am blessed to have the support group and LA family that I have here, it's still sad being away from your real family. The great thing about them is they have to love you and you know they will always be there and on top of that, I actually like them so I suppose I'm trying to deal with the sadness of that situation by hopefully making myself happy here by getting to work on my passions.

Yay for reminders and may they always be there to put us on track!

P.S. Some little lovely bought me a baby pumpkin yesterday and I have named him Mishmash since he's as close to a child as I'm going to have for a while. Hurray Halloween :)

Abigail Frank~

September 29Th of 2009

September 29Th of 2009

This day will never happen again. Since I can't upload, edit photos right now until I get my computer up and running which will hopefully be the 1st, fingers crossed, I want to talk about pictures and why I love them so much.
A photo can show something that we can't see with our naked eye, it can catch a look or an angle or a look in someones eye that you may never see by looking at them. I feel like when I take pictures of people, I can see a part of them that no one else can see. When I capture that look that I want in a photo, it's like the best drug in the world. A huge reason why I adore photography to the point of infatuation is because it's freezing time, it's freezing a moment, a day, a smile and a feeling that you might otherwise have forgotten and now years in the future and you can look back at that picture and whether good or bad, you can remember a piece of who you used to be.

I think this is also the main reason why a lot of people don't like pictures and videos because they don't want to remember or don't feel confident in themselves.

It's amazing to me when I look back at pictures of me when I was young and had just shot up like a weed. I was way taller than my older sisters, my mom and was giving my dad a run for his money and still had my baby fat face, some chub around the waist and it's a surprise I even knew what the word posture meant. My mom would always tell me to fix my posture but at the time, all I wanted was to be invisible and being 5'8 in fourth grade made it nearly impossible.

For that few year span, in every picture literally I was slouched over, preferably leaning on something, baggy sweatshirt with an extra sweatshirt tied around my hips. I don't know who I thought I was fooling but if I ever spilt chocolate milk on myself and desperately needed a replacement sweatshirt in the middle of summer, I was set! Not to mention that every boy until high school was shorter than me and usually quite a bit smaller so that made those years full of being jealous of my normal sized friends and getting laughed at every time I would slip a note to little Petey. If only Tom and Katie had been around then, thanks for nothin. It wasn't until I graduated into dating older guys in High school that I kissed a guy without leaning down to do it.

Picture of me and my best friend Heidi at the County Fair which mind you is in July. Notice I've got a wicked lean going on and of course sporting a lovely sweatshirt around the waist. On top of my appearance, I decided to show farm animals...naturally. My lamb that year was pretty cute though, his name was Ramsay.

Although I hated every time someone took out a camera during those years, I'm really glad I have those pictures because every time I look at them they remind me to stop slouching, to stand up tall and proud and maybe wear an outfit that I've told myself I'm too out of shape to wear. This is the only day like this that will ever happen again and I want to enjoy it no matter what I look like right now, how I feel right now and no matter how much money is in my bank account. There will be better days and there will be worse but there will be no other September 29Th of 2009.

Abigail Frank~

Dare I say

Dare I say its getting cooler and dare I say it's the first day of Fall. Double Dare....that was a good show.

So I have a camera full of pictures and no computer to enjoy them, edit them or upload them to this lovely blog which I'm sure has many many many loyal followers ;) I was letting myself wallow yesterday in the hallways and corridors or my misfortune which I've done a few times lately and just feel stupid for allowing myself the idiocy of doing. Oh no poor me, I have no obligations today except play guitar, cook and eat, exercise, have coffee with a friend and read and write...Puulease. I need a smack in the face.
I spent a while on the phone and over Internet chat with Technical Support for my computer, figured out what I need to spend to get her back on her game which hopefully will be done very soon.
Now contacting old friends and people about setting up some shoots and meetings together to make some money and get the creative juices flowing.
Hopefully I'll hear back from the managers I've talked to recently sometime in the next month and well...I think things are going to be good.

Peace, Love and healthy electronics,
Abigail Frank~

My Fools Errand

Sometimes it's really hard to stay positive, sometimes it's hard to remember that things could be worse. I find myself sitting in my room using my roommates computer because that mine died a few days ago. When I lost my job in July I didn't dream that two months later I would be where I am now and the fact that I am scares the living daylights out of me. It was not long ago that I was working everyday at my day job along with doing numerous photography and modeling gigs and sitting on a nice little savings and shopping for a new car, now the looming idea of what will happen next is following me around daily and the drastic change that has happened is befuddling me.
It became almost impossible for me to keep any type of structure in my life after I lost my job because that kept my routine in order. Having to be up and out of the house in the morning kept me waking up early and working on photos usually in the morning until I left for work. I find myself missing putting my hair up, my black slacks on, my white button up and looking professional and heading out for my day, I would go shopping and run errands after work before doing Runyon usually which was followed by my roommate and I doing yoga or Jillian workouts in my living room. I feel like it seemed effortless to get everything done, stay in decent shape and have a busy social life at night when you have no financial worries and a structure to stick to.
Although my new job is set to start in exactly a week from now and I'm hoping and praying that this structure and life resumes to some extent and my worries disappear, I hope I can remember maybe through me writing now in weeks and months from now how I'm feeling at this moment and never forget to be thankful for what I have and to never ever let this happen again. I have things that are too precious to loose in my life right now and if the surprises, trials, rejections and new beginnings have taught me anything in the past six months, it is that you never know what is around the bend so I plan on staying positive even if things seem a fools errand.
Abigail Frank~

Advice, like Youth...Probably wasted on the Young

It appears to be a Monday.
Sitting in my room drinking a mug of Primo Roast from Fresh N Easy enjoying what seemingly feels like fall weather than again it's early in the morning.

Movie Reviews-
"9": Very unique storyline and concept mixed with great characters and visuals. I would say I was entertained the whole time but not something that needs to be seen in the theater or more than once. I will say though that 3 & 4 are the cutest things ever and I would love to find them in my happy meal.
"Sorority Row": I'm tired of seeing dumb horror movies like this and than hearing people complaining about how dumb they were, umm hi....watch the trailer, evaluate the plot, cast and targeted audience. Doesn't need too much dissection to realize it's going to be cheesy with some bad acting and maybe a cool death scene or two and that's what it was.

Things I learned this weekend-

• Jose Cuervo Silver doesn't get you drunk
• I'm not into the shock value of long rape scenes in movies
• I'm afraid of Beyonce's Hip Gyration's and outfit tributes to 80's cut bikini lines
• FOOTBALL!!!!
• Three Olives Bubblegum vodka: Smoother transition for kids to start drinking than Pucker or Peppermint Schnapps like we did when I was in High school.
• K24 Mixed Greens Salad with Goat Cheese and Caramelized Walnuts: Yes please
• I need to bring my camera next time I go to the Hollywood Farmers Market
• Boo to Boho's limited and expensive brunch. Whoa to there fabulous Feng Shuied decor
• I like capitalization and use it constantly where it's not grammatically needed
• I actually didn't realize that last one this weekend but all the time and don't give two shakes because it pleases me.

Stop name dropping shadow

Song of the Always: Baz Luhrmann- Sunscreen
Okay so this isn't actually a song but I first heard this ten years ago as most people did and I kid you not, things in life remind me of lines from it all the time. I was thinking about one of the lines yesterday that basically says what I already know and try to tell myself everytime I look in the mirror and don't like what I see (The first piece of advice) and as dorky as it may be, I think it's still ten years later a great speech/song/what have you and has some advice in it that we all should remember more often.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering experience…I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not
understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and
recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you
imagine.
Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as
effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing
bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that
never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm
on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you
Sing
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with
people who are reckless with yours.
Floss
Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes
you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with
yourself.
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you
succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year
olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe
you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t
congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your
choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body,
use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever
own..
Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the
people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you
should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you
knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live
in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will
philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize
that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were
noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund,
maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one
might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will
look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who
supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of
fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the
ugly parts and recycling it for more than
it’s worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen…


Here's to the power and beauty of our youth...

Abigail Frank~

Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40488733@N07/

Late Labor Day

I don’t know why I look forward to coffee so much because it doesn’t give me that caffeine boost that it gives most people and basically just tastes good to me. For a while I felt as though I was constantly spreading myself too thin. I was making too many plans and doing too many things and found myself going out every night with different groups of friends and never going to bed before 4am. During this time I thought on a few occasions how nice it would be to go out to a cabin in the woods with no computer, cell phone or form of communication and just relax. Eliminate that constant desire to check your texts or look for people you might know at a bar or think about what events are going on tomorrow night when you’re at an event this night. I didn’t like the Hollywood creature I was becoming. I’ve always believed in balance in almost every aspect. I love going out and partying but I want to balance it with staying in and reading or watching a movie, I love eating pizza but I want to balance it with eating a healthy diet most of the time.
I didn’t do it on purpose but I’ve found myself on this Friday in September realizing how “Person alone in a cabin” I’ve become lately. I’m looking back on the past week realizing I didn’t go out one of the nights, I didn’t party or drink besides a glass of wine and I barely looked at my phone and didn’t really ever feel a strong desire to. That is probably to my own demise because when I do, I seem to be missing phone calls and texts left and right and friends unhappy with me which I guess is what happens when you don’t constantly have your phone on you. It feels so refreshing though to only have my mind in the present, thinking about whatever I’m doing, the conversation I’m having and the people I’m with. It’s feels so refreshing but at the same time I almost can’t remember what it felt like to have this constant need for connection with the world, a constant need to always be doing everything and seeing everyone that I possibly could. Not that this isn’t important or all my amazing friends in LA aren’t anything short of amazing but I’ve accomplished a level of balance that I think I like.

Let’s talk Labor Day! So I’ve gotten a little caught up with writing and shooting random things this week that I haven’t taken the time to sit down and blog but last weekend was a blast. When you get to a place in your life where each weekend seems to get better and better and I have found myself here many times before, you realize how lucky you are that in spite of the things you’re lacking, life is pretty darn amazing. I spent Friday with some of my closest friends new and old at Avalon for a short while and than back to a good ol’fashioned home hangout at my spot. Saturday brought a delicious brunch at Kitchen 24 in Hollywood than off to a Dodger game in the evening which led to some adult beverages on a friends rooftop overlooking Sunset Blvd and than a stroll to The Roxy for my good friends band “It Boys” first ever live performance which was incredible. Sunday started with a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte and hitting the road for beautiful San Diego where we relaxed, rode bikes and dined until a big group dinner with good friends and my surrogate parents.


After rounds of tequila shots, we decided a bottle in our condo would be the best idea so we did that until a final late night trip out on the town in the haze of Mexican liquor. Woke up Monday to some beach cruisers, It’s a Grind and Tecate as we headed to Seaport Village for some sailing.



Perfect weather and perfect company, a few hours later we got off the boat and took the bikes out to a Happy Hour than rode around downtown until the scheduled BBQ back at home than spent the rest of the evening eating delicious food and listening to my favorite live music on the rooftop of the Meridian.





One of my best's and I were going over this the other night as I am a fan of always reiterating to yourself how lucky you are, how lucky we were. I have friends who I have known for years and gone through almost everything weird, dramatic and heartbreaking that you could go through with friends and still have them in my life as people I can lean on and who always make me smile. Yay for Labor Day weekend 09' and yay for wearing white pants after it.

Check out more photos at my Flickr!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40488733@N07/

Song of the Day: Lucky Lady Love- It Boys

Abigail Frank~

The Science of Sleep

The world seems a blur to these unrested eyes,
the shame of the morning, the promise of night seems like lies
My body lays tingling full of active energy,
trapped inside a sullen shell, so limp these muscles be
I shut my lids for moments to try and leave the light,
they burn in exasperation as they keep there fight
What there waging I believe started as the end,
enjoying every new excitement waiting just around the bend
Yet somewhere along my thirsty minds crave for wanting more,
it forgot it dwelled inside a mortal ever needing core
Now as I stare for hours at the ceiling above my head
I find that daydreaming isn't what it seems while mine happens in my bed
My thoughts and imagination take flight as the city around me sleeps,
beautiful stories and spoken word as my eyes begin to weep
It always dawns upon me now that my eyes have yet to close
like my heads trying to tell me something before it will let me doze
I dream of sleeping and fight sleep to dream as my subconscious and the universe form into a team
Perhaps one day when I've conquered my dreams and accomplished what in this existence seems,
Was my purpose and triumph for my presence on this earth
I will see what these lonely nights were worth
Until then I will enjoy the delirium it adds to everyday
and maybe that delirium is whats leading me down the right way.

The Hyprocrite in Me

We all don't want to be hypocritical but as humans, we innately have our own thoughts on things which sometimes can contradict the way we want to be. I've always absolutely despised people that are hypocrites, the ones who judge you for smoking a cigarette when they gave them up two days prior. I certainly try to pride myself on being someone that walks the walk of my talk as much as I can and I hope that my friends would attest to this. I've been in dire need of a new day job for the past month and as if this heat weren't horrible enough I spent the majority of my days walking around turning in resumes or going on open calls at bars and restaurants around the city. If there is one thing you need for going to an open call for a waitress in Hollywood it is confidence and the ability to smile and nod your head.

We've all been around judgemental people and seen the negativity and pollution that they spread and I for one will always try to not be judgemental yet being in situations like open calls brings about the real voices in your head. I know it is me being a hypocrite which is why this is what this babble is about because I constantly try to stay away from people who think they are in a place to judge anyone because guess what people? None of us are. My number one problem with going to church when I lived at home was the Christians reading verses from the bible reiterating how only god can judge us and it is our job as good religious people to support and love one another unconditionally and spread his word and that love and support. Yet all I saw everyday at church was gossip and judgement about everything from what someone was wearing to the fact that someone wasn't a good Christan for missing service last week. None the less these experiences in my life are what led me to want to lead a non judgemental life but sometimes yes....I'm a hypocrite because I'm judging right now.....and the judge victim is Girls in Hollywood.

For the past few years my experience has been going into an interview with these girls that wear little slutty outfits with high heels, perfect makeup and hair and have the audacity to BBM while waiting to interview and every time these are the girls that get the job. Than like clockwork those are the girls that are an issue and management has lectures with the staff about there turnover rate and people not being on there phones etc. Why these managers think hiring someone who can't stay off there phone long enough to look professional at an interview is going to take pride in there professionalism in the workplace is beyond me. These past years of these redundant circumstances makes it hard for me not to judge the ones that happen now but I pride myself on having an open mind as well as perhaps some hypocrisy so I'm always willing to be proven wrong.

My first day today was the meeting with all the employee's of my new job and there maybe 20 girls there in total and maybe four of them myself included that didn't look like barbie dolls. I usually get places early so I had the distinct pleasure of watching every girl walk through the door and believe it or not after a while, I felt like I'd watched the same girl walk in over and over again. Plastic plastic plastic. All that's going through my head is how long are these girls going to last? Which ones will surprise me by actually having a good head on there shoulders? Where did she get those shoes?...wait...nevermind that last one.

I know that I for one can get dolled up, curl my hair, wear skirts and heels one night than go out wearing ripped jeans and a baggy Tshirt the next and I don't want someone judging me either time thinking I'm a stereotype of that style because that's why clothes are fun because we can dress to our mood. Once again a reason why I don't want to label these girls but sometimes when it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck....well you get my drift.

Here's to my new job and to the hypocrite in me, she's judging you while warning you not to judge. Happy Tuesday and Happy September!
Abigail Frank~

Welcome to Los Angeles September

It's Monday and the last day of August. I want to say that I'm going to take the beginning of the new month and the beginning of my new job tomorrow as a clean slate and a fresh start but the problem is I don't know how I got here. The indirection in my career seemed to happen while I wasn't looking and the drive and focus that I once maintained so effortlessly to stay in shape and stay healthy seems now a continuous struggle. I've always had a roller coaster relationship with sleep ever since I can remember, if I sleep well for a few months than I won't sleep well for the few after that. The past week I dove back into the land of insomnia and I absolutely hate it's repercussions. When I was in high school and even my first year or two in LA, not sleeping became natural although I knew very well that it wasn't but I didn't feel its affects. I could sleep an hour or two a night, work all day, party all night and I felt like this amazing machine that couldn't be stopped by a silly thing like lack of rest but perhaps that's what happens when we get older. I feel like even when my eyes are closed, my mind is still running a mile a minute and its hard not to think as the hours go by that you should be sleeping as the sun comes up slowly in between your spurts of drifting in and out. My friends used to wonder where I found the time to work on so many creative outlets during high school and I feel like I owe it all to my lack of sleeping. During the night, it was quiet, it was dark and you feel like not only are you alone but your thoughts feel more free.

I spent some nights writing for hours or working on scripts or story lines, watching movie after movie after movie, going on my lawn with my telescope and stargazing, I miss the person that I used to be because although I knew it wasn't healthy and I couldn't be like that forever, I felt like I was always so stimulated. I feel like I use this word frequently, I have a philosophy on life that we should all be stimulated. I think our jobs should do so, I think our hobbies and passions should do so, our relationships and friendships should and if we are lucky than we can open ourselves up to allowing everything we take in, perceive, enjoy or detest to stimulate us. I feel like stimulation has to go somewhere, to me it goes into everything I accomplish, everything that I like about myself, it's what goes into my writing, my photography or even something as small as my daydreams.

I would say I'm pretty much back to square one and not at all where I wanted to be with my job or my routine in life but I think since I've found a very happy place of being positive, open minded and taking the stimulation from all the beautiful things in this world than I can put that into getting that drive and routine back and fixing the pieces of my life that aren't where I want them to be.
In conclusion, It's easy to complain about the things that used to be better, that aren't where you want them to be now but when I think back on a few years ago and when things seemingly were better in those departments, I realize how much more analytical, worried, stressed and generally unhappy I was and to find myself almost every hour of the day being happy lately even with heavy eyes a delirious personality...it doesn't seem that bad to be back to square one. Change is good and having a goal is good so here we go....fresh slate, Welcome to Los Angeles September....we are one hell of a town.

Ze Crepe Place-



Friends in my bedroom...these hot summer days



Song of the day: Celine Dion- Le vol d'un ange

Abigail Frank~

Heavens to Murgatroyd

Top of the muffin to you! It’s Thursday and the fact that it’s the end of August already is terrifying me. Gazoy! It feels like only a few years ago that I was drinking out of a bottle and whining to my mommy that I had a stomachache…well that actually happened a few days ago but you get my point. We are getting older people and it’s a scary thing to embrace but I’m trying. As I was checking my age group in an audition the other day I realized that I soon would no longer be in the 18-24 box, I really hope I’m one of those old ladies that can work it with grey hair. Question! Why do women cut there hair short when they get old? I plan not to.

Subject of the day class: “Degoshdarn Heat”
It’s been hot the past week and by hot I mean really hot and never ending. During the day I’ve been looking forward to the night thinking it will be colder but what might be a slight two degree drop in temperature isn’t turning this head! Last night we ventured out for some good times and at approximately midnight I found myself on the sidelines of a dance floor feeling numbed by the heat. Trust me, I thought about dancing but the sweat layer forming over my entire body kept making me want more shots of tequila so I would hopefully forget the heat stroke that was baring down on me. Yes ladies and gentlemen, that’s a healthy lifestyle for you. After a club you think maybe outside will be cooler, alas it is not. After outside you think, maybe if I lay naked on top of the covers it will be cooler, alas it is not. My moral is that it’s hot and I want winter like a fat kid wants cake.

I uploaded some photos from my camping trip and heavens to murgatroyd was it fun! The fact that I was just complaining about the heat in lalaland and the first night of camping I awoke to raindrops falling on the roof of my tent should tell you how happy I was.





Here is a cool picture that I like a lot that I snapped a few nights ago. My friend Gabrielle and I were sitting at "The Woods" and I took out my honking camera because our table and our legs had something in common....there stems.



To read the full story and more check out my Flickr below.

FLICKR....I don't even know her!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40488733@N07/

Song of the Day: Tim Myers- The Lucky Ones

Happy happy hot Thursday Los Angeles, someone bring me some ice cream.

Abigail Frank~

I'll be Whistlin Dixie

My hands are blotched in pink and white.

The subject today class is camping and the great outdoors.

Living in the only other two locations I have besides LA which were Stockbridge, VT and El Dorado, CA led to a large adjustment when relocating. Although I have no doubt that all of us non-natives had an adjustment period, I think that we all have one or two things that were the main change and mine was most definitely the Great Outdoors!.....and not being near my family...whatever ;)

My home town was an hour drive from Lake Tahoe and was maybe a 30 minute drive to numerous good camping spots, ten minutes up the road was what we so cleverly deemed "The River" where we spent most aimless summer days laying on hot rocks, drinking adolescent concoctions and swimming down stream surrounded by huge trees and the smell of the most untampered air in the world. Camping in Norcal is just a way of life and I miss it so much here. A group of my friends would plan trips frequently just for a night or two, my mother and I would go once a month to fish and she would tell me stories from her life, every year at our family reunions we would basically rent out the entire grounds because of the pure mass of our clan....these are the things I think of when I think of camping. There is something about being out in the wilderness that soothes your body, you immediately start moving slower and joining the pace of the forest as the trees sway with the wind and sounds of creatures and a crackling fire take over your thoughts.

I am departing this evening to go camping for the weekend and get out of this crazy city if even for a short while and I took a moment to reminisce prior to heighten my already stirred excitement for the trip. Here is a collage of some good memories of hanging out with mother nature. I didn't want to really dive into my archives so these are very random but I realized I apparently have an affinity for taking pictures of Smores and the one on the bottom right was my friend and I playing with my camera and the light from the fire, I'm not really a sorcerer.

In other news....I still live in LA and drink coffee and wear boots....

Little baby Taylor has left us once again to return to the Whale's Vagina so I bid her adieu once more with a photo I snapped yesterday laying on my sill.

Love you Taylor even though you have strange attributes, dubious grooming habits and pooped in my room.

Exercise called and it's coming for me on Monday, I need a tan and a vat of concealer.

Happy Friday!

Song of the Day: Train- Feist & Ben Gibbard

To be Friends or Not to be

It's Thursday, the sun is shining and the tank is clean. Good Afternoon Hollywood!

I've been soaking in this thought about friendship the past week and felt like venting. I could say sharing but it's really just a way for me to blab about something that most likely my friends wouldn't want to have an earful of.

I feel like at some point along the way or I will disclaim that perhaps the variable is where I live but I feel as though there has been a certain standard that was put on being "Friends" with someone that to me seems to border on what the standard of a "Relationship" entails.

Example. I text my friend for coffee which I did last week as well but this week I also want to get together to borrow something for a shoot. All of a sudden I am getting semi put in the hot seat about only wanting to see him to borrow something and how I don't hang out or call as much as I used to. Now maybe it would be awesome to hear another point of view on this because maybe this is the standard of being friends and I'm just a shitty friend but I feel like once I've known someone for a while and would admit to knowing them and them being my friend, I don't need to question there motives for wanting to borrow something or needing a ride. Why are we all so ready to jump at someones throat? Is it because so many people out there are users or is it our own insecurities that people don't like us for who we are?

I love watching TV shows because in these made up lands, the characters will pull the most outrageous pranks, make the most ridiculous mistakes and be forgiven. They will show up unannounced at the other characters apartments and just need something and everything seems normal because they are "Friends" and they don't need to reiterate how special there friendship is every time they do what friends do....like helping each other out.
Okay....rant over. I've had these situations many times in the past and sometimes they are completely justified but other times I just feel like I'm ready to drop the friends that apparently need a relationship standard from me and are pretty much always ready to stand trial on my character. Somehow I've found a mismatched group of friends who all love each other for who they are and are there for each other no matter what happens without questioning the motives and for this I am without a doubt most thankful for. Since I don't know where to send this note of gratitude....I plan to put it in everything I do. The End.

This is a photo I took of my friend walking down the street with a Pizza Pie we bought for the gang. I want to sell it to Dominoes as there campaign.....Call me?


Go Check out my Flickr
ABIGAIL FRANK PHOTOGRAPHY

Song of the Day: Josh Radin- Sundrenched World

Kisses World Kisses

The summer is almost over, the temperature is changing and tonight might be the first to use my trusty rice bag. I love that I used to make them in Junior High for my mom's clients and they would revel at how amazing they were. I always be thinking..."Humm...it's just rice I put into a bag and sowed up and if they were lucky threw a spruce of jasmine or rosemary in there". The comfort of sleeping with one though is amazing, I should start a business for singles in LA with animal allergies...I could make millions!

I took photos a few days ago at the Hollywood Artwalk in Hollywood where there numerous different artists, bands and even my friend getting his first tattoo done live onstage. Great event, please check out my Flickr to see them all :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40488733@N07/

Song of the Day: Gimme Sympathy- Metric

I Can Feel a Hot One

Last night I dreamt that I was a giraffe and I looked so ridiculous that I wanted to laugh but giraffes can't talk so how could they laugh? Who ever saw a giraffe laugh?

Movie Review of the week- I went and saw "500 Days of Summer" this weekend and although I already knew how much I loved the actors in it, love stories and indie style flicks, I was amazed at the trip it took me on. Anyone who sees this film will admit to having been in a relationship like the one depicted here playing one of the roles. I don't believe I'm spoiling by saying I left the theater with the thought that relationships end all the time and people always want someone to blame for it. Friends always ask who ended it, who cheated, whose fault is it that it didn't work out? Yet the truth of all human connections, non connections or every frequency in between is that they happen and don't happen and the reasons for can't always be tracked or traced back to a reason. The indescribableness of there magic or there disaster is what makes us keep loving, fighting, writing, creating and dreaming.

I felt like this movie made you think and made you smile while displaying amazing visual cinematography and seasoned acting chops not to mention the off the Richter scale cuteness level of Joseph Gordon Levitt and Zoey Deschanel.

This weekend consisted of magic, Movie at the Grove, Beer Pong at Happy Endings, Brunch in Los Feliz, Boba and Hooka in Burbank, Cappuchino's in Weho, Dj's and drinks in Culver City, Bank adventures in Downtown and Standard Rooftop Pool Party. I can't complain.

Here are some photo favorites I took this weekend, please check out my flickr to look at them all :)

FLICKR PHOTOGRAPHY PAGE-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40488733@N07/

I hope everyone had an amazing weekend!

Song of the day: Manchester Orchestra- I can feel a hot one

Einstein said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge". Sometimes I find that the two can be one in the same because when you use your imagination you explore the possibilities that a person who uses the left side of there brain more wouldn't reach using there reasoning and knowledge. When one explores the other possibilities and finds the solutions to things that equations and textbook know how cannot, they are then perceived as being knowledgeable. A circle...life is a circle.

This is a picture I took on Fairfax by Whole Foods...




Here are shots from the shoot I did with my friend Wayne, for more please go check out my flickr page by clicking the link below...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40488733@N07/



Song of the day: K'naan- Flag

I'm craving football season. Good Morning Los Angeles! Actually it's not morning but it's when I'm first getting on the computer so stop trying to start a fight with me. There are a bunch of TV shows that I feel like I've been missing out on since not getting television and not that I couldn't just watch them online but somehow things seem much easier to vegetable out to when your flipping stations. I won't go into the scary number of travel channel and food network shows I used to watch constantly but let's just say I never missed an episode of Man Vs. Food or No Reservations to name two. I'm relatively sure that my dream life would consist of traveling the world, eating and drinking a lot. Dam Adam Richman, you sexy beast. Another random show I used to love was A & E's Intervention. It's rather sad but every episode on there where they are inter vining an alcoholic kind of makes me want a drink. Perhaps because it's hard to watch without one or because I figure there will be one less drinker in the world after the show so I should make up for them. I will talk to my therapist about it after my mid life crisis. So to all you people who have TVs....enjoy them for without them we are forced to read books, soak up energy from the sun, converse over coffee and cuddle with breathtaking people....so enjoy.

Once again click on my Flickr to see more pictures from a shoot I did of Grey...



http://www.flickr.com/photos/40488733@N07/



Also here is a funny dumb video I did randomly with my friend Curtis from UCB, practicing improv can be a lot of fun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07nhjwdhTIA

Good day Good People

Everyone talks about different ages and how when you are well past your youth, you will look back and realize how much you were changing, how much you were finding yourself. Everyone says these times are so important. In thirty years I will become part of everyone and I wonder what I will feel for these days I live now and these thoughts and feelings that remind me all the time how right "everyone" is. I think as a child, I took a negative connotation to adults saying things like "One day you will understand" or eluding to how unworldly and unknowing I was but as I got older, I realized how those kind of statements are not only true but nor should they not be. Once you know yourself and everything entirely, there would be no life. There would be no growth, no relationships, no reason for anything.

I have such immense hope for the future but sometimes I'm left flabbergasted at how in the same brain can be torrid confusion laying side by side with the daydreaming hopeful imagination of a dimwitted ten year old. I use to dream constantly, during the day, laying up at night, almost constantly making up scenarios in my head and playing them out like a movie and now I feel as though I sometimes have to allot time to dream like its a chore in my daily planner.

This is a photo from a live body art show I went to...

I added some cool random shots I took over my birthday weekend onto Flickr so check them out :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40488733@N07/

I got back to my apartment and as I read my LA Times, Madeleine Peyroux who I listen to frequently comes on and it will always and forever remind me of staying in Paris and riding the metro by myself around on rainy mornings watching the people and falling in love with all there is out there in the world to experience.

Song of the Day= Madeleine Peyroux- Between the Bars

Random Babble from Out of the Blue

This is the day deemed Hump Day so I suppose that means we are halfway to the weekend, which means we are closer to my birthday!

Last night after hanging out with my roomie for a bit and than realizing I must prepare to retire, I got a phone call from an old good friend that moved back home to my home town six months ago saying he was in town. He and a few friends came over and we sat talking for a few hours, it sounds sad but they made me feel really happy that I didn't live back at home and lived in a place that makes me so happy. We all ended up at Fred 62's for a sunrise breakfast which inspired the shoot I did today, it's all meant to be and I really like those words together...Sunrise Breakfast.


Speaking of food...

...it was good to me today.

Random thoughts-

In the movie "Marvin's Room" Diane Keaton's character says in the end of the film, "I've had such love in my life...I've had such love". Meryl Streep's character says, "Yes, they loved you very much" to which she replies, "No that's not what I meant. I loved them, I've been so lucky to be able to love people so much".
I saw this movie years and years ago and still think about this scene all the time. Can one's life be full with only there love for others? Should those of us who allow ourselves to actually experience loving others while not worrying if its requited count ourselves as lucky?

We as humans are naturally selfish in some respect and when I think of feeling love, I associate it with complete selflessness because that's how I experience it. That is why I suppose it is so dangerous. Okay my blog should be called "Random Babble from out of the Blue" because I am really bad at tieing all my thoughts together to make one coherent subject....Ohhhh Wellsies.

Song of the Day: Andrew Bird- Fake Palindromes

Hollywood has an amazing array of artwork not just in it but on it and although I don't necessarily give my seal of approval to tagging, I find beauty everywhere in the personal expression.

Love forever Jim Morrison

I shot one of my close friends Joshua Cole yesterday and these are my favorite shots, the other few are on my site which you can click the link below the pic to get to.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40488733@N07/

Song of the Day: Etta James- At Last

Quote of the Day- "They say such nice things about people at there funerals that it makes me sad to realize I'm going to miss mine just by a few days" -Garrison Keillor