Where have I been?

Whew! It’s been far too long since I’ve made a post on here! To be honest, I’m not sure if anyone follows my blog anymore because my posts have become so sporadic. Or if anyone even noticed that I’d gone missing! But in case you’ve been wondering about my whereabouts, I’ll tell you! … and, of course, if you didn’t wonder, I’m gonna tell you anyway!

Basically what it comes down to is that I have too many interests. Way too many. I absolutely love cooking and writing and photographing wonderful food, and I don’t know if non-bloggers realize how much time actually goes into this stuff. To write a recipe, most food bloggers test the recipe again and again, make necessary changes, test again, write it down, take photos, edit photos, write the blog post… It can take multiple days to get one post out. Most of us don’t get compensated at all, so it really is a very time consuming, sometimes very expensive, hobby. When I was able to write and post the most consistently was when I was fresh out of my old job and had a good amount of savings and optimism to live off of. I had hoped that I could actually make my food blog a full-time job, as I know many people have been able to live off of the money they’ve made from their blogs. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet been able to figure out how to do that… sooooo…

During a 2 year stint of being unemployed but being able to keep myself afloat on savings and freelancing, I put a lot of focus on my blog until I decided to co-write and star in a 21 episode comedy web series. Door to Door the Web SeriesActing has always been a great passion of mine and another place that I would love to be able to make a living income from. Needless to say, the project was extremely time consuming as I also took on costuming, set decoration, editing, casting, marketing, web design, and location scouting (phew!). During that 7 month period of time I was OK about posting recipes, but it had dwindled to maybe a couple a month.

Right after the web series wrapped, I had the privilege of being cast in A Walk in the Woods and had a supporting role with Nick Nolte and Robert Redford. The experience was absolutely amazing. I felt like such a star, I had 2 scenes with just myself, Nick Nolte, Robert Redford, and my hiking companion, actress Katie Groshong.

I had a room in a trailer with my name on it, and I even had a stand-in! …….. very unfortunately, I received an e-mail from the director, Ken Kwapis, 2 weeks before the film was released in theatres, that my scenes were all cut, so I did not appear in the movie 🙁Nick Nolte Ken Kwapis Rachel Woodhouse Katie Groshong Robert Redford A Walk in the WoodsThis is a production still from the movie, and as far as I know, is the only surviving visual evidence of my role in the film. On the right is the director, Ken Kwapis, then Nick Nolte, myself, Katie Groshong, and the left side of Robert Redford.

After that I had some great auditions, some very near misses in casting, and a few commercials and print things here and there. I’m still auditioning and still taking classes, but I have not had another opportunity like that one for 2 years now. The world of acting is a very difficult one and it’s a constant tug between trying to have unfaltering optimism, and a 99.9% rejection rate that makes the optimism very tough to hold on to. I go through periods of hope and excitement followed by periods of sadness and crippling self-doubt. I also went through a terrible period in which I was booking enough work to survive on, but the owner of my agency was just pocketing all of the money and not paying the talent and I missed out on a year’s worth of pay—thousands of dollars— for various projects. The agency was dismantled and many have sued or taken him to court, but no one has ever seen any of the money that he owes. So THAT’S some bad luck right there!

I ended up getting into stand-up comedy after watching a comedian perform her set in acting class and just thinking “Huh, I could do that!” I ended up writing a lot of comedy and going to all of the available open mics in Charlotte. I ended up meeting my boyfriend doing exactly that. A fellow comedian, we were booking shows for a while and it was all nice and fun, and then a job opportunity came up. It was actually my old job, but in a working from home situation, which was perfect. Unfortunately, that job was very time consuming and very taxing on my creativity and I slipped out of comedy for an entire year. I got to a point where I hadn’t done it in so long that I felt afraid that I’d forgotten how to write! Going back somehow felt more intimidating than when I had very first started, but I finally did it, and I’m performing again around Charlotte. I am trying to get more writing done and do it more frequently than I had in the past. If you happen to live around Charlotte, I perform quite a bit at The Comedy Zone. Come see me! 😀

MAN, this is getting long. It’s apparent that I’ve been away really a lot longer than I had thought! Anyway, this year the contract for that job was up, and quite honestly as much as I enjoy making artwork, I was beginning to feel resentful about the work because I was putting so much time and effort and creativity into something that was making a LOT of money for someone else– someone I don’t particularly like at all– and I didn’t feel good about it. But now I’m creating more artwork for myself on my own as well as doing commissions for other people. Engagement by Rachel Woodhouse

This is a painting that I particularly enjoyed doing. It is a watercolor that was commissioned from the couple’s engagement photo by the bride’s coworkers and it was presented to the couple on their wedding day. This is the type of work that I absolutely love doing. I love painting in general, but personal pieces like this one are so special and they mean so much to the people receiving them. These special commissions keep my heart full <3 .

I went back and spent a lot of time re-vamping my art website as well as creating a Facebook page for Rachel Woodhouse Illustration . I’m just trying to spread the word as this passion has become my majority source of income! I would be very grateful if you would “like” and share the Facebook page. I am able to ship to all of the USA, so if anyone is looking for a special gift of original artwork *hint hint*… And I don’t just do portraits, either.

Anyway, I have many ideas floating around in my head for many pieces that I would like to create. The goal is to eventually get a gallery showing together. I’m finding the time here and there because on top of everything else…

Beehives

I’ve become a beekeeper. Why not, right?

13221022_1726357310976242_4862381086508674931_nI went to beekeeping school this year and had the intention of having 2 hives in my vegetable garden. Weelllllll, the company I ordered my bees from accidentally sent me a double order so I ended up with 4 hives. I have 3 in my vegetable garden and I put one on my parents’ property. So far everything is going very well. I’m a bit nerdily obsessed with them and I love to watch them coming in and out of the hives with pollen in their baskets. I’ve also found that the very top of my pond is where they most enjoy getting a drink of water… so I end up sitting up there for at least 30 minutes every day just watching them drink. I should probably spend that time doing something more productive, but it’s relaxing, so I’m OK with it. If everything goes well this year and the girls survive the winter, I will be able to harvest honey next spring!

So here we are. I believe I’ve mentioned a bit of everything I’ve been doing over the past couple of years that has pulled my attention away from this blog. If you made it to the end of this, congratulations! You have a much longer attention span than I do! But do you see what I mean about having too many interests?

I actually have a few recipes sitting here, photos taken, waiting for me to write them out. I will do it. I miss food blogging a lot. I will probably have to become more diligent in setting out a schedule for myself on a daily basis. It feels hard to commit to specific things when I have so many things I would like to do! But I am going to do it. I WILL get back to a schedule in which I publish a new recipe more frequently than once every 6 months! I swear!

And in the possibility that no one reads this novel that I just wrote, it feels nice and therapeutic to finally get it off my chest. *curtsy.. curtsy.* Thank you, and good night.

Tags: , ,

3 Responses to “Where have I been?”

  1. WordPress › Error

    There has been a critical error on this website.

    Learn more about debugging in WordPress.