An apartment in Rome.

The moving consultant just left. I might have to get a smaller crate. We'll see if the consolidator has a size minimum. If not, my shipping costs might drop by 50%. That would be fantastic!!

Speaking of fantastic, I finally have an apartment in Rome. An Italian film executive here (he grew up in Rome) asked his mom if she knew of anyone renting an apartment. His mom's best friend will be my new landlord. The apartment is half the size of my current place (ouch) but the location is amazing. I will be a 10 minute walk from Piazza Navona, Campo dei Fiori and Piazza Farnese. Trastevere will be a short walk across the river.

More good news: one of my bosses wants to buy my car for her son who is away at school. Mere words cannot express how happy I am to sell my car. My car is great but after living in L.A for nine years I actually hate driving now. The minute I could take Driver's Ed in high school I did. I used to love the freedom a car represented, especially living out in the suburbs. However, driving here is not fun. The traffic is horrific and people have no idea how to freaking drive. I can't tell you how many near accidents I have had because some idiot was on their non-hands free cellphone.

My days of valet parking will be ovah soon. It cracks me up that there is valet parking at the Gelson's in Century City. Seriously, the mall has a huge parking lot, do people really need to valet the Jag at the darn supermarket?

As I budget out the security depost/first month rent I have to restrain myself from crying over the exchange rate. I keep reminding myself if I were to pay market rates here it would still be more than my Rome rent. Then again I have a job here...god knows what my finances are going to be after my production bonus money runs out. Maybe I should ask my parents to ship out my old flute from jr. high school so I could be a street musician. The only problem with that plan is I can't play a damn thing anymore.

I had a crazy productive weekend. I finished shredding and throwing out old files, director reels and scripts. I downsized from fourteen file boxes to three. This job creates a ton of paperwork. I still have a long to-do-list for my move but it feels more manageable with the movers, an apartment and a buyer for my car.

I know writers should write everyday but I felt so overwhelmed earlier with work , volunteer projects and the move. Now I am so excited about writing the script. It will be a good challenge. I haven't written a script in over five years but this idea is not a novel. Even if I can carve out only fifteen minutes in the morning, it will be great to get back into a groove.