Can't Take Them Anywhere

We went into L.A. today. The heart of L.A. If you know me or even follow my blog, you know I live in Glendale, which is kind of a suburb of Los Angeles. It's nice, but sort of boring at times. It's good if you have children. Low crime, good schools, blah blah blah, you get the point. 

Anyway, we headed over to Golden Apple Comics on Melrose. I've been told that celebs shop there pretty often...just not when I'm there. It's okay, though. The last time I was there was for Free Comic Book Day last year to see my dear friend Sherri Dupree-Bemis. She's the singer and guitarist of the awesome rock band Eisley. She was there with her husband Max, lead singer of the band Say Anything and comic book writer. He was there signing and we got to see Sherri and meet their new baby, Lucy!

So we go there today, the twins see the covers of comic books that scare them. There was no crying and I know they're 5, it's just a phase, but geez! Can I take them anywhere now?

Afterwards we went to Target where Anneka got upset because she couldn't find the Pokemon cards she wanted. Again, there was no crying but geez!

Then we had this sweet moment, driving through Silverlake, we came across this reservoir. It was such a serene scene. The breeze, the palm trees blowing in the wind...Anneka almost stepping in dog poop in the grass. We took some cute pictures, then just stood there, gazing at the water and speaking of memories past.

They start school in 2 weeks. 2 weeks! I have to send my twinsies out into the world to have their own lives...outside of me! I'll be okay. I'll be auditioning, looking for writing jobs, going back to iO West to finish the improv program and taking yoga classes. Yep. I'll be alright...I think. 

What's Next

Well, I'm preparing for my aunts and mom to visit and the twins' 3rd birthday. We're doing a Barbie theme party, with Barbie's face on the plates, decorations, cups, etc. from Party City. I also have to worry about showing my family a good time while they're here. I have a few plans, like the classic stuff: The Hollywood Sign, Grauman's Chinese Theater, Walk of Fame, etc. But, my mom has a cast on her leg, so I can't park blocks away and drag her around Hollywood, so it'll probably be me and Auntie Carol doing these things. Hollywood Blvd. scares the twins. There are always these people dressed up as Spongebob and Superman and Darth Vader. These scare my soon to be 3 year olds. I understand! It is a little scary, I guess, when you're that young.

Also, I had a really cool business meeting with Ms. Lisa Shows, who's in the play "Reservoir Bitches" with me. We met up at Intelligentsia in Silverlake and talked about doing a web series or a podcast. We decided we'll do the Podcast sooner than later, now we're just trying to figure out where we can record it where there isn't a bunch of noise. Where we'll be uninterrupted. I'm thinking this over right now...

In the meantime, we only have two shows left of the play and I'm thinking I want to do another play. I'm sending out my headshots and resumes to other theaters, and I'll ask my current director if any shows are coming up at that theater. We'll see what happens!

Toodles!

Your Beauty is My Muse

So we're driving through Griffith Park, going up into the hills, blasting Sucre's new album, and realizing that I belong here. I've never been this happy. All of the hard work, sacrifice, arguments and positive thinking finally got us here. We drove up to the Griffith Park Observatory, where parts of Rebel Without a Cause was filmed. Now I want to watch it again and relive that magical first time I saw that film and it changed my life. The first time I really saw Natalie Wood and just fell awesomely in love with her. After that film, I decided she was my favorite actress and saw "Love With the Proper Stranger", which is now one of my favorite films of all time.
And James Dean. My God. James Dean. To find out years later that we share a birthday (February 8th). What an amazing actor he was. He was so compelling in that film.

I'm writing a film right now that I think is going to change my life. I have so much hope and faith in the idea and I think I'm doing my best writing to date. I'm obsessed with it. I spent hours listening to Sucre in the bedroom the other day with Bry, and I was sitting up in bed with my laptop open and just writing and writing, and checking notes that I had written a few months back when I first began writing this script. And I can see it. It looks like a completed film in my mind. I feel like this could be the script that finally garners attention for me. It's going to be the story that gets me my house on a hill in Silverlake or Los Feliz. It's going to be the story that changes my life. And I'm halfway done with the first draft. I'm not going to talk about what it's called, what it's about, blah blah blah yet. I'll get there, at some point. Right now, I'm just concentrating on the journey.

These experiences that I'm having gives me these beautiful ideas. Looking from the Griffith Observatory and realizing we were so high up that we could see the Hollywood sign and pretty much all of Los Angeles, just inspired me. L.A., your beauty is my fucking muse.

When we went to Santa Monica pier last week, and we were driving along the freeway and realized that there was this thick fog covering the area and the temperature began to drop drastically and we were cold, but yet I still got out of that car and walked across the sand and put my feet in the ocean. That was the first time I'd ever been to the ocean. And yes, it was cold, and yes, I had a two year old on my hip who thought she would have to get wet too...(I told Mia "I'm not putting you in the water...I'm your mommy, don't you trust me??" and my gorgeous girl said "No"! LOL) I just let the water wash over my feet a couple of times, and that was good enough to get me just a little emotionally. I'd finally made it here. I finally made it to L.A.

These experiences are leading up to something. And there's still a lot left to explore. There's still Venice Beach! There's still Zuma Beach! There's Malibu! Pacific Coast Highway! A bunch of things left to explore in L.A. Can't wait!!!

Mia, at the observatory today. Love my girls!

L.A. Looks Good on Me

So I had a busy day. Went to Intelligentsia with Jontynise today in Silverlake! Then we walked around, went to vintage shops, and met Chris Masterson. He was cute and nice. We talked to him for a few minutes and then continued to walk around. Then I got home, ate really quick, showered, then went to the movies to see "The Hunger Games" with Bry. That movie was amazing and touching and exactly like I pictured it when I read the book! I read all three books in a two-week period. I might re-read them too. And God, Josh Hutcherson...wow. He's an amazing actor and so handsome. Wow.

Anyway, I can't believe how much weight I'm losing! My clothes don't fit, and then clothes I haven't been able to wear for a long time fit now! L.A. looks good on me, eh?!

Oh, and I have my first audition in L.A. tomorrow! Really excited about that too. Wish me luck!

Writey Rant

It's so hard to write in this house with all of this noise. I woke up this morning to the sound of my kids over-excited about the snow on the ground. Actually, they wake me up every single morning over excited about something...either a toy, a pop tart or jumping off of the toddler beds. Whatever it is, it's hard to concentrate on anything in this house.

Am I destined to be one of those writers who has to take the laptop to Starbucks and be there for hours? I find it hard to concentrate there after a while. Once I hit a wall in the writing, I find myself just watching people coming and going. But at least I can get something accomplished outside of this house. And now, there's snow and ice on the ground and it's 16 degrees in my tiny Chicago suburb. That does not sound like something I want to deal with just to drive a mile to the Starbucks. And I can't sit on the balcony and write.

I had this dream the other night that I had a house in Silverlake, a really nice area in Los Angeles that I went through with Jontynise while I was there. I loved the area, and yes, I can't afford it now, not by a longshot, but now I have a new goal to definitely work towards living there. Either Silverlake or Los Feliz. I'm obsessed with these two areas! I mean, we had coffee in Silverlake where I met with a talent manager, and we just drove through Los Feliz, which I think is just right next door.

And I've been questioning if I should be doing more with my writing, since writing is really the most natural and most fun thing I do, but I really like the challenge of acting. What I like about being a writer out of the gate is that there's always time to write...to some extent. I can write while the girls eat, even if there is the distraction of them getting giggly at some point. Writing is something I can do in the house. Writing is something I can do a mile away at the Starbucks while Bry is home with them. Acting scares me write now because I'm so afraid it's going to take me far, far away from them or be too time consuming. So I decided I'm going to polish my writing. I'm going to enter a writing program, probably at Second City, once I get to L.A. next month. One whole year of the writing program there is like college. And perhaps I can get a literary agent sometime this year and write a spec script for one of my favorite shows. Do you know how much writers make in Hollywood if you write for a show on a major network?! Or if I write a made-for-tv movie?! I can have a house this year if I work hard enough on my writing alone!

And I'm not giving up acting, not at all...I just think I'm a very good writer and I want to explore that more. For now. I'm still going to do web series and hopefully get to join the Writer's Guild sooner than later!

Sorry for this long-ass Writey Rant...I haven't been updating this blog quite enough! By the way, Happy New Year! Thank you to all my readers for getting my blog to over 1800 reads last year! I don't know who's reading this, but I really do appreciate it!!