Raining in L.A.

It is a rainy day in L.A.   We left to take Jason to the airport and had to wade out of our apartment complex.  He drove to the airport to let me have a break.   I have been fighting a cold the last few days.  Yesterday, I spent the entire day in bed.  Since it was raining and drivers in L.A. drive me crazy, I took my latest crocheting project in the car so I would drive my hubby crazy.   I am a BAD side seat driver...true confession.   We hoped the rain would be stopped by the time we got down to Santa Monica.   Unfortunately, it was still drizzling, so we ate an early dinner of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.   Yes, I let my kids have ice cream for dinner.   Did I mention it is raining in L.A.?   The world must be coming to an end.   I also stopped in a this fabulous shop in Santa Monica.   I could have gotten in serious trouble here.   They had yarn, alpaca yarn...wow, so soft!   Fabric, scrapbooking stuff.   It was wonderful.   It had a great artsy chic feel to it as well.    I spent about 15 minutes ohhing and ahhing.   I will have to go back.  

We made dropped Jason off and the airport and drove back to the apartment under sunny skies.   We missed a walk on the beach by an hour...seriously?   The rain stopped for a few hours, just in time to celebrate a friend's 18th birthday and now it is raining buckets again.   The kids are still settling down to sleep.   The excitement of the birthday and the double chocolate yummo cake have them a bit hyped up, oh and the ice cream..:)  

This week my daughter has had a cold.   I finally took her to urgent care on Thursday when I thought she was getting worse again.   They gave her some meds. and now I think she is on the mend.   I started feeling bad Thursday afternoon.  Thankfully Jason arrived Thursday night and took some of the load off my shoulders.   He took my daughter to set Saturday while I stayed in bed.   My son spent the day with me doing nothing.   At one point he looked at me and said, "Get up!  You are being lazy."   To which I replied, "I'm sick, not lazy."   I got a little grace from him after that.   He went and visited the boy next door for a couple of hours.   Then came back and hung out with me.

Last weekend, I managed a book review post that was at the deadline.  My daughter shot an electronics company commercial a week ago Thursday and Friday.   She shot a student film last weekend.   I think four days of work is probably what led to her cold.   Something was going around and then she had four busy days.   So she caught the bug.   This week brought several auditions, one callback, and some rest.  I think we are all on the mend from illness and I am thankful.  

I won't have a running buddy tomorrow.   My running buddy's son is wrapping a short film he worked on his weekend tomorrow.   I hope to get the kids out and run anyway.   The air quality should be wonderful after all the rain!   Church was amazing as always today.  

I have no idea what the week hold, but God does!   Wishing you a blessed week!

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.  Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

Luke 12:22-26

Book Review: Living Close to God (When You’re Not Good at It)

Living Close to God (When You’re Not Good at It) is a very interesting and challenging book.   This book would be a great book for a devotional.   I tried to read it straight through and found it difficult.  The reader needs to take time to digest the author’s suggestions.   The author is obviously passionate about the topic and his experiences.  The reader also needs to take the time to experience the Word as the author experienced it.   Using the book in this manner would make the book most useful.  I agree with the plea at the end of the book to read it again.   I think that one could learn a lot from this book by reading it multiple times.   This book is more about your spiritual growth than finishing a book and putting it on the shelf. 

This book was provided for the purposes of review by Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers.  All opinions expressed are my own. 

Whirlwind

We've had a fun week.

Ok, the acting stuff...my daughter had two callbacks for two low budget films. She also auditioned for a small part in a network pilot. Early this week she had a callback for a web series. She booked one student film and shot another student film. She also auditioned for an electronics commercial with a producer she knew from another shoot. She also booked a small role in a Christian music video. Finally, we had a promo shoot for a kids talk show on a Christian cable network she booked in January. In spite all of this, we finished school one day early in anticipation of my husband arriving Thursday night! The kids worked really hard on school this week and did a great job.

One day sent us to Santa Monica, so we went early to beat the traffic and enjoy the wonderful weather.   The kids had fun on the beach and stayed reasonably clean for the audition we were heading over to next. 

We saw ladybugs on the shore line.  

The waves made this cool pattern on the beach.

My daughter appeared a master's thesis film this week with American Film Institute.   She got to play her first role as a thug.  In this film, she portrays the six year version of a pyromaniac who is obsessed with zombies.  That could not be more opposite of my daughter.   It was fun to see her range.    

In non-acting related news, we've been running with my friend Marilyn, her son Cole, and another Mom, Yoko.   Marilyn loves animals.   We've met lots of animals and their owners.   This is Fox.  

 You can call him and he will run to you like a dog.  We see him almost every day!  Our run/walk bootcamp like workouts are 3-4 miles and can take up to an hour and a quarter with all the smooching on the animals.   The kids ride their scooters, but quickly bail off to meet friendly pets.   We also met a golden retriever this week that was so sweet! 

OK, a little background.   I wrote this post yesterday sitting on the WB "ranch" lot.   It is a WB owned lot that essentially looks like a little neighborhood, except all the houses are famous for being used in TV shows or movies.    I was sitting next door to the Partridge family's house while my daughter shot in front of the Bewitched house.     The production also shot in front of the Griswold house.   I stood next to the fountain used in the opening credits of Friends and talked on the phone.   Yes, it was surreal.   I was also reminded of my calling out here.  I had some interesting conversations with some of the actors.   I felt like I got another look at how some actors feel judged by Christians in general.   One actor related a story of being told by a Christian family member that they were lying by acting and therefore going to hell.  Yes, we need to be truthful, but telling someone they are going to hell because they act and acting is lying cannot please the Creator.  The conversation gave me pause and something to think and pray about.   I am praying about how to further the gospel to people who have been hurt by others before me.  

Today was church.   I was blessed by church again.   I haven't been able to formulate my thoughts on the sermon, but it was so applicable.   I may have my daughter watch the podcast. 

My husband was in town this weekend, so we enjoyed spending time with  him before he headed back to Houston.   We went to Disney on Friday.   Funny story, my daughter lost another tooth right before they got on Space Mountain.   First, I'm glad my husband was able to secure it before the ride started.   Second, that she didn't loose it while on the ride!  That kid has a flair for loosing her teeth at the most interesting times.   We went to In & Out Burger after church today.  Then, we headed to the Lego store to pick up the free mini build for March.   I totally forgot to take the kids on Tuesday night.   Thankfully they still had some kits left over.  We came home from the airport, visited with friends, ate dinner, and made the mini build.   The kids are asleep and now, I am trying to adjust to the time change.  

Praying for a productive week!   We are not taking Spring Break until the middle to end of April when my Mom is coming for a visit!   We are also hoping for some good news on all the callbacks, but as I tell my daughter, God is in control.   We don't know the future, but He does and I know He has my back!

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will."

Romans 8:26-27

Good Times

My last 24 hours were such a blessing!   I got to see an old friend, whom I treasure.   She lives in San Francisco, but I haven't made it up there to see her while we've been here.   She was in town this past week for TED.   She attended TED to network for a nonprofit that she co-founded.   God totally connected us week before last through a random connection.   He is GOOD   Yesterday evening I drove to Long Beach to get her after the TED conference wrapped.   Good to see her, so good.   We have a friendship where we pick up where we left off the last time we saw each other.   No subject is taboo.   It is a nice comfy friendship.   She was exhausted from TED, but we enjoyed her visit regardless.   My kids absolutely love her.   My daughter was especially sad to drop her off at the airport earlier this afternoon.  

I was blessed by some great friends in college.   They are all far flung now, but treasured none the less.   I have three college friends in Houston.   I see one sweet lady pretty regularly.  I am so thankful she has been a constant in my life.   I need to go and see the other two when I get home.   I totally enjoyed my Cali transplant friend this weekend.  

Friends are priceless...how fitting this was in my Bible reading this morning. 

"If one falls down, his friend can help him up!   But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!"

Ecclesiastes 4:10

Has it been 10 days?

I can't believe I haven't updated in 10 days.   Things were crazy, then slow, and now the craziness is beginning again.   When it is slow, I worry.   Then, I stick my nose back into the Word of God, stop worrying and realize, HE is in control.  

In the last 10 days we have been schooling, schooling, schooling, violining, violining, violining, and playing with Daddy.   Oh, Marilyn and I also colored each other's hair.   She posted with pictures, so you can see her post here of our shenanigans.   I am so behind on returning phone calls.   I plan to try and get on that on Monday.    I don't like to call my friends to catch up on weekends, because I know that they are probably enjoying some family time.  

My daughter had an audition where she had to look East Coast/Hampton's.   I didn't like anything she had in the closet, so to I headed over to the consignment store and found this.  

It cost me $12 for the shirt, skirt, and knee socks.   She can wear it to other auditions, if the skirt survives.   She loves the skirt and has worn it several times already.  I missed my calling, I should've gotten a degree in fashion.   Ha!

My husband was in town last weekend.   We took advantage no bookings and went to Disneyland.   This time we went to California Adventure.   My daughter rode her first roller coaster, California Screamin.    Here is picture of what it looks like:

(Source: mickeyandminnie)

Yes it is big, yes that is a loop in the center, and yes there are several big drops. 

Here is a picture of my girl when she got off the ride:

She had a blast and wanted to go again.  I figured I couldn't have all the fun.  We fast passed it again and my husband rode it with her.   My son has looked for Lightening McQueen since we came to Cali last fall.   He is nuts about Cars.   There is a new Cars area of California Adventure opening in June.    They had McQueen and Mater cars for you to "meet."   We took our pictures with them.  

At California Adventure, they have the main street of Radiator Springs almost finished.   There was a place where you could see over the construction wall.  It was nighttime and we saw the street lit with the neon signs.   I thought we had stepped into the movie.   My son was beside himself with happiness.   We spent the entire day at California Adventure and didn't do it all.   We'll have to go back. :) Though an odd set of circumstances, we ended up with Southern California resident season passes.   Now, we can go as much as we want.   Yeah!   We can also bring in food, so we don't have to buy Disney food.   Double Yeah!

Sunday, we went to church,   It was another wonderful service.   I love my L.A. church.  Monday we headed to Malibu.   We'd planned to go to The Getty Museum on Monday, but it was closed for a private party.   We changed plans and headed to Malibu.   We walked out on the Malibu pier and walked the gardens of a historic house.    We drove back south and let the kids play in a park in Santa Monica before taking my husband to the airport.  

One evening this week, the kids were going to watch a movie with the bigger kids here.   My son is picky about movies.   If it gets too intense, he is out of there!   He didn't like their movie, it was PG.   He requested his own, Cars 2 (big surprise.)   All his Cars friends watched it with him.  

As the car came on screen in the movie, he would pause the movie, go get that character and restart the movie.   I had to get a picture!

Today, my daughter shot a small part for a music video that will go on youtube.   It was the first time she worked since shooting two weeks ago.  She had a blast.   We also met a really nice Mom and her son.   The boy was in the scene with my daughter.   The video was shot in a park, so after the kids were done they played for about 45 minutes.   The mom of the boy actor was so down-to-earth, I had a blast chatting with her.   It is refreshing to meet someone who holds this acting thing loosely.   Most moms I meet are more invested than the kids.   I think that is a dangerous place to go.   I think that is why I enjoy my friendships with my girlfriends at the apartment.    They are not crazy stage moms.

Today, we were invited to go roller skating.   It was my daughter's second time to go and my son's first.   She stayed the entire 2 hour session determined to get better.   By the end, she went around the rink 3 times!   She kept giving me a thumbs up.   Notice the death grip.    :) 

My son skated on the carpet only.   The rink was too slippery for him!

We are planning an Oscar party on Sunday at the apartment complex.   We are dressing up in thrift store formal wear.   I found a dress at a thrift store for $7.   I'll post a picture on the red carpet the night of the big event.   We are all bringing a dish to pass.   After we eat outside, we are planning to hole up in one person's apartment and enjoy the red carpet fashions.   Speaking of the Oscars, I learned something this year.   They start closing streets down in Hollywood a week ahead of the event.   We went to an audition yesterday and workers were building a stage on one side of the street.   Traffic has been a nightmare with several streets closed.   We have to go back down there tomorrow, but I AM NOT going anywhere near Hollywood on Sunday!   I'll watch it on TV with the rest of the country.   :)

Valentine's Day Fun

I finally posted some blogs I wrote, but needed to add pictures to them.   I dated them back to their intended publication date.  

Today, we did school and violin.   My daughter had an audition in the afternoon.   We found out that she has a callback for it tomorrow.   I hoped to join a group going to the Fashion district tomorrow afternoon.   I will have to go another day!   I am sure once the not-yet-initiated have been once, I will not have any trouble finding some one to go back with me. 

We ate a quick dinner and headed to the local library for a Valentine's Day story hour.   It was such a blast!  The children's librarians read books, sang songs, and watched a short movie.   My kids looked forward to it all day.   We have a neighbor who is retired.   He and his wife volunteer all over town.  They are at the library several days a week.   The senior center is also one of their regular places.   They also find time to volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club.   They are such a busy pair.  They walk or take the bus to wherever they are going.   I think they are both in their mid to late 70's and have lots of life left to live.   It was our neighbor who told us about the story night.   We were so glad he dropped a flier off to us.   It was so fun!

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

1 John 4:10

Hanging Around All Day

Today my daughter had a call time of 11:30 for a project she is cast in.   At 3:00 we were still waiting around.  This is turning into an interesting day.   Lunch was amazing.  We had some terrific food.   Little man is hanging with the Ewings today.  I couldn’t bring him to set with me today.   There are 40 kids on set today counting the principal actors and extras.   He was perfectly happy to hang with his buds Cole and Spencer today.   Being on set is not his cup of tea.   I’m not sure what the weekend holds.   My daughter has an acting class on Saturday morning.   It looks like we will get to go to church on Sunday, yea!

"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

Hebrews 10:25

Weekend Rambling cont...

Our epic weekend continues… on Sunday, my daughter had a late call time of 4:00, so we were able to go to church.  Church was an amazing 1 hour and 45 minutes.  Although it ran 30 minutes late, no one got up and walked out.  It was so good.  I am blessed we found such a great church to attend while we are in L.A.  The pastor was very thought provoking and insightful and I was just blessed to be in attendance.
My daughter and I headed to set on Sunday evening.  I hit Starbucks for some coffee to make it though a long night.  We had "lunch" at 5:00 and then they got down to the business of shooting.  She was done by 10:00.  The set house was pretty amazing.  Here are some pictures of the back yard.

Notice the hot tub in the center.  It is private when the waterfall is running.   That is a slide down the right side of the picture

Looking the other direction.   There are two flat screen TVs hanging under the structure to the left.   There is a pool table under the sunning deck in the back center of the picture.   There was a outdoor entertaining area, with buffet and bar to the right.

The chandeliers are hard to see.   There are two over the table.   There was a chandelier in every room of the house, including the bathrooms!

Today we hiked Runyon Canyon.  It is a fun hike, I loved it.  Everybody and their dog is here, literally.  We were probably one of the few people there without a canine companion.  The kids love it because they usually get to say hello to a couple furry friends.  We hiked to the halfway point on one of the trails.  Here are the kids and Jason.

The trash can that was our stopping and turning around point.

Next we headed to lunch.  We ate a leisurely pizza buffet lunch at Shakeys.  I picked it purely because it had good yelp reviews and I liked the name.  It was ok for pizza.  Of course, I am comparing pizza from NYC and well, there is no comparison.  Next, we had an hour to kill before my daughter's fitting for a project this week.  We went to Target and I showed my husband the swimsuit I found.  After I tried it on, we agreed it was a keeper.

Finally, we headed to the fitting which was a kick.  The theme is retro.  All the clothes are from the 60's and 70's...seriously.  Someone had done some serious vintage shopping; these clothes were old, not new to look old.  The two options for my daughter were really cute.  She preferred the skirt option to the pants option, but truly both were great.  I would post pictures, but we are under a NDA so I can't.   The fitting went long, so we flew out of there to LAX to get my husband to his flight.  Thankfully LAX is dead on Monday nights, so he made his flight with no problem.

"You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. "

Psalm 68:35

Rambling Weekend Post

My hubs arrived Friday night. It was so...good...to...see...him.  He got in late and my daughter had an earlyish call Saturday morning.  Since he was in town we decided that he would take my daughter to the shoot on Saturday.  The project was being filmed an hour away.   At the last minute Saturday morning, I decided to go with them.  I calculated that would have at least two hours in the car with my husband on the drive over and back.  I did a quick internet search and found a Target and something called Tom's Farm in Corona, CA.  Once we arrived in Corona, my son and I dropped my husband and daughter off on set.  Then, my son and I headed to Target.  Along the way, I saw a Walmart, so we stopped in.  The Walmarts in L.A. are a bit scary, but this one seemed promising.  I'm not sure if Corona could be considered a suburb of L.A., but the place was a mecca of suburban shopping.  There were stores everywhere and you didn't have to pay to park!  People drove SUVs and trucks, not just Mini Coopers and Priuses.  I almost felt like I was at home again.  Once in Walmart, I got a few school supplies and a new Finn McMissle.  My son loves Cars 1 and Cars 2. He let another child play with his Finn and the side mirrors disappeared.  Once he discovered the side mirrors were missing, he was pretty upset about it.   I agreed to buy him another one.  I didn't want to discourage sharing.  Good parenting decision?  Who knows, I got him another car and I stand behind my decision.

Next, we resumed our trek to Target.  We got to Target and found a Michaels.   Michaels had a $5 off $5 purchase this week on the internet.  You could use one coupon per day.  I went to Michaels on Friday and got two skeins of yarn for $3.  They were on sale...yea!  I went back to Michaels with another coupon on Saturday and got another skein of yarn, a $1 item, and a $0.29 piece of paper and paid $0.41.  I love a deal!  Yarn?  I do a lot of crafty stuff, but I usually don't need yarn.  I have acquired a new skill.  On my daughter's last set, I taught myself to crochet.  My sweet great grandmother taught me how to crochet chains when I was twelve.  I watched a couple of YouTube videos and it all came back to me.  I watched a couple more to learn have to make a single and double crochet stitch.  I finished my first scarf a couple of days ago.

The scarf is special to me because I will remember how I worked on it while my daughter worked on her first feature length film.  I am now working on another for a gift.

 Lest I digress, my son and I went to Michaels.  While we were there we also popped into Old Navy and Tilly's.  I found some cute white and yellow ballet flats at Old Navy, but since I recently acquired these Toms,

I couldn't buy another pair of shoes.  After browsing Tilly's, we headed over to Target.  Target had their Cars 2 cars on sale.  My son started taking stock of all the Cars cars he didn't have.  Then and there I devised a plan.  I would let him earn cars for playing violin.  He earns money, but money doesn't have much meaning for him.  Now the plan is to practice for 25 days and earn a Cars character.  We found two cars he didn't have and got them.  I also shopped the swimsuits.  My swimsuit shredded last year after 5 good years of usage.  I had bottoms, I just needed a top.  I found this one at Target and decided I would try and bring Jason back to shop with me.

 By this time my son and I had spent 2 1/2 hours shopping.  We decided to check out Tom's Farm next. When we got there, I parked in a spot in the shade.  We ate our bagged lunch in the car.  Once we were finished, we started exploring.  They had a produce stand and several different stores.  We wandered around for about an hour.  They had a shooting range and a tractor ride.  All the kids’ rides cost $2 or more, so I limited my son to one ride.  He picked a tractor ride and loved it.

Next we went to the shooting range.  He shot at a couple of things and when he didn't hit them, he turned the gun over to me.  I hit several things and made them animate which he loved.  Yes, I am a pretty good shot. Would you expect anything less from a girl raised in Texas?  We walked to the fudge shop and bought chocolate cover red licorice.  Yummy, why didn't I think of dipping red licorice in chocolate?  My husband called at some point while we were at Toms and told me that my daughter had not gone on yet.  I knew it was shaping up to be a long day.  The good thing was that they had to release her at 5:30 because she would have been on set for 8 hours + lunch.  Thank the Lord for labor laws.  By now it was 2:30, so my son and I headed to a park near where my daughter was filming.  He rode his scooter around the park.  Then he played on the play structure.  I sat on a bench and crocheted while he played and scootered around where I sat.  After about 2 hours, I was ready to call it a day.  As we were leaving my son did a major head plant into the concrete after falling off his scooter.  He was fine though; his helmet saved him from injury.   That is the second time my son's helmet has prevented him from seriously injuring himself in his short life.  Wow!  We had an early dinner at In and Out Burger.  Finally, we headed back to the set and I read to him until my daughter was released promptly at 5:30.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

John 3:16

Quiet Friday

The past few days I have had the annoying misfortune of waking up at 6:45.   I tried to go back to sleep with no luck.   After several days of this, I figured out what was going on.   I'm a little slow...I had not been reading my Bible.   I am currently working my way through the one year Bible, old and new testaments.  I am a few months behind from last year, but I am determined to finish.   When I was in Houston, I would get up when Jason got up at 5:30, read my Bible, and then set about my day.   This included getting my daughter off to school.   Here our schedule is a bit more chaotic and and as a result my time with the Lord has been sporadic.   I am thankful for the early wake up call to get me back on track.   I use some of our late nights as an excuse to sleep in.   Truly, I need to be up, dressed, and ready to start the day at 8:00.   Then we can get our schooling done in a timely manner and our violin practice times in.   So there is my confession.   Feel free to ask me how my time with the Lord is going.   I will welcome the accountability.

Wednesday was our final day on set.   Since we didn't have to be on set until 3:00 I decided to make a field trip out of the day.   We went to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium which was in the area.
  

My son and I visited a couple of weeks ago, but my daughter was working and didn't get to go.   I had her take a notebook to take some notes.   In the tide pools on the shore, we saw lots of sea anemones, sea urchins, and snails.   I wanted her to learn something about the animals we saw in their natural enviroment.  We went to those exhibits first.    My daughter made some notes on those animals.   Then we looked at the crustaceans, moon jellies, and sharks.   The aquarium opens their touch pools three times a day for 20 minutes.   We went to the touch pools when it opened.   The aquarium provides a docent while the pools are open to give information and answer questions.   We stayed the entire 20 minutes.   We went to the exploration center of the aquarium.  Here they have lots of hands on stuff.   They also have an open tank of tide pool animals that you cannot touch.   It has more animals in it than the outside touch pools.  One of the docents noticed my daughter making notes from the tide pool demonstration and told her she would give her an in depth discussion on the tide pool animals in this room.   The docent did not disappoint.    We talked with her about 30 minutes.   We got to touch a sea cucumber and a few other animals.   We watched a brittle star flip itself over in about 10 seconds and a ray star take about 5 minutes to flip itself over.   We saw shark eggs with the shark embryos moving around inside.   I felt like we had a couple weeks of science lessons in a few hours.  

Next, headed over to the set for the final shot they needed.   We ate lunch and got the final shot.   Ok, pictures. I forgot my DSLR on our final day on set. I had to use my the camera on my phone. The pictures are not the greatest, but better than nothing

Here is the girl with the Director being silly:

The costumer:

Faux Daddy

Faux Mommy

Playing on the production truck

Good times!

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." 

Colossians 3:16-18