Lucky

Photo by Jessica Alvarado

I am pretty dang lucky, even if I have to say good-bye to him in a few days.

Even if, at the moment, I'm stuck alone in an apartment in The-middle-of-Nowhere, Kansas. Even if I have to play housewife to a couple of soldiers. Even if there's nothing to eat here but fast food (yuck). Even if I have to be a crazy lunatic for the next 15 months.

It's totally worth it for this.

Five Questions

This one is from Valley Grrrl

Leave me a comment saying "Interview me." I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions. If you don't have a valid email address on your blog, please provide one. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

1. If you could have a sitting with anyone in the world, who would you most like to photograph?
Man Kelvis, you start with a doozy. As much as I would like to SHOOT Britney and LiLo, I'll instead say Stephen Hawking. Final answer. John Lennon if he was still around.

If I really thought about it I would have a top 10 list. Hmm, something for the future.

2. What do people most often misjudge about you?
I think people's first impressions of me are usually wrong. On the surface I can be pretty serious and quiet and Renato would go as far as saying I was a bitch, but the more you know about me the weirder I get. Yep, people see me and I know they think I'm a B and a snot (that's only true to some extent). But really I'm a total nerd and goofball.

3. Do you have a karaoke song?
I don't have a signature song yet, but I'm working on it. I'm thinking it would be something by Neil Diamond or Queen. Something feelgood, something to get the crowd pumped. Toto's Africa perhaps? The last song I sang at kareoke was Bohemian Rhapsody with Lorelei. We rocked it.

4. As a future "military wife", I imagine you have an opinion when it comes to the US' presence in Iraq. If you could sit down with President Bush and tell him one thing, what would it be?
I would tell him, "How do you like them apples?!" after beating the crap out of him with a wet bag of nickels. I may even take off my shoe and pound him with that too. Get them the F out, I say. Pepper leaves for Iraq in just a few weeks, and if something happens to him I am not afraid to wail on the President.

5. Are you really "forever 21?"
If I was I'd be 25 pounds lighter.

21 was fantastic but with every year I discover more and have more adventures so I'm not afraid of the future. Besides, all my friends are older than me, and they rock so I'm definitely excited about being further from 21. I just think it would be rad to have that license plate at 60.

Thank you Valley Girl. I miss you.

Follow Up: Best Weekend Ever

Ok ok ok. I have a lot of those. But this one was pretty good.



As I mentioned, Christian was in town for a long weekend and had 3 big celeb sightings! I was fortunate enough to encounter Sandra Oh and Colin Farrell with Christian, and while soaking in some stand-up he also came across Dane Cook. I'm not sure what kind of juju Christian mixes in, but he's one lucky visitor. Last time all we got was good parking karma.

Yep. Colin Farrell at Ralphs. I'll let you take a time out to think about that.

Friday was my last day at work and Lorelei's turn to throw a big bash of the summer. There were lots of people there and the party was still raging into the wee hours.

















It was going on so late in fact that I was ready for 4th meal. Good ol Christian took the liberty of blowing out the candles and turning off lights so people would move towards the door. It worked. A handful of us jogged over to Astro diner for some grub. I don't know why I was the only one who ended up with a Monte Cristo.

The only reason I woke up at a decent hour on Saturday is because of the heat. I picked up Christian and we did the traditional shopping spree at the Hustler store. I picked up some gifts for a certain someone having a bridal shower. I will leave it at that for now.

Saturday night was Justin's belated birthday dinner in WeHo with a handful of friends. It was so so so nice, being outside, sipping sangria, being in the company of cool people I barely know except for the birthday boy, the visitor, and my date my life partner Marie.

Life partner and I then proceeded to the Shermy for Sarah's birthday party. I think I say it every year but CHRIST I adore a lot of leos. I have no more room in my life for one more.



This is decades of friendship right here folks.



Anyway, at Sarah's there was catching up with old friends, a little dancing, a lot of drinking, and some fantastic cake.


Brunch was with my Wildcat Alum bros in WeHo. Dinner was with Sarah, her family and her beau.


To conclude the weekend, we knit and got lit. Lorelei finished her rasta hat!



It's dark, but Mr. Rasta man is looking over Lorelei.

A few more pictures can be found here!

Best Week Ever

I have to take a few steps back. I am getting caught up on cleaning, unpacking, laundry, reading, friends, and now blogging.

I arrived home last Saturday and I was so so happy to be home and see my dog. I really do like being away from home, I love traveling and going to new places, but so many things were waiting for me at home! (Like bills, US Weeklies, and wedding invitations)

SUNDAY
Sunday was a big day of wine tasting with Julie, Lorelei, and Tim. We did a Sideways trip and explored Santa Ynez which is above Santa Barbara. The drive was over two hours to get there, and we wasted no time on the sampling. We started at Gainey Vineyard which was not bad.





We then moved onto Bridalwood, which was excellent. We even bought a bottle of Rose to take with us to lunch.



We lunched in Los Olivos and had fantastic sandwiches.




After we had food in our bellies, we walked around for a bit and stopped in a tasting room. From there we proceeded to Sunstone which was recommended to us by the kind man at Epiphany Cellars.









Sunstone had both fantastic and awful wines. And I'm not too picky about wine. We started with the whites, and the four of us agreed that they smelled awful. Really bad. We confronted some of the staff and they did not offer any kind of information that explained this pungent odor. We then moved on to the reds which were great.

Towards the end of the wine tasting our sweet tooths were calling, and we decided to go to Solvang for a snack. In theory it was a great idea, and Solvang is a cute place to shop and pick up raspberry jam... however, on a hot day with lots of wine and then ice cream in the belly... let's just say it didn't quite mix so well. By the time we all got in the car we were beat and couldn't even pull it together to stop in Santa Barbara. It didn't really matter because it was a beautiful day.

MONDAY


Back to work. Pretty uneventful until I was on my way home and got a last minute invitation to see Snow Patrol VIP style. Lorelei was invited by the bassist of the band, and along we Shannon and I, we dolled ourselves up and ran to the Greek Theatre. Really. There was running involved. The show was actually really good and fun, and afterwards we headed to the courtesy room where we would ogle at Shirley Manson, Tommy Lee, Josh Kelly, Katherine Heigl, and T.R. Knight. Shirley Manson looked great, Tommy Lee was surrounded by a young female entourage, Josh Kelly is cuter in person, Katherine Heigl is tall and skinny and wonderful, and T.R. Knight is wee and I could put him in my pocket. There was a lot going on, some good, some drama, and we had to walk away with no pictures to sell to TMZ.

TUESDAY
Paid a visit to Gillian who just moved back to SoCal from Vegas. Pulled into Huntington Beach and was a little creeped out that the homes looked the same, there was plenty of parking, and kids were playing in the yards. Yeah, I was scared, but it's perfect for Gill. It's totally her speed and she's a mile from the beach. Briefly saw Brayton, met the cat, toured the apartment, talked wedding stuff, lunched, and spent all kinds of money at South Coast Plaza. I'm so glad she's back.

WEDNESDAY
The spending did not end Tuesday. Turnip and I did some damage at H&M in Pasadena. And Urban. We were so traumatized by our spending that we had to make a Pinkberry run.

THURSDAY
Back to work. And really did work.

Christian came to visit for a long weekend. We dined with his host Justin at my favorite breakfast spot, and bumped into Sandra Oh on our walk home. That's 3 Grey's cast members in a week! It's only a matter of time before I meet Patrick Dempsey. He will be mine. Oh yes, he will be mine.

FRIDAY
Worked worked worked. Only because it was my last day at W/G.

To answer your questions, W/G has little going on so I don't know that I'll ever be back. Perhaps someday, perhaps. So many people that I consider family I met at W/G. It's sad to leave it, and sad to leave it with strangers.

No, I am not looking for work. No, I am not scared. I am going to enjoy the summer and be a normal person for once and not a nomad, and try an earn a paycheck by fall.


Friday night deserves its own entry.

Swimming with Stingrays

It's probably the best thing I've ever done.


One of the big things to do in the Caymans is to visit Stingray City. It's a sandbar 30 minutes off the coast and the water is only 3 feet deep.

Last Monday, we were taken on a boating adventure with one other family. There were a total of three stops on our excursion. The first was at coral gardens.


The second was at a barrier reef.


And finally, kickin back with the stingrays.


Approximately 50 stingrays live here, and were drawn here years ago when fishermen would toss scraps overboard. They don't seem to mind the tourists because we bring food offerings, but most people are scared the F out of their minds.


Yep, most people are struck with terror.

However, they are so gentle and soft and they like to rub up against you. They are amazing to watch underwater.



It was so much fun we went back again on Friday, but this time we just hit the last two stops so we would have more time at each.

I leave you with a video of my sister freaking out as she feeds a stingray. Enjoy!

Killed Clever. Fled Country.

After approximately 12 hours of arriving in Los Angeles, I got back on a plane to Grand Cayman Island of the British West Indies. We are on a fam trip to celebrate my sister's graduation from LMU and her exciting upcoming career in accounting.

Hate me all you want. Sometimes I hate myself. Do yourself a favor and get down here or anywhere else outside the country the first chance you get.

I've been lucky to make a big snorkeling adventure every year or every other year.

So we're here, relaxing, soaking up sun, relaxing, hanging out at the beach. It's a super small island with super friendly people and there's no pressure to make a holiday agenda. Just relax.



Our trip is winding down and tomorrow I'm heading back home. I don't really want to leave but I do miss my dog, my pals, good old Silver Lake. I can't believe a good chunk of the summer has passed me by and I've been away.



Oh well. I already miss the stingrays.

Goodbye Memphis

That's it folks. I Killed Clever. It's over.



It's pretty much a blur, and while I do not miss work I do miss working with Richard and Lowell, and hanging out with Turnip every day.

Yep. Over.

I didn't at all mind living in hotels for the last year and a half. Someone does your bed everyday, the dishes, cleans the bathroom... what's the problem?

I will miss the traveling opportunities that Clever has given to me, but something tells me the jet-setting is not over.

Stories to be told

I actually had stuff to share today but since the internet is being painfully slow, the full experience can't be had just yet. It would take forever to upload the pictures.

Things are pretty good now that we've caught up on sleep. Had some good shoots. Did some shopping. Had some adventures. Ate some damn good BBQ.

It never fails. Right around this time I get really sad to leave.

Actually seen a handful of Asians the last few days. A couple at breakfast downstairs, a gal at Pei Wei and a bunch at an import store next to one of our shoot locations yesterday. It's taken me 2 weeks to find them in this town.

Bought a pair of Crocs. Croc flip flops that is. That puts my count at 5 pairs, 5 different styles and I've yet to own a pair of the original style. I'm completely aware of how ugly they are (please don't dock me fashionista points), but you work a 21 hour day shooting dv and tell me they didn't change your life.

Enough! We're shooting in Mississippi tomorrow!

I Died in Arkansas. Don't Tell Anyone.

This is what 21 hours of work looks like.

I'm feeling a little crazy. A little crazier that usual.

We are approaching the very end of the Memphis trip. The end of Season 5. Possibly the end of the show, ever. We've all been praying for the end.

Yesterday was hard. On top of the regular grueling shoots, yesterday we had a two hour drive to our location and a two hours drive back. The second shoot of the day was particularly involved, and it ended up being a 21 hour day.

Therefore, today was a little rough. We had to drive 45 min into Mississippi on top of the usual stuff we have to do, came back to our hotel and crashed. I woke up feeling off, and the Sonic we ate for lunch messed me up. It's either that our I have West Nile virus from all the bug bites. I look like an F'ing leper.

The only thing to do amidst the madness is to really make the best of it.


I get massages and tattoos from my director.


Cool house in Searcy, Arkansas


Shooting Elvis style


Turnip and I with Karen Bottle Capps.


Yeah, we're a pretty good team.

Day of Independence

For the last 3 years I've worked through 4th of July. The last 2 I've been away from home and arranged for it to be our day off amidst madness. And in those last two years in two different cities, I've found that Columbus and Memphis are not so into the fireworks on the 4th. They get started early.

So this year after our shoot on Saturday, we booked it to make it home for fireworks. We are fortunate enough to be staying in the heart of downtown, and our rooftop provided the perfect view for Red, White, and Blues.

I don't even know what we actually did on the 4th.

Right now I'm being consumed by a 4 hour drive we have to bear tomorrow, going in and out of Arkansas. Wish us luck.