On Wednesday, I think I noticed everything. Everything had been brushed with a highlighter like lines in a play.
I’ve been trying to take a walk every morning. Yes, it would be nice to be ten pounds slimmer for bathing suit season but really it’s more for my mood and productivity. I walk about two miles and then I’ve been swinging on our swing set in the back yard. I listen to Pandora and generally have it on R&B funk. I find this extremely helpful with my day overall.
On Wednesday’s walk, Pandora and I started out with James Brown and then hit a good number of songs from The Big Chill. Notably, this was my first love’s ‘theme’ album with his senior year classmates. I never got exactly why these 17-year old kids were fascinated with The Big Chill but I was only 15 and accepted the fate of a Sophomore dating a Senior. I just didn’t get it. I did appreciate the break from Hank Jr., when The Big Chill would have its turn in the tape deck. Welcome to rural Kentucky.
Listening to those songs made me feel a bit melancholy. It’s been 21 years since that boy. First love and after shocks, and The Big Chill or how I began Wednesday and where does it go from here?
Disclaimer: I really do not like to be labeled.
However, I am labeled as a single mom. That’s cool. I own it. I don’t feel weird about being single. My marriage wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t what either of us needed. I feel much better being single than I do having been married. So I’m the single mom and it’s easier than it was before. Okay, okay, okay.
I do and have done a lot of work that is put in front of people. For this reason, a gal who I’m currently working with, nominated me for some top singles thing for the rag she works for. She made it clear that it was not a matchmaking thing and that it would be a good way to have a profile in a popular local magazine and I could promote some of this work with it. Fair enough. It still makes me uncomfortable. I don’t like being labeled and there seems to be some stigma associated as being labeled single. Being publicly single, is just a bit weird. I do need all the help I can get with these freelance projects and all press is good press so I agreed to do it.
Wednesday I have my picture made as a top single. Yep. I meet the photographer and art director at the appointed time and we head to the Sunsphere to take some shots with a nice background. All is going well. No one is around and it’s a comfortable shoot. All good. I turn around and there’s my ex-husband. Just what you want to happen at a print shoot for top singles. He’s with his best friend. Just a point of interest ~ his best friend used to own this magazine and my ex started it for him. I dodge the question about what I’m doing and start blabbing about anything to change the subject about why I have this makeup on and why I’m in a dress and not the typical overalls or skirt and t-shirt. As they get into the elevator, I’m asked the question again. I’m a bad liar. I tell it. The elevator door shuts to two a-holes smirking. I had to eat a chilidog after that.
Later that day, I had an event to start some buzz about the biscuit festival. It was going well but I had to catch up with my daughters who had a play date with a friend and her daughter. They were kicking up dust on Market Square. I make my way out the door and run into my divorce attorney. I really like her but it was just the kind of day that made me think of her as my divorce attorney and not just some awesome gal.
I head to meet my girls, their friends and my friends. All good. My friend’s neighbor is with her and he has a little baby about a year old. Everyone’s having fun. I feel exhausted. It’s just been a lot of a day. Downtown is happening and folks are wandering up and we are all being introduced at different times. At one particular moment, I’m sitting by the single dad neighbor who also happens to share my last name. We are being introduced and it sounds like I’m married to this Hubbard man who I just met. I have never had that experience before. Even when I was married, I didn’t take my ex-husband’s name.
It was an interesting sensation. For a brief second, in the eyes of this stranger that was learning our names, I was a part of something and I didn’t have to give up something else.
This morning I woke up to find both girls had made their way into my bed. One of the cats is curled up on my pillow biting my head. I rouse the village, feed everyone, and take the girls to school. In my youngest’s classroom, they are giving away the pets. The school is closing next month and homes are being sought. I’m easily suckered into taking this creepy quick algae eating fish and 7 snails. They can live with our frog and male Beta fish. Easy.
I get home and release the additions to the aquarium, find Pandora and walk.
I’m still in yesterday’s pigtails.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
a gift...
Electric wires play across the blue gray sky and slowly a smiling moon moves them from their position of focus. The sun sets into a deeper sky of blue with highlights of pink and orange losing ground. A banjo from Canada whispers and howls as this smile of a moon rises. The banjo yells 'lost and lonely' and I feel self conscious and invisible at the same time. The sun has warmed the ground but the air takes a chill as I watch this smile through the trees, high up and alone, a companion.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
a few funny things...
Lucy Maye had a friend spend the night on Friday. When we got home I overheard Lucy Maye say "Hey Katherine! Lets find my computer and we can make a power point about what we want to do."
I caught Emma Jean shouting "I want a Toy Boy!" out her window. This means she's probably been listening to Christina Aguilera on my iphone again. I'm going to have to hide the iphone.
We went to a cookout but it got kind of late and the smallest one was going to crash so we left before we actually ate. We stopped at this tiny tastee freeze kind of place in Corryton and became surrounded by some pee wee league of some sort and their daddies. Katherine started talking about her uncle who had to move out of Tennessee because our state wouldn't let him marry his boyfriend. I'm always up for that sort of conversation with a 9 year old but in the interest of our safety, I had to ask her if we could talk about this later.
Shrek 3 has a version of "Live and Let Die". The song happens when they are ushering the body of the Frog King off into the ocean. Emma Jean has been singing it to our dog Virginia for a couple of days now.
We are going to plant a garden today and Lucy Maye only wants cucumbers and Begonia's. Emma Jean wants macaroni and cheese.
Other highlights included listening to Jeff Barbra and Sarah Pirkle play the Square on Friday and Sarah with the lovely ladies of the Naughty Knots play on Saturday. I'm a big fan. The art was great at the market as well. I found a jewelry maker that I'm going to stalk until I can afford him. His name is Randy Armstrong. I also got to read a little this weekend and am going to garden today. I've done some cooking the way I like to cook. It hasn't been the defensive sort of cooking that's usually done in a rush.
It's been nice just to have time this weekend to do nothing but pay attention.
I caught Emma Jean shouting "I want a Toy Boy!" out her window. This means she's probably been listening to Christina Aguilera on my iphone again. I'm going to have to hide the iphone.
We went to a cookout but it got kind of late and the smallest one was going to crash so we left before we actually ate. We stopped at this tiny tastee freeze kind of place in Corryton and became surrounded by some pee wee league of some sort and their daddies. Katherine started talking about her uncle who had to move out of Tennessee because our state wouldn't let him marry his boyfriend. I'm always up for that sort of conversation with a 9 year old but in the interest of our safety, I had to ask her if we could talk about this later.
Shrek 3 has a version of "Live and Let Die". The song happens when they are ushering the body of the Frog King off into the ocean. Emma Jean has been singing it to our dog Virginia for a couple of days now.
We are going to plant a garden today and Lucy Maye only wants cucumbers and Begonia's. Emma Jean wants macaroni and cheese.
Other highlights included listening to Jeff Barbra and Sarah Pirkle play the Square on Friday and Sarah with the lovely ladies of the Naughty Knots play on Saturday. I'm a big fan. The art was great at the market as well. I found a jewelry maker that I'm going to stalk until I can afford him. His name is Randy Armstrong. I also got to read a little this weekend and am going to garden today. I've done some cooking the way I like to cook. It hasn't been the defensive sort of cooking that's usually done in a rush.
It's been nice just to have time this weekend to do nothing but pay attention.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Pirates.
There are three plastic pirates that sit on my window sill. They sit there with three Mexican Jesus candles from the international food section at the grocery. My other window sill has a seltzer bottle, a tiny old glass milk bottle with a start of Christmas cactus in it, another Mexican Jesus candle and two pomegranates. They are the windows in my kitchen. These small items are significant to me. The three pirates are from my 40th birthday cake. The cake was actually a whole lot of cupcakes that had different things on each cupcake ~ pirates, ladybugs, letters that made up “Happy Birthday Amy” and things like “pretty”. I kept the pirates and they feel kind of like protection. They are very handsome and angry looking. When I was on the road, the same kind of Mexican Jesus candles were scattered across our work tables in the mobile kitchen. They were cheap and traveled well and lasted a long time. They also didn't smell and confuse the smell of food with the smell of perfume. I've liked these candles since that time but only for the kitchen. There's something about these candles that make me feel lucky, blessed. The seltzer bottle is pretty and from the yoga studio. The tiny milk bottle came from somewhere at my old house. It reminds me of that farmhouse and how much I loved it and the good things about it. The Christmas cactus reminds me of my great grandmother. Both my dad and my grandmother have huge Christmas cactus that came from her. This start did not. The pomegranates are drying. I bought them before Christmastime. My stepmother had some dried pomegranates a few years back and I thought they were something very exotic. I had never paid attention to an actual pomegranate before. They sit on my window sill and remind me almost anything can be bought anywhere if you know what to look for. I think that's good and bad. I can't tell if they are drying or rotting but I don't have fruit flies.
I've been minding my journey lately. Something about it has become more noticeable. I was thinking that it's just the new year and we pay attention because we expect a shift. This is different. This isn't an ordinary shift. This is a formation of rock moving, a sea change, a blue moon.
In January I went to Tallahassee and made a short film. The film was directed by a gal, Jaye, who used to come to Actors Co-op shows when she was in high school. She was also the student of a successful filmmaker friend of mine, Paul, when at UT. Now she's a grad student at FSU and made a 12 minute film and cast me in the role of the mother. The film is set during the missile crisis with Cuba in the early 1960's. I feel like it's going to turn out to be good. I had a talk with someone last fall about how I need to do a mom role and some period work. This fell in my lap and I'm really grateful for it. The universe heard me. While in Tallahassee, I made friends with the man playing my husband. We had important conversations about spirituality, boyfriends, and shifts. He has affected my life and we talk often and support each other and tell each other secrets and essentially whoop it up on the phone. Every time we talk I feel the better for it and am infused with an energy I didn't have before. He is like citrus. He is in my tribe. If I had a villa in Italy, I would fly him there whenever he wanted.
I came home from Florida wondering about my acting career and other life sort of things. Sometimes I feel stunned...like a deer in the headlights. I feel almost immobile. I am not a still person so when these things happen to me, it's a little terrifying. I wonder if I'm sinking. Then I think maybe I should just let myself be still and it'll pass. I don't have the answer for that but it only lasts a little while, a couple of hours, a day or two, not long. I wonder if after all that has been placed in my picnic basket over the last few years if I might just be a tiny bit depressed. Not that it wouldn't be understandable but I just can't really make time for depression. If I didn't have the girls maybe I would just lie down on my couch for a few weeks and be still but all I can spare is a couple of hours and a weekend here and there. Sometimes I burst into tears. I did that in the car on the way home tonight. It was dark and the girls didn't see. All of the sudden tears just popped out of my eyes and I found my face twisted and my breath struggling to be quiet. Then it passed. I can only guess that it's a physical way of releasing stress. It's a part of the journey.
So I get back from Tallahassee thinking about acting and Paul has released “Gina, an Actress, age 29” to a film site called The Auteurs. Check it out. I think you can still watch it for free. Paul's about to unleash his genius on a feature and I want to be able to help with that, not as an actor but as a friend. Right before I left for Tallahassee, Clarence Brown Theatre asked me to do a play called “Speech and Debate” and I'm in rehearsals for that now. I've been given a short film and a paying theatre gig recently. My most successful screen time has essentially be re-released. I've also had two auditions for television and a feature film audition just this month. This feels good, natural. Thank you universe for hearing me.
Louisiana has been popping up like a Jack in the Box. My mom got Emma Jean the CD of “Princess and the Frog” for Christmas. The soundtrack was done by Randy Newman and it's good and set in New Orleans. The girls and I listen to it in the car everyday. Every single day. This prompted us to celebrate Mardi Gras by attending a party at KMA with a cajun band. I left a King Cake for them on Fat Tuesday while I went off to rehearsal with a second King Cake to share with my cast. One of the television shows and the feature are both being shot in Louisiana. I hope I get both these jobs. It could happen. I have a feeling I could use a little Louisiana.
“Speech and Debate” is a pretty interesting play. I play a teacher and a reporter and these ladies bookend the play. I find it thematically very interesting and the college students playing the kids are very unique and enjoyable. The director and I seem to be on parallel paths. We divorced at the same time. We've run our own theatre companies that have been very similar in content. He wants to do this play that a friend of mine recently recommended that I do so I'm going to read it and we may just frickin' do it. We share the same favorite poem. There are other things too. He may be in my tribe. I can't tell yet. I feel completely at ease around him. Not with the same unabashed affection that I have for Thomas but in a way that's easy. I can talk to him or invite him to things and not think twice about it. It's just the kind of feeling where you don't have to try to be someone's friend. You are just their friend.
I have a couple of other new friends that have moved out of the shadows. It's all keeping my cup full, tethering me to the ground. One writes me funny and poignant emails and calls on occasion to goof off on the phone. He posts Zen meditation techniques. Another talked to me about the meaning of life today as defined by the dictionary ~ to have a purpose. I questioned my purpose and he said that it might just be to love. When my brain was sending flashes of what my purpose could be my daughters were the brightest flash, then theatre and friends and offering things to my community and that's all love. But I don't know. Now I'm on a mission to create my statement of purpose. Maybe I'll form a focus group.
Speaking of love, a bunch of women I know sure do love Jesus. I am lucky enough to have 6 best friends from elementary school. We all went to the beach last year to celebrate the acceptance of 40 years on planet earth. One of these gals has had a really hard time of it. Two of her three children and her husband have pretty serious diabetes. It hit her last week that she doesn't believe in God. My thought is that she does believe in God, she's just pissed off and has lost her faith in God. I've vocalized that through email since I can't be at their scripture/prayer/where's Jesus meeting on Friday night. I don't know if I'd be the best person to be at this meeting but I'd go if I could. That's because I love these women and no matter what I would hold their hands and walk through fire if that's where they needed to go to get to the other side of whatever they needed to get through. I'm the odd gal out on the religious front and would probably bring the Tao with me instead of the Bible. They love me anyway. I'm the only Democrat. That's how it is with me and these women. There have been thousands of emails exchanged in this group over the past couple of years. We are bread and butter. We raised each other and now we raise each other up.
Another very dear friend of mine has just accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. She sent a facebook message out to about 10 of us and she was worried that we'd be upset with her, that our friendship with her would suffer because she got filled up with the Holy Spirit. It's been funny to read the email responses. “It's okay as long as you don't start listening to Amy Grant.” “Will you still allow me to worship false idols?” "Jesus needs some cool friends." Everyone has been supportive and my friend is bathing in the love of her heathen friends and in the love of her newly discovered belief in Christianity.
It's interesting to find myself immersed in these emails regarding God from my women folk. It's interesting to have these new friends that make me question coincidence and simplicity and purpose. It's interesting to have acting gigs.
I went into my kitchen tonight and realized I'd left a window open from the day that teased us with warm air. I go to pull it down and move it slowly so as not to upset the pirates and I notice that I have made a shrine to my life. I have made an alter that includes tokens of my past, present and future. The windows also include the view to our creek and my neighbor's house and last year's Christmas tree and where the garden will be this summer. I think that God is not too far away from these windows of my life and neither is the purpose to love and the Zen thought to act simply and my ambition to be a good actor and my ladies that love Jesus.
I tell the pirates good night and thank them for their support.
I've been minding my journey lately. Something about it has become more noticeable. I was thinking that it's just the new year and we pay attention because we expect a shift. This is different. This isn't an ordinary shift. This is a formation of rock moving, a sea change, a blue moon.
In January I went to Tallahassee and made a short film. The film was directed by a gal, Jaye, who used to come to Actors Co-op shows when she was in high school. She was also the student of a successful filmmaker friend of mine, Paul, when at UT. Now she's a grad student at FSU and made a 12 minute film and cast me in the role of the mother. The film is set during the missile crisis with Cuba in the early 1960's. I feel like it's going to turn out to be good. I had a talk with someone last fall about how I need to do a mom role and some period work. This fell in my lap and I'm really grateful for it. The universe heard me. While in Tallahassee, I made friends with the man playing my husband. We had important conversations about spirituality, boyfriends, and shifts. He has affected my life and we talk often and support each other and tell each other secrets and essentially whoop it up on the phone. Every time we talk I feel the better for it and am infused with an energy I didn't have before. He is like citrus. He is in my tribe. If I had a villa in Italy, I would fly him there whenever he wanted.
I came home from Florida wondering about my acting career and other life sort of things. Sometimes I feel stunned...like a deer in the headlights. I feel almost immobile. I am not a still person so when these things happen to me, it's a little terrifying. I wonder if I'm sinking. Then I think maybe I should just let myself be still and it'll pass. I don't have the answer for that but it only lasts a little while, a couple of hours, a day or two, not long. I wonder if after all that has been placed in my picnic basket over the last few years if I might just be a tiny bit depressed. Not that it wouldn't be understandable but I just can't really make time for depression. If I didn't have the girls maybe I would just lie down on my couch for a few weeks and be still but all I can spare is a couple of hours and a weekend here and there. Sometimes I burst into tears. I did that in the car on the way home tonight. It was dark and the girls didn't see. All of the sudden tears just popped out of my eyes and I found my face twisted and my breath struggling to be quiet. Then it passed. I can only guess that it's a physical way of releasing stress. It's a part of the journey.
So I get back from Tallahassee thinking about acting and Paul has released “Gina, an Actress, age 29” to a film site called The Auteurs. Check it out. I think you can still watch it for free. Paul's about to unleash his genius on a feature and I want to be able to help with that, not as an actor but as a friend. Right before I left for Tallahassee, Clarence Brown Theatre asked me to do a play called “Speech and Debate” and I'm in rehearsals for that now. I've been given a short film and a paying theatre gig recently. My most successful screen time has essentially be re-released. I've also had two auditions for television and a feature film audition just this month. This feels good, natural. Thank you universe for hearing me.
Louisiana has been popping up like a Jack in the Box. My mom got Emma Jean the CD of “Princess and the Frog” for Christmas. The soundtrack was done by Randy Newman and it's good and set in New Orleans. The girls and I listen to it in the car everyday. Every single day. This prompted us to celebrate Mardi Gras by attending a party at KMA with a cajun band. I left a King Cake for them on Fat Tuesday while I went off to rehearsal with a second King Cake to share with my cast. One of the television shows and the feature are both being shot in Louisiana. I hope I get both these jobs. It could happen. I have a feeling I could use a little Louisiana.
“Speech and Debate” is a pretty interesting play. I play a teacher and a reporter and these ladies bookend the play. I find it thematically very interesting and the college students playing the kids are very unique and enjoyable. The director and I seem to be on parallel paths. We divorced at the same time. We've run our own theatre companies that have been very similar in content. He wants to do this play that a friend of mine recently recommended that I do so I'm going to read it and we may just frickin' do it. We share the same favorite poem. There are other things too. He may be in my tribe. I can't tell yet. I feel completely at ease around him. Not with the same unabashed affection that I have for Thomas but in a way that's easy. I can talk to him or invite him to things and not think twice about it. It's just the kind of feeling where you don't have to try to be someone's friend. You are just their friend.
I have a couple of other new friends that have moved out of the shadows. It's all keeping my cup full, tethering me to the ground. One writes me funny and poignant emails and calls on occasion to goof off on the phone. He posts Zen meditation techniques. Another talked to me about the meaning of life today as defined by the dictionary ~ to have a purpose. I questioned my purpose and he said that it might just be to love. When my brain was sending flashes of what my purpose could be my daughters were the brightest flash, then theatre and friends and offering things to my community and that's all love. But I don't know. Now I'm on a mission to create my statement of purpose. Maybe I'll form a focus group.
Speaking of love, a bunch of women I know sure do love Jesus. I am lucky enough to have 6 best friends from elementary school. We all went to the beach last year to celebrate the acceptance of 40 years on planet earth. One of these gals has had a really hard time of it. Two of her three children and her husband have pretty serious diabetes. It hit her last week that she doesn't believe in God. My thought is that she does believe in God, she's just pissed off and has lost her faith in God. I've vocalized that through email since I can't be at their scripture/prayer/where's Jesus meeting on Friday night. I don't know if I'd be the best person to be at this meeting but I'd go if I could. That's because I love these women and no matter what I would hold their hands and walk through fire if that's where they needed to go to get to the other side of whatever they needed to get through. I'm the odd gal out on the religious front and would probably bring the Tao with me instead of the Bible. They love me anyway. I'm the only Democrat. That's how it is with me and these women. There have been thousands of emails exchanged in this group over the past couple of years. We are bread and butter. We raised each other and now we raise each other up.
Another very dear friend of mine has just accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. She sent a facebook message out to about 10 of us and she was worried that we'd be upset with her, that our friendship with her would suffer because she got filled up with the Holy Spirit. It's been funny to read the email responses. “It's okay as long as you don't start listening to Amy Grant.” “Will you still allow me to worship false idols?” "Jesus needs some cool friends." Everyone has been supportive and my friend is bathing in the love of her heathen friends and in the love of her newly discovered belief in Christianity.
It's interesting to find myself immersed in these emails regarding God from my women folk. It's interesting to have these new friends that make me question coincidence and simplicity and purpose. It's interesting to have acting gigs.
I went into my kitchen tonight and realized I'd left a window open from the day that teased us with warm air. I go to pull it down and move it slowly so as not to upset the pirates and I notice that I have made a shrine to my life. I have made an alter that includes tokens of my past, present and future. The windows also include the view to our creek and my neighbor's house and last year's Christmas tree and where the garden will be this summer. I think that God is not too far away from these windows of my life and neither is the purpose to love and the Zen thought to act simply and my ambition to be a good actor and my ladies that love Jesus.
I tell the pirates good night and thank them for their support.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Amy as herself
January 19 – 25, 2010
Things I notice at the Airports
1. Fine an alternative to the “suit shoes” for fellas. Black loafers and brown loafers with or without tassels are a senseless use of fashion. Some other kind of shoe must be worn. Even some interesting stitching could help this boring, yet offensive, use of footwear. White tennis shoes should also only be worn in the gym.
2. The black leather jacket is out. Yet, I wore mine. Not nearly as many black leather jackets as when I flew to NYC last January or to Austin last February.
3. Airports are peaceful. Folks speak quietly and they pretty much only speak to each other or to their cell phones. However this is not necessarily the case at the Orlando International Airport, which is incredibly confusing. Tons of families going to and fro. Folks arriving are excited with happy kids. Folks leaving have mouse ears and are quiet and testy. Orlando is the most active airport I've ever been in.
Film Shoot
I like it. I like movies. It's not the same actor high for me that theatre is. It's a completely different way of working. Sometimes it's really boring and sometimes it's really difficult. It's not very freeing. It's extremely specific and subtle. I like it.
During rehearsal on Wednesday, I had a horrible caffeine headache so I was kind of crabby. I hope everyone else just thought I was being quiet. I had rehearsal with the whole family on Wednesday. There's two sons, a husband and me. The boys are very cute. Phinneas plays Miles. He's 13 and very wise. His mom is an author and he's pretty cultured and witty. He also wore a “I heart Hot Moms” shirt to set one day. He's the only other person, besides myself, that I've seen wear that $5 Target shirt. It was just as creepy and hilarious on him as I feel it is on me. Royce plays Danny. He's 8 and so cute it's ridiculous. Both his parents were here with him although not at the same time. He also had a sitter here. His older brother, who is 11, premiered a film in Atlanta on Sunday so both parents were in Atlanta for that. His sitter is a gal I know from Knoxville ~ Quinn. She is a talented actor/singer but I know her in a costumer capacity. She costumed me for this historical film for the East Tennessee History Center. It's funny how small the world is. Royce's family are pretty interesting. They live in this planned community that is very much like a commune. Everyone has their own living space and then they have a group space where they all have a few meals together each week. Royce's dad teaches theatre education in schools and through the Alliance in Atlanta. His mom is also an actor. They went to Costa Rica last year for vacation where they worked on a cocoa bean farm. The guy who plays my husband, Thomas, is hilarious. I really adore him. He's very funny and we bonded as soon as we got on set. We didn't really bond at rehearsal although it was nothing bad. He likes to do a lot of improvisation. Unplanned improvisation makes me uncomfortable. I feel pressured to be witty or poignant with improv like that. I crave more structure. If it's planned improv with the director and for a specific purpose, I can go along with it and do fine. But during rehearsal, Thomas (playing Jim) really got into improving scenes that just aren't in the script. Mostly I just looked at him and sat down until he was done or I got the nervous giggles. But when we got on set (and I didn't have a caffeine headache) I decided instantly that he was a BFF. And it helped that he cut out the spontaneous improv. He told me some stories about his cross dressing improv shows and we played on our phones. I think he's a very good actor. He processes through improv and that's cool. I just don't have much experience with that.
Shooting went well. The first day, I kept having to serve these bbq porkchops and eat instant mashed potatoes. It got really gross. During the second scene we shot on that same day, we had to eat corn. Yuck. The crew are all FSU film students and it rarely, if ever, felt like we were shooting a student film. Nobody paid much attention to continuity and that drove me crazy. I also had to do my own makeup/hair but it got done. I think Jaye's script is good. She's really specific and would sometimes over explain but at least she knows exactly what she wants.
I got to wear some really ugly clothes ~ bright yellow house wife dress from the late 50's and this polyester green dress. I'm excited about it. It was very housewifey.
It was interesting to be in a hotel room all alone for 6 days/nights. I'm not used to being alone. I always missed my home and would wake up thinking of my daughters but it was also liberating. I got to watch/listen to and do whatever I wanted in the room. It was only me. I haven't had that experience since before the girls were born.
The weather was alright. There were a couple of pretty days but it rained as much as the sun shined. One day we had tornado warnings and it was pretty gloomy and scary outside. Before I left Knoxville, Lucy Maye said to cross our fingers that there wouldn't be any hurricanes or tornados. I told her that no way would there be anything like that and I'd be home before she knew it. Then there was a tornado warning and I imagined how difficult it would be for Lucy Maye if I actually did die in a tornado while in FL since she had fretted about it. I worried about Emma Jean not remembering me. Then I started thinking about other natural disasters and acts of God that would keep me from my children. I should have never read The Road.
Heading Home
My cab driver is from Nigeria. He tells me he arrived here in 1974, before I was born. I can't help but correct him and admit I was actually 5 years old. In Nigeria, he had been accepted to Law School but his father felt that the job of a lawyer is to turn truths to lies and refused to let him go. The father instead offered to send the cab driver to Britain, the Soviet Union or the US for a master's degree. He was accepted to some schools in the Soviet Union but their was a language barrier. Long story short, he attended the University of Wisconsin and got into Medical School but couldn't afford to go and because he wasn't a US citizen, he couldn't get financial aid. Money is gross. He and his wife now have 5 children, the oldest two have Pharmacy degrees, the middle child is a financier in DC and the youngest 2 children (a he twin and a she twin) are still in college. I wanted to ride around all day in the cab with this man. I wanted to meet his wife and his kids. I bet they throw down a great supper table.
I arrive at the airport and I am in a terminal with a gaggle of middle school students on their way to DC for 4 days. I go through security with a group of girls all dressed in velour jumpsuits and Ugg boots. They are thrilled and have contagious giggling. Only I don't catch it. It's too early for giggles and velour. I go to the bathroom and they are there and they are so loud. I kept reminding myself that I was once a teenage girl. I once giggled.
As I wait, seated, for my prop engine plane to arrive, one of the chaperones ask if I want to go with them. I admitted that in the bathroom, surrounded by the vivacious young women, I wondered how I would survive my own daughters when they reach that giggling awkward age. She answered that I would because my mother survived it and that she was currently surviving it. I watched the chaperones, most parents and some teachers, take a big breath before getting on to their charter flight to DC. I was just a little excited for them and I was relieved for the obvious lack of giggling. It left the room like air from a balloon.
The gentlemen behind me makes calls. He's a lawyer and he's calling clients for directions. He's calling his office to instruct his employees to do a reconstruction from a car accident. I think of the Nigerian cab driver and his fathers opinion. This lawyer behind me could be turning truths to lies but he speaks so kindly to people on the phone. It really strikes me how nice he is in asking his employees for the reconstruction. I hope he's a good lawyer because his voice is so friendly and kind.
The lady sitting next to me is clearly talking to a man she is dating. I can tell it's new. I overhear her asking the man to give her some reassurance because she's feeling like she needs it. As the conversation continues, she also giggles. It's coquettish. She talks about buying chocolate as her splurge. It's not sexy but flirty, childish. I can tell that whatever reassurance this man just gave her still leaves her uncomfortable. I want to tell her that she should never ask a man for reassurance. But then I would have to admit that I'd been eavesdropping and really what do I know about relationships. I have this feeling that the man on the other end of the line isn't in it to win it. She reads the sign posted right in front of us, “There is not a lavatory on board this aircraft. Please use the restroom before boarding. Thank you.” Then there's a pause and she says something about already taking care of that part and then another pause, giggling and the explanation that she doesn't know why she read that to him. Doomed.
My flight from Tallahassee is late and I miss my connecting flight in Orlando. I'll only be behind a couple of hours so it's no big deal. The flight to Charlotte is uneventful. At the Charlotte airport, the service everywhere I go is wonderful. Even in the public bathroom there is an attendant. She wipes the seat down before each person enters the stall. She has a buffet of mouthwash, tampons and breath mints right beside a huge tip jar. All the service people that I see are black folks. It makes me wonder what Charlotte is like outside the airport. I have a perfectly delightful time with people being so nice to me. The Starbucks ladies call me both “Sugar” and “Honey”.
During the flight from Charlotte to Knoxville, I sit next to Gary. He's the first person I've really spoken with on any of these airplane rides. He's going to Knoxville on business. He's staying in Cedar Bluff. I tell him about Taste of Thai, Bakers Peters, Che Guevara, Sitar and then tell him he should really stay downtown and brag on that for awhile. Then I get to brag on how close we are to the mountains and to Hot Springs. I say that Knoxville is unsuspecting in all it has to offer.
I'm really glad to come home.
Arrival
Well, my suitcase is still in Charlotte. Vince picks me up and we go get my car and pick up my girls. I am relieved to see them. It's like I've been thirsty and they are huge glasses of water. I'm really glad to be home. We go to Earth Fare to eat pizza and I lock my keys in the car along with my phone. Meanwhile my luggage arrives and I miss the call. At around 7:30, we are on our way home and my luggage is on it's way to my house and I'm no longer a movie star. I'm just a mom making her way to tomorrow. We get home, do homework and I check the mail. I have a W9 from MGM but I haven't done the MGM work since 2005. It gives me a little hope that a residual check didn't get to me but I'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out. Surprise actor money? Maybe.
Home
This morning was its usual nightmare of waking up so early that it's painful. The girls are grumpy and needy and want me to dress them from head to toe. Then they want to watch a video and don't eat their breakfast and I have to turn the TV off and they freak out. I take out the garbage and brush their hair. We are on our way. Fortunately, the music fromPrincess and the Frog was written by Randy Newman and we listen to that on the drive. We jam out to Momma Odie on our way to school. It's good. On Tuesdays, I take Emma Jean through the drive thru at Starbucks after we drop Lucy Maye off and she gets a chocolate milk. It's a special little date for just she and I. She loves doing it. Oddly enough, one of the Starbucks employees has just seen the historical film at the East Tennessee History Museum, the one Quinn costumed, and tells me I was the best one in it. To my recollection, I may have been the only one in it. I'll gladly take the compliment though. I haven't showered today. I'm wearing a bandana on my head and have pop tart on my shirt but that compliment kinda makes me feel like a movie star.
The world is a very strange and wonderful place.
Things I notice at the Airports
1. Fine an alternative to the “suit shoes” for fellas. Black loafers and brown loafers with or without tassels are a senseless use of fashion. Some other kind of shoe must be worn. Even some interesting stitching could help this boring, yet offensive, use of footwear. White tennis shoes should also only be worn in the gym.
2. The black leather jacket is out. Yet, I wore mine. Not nearly as many black leather jackets as when I flew to NYC last January or to Austin last February.
3. Airports are peaceful. Folks speak quietly and they pretty much only speak to each other or to their cell phones. However this is not necessarily the case at the Orlando International Airport, which is incredibly confusing. Tons of families going to and fro. Folks arriving are excited with happy kids. Folks leaving have mouse ears and are quiet and testy. Orlando is the most active airport I've ever been in.
Film Shoot
I like it. I like movies. It's not the same actor high for me that theatre is. It's a completely different way of working. Sometimes it's really boring and sometimes it's really difficult. It's not very freeing. It's extremely specific and subtle. I like it.
During rehearsal on Wednesday, I had a horrible caffeine headache so I was kind of crabby. I hope everyone else just thought I was being quiet. I had rehearsal with the whole family on Wednesday. There's two sons, a husband and me. The boys are very cute. Phinneas plays Miles. He's 13 and very wise. His mom is an author and he's pretty cultured and witty. He also wore a “I heart Hot Moms” shirt to set one day. He's the only other person, besides myself, that I've seen wear that $5 Target shirt. It was just as creepy and hilarious on him as I feel it is on me. Royce plays Danny. He's 8 and so cute it's ridiculous. Both his parents were here with him although not at the same time. He also had a sitter here. His older brother, who is 11, premiered a film in Atlanta on Sunday so both parents were in Atlanta for that. His sitter is a gal I know from Knoxville ~ Quinn. She is a talented actor/singer but I know her in a costumer capacity. She costumed me for this historical film for the East Tennessee History Center. It's funny how small the world is. Royce's family are pretty interesting. They live in this planned community that is very much like a commune. Everyone has their own living space and then they have a group space where they all have a few meals together each week. Royce's dad teaches theatre education in schools and through the Alliance in Atlanta. His mom is also an actor. They went to Costa Rica last year for vacation where they worked on a cocoa bean farm. The guy who plays my husband, Thomas, is hilarious. I really adore him. He's very funny and we bonded as soon as we got on set. We didn't really bond at rehearsal although it was nothing bad. He likes to do a lot of improvisation. Unplanned improvisation makes me uncomfortable. I feel pressured to be witty or poignant with improv like that. I crave more structure. If it's planned improv with the director and for a specific purpose, I can go along with it and do fine. But during rehearsal, Thomas (playing Jim) really got into improving scenes that just aren't in the script. Mostly I just looked at him and sat down until he was done or I got the nervous giggles. But when we got on set (and I didn't have a caffeine headache) I decided instantly that he was a BFF. And it helped that he cut out the spontaneous improv. He told me some stories about his cross dressing improv shows and we played on our phones. I think he's a very good actor. He processes through improv and that's cool. I just don't have much experience with that.
Shooting went well. The first day, I kept having to serve these bbq porkchops and eat instant mashed potatoes. It got really gross. During the second scene we shot on that same day, we had to eat corn. Yuck. The crew are all FSU film students and it rarely, if ever, felt like we were shooting a student film. Nobody paid much attention to continuity and that drove me crazy. I also had to do my own makeup/hair but it got done. I think Jaye's script is good. She's really specific and would sometimes over explain but at least she knows exactly what she wants.
I got to wear some really ugly clothes ~ bright yellow house wife dress from the late 50's and this polyester green dress. I'm excited about it. It was very housewifey.
It was interesting to be in a hotel room all alone for 6 days/nights. I'm not used to being alone. I always missed my home and would wake up thinking of my daughters but it was also liberating. I got to watch/listen to and do whatever I wanted in the room. It was only me. I haven't had that experience since before the girls were born.
The weather was alright. There were a couple of pretty days but it rained as much as the sun shined. One day we had tornado warnings and it was pretty gloomy and scary outside. Before I left Knoxville, Lucy Maye said to cross our fingers that there wouldn't be any hurricanes or tornados. I told her that no way would there be anything like that and I'd be home before she knew it. Then there was a tornado warning and I imagined how difficult it would be for Lucy Maye if I actually did die in a tornado while in FL since she had fretted about it. I worried about Emma Jean not remembering me. Then I started thinking about other natural disasters and acts of God that would keep me from my children. I should have never read The Road.
Heading Home
My cab driver is from Nigeria. He tells me he arrived here in 1974, before I was born. I can't help but correct him and admit I was actually 5 years old. In Nigeria, he had been accepted to Law School but his father felt that the job of a lawyer is to turn truths to lies and refused to let him go. The father instead offered to send the cab driver to Britain, the Soviet Union or the US for a master's degree. He was accepted to some schools in the Soviet Union but their was a language barrier. Long story short, he attended the University of Wisconsin and got into Medical School but couldn't afford to go and because he wasn't a US citizen, he couldn't get financial aid. Money is gross. He and his wife now have 5 children, the oldest two have Pharmacy degrees, the middle child is a financier in DC and the youngest 2 children (a he twin and a she twin) are still in college. I wanted to ride around all day in the cab with this man. I wanted to meet his wife and his kids. I bet they throw down a great supper table.
I arrive at the airport and I am in a terminal with a gaggle of middle school students on their way to DC for 4 days. I go through security with a group of girls all dressed in velour jumpsuits and Ugg boots. They are thrilled and have contagious giggling. Only I don't catch it. It's too early for giggles and velour. I go to the bathroom and they are there and they are so loud. I kept reminding myself that I was once a teenage girl. I once giggled.
As I wait, seated, for my prop engine plane to arrive, one of the chaperones ask if I want to go with them. I admitted that in the bathroom, surrounded by the vivacious young women, I wondered how I would survive my own daughters when they reach that giggling awkward age. She answered that I would because my mother survived it and that she was currently surviving it. I watched the chaperones, most parents and some teachers, take a big breath before getting on to their charter flight to DC. I was just a little excited for them and I was relieved for the obvious lack of giggling. It left the room like air from a balloon.
The gentlemen behind me makes calls. He's a lawyer and he's calling clients for directions. He's calling his office to instruct his employees to do a reconstruction from a car accident. I think of the Nigerian cab driver and his fathers opinion. This lawyer behind me could be turning truths to lies but he speaks so kindly to people on the phone. It really strikes me how nice he is in asking his employees for the reconstruction. I hope he's a good lawyer because his voice is so friendly and kind.
The lady sitting next to me is clearly talking to a man she is dating. I can tell it's new. I overhear her asking the man to give her some reassurance because she's feeling like she needs it. As the conversation continues, she also giggles. It's coquettish. She talks about buying chocolate as her splurge. It's not sexy but flirty, childish. I can tell that whatever reassurance this man just gave her still leaves her uncomfortable. I want to tell her that she should never ask a man for reassurance. But then I would have to admit that I'd been eavesdropping and really what do I know about relationships. I have this feeling that the man on the other end of the line isn't in it to win it. She reads the sign posted right in front of us, “There is not a lavatory on board this aircraft. Please use the restroom before boarding. Thank you.” Then there's a pause and she says something about already taking care of that part and then another pause, giggling and the explanation that she doesn't know why she read that to him. Doomed.
My flight from Tallahassee is late and I miss my connecting flight in Orlando. I'll only be behind a couple of hours so it's no big deal. The flight to Charlotte is uneventful. At the Charlotte airport, the service everywhere I go is wonderful. Even in the public bathroom there is an attendant. She wipes the seat down before each person enters the stall. She has a buffet of mouthwash, tampons and breath mints right beside a huge tip jar. All the service people that I see are black folks. It makes me wonder what Charlotte is like outside the airport. I have a perfectly delightful time with people being so nice to me. The Starbucks ladies call me both “Sugar” and “Honey”.
During the flight from Charlotte to Knoxville, I sit next to Gary. He's the first person I've really spoken with on any of these airplane rides. He's going to Knoxville on business. He's staying in Cedar Bluff. I tell him about Taste of Thai, Bakers Peters, Che Guevara, Sitar and then tell him he should really stay downtown and brag on that for awhile. Then I get to brag on how close we are to the mountains and to Hot Springs. I say that Knoxville is unsuspecting in all it has to offer.
I'm really glad to come home.
Arrival
Well, my suitcase is still in Charlotte. Vince picks me up and we go get my car and pick up my girls. I am relieved to see them. It's like I've been thirsty and they are huge glasses of water. I'm really glad to be home. We go to Earth Fare to eat pizza and I lock my keys in the car along with my phone. Meanwhile my luggage arrives and I miss the call. At around 7:30, we are on our way home and my luggage is on it's way to my house and I'm no longer a movie star. I'm just a mom making her way to tomorrow. We get home, do homework and I check the mail. I have a W9 from MGM but I haven't done the MGM work since 2005. It gives me a little hope that a residual check didn't get to me but I'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out. Surprise actor money? Maybe.
Home
This morning was its usual nightmare of waking up so early that it's painful. The girls are grumpy and needy and want me to dress them from head to toe. Then they want to watch a video and don't eat their breakfast and I have to turn the TV off and they freak out. I take out the garbage and brush their hair. We are on our way. Fortunately, the music fromPrincess and the Frog was written by Randy Newman and we listen to that on the drive. We jam out to Momma Odie on our way to school. It's good. On Tuesdays, I take Emma Jean through the drive thru at Starbucks after we drop Lucy Maye off and she gets a chocolate milk. It's a special little date for just she and I. She loves doing it. Oddly enough, one of the Starbucks employees has just seen the historical film at the East Tennessee History Museum, the one Quinn costumed, and tells me I was the best one in it. To my recollection, I may have been the only one in it. I'll gladly take the compliment though. I haven't showered today. I'm wearing a bandana on my head and have pop tart on my shirt but that compliment kinda makes me feel like a movie star.
The world is a very strange and wonderful place.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Where's the map?
I've been divorced a little over 2 years and I keep looking at that as a defining moment. Not because of the divorce itself, but because after I got out of that situation, I could just be myself all over again. Before it felt like I was constantly asking permission. I felt like I was trying to force my way. Now it feels like I'm on my way, like some kind of gate has been opened. I'm not saying that divorce was a completely freeing experience. I've had to adapt a lot. I was very sad for a long time but now the choices are mine and the journey is a map of my choosing. I am good with that part. I really have no idea what I'm on my way to do or what I'm going to find there. I'm working on a map.
I've thought a lot in recent months about what it means to be your authentic self. I know the things I'm best at. I've been around long enough to know that. Howie, my dear friend and neighbor, and I made a list of the things I love the best. They also happen to be what I tend to do the best. Right now, this list serves as my map.
Here's my list:
1.Mothering
2.Acting
3.Home/Garden/Family
4.Working – particularly Special Event planning. I really dig it.
I'm doing my best to follow the map.
I love my daughters. It doesn't even make sense to list being a mother as something I enjoy or something that I do. It is a defining part of who I am. I don't even know if I enjoy it all the time but you don't always enjoy what you love the most. I love them the most. At their worst, they are my best.
I'm going out of town for almost a week to do a film. It's a short film and whereas all expenses are paid, I do not get paid. I only shoot for a few days and I'll have time to do any of my work via computer and phone while I'm there. I'm totally broke right now. I really struggled with how to make a decision to do this. I looked at this list and since acting is #2, I figured I'd better chance it. I like the script and had success with a short film back in 2001 so I'm crossing my fingers that this will, at the least, give the universe a little push to get me moving. I play a mom. I haven't played a mom yet. I have spoken out loud that I need a mom role. I have also spoken out loud that I need to do something on film that's not in a modern time period. The film is set during the Cuban Missile Crisis. So here's a mom role set in 1962 and I can't help but worry about being out of town. I'm doing my job on a contract basis right now and I really enjoy it but I don't know how long it's going to go on. It feels like a risk to go but I can stay home and worry about being barely employed or I can shoot a film and sit in a hotel room in Florida and be worried about being barely employed. I'm jumping in the deep end. I'll be worrying in Tallahassee in hair and makeup, making phone calls and going online to stay involved. Vince will stay at the house. The girls will stay with their dad. I'm hoping for good karma at this point.
My only New Year's resolution is to have a garden. I figure I can do that. It seems to be a reasonable goal. It will take some amount of effort but I can make a garden grow.
My contract labor job is essentially with special event type stuff. I really like it so I'm going to hang on to that as long as possible and spread the “for hire” sign around to the people who are doing like minded things. Maybe I can make a big soup of work to keep my head above the money water and get some really great things done around here. Please wish me luck.
A bit about 2009:
I wanted to travel more in 2009. I did it.
I started the year off following a great friend from rehearsal to rehearsal in NYC for a few days and kissed another very dear friend's sweet son and saw a couple of friends. I went to the beach at Edisto Island with my daughters and my sweetheart. I went to Gulf Shores with six of my friends that I've known since we were in elementary school. I went to Hot Springs a couple of times; once to celebrate love and another time with my four closest Knoxville friends to celebrate my birthday. I really like to travel, even if it's simple. All of 2009's travel was pretty simple, pretty modest. I hope to hop across the pond pretty soon. I've been thinking about getting a passport but I'm almost afraid that when I do, I'll hop across the pond. I'm not sure how to problem solve that just yet. I'll probably put it on the list for 2011. It'll be a part of my map. I might get a passport just in case.
I also fell in love. It's a lot different than it was in my 20's. I should say I'm a lot different so the approach to love is completely undiscovered territory. Some things are the same but navigating my daughters, my sweetheart and myself is something I've found is better if I allow myself to watch it unfold instead of trying to manage it. Lessons, lessons, lessons.
The only real disappointment in 2009 was having to downsize the Glowing Body. But it's surviving and we are all better for having been together for that brief little while. It was like a burst of energy and I learned a lot and made wonderful friends. So not all things that seem bad are bad.
Here's to 2010, a map and lots of people who keep making my life better.
I've thought a lot in recent months about what it means to be your authentic self. I know the things I'm best at. I've been around long enough to know that. Howie, my dear friend and neighbor, and I made a list of the things I love the best. They also happen to be what I tend to do the best. Right now, this list serves as my map.
Here's my list:
1.Mothering
2.Acting
3.Home/Garden/Family
4.Working – particularly Special Event planning. I really dig it.
I'm doing my best to follow the map.
I love my daughters. It doesn't even make sense to list being a mother as something I enjoy or something that I do. It is a defining part of who I am. I don't even know if I enjoy it all the time but you don't always enjoy what you love the most. I love them the most. At their worst, they are my best.
I'm going out of town for almost a week to do a film. It's a short film and whereas all expenses are paid, I do not get paid. I only shoot for a few days and I'll have time to do any of my work via computer and phone while I'm there. I'm totally broke right now. I really struggled with how to make a decision to do this. I looked at this list and since acting is #2, I figured I'd better chance it. I like the script and had success with a short film back in 2001 so I'm crossing my fingers that this will, at the least, give the universe a little push to get me moving. I play a mom. I haven't played a mom yet. I have spoken out loud that I need a mom role. I have also spoken out loud that I need to do something on film that's not in a modern time period. The film is set during the Cuban Missile Crisis. So here's a mom role set in 1962 and I can't help but worry about being out of town. I'm doing my job on a contract basis right now and I really enjoy it but I don't know how long it's going to go on. It feels like a risk to go but I can stay home and worry about being barely employed or I can shoot a film and sit in a hotel room in Florida and be worried about being barely employed. I'm jumping in the deep end. I'll be worrying in Tallahassee in hair and makeup, making phone calls and going online to stay involved. Vince will stay at the house. The girls will stay with their dad. I'm hoping for good karma at this point.
My only New Year's resolution is to have a garden. I figure I can do that. It seems to be a reasonable goal. It will take some amount of effort but I can make a garden grow.
My contract labor job is essentially with special event type stuff. I really like it so I'm going to hang on to that as long as possible and spread the “for hire” sign around to the people who are doing like minded things. Maybe I can make a big soup of work to keep my head above the money water and get some really great things done around here. Please wish me luck.
A bit about 2009:
I wanted to travel more in 2009. I did it.
I started the year off following a great friend from rehearsal to rehearsal in NYC for a few days and kissed another very dear friend's sweet son and saw a couple of friends. I went to the beach at Edisto Island with my daughters and my sweetheart. I went to Gulf Shores with six of my friends that I've known since we were in elementary school. I went to Hot Springs a couple of times; once to celebrate love and another time with my four closest Knoxville friends to celebrate my birthday. I really like to travel, even if it's simple. All of 2009's travel was pretty simple, pretty modest. I hope to hop across the pond pretty soon. I've been thinking about getting a passport but I'm almost afraid that when I do, I'll hop across the pond. I'm not sure how to problem solve that just yet. I'll probably put it on the list for 2011. It'll be a part of my map. I might get a passport just in case.
I also fell in love. It's a lot different than it was in my 20's. I should say I'm a lot different so the approach to love is completely undiscovered territory. Some things are the same but navigating my daughters, my sweetheart and myself is something I've found is better if I allow myself to watch it unfold instead of trying to manage it. Lessons, lessons, lessons.
The only real disappointment in 2009 was having to downsize the Glowing Body. But it's surviving and we are all better for having been together for that brief little while. It was like a burst of energy and I learned a lot and made wonderful friends. So not all things that seem bad are bad.
Here's to 2010, a map and lots of people who keep making my life better.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Here's the love...
I keep being reminded of all the reasons I frickin' love Knoxville Tennessee.
December's a good month to show some love so here it is. Here is the love.
1. National Performance Network is hosting their annual meeting here. It's at the historic Bijou Theatre. www.npnweb.org/site/annualmeeting2009. It's being hosted by the Carpetbag Theatre December 10 - 14.
2. Glowing Body's Free Day of Yoga on December 6. Free yoga all day long and discounts on all merchandise. There's also an incredible box of food you can purchase weekly to help your tastebuds, your health and your waistline. My best friend owns this and she's not paying me to include this. That's love. www.glowingbody.net
3. Carpe Librum - Independent Bookseller extraordinaire. If they had wireless and hot drinks, I'd move in. www.carpelibrum.booksense.com.
4. Alex Lavidge and Knoxville Overground. Alex came home for a spell to wrestle a bunch of entrepreneurs into a focused effort. Now he's off writing a book in NC but he's a hometown boy and is up for leading the way. www.knoxvilleoverground.com
5. First Night Knoxville. Downtown will be inhabited with over 200 artists in 10 venues on New Year's Eve. It's produced by the Market Square District Association (who presently employees me). This isn't nepotism. It's love. www.firstnightknoxville.com
6. Speaking of love, MSDA also got the bandwagon moving for First Friday's in Knoxville. December 4 will mark this month's First Friday. This means a Santa Parade, Downtown Gallery Walk but most importantly the monthly cupcake tasting at Magpies Cakes. www.magpiescakes.com. Don't be a fool.
7. Film maker Paul Harrill now lives outside of Roanoake VA but he makes the majority of his movies in happy go lucky Knoxville. He and his film maker wife have goats and chickens to keep them honest. www.lovellfilms.com
8. Jill Andrews lives here. www.jillandrews.com
9. Rachel Travis is a friend, a new mom and a innovative artist. She does children's illustrations and pet portraits. They are beautiful and you couldn't find a sweeter gal. www.boxiepets.com or www.rachelbtravis.com
10. Last but not least, the Actors Co-op ~ founded by yours truly, but this is about what I love and it's my blog so it's here and I love it. Call it nepotism if you want but believe me, I'm not paying myself to say it. We are performing in the Holiday Show with Christabel and the Jons on December 19 at the Square Room. www.actorscoop.net
This is the first of many Top Ten's before 2010. Check it out. Show it some love.
XO
December's a good month to show some love so here it is. Here is the love.
1. National Performance Network is hosting their annual meeting here. It's at the historic Bijou Theatre. www.npnweb.org/site/annualmeeting2009. It's being hosted by the Carpetbag Theatre December 10 - 14.
2. Glowing Body's Free Day of Yoga on December 6. Free yoga all day long and discounts on all merchandise. There's also an incredible box of food you can purchase weekly to help your tastebuds, your health and your waistline. My best friend owns this and she's not paying me to include this. That's love. www.glowingbody.net
3. Carpe Librum - Independent Bookseller extraordinaire. If they had wireless and hot drinks, I'd move in. www.carpelibrum.booksense.com.
4. Alex Lavidge and Knoxville Overground. Alex came home for a spell to wrestle a bunch of entrepreneurs into a focused effort. Now he's off writing a book in NC but he's a hometown boy and is up for leading the way. www.knoxvilleoverground.com
5. First Night Knoxville. Downtown will be inhabited with over 200 artists in 10 venues on New Year's Eve. It's produced by the Market Square District Association (who presently employees me). This isn't nepotism. It's love. www.firstnightknoxville.com
6. Speaking of love, MSDA also got the bandwagon moving for First Friday's in Knoxville. December 4 will mark this month's First Friday. This means a Santa Parade, Downtown Gallery Walk but most importantly the monthly cupcake tasting at Magpies Cakes. www.magpiescakes.com. Don't be a fool.
7. Film maker Paul Harrill now lives outside of Roanoake VA but he makes the majority of his movies in happy go lucky Knoxville. He and his film maker wife have goats and chickens to keep them honest. www.lovellfilms.com
8. Jill Andrews lives here. www.jillandrews.com
9. Rachel Travis is a friend, a new mom and a innovative artist. She does children's illustrations and pet portraits. They are beautiful and you couldn't find a sweeter gal. www.boxiepets.com or www.rachelbtravis.com
10. Last but not least, the Actors Co-op ~ founded by yours truly, but this is about what I love and it's my blog so it's here and I love it. Call it nepotism if you want but believe me, I'm not paying myself to say it. We are performing in the Holiday Show with Christabel and the Jons on December 19 at the Square Room. www.actorscoop.net
This is the first of many Top Ten's before 2010. Check it out. Show it some love.
XO
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