Fundatory

This weekend Music Man and I had the rare privilege of going to a Hollywood party (i.e.: fancy gathering of people who work in Hollywood).  This time it wasn’t just for a Wrap party (a party to conclude the end of a television season.  Often happens once a year), it was for a major television composers 50th birthday!  This is one of Music Man’s direct bosses, so it was an honor to be invited.

That being said, I don’t always enjoy these types of affairs.  Its like going to someone else’s annual Christmas work parties, or better yet, your spouses high school reunion.  Will you know anybody there?  Not too many.  Will you have anything in common?  Not really.  Will you get any of the inside jokes that might be told all night?  Nope, not at all.  So while it might be fun to get a little more dressed up than my usual yoga pants and t-shirts and a night without the little ones, its still a bit stressful.

A friend once aptly described this classic situation as FUNDATORY.

FUN-DATORY = Mandatory fun.  A mandatory event that you are encouraged and required to have as much fun as you can muster.

Beginning of the night classic selfie with me and my man.

After cursing our way through infamous downtown LA traffic (with the way anxious Music Man was driving, we barely made it out alive people!), we finally arrived at our destination.  A hole-in-the-wall antique STORE.  We were having a party at a store.   Which at first seemed weird and sketchy, but once we walked in we realized just how cool it really was.  First of all the decor was up my farm house ally.  It was littered with second hand or antique furniture pieces and decor.  And best part?  You could BUY ANYTHING you wanted!  Practically everything standing still had a price tag on it.   Granted you would have to have the wallet of a major Hollywood player, which of course we are not, in order to afford it.  We were mere peons in the ocean of who-who’s in the Hollywood musical elite at the party.  No matter, it was an antiquers dream window shopping experience.

The bar and name of the place

It’s difficult to see, but this coffee table is actually in the shape of a baby grand top.  It was by far my favorite piece.  Wish I had the moola to nab this beauty.

Again, sorry its difficult to see, but for a mere $16,500 you too could have this crazy half bubble chair with a  medieval wrought iron with crank power in the back.  The picture does not do it justice.

There were several GIANT bird cages for decoration and low and behold there were actual birds in them!  To give it perspective, That black part at the top?  Its the ceiling.  I estimate that the bird cage was about 6 feet high.  And this wasn’t even the most dramatic.

Here was the 12 piece band for our entertainment.  It was fabulous.  They did old favorites and pop classics from the works of Michael Jackson to Adele.  I wouldn’t have expected anything less from the talented guest of honor’s party.

And here we are being our usual goofy selves in the prop filled photo booth.  So fun.

Only complaint?  Everybody was sweating like marathon runners in the extreme humidity at the venue.  There was no air circulating, which was very necessary considering that it has been in the triple digits and had only dropped to the low 90’s at 10 o’clock at night.  Its always a classy move to dab your dripping sweat with your cocktail napkin, right?  Well, at least I wasn’t the only one.  The ambulance had to come to help a valued party goer who unfortunately passed out.  Don’t worry, after a glass of water and some air, he was fine.

Our “fall” Fundatory date went smashingly well.

Another Hollywood Travesty

Robin Williams died.  He died by his own hands; his own decision.

He had everything at his disposal.  Fame, money, family, accolades…. the works.

He also had depression.  And apparently depression had a greater hold on him than everything else.

I might have a unique insight into his frame of mind.  You see I have battled depression.  It is some of my earliest memories in fact.  When I became a mom for the second time I battled postpartum depression and my poor husband had to wade the waters of emotional tidal waves like a very skilled surfer.

Depression is debilitating.  Depression is isolating.  Depression is like the epic battle of David and Goliath, and the only people who get out alive are the fortunate ones with a skilled hand and a rock.

Hollywood takes sensitive souls and lifts them to the highest of highs only to release their golden hands at a moments notice when you are no longer useful to them.  One of my drama coaches once infamously stated to our class that “Remember this is SHOW BUSINESS.  SHOW+BUSINESS.  If you aren’t ready for both then you aren’t ready”.  It makes complete sense.  Those who are sensitive and talented enough to reach the pinnacles of standard success are usually the ones who are the most susceptible to the demons that lay dormant within.  To find the talent you must reach inside the depths of your soul to find the pain, to find the joy, to find the profoundness of the human spirit.

This isn’t the first star to fall by his own choices.  Just do a quick internet search and you will find a plethora of starlets who were desperate for more more more to fill the big gapping hole in their soul.  Many lost the battle.  But there are many more still alive and still fighting the hostility of Hollywood.

I don’t agree with Robin Williams decision to do what he did.

But I get it.

In the darkness of night a frightening voice calls from within to end it all.  And sometimes the hurting respond to the call.

No matter how much money, how much fame, how much excess you have, it doesn’t stop the demon in your head whispering untruths in your delicate ear.

And I truly believe that it is by the Grace of God that saves the lost.  I know He did me.  And it breaks my fragile heart that not everyone grabs ahold of the life raft that Jesus throws down to us.

R.I.P. Robin.

How I spent my first Mother’s Day

My first real Mother’s Day. Last year I was pregnant, but its not the same.

Special. Endearing. Memorable.

Well I got the memorable part right.

Let’s start with the night before. Let’s set the scene. Jeff and I were just about to fall asleep, its nearly midnight, and we hear a loud CRASH quickly followed by a HISS and a PFFPFF by angry cats that live in the this crazy house. We immediately jump out of bed to unfortunately discover that the cats had a fight that made them fall into wet paint that we still had out (that was only covered by aluminum foil) since we are still in the process of painting our living room.

I’m sure your thinking at this point, “well of course the cats fell into the wet paint and then they politely went to a towel to dry off”. You know, because cats clearly are polite house guests.

OR perhaps they chose option B, which was to quickly run up and down our 2 stair cases causing blue wet spots all over our carpet.

Awesome. Just really really awesome. Especially at midnight.

Here is the perpatrator.


I flipped my lid and went on a (water) gun toting rampage. Believe me, I knew who started this catastrophe and I was about to let him have it. So after about 20 minutes and a bleeding ankle later, I was done. Or so I had hoped.

We still had to deal with the other cat whose under belly and paws were still covered in wet paint. I tried picking up the finicky princess to try and wash her. Um, have you ever tried to wash a cat? Not fun. In fact we couldn’t get past the angry growls she was clearly communicating. So rather than deal with it, we decided to just put her into the bathroom with a kitty bed and box for the night.

**** I tried to find the victim to take photographic evidence of the crime. She was none to be found. We believe this to be a domestic violence case and she might be afraid to come forward. If you know of any cats involved in a domestic violence dilemma, please contact your local authorities ****

Here is just some of the scene of the crime. This is on one of our stairs. A clear kitty paw. This was an open and shut case.

So away to dream land I hoped to go, only to have that very perpetrator try and jump on me wanting love at 3 o’clock in the morning. I then sweetly threw him onto my sleeping husband and said “Get off me (insert explicative here)”!

Sunday morning comes way too early by a little darling child of mine who likes to practice her “dada yayaya” sounds. At least I woke up smiling.

Off to church we went and then on to my last show.

Jeff was able to catch my song for all of you who weren’t able to be there. Hope you enjoy it!

And since it was Mother’s Day, I was able to spend a little time with my cutie patootie. Here she is trying out her new (long time borrowed from friends-Thanks Krista!) excersaucer. She was in heaven! (warning: the video is a bit long. Daddy likes to make the kiddie moments epic long apparently)

And speaking of Daddy…. I couldn’t conclude my Mother’s Day festivities without mentioning my dear sweet husband’s inaptitude for gift giving holidays.

I waited…. and waited….. and waited for a “Happy Mother’s Day honey” type of thing from my baby’s daddy. Nothing.

Church, show, sushi dinner, and still nothing.

Finally I couldn’t hold back and I had to say something. He looked a little sheepish and tried unsuccessfully to redeem himself by explaining that we had a long day. So he brought out the card that he recently bought. I opened it with his saliva still wet on the envelope. Gross.

And that was it.

*Sigh*

Yes, it was incredibly sweet for him to at least give me a card and yummy sushi takeout. However, flowers would have been nice too honey! I love you anyway. At least it wasn’t mints on Valentines Day.

My hubby the celebrity

So if your my friend on facebook you know that I have been bragging on my husband the world’s most awesome pink guitar player.

My awesome hubby was on the hit show Bones.  He not only composed all of the guitar parts for the scenes during Booth and Bones trip to Fantasy Rock ‘n Roll Camp.

I’d like to say that this was his first time on prime time television, but then I’d be lying.  This was his second.  Geez, I didn’t know I married a staaaaar.  lol

Next thing you know we will be running away from the paparazzi and hitting all the hot celebrity spots.  HAHA!

But seriously, if you missed my darling’s moment in the spotlight, here is at least his time on the promo for the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVirgX89Nw4

——Update——–

Apparently blogspot no longer gives the option of adding videos.  Well I’m sure that they do, but on my dashboard it isn’t giving me the icon to upload a video.  Not sure why….. Anybody have any thoughts?

Glee Audition

It’s over.  It’s done.  It’s now officially outta my hands.

My GLEE audition.

I know for most of you, this all seems silly, but for me its life.  Sure, there were nearly 25 THOUSAND people who also auditioned.  But what if, what if, someone important in that show actually saw my tape and *gasp* loved it?!

I mean… what if?

My theory is that you have to at least throw your fabulous hat into the ring, of course by tossing it into the air with a gleeful smile (re: Mary Tyler Moore).

So without further adieu, single reader ladies and gentleman….

Here is my audition tape. 

This was my “monologue”.

And this was my actual song.

Opinions?

Gleeeeeee!!!!

Current Project:  ROCK THE SOCKS OFF MY GLEE AUDITION!

I have to:

Learn my new song

Make a new myspace account.   Apparently not using your account and email that is attached to said account is not helpful in this situation.  Why oh why can’t this be thru facebook???

Get to my voice teacher’s house for the recording

Upload awesome video

Nab a part in GLEE!

Wish me luck!