Naturally Optimistic

Ugh - been failing at the whole feeding my family well thing since the first post. Last night I had a birthday dinner with some girlfriends that I went to. I made the kids some Star Wars Mac & Cheese (I always add a little greek yogurt these days for extra creaminess) and green beans. I'm not sure what Steve ate. I had a delicious bacon-cheeseburger with fries. I don't often eat red meat so when I actually want it, I indulge. It was good. Tonight I worked late; I had a soup on the meal plan and it was 80+ degrees all day so in no way did I want to consume, nor make soup. I suggested spinach strawberry salads - that got no one excited, except for me. Steve ended up eating up frozen leftover Chinese (yes, he reported that it tasted as good as that sounds....blech) and the kids had leftover dinner from last night. I never did get around to making that salad....I ate what was left on August's plate after he magically disappeared from the dinner table, and reappeared on...

...is kicking my ass.... But in a good way. We have an awesome crew & cast; ridiculous gear and amazing locations. I've been updating Facebook via my iPhone so check over there for pics and short messages. Today our call is not til 1 so I'm taking this morning to catch up on a few things - like reading your blogs! and paying bills! and....watering plants! ha. It's been tough on the home front because I haven't been home much - at all - and the stress is starting to show through (on some people). But we will push through and try to do things when we can. Yeah, it's a lot of 18-20 hour days (some shorter....) right now but this is why my schedule can be so flexible the rest of the year! I can't wait to show you guys some footage from this film. It's unlike anything we've ever shot before and I'm very excited! Now - on to the plant watering before they all just curl up & die!

* So far today - dropped Dahlia at daycare, Beavis to the vet, stripped some wallpaper in the bathroom, did a bunch of work and am getting ready to go to the dentist. *I hate going to the dentist...but I know it's a must. *I also uploaded a video of Dahlia eating chocolate pudding on her site . It's long but I think it's cute. And yes, I'm biased. *This afternoon I'm meeting with the City to discuss filming permits, updating my film blog (which will be 4 Track Films ...well it's there now but I will be doing a 'production' blog for THE LIFE OF RILEY ; then off to sign a lease for a location rental and dinner at the in-laws. *My house & office are a disaster zone. Enter at your own risk.

Busy day... 3:15am - hear Dahlia crying...let her cry it out, only took 2 minutes. 3:25am - more crying, ANGRY now...go in and check. She's nuk-less, standing up, very cute. (even at that time of day...) 3:40am - go back to bed after rocking her for a bit. She went back to sleep in her own crib - yippeee!! 7am - get up - Dahlia's still asleep in her own crib! Get ready to drop her off, take Juno to the vet; make lunch. 7:30am - go in to wake Dahlia up (!) because we have to go...she's just laying in her crib, playing with Abby (Cadabby) 7:45am - drop Dahlia off at daycare - TODDLER daycare to you & me... 8am - vet appointment with Juno. She's all good. Took her shots like a champ. Scratched the hell out of me though. 9am - back home to take a shower & get ready for day. 10am - look at two rental homes (for possible film locations). GOOD LORD...what dumps! I can't believe what "landlords" (or more aptly SLUMlords) can get away with because they rent...

I have declared May the Productivity Month for me because I can't stand all the projects that I have in the works right now. I'm not sure how I'm doing but at least it seems to help if I name it. * paint Dahlia's room (includes patching, sanding, scraping, priming, painting) because it is driving me insane and no little girl should have to live in such a room. * remove wallpaper in our bedroom. It is HIDEOUS. And apparently impervious to water/fabric softener/vinegar. It's super fun to strip off. * write in and put the photos in Dahlia's baby book. * get our camcorder figured out and start editing the FL trip. * edit & sound design my short film (shot last fall!) I think those are my major projects. So far Dahlia's room has been patched, scraped & sanded. I think I might have a little more sanding to do, then priming. My folks are coming up next weekend and my hope would be to have it painted (hahahaha) by then. I don't think that'll happen. ...

Between ripping up carpet, tack boards & assorted nasty stuck on rubber carpet padding; stripping wallpaper, washing & sanding walls, priming and painting; between buying & having appliances removed & installed; between ordering laminate & carpet; between buying cabinet knobs and not even having time to look at them to figure out which ones we want; between having a to-do list at work which is a mile and a half long; between having a 9 month old who is adorable but requires (and deserves!) more of my undivided attention than I giver her and between trying to sell a house (keep it tidy, finish last minute projects, negotiate with potential buyers etc... I am feeling a wee bit overwhelmed. *sigh*

Let alone to post.... *sigh*

Dahlia in her party dress. The weekend, once again, flew by MUCH too quickly. I mean really? Two days off and five days on? Who thought this was a good idea? (okay okay, don't answer that - clearly the people working seven days on thought it was GREAT!)...I digress... Friday night...we had a pick up shoot for WHITE MAN'S WORLD at my house. It involved Jason & our actress Kris, Pat our makeup guru and myself. Mostly Pat & I sipped cocktails & discussed religion & philosophy while the scene was being shot. I dug it! The scene went great it was a fun night. Pat LOVES Dahlia so it was nice that they got to spend some quality time together. Dahlia slept til 7:15am on Saturday! Whohoo! THAT rocked my world. The rest of the day was spent putzing around, more ADR work for GOD ROCKS and Dahlia's first birthday party! It was for our friends' little girl Claira who was turning 3. There was a lot of commotion - gave us a glimpse as to what we're in for in a cou...

Way too busy....working, editing some campaign stuff for our mayoral race (re-doing I should say...), calling people, calling people back, emailing people, being happy about certain things working out, getting seriously irritated that some people are flaking out, having meetings, doing more editing, learning that I'm an idiot, knitting (I seriously needed a break), dealing with crabby people (including me), taking MariAnna to a play (Winnie the Pooh), eating dinner WAY too late and now I'm ready for bed. OH and I got some amazing and wonderful and exciting news...but that is top secret. :) Baby B is unfazed.....of course..... ;) Time for this evening's "dance party." GOOD NIGHT!

The shoot last night went very well. I thought it was going to go BADLY because I was such a spazz/freakazoid before leaving home. I was trying to cook the pumpkin lasagna, get everything ready (for me), clean off the kitchen table, get ALL the dishes done, etc etc...and things weren't going my way. I kept dropping dishes (I thought one of the beautiful Fiesta Ware plates broke, but it didn't...just an onion skin stuck to it), I cut my finger pretty bloodily on the apple slicer, Jason kept calling me asking for technical support (I'm not good at that over the phone) and I was running late. Hmph. But I chilled out on my 20 minute drive up the shore and found everything & everybody to be in good spirits and ready to go. The Scenic Cafe is awesome. Steve & I have eaten there before and we enjoy it. They have a unique and varied menu - the presentation is half the fun of the food - a stellar wine list, excellent desserts and in the summer a beautiful garden that you ca...

Just a regular ol' hump day. I had a busy day yesterday - worked on admin stuff in the morning, did some editing of GOD ROCKS in the afternoon. Ran a bunch of errands after work involving buy oodles of baby gifts, trying to find some maternity clothes that 1) fit me and 2) didn't make me look like an elephant, Target shopping, grocery shopping, eating a dinner WAY too late in the evening and attempting (and failing) at finishing my sister's b-day present. I was sore last night - I think it was too much time on my feet and too much running around and my pelvis was moving or shifting or something (and not in THAT way) and I did too much. So I slept in this morning and finished Kathy's b-day present (yay!) and talked with Sam on the phone and putzed around the house. Now I'm here in my new maternity jeans (ooh la la - this pair though, actually is more stylish than the hand-me-downs from my sister - a fake "zipper' area and actual pockets! Whohoo. They're ...

I feel good when I get a few things done... Like.....writing up a schedule & budget for our upcoming production; putting the finishing touches on the baby shower I'm hosting for my sister (triplets!) this weekend; securing locations for said production for UNDER budget (thank god) and finally puttying the holes in the quarter-round of our new molding in the living room and dining room. *sigh* It's all good....

I am finding less and less time during the day to do things I enjoy like posting on this blog and reading my favorite blogs. I'm used to having many hours in the day when I am literally bored to tears. Since I started working for myself....that is a different story. Hopefully once I figure out my "flow" I will have more time to resume these activities. :) The weekend was good! Friday started off with a Happy Hour with the gang that I used to work with. My last day (and therefore my "farewell Happy Hour" was snowed out a couple weeks ago so it was rescheduled to coincide with a couple of other people whose last day was Friday (hi Michelle!). I met up with the gang at about 5 and much beer was consumed. Some by me, lots by others. It was fun to see everyone and take lots of pictures and "catch up" even though it had only been 2 weeks! After the Old Chicago stop (not my favorite for happy hour, btw) we headed over to the Saratoga for more cocktails. This ...

Who knew that working for yourself, setting up an office & business, going to a film festival and being in pre-production on your first HD feature could be so time consuming and exhausting? GAH. Slowly but surely I'm starting to feel the ground beneath my feet again. We picked up office furniture yesterday, I'm paying bills and getting accounts taken care of and trying to think of ways to make my life more organized again. I think a weekend AT HOME with cleaning supplies and just TIME will help a lot. Whew.