"None of us suddenly becomes something overnight. The preparations have been in the making for a lifetime.- Gail Goodwin


Quick Check-In
Good morning world!

Feeling so energized after today's workout and a looooooonnnnnngggg hot shower and ready for the day!

Tomorrow is showtime for the gameshow Catch 21 {forgot to tell ya'll I booked it!} so please say a prayer, send me good vibes & wish me luck.

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1 down, 15 to go...

 {Me, Body Gospel Producer & Donna Richardson-Joyner}

Mission Accomplished! I made it through Week 1 of the Body Gospel fitness program without dying or passing out. :-) Actually, I'm really enjoying myself. Being the dancer that I am (or rather, used to be) I really like the cardio sets we do and the music is awesome- they play everyone from Israel to Fred Hammond, Yolanda Adams, Martha Minuzzi, Kirk Franklin and more.

I'm not a big fan of the leg work (have you seen these hamhocks I call thighs?) but since that's my target area I just have to tell myself to push through the pain. I also enjoy our reps with the weights- mind you, I only use the 2.5 lbers or the 5 lbers if I'm feeling really adventurous but still, it makes me hopeful that my arms will be nice & cut when this is all over in January.

I especially enjoy the ab work as that is target area #1- wanna be able to wear a bikini again by next summer. And having the camraderie of a group who's coming in everyday with similar challenges & goals makes it that much easier to stick it out when we wanna give up.

Now to the hard part...the food. We're blessed to have them provide us with all of our meals & snacks so that we don't have to worry about counting calories, figuring out portion size or anything else like that but still, it's difficult to completely change your eating habits all of a sudden. They've not only cut out sweets (my major weakness) but they've also severly limited the starches that I love, i.e. breads, pastas, etc.  So I'm still adjusting to that. In addition to eating two well-balanced meals per day, we also eat 2 snacks and substitute one meal for a highly nutritious & pretty tasty protein shake. They've even given us 2 daily supplements: a multivitamin & omega-3 fish oil capsules so they've completely armed us for success and now we have to have the drive & committment to see it through. I know, I know- easier said than done but I'm determined as are the rest of the guys & gals in my group.

On the plus side, the food they provide tastes great (with a little added pepper) and has seemed to give me  more energy already. I've never eaten this much salad before in my life- chicken salad, tuna salad, salmon salad, etc. (starting to feel like a bit of a rabbit here) and to be honest I've never enjoyed it this much either but my mind is slowly starting to shift and little by little bad habits are beginning to break.

And guess what? I've lost 3 lbs, 2 inches off my waist, 2 inches off my hips and 1 inch off each thigh already- WOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *Doing the happy dance* Gotta celebrate the victories, no matter how small. So I'm gonna keep at it, even if it does mean waking up at 6am during the week- and I'll keep ya'll posted along the way.

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Life is Like a Musical
I found this gem on the Ready 2 Spark blog, one of my daily reads that helps satisify my desire to stay up to date with current wedding & event trends. What in the world does this have to do with acting? Please take a minute out of your schedule to take a look. I just had to share it with you because seeing the reactions on the faces of these passerby's made me smile.

Who says people randomly breaking out into song & dance can never happen- ha! It happens in my world all the time. :-)

Just wish I would have been there!


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Clips: The Dating Dilemma
Talk about quick turnaround! Take a look at this quick clip from The Dating Dilemma...



I'm so not used to seeing myself on screen. I crack up everytime I watch it- do any of you do that too?

Subscribers can check out the video here.

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Ask & You Shall Receive? I hope so!
Classes, Headshots, Union Fees {someday soon}, and more. Wanna help?

Click Below to donate.

Is this a joke? Not at all...No Really, the button really works. While I don't like to call myself a "struggling actress" because I believe there's power in our words, I will admit that the expenses needed to really pursue this as a career do begin to add up rather quickly so I figured I'd give this a shot.

Do I really think people will give me their hard-earned dollar{s}? Who knows? But I subscribe to the following: A closed mouth doesn't get fed, Ask and You Shall Receive and Those Who Ask Not, Have Not...you get the picture. And whether or not this actually works, this handy little button will be on the right-hand side of my page from now on, you know, should you ever decide to skip your latte for the day and help a sistah out. :-)

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Major Milestone!
Today was a very important milestone for me as a mom: My "baby" Jayden started his first day of kindergarten! I can't even believe that he's in a real school already but I'm so glad that he's excited to learn. He's entering into a Spanish Immersion program where he'll be taught in 50% English and 50% Spanish on a daily basis so that by the time he enters high school he'll be able to read, write and speak Spanish fluently. Yes in this regard I'm living vicariously through him but hey, no matter what career he chooses when he enters the workforce as a bilingual applicant he'll thank me for it!

When I picked him up today he told me he's gonna teach me how to speak Spanish. His first words he's learned are "rojo" {red} and "amarillo" {yellow}. He also said "hola","adios" and "gracias" but he knew those already thanks to Dora & Diego. :-)

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Extra Work

From Dream Chaser: The Ambitious Adventures of an Up and Coming Actress

So my day job for now is extra work, otherwise known as working as "background" on films, tv and commercials. While some people actually put this on their resume, this is NOT considered acting. It's a job, nothing more, nothing less. Usually only paying minimum wage for non-union actors like myself unless you get a bump or are lucky enough to get a SAG voucher for the day. Commercials, however, generally pay more. What I love about extra work is that I learn a lot from the other actors there as long as I'm observant and quick to listen. What I hate about it is that there are always bitter actors there who complain about everything but at least I have my IPOD to drown them out.

The picture above is from last week's shoot on a Nautilus commercial in Glendale. Easy shoot, nice money. Only about 6 or 7 extras in total so it was a small call with EXCELLENT craft service {i.e. catering}. Ya'll know I love to eat. :-)

By the way, I just discovered the 100% free Picasa Photo Editor, makes compiling these photos so much fun!


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NAACP Theatre Festival & Awards

From Dream Chaser: The Ambitious Adventures of an Up and Coming Actress

I had a great experience as a volunteer at the NAACP Theatre Festival & Awards Show- can't you tell by how hard I'm cheesing in the picture above? :-) My only regret is that since I haven't ordered my business cards just yet I didn't get to network as much as I would have liked. Sure I got the contact info of others and do plan to follow up but "Can I have your card?" began to sound like a broken record pretty quickly so I guess Vistaprint will be receiving an order from me pretty soon. Other than that the events were a success and I plan to participate again next year in one capacity or another. It's actually made me seriously consider joining the Beverly Hills/Hollywood Branch {only $30 per year} where I can serve on the theatre committee. After all, part of my responsibilities will be to view multiple plays & musicals for next year's nominations for free. I'm not sure what the cinema committee entails other than viewing movie screenings {which will be awesome} but I'll be sure to find out about that one as well.

Anyhow, below is a short video from the red carpet. Subscribers can view the video here.




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On-Set Video: Dating Dilemma
Shooting the breeze with my castmates during a break...




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The Dating Dilemma Recap
{Me & Ki}
We arrived on set {Biola University Library} at 8am for a 3 hour rehearsal. I'd already met my co-star Kelicia Meadows since we were put up in a hotel room together the night before and was looking forward to meeting the other two actors in the film. Our Director, Mel Turner, introduced us to Lane Hillman who played the lead role of Ben and it was then we were told the other supporting actor wouldn't be available until it was time to shoot later that day. No worries, he had a stand-in to take his place so rehearsals began without a hitch.

Around 11am we broke for lunch and were treated to Claim Jumper {OMG~their portions are huge!} and then went back to the hotel to get some rest before the shoot. Much too soon it was time to wake up from my glorious nap and get this show on the road. I became the designated driver to set and although I had driven there that morning, I somehow missed my turn and took us outta the way for about 15 minutes which meant we were late thanks to me. Sorry!

{Volunteers & Crew}

Once we arrived, the crew began setting up all of the cameras, lights & mics while we changed into wardrobe and got our faces put on.

{Right after "Hair & Makeup"}

Then came time for soundcheck, a few still shots and we were ready to roll. But before we shot anything we opened with a word of prayer, it is a Christian film after all. :-)

We didn't actually begin shooting until around 7:30pm and from there it was non-stop. When we weren't actually in a scene, we were rehearsing our scenes to come. It was a looooong night but we were comfortable, well-fed, and {for the most part} working with other professionals. *There was a slight issue with the other unnamed actor breaking character time & time again. While it was funny at first, the laughter quickly turned to irritation and he realized he needed to focus so he asked me to run lines with him privately until he got his distractions outta his system. By the end of the night he did what he had to do, along with the rest of us, in order for the director to get a good shot.

Around 5:15am it was a wrap so we exchanged contact info with each other and headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before checkout. The director was even nice enough to give all his actors a $75 Visa Giftcard, an unexpected treat which has been completely used up to fill up my gas tank, thanks Mel!

All in all, The Dating Dilemma was a great shoot and I hope to get a chance to work with most of them again.
{Me, Ki & Lane}
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Commitment Part II
"There is a definite distinction between "wanting" and "committing." "Want" lives in ideas, dreams, fantasy and imagination- you can "want" lots of things and never HAVE them. Implicit and required for "committment" is ACTION. When one is committed, action is a natural behavior, which leads to results consistent with one's commitment. So ask yourself: "Do I want this?" or "Am I COMMITTED to having this?"- big difference! We have results in life consistent with what we are committed to, not with what we "want." ~Lauri Johnson, Entertainment Industry Life Coach

I recently read this quote in Acting Coach Carolyne Barry's new Hit The Ground Running book and it really spoke to me because (as my family & close friends know) I "want" a whole lotta things but I've yet to show any real commitment towards having them. They've heard me say for YEARS that I want to move to LA, I want to be an actress, I want to write screenplays, I want to produce feature films, I want to learn Spanish, I want to start dancing again, I want to own my own wedding & event venue, I want, I want, I WANT! I'm sure most of you can relate as it seems most artists want the world {and on our own terms at that}. But I've come to the point where wanting just isn't enough anymore and I've got to take action in order to see some real results.

First Step: Auditing Classes over the next 2-3 weeks.

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