BEHIND THE SCENES:

Helloooo and happy weekend! To those of you that follow me on social media, apologies for the redundancy, but I know some of my readers aren't on social media so I wanted to share about this special film project that is so near and dear to my hart.

Two years ago I wrote and produced a short film called 'Waiting To Die in Bayside, Queens', inspired by my life as a frizzy haired hypochondriac teenager. My daughter sparked the idea and actually gave me a list of her favorite stories that I have been telling her over the years thinking that they were very funny. Although sometimes she called them pathetic, I like to think of them as funny. Well as it turned out other people think they're funny too!

The film was successful on the festival circuit in 2017 and won 5 awards including a Best Screenplay for me and a Best Actress for my daughter, actress Dana Melanie, who plays me. On Monday, January 22nd we released it online. BIG thank you to all of you who clicked on to watch, shared it with your networks and took the time to write such sweet comments. It has meant so much to me and to our wonderful cast and crew. We are very grateful!

For me traveling down memory lane was especially poignant as this came about not long after my Mother was diagnosed with Dementia. And that's a whole other blog post, that someday I will publish.

To those of you that have asked for more.....a half hour comedy series is on the horizon. So stand by!

But for now, here are some behind the scenes photos and if you haven't seen it yet, click the link! It's just a little over 6 minutes and good for a laugh!

                                    I bring you..   'Waiting To Die In Bayside Queens' 

The whole crew had such fun pelting Dana with toilet paper rolls over and over until they got the shot. Don't know how she kept a straight face while the rest of us were busting up.

The Monkey's watching over her.

These guys, pretending to be serious.
 

This little guy was a real pro on set. He played Irving, the turtle I got the day before kindergarten for 10 cents at the local Five & Dime store. The first day of school he ran away. I was convinced it was my fault because I left him. We found him two weeks later under the radiator, alive. He grew to be 10"  long and 5" wide and we had to keep him in a 20 gallon fish tank so he wouldn't climb out. What a bargain!

 
 Life.

Being a good producer means getting everyones IN & OUT order right. Kidding, not kidding.

 We always had chicken.

The Dr.'s Hands that had just been peed on by the cat :O

Wonder Bread, it's a wonder it didn't kill us all.

TODAY OUTSIDE THE CLOSET:

Tis' the Season  ~ When time moves too fast, I become a blogger slacker and I buy one gift for myself for every two gifts I buy for someone else. Oh come on, I know I'm not the only one!

Last weekend we jumped in the car and drove to Las Vegas to visit my daughter on the set of her recent film. I'm so proud of all she's accomplished this year. It's not every mother who would brag that her daughter was on the run trying to avenge her brother’s murder in rural Missouri, mixed it up with a bunch of weirdos, and a few dinosaurs, as a tough sorority girl who ends up spending the night in the slammer, a girl that discovers her entire life has been a lie while in desperate need of a kidney transplant to save her life, and a manipulative gun tote'n 70's Vegas call girl. It’s been quite a year at our house!

Early morning road trips require red cups and Soy Chai Lattes. 

And it wouldn't be a road trip to Vegas without a stop at the Primm Outlets. As soon as we walked in I saw it, the giant red sign in the Kate Spade window that said 50% off (already outlet prices) that made my heart skip a beat.

Packages tucked away in the trunk, and yes the two to one ratio still applies.  We arrived just as the crew was breaking for lunch, perfect timing. I got my first hug while on her way to wardrobe. She wrapped early that day so we had time for a nice dinner. We went to Gorden Ramsay's Restaurant, Burgr, there's no e, get it? gr, Gordon Ramsay. I didn't get it, I thought the e fell off the sign :O  It's not very often I eat a burger but I have to say this was the best burger I have ever eaten. If you're not a Food Network person, GR is from the show Hells Kitchen, which explains the flames behind us. When we questioned the waitress as to why there was no Ketchup she went into a robotic trance and recited the GR Burgr creed. "We feel that our burgers are perfectly seasoned and therefore do not need any Ketchup". Turned out to be true. Then there was the Oreo Cookie Creme Brulee shake, yes Cream Brulee! This picture of my husband was the one with the least amount of shake on his chin. The Oresos ended up, well, you see.  It was like drinking Cream Brulee custard, amazing.  Stuffed to the gills we walked, lost a little money and ended up at a three story Forever 21, AKA The Mother Ship.

It was a great weekend complete with a gorgeous sunset for the drive home.

.

TODAY OUTSIDE THE CLOSET:

Insta~travel~grams

Last week I got to go on a little adventure with my daughter, who booked a movie role at the end of 2012 which made for a very happy and exciting New Year in our house! To make it more exciting she was going on location for the first time outside of CA.  I went with her for a few days to help her settle in and because I'm also her Manager, or as we like to call it Momager. Here's some Instagrams from Missouri!

 Exploring Branson, found this great restaurant, The Fish House, right on a lake in Branson Landing.

She's staying in a beautiful condominium in a resort community, you can tell when the boots are lined up we are settled in.  

We left our ice teas in the car overnight, don't ask me why we even had ice tea it was so cold. 

We definitely did not order that first menu item! 

And this black picture is the windshield of the car we picked up at the airport from the inside after we ran through icy ran drops freezing and laughing and yelling "run, save yourself!"  Like with all bad memories I apparently blocked out all my years in NY waiting for the defroster to work and scraping ice off the windshield. Nope, no recollection, we actually sat there and I literally didn't know what to do.  It all started to come back to me as the defroster begin to melt a little hole to see through and we finally got a window to roll down although the sheet of ice stayed in place until we punched a fist through it.  Then we had to get cups of hot water to melt the ice off the side view mirrors so I could see.  

All confirming a wonderful decision long ago to move to California where I am happy to say I do not own an ice scraper!

Inside the Fish House and the best corn bread I've ever tasted! The lantern was on our table and so was the view! And the amazing fireplace warmed us up quickly.

The condo, us, and we were pleasantly surprised to find a great market with all of our essential healthy must haves, especially kale and fresh roses in such a cold place.  Home sweet home for a while.

Pretty Icicles everywhere. 

A meditation room at the airport to enjoy after I arrived at 7:00 am to find out all flights out had been cancelled due to a storm in Dallas. 

A few hours later I was up, up and away. 

Looking forward to going back in a few weeks and bringing you some pictures from the set. 

In the meantime, I miss my girl, and it was 81 degrees today, yeah I love Cali.

Follow me on Instagram @fromdrabtofab