LA vs. AR and LA is Winning

The need to be in LA continues to keep us in town as we stay another week and wonder if we will make it home for Thanksgiving.  Ok, let me rephrase that...we WILL make it home for Thanksgiving although we may drive like maniacs and slide in the door at noon on Thursday just in time for lunch!!!  I'm not going to stress, I'm not going to worry and I will not throw a fit.  It will all work out.  Yeah, right.

Here's your crazy week recap:

Cole wrapped filming Tuesday night on the show where he will be a Guest Star in seven episodes.  I wondered how he would deal with leaving the cast and crew who have become like family to us, but he did fabulous and always has a great attitude.  We think the first episode will air in January 2015 and then the rest of the episodes will be spread out through the year but as soon as we know for sure, I will definitely let you know.

 Spencer is rocking and rolling at home and I am amazed every day at his determination.  The focus right now is on all things college; essays for applications, essays for scholarships, shot records (what?), transcripts...makes me tired and I'm not even the one getting it all together!  The essay that he wrote today made me sob and I'm wondering if I am actually going to make it when he leaves for college.  Probably not but I won't think about that just yet.  

Thank you Skype for allowing me to see this face every day.

Spencer is also collecting gift cards in any amount between $10 and $25, for his Youth Advisory Committee at Arkansas Children's Hospital.  If you feel so lead to donate to his cause, hit us up and let us know and we will be happy to come and pick up the GC.  He needs to deliver them to ACH on December 18th. 

Snow hit the mountain on Thursday and even though it was a "dusting", it makes me wonder just what in the world we are in for this winter.  I mean, it's only November for Pete's sake!!!

The temps have gotten cooler in LA too, and by cooler I mean they have fallen into the 70's.  I find it quite humorous when I go for my run in the morning with shorts and a tshirt and I pass people walking their dogs wearing PARKAS!  Seriously, they could wear these coats in the Arctic and they would stay toasty.

We had some free time on our hands on Friday so Cole and I headed off to Griffith Park Observatory which is an amazing observatory that was originally built in 1935.  The views are extraordinary and we had such a nice time looking at the exhibits, eating lunch and learning a little history in the process.

Thanks to the smog, you can't see the great view.

We rounded out the week by heading back to Griffith Park today and going hiking with Michelle and the kiddos.  Griffith Park is the largest municipal park in all of the U.S. and boasts over 4,000 acres of trails, the observatory and even the LA Zoo.  Thankfully, we only hiked four miles today and were treated with a spectacular picture of the setting sun.

Cole has a meeting sometime this week and while we wait for the specific appointment, we will be moving back to Burbank Extended Stay (or BESA as we like to call it) until it is time for us to head home.  Our lease is up on our apartment and it has already been rented to someone else.  Nothing like a move across town to tackle while we're waiting for something to break loose.  But one thing that has been made abundantly clear to me is that there are lessons to be learned through all of these "adventures" and as long as we put our trust in God, we can't go wrong.

"And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in Him."
~Ephesians 3:17

My Acting Debut and All Things LA

This week has been hectic but fun.  Cole finished filming on Tuesday and now has seven days hiatus until next Wednesday, when he's back on set to film his LAST episode!  It will be bittersweet for him because he has gotten so close to the cast and crew but I can see that "itch" in him to move on.

So on Thursday, Cole got invited to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios.  Why anyone wants to pay someone to scare them is beyond me but he went and had a blast!

They look cool here but this was taken right before some dude with a hatchet and a chain saw started chasing them!

While Cole was shortening his life span, I opted for a quieter evening.  My friend Michelle had asked me if I would be able to sit on set with her daughter Brooke while she took her son Brayden to an audition.  A couple of hours and no big deal was what she promised.  However, unbeknownst to either of us was the fact that the film crew was short on "background" people and when I arrived, the Director decided that I would make the perfect party person behind the main actors.  Brooke gleefully volunteered me and after I promised to come back and sit on her, I obliged and was ushered on to set.

I only have three words to describe my experience...NO THANK YOU AND NOT IN A MILLION JILLION YEARS (ok, that's more than three but I needed to get my point across!!!).  Seriously, I could NEVER be an actor.  "Stand here" he said, "and when I yell for the background, walk over here, get a plate and go stand by those people.  Talk but don't make any noise and don't eat the food.  It's a prop."  Uh, excuse me, I don't know how to walk without tripping, how to get food without eating it and certainly don't have a clue as to how to talk without making noise!!!  FIVE hours later we were released from set!  Within that five hours, Michelle returned from the audition and she, too was ushered on set as an extra.  Together, we "pretended" to talk, eat and have a good time but what we really did was snicker, try not to look at the camera and simultaneously agree that we could never be actors!  What a hoot.  I had ridden my bike to set but since we left at 10:00pm, Michelle and I wedged my bike into the back of her Toyota Camry and "tied" the trunk down and headed to our apartment.  Love, love, love that we never have a dull moment hanging with our friends.

Yep, the rednecks done come to LA!

Another year in LA for Halloween and I was surprised that Cole decided not to dress up; I really think if Spencer and Brad had been out here with us, he would have gotten into the Halloween spirit.  But as it was, we decided to do what we have done for the past three years and have dinner with Michelle and the kids and then pop over to Toluca Lake for some trick-or-treating through a neighborhood that goes ALL OUT for Halloween.  Honestly, I have never seen anything like it anywhere else.  You know they are serious about this "holiday" when they hire actors to play zombies in their makeshift graveyard on their lawn or hire 15 to 20 dancers who can deliver the choreography dance version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" perfectly!  Amazing.

Brooke was a Roman goddess, Brayden was a knight and Cole and Nate were there to keep up with the kids while Michelle, Jason and I took in all the sights.  I knew teenagers were good for something. ;)

Brayden could ask Cole to jump off a bridge and Cole would oblige, so when Brayden wanted Cole to sit in our "third" seat, Cole was happy to fold his fix-foot frame in half.  What cuties!

While most people look forward to sleeping in on Saturday, Cole and I were out the door by 7:45am and headed to Newport Beach.  What could bring us out so early on a Saturday?  Lamborghini's of course!  The first Saturday of each month, the Lambo dealership in N.B. has coffee and croissants and owner's of Lambo's, Ferrari's, Audi R8's, Porsche and Fisker all congregate to show off their wheels and talk all things cars.  I was in awe!

Cole's dream car at only $400K.

I could totally see us driving this from LA to Arkansas and screaming down the highway at 180mph in the desert!  The gas mileage would suck but we would certainly make it home in record time!

This one was a "steal" at only $243,000.  Ahhh.

After we finally pulled ourselves away from the amazing cars, we headed to Seal Beach.  It's called "Seal" Beach because of the sea lions.  Which were supposed to be out and sunning themselves.  Where we could see them.  All I saw was this.

Evil.

No sea lions to be seen, but we had a fabulous walk on the beach

Forget the outrageously expensive cars, I want a beach cottage with this view.

"But their trust should be in the living God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment."

~1 Timothy 6:17