Lydia's Journey BEYOND Hollywood

Well, Nicolas is already 3 months! And I'm already 6 months pregnant! And it's coming up on a year that I've been back in texas - where does the time go??? This is insane. Here is Nic at 3 months :) Look at that handsome smile! So I figured I would just relax my last few months of being pregnant, but no such dream will happen... We are moving soon, just after the new year. So packing will begin soon. We are staying in Austin, just moving to a bigger place to accomodate our growing family. And I signed on to cast another project. I'm currectly casting a SAG short film called Breaking the Curse . My audition sessions are tomorrow and callbacks are next weekend. I'd like to think after we move and after this baby is born, maybe THEN I can rest. haha Yeah right, with a newborn and a 6 month old? Sleep is not in my distant future. Maybe next christmas? So I've been getting a few emails from blog readers who have read my journey in Hollywood (THANK...

Yes, my computer is still broken, which means the blog updates are few and far between. Sorry about that - but I'm stubborn and prefer to hold out until I can afford a Mac! :) And it's difficult to update from my iphone, so unless I have access to a computer, blogging has stalled for me. :( I will try to get to it as often as I can, but as you know, my plate has been full these days... So we are creeping up on week 22 of this pregnancy. Let me tell you, I'm not one of those moms who LOVE being pregnant! It's very weird actually. And uncomfortable. And stressful. Not sure if I would do it again. But I hear you feel differently after the little one enters the world. Hm. We'll see....And speaking of entering the world...Can someone else PLEASE give birth to this baby other than me? Or can I go to sleep and wake up and it's over?? I fear the delivery process. Call me a wuss. I don't care. It's weird because I'm officially showing now. ...

ok, First off, my computer has been broken for the past three weeks. :( I thought it was just the backlight, but apparently the problem lies with the connection from the motherboard to the backlight, and I was told it wasn't fixable. Or worth it actually. So, that explains part of why I've slacked on the blog here... While I shop around for a new laptop, (I'm thinking of a macbook pro...), I'm hooking up my computer to my TV just so I can get a screen for now. fun fun fun... Another reason why I've been gone for a while is...I've been busy being a mom. Huh?! What?! Yup. I adopted a newborn just three weeks ago. A family member asked me to take him while she was pregnant back in May, and I agreed, so little Nicolas was born August 29, 2011. :) And I've had him ever since. It's an adjustment considering he's my first baby. But now I bring you to the other news... I found out just 6 weeks after I agreed to take this little one into my hea...

Her name is Luca. She lives on the 2nd fl. Lol So, I have had my cat for 15 years until she passed away this past New Year's Day. I've always wanted a dog, I just couldn't have one while I had Precious. So this is my first official live-in dog. I had my dog Benson who lived at my parents' house until he died an early death. :( We named her Luca, and she is totaly adorable. About 6 weeks old, and around 90% Lab, 10% who knows. So yes, we are crazy to take on this big responsibilty right now, but what the hell! What is life if you don't take chances and aren't willing to make changes that could change your life? ;) So she is our puppy. And puppy training will begin in September at Petco for 6 weeks! haha Tonight is her first night with us. I hope she transitions well... Here's to a future filled with happiness, snuggles, and smiles...

I barely recognize my life anymore! So much has changed in less than a year, it's unbelieveable. I remember this time last year, I was getting used to my one bedroom apartment in West Hollywood (that I paid $1150 a month for!). I had my Acting class with Howard Fine (I miss everyone!), my auditions (whenever I had any..), and my Audition Technique classes I taught over at Actorsite in North Hollywood. Not to mention the courier business I has started, The Actor's Courier. I kept myself busy, and I hung out with friends as much as possible, but I still was lonely and unhappy. I felt like every year was the same for the past 10 years. I auditioned for things, booked work, went to class, taught class, and started all over again the following year. I wanted a HUGE change to happen in my life. And Boy, did it! :) I'm living in, and loving, Austin Texas. I've been here in February. Back in Texas since December. In a short 8 months, I have managed to take my life ...

Unbelieveable. That's the only word to describe this journey I'm on. :) So my play closes this weekend. Is it bad to say I'm looking forward to it? I mean, I've had an amazing time working on the show with everyone, but I really can't wait to take a break from Acting. Completely. Never thought I would ever say those words....but I'm ready to tackle the next phase of my life and new career, whatever that may be. :) Gotta love those new beginnings... I had the most unbelievable experience in callbacks yesterday. I've been holding auditions in Austin and Houston, trying to get this feature film cast. I've been accepting video submissions, and organizing open calls in the town we are shooting in. And last Saturday, we had an open call in El Campo, and this gentleman who has never acted before, came in. He had a great look - kinda reminded me of Tyrese. He's was tall, bald, and muscular. He had the perfect look for the role of Freddy C. I rea...

This week has been awesome! I really am the happiest I've ever been in my entire life! I know that is a lofty statement - but it's true. :) The play I'm in officially opened on Friday. I feel much beter about it and am having a great time! It runs 4 weeks! I started the casting process for the film Homebound . It has been so much fun! It gives me that butterfly feeling in the pit of my stomach - that's how much I love doing this! I put out an official breakdown for what I'm currently casting for and sides are posted on Showfax. We are hiring SAG and non union actors because it's a SAG Low Budget feature film. We are shooting in El Campo and I hope to use a lot of the locals in the film as well. So here are the roles I'm casting right now: FREDDY C - Male 25-35. African American. Grew up in the projects in the small town of El Campo, TX. Just got out of jail. He's the best friend to our lead character. He's the voice of wisdom. Charming and ...

Well, we open this Friday. ARGH!!!!! Lol. Actually, it's coming along nicely. This is a very funny play and everyday I'm growing more and more confident in my character. Hopefully by opening night, I'll have it down! :). We started tech rehearsal last night. So this week we are running the show every night and added lights, sound, costumes, etc. I do have some great news to report. That feature film I was producing a few months ago, HOMEBOUND, is ready to start casting and I was asked to be the casting director! So this will be my first SAG feature film and it will begin shooting in July in El Campo, Texas (just outside of Houston). Pretty exciting stuff! It's crazy how much my life has changed in 6 short months, yet I have everything I've ever wanted. Proof that if you open up your mind and heart, everything will fall into place. I couldn't be happier :-)

Rehearsals are in full swing for Too Many Husbands, the play I'm doing here in Austin for Different Stages. We had to be off book by this weekend. Yikes! I'm still a little shaky on my lines. I'm playing the mother of the ingenue, the woman married to "too many husbands". This has been a very challenging project for me. Mainly because I think the last play production I've been in was way over two years ago! But, also because this piece is a British comedy set in the early 1900's. So my British accent is also a bit shaky. And my character isn't as developed as I would like it to be by this point. It has resulted in my leaving rehearsals in frustrated tears and wanting to quit at times - but of course, I would NEVER do that. I grin and bear it and remind myself that this is all a learning experience. I think part of my frustration is, I really need a clean cut BREAK after leaving LA, and diving into a play head first, isn't really a break....

Man, you would think I have all the time in the world to keep up with this blog considering I'm not working yet... I guess it seems like not much is happening to update this. But I will try my best... I did talk to the people at the office who sent me to that middle school class and told them what I was dealing with. They went ahead and sent one of their team leaders there to finish off the school year and sent me as a substitute to a different school for the last couple of weeks of school. I audited this class when I first came on with the program, so I know what I'm in for, and it's not bad at all...So it all ended for the best. I participated in a play reading a couple of weeks ago for the first annual Austin Latino New Play Festival produced by Teatro Vivo. It was a success and I was so proud to be a part of it. :) And so proud of my friend Erica Saenz, who wrote the piece I was in. Tonight I have a callback for a play called Too Many Husbands, produced by Differ...

This week was kinda crappy for me. I'm just sayn... Without getting too personal, I'll share some of the "lowlights"... I started the afterschool program this week. I've taught in classrooms for many years as a substitute teacher for public schools, I've also taught acting to ages 5 to 65! But I don't think I was prepared for what I encountered this week! I was assigned to a middle school to teach theater to a group of kids who lost the teacher they've had since the beginning of the year. Not sure where he went, but he couldn't continue with the class anymore. I went in on Tuesday, and although they were crazy "energetic" and had a hard time focusing, I finally got them to do a few improv scenes and the day didn't end so bad. But then Thursday came... Ugh...Thursday. I couldn't get them to listen to me from the start. And the good students from Tuesday had decided to trade places with the other ones and have a bad day tha...

Rehearsals began this week for Lightning Strikes, the play written by my friend Erica Saez, that will be performed as a staged reading in about 2 weeks. It's so nice to be in rehearsals again. It's been so long - I forgot what it was like! I wasn't sure if my memory could memorize a full script anymore - but good thing it's a reading and not a full on production! And I have to say, there is a calm in this sort of work. I'm not on edge and I'm not stressed. And it's so not about "business" - or who will be in the audience the night we perform this, will they bring me in for pilot season? None of that matters. People are doing this because they love doing it - not because it will further their career. And ahhh....That's all I want right now. If I perform, it's because I want to and not for a paycheck. :) What a different way of life here in Austin Texas. I tell you, I must've been burnt out with the "business" of i...

Well, life in Austin is so much more different than what I'm used to in LA. I have to find a "real job" which is weird for me. There are many things that interest me, and I'm sure I can be happy doing a number of things. Adjusting to having to be somewhere everyday and work for someone else - that's something I'll have to get used to. But, there are some things you can't beat - like being able to go to my goddaughter's 2nd birthday! If I was in LA, I doubt I would've been able to fly in for her birthday in Dallas this weekend. This is the time of year where I'm usually busy with auditions, or waiting to be busy - so I never really allowed myself to leave town until the summer. Now I don't have to worry about that. And I got to see family this weekend, and watch Ava have a great time at Chuck E Cheese's yesterday. :) I wouldn't trade that for anything! So - this morning I decided to get back to working out again. For some ...

Well, I am all moved and unpacked here in Austin. I had a job interview earlier this week for a position I had with a different company in the same field before I left for LA. I really liked that job - I was a marketing representative and I had fun meeting different people everyday. When I found out this position was available and i was being considered for it - I got SO excited. After my interview Monday, I realized how long it's been since I've been on a real job interview, other than an audition. I was rusty. And I didn't know how to answer some of their questions. They asked me about dealing with customers in the past and asked me a lot fo sales questions. man, I haven't dealt with a "customer" or sold anything - other than myself in auditions - in quite some time, so I didn't know how I could spin it to relate to my past experience. All I can say is, that interview was a learning experience. We'll see how it turns out. I did audition for...

Talk about being burnt out. Talk about needing a much needed BREAK. I have been away from Hollywood for 2 1/2 months now and I don't miss it one bit. I miss my friends and awesome people I have met there, of course. And I do miss the weather... Ahhh...that sunny 75 degree weather! Ok, maybe I miss it a TINY bit. But is it weird that I don't miss auditioning? AT ALL? My world was my career. My days consisted of going to my auditions, or waiting for a good one to come in. Sitting in traffic, looking over my sides, dealing with my frustrations about the stereotypical role I was going for YET AGAIN, and self doubt about my ability - EVERY TIME. I loved my acting class with Howard because I finally felt like I was WORKING - even though class cost me instead of paid me. But I got so much more out of it than my actual acting jobs. I've been back in Texas and my days couldn't be more opposite! My mornings start off with coffee with my mother, and watching American I...

Wow - I am so sorry. I have to start off with an apology. I promised to be better about updating my blog. I said I would write even after I left Hollywood and for some reason, I haven't had the chance to...I'll try my best to be better. :) Ok, the updates... I spent a week in El Campo Texas last month, trying to raise funds for a feature film I was helping to produce called HOMEBOUND. Thank you to those of you who pledged and supported, but no, we didn't make our goal. Not yet. The plan is to keep trying to raise the funds and hopefully get this film made eventually. We'll see. But this process did put me in contact with local legend Pepe Serna , who is originally from Texas and has had an amazing film career spanning over 4 decades! What else is happening...? Well, I'm moving to Austin this weekend. Every year for the past 10 years while I've lived in Los Angeles, I've always talked about moving back to Austin someday. Well, that day is finally...

Man, I would say the hardest part about producing a feature film is getting the FUNDS! We are fundraising in El Campo this week, the location where the film takes place, trying to get the community involved in the project. We are going business to business, inviting the business owners, as well as EVERYONE, to our event tonight where we will hopefully get the remainder of our $150,000 budget! Yikes! It's a lot of money, but I have faith that the community will pull together. That Latinos all over the country will support. The purpose of this film is to transform the image of Latinos in the media, and we need everyone's support to make that happen. A lot of people TALK about supporting what we are doing, but we need everyone to put their money where their mouth is! haha $150,000 sounds like a lot but it's nothing when you're trying to make a movie. So if 1,000 people contribute $150, we are all set! What will YOU contribute???

My current project is in the works. It's a feature film called HOMEBOUND, written and directed by my friend Fanny Veliz . The plan is to shoot in El Campo, Texas, a small town outside of Houston where our lead actor, Jeremiah Ocanas , is from. We are set to shoot in March 2011, (that's just two more months!!!!) but we need the remainder of our budget to do so. We are trying to raise $150,000 in order to shoot this film. It's a small budget, but we are hoping to use our contacts and resources to get the best film we can! I'm one of the producers on this project as well as an actress in the film. We are using a website called KICKSTARTER to raise the funds. We need YOUR help! Contribute what you can! There are perks with every contribution. To see the video and learn more, click HERE

I never knew why I felt like I was ready to leave Hollywood and come back to Texas. It didn't make sense to family, friends or colleagues. I just felt like I was ready to head back. And that's because I was still working steadily! But once I got here, I realized that everything happens for a reason. There is no place I'm supposed to be right now than here and now. This month I have spent the holidays with family, fell in love, took care of two small children, reconnected with old friends, and let's not forget, got my Texas license plates! This move may not have made sense in the beginning - but where I am now - it makes TOTAL sense. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be: At the beginning of my new road that I'm traveling on. :) My future is beginning and I couldn't be happier :)