Lydia's Journey BEYOND Hollywood

Big changes happening.... So we've decided to leave Austin behind :'( and head back to our old hometown of Corpus Christi.  My husband wants to open his own business there.  He resells used and refurbished fitness equipment.  The change will be good considering both of our families live there, so our kids can grow up around family.  I've decided to open my casting office next year there in Corpus.  So here we are...wiping the slate clean and building everything from the ground up.  Scary, yes.  but exciting.  I'm excited for my husband to finally work for himself, doing what he does best.  And I'm excited at the opportunity I will have to scout talent in Corpus and hopefully be able to employ some of these actors.  I can't wait to hold a casting call to see what kind of talent I can find.  I can't wait to be able to teach classes on the business of acting and audition technique. This will be good...for all of us. In the meantime,...

Well, Well, well, what did you do this weekend?  Me?  I got married.  Yup.

Okay....  2nd birthday was last night at Chuck E Cheese's.  That was a success.  Nic didn't run off screaming - but he wasn't dancing and laughing the whole night.  As long as we didn't have a huge meltdown, I consider the night a success! We are officially one week away from our lovely beach wedding.  Now I know why people elope!  Geez..party planning really ain't my thang! But in a week - it will be over and the honeymoon will begin!  Hopefully for the rest of our lives!  Actually, since finding a sitter for 2 toddlers still in diapers is damn near impossible - it looks like we will have to take the kiddos with us if we want any kind of real honeymoon.  So we are thinking of taking a road trip (I know - we're crazy) to maybe Memphis/Nashville/Pigeon Forge, TN - cuz we love country and have never been to music city!  So, wish us luck.  We will need it! School officially starts next Tuesday!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I'm mor...

Well well well... SOMEONE'S busy!  Geez...I have SO MUCH going on this month - it's crazy!  Not that that's an excuse for my break from blogging...  well, actually it is.  :) Let's see....  We are officially 30 days from our little beach wedding, 2 days away from my bachelorette party/girl's night, exactly 3 weeks away from Nicolas's 2nd birthday party, so my hands have been busy taking care of goody bags, invitations, wedding RSVPs and centerpieces!  Yikes! And on top of my busy personal life, I am now casting the feature film B.O.O.S.T.  So here I am hosting a fundraiser in Austin for this project, organizing the table read in Los Angeles, and auditioning actors already, way into pre-production.  Did I mention I was busy? Yet, here I am, updating my blog, instead of packing for our trip to Corpus this weekend, which we leave in just a few hours.  And that's because I JUST finished editing an audition tape for one of my clients.  Oh...

My first wave of excitement was when I became a professional actress. My move to Hollywood and the jobs I started to book filled me with such excitement that I couldn't contain myself.  (Thus this blog...)  It was a lifelong dream and I didn't know how to separate myself from my craft.  It was the scariest thing to decide to leave Hollywood and my career for who knows what.  I just knew it was time to make a change.  Nothing had ever filled me with that same excitement before and I was afraid I would never feel it again.  I was leaving behind everything I knew and felt was ME, to start a new life. I knew it was time to change when I stopped having fun, when that excitement started to fade.  I would book jobs and it didn't feel the same.  I wasn't sure if it was me burning out and just needed a break, or it was time to just walk away.  I felt like this for a few years before I decided to leave. I moved back to Texas, as most of you know by ...

Wow - I used to be SO good about updating my blog.  My apologies to my readers.  It just seems like ever since I had kids, I have no time for anything!  Lol Well, a small update:  I'm currently participating in The Austin Latino New Play Festival.  We are presenting staged readings of 3 new plays to an audience this weekend.  I haven't been on stage in 2 years!  Thankfully it's just a reading and I don't have to memorize my entire script!  It was 2 weeks of rehearsal.  That I can handle... I'm sending the kiddos off to school this fall.  Twice a week for a few hours each day, so that gives me time to get back to work.  I can't wait to dive back into casting!  I just read that the NBC show Revolution may start shooting out here in Austin.  I would LOVE to cast a TV show here in Austin!  It would be awesome to give all these wonderful actors opportunities! On the family side of things...  My baby girl, Ivy Rose ...

Well, this week, I've learned the importance of an hour. Sometimes all it takes is an hour of grocery shopping by myself to happily call it "me-time".  I can have a day or week, or shoot, even a month, when I am with my kids 24-7 and I need some kind of BREAK.  I think I need a night out with girlfriends or a 4 hour shopping spree, or even a manicure/pedicure - but really all I need is an hour to HEB and I start to actually miss those kids that crawl all over me and don't let me breathe, much less shower!  It's funny how that happens.  I'll bitch about how I need to get away, and when I do, I miss home.  Go figure. This week has been pretty busy on the "work" front.  I've been taping clients this week for their taped audition submissions and getting ready for the local screening of HOMEBOUND in El Campo this weekend, where it was shot.  I'll be part of the Q&A since I cast the film. Really excited to see the film on the big screen and...

I quietly smile to myself as I open the oven door and pull out my parmesan breaded chicken strips.  I feel so domesticated!  It wasn't that long ago that dinner for one consisted of something frozen from the grocery store, or something quickly picked up from a drive thru window.  I'm a long way from that life.  Nowadays I look forward to feeding my family.  I buy in portions of 4 (since Ivy is eating table food now), well, really portions of 3 since the babies share a portion.  And I'm now that girl who looks for recipes to try and cute new crafty projects for each holiday.  Seriously domesticated.  And I smile to myself because I'm now getting comfortable, dare I say happy,  with this life change.  I've always been happy about it, just in shock really.  I couldn't get over how drastically different my life now was and it scared the crap out of me.  I now had this family that depended on me.  I craved this when it was just...

I've been on many stages in my life.  Small black box theater spaces, huge stages that I shared with the San Antonio Symphany, and even stages that weren't really stages.  I've even been through many stages myself - from the awkward kid who didn't know who she wanted to be, to the professional actress struggling with what to do next.  To the woman who is now a mommy.  Out of ALL those stages - I love the stage that my kids are in now the most.  :) Ivy will be a year in a month.  And Nic will be 18 months.  And as much as I loved holding my newborns in my arms, I remember thinking, um...when does this begin to be FUN?  Yes, having (almost) two toddlers definitely has its TOUGH moments (tantrums anyone??), but watching them learn and discover things is priceless.  Hearing them "talk" to each other is surreal!  They may understand each other, but it sounds like babble to me and their dad. Ivy slept a lot when she was a newborn, and didn...

We are coming up on two years back in Austin.  Two years happens to be the exact time I lived here last time. It was right after graduating college.  I came to Austin because I wanted to start a professional career as an actress, but I wasn't ready to make the move to Hollywood just yet.  I accomplished a lot in those 2 short years.  I secured my first agent, used professional headshots, worked on film for the first time, and even booked lead roles in independent feature films.  In those 2 short years, I grew up a lot, as a person and an actor, and I was ready to fully go after my dream.  I knew that meant having to go back to square one, humbling myself, and working as an extra for a year and a half before booking my first speaking role on TV. For my 10 years in LA, I've thought about moving back to Austin several times.  At every anniversary, I would reminisce about my short time in Austin and how much I loved living there, the great people I met i...

Well, now I get why people elope!  Wedding planning is my worst nightmare.  I've never been much of a party planner or decorator, and trying to come up with a "theme" much less a small guest list has all been a challenge!  Luckily, we decided on a very small beach wedding with just close friends and immediate family.  I found a photographer, caterer, and maybe even a dress.  So things are moving along nicely.  Still have 8 more months to go.  Nice... I started jogging last week.  OMG - I can't believe how easy this used to be for me.  Now it is the hardest part of my day - and that's saying a lot if you've ever seen Nic throw a fit.  I haven't made it part of EVERY day, I'm just glad I've been able to do it a few times already.  My body definitely feels the pain afterwards.  But I know the more I do it, the better I'll feel - and the easier it will get.  It's the third week of January so my hardcore regimen has started to...

Well, actually, it's Day two.  Day two of the new year, and day two of my new diet and fitness overhaul.  Day one of working out though.  Thanks to a very bad stomach ache the first of the year, I followed my healthy eating diet, but I couldn't workout until today.  So Day one of back on the saddle. What's weird was, I've lost 100 pounds before.  I did it once, I can do it again, right??  It's not like I'm trying to lose the whole 100 again, but I'm trying to get my butt back into shape.  I'm not even shooting for my skinniest.  Just my happy weight.  To go with my happy date.  :)  We finally set a date to get married - September 7, 2013.  So I have 8 months to drop pounds.  Eight months to get back into fighting weight.  Ugh. The thing is, it's like I forgot HOW I did it!  It WAS many years ago...and I was so much younger.  My metabolism was way faster...yadda yadda yadda...  I know I can do it again...