Starlet

Turtle Girl....and her trusty hard-shelled friends...

In a totally unexpected day at the North Shore of Oahu, Charlotte and I parked the car to snorkel....and found ourselves in the middle of a huge, I mean HUGE, gathering of giant sea turtles.  And, when I say in the middle, it was basically Charlotte and I swimming with so many turtles, we had difficulty stepping or grabbing at anything that was NOT a turtle! 

It was nature as I have never seen it!  Turtles eye-to-eye to us...we touch them, they flick us with a flipper!  We were so stunned, I had to pull myself out of the water to grab a camera and catch it so we would be believed...the only glitch was that, as I depleted the battery on the camera, Charlotte truly became "turtle girl" when she was surrounded by easily 8-10 turtles that just hung with her, rolled with her, nibbled on her, played with her...it was freakin' unbelievable!!

As an audience gathered for "Turtle Girl", she was the focus of many cameras and conversations (I kicked myself for not having a video camera!) but, of course, Charlotte and her ten turtle friends earned the interest of those who patrol the beach protecting turtles...so they broke up "Turtle Girl and Her Boys," but it was the experience of a lifetime while it lasted.

 

 

IT'S OUT! My First Commercial! SPIKE TV

And, since none of my friends watch SPIKE TV on a regular basis (yet), here is the link to a hilarious Star Wars spot....I think you have to watch an even funnier Twix ad before you get to mine, but be patient....and, as a second disclaimer, watch closely because the two fat, drunk guys are so hilarious, I am practically an afterthought!  Even another disclaimer.... I do look good for my first national television outing....the hair color from my SHEAR GENIUS appearance shows well....enjoy!

Click here. http://www.spike.com/video/dont-make-fun-of/2996499 

Swingtime in Alohaland

Still here swinging (literally on a rare swinging bridge) in Hawaii....show business is slow business right now so still loving the tropics!

Rodeo...Hawaii style..giddyup.

We landed in Kauai in time to see some serious roping, Aloha-style!

Scuba Time...since when do 10 year olds get to dive?

On a break in Kauai, Charlotte and I took a scuba lesson in the Poipu Beach Hotel pool...she loved it, I panicked and thought I would die in four feet of water...although I got used to it after a while, this old mother still had no desire to go underwater (way underwater, like deeper than a pool...) and see the fish.  I prefer to watch them safely from above, thank you!

But, fearless Charlotte, who did not have to wonder if she carried enough life insurance before strapping on the tanks, proceeded to do the first dive (toward four) that she would need to become a certified diver.  Unbelievable!  While I snorkled around the Bay (freaking dangerous with waves smashing against jagged rocks... but at least above water!) Charlotte and two other boys took the plunge - and loved it!!

Now she has a year to complete the rest and become, frankly, the youngest diver I know.

 

Black Barry

It's out ...and getting tons of hits on YouTube and Will Ferrell's "Funny or Die".  Click on th elink below to see my YouTube debut with cameos by Charlotte and dog, Thaddeus.  UPDATE July 15...still getting at least 100 views a day!

This potentially hysterical video is a Blacknerry spoof, where, instead of being addicted to my PDA, I am inseparable from a big Black guy named Barry, my Black Barry!

Caution!  Crude and not for the kids...and I should have had better hair...oh, and now I know at what angle I should NOT be filmed!

Click here if you dare...and have a few minutes to kill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxU9supUJQQ

True Chinatown...Honolulu.

About once a week while we are in Honolulu, I head to Chinatown.  I go to buy noodles...Look Fun rice noodles with shrimp...cheap, filling and totally tasty!

Every time I go to Chinatown, I discover something new.  I ask questions and learn what is typically Asian in the Islands.  I buy produce, meats and fish, prepared foods, snacks and pineapple ices.  What I really love is to see the older Chinese immigrants working their trade - and their children and grandchildren working in the same trade right alongside them...keeping the tradition sixty years later.  For example, at the noodle shop above, a kid about twenty years old was crushing black sesame seeds and explained to me that they would be combined with water chestnuts and other ingredients to make a sweet rice noodle that is so popular and labor intensive it sells out before 10 AM every Saturday morning...I'll be there this Saturday to find out what teh big fuss is about!

Aloha Time!

The view from our Lanai at our beachfront condo in Kahala, a beautiful section of Honolulu...while the uncertainties of a SAG strike in Hollywood looms, Charlotte and I are sitting it out in the Islands.  She is sailing every day at a fabulous camp at Waikiki Yacht Club and I am....well...I am loving having a place of my own to hang out in (including the all-powerful washer and dryer of my own!)

We also hang out on the beach, lounge by the pool, snorkel, eat shrimp and all of our other favorite things we do in Hawaii...mahalo.

Hollywood Comes to Honolulu

  What a surprise when we were invited to see Kay Panabaker's film "Moondance Alexander" at a screening over the pool at the Sheraton Waikiki.  To top it off, Kay joined us and she was warm, delightful and thoroughly a testament to great kids in the acting profession.

We had originally been invited to a screening of this horse-related film when we were in LA...it turns out the sister-in-law of Charlotte's chorus teacher, Mr. Bob, was the producer-writer.  We were both thrilled to see it in such an awesome setting...a pool, mai tais, popcorn and the star of the film, Kay Panabaker, add up to a memorable evening.  Kay even came and sat with us sharing stories of co-stars Don Johnson and Lori Loughlin.

In fact, Charlotte and a couple new friends came back the next day to hang up with the petite and polite Kay (at 18 she looks 14, has already finished both high school and college, is naturally beautiful and healthy ...and will surely have a long career - along with sister Danielle - in Hollywood).

And this Sunday we are back at the Sheraton for the screening of "Alice Upside Down" starring Alyson Stoner and Lucas Grabeel... 

More from GospelLight Camp

Here are the kids from GospelLight, great friends after four days filming, talking, playing, singing around a campfire, eatin' s'mores and just plain having fun!

Invited by the counselors-in-training to join their campfire, these kids really showed why they are actors....and why they'll succeed.  They entertained the thirty counselors with singing, dancing and joke-telling!  We had so much fun and our days in Ojai will go down in history as one of the most delightful, fun, friend-making experiences a struggling actress can ever have in Hollywood (it goes without saying that the GospelLight shoot involved no sex, swearing, violence, fake blood, murder, drugs, drinking or Scientology).