I know, I know… summer is supposed to be a time to relax, right? Wrong. Not in my case! But I’m so happy to announce that I’m now blogging for two new domains and I hope you can stop by and check them out when you get a chance.

Twilight Groupie - covering all news, pictures, spoilers and more for the Twilight Saga movies (and books)

The San Diego Guide - I’m the editor for San Diego for the Planet Eye websites - bringing news and info on all the great San Diego destinations, events, and attractions.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m always proud of my kids. They continue to amaze me as they progress, learn new words, develop their personalities, and do well in school.

But this weekend was an extreme “proud mommy moment” with K1. We had her first speaking role filming up in Los Angeles. I’m not sure exactly what can be divulged about the film, so at this point I won’t give away specific details. But believe me, as soon as I can post the trailer and more info - I will!! Suffice it to say that it’s an independent short film… and K1 played the daughter of a solider going off to war.

She had one scene, and it was being filmed at night in a not-so-nice neighborhood in Los Angeles. There was a constant shift of call time, so we ended up arriving at 5:00 but didn’t even get over for wardrobe and makeup until after 8:00. A lot of down time! The reason being that they needed it to be completely dark for her scene. We met the actor playing her father (who was extremely nice and made her feel at ease, which was part of the reason the night went so well) and the girl who played the older version of her character (she was extremely sweet!)

The next step was the acting coach walking K1 through the lines and her blocking - and then we finally actually went to the corner of filming. Mind you, it was pretty frightening. A street corner with a homeless guy on a wheelchair crossing the street, cars driving past blaring music, and police helicopters flying overhead!

They filmed the scene several times, from several angles. All in all I would say they did the scene at least 25 times, with a lot of false starts and stopping early due to the background noise. K1 did amazing, every single take. She was quick to get to her mark, say the lines, and she consistently played her role. And even being on set with all the people and chaos, it still tugged at my heart to watch the scene. At the end, the father kisses her on the forehead and walks away as she stands there holding a teddy bear looking sad. It about broke my heart!

They finally wrapped at around 11:30, and although K1 was extremely tired by this point, she was still excited to work on the project. I was extremely proud of her - her behavior, her acting, her professionalism, her manners… There were so many things that could have gone wrong - but she did everything right!

Stay tuned and hopefully in a couple months I’ll be able to release more details

We’ve been taking K1 up to auditions in Los Angeles for almost a year now. She loves acting and getting in front of the camera, so it seemed a natural aspiration for her to explore. Thus far she’s enjoyed all of the auditions (for print, a music video, and student films) and if she ever stops liking it we’ll stop immediately. I don’t want to turn into a stage mom and force her to go!

A couple of weeks ago K1 auditioned for a student film here in San Diego. She didn’t get the role for the main girl, however she was called back to take place in a show-and-tell classroom scene. It wasn’t a speaking part, but she got a chance to see how the filming took place, take after take after take after take!

That same week she had an audition up at UCLA for another student film. Last Saturday I got an email saying she landed the part! It’s only a few lines of dialogue, but still - it’s an amazing opportunity for her. We had to drive up to the school Saturday afternoon to meet with the director and some of the cast. They did a read-through of the script and talked about wardrobe and schedules. She will be shooting her part in two weeks and the film will be done next semester.

Here’s hoping she “breaks a leg” and does amazing during the filming!