The L.A. Dime

….include food and anything that goes fast – swings, her tricycle & carnival rides. Below are a few pics from our recent adventures with our little toddler….and a visit from Opa & Nana. Hover over the pic to read a brief description

For a while I’ve been wanting to host a bourbon tasting, and since I’ll be heading to Louisville soon to stay at the Brown and give its bar a good workout, I thought it might be good timing to have some fellow aficionados over and sample some of Kentucky’s finest.

Thanks to Jan Kasl for helping cook. We made our own bourbon BBQ sauce for use on slow-smoked pulled pork. The bourbon baked beans cooked for 12 hours. Laurie Perdue, pride of North Carolina, offered her slaw and green bean recipe, and Tina baked Amy Wilson’s Derby Pie for desert. Quite the group effort. We used a fifth of Beam just in the cooking.

Extra special thanks go to Josh Hafer, fraternity brother and Heaven Hill honcho for donating a gorgeous bottle of Evan Williams, and for helping me with the tasting protocols.

Thanks to Sandy, Stu, Shep and Jack for attending, bottle in hand. The Elmer T. Lee won best of show 4-2 over Booker’s. Elmer will defend his title against a whole new slew of brunettes when next the tasting party (not to be confused with Tea Party — though they did come up in conversation) meets again.

Yes, we’re still here. Life has thrown us a couple of curve balls lately so we’ve just hunkered down and slowly worked out way through them – the “to do” list is still fairly long but some of the most time sensitive issues have been taken care of.

Please note that the list below is not in any particular order – mainly just my thoughts of why we haven’t been as active on the blog or maybe even been bad family members or friends.

Here’s a recap of what’s kept us hopping these past few weeks:
- Brad got slammed with a ton of school work, plus is on assignment for a re-write (a good thing, but also meant lots of nights with only 4-5 hours of sleep and very little quality family time)
- Our triple-osmosis water filtration system, the faucet that dispenses that purified water and our regular sink faucet all went bad in the same week….Brad, never really having claimed the title of fix-it-man, took on all three projects himself and did a fabulous job!! Thank you also to cousin Ines who helped crawl under the sink when my 7-month belly couldn’t even allow me to bend down and take a look
- Our master bathroom shower has had a leak for a while and after a video-recording (brilliant idea Brad!!), we finally learned exactly where it was. The contractor who initially put it in was called, showed up and fixed it — it’s been drying all weekend but tomorrow morning’s showers will be the real test
- We’ve been spending a lot of time talking and researching various refinance options as our 5-year fixed loan is due in July and we want to be informed about our options beyond that
- Trying to keep some kind of composure and find a way to de-stress through all the above mentioned madness, Brad’s been going to yoga three times a week and is running is much as he can
- My workload has been absolutely insane and while I am blessed to have a job and do enjoy it, I am even more tired by the time I get home tonight which makes spending quality time with Sophie a bit more challenging
- The good news is that Sophie continues to be our little “active, happy and always surprising us with new vocabulary or questions” sanity check – she gets us to laugh when we feel like the house is falling apart, have had yet another “i got glutened experience” or we are absolutely exhausted by 6pm

Overall though, we are healthy, have a roof over our heads and seem to somehow manage keeping income flowing into the household (even as the film industry is completely changing and corporate trainers aren’t exactly the type of positions companies are typically keeping around). We’ve also had 3 wonderful house guests over the past few weeks who reminded us of the importance of family and friends that you can spend an evening chatting with and connecting on that “ah, I feel refreshed again” sort of way.

I also want to take this (rambling) opportunity to Thank all of you for checking in on us and me regarding the pregnancy. We are into our 7th month and baby (and I) are doing well. Lots of movement from the little one and my waist line is growing daily. We decided not to find out the sex so are also working on finding 2 names that we both agree on – see previous post on name options we’re considering. While physically speaking things are going great, my emotional state is a bit all over the place. Obviously I am thrilled to be having another baby and really do enjoy being pregnant, I am constantly struggling with feelings of guilt about how my relationship with Sophie is going to change. I hear over and over again that the love you feel for your first and second child doesn’t have to be split, it simply grows – I understand that intellectually, but my heart is always worried about what I can do (now and later) to never make her feel second or not as important. While I am sure we will somehow find our way through the transition, neglecting her in some way or not being able to do it all, is a constant concern in my mind.

Well, geez….if you are still reading this…thanks for listening. While the above list really is just “material” matters and in the grand scheme of things don’t matter, it does explain why we’ve been so crazy busy and probably not as social as we usually are.

Hope you all are well and feel free to drop us a comment below to catch us up on your lives:)

Guess what! Your favorite movie, Road Trip 2: Beer Pong, is now airing on TBS…in the wee, wee hours of the morning. But they changed the title to Road Trip 2: Get Your Pong On, because beer is the devil, even on cable.

You can sign up for an email reminder to watch or Tivo the movie, which the Dept. of Shameless Promotion tells me may have an influence on how TBS continues to run it. Go here to sign up.

I think there might be a few Lexingtonians reading the blog, so as the mayoral race there ratchets up, I want to share my personal story with one of the candidates, and ask that you give him your support.

I left Lexington after college and took a job in North Carolina. I met great people, had great experiences, learned a lot, but needed to come home closer to family and friends. Fortunately, Arthur Rouse at Video Editing Services was willing to hire me, and one of the first projects he put me on was an assignment to document Gray Construction’s remodel of the Wolf Wile department store building into its new company home. They wanted to “walk in their customers moccasins,” and experience what their clients feel in designing and building a new home. Jim Gray was at the forefront of that decision, and was my key contact at the company. Over the several years it took for that project to develop and conclude, Jim became a mentor to me, became invested in my growth and dreams, and inspired me to pursue my career in film.  I was just a contractor from across the street, but he saw promise and encouraged it. His support goes well beyond what I can quickly detail here, but suffice it to say — I might not have become a filmmaker without him. He wrote letters of recommendation, made arrangements for me to visit different film schools, and allowed my wife and me to use his new building for a going away party when I decided on USC. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. He remains an invaluable resource in my life — a friend, but more like a sage. Call him Obi-Wan to my Luke.

Jim has that kind of influence on everyone with whom he works. He’s a highly-educated forward thinker, a CEO of one America’s largest construction firms, and yet he has dedicated himself in his work as Vice Mayor to making Lexington better, and to helping anyone and everyone he can — as he did with me.  As he has with countless others.

Jim lives downtown. He kept his company downtown. He’s pro-business, pro-growth, but environmentally concerned. He believes Lexington can grow responsibly — grow smartly.  Overcoming the loss of his father at a young age, and struggling with his brothers to rescue and sustain the company, Jim has a tireless work ethic, and is dedicated to his family. A product of Vanderbilt and Harvard, Jim knows the value of education, cherishes it, and will do all he can to ensure Lexington’s children receive the very best the city can offer.

When you meet him, Jim looks you dead in the eye, shakes your hand warmly — with the strength of a construction company’s CEO — and asks how you are doing. That’s not just a greeting. He wants to know. For a man as busy as he is, he listens — if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be where he is today. There is warmth and sincerity in his smile, and a down-home Glasgow twinkle in his eye. He’s as Kentucky as it gets, but he’s been around the world, seen and learned, and has the perspective our town needs.

I know Jim is the right man for this job. A Lexington where Jim Gray is mayor, is a Lexington I’d move back to in a heartbeat. Please support him. If you’re unsure, do the research. Get to know him. Listen. Then share your concerns, and Jim will listen to you. You won’t be disappointed.

Jim Gray for Mayor Website

Gray Construction Website

Not wanting us to have to spend Easter without any family, Mom-Mom came to visit us for 10 days around the Easter holiday. She brought with her lots of Easter activities for Sophie – including coloring eggs, making an Easter bunny bag and learning Easter songs.
Easter Sunday began with Sophie hunting for her baskets – she seemed very pleased with her new book, underwear and candy but doesn’t want to take off her new Elmo pajamas. We then hosted a small brunch for the Dempseys & Perdue/Okanos and finished off the day with a trip to the park where Sophie kicked the soccer ball and we all walked off a bit of the Easter candies we’d consumed throughout the weekend.

Thank you Mom-Mom for visiting and making these memories with us.

Spending a week in Venice, FL to visit Nana & Opa was quite a treat. We were able to enjoy lots of time chatting (Sophie had a full emersion in the German language), take walks on the beach, visit the Sarasota Animal Park (and hold an aligator) and Myaka State Park.
One tradition that I think every Grandmother enjoys teaching her Granddaughter is baking a cake. And cake baking Nana & Sophie did!! It was so fun for me to sit back and just watch them interact and share this special time together.
A final treat of the trip was getting to see my Aunt Moni and Uncle Peter who had come to town for a visit of their own but changed their plans so they could enjoy one dinner with us before we left to come back to LA.
Thank you Nana & Opa for your time, your treats and most of all – the wonderful memories for Sophie and us!!

I’ve told the story of my filmmaking dream often, but never here, and never with such urgency. Next week, the state government of Kentucky will vote on House Bills 530 and 290, which could effectively nullify all of the progress that was made less than a year ago when the state passed its first film incentive package. Granted, that package was not nearly up to snuff in competing with competitive film states, but it did provide enough to draw Disney to the Commonwealth so it could film parts of Secretariat, and positively impact Kentucky’s economy for over three weeks. It was a good start. Four other films are slated to begin production in the state this year and next, but without even our base incentive package, they would have no reason to come. My producing partner and I were considering rewriting my Florida-based script to be shot in Kentucky, but now it wouldn’t be worth the effort to relocate. The repeal of our incentives will be retroactive to 2009, so the business Disney did in our state will no longer be eligible for its benefit. How does that make us look?

When I was a student at the University of Kentucky, there was no film program in place; and today, at our Commonwealth’s flagship institution of higher learning, there still isn’t. I cobbled together what I could out of several different schools and departments to prepare myself as best I could to begin a career in film and media arts. Ultimately, I had to leave the state to study my craft, spend my money elsewhere, and apply my talent, energy and drive to bettering the California economy in pursuit of my interests. Since then, movies I’ve written have filmed in Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Atlanta. I’m still in the west, because as a writer, filmmaker, and educator, the prospects for work in Kentucky are so sparse that it doesn’t make sense to move home. This effect is called “brain drain.” Our best and brightest artists (not that I consider myself to be one) often leave the Bluegrass and never come back because there are no opportunities for them to work here. Last year’s film incentive package was a first step toward clogging that drain and keeping our talent in state. The Bluegrass Technical and Community College, EKU, NKU, WKU, Spalding, and Asbury College now offer film production courses. U of L is developing a continuing education and magnet program for film, reaching from middle school through college. The goal: to create a film literate and work capable crew base to attract productions to our state and get our citizens jobs. Efforts by these institutions and the Kentucky Film Commission, of which I’m a member, are necessary first steps toward changes that can make a huge difference to the Commonwealth’s economy long-term, but rescinding our incentive package next week will quash them.

Film production provides hundreds of jobs across a vast array of fields. Construction, transportation, carpentry, electric, grounds keeping, computer science, accounting, legal, food services and lodging are but a few fields of service that people don’t often consider when thinking about how people make movies. Hundreds of men and women work on a movie at any one time. They must eat, sleep, and be transported. Sets must be built. Costumes created. Bills paid. Food, fuel, and equipment bought. Each movie that comes to our state is a huge chunk of business, but Kentucky’s government is prepared to raze our fields before they’ve even had a chance to sprout. Don’t let it happen. Please, contact your state reps and let them know how you feel about protecting and nurturing a film economy in the Commonwealth. Louisiana, New Mexico, Florida, West Virginia, North Carolina, Michigan, Iowa, and Georgia are all doing it, so why can’t we?

Let’s develop the talent within our state, keep it at home, and profit from it. I want to come home!

Find your Representative: www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislators.htm <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislators.htm>

Conference Committee members:

Senate Members:

David Williams <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S016.htm>
Katie Kratz Stine <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S024.htm>
Robert Stivers <mailto:Robert.Stivers@lrc.ky.gov>
Ed Worley <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S034.htm>
Dan Seum <mailto:Dan.Seum@lrc.ky.gov>
Johnny Ray Turner <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S029.htm>
Carroll Gibson <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S005.htm>
Jerry P. Rhoads <jehttp://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/S006.htm>

House Members:

Gregory Stumbo <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/H095.htm>
Larry Clark <mailto:Larry.Clark@lrc.ky.gov>
Rocky Adkins <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/H099.htm>
Jeff Hoover <mailto:Jeff.Hoover@lrc.ky.gov>
Robert Damron <mailto:Robert.Damron@lrc.ky.gov>
Bob DeWeese <mailto:Bob.DeWeese@lrc.ky.gov>
John Will Stacy <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/H071.htm>
David Floyd <http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Mailform/H050.htm>

Call your Representative: 502/564-8100

One of Sophie’s favorite past-times is dancing, especially with her Dada. I love watching the two of them sing and dance — Brad shows her new moves, she happily follows his lead and it always ends up with her laying on his shoulder as he sways her back and forth.

Another favorite playtime activity of hers is making us oatmeal, milk and hamburgers in her kitchen. She likes to line us and her bears or dolls up in a row, give us each a bowl & spoon and then fill the bowls up with “home-cooked goodness”. Aunt Mandee added a lovely apron and chef’s hat to the kitchen accessories this past Christmas.

Trying to continuously make progress in preparing Sophie for the transition of becoming a big sister as well as trying to get our house ready for Baby Riddell, we spent this past weekend switching the office/guest room and Sophie’s room. The “new kids room” now holds all of Sophie’s toys, the crib (waiting for the new arrival in July) and Sophie’s new bed. She seemed very excited about her “pink, big girl bed” in the store but we weren’t sure if she’d like sleeping (and staying) in it once we got it home. It’s been about 4 days now and even though she’s gotten up a few times to check on us and in the mornings we tend to find an extra bear or doll in bed with her, she seems to be adjusting ok.

When Brad and I started talking about having kids, we decided it would be wise to pick a name first. We figured that if we could get through the incredibly difficult decision of finding a name that we both liked, couldn’t be turned into some bad joke and would be easy to pronounce in both English and German, we figured having the actual kid to go with the name would be a breeze. Once we settled on a boy and girl name we both liked, we got pregnant.

2.5 years later we are now faced with the same decision, except that we’re already 5.5 months pregnant. We’ve gone through a couple of names that we both thought we were very happy with, only to find a few weeks later to not like them anymore. We’ve searched the baby names websites and are constantly asking each other: “Do you like ____” or “What do you think of _____”.

Well beloved blog-readers, we need your help? What should we name this next Baby Riddell? We didn’t (and aren’t planning to ) find out the sex so suggestions for either would be great!!