A November to Remember...

Its Ryan's birthday in November and I always enjoy spoiling him. Scott came north to celebrate with us, since his birthday is the day after Ryan's. We all did a barbecue dinner at Baby Blues Barbecue, the best in San Francisco. It was a fun night, family style and everyone just sharing and caring.
The next morning we headed north to Guerneville where we rented a cabin on the river for a couple nights. Its was stunning and fabulous, with a hot-tub and private beach access, a fire place and a fully equipped kitchen. I even baked my first cake, Ouma Quinta style for the birthday boys, a German chocolate coconut cake.It was a huge success and I couldn't believe myself.
Its incredibly gorgeous up there during fall with all the vineyard's changing color.

We finally shot the short Milena and I have been working on the past few months; about a couple living with 'alien' status in the United States and face some challenging choices being far from home. I work with Mauro Pivi and in one day we shot out in the Oakland hills, it was a great day of filming with people that take their craft and work seriously and it was lovely working with Milena Grozeva Levy, a talented director and writer. We are all excited because it could be the first of a trilogy of shorts that really looks at the choices those of us in a foreign country face when life throws is curve balls.

I also finished a run of "Inside Davids Mamet's computer" written by Howard Meehan with me, Tim Talbot and Michael Locke. We performed it at Studio300 Theater downtown San Francisco and had a fantastic weekend and audiences. It was another really good experience of working with passionate people that gets things done. It was a night filled with original work by talented artists, Tonya Foster who wrote "Waiting on Humanity" and Howard Meehan doing stand-up, everyone creating quality work and observing the world we live in. It felt like community coming together enjoying performing art as entertainment.


And...I'm more pregnant by the day, November has been a fast paced month of significant change, physical, hormonal and mental.
I'm enjoying the journey this pregnancy is taking me on, its eye opening and significantly making we aware of the human experience. Everyday is different and as a friend of mine said today its truly nine months that makes us really aware of how different everyday is and how we change in every moment. Not only physically is the growth so rapid and noticeable its also something that forces us to be really present in the moment and aware of the world we live in, since the sense of responsibility sets in and priorities become clear.
I look forward to the festive season and going home to South Africa for a month and also spending some time in New York.
Happy Thanks Giving!