March, April & May’s MPA

For a moment I thought I had given up on doing my mobile phone adventures: I have been posting them for almost 5 years now and sometimes it is hard to keep motivated about doing them since editing and posting them takes a lot of time that I could be putting into bigger projects. I also bought a small camera to carry in my purse, which means I take less photos with my phone and then there is also instagram…

But don’t worry! I looked through my old MPAs yesterday and felt that it was a great way to be able to remember lots of small things and somehow have a visual record of my life, even if it is just for me… So here I am again.

During March, April & May I worked on several shoots, I went to Paris & Malaga to show Teeth in two festivals, spent time with my family, hid in a closet while there were tornado watches and also turned 31. It is strange to see me wearing a coat, hat and scarf in the first photo (below) when I am wearing a summer dress and sandals as I type this. Time flies! So I guess it is important to keep on preserving it this way. Without further ado, here is the latest installment of my MPA.

At my favorite store (Home Depot!) buying supplies for a shoot.

I am a freelancer and as a freelancer I do many things related to film for other people: I shoot, I edit, I direct, assist and, sometimes, I also get to art direct. This is something I particularly enjoy because it is creative, I get to work with my hands and it also enhances the story the director is trying to tell. For this particular shoot we were building a pine derby race track and I was asked to build crazy cars, which was so much fun. I called this one “Ghost Rider motorcycle hero“.

 We built about 18 cars. This was the ‘rookie‘ car.

This is was the ‘art school’ car. It confused everyone.

On set. Day 1.

We shot at an amazing bar in Austin. It had the greatest mirror ever.

On Set. Day 2: Craig and Jack building the race track.

There were several pitfalls in the track including fire!

Poor Rookie Car didn’t make it to the finishing line.

The view from set at the end of the day.

I found this cat bouquet at another one of my gigs.

I organized my work space at home. I love spending time looking at my board.

Spring arrived.

I was working in Burnet, TX and saw these three teenage girls riding their bikes. I wished I could have been faster to get closer and take a better picture of them.

Grumpy cat flying over Austin. Juan suggested I caption this picture “Gotham has Batman, Austin has Grumpy Cat!” and I thought it was a great idea.

Ever-lasting Grackle party at HEB.

Ryan was in town during SXSW and we escaped the crowds to shoot a little teaser for his upcoming album.

Texas is all I ever imagined it would be.

We found this smiling water tower amongst a burnt forest. The funny this is that I had seen this image before even knowing I was going to live here.

Weekend thoughts.

Weekend thoughts pt II.

Mountain laurel bloomed all over town.

I can’t express how incredibly nice it smelled. The wind would carry its perfume and it was such a delight to walk around.

Raccoon stealing cat food as the cats look on.

I skillfully avoided booby traps.

I also started snap-chatting, it is fun to think about how to build stories with it. Here are two squirrels being weird.

And Rings being himself.

Visconti & his little friend.

I purposely color co-ordinated with the Wisterias.

Teeth got in to Beauvais Film Festival and Malaga Film Festival. I travelled to both places to present the film and because I really wanted to be in Paris and see my family again.

Bye Bye Austin.

Hello Paris! This was the view from my hotel room. Just looking at this picture makes me want to cry thinking about how grateful I felt for somehow being able to sit there, feeling the cool breeze on my face and watching everyone go about their lives.

After taking a nap, I went for a walk and this is one of the first things I saw. I wanted to eat them all!

La Sorbonne…

…and the Louvre.

I was really tired after such a long trip and so little sleep, so in the evening I decided to buy some food and eat it in my room while reading. This was my dinner and I felt like a total genius for coming up with such a perfect plan.

France 101 <3

The next day I woke up at 7am. The screening wasn’t taking place until 7pm so I had all day to explore Paris. I decided I would walk from my hotel to Montmartre and back. I had forgotten that people in Europe tend to sleep in on Sundays and it was also the Paris Marathon, so I had the city almost to myself for a couple of hours.

It was absolutely magical.

There was almost nobody inside Notre Dame, only people praying (disclaimer: I took this with my little camera not my phone).

After walking for an hour I stumbled on a street market and bought a fresh croissant for breakfast. I kept on walking.

I reached le Sacre-Coeur and took pictures of tourists taking pictures.

Sensitive thugs need hugs (especially at 9am).

There was a nun working inside the church. There was a big sign that said NO PHOTOS but the light was so beautiful I just couldn’t help it. She caught me taking this photo and scolded me. I pretended that I didn’t understand French.

I then walked around Montmartre without any particular destination in mind. It was so beautiful.

I ended up in the spectacular Montmartre Graveyard. It had 200+ year old graves and  crows cawed constantly, making it extra spooky.

I didn’t take any pictures at the screening or the dinner that followed it but I got to my hotel room at about 3am. My plane didn’t leave until 5pm the next day so I decided that I would walk around some more…

I had a Carmela Soprano moment.

I discovered that the trick to enjoying Paris is to have already seen all the tourist hot spots on a different trip and then avoid them at all cost. This time I just walked down normal streets and they were just as beautiful but much less crowded. I was impressed by this guy’s scarf. U_U

I do a thing where I always seek out perfection: I will look for the perfect restaurant and walk and walk and walk until it is too late and I am just stuck with bad options because everything else has closed. I was doing just that when I saw a lot of people queuing at a bread shop. I saw that they were buying sandwiches and taking them to the Luxembourg Gardens, so I decided to do the same. Without having sought it out, It was the perfect plan and it was so delightful to watch all the french girls talking to each other.

It made me miss living in Europe a little bit.

And then I wasn’t in Paris anymore but in my hometown (which is just a 45 min drive away from Malaga).

I did a handful of interviews talking about Teeth. This was Canal Sur’s building and it reminded me of a diplodocus’ head.

And then I went to Malaga to attend the Festival. It is a big festival and Spanish actors that are kind of famous go there. I saw kids waiting for them on the street at 8am while I walked to a screening.

The next day, my nieces came over so we could celebrate my birthday. Lily is pretty badass.

I waited to be interviewed at a local TV station. I had just learned that is was going to be live.

Voila!

I accidentally color co-ordinated with the red carpet.

Journalists hanging out in the press area.

Girl with selfie stick.

I saw this little girl sitting in the street by herself, completely absorbed in a game she was playing. It made me time travel to my childhood a little bit.

Cat in Malaga.

I didn’t go to the festival every day so I could be with my family. I saw these two ladies talking in my hometown…

…and this man blowing bubbles from his apartment.

Followed a PR path.

The festival was rather chaotic. There were also many teenagers waiting for famous people, hoping that they could take selfies with them. You can see how confused they look while they search their mental databases for my face.

I refused to wear high heels to the screening.

Writing on the wall at my hometown’s market.

My mom and aunt tried to take a selfie with a selfie stick while my cousin supervised.

I showed them how it was done.

And then it was time to say goodbye again.

Back in Austin.

I don’t know why Allure sends me their magazine every month. I never subscribed and feel it is incredibly wasteful to do something like this. Reading “get a killer body” really tipped me over the edge. Allure, back off!

Little fire station.

I love my neighbourhood so much.

Work sometimes gets a little bit strange.

During May it rained A LOT. Like floods and tornadoes rain. It was a little bit scary having to hide in a closet every time there was a tornado warning but everything looked very pretty.

I met a three legged cat that still thought he had his fourth leg and would try and scratch his ear with it.

I went to a veggie restaurant and they had this on their wall. I thought it was pretty cool.

“Perfect mother’s day gift”. YES!

Graduation day at the gym.

Kate and JoAnn invited me to their farm for brunch. She made all those jams herself.

I finally met their cats.

Admired the view from the kitchen.

And was grateful for friends who share the beauty around them with me but also know what will tickle my fancy.

JoAnn picked some veggies for the animals (and me).

While Beed supervised.

I got to feed the goats and Tony the pig!

Then there was the mother all of all storms. It was the first time I had seen Mammatus Clouds in real life.

But it was so pretty once it was over.

Santa hung his clothes to dry in my backyard.

And I chilled out a lot with Rings.