the helen update: December 2016

well it’s been 2 trips to the west coast in the past few weeks and I can say officially that I’m happy to be back on east coast time! as a night owl by nature, I don’t like to rise early to keep up with east coast morning emails, and it feels like the whole day is spent playing ‘beat the clock’ in that regard. working there was pleasant enough for me, but not so much for the production crew. they met with many logistical problems with sourcing props, constructing sets in a building that would not allow sawing, and a lot of driving, so we are not anxious to work there again any time soon.

a few of the better restaurants I enjoyed with the clients: bo-beau kitchen (my favorite with #brusselsproutstodiefor), king's fish house, and padre long beach. one night we did a road trip with me driving, of course an amazing playlist for the ride, and a van full of clients who wanted to experience father’s office, which is known for its unique burger. I’m sure if you like blue cheese and and an onion-bacon compote, you would be in heaven, but I’m not a fan of either so I had a few bites and called it quits.

during the bit of weekend down time, I enjoyed a run on the beach which has a nice paved path that goes for several miles and, except for the fact that it was chilly and pouring rain, it could have been just perfect. there is no real shopping neighborhood like soho, but there are a few short blocks with some cool shops that I enjoyed - 2 of my favorites were anneise boutique and twig&willow #moneyisonlygoodifyouspendit

the shoot was grueling, long days spent on my feet with 12+ people to manage in video village, evening client dinners, back to hotel to catch up on other work that could not be done on set and then sleep for about 5 hours, then get up and do it again. the first 2 shoot days were as usual , nothing too crazy, but the last day took me down with 24 talent, greeting and prepping, managing wardrobe back and forth to client room - or should i say up and down and up and down and up and down - since there was a staircase to scale each time. my feet were numb with pain by the end of the day even though I wore my most comfortable shoes, and my phone clocked me at 10.5 miles and 47 flights of stairs by the time we wrapped that day at 7 pm. seriously. ouch. I could barely move and sat for a bit before even thinking about the 7 block walk to the hotel. of course during my chill time, the plans were set in motion to have dinner with the remaining crew and I was in, numb throbbing feet or not (not surprising to those who know me).

wrap night is always filled with love and good vibes and they all walked me back to my hotel to make sure ‘muther arrived home safely’. I stayed up to pack for the morning flight, taking good care to put the back-up hard drive with all the footage from the shoot into my carry on for safe keeping. I dropped into bed at 4 am and was up at 8 to head to the airport.

once in the rental car shuttle bus, I received an email from the client wondering when the hard drive would be left for her at the front desk of the hotel. huh? I thought surely it had been left there the prior evening by someone from my team, but I soon learned that the drive in my bag was meant for me to leave at the front desk! (oops) the back up had actually been packed up and sent off to fedex! heart stopping panic set in. she was taking the drive to the uk for editing to commence on monday morning! (meaning, not possible to fedex there in time) if the crew thought it was going to be just another wrap day, I surely messed that up! off ran 'the captain' to fedex to see if he could get the package back, while I looked up the next flight, prepared to get in a cab back to the hotel. the kind gentleman in the seat next to me asked why I was frantic and on the verge of tears and I'm sure he was sorry he asked because he got an earful. but by the time the shuttle made it to the airport, the backup drive had been retrieved and handed to the client - muthership light speed style. #crisisaverted

as I plopped into a chair at the gate with a sigh of a relief, the announcement came over the loud speaker: "flight delayed 3 hours" womp womp. I could have cabbed it back to the hotel and dropped if off myself without missing a beat… or the flight.