When you Cheer for others you cheer for yourself too!

Hey Guys & Gals,

This week has been pretty low key.  Started looking at flights to head out of town again.  Birthday Plan is looking like NEW ORLEANS. ahhhhh, a dream!  Speaking of Travel, I just had an audition for Expedia today ironically.  Thanks again to Dan Bell.  And I got to audition with My man.  We played a "real couple".  Fortunately we have practice.  He did really good!  Fingers crossed.

I also took a trip to IKEA today for a bookshelf. They are on sale right now FYI for $25. If you are in need of some organizing, I know there's a bunch left in Burbank. It's a proud moment for me when I can put something like this together myself. Not that it's very difficult, especially from IKEA but it's a reminder that I'm a self sufficient woman & Daddy didn't raise no helpless little girl! haha.
Look what I did.    

   

Speaking of Daddy, I have been playing his guitar and songs a lot this past week.  I've been re-inspired to open up his song book again. And I am also starting to reach out to some singer songwriter friends to continue to cover his music.  This summer I would like to spread his ashes per his request. But I feel like we got a little more traveling & singing to do together first.  With that said, it might be time for his last sail on the sea, by summer's end.  I'm not ready for it. At all. But I do want to make a party out of it.



Speaking of Party, this past month has been all about celebrating Joel Eckels, it was his birthday & CD release, for Weight of These Things.  His brother Shawn has been in town and they have been promoting their new song Smoking Dope & Rockin Roll.  Which coincidently they happen to have a show this weekend. Joel is bringing back The Wreckards, This Saturday MAY 2nd @ 9PM, it will be good to see the old boys back together again.  And I will finally get to hear the song about me NOT the exes! Agh! HA -   GO GO NIKKI, THE SPY.  YEAH!  It's nice to remember that I inspired something cool.

Besides being a cheerleader for him, I also have needed to remind myself to keep focused on me and my goals and I have done a pretty good job.  Being in a relationship with another Artist can be a little tricky at times but you can also learn from each other if you pay attention.  I have been seeing how hardworking & focused he has been. I have also realized something about him, myself & a lot of creative people I know.

There is a tendency to feel like you are never doing enough. Partially because we don't always see immediate results, but also because the dream is to make a living at it. And before we get there, there is a lot of job juggling between Money gigs, creative gigs & Creative Money gigs.  It feels like your spinning your wheels half the time with no results.  But it's really good to sit still at times and SEE there are results!  Take a step back from whatever it is your doing and see how far you have come!  I had to remind him of everything he accomplished over the past year and it reminded me to do the same for myself.  In fact, I am going to writing myself a list today of YOU DID IT NIKKI!!!

Starting with YOU got into a Film Festival         You revamped your cards & postcards with your    
                                                                                      Newer Headshots!

   

YOU ARE KEEPING UP WITH YOUR BLOG!  Even if it is a Day late!  haha etc etc etc

Hope you do this for yourself, and realize you are kicking ass!  The small steps count just as much as the big leaps, it all leads you to where you are going.  Keep it up!

Oh and as soon as we hit MAY, I'm making it all about ME! 

xo-

Nicole

When your past becomes your present!

Hey Guys & Gals

It's another Wednesday. And all day I thought it was a Thursday! Oops.  It's been a wacky few weeks of foibles and bobbles for me.  Losing my coffee cup off the roof of my car, getting zapped washing a blender, spilling a smoothie from said blender, having a printer re-break in my hands at work....(because it was already glued together by someone I swear!),  and locking my keys & phone in my car while I was attempting to recharge it's battery! And all I could do was laugh at myself.  There's a book called the Alchemy of Love Relationships, with very interesting philosophy & spiritual practices. It even touches on Astrology of sorts.  Something I found really interesting that it mentioned was about the wheel of Karma.  Every 52 from your birthday you apparently hit a new planet's influence. 52 days before your birthday finds you in Saturn. Saturn rules your Karma. Good & Bad. What goes up must come down and Vice versa. Old wounds come up to heal.  Overdue parking ticket bills show up in the mail to clear your debt.  And then you find money in your pocket you forgot about until Laundry day.  It's wacky energy!  And quite frankly, I buy into it, because it explains the 2 weeks I have been having.

Since Karma and our past go hand in hand, my past has definitely shown up in a few other ways related to my acting.  #1. I am coming on to my 15 year anniversary here in LA come May. It has flown by me. When I was younger it seemed like forever before summer break from school. Now I find myself thinking and wishing the years would slow down!
#2.  My friend Mike Darling asked me if I had a favorite tree in LA.  And I love a lot of trees but one in particular has a lot of memories for me. Especially from when I first arrived in LA just before I turned 21.  A few relationships and hair styles ago.  When the cast of "Friends" were at the height of fashion influence.  I found a tree with my guy then, who urged me to move out here to be with him.  And we had lots of happy times up at that tree and sad ones too.  Re-exploring that with Mikey was a real treat. Looking back at how far I have come in so many ways and realizing how I was still that same girl with unmet dreams in other ways. It was a trip to say the least. The video was shot for Unicef with a Zooppa contest platform.  Take a look!  I hope it inspires you to visit your tree.  And I suggest when you do.....if you can, CLIMB IT!  It's quite a rush!  You literally feel like a kid again.  And if you don't have a tree, you can borrow mine, it's at the top of Fryman Canyon.

https://zooppa.com/en-us/ads/a-special-tree/videos/nicoles-tree

#3.  I was recently cast in an in house commercial, the one I told you guys I didn't even audition for last week. Well, I shot it today.  I was playing a young professional in 2001.  And I was seeing the footage of 911 as my character and as myself again.  It was a little surreal.  I don't make a habit of watching stuff like that if I can help it.  And I purposely avoid the news in my real life because most of the time my heart can't take it.  But I do remember watching that in my early 20s, new to LA, and seeing the second tower get hit live. I could never forget that day, just like the generation before me would never forget where they were when Kennedy or Martin Luther King were shot.  And because of how much time had past it felt like I was almost watching it for the first time. It hit me just as hard. My first take was "gold" said the director....because it was real!  So real, my next take was "to pull it back", and the take after that "pull it back even more."  A lot of time in acting we have to push emotions out of us, and need a few takes to get there, warm up into it.  Today was the opposite, it was already real for me, I just had to let it come to the surface in that moment. I had the footage right in front of me. I had dialogue in my head with my friend back home and my parents on the phone.  One of who I can't really talk to anymore. Because he is gone now too, with my past.  But as actors the past is real for us now. We feel it now!  It's a blessing and a curse.  Think about how we may apply that to our life EVERYDAY with our thoughts, obsessions even.  If they aren't empowering thoughts, what kind of an emotional state are we keeping ourselves in?

Which brings me back to the tree!  It's spring, AND EARTH DAY, its nice out, go outside. Sit under a tree, climb a tree, cartwheel barefoot in grass, pick wildflowers on a hike, go to a park and jump on a swing even if you think your ass is too big for the kiddy seat. Bring up that joy & childhood wonder again.  Bring up your best memories and let go of the worst.  Play the fun board games you loved, or the movies or gameshows you'd watch when you played hooky from school.  Do something nostalgic for your soul...PLEASE!  Your inner child wants to come out and play, especially in the spring.  Use your past to feel good now, if your present isn't doing it for you.  You have enough years and life experience to find a nugget of "gold" somewhere.  Be an actor.  Act your way into the best day EVER!  Let's give ourselves permission to Bloom shall we?!

And speaking of Blooming, I have a self produced short film called BOBBY & JUNE: IMPULSE in the 15 Minutes of Fame Film Festival this Saturday in Orlando Florida.  Our first Festival. And My first Festival as a producer/actress combo.  A Big shout out to Annie Wood the brilliant & witty writer of our IMPULSE scene. To Mike Darling again!  With his self taught movie making magic skills and helping me capture of my best character performances for comedy in my repertoire, and the hilarious without even trying, Cary Mosier playing my pretend boyfriend Bobby!

Trees, Blooms & Happy EARTH DAY!

xo

Nicole

Packing bags to go nowhere!

Hey guys & gals!

I am a day late on my weds ritual but with good reason. It was Mr. Joel Eckels' birthday yesterday and his birthday/CD release show the night before. We were moving slow but had a whole Birthday day adventure planned with his Brother who is also an extremely talented musician, Shawn Eckels. If you need a guitar shredder he's your man. I had hopes of getting tickets to Steely Dan but by the time we made the choice to go, only 3rd party companies were selling the tickets. It's crazy nose bleeds seats at $46 each, which is fine, times 4 tickets because they will only sell them in pairs, plus "service fee" plus "delivery fee" and we are looking at close the $300 when all said and done. It's ridiculous!  No wonder the music biz has been going down the shitter! It's things like that, that make people, say screw it.  They'd rather download music than buy a CD now, or watch clips on youtube instead of go out to an actual concert.  It makes me a little sad & angry. Anyway, enough of that. We ended out dropping those plans and hung around hollywood to eventually make our way to THE ROOF where our amazing chef friend Eric Greenspan gave us a little bit of a hook up!  So yummy! And 360 view of the city.  Its where I took him last year, for his 40th surprise party but that's where he decided to go again. It worked out.
     


So here's a funny thing that happened to me yesterday.  I found myself in a similar situation as last month, with my "packed bags".  Well, I'll start at the beginning.  I got GREAT NEWS our little short film Bobby & June: IMPULSE got chosen to be a guest film at THE 15 MINUTES OF FAME FILM FESTIVAL, in Orlando Florida.  And I have been looking into flights, car rentals & looking forward to seeing Family in Florida too. Well yesterday I decided, "I'M GOING!  I HAVE MONEY COMING IN, TOMORROW, I AM BOOKING MY FLIGHT!" - And within 2 hours my manager calls me.  "Nicole, I have a booking for you for an in-house commercial, it's a straight booking that I pitched you for, can I confirm you?" Asked Guido.  "Awesome, When is it?" I ask.  "April 25th" he says.  And I just laugh! That's the day our film screens, of course! haha.  So this is the same casting director who brought me in for the Auto Owners Insurance, job. And I didn't even audition for it. It's a job! You can't say no to something like that. Part of me feels like I might be missing something in Florida. The people I have the potential to meet. The joy of seeing our work appreciated and on a big screen. Seeing Family I never get to see. But work begets work! I also need to have faith & gratitude that this is still a win-win. That I am in flow. And that I am attracting good things.  And I will still be able to get to Florida soon to see some of my family.

I recently got a reading with this woman Dr. Carole Carbone.  I have had readings by her in the past. She reads the energy around you and choices you might have coming up and she is really good at coaching you back into your higher self.  But as she says, we all have free will. We have opportunities show up all the time to bring us to one direction or another. We choose the ones we take and the ones we let pass by, whether we realize it or not in the moment. Sometimes it feels easier to complain and keep choosing the same thing over and over because we know what to expect and maybe perhaps enjoy the struggle or misery. But then there are the moments when we get out of our own way, don't over analyze our options, we don't wait to hear everyone else's opinions, we don't wait for something better. We ACT. We JUMP IN BLIND. We CHOOSE. We SAY YES.  Her Advice to me was SAY YES TO EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW.  Because the oddest outing or situation can lead to meeting an important person who will help evaluate your life, or you could find yourself at the right place at the right time for a new opportunity to show up. I SAID YES, to the festival, not yet knowing how I would afford it, or the rest of the head chatter I could put myself through with excuses of why I shouldn't. But instead I said YES and as soon as I did, I booked a Job I didn't even know existed, I didn't even audition for, it literally just fell into my lap.  So now I am saying YES to that.  And we will see where that takes me next!

Happy belated Weds on this beautiful sunny Thursday!

xo - Nicole

#WIMMR Parades & good news!

Hey Guys & Gals,

We are on Day 7 of shooting Why I Murdered My Roommate. We are going into a night shoot tonight. And its cold!!! I'm kind of mad at my character Lush for being a dress and heels type of girl in the middle of winter. But then I think, hold on, its technically spring and its still cold as sh@!.  This east coast weather madness reminds me why I live in Cali.

But a huge perk of shooting in a place like Buffalo is how welcoming it is. You don't get too many film productions here so securing locations and background people on a low budget is alot easier than a place like LA. The production value of this project is looking amazing but if we were in NYC or LA there is No Way we could have managed with the same budget. The location costs alone would be astronomical.

Another cool aspect is the quirkiness of the envirmoment. There's old silos, and quintensential 2 story homes and a holiday i have never heard of before called Dyngus Day. Its a polish celebration of fertility the day after Easter.  Girls run around hitting boys with pussy willows and boys squirt girls with squirt guns...I mean this is the cool stuff you can't just make up. We got the jump on the back of a flat bed truck yesterday to be part of the Dyngus Day Parade in Character.  It was pretty wild. I have never experienced anything like that as an actor before. Especially when i was squirted in the face with a gun filled with beer from the crowd!  You kinda have to just go with it. Haha  Here's a selfie as Lush with the Buffalo crowd!

Check out my instagram photos @ nicole_dionne and our productions Why I Murdered My Roommate facebook page aka #WIMMR
to stay in the loop of all the antics we have been up too.  LUKIA AND MIKE Costello on the social media squad have been amazing!!

Another cool bit of news!  Bobby & June : Impulse got into the 15 Minutes Of Fame Film Festival in Florida. It will officially screen on April 25th or 26th.  Its a fun short i shot with Cary Mosier, directed by Mike Darling and written by rhe witty mind of Annie Wood.  You should definitely check out what these kids are up to. We are official when we get Laurels!  wooohoooo!

Find Cary Mosier at Cafe Gratitude LA and Gracious Madre LA
Find Mike Darling at Evalation Media Productions
Find Annie Wood at Anniewood.com

It was a long night shooting that ended in the rain. We got a big day tomorrow!! Signing off!
Xo
nicole

Shuffled off to Buffalo!

Hey Guys & Girls,

Just flew into Buffalo NY today and over to Tilke Hill's house meeting some of the cast and crew for "WHY I MURDERED MY ROOMMATE".  I'm about to enter LUSH's World, with these cooky characters!

Spent some time in Austin TX this past week which has been great for a little Adventure and somewhat R&R until last night, which turned into a late one. With an early early morning wake up for my flight.  So I'm a little cranky today, trying to put on a happy face, because it's my own fault, well I had help but that is a whole other blog or journal entry.  Needless to say I'm feeling very vulnerable and funky today, which is a terrible day for it.  But everyone here is super awesome already!

I'm learning I'm not good at acting in real life anymore.  I tend to wear my heart, emotions, and opinions on my sleeve.  Which can be great since being naturally expressive in real life helps me in my acting life.  And people who know me hopefully know and trust that I say what I mean and they don't have to wonder or try to figure me out. What you see is what you get, and if you ask I will tell you. I am honest that way. And I try to bring that to my acting. Even if I don't fully relate to a character my job is to just be as honest as possible.  Share a real emotional experience.

With that said, I've always been one to leave my shit at the door if I need to work, but I am not a person to pretend everything is okay if its not.  Maybe because I don't care what people think of me anymore.  Which is liberating.  Maybe because I am owning who I am and how I feel more.  Because that is self love!  Maybe because I want people to take me or leave me as I am.  Because in the past, I have only given one impression of who I am, which happened to be the free spirited bubbly girl and then shocked people when another side of me came out. My other side can be serious, deep or if provoked a bitch!  We all have many sides to ourselves. We all have good days and bad days. We all experience emotional highs and lows, good moods, bad moods, hope, fear, excitement, lack or fulfillment.  The gift is having people around you or specifically one special someone close to you who always reminds you of your greatness and helps you get back to that place if you happen to forget. If you are lucky enough to have that, hang on to it and appreciate it with all your heart.

Now back to LUSH. She is the opposite of everything I just described in myself. She wants to badly to be liked and included and part of the cool crowd. Her Idol is Kim Kardashian. She just wants to be seen.  She wants to be loved (which we all do) but she tries to be what she isn't, to receive that.  It's interesting exploring a character like that.  And she also has the emotional responses of a 5 year old to life happening around her.  And you can't really tell if it's an act because its a tactic to get her way or not.  More on all this later!

I'm so sleepy.....good night everyone.  Happy Hump Day. Hope it's been less bumpy than mine!
xo-
Nicole