I left the house for the first time last night since Sunday and wrote "September 9, 2016" on a check today. But my parents are living it up in Japan - and since I have nothing in my own life to share with you today, I thought I would share their amazing pictures instead. Despite the fact that my dad doesn't like fish or rice, they look like they're having the best time. I'm told (by everyone) I have enough dogs, but I would really love it if they could bring me a monkey home...View Article
Meilee Wong Earnest and I have been friends for nearly two decades (WHAT.) She was Editor in Chief of our high school's newspaper the year before me, and has been inspiring me ever since. For years, I've been tracking her rise in the DC scene (in my mind, she is basically Olivia Pope without all the drama), and she recently moved to Brazil for her husband's job serving our country as an Economic Officer in the Foreign Service. Since she always has the best advice and insight via her Facebook status comments, I reached out and asked her to write a guest piece about marriage and life's unexpected curveballs (and blessings). Read on, then thank her and her husband for their service! Then follow their dog Douglas on Instagram! Thank you, Meilee.View Article
Tony and I are finally home from New York, after what was possibly the craziest week of our life. (Tony himself said, "I didn't think it was possible for things to get more emotional than our wedding." I think he meant it as a compliment?) It was whirlwind madness, going from the Kids' Choice Awards to "School of Rock" premiering nearly a year and a half to the day he booked the job to a red-eye to NYC for Tony's press tour to me turning 30 (something I've been extremely melodramatic about). There was a lot going on in our hearts and brains. In most other industries, if you get the right degree and work hard, you'll eventually get the job. Hollywood doesn't work that way. Someone can move out for pilot season and book the very first job they audition for (happened to a friend of ours), or someone can spend their entire life working toward the dream job that never comes (the worst fear of everyone we know). Plus, us actors are prone to drama. I'm not sure if lawyers or garbagemen cry when they get a job, but in this town when you never really know if it will happen, it's emotional. And all of that hit us like a ton of bricks - seeing Tony on TV, his face on Times Square, and kids shyly approaching him at the airport, a restaurant and the streets of New York, asking "Are you on a Disney show?" (Close enough. SO cool.) It was beautifully surreal. I'm happy to report that our marriage survived, I entered my 30's without a complete mental breakdown, and we ate nothing but carbs, butter, cheese and sugar for a straight week. Here's what it looked like...View Article
In exactly two weeks, I will be 30. I'm having a very unoriginal crisis over that fact. Tony and I also have a bucket list of travel destinations we want to hit before we have kids. Our lives are about to get wildly busy with his show premiering next week ("School of Rock!" Nickelodeon! March 12! Please watch!!) And our friend Kara is the best travel agent on the planet, who hooks us up with the most insane deals. Those are the factors that led to our stupidly over-the-top vacation in Mexico for an early birthday celebration that I'm about to assault your eyeballs with. This is probably my most Marie Antoinette-esque, not so #humblebrag as much as #BRAGBRAGBRAG post I've written to date. Just know it's a highlight reel. I'm only sharing photos where I'm sucking my stomach in so hard I'm probably crushing my uterus (or kidneys or whatever, I didn't pass science with flying colors). I also didn't post any photos from the night I ate so many tacos I barfed. Or any of the photos of my mom telling me to make a career pivot, and consider abandoning Hollywood and becoming a travel agent instead. I'm just sharing my favorite parts of this unforgettable, epic trip. VIVA MEXICO!View Article
Tony and I spent a long weekend in Washington D.C. visiting his family, and had so much fun I'm dedicating today's gratitude list entirely to that trip. We got to attend his niece's 6th birthday party, eat cake every day and even play tourists with a day of museum-hopping. I'm not a morning person (understatement of the century), but there is no better alarm clock in the world than two little kids crawling into bed to snuggle and say, "I love you, Aunt Annie." HEAVEN. We're back home now playing catch-up (I finally figured out what day it is - FRIDAY!!!!), and trying to work off some of that cake (I dragged Tony to a dance class last night. He was better than me.) Here are some of the moments in D.C. I'm grateful for...View Article
About 2 days before our wedding, Tony found out he booked a role in a movie shooting in Vancouver. Thanks to our friend and his "Hart of Dixie" co-star Laura Bell Bundy, it was a direct offer for one of the leads in a Lifetime Christmas movie, "Fiance Claus." And it was set to begin shooting just a few days after returning from our honeymoon. Best wedding gift EVER. My parents kindly offered to watch our pups for another month, so I could go with him and keep the honeymoon going. (Yet another best wedding gift EVER.) Tony and I first visited Vancouver last summer when he shot a Nickelodeon movie there, and we both fell in love with the city. I've written before about how it feels like a combination of home (Los Angeles) and my favorite place in the world (Lake Tahoe), but with nice people - it's a big city, but on the water surrounded by mountains. I would happily move there in a heartbeat. So, we were thrilled to have the chance to pretend to be locals for a month...View Article
Tony and I flew to Vancouver yesterday for a movie he'll be shooting over the next few weeks. I came with him to keep this honeymoon going! And also because we're newlyweds and I want to be together in the beginning of this exciting new chapter of our lives. And also because the food here is great. It's up to you to decide which the driving reason was. (If you know me, you will vote food.) We spent most of the day in a blind rage, as United Airlines managed to screw up essentially every single aspect of our travel plans. After being delayed an hour and then sitting on the tarmac for almost another hour because they were 500 lbs overweight and had to take all the suitcases off to figure out which were incorrectly loaded on (if you recently lost a suitcase, it was probably on our plane), missing our connection, and then having to go through security twice because they said they booked us on a new flight in a new terminal that they, in fact, did NOT book us on... I am really grateful I remembered to pack/wear all of these items. Here are my airplane travel essentials!View Article
