06/13/2006: "Happy June!"
Hello Boardies!
Well, it sounds like everyone is really good spirits - I know I am since the crazy rainstorms
have moved on (at least for a little bit) and the gorgeous weather of late spring is shining
through.
In Hi-5 world we are having a blast this June! On Saturday we performed two shows to a
packed pier down at South Street Seaport and saw many familiar and many new faces
dancing along to our songs. Tomorrow we've got a performance with our friends over at
the Today Show, which is always tons of fun for us and then in a few weeks we will be at
Sesame Place. So, we're plugging away and I hope to see as many of you as I can this
month.
For those of you who have shown interest in the show (Romeo and Juliet) I am assistant
directing out in New Canaan, CT that is awesome! As soon as I have information about
tickets I will let you know. Our cast is amazing - I think for those of you who want to
expose you kids to Shakespeare it will be a great opportunity. Plus, I can think of nothing
better than outdoor summer theater - a picnic dinner and a blanket as the sun sets and a
story unfolds, who could ask for anything more? I do want to give a warning, however,
that Shakespeare, though silly, fun and, in this case, a beautiful story of love, is also filled
with bawdy humor and sword fights, not to mention the fact that many of the young
people in this play die (the most ex-cellent and lamentable tragedy of Romeo and Juliet).
So, children are more than welcome, but it's something to keep in mind. (I suppose you
could also leave after the first act. They fall in love, get together - end of play!)
Also, the company is doing two more productions this summer for children (including
Peter Pan). I am not involved with those shows directly, but for families in the area they
will be great options for fun things to do a little later in the summer and I'll be sure to give
you that info as well.
Alright, take care! Oh, and my mom is so right, "Sweet Loraine" is a simple and beautiful
jazz tune that always makes me smile:).
Love and Hi-5s,
Karla
[originally posted on June 11, 2006 at http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/KarlasHi-5Korner/message/1362 ]
May 9, 2006
What a beautiful gray morning:)
Hi!
As I looked out my window today, I couldn't help but love the light
gray clouds hovering over my apartment. Most of the time I am
yearning for sunshine (lately out here it's been hard to keep around)
but for some reason, I am loving today:) Mid 60s, calm and quiet. It
doesn't make me feel guilty for staying inside and doing some serious
wedding planning. As you all know our wedding is fastly approaching
and I am thanking my lucky stars that Hi-5 has died down for a couple
of weeks (although I do miss seeing all of your beautiful faces
singing and dancing!). It's such an amazing thing to do though...I
have enjoyed everything about it (even the crazy stressful parts).
And I appreciate so much your words of encouragement through all of
it. You guys have been the best!
I wanted to take a second and let you know how wonderful you all
made our weekend here in LA at the book fair. It is amazing the
energy you all give us. I mean, our 6th show in 2 days, no sleep,
knowing we had a long shoot ahead of us for KOL the next day, and I
think that was my favorite show of the entire weekend! I felt like we
were all in our own special universe-----or maybe that was just me:)
That's one of the things I love most about the live shows.
What a huge weekend. I know we've all talked about this so much but
I have to mention the Emmys. What an amazing time we all had. We
actually were bummed that we didn't recruit some of you to come down
and say hello to us on the red carpet. You should have seen the soap
fans out there----but I think you guys would've shown them:):):)
There's always next year right? Just being there and seeing our show
up there with all of the rest was very cool. For those 5 seconds
after they said, "and the emmy goes to....." I have to say my heart
stopped...they really could've said our names. If nothing else, I
can't say I have ever had that feeling before. It was really amazing.
You guys probably know what I am talking about. You all probably
felt the same thing while watching it...so much focus is put on us but
really, it is because of all of you that we have even made it this
far. I can't stress to you how much we appreciate all you do. And
how fun you all make this job. I am a lucky girl.
So, after the Emmys and the book fair we did a shoot for KOL (Kids
On Line). That was great too. I think you guys are really going to
enjoy it. We filmed 2 songs where we do all of the dance moves and
talk you through the entire song. It was really cool. The Australian
cast have put out DVDs of all of their songs of the week from the last
8 or 9 years (and they do 9 a year--lots of songs!!) They're really
fun to watch because they break down all of the dance moves so they're
easier to learn. So, hopefully you'll be able to see them in the
next couple of months. We'll let you know:)
Well, I should get back to work. But I hope you all have a
beautiful Tuesday, wherever you are:) Once again thanks for all of
your sweet messages and pictures!!
Love you guys,
Jenn:)
[originally posted at http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/Jennifer_Peterson_Hind1Fans/message/368 ]
May 5, 2006
Emmys and Book Fair...
Hey all...
Okay, okay....I know it's been a week now since we went to the Emmys
and I still haven't told you all about it. It's gotten a little crazy
around here...please forgive me. Luckily for you (and me)...a little
voice in my head started saying, "BLOG,BLOG,BLOG,BLOG!!"....(thanks
Trish) so I will.
Where should I start? Well, first of all...when we found out, we were
all so super excited and I thought for sure I knew what dress I was
going to wear. There was this pink, lacey Betsey Johnson number that
I'd been eyeing for a while. I just needed a good excuse to buy it.
I thought this was a pretty good excuse:) My only problem with it was
that I wasn't sure if it was formal enough (note: it's a good thing I
didn't get it because someone else was wearing that night!!!)..so I
ended up ordering another dress...long, orange, pink, leopard print,
by Laundry...thought it was a good deal. Didn't use that either.
Long story longer, I ended up getting my dress the week of! I kept
going back and forth and almost wore a dress that I got at Forever 21
on a whim (I thought it would be cool to say that I got my dress from
Forever 21 when I was on the Red Carpet...nobody would expect it!
Just like when Sharon Stone wore that Gap Shirt...remember?) Anyhoo,
my dress was Betsey Johnson (who I always love) and I accessorized the
dress on my own with things from different stores. I made my own
earrings too! So that was pretty special.
My day was pretty long, a cool, chickie by the name of Abi was
supposed to do hair and make-up for Jenn and I (Karla and Curtis were
coming into LA moments before the Emmys) but she had to fly to Florida
last minute (Abi is the woman that cuts and colors our hair here in
Los Angeles...she's awesome!) Jenn decided to do her own hair (wasn't
it pretty?) but I'm just not that talented with the curling iron so I
decided to go to Amadeus Spa at The Grove here in Los Angeles. As for
my make-up, I decided to pamper myself and have that done too:) A
friend of mine, Katherine, works at the MAC counter at the Grove so
she hooked me up!! THANKS LADIES!!
I thought I would have TONS of time getting ready. I started my hair
at 11am and the limo (I know...it was special) was picking us up at
3pm. Lots of time right...wrong! I was rushing out of the Grove to
get home to pack my purse and to put my dress on. And to make things
worse...I stained my dress! Yups. I really wanted to wear this Oil
by Carol's Daughter (Ocean Breeze), but didn't even think about how my
dress was WHITE SILK!! Lesson learned?...they don't mix:) I tried
soaking it up with paper towels and then I called my boyfriend's Mom
to ask for her advice on a quick fix and she told me to put Corn
Starch on it...and it worked! I knew she would know! THANKS DOLLIE!
Then it was off to the Emmys.....
Limo arrives. We all looked great!! It was so exciting to see
everyone together. I thought that all of our dresses matched us
perfectly and Curtis just looked dashing in his suit. Marcel, one of
our producers from Australia was there to join us as well and he
cleaned up really nicely:)
The Limo ride was really quick. We got picked up from Jenn's place (I
live about 5 minutes from her) and we both live in West
Hollywood/Hollywood...so it wasn't too far. I expected there to be
more traffic. It was funny how quick the trip was.
So there we were. Red Carpet, Gowns, Cameras, Fans...it was surreal.
You see it all the time on TV and then there you are. And it really
wasn't what I expected it to be. Don't get me wrong...it was an
amazing experience..but boy was it crowded!! I think everyone decided
to arrive at the same time. Whenever you see the red carpet coverage
on television or in magazines...it always looks so easy, and almost
like everyone's floating across to every camera...but everyone was
packed in there. We were stepping on women's gowns, on each other's
foot, it was craziness. Kind of funny too! Then Ellen came and
everyone went crazy. There was a moment that we were doing an
interview while she was right behind us. I wanted to be cool, but I
just had to tell her that I LOVE her dancing and that she was the best
dancer ever. I let my dorkiness out for a second...but I'm glad I did:)
On the red carpet, I bumped into a couple of friends of mine from NYC.
Mike Cohen (he's in some of my pics) used to be the publicist for the
"Miss Saigon" tour I was on and he invited me and my other friend Moni
to go to the ABC after-party with him. I also bumped into Kerry
Butler. We met a few years ago while she was doing "Hairspray" with
one of my best friends John Hill. It was really great to see her and
even better to see her perform (she sang "Suddenly Seymour). Oh, and
I watched a little bit of Soap Net's coverage of the Red Carpet and
you can see a little bit of us towards the end. I'll try and figure
out how to post it.
Inside the Kodak was cool. The last time we were all there we were
performing for you guys! I don't think I got to sit in the audience
when we were there. IT'S HUGE!! It looked so different from when our
show was there:) We were all seated together along with Melinda, one
of our producers from Discovery. Marcel was sitting closer to the
stage just in case Hi-5 got called to accept the award. The 4 of us
weren't far from the stage, but we definitely mapped out our "Emmy
route" when our category was coming up:)
When the awards started we got really excited. The live performance
by Rick Springfield was fun and it just felt really great to be there.
We were the 3rd category up and we all started getting giddy:) Then
it was our turn. We all prepared ourselves for another Sesame Street
win (they're awesome), but there was about 5 seconds of, "wow...we
might win this". Honestly, just seeing a clip of our show on that big
screen was too cool!! Sesame Street is such an amazing show, one that
all of us have grown up with, so to be nominated along side them is
just such an honor.
The rest of the show was cool. To be completely honest, the 4 of us
aren't really familiar with soap operas. I was really into General
Hospital when I was younger, but I haven't been watching them lately.
It was cool to be a part of it all though. We all had a great time!
After the ceremony, we all went to a big reception dinner. There were
soooo many people there. I think we were on table #172 or something
like that. It was crazy. It was really neat seeing all the
celebrities walking around though. The ladies of The View were
there...oh, I forgot to tell you that we bumped into Elizabeth on our
way into the Theater. Jenn couldn't hold it in and had to tell her
how much she loved her...it was cute. And then Elizabeth told me that
she was admiring my shoes....hee hee...I liked that moment:) I bumped
into another old friend from New York at the dinner too...Matthew
Morrison, who played "Link" in the original cast of "Hairspray"
Curtis knows him too because his girlfriend Jen was in the show with
him as well. Small world! Curtis and I were saying it almost felt
like we were in NYC because of all of the familiar faces we were seeing.
The dinner was nice and it was cool to hang out with everyone. We
walked around a little bit and ended up chatting with Caroll Spinney
(the voice of Big Bird and Oscar) and Kevin Clash (voice of Elmo) for
a good while. They were super nice! We had to tell them that we
really loved their show and that it was truly an honor to be nominated
with them. I also told Mr. Spinney that I recently watched old clips
of Sesame Street and laughed and cried....it's such a great show and
it was really cool to meet with those guys.
We had an early call the next day and 3 shows for you guys...so we had
to end the night fairly early. Everyone but me:) I was tired, but I
was excited to be invited to the ABC party. I'm glad I went. It was
awesome!! There was dancing, good food and lots of fun little things
to do. They had massage chairs...and my feet were killing me at that
point, so it was nice to sit down and chill for a second. They also
had a palm reader, but the line was so long that I didn't bother to do
it. They also had a cool "Photo-op" section where you could take a
picture with an Emmy. I posted that pic too...so check it out.
Another cool thing was that they hired professional break dancers to
dance out on the dance floor! It was cool to see Lisa Rinna jamming
with those guys. Speaking of, I was totally into Dancing with the
Stars this season, and had to tell Lisa how great she was to watch.
She was super nice and took a picture with me. My friend Moni and I
loved being able to dance next to her. We also bumped into Caroll
Spinney again, so we decided to ask him to take a pic with us
too...again, he was super nice!
The ABC party was a lot of fun, but it was time for me to go home. We
had an early sound check and I wanted to get some rest before rockin'
out with you guys the next day...so I went home. Plus, my feet hated
me by that time, so it was time to slip my hello kitty house slippers on:)
Well, that's my Emmy Story....long enough for ya? I'm sure I could've
told it quicker, but you know me...I get so excited. Basically, it
rocked! I really hope we get to do it again...but maybe we'll take
one of them there statues home with us too:)
I'm sure you're done reading by now...but I have to say that the shows
this past weekend were AWESOME!! It felt good to be back at the book
fair again! We really love doing those shows and the audiences were
amazing!! Thank you guys so much for a great time!! Highlights for
me?...besides dancing with you guys, we got to meet Billy Crystal,
John Lithgow, Rhea Pearlman, Henry Winkler, and Julie Andrews!! They
were all super nice and the 5 of us were all a bit starstruck:)
Another highlight of the weekend for me was dancing with the Justin
Roberts Band! We had met those guys (and gal) before and I've always
enjoyed them. While they were playing on Sunday, I was dancing on the
side of the stage to all of the songs, doing all of the moves...until
I just couldn't take it anymore! I had to go out into the audience
and dance with you guys!! That felt really great. We all had a good
time. I think Super Fan Jenn Fernandez posted some pics of me in the
audience...thanks for that!
Alrighty, well that should be it for me...for now anyway. I hope you
enjoy the pics and enjoyed reading my super long blog.
I love you guys and I hope you have a great weekend! I'm headed to
Vegas next week. Yup....you guessed it...Grandma's in yet another
Slot Tournament and we're going to cheer her on!
Take care ya'll and I'll catch ya later!!
Love love and Aloha,
Kimee Bee
ps: For those of you sending me emails through my Yahoo account..I'm
so sorry I've been bad at answering them. I'm doing really good with
the myspace thing though. So, try sending me a message that way too!!
peace!
[ originally posted on May 5, 2006 at http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/Kimee_Balmilero/message/1086 ]
