by Alison Martin | Jan 15, 2020 | Editor Notes |
As you may have guessed, our theme for January is creativity. Looking ahead we have some great articles in the next two weeks! Hello Friends, We hope your year is starting off with a bang! 2020! It’s begun! Jean and I were discussing what it means to be creative and...
by Alison Martin | Jan 5, 2020 | Scuffed Stuff |
I’m an actor. This job of being an actor has paid my bills for quite some time… that’s how I express my creativity. I’ve been on Broadway, I’ve been in movies, I’ve been in TV shows, and I’ve been in commercials – lots...
by Alison Martin | Dec 7, 2019 | Featured, Scuffed Stuff |
Gifts. That’s the theme for this month. That’s easy. I love gifts. I love the whole idea of gifts – the giving, the receiving, the shopping, the making. I like surprising people and thinking about their expression when they open something. And I like it when I’m...
by Alison Martin | Nov 26, 2019 | And Another Thing ..., Expert Advice |
One of the things that I truly appreciate about the holidays are the traditions… so let’s create some more! I love these days between Halloween and New Years. I know they can be loaded. I know they can be complicated. I also know there is a sense of peace...
by Alison Martin | Nov 9, 2019 | Education, Everyday Hero, Featured |
EVERYDAY HERO Anne Cochran, One of Los Angeles’ Best College Counselors and Founder of Valley International Prep High School I met Anne Cochran in a crowded yard across cheese platters and wine as she was pitching her new school to us – a group of...
by Alison Martin | Nov 7, 2019 | Artists |
“Painting gives me great pleasure.” – Joe O’Connor, insidewink’s artist of the month Joe O’Connor is a really wonderful actor and has been acting professionally for years. That’s where Alison met him – on a commercial...
by Alison Martin | Nov 5, 2019 | Scuffed Stuff |
In our small Studio City living room, we have two Thanksgiving tables set up – sort of side-by-side like a separated “T”. It is crowded. It is fun. It is loud. You have to suck in your stomach to squeeze around a corner to get to the kitchen for more sweet...
by Alison Martin | Oct 24, 2019 | Music |
The wonderful Duncan Fellows! Duncan Fellows is on tour and will be in California in November! Click here for the schedule of their tour dates… Duncan Fellows, a band out of Austin, Texas, is making its mark across the country. Their shows are crowded, their...
by Alison Martin | Oct 15, 2019 | Charity, Everyday Hero, Featured, Interviews |
Marianne Muellerleile Gives a Hand UP You’ve seen her… I promise you have… she’s done more that 200 TV shows and movies. And she has that sort of presence that is unforgettable. I have been a fan for many years and I was so happy when Marianne...
by Alison Martin | Oct 7, 2019 | Featured, Scuffed Stuff |
“Story… was crucial to our evolution – more so than opposable thumbs.” – Lisa Cron from “Wired For Story”. There is so much noise, so much news that it can all feel overwhelming. We hear it all the time – “I can’t watch it anymore” or “I’ve turned...
by Alison Martin | Sep 5, 2019 | Featured, Scuffed Stuff |
This was on my street. Just like this. Leaning against a tree. I have lived a “Full” life. I laughed that someone joked about the “Full” size of the mattress (I guess “I have lived a ‘Twin’ life”, although interesting, doesn’t quite work as well). It strikes me, so I...
by Alison Martin | Aug 5, 2019 | Featured, Scuffed Stuff |
My 18 year old son, Brady, had oral surgery and he left the doctor’s office with a big white bandage around his head (to be honest, he looked a little like the ghost of Marley in A Christmas Carol). I had been anticipating this procedure for awhile now. I kept hoping...
by Alison Martin | Jul 5, 2019 | Scuffed Stuff |
It looked like she was walking on water. I actually had to do a double take to make sure I was seeing her. The LA river (as it is called) NEVER has people walk in it… yet there she was… trudging along… alone. It was weird. My husband and I walk over a small bridge...
by Alison Martin | Jun 11, 2019 | Featured, Scuffed Stuff |
We had an idea… since mid-June has Father’s Day, Jean & Alison wanted to share about the men in their lives. My Dad As a child, we lived on the eleventh floor in an apartment building in the Bronx. Eleven stories is really high… it’s something like 110...
by Alison Martin | May 3, 2019 | Featured, Scuffed Stuff |
I have a friend… … who gives me gardenias as a surprise … who makes me laugh till I cry … who always reaches for the check first … who calls me because she knows I have a doctor appointment … who I tell everything to because she never judges … who doesn’t gossip … who...
by Alison Martin | Apr 7, 2019 | Featured, Scuffed Stuff |
You can almost hear the uncoupling. “Your mother has 3 weeks to live.” You can feel the lift off. “You’re pregnant.” You can sense the profundity. “You didn’t get the job.” At that moment, you know that the path, the journey, the track you are on is changing. It’s...
by Alison Martin | Mar 7, 2019 | Scuffed Stuff |
The car bumps through the country road as I sit holding my toe in the Starbucks napkin. My husband drives. My two kids sit in the backseat looking at a meme or a snapchat or a quick-time or… I don’t know… something that makes them laugh on their phones. Little do they...
by Alison Martin | Feb 8, 2019 | Featured, Scuffed Stuff |
A friend – a very funny, smart comic – whom I met many years ago when I lived in Boston passed away recently from cancer. I would see him at auditions in LA and we would talk and laugh way past the time we went in the “room”. He was a kind, sweet family...
by Alison Martin | Jan 14, 2019 | Scuffed Stuff |
The Soggy Question.Trust is a funny thing. It seems friendly, open, easy… but really I think it’s a tough cookie. It’s all in or nothing, balls to the wall, get in or you’re out… you either leap or you don’t, you either trust or you don’t… it’s hard news, at least for...
by Alison Martin | Dec 10, 2018 | Featured, Scuffed Stuff |
The other day I was riding my bike and I was hit by a car. Not badly…but enough that it got my attention. I was holiday shopping and had bags in my bike’s basket. I was crossing the street at a crosswalk at Laurel Canyon Blvd., as the orange walk-hand was...
