Tag Archives: Trip

Real Life: Alix’s Prague Adventure.

Real Life, Real Life : Alix,



A little over a week ago I got back from my work trip to Prague. I was there for three glorious weeks filming five spots….and I loved every minute of it. It’s *such* a beautiful city. Of course I missed my little Wolfie like craaazy, but I am so proud of the work we did. I have to say it was completely weird to have nothing to worry about but ME for three weeks. I felt a little selfish, but my mother gave me some great advice and said it was a fantastic gift and I should enjoy this amazing opportunity. I already shared some photos of my adventure with you guys while I was still in Prague (see the post here), but since everyone seemed to dig it, I thought I would share some more! Here is pretty Prague….

These shoes carried me all over the cobblestone streets of the city….crazy comfy. I highly recommend. Who says a mama can’t have stylish AND practical foot gear??

We discovered that many buildings had little icons hanging over their doorways—a lobster, a pretzel, three violins, a golden snake— these were used back in the day to help ensure that parcels and letters were delivered to the right house. Apparently homes didn’t feature prominent addresses back then and you literally had to say, “The house at the end of the road. With the lobster. Yes lobster. The House with the prawn got my boots last time, so please make sure you look for the LOBSTER.” It was really fun looking for the different icons and I thought would make a great game fer little kiddos too….



Prague is a great city for kiddos! There are so many beautiful little parks, fun street cars, a fantastic zoo, a cool castle, boat rides….the list goes on and on.


Food is very meaty here, but tasty. Our favorite dinner was at the Cafe Savoy for SCHNITZEL. Oh my god, this was the most delicious thing EVER. It comes in a special chicken version for kiddos as well as noodles with butter. I took note of a popular bagel shop and lots of Euro-style pizzerias too so there seemed to be plenty of kid-friendly options (just in case you have a picky penny like I do who won’t gobble down goulash). I feel like I should do an extra post just on traveling with younguns. What do you think??

And then, of course, there were the marionettes. They ranged from adorable to spectacular. They are everywhere and were really, really cool.

Of course, some were cooler than others….

A lot of you have asked me about my job, so I thought it would be fun to take a little peek at my work…

Despite all the perty pictures above, we were truly working non-stop. I think we had one completely free day, but the rest of time it would be a few hours here, a couple of hours there. We stayed at the schwanky Mondrian Oriental hotel. (Alert Gossip Girl fans! You may recognize this as the place where ol Chuck Bass was supposedly staying when he got shot in the season opener….ahem. You know. If you watch that sort of thing…) Hilariously instead of “Do Not Disturb” signs, you placed a red tassel on yer door. Gold tassel was “Please service my room”. I spied a blue tassel in the restaurant but never quite figured out what THAT one meant. This is me with bed head in the morning…

This was my little work station. Have a cuppa coffee (although somehow I was transformed into a cappuccino drinker over the course of the trip!), then check ye olde bloggie and then get ready to hit the road….castings, set builds, script rewrites, meetings, more meetings, late night meetings (9 hour time difference), fittings, rehearsals…..ahhhh. The list was endless. But we loved it all. I was lucky to be traveling with some really great people and even when pressure and stress levels were high, the guys and I always managed to make each other laugh.

Unfortunately I can’t reeeeally show you any of our sets until we are finished, but here is a sneaky peek. Some of them involved miniatures….but that’s all I’m sayin’!

Our director’s were a wildly creative and amazing husband/wife team. They were super cool and I loved working with them. They also happened to have THEE cutest little boy ever who would occasionally drop by the set. This is the fabulous Yuki! And maaaaybe he’s standing inside a fake airplane. But maybe not.

How cute is his style? He was also sweet as can be.

I have so many more photos, but i think I’ve bombarded you with enough for one day, eh?

Bye bye Prague! Til we meet again….

Real Life: Pssst! Alix is in Prague!

Real Life, Real Life : Alix, ,

Greetings from Prague!!! Friends, this City is quite gorgeous, I can’t even tell you. For those of you who don’t know, I actually have a day job. I’m a workin’ mama writer/associate creative director at a schmancy advertising agency in San Francisco. My job is very creative and interesting, but also lots of hard work. This trip is an example of the glammy side of my work. We are here shooting five TV spots/web films for a client with a rather phenomenal director team. I love what I do and it’s a totally fascinating process, but we do work like crazy! Being in Prague has made for a bizarro trip….the moment I landed we were thrust into work mode with long meetings, brain stormings and castings. The home office back in California isn’t really mindful of the 9 hour time difference we have, so we have been working well into the midnight hours at times. We work work work, then pause for a break and look up and are met with the most spectacular scenery. It’s incredible.

The other fab thing about a work trip is the hotel….we always stay at really lovely places. This trip we are at the Mandarin Oriental. The hotel used to be a monastery and has all these wonky corridors and each room is slightly different. My room is a tad smaller than my co-workers but has two glorious big windows— I love to open them up and just listen to the city. Last Sunday I heard the peeling of church bells and it was pretty darn cool. This is the little alley view from my room:

Here’s our “mobile office”. We sit outside every morning for several hours with pots of coffee and work. I think the hotel staff things we are kind of crazy.

Every day we’ve managed to find a little time to wander the city….

I love seeing all the cool kiddos here. I’ve been trying to snap some photos for you (without freaking out the parents of course….). I’m hoping to do a fun kiddo-centric post next week! I love this “Children Crossing” sign. Check out the huge bow on that little girl’s head! So goooood.

As much as I’m loving my time here, it’s always hard to be away from my guys. We have done some video chats and I email them daily (Wolfie already has placed an order for a marionette! They are very popular here and I’ve been scouting the shops to find the perfect one….). Evening is when I miss them the most. I love our bed time rituals—story time and lots of cuddling. Hug are greatly missed. Like I told you, I like to end every night looking at pictures of my guys. It’s not the same as being with them, but it makes me feel a little more connected to home. Since it’s midnight here in Prague, I’m going to continue my ritual….

Ahhhh, I feel better already. Dobrý večer my friends! More updates to come! And big kisses to Miss Dottie for holdin’ down the fort while I’m away on my crazy adventure!!