According to my top hop, this time last year was my first time on a set!

Oh boy what an interesting experience that was..

It was for the yet-to-be released Ride Along 2 (set to be released in January) and it was a week of exhaustion.

While I can't say much about the scenes we filmed, I can say it was an intense week of overnight shoots.

Understandably so — we were filming in the GA state capitol building (the gold dome) and had to wait for the workday to end before we could start filming. When the work day closed, the night club opened.

It was incredible to see the building transformed in to a night club. The number of set pieces they brought in was remarkable. But even with all the couches and platforms they brought in and the massive staircase, there wasn't enough seating for all couple hundred of us extras!

The last couple of days were exterior shots, so they also had to be shot in the dark. Who goes to clubs when it's light out???? But I did get to see a car explode, which was pretty freaking awesome.

Thus was my week was spent standing, walking, and mostly dancing in my Barbie pink heels and peplum dress. I feel like my feet were swollen for a week afterwards. I've been wearing heels since I was not even 2 years old but this was brutal. I'm not sure if it was the standing, the heat, or the dancing but not making clicking noises with your heels because they're rolling but my feet hated me. After the first day night, I learned: bring slippers!

Oh yeah, did I mention we did a couple hours worth of takes RUNNING? That probably plays in to the whole swelling thing.

Fun fact, any time you see people dancing in a scene, it was completely silent when it was filmed. Do you know how hard it is to look like you're dancing in a club with no music? A lot harder than it seems. If they do a take with music playing, it's not the same music that plays in the final cut.

This was my very first time on set and I had absolutely no idea what to expect. My call times were usually about 3 or 4 PM and we didn't wrap until about 6 or 7 AM. Thankfully there are a number of nice extras to chat with and help the time pass a little less miserably.

I met soo many people who were so helpful in guiding me in the right direction and passing along helpful information, and without them I would not have had the number of amazing opportunities I've had this past year.

So when the movie comes out, see if you can spot me! There's a couple of times when I was in the sightline of a camera, but who knows if that shot will make the final cut.

Funny story, I made friends with a girl and we got to chatting about how we looked familiar to one another. Turns out we were on the same study abroad trip in London in 2012!! Small world.

But it wasn't all chatting and gabbing. On the first night of filming, we were rolling, we were dancing, and someone starting having a seizure. It was pretty tense. Thankfully there was an emergency responder (I think that's what he was... That or a 911 operator?) there to assist, and, fun fact, Ken Jeong is a MD, so he was able to help out until the paramedics arrived and they took the guy to the hospital. The guy said he'd never had seizures before. He ended up OK... so much so that he came back the next day? They sent him home for obvious reasons.

There was another night morning when I was heading home after wrapping at about 6 or so in the morning and I was merging on the 575 from 75. I was in the left lane behind a car who's driver was drunk or something because he would slow way down, drift over the middle line, drift over the edge, speed up, drift some more, slow down... It was very dangerous and I was stuck right behind him. I couldn't move over due to a large truck that wasn't slowing down or speeding up, and there was a car behind me, too. Eventually the car merged all the way over, either to exit or park on the shoulder and I got as far away as I could as fast as I could.

I used my own dress and shoes for this shoot and the jewelry was on loan from the wardrobe department. I don't think I've worn the shoes or the dress since — ha! But really it's because this dress isn't the easiest to wear out and about and nothing to do with wearing it for 60 hours in one week.

Wearing a full face of makeup and doing my hair for an entire week was exhausting! The hair department would always style my hair and often re-curl it, so by day 3 I didn't even bother partially fixing it. You're so exhausted after working 16+ hours, driving home for an hour, sleeping for a few, then waking up and doing it again, any shortcuts to allow you to sleep longer are gladly welcomed.

What a way to start out my background "career"!