Vixen Chronicles

Ipanema. Copacabana. Rio De Janeiro. Yeah. Does this conjure up images of white sand beaches, near nekkid women and men? Paradise? How about dengue fever? I arrived in Rio with the travel book pictures etched in my head. I just knew I was going to see, tall, tan, young, fabulous looking people strolling down the beach. Well, sort of. I'd packed several swim suits, to make sure that I would choose the most appropriate one. I discovered that the Brazilians (the cariocas) do not suffer from the same body hangups as we Americans. They were no more beautiful than anything you might see on an American beach, but Lawd, they were certainly more nekkid. I saw (or didn't see) miles of cloth that had disappeared into the hinterlands between many a butt cheek and grandpas in speedos. When in Rio..... Not really. I did pack my best tiny suit. Sort of like your skinny jeans. The suit a good friend of me had once asked me to cover up because she had a pre-adolescent ...

IMG_0273.JPG So, now that opening weekend is over, folks keep asking me if I was happy with what I got. My answer is an unequivocal, yes. Actually, I had no idea what to expect. I just tried to do each step to the best of my ability and hoped it would add up to good. And what exactly was each step? A whole lot. Writing the dern thing was only the beginning. Being the Executive Producer meant that every little detail rolled up to me. I mean everything, beginning with raising the cash to making the show happen. Travel details-someone had to make sure that each member of the cast and crew go to where they were supposed to be, reasonably happy, safely and on time. Set building had to happen on time and be functioning. There had to be a tech rehearsal for the people who would operate the set and rehearsals for the cast. Building had to be secured along with security. Wardrobe had to be available. I'll tell you what, there were a lot of costume changes. I...

So, I just go up from a twelve hour power nap. Executive production is sleep deprivation at its finest. The play opened and had a great weekend with an almost sold out show on Saturday. I learned a lot from this process. First, People really like a woman with a gun. I had no idea that Dina (AKA NINA) would be such a hit, even though she was obviously supremely evil. I REALLY dug the mean woman with a gun and hot shoes myself. Of course the character was a shoe diva! Second, I learned that your employees will eat your profits if left alone. That's right. I have video of my staff happily eating M & M's at the concession stand. I know who you are and you will be fined accordingly. Third, I learned that there is no modesty in theater. I had a cameo, but since the role was so small, I didn't have a mike. I had to share one with Li'L G since were were never on stage at the same time. Logistically, it seemed like no problem to do a ten second mike change. For the ...

I went downtown three times today. Between visiting radio stations, pulling tickets from the box office and checking on the set, whew. I must have driven 100 miles or more. But it was all worth it, because at 5:21 PM this afternoon, I heard my name in lights, yessireeebob. The radio commercial for the play went live and I couldn't help but do the happy dance. My daughter heard it,too and she came running to my room. I am a rockstar in her eyes once again. I went and looked at the beginning of the set building yesterday. We got past the sketches, but I gotta tell you, I held my breath the whole time. It still looks like sticks and straw to me. Or metal and wood, but Mark Sullivan from the SA Film District has a vision. Here's a clip.

I know you have been waiting patiently, so here it is.  I've been secretly getting it all together and here's the info.: The play is cast and set to go.  Marrying up will have its Texas debut on Feb 2 and 3, in San Antonio at the Jo Long Theater.  There will be two shows on those dates, at 3 and 8pm. So, who's in it? Here's the press release:   For Immediate Release Contact: Lisa Horton 210.787.8637     From the pages to the stage…Bestselling Book by San Antonio Author now a Stage Play Nina Foxx's Marrying Up   (San Antonio, TX) –   In the search for a husband, what's a woman to do? Make sure she marries up! At least that's the motto of Paris Montague and her meddling mother. Paris has got it all – beauty, brains and a fine man on her arm. There's just one problem – he's not the "caliber" of man she was looking for. Tyson is content being Paris' sexy secret lover. He's a struggling brother chasing a dream and if Paris can just hang ...

Shanghai-Part II I finally got to old town. I found historical buildings converted to house modern day stores, including a Starbucks and McDonald's, wedged right next to street stalls selling foods on a stick and other Chinese goods. When in Rome, right? When I saw the choices, my courage waned. I was not a Bizarre Foods Queen on this trip. Instead I chose to watch while a traveling companion did his thing. His choice-a bird looking creature impaled on sharp choptick, head and all. He chewed in what seemed like slow motion, and it dawned on me then--All the open space around us, the kind of space that would normally be teeming with pigeons, was totally devoid of birds of any kind. My stomach turned over and excuse the cliche, but I really did throw up a little in my mouth. He was eating the rat of the sky. Other tourists stopped to watch the over-sized hairy american eat the unidentified birdie. We moved to find a restaurant, preferably one that served food we...

I've been on blog silence. I've been busy, casting Marrying Up (more about that later) and doing a little bit of traveling. Shanghai What do do when you have only one day in China? Everything you can. After 16 hours of flying, I opted not to go to sleep. Instead, after showering away the airplane grunge, I headed out for a drink with my new chinese friend. It was a Sunday, but not the Sabbath here, so everything was as open as a whorehouse in a Navy port of call. Shanghai never closes, so even at ten pm on a Sunday, lights flashed and locals filled the streets. Locals-Let's explore that. I was told Shanghai was the expatriate city of China, so it took a minute for me to see Chinese faces. What I was seeing looked more like downtown Brooklyn that the Far East. After a few drinks and the required tourist photos, I slept a little and rose early, like 5AM early, and waited for the sun to come up. I wasn't trying to be romantic. My body was confused and si...

Today is "book in store" day. Yep, my new book is finally here. Women read the title and they get it right away, but men? I'm not so sure. Guy, I'm not saying we don't need you. Of course we do. That's not the point. Most people laugh when I tell them the name of my new book, but some ask me "What does your husband think about that?" You know what, he gets it. No Girl Needs a Husband Seven Days a Week was not intended as an instructional manual on how to get rid of your bothersome significant other, instead it was supposed to be a look inside today's marriage. So many of us grow up looking for the knight in shining armour or the fairy tale happily ever after, only to be disappointed once we make the leap into matrimony. We find that its nothing like we thought and that "Until death do us part" may come earlier than we envisioned because one of us is plum going to kill the other. Inside my story, you'll find three indepen...

Me with Morgan Miller, The Queen of Sole in Miami Beach

So, how was Miami? Certainly warmer than San Diego. I thought I was doomed to have a busted trip, but in the end it was saved by my stumble onto a custom shoe store. That's right, custom shoes. Morgan Miller wasn't my first dance with shoes made especially for my tootsies. I actually had some made a few weeks ago by costume designer Ann Roth. (www.annrothshoes.com). I picked the heel and the fabric along with a final embellishment and they arrived at my door with cards for me to give out to tell folks where they'd come from. This time, I went to Morgan Miller (The Queen of Sole) in Miami Beach, picked a heel, picked a top and an embellishment. I even picked the color of the label in the sole. After two fittings and thirty minutes, Viola! Shoes. I REALLY liked this concept and Morgan and family were all very kind. They even presented my shoes to me on a silver platter. Other parts of my trip: The crowded Miami Book Fair, an interview with The Marc Bernier Sho...

Sigh.  You know stuff happens to me when I travel, right?  I thought I'd overcome the travel gremlin, but I was wrong.  I got back from San Diego late last night.  It was a quick trip, there and back, no room for error, or so I thought.  I covered all bases.  I was willing to risk being rusty, by removing all creams, lotions, potions, and lipsticks from my bag.  I even left my computer at home. I hopped on my SouthWest plane so I could be on the west coast with a full day to burn.  I was ready, seeing as how I'd heard that it never rains in sunny southern california. Ha! Ha!   When I stepped off the plane I had to double check the city I'd landed in.   It looked more like Seattle than San Diego. The day was gray and overcast and it was COLD.   No, strike that, freezing. My leather coat that is a winter coat in San Antonio was being eaten whole by the San Diego chill. I tugged it around my body, trying to keep out the cold and tried to find a Starbucks. The beach is not plea...

Hello Reader-Friends! The countdown is on! My next book, No Girl Needs A Husband Seven Days a Week will be released in a few days. I'm excited. Remember that pre-orders are very important to an author, so I would certainly appreciate yours. Here are some early reviews from The Harpercollins first look program-- I LOVED this book! Nina Foxx is a wonderful author and I hope she continues to write because THIS BOOK is one to make you GIGGLE out loud and say, "oh no she/he didn't!" If you have girlfriends, then you can relate to this book. If you are married and struggling, you can relate to this book. Taking care of an elderly parent? Get this book. Nina Foxx writes so beautifully about the beauty of friendship and sisterhood, and I definitely recommend this book. — Shelly (Henderson, NV) This book was wonderful. While it dealt with serious issues such as infidelity, imprisonment and oh yeah, men. Foxx dealt them a witty, touching and ultimately memorable hand. Wit...

I thought I was in shape. And then I went to Machu Picchu. The day started innocently enough. After the night before, I drank more Coca tea and felt I was recovered from my altitude sickness. We were going to take the train to Macchu Picchu. We were greeted at the train station by Peruvian dancers and mimosas, and then we boarded the most luxurious train I have ever seen. I felt like we’d stepped back into time when train travel was the way to travel. We were seated our a lavish dining table and plied with food and drink, including pisco sours, a form of whiskey sour made with Peru’s national drink, Pisco. I’d seen that on the travel channel too and didn’t want to think about the traditional way it was made, by people chewing the ingredients until they fermented, then spitting it into a vat. The three car train ambled up the mountain path while musicians strolled its length and we snapped pictures of the country side, passing farmers and shepherds. Electric pole sliced through...

Llamas and Alpacas and Altitude Sickness. I planned to hit the ground running. I hunkered down on my flight and worked it all out in my mind. It was midnight. We’d sleep on the plane, transfer at 5:00AM to a shuttle flight to Cusco, shower and be on our tour at 9. Riiiight. First, both of my kids started wailing. The little one just wanted to go home. She hated the layover hotel and didn’t want to experience another no –tell motel. The big one wailed because they sat us ear the back of the plane and she hates that, she said it made her feel un-cared for, like I purposely told American Airlines to put us in the back of the plane. “Mom, why didn’t YOU put us in first class?” After I stopped laughing and helped to dry her tears, I told her that she was lucky to be on the flight at all. It would have been far cheaper to leave her home with a relative. “But mom, I have flown first class before.” She has not. The closest she came was in the bulkhead row peering through the curtain...

Right out of Dallas, we had a problem. Our flight from Dallas to Lima was delayed by more than an hour, making the possibility of making our connection ot Lima slim to none. That would cause an even bigger dilemma, if we missed that flght,we couldn't possibly chnge airlines in Lima as planned to get to Cusco, the heart of the Sacred Valley. American Airlines could or would not tell me anything except that I should go to Miami and they would talk to me there. Note to self: In the future, let's try to avoid four connection trips. I pulled out my I-phone and did a search If we missed that connecting flight to Lima,there were no other flights that night, exept one on LANperu, ther partner airline. I called the red trouble phone again. No, they could not get us seats on that flight, at least not from Dallas, so we crossed our fingers and got on the plane. Bad move. We rolled into the gate just as the flight to Lima rolled out. We missed it by ten minutes, so did ten other peop...

The Texas/Oklahoma leg of the Femme Tour was fabulous, of course. We broke in Berta by meeting her at the door with a new Femmetini. Reshonda got to watch Hell Date to her heart's content and carmen is now hooked on it too. Things I learned: One of us knows her way around a bar. Like for real. She can make a delicious tasting drink with whatever you happen to have in your refrigerator. No names. But I think its one of her weapons. Another one of us can really drink anything. Again, no names, but she's new. One of us can't drink at all. Its just not a good idea to let her imbibe then attempt steps. Another one will steal your Tums. The girl asked me for one and then took the whole bottle and put it in her bag. I'm told that the girls ate them as after dinner mints in Oklahoma. One of us REALLY can't eat fast food. The rest of the people in the car regretted that stop at Wendy's between Killeen and San Antonio for the WHOLE trip. The highlight for me i...

Hey Folks, We are bringing Marrying Up, The Stage play back. Here's the casting information--