Our Next Move

What We Have Is Real...

Well, it is now March of 2006 and I cannot believe how fast time flies. It seems like only yesterday that Matt and I met and now we are married and have four dogs together. Matt and I also hosted what we hope to be an annual Christmas party in our home.

I had so much fun planning the party and picking out the gifts for our parents and our friends. Our mom’s gifts were Floral keys pendant with round brilliant diamonds in 18k white gold, our dad’s gifts wereTiffany's pens, the boys and girls both got keychains that said "His/Hers" which were 2 seperate hearts that each one had and when joined together made a whole heart. I also made my famous cheese biscuits, but sadly there were none left over after that night.
:(

Matt and I had a rather simple Christmas and I had a rather simple birthday, not many gifts but that was because I did not want many gifts this year. I have everything I could possibly want; my husband is home, our dogs at home with us and if they are happy then so am I. Also, I am thinking about getting another tattoo but Matt wants to wait until May, which is fine by me.

Today we are filming the music video for “my” song, “Seize the Day.” Fortunately, I will get to play the part of Matt’s girlfriend. Unfortunately, Matt and I cannot wear our wedding rings today, which is ok; we put them away in our safe at home so the dogs couldn’t get to them. The dogs have full run of the house when we are not home, which is ok, but at the same time, it is sometimes hard for them to calm down after we get back.

We had to wake up at 5:30 this morning, not the best time to wake up but we had to be on set in Encino by 7:30. So, we woke up, got dressed in sweats, because they would make us change once we got there, made sure that the dogs had enough food and water to last them about twelve hours and then made it out the door by 6:00 A.M.

We then stopped at Breakfast in the Park for breakfast/coffee, even though it was out of our way. We live like right near the PCH, but it was so worth it. It was amazing, I decided to get a “Mary Beth’s Outrageous Cinnamon Rolls”, it was divine, I swear that that food will be in heaven and I won’t have to worry about gaining weight.

Matt decided to get one of their giant blueberry muffins. That muffin must have been the size of Matt’s hand, and that is huge!

We ate and talked on the way to Encino about lots of things, such as what Avenged Sevenfold might do next after this video is released. Matt mentioned that they might go to Germany in June to help support Metallica, their influencing band. I think that this is a wonderful idea, especially if they perform on June 6, 2006, how funny would that be?

We finally made it to Encino at around 7:25, which is good; we got there earlier than expected. Once we saw the director, we quickly introduced ourselves to him. Then he said,

“Nice to meet you both, now, we are going to let Matt get dressed and get into hair and makeup and Ashlyn, you are just going to relax until we need you ok?”

“Sure, I can do that,”

I said.

Right before Matt left, he kissed me and then before we could make it a deep kiss, we heard what sounded like someone throwing up. We broke apart and found Jimmy and Zacky behind us making gagging noises.

So, Matt, Jimmy and Zacky left for the dressing room trailer and the hair and makeup trailer. Brian came about 2 minutes later and then we were just waiting on Johnny. I called him but got his voicemail,

“Hello…Hello…oh yeah, I am not here right now, but if you leave me a message, I just might get back to you…who am I kidding, if I don’t know you, then don’t be calling me! But, if I do know you…beware!”

I left him a voicemail back,

“Hey Johnny, it’s Ashlyn, it is now 7:35 and we are worried about you….have you left Huntington Beach yet? I sure hope so…love you Johnny!”

We waited another hour before he finally showed up. He claimed he overslept and then didn’t hear his phone or alarm and didn’t want to call any of us, just in case we were filming at the time of the call.

Well, once he got dressed and out of hair and makeup they could start shooting. The first filmed the convenience store scene, while I decided to watch via the monitor. This scene took about three hours to shoot because we had to make it “perfect”.

Then we moved on to the scene where Matt and the boys try and get away, but unfortunately, Matt gets caught by the police. This scene didn’t take too long at all and right after that, we had dinner, then I had to go to costumes, hair and makeup.

Once, I got to costumes, they first made me take off my camisole and my lounge pants, then made me take out my belly ring because my costume would not be kind to it.

Then they got what is called “The Empathy Belly”, which is usually used for men when their girlfriends/wives are pregnant so that they can know what it is like being pregnant. However, we are using it to simulate my pregnancy body for the video.

Once we got that on, it was time for the pregnancy clothes, oh joy won’t this be fun, don’t get me wrong, I would love to have a child right now but I am just worried about the weight I might gain. My mom only gained about 20 pounds with me but I know that since I really love ice cream, I might gain like a ton of weight if I do get pregnant soon.

The pregnancy clothes included a maternity shirt that said “Nevermore” on it, along with a raven. Did the ladies from the wardrobe department read my mind or did they just guess that I love Edgar Allan Poe? The bottoms for the pregnancy “clothes” were just a simple pair of pink lounge pants. When I finally left the wardrobe department, it was time for hair and makeup.

They left my hair alone and decided to let my makeup be completely natural, but unfortunately that still required some makeup. Once that was over, it was time for the scene with Matt. I still felt very huge and slightly uncomfortable with this big belly but I managed to walk/waddle towards the set.

It was pretty late when we got to that scene, but we still had to go for it. The director told us to,

“Act as though the camera is not here, but remember to keep it PG because Ashlyn is ‘pregnant’ ok?”

“Ok,”

We said.

Well, the entire scene took about 1 hour to get just right and then we left to go back home. We made it to our home, said hello to the dogs, fed them/gave them water and dragged our feet up the stairs to our room.

We both decided to take a shower together, but were way too tired to do anything because we had to be back on set in about 8 hours. While that may seem like the perfect amount of sleep for some of you, for Matt and I, sleep is something we take very seriously and both sleep like rocks.

We changed into our pyjamas and turned off the lights and once Matt hooked his arm around my waist, I was out cold. I woke up the next morning andwhisperedscreamed,

“Holy shit, no!”

Then I looked over and saw Matt’s still sleeping body, like I said, we sleep like rocks, and shook him saying,

“Matt! Matt, baby you have to get up, it is 10 o’clock and we were supposed to be on set about 2 hours ago!”

“Holy shit,”

He said and we both made a mad dash for our master bathroom and quickly got ready in less than 15 minutes and then made the call to the director, who said,

“Ok, but get your asses here ASAP!”

We made it to Montclair in about 45 minutes, which is incredible considering the traffic and it normally takes an hour. Today was not going to be my favourite day because today was the day where Matt had to be “arraigned” for the video. He also had to be stripped down naked; now that is one part I am looking forward to because even though I see it almost every day, it’s still funny to think about your husband showing his “family jewels” in public.

I watched them film this scene and I cried almost every time. It broke my heart knowing that Matt could have ended up like this had he continued to fight people. After about an hour, the director said it was finally good and it was time for the “strip search”. Now, I don’t know why, but all the guys came out of the craft services tent to watch this scene with me.

Once Matt stripped down, the boys started to make jokes about it. Brian especially was the
most hilarious one of all, he said things like,

“Man, he has a huge horse cock.”

“God, I love that horse cock.”

He will make grown men cry."

I started laughing so hard that Matt kept looking over at us and just staring. I didn’t have the guts to tell him afterwards what we were really laughing about but, I assured him it was nothing major.

After that, they filmed the scene where they went to the store; Brian peed in the shower and then the scene where the boys perform in the jail. After that it was time for Matt to shoot the scene where he is actually in the prison. He had to shave his head, which I was kind of saddened by, because I love his hair long, so I can grab on to it.

Then we shot what I think was the hardest scene to shoot, the scene where Matt and I fight and then I leave him. The director told me to think of the worst possible thing that Matt could do and just react.

I thought about if Matt ever cheated on me, got another girl pregnant, denied it, then the girl showed up on our doorstep asking for money. Let me tell you, I got pretty pissed off and it sure showed on the playback video we watched after that.

After a few more prison scenes it was time to work on the funeral scene. I watched it because it would be too hard to stay in the coffin and not hear the boys. The cutest thing in the whole world was watching Matt and the little boy who was to play our son.

After that, we all had a little party and Matt and I decided to go back to our house and have another party there, but that is another story. Let’s just say that Jimmy brought “special brownies” and Bella had some, he just spent hours looking out the windows and running into the walls.

♠ ♠ ♠

Important information: All times are based off of Mapquest and the place where Matt and Ashlyn have breakfast before the first day is really in Huntington Beach but doesn't open till 7, so I modified that for this story.

Links!
Mom present
Dad present
Girls and boys present
Day one
Empathy Belly outfits