Nan McNamara - My Blog

Listening To My Elders

One of my best friends is Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Well, I guess I should clarify. I’m pretty sure that we SHOULD be best friends. Or at least that we WOULD be best friends, if we ever met.

Who didn’t love her on Seinfeld or The New Adventures of Old Christine? She’s brilliant on Veep. I can’t wait to see her latest feature film, You Hurt My Feelings. And if you haven’t seen her Mark Twain Prize acceptance speech, you have to check it out here.

But her wonderful gifts as an actor aren’t what convinced

August 21, 2023

ACTOR'S LIFE, ACTRESS, INSPIRATION, MINNESOTA, PERSONAL GROWTH, SELF-HELP

I Feel Like School Starts Tomorrow

Nan McNamara

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I’m thinking about my carefree 12-year old self this Labor Day weekend and feeling a bit of adult melancholy. What happened to those empty summer days we had ahead of us just three months ago? So many plans – dreams of pool-side drinks and long hikes and naps dancing in my head.

But now, it’s all over. My head is full of phrases like, “You better get busy” and a slight sense of dread.

Emotional Calendar

Labor Day might be bringing up these feelings for you, too. There’s an emotional calendar to our lives and maybe, like me, you

September 2, 2019

ACTOR'S LIFE, ACTRESS, CONFIDENCE, CREATIVITY, FASHION, INSPIRATION, MINNESOTA, PERSONAL GROWTH, SELF-HELP

Did You Know There’s a Documentary About YOU?

Nan McNamara

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Did You Know There’s a Documentary About YOU?

Did you grow up in a household with home movies? I didn’t. I’ve always been a little envious of friends whose Dad or Mom was the family videographer, capturing birthdays and Christmas and family vacations. Photo albums and slides are wonderful, but to have video? That would be something.

I think of home movies as being the layman’s version of a documentary. And with this being called the golden age of documentaries, there are some amazingly well-told life stories out there. From Ruth Bader Ginsberg to Jane Fonda to Mister Rogers, the inspiration these

October 1, 2018

ACTOR'S LIFE, ACTRESS, CONFIDENCE, CREATIVITY, INSPIRATION, OVERCOMING FEAR, PERSONAL GROWTH, SELF-HELP

My Invitation to the Royal Wedding

Nan McNamara

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It’s been almost three months since the royal wedding. And I can’t quite delete the DVR recording of it, even though I’ve watched the whole thing, seen the BBC highlights and read the People magazine story from cover to cover.

A lot has been said about the reasons people have been and continue to be so fascinated by the event and this magical couple. The idea of a young woman from the United States becoming a real-life princess is a fairy tale come true.

But I think most analysts boil it down to our desire to watch something positive

August 10, 2018

ACTOR'S LIFE, ACTRESS, CONFIDENCE, CREATIVITY, INSPIRATION, OVERCOMING FEAR, PERSONAL GROWTH, SELF-HELP

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Nan McNamara

3 Comments

My team lost. And I am still thinking about it two years later.

I actually cried stone-cold sober tears over the loss, the third time in the past two decades (The tally now stands at sports tears shed in 2009, 2016 and 2018 to be exact).

For those of you who love a team, you know the pain.

If you’re a college basketball fan, March Madness provides its own special pain. 63 out of 64 teams will will ultimately end their season in defeat. Even though we’re in basketball season, I’m still stuck on footballs, touchdown passes and field

March 29, 2018

ACTOR'S LIFE, ACTRESS, CONFIDENCE, INSPIRATION, MINNESOTA, PERSONAL GROWTH

Here’s to an Uncomfortable 2018!

Nan McNamara

1 Comment

The year will be remembered (among other things) as the year I was on the Kiwanis speaking circuit. If you didn’t grow up in the midwest or you aren’t of a ‘certain age,’ you might be saying, “What’s a Kiwanis?”

Well, in very simple terms, Kiwanis is a club where professional folks come together for a meal, listen to a speaker, and encourage social and charitable contributions to the community.

But if you have ever attended a Kiwanis meeting, you know it is so much more than that dry description. These people are fierce – fierce in their

January 1, 2018

ACTOR'S LIFE, ACTRESS, CONFIDENCE, CREATIVITY, INSPIRATION, MINNESOTA, OVERCOMING FEAR, PERSONAL GROWTH, SELF-HELP

In Search of an Anti-Aging Formula

Nan McNamara

17 Comments

My hubby and I often struggle finding television that we BOTH want to watch. I tend toward the dark stories. He tends toward, well, musicals. It can be challenging.

However, Saturday night, we managed to find a movie on Netflix that we both wanted to see, starring none other than Jane Fonda and Robert Redford.

We we were about 20 minutes into a sweet story about an elderly couple finding love and companionship, when I looked out of the corner of my eye to see if Lindsay was enjoying it. He was wearing a face of grim resignation

October 26, 2017

ACTOR'S LIFE, ACTRESS, CONFIDENCE, INSPIRATION, PERSONAL GROWTH, SELF-HELP

Dreams, Prayers and Baseball

Nan McNamara

6 Comments

Last night, I watched “live” TV with my husband, Lindsay. Our DVR is dead. We are stuck viewing whatever happens to be on at the moment while waiting for the replacement box to be delivered. (More first world problems.)

Isn’t it strange? As kids, our only choice was live TV. You had to be home at a specific time to watch a specific show on one of three networks (four, if you counted PBS). And you had to watch the commercials.

At any rate, scrolling through the on-screen TV guide, we looked for a

October 17, 2017

ACTRESS, CREATIVITY, INSPIRATION, PERSONAL GROWTH, SELF-HELP

What I Learned Walking the Emmy Red Carpet (and Other First World Problems)

Nan McNamara

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What I Learned Walking the Emmy Red Carpet (and Other First World Problems)

Have you ever flown First Class? I’ve experienced it a couple of times and while I enjoyed every second of it, there was a part of me that regretted knowing how wonderful it was – because I was more than likely going to be flying coach most of the time.

So, I went to the Emmys. And I walked the Red Carpet. And now I know what it feels like.

Darn it.

But let me back-up to the preparation. How did the hair and make-up turn out? What about the dress and shoes? And

September 21, 2017

ACTOR'S LIFE, ACTRESS, AWARDS, FASHION, INSPIRATION

Walking the Emmy Red Carpet: A Do-It-Yourself Guide

Nan McNamara

12 Comments

Walking the Emmy Red Carpet: A Do-It-Yourself Guide

When I was a kid growing up in Minnesota, televised awards shows were appointment viewing. The Oscars were King, but the Emmys took a close second. At nine years old, I never imagined I would actually get to GO to one of these events.

My good friend Paul is actually nominated for an Emmy this year (yay Paul!) and he asked me to be his date.

Mmmmm. Well, I guess I could do that.

But, what to wear? How should I do my make-up? What about shoes? My hair? The list of questions

September 13, 2017

ACTOR'S LIFE, AWARDS, FASHION, MINNESOTA