by Melissa Buonanno

I am a Beverly Hills mom – raising three children aged 2, 4 and 12 in the 90210.

Living in the most famous zip code in the world is anything but average; my life is both extraordinary and surreal. Having lived around the world, I can truly say that life in Beverly Hills is an experience unlike any other.

I grew up watching the same iconic movie stars and nostalgic Hollywood lifestyles as the rest of the world and now I am fortunate enough to be here, living it. Beverly Hills is fast paced and exciting, you never know what’s happening next.  When traffic is slow it could be cause of an accident but more than likely it’s because someone is filming.

The bright yellow signs with arrows on the way to the park aren’t traffic signs; they are directions for CSI New York’s driver, which just happens to be filming in LA today. A few weeks ago it took us two hours to get home from a shoot because they were setting up for the Golden Globe Awards, just a few blocks from my house. Beverly Hills is anything but normal.

When people find out where I live, they always ask if I know anyone famous. In LA everyone is someone; you never know who you’re going to see at The Coffee Bean or even the pediatrician’s office. Living here, you may find the guy at the light behind you is one of the most well known writers on TV; or the man in the elevator a big time director, you just never know who you’ll find while you’re out and about in the 90210.

I never saw myself raising children in Hollywood or living this extraordinary life. My days consist of auditions and filming, shopping and of course chasing kids.  All three of my children both model and act so we spend more days then not on a set shooting or filming something, somewhere.

It’s not uncommon for us to wake up on the East Coast and go to sleep in LA. When they aren’t actually working there are always auditions and acting classes or scripts to memorize. There is a lot of hard work that goes into the Hollywood life but there are also amazing experiences.

Living the busy and demanding lifestyle that Hollywood requires we make sure the kids have lots of fun. When my kids say they are going to the park they mean they are going to Disneyland. They play mini-golf on their own course in the den and hang out with the same kids that they watch on TV. It’s surreal to think that this is my life.

I’d love to be able to say that Beverly Hills is just like every other place and the people are normal and down to earth, but it isn’t and they aren’t, it’s a different planet. Nothing in the 90210 is normal, but this is our life and we love it.

Melissa Buonanno is a wife, mom and business owner trying to navigate mommy-hood in Hollywood, busy with three kids in the entertainment industry and loving every minute of it. Melissa is well known in the Beverly Hills social circles and active in the community. She enjoys shopping, cooking and traveling and is a self confessed coffee enthusiast. To find out more about life if Beverly Hills visit me on Twitter.