Theater, Film Festival, and Old Friends!

On Friday I had a super fun audition and then I got a surprise last-minute free ticket to see Gospel According to First Squad by the Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble, starring the two guys who host the Inside Acting podcast that I listen to. It was great, and all of the acting was phenomenal. I feel like usually when you see a play you find one or two people whose work you like but in this play I couldn't decide who I liked most and I kept changing my mind. Most of the characters were written to be somewhat unlikeable, conflicted people, all of whom are stuck in a terrible situation. The actors helped make the characters multi-dimensional and relatable. If you're in LA, check out their closing weekend next week!

On Saturday right before I was leaving for class my friend called me asking if I wanted to go to the Artivist Film Festival closing night awards ceremony and red carpet event that night. I just threw a dress and heels in my bag and went to my improv class and changed in the bathroom afterwards. I made it just in time to see my friend get interviewed on the red carpet!

The award ceremony was fun and we got to sit in the VIP section -- we even got swag bags! We were sitting right behind Rachel Bilson and Kristen Bell, who was receiving a humanitarian award presented to her by Rachel.

Afterwards I stuck around and talked politics with some interesting people and then went to a party for three friends whose birthdays are all this week.

Sunday was devoted to catching up with old friends! On Sunday morning I had a Skype date with my German exchange student from high school, and then my freshman year college roommate came to visit -- she just moved to Riverside so she drove up for the day. We went to M Cafe and I got bibimbap. It was delicious!

Then we spent a few hours walking on Melrose and at the Grove, shopping and people watching. We saw two of the actresses from Pretty Little Liars (not together), so my friend was excited. Every visitor to LA needs to see somebody!

Other food pictures from this weekend -

I made apple chips! I just sliced up apples and dehydrated them on the lowest setting for about 18 hours. Delicious.

Several meals this weekend looked like this -- arugula, raw corn, red peppers, corn and bean salsa, and a sliced TJ's chickenless cutlet.

I didn't have a ton of time to work out this weekend so I did HIIT (high intensity interval training) on my bike for 20 minutes a day and 10-15 minutes of weights a day.

I hope you had a great weekend!