Health and Happiness in LA

New Tumblr and Xmas Holiday

2012-01-03T22:12:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody! I hope your winter holidays were super holiday and not as much winter. I left LA on the 21st and I'm not getting back until the 7th so this has been a pretty long trip for me.

I've got some news! I started a Tumblr blog: erikaheidewald.tumblr.com. I realized that I needed more of an outlet for the things I'm most interested in now, which don't necessarily fit on this blog. Comedy is such a huge passion of mine and I've loved really getting into Twitter over the last few months. So my interests and what I want to blog about have changed. That doesn't mean that I WON'T write on here anymore -- but obviously, I've been posting on here less frequently. So if you're interested, check out the new Tumblr blog and if you're not, I'll still be back here when I want to write about something health-related. And just a little warning -- the Tumblr is definitely my comedy blog. So don't take it seriously. =)

I've also gotten into Instagram! I got an iPhone for my birthday and Instagram is a fun way to share pictures. If you're on, look me up! (@erikaheidewald)

Here are some highlights from my Christmas vacation.

Baby brother singing me happy birthday. First photo with my iPhone!

Baby bro and me

I thought it was so funny to balance this teacup on my head and take a picture. I may have been a bit delirious from a bunch of family time.

My birthday!

Skeeball birthday

Armwrestling my brother

I lost and I look super sad and Derek won and he looks evilly gleeful

My stepdad was inaugurated as a City Councilman!

Me, my best friend, and my brother at my stepdad's inauguration party. After this photo was taken both boys immediately asked, "How creepy did I look?" and were pleased with the results.

I hope your holidays were wonderful! And if you're wondering what I've learned over the past few weeks in the Midwest, check out this post on my Tumblr blog. =)

Gas Station Saves Your Life/Eternal Soul? And other news

2011-12-04T01:54:00.000-08:00

Whatuuup everyone!

I saw this at a gas station the other day and thought it was hilarious.

I just love the idea that anyone would see a sign at a gas station and be like, " OMG! You're right! I gotta go change my life!"

And look, this truck has a DRAGON coming out of it!!

I worked a lot (interned, actually, but I hate that word because it makes me think of internal medicine, which is obviously a good thing, but not accurate to what I do) over the Thanksgiving holiday because I didn't go out of town. One day I bought this at Gelsons:

It's a MOJO bar! MOJO! It was pretty good. The chocolate almond coconut or whatever flavor is the best. It tastes like seven layer bars, which I haven't eaten since eighth grade when I went to my aunt's house and ate seventeen of them in a day (or something like that) and officially disgusted all of my family members. But they are so tasty.

I made some killer smoothies.

A Clementine Julius -- a bunch of clementines, some almond milk, a little Sunwarrior vanilla protein powder, some stevia, and some frozen mango. I left it a little chunky, which sounds gross, but it was straight-up awesome.

Cranberries and bananas (?) and Sunwarrior and stevia? Lots of fresh cranberries. They are good for you and your urinary tract! I love a good, healthy urinary tract.

I made a bunch of salad, as is de rigeur in my party mansion. I made a weird dressing out of tofu and nutritional yeast and random stuff that I didn't love but oh well whatever. I also discovered that cucumbers are a little bit icky in large quantities.

This is what I ate for dinner tonight:

A few Trader Joe's meatless meatballs microwaved for a minute, covered in BBQ sauce, and mashed with raw spinach. The spinach gets a little wilty, but not too wilty. This might sound disgusting but it was GREAT. I like my food green and probably a little gross-looking.

Oh, I had a great dinner at Tender Greens last night -- the Happy Vegan Salad -- but I was not alone so I didn't take pictures of it. But it was beautiful and delicious.

I had a really good week with some career news I will share soon. And tomorrow I am getting photos taken of me RAPPING! I'm seriously excited about this. I have been practicing my rapping skills for days in anticipation and I am going to bring it.

HOW ARE YOU?

Goodbye!

Continental Drift: Cagematch Champions!

2011-11-21T03:56:00.000-08:00

My job and general lifestyle doesn't have a consistent schedule, but I've fallen into a bit of a routine recently. Here's a little taste of my general schedule over the last three weeks.

Mondays: Go to Harold Night at UCB!

Tuesday: Internship at UCB

Wednesday: Improv 401 class, then practice with my team Badge Patrol

I have a couple hours between class and practice, so I've been walking to Whole Foods and getting some veggies from the salad bar as my special Wednesday treat. :) If you're careful with your purchases, you can get a good dinner for $3-$5.

Spicy cauliflower and peas!

Ratatouille put on top of salad. Who cares

Three weeks in a row. Mmmm that Indian-style cabbage and peas was delicious. I wish I could eat all my meals at Whole Foods.

Thursday: I've been going to the 11th Hour improv show pretty consistently, and they've been having some great shows. A couple weeks ago Donald Glover (from Community) showed up as a surprise guest and put on a great show with his team Derrick Comedy.

Last week I also went to a SAG Screening of The Descendants. George Clooney himself was there for the Q&A afterwards! The movie is getting a lot of great reviews but I felt somewhat mixed about it... I just felt it was inconsistent. I was also spoiled by recently seeing Beginners, which is a masterpiece.

Friday: Morning is practice with my improv team Pistol Whippersnappers. And then for the last three weeks in the evening I've had Cagematch with my team Continental Drift! More on that in a moment.

Saturday: This week and last week I interned for UCB, even though Saturday isn't my usual day. I also auditioned for a sketch team. I didn't make it, but it was a good motivator for me to work more on my sketches.

Sunday: Continental Drift practice and probably another improv show.

My daytime hours change, but that's when I run all my errands, apply for acting jobs, etc. I've been writing a lot in my free time. Last week in one night I wrote two sketches and an entire re-write of the movie I'm working on. I stayed up until 8:30 AM because I couldn't go to bed until I finished it!

Now, back to my exciting Continental Drift news. We are the current champions of the iO West Friday night Cagematch! We've won three weeks in a row. What happens is two improv teams do 20-minute sets, and then the audience votes who they thought won. The winning team gets to come back and compete again the next week! It's so fun and my friends have been amazing about coming out and supporting us. Continental Drift actually had three shows this week -- at iO on Monday night, Cagematch on Friday night, and at Dangerfield's II on Sunday night.

Here we are after winning our first Cagematch!

After our second victory!

Third victory.

We'll be back this Friday at 7:30! Wish us luck. =)

I hope that everyone has a good Thanksgiving, and I hope you won't be celebrating over a carcass. Tofurky is surprisingly good, guys! Check out last year's Thanksgiving post for some great vegan recipes. I'm thankful for improv, winning, LA, my family, my friends, the Whole Foods salad bar, my new apartment, the internet, sweatshirts, and everyone who reads this blog!

New apartment!

2011-11-20T03:36:00.000-08:00

Eek I haven't updated since I moved?? Bad me! I didn't have the internet for the first SIX days. I feel like there aren't many Americans who go six days without going on the internet anymore. You'd think I would have gotten more reading done, but I didn't.

So, I moved to a new apartment this month and I love it. I now live within walking distance of UCB, where I started an internship this month. Walking to work is awesome. I'm also within 3-4 miles of almost everything I need to go to, so I've been vaguely considering exploring other forms of transportation, like a bike. But I hate biking. I kind of want to learn how to skateboard -- I see people getting around town on boards all the time, and you don't have to lock them up outside, worry about them getting stolen, or ride in traffic, a few of my least favorite parts of biking.

Before I moved, I took all of my stuff and put it in the living room of my old apartment.

That's all the stuff I own, minus my bed, desk, and bookshelf. It just looks so funny to put all your shit in one place that I had to take a picture of it. As you can see, potential robbers, I have nothing worth stealing. Old clothes, plastic furniture, and a few sweet pairs of vegan shoes.

To avoid creepers, I won't post many pictures of my new place. It's a tiny studio, anyways. But here is one picture where you can see my bed/couch, my Elvis poster, and my Gaudi reproduction that I bought at the Gaudi museum in Clearwater, FL. Aren't my interior decorating skills killer?

My super awesome mom bought me a coffee maker! I love coffee.

That picture was taken in my old apartment -- my new apartment has a tiny match-lit oven.

Reusable filter! No buying paper filters! It's the best!

Last week I wanted pizza. That's pretty rare for me, as I've never really been a pizza person. I'm pretty proud of my pizza-like invention, though.

Half a tortilla covered with BBQ sauce, TVP, and arugula, microwaved for a minute. Sprinkled with Parm! vegan parmesan. Ta da! Yep, I'm lazy.

In completely different news, I'm also now on elance... trying to make more money. Has anyone else tried out internet freelancing on elance or another site?

Tomorrow -- and this is definitely going to happen, because I already wrote it -- I am going to write a little about my recent schedule and share some very exciting improv-related news!

Halloween Improv Party

2011-10-31T00:04:00.000-07:00

I'm moving tomorrow! I've been packing and cleaning like crazy and I need to get back to it but first I wanted to share my (excellent) Halloween costume with you all. I went to an improv party on Friday night -- what that means is that people get together and party, and then split up into groups of 6-8 and do 10 minute sets for each other. It's very fun and very nerdy. That also should help explain why so many weird things are going on in my pictures.

Can you tell what I am ?? I had several guesses, including a character in Fargo and the bird lady from Home Alone 2, but my costume was actually just Midwesterner in Winter.

Not too many opportunities to wear snowboots in LA!

Love this picture. Keep in mind, it was a costume party.

Battle! You can see that I'm getting hot and unzipped my coat...

And I finally had to take it all off because I was sweating SO intensely. But I made it at least an hour and a couple of improv sets with all that stuff on, including my gloves! :)

Have a Happy Halloween!

First Continental Drift Improv Show!

2011-10-20T02:11:00.000-07:00

Can you guess what I did this week? If you guessed improv, producing, working on set, and going to networking events, you would be right!

Monday? PA on set, Tweetup.

Tuesday and Wednesday, PA during the day, improv maniac by night.

Thursday I went to a couple of networking events and did various fascinating budget-related producing work.

On Friday I had my first show with my improv team, Continental Drift! If you're in LA, like us on Facebook and come to our next show. :)

We had a 30-minute slot, which is very long for an improv show, but it was fun and it never felt like it dragged. An amazing, supportive friend of mine came and took pictures. Thank you!

That pictures is of me being a very short person at a basketball tryout, BTW.

And this is me mediating a speed date in a very intimidating way. Because people will fall in LOVE at my speed-dating sessions, damn it!

Performing is so fun. I do wonder how serious my mental problems are that I feel such a need for lots of people to look at and pay attention to me.

On Saturday had the great fortune to see a screening of TREE OF LIFE, Terrence Malick's latest film. I have to write a whole review, but I want to write a very spoilery review. So I'll probably make it its own post and put warnings all over it, but I'm going to wait for my mom to see it. Consider this my ringing endorsement -- if you get a chance to see The Tree of Life, do it. It's amazing. And if you haven't seen any Malick films, please do. Set aside some time and really pay attention and just lose yourself in it. My favorite is The New World. Go. Now. Gooooo

This week has mostly consisted of going to improv shows and practices and working on the budget for the film. I actually pulled an all-nighter last night because I was on a ROLL, just doing math for eight straight hours. If math-phobic little kid me knew how much math I do now, she would be amaaaazed and horrified.

Today I had my first UCB 401 class from 3-6! Yeah guys, I'm a senior! I had practice with my group Badge Patrol at 8:30 nearby, so I just walked to Whole Foods and ate salad bar and read my Complete Film Production Handbook to kill time in between. Yes, I'm fascinating.

Dinner -- half of the salad bar offerings plus ratatouille from the hot bar. Five bucks. I would rather eat dinner at Whole Foods than any restaurant.

In an addendum to last week's NEWS -- I got the apartment I applied for! I'm moving at the end of the month. It's a very small studio, but it will be MINE ALL MINE! Look at my cute kitchen!

And this flower-covered sidewalk outside!

I'd love to show y'alls more but... safety, y'know. I will tell you that it's a German-style Fachwerk house, and it's cute and old-fashioned. I was born in a German apartment and I'm excited to live in one again!

POW POW! LIVE IT UP! BYAAH!!!

BTW I've been watching a lot of Breaking Bad and it is super good.

NEWS!

2011-10-11T21:20:00.000-07:00

Some sharp words from a friend of mine at the Tweetup last night convinced me to finally update my blog! I'm sorry I've been away. I've missed you. I've been so incredibly busy. The biggest reason is that I got a new job! I'm producing a movie that's in pre-production. That's about all I can say right now but I will say that it's very exciting and also a lot of work. Yayayayy for work!

I mentioned in my last post that my sister was born, but I didn't have any pictures. Here she is in her newborn glory:

She's actually kinda cute, huh?

There's baby brother on his 2nd birthday, my stepmom, and new baby sister.

I'm still doing lots of improv. I graduated 301. Here's my class before our graduation show:

I'm on the top left. We were supposedly posing like a winning baseball team with our teacher posing as our giant trophy, but it looks more like we took him hostage.

I'm starting 401 in a week! Can't wait! I'm also on four indie teams, so I'm doing improv almost every day. That's called obsession, folks.

MORE big news... I'm moving. Not out of LA! Don't get crazy! But I am moving apartments and I'm going to live by myself. I found a studio in Franklin Village that I like and I applied for, but I haven't heard yet whether I got it or not. Yarr the suspense! If anyone follows me on Twitter, you've seen how boring my tweets have been for the last couple weeks, as they have mostly revolved around how cranky apartment hunting makes me.

And on the health front, I've been feeling a bit sluggish lately. I haven't had time for long workouts and I've missed them. The minute I get a free day I am going on a long, long walk. And stretching. I've been squeezing in some weight lifting and a little cardio almost every day, but not what I need. It's so tough to exercise enough when you are working constantly and out of the house!

I've attended a few nice functions lately so I have some pictures for Fashion Friday. I've been a bit overwhelmed lately but I still luv you. SEE YOU THEN.

Link of the Day (Month?):

http://improvnonsense.tumblr.com/post/9550302595/better-conversations SUPER interesting post about how improv makes you a better conversationalist, and also makes you less tolerant of conversations with non-improvisers. Not just appealing to the improv obsessed, however, it's also just a great observation of some flaws in many people's communication styles. Want an example? The first point is called "PEOPLE TALK ABOUT WHAT THEY WANT AND DO NOT LISTEN." So true, right?

Birthday Birthday Birthday

2011-09-23T02:35:00.000-07:00

I went to Bloomington for my brother's 21st birthday last week, and I'm really glad I went. There was a bad part, though. He got in a motorcycle accident on the morning of his birthday and hurt his ankle, so he had to spend some time at the doctor and then use crutches. He's OK, and more concerned about his motorcycle than his own health. Thank God he always wears a helmet.

We went to an IU football game -- and IU won! Here's a picture of the tailgate:

I had a black bean burger and grilled onions. I ate grilled onions with a fork. Don't judge me.

Then we came home for dinner and presents. My mom made a vegan quiche!

I don't have the exact recipe, but she said she just searched for a quiche recipe using silken tofu, because that's all she had on hand. She used pre-made pie crust and sprinkled bread crumbs on top.

The bottom layer had TVP crumbles and vegan sausage, veggie layer had spinach and onions, and top layer had tofu mixture of silken tofu, Parm, sunflower seeds, and a little soy milk pureed in the blender. The recipe also called for some agave that we all agreed should be omitted next time. But it tasted great and I would definitely make this for company.

After dinner the birthday boy opened presents -- I got him the game Apples to Apples.

Mom made vegan chocolate cake! (Sorry this picture is messed up but I don't feel like figuring out how to fix it) Chocolate cake mix made with applesauce and Ener-G egg replacer and my mom made the frosting out of powdered sugar, Tofutti cream cheese, and Earth Balance. It was AMAZING.

And we went out drinking! I am holding a shot in this picture but I didn't actually drink it. I was the designated driver.

Lovely birthday that I'm glad I got to spend with my lovely brother.

Today I celebrated a whole NEW birthday -- my baby sister was born today! She doesn't have a name yet, but she's a baby and she's healthy. And my baby brother is turning two tomorrow. Happy birthday to all of my siblings!

Bye Bye, Bloomington :(

2011-09-20T00:16:00.000-07:00

I'm home! I had a great trip to Bloomington and I'll write more about it tomorrow and include pictures. To break it up I figured I'd just post about my travel food today.

Before I left, Mom and I had lunch at Bloomingfoods. I got a big salad with spinach, mixed greens, mushrooms, carrots, onions, tofu, crazy delicious slaw (on the left) and sun-dried tomato hummus (on the right). Tasty.

Mom packed me a bunch of food for the trip. What a sweetie she is!

Fresh CSA watermelon.

Brussels sprouts from Bloomingfoods. I missed these! Bloomingfoods makes the best brussels sprouts.

Magic tofu!

A big delicious salad. Greens, carrots, celery, cucumbers, and a Boca spicy chik patty.

And a cookie!

I haven't had a cookie in a long time, and there definitely is a good thing about keeping cookies special treats, as God intended -- I was so freaking excited about eating this cookie. And it was delicious.

And just so that this entire post doesn't only feature pictures of food, here's a picture of me wearing my friend's glasses!

I think I look cute in glasses but I don't need them. Oh darn.

In other news, fall TV is back! I watched the pilot episode of The New Girl. It was cute, and I'll see where it goes. Are there any shows you're excited to watch?

Indiana and the Owlery

2011-09-16T00:04:00.000-07:00

Lovely day in Bloomington today. But it was cold -- I had to wear three shirts! I walked to and around campus, went to my mom's class, and then a panel with the 9/11 Commission for the 10-year anniversary, where they talked about how America is different now and how many of their recommendations have been heeded. It was remarkable to see a bipartisan commission work together so well, and I only wish we had more of that type of bipartisanship in Washington.

Mom and I walked around downtown and Kirkwood and then to a new vegan restaurant in Bloomington called the Owlery. It was great! Can you believe that Bloomington has a vegan restaurant? They do offer the option of dairy cheese on some items, so they aren't 100% vegan, though all menu items are vegan by default.

I got the seitan skewers with a side of collard greens. It was delicious, with a great teriyaki flavor.

My step-dad enjoyed his "fried chicken," my mom really liked her dill tempeh, and my friend loved the pierogies. I tried a bite and I would definitely recommend them. We got plantains as an appetizer, and they were delicious. Prices are definitely cheaper than in LA, but the food was just as good. If you're in Bloomington, check out the Owlery! They make a great addition to Bloomington's other favorite vegan options, Roots on the square and the hot bar at Bloomingfoods.

After dinner we went and saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes! I haven't seen a movie in forever, so I was very excited. I really liked the movie, and it will definitely make you think twice about supporting animal testing. I would love to see video of Andy Serkis' performance pre-CGI transformation into Caesar the ape -- I find the idea of a human playing a primate character extremely fascinating.

I'm catching up on HBO (Entourage and Game of Thrones). It feels great to have cable!

Korean Food Adventures

2011-09-15T00:42:00.000-07:00

I have really wanted to blog this last week but I have been so insanely busy. I got a couple new jobs -- an acting job and a producing job -- that I can't really talk about yet, but they are occupying my time and brain.

Last week I went to a Korean grocery store in Koreatown. It was a fun cultural experience! I was the only white person in there and all of the signs were in Korean, with some English translations. I got fifty sheets of nori for cheap ($5 maybe?). So good on a salad --

and some other fun things:

Mushrooms

Seaweed and sesame seed sprinkles. Also so good on a salad:

And gojuchang, delicious chili paste.

I flew to Indiana today, and I made a stir-fry to bring with me in the airport.

Cabbage, spinach, potatoes, mushrooms, Braggs, rice wine vinegar, and gojuchang.

My seat-mate may not have been thrilled with my choice of airplane breakfast, but it served me just dandy.

Now I'm here visiting my family through the weekend -- it's my brother's 21st birthday!

My Book is on Amazon!!!!

2011-09-06T03:11:00.000-07:00

My book is on Amazon!!!

http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Travel-Erika-Europe-Heidewald/dp/1456581562/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315175611&sr=8-1

Here's the description:

A travelogue and how-to guide for the first-time European traveler.

Whether you're planning a trip or just dreaming, travel with Erika and experience Europe while you learn how to plan your own trip of a lifetime. You'll get to know small-town Germany, historic Rome, Gaelic-speaking Irish islands, and more while you learn how to set your itinerary, navigate the Eurail system, and get the most for your money everywhere you go. If you're a first-time traveler, there's no better way to feel truly prepared for your trip.

(By the way, this is not the description currently on Amazon... they're a little slow updating).

I wrote about my book a few months ago, but I've been working on it for years. I am so thrilled that it's finally available and out there in the world and I'm really proud of it.

If you're interested in European travel, I hope that you buy a copy and leave me a nice review!

Zippity Doo Dah

2011-09-02T00:41:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick rundown of what I've been doing. To sum it all up -- acting and improv and some socializing, too.

I do have some news -- I booked a movie! It's a low-budget comedy, and I have a fun, snarky role. Yaaayyyy =)

Wednesday: Skype with Mom, practice a scene with an actor friend, The Actors Network, Room 101 (indie improv show)

Thursday: Workshop, improv show

Friday: Table read for my new movie (yay!!!), standup open mic, a free dramatic improv show at the studio where I used to take acting classes, audition prep

Saturday: Two auditions, improv class, then a I went to a friend's show in Hollywood and afterwards my car would not start. Dead battery, couldn't even jump it, had to call roadside assistance through my USAA insurance. That one sucked.

Sunday: Taped a friend's audition, Hollywood Shorts Filmmaker Happy Hour, went to another friend's standup show (and I got onstage when they needed a volunteer for one segment!), then a Michael Jackson tribute concert at the W

Monday: Errands and UCB shows

Tuesday: I helped a friend move -- I had to get up at 8 AM! I am a great friend! Then in the evening was the LA Actors Tweetup.

Wednesday: Practice with my indie improv team, The Reacharounds (yep) and Room 101.

Thursday: Lots of errands, including getting a new car battery and chopping a lot of salad. I'm so responsible!

And now, some pictures from the LA Actors Tweetup to prove that I cannot take serious pictures. I probably should have put on some makeup and done my hair but it was really hot and I was busy and I tend to think I look pretty damn good so I wasn't too worried.

Getting very close to boobie-grabbing action. I understand the temptation.

Maybe I should go practice making normal faces.

I Listen to Too Many Podcasts

2011-08-24T02:55:00.000-07:00

On Monday I spent three hours making fruit salad and veggie salad while listening to podcasts! Someone asked me recently what my favorite podcasts are, and I have a very hard time choosing because I love so many. Some of my favorites are WTF w/ Marc Maron, Comedy Bang Bang, KCRW's The Business and The Treatment, Nerdist, The Pod F. Tompkast, Inside Acting, Doug Loves Movies, the UCBLA and NY podcasts, and The Dork Forest. I recently discovered The Anytime Show with Dominic Dierkes (who I have seen perform improv at UCB and is incredible), Film Courage, Making It with Riki Lindhome, Sound on Sight, The Tobolowsky Files, and Talking TV with Ryan and Ryan. Podcasts keep me company, entertain me, and inform me while driving, chopping, and other detestable daily activities.

My salad-making frenzy paid off handsomely. I made this big fruit salad:

Blueberries, strawberries, grapes, pineapple.

And salad salad:

Raw corn, raw zucchini, red onion, red pepper, steamed broccoli, fresh basil. I stored my greens separately and when making a meal I just make a bowl of spinach and arugula and put this melange on top.

So much salad. =) Two days later I've only finished off one bowl.

This is what all my lunches and dinners have looked like -- arugula, spinach, corn, zucchini, red pepper, onion, TJ's chickenless strips, bean and corn salsa, nutritional yeast, and onion flakes.

On Monday night I pulled a long evening at UCB -- I saw The Smokes at 7, followed by Harold Night at 8 and 9:30, and the Long Hard Improv Jam at 11. Then I went to Bird's next door for a drink with some new friends -- that means they drank and I talked.

On Tuesday I cleaned my room. That was weird, I was actually in the mood for it. I was blasting this song:

Weirdly enough I like the clean version better than the explicit one. This is the clean one. Doesn't he have a great voice? Lots of people are comparing him to Michael Jackson.

My friend came over in the afternoon and we worked on some scripts -- we're auditioning for a theater company and we're preparing a very intense scene.

Tuesday night I went to Tuesday Night Thunder, an indie improv show, and did the jam. I sure do love to jam.

Do you listen to podcasts? Do you like any of the same ones I do?

Theater, Film Festival, and Old Friends!

2011-08-22T00:04:00.000-07:00

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!

Organic Grill East NYC and One Crazy Old Guy

2011-08-18T18:09:00.000-07:00

After a week of sleeping 16 hours a day, I'm ALIVE! It's been a busy week. Let's see -- I've been to several improv shows this week, a film festival awards ceremony, a short film premiere, my first parking ticket citation hearing (totally not my fault, but it remains to be seen whether the city of West Hollywood agrees with me), and FIVE auditions. Yay!

My mom and stepdad are still in NYC. Mom raved about the brunch at the Organic Grill East in the East Village and wrote a short review! Here it is:

White bean and crimini casserole.

The "Indecisive Plate" featured two blueberry buckwheat pancakes, soy sausage or tempeh bacon, and a hearty veggie tofu scramble. We added a side of steamed dark greens. Our best meal so far in NYC - healthy, tasty, and filling. Cost under $30. Highly recommended!

Aaand I'm back. My food recently has been more boring but still delicious.

I surreptitiously ate this salad at Whole Foods yesterday (I brought it from home) after a meeting with my producer. Spinach, red peppers, onions, raw corn, TJ's chickenless strips, garbanzo beans, pineapple salsa, mustard, and muscat orange champagne vinegar. Delicious and kept me going all evening.

Brunch this morning was also on the go -- I had a morning audition and ate this afterwards. It's almost the same salad but it has arugula.

When I got home around 3 I had lunch/brunch part II - more salad, but this had arugula and spinach, corn and bean salsa, and dried onion flakes. That may sound weird but they're my new favorite crunchy salad topping. I also had some fruit salad but I didn't take a picture of it.

I saw a dialect coach at The Actors Network this afternoon and as I was walking to my car afterwards I saw an old guy speeding along amidst traffic on Fairfax on his motor scooter.

I sprinted after him to try and get a closer picture!

He was going super fast! Crazy. I hope he made it safely.

Tonight I have an amaaazing audition that I'm really looking forward to (second audition of the day!) and I have another audition tomorrow. So excited.

Aaaand I'm off like an old guy on a Rascal.

Quantum Leap NYC

2011-08-10T00:14:00.000-07:00

I'm still super sleepy so I gotta knock off this post before I pass out. Today I did manage to do several productive things, so I was super proud of myself. I worked out, made salad, wrote back a fan e-mail from a month ago, and paid my dentist bill. Oh hells yeah. I also really missed Phil Hartman today, kind of randomly. I'm not sure why he popped in my head.

I talked to my mom on the phone! She and my step-dad are in NYC teaching. She sent me a couple pictures from their trip to the vegan restaurant Quantum Leap, which she raved about.

My mom's quinoa veggie bowl:

And my stepdad with his macrobiotic plate:

I ate some pretty tasty fare today. Smoothie for breakfast had kale, romaine, strawberries, frozen blueberries, frozen mango, spirulina, and Sun Warrior protein.

Yeah, I'm using gum as a coaster.

Lunch was broccoli with Trader Joe's split pea soup and an unpictured small red potato with kale and nutritional yeast.

Dinner salad:

Spinach, fresh basil, red bell pepper, seaweed, pineapple salsa, dijon mustard, and onion flakes. Unpictured seitan on the side and almond milk for dessert.

Time to watch NewsRadio for about 37 seconds before I fall asleep.

Recommendation of the day:

http://www.avclub.com/features/random-roles/ An amazing interview series with character actors where they're asked about random roles throughout their careers. Is awesome.

Sleepytimes Bonanza

2011-08-09T01:40:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I had my second 301 improv class. I love going to class even though sometimes our scenes are total failures. To understand this next anecdote, all you need to know is that the basis of good improv is "yes, and." (Agree with and add to the premise) After one particularly crappy scene, our teacher said, "That was about 110% 'no' and 300% 'but.'" So it wasn't just exactly the opposite of what we were supposed to be doing, but the opposite times three. I personally found that hilarious instead of discouraging -- and that's what class is for!

I also had an audition on Saturday and then my friend had a party. Here's a couple pictures -

On Sunday I went to Crashbar (the indie improv show) with a few of my friends and then stuck around for a couple hours afterwards discussing politics and religion in the parking lot. I can't help myself... you get me started and shit gets serious.

Today I had Power Group at The Actors Network and went to UCB for a couple evening shows. And I ate a ton of salad like this:

I've been obsessed with this combination for the last couple days -- arugula, pineapple salsa, mustard, seaweed, and wasabi peas.

I don't usually talk about really personal stuff or lady issues on the blog, but I had a conversation with my friend that was just too funny not to share. I told my friend that I wasn't feeling well. When he asked why, I said, "Woman problems." I thought that was pretty well-established code for "I have cramps." Apparently my friend didn't realize that lady problems = period, so he said, "Woman problems? Like what, crabs?" As far as I know, crabs don't discriminate. And no, I do not have them. In related news, though, I'm taking provera this week and it is making me sleep like an ogre. Seriously I have about five hours of usable energy every day and I'm sleeping fifteen hours a night and napping. I can't wait to feel normal again! At least I have interesting dreams. Except in my dream a few nights ago, Patton Oswalt was mean to me and I don't know why!

An Apology Filming

2011-08-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

We filmed An Apology last weekend! We had a few little emergencies, like our zombies not showing up on Saturday, but everything worked out and I think the final project will be fantastic.

Our 2nd AD had to fill in as a zombie:

Our leading lady and me, before she got her makeup done:

The writer and me:

Behind the scenes:

Our leading man with his shotgun:

It was a lonnnng day. I woke up at 7:30, had to drive an hour to set and arrive by 9:30. I didn't leave until after midnight and then I had to give three people rides home! Totally worth it but still exhausting.

I brought a smoothie for breakfast with fruit salad leftovers and greens.

All of this...

... went into this...

And I had vegan chili for lunch. I love it when I get well taken care of on set. =)

On Monday I went on a multi-hour chopping spree and saw UCB shows in the evening. On Tuesday and Wednesday involved other random acting and living activities, like completely re-doing my website. On Thursday I interned for a commercial casting office from 9-6:30. Like a real workday!

Tomorrow I have an audition and improv class and now I'm off to do more website work!

Fashion Friday: Seventies Swingin'

2011-07-29T01:04:00.000-07:00

I love this vintage shirt I bought in Lawrence. Mom said she owned shirts just like it in the seventies. It's versatile, lightweight, and has a cute cut.

With my new, flare-leg jeans.

Shirt: Vintage

Jeans: TJ Maxx

Shoes: Nike

Watch: Target

It's no secret that I adore seventies fashion so I am a bit obsessed with this shirt right now!

I wore this outfit to an audition on Tuesday. It was on the USC campus, and I saw that they now have a "healthy" vending machine:

There's Clif bars, Odwalla bars, rice cakes, etc. Not as healthy as fresh fruits and veggies but definitely better than standard vending machine fare.

On Wednesday I went to Room 101, an indie improv show. I got to meet some people I've been seeing around, so that was good.

Thursday I spent all day running around getting props and costumes for An Apology -- our production designer quit this week and we're filming this weekend so we all had to pitch in and collaborate! I bought prop guns, went to a lumber store to get plywood that didn't fit in my car and had to be recut to fit my trunk, rifled through Goodwill... At 7 I went to see Hamlet at Griffith Park for free! It was really enjoyable. I'm going back on Saturday to see the Merry Wives of Windsor.

Our view

Creepy picture of my friends

The audience. It takes place in the Old Zoo -- you can see the zoo remnants in the distance. It's really a cool atmosphere.

Food-wise, I've been eating up my fruit and veggie salads and now they're both gone! I need to go back to the store and get my chop going.

Tomorrow I'm checking out LA Navy Week!

Salad Chop-a-ganza

2011-07-26T00:46:00.000-07:00

I'm back in LA. I flew back on Saturday and luckily it was pretty uneventful. I did make an 11-year-old friend on my first flight. And I packed myself two identical salads, one for lunch and one for dinner:

Salad leftovers topped with torn-up Field Roast deli slices and Parm!

On Sunday I went to the farmers' market and Trader Joe's and got a huge amount of fresh fruits and veggies. Then Mom and I skyped for three hours while chopping! It does take some time to make big salads but now I should have enough salad to tide me over for a while.

Here's my loot -- red peppers, zucchini, grapes, an apple, cherry tomatoes, pluots (plum/apricots) broccoli, kale, a cantaloupe, almond milk, strawberries, mixed greens, fresh mint and basil, onions, corn, a pineapple, a grapefruit, TJ's chickenless strips, veggie ground beef, and wasabi peas (to spice up salads). I spent about $25 in each place.

My first fruit salad of the week - strawberries, cantaloupe, grapes, and pluots.

Yummm.

I made this salad for my dinner:

There's all the veggies I bought -- mixed greens, onions, kale, tomatoes, red pepper, mint, basil, and zucchini. On top I added a few TJ's Chickenless strips, some veggie ground "beef," edamame, and a few wasabi peas to add intrigue. Topped off with a little fat-free balsamic vinegar, this salad was delicious and fueled me for a night of birthday partying. It was my friend's birthday and I planned him a little party at his house. He finally got to try beer pong for the first time:

I wore my new skirt!

$6. Te amo, Plato's Closet. Target t-shirt and Vera Wang for Kohl's (vegan) sandals. And that lovely lady next to me in this picture is a vegan (and an actress), too!

And I will leave you with an adorable picture of my dad and baby brother, both of whom I will miss. One of baby brother's favorite things to say now is, "I love water!"

Unbroken

2011-07-24T00:14:00.000-07:00

On Thursday I woke up really early to eat breakfast with my mom before they left. I was sad saying goodbye so I already set up a Skype date with my mom for Sunday.

At 7:30 AM it wasn't oppressively hot yet, so my step-mom and I took baby brother to the park.

We stayed for about an hour until it got really hot. When baby brother decided he wanted to leave, he just started packing up his toys! So mature and responsible! :)

My lunch and dinner looked like this:

Salad leftovers! My sweet mom packed me enough portioned-out salads to get me through my last couple of days in Kansas and my flight home. I also had an Amy's burger at lunch and some Chinese broccoli at dinner.

On Friday I had salad again for lunch and then we (my dad, step-mom, and I) went back to Yard House for dinner! I got the exact same thing as Monday. We wasted a little time before our movie and stopped into Gap, where I made my dad take a picture of me with this shirt:

Cute!

We saw Captain America. I really liked it! Chris Evans was great -- I've been a fan of his since Not Another Teen Movie. I also love movies set in the 40's, and action movies in general.

But now I want to tell you about one of the most important parts of my week.

UNBROKEN. Yes, it's the large print version, whatever.

This book, written by the author of Seabiscuit, is the true story of Louie Zamperini, an Olympic sprinter who survived on a tiny raft in the ocean for 47 days and then through years as a POW in Japan. It's an intense book, but it isn't all negative. Louie is still alive at 94, and the book was written through intense research and years of interviews with him. He has an incredible memory and he remembers every tiny good thing someone did for him. The book is full of how terrible people can be, but also how brave and kind. I'm glad that their stories are being told.

I actually cried a little bit telling my step-mom about the book today. That would make this only the second time I've cried while discussing literature -- the first time was sophomore year of high school when I was telling my mom the story of The Iliad. I still remember that because I felt so lame but was also impressed that The Iliad still has such emotional power after thousands of years.

Has anyone read this book? What did you think?

Family, Food, and Kansas City Nostalgia

2011-07-23T00:47:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment, with a blood test I had to fast for. So I was hungry afterwards! I went to HuHot Mongolian Grill with my mom and step-dad. My stir-fry had tons of veggies, some tofu, and ginger broth with a little sweet and sour sauce. I went back for more spinach and bamboo shoots. I love bamboo!

In the evening we went to downtown Lawrence, even though it was HOT outside. We went to the Wild Man vintage store to peruse and my mom gasped audibly when she found a shirt from her old elementary school that was demolished in the eighties. Clearly we bought it, and I am going to wear it.

We met up with my dad, etc. at Chipotle. I got a burrito bowl. I always get the same thing -- I say, "Vegetarian burrito bowl with a tiny bit of rice, black beans, fajita veggies, pico de gallo, some corn salsa, a tiny bit of guacamole, and as much lettuce as you'll give me."

And I got to sit next to the cutest dining partner.

My brothers held hands outside. So cute.

On Wednesday we went for a little tour of my mom's old life growing up in Kansas City, which included taking pictures of ourselves in front of a few houses where she used to live. My step-dad was totally embarrassed!

For lunch we actually went back to Chipotle, and I ordered the exact same thing. It's an easy place to go because we all know we'll like it.

In the afternoon we met up with my cousins at the Oak Park Mall.

Family photo! My cousin, my mom, my brother, my other cousin, me, and my cousin's baby.

We came home and Mom and I made a huuuge salad. Fresh greens, parsley, basil, zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes, onions, and lightly steamed kale, broccoli, and asparagus. All topped with a Boca Chik Patty!

We finished up the evening with me forcing everyone to watch my short films! Mwahahaha.

Yard House and Family Dinner

2011-07-21T22:57:00.000-07:00

It's been a lovely week with my family! My mom, step-dad, and brother went home today and I'll be going home on Saturday.

On Monday we went shopping at an outlet mall and had lunch at a chain restaurant called Yard House. They have a gigantic beer selection and surprisingly, an entire vegetarian menu featuring Gardein products! I got the BBQ Chicken Salad with no cheese and vinaigrette on the side, instead of the dressing it came with. I didn't want to make too many changes so I just picked off the fried onions and tortilla strips.

It was really delicious and flavorful, and I didn't even really need the dressing. It had romaine, corn, black beans, tomatoes, avocado, red pepper, carrots, Gardein "chicken" strips, and the fried onions and tortilla strips I picked out.

Mixed together:

Great lunch! It's always nice to find a chain in the Midwest that has nice vegan options.

We did some awesome outlet shopping, so I'm going to have great Fashion Friday posts coming up! But not this week, because I haven't been taking any outfit photos.

We invited my step-grandma over for dinner to celebrate her birthday. She became my mom's step-mom when my mom was in her twenties but she is the closest thing I have to a grandma. She just happens to live in the same town as my dad so we get to see her most of the times that we visit my dad. I think it's cool that my mom's step-mom hangs out with my dad and my step-mom, and she really loves my baby brother. My family tree is wayyy too confusing to draw.

Here she is blowing out the candle on her birthday cake:

The only candle we had was from baby brother's last birthday - a 1!

Dinner was veggie burgers, fruit salad, and corn on the cob. We had Amy's Quarter Pounders and everything was delicious.

And vegan carrot cake from the Merc for dessert! The Merc is a co-op grocery store in Lawrence. They usually only sell slices of cake, but my mom went in and asked if she could buy a whole one, so they defrosted one for us. It's the same cake I had on my last birthday, and it is delicious.

My step-dad was making my baby brother totally crack up!

Isn't he adorable?

Funeral and Flying

2011-07-18T00:08:00.000-07:00

We had to wake up at 5:30 on Saturday (3:30 Pacific time!!) to fly in my dad's plane up to Aurora, Illinois for my great-aunt's funeral. She was a nun, so it was super Catholic.

Funerals are serious.

But honestly, I never met my great-aunt and knew almost nothing about her, so I mostly just felt bad for my grandpa losing his sister.

My brother flew us back -- he got his pilot's license last year (at age 19!). I'm so proud of him. My dad got his pilot's license when he was in the Army so my brother has always wanted to get his, too.

The flight was beautiful, and my brother did a great job!

Today we mostly just hung out on the porch or inside, escaping the over-100 degree temperatures. We watched baby brother play in his pool and watched Wall Street 2. And I got to work out. I haven't recorded my workouts in a few weeks because I got so busy. I've still been working out, just not quite as much. I've made sure to lift weights and at least squeeze in 20-30 minutes of cardio.

Food Diary:

Breakfast: 1/2 cup cereal with 1 cup almond milk and 1 cup fruit salad

Lunch: 1 cup black bean and raw corn salad, 4 radishes

Snack: Fresh cherries

Dinner: Salad with greens, kale, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, onions, chives, nooch, fat free Balsamic dressing, and Tofurky sausage

I added Tofurky brat slices after I took this picture.

Workout:

30 minutes elliptical

Weights/strength: biceps, triceps, deltoids, abs, obliques

10 minutes dance

stretching

25 minute walk

I hope you had a good weekend and that you aren't melting from the heat!

BTW, one really annoying thing that happened today is that my Twitter account got hacked. If any of you follow me on Twitter and got a DM from me, first of all, don't click on it. And secondly, I'm sorry! I hate hate hate spamming people and it really bothered me. I tried to write back to everyone that I DMed but Twitter wasn't showing me all of them. I changed my password so hopefully that won't happen again. What a bummer.

I'm Going off to Kansas... to Kansas... to Kansas...

2011-07-16T22:39:00.000-07:00

I'm in Kansas!

It's been a busy week. On Tuesday I did more work on re-editing my demo reel and I went to two improv shows. On Wednesday I went to the beach again -- I went a few weeks ago and went back to watch more surfing. I love the ocean.

Then I went to a few UCB shows that night. On Thursday I went to a couple events at The Actors' Network and then the CAPE summer mixer in the evening -- that's the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (I think). People kept asking me all night where I'm from, by which they really meant, "Are you Asian?" I did have some people tell me I look like I could be part Asian, and that I look exotic. Sounds good to me!

On Friday I had to wake up early (blah!) to fly to Kansas. I packed my leftovers for the plane, with a big bunch of steamed broccoli and my leftover "cheesy" rice.

I also ate a grapefruit on my flight, much to the chagrin of the dude sitting next to me. Sorry!

I'm here to visit my dad all week, and my mom, stepdad, and brother drove out from Indiana. We met up in Kansas City but first my dad, stepmom, and me had some time to kill so we walked around the Plaza. It is HOT here -- over 100 degrees, and in the nineties even after dark. Crazy. We stepped into the Barnes and Noble to cool down and saw these books:

As my dad said, "Math doesn't suck... but I do." These books just cracked me up because the covers look so cheap, like a cheesy porno. Of course pretty girls can be good at math but I still find these covers a tad strange and definitely funny.

After we tore our eyes away from sexy math books, we went to a free Gavin DeGraw concert! His voice is incredible, and he sounds exactly the same live as he does on his CDs.

I was going to write about what we did today, but this post is getting long. I'll share my pretty pictures tomorrow. :)

ORANGE shirt!

2011-07-12T01:27:00.000-07:00

I got a callback for that commercial audition last Thursday! I did it this morning, and it went fine. We pretty much did the same thing as the first audition, but for a bigger audience.

On Friday I ran callbacks but as I was parallel parking my tire grazed the curb and I heard this "SHHHHHHH" sound. I said DEAR GOD tell me that isn't what I thought it was. But it was.

I'm pointing at the large hole in my tire. =( Luckily a couple people helped me change my tire and then I had to get a new one the next day.

Other weekend activities -- we had a cookout at our house on Saturday night, I went to a UCB sketch show at midnight, and then two more shows last night. And three tonight...

In other news, I bought a new shirt! It was on clearance at Target for $4.90. YES. I love it and it is bright orange and I love it.

Jeggings. They sound ridiculous but they are so convenient!

This is my bronze goddess look. HAHA. I'm kidding, that's just the kind of thing you read in magazines.

I love orange. It's such a fun summery color!

Classy Carrot Cake Rice Pudding

2011-07-08T02:27:00.000-07:00

I made rice pudding! That is some classy shit, is it not?

I bought this rice mix from the Whole Foods bulk bin that had brown rice, wild rice... fun stuff.

This... to this.

Classy Carrot Cake Rice Pudding

2 cups rice

5 apples

5 carrots

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

I cooked it normal styles with twice the amount of water, brought to a boil, simmered for about 40 minutes. Chopped apples and carrots, cooked with the rice. Then I processed it all in the food processor! Happy times!

Still looks like rice at this point.

Mixy mixy.

Boom. I sprinkled some oats on top because it looked terrible as just a big brown glop. But this stuff is crazy delicious, I promise. And I love the wild rice -- because it's chopped up in the food processor, it gives it a great texture akin to walnut crumbles. I also just love wild rice.

I didn't sweeten the whole recipe so I could just sweeten each serving at will and save stevia.

Added almond milk. SO good.

Later on I tried it with almond milk and a little Sunwarrior vanilla protein powder -- this was so good! You should totally make this recipe, because it's really easy, extremely variable, and extremely tasty.

My day was good. I Skyped with my mom in the morning and then spent most of my day running auditions for An Apology. It was sweaty work, on my feet all day in an un-airconditioned building. It was at least 90 degrees today, but I had fun despite what a hot day it was. I did sneak out to go to my commercial audition, which was just silly fun. They auditioned us in groups and we didn't have any lines so it was mostly about the look and not too much about talent. Then I ran back to finish the auditions for An Apology and we had our post-audition meeting to plan for callbacks tomorrow. It sure is incredible working on the other side. And I had one girl who was super bitchy to me while I was running the auditions. I told the producer and director about it and she is NOT getting a callback. You can't be a bitch to anyone in this business! It's friendly happy times all the time! Yippee!

Tonight I went to a UCB show, and it was awesome. Big surprise there. Tomorrow I am running callbacks for An Apology. Have a good start to your weekend!

Carrot Tabbouleh

2011-07-07T01:31:00.000-07:00

I was invited to another potluck last weekend -- my third in two weeks. Either my culinary reputation is stellar, or my friends are lazy. I brought quinoa salad to the last two potlucks so I mixed it up and made tabbouleh this time! It's not very traditional tabbouleh, as that would have more parsley and would use tomatoes, but I used carrots instead because I had a bunch of them. I also just ended up with more bulgur than parsley so I just went with it.

Simple Tabbouleh with Carrots

1 cup bulgur

1 bunch parsley

3 carrots

1 tbsp lemon juice

Cook bulgur like rice - twice as much water as bulgur, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes or so until soft. Pull parsley off the stems and either chop finely with a knife or in a food processor - I used my processor for the parsley and carrots and it was so easy! Mix all ingredients together. Season as you wish, but feel free to keep it simple because parsley is so tasty.

Ta da!

I did some more cooking today! I'm surprised because I got so sick of cooking but then I've actually been making some stuff this week. I bought a couple rice mixes from the bulk section of Whole Foods yesterday. One of them I made into an amazing rice pudding, and I'll share the recipe tomorrow. I also made this rice and lentil mix. It had multiple types of interesting rice - brown, red, and wild?, as well as lentils.

Boiled with twice the amount of water, simmered for 40 minutes.

Seasoned with Braggs, ketchup, mustard, liquid smoke, miso, and nutritional yeast. Freaking delicious.

So tasty, reminded me of cheesy rice. I'll mix this with broccoli, too.

I've been going to a lot of indie improv shows -- there are three of them affiliated with LA, and they have an improv jam at the end that anyone can take part in. I went to one on Sunday, one last night, and one today. I had to leave early last night so I could go meet with my demo reel editor and edit (yay!). But today I stayed for the whole thing -- even though very few people stayed for the jam. In fact, there was only one person in the audience -- my roommate! =) It was still really fun, though, and I love getting that practice with really good improvisers. It's exciting.

Tomorrow I'm running auditions for the short film I'm line producing and I have my first commercial audition for a big company! It's exciting because if I booked a commercial like that I could make some nice money. But most people go on tons of commercial auditions before they book anything, so I'm just expecting to garner some good experience.

See you tomorrow for a kick-ass recipe!

I Made Seitan!

2011-07-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

I made seitan! I've made BBQ Seitan Ribz with my mom before but I hadn't ever just made seitan. It's so easy, I don't know why it took me so long. I based my recipe off of this log seitan recipe from Hungry Hungry Hippie: http://www.hungryhungryhippie.com/log-seitan/

I didn't measure things very specifically, and I wanted to make a small amount at first to try it out. So my first batch was like this:

Mix together dry ingredients -

1 cup vital wheat gluten (I used Bob's Red Mill)

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp seasoned salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion flakes

Mix with a little less than one cup water and two tablespoons Braggs

I mixed it all together and formed it like a log and rolled it up in tin foil, baked for 90 minutes at 325.

It was really easy and tasted delicious! I like my seitan juicy yet tough, and this was perfect. I sliced it up and stir-fried it with broccoli, carrots, spinach, garlic, ginger, and rice wine vinegar. Yummm.

It turned out so well that I made another, larger batch, and this time I added some fennel seeds, a couple finely chopped carrots, and a little bit of ketchup, like a seitan/meatloaf hybrid.

I ate some for breakfast this morning with tabbouleh -- I'll share that recipe tomorrow.

The rest of my weekend not spent making seitan was also good. I had my improv 201 graduation show, and it went great! It was fun and several of my friends showed up, which was super nice of them. I was bummed that I forgot to take any pictures. Darn. I also went to Crashbar (an indie improv show associated with UCB) on Sunday and got to jam with some really good improvisers. It was really exciting. =)

And you know how I got a new computer? I bought a keyboard protector off of Amazon. With shipping included it cost me less than $3.

Stylin'!

Have you ever made seitan? Do you have a favorite recipe? If you haven't, and you enjoy seitan, you should try making it! It was super easy. And you can trust my word on that, because I have gotten really lazy about cooking.

Bored of Food; New Line Producer Gig

2011-06-30T00:21:00.000-07:00

It's weird, but I've been bored of food lately. Does that ever happen to you? It's not like I'm just bored of the food I usually eat, because I tried to think of what I really would want to eat -- anything -- and couldn't really think of anything. I went to Trader Joe's today with the full intention of grocery shopping and only walked out of there with a box of Dr. Praeger's veggie burgers. I looked at things I had thought about buying - hummus, edamame, salsa, sweet potatoes... and just didn't feel like it. Oh well, I'm sure a day full of veggie burgers and grapefruit (that's all I have right now, seriously) tomorrow will inspire me to go back to the grocery store and stock up.

Yesterday's workout:

50 minutes bike

Weights/strength: hamstrings, chest, back

Today's workout:

40 minute walk

10 minutes dance

10 minutes bike

Weights/strength: squats, glutes, quads

Today's food:

1. 2 steamed sweet potatoes

2. Dr. Praeger's veggie burger

3. Broccoli and chickpeas w/ BBQ sauce and nutritional yeast

4. Another veggie burger

5. Miso soup (made with my Miso Easy), 1 sheet nori

6. Chocolate almond milk

I only have two days of my improv 201 classes left! Boohooooo! At least I will have plenty to keep me occupied in the next month -- I'm working as a line producer on the short zombie film An Apology. We have a Facebook page! This is the bio I wrote for myself:

MEET OUR LINE PRODUCER: When not working below the line, Erika Heidewald is an actress. Her feature film debut, Bloomington, is now on Netflix. And she has a fight scene, so you definitely want to watch it. Erika's hobbies include watching improv shows at UCB, learning languages, and filling the world with sunshine.

Writing bios for yourself is always weird.

By the way, I've been invited to a potluck on Friday. I've been to two potlucks in the last couple weeks and brought quinoa salad to both. Do you have any ideas for an easy vegan recipe I can make for this potluck? Please? Thanks! =)

R.I.P. Computer :(

2011-06-27T01:47:00.000-07:00

I have a super good reason for not posting for the last several days -- my computer died! =( It's very sad. But good news... I got a new one. So I'm back. But of course I didn't back up my shit so I have to figure out how to get the stuff off of my hard drive, which luckily was not affected (the logic board had problems, whatever that means).

I had a ridiculous week. Great, but busy. This week I had my intensive improv 201 classes, five auditions, went to a bunch of improv shows, a few networking events, a cold reading class, worked on my demo reel, and work for my sales rep job. I did manage to lift weights and walk a little every day but my cardio definitely suffered. I just could not find the time. I finally got some time today to have a nice workout, though!

Exercise:

45 minutes bike

20 minutes dance

Weights/strength: inner/outer thighs, squats, abs

stretching

foam rolling

Food Diary:

1. Dr. Praeger's veggie burger

2. Quinoa salad with spinach

3. Seitan

4. Edamame

5. Sweet potato, broccoli bowl

6. Chocolate almond milk

I hope you all had a good weekend, and I wish you plenty of time for your cardio. =) And take good care of your computers.

Quinoa Salad and My Busy Life

2011-06-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

On Friday night a (vegan) friend of mine hosted a potluck with about ten friends. I wanted to bring something tasty but also healthy that I would want to eat if I got stuck with leftovers, so I made a big quinoa salad! And then I kept a lot of it for me. =)

I just cooked up some quinoa and added a can of chickpeas, a red onion, a few carrots, a few cucumbers, and a miso seasoning. I used this cool stuff I found at Gelsons the other day:

It makes instant miso soup but also works great as a sauce. I also added spicy mustard and rice wine vinegar.

I ate quinoa salad leftovers on lettuce and spinach for the next couple days. Yum.

On Monday I started my improv 201 classes! I'm loving them already. My day was jam-packed and I was out of the house from 10 AM to 11:30 PM. I brought an apple, a grapefruit, and some edamame to eat throughout the day. After my improv class I went over to an actor friend's house where we've started a little cold reading class of our own just for practice. I went to Whole Foods for dinner and got some salad bar stuff:

That's a grilled peach, some kale, and broccoli. There are random couscous and tabbouli things under there.

Then I went to The Actors Network to see Donal Logue speak -- I loved Terriers and he had a great perspective on acting. Then I went to UCB for the 9:30 show. So maybe you can see why I haven't been great about blogging this week!

Yesterday I had improv class again. Parking is always really difficult but I impressed the heck out of myself by fitting into a small parallel parking space. I'm terrible at parallel parking and spacial reasoning in general so I was really proud of myself. So proud that I took a picture.

Wednesday is our day off from improv class but I have a bunch of other stuff to do, including going to The Actors Network to see Glenn Morshauer -- he's the actor who played Aaron on 24. Cool!

Beach Day and Nature Exploring

2011-06-18T01:37:00.000-07:00

I went to the beach today, and it was just what I needed in life. I don't go to the beach often, as I don't really like any of the normal beach activities such as laying out. But I have a friend from my improv class who's a surfer, and he said I could come watch them surfing today. Obviously there's not a lot of surfing in Indiana, so I found it interesting.

Surfers in their natural habitat.

Then I put on my nature geek hat and went exploring. I spent about two hours crawling through rocks and taking pictures of the animals that live in them. It was so much fun! And probably everyone else thought I was crazy. So my afternoon looked like this:

Even though I was by the ocean it did remind me a little of going to McCormick's Creek State Park in Indiana.

I found a ton of bugs that looked like this! They seemed like crustacean bugs and I took a bunch of pictures of them but this is the best one.

I thought they were cool. They were also very social and they like to spend time together.

I found a lizard! Or a gecko!

And a weird turtle/crab thing!

And a red crab!

And a bird.

I was definitely the only weirdo I saw scrambling around taking pictures of bugs and crabs but I had a great time. I really miss nature when I'm not around it enough.

I hope you're having a good weekend and that you get yourself into nature, too. :)

Time Management FTW

2011-06-15T03:17:00.000-07:00

I'm so proud of the way I used my time today. I fit in a lot!

First of all, I woke up with perfectly feathered bangs. I didn't keep them that way, but it's almost a shame because I'm sure girls really tried for this a few decades ago.

Awesome!

This morning I did laundry, which really takes a while, so I feel accomplished when I do it. I also vaccuumed my whole apartment! Yay, good for me!

I went to Target to pick up some essentials. Then I headed to SAG for a screening of True Blood and an interview with Sam Trammel, who plays Sam Merlotte on the show. It was really interesting and it's always cool to hear from working actors.

I went grocery shopping (at TJ's and the normal store) to kill time before my reservation at the 11:00 show at UCB. It was a great show! So in one day I did plenty of exercise, cleaned, did laundry, did actor administrative work, ran multiple errands, went to a SAG event, and went to an improv show. Kaboom.

Food Diary:

1. Green smoothie - SO GREEN. 2 cups kale, 3 cups spinach, 1 banana, 1 scoop Sun Warrior, 1/4 cup frozen blackberries

2. Corn chowder with broccoli and broccoli slaw

3. 1 grapefruit

4. 2 servings edamame

5. 2 servings TJ's beefless strips

6. chocolate almond milk

Meals 3, 4, and 5 were eaten out of the house.

Exercise:

Weights/strength: triceps, deltoids, hamstrings, obliques, glutes, abs

30 minutes bike

I wanted to take a picture of my pretty dress today, but I had all of my clothes drying in the way.

So let's just take my word for it that I looked pretty.

Now I'm tired. Goodnight!

Moda Industria and Co-Op 28

2011-06-14T02:16:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I had a great audition and on Sunday I spent all day on set, working as a 2nd AD (Assistant Director). Today I went to Power Group at The Actors Network and then spent all evening (five hours) at the Upright Citizens Brigade watching and doing a little participating in improv - the last show I went to was the monthly "jam." As I was signing up I was thinking, "Eek, what am I doing!?" But I do love to challenge myself!

Because I was so busy this past few days I didn't get to do as long of workouts as I wanted but I fit in what I could.

Saturday:
40 minutes bike

20 minutes dance

Weights/strength: chest, upper back, triceps
stretching

Sunday:

20 minutes bike

Monday:

20 minutes bike

Weights/strength: biceps

I do have a little announcement -- I am now the LA sales rep for Moda Industria! I reviewed one of their bags a few months ago. This is the website - www.modaindustria.com. They are all made in Bloomington, Indiana, by people I know (my best friend is one of the people who actually makes them, but he's not the designer), and a lot of the bag designs are vegan. If you want to support a small company that embraces vegan fashion (and you should!), then check them out!

Moda Industria is being carried at Co-Op 28, a new boutique in Silverlake. They had their grand opening party on Friday night so I stopped by to check it out and introduce myself.

Here's the storefront:

And inside the store.

The Moda Industria collection:

Some more of our bags.

And some Moda Industria metal signs.

Sweet, right? Now I have to start approaching boutiques around LA to convince them to carry the line. Let's do this. Vegan handbags FTW!

Hope you had a good weekend!

Fashion Friday: Camel Keds

2011-06-10T03:04:00.000-07:00

My legs are STILL sore. Still sore. They're better than yesterday and the day before, but I still feel it.

Yesterday I went to orientation at SAG in the afternoon. I wore my yellow Target dress with my new purple Habitat for Humanity t-shirt (thanks, Mom!) and my leopard-print Target sweater I've had forever that I put on when I got cold. It's only been in the 70's here so it does get chilly at night! By the way, I put my hair in braids and pinned them on top of my head. That's why my head looks lumpy. It looked cute in person.

I love yellow and purple, it's such an unexpected color combination.

I wore my gold camel-print Keds. Love these shoes.

Today I went to the Actors Network and tonight some friends came over and we watched Bloomington. It wasn't even my idea - my friends wanted to watch it. They are awesome. =)

Yesterday's workout -

10 minute walk

10 minutes bike

10 minutes dance

stretching

light foam rolling (so sore!)

Today's workout -

30 minutes bike

stretching

Food Diary:

1. Broccoli slaw, broccoli, cauliflower, nutritional yeast, seasoned salt

2. TJ's beefless strips

3. Edamame

4. Pumpkin with Sun Warrior protein powder

5. More broccoli, etc.

6. Chocolate almond milk

Have a great weekend! Get a long workout in! I know I will. =)

Owwie Legs

2011-06-08T02:40:00.000-07:00

Holy crap I am so sore today. I'm guessing it must have been the cheerleading jumps but seriously, my legs are not working right today. Even just attempting to sit on the toilet caused me to shout in pain (in a public restroom, no less. I am not responsible for other people's perceptions!)

Tonight I went to the LA Actors' Tweetup - I went through the professional photos and found one of me. I'm talking, what a surprise.

After that I went to a show at UCB. Once again, I'm full of surprises today.

I got something cool in the mail today --

My Bloomington DVD! Awesome picture, I know. But if you want to watch it, it's now available for rental on Netflix! A friend from college wrote on my Facebook wall today that she went to her local video store in Costa Rica, where she's in the Peace Corps, and found Bloomington on the shelf! Isn't that incredible!?

I watched Step Up 3 today while working out -- it's great workout inspiration! Everyone is in great shape and the dance scenes are wicked awesome.

Exercise:

Weights/strength: biceps, obliques

55 minutes bike

stretching

much-needed foam rolling

Food Diary:

1. Corn chowder with broccoli

2. Green smoothie

3. Edamame

4. Dr. Praeger's veggie burger

5. Corn chowder

6. Chocolate almond milk

I hope my legs feel more normal tomorrow!

Improv Class Graduation

2011-06-07T01:30:00.000-07:00

My audition and improv show both went great on Sunday. I meant to write a recap that night but my internet wouldn't work. I also meant to take pictures and I totally forgot. =(

I loved my improv show. It wasn't perfect, of course, but it was fun and I was happy with my work and I think I used what I learned over the last couple weeks. I can't wait for 201 to start on the 20th! I also thought it was pretty cool that I had my show and then the next show on the same stage featured Tim Meadows (of SNL, The Ladies Man, etc).

Today I enjoyed a nice long workout and a good foam rolling session. I cleaned my apartment a little and Skyped with my mom then headed back to UCB tonight to see a few shows!

Sunday exercise:

Weights/strength: upper back, chest

Exercise:

Weights/strength: inner/outer thighs, triceps, deltoids

20 minutes dance

35 minutes bike

Today's food:

1. Spinach and lima beans with BBQ sauce (I took a picture of this but it looked terrible so I'm not sharing it)

2. Green smoothie with kale, banana, strawberries, and Sun Warrior

3. Corn chowder with broccoli

4. 1 serving TJ's Beefless Strips

5. Finish up spinach and lima beans

6. Chocolate almond milk

I was so excited today because I tried doing some cheerleading jumps for the first time in... jeez... five years? And I think I'm better at them now than I was when I was a cheerleader! I don't have any pictures of myself as a cheerleader on my computer right now so here's a picture of me in a cheerleading uniform playing pinball.

That's my game face.

Foam Rolling!

2011-06-05T00:11:00.000-07:00

I bought a foam roller!

It's bigger than I thought it would be.

That's my shoe for reference. No, it's not a tiny shoe next to a regular-sized foam stick. It is a normal-sized shoe next to a huge foam stick.

I started foam rolling today. Here's an article with an overview of some ways to roll: http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=475832

I was focusing on that hamstring/butt muscle I pulled last month and wow, some weird things are going on in there. I don't know what exactly, but it is crunchy and painful and gross.

My last few days have been great! Thursday was so busy I actually did not fit in a workout. =( Oh well, ya gotta have rest days. I had improv class, then an audition, and then went to a couple shows at UCB in the evening - How to Live with Chelsea Peretti, with Sarah Silverman as a special guest, and an improv show. Both shows were hilarious! I am so obsessed with UCB now.

On Friday I had my last day of class and then went to Abbot Kinney First Fridays in Venice last night. It's this big outside festival where stores stay open late, a bunch of food trucks populate the street, and hippies are everywhere! I actually saw four celebrities, making that seven celebrities I've seen in two days. Hahah. I'm always mystified by people who live in LA and say they've never seen anyone famous. I see them all the time! But I don't like saying who I saw because then I feel like I'm invading their privacy by posting about where they go. But I will say that UCB is a great place to see comedians - that should be obvious.

Today I finally got time to do a long workout and do a lot of actor admin work. You know, the fun stuff.

Exercise:

Thursday:

Rest day

Friday:

Weights/strength: triceps, biceps, overhead press

20 minutes dance

20 minutes bike

Saturday:

Weights/strength: hamstrings, quads, obliques, abs

60 minutes bike

10 minutes shadowboxing

Food Today...

1. Corn chowder

2. Big bowl of broccoli slaw w/ nooch

3. Pumpkin pudding with Sun Warrior protein powder

4. Corn chowder with broccoli slaw and cauliflower

5. 1 serving edamame

6. Chocolate almond milk

Small meals rock because you get to eat frequently! :)

Tomorrow (Sunday) is a BIG day - I have a cool audition in the morning and then I have my graduation show for my improv class! Eeeek! I hope it goes well!

United Colors of Veggie Bowls

2011-06-02T02:15:00.000-07:00

I had improv class again today from 9-2, and then immediately afterward I went to an actor friend's house so we could record some self-taped auditions. His apartment has a huge deck and a great view so I took a picture that doesn't really do it justice.

There's a trend in casting that's becoming more and more popular for casting directors to request actors to record their own auditions and send them in. I know one of the reasons is to save time but that did not happen today. It took us almost four hours! We had to practice, set up lighting, wait for the buzz saw next door to stop whirring... But eventually I think we both got some good audition tapes done. Yippee.

After our auditions, I went home and stuffed my face while catching up on e-mails and self-submitting on casting sites, then went right back out to catch a couple shows at UCB. My improv show is coming up on Sunday and I want to be as prepared as possible, so I want to see as many shows as I can!

My diet for the last few days has consisted of apples on the go and veggie bowls at home.

Spinach, baked beans, and nooch.

Homemade polenta (easy, BTW), lentils, and broccoli.

Corn chowder and broccoli slaw.

Exercise:

10 minutes dance

Squats

30 minute walk

That's not as much as I would like, but I have to just accept that I'm really freaking busy this week, and that's just how it is!

By the way, thanks so much for confirming that laughing counts as cardio. You guys make me feel better. Also, Anonymous asked some great questions in the comment section on yesterday's post that I will answer in a post as soon as I get the time. I always like to answer reader questions!

Tomorrow I have class again, then I have an audition, and then I'm going to another UCB show. Sarah Silverman is the guest and I think she's hilarious. Can't wait to see her in person!

Laughing Is Cardio, Right?

2011-06-01T01:41:00.000-07:00

So busy!! I've been going to improv class during the day and shows at night and fitting all my other acting work and life in between. Cardio has been tough to fit in but at least I'm getting my weight workouts done. Wait... does laughing my ass off at improv class count as cardio?

Monday:

Weights/strength: Biceps, triceps, deltoids

10 minutes bike

10 minutes dance

Tuesday:

Weights/strength: hamstrings, quads, obliques

20 minutes dance

My butt was sore for a couple days after hiking up Runyon on Saturday. I took some pictures from the top to show you guys -

Hey wait, what's that over there?

It's the Hollywood sign!

Sorry for the bad pictures, I wasn't going to lug a camera up there with me and my Blackberry does not take very lovely photos.

I bought a foam roller off of Amazon and it arrived in the mail today. Now I need to figure out how to use it!

I also saw a snail climbing up the wall outside of my apartment. My roommate thought it was weird that I took a picture of him but he was so cute!

Question -- do you use a foam roller? Any suggestions on what the heck I should do with it?

Buff Up Week 9 Recap

2011-05-30T00:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a busy week! I am loving my improv class but it's been weird having a schedule! I've been doing my weight workout first thing in the morning and fitting in my cardio later in the day after my improv class.

This recap will be very brief -- despite a very busy week, I'm happy with keeping up my healthy habits. I'm still fitting in my workouts and I am really enjoying the mini-meals that I announced last week I'd be trying. I think it helps me control portion size if I know that I get to eat again soon!

Thursday:

Weights/strength: triceps, deltoids, chest

Rest day from cardio

Friday:

40 minute jog

Weights/strength: upper back, hamstrings, obliques

stretching

Saturday:

60 minute hike at Runyon Canyon

Weights/strength: quads, glutes, abs

stretching

Sunday:

30 minute bike

Rest day from weights

stretching

I've had something to do in the evening every day. On Thursday I went to a Miss California party with one of my roommates, who is interning for a company that works with the Miss USA program.

That's Miss California and Miss Teen California. It was a weird party -- everyone was just walking around, trying to figure out who was important. It was really boring and we left after just a couple hours!

On Friday I stayed in to prep for an early audition on Saturday morning. My audition went great! It was really fun. On Saturday night I went to a friend's birthday party and did not go to two Memorial Day parties I was invited to. I just didn't have the desire to go to all of them.

Food Diary (Sunday):

1) Tofu jerky

2) Green smoothie

3) Baked beans with broccoli

4) Pumpkin pudding

5) Tofu jerky

6) A few pieces fresh pineapple

I made more dehydrator tofu jerky, but this time I froze and thawed the tofu and sliced it thinner. I think next time I will not freeze it and try slicing it even thinner. I'm surprised at how little tofu shrinks while dehydrating. But the end result was delicious!

I also made a big green smoothie today using my new Sun Warrior protein powder.

I can't even believe how much kale I packed in there. I used about half a bunch of kale (stalks and all) - maybe four cups, plus a handful of spinach, 1/3 cup broccoli, a banana, a scoop of Sun Warrior, a little of my green stevia, a teaspoon of spirulina, some cinnamon, a couple pieces frozen mango and raspberries, and water. Despite all that green it was seriously delicious!

SO MUCH GREEN.

It made all this:

Plus a little more.

I'm also trying sprouting some lima beans, just out of curiosity. We'll see how it goes!

How was your weekend?

Do you like doing mini-meals? Do you find that it helps you with portion size, or does it just result in eating more?

Improv Class!

2011-05-26T00:30:00.000-07:00

I started my intensive at UCB (Upright Citizens Brigade)! I'll be taking improv classes there from 11-2, Tuesday through Friday for the next two weeks. My first two days have been really fun and enjoyable. I like my teacher and I'm impressed with the program and how they're easing us into it, with each lesson building on the previous one, expanding our skills instead of just throwing us into a situation and having us fail until we get it.

I've been waking up and doing my strength exercises in the morning and coming home and doing my cardio after class. So far that's been working well!

Last night I went to a friend's house to watch the season finale of Glee. They sent me home with some guacamole, hummus, and the last of a bag of pita chips, so I ate some of those today. I don't really think they're healthy but as a rare indulgence they are super tasty! Then when I got home my internet wasn't working, which is why I didn't post last night. Stupid Time Warner Cable.

Tuesday:

Exercise:

Weights/strength: obliques, hamstrings, biceps

20 minutes dance

25 minutes bike

Food Diary:

1) 1 serving seitan

2) 1 cup corn chowder with broccoli slaw and cauliflower

3) Pumpkin with protein powder

4) Raw broccoli and carrots with hummus and guacamole, 1 serving pita chips

Wednesday:

Exercise:

Weights/strength: inner and outer thighs

30 minutes dance

20 minutes bike

Food Diary:

1) Leftover rice and beans from Sunday's dinner (SaiSai Donburi Macro Bowl from Seed) with lettuce and hummus

2) 1 serving pita chips (the last, thank God)

3) pumpkin with protein powder

4) 1 small potato mashed with kale and nutritional yeast

5) Big salad with lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, and hummus

6) Chocolate almond milk

Today was not my favorite day of eating. I know that hummus and guacamole have "healthy" fats but any kind of higher-fat foods really don't feel good in my tummy and I remember why I avoid them. I know a lot of people eat veggies and then add calories through higher-fat foods but that just is not a good plan for me. I feel a lot better if I eat my higher-calorie foods in the form of low-fat protein.

I also realized when I was going through my pictures that I have a couple pictures from when I was on set a couple weeks ago that I hadn't posted yet.

This is the salad I constructed for myself from a very vegan-unfriendly lunch -- lettuce, carrots, salsa, and mustard.

And my friend and me on set.

Tomorrow I have improv class again and in the evening I'm going to an industry party! Hopefully it will be fun!

It's A Pirate's Life for Me!

2011-05-24T00:29:00.000-07:00

I wanted to focus on my 8-week recap yesterday so I didn't talk much about what I did this weekend.

On Friday I went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean 4 at 9:30 in the morning. That is definitely the earliest movie I have ever seen! I went as part of the internet TV show Movie Review Round Table, so you can see the review:

I hope you watch it and like it! I liked doing the review and I plan on taking part again in the future.

But I did more this weekend than think about pirates. Though I spent plenty of time daydreaming about Captain Jack.

Saturday was kind of a dumb and frustrating day but Sunday was fun. I went to the Studio City Farmers' Market with my new roommate. We saw pretty peas

and a super weird-looking orange.

Oh, and look what I saw when I was walking to Whole Foods!

Hugo's Tacos is now serving vegan soft serve. I haven't tried it but I know vegan soft serve can be a bit hard to come by so if you're interested and in the area, check it out!

On Sunday night I met Daniela from Tierfrei-Mampefen at Seed in Venice for dinner. I've blogged about Seed before -- it's very macrobiotic friendly, but all vegan. I got the SaiSai Donbury Macro Bowl, which has brown rice, black beans, sea veggies, sauerkaut, carrots, daikon radish, and kale with a miso dressing. Daniela is visiting LA from Germany and so we had a nice dinner, walk around Venice, and convo, half in German, half in English. She said she wants to come back next year and I hope she does!

Today I spent the day doing actor business. And then I skyped with my mom and brother! I love them. =)

On to today's diet and exercise --

Like I said yesterday, I want to start eating with a little more purpose, so one thing I'm going to do is try small, frequent meals, like most athletes and body builders do. I figure it might also help with my really high fiber intake. So from now on I'll just number my meals instead of calling them breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For my first day, it went very well. I felt great all day and didn't get any fiber-induced tummyaches.

Food Diary:

1. 1 serving seitan

2. 1 cup corn chowder with broccoli slaw and cauliflower

3. Pumpkin with vanilla protein powder

4. 1 serving seitan

5. A few bites leftover rice and beans with broccoli

6. Chocolate almond milk

Exercise:

55 minutes bike

10 minutes shadowboxing

Weights/strength: quads, squats, plies, triceps, deltoids

stretching

Tomorrow I'm starting my improv classes at UCB. I'm taking the intensive, so I'll have class from 11-2 Tuesday through Friday for the next two weeks. I hope it's fun!

Pirate-Themed Links of the Day:

Our Movie Review Round Table review of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (if you didn't watch it above)

A very negative review of Pirates of the Caribbean 4 from Collider. It contrasts starkly with our review, but it's very opinionated and I can't say I disagree with most of the points he makes, even though I enjoyed the movie.

5 Things Captain Jack Taught Me about Fashion and Makeup from Beautifully Invisible. I love this post making the case for Jack Sparrow, fashion icon!

Did you see the latest Pirates movie? If so, did you like it? Are you a fan of the first three?

Buff Up Week 8 Recap

2011-05-23T00:44:00.000-07:00

Eight weeks ago (Here's my original post "Confession: I wanna get buff," and recaps for week 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, 6, and 7) I said I wanted to get buff. I didn't really set up goals, though -- I wanted to see it more as a fact-finding mission. But now that it's been eight weeks, it seems like a good time to evaluate what I've been doing and where I want to go from here.

I went through every blog post from the past eight weeks, looking through my exercise and food logs. Here's what I came up with:

Week 1: 390 minutes of cardio, 6 days of weights

Week 2: 480 minutes of cardio, 6 days of weights

Week 3: 395 minutes of cardio, 5 days of weights

Week 4: 155 minutes of cardio, 5 days of weights

Week 5: 35 minutes of cardio, 4 days of weights

Week 6: 275 minutes of cardio, 5 days of weights

Week 7: 330 minutes of cardio, 5 days of weights

Week 8: 285 minutes of cardio, 5 days of weights

I have to say, I'm pretty happy with this. Week 5 was affected by a pulled muscle - hence the lack of cardio. But for eight weeks with a pulled muscle, a week-long vacation, a wrist injury, and the aches that come from an increased workout schedule, I am proud of the work I've done.

As far as eating goes, I ate a lot of broccoli and a lot of bean and lentil soup, a fair amount of pumpkin pudding, edamame, and salad, some seitan, tofu, and Dr. Praeger's veggie patties, and some roasted veggies, oatmeal, fruit, and whole-grain cereal. I didn't really have any sugar or refined carbohydrates (minus a few slices of pita bread I had one night). Not too much caffeine -- coffee a few times a week, and no alcohol. And no added oils besides the small amounts in the seitan and veggie burgers. That's not any different than usual, though. I feel best on a diet made primarily of vegetables and vegan proteins, with some starchy vegetables and a little fruit.

As far as physical changes, I am stronger than I've ever been. I've always been very quick to pack on lower-body muscle but upper-body muscle is always more difficult. My arms have never been this strong and my legs and core are super strong, too. In some ways it can be a little annoying, though. I've realized that I am going to have a hard time clothing my butt because my glutes go kaPOW. I've always had a big butt - a sprinter's butt, like my mom says.

I've learned that I LOVE lifting weights. I also really like working out twice a day - I enjoy feeling like movement is my standard, and sitting is the anomalous part of my day. Starting and ending the day with a workout just feels great. I didn't always manage to do this, and my cardio minutes for the week are directly correlated with how busy I was.

For the next eight weeks, I want to keep working out hard. My best two weeks were the first two, which isn't a surprise because I had a lot of free time and no injuries. But I'd like to keep that momentum. I'd also like to eat with a little more purpose. I didn't change my eating habits at all for the last 8 weeks but I'd like to try and focus on supporting my workouts with my diet. Like I mentioned a couple weeks ago, sometimes I eat a little too much fiber so I bought some Sunwarrior protein powder (it's in the mail now) and I'm going to try drinking some protein shakes sometimes if I feel like I need a lower-fiber meal.

So, that's my 8 week wrap-up. I hope you stick around to hear how the next eight go!

This weekend's food and exercise:

Friday:

60 minutes bike

Weights/strength: hamstrings, deltoids, glutes, upper back

Saturday:

60 minutes bike

20 minutes yoga

Weights/strength: inner thighs, chest

Sunday:

10 minutes shadowboxing

20 minutes bike

20 minute walk

Weights/strength: obliques, upper back, abs

Sunday:

Food Diary:

Breakfast: 1 cup lentil soup

Lunch: 1/2 cup split pea soup with broccoli, 1/2 cup corn chowder

Snack: Pumpkin pudding

Dinner: 1/2 Sai Sai Donburi Macro Bowl from Seed (brown rice, beans, sea veggies, sauerkraut, carrots, daikon)

I didn't write down everything this weekend but a lot of it looked like this:

Pumpkin smoothie

and this:

Green smoothie with kale, almond milk, banana, mango, protein powder, spirulina, and my green stevia.

As well as my leftover split pea soup I made last week. Here is my fridge, full of jars of soup and smoothies:

I have so much more to write about but this post is getting long enough as it is.

If you haven't weighed in on my book cover options I wrote about on Friday, I'd really appreciate it!

Fashion Friday - Premiere Party and Book Cover Help!

2011-05-20T00:39:00.000-07:00

I mentioned that I went to the premiere party for the Diary of a Wedding Planner webseries on Tuesday. I just saw some of the professional photos, so I figured I'd do an outfit post for Fashion Friday!

I wore my red Target dress that I wrote about last week and added a black studded belt, black headband, black tights, and my Franco Sarto boots.

And I uploaded a couple more of our photo booth pics. We went a little photo booth crazy. What can I say? We actors are obsessed with ourselves.

Today's food/exercise:

Exercise:

45 minutes bike

40 minute walk/jog - I jogged to Whole Foods and walked back

Weights/strength: biceps, triceps, abs

stretching

Food Diary:

Breakfast: Cracklin' Oat Bran with almond milk

Lunch: Corn chowder; 5 or 6 pieces of dehydrated tofu

Dinner: Homemade soup with split peas, celery, and carrots

Snack: Pumpkin smoothie

Aaaaand lastly, I have a design question for all y'all. Design is related to fashion, right?

So I got the proof for my book, but now I'm having debates/convos with some people who don't like the cover. I'm not particularly attached to the original cover, and I still have time to change it - I haven't approved the proof yet. But after I approve it, it will go for sale and I can't go back. So I'd love to get your opinions.

Here's the book cover right now:

And the back cover:

What do you guys think? Is the front cover too symmetrical or simplistic? Is the back text too big? Do you have any other criticisms and factors that would lead you to either purchase or not purchase this book?

Here is an alternate cover idea:

Do you like that better? Do multiple pictures look better than one?

Also, does anyone know anything about the legality of using a picture taken inside a museum? All the photos are mine, so I wasn't worried about it, but my stepdad pointed out that my original cover shot was taken in a museum (the Vatican museum, to be specific) so I don't know if I can use it.

Thanks so much, I really need this feedback!

Dehydrator Tofu Jerky

2011-05-19T00:49:00.000-07:00

I've been out of the house so often that I want to make more easily transportable snacks. I love jerky so I decided to try making some tofu jerky in my dehydrator!

I bought a few packages of tofu at TJ's:

Sliced them up and coated them with Bragg's, ketchup, garlic powder, paprika, and a little apple cider vinegar.

I let them marinate for about an hour and then dehydrated them for about eight hours.

They taste delicious! But next time I'm going to slice it thinner (I didn't know how much it would shrink down - not that much, actually) and try and make it BBQ flavored. What it really tastes like, actually, is fried tofu. I would definitely recommend dehydrating your tofu instead of frying it!

Exercise:

Morning: 10 minutes bike, 10 minute danceathon

weights/strength: hamstrings, obliques

Evening: 20 minutes bike

weights/strength: shadow boxing, glutes

Food Diary:

Breakfast: Cracklin' Oat Bran with almond milk

Lunch: Corn chowder

Dinner: Yesterday's split pea soup with broccoli slaw, broccoli, and nutritional yeast; 5 pieces tofu jerky

I had a good actor day today. My meeting went well and tonight I wrote postcards updating casting directors I've met about my SAG membership. And I watched the adorable movie The Umbrellas of Cherbourg -- it was Catherine Deneuve's breakout role, the male lead is totally hot, and every line of dialogue is sung! I recommend it.

Premiere Party

2011-05-18T01:56:00.000-07:00

I went to a fun party tonight!

But first I spent a few hours today cooking. I made some soup and a recipe that I'll share tomorrow. The soup was just my basic carrots, celery, and yellow split pea stew.

Then tonight I went to a premiere party for a webseries. It was fun and full of actors - including a series regular from a TV show I watch! I don't know who he knew and why he was there but nobody seemed to notice him but me.

I dressed up. It's unseasonably cold in LA so I wore tights.

I got a lot of compliments on the dress!

Terrible flash-free picture of the party.

And AWESOME picture from the photo booth! Check out the picture second from the top -- it's like an Axe commercial. Photo booths are so fun!

Tomorrow I have a meeting with a potential agent. Wish me luck!

Universal Studios

2011-05-17T00:46:00.000-07:00

Guess where I went today?

Universal Studios!

As a SoCal resident, if you buy one day, you get get to come back the rest of the year.

That's the Heisman pose, BTW.

My lunch. JK! Shark isn't vegan!

Hangin' with my buds, prepping for our space mission.

Hangin' with Beetlejuice.

OK, these are my actual friends. We went on the studio tour, even though I just did it a couple months ago when my brother came to visit.

When I came home I ate a veggie bowl for dinner and pounded out some time on the bike.

Food Diary:

Breakfast: 1.5 servings edamame

Lunch: Coffee with soy milk (I was at the park and didn't want to spend much money and I really wasn't hungry yet)

Dinner: Broccoli slaw bowl, broccoli with corn chowder, chocolate almond milk

Exercise:

20 minutes bike - high intensity intervals

Weights/strength: hamstrings, glutes

I'm still trying to figure out how I can safely lift weights with my wrist injury. I don't want to just focus on lower body because I don't know how long my wrist will hurt, but I might have to. But I think weight lifting could be fine if I'm careful to not bend my wrists. The real thing I can't do is put pressure on my hand, like in a pushup, plank, or bridge -- that's what hurts. Any advice?

Buff Up Week 7 Recap

2011-05-16T00:37:00.000-07:00

Seven weeks of the buff up craziness (Here's my original post "Confession: I wanna get buff," and recaps for week 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and 6) and I'm rockin' a new accessory.

Yeah. I got a push-up-inflicted injury. How cool do I feel?

Haha, that's my foot in the picture!

There's this bump on my hand/wrist -

Gross. It hurts.

Besides that, everything's still the same. I'm still working out hard and feeling and looking about the same. I do need to get a gym membership, but obviously I'm going to wait for my wrist issue to resolve itself.

I am having a weird nutrition issue. I think I need to find a way to make my diet a little lower in fiber. My diet is SO high in fiber that sometimes I get tummy aches. But everything I like to eat is really high in fiber! Veggies, beans... veggies and beans... Out of curiosity I've been tracking my food the last few days. Yesterday I ate about 1500 calories and 90 grams of fiber. The day before that was more like 1300 cals and 72 grams of fiber. That is a LOT of fiber! Idk, any ideas? Halp!

So, that's my recap. Moving on.

Blogger had some stupid issues over the weekend. So if you missed it, check out my Fashion Friday post about shopping for dresses at Target: http://healthandhappinessinla.blogspot.com/2011/05/fashion-friday-3-new-target-dresses.html

And I mentioned that I joined SAG and got the proof of my book.

Here's my exercise for the past few days -

Friday:

45 minutes bike

20 minute danceathon

Saturday:

35 minutes bike

Weights/strength: deltoids, triceps, obliques

Sunday:

50 minute walk

15 minute bike

Weights/strength: inner/outer thighs, glutes

And a lot of my food this weekend looked like this:

Broccoli, yellow split peas, cauliflower, broccoli slaw, repeat... Yum!

On Friday I went to a short film premiere and on Saturday I went to a party. I dressed a liiittle wacky, just because.

Today I spent the day doing agent/manager research. But tonight I did have some fun by watching Blade Runner while following the Twitter convo #movienighttweet, live-tweeted by Edward James Olmos. Twitter can be so fun!

Big SAG and Book News! (Original Post)

2011-05-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

Hey, I managed to copy the lost post off my Google Reader! Here it is...

BIG NEWS TODAY!

First of all, I am now officially a SAG member! (That's the Screen Actors Guild.)

That's my friend and I outside of the SAG building - we both went and signed up today. I paid a lot of money for the privilege but I worked hard to get here and I'm super excited.

And second of all, look what I got!!

Yep, that's my book! The proof copy came in the mail today. I'll take better pictures in the light later but I was just so excited! A lot of work went into this book and now it's finally real. =)

Even with all the excitement today, I managed to keep up my healthy habits. This morning before going to SAG I worked out and watched Gossip Girl (guilty pleasure!).

Exercise:

60 minutes bike

Weights/strength: inner/outer thighs

Stretching

Food Diary:

Breakfast: Lentils with broccoli, coffee with almond milk

Lunch/snacks: 1.5 servings edamame, 1.5 servings TJ's beefless strips

Dinner: Lentils with broccoli slaw, broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, ketchup, and BBQ sauce

I luv lentils. Dey so good.

Tomorrow I'm back on set working as a 2nd AD. The 1st AD texted me today and said they're doing BBQ for lunch tomorrow but they're going to grill me some veggies! Then I'm going to a friend's party.

But what I'm super excited about is my Fashion Friday post for tomorrow, because I looked HOT today.

I do have a question for you, lovely blog readers. I've been noticing the last few days that my knees have been achy. It's not pain or any kind of muscle soreness, just some uncomfortable achiness. Does that happen to you? What do you do about it?

Thanks!

Fashion Friday: 3 New Target Dresses

2011-05-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

A surprising amount of my clothes come from Target. I get a lot of Target gift cards and I find a lot of great-looking clothes there. They also have tons of vegan shoes and bags! I recently got a nice gift card and went shopping for some dresses because it is HOT in Los Angeles and I've decided I hate pants. Oh, and I have great legs that the world needs to see.

I bought three dresses. For each one I took cell phone pictures and sent them to my mom to get her opinions. So I'll show you those pictures and then how I styled them!

1) The purple floral dress - $25

I love this dress. It's an easy, classic fit I can just throw on and I like the purple print. There were a lot of patterns and I had a hard time figuring out which one I liked the best!

I meant to get more pictures. Oh, well!

2) The bright red dress - $25

I love the color - it's brighter than you can tell. I usually detest ruffles but I like them on this dress.

Here's how I styled it for my trip to SAG:

Over-the knee socks - Target

Vegan motorcycle boots - Ikon & Co. - $40

Next up - a dress that didn't make the cut:

I liked the print on this dress and how lightweight it was, but it got a big fat no from my mom and the friend I was shopping with and that was enough for me. I think it could have been better if it were a few inches shorter.

3) The LBD - on clearance for $7!

I see a lot of options for this dress - it's very versatile.

It actually has straps:

But they're too long so I figured out I could tuck them in and make it a strapless. It's so fitted through the bodice that it stays up great and supports the boobies.

With my chucks and an awesome necklace.

With some friends at a party last night.

Happy Fashion Friday!

Big SAG and Book News!

2011-05-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

I actually already posted this and Blogger totally deleted it during its downtime yesterday. Thanks a ton, Blogger. So here's an extremely brief rewrite.

Big news --

I officially joined SAG - the Screen Actors Guild!

That's my friend and I outside of SAG - we both went down together to join.

Aaaand - look what I got!

It's my book! This is the proof copy that I just got in the mail. I just have to decide whether I want to approve it and then it will be available for sale on Amazon. Thoughts?

On-Set Survival

2011-05-11T02:38:00.000-07:00

I survived my first day of working as a 2nd AD! It really wasn't that hard, I just had to chase people around to fill out paperwork and keep track of exactly what times people went into makeup, reported on set, broke for lunch, etc.

This morning I did get a little time to work out and I talked to my mom while getting ready. I wore my "Chicks Dig U.S. Marines" T-shirt.

Since I didn't have a lot of time to work out today, I focused on weights.

Exercise:

15 minutes bike

Weights/strength: biceps, triceps, pushups, squats

Food Diary:

Breakfast: Lentil soup

Lunch: Edamame and seitan

Dinner: Salad with hummus, 10 baby carrots, Luna bar

I should have packed a dinner for myself but I kinda forgot, and everything ended up being very vegan unfriendly. Luckily, there was salad and someone had some hummus they said I could eat.

Yay for making it work.

Tomorrow I am going to officially become a member of the Screen Actors Guild!

Sprouts Galore

2011-05-10T02:17:00.000-07:00

Two exciting pieces of news - I signed up for the UCB level 1 intensive, and instead of being a PA this week, I've been promoted to 2nd Assistant Director!

I also went to Power Group at The Actors Network today and got my cleaning at the dentist. I know I was just there, but that was the initial consultation and this was my (soon-to-be) regular cleaning. I've never been to a dentist's office that is so thorough and focused on preventive care.

Exercise:

30 minutes walking

10 minutes bike

Food Diary:

Breakfast: Lentil soup

Lunch: 1 serving seitan, 2 servings edamame

Dinner: Lentils, spinach, and broccoli; sprout salad

I had an entire box of sprouts that I really needed to use up so I ate the whole thing for dinner!

I seasoned with hot sweet mustard, this orange champagne vinegar, and some gyoza sauce.

It looks gigantic...

Until I mix it all up.

Buff Up Week 6 Recap

2011-05-09T00:55:00.000-07:00

Six weeks of kicking my own butt! (Here's my original post "Confession: I wanna get buff," and recaps for week 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5).

My biggest discovery this week is that I need a gym membership. I'm just TOO buff and I need heavier weights! I'm not really getting sore anymore, even when I really try, and I like to get sore.

I've also put up the resistance on my bike. When I started, I was biking at resistance 1 or 2, just because I was going for cardio and speed intervals, and not really interested in resistance. But now those are just way way too easy so I'm keeping it on 7.

OK, that looks like 6.5. Whatever. It was an ACTION SHOT.

This week was good, and I don't have too much else to say for my recap. Except that I am in pretty good shape and I could probably kick your butt. Booyah.

(Or maybe I just feel extra confident/cocky late at night? Nooo that can't be it.)

Yesterday's food/exercise:

60 minutes bike

Weights/strength: inner/outer thighs, glutes

stretching

Food:

Corn chowder with broccoli slaw, broccoli, cauliflower, and seitan

Lentil soup

Almond milk with carob powder

More corn chowder and broccoli

Today's food/exercise:

Exercise: 20 minutes bike

10 minutes shadowboxing

20 minutes walk/jog/sprint

Weights/strength: abs

stretching

Food Diary:

Breakfast: Corn chowder with broccoli slaw, broccoli, cauliflower, and seitan (just like yesterday)

Lunch: Lentil soup with broccoli

Dinner: 1 serving seitan, 2 servings edamame, almond milk with carob

Last night I had Mortal Kombat night with two of my friends. We watched the new Mortal Kombat webseries and the first movie. It was fun!

There was wine, so it was classy.

Today I skyped with my Mom for two and a half hours. What a nice Mother's Day!! In the evening I went to UCB - the Upright Citizens Brigade - for the ASSSSCAT improv show. I know that isn't very self-explanatory. UCB is an improv troupe founded by Amy Poehler and others forever ago, and now it's the hot place to take improv classes. I'm going to start classes there soon so I wanted to see a show first. I just need to decide whether I want to take normal once-a-week classes or whether I want to go balls-to-the-wall and do the intensive, where I'd take 8 classes in two weeks.

Oh yeah and I looked cute. But it was cold in there. :( An old man told me that I should put some clothes on. Yay! Nobody has told me that since I violated dress code in high school!

Quick Post

2011-05-07T05:39:00.000-07:00

Quick post just to record today's exercise and food info.

I went to a screening of my short film Big Shoes to Fill this morning! It turned out great and I'll post a link soon. Then I came home and worked out before heading to a friend's party all night. I had a great time! Hope you all had a happy Friday.

Exercise:

60 minutes bike

Strength/weights: Triceps, overhead press, chest, squats

Food Diary:

Breakfast: Seitan, 1 serving edamame

Lunch: Lentil soup, seitan

Dinner: Corn chowder with broccoli slaw and broccoli; almond milk

I only buy seitan every few weeks but then I eat it a lot for a couple days! I just get a craving for it, eat it a few meals in a row, and then I feel satisfied for a while.

Hugo's Pancakes

2011-05-06T00:21:00.000-07:00

This morning I met two actor friends at Hugo's. Hugo's has two locations and even though I live right by the Valley location, I'd never been! It's an omni restaurant with tons of vegan options and vegan specials. My vegan actress friend raved about their pancakes and oh yes, we were all impressed.

We split an order of the pancakes three ways. I just had half a pancake because I wasn't really hungry. My appetite doesn't really get going until several hours after I wake up. I haven't had a pancake in years but we were all impressed, even my friend who had never knowingly eaten a vegan meal in his life. You'd never know Hugo's pancakes were vegan, and gluten-free, to boot!

Sorry for the world's worst picture quality.

Closeup so you can attempt to see how darn fluffy these things were:

My other (non-vegan) friend also ordered an appetizer special of waffle cones stuffed with veggies and beans and guacamole. It just sounded fascinating. I had a bite and it was good!

What can I say, he's an actor.

I love strange food inventions.

We ended up staying at Hugo's for three hours just talking! Hugo's is definitely a nice restaurant with interesting food. It's not cheap, though -- one order of three pancakes was almost 12 dollars. But you get what you pay for! Plus, we saw several famous people, including two actresses from a smash hit TV show having lunch together. Sorry I won't say who they were, I don't like feeling like a paparazzo and broadcasting where people go to lunch. Pauly Shore (who I mentioned seeing last night) was my exception, because I am a hypocrite.

The rest of my day has been devoted to really fun things like laundry and acting research.

Food Diary:

Breakfast: 1/2 pancake

Lunch: Corn chowder/lentil soup mix

Snack: 1 serving edamame

Dinner: Corn chowder with broccoli slaw and broccoli; almond milk

Exercise:

Morning: 20 minutes bike

Evening: 40 minutes bike

Weights/strength: biceps, upper back, hamstrings, obliques

Tomorrow morning I'm going to see a premiere of my short film Big Shoes to Fill, and then my friend is having a party tomorrow night! I hope y'all have a great weekend!

Filming Bummer

2011-05-05T02:16:00.000-07:00

Ohh man, today. I worked out this morning and prepped for filming. I decided on this outfit:

With sparkly blue Converse.

Then, I was on my way to set when I got a call... due to some complications, my scene had been cut. They were blown away by my audition and really wanted to work with me, but it was not going to work out. There really wasn't anything I could do besides be gracious and wish them luck but of course I was bummed! But that's the way it goes. Since I was out I ran some errands. I came home and ate dinner and then met my friends at The Actors Lounge, a monthly event where actors can practice monologues and scenes for a supportive audience. It was fun! Then I went with a couple friends to Canter's, and I just hung out while they ate.

While we were walking from the theater to Canter's we passed Pauly Shore on the sidewalk! He was by himself, wearing a tanktop, eating a chicken wing, and slightly staggering down the sidewalk. He said hi. I usually don't talk to people I recognize but I was really hyper so I shouted after him, "I love Son in Law!" He turned around and did an appreciative wave but later I was like CRAP, why didn't I say Biodome?!?!

Food Diary:

Breakfast: Lentil soup

Lunch: Veggie bowl with lentils, broccoli slaw, and broccoli

Snack: Edamame

Dinner: Corn chowder with broccoli slaw, broccoli, and seitan

I used this seitan, which I bought at Nature Mart and tried for the first time:

I'm a sucker for mustaches.

It was good, but my favorite seitan is still this stuff:

It's just so meaty.

Exercise:

40 minutes bike

Weights/strength: glutes, chest, pushups

stretching

Tomorrow I really need to do my laundry. I've been putting it off for way too long and I hate when you get to that point when you're wearing underwear you don't really like.

Very important question today:

Favorite Pauly Shore movie?

Shorts Rant

2011-05-04T02:26:00.000-07:00

Ohh today was a scorcher! I had to leave off my weight lifting until well after the sun went down because it was just too hot.

Exercise:

Morning: 35 minutes bike, stretching

Evening: 20 minutes bike

weights/strength: triceps, quads, squats, outer thighs, deltoids

Food Diary:

Breakfast: Protein shake - chocolate hemp protein powder, almond milk

Lunch: Lentil/broccoli bowl

Snack: Dr. Praeger's veggie patty

Dinner: Lentil/broccoli bowl, pumpkin with stevia and frozen blueberries

Great news -- my step-dad is running for City Council in Bloomington, Indiana and today he won his primary election. He and my mom have been working their asses off, so I'm very happy for him!

I'm filming tomorrow and today I tried to figure out what to wear but I'm having some trouble. I'm supposed to be a private school student, so they wanted me to dress conservatively or school uniform-like. Low-budget projects often require the actors to supply their own wardrobe. Unfortunately, I don't own any clothes like that! I really don't own dressy or conservative clothes, and I got rid of all my polo shirts years ago. All of my skirts are short and not at all conservative. Crap. I went to the mall and couldn't find a polo shirt or pleated skirt in the entire damn place. Finally I went to Ross Dress for Less and looked in the little boy's section and bought a gray polo shirt for $7. I'm still a little SOL on a skirt so I'm thinking about wearing the shirt over my purple dress.

I tried on a couple pairs of shorts while I was at the mall and I hated all of them. I just don't understand why people want their shorts so tight and short! And why are all sizes of shorts equally proportionally short? I get that size 0 girls might want some booty shorts but I would think a size 8 might want a little butt room. I would love to go up a size if it would give me a little more length but all the shorts seem to be equally short and they just get bigger in the waistband. Ugh. Blah.

Buff Up Week 5 Recap

2011-05-03T00:21:00.000-07:00

It's now been five weeks since I declared I wanted to GET BUFF.

I'll admit, last week was tough. I was out of the house a lot and then I had a very rough superfunladytime that left me too sick and exhausted to really work out and not really in the mood for vegetables (WTF, right?). But I think a big part of starting any new workout regimen or lifestyle change is keeping up with it when it gets tough, and I'm proud of myself for sticking it out. I'm feeling better now and got back to a grueling workout and lots of veggies today. I think my problem whenever I've tried to start something new, be it a diet or workout regimen, is losing motivation after a few weeks. So for me, just sticking with it and getting back to it after a few rough days is a victory in itself.

This weekend was good! I felt so crappy on Friday that I mostly laid around and watched TV (and blogged about my apathy towards marriage -- great comments on that post!), but on Saturday I worked as a PA (Production Assistant) on my friend's film and then caught a great comedy show with a friend at the ACME Comedy Theater. On Sunday I went to the Actors Network 20th Anniversary Party. I dressed up:

But while I was there I was distracted by the Osama bin Laden news. As a political obsessive, I couldn't focus on much else. I was the first one at the party to find out and I spent a good twenty minutes running around the party alerting everyone. But eventually I did manage to just party, network (I guess), and have a good time.

Today I woke up to some great news -- I booked that audition I had last Thursday! Actually, they want me to play a different role than I auditioned for, but that's totally cool with me. I'll be playing the best friend of the drug addict. It's shooting on Wednesday. Yippee!

Tonight I went to the Actors Network to see the director of She's the Man. Have you guys seen that movie? It has a cross-dressing Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum in one of his first movie roles. It's freaking hilarious.

Here's today's diet and exercise:

Exercise:

60 minutes bike

Strength/weights: Pull muscles - hamstrings, biceps, obliques, upper and lower back, inner thighs

Stretching

Food Diary:

Breakfast: Spinach with hummus

Lunch: Veggie bowl

Snack: Dr. Praeger's veggie burger

Dinner: 2 veggie bowls, chocolate almond milk

Tomorrow: More awesome exercise, and maybe a little bit of clothes shopping ;)

I Don't Understand Wedding Fever

2011-04-29T21:22:00.000-07:00

It seems that the Western world can be split into two groups:

1) People who are obsessed with the Royal Wedding, and

2) People who think the Royal Wedding is stupid and delight in mocking those who are obsessed.

But I fit into a third category... I don't get it, but I don't want to make fun of the people who are into it. I kinda feel like I'm missing out on something. I just don't understand weddings at all. It's not caused by some obnoxious pessimism about marriage in general -- I have no plans or desire to get married, but I'm plenty happy for those who do, and I am a gay marriage activist (domestic partnerships are bullshit, but that's a post for another day). But I have never, in my whole life, fantasized about getting married.

A couple weeks ago, my roommate was talking about how she would like to be proposed to someday. That really blew my mind because I never realized anyone thought about that stuff. A couple years ago, someone asked me if my dad or my step-dad would walk me down the aisle, and I burst out laughing. What kind of a question is that?! I've never spent one millisecond thinking about that.

Now the whole world seems to care about the Royal Wedding and I'm just confused. Gabriela said as a 20-something woman, she feels genetically programmed to be wedding-obsessed. So WTF is up with my DNA, hmm?

I've had to make several discoveries through my life, and each time I was totally shocked.

1) Women who are getting married really care about their weddings.

They buy magazines and think about seating arrangements and flowers and matching shoes and they blog about it until I stop reading their blogs. This is weird to me. Why do people want to spend so much money on one day? Why do those things matter? Don't bother trying to explain it to me, either. Because I really don't care.

2) Women who are not getting married anytime soon, even those who are WAY too young, STILL care about their future hypothetical weddings.

They think about what kind of ceremony they want and what dress they will wear and sometimes plan every detail, with a groom to be inserted last. Like a falafel mix you just need to add water to. I definitely don't understand this.

But now, with all the Royal Wedding hoopla, I have made another realization...

3) Women care about the weddings of people they don't even know.

They care about the bouquets they're holding and what everyone's wearing and their vows and they even CRY.

I am not writing this blog post to make fun of women (and whoever else) who care about weddings, Royal or otherwise. It's just that I'm realizing more and more that my brain must be fundamentally different from almost every other woman on Earth, and in a way, I feel like I must be missing out on something. But it's like missing out on what it's like to have a penis -- I'm never gonna have one, so even if it's really fun, it's not worth dwelling on. I'm never going to be six feet tall, be an NFL player, have huge boobs, or give a shit about weddings.

Exhausted But Happy!

2011-04-29T00:46:00.000-07:00

I am exhausted! I have been so busy, but it's all good. BTW - I do have a Fashion Friday post, but I need some time to take better pictures. So it'll be another Fashion Friday on Saturday.

Yesterday I woke up at 7 so I could sneak in some weightlifting before reporting to set at 9AM. I worked as a PA (Production Assistant) all day -- I was out of the house from 8 AM to 11:30 PM. I had an amazing day, it was so fun. All the actors were Australians playing Americans, which was fun to listen to. Their accents were great! After the shoot we went out to dinner and several of us ended up belting out Part of Your World, accompanied by a live piano in the middle of the restaurant. What can I say, actors love attention.

Yesterday's food and exercise:

Exercise:

Weights/strength: deltoids, upper back, traps, obliques

Food Diary:

Breakfast: Coffee

Lunch: Pineapple and cantaloupe from the fruit tray, a few cashews

Snack: 1 serving edamame, 1 serving TJ's beefless strips

Dinner: 1 bowl minestrone

Snack: pumpkin with peanut flour and stevia

Today I woke up at eight so I could do some weights before going to a sound studio to do ADR all day. ADR is short for "Automated Dialogue Replacement" -- it consists of recording all the dialogue that fills out the background of a movie. Extras don't talk, so background dialogue is added in later. I even got to use my Chinese skills for a Chinatown scene and I got to improv some lines as a 5-year-old boy! It was crazy fun. And they ordered me a vegan pizza for lunch, and a guy who isn't even vegan offered to share it with me.

After ADR I had an audition and I immediately had to switch gears. The movie we had been recording for was silly and hilarious and then my audition was SERIOUS. I was playing a drug addict so I had a 20-minute drive to change my mood completely. I'm really happy with the audition, though, and I feel good about it. Yay.

I came home and shoveled some food in my mouth and then walked over to a nearby hotel hosting an AFTRA meeting! (That's one of the actor's unions). I was psyched I could walk there! I got home at almost 11 and now I'm trying to tackle two days' worth of e-mails.

Exercise:

Weights/strength: biceps, hamstrings, abs, quads

Food Diary:

Breakfast: 1 serving edamame, 1 serving TJ's Beefless Strips

Lunch: 2 pieces veggie pizza (no cheese), salad

Dinner: Veggie bowl with lentils, broccoli, broccoli slaw, cauliflower, and spinach

Pumpkin with peanut flour and stevia

OK, I'm wiped. Bedtimes.

Here's a little sneak peek for Fashion Friday:

Airplane Travel and Trip to the Dentist

2011-04-27T00:15:00.000-07:00

I'm back in LA! First I had to leave this little guy:

Ughh, break my heart.

BTW, he's eating his snack on the windowsill, like a stand-up cafe! Isn't that so cute? I love it.

I spent most of yesterday in airports, from about 1PM to 9PM Pacific time. But before I left I ate a big bowl of broccoli with a little leftover split pea soup:

Flavored with some of this crazy stuff I found in my dad's fridge:

It's like spicy jelly!

I also had two Amy's bistro burger patties before I left -- I managed to eat all of the food I bought for the week. Proud of myself.

In the airport and on the airplanes I ate my snacks I packed -- a sliced red bell pepper, a serving of edamame, and three small oranges. I actually thought the oranges were bigger but once I peeled them they kind of resembled clementines. I was pretty hungry by the time I got home so I ate some pumpkin with peanut flour and stevia, a favorite sweet snack of mine.

Moving on to today! I started out the day with a good workout.

Exercise:

10 minutes bike

Weights: biceps, triceps, abs, obliques

25 minute walk

Still taking it easy on the cardio front, and I will continue to do so for a couple more days. I'm also not really working my leg muscles because surprise, surprise, everything connects to your butt and I just really don't want to aggravate that muscle. Urgh.

I had a dentist appointment today, my first one since moving to LA. Yes, I've been a bit lax in that department. But I do take great care of my teeth -- I brush at least twice a day, I don't really eat sugar, and I floss every day and I always have. So the dentist said my teeth look great! He also said they're the perfect shade of white. Yay! Oh, and... my dentist is really good-looking. I wanted to tell him he's the best-looking dentist I've ever seen but I decided that might make him uncomfortable. But in general I do like to spread the compliments because you never know when somebody hasn't heard it before.

After my appointment I went to Target. I had a nice gift card and I bought myself two dresses! I really need more non-pants options and I didn't have any luck with shorts. Shorts all seem to be either too tiny or too frumpy and mom-ish. No, thanks. But no fear, you will see those dresses this Fashion Friday.

I stopped into TJ's to get some provisions and came home just long enough to put my groceries away when I decided to go to a TAN event. So I shoved a little food in my mouf and scurried out the door to hear a TV director talk. And now I have to go to bed because I have to get up early!

Food Diary:

Pre-Workout: Coffee

Breakfast: Veggie bowl - lentils, broccoli slaw, broccoli, spinach, nooch

Lunch: Dr. Praeger's veggie burger

Dinner: Spinach salad with beets, sauerkraut, sweet hot mustard, and balsamic vinaigrette; 2 servings edamame

Snack: Pumpkin with peanut flour and stevia and hemp protein powder

Tomorrow I'm working on the set of a short film all day as a PA (Production Assistant). An acquaintance posted on Twitter that they were looking for some help so I volunteered. That's just what I do -- whenever anyone says they need help with something, I say I can do it. The only bad part is the waking up early, and that I won't have enough time to get a good workout in. But I am going to wake up extra early so I can at least lift some weights!

I gotta ask -- do you floss every day? I wonder how many people do. So no judgments, just curiosity! I do floss every day, with very few exceptions. It's a habit and I would feel weird skipping it.

Buff Up Week 4 Recap

2011-04-25T00:03:00.000-07:00

Four weeks ago I said I wanted to get buff. Then I charted my progress after one week, two weeks, and three weeks. Now it's been four weeks!

This week was a challenge because I was in Kansas and because I pulled a muscle. I've been really careful with it -- resting, icing, and using a heating pad. It's feeling better so I know I'm on the right track, but it did put a damper on my workouts. I didn't get back to doing a little cardio until Saturday, and before that it had been since Tuesday. But I did keep up my upper body and abs workouts, using heavier weights because that's what my dad has.

I did pretty well with eating, though I've definitely been eating more fruit and less protein than I usually do and I don't think that's best for me.

Back to food and exercise diaries -

Exercise:

Weights - triceps, upper back, lower back, abs, shoulders

20 minutes elliptical

Food Diary:

Breakfast: Fruit salad

Lunch: Broccoli with Amy's spanish red bean and rice soup, broccoli with split pea soup and artichokes

Snack: fruit salad

Dinner: Asparagus; big salad with red leaf lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, mustard, and balsamic vinegar

I also chased my brother around in a big circle in the kitchen for 15 minutes until he was absolutely exhausted. And we danced to his bongo music! His toy bongos play different songs but he plays the Native American one over and over again. He knows what he likes.

Tomorrow I'm headed back to LA. I am ready for some warmer weather, but I'll miss my family!

Fashion Friday: Susan Nichole Bags

2011-04-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

Fashion Friday (on Saturday) tip: Vegan bag designer Susan Nichole is having an Earth Week sale, buy one get one FREE, that ends tomorrow (Sunday). Check that shit! http://susannichole.com/

I like this one -- shiiiny!

Mmm, classy.

Sorry, I would have posted this yesterday but I've been focused on family time.

Tomorrow is my last day in Kansas. Boohoo. I think I'm going to go see Water for Elephants with my step-mom -- she read the book and gave it to me to read and I plowed through it in the last two days. It's a quick read and definitely enjoyable. I love historical fiction, there's nothing better than getting sucked into another time and learning and imagining what life was really like.

Good news -- my pulled muscle is feeling a little better. I'm still doing upper body and ab work and I am looking forward to getting back to cardio as soon as I feel it's safe.

Happy Easter, if you celebrate. If not, jolly Sunday.

OCD Baby!

2011-04-22T18:13:00.000-07:00

I'm having a lovely time with my family. My baby brother is so freaking cute and since I was here over Christmas he has developed some rather adorable OCD tendencies. He's going through a "helpful" phase and loves to clean.

He's "vacuuming" the garage.

He meticulously set up his Elmos next to him, and adjusted them so they were perfect.

Hugs!

He is so adorable.

I do have some bad news. =( I pulled a muscle! The muscle right where my left hamstring connects to my butt really hurts. So I'm sticking to upper-body weights for a few days, icing, and taking aspirin. Hopefully it will feel better in a few days. But it's very hard to rest your butt, seeing as I use it every time I walk, stand up, sit down, bend over...

I've been eating a lot of the same things because I didn't want to buy a bunch of stuff that wouldn't get eaten while I'm here.

Cereal with blueberries, apple slices, and banana for breakfast:

Broccoli with soup for lunch and dinner.

Broccoli, Amy's lentil vegetable soup, and a couple bites of Chipotle rice and beans from my brother's kids meal.

Broccoli, carrots, Amy's Spanish Rice and Red Bean soup.

I also had a grapefruit. I'm loving citrus right now!

Last night I watched all four episodes so far of The Borgias, a new Showtime show about a corrupt pope and his family. It's awesome!! I'm so bummed that I won't get to watch the rest of it once I get home because I don't have Showtime.

Have a great weekend!

Les Profils Francais

2011-04-21T00:03:00.000-07:00

I have a new post up on Chic Vegan! We all know how much I love Nature Mart and the Santa Monica Co-Op, and now everyone else does, too. I wrote an article all about LA's best indie grocery stores and co-ops. Check it out!

I also have a fun new video to watch! I narrated this funny short video all in French. It's very silly!

Les Profils Francais from Sean Cruser on Vimeo.

I spent my whole day just hanging out with my family. No baby pictures yet, but I'm on it. I did get a good workout this morning, though!

Exercise:
40 minutes elliptical

Strength/weights: quads, triceps, abs (ab lounge!), obliques, chest

stretching

Food Diary:

Breakfast: Cereal - Cracklin' Oat Bran, Multi-Grain Cheerios, and Special K with almond milk and blueberries

Lunch: Broccoli with Amy's Lentil Vegetable soup

Dinner: Amy's Bistro Burger, more broccoli and soup

Snack: Orange

Travel Day

2011-04-20T01:19:00.000-07:00

I'm going to Kansas today!

Today ended up being a rest day from exercise just because I didn't have time to work out before my flight. But it probably isn't a bad thing to get a little rest! I've been trying to eat my food so it won't go bad while I'm gone. For breakfast I had the rest of my roasted brussels sprouts and squash.

I also had a little almond milk to finish the container and the last serving of Chicken-less strips, which Faith asked me about -- they taste like the kind of chicken strips you would get in a fajita, and I think they're fairly accurate, but not creepily so. I like them.

I also bought these beets, which I put on my salad last night -

Kind of an impulse purchase and now I'm afraid I can't finish them before I leave. =( Oops. They're just beets, by the way -- the cheese in the picture is a "serving suggestion."

Here's what I packed for my flight:

Aaaand I'm off! Next post should feature some cute baby pictures! Yay!

Beets and Sauerkraut, Pickle with Horseradish

2011-04-19T02:35:00.000-07:00

I had a busy day getting ready to go out of town tomorrow and then at the LA Actors Tweetup tonight! I'm exhausted. And I ate a couple weird food combos today, which explains the name of the post.

Food Diary:

Breakfast: 1 serving TJ's Chickenless strips, 1/2 serving edamame

Lunch: Roasted kabocha squash and brussels sprouts

Dinner: Spinach salad with beets, sauerkraut, and mustard (divine combo), more roasted kabocha squash

Snack: Pickle with horseradish, hummus and pita

I went to the LA Actors Tweetup tonight and afterwards went to Canters Deli with a couple friends. It was 1 AM and I was starving so I got hummus and pita, which I shared with my friends - all the hummus got eaten, but only about half the pita - and I ate a pickle that I smeared with horseradish. It might seem crazy but it's actually quite tasty.

I had planned on doing another workout when I got home from the Tweetup but I stayed out so late that the plan got scrapped. Oh well!

Exercise:

Weights/strength: abs, biceps, chest, quads

40 minutes bike

stretching

I'm flying out to Kansas tomorrow. Can't wait to see my family! :)

Buff Up Week 3 Recap

2011-04-18T01:59:00.000-07:00

OK -- three weeks ago I said I wanted to get buff. Coincidentally, that post has become my #2 most popular post! I shared my feelings after one week and the results I started seeing and feeling after two weeks.

After one week, I could feel new definition in my biceps. Last week, I could see some. This week, I definitely do!

Last week:

This week:

Hells yeah, right? Can you see that?

That shadow underneath my bicep is an entirely new development of the last couple weeks.

Last week, right arm (I can tell by my freckle!):

This week:

Yes, it looks weird to take a picture in front of a mirror. But can't you see a difference in just a week? I can.

I'm not bicep-obsessed or anything, but it's the easiest muscle to take a picture of.

Last week I said I could see more definition in my legs and I would say I see more this week, too. I'm just starting to see some definition between my quadricep and inner thigh muscle, which I have never seen on myself. I even see more definition in my calves, which have always been very strong.

Muscly calves.

Something very exciting -- I'm starting to see some definition in my shoulders and triceps! I feel like I have been working on that for years and I can never see a change. I can't wait until I look strong without flexing.

Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of your own back? That's the best I could do.

I did take a couple other pictures of my outfit, so we can have something besides me flexing...

Keeping it simple for the hot weather. Yellow Target dress, red moccasins I've had forever.

And this sexy Nine West hat that gets me a lot of stares.

I did a ton of pushups the day before yesterday, and I'm still sore all over my upper back, chest, and where my arms meet my torso. Whatever those muscles are. I did different kinds of pushups, too -- regular, knee, and diamond. The plank probably targeted those muscles, too. So they're still wiped!

My inner thighs are still sore, too. So today was another pretty light day for strength -- I want to make sure I'm getting enough recovery.

Exercise:

Morning:

25 minutes bike

stretching

Evening:

10 minutes bike

20 minutes jog/run/whatever

Weights/strength: obliques, triceps, lower back

stretching

Food Diary:

Breakfast: Veggie bowl - lentils, broccoli slaw, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, nooch

Lunch: 1 Dr. Praeger's patty, 1.5 servings edamame, coffee with almond milk

Dinner: 1 serving TJ's chickenless strips; pumpkin with peanut flour and stevia

Wow, I was going to share some more reflections but I feel like this post has gotten long enough.

I will say, though, that I am having fun and feeling great. This is the first time I've started a new fitness plan that was more about the exercise than the diet. Sure, I'm eating healthy, but I haven't really changed the way I eat from usual -- I'm just eating when I'm hungry and choosing good foods that I enjoy. I don't really crave "unhealthy" foods, anyways. And I really do love broccoli.

I'm not at the point where I want to tweak what I'm doing or decide whether I'm getting the results I want. I'm still looking at this an experiment and I have no idea what will happen after six or twelve weeks... but I can't wait to find out!