Monthly Archives: December 2013

The Exciting News (or Meet Chaucer!)

Posted on December 17, 2013 | Comments Off

On Saturday, before I went to the show, I called my mom to check in. I wanted to see how she was feeling after chemo and how Dante was doing. When I first tried calling, nobody answered. So I tried calling again after I had my lunch and then my mom answered.

She said that she didn’t answer before because my parents were being interviewed to adopt a puppy! My parents have been looking at getting another puppy for a little over a year now. The search seemed to be put on hold a bit when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and then put on hold again after we found out about Dante’s cancer. But my mom was still casually looking at puppies every so often.

My brother found this puppy online and my parents decided to go and see the puppy and get interviewed to see if they could potentially adopt him. There were a bunch of people at the interview (there were 6 puppies up for adoption) and when my parents were interviewed, they felt like they had a good chance at getting a puppy. They had to share which puppy they were most interested in, but the foster mom was going to match the dogs with families that she felt were the best fit.

So on Saturday afternoon, my parents didn’t know if they would get the puppy or when they might find out either way. But on Sunday morning, I got 2 emails pretty much at the same time from my parents.

They got the puppy!!!

His name is Chaucer (and they think they will keep the name because it’s cute and it’s literary like Dante). He was rescued from a hoarder and we know that his mother was a German Shepherd (we don’t know what his father was). He’s 7 weeks old right now and he should be coming home right before Christmas (so I’ll be home when Chaucer comes home). And I know I’m biased because this puppy is the newest member of the family, but I think he’s the cutest thing ever!

This picture was taken a week or two ago so he looks a little older now (at least that’s what my parents told me).

Now, I hope you all don’t think that we are getting Chaucer as a replacement for Dante. My parents have been looking at puppies for a while and they said that when they met the right puppy they would get it. This is just how the timing worked out. Dante still enjoys playing with other dogs, so I think that getting him a puppy is really going to make him happier and perk him up. And hopefully Dante will help us in training Chaucer.

I’m just so happy that we are going to have a new member of our family. I know that I won’t get to see the puppy too often, but I’m excited to get to meet him in a week and spend a few days with him before he grows up too much.

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged adoption, dog, news, puppy

Busy Busy Weekend (or Another Catchup Post)

Posted on December 16, 2013 | Comments Off

I guess technically my weekend started on Thursday evening. That was the cookie exchange party that I went to where I brought the peppermint meringues. I went straight from my work shift to the party, so I was a bit late, but that was ok.

I had a great time there. I met a bunch of great new people and there were lots of cookies to try (I had a bite of about 5 different types and I had been saving up my calories for that). I couldn’t stay as long as I want to because Beth and Kate have 3 cats, and I’m pretty allergic to cats. The sneezing and watery eyes started about 20 minutes after I got there (I think I took my allergy medicine too early), but I managed to stick it out for about an hour.

I left all the leftover meringues at the party for other people to take home and I took a little sampler of some of the other cookies there (sadly, there wasn’t a recipe exchange at the party so I can’t make any of the other cookies at home).

Friday was a split shift work day for me. So I worked my usual 4 hour shift in the morning and then had a 5 hour break. I went home, had some lunch, and took a very needed nap. Then I went back to work to work a show for about 3 hours (I needed to make up some hours from missing work on Tuesday for the commercial shoot).

Saturday was another work day for me. But after my shift, I hung out in Santa Monica because I was going to go to a show at work that afternoon. I went to lunch by myself (which I don’t know if I’ve ever really done before) and read my book while I waited for showtime.

I went with Kate, Beth, and Shey to see Jane Austen Unscripted. It’s an improv troupe that made up an entire Jane Austen style play based on one suggestion from the audience (it was based on the topic of pets for our show). It was wonderful! I laughed so hard and it was really well done! It’s playing for another week at work, but I don’t know if I can get another ticket for another show (every show is different since it is made up on the spot).

After the show, we walked down the street to Bodega (where my birthday party was held) and had some drinks and dinner. Before we knew it, it was time for us to head home (most of us had early mornings that day or late nights the night before).

Sunday was a catchup day for errands. It’s my last real day off before I go home at the end of the week. So I wanted to try to get all my last-minute tasks done before I leave town for a few days.

And also on Sunday, my family got some very exciting news! But I’m going to leave this blog as a cliffhanger and will share the news tomorrow!

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Work

Tagged play, show, travel, weekend, work

What Will Happen In A Week (or Why I’m Excited And Scared To Go Home)

Posted on December 13, 2013 | Comments Off

Next week I’m going home for a few days. I have some time off of work so I figured it would be a good time for a trip home. When this was planned, I didn’t know that I would be going home for a quick visit in November, so it would have been a long time since I was home (I think the last time I was home was last year for Thanksgiving).

I’m excited to get to spend some time with my parents. While I got to see them for a little bit last week, this time I’ll have a few days so we won’t feel rushed. We don’t really have any plans for my visit, so it should be relaxing. I’m also hoping to get to see my brother and sister-in-law. I have their Hanukkah presents and would love to give them to them in person. I’m not sure when or if I’ll get to see them, but we are working on scheduling now.

I also might get to see a friend or two from high school. I haven’t really stayed in touch with too many people from high school (not counting FB of course), but my friend Jackie is trying to come over with her little boy for a visit. That would be great since I haven’t seen either of them in a long time.

But I’m nervous about going home because of my dog. He’s not doing so well right now. He seemed fine last week, but according to my parents he went downhill pretty quickly. He’s still happy, enjoying eating people food, and playing with other dogs and that’s important to me. But he’s also sleeping a lot and you can see the tumor on his leg growing.

We don’t know how much more time we have with Dante, but it’s seeming like it’s pretty limited at this point. But as long as he’s happy, I’m happy.

But I’m scared of two different scenarios.

First, if Dante dies before I come home, I won’t get to see him again. My last time to see him will be those few hours last week. And I don’t know how I will react if I go home and Dante wasn’t there to greet me at the door. Or to hear him playing with his favorite toys. Or to take him out on his walks. I don’t know if I could handle that or if I want to handle that (and yes, I understand that it will be so much harder on my parents than on me since they are with him every single day).

But if Dante doesn’t die before I go home, I’ll get to see him again. And I’m totally looking forward to that. But if he’s acting sick or not like himself, I know that will upset me. It was tough when I was home for the 24 hour visit and he was acting off. I’m pretty sure the pain pills were making him act funny, but it was very upsetting to see him acting loopy and confused.

Either way, I’m excited to get to go home and see everyone that I love. And with either scenario with my dog, I know that I need to be there for my parents.

I’m just focusing on the positives with my upcoming visit and knowing that my dog, while sick, is still enjoying his life to the fullest every day. And I should follow his example.

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Posted in Family, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff, Travel

Tagged cancer, christmas, dog, family, holidays, sick

Peppermint Meringue Cookies (or It’s Easy But Not As Easy As I Thought)

Posted on December 12, 2013 | Comments Off

I’ve been invited to another cookie party (it’s actually tonight) and I wanted to try something new this year to bring to it. I loved making the red velvet white chocolate cookies last year, and even though this party is with a different group of people, I wanted to expand my cookie making abilities.

I went through the family cookbook that my mom and I put together (and presented to my entire extended family at Thanksgiving last year) and found a recipe for meringues. I love meringues! But I made a few changes to the recipe to make them a bit more festival.

Below is the full recipe. I only made a half batch because the first batch I made came out wrong (there might have been a bit of yolk or oil and the egg whites didn’t stiffen). When I went to make a second batch, I realized I only had 2 eggs left.

What you need:

4 large egg whites (room temperature)

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup sugar (extra-fine is best)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

peppermint candies

What to do:

Separate eggs (doing this while they are cold is easiest) and allow them to come to room temperature (30 minutes).

Preheat oven to 250.

Unwrap peppermint candies and place in a zip top bag.

Using a rolling pin or mallet (thanks again Dad for the mallet!) crush the peppermint candies. Make the pieces as big or as small as you would like.

Beat the egg whites, Cream of Tartar, and salt (I used a hand mixer but a stand mixer would be better) at a high speed until foamy.

Then, add the sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, to the mixture while continuing to beat the egg white mixture at a high speed.

Continue beating the eggs until stiff peaks form. Then add the extracts and beat until blended.

After it’s all mixed, fold in the peppermint candies.

Drop batter onto 2 baking sheets with parchment or a Silpat. I put the batter into a zip top bag and piped it onto the baking sheet. They didn’t look super pretty, but I think they look better than if I free-formed them.

Bake at 250 for about 2 hours or until the meringues are dry and can be removed from the baking sheet without sticking to your fingers).

Turn off over and leave door partially open while allowing meringues to cool for 1 hour.

Remove from oven and let meringues to completely cool on wire racks.

Store meringues in a zip top bag or container to keep dry (moisture is meringues’ enemy).

This should make about 40 cookies.

It’s not too tough to make these. Just make sure that everything you use does not have any oil or egg yolk on it. That’s probably where I went wrong. I’m hoping these cookies are a big hit tonight at the party! And if you make these or some other type of meringues, let me know! I’m looking for some fun variations of this since I know how to make them now!

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged cookies, party

A Quick Day On Set (or Pretending To Be Warm When It’s Freezing Out)

Posted on December 11, 2013 | Comments Off

Yesterday I was filming a commercial. I can’t say what it’s for, but I can tell you that I was in the background and you probably won’t see me in the final cut. But it was still an awesome day (any day on set is pretty much guaranteed to be an awesome day).

It was a very early start for me. I had to be on set at 7am and the location was just over an hour away from my house. So I left around 5:30am (and woke up at 5am). The drive was fine. There was no traffic at that time and I had a bunch of podcasts that I wanted to catch up on. The only problem was the high winds so my car felt like it was shaking a lot.

When I got to set, it was freezing. Literally.

Fortunately, I brought some of my winter clothes with me to keep me warm. I have a down puffy coat that is still a bit to small to zip up, but I wore that with a scarf and gloves and stayed pretty warm.

The commercial is supposed to be set in the summer, so my wardrobe was a short sleeved shirt. I brought my coat out with me to wear between takes, but when the camera was rolling I had to hide the coat and tough it out in my t-shirt.

It was hard to not shiver when I wasn’t wearing my coat. I was really cold. It never got that much warmer during the day (when I left the temperature was only up to 32). But I tried to think warm thoughts and focus on having fun.

The day was really short. We were all done by 1pm. So I got back in my car and started the drive back home. Again, there was very little traffic so I made it home pretty quickly.

As soon as I got home, I took a nap. I needed it! And I ended up sleeping for a couple of hours (so my attempt to make it for the second half of my shift at work didn’t happen).

It was an easy and quick day, and I had a great time working in front of the camera. I loved that I got to finish out 2013 by working on set on another great project. Hopefully 2014 will bring me more opportunities like this!

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, cold, commercials, fun, work

5K #9 (or I Still Don’t Like The Rain)

Posted on December 10, 2013 | Comments Off

5K #9 was this past Saturday. And before I recap my race, here’s a little information about me.

I hate the rain.

Well, I guess that’s not completely true. I like the rain when I can stay inside and not have to deal with it. I will avoid running errands in the rain if I can help it. And while I do own umbrellas, I never remember to use them (or it takes too long to close them up when I’m getting into my car so I get wetter than if I was not using an umbrella). I’m definitely a California girl who prefers sunshine to anything else.

And of course, the forecast for race day was rain. Lots of rain.

On Friday, I went to get my race number and shirt after work. I was lucky that the pickup location was only a few blocks from work, so it was easy to get over there.

I went to bed hoping that the forecast was wrong. Or maybe that the rain would stop during the race.

When I woke up, this is what the forecast looked like.

See that dot that says Santa Monica? That’s where I was going. And it was going to be raining for a long time.

My friend Kate was also doing this race (she was going to run it so we weren’t necessarily racing together), so I picked her up and we headed over to the race area. We lucked out in finding a parking meter about a block from the start/finish line so we hung out in the car until it was closer to the start time. I took my before picture in the car because I didn’t want to get wet.

Once it was almost race time, we headed over to the start. Kate went up to the front of the pack with the fast runners and I hung back with the slow runners/walkers. It was drizzling at the start, so while I wasn’t happy about rain, it wasn’t too bad.

I’d say for the first 1.5 miles, it was drizzling with an occasional quick shower of rain. Not great, but not horrible. But right before I got to the 2 mile marker, it started to pour. I’m talking sheets of rain where it was hard for me to see. I was absolutely soaked. My clothes had water dripping off of them.

I finally finished (in under an hour so I’m happy about that) and headed back to the car where Kate was waiting for me (she wanted to get out of the rain too). I had Kate take a quick after photo of me, but you can’t tell how drenched I got.

And even though I don’t like the rain and hated being wet, I’m smiling because I did it! Not only did I do another 5K (and almost double what my goal was for this year), I did one in the rain, which is something that I never thought I’d do. I don’t know if I’d like to do another race in the rain, but if I’m signed up for one and it happens to be raining that day, now I know that I can finish it.

I can’t believe I’m done with my 2013 races. When I set the goal to do 5 this year, I thought that would be a stretch. I’m really proud of myself that I did beyond my goal. I’m looking forward to the ones I’m planning on doing in 2014. I’m not necessarily going to focus on the number of races, but I want to sign up for ones that seem like they would be super fun to do.

And of course, I’ll keep doing recaps of the ones that I do end up doing next year.

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

Tagged 5K, goals, race, rain, Santa Monica

Quick Family Visit (or My Extra Long Lunch From Work)

Posted on December 9, 2013 | Comments Off

My parents were driving down to San Diego this past Thursday. Originally, the plan was for me to go back down to San Diego again this past weekend and spend time with them there. But my schedule wasn’t going to allow me to be there for too long, so the new plan was for my parents to stop in LA for lunch with me.

My boss at my day job okayed me taking a long lunch that day (as long as I was back by 6pm because I was running a table at the show that night). My parents got to my work around 2:30 with my dog. I was so excited to get to see Dante again! After his diagnosis, I wasn’t sure how many more times I’d get to see him, that’s why I took the quick visit home a few weeks ago. And of course, I was excited to see my parents again.

We went to lunch near my work and had a nice chat. My parents wanted to know all about the film festival and other things going on in my life. And of course, my dad and I chatted about my spin class.

After lunch, we drove down near the Santa Monica Pier and took Dante for a walk. He’s doing so much better compared to the weekend I was home. His incision is healing nicely and he can walk properly again. You can see the tumor on his leg growing again, but it doesn’t seem to be hurting him. And every time we passed another dog, Dante perked up and wanted to play with them. It was nice seeing him act like his old self again.

Before I knew it, my parents drove me back over to my work so they could continue the drive to San Diego (it should only take 2 hours from my work, but it ended up taking them 4). But before they left, we exchanged Hanukkah presents. I got my mom tinted lip balms (I use them and she tried mine and liked it when we were at my brother’s wedding). And when my dad was visiting me a few weeks ago, he mentioned that he needed to buy a new belt. Right after my dad left, I got an Uncommon Goods catalog and saw this belt that was made out of recycled bike tubes. So I got him that and I think he loved it! I also got my brother and sister-in-law presents but I haven’t giving them their gifts yet so I can’t share what they are.

And my parents got me noise canceling headphones! I had mentioned after flying to and from Hawaii that my ear buds weren’t that great on the plane. I could barely hear my movies and that I really should invest in better headphones. I’m so excited to have my new headphones and I’m planning on using them on my flight home soon!

Even though I only got to spend a few hours with my parents, it really revitalized me. I got to see that my mom and my dog are doing great. And it helped me get over the weirdness that I felt over Thanksgiving. I’ll be seeing my family again in about 2 weeks and that time I’ll get to see them for a few days. I’m already looking forward to that!

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Posted in Family, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged cancer, dog, family, Los Angeles, lunch, San Diego, visit

Realizing My Reach (or Geeking Out Over A Tweet)

Posted on December 6, 2013 | Comments Off

I know that people read this blog. I check my site stats (sometimes a bit obsessively), I have friends and family comment to me in real life about something I said on here, and I have people comment on the blog itself. I know that some people think that I’m brave for what I’m writing on here, but I’m just trying to be honest with myself. I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone.

But even though I’m doing this more for myself than anyone else, sometimes knowing that somebody read your blog can just change your day.

Yesterday, I had an @ reply come through on twitter. Not an uncommon occurrence, and I didn’t check it right away. But once I did check my replies, I had a little freakout.

This is what I saw:

Jennifer Weiner is one of my all time favorite writers (I mentioned her in this post a while back). I can’t believe that she reads my blog! I’m still kind of geeking out over the fact that she follows me on twitter!

And even though I know that a bunch of you read this (obviously, otherwise you wouldn’t be seeing this post), knowing that one person who I truly look up to reads this (and without me personally sending her the posts to read) just freaks me out a little bit.

I am careful with what I say on here without trying to censor myself. I know that for any future jobs when potential employers google my name that this blog will come up. I try to be honest but not hurtful.

I know that anybody in the world can read this. And for some posts, I hope that lots of people read it and get inspired, hope, or knowledge from it. That’s why I’m being so open about things. For so long, I was quiet about all my struggles. And I thought that I was the only one going through them. But as I open up other people come forward and share their struggles as well. It’s so refreshing to live a more honest life and have more honest people surrounding me.

Quick note I wanted to add on here after I wrote this post on Thursday morning. I went out to lunch with my parents Thursday afternoon (I’ll share that story next week). I mentioned to my mom about Jennifer Weiner tweeting at me, and my mom mentioned how she was just starting one of her books, “The Next Best Thing”. I love when my life comes full circle like that!

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged author, struggle, twitter

Surviving My Work Holiday Party (or Getting Braver With My Clothing Choices)

Posted on December 5, 2013 | Comments Off

This week was the holiday party for my day job. Last year, the party was at a bar near the theater we work at and it was more of like a dinner event (although no dinner was actually served). We all sat at a long table and chatted. Then the artistic director gave a speech and handed out Trader Joes gift cards to everyone as a holiday gift. I don’t remember what I wore last year, but I remember that it was pretty casual (I usually wear jeans to work and I’m sure that’s what I wore to the party).

This year, we had more advanced notice about the party. It was going to be held at Gladstones and we were expected to dress festively. It was suggested to wear something similar to what we would wear to work a show. But since I normally wear a dress and heels to work a show and I knew I’d be working on the phones before the party, I wanted to wear something more comfortable.

All of my dress pants are looking a little sloppy because they are big right now. But then I remembered that I just bought some leggings. I’ve been weary of leggings. They are very body conscious and many leggings look more like tights (as in they are see-through and not appropriate as pants). But these seemed to be a thicker fabric so I decided to wear them. And if they didn’t seem as cute, at least the restaurant was going to be dark.

I paired the leggings with a tunic style top and headed off to work my shift before the party. Turns out, my outfit was a huge hit! I got a bunch of compliments from my co-workers. In fact, I’m planning on wearing those leggings on a more regular basis. Who knew that some of my thoughts on clothing could be so off? First skinny jeans and now leggings.

The party was pretty good. The food at Gladstones was ok (lots of fried things that were a little too greasy for my taste). But since the restaurant was right on the beach we had a nice view. And it was nice to see everyone dressed up and not running around trying to work a show.

Besides the food, there was some caroling singing (I mouthed the words since I’m tone deaf and everyone else I work with is an amazing singer), and then someone hooked their iPod into the sound system and there was some dancing. My hips were starting to kill me by the time the dancing started so I just sat off to the side.

Before I knew it, the co-workers I drove with were ready to head back to work where the rest of us left our cars. And I was home at about the same time I would get home from a late shift, so that was nice.

Overall, I had a really great time at the holiday party. I know that for some people work events can be stressful. But since so much of my work is already at events, that stress was taken away (and the co-worker who hates me is antisocial so she wasn’t there to bother me).

If you have to go to a work holiday party, you should check out this article on BuzzFeed. It was pretty funny (and had some good advice)!

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Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff, Shopping, Work

Tagged clothes, holidays, job, party, plus size, work

Recovering From Thanksgiving (or As Always It’s Back To The Grind)

Posted on December 4, 2013 | Comments Off

I was back to work as usual on Monday after Thanksgiving. It was very nice to have 5 days off from work (it was almost like being unemployed again!), but it’s nice to be back and making money too.

Since there are still holidays coming up, the next few weeks at work will be a bit weird. We have time off for the holidays, odd shifts because of the shows going on, and a work holiday party. So even though I’m back at work, I think I only have one week this month that is a normal work week.

I’m also getting back to my usual food and exercise plan. I gained more weight than I expected over Thanksgiving. I knew I would gain some because of the extra food, but I was still a bit shocked when I got on the scale on Monday. I think some of it was random water and stress weight because when I weighed myself yesterday I was already down 3 pounds.

My focus for the last few weeks of this year are to continue my routines that I’ve worked out. I’m finding spin classes that fit into my schedule a bit better (including a free class at SoulCycle on Fridays right after my shift ends so I can go straight from work). I’m trying to stay good at bringing my lunches to work (good for helping me lose weight and save money). And I’m working on just being happier with myself in general.

I know that I didn’t lose as much weight this year as I thought I would, but I’m on track to be down about 40 pounds this year. To some people that may seem like a lot, and to some people that may seem like nothing. It’s only a portion of what I need to lose, but even if I only lose that each year, I’m still heading in the right direction. And I need to keep that in mind. As much as I’d like to have lost all my weight this year like I did the two times I did the RFO diet, it’s not realistic for me anymore.

But as I spent some time before writing this looking back at my older posts, I’ve realized how far I have come this year. And as I start thinking about my goals for next year, I’m getting excited about what my life might be like a year from today.

Comments Off on Recovering From Thanksgiving (or As Always It’s Back To The Grind)

Posted in Fitness, Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

Tagged goals, SoulCycle, Thanksgiving, weight gain, weight loss

Monthly Archives: December 2013

The Exciting News (or Meet Chaucer!)

Like this:

Busy Busy Weekend (or Another Catchup Post)

Like this:

What Will Happen In A Week (or Why I’m Excited And Scared To Go Home)

Like this:

Peppermint Meringue Cookies (or It’s Easy But Not As Easy As I Thought)

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A Quick Day On Set (or Pretending To Be Warm When It’s Freezing Out)

Like this:

5K #9 (or I Still Don’t Like The Rain)

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Quick Family Visit (or My Extra Long Lunch From Work)

Like this:

Realizing My Reach (or Geeking Out Over A Tweet)

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Surviving My Work Holiday Party (or Getting Braver With My Clothing Choices)

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Recovering From Thanksgiving (or As Always It’s Back To The Grind)

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