Monthly Archives: January 2015

Ringing In The New Year (or Fun With Glow Sticks)

Posted on January 2, 2015 | 1 comment

I spent the evening of New Year’s Eve at Chris and Marie’s house. They always throw the best parties and I had a great time celebrating with them last year.

It’s been cold for LA lately (cold here means in the high 30’s/low 40’s at night), so I tried my best to dress cute but warm. Fortunately, their parties take place both inside and outside their house.

I got there a bit on the early side since I knew I would be leaving right after midnight. It’s always so wonderful arriving at one of their parties because there are always friendly faces to greet me and so many people to catch up with.

We spent the beginning of the party outside. They do have a heat lamp as well as a fire pit, so it wasn’t unbearable. Just really really cold.

We did throw some cinnamon into the fire pit again this year like we did last year to make sure that 2015 is a sweet year. But we didn’t burn our wishes for the new year.

After a while, most of the party guests were inside the house. But a couple of us hung out outside. There were some glow sticks that someone brought so we opened those up and started to crack them so they would glow. I started with a couple of glow bracelets and Marie and I decided to get a picture together showing off our new jewelry.

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And then I wanted to get a group picture of a bunch of us glowing in the backyard.

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Of course, I couldn’t stop with just glow bracelets, I had to make myself a headband as well.

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Once we felt sufficiently styled in our glow bracelets, we decided it was time to get out of the cold and go into the house. There were a ton of bracelets to pass out to other guests, so I made Marie a glow belt to hang the extra bracelets off of.

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Yes, we were that silly at the party (and I hadn’t had a single drink).

Once inside, I found a nice spot on the couch near the tv so I could warm up. Most people had gathered around there since it was getting closer to midnight. It was really just a chill party where we were all having fun catching up with each other and discussing the movies we had seen lately (since it’s awards season, movies are on everyone’s mind).

Just before midnight, I made sure to get another picture with Marie and one with my friend Robert.

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And before I knew it, it was time to count down to midnight. We all had some champagne and noise makers and once it hit midnight everyone at the party was cheering. I didn’t have a special New Year’s kiss, but I got a kiss and a hug from all of my friends at the party.

At about 12:15, I had to head out. I hate being on the freeways during holidays like New Year’s Eve when there are a bunch of people who have been drinking. And since I figured most people would probably stay out later until the bars closed at 2am, it was a good time for me to leave.

I wished I could have stayed later, but I had a somewhat early morning (more on that next week). But I really had an amazing time at the party. There’s nothing better than spending a holiday with your chosen family (aka your friends). I felt so loved by everyone and that’s exactly how I wanted to start 2015.

Thanks to Marie and Chris for throwing another epic party! The next one will be the Oscars party (and I haven’t even started to think of my costume yet!).

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Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

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What I Plan To Do This Year (or 2015 Goals)

Posted on January 1, 2015 | 5 comments

Now that I’ve reflected back on my 2014 goals and how well I accomplished them, I really thought hard about what I want my 2015 goals to be. I think I’ve got a good list going for this year and I’m excited to see how well I get them done over the next year.

My first goal is workout related. I want to get 175 workouts done in 2015. That’s pretty much 3-4 workouts every week of the year. I’m not allowing myself workout vacation time (even though my dad did suggest it). I’m sure a majority of the 175 workouts will be at Orangetheory. I have every intention of going at least 3 times a week (and trying to add in a 4th day every other week). But I’m also going to include any 5Ks that I chose to do this year as well as other fitness classes (SoulCycle and maybe trying yoga again). I will also consider including hiking, but I don’t think I’ll have a lot of hiking days except when I get to Tahoe in the summer.

My next goal is a food goal. I want to have home cooked dinners at least 4 times a week. Since I started bulk cooking, I’ve been eating something home cooked most weeknights. I usually prepare food for 4 nights and then on weekends I’m out. And many times on Tuesdays or Thursdays (when I don’t workout after my day job) I don’t necessarily eat dinner. I’ll have a big late breakfast (since my shift doesn’t start until 10am) and then have another bigger meal around 4 or 5pm. Both of those meals are home cooked, but I don’t know if it counts as dinner. So I’m saying home cooked dinners 4 nights a week. If I do more than that, all the better for me.

Next is a day job goal. I want to be down to 2 main day jobs (not counting babysitting or running the film festival). Right now, I have 1 main day job and 6 sporadic jobs. I don’t make enough each week (to the point that I’m still collecting unemployment to make up for the fact that I don’t make enough to not be eligible anymore) and this needs to end. I’m enjoying my box office from home job and if I made enough doing that job I’d be so happy. But I don’t think that will be a reality even with the raise we are supposed to get this year. And while I love being able to make some extra money babysitting, I don’t see that as something that will make enough to make up for what I’m lacking. So I need to find one more steady day job that has regular hours to help me make enough to pay all my bills comfortably. There is a chance to make the film festival another main day job, but there is no guarantee with that.

And I’ve made this a goal in the past, but I really want to get into an improv class this year. I think that now that I feel secure with my day job and have a steady schedule with it, I will be able to pick out a class time that will work for me. I’m working on saving up the money for the class right now.

Again, another repeat goal from last year, but I’d like to travel again this year. I have a trip to Napa planned in 2 months and I’m really looking forward to that. And there is a possibility of another New York trip in the fall this year. I don’t know if I’ll have any other trips (besides visiting my parents or grandparents) but 2 trips in one year sounds wonderful to me!

And my final goal which is a goal every year is to keep blogging. Not just on here, but on other sites as well. I freelance on two blogs and I’ve written a few guest posts on other sites. I had no idea when I started this blog how important and therapeutic writing would become for me. It’s an amazing journal of the past few years of my life and I love going back and reading some of my old posts to remind me how far I’ve come. And I can’t wait to track 2015 the same way.

So those are my main goals for 2015. And in a year, I’ll let you all know how I did with them.

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fitness, Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Travel, Weight Loss, Work

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