Category Archives: Celebrations

Being “Wild” (or Not Guessing A Lot Of Winners Right This Year)

Posted on February 25, 2015 | 1 comment

For the Oscars this year, I was at Chris and Marie’s house like I always am. It really is such a great way to watch the awards and everyone who comes to the party is so awesome!

I was trying to plan out a super clever costume for a while and I decided that going as a Lego figure from “The Lego Movie” would be perfect! I was looking up costume ideas online when I noticed that someone else who attends the party had recently pinned several pins on Pinterest about Lego costume ideas. I was almost completely sure that they would be going as a Lego person, and I didn’t want to compete with that.

I was feeling a little uninspired by other movies so I was stuck on an idea until a few days before the show. I realized that while it might not be the most clever costume, I did have the clothing and some of the gear to go as Reese Witherspoon’s character from “Wild”. If I did that costume, I wouldn’t have to buy anything and it would be pretty comfortable to wear for the day.

So on the day of the party, I put on some workout clothes and my hiking shoes and grabbed my hiking poles and my backpack (which I stuffed my purse inside) and headed to the party. Considering the lack of effort I put into the costume, I think I looked pretty good!

Wild Costume

I knew that my costume was pretty unlikely to win an award in the costume contest (I’ve only placed in that contest one time), so I was focusing on picking the winners on my ballot and hoping that I would place 1st or 2nd in that (since there are 2 prizes for guessing the winners). This wasn’t my most prepared year and I hadn’t seen as many of the films as I would have liked to, but I made my best guesses and felt pretty confident with what I picked.

That confidence was pretty short-lived once the show started. I did guess all of the acting categories correctly (and I’m super excited that JK Simmons won because he was a guest on the Inside Acting Podcast right before I started working with them). I also got the documentary and animation categories correct. But there were more that I guessed incorrectly than correctly.

I knew that there was no chance for me to win a prize, but that didn’t damper my experience at the party. I was having a great time and I thought that the Oscars were really good this year! I enjoyed the opening number as well as the performance for “Everything Is Awesome”. And while I was initially a little disappointed that Lady Gaga was the person doing the “Sound Of Music” montage, she did an amazing job and I really enjoyed watching how much Julie Andrews enjoyed Lady Gaga’s performance. And while the winners weren’t what I picked, I think all the winners were great choices and there were no awards where I was upset by who won.

After the awards were done, it was time for the costume parade so we could vote. Then it was time for the host and hostess to pass out the awards.

Oscar Party Awards

The friend who had pinned the Lego costumes on Pinterest was one of the winners. And all the other winners had costumes from “The Grand Budapest Hotel”.

Overall, it was the perfect way to spend Oscar Sunday. The rain was a little annoying, but since I was inside watching the awards pretty much the entire time, it didn’t bother me too much and I was able to have an amazing Sunday afternoon/evening!

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Default ThumbnailA Night Of Oscars (or Last Minute Costumes and Enjoying The Show) Default ThumbnailOscars Time! (or Inside Out vs. Star Wars) Default ThumbnailMaking Some Good Guesses (or I Am Not A Cat) Default ThumbnailWatching The Oscars (or Costumes and Twitter) Default ThumbnailOscar Party Time (or Feeling Inspired) Default ThumbnailChallenge Winners (or OK Being A Loser)

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff

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Another IAP Hangout (or The Entire Team In One Place)

Posted on February 17, 2015 | 1 comment

I love that the Inside Acting Podcast is doing more and more hangout with our listeners! It was great when we had our Chipotle meetup, but not everyone was able to make that one. So we scheduled another dinner meetup for this past week.

The dinner was at Native Foods, which is a vegan restaurant very close to my house. At first, I wasn’t planning on eating there because it was going to be on the last day of my cleanse. But I did a lot of research on their menu and discovered 2 things that were actually cleanse-friendly (most of their food has soy in it which was not allowed on the cleanse). So I decided that I would celebrate the end of my cleanse with a meal that wasn’t prepared by me (the first meal like that in 28 days!).

I ended up getting a salad which was ginormous and super delicious! I was only able to eat about half of it, so a friend of mine ended up eating the rest. It felt so decadent to eat something that someone else made. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt that way about a restaurant meal before because I used to eat a lot of prepared foods (whether it was delivery or frozen meals from the store).

When I got to Native Foods, a couple of people were there. But before we knew it, we had about 25 people there! We took over a majority of the seating inside (we gave them a heads up about our group and they said “bring it”). It was so great to reconnect with old friends and to meet lots of new people. And everyone is so amazing and awesome!

And within the 25 or so people who were there, the entire team behind the podcast was there! I don’t believe that we have all been in one place at one time, so of course we took a team photo.

IAP Team Photo

I ended up being at Native Foods for almost 5 hours. Time flew by just chatting about random stuff with everyone there.

I’m so happy that the podcast is now becoming a more social thing. And if you are interested in finding out more about our future hangouts (we’ve got a couple of ideas in the works right now), I recommend joining our email list. We send weekly emails and include any podcast events in the emails.

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Default ThumbnailAnother Native Foods Dinner (or Healthy Food And Awesome Conversation) Default ThumbnailPodcast Picnic (or A Perfect Sunday Afternoon) Default ThumbnailA Podcast Hangout (or Observing A Vocal Class) Default ThumbnailPodcast Hangout (or A Quick Coffee Meeting) Default ThumbnailBar Food Hangout (or A Quick Friend Catch Up) Default ThumbnailA Dinner Hangout (or Seeing My Sister-In-Law in LA)

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

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“Thriving In Hollywood” (or Celebrating The Ms. In The Biz Book Launch!)

Posted on February 11, 2015 | 1 comment

I’ve been writing for Ms. In The Biz for a while now. It’s been so awesome to be a part of a blog that has so many amazing women with incredible stories and advice to share. And a little while back, Helenna (who created Ms. In The Biz) shared with all the writers that she was going to be putting together a book of some of the blog posts we had shared on the site!

The book is called “Thriving in Hollywood: Tenacious Tales and Tactics from Ms. In The Biz”. While none of my posts are featured in the book, I’m still super proud of all the writers who had pieces chosen for the book and that I get to be a part of the same blog!

This week was the official launch party for the book. There was going to be a red carpet and press there, so I decided that I really wanted to look my best.

After my morning workout, I showered and then headed over to The Dry Bar to get my hair done. I normally only go to The Dry Bar on my birthday, but the party was on my half birthday, so it seemed fitting.

The Dry Bar

I had them do my hair in a similar style to how it was done in New York, but lots of curls. As soon as I was done getting my hair done, it was off to makeup!

My friend, Kayla, did my makeup for me. She also did my makeup for the Besame launch party so I knew it would be amazing.

Makeup

And when I was done getting beautified, I loved how I looked!

MITB Party Look

While it feels like a lot of makeup to me since I rarely wear makeup, it just looked like an enhanced version of me. It was perfect!

For my outfit, I wanted to be comfortable because I knew that I would be on my feet all night. As much as I could love to have worn heels, it’s just not something that my hips can deal with now. So I went with leggings, a long sweater, and some cute flats.

MITB Mirror

I know I look a little distorted in that photo. My mirror needs to be replaced because it can not longer hang correctly over a door.

I got to the party and my first stop was the red carpet. I wanted to make sure that my photos were done while my hair and makeup looked fresh.

MITB Red Carpet With Book

After doing my official photos, I wandered around and found a bunch of my friends. It was so much fun catching up with people when we are all dressed up! We don’t normally look like slobs, but everyone looked so fancy that night!

MITB With Helenna MITB With Robert MITB With Nicole

After some catching up, I ran into other members of the team from the Inside Acting Podcast, including the hosts Trevor and AJ (who just got in from New York that morning!). So of course, we gathered for a podcast red carpet photo.

MITB IAP

Before I knew it, it was getting toward the end of the evening. I was exhausted and ready to get into my PJs and watch some TV.

The one thing about having fancy makeup done is that it takes quite a bit to get it all off.

Post MITB Party

I was super happy to have my Spanx and fake lashes off and to have a bare face at the end of the night!

Overall, I have to say that this was a super successful book launch party! I had a blast and everyone else I talked to did so as well!

I highly encourage all of you to get a copy of “Thriving In Hollywood”! I’ve read it and it’s super amazing! And maybe the next time Ms. In The Biz does a book, one of my blog posts will be chosen!

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Default ThumbnailHollywood Mixer (or Ms. In The Biz Is Almost Here!) Default ThumbnailMs. In The Biz Anniversary Party (or Having Fun In A Photo Booth) Default Thumbnail“The Wisdom Of Walt” (or Time To Win An Amazing Book!) Default ThumbnailOscar Prep (or A Hollywood Adventure) Default ThumbnailCelebrating Ms. In The Biz (or 3 Years Later!) Default ThumbnailHollywood Superbowl (or Where I Was For The Oscars)

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff

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Making My Acting Bold (or Feeling Great From An Audition)

Posted on February 4, 2015 | 2 comments

I made my word of the year “bold” and I’m working on applying that to all aspects of my life. It’s easier said than done, but I’m trying.

This week, I had my second audition of the year.

My first audition of the year didn’t go so great. I was very nervous because the type of project that it was had changed without my agents being notified and it was unclear if the project was union or not (as a union member, I can only work on union projects). I thought about backing out because even though someone told me the project was union, there were many signs that it wasn’t. But I went in anyway and I’m guess that I didn’t book it since I haven’t heard back (I’m almost relieved I didn’t book it because if it ended up being non-union I would have had to turn it down).

So that first audition didn’t give me a great opportunity to be bold. But this second audition was totally different.

First of all, the audition was for a tv show that is very popular and well-known. I’ve actually auditioned for this show before, so it was a very good sign that I was brought in again. When you don’t necessarily book the role but you book the office, this is what it is like. They will continue to bring you in for parts that you are right for because the reason you didn’t get the job before wasn’t due to your acting skills.

The next thing that made this audition different was that there were lines (the first audition was for a print campaign so no lines). It was a small co-star part with only 2 lines, but I was determined to be bold with my choices without going over the top.

I always try to make a strong choice in my auditions, but I chicken out a lot. I’ve heard horror stories from casting directors about actors who go way over the top for 1 or 2 line parts and I never want to be one of those stories. So I tend to end up a little muted in my choice when I eventually get into the audition room (it’s also a little nerve-racking being in the audition room).

This time, I felt really good with the choice that I made. I thought it was funny without being too crazy or attention grabbing. And when I walked into the audition room, I did it exactly how I wanted to. I did get a redirect in the room to do a slightly different physical movement, but I was not told to change how I read the lines. So I think the casting director liked what I did.

While I would love to book this part, I really don’t care about that now. Because when I left the audition room, I felt amazing! I didn’t have any regrets about what I did and I’m not obsessing about how I could have done it better. I’m completely satisfied with my read in the room.

I’ve never been able to completely feel this way before. I always wish I had done something more/better/bigger/stronger. But right now, I know I did exactly what I wanted and hopefully what I did is exactly what the show wanted. And if not, that’s ok with me.

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Default ThumbnailAnother Day Another Audition (or This Is The Life I Love) Default ThumbnailSkype Audition (or Maybe I Should Have Worn Regular Pants) Default ThumbnailBack Into The Running Groove (or Feeling Really Great About My Workouts) Default ThumbnailWas I Bold? (or Recapping How I Did With My Word Of The Year) Default ThumbnailAudition Friends (or The Kindness Of My Competition) Default ThumbnailAudition Fairy (or The Tale Of Two Auditions)

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff, Work

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Inspiration On TV (or I Voted For Her)

Posted on January 27, 2015 | 1 comment

With this cleanse, it would be so easy to put my life on hold while I’m doing it. It would be so easy to turn down dinner invites and other social events. But I’m working really hard to not do that.

For the SAG Awards, I invited friends over. Only one friend, Robert, was able to come. But he and I had an awesome time! I love the SAG Awards. I mean, who wouldn’t love an award show that they get to vote for?

While watching the show, Robert and I shared who we had each voted for (sometimes we didn’t remember until they showed all the nominees for a category). A lot of people who I voted for won, which was awesome!

I think one of my favorite moments of the entire show was at the beginning. The first award was for female actor in a comedy series. And Uzo Aduba won for “Orange Is The New Black”. First of all, if you aren’t watching that show, go onto Netflix and watch the first 2 seasons! It’s incredible!

I voted for Uzo Aduba, and while I was happy that she won, that’s not what made it my favorite part. Right before she won, at the start of the show, they did the “I am an actor” introduction. She was one of the actors selected to participate in that segment. And she shared that she got her SAG-AFTRA card on “Orange Is The New Black”.

So her first major project was not only an awesome one, it’s an award-winning project for her (she also won for best cast ensemble for a comedy series).

That gives me so much hope. I know that her story is rare and there is usually a lot more career building before an award-winning performance, but it is possible to book something amazing without having to do a few co-star and guest star roles first.

Whenever I go in for a series regular role during pilot season, I hope more than anything that I will book it. I know a job like that can change my life and my career. But when I see who was cast in the part after pilot season is done, it’s usually someone with an established career. And yes, I am trying to get an established career, it just isn’t easy.

But it is possible for someone with so few credits as me to book one of these series regulars. If I am exactly who they want, the casting directors and producers won’t care what’s on my resume. I have to remind myself this if I get any pilot season auditions this year.

And on a silly note, I also have to share my second favorite part of the SAG Awards. I love getting to see my friend Woody’s name in the credits at the end as one of the producers of the show.

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We are coming up on the end of the awards season and with the Oscars coming up soon, I have to hurry up and think about what my costume will be for the party!

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Default ThumbnailWatching Musicals At Home (or Getting Antsy To Get Back To NYC) Default ThumbnailThe SAG Awards (or I Am An Actor) Default ThumbnailWatching Some Inspiration (or A Weekend Of Screenings) Default ThumbnailHappy Hour Inspiration (or Just Having Fun After Work) Default ThumbnailFake Inspiration (or I’m Not A Beginner) Default ThumbnailSAG Awards (or Watching After Knowing The Winners)

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An Evening Of Fabulous Women (or Getting More Involved At Women In Film)

Posted on January 20, 2015 | 2 comments

Last week, Women In Film had their annual membership summit. I had been to this summit once in the past, but the past 2 years it was held on an evening that I couldn’t attend. But this year, since I’m not working in the evenings anymore, I was able to make it.

Ms. In The Biz founder (and my friend), Helenna, just joined WIF so she and I went to the event together. The summit was being held at the Arclight movie theater in Hollywood and fortunately there are a bunch of great restaurants right there. We met up at Stella Barra which is right next to the theater. We had some dinner and got to catch up a little. The Ms. In The Biz book launch is coming up soon and we got to talk a little about that.

Soon, it was time to head over to the theater for the meeting. Check-in was little crazy, but soon enough we were at the theater where the meeting was held. And of course, we had to take a few pictures in front of the step and repeat.

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Because the check-in was a little slow, we were some of the very first people in the theater. So we got some pretty primo seats right up front and by the podium.

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The idea of the membership summit is kind of like an overview of everything that WIF has to offer. There have been many changes in the past few months so the person in charge of each of the different programs within the organization got up and spoke. They each shared what their program does and if they are looking for volunteers (and what they need volunteers to do).

It was a pretty short meeting because there was a little party afterward. As soon as the meeting was done, the different programs that were looking for volunteers had sign up sheets so we could get more involved in WIF. While so many of the programs seemed amazing, I signed up to help with the annual awards banquet auction and the film screening series.

I haven’t heard back from those programs on what they need me to do, but I’m super excited to be more involved in WIF. While I’ve been a member for several years, outside of the mentor program and various film screenings, I haven’t really taken advantage of my membership. I know that there is more to WIF than what I’ve been doing and hopefully volunteering for those programs will help me feel more comfortable with joining other groups and programs within the organization.

The party was held downstairs at the theater. As we walked in, we were handed hats with the new and updated WIF logo (it now includes TV, Digital and Media as part of the logo).

IMG_4454

There were food and drinks passed around. I didn’t get any photos of those because Helenna and I were busy meeting other WIF members. I also ran into one of my fellow mentees from my old mentoring circle. She didn’t apply for a new mentoring circle like I did so we won’t be in the new mentoring circle together again (I was kind of hoping we would be).

I didn’t stay too late since I had work the next morning, but I did meet a ton of new people at the event (and a lot of non-actors which is awesome!). I’m so excited to see what I can do this year with WIF and what new opportunities will come my way because of that.

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Default ThumbnailWomen In Film (or Brunch and Ghostbusters) Default ThumbnailLess Networking More Socializing (or Another Evening With My Fellow Mentees) Default ThumbnailMentoring Circle (or Women Who Support Each Other) Default ThumbnailEnd Of The Mentoring Circle (or One Final Lunch) Default ThumbnailGetting Ready To Get Mentored Again (or A Evening With WIF) Default ThumbnailAnother Evening Of Mentees (or Advice and Socializing)

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff

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Another Bombshell Partnership! (or Doing A Healthy Detox)

Posted on January 13, 2015 | 6 comments

I’m super excited to announce that for the next month, Finding My Inner Bombshell is going to be part of a partnership with Nykki Hardin and Nykki’s Cleanse!

Before I go into what the cleanse is all about, a little backstory.

At Orangetheory, they sometimes have special guests who come in and speak for free on issues that are related to healthy living. They’ve had a couple of different fitness clothing companies and some nutritionists. But they have usually been in the studio either on days that I’m not there or during and after my workout class (and when I’m done working out I usually just want to go home).

Last Wednesday, Nykki was the guest speaker and my workout buddy Sarah convinced me to stay and hear what she had to say. I’m so grateful that Sarah peer-pressured me into staying!

I usually hesitate when I hear the word “cleanse” or “detox”. They usually are things like juice cleanses or similar programs where you don’t eat any normal food. I’ve gone through that with the UCLA RFO program in the past and I don’t want to put myself through that again. I’ve learned that any food changes I make need to be changes that are sustainable and can be something I do for the rest of my life.

And that’s exactly what Nykki’s Cleanse is all about!

Her program is all about eating whole and clean foods (which is something that I’m doing with my bulk cooking). You supplement the whole foods with tonics that are designed to help to rebalance your system and get rid of any toxins. You add the tonics for 14 days to your balanced meals. And afterwards, you continue to eat whole and clean foods (as you really should).

Nykki provides recipes for the balanced meals so you can try new and healthy foods and to help build up your personal recipes that you will continue to make after the cleanse ends. And the program that I’m going to be a part of also includes 1 week before the cleanse doing prep work to prepare for the 14 day cleanse and 1 week after the cleanse to help continue living a balanced lifestyle outside of the cleanse. There is a group about to be a part of this 4 week journey so I will have a community around me (which I love!) and there will also be webinars about various healthy living topics.

I’m going to be starting this 4 week journey on Friday, and similar to how I post weekly recaps about Orangetheory, I’m going to share with you updates each week on what I’ve been doing on the cleanse and how things are going. I’m so excited to start this next month and to get more inspired to eat clean and cook at home more!

It really feels like this came into my life at just the perfect time. I’m now very comfortable cooking in my home and have been spending a lot of time online looking for inspiration for more recipes and how to improve my food choices even more. Now, I have a wonderful coach in Nykki to help guide me through this healthy food world that I’ve just started to explore.

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Default ThumbnailWeek One On The Cleanse (or Temporarily Vegan) Default ThumbnailFinishing Up The Cleanse (or Some Lessons I’ve Learned) Default ThumbnailThe End Of The Cleanse Tonics (or Time To Start The Transition Back) Default ThumbnailSpending The Next 2 Months Going Orange! (or A Bombshell Partnership!) Default ThumbnailAlmost Halfway Through The Cleanse (or Bring On The Tonics And Detox Drinks!) Default ThumbnailFinding A Balance (or Eating Healthy And Fun At The Same Time)

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Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

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New Workout Gadgets And Records (or Improving On My Workouts)

Posted on January 12, 2015 | 18 comments

This past week brought some fun things to my Orangetheory workouts. The first thing was at my Monday workout.

Since I started at Orangetheory, there has always been heart rate monitors. This is part of the reason why I love Orangetheory. The heart monitors that have been used in the past are by Polar. I owned my own strap and every time I worked out, I got a pod (the device that hooks on to the strap) from the front desk. The pods belonged to Orangetheory and had to be turned in after each class.

But on Monday, we all got a nice present waiting for us at the front desk.

IMG_4414

We got new heart rate monitors! This is the OTBeat system. It uses Bluetooth to connect in class and you can even use it for workouts outside of class (which is perfect since the battery in my other heart rate monitor still needs replacing). And now I don’t have to get a pod from the front desk (or remember to turn it back in) each workout!

The only possible glitch with the new heart rate monitor for me is the calorie count. It’s saying that I’m burning about 200-300 calories less than the old system did. And when I use the app on my phone with the heart rate monitor (while I’m in class), it says I do burn those extra 200-300 calories. I’ve told the management at my Orangetheory and we are trying to figure out why this is happening. I’m not sure if I should trust what the class calorie burn is or the app calorie burn is. Hopefully this will be resolved this week.

Sadly, I wasn’t able to do the Monday Challenge this past week. It was a 1/4 mile on the treadmill at 10%, but you couldn’t hold on to the treadmill while you did it. Since I have so many balance and walking straight issues, it was more important for me to hold on and not fall than to try the Monday Challenge.

Other than not being able to do the Monday Challenge, I had a great workout.

Wednesday I pushed myself to some new limits with my weights. The new OTBeat system shows how long you have been in the orange and red zones (the zones that help your body burn calories post-workout), so I wanted to see if I could get more time in those zones. In the past, you only knew how long you were in those zones after the workout, but now that I can see how close I am to my goals throughout the workout, I feel extra motivated to push myself farther and farther.

And pushing myself was the theme of my Friday workout. For the treadmill block, we had some distance races. The first and last 7 minutes of the treadmill block were for distance. The first 7 minutes, I got to .401 miles. My goal was .4 miles, so getting that little extra was super motivating. When we had the next 7 minute race, I made myself go even faster than last time (so much easier to do that on a treadmill where it forces me to go faster if I increase the speed on the machine).

Going faster (and at 6% incline instead of 3% which is the norm), was painful at times, but all I really wanted to do is to go for the full 7 minutes without taking a break. And somehow, I managed to do that.

When I looked at the treadmill to see how far I went, I was in shock.

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That’s so much better than the first time, and I was exhausted this time from doing the first 7 minute race and the intervals we had between the 2 races.

Honestly, the rest of my workout after that was a bit of a blur. It was a blur of pain and happiness that I was able to go so much farther than I ever expected.

This coming week, I’m going to be calling Kaiser to try to get an appointment with a potential hip surgeon. I know what my old surgeon had as a plan for me, but since he isn’t at Kaiser anymore and that plan was created almost 8 years ago, I want to know what else is possible for me. My goal is to find a way to be able to walk faster without pain and to perhaps find more ways to delay the 3 surgeries that I was told that I need. Seeing how far I can push myself when I’m in pain in a workout has really motivated me to work with a new doctor to make my future workouts even better.

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

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Be Bold (or My Word For 2015)

Posted on January 9, 2015 | 3 comments

I’ve seen several other bloggers do a post for their word of the year. I didn’t think much about it at first, but then I noticed more and more people doing it. So I thought about it for a while and decided to have a word for 2015.

And this is what I came up with.

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My word for 2015 is bold. Or more specifically, be bold.

I’ve never been a shy person, but I’ve noticed that I’ve been quieting myself down lately. I didn’t want to be seen as aggressive, boasting, or bragging. But then I realized that all the things I was scared of sharing were positive changes that I’ve made in my life.

I should be embarrassed or ashamed to share my workout or food successes. When I have a great audition or book something, I want to do it without worrying that people are thinking I’m full of myself.

But my fears of sharing things really doesn’t have to do anything with anyone else. It was my fear of how others would perceive me.

But in the second half of 2014, I started to be more vocal about the things that are going well in my life. And I realized that not only were people not annoyed by them, they liked to see them! I’m still shocked every time that someone tells me how much they love reading my workout recaps or seeing my photos after I finished a crazy workout.

Now that I’m more comfortable being bold in my personal life, I’m trying to take this philosophy to my professional life. For so long I’ve seen friends put together amazing projects that I’d love to be a part of. But I always figured that if they wanted me to be a part of it, they’d ask me. But if I don’t ask, how would they know that I’m interested?

This really doesn’t count for major network shows (unless I hang out socially with the casting director for that show and even then it would be a little weird). But for friends who are putting together their own web series or movies, there’s nothing wrong with asking them privately if there are any parts in their project that I would be right for and I could come in and audition for.

I’m still a little scared to approach people about projects I want to be a part of, but that’s what I’m working toward this year.

Since I spend probably too much time at my computer (especially since that’s where I work from for my day job), I decided to change the background of my desktop from my favorite picture from Lake Tahoe to something that will remind me of my word of the year.

Screen Shot 2015-01-08 at 9.22.46 PM

You can see that my neat freak and OCD tendencies even manifest on my computer desktop. It’s actually messier than I’d rather have it.

I know that I set goals as well, but I feel like this is more like a theme for the year instead of specific goals.

Do any of you have a word for the year? I’d love to hear what your words are and why you felt like they were the right choice for 2015!

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Default ThumbnailWas I Bold? (or Recapping How I Did With My Word Of The Year) Default ThumbnailMy Word For 2018 (or Time To Be Fearless) Default Thumbnail2015 Recap (or How I Did On My Goals) Default ThumbnailWhat I Plan To Do This Year (or 2015 Goals) Default ThumbnailMy Word Of 2016 (or I’m Going To Be Strong) Default ThumbnailMaking My Acting Bold (or Feeling Great From An Audition)

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A Full Friend Day (or Cheesecake For Lunch And Drinks For Dinner)

Posted on January 6, 2015 | 1 comment

This past Saturday was full of hangouts with my friends. I had my usual morning shift at work, but after that was done, I was off to The Grove to hang out with my birthday twin Joanna!

It was time for our tradition of going to The Cheesecake Factory for cheesecake around the holidays. We knew that we would have to wait until after New Year’s for this hangout, but I was fine with waiting.

While eating at The Cheesecake Factory could be a crazy calorie fest, I had worked out hard during the week and I knew that this meal was going to be the main meal for my day. I got to the restaurant first, so I put our names down and waited for our table. Joanna got there and moments later our table was ready. Good thing because we were both ready to eat!

Because I knew that the cheesecake was going to be extremely high in calories, I ordered my meal off of their low-calorie menu. I chose a salad that was under 600 calories for this entire plate!

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It was pretty delicious and I will probably order it again for future cheesecake hangouts.

Then it was time for what we came to The Cheesecake Factory for! The cheesecake! We decided that we would get 2 different cheesecake slices and then each take half of each slice. We decided on red velvet and tiramisu cheesecake.

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Neither of us finished our cheesecakes, but they were so rich that I don’t know if there was any way to do that unless we didn’t eat a meal first.

I was so full when we left, but I was so happy!

Then, a few hours later my friend AJ was doing a hangout in downtown LA. I hadn’t seen AJ since Krystle and I saw him in “Heathers” so I was super excited to see him again! The hangout was at the Yard House and it was very chill. There were about 8 of us and it was just a nice relaxing meal. I got a Dirty Shirley and had some dinner (I needed something to eat so I could feel safe to drive after having a drink).

Of course, AJ and I had to get a picture together!

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It was so great to see AJ again. He should be back in LA to visit soon and I’m hoping to make it out to New York in the fall.

Overall, my Saturday was the ultimate cheat day (my stomach actually hurt on Sunday from all the delicious food) and the best friend hangout day! Another great start to the new year!

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