Category Archives: Celebrations

Happy 100th! (or Guess I Might Be A Writer)

Posted on November 30, 2012 | 1 comment

It’s my 100th blog post! I’m kind of in shock. When I started writing this, I hoped that I would love doing it and it would become a part of my day that I looked forward to, but I was not sure. Fortunately, I’m loving this!

I never really thought of myself as a writer. But I’ve always thought of a writer as a screenwriter or someone who writes books. I’m not very good at either of those. I wish I could write scripts, but there is a disconnect in my brain for writing something for visual media.

But ever since I started writing this blog, people have commented to me in person that I’m a good writer. I’ve even had a few people ask me why I’m not writing this as a book instead of a blog. Whenever I got those comments, I blew them off. I always said that I’m not a writer.

But maybe I am.

When I was at the Women in Film mentoring event this week, everyone else was introducing themselves as a hybrid (actor-writer, writer-director, producer-makeup artist). I’ve always said that I’m an actor. That’s it. Even though I produced a documentary, I don’t think of myself as a producer. That was a passion project and I’m not seeking another producing job.

But I started introducing myself as an actor-blogger at the event this week. And to my surprise, everyone seemed impressed that I write a blog. Maybe I’ve been underestimating this, but I was surprised how much people wanted to know about the blog. But I was so excited to be able to introduce myself as a hybrid that I’m proud of.

In the first 100 posts, I feel like I’ve gotten so much off my chest that I’ve been keeping secretive. Now that I don’t have to focus on hiding those parts of my life, I’ve been able to focus on moving forward and growing as a person. I feel like I am a much better me than I was 100 posts ago.

Can’t wait to see where I am after the next 100!

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff, Work

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Maybe I Should Be A Wine Drinker (or How We Spent My Grandma’s Birthday Dinner)

Posted on November 27, 2012 | Comments Off on Maybe I Should Be A Wine Drinker (or How We Spent My Grandma’s Birthday Dinner)

One of my family’s traditions at Thanksgiving is to go out for a really nice dinner for my grandma’s birthday. Her birthday falls around Thanksgiving, and we either go out the night before or the night after Thanksgiving.

This year for my grandma’s birthday, we went to Plumed Horse in downtown Saratoga. This is totally a place that I could not afford on my own (the menus didn’t have prices on it, so you know it was very expensive).

The food was unbelievably good. We could order up to 4 courses, but most of us seemed to get 3 (appetizer, entrée, dessert). But since there were 2 appetizer courses, if you hadn’t ordered something to go for that course, they brought out a treat. My first appetizer was a green salad (my choice), my second appetizer was a parmesan black pepper soufflé (their choice), my entrée was a steak, and for dessert I had the Meyer lemon soufflé. The portions were on the smaller side, so even though I felt stuffed after the meal, it wasn’t too bad.

One of the highlights of the restaurant was their wine cellar. The head waiter for our private room gave us a tour of it. There are hundreds of bottles and the floor is clear so you can see everything in the basement.

 

For the meal, we had some red and white wines for the table. I really don’t like red, so I had a little of the white. But I really wish I could have ordered one of the yummy sparkling wine bottles I had seen in the cellar.

 

It was a great evening. Almost the entire family made it (one of my cousins wasn’t able to fly in until Thanksgiving day). And I’m glad I had a super cute little black dress to wear too (I got several compliments on it).

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Food, Fun Stuff

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Thanksgiving Recap (or My Attempt At Blogging From an iPad Today)

Posted on November 23, 2012 | Comments Off on Thanksgiving Recap (or My Attempt At Blogging From an iPad Today)

First of all, if this blog looks weird, I’m blogging from an iPad. I did buy a wireless keyboard to use with it in the future (thank you Apple Store for doing Black Friday online), but for now, it’s the touchscreen and an app.

Thanksgiving was awesome. Lots of good food and fun with my family. My mom made an awesome turkey.

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Even my dog wanted to eat it.

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While we were waiting to eat, we started playing with my cousin’s kids’ sticker set. And of course, in our silliness we took pictures.

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Our table looked beautiful and I made a nice plate for myself (even though I didn’t calorie count, I don’t think I went too overboard).

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Today is another family day, and then tomorrow I’m back to LA and hopefully back on track with everything.

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Happy Thanksgiving (or Hope You Are Spending Time With Those You Love)

Posted on November 22, 2012 | Comments Off on Happy Thanksgiving (or Hope You Are Spending Time With Those You Love)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I’m at my parents’ house spending time with my family (all 4 generations of us). Yesterday, we went to my cousin’s ultrasound and found out she’s having a boy!

This is going to be a short post because I’m trying to help out with the table settings and the food.

I just wanted to say how thankful I am to have all of you reading and joining me on my journey!

Now time to google now long we need to cook the turkey! 😉

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No Stress Dinner (or Not Missing Thanksgiving Dinner Again)

Posted on November 21, 2012 | Comments Off on No Stress Dinner (or Not Missing Thanksgiving Dinner Again)

I’ve mentioned how I’ve done the UCLA RFO diet before. I actually did it two times, in 2006 and 2007. In 2006, I did it mainly because I needed a fast way to lose weight before having hip surgery. I started the diet in February and stopped in October so I could eat Thanksgiving dinner.

That Thanksgiving dinner was one of the first real meals I had after being on the RFO program. I was so nervous to eat food, so I spent about 2 months prior to the date working with a therapist on exactly what I would eat. I planned out every bite. I brought my own measuring tools (because I knew I could trust them).

And what I learned is that the meal I planned out was actually more food than I usually would have allowed myself to have. My big weakness is the stuffing, so I do have to make sure I don’t go overboard on it.

In 2007, when I did the diet again, I actually was on the diet on Thanksgiving. Everyone was enjoying the meal, and I drank a 100 calorie chocolate shake. Not so fun.

Since 2007, I really did realize that one meal will not make or break it. It’s how I react to that meal that makes the difference. If I feel like I blew it, I can’t go overboard for a month after (it’s happened), because I screwed up for one night.

So for tomorrow, I’m going to enjoy my meal. I will possibly measure out the stuffing (since it’s at my parents’ house I know I can trust their measuring devices), but I’m not going to stress over it.

Tonight is a fancy meal to celebrate my grandma’s birthday, so I know that I’ll be having 2 big meals in a row. And to keep my sanity, I am not planning on weighing myself again until the middle of next week. The combination of big meals, stress from flying, and taking my panic medications will make me take on some water weight, and I know that the number will be a “fake” number.

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Food, Tough Stuff

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Trip Prep (or Guess I’ll Find Out Who Reads My Blog Soon)

Posted on November 20, 2012 | Comments Off on Trip Prep (or Guess I’ll Find Out Who Reads My Blog Soon)

It’s almost time for my Thanksgiving trip! Thanksgiving is a big holiday for my mom’s side of the family. We all get together every year. It rotates whose house it’s at, and this year it’s at my parents’ place.

I’ve been busy getting all my clothes and stuff ready for the trip (Thanksgiving is casual but we also have a fancy dinner for my grandma’s birthday another night). I’m also helping out my mom a bit by doing the place cards, so I’m bringing those in my suitcase. And I also have Hanukkah presents for my mom, dad, brother and his fiancée (it’s cheaper than shipping it all to them).

There will be 15 members of my family over 4 generations at Thanksgiving this year. I personally thinks that’s awesome and I feel lucky that we are all able to gather every year.

I’m so excited to see my relatives. My cousin is expecting her 3rd baby and we are going to find out the gender tomorrow! My cousin’s son and I have a super special bond and I can’t wait to see him and hear all about his adventures in school. And there’s one aunt that I’m super close to (we speak every week), and I’m happy to see her in person to discuss all of our favorite TV shows.

But I’m also a little nervous this year. I know that there are some of my relatives who read this because they’ve mentioned something to me. But then there are other relatives who I have no idea if they’ve read any posts or even know that I have this blog. I have revealed things on here that I’ve never discussed with my family, and I really don’t necessarily want it brought up at dinner.

Obviously, all of my family has known for years that I have a problem with my weight, but I don’t think anyone really knew that I have an eating disorder (and have been through some treatment for it). And I can guarantee that nobody in my family outside of my parents knew that I had any credit card debit.

I don’t want Thanksgiving to be any different this year know that I’ve made this information about my life public. I’m hoping that either we will casually discuss this blog or it doesn’t come up at all.

Just want dinner to be filled with our old traditions. Which include someone making a big announcement at dinner (it’s usually my cousin announcing she’s pregnant but I wonder what it will be this year), watching a kid’s movie at some point (this year, it’s “The Brave Little Toaster”), and something making us laugh so hard that we cry.

All of us (minus my cousin John) at Thanksgiving last year.

 

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Having an Attitude of Gratitude (or What I’m Thankful For)

Posted on November 8, 2012 | Comments Off on Having an Attitude of Gratitude (or What I’m Thankful For)

On Facebook and twitter this month, people are posting one thing every day that they are grateful or thankful for. As much as I would love to put something online every day for 30 days, it’s already the 8th and I’ve never remembered to do it until after the day was over.

So instead, here’s a bunch of things that I’m grateful/thankful for in one lump post.

I’m grateful to have such an amazing family. We have 4 generations on my mom’s side and I’ll get to see almost everyone at Thanksgiving this year (this picture is from last year).

I’m grateful for having such amazing friends who love me no matter what size I am. And they are all so supportive of me in all of my endeavors.

I’m thankful that I’m able to do these things.

I’m thankful that my meals don’t look like this anymore.

I’m super thankful that I can find shoes that don’t hurt my body (these are from Easy Spirit).

I’m thankful that I’ve been able to share a passion project of mine with the world.

I’m so grateful that I have amazing agents who literally have stuck with me thick and thin and get me fun auditions and jobs (this was a PSA I did last year).

And I’m unbelievably grateful and thankful that I live somewhere so beautiful and can enjoy moments in life like this.

What are you thankful and grateful for?

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

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Sharing With The World (or The Screening Finally Happened)!

Posted on November 1, 2012 | 5 comments

Tuesday evening was the screening for “140Characters: A Documentary About Twitter” which I helped to create and produce. I was so happy to be able to share the documentary with the world! We have been working on it for so long, but it was worth it!

We screened at the Autry Screening Room, and the first thing I saw was a couple of our awesome posters.

 

I was pretty busy working at the screening, so I didn’t get a ton of pictures. It seemed like everyone liked the film. There were moments where everyone was laughing, and during the more somber parts it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

After the film, we got a nice loud round of applause. Even though I have seem our film what seems like 100s of times looking things over, it’s so different seeing it on a big screen. As soon as the opening credits came up, tears came to my eyes I because I was just so happy!

After the screening, there was a Q&A with the production team as well as the subjects. Most of the questions were focused on our subjects which included Heather Spohr of The Spohrs Are Multiplying as well as Friends of Maddie and Dave Danhi of The Grilled Cheese Truck.

We did manage to get a group photo after (sorry it’s blurry, I forgot my regular camera).

 

After the Q&A, we gathered outside for some more photos.

Here I am with the wonderful Heather Spohr (who inspired me to start this blog).

 

And here I am with fellow bloggers J and Matt Logelin.

 

There was an outing to a bar after the screening, but because I had an early day at work the next morning, I couldn’t make it.

To my readers who made it to the screening, thank you! I wish I could have chatted more with everyone there, but it was a bit crazy. And if you couldn’t make it but want to see the documentary, we are selling copies of it on our website.

Even though it was fun being behind the camera this time, I can’t wait to be in front of it again soon!

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff

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New Photo (or It Reminds Me of The Old Me)

Posted on October 29, 2012 | Comments Off on New Photo (or It Reminds Me of The Old Me)

I had my photo shoot with Joanna Brooks on Friday. I haven’t gotten all of my photos in an online proof sheet yet, but I should have that by Wednesday.

We did a lot of the shoot in her studio that she created in her garage (she has a very understanding boyfriend who gave up parking his car in there so she could make a studio), but we did go out to a freeway underpass to shoot one of the looks.

While driving back from the location to her house, Joanna let me look at some of the photos in her camera so I could see how I looked. I was scrolling through the photos when one made me stop and gasp. There was one photo that looked so much like a photo that I look when I was 100 pounds lighter. I was so surprised to see it that it almost felt like I was kicked in the stomach.

I don’t know if anyone else will see the similarity (I think it has a lot to do with my chin and shoulder positioning), but here are the two photos side by side.

 

I think that the new photo (in the green) is way better than the old photo. I look younger and fresher, which is funny since the one in the blue was taken in 2007.

Even looking at them now, I can’t help see the similarities in the photos. It’s weird. It’s almost as if there is a sign that I’m not as far from the old me as I think that I am. Even though I have a lot of weight to lose, that’s all that keeping me from getting back to the old me (although I probably won’t go back to the shorter hair for a while).

This reminder is really helping to motivate me. I haven’t been doing so great with cutting out my favorite drink, Diet Coke. I know that when I’m not drinking soda I seem to eat a bit healthier. I’m making it my goal to seriously limit my soda drinking.

But I will allow my self to possibly have a rum and Diet Coke at the after party for the “#140Characters” screening tomorrow! Tickets are still available if you’d like to come!

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

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The World Series (or I Try Not To Be The Dumb Girl Asking Questions About Sports)

Posted on October 26, 2012 | Comments Off on The World Series (or I Try Not To Be The Dumb Girl Asking Questions About Sports)

Growing up, my family was not a big sports watching family. We didn’t follow football. My mom once met Jerry Rice in the waiting area of a car dealership and chatting with him for a bit and didn’t know who he was until someone told her. We didn’t pay attention to basketball, although my first boyfriend was a huge Stanford fan and I did got to a game with him once. We went to a few Sharks games, and my dad was even at a game when they filmed “EdTV”.

But I did go to some baseball games growing up. Being from the Bay Area, we went to both Giants and A’s games. I think I went to more A’s games, but I like both teams equally.

Now that I’m in LA, I support both the Angels and Dodgers, but I like the Dodgers more. I went to one Angels game with my brother once because my roommate had some tickets he couldn’t use. But since college, I’ve tried to go to a Dodgers game each year. And I usually end up going around my birthday.

Last year, a group of friends and I went and sat in the cheap seats.

 

And in 2007, I went with a bunch of people to celebrate my friend’s birthday (whose birthday is only 3 weeks after mine). And on that occasion, my friend wanted to sit in the all you can eat seats and have all the girls wear fake mustaches.

 

I didn’t get to enjoy the all you can eat seats, because I was on the RFO diet then. But I sure did have a great time wearing a mustache all day.

I really enjoy going to baseball games, but I rarely will watch them on tv. It’s just not the same thing. And I feel like I can get away with not knowing what’s going on when I’m at the game because there’s so many distractions. When you watch on tv, your focus is on the game and I seem to not understand as much.

But I am watching now because the Giants are in the World Series. And I really want them to win! Not only because it’s a hometown team for me, but enough people in my life are rooting for the Giants and if they don’t win, I’ll have a lot of cranky people to deal with.

So far, the Giants are kicking butt! 2 wins down, and 2 to go.

And yes, I did just have to google how many games it takes to win a World Series.

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