Tag Archives: dinner

Another Evening Of Mentees (or Advice and Socializing)

My second mentee only meeting with my Women in Film mentoring group was this past week. I offered to host again because it’s pretty convenient for me to have the meetings in my house. Plus it seems to be centrally located for the rest of the group.

Only about half of our group was able to make it, but I was still excited to catch up with those who were going to be there. I took the opportunity to use my new serving dishes I got from my grandparents and they were perfect!

New Serving Dishes

Since the group was smaller this time than in the past, we only spent about an hour catching up on the goals that we have gotten done and what our goals for our next meeting will be. It still inspires me every time when I hear what everyone else is doing with their careers. I’m so lucky that I was matched with this group who are all very motivated and are dedicated to getting as much out of this mentoring group as possible. This is exactly what I was hoping to get out of doing a second mentoring circle.

I hate that I feel like I’m trash talking my old mentoring group. I’m not. But with that group our mentors weren’t as tough on us about attending meetings and they never told us to meet on our own between the meetings with them. And the other women in the group were mostly absent from the meetings. I really only got to know 2 of the other women because they were the ones who showed up for the meetings.

After our hour of catching up, we ate some dessert and started to me less formal and more social as a group. It’s not that we haven’t been social in the past, but this time we really relaxed and started to share fun and silly stories. I got to know the ladies much better and I feel that we got to bond a bit more as a group. I’m hoping that if we try to stay to time limits with our personal catchup and goals discussion that at future mentee only meetings we can continue to be more social and not just about business. It was a really nice touch and I think that everyone else enjoyed that too.

We will have another meeting with our mentors next month (the date isn’t set yet), and I’m hoping to have fun news to update everyone with. Since everyone else always seems to have such great news and stories to tell everyone, I feel almost a bit competitive and want to have some awesome news of my own.

So I’m trying to work on my career much harder than I have in the past just so I can feel like I can keep up with everyone. But I think that is one of the reasons you get into a mentoring group like this. You get motivated by everyone else to better yourself and you have a great group to lean on and ask for help.

I’m working on some ideas about what will push me farther in my career, and I’ll be sharing one of those things with you all tomorrow!

Dinner And A Movie Night (or Another TIU Outing)

I’ve been doing more and more stuff with my friends that I’ve met through the Tone It Up community. I love that they are all like-minded women who are about getting healthy and fit but also about having fun.

A few months ago someone suggested that we should all go out to see “Pitch Perfect 2” when it comes out. I was in right away! And since it opened this past weekend, we went on Saturday evening.

So after my Saturday workout (where I worked extra hard to make sure I burned off what would be my dinner calories), I got dressed in non-workout clothes and headed out to the valley.

We decided to see the movie at the ArcLight in Sherman Oaks because they have reserved seating and it was pretty central to where all of us were coming from. And we made plans to get dinner at Public School 818 which is right across the street from the theater.

There’s actually a Public School 310 very close to my house, but I haven’t had a chance to try it yet. So I was pretty excited to go to Public School 818. Everything on the menu looked so delicious.

Public School Menu

Every time I found something that I thought I had settled on for dinner, something else caught my eye and looked delicious. Fortunately, our waiter came to get our order so I had to make a decision. I got the shrimp and grits and it was a wise choice.

Shrimp and Grits

The grits were pan seared or something so they were more like polenta, but still very yummy. It wasn’t the healthiest thing on the menu, but it was not the worst either. It was really filling and I didn’t have any wine or dessert so I’m happy about what I chose.

Then we all walked across the street to see the movie. I usually like the ArcLight, but there was some issues this time. I guess they had a technical glitch in their system and they double sold the seats in the row that I was sitting in. So my seat was gone and they didn’t know where they were going to put me. They finally got me a seat as the previews were starting and I was sitting next to the TIU friends in that row, so it all worked out. But it was still an inconvenience and made me a bit unhappy about how much I spent on the movie ticket (I’m really spoiled with all the free movies I see).

I really enjoyed “Pitch Perfect 2”. I loved the first movie and the second one was pretty great too. It was a little too gimmicky, but that didn’t ruin the movie for me. I have a feeling that I will be buying this movie on DVD or iTunes when it is available.

Of course, after the movie we had to get a group photo of us all.

TIU LA

Then we all headed back to the parking garage to get our cars. I had to be up early the next morning and several of the other girls did as well. So I headed out pretty quickly.

This hangout really made me think about how my social life has transitioned over the years. I remember when my college best friend and I ended our friendship and I was pretty socially isolated right after that. So much of my social life was with our mutual friends and my ex-friend was closer to those friends than I was. So I was left with very few friends in LA. But I’ve spent lots of time getting out of my comfort zone and meeting new people. And now I’ve got way more friends than I ever had and they all add so much to my life.

If my ex-friend and I were still friends, I don’t know if I would have had the guts to join the Tone It Up community and get as involved in it as I have. But I’m so glad that I have because I have so many wonderful women to hang out with and who support me in my journey.

Being An LA Tourist (or A Fun Saturday Night Out)

One of the reasons I missed the Festival Of Books was because I had plans on Saturday night.

I had dinner plans with some friends to celebrate a birthday. We had dinner reservations at Loteria Grill. I had never been there before, but I checked out them menu online and it looked quite yummy! And the location that we were going to was in Santa Monica, so it wasn’t too far for me to go (and there are parking structures all around that area so parking isn’t too horrible). It was actually located super close to my old day job, so I’m surprised that I had never been there before.

I ended up being the first one getting there (I knew that was going to happen), so I pursued the menu while waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. After everyone else arrived (and doing some table moving), it was time to order and have fun.

I didn’t take any pictures of the food, but I had a burrito and it was delicious! It wasn’t a crazy sized burrito (like so many places serve) so I ate it all and it was perfect! We had also ordered chips and guacamole for the table. The guacamole was really good, but the serving size was a little small so that was disappointing.

After dinner, we decided to walk around Santa Monica for a bit. I love how they have the twinkle lights on the trees at 3rd Street Promenade up all year round! It makes it look festive all the time.

3rd Street

We then decided to walk down to the pier. It’s not too long of a walk and I was happy to add more steps to my steps for the day. The pier was pretty crowded and there were a lot of street performers there. But it’s still fun to get to be out by the ocean.

Santa Monica Pier

We thought about going on to the ferris wheel (I’ve never done it and have always wanted to), but the line for tickets was crazy long and the ride would have cost $8. So we settled on watching it light up over the water instead.

Santa Monica Ferris Wheel

We headed back before it got too late. The crowds were a bit overwhelming and it was starting to get a bit cold. I actually had forgotten my jacket at home so while we were at dinner I went across the way to Old Navy to buy a new hoodie (which will now live in my car as an emergency hoodie).

I don’t do a ton of touristy things in LA. It’s usually very crowded, there are people trying to sell you things or get you to pay them for something, and many touristy things aren’t that interesting to me. But the pier is something that I still love and am willing to play tourist for.

Happy Hour Inspiration (or Just Having Fun After Work)

It’s been a while since I had a happy hour outing with my friend Rayshell, so I’m glad that we got to do one this week. We met at Westside Tavern which is pretty close to my house. The last time I was there was with my parents, so I was happy to go back.

As always, it was fun to catch up with Rayshell. We’ve both had some big things happening in our lives and sometimes just seeing news on social media isn’t enough.

We talked about my grandpa some as well as my workouts and new medication. And she talked about some stuff going on in her life like her acting career.

While we were talking about our acting careers, Rayshell said something to me that really inspired me. There’s something that we are hoping to do. And while I can’t share much now, I think that we are getting some really great people interested in this and hopefully our idea will become a reality soon.

I love that just hanging out with a friend and talking about life can inspire something so big in my head. The rest of the dinner, we just talked about this idea and it kind of revitalized me after a kind of crazy day at my day job (it was a day where all the customers were asking questions that either I didn’t know the answers to or could only be answered by the producers at each location).

It was also nice to have something fun in my day when things have been stressful for about 2 weeks. Besides everything with my grandpa, I’m still worried about my grandma and that hasn’t been resolved yet (and probably won’t be for another month or two). Even though it’s important to focus on family and make sure that everyone is taken care of, I need to remember to take time out for myself so I don’t lose myself in worrying about everyone else.

Dinner itself was nice and relaxing. I had been careful what I ate earlier in the day so I could enjoy my meal. And I did make a decent choice (there were definitely much worse entrees I could have chosen) and I enjoyed what I ate. Having meals like this make my boring meals most of the time totally worth it. And those boring meals are necessary if I want to be able to go out for meals and not worry too much about it (although in my head I was still feeling a little guilty because I could have chosen something healthier).

Since Rayshell had to a farther drive home than I did, we didn’t stay at dinner too long. But it really was a perfect hangout to help get me out of the house and back to feeling more normal than I have been.

A Culver City Dinner (or Meeting Some Tone It Up Ladies)

I’ve been a part of the Tone It Up community for a little while. I’ve met a couple of TIU ladies through Orangetheory, but I haven’t been able to attend any of the meetups that have been going on lately. A lot of the meetups have happened either while I’m working or when I have other things that I have to go to.

So when someone mentioned online that they were new to the Culver City area and would love to do a dinner hangout, I was quick to respond that I’d love to join in!

The dinner was going to be held at The Wallace, which is only a few blocks away from my house. I was fine walking there, but I don’t walk home alone at night. So I was thinking that I would have to drive, but then one of the ladies going to dinner offered to drive me home!

Then, that morning I found out about my grandpa passing away. My first response was to want to cancel my dinner plans. But then I thought about when my mom was diagnosed with cancer. That night, I had an event to go to as well and it really did help me get through the day. So I figured I would do the same this time.

It was nice to be able to walk to dinner. It gave me time to clear my head. And it was first real walking around that I was able to get done that day (I was pretty much tied to my computer all day).

There were quite a few of us at dinner, but it was perfect! I knew a few of the ladies from before, but I got to meet a bunch of new super amazing women!

TIU CC Girls

The idea at The Wallace is that it is all small plates to share. They say maybe 2-3 plates per person. And since there were so many of us, we kind of split up into a few different groups around the table. There were 4 of us in my group who were going to share, so we checked out the menu and tried to figure out what to get for us.

The Wallace Culver City

We ended up with several plates. We got beets (which I didn’t eat because I don’t like beets), cauliflower, short rib ravioli,  and a shrimp pancake. And then the one thing that we got that I felt was mean to be was bone marrow.

Bone Marrow

I had never had bone marrow before. I never wanted to order it because if I didn’t like it, I didn’t want to be stuck with a meal I didn’t like. But my grandpa loved bone marrow. When we would go out to eat, he would always ask the waiters if there were any extra bones so he could have bone marrow. It was one of his things (like drinking martinis).

So it seemed fitting to honor my grandpa’s life by getting something that he loved so much for dinner. This particular restaurant does a very spicy topping on their bone marrow, so I didn’t love that. But it was still very delicious and made me feel like going out to dinner was the right thing to do.

Besides the yummy food, there was great conversation. There were a couple of other ladies who work in the entertainment industry, but a majority didn’t. That’s a rarity for me and I liked it. We all were chatting about various workouts that we do around town and just got to know each other.

I know that I’m really going to try to do more hangouts with the TIU group. They are all so incredible and nice and I really want to get to know those ladies more. I know that I have to miss out on a couple of different events coming up due to my schedule, but I’m really going to try to make it a priority to try to fit in one or two meetups each month with them.

Another Native Foods Dinner (or Healthy Food And Awesome Conversation)

The Inside Acting Podcast dinner at Native Foods was Wednesday night and it went great! This is where our last dinner was (and where I ended my cleanse).

I love that we are doing more gatherings as a team and with our listeners. And the fact that we had 2 hangouts in a week is super awesome!

While Native Foods isn’t where I would usually chose to go out to eat (I don’t eat soy that often and it’s a vegan restaurant so a lot of options have soy in it), but the food there is pretty awesome. And they do have a soy-free menu to look at, so I’m able to find what doesn’t have soy pretty easily.

I ended up getting the same salad I had last time (it’s super filling and the dressing is so good!), but I only ate about half of it. And that was because I was too busy chatting with everyone who was there!

It was a lot of the same people who were at the picnic, but there’s always so much to talk about every time we meet up.

A lot of the discussion was about industry news going on and it’s always great to hear what others feel about news that I have strong options on. And someone at the dinner had recently connected with Billy DaMota so we were talking about how awesome he is and how he does so much for actors.

We also chatting about recent guests that were on the podcast and the new membership program that we just launched. It’s an amazing program that allows our members to share wins, information, and events that would benefit the group. It’s like our own Facebook where we can make sure that the good things we post don’t get lost online in a newsfeed. I think that having our membership program is just going to make our community stronger and more prepared for all the opportunities that come our way.

I didn’t end up staying too late. I’m still feeling like a party pooper when I get exhausted so early. It didn’t help that on that day I got up at 6am instead of 7am (and since I go to bed at the same time every night I pretty much lost an hour of sleep). But I was there for a good couple of hours so I felt like I was able to socialize with everyone.

I’m not exactly sure when our next podcast hangout will be. But I will for sure share it on here. I’d love to have my blog world and podcast world come together!

WIF Mentee Potluck (or How Many People Can I Fit In My House)

With my new WIF Mentoring Circle, our mentors want us to meet with them every other month. For the in-between months, they want all the mentees to meet on our own. We set up our meeting when we all met for the first time, and I agreed to host.

We decided to make our meeting a potluck so everyone signed up to bring something different. Obviously I would have the plates/cups/silverware for everyone, but I also wanted to have some food. I knew that the days leading up to the meeting would be stressful, so I did some searching online for easy appetizer ideas. I ended up deciding on doing a meat and cheese plate with some crackers. And fortunately, Trader Joes has some pretty incredible things so I was able to make this pretty easily.

Meat and Cheese

I got the tray and bowls at Ross Dress For Less because I realized as I was getting ready that I have no serving platters. That tray was $6 (I’m thinking about going back to get another one) and those bowls were in a set of 4 for $7.

I spent most of my afternoon cleaning my house (doesn’t everyone do that when company comes over?) and my fellow mentees started showing up right on time at 5pm.

With all the food that everyone brought, my dining room table looked pretty full.

Food Table

We all grabbed some food and then sat in my living room area to chat.

I was pretty shocked that all 8 of us who were able to make it fit into my living room pretty easily. I’ve never had more than 5 people over but with my new couch and the rearrangement of my living room I can fit more people than before!

We all went around the group and shared what we had done since our last meeting last month. We got advice and shared stories and it was really a great evening of women who really are working hard to make it in the entertainment industry.

We ended up meeting for almost 3 hours (we might have to figure out an agenda for our next meeting so we don’t run crazy long). This mentoring circle is such a huge difference compared to my other mentoring circle. I don’t know if anyone in my last mentoring circle really met outside of our group meetings. We definitely weren’t told that we needed to do so (I like that my current mentors really want us to meet during the in-between months).

I’m excited to see how the rest of this year goes with my mentoring circle. I have my next meeting next month (that meeting is with the mentors as well). Hopefully they will have some guidance on how we can run our own meetings to maximize what we get out of it.

In the meantime, I’m just so grateful that my mentors and fellow mentees are just as enthusiastic about getting as much out of this year as I am!

Social Days Off (or Finally Seeing Some Friends)

While I did try to be social while doing the cleanse, I spent most of my free time at home. It’s not a big deal to not go out and eat (or to eat nothing at a restaurant), but I just didn’t want to have to deal with temptations.

And while I’ve had some fun social events since the cleanse, I hadn’t just spent time with my friends in a casual and chill setting. I’ve been busy with going out-of-town and then with the film festival. So this past weekend was focused on seeing my friends.

I got to hang out with my friend Rayshell on Saturday night. We hadn’t seen each other in person in a while (we’ve been missing our monthly happy hour hangouts due to our crazy schedules), so it was great to just catch up. We both said that we needed to figure out when we would start our happy hour hangouts again, but I think we probably won’t be able to do that until at least next month (by then my life might get calm again).

And on Sunday, I got to see my friend Alex! This marks 3 times in a year that I have gotten to see her (since my trip to NYC was almost exactly a year ago now). Alex is in town for work but she had some free time on Sunday to get together for dinner.

We, along with our friend Meredith, met up at a restaurant in West Hollywood (kind of in between where I live and where Meredith lives and Alex was staying). It was just a fun random dinner, and that was perfect.

I’ve missed having these casual get togethers with friends. I didn’t realize how much I missed them until this weekend. But it reminded me that I do need to take time out for my friends every once in a while. Right now it’s tough with work, but my temp job can only last another week and a half max (the event I’m calling for happens next week). Once that is done, my Tuesday and Thursday evenings will be free for social events again.

And while working on my weight loss and fitness is a super high priority in my life right now, I need to remember to take time out for my friends. I have the most incredible, strong, awesome, and inspiring friends. I’m so lucky that they have all chosen me to be their friend. And while I know that time apart isn’t going to make them stop being my friends, being around them all gives me a boost.

And the more positivity boosts that I can get in my life, the better.

Vacation From Meal Planning (or Finding It Hard To Go Back)

While on my trip, I didn’t worry too much about what I was eating. I knew I’d be drinking a lot more than usual and I didn’t want to stress about counting calories. So I pretty much just entered what I had at breakfast in MyFitnessPal so I wouldn’t lose my record of how many days in a row I’ve tracked my food.

Breakfast was pretty easy. We got a free continental breakfast at the hotel so I had hard-boiled eggs, fruit, and toast. Nothing too crazy. Lunches were pretty sensible as well. I ate more bread type items because I wanted to help soak up some of the alcohol, but the portions were pretty reasonable.

And dinners were more extravagant. We went out for nice dinners the two nights we went out and I got what I wanted without worrying about calories. I had bread at dinner, enjoyed some great pasta one night, and got to enjoy a truly incredible steak (worth the wait!).

We didn’t have dessert any nights and we did some walking each day. So by the end of my trip, while the scale was up a little it wasn’t unreasonable.

My problem has been getting back on track with my food. I have been doing so well for so long, and this week has been extremely difficult for me. I’ve eaten things that I thought I’d be able to avoid and not have as temptations in my house.

I’m not trying to make excuses for myself, but this week was a crazy week. I’m working out at weird times (or at least weird for me), I’m working as second job at night, and I’ve got the film festival I work for this weekend. So I’m not able to eat on the schedule that I’ve been doing in the past. And the stress and tiredness I’ve been dealing with lowers my willpower and doesn’t allow me to make the best choices.

This weekend is going to be pretty bad food-wise. I’m working at the festival both days this weekend from about noon until 11pm. It’s at a bar, so I will be able to order something to eat for a large lunch/dinner meal (I’m thinking about eating a later breakfast and then eating something around 4pm to be it for the day). There are ok choices at the bar, but it’s still going to be food that I didn’t prepare myself. I’m looking at their menu online to try to plan things out the best that I can, knowing that things might get crazy and plans have to be flexible.

But after this weekend, I’m really hoping to get back into the groove that I was in. The big positive I’ve been trying to remind myself is that I’ve only had about a week of slip ups and my weight is still significantly down. I didn’t wait until I gained back all the weight (or all the weight plus some), before realizing that there is a problem and trying to make a change.

Bringing More Food Back Into My Diet (or Staying Vegetarian For Now)

This past week was my first post-cleanse week. Right when I started the cleanse, my plan was to have a steak on my first post-cleanse day. I was craving meat like crazy and that seemed like a good way to celebrate doing a cleanse (and being vegan) for 28 days.

But as the days in the cleanse went on, that plan started to change. I am still in the weight loss challenge at Orangetheory (1 week left to go with that) and my need to have a steak right away went away. Plus, I’ve got an amazing trip coming up next weekend with my mom and sister-in-law and my mom made reservations at a fancy steakhouse. I’m sure that that steak will be so much better than anything that I can make, so I’m going to wait.

My first post-cleanse grocery trip was a little overwhelming. Suddenly I could get whatever I wanted. If I wanted ice cream, I could have it again. If I wanted frozen mac and cheese (one of my favorite Trader Joes splurges), I could buy it. But I tried to focus on eating similarly to the cleanse plan.

I did get some frozen turkey burgers and frozen tilapia to keep in my freezer, but right now I don’t know if I’ll be eating them anytime soon. But they seemed like good “emergency” meal things to have. But I’m pretty much vegetarian at home right now.

The main things that I brought back into my diet were eggs and dairy. I’ve been eating eggs (1 whole egg and 2 egg whites) for breakfast most days. As much as I wanted to keep just having fruit for breakfast, that never satisfied me. I need protein in the mornings. I usually scramble the eggs up with some spinach and onions and top it with a 1/4 cup of cheese (which is the actual serving size and not just me dumping some cheese on top). I also added some greek yogurt back into my diet. I love to use it instead of sour cream for baked potatoes (my mom and dad now do that too). So I had it on Saturday night with some sautéed potatoes and onions. It was so yummy!

I also had a meal out this week. When I was in San Diego, I went out for dinner. There weren’t a ton of choices on the menu that seemed like good choices and almost everything had meat on it. I’m sure I could have asked for things to be made without meat, but the menu said “no substitutions” all over it. I feel good about my choice of Huevos Rancheros, but my body did have a big jump on the scale the next day. Not being able to control the oil, seasonings, and salt is not good for me as far as losing weight.

I tried not to freak out about the weight gain. I knew it must have been from salt in the food. But I had some good clean meals the few days after and that weight gain is gone.

Clean Eating Dinner

My weight now is just under where it was at the end of the cleanse. So I’m still heading in the right direction even with the weight gain from Monday’s dinner.

I don’t know if I’ll be adding meat back into my diet this next week before my trip. I have a full day tomorrow where I won’t be home from 11am until maybe 10 or 11pm and then the next day is the Oscar party (I’m hoping that I can make good choices while I’m at the party).

But the main thing I’m doing (which is one of the lessons I learned at the end of the cleanse), is that it’s ok for me to have a treat or splurge every once in a while. It’s safer for me if those treats or splurges don’t happen in my house so that they don’t become a regular part of my diet. And when I’m not out or enjoying a treat, I need to focus on good clean foods at home. That way I can balance it all out.

It’s taken 31 years and a lot of different diets, but eating right without being super restrictive is finally making sense to me.