englandsword

Today I went to my first yoga class at InYoga. I bought ten classes for $30 through a Groupon a couple of weeks ago and now that I've activated them I have four months to go to nine more classes. I think I can accomplish that. It's located on Laurel Canyon Blvd. on the southeast side of the intersection with Magnolia (5-10 minutes from my house!). The studio itself is really cute, and the people who work there are really friendly and unintimidating. They sell some yoga supplies, healthy snacks, cute eco-friendly clothes, and extras like incense in the front room. The clothes are actually really cute. I would have taken more detailed pictures but I didn't want anyone to tell me to stop. Heehee. I went for the Lo Flow class from 10:30-12. I didn't really know what to expect or how difficult it would be. I have done yoga videos for a decade (and recorded every episode of Namaste Yoga on FitTV - it's awesome!!!) but never taken a class anywhere besides the YMCA... an...

Today I feature an ode to my Matt & Nat bag. If you're familiar with vegan fashion, you know Matt and Nat . They make beautiful vegan bags of excellent quality, created with fashion, compassion, and the environment in mind. From their website: Matt & Nat products have never used animal by-products. That said, the brand is more than just vegan. It has always been a trailblazer in the environmental movement. Each product contains at least one recycled element and on average 21 plastic bottles are recycled to make linings for our bags. Matt & Nat has always been a pioneer in eco-fashion. Now, I don't pretend that these are the MOST eco-friendly bags. Those are probably made out of hemp or raffia or something. But these bags are freaking gorgeous. Just like Olsen Haus are my absolute favorite vegan shoes, Matt & Nat are my favorite vegan bags. I bought a Matt and Nat Samsara bag on sale almost two years ago and I'm so in love with it. Isn't it gorgeous? If...

I didn't post yesterday because I couldn't think of anything to say. I've been working so much on the book that my brain is kind of fried. The good news is that I've made a ton of headway - the manuscript is totally formatted and ready, including pictures, I got my ISBN number (that's the identifying number every book has, usually with the bar code on the back), and now all that's left is to find someone to review the book and supply a blurb for the cover (I did get someone cool to agree to read it, but I don't know yet if he'll like it) and get the cover designed. I'm not doing the cover design myself because I'm not an incredibly visual or artistic person and I want it to actually be good. =) Somebody took a picture of me at the LA Actor's Tweetup on Monday night: That's me and my new jacket (second from left, y'all). I've been rather boring in the health department. Eating my three-fried beans , some of this: (That would be s...

Interesting response to the NuNaturals post . I realized, since I did a two posts in a row about specific companies, I'd like to make something clear - I get nothing out of this. I'm not writing ads. I do like to give back to those who give to me, so when I win something I'm likely to post about it, but I wouldn't ever say I like something that I don't. I mentioned in my post on motorcycle boots that I ordered a pair. Well, they came in the mail! Here they are: I'll get a better picture later. The company is Ikon & Co, which I couldn't find much info about. I bought them on the sample sale site Beyond the Rack. I wouldn't really recommend buying from them, though, because they have high shipping prices, take a long time to get to you, and charge you for shipping again if you need to return them, regardless of the reason. Shopping off of Amazon or Endless is much more consumer-friendly. I went to Target yesterday to pick up some necessities and I fe...

... Stevia that doesn't taste bad! Okay, I didn't discover it. Averie did. I won her NuNaturals Stevia giveaway a couple weeks ago, and my prize came in the mail this weekend! I received liquid vanilla-flavored stevia, stevia powder packets, and baking blend that you can use like sugar. Verrry potent liquid drops. They also sent me a bunch of recipes using stevia. And some articles. So far, I've tried the drops and the packets. I performed the ultimate taste test by trying them in my coffee and was elated to find that they taste great! I've tried several brands of stevia and they always tasted off, to the point that I couldn't enjoy my coffee. And that's the entire reason I drink it. But I guess brand really does matter when it comes to stevia, because both the liquid and the powder packets tasted great in my coffee. Yay! I spent most of my weekend fervently working on my book . I can't even tell you how many hours I spent on it - maybe thirty? I got SO much...

I am so excited about my Fashion Friday post today! Incidentally - I feel like I just wrote a Fashion Friday post. Time sure is flying by. My day was very productive - I worked out, went grocery shopping, did laundry (and hung it outside to dry), studied lines for my callback tomorrow, worked for several hours on formatting my book for self-publishing like I talked about yesterday , and I did a little photo shoot with my new favorite purse! Yeah, this one. A little backstory -- the fabrication shop my best friend works for in Bloomington, Indiana has decided to expand their business and they recently started making purses designed by a local woman named Lucia Bennett. They offered to send me one for free if I would talk about it and hand out business cards. Well it turns out I don't even need to try and talk about this purse - it's a conversation piece, plain and simple. The first second I had this purse it got a comment. I opened the box, carried the bag out of my room i...

We are living in a revolutionary time. The internet and new technologies have democratized the creative industries and now anyone can make their own movie, record their own CD, or publish their own book. Several decades ago, Hollywood was ruled by the studio system. Actors were essentially owned by a studio, and groomed by them into a marketable product. The studio system is long dead but until fairly recently, movies were so expensive to make and distribution so elusive that studios still controlled the film business. But now, actors and writers and directors who are sick of waiting can gather a group of industry contacts, shoot digitally, edit on Final Cut Pro, and publish on the internet (If you've never watched a webseries, check out Somebody's Basement and introduce yourself). BTW, I filmed a role in a webseries that will be coming out soon and I'll be sure to mention it on here once it's available. Instead of shelling out thousands for studio time, bands ca...

At Trader Joe's a couple days ago I bought a jar of hearts of palm: It inspired me to create this vegan "Caprese" salad. Warning - this recipe is not supposed to taste like Caprese salad, it just looks like it. Vegan "Caprese" Salad 1 jar hearts of palm, sliced 1 container cherry or grape tomatoes, halved 1/4 cup fresh herbs 2 tbsp Orange Muscat Champagne vinegar 1/2 tsp Bragg's or sea salt 1/4 - 1/2 tsp garlic powder fresh ground black pepper to taste Slice your hearts of palm and tomatoes. Rough chop your herbs. Basil would be great, but my basil plant died so I harvested my parsley and mint instead. Mix herbs with remaining ingredients, pour over hearts of palm and tomatoes and mix well to coat. If you wanted to make this more Caprese-like, you could use some marinated tofu or cashew cheese (like the soft "cheeses" Gena makes). I used this vinegar: It was perfect but you could use another flavored vinegar, instead, if you don't have ...

I had a busy weekend! On Friday I went to my acting class, Nature Mart Bulk Bin, and then the audition where I played an Egyptian girl. It went really well and it turns out the director had seen another short film I did and that's why she called me in. Which also means she knew what I looked like already, so I didn't worry my headshot had somehow mislead her that I look more Arab than I really do! Because I was out all day I brought some snacks with me. That's the red pepper eggplant dip I bought from Trader Joe's last week. At Nature Mart I refilled my Dr. Bronner's soap and I bought a couple dry soup mixes, mostly out of curiosity. On Saturday I had a fairly important audition. I wore a skirt to celebrate the warm weather: Tan shirt with little birds on it I've had forever, $6 Plato's Closet skirt, my sparkly Converse, and tights Mom gave me for my birthday. I try not to think about my auditions too much afterward, because I have no control over what ...