englandsword

Wow, what a busy week! I am loving my improv class but it's been weird having a schedule! I've been doing my weight workout first thing in the morning and fitting in my cardio later in the day after my improv class. This recap will be very brief -- despite a very busy week, I'm happy with keeping up my healthy habits. I'm still fitting in my workouts and I am really enjoying the mini-meals that I announced last week I'd be trying. I think it helps me control portion size if I know that I get to eat again soon! Thursday: Weights/strength: triceps, deltoids, chest Rest day from cardio Friday: 40 minute jog Weights/strength: upper back, hamstrings, obliques stretching Saturday: 60 minute hike at Runyon Canyon Weights/strength: quads, glutes, abs stretching Sunday: 30 minute bike Rest day from weights stretching I've had something to do in the evening every day. On Thursday I went to a Miss California party with one of my roommates, who is interning for a company th...

I started my intensive at UCB (Upright Citizens Brigade)! I'll be taking improv classes there from 11-2, Tuesday through Friday for the next two weeks. My first two days have been really fun and enjoyable. I like my teacher and I'm impressed with the program and how they're easing us into it, with each lesson building on the previous one, expanding our skills instead of just throwing us into a situation and having us fail until we get it. I've been waking up and doing my strength exercises in the morning and coming home and doing my cardio after class. So far that's been working well! Last night I went to a friend's house to watch the season finale of Glee. They sent me home with some guacamole, hummus, and the last of a bag of pita chips, so I ate some of those today. I don't really think they're healthy but as a rare indulgence they are super tasty! Then when I got home my internet wasn't working, which is why I didn't post last night. Stupid T...

I wanted to focus on my 8-week recap yesterday so I didn't talk much about what I did this weekend. On Friday I went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean 4 at 9:30 in the morning. That is definitely the earliest movie I have ever seen! I went as part of the internet TV show Movie Review Round Table, so you can see the review: I hope you watch it and like it! I liked doing the review and I plan on taking part again in the future. But I did more this weekend than think about pirates. Though I spent plenty of time daydreaming about Captain Jack. Saturday was kind of a dumb and frustrating day but Sunday was fun. I went to the Studio City Farmers' Market with my new roommate. We saw pretty peas and a super weird-looking orange. Oh, and look what I saw when I was walking to Whole Foods! Hugo's Tacos is now serving vegan soft serve. I haven't tried it but I know vegan soft serve can be a bit hard to come by so if you're interested and in the area, check it out! On Sunday nigh...

Eight weeks ago (Here's my original post " Confession: I wanna get buff, " and recaps for week 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , and 5 , 6 , and 7 ) I said I wanted to get buff. I didn't really set up goals, though -- I wanted to see it more as a fact-finding mission. But now that it's been eight weeks, it seems like a good time to evaluate what I've been doing and where I want to go from here. I went through every blog post from the past eight weeks, looking through my exercise and food logs. Here's what I came up with: Week 1: 390 minutes of cardio, 6 days of weights Week 2: 480 minutes of cardio, 6 days of weights Week 3: 395 minutes of cardio, 5 days of weights Week 4: 155 minutes of cardio, 5 days of weights Week 5: 35 minutes of cardio, 4 days of weights Week 6: 275 minutes of cardio, 5 days of weights Week 7: 330 minutes of cardio, 5 days of weights Week 8: 285 minutes of cardio, 5 days of weights I have to say, I'm pretty happy with this. Week 5 was affected by ...

I mentioned that I went to the premiere party for the Diary of a Wedding Planner webseries on Tuesday. I just saw some of the professional photos, so I figured I'd do an outfit post for Fashion Friday! I wore my red Target dress that I wrote about last week and added a black studded belt, black headband, black tights, and my Franco Sarto boots. And I uploaded a couple more of our photo booth pics. We went a little photo booth crazy. What can I say? We actors are obsessed with ourselves. Today's food/exercise: Exercise: 45 minutes bike 40 minute walk/jog - I jogged to Whole Foods and walked back Weights/strength: biceps, triceps, abs stretching Food Diary: Breakfast: Cracklin' Oat Bran with almond milk Lunch: Corn chowder; 5 or 6 pieces of dehydrated tofu Dinner: Homemade soup with split peas, celery, and carrots Snack: Pumpkin smoothie Aaaaand lastly, I have a design question for all y'all. Design is related to fashion, right? So I got the proof for my book, but now I...

I've been out of the house so often that I want to make more easily transportable snacks. I love jerky so I decided to try making some tofu jerky in my dehydrator! I bought a few packages of tofu at TJ's: Sliced them up and coated them with Bragg's, ketchup, garlic powder, paprika, and a little apple cider vinegar. I let them marinate for about an hour and then dehydrated them for about eight hours. They taste delicious! But next time I'm going to slice it thinner (I didn't know how much it would shrink down - not that much, actually) and try and make it BBQ flavored. What it really tastes like, actually, is fried tofu. I would definitely recommend dehydrating your tofu instead of frying it! Exercise: Morning: 10 minutes bike, 10 minute danceathon weights/strength: hamstrings, obliques Evening: 20 minutes bike weights/strength: shadow boxing, glutes Food Diary: Breakfast: Cracklin' Oat Bran with almond milk Lunch: Corn chowder Dinner: Yesterday's split pea s...

I went to a fun party tonight! But first I spent a few hours today cooking. I made some soup and a recipe that I'll share tomorrow. The soup was just my basic carrots, celery, and yellow split pea stew. ' Then tonight I went to a premiere party for a webseries. It was fun and full of actors - including a series regular from a TV show I watch! I don't know who he knew and why he was there but nobody seemed to notice him but me. I dressed up. It's unseasonably cold in LA so I wore tights. I got a lot of compliments on the dress! Terrible flash-free picture of the party. And AWESOME picture from the photo booth! Check out the picture second from the top -- it's like an Axe commercial. Photo booths are so fun! Tomorrow I have a meeting with a potential agent. Wish me luck!

Guess where I went today? Universal Studios! As a SoCal resident, if you buy one day, you get get to come back the rest of the year. That's the Heisman pose, BTW. My lunch. JK! Shark isn't vegan! Hangin' with my buds, prepping for our space mission. Hangin' with Beetlejuice. OK, these are my actual friends. We went on the studio tour, even though I just did it a couple months ago when my brother came to visit. When I came home I ate a veggie bowl for dinner and pounded out some time on the bike. Food Diary: Breakfast: 1.5 servings edamame Lunch: Coffee with soy milk (I was at the park and didn't want to spend much money and I really wasn't hungry yet) Dinner: Broccoli slaw bowl, broccoli with corn chowder, chocolate almond milk Exercise: 20 minutes bike - high intensity intervals Weights/strength: hamstrings, glutes I'm still trying to figure out how I can safely lift weights with my wrist injury. I don't want to just focus on lower body because I don...

Seven weeks of the buff up craziness (Here's my original post " Confession: I wanna get buff, " and recaps for week 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , and 5 , and 6 ) and I'm rockin' a new accessory. Yeah. I got a push-up-inflicted injury. How cool do I feel? Haha, that's my foot in the picture! There's this bump on my hand/wrist - Gross. It hurts. Besides that, everything's still the same. I'm still working out hard and feeling and looking about the same. I do need to get a gym membership, but obviously I'm going to wait for my wrist issue to resolve itself. I am having a weird nutrition issue. I think I need to find a way to make my diet a little lower in fiber. My diet is SO high in fiber that sometimes I get tummy aches. But everything I like to eat is really high in fiber! Veggies, beans... veggies and beans... Out of curiosity I've been tracking my food the last few days. Yesterday I ate about 1500 calories and 90 grams of fiber. The day before that wa...