Author Archives: Becki

by | August 15, 2010 · 8:19 am

Summer Filming: Day 1

     Tired. So tired. I went to bed around 11pm last night, and woke up at 5am this morning to get to set. I set up all my Monsta stuff so I could wake, blend and go, but that didn’t happen. Breakfast was a banana and a big mug of coffee on the road.

I arrived to set, which was cloaked in thick fog and wonderfully chilly.
I gulped down another cup of coffee and ate an Oats ‘N Honey bar while getting my makeup DID.
     We shot the master of one of the first scenes as well as a few close-ups which took a few hours, then broke for lunch.
Yay, catering! Thanks Jenny (our amazing producer)!
Check out how artsy this photo is! Oh yeah, I’m that good. I had a spinach and strawberry salad, a small scoop of chicken divan and a big old slice of garlic bread. Then I had another big old slice of garlic bread.
Hi-jinks were had. I took a walk around the park and checked out some of the trails.
We shot at O’Neill Regional Park in Trabuco Canyon. For those of you who don’t know, that’s FAR. I’m down in Orange for the remainder of the weekend.
Lots of gorgeous trails and buildings to see.
The interior of that car was HOT! Our awesome co-star/stunt driver Jordan kept stalling the stick shift. It was pretty epic – but to be fair, he did learn to use a stick over the course of 15 minutes this very morning!
Cookies were had. Multiple cookies.
     Now I’m chilling in my room, realizing that I didn’t have dinner and I’m pretty frikkin’ hungry, but too tired to go out and eat. I think tomorrey I’ll be raiding the craft services table for the first few hours. Now I’m going to go pass out! Call time for tomorrow (yes, we’re shooting on a Sunday :-/) is 7am. I will most definitely be sleeping on set, and taking pictures of co-stars. 
When’s the last time you spent an entire Saturday in a national park?
🙂

4 Comments

Filed under banana, Chicken Divan, coffee, cookies, filming, set, short film, stick shift

by | August 14, 2010 · 8:18 am

Here and Now

     Exercise of the day: Squatting down, lifting heavy boxes, and speed walking at work. That counts!

     I have nothing to enthrall you with for today. My camera was kidnapped by my roommate for the day, and nothing out of the ordinary happened except for a lovely visit from my mum who took me to a wonderful lunch at Lazy Dog Cafe. Thanks, mom!!! I had half of the chicken walnut salad sandwich and a cup of the tortilla soup.

     This is my here. This is my now.

Paul Newman’s Cabernet Sauvignon and a script.
Side note: Paul Newman is one of my all-time favorite actors. And those EYES!!!
     Tomorrey begins day one of eight on set of the short film I’m starring in. I’ll be leaving the house at 5:30am tomorrow morning with a large mug of coffee and a Monster on hand! Right now I’m running laundry, charging cell phones and cameras, and packing up my car for the long haul. The next time I’ll be home will be Monday night (if I’m lucky), but I’ll have all my blogging materials with me to do some quick posts, if nothing else.
     I’ll also be tweeting from set! Follow me here!
Happy weekend!

2 Comments

Filed under Lazy Dog Cafe, Paul Newman, red wine, script, short film

by | August 13, 2010 · 9:39 am

Kale Chips and Dance Battles!

     Exercise of the day: An hour-long hike through the woods!

It was a beautiful day! The hike consisted of LOTS of steep inclines, and halfway through, I was limping on account of my screwed-up knee. I finished, but hopefully I’ll be fully healed soon enough so I can pick up the pace!
     The day started with a big Monsta, of course.
5+1/3 cups of spinach, 3/4 of a cup of soymilk, 2/3 of a banana, 1/4 of a cup of frozen strawberries, 1/4 of a cup of frozen blueberries and the juice of half a lemon.
     After we got back from the hike, I threw together a KSS for lunch.
1/2 of a bag of chopped lettuce, 2/3 of a chopped and sauteed zucchini, 1/2 of a cup of warmed lentils and 1/2 of a container of egg white salad.
     It was an itty-bitty salad. Something else was needed to satiate my stomach.
YEP! That ought to do it! A small Tutti Frutti with a scoop of peanut butter cups on top.
     I picked up a bunch of kale from the grocery store so I could finally try some of those Kale Chips that everyone’s been talking about in the blogosphere. I started with 8 gigantic kale leaves which I rinsed, tore into small pieces, then sprayed with a little olive oil and sprinkled lightly with salt and pepper and baked at 350F for about 18 minutes.
Before…
 And after. They shrunk to 1/3 of their size! These are very interesting: wafer thin and they melt in your mouth, but have a very spicy bite to them! Also, they smelled like broccoli while they were cooking – kind of disconcerting. Not sure if I’ll make these again.
     Next up: happy-hour at JJ Brewsky’s in Camarillo and Step Up 3D!!! Win-win-win!
Too much to choose from! And this is just the appetizer list…
Beer for him (that’s not a shot next to the Guinness, that’s a sample of their other beers that he was deciding between).
Vino for me! You didn’t think I’d stick to my no-beer-for-August rule, did you? This was a fruity, smooth Merlot. De-lish!
For fooding we split the ahi tuna appetizer…
and a California avocado-bacon burger with sweet potato fries.
I finished my half. I’m not sorry.
     We had to stock up on candy before we hit the theaters to avoid the overpriced stuffs, so we hit up the local RocketFizz – a retro-vintage candy shop.
This place has tons of old-fashioned and new candy, as well as over 700 different types of soda!
They also have some amazing gifts. I almost forwent the candy for these. Almost.
     MOVIE TIME!!!!! We got to the theatre a little early to avoid crowds, and were welcomed by this sight:
It was PACKED!
3D glasses on! Woohoo!
     Overall thoughts on the movie: Meh. The dances are amazing, but the movie was completely geared towards the 3D aspect. There was a lot of dancers thrown towards the camera, water being kicked towards the audience and Slurpees sailing towards the camera in the sky. There was nothing memorable to me, even though the effects were awesome. They should have gotten rid of the whole “story-line” they were trying to make, and just added more dancing! I guess movies in theatres just aren’t my thing.
Anyone want to go find a dance battle with me? Or make kale chips. Whichever…

4 Comments

Filed under green monster, Guinness, hike, JJ Brewsky's, kale chips, Merlot, Step Up 3D

by | August 12, 2010 · 9:25 am

Monster From Heaven!!!

     Josephine is awesome. She is my bestest friend ever, and I can see a long friendship extending from our short period of time knowing each other. She’s also a magician. She turned this:

1.5 cups of soymilk, 8 cups of spinach, 1/2 of a cup of frozen strawberries, and 2 bananas…
INTO THIS!!! MAGIC!
This was the smoothest, most velvety drink I’ve ever had! I might change the name to Green Velvet. There were no chunks and no chewing! MAGIC!
     After having my amazing, magical, velvety Monsta created by Josephine, our Vitamix (yes, I have named, and laid claim to part of it/her), my roommate cooked up something I haven’t had in a loooong time!
A breakfast scramble with eggs, zucchini, orange bell peppers and LOTS of jalapeño sauce!
     I spent the entire day chopping up an ugly men’s polo shirt (the shirt was ugly, there wasn’t an ugly man) and sewing it into a cute, fitted little v-neck. I had to wear this ridiculous shirt for work, and wouldn’t have been able to show my face in public if I’d worn it as it was. Pictures will come tomorrey!
     I was able to find some time within all my creativity to go get some frozen yogurt with the roommate.
I had a blend of chocolate, birthday cake, and cookies n cream with a small spoonful of peanut butter cups on top from Tutti Frutti.
     Unfortunately I had a random work schedule today, and had to leave the house around 4:30pm. I wasn’t very hungry after my fro-yo but knew that I had to eat something, so I threw together some whole grains and protein.
Multigrain and flaxseed crackers with a little peanut butter, coconut butter (homemade, thank you very much), and banana slices. It did the trick.
     I lasted about two hours at work before my stomach started grumbling, so I made a quick stop to Paciugo for a child size gelato – brown sugar waffle cone and amaretto chocolate chip. After many compliments on my lovely revamped shirt, I headed home to a glass of “red wine” and some Food Network. Tomorrow is yet another day off for me and will involve a brewpub and a viewing of “Step Up 3D“. It’s gonna be an amazing day!
What arts/crafts have you completed that you’re most proud of? Let’s see some pictures!!!

5 Comments

Filed under breakfast scramble, coconut butter, green monster, Josephine, Paciugo, tutti frutti, Vitamix

by | August 11, 2010 · 9:45 am

Covered in Clay!

      It was a wonderful, WONDERFUL day! I really can never complain on my days off, but today was exceptional. I started off with a Monsta!

5 cups of spinach, 2/3 of a cup of unsweetened soymilk, 1/3 of a small banana, 1/8 of a cup of frozen blueberries, 1/4 of a cup of frozen strawberries, and the juice of 1/2 of a lemon.
     After finishing off my Monsta and a few cups of coffee, my cousin/friend Allie came over for our day out on the town! The first stop was to visit the love of our life…
INDIAN FOOD!!! IN VENTURA!!! There was a buffet today, so I filled up this plate, and then… stopped. I could have gone back for more, but I didn’t, and that’s saying something!
     Afterwards, we headed to my favorite chocolate shop, Trufflehound’s.
You can watch them make the chocolates as you peruse their gigantic selection.
     Allie and I parted ways after our amazing day of foods and ocean views in Ventura, and I headed over to meet up with my mom and head off to our pottery class! 
I am completely enamored with this yard!
Grapes STRAIGHT FROM THE VINE in their yard!!! These were wonderfully delicate and sweet. I want to grow my own!
     Our teacher’s hubby brought in an array of snacks for the class.
Delicious lemon bundt cake from Costco! I didn’t have ANY!
And by not having any, I mean I only had half of one of those huge hunks. YUM.
     Tonight we trimmed the feet of our bowls and wrote our initials. Well, we were SUPPOSED to write our initials…
WOOHOO!!!! HikeBikeEat 2010, bay-bee!
My mom was bad-ass and went for the red clay that beginner and intermediate potters are scared of. She kicked its ass and made an awesome bowl!
     We headed home, covered in clay, mud and dust (and by we, I mean me. My mom stays entirely spotless somehow, even with the red clay!) and opened up something amazing that my parental unit caved and bought after I’d talked them deaf about it. That sentence was too rambling to understand, but look at this picture and drool your cares away.
OH MY GEEZ, NO WAY, THEY DIDN’T, DID THEY? COULD THEY? THEY DID!!!!!
They bought a Vitamix! I’m so happy/excited/jealous/FREAKING OUT!!!! Tomorrow’s day of food will be Vita-EPIC!
     Pardon me for now: I’m going to sip my “red wine“, flip through the Vitamix cookbook, and then attempt to sleep while tossing and turning like it’s Christmas Eve, waiting to use “Josephine” (we have officially named the Vitamix after a lovely character played by Lena Olin in the movie Chocolat). Side note: Lena Olin is my hero! She is amazing!

Who’s your favorite actor/actress?

4 Comments

Filed under bundt cake, Chocolate, grapevines, green monster, Indian Food, Mom, Pottery class, red wine, Vitamix

by | August 10, 2010 · 7:50 am

Death by Cheese!

     Our neighbor took a trip to Reno, Nevada, and brought back a gift last night for watching over her house.

Cheese bread. Our neighbor is evil… and so wonderful!
     I seriously ate about 1/3 of the entire loaf, then spent the rest of the night feeling like I was going to hurl. After practicing portion control all week, this was massive overload on my stomach. I woke up this morning with a greasy-cheesy-carbalicious hangover. Blah!
     Breakfast was a cleansing Monsta that made me feel all better, and then I headed to work. Coffee was desperately needed, so I headed to Nordstrom’s E-Bar to get a coffee. They have begun listing calories next to their drinks – my usual latte is 210 calories!!! Instead, I got a small brewed coffee with a little soymilk stirred in, and a Luna bar to tide me over until lunch.
“Nutz Over Chocolate” – not too sweet, with a little salty bite. Perfect for the five hour wait before lunch.
     I changed it up for lunch… well, kinda… I didn’t have sushi, does that count?
6-inch on wheat with turkey, extra spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, pepper jack cheese, a little mayo and mustard. A lot of the bread was discarded – the loaves are way too thick! Hooray for healthy Subway!
     When I got home, I poured a glass of “red wine” (Seriously, the bottle doesn’t say Zinfandel or Syrah, it just says “red wine”) from Trader Joe’s and had a KSS.
This KSS just had 1/3 of a bag of chopped baby greens, 1/3 of a chopped bell pepper, 1/3 of a container of egg white salad and a little dressing.
     It was a very healthy day! That is until…
Crap. Apparently overdosing on cheese bread last night didn’t kill my appetite for cheese and carbs. I had two slices of ham, caramelized onions and gruyere cheese tart. 
     Ah well, you can’t win them all! I don’t feel overstuffed, if that’s any consolation. Tomorrey is my day off, so I’ll be hanging with my cousin and friend Allie and doing some shopping, some eating of good foods (in controlled portions) and possibly facial-ing! We’re looking for some cheaper places in the area.

     Side note – my friend Heather has started a Green Monster mission! Heather, blog about it so we can cheer you on :)!

How do you spend your days off?

2 Comments

Filed under cheese bread, coffee, green monster, kitchen sink salad, Luna bar, Subway, wine

by | August 9, 2010 · 6:57 am

I Hate Women

     I had to work in the women’s department today, and I’ll tell you, they are VICIOUS!!! I got yelled at by a coworker who was stealing my sales and snapped at by some irritable female shoppers. I think I’ll stay in my nice quiet store with the nice, patient men.

     Today was… PANCAKE SUNDAAAAAAY!!!!!

I made Oatmeal Blueberry-Cocoa Pancakes and topped them with mashed banana instead of syrup. If you feel like something is missing, you’re right. No Green Monsta this morning! Sadness, cured by cakes of pan.
     Work was work was work was work. I dislike that building and the women in it, and I had sushi for lunch. Yep, that sums up my day.
     I got home and had some freshly-made Summer Corn, Bacon and Potato Chowder and a glass of Brochelle. According to my roommates, I am now a wine snob. Woohoo!
De-freakin-lish.
What’s your favorite healthy comfort food?

4 Comments

Filed under bacon, Brochelle, Pancake Sunday, potato chowder, summer corn, sushi, work

by | August 8, 2010 · 9:33 am

Obsessed with Lemonade!

     I had my first ever blogger meet-up today! We had ten bloggers from the LA area come together at Lemonade in West Hollywood. This restaurant is kind of a cafeteria-style place, with non-cafeteria-esque dishes (also known as delicious). Their food selection is INSANE! I looked up the menu online last night to check it out so I wouldn’t waste hours with my indecisiveness, but seeing the food up close and personal threw that out the window. Luckily, it only took me ten minutes to finally make my choice.

How the heck was I supposed to choose???
This was only half of the selection. Ready for my favorite part?
Best prices EVER. I got 1 portion (two scoops) of two different things so I could have some room for dessert and their namesake. My total cost, including drink and dessert was around $8.75.
LEMONADE! I had the hardest time deciding between these. The cashier was kind enough to give me samples of the Watermelon Rosemary and the Cucumber Mint. I went with the Watermelon Rosemary. Sweet and tangy with a warm, Christmas-y flavor from the rosemary. My mouth was confused… and thrilled. I must return to try all the flavors, and try more dishes! I may be completely obsessed…
My plate consisted of: Avocado, cherry tomatoes, and pine nut salad tossed in a lime vinaigrette, and the mission fig, arugula, and blue cheese salad tossed in a balsamic dressing. They were both delicious, but the fig and arugula salad had a little too much dressing, whereas the avocado and cherry tomato salad could have used a little more. Dessert was a mini red velvet cupcake. The frosting on this was to die for!!! The cupcake itself was a little dry and boring, but the frosting more than made up for it.
Random fact: This was the first time that Megan and I had ever tried figs! Not too shabby – light flavor, not too sweet or overpowering. The consistency will take a little getting used to in the future. Kinda slimy in my opinion.
     After everyone got their food, we all sat down and got to business photographing.
Megan from Healthy Hoggin’ and Stephanie, a reader who should start her own blog :).
Our lovely organizer Lynn from The Actor’s Diet.
From the far end forward: Ameena from Fancy That, Fancy This, Eden from Eden’s Eats, Lynn from The Actor’s Diet, Katy from Katy Eats…
Again from the far end forward: Andy and Amanda from Two Boos Who Eat, Stephanie (a reader), and Megan from Healthy Hoggin’.
     We spent about two hours stuffing ourselves and discussing blogging, food, real life outside of blogging (what’s that?), and more food. Everyone dispersed around 1pm and I headed to my car to drive to work – which I was scheduled to start at 12:45pm. Oops, my bad :).
     I had an hour and a half of training for a new product at work, and the representative brought in food from The Cheesecake Factory. There were corn dogs, deep fried artichoke hearts, deep fried mushrooms, and deep fried sweet corn that had been wrapped in dough. I was very, very thankful that I’d eaten well at the blogger meet-up, and had no temptation at all for any of this. I felt ill just looking at the layout.
    I spent the rest of the day going around to my coworkers and proclaiming about the deliciousness that is Lemonade, and then had to try to find something that sounded appealing for dinner. Nothing did after that meal, so I went and got the least unhealthy/cheapest thing I could find.
A single serving of beef with broccoli – one of their healthiest options on the menu.
Blech.
What’s the most  memorable meal you’ve had? This definitely goes in the books for one of mine – because of the food AND the company!

7 Comments

Filed under arugula, avocado, blogger meet-up, cherry tomatoes, Lemonade, mission figs, red velvet cupcake, watermelon rosemary

by | August 7, 2010 · 9:29 am

Finger Foods!

     I had a long, gimpy day at work. Seriously, I limped throughout the entire day, and was very annoying to all the people I whined to. You’re lucky you weren’t there. I was very annoying …and whiny….

     The day started off with a Monsta: Picture omitted because there are just too many, and lunch was a MSTRwBR. Again, picture omitted because of repetition. After lunch, there was a Paciugo -OMITTED BECAUSE I INHALED IT IN 36 SECONDS, AND YOU’VE SEEN TOO MANY!

     Now, here’s what you’ve all been promised with the title: Finger Food Dinner!

Chopped avocados, spicy salsa, roasted chicken, multigrain and flaxseed water crackers, a mix of jalapeno havarti cheese, smoked gouda, and mozzarella with prosciutto and basil, LOTS of romaine lettuce, and a glass (or three) of prosecco.

Three glasses of prosecco. Does this picture look straight to you?
I ate plenty, but never felt overstuffed! Yay, portion-control!

     Tomorrow will be the first blogger meet-up of my existence! I AM SO EXCITED THAT I CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF!!! And then I have to have a full shift at work. The blog will be amazing, despite the 8 hours at work I have to suffer through – I will be showing up as late as possible to squeeze every second of enjoyment from the meet-up.
     I apologize for the lack of pictures, but tomorrey’s post will make up for it. PLUS more! Have a wonderful night, and a fantastic weekend!
L.A. BLOGGER MEET-UP! What’s on the schedule for your weekend??

2 Comments

Filed under blogger meet-up, gelato, green monster, Los Angeles, Paciugo, sushi

by | August 6, 2010 · 9:14 am

I Fall Down, Go Boom :(

     Twas a long, long day. All was well until I was leaving work, then I tripped and busted up my knee on the stairs, and proceeded to whimper and sniff all the way home. Now I’m blogging with a fatty ice-pack on my knee, and a small glass of red wine that my roommate poured me to help me feel better.

     I started off the day with a Monsta.

5 cups of spinach, 3/4 of a cup of unsweetened soymilk, 1/3 of a VERY ripe banana, 1/4 of a cup of frozen blueberries, a few frozen strawberries, and the juice of a lemon and a lime. The ripe banana REALLY made a difference – really cut out the spinach-y taste and sweetened it up.
     We went on another amazing hour-long hike down to the bridge and back. I LOVE HIKING!!! Afterwards, I refueled with some multigrain and flaxseed water crackers, and a few prosciutto-mozarella-basil slices.
YUM! Lots of protein and some great whole grains!
     I went to work with one goal in mind: to get a free lunch at the farmers’ market. I succeeded! Kinda…
Rainbow chard! Must try soon!
So many things I’ve never heard of!
I ran into my friend Duck-Duck and he joined me on my revolutions for samples. I made about four circles, sampling peaches, plums, sweet breads, apples, orange slices and honey. And that was lunch.
     I wasn’t very full after that lunch – surprise surprise, so I stopped by Paciugo for a child size brown-sugar-waffle-cone, and amaretto chocolate chip to get a few more calories in. As the day wound to a close, I went to Teavana and got a jasmine tea with no sweetener added, and sipped on that while reading “Nick and Norah’s Infinte Playlist” by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan: my current book–>movie. It’s actually turning out to be a good read! 
I loves me some jasmine tea!
     Then I fell. The day was ruined and now I’m going to feel sorry for myself, watch some crappy TV and keep sipping my red wine. I’ve upped my allowance to a small glass a day at most. It’s good for my health – CNN told me so.
Have you ever had a sample lunch? One of my favorites (and also unhealthiest) is Costco!

3 Comments

Filed under Costco, fall down, farmers' market, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, ouch, Paciugo, Teavana, whimper