Remembering to Breathe (Whole50, Day 23)

This whole week my office has been without Internet access (since late last Wednesday, actually). It's so weird to realize how much I relied on checking facts and content on the web. Urgh. Anyway I'm working this afternoon from home, so I can check the Internet and (finally) update my blog on a break like this one.

I came home early to work remotely yesterday, too; this gave me a chance to get my afternoon run in. So far I'm on track this week (it's week 7 of 9.) Tomorrow I'll do a 55-minute run (the longest I've done yet!)

Previously, the 50-minute run (last week) was the longest, but the stupid GPS on my dumb phone was acting up so it told me I ran 0.09 miles in 50 minutes. With an average speed of 12 minutes per mile. Which...which even with...that math is just creative. ._o Anyway it was disappointing not to have a reading of how far I was able to get (or an accurate idea of my speed) but I am glad I was able to keep moving for 50 whole minutes (remember, a year ago I couldn't run for 30 seconds straight!). The exertion itself is hard enough, but the breathing is what I need to work on (especially since I'm pretty sure I sound like a dying walrus to the people around me...hence, listening to loud music while I run, haha).

Food has been fine, just boring. A lot of breakfast foods, and a lot more potatoes than usual (mostly sweet potatoes, since they're easy.) I'm thinking this could infringe on weight loss, so after I've finished the last of what's left in the fridge I'll ease off on the carbohydrates and try to focus all my energy on meat, vegetables, and just some fruit, not as much as I have been doing (and also lower on the glycemic index) just to be on the safe side.

I really, really, really want to see some more pounds lost before we head to Ashland at the end of April.

In Love's Labour's Lost, my character is being designed after Posh Spice (Victoria Beckham), which makes me nervous because she wore a lot of miniskirts and spaghetti straps. Our costumer is an artist with whom I've worked before, and she's amazing...but I still want to get in a space where I'm not terrified of whatever costumes I'm assigned.

I straightened my hair today for the first time in years, and parted it in the center which I haven't done since middle school, to see how it'd look in a Posh Spice style. Geez, it's longer than I thought. I'll likely have to cut it shorter (just above my shoulders) to get the desired look, but I kind of like the change. I got some fun feedback on it today at work; people seemed shocked that I was wearing it down. Usually it's just tied up out of the way in a clip or something.

I guess that's it for now. Back to working from home. Everyone cross your fingers our office has Internet again tomorrow...I can't even imagine how expensive it is for the people at the top to have so many offices crippled by this outage.

Beware... (Whole50, Day 7)

I don't know if I remembered to announce it here, but I booked two shows with the Shakespeare in the Park folks (Silicon Valley Shakespeare) this summer!

I'll be playing the Princess of France in Love's Labour's Lost, which performs at the beginning and end of the festival (June and Sept) in San Jose and San Mateo.

I'll also be celebrating my first Shakespearean tragedy, *and* my first play in Sanborn Park (SVS's home theater) playing Portia in Julius Caesar.

I love this logo so much.

I thought The Ides of March was a nice day to share that. :-)

Food is still going ok. I forgot to wear my FitBit today and am kicking myself, but thankfully it's not a running day. Yesterday I started a new week on the 5K to 10K app, and tomorrow I'll be running again. I booked an appointment with a counselor for tomorrow night (mental health), and a dermatologist for the end of the month (skin health) as well.

I should make a "current and upcoming" projects list, until I figure out how to update my resume and IMDb page:

Current:
The Diary of Anne Frank (Margot Frank, performing April 9th and 10th)
#CompanionlessNymph18 (Mallory, airing on YouTube beginning March 16th)
NORMALPRACTICE (Mindy, released a few weeks ago, now available on YouTube)

Upcoming:
San Jose 48 Hour Film Project 2016
Love's Labour's Lost (Princess, opens June 10th)
Julius Caesar (Portia, opens July 29th)
The Country House (Susie Keegan, opens Jan 27th, 2017)
Inspecting Carol (MJ McMann, opens Nov 10th, 2017) !!!

Yeah I need to invest the time and money to build myself a website. I started one on Wix, and bought a domain name, ages ago, but it's expired now.

It's half-awesome and half-mind-boggling to have things booked that far out (20 months!) but there are still a lot of open months and spots. I'll also be auditioning for A Christmas Carol again in 2016, barring any schedule craziness. Ditto Silicon Valley Shakespeare's 2017 summer season, whatever they decide on. (I'm *still* crossing my fingers for Goodnight, Desdemona (good morning, juliet)).

Maybe by the end of 2017 I'll have hit goal weight? ... O_O is that giving myself enough time to be realistic?

And by then will I have saved up enough money for surgery to get rid of this frickin' extra skin??

Seems like this never ends.

Crazed (Whole50, Day 3)

Three days in and feeling a little more confident. I brought my running gear and am hoping to head out a little later if the rain lets up. If not...well...I may need to just head to the gym or something and run on the treadmill, which I hate, but which would be better than nothing.

I *finally* remembered to weigh in this morning. At this moment I'm two pounds heavier than I was at the end of the Mostly50, 22 days ago. (Is my math right on the days? I have no idea. Late February.)

Two pounds isn't too crazy of a gain. And for the next month and a half I'm sure I can lose a little bit more weight, although over this last year or so it's slowed down considerably. I only lost 7 lbs on the Mostly50, which was disappointing, but I knew it'd be less than I wanted since I'd gotten so sick, and I'd added honey. I knew that. ...I still don't like it.

This morning I had leftover mashed sweet potatoes, eggs, and avocado for breakfast. It really helps me to eat a big breakfast and feel full when I get to work. I don't feel more awake necessarily, but it's comforting to have a full belly and not be too tempted to clean out my snack drawer (or the vending machine...or the piles of free baked goods we have lying around.)

Last night I got to film a few episodes of this video blog on YouTube that a local filmmaker and fellow Disney fanatic created. It's been online for 7 years and the star's been doing it since she was 15(!!). Anyway it was a fun evening and I'm excited to be a (tiny) part of the show, especially since it sounds like they might have me back for follow-up episodes.

Also starring Scarlett Johansson. Haha no, not really.

My cats were assholes last night and this morning and didn't let me sleep. I feel like a total slug. But! Tonight my friend Jen and I are seeing a show so that should be fun. And then it's the weekend...right? Yes. It's Friday, right?

My brain is complete toast today, guys.

Losing My Edge (Whole50, Day 1)

So until Melissa just now asked if I was back on plan, I'd completely forgotten today was Day One. Thank goodness I remembered to make and eat a Whole30-friendly breakfast this morning of sweet potatoes, eggs, and chicken sausage. Yeesh.

Needless to say I completely forgot to weigh and measure this morning, so I'll do so tomorrow (I assume there won't be any massive changes between this morning and tomorrow, especially since I've been eating as though I was on-plan for the last week or so.) I just very much hope I haven't gained too much weight since the last Day +1.

I haven't run in over a week and I'm starting to panic. Part of it is because of the rain, part of it is because my mind is in pieces from being so busy between work, theatre, film, and regular life. If I don't run, I'll never get this freaking weight to come off. I'm thinking I need to do some research about running even when it's raining, and make sure I'm prepared, and then just do it.

I've started to get offers to work with local filmmakers, which has been completely awesome so far. I'm hoping to participate in the 48-Hour Film Project again this year. Tomorrow after work I'm filming a vlog post for a guy who's made short movies with a bunch of people I know, and he's really good. I'm a fan, so getting asked to work on one of his projects was naturally pretty kickass. Cross your fingers I don't make an epic idiot of myself (I sometimes do that).

So much going on...will post tomorrow with weight and measurement. In the meantime, day one of fifty has begun, cross your fingers I can make it to mid-April in one piece and lookin' a little better before the Ashland adventure. :-)