Creative Inspiration For Your Day

Picnic at the Park

This delicious vegan friendly lunch was made possible by Whole Foods.

Vegan Update- WEEK 3

I'm on week three of my new vegan diet. I'm still going strong, and it's been a surprisingly smooth transition. Especially after doing more research. If you're interested check out the book "Eating Animals" by one of my favorite authors Jonathan Safran Foer. (He also wrote one of my favorite books "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close".)

This diet is a phenomenon for my body. I didn't think I would lose any weight this past week, but once again I lost 1-2 pounds. Besides the detox from dairy and meat, it must also have to do with cutting out white sugar. I still have a sweet tooth, but I sastisfy it with wholesome products, nothing with preservatives and instead of white sugar- cane sugar, agave, maple syrup, or brown rice syrup. And it's not that I'm losing muscle. I am getting more toned. So, yeah, besides being a plus for the environment and animals it's making me look good! And let's face it, I want a career as an actress so I have to take care of my body.

Thanks for checking in! Hope your week is going great!

Kristen Stewart, can I have your job?

No auditions this week. Boo to that. I have so much emotional and creative energy to put into a role it's ridiculous...

In the meantime, I'm living vicariously through Kristen Stewart. Yes, I'm watching New Moon. I hate to admit it, but I really like New Moon. Wasn't a fan of Twilight, but this movie I like. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I envy Kristen Stewart's role. Not that Bella Swan is my dream role, but um, it's a pretty fantastic role to get as an actress. I love the idea of being a character derived from a book. I love to read, and it would be so fun to bring a literary character to life.

Some FOOD

Vegan diet still going strong, and I am feeling really good. Lost a pound this week. And my skin is already looking better. This picture is all wrong, but these are rice crispy treats. And they are sooooo goood! I don't miss non-vegan desserts at all. These are more filling because there isn't any white sugar (eating that stuff just makes you crave it more.) There are tons of good substitutes. For this I used Brown rice syrup. So easy to make too!

This is some miso soup which I am making a staple because it is so stinking healthy. I used white miso because it's all I had at the time, but next time I'm going to use barley miso which will taste more like the miso soup I am used to.

Breakfast. Rice porridge, dried apricots, pitted dates, and walnuts. Really good. I love eating clean because now I can taste flavors so much better! It's crazy.

Week two, here we go!

Putting Yourself Out There

Audition #2. For this I had to have a British accent. I was instantly thankful for my elementary school friends and I who had an odd habit and facination of speaking in a British accent. We even went as far as 'tricking' one of our substitute teachers into thinking one of us was from The UK. Considering my elementary school is in a small town outside of Nashville, TN...I'm not sure how convincing we were.

Anyway, I was happy not to feel completely out of my league. It was just for a training video for a corporation (but, hey a job's a job this early in the game!) The director was nice, and seemed to like my performance but I was too young for the part. I kind of new that walking in. How ironic in a business where usually the younger the better! At the ripe age of 23, I was too young for the part!

But before I left he told me he wanted to contact me about another project concering my skill set (listed on my resume.) Sweet! I'm thinking maybe it's for editing?

Even though I knew more than likely I wasn't the one for this part, I forced myself to go because you really never know when or where an opportunity will arise. That's the exciting part about life (and the frustrating)... WHEN WHEN WHEN. That's always seems to be the question, right?

WHEN will I get my break?
WHEN will I meet the man/woman I want to marry?
WHEN will I have a stable career?
WHEN will I...

I'm not going to lie. Looking forward to WHEN things are more settled. I love the 20s, but seriously, how much more self discovery can one take? I'm over that! I know myself already damnit! I'm ready for the more tangible (partner, blossoming career, ect.) Mid twenties, bring me that please!

One day at a time, right?

I have digressed, but that's okay. I am going to digress one more time to say--
Go see "Remember Me" if you can. I was awestruck. I had no idea what it was really about...until the end. Tears streaming. I want to see it again now that I know the ending.

Headshot!

Now I'm audition ready!

Genesis 1:26

I was halfway finished with my cupcake when I realized I hadn't taken a picture of my first-ever-glorious-homeade-vegan dessert. YUM.

Perhaps you're wondering what really convinced me of this new (hopefully life long) diet, you can read The Kind Diet to get the details behind it, but it basically comes down to three extremely important aspects:

a. My health

b. The environment

c. Animals

I've never put a whole lot of thought behind the third factor. I love animals, but just always accepted the fact that we (our society) eats animals. While reading the book I had a bunch of lightbulb moments, and one of them being the realization that I would never be able to skin a cow or something of that nature myself. I would feel horrible doing that (this is gross, but some cows are skinned ALIVE...how awful!) So my light bulb moment was more about respecting nature and what God has blessed us with. If you refer to the Bible, God gave man reign over animals...not only animals but of the entire environment (Genesis 1:26). I don't believe he meant that power to be abused, but that's what has happened in many respects. While reading "The Kind Life" and then relating it to this particular bible verse, it really came together for me.

Day 2 of My Vegan Venture

I've been cooking up a storm these past two days. Something I've never done to this extent! And I looove it. What I really love is knowing it's healthy and not feeling guilty about it or counting calories.

Although I've made a lot, I only snapped one picture.


But this is only day two of my vegan venture so plenty more to come. I am loving this so far.

Today I made cupcakes (which I like better than any 'regular' cupcake I've had...seriously), a pressed salad, and a black bean stew with squash. The great thing is I haven't broken the bank grocery shopping!


(The picture is a collard green salad with dried cherries and pumpkin seeds. All the recipes are from Alicia Silverstone's book The Kind Diet.)

On an unrelated note...ACADEMY AWARDS TOMORROW! Always inspires me. I'm pulling for Sandra.

Wow, I think I'm Going Vegan

Okay, when I used to think of vegan I either got a mental image of a hipster kid or an extreme hippy mom (think Maggie Gyllenhaal's character in 'Away We Go'). So pretty much when I thought of vegans I thought of extremists, or just people who were trying to be trendy.

But I knew there must be some truth to it. For the past couple of years I've been flirting with the idea of a Vegan lifestyle. Every couple of months I would try some sort of vegan recipe, which I would end up really enjoying. But being a broke college student health cost more, and I wasn't ready to do my research or get serious about eating Vegan. Money was somewhat of an excuse, really I just wasn't ready for an entire change in my nutrition. It would have been so inconvenient for the lifestyle I was living.

But I'm not in college anymore. To cut to the chase, today it came together for me. I was in a bookstore, as I often do whenever I have extra time on my hands, and began to read Alicia Silverstone's "The Kind Diet".

And it clicked.

So I'm beginning this. Full force. At the first of the year I did a nutritional cleanse. Since then my diet has improved dramatically, and there has been a change in my body. For example, I don't crave sugar nearly as much as I used to. (I've even given up my once daily frappuccino habit without disdain. They just don't taste great to me anymore.) But now I know that was just a stepping stone into an even healthier lifestyle.

Now that I have this knowledge there's no way I could, in good conscience, continue my diet as is. Knowledge is power.

I'll be in the kitchen a lot this week...wish me luck, it's not my most familiar place.