Marmalade, Nature and Friends - Oh, my!

One month into 2010 and things are still going beautifully. I hope they are for you, too. I’ve been hiking almost every day this week with some friends from Cricket Feet and Bonnie Gillespie’s Class Rules/SMFA Seminar. An hour plus a day of social time in nature with other actors who don’t work with me at the bar? Hooray! That makes for a balanced and happy Jewel. We’re building friendships and having great conversation while working up a sweat. And we’re getting outside every day so we can really appreciate life in Southern California and not just life in Los Angeles. On a clear day, we can see out over the city all the way to the Pacific, and on the other side are the rolling foothills of the Santa Monica and San Bernadino Mountains. Beyond that, the peaks of the San Bernadinos are criss-crossed and swathed with lines of grey rock and ribbons of snow.

I’ve started another blog with some friends all about getting fitter by eating well. It’s called the Foxy Rabbits Club – “Eat like a rabbit, look like a fox”. If you’re looking for some tried and true low cal but full flavor recipes, look no futher than http://foxyrabbits.blogspot.com. I also started writing a web series this week. I’ve had the idea in my head for months, but it’s only been ready to come into the world and onto paper this week. More on that as it develops…

And another “Oh my god, LA is so small” story. I did a casting director workshop on Saturday with the VP of Casting at Sony. I walked into the room for my 3 min (yes, it is timed) one on one interview with her and she immediately said, “I know you… how do I know you?” I said, “Um… I don’t think we’ve met…” And then she figured out – she’d taken my yoga class at Yoga Works while I was teaching for their graduate program. Crazy! So we had a chance to talk about yoga, then life, then acting which is a great order when you’re hoping to get to know someone as a person and not just a business contact. On the business side of things, however, I had a chance to throw in part of my pitch I developed in the SMFA seminar. Over all, me acting like me, what we talked about, and her being really good at her job combined into her casting me extremely well, so I feel like she did “get me” from that short short interview. She gave me and my partner a scene from the Drew Carey show that got lots of laughs AND had some touching moments. Very fun. Then, after the workshop, I headed across the street to the dog adoption to pet four legged friends. It was so nice to have some dog time, and this adoption (Angels in Fur) was awesome – super nice volunteers and beautiful dogs, a lot of them mid-large sized which I much prefer to the shivery little ones. My friend Laura and I are thinking about volunteering with them once a month.

Oh! And I can’t believe I almost forgot this – before my workshop on Saturday, I went to a marmalade making demo! It was awesome. Kevin West of savingtheseason.com headed it up at Surfas. He demo-ed marmalade, vin de pamplemousse and then I had to leave to get to the workshop, but I think he went on to a lemon curd and… maybe one or two other things. I can’t wait to try my own!