Theatrical ambition

I did something crazy today: I mailed a headshot, résumé, and cover letter to a highly renowned, incredibly awesome theatre company. I can’t believe it. I’m unlikely to hear anything ever, but I had to take a shot. You can’t win if you never try. Now I have the bug, so it’s time to start seeking new places to submit!

When was the last time you did something crazy and/or ambitious? And do you know of any professional theatre companies that accept submissions from non-Equity actors?

Oh, and here’s a crappy scan of my headshot:
Not the world’s greatest picture of me, I don’t think, but hopefully it’s not too frightening. :)

Inception

My taller half and I recently began doing video reviews of films. In case any of you are interested, here is our latest review of Inception, which we saw last night:

And in case you're curious, here is my love's take on the French film Micmacs:

And my take:

I hope you enjoy. :)

Anne Boleyn necklace

If you are my friend on Good Reads (and please become one here) or ever click over on my widget on the right, you've probably seen several Anne Boleyn and Tudor books. In fact, I have a whole category of them ("those crazy Tudors," with 11 completed in 2010 alone). Like many others, I'm sure, I got caught up in Tudor history by the Showtime series, which I added to my Netflix queue on a whim. While I enjoy the show, I was absolutely captivated by the character of Anne Boleyn. Natalie Dormer's portrayal of her remains my favorite and, I believe, the most honest. I've since watched Anne of the Thousand Days (which I also read) and The Other Boleyn Girl (which I will begrudgingly read at some point). I also read five different biographies on her as well as three novels and one book on all the queens. And my list is still growing.

So, as any good Anne fanatic and crafty chick, I decided I must possess her famous B necklace, and more importantly, I must make it myself. There are many portraits of Anna Bollina, but this one remains my favorite and the one I consider most likely to be representative of her:

See the lovely pearls and the B? Since my first name starts with a B, recreating it couldn't be more perfect. I decided to alter the color scheme lightly because I already have a string of (fake) creamy white pearls. Instead, I opted for this silvery grey color of glass pearls so they would still go with pretty much anything. Here is my attempt to copy her smile in the portrait whilst wearing the necklace:

A better shot of the entire thing:

And proof that I'm an Anne-loving goober:

I'm incredibly happy with the result. If anyone else out there is a Tudors fan -- or just wants a fancy-ish initials necklace -- I would be happy to recreate one for you. Hit me up to discuss pricing.

And if you are a Tudor-history buff, who is your favorite figure? I still have a lot of reading to do, but besides Anne, I'm intrigued by the evil Thomas Cromwell and Catherine Willoughby, Duchess of Suffolk, who married Henry VIII's best friend Charles Brandon, the Duke of Suffolk.

That fairy just keeps on dying

I’m a glutton for stress, so yes, I’m in another play this weekend! This will be my third appearance in Tinkerbell is Dead, a Theatre Pops tradition since 2004. The evening of contemporary monologues features a dozen actors each performing something two pieces. Some performances will crack you up, and others will have you reaching for the tissues. It’s a fun night not to be missed, but definitely leave the kiddos at home. Several ticketholders will also win free Tinkerbell swag. Tinkerbell is Dead…Free Beer! is a one-night-only performance beginning at 8 p.m. on Sunday, July 18. Tickets are $15. Buy ‘em online, at the box office or over the phone (918-596-7111). Don’t miss it!

Eating to Live: Tuesday, July 6

In an effort to eat and feel better, I decided to try out Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s Eat to Live plan. The creative Vegan Epicurean writes about the plan here and there, and her recipes reflect its tenets, so I decided to give it a go. I’ve been trying to incorporate the overall philosophy (basically to eat tons of raw veggies, steamed veggies, beans and fruit; some grains and nuts; and very little or no dairy, eggs, added fats and sugars) over the past couple of weeks. My mother had a health scare last week, and somehow it allowed me to convince her to give it a try. We are now doing it together – or as together as two people who lives three hours away can – so I’m giving it a bigger push. Here is my Eat to Live day of munching.

Tuesday started off with my new favorite smoothie technique:

Stacked in there, from bottom to top, you see a large handful of spinach, a banana, frozen pineapple, frozen peaches and frozen mango. Then I added the creamy liquid that makes it so much more delicious: hazelnut milk. Yum! The consistency is far better than when I make smoothies with water. I only use about 1/4 to 1/3 cup, so it doesn’t add too many calories. Plus, I am not counting calories on this diet, so woo hoo! Unpictured is the tablespoon of flaxseeds I always forget to throw in until the last second.

Beaming in all its green glory.

When I got to work, I brewed a cup of Choice Organic Moroccan Mint Green tea. I always mix in 1/2 to a full tablespoon of local, raw honey to my morning tea. It isn’t actually my favorite, and it does disobey the no-added-sugars thing, but it keeps my allergies under control. I’d rather swallow it than an antihistamine.

Then the lunchtime fairy bestowed upon me this glorious spread:

Ahhhh…I cannot even express how delicious this meal is.

The mushy mess in the bowl is red lentils cooked in garlic, a little veggie broth, a bay leaf and water. It is then topped with maitake mushrooms (from the farmers market) sautéed in veggie broth and more garlic. It tastes like heaven, seriously. The original recipe (from my beloved World Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey) called for something like 1/4 cup of olive oil for four servings. Mine has none at all, and you wouldn’t even miss it.

Maitakes = drool.

On the plate is red leaf lettuce topped with my favorite dressing (a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, a tablespoon of red wine vinegar and a healthy dose of cumin) plus a dash of balsamic vinegar. I should have added some other vegetables to the salad, but I didn’t. Oh well. It was still good.

A couple of hours later, I got fruity:

My friends the nectarine and the Cripps pink apple. (How nice that gangbangers are growing such delicious fruit these days!)

And now, let me introduce you to dinner:

Okra (from the farmers market) cooked in tomatoes, onion, garlic, oregano and veggie broth; steamed zucchini (from a friend’s garden) and purple new potatoes (farmers market) topped with Italian seasoning and nutritional yeast; and black beans. The okra recipe is from Dr. Dean Ornish’s Everyday Cooking, and it is incredibly tasty. The prep work for this dinner was minimal, just a little chopping and dicing. It all cooks pretty quickly and with little supervision. Next time around, we will drain the juice from the canned tomatoes, because the result was a bit soupy, but it sure is tasty.

Then I proceeded to make dinner for another night. I tried to use this recipe. I say tried because, while the purple hull peas are perfection, I am a pancake-flipping failure. The batter that supposedly makes 8-10 corn cakes for me made two that looked somewhat fine, two that were burnt nearly to a crisp, and a bunch of runny, blackened garbage-disposal fodder. I ate the two blackened ones, doing my best to remove the charred, cancer-causing bits. I forgot to take a picture before I'd inhaled everything, so this is what you get to see:

The not-so-hideous side.

Oh no! Someone keep the carbon away from this girl!

To be honest, they were really tasty, even with the not-at-all-like-the-picture appearance.

That was my Tuesday in food.