Luck Be A Lady

Yes, yes..... it's more about coconut oil. Poor Mark, I go on and on about it and he just laughs. I guess the guys at work are making fun of him because everything I'm making (baked goods in particular) have coconut in them now. Seriously.... I have officially gone through my first jar (from Costco - the Nutriva brand) and I think it's doing some good things. I keep reading about the health benefits and I'm sold. I have lost 3 lbs of the weight that I had regained (not nice to lose 16 and gain back 8!).  I'm not doing a lot of exercise but have started a new regimen of walking and working out again. Hopefully I can stick to this since I have a show to do in late March and I don't want to feel winded and fat onstage. One great benefit I've notice so far is that my knees are not making those creaking noises and they don't hurt going down stairs. With all this excess weight I know my knees and feet have been taking a lot of pressure and the pain was

Yes, this is a rant. I am sitting here on a semi cold day enjoying a hot chocolate at a cool coffee shop. So why the rant? I was checking emails and FB statuses (great game Seahawks!) and something struck me today. As an actor, I've been really lucky. I've had some great roles and been in some terrific shows. Lately, I've begun to realize how difficult it is to get roles as a woman reaching "middle age". I have a auditioned for a couple of things lately and not been cast (and that's okay!) and then I read an email from a man that has 3 shows lined up (overlapping) and possibly another if he gets in. I'm not mad at the actor - I'm mad that we don't do shows that feature more women since fewer men do theatre. Rejection is okay. That's a given in theatre. I just hate the unfairness of the sexes though. It's just a fact of life though and I have to deal with it. Okay. Back to my coffee shop and your regular daily programming. Go Seahaw

I feel the need to be very clear and concise this morning. I'll try not to ramble. I don't normally believe in doing resolutions because they're bound to fail for me. But this year feels different. I've undergone serious changes over the past couple of years, including turning 50 last month! Happy birthday to me! I remember thinking how old 50 was! I'm happy to say that way of thinking is so wrong! I actually feel young! And smarter! Well, maybe 'wiser' is the better word here. ;-) Okay.... I'm taking the reins on accountability. If I fail, I won't beat myself up. I'll just keep at it. After all...is it actually a competition? Nope. It's about continuing to evolve and become a better me. So here's my list: 1) Lose weight and get in shape. I am tired of feeling heavy. It's more than actual numbers - it's the way I feel. I feel sluggish and slow.  I want to feel healthy. 2) Stop taking criticisms and corrections so persona

Have you heard of Oil Pulling ? I've been reading more and more about it lately and finally convinced myself it was time to try it. I'm sitting here doing my obligatory 15 minutes of oil 'swishing' as I type this. ;-) For those of you that don't know about it, I encourage you to read about it. It's definitely got some interesting research results and after reading about how many germs live in our mouths (especially in the a.m.) I thought this might be healthful/helpful for me.  On a slight tangent (but not, actually), I am an avid Egyptologist kind of gal and having watched every NatGeo show on the topic (especially Pharaohs) and having read and read many books and finding out how dental disease basically killed one of the Pharaohs (a bad tooth sent infection/bacteria in the king's bloodstream, basically killing him) it reminded me of the proven results of oil pulling so I said 'why not?' I'm struggling with weight issues. I know I've r

Oh yeah... I forgot to say "Happy New Year" in my last post!  LOL, when I get focused on cooking I don't remember what day it is! Okay, so my husband and I were in sunny San Diego for Christmas and my wonderful sister-in-law had this caramel corn sitting in bowls with all the other assorted yummy holiday treats on her kitchen counter. Because I have braces, I typically try to avoid caramel anything so I kind of poo-pooed it and ate the fudge instead. ;-) And I didn't realize this caramel corn was HOMEMADE until I'd been there for 5 days! She asked me if I'd help her make it and being the avid home chef/cook that I am I thought why not? I wasn't going to eat any but I could enjoy the smell of caramel (one of the best things on earth!). Let me tell you something, this stuff is CRACK. Way addicting. Beyond the normal caramel corn you get, even at the county/state fair or down at the local sweet shop. Making it yourself just adds that special something. An

So I'm sure we all want to follow a recipe right to the letter...NOT. I am disappointed frequently with some 'famous' television personalities that claim they can cook and end up having shows and cookbooks. While they make millions on this mediocrity thousands of people are thinking this is 'good' food. Ugh... Well, I know that just because you're on TV it doesn't mean you have talent. I don't ever think I'd be one for the cameras but I do know what good food should taste like. I understand that some foods need to be slightly bland (especially when you have little ones!) but to put out boring and bland dishes for the masses bugs me. Kids need to taste things and make choices. It's about color and texture for them but they also need to taste. How else can they learn to like things? Okay, so I tried a pasta salad recipe from a tv show and while it was okay and fine for fussy kids it just bored me. So here's my slightly jazzed up version of