Juicy, Exciting, Positive Intentions for 2011

This post has been a few weeks in the making, mostly because I’ve been busy with my latest show,  doing lots of PR for Weight Watchers (appearing in the Globe and Mail, Metro and on Rogers daytime tv making baked falafels) and generally finding some calm in my chaos.

I’ve done some reflecting on my 2010 goals and despite it being a challenging year in many ways, I am really proud of all that I accomplished. Here is a recap of my goals and my current thoughts on how I fared.

• Taking care of myself by eating well, tracking, drinking tea, sleeping, practicing yoga, spending time with friends, singing, writing, dancing and working out

I would be lying if I said I found this easy to do this year. While I feel really healthy and my Crohn’s is still in check, I struggled to find balance and a happy place for myself amid everything that I do. I did spend time eating well, tracking, drinking tea, sleeping, practicing yoga, seeing friends, singing, writing, dancing and working out, but probably could have focused more on eating well, sleeping and finding balance.

• Taking advantage of my education and being an active participant in my classes

School was incredible, but after I started to become apathetic about it, decided to take some time away. I was so enthusiastic in the beginning, but realized that performing was where my heart was and decided to take some time off. This has been an amazing decision and I look forward to going back at some point to obtain my designation as a holistic nutritionist.

• Helping even more members reach their goals with Weight Watchers, including getting to Lifetime

Leading up to 10 meetings each week has been absolutely amazing and in the past 8 weeks I’ve been able to be a part of the media buzz surrounding PointsPlus. I absolutely love our new program and am so happy to have helped even more people reach their weight loss goals in 2010.

• Journaling regularly, writing a book, blogging regularly and exploring other writing opportunities

Um… didn’t really do very well on this front. I’m so happy to have had my blog as an outlet, but it took a bit of a backseat in my life. Did some journaling but like my blog posts, they were sporadic epic updates!!

• Raising a minimum $2,500 for the Toronto Heel n Wheel a Thon and continuing to raise awareness of IBD through my role as Honorary Chair and fun initiatives on the blog

I raised $3,000 for the Heel n Wheel a thon and was able to raise more awareness of IBD as Honorary Chair and through my blog.

• Giving my all in my performing career through my upcoming role in REX, getting new headshots and actively auditioning for awesome roles

I’m really happy with all the shows I did in 2010, and the realization that performing is what I want to be doing with my life right now. I had so much fun with REX, got new headshots and through some great auditions, landed some pretty awesome roles. I was inspired by many things and some delightful people and couldn’t be happier to head into 2011 with my career as a performer at the top of my priority list.

With all of that in mind, I’m sticking with my go big or go home motto for 2011:

• Perform more than ever, get an agent and get paid to do what I love
• Produce the second instalment of the Ashleyx2 cabaret
• Find peace in my body image while eating well, exercising, sleeping and taking care of me
• Travel

2010 was a year of transition and change in so many ways and I believe that everything I did set me up for success this year. I’m so excited for what is to come!! I’m kicking off the year with a great show, some delightful reading material to keep me inspired (Getting Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Diet later this week and have already started Alicia Silverstone’s Kind Diet, Meghan’s 21 Days to Health) and getting on those goals of mine. I’m also loving this quote I found the other day:

"The hardest thing in the world is convincing other people to love the same thing you do. But the fact that it's hard does not diminish your love – it must not. You go on loving that thing because, even if it's naïve, even if it's foolish, even if it's wrong, you believe in the very marrow of your bones that you will be able to convince them, eventually, some time. That certainty, that passion is too valuable to surrender in the face of resistance. You may not have convinced them yet; you will."  

~Jason Robert Brown

2011 is going to be a fantastic year. I can feel it.

Looking back on 2010, what are you proud of?
What are your goals in 2011 and how are they coming along so far?

Much Fun With Holidays & Vegetables in a Fuchsia Dress

Happy New Year!

The last couple weeks of December flew by in such a whirlwind, I can hardly believe that it’s already January 4th!

I didn’t have the crunch of Christmas parties like many people, but did have fun attending the Biz Media holiday party with the lovely Jessie.
It was a really fun night. I especially liked meeting a variety of Twitter friends and posing with the doughnut tree. And having way too much fun taking picturesOne year to the day of last year’s event, Nicole, Meghan and I had our annual holiday dinner. Despite living with Nicole and interacting with Meghan quite regularly, it is nearly impossible for the 3 of us to coordinate our schedules. I didn’t get a picture of the three of us, but I did manage to snap some of the food!

Nicole and I were a bit disorganized in planning the menu, but managed to whip something up. We started off with a delicious butternut squash soup that Nicole made. Roast a butternut squash with 2 heads of garlic. Chop and sauté one onion. Add some ginger. Once the squash is roasted, puree with the garlic, onion, ginger and however much water you need in a Vitamix. Add water to achieve your desired consistency and voila! Nicole said that sometimes she adds roasted red pepper and it is also delicious. We topped the soup with some baked squash seeds.

For our mains, we asked Meghan to bring a salad and we decided to test out a lentil dish that we found online. After adding some more garam masala and tomato paste to the dish we ending up liking it more, but I’m not sure that it was something that we would make again. Meghan brought a raw pad thai inspired salad with zucchini noodles and a creamy sauce. It was a yummy combination of flavours with lots of variety! I think dessert was everyone’s favourite. I made Michelle & Lori’s apple pie parfaits. Holy amazing!! To save on some time I used plain Coconut Bliss along with the delicious apple filling, but overall the flavour was incredible. It was so easy to make (less than 5 minutes) and easy to prep parfait style to serve to the ladies. Just awesome. I don’t think the Pure2Raw girls can go wrong!! Meghan brought Nicole and I glass straws (so perfect for those green smoothie days) and Nicole made us body butter and lip balm from Meghan’s Natural Body Care tutorial. I love my girls, so happy to have met them in Meghan’s cooking classes!

I went to Belleville for Christmas to visit my grandmother (and if you follow me on Twitter you probably caught a few tweets about my bus debacle) I brought some food with me and asked my grandmother to stock the fridge up with fruits and veggies. I ate leftover butternut squash soup, made hot cereal in the mornings, ate giant salads and snacked on fruit between meals. For Christmas dinner I made Meghan’s orange maple tempeh and used some apricot jam in place of some of the orange juice. My uncle made sure I had lots of veggies and made me a special stir fry too. So yummy!I came back to Toronto feeling rested and rejuvenated after getting lots of sleep and relaxing. Caught up with lots of friends over the holidays and rang in the New Year with Melly. Speaking of the New Year… post on goals still to come!! 

How were your holidays? Are you feeling recharged for January?

Happy Holidays–Part One

Happy Christmas Eve! Here’s my second annual holiday video (here is last year’s video!)

Part two will be next week where I will discuss the year that has passed, goals and looking ahead to 2011!! Next week I’ll also be blogging about my delicious dinner with Nicole and Meghan – along with an awesome recipe for Nicole’s butternut squash soup.

For my WW members, here’s where I will be/won’t be next week:

Saturday Dec 25 – Carrot Common is closed

Wednesday Dec 29 – Church of the Holy Trinity is closed
Thursday Dec 30 – Forest Hill Loblaws, meeting at 9:30
Friday Dec 31 – Church of the Redeemer, meeting at 9:00
Saturday Jan 1 – Carrot Common is closed

If you can’t make it to one of my meetings, check out the Weight Watchers site for other meetings that are open over the holidays.

I’m so excited to get away from the city and my busy busy schedule for a bit of a break. I’m also excited for all that is to come in 2011. Happy Christmas to those of you who are celebrating!! I hope you have a wonderful holiday and look forward to seeing you soon!

Remember That Time I used to Blog? Well, Here’s an Update…

Long time, no see.

Last week I started to repost some of my posts from Crohn’s Week last year. In the 2 years since my diagnosis, so much has changed and it was great to recount the story of my diagnosis. I started to prepare the latter half of the Crohn’s weeks posts for you, but realized that many of them were less accurate and relevant than they were this time last year so I decided against it.

I’ve been supremely busy this month and a lot of it has had to do with being in transition and making lots of changes in my life. I really thought that when I quit my job last year, I had figured out what I wanted to be doing in my life and had developed a formula for my perfect pie of life. I’ve come to realize over the course of the last year that this year was much more of a transition year than a destination than I had previously thought.

This year, I’ve had some amazing opportunities in the performing world. Through REX, my first Fringe show, the Ashley cabaret, other performances and auditions I’ve really realized that performing is what I wish I could do all the time. I feel alive onstage and nothing else fills me with the same energy, passion and love. Don’t get me wrong… Weight Watchers is still amazing and I’m having a blast leading 9 meetings a week, but it’s just not what I want to be doing forever.

This realization meant that some things in my life needed to change, so I decided to take some time off school. In my last class, I really wasn’t giving it my all and that really isn’t like me. I knew that I was going to have November off based on class availability, but after some soul searching and a lot of tears I decided that my heart really wasn’t there and the best decision would be to take some time off.

Leaving school was incredibly hard and I felt like a really big failure. I felt like I had made all of these life changes in order for me to go to school and then was going to cop out by leaving my program. I went back and forth for awhile, but knew what I needed to do after I started bawling when my grandmother asked me the question “Are you happy?” in a conversation over the phone.

Leaving school has allowed me to place greater emphasis on my performing career which has been really great. I’ve been doing lots of singing (including a performance at a celebration of Danielle’s life), enjoyed a great run of RENTand after a few auditions and callbacks, I scored the lead in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (so excited!!). I have some other auditions coming up in the next couple of weeks and am looking to sign with an agent as well. Things are really coming into place and I couldn’t be happier.

With all that has been going on, I’ve really been struggling with my eating and my weight. I’m still happily gluten free and vegan (with my Crohn’s still lying low!!), but just haven’t had the time to eat at home, prepare meals, exercise or go grocery shopping. Since getting to goal in 2007, I have comfortably maintained my weight with some ups and downs along the way. I’ve talked about maintenance as well my own struggles, feelings and emotions more than ever this year and I’ve really felt it in the last couple of months. After 2 huge breakdowns with my Weight Watchers manager and personal trainer, I finally feel like I’m in control of the situation again. The reality is that I’ve gained a few pounds and do not feel good about it. I’m eating well and exercising and feel confident that I can regain that good feeling I once had. I know that my hard work is going to pay off and I’m really excited.

I feel like blogging and blog-reading has really taken a back seat in my life and am working on making it come back! I would love to post some meals, some reviews and my thoughts on the new Weight Watchers plan (which launches in Canada next week!!) The holidays are just around the corner and I would love to do some blogging on preparing for the holidays as well. Despite not being in school, I feel like time to myself is less than ever, but am working on achieving a balance of everything.

I look back at where I was this time last year and am so amazed at all the changes that my life has undergone. I’m not exactly where I thought I would be, but I’m a much happier person, which is all that I can ask for. I’m so excited for 2011 and all of its potential!!

A Star Brighter Than The Rest

On Sunday night I ended up having an intense discussion with a friend about our shared experiences with the loss of a parent. We talked about grief and how it affected everyone differently and about how we had coped with loss following our parents' death. It was refreshing to speak with someone who could relate so closely to my own experience and felt more deeply connected to him as a result.

On Monday morning I was flooded with a wave of grief as I learned of the passing of a friend who had attended theatre school with me. I met Danielle in 2003 when I started at theatre school. I liked her instantly; she was bubbly, honest and grounded. Danielle was a talented & energetic performer who loved music and dance and wasn't afraid to take risks and give everything she had on the stage. Danielle ended up leaving our term for personal reasons at the end of first year, but re-enrolled a semester later.

It was prior to her fifth term show that Danielle was first diagnosed with leukemia. It came as a shock to everyone and her classmates surrounded her with love and light to help her persevere. Filled with positivity, hope, and being the spunky fighter she was, she kicked the leukemia in the ass, regained much of her health and re-enrolled in school as soon as she could to finish her studies. She graduated alongside her new class and was truly an inspiration to everyone.

Then Danielle got sick again.

Never a quitter, Danielle maintained an optimistic attitude and continued to amaze and inspire all of us with her courageous spirit. A bone marrow transplant was going to save Danielle's life and a wave of relief spread across our community when a match was found. We were confident that this was the end of the unnecessary fighting and that beautiful Danielle was going to be able to move forward with her life and career as a dynamic performer.

The last time I saw Danielle was in August at a dear friend's surprise birthday party. She looked so happy and beautiful and was bursting at the seams with love for life. We talked about the classes she was getting back into, the new headshots she was going to take. She was incredibly enthusiastic about the Ashleyx2 cabaret and said she couldn't wait to be there and that she felt inspired by us and all that we were doing. I gave her a big hug when she was leaving and told her how much I was looking forward to seeing her new headshots and having her at the show.

It was soon after I saw her, that Danielle got sick again. She was always updating her facebook with her progress and I noticed over the last couple weeks that those updates had ceased. More messages were showing up on her wall to keep fighting and on Friday I was chatting with a friend about the situation who told me that while she was in a coma she was doing better every day.

On my way to school on Monday morning I received a text message from my best friend to tell me that Danielle had passed away. I was shocked and incredibly sad. It didn’t even make sense to me. Monday was a very sad day, but also really beautiful in the way that our whole school community came together to share love, hugs, and beautiful memories of our gorgeous friend who had touched our lives so deeply.

In my WW meetings this week I’m talking about the importance of celebrating and positivity in one’s weight loss journey and have shared the following quote to end off each meeting: Danielle embodied positivity, light, energy and love with every ounce of her being. She touched so many lives in her short time on earth and I know that it was as a result of her uplifting, courageous and determined spirit. She was one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting and we will all carry her positivity and enthusiasm for life with me forever, and I encourage you to do the same. Her approach to life really helps to put things into perspective. I am thankful for the friendship that we had and feel blessed to have known such an incredible woman. “Everywhere I go, every smile I see, I know you are there smiling back at me, dancing in the moonlight, I know you are free cuz I can see your star shining down on me”

~Janet Jackson, Together Again

Expressing My Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians! I hope you had a great weekend with your family and friends and were able to find time to enjoy the gorgeous weather and beautiful colours of the leaves that have been changing rapidly over the last few weeks. I had a wonderful weekend and was reminded of all the fantastic things in my life that I have to be thankful for. While different than last year’s list in some ways, many of the elements remain constant.

I am thankful for my beautiful friends and family with whom I had the pleasure of spending a lot of quality time with this weekend. I neglected to take a ton of pictures of my beautiful walk through our neighbourhood with Nicole (my new roommate!), but managed to snap a photo of our delicious almond chai lattes from Broadview Espresso. On Friday I enjoyed a delicious lunch at Fresh with a delightful friend and then spent the afternoon basking in the sunshine on the U of T campus. [insert giddy Ashley here]Friday night also marked the first of two shows I saw this weekend, fuelling another one of the things that I’m thankful for this year: performing and being inspired. I’ve been so lucky this year to be a part of some amazing shows and it’s absolutely wonderful to go see other talented folks onstage and feel inspired. Ashley and I had the pleasure of seeing [title of show] at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. I’m so sad that it has since closed, because I would tell all of you to go see it. It was smart, hilarious and brilliantly performed and both Ashley and I left the theatre feeling inspired. I laughed my face off, left humming the songs and plan to adopt the song Die Vampire, Die! as my new theme song when I’m feeling insecure. I loved the show and was so thrilled that I had the chance to see it.

The Ashleyx2 adventures continued with a matinee of Banana Shpeel on Saturday.

We had a lot of fun at the show. The sets, costumes and lighting were breathtaking, the featured performers were ridiculously talented and the ensemble were awesome too. We had fabulous seats and truly enjoyed ourselves. Cirque du Soleil is pretty amazing…

Both shows left me wanting more and feeling inspired to come home and work on my own art. I want to be performing more and more these days and I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many talented people to influence my art.

It goes without saying that I’m thankful for my health, and one of the reasons for the way that I feel is how I eat! Gluten-free vegan living is so normal to me now and I was thankful to enjoy some delightful fall/Thanksgiving inspired treats this weekend including Fitnessista pumpkin chocolate chip muffins Snobby joe lentils stuffed into acorn squashand my weekend pride and joy – a gluten free vegan apple pie!I’ve never made a pie crust before, so it was pretty exciting that my first one was actually gluten free and vegan! As usual, Meghan’s recipe rocked and the crust was super easy to make. I made the apple filling from 2 lbs of peeled & diced apples (Granny smith/Pink lady combo), cinnamon and agave. It was delicious!! I had so much fun baking, eating and sharing it – I felt so domestic and the house smelled amazing.

It was such a great weekend and demonstrated that I have a lot to be thankful for on top of a pretty amazing year… what are you thankful for?

I Can’t Remain Quiet (Video of the Cabaret Included)

It started with a text message…

Ashley and I had been talking about putting on a cabaret for a few months and an innocent text message that I sent to her that read “I guess there’s just something about Ashley” became the catalyst for our show. It was that text that catapulted us into action and the planning began. Ashley and I have been friends since our musical theatre school days, but became really close after running into one another on the subway a few years ago. We have since worked on two shows together and have become one another’s confidantes in life, but especially in our performing careers. We started planning our show extensively while on vacation together this summer. We came back with two very long to-do lists, song ideas and some great story-telling material for the cabaret itself and got moving. We started working with our pianist extensively in September and worked our butts off to get the show together.

There’s a lot of amazing contemporary musical theatre out there that Ash and I were dying to sing. Composers like Kerrigan & Lowdermilk, Scott Alan, Jonathan Reid Gealt, and Kooman & Dimond are making beautiful music and telling amazing stories that need to be told and we were thrilled to have the platform to do just that. It was so fun to put together our set list with songs that showcased our voices and personalities, but also told the story of what it’s like to be an Ashley. This year has provided me with some pretty exciting performance opportunities. I didn’t think I could top the high that I had reached after meeting Sheldon Harnick whilst doing REX in Feburary or the experience of my first Fringe this summer, but putting together our cabaret was absolutely phenomenal. I felt so inspired, every single day, and it absolutely solidified my love for performing and being onstage.

Last Thursday I practically jumped out of bed, ready for our big day. After one final rehearsal we prepared to hit the stage. I was giddy.

We hit the stage and it was magical. We had a great audience of people from many different parts of our lives who were incredibly appreciative of all that we did. Ash and I had planned some little bits of banter which flowed smoothly (much to the audience’s delight) and our songs and harmonies were totally there. I left the stage at the end of the show on a total high. I was so proud of the work I had put out which was reciprocated by the audience’s reaction. The show was followed by a pretty amazing after party and I had a wonderful night mingling with our friends and supporters while dancing and indulging in the Ashleyx2 drink special. I left the party feeling excited, proud, giddy and most of all INSPIRED. The show reiterated for me that I need to be performing and often. So I’m working to make that happen.

In the meantime here’s a video of me singing “Quiet” by Jonathan Reid Gealt at the show.

It’s funny because I originally chose this song just because I loved it; It sat nicely in my voice, the lyrics were great and it fit right into the show. But once we got into rehearsals, the sentiment of the song started to resonate in various areas of my life and by the time I sang it on Thursday it had taken on a whole new meaning. Amazing.

I’m so thankful to have had such an incredible opportunity to perform so beautiful material with one of my favourite people. The show has left me feeling so inspired to perform and put myself out there and for the first time since musical theatre school, I truly feel ready to do so. Thank you to everyone who came and watched… and if you missed it, I’m sure it won’t be the last! I’m excited to see what opportunities the future brings…

There’s Just Something About Ashley

This week is epic and I’m absolutely thrilled.

Today I’ll be in school, then in rehearsal then heading to Curtains Down for a little open mic fun and promotion of our cabaret.

On Tuesday I will spend the day working, preparing and rehearsing for RENT in the evening.

On Wednesday I have a VERY BIG audition that I’m super excited for.

Thursday is the day I’ve been waiting oh-so-patiently for…

Exciting days ahead!!

And proper blog entries to come… I promise!!

Veggies, Leaders And No Sleep In Sight

This weekend was epic!

It was my second year of attending the Vegetarian Food Fair in Toronto and this year I was even busier. On Friday I hung out with Meghan Telpner at her booth chatting up her classes, tutorials and retreats in St. Lucia. We had a lot of fun in our pink aprons and I felt right at home amongst all the flowers in her booth! It was nice to meet so many new people and share my experiences in Meghan’s classes. Our beautiful friend Nicole was there as well and together we ran off to score some goodies from the über cute guy at Vega (whose Shake & Go chocolate smoothie I’ve been really enjoying) and Living Libations, as well as find some dinner. 

Similar to last year, I was truly disappointed by the lack of yummy options for dinner. There were lots of yummy treats and samples, but many of the vendors in the food tent were serving more fried and complicated tofu dishes that really didn’t appeal to me. Cruda Cafe was originally supposed to be a part of the show, but sadly they cancelled. With all of the amazing vegetarian, vegan and raw restaurants that we have in the city, I think it would be awesome for more of them to have a presence at the Food Fair (especially since it’s touted as being North America’s largest!). All of that being said, we decided to get some Mexican food It was okay. There was rice, cactus salad and a tofu/corn/something mix. It was kind of pricey, but filling and I learned my lesson for the following day.

I sadly missed Meghan’s demo on Saturday afternoon (but you can check out all the recipes on her blog!) but showed up just in time to catch the flurry of people around 12:30.  I ended up bringing lots of food with me and definitely did not go hungry. Lots of fruit, almonds plus a great salad of romaine, peppers, onions, avocado, black beans, hemp seeds and pumpkin seeds with a little bit of salsa. It was awesome!!

I traded in my fuchsia apron for a beige one with a SFTE logo as I was at the Sweets From the Earth tent selling delightful vegan baked goods. I love their gluten free line and had the pleasure of testing a brand new gluten free vegan chocolate cake!! I forgot to take a picture of that or anything on Saturday really. I talked to so many people and sold so many cakes, cookies and squares that it was all really a blur. It was non-stop from 1 to 9 and I was just wiped by the end of the day. On Sunday I had the pleasure of attending a giant Weight Watchers meeting with many of my colleagues including my two lovely Lindsays. It was great to connect with others who are passionate about their jobs and helping others lose weight!! Lindsay won an award for her meeting and our row was definitely the loudest, cheering her on and ensuring that she was commended for her team’s success. So so proud of her.

I felt like a zombie by the end of the day and after a wee nap I made myself a simple but delicious bowl for dinner. Mmmmm quinoa with swiss chard, baby portabellas and tempeh sautéed in garlic & ginger with tamari, pickled ginger and sesame seeds. It was a delightful end to the weekend!

This month is going to be insane, but I am so excited about everything that is to come! I’m back to school today and looking forward to getting back into some sort of routine whilst rehearsing for 2 shows, a big audition and doing all my usual stuff as well.  Where did the summer go?

How was your weekend? Did you get to the Vegetarian Food Fair? What were your thoughts?