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Thursday, October 4, 2012

My Secret to Happiness (on a deserted island)

    I've been feeling pretty unmotivated with my blog lately, anyone else feeling this?  There's just so much blogging going on around here lately and if you don't have a really great original idea or something just super fun then you fall amongst all the other unnoticed, unread blogs.  That's how I'm feeling.  I have a blah blog.

So, I reached out to my fans on my fb page, if you haven't visited it yet, please do: My Fabulous Fanpage I asked which topic they'd most like for me to blog about and this one won (thanks Al and Scott!):

The 3 things I would want on my deserted island:

First off, I must say, the idea of a deserted island seems pretty nice right now.  No pressure.  Well, I suppose the pressure to survive, but the first few days would seem pretty great, huh?  

Ok, the first thing I think of that would be fabulous to be stranded with is a journal.  I'd love to have an unending number of blank pages to wax philosophic on and spend my days doodling or perhaps accomplish a novel before I die of starvation.  I think writing your thoughts on a daily basis is essential for clearing space in your brain for new thoughts, ideas and creativity.  Yes, my journal is essential.

The second thing I would love to have on the island is an acoustic guitar.  Ok, so i may not be the most talented when it comes to playing it, but I do love my Baby Taylor and it's amazing sounds.  Plus, I figure if I had all the time in the world, I'd probably be able to figure out some new chords and create some new music.  Making my grand total of songs a whopping 4?  Plus, as long as I could sing along to something I think I'd be less likely to go insane.  I love the power of music.  It truly is a healing sound. (I use to sing myself to sleep when I was in middle/highschool and imagined that my walls were soundproof, until one day my sis told me she heard me every night and loved it, she's the best!)

The third and final thing I think would keep me happy on a deserted island would be a bow and arrows.  Ok, way before Katniss Everdeen made it cool, I was shooting a bow in the backyard with my father and I felt pretty cool.  I never attempted to kill any animals, but I figure if I had time on my hands and needed some protein, I might be a pretty good shot, or at least could learn to be.

Writing, singing and hunting.  My secret to happiness...huh, yeah even that last one kind of surprises me, but the more I think about it, I guess I spend every day of my life hunting for my next gig, right? 

What three things would you want?

Friday, August 10, 2012

The Best Mexican Wrestling and Male Strippers

That's how my night went.  How was yours?

I got to play 'Press' at Lucha Vavoom at the Mayan Theater last night.  It was an epic evening!  I was there to support my good friend Jim Turner (of 'Arliss' fame) in his Sashay Gigante performance.  If you've never seen the show...you haven't lived life!*(see footnote)

I got a press pass so that I could take fab pics of the evening, and fab pics were taken!  The whole evening was just splendid, the burlesque ladies that started the evening were very...um...talented.  The commentators were ridiculously funny and the wrestlers.  Oh my, how do I describe the wrestlers??

I'll let the evening speak for itself with pics:








The funny thing I found myself doing though before heading out for the evening was trying 'Dress like Press' or how I perceived them to dress.  Then I had the thought, well if I feel like I have to dress the part to be it, then why do I not think 'Dress like a successful actress' every time I leave the house?  This needs to start happening!  There's a new goal for myself...but then again, how do successful actress' dress?  However they want!   ;) 

*This is a phrase my father used to use often.  I would get so annoyed by it and be like, 'Well, i guess i haven't lived then...' ha, but now in my "wise old age" I quite like the phrase.  Thanks, Dad!

Friday, August 3, 2012

Reboot Aftermath

I lasted 6 solid days on the cleanse.  On the 7th day I awoke with feverish chills and barely made it to my kitchen without passing out and shoved an apple in my mouth as fast as I could.  Now, I don't want to say this to discourage anyone from trying the cleanse.  I really actually feel like I benefited from it.  So much so that now I'm nervous to completely go off of it because I feel like my body will just completely revert to its pre-cleanse self in a minute!

My main goals for the cleanse were to see if it helped my focus, mental clarity and my skin.  I believe it did all three.  Plus, my stomach is the flattest its been in years...crazy.  On day 7, I started adding food back into my diet, but still steered clear of alcohol, sugar and carbs as much as possible.  I ate veggies, fruits and protein and still made myself drink a juice.  So, for the remainder of my 10 days I continued doing that.  Juicing, and only eating raw foods and proteins, and just a little teensy bit of bread here and there.  I have to slowly re-introduce the more complex man-made foods back into my diet so as to not completely lose everything i worked for in the past week and 1/2.

Now, though, I'm finding it challenging because my head is so worried that everything I put in my body will do extreme damage, that I'm scared to eat.  Don't get me wrong, I am eating.  I love food.  But, I'm being very picky and very slow to put harmful things in my body.  I guess this is a good thing...?  I just hope maybe it'll eventually become second nature and that way I won't have to think about it, but instead it'll just be instinct to choose the better options.

Sometimes I feel like a robot now, I look at a piece of food and in my brain calculate it's beneficial aspects vs. it's completely useless aspects and depending on how useless I avoid it.  Nuts.  I thought I was healthy before, but I suppose there are always ways to be even healthier.

Huh...would you ever try a juice cleanse?  I highly recommend it!

Monday, July 23, 2012

All or Nothing...or is it all nothing?

I've gone and done it.  Jumped on the healthy train.  I restarted training with a personal trainer and now I'm going all out with a juice cleanse.  I love it!  I feel focused and ready to sore!

While making my first juice for Day #2 of juicing I had a revelation about myself.  I made a juice last night that tasted so horrible, I had to try with all my might not to gag with every sip.  But, I forced it down knowing it was full of good for me things.  Today, though, I was determined not to make juice that is hard to swallow, because if i follow that pattern, I'm sure to fail.  So, I simplified.  My problem last night was that I tried to put every ingredient and it's mother into the same juice.  Well...lo and behold, not every fruit and vegetable tastes all that lovely when mixed with each other.  Here's what I put in this morning's juice:  Kale, Carrots, Cucumber and Pineapple.  Perfection.  Still lots of veggies with the sweetness of the fruit.  Not bad.

What I realized after thinking about my 'gung-ho' juicing attitude was that, simplifying is a glorious thing!  I applied this to my life.  I do so many things in a day/week/month that are good for me, but end up feeling spent and unfocused and altogether unaccomplished, my days become hard to swallow.  Well, I need to simplify and try not to cram all the good for me stuff into one months time, but rather spread it out a bit.  That way I can enjoy the flavor of each activity on it's own and give it one hundred percent of my attention as opposed to whatever I have left.

My challenge for myself over the next few weeks is to really concentrate on the things that make me feel good.  I'm not going to say yes to every favor or every activity that comes my way because I think it's a 'good cause', but because I truly feel that I can give it my full attention and brain power and therefore better myself and the world around me. 

Check out Jeff Phillips website: http://www.jeffphillipscft.com/  and click on the link to 'Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead'.  It's what totally motivated me to want to 'reboot'.

What healthy changes have you made lately?

Friday, June 29, 2012

Breaking News

A year ago, yesterday, I sat at a restaurant sipping a beer with a fellow actor friend.  We were both feeling high spirited about the recent career successes we'd had at that point.  I told him, 'Ok, we have to come back here next year on this day and celebrate how famous we are!'  Well, we didn't make it back to the restaurant because he's out of town and I was working, and you may not see our faces plastered on any upcoming movie billboards, but the distance I've come from a year ago, the growing success I see in every day, you might as well say, well, I feel pretty damn famous anyway!

I've had a a really great couple of weeks and want to share all my good news with you! Check out the trailers for 'Plastic' and 'Bled White', two indie features I filmed in Chicago in the last 4yrs:




Here's the trailer to 'Plastic', (I'm no techy, i couldn't get it to link here): http://vimeo.com/35210970

Now the really exciting part...they're both available on DVD!  You can pre-order them on Amazon.com or wait and buy them at Walmart and BestBuy.

As an actress this is a very exciting thing!  Who knows, maybe only a handful of people will buy them, but the fact that when people ask, 'Oh, you act, what have you been in?'  I now get to respond with, 'I have two features available on amazon.  You should check 'em out!' That feels really great.

Movin' on up!  Next step...I'll be on the big screen.  Soon people.  Believe it!

If you want more info on where/how to find them on amazon check out my fb page!  www.facebook.com/colleenireneboag

Friday, June 15, 2012

The Secret to Success

In a recent discussion of my career as an actress my man said to me, 'Well, you've got nowhere to go but up, right?'  Now, many would've been insulted by this comment.  And I fully know it was not meant to be an insult, nor did I take it as such.  Instead I heard it as, 'Well, the sky's the limit, right?'

And he's totally right!  As an actor, most of us don't realize how true it is that when we're just starting out or struggling to get that first big break, there really is nowhere to go but up.  We can't possibly lose the jobs we've already done, get cut out of films we've already seen ourselves in, lose the connections we've already got.  Sure, we can piss people off, but that doesn't make us go lower than we already are, if anything it makes us memorable.

Haha, ok that sounds cynical or something, but it's not meant to be.  It's actually meant to be encouraging.  As an artist, in this ever changing weird career field where there is no right and wrong, no black and white, we must hold on to the thought that every step we take is a step forward, not back or 'down', but forward, something new, something different, something exciting and something filled with potential.

That's really all I have to say about that.  Short and sweet.  


Monday, June 4, 2012

Planes, Trains & Automobiles...

What a week of traveling I had! The week started in Virginia; wedding for one of my man's best friends from high school. It was so much fun! It was nice and casual and cozy. No stuffy decorations, uptight bridesmaids and uncomfortable seating arrangements. It was buffet, let's get drunk and dance in this crazy humidity like no ones business kind of fun! And I made some new friends! My absolute favorite thing about the wedding was chatting with people who are not in the entertainment business at all! For the first time in months I had conversations about things that are genuinely important in life, other than, "how many twitter followers do u have?" (um...are you following me on twitter yet? @ColleenBoag) ;). It was refreshing and reinvigorating! Just what the doctor ordered.

 Next stop was home, sweet, home. I got to hang with my new nephew! Relaxing, right? Ha! Absolutely not! What a little doll. He is one of the smiliest babies I've ever known, that is when he's being held. If you put him down he will attempt to climb you, cuz, nobody puts baby on the carpet! Oh man! Every day around 2pm I needed a nap! Did I get one? Usually not. How do my sis and bro-in-law do it?? I give them major props! I was exhausted and I was only there for a week! I cannot imagine that full-time. Oy.

 Then next and last stop for me on this crazy crazy week was VEGAS! I was meeting up with friends for a surprise dirty thirty. It was great! I can't really divulge more than that since what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas! Wish I had gotten to spend more time there but I had to return to LA a day early because *sigh, unfortunately (please read sarcasm here) I got a callback for a feature I auditioned for a few weeks back! And then luck of the draw I was scheduled for a second audition for yet another feature later that evening. I was out of town for 8 days, in three different cities and it feels very surreal to be back in LA and back to the grind. I needed the getaway and feel ready to get back to it! Big things are coming...big things!

What's your fave getaway?