from the west coast to eastern europe, how do you dress that?

since i was taking off from los angeles and landing in budapest, i had 2 completely different climates to adjust to. when i left la it was cool and rainy but i was totally comfortable in my leggings and flannel tunic. but i knew when i land i was going to need winter gear.

i have a fairly standard travel outfit: leggings, tunic/pullover top, blanket scarf or zip hoodie and uggs.

is works regardless of the time of year. if i'm doing somewhere very warm, i'll wear sneakers instead of uggs. i tend to alternate between a flannel tunic and a linen one, both from j.crew, depending on the season. i usually take an oversized hoodie because, while not the most stylish, it's not binding when moving around in the air plane seat and the hood also covers most of my head, keeps the light, and other people, out of my face. i left that hoodie in california this time and opted for a sleep mask to block the light.

packing for a year in europe ...

if you thought the ... would be followed by a "in 1 suitcase," you've come to the wrong blog.

there's no way i was going to budapest with just 1 suitcase. i have mallory with me after all.

i did pack for this trip to north carolina in one suitcse

traveling with my cat

yes, i travel with my cat. i've taken her a number of places, by car and by plane. she's stayed at the homes of friends and family, hotels rented by production and occasionally, under much protest, a kennel. before you balk at the girl with a pet carrier walking her cat thru security let me assure you, my cat is way easier to travel with than most of the kids i've shared a plane with. also, mine fits under the seat!

high end on a budget

while this post may seem unrelated to my move, it came about because of it. i've spent a great deal of time moving around various bank accounts, comparing fees and rewards, as well as holding off on some purchases to make them more cost effective so, here we go.

i'm a frugal shopaholic. i grew up pretty poor and while i learned the value of a good deal and coupon/sale shopping, i didn't get the talk on credit card debt. while i got in a little deep in college, i managed to climb my way out. i'm not going to go into all the hows, that's a little too personal for me, but i will share some personal insight i've learned along the way.*

rewards credit cards: check out points guy, he's got the most comprehensive run down and tips, especially with travel rewards. i haven't been traveling much the last few years but i'm about to start. i also love any rewards points. amex allows points to be turned in for cash, flights or (most bang) gift cards. i've purchased many a nike gear, william sonoma cookware, clothes from nieman marcus and shoes from zappos. the available store has gone down but there's still good value. about a year ago i cashed in all my points for my garmin.

2016: cha-cha-changes

how many times has that title been used on the overshare sites of the interwebs? i'm willing to bet it's most frequently used on "it's the new year" blog entries.

recently (ok fine, ages ago when i actually posted stuff) i've made brief references to some work changes happening "soon". i've been vague so as not to jinx the whole thing and have it called off. but here it is...

i'm "moving" to budapest.

my "slight" youtube addiction

it began innocently enough, i wanted to check out a video game before i committed to buying it. it devolved into me spending a saturday selecting "next" in playlists on youtube. the same thing happened with beauty.

one minute i'm watching grace helbig do a "sweater weather" tag, whatever the hell that is, and the next thing i know i'm on ingrid nilsens' channel who tagged her learning how to tightline my eyes. wow, i've always wondered about that. looks a little painful. oh look, there's a video about how to use the concealer, i knew i was doing it wrong.

several videos and "vlog" playlists later, i discovered fleur de force. the english accent, the english countryside, the dogs, that hair, i was hooked. there's something about having a person talk at you about a product that isn't going to make a commission off of it so much less annoying than a customer service rep.* and what's best, the person on youtube can't interact. if i decide i'm not feeling the product, fast forward, skip. no awkward "um, maybe something else" conversation while they desperately try and convince me that i really need this brand new $100 foundation.

it's been a while...

do i title a post like this every 6-8 months? it feels like it. i've been extremely absent and also extremely busy. the thing about life in freelance film is that the work can go from manic busy to snail slow from day to day. since march i've done the same job on 2 different shows and the work flow/pace are completely different.

in the spring i had a steadier, slower paced workflow that allowed for earlier nights and more time to write and plan. since mid-summer i've been on a higher concept show for a smaller production company that requires longer days and leaves little time for writing.

weekends are no longer just meeting up with friends, running, butt school or shopping. they're for getting all the chores done that fell to the way side during the week: dishes in the sink, mountains of laundry, crap i'm out of quarters, how did the milk go bad, why didn't i buy toilet paper last time and how am i going to make the random dreggs of food left in my fridge into a meal.... it can be a bit overwhelming. but i'm trying to make yet another come back. i'm like barbara, endless farewell tours.

i'm getting back into a groove. i've gone to butt school once a week and since my office is now 4 miles from home (the dream in la) i'm better at dragging myself out of bed for a morning run. i also managed to fit in a few fun activities with my friends. here's a brief update, more (hopefully) to follow.

used the force to get the psl a little early

week 2 of (f)unemployment

week 2 started off strong: went for a run on sunday, yoga on monday, run on tuesday and paid for it all on wednesday. it's time to accept that i am no longer as naturally fit as i used to be. i decided to take thursday as a rest day and return to yoga next monday.

monday and tuesday i did a lot of admin around the house. i repacked my work kit and cleared out all the non-office items. i had 5 bags of comic books from when i was walking distance from my favorite shop at disney, getting caught up on those trade paperbacks is on my to do for today. i also worked on a few post drafts from my make shift floor/coffee table "office".

mal likes to be involved

smoothie madness - karlie kloss breakfast smoothie

true story: about a year ago i fell asleep watching a doctor who marathon and woke up mid-nutribullet infomercial. 30 mins later i was in the check out line of the bed, bath & beyond with one of the hundred 20% off fliers and a 15 piece nutribullet set. best impulse buy ever.

i've tried a lot of smoothie combos, the karlie kloss breakfast smoothie is my favorite made with protein powder, originally posted at popsugar. i've changed it up a little, using mixed berries rather than just blackberries. while i'm (f)unemployed this has been my go to post yoga smoothie.

karlie kloss breakfast smoothie

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 scoop chocolate protein powder

1 banana

1 cup black berries (i used mixed frozen)

week 1 of (f)unemployment

this week began my first week of unemployment. it's also my first round of unemployment in 5 years, it's a little weird.

i work freelance in film and my show wrapped for some additional research needs. this happens all the time, sometimes they come back and everyone starts working again, many times the films go back to the shelf to be made at a later date. fingers crossed this one comes back again soon, but until then, unemployed.

this past week i took advantage of the down time. i binge watched some netflix, managed to finish fringe, get as far caught up on bones and criminal minds as i can. please release season 10 on streaming soon!

i play video games

i don't want to say i'm a "gamer girl" for the same reason i don't call myself a "trekkie." i don't feel i have enough cred to make those claims. i do enjoy playing video games and watching all things star trek, but i don't play every game and i can't speak klingon so, all do respect to those who do. moving on.

i'm a fan of all things mario, that damn kart race can ruin a relationship and it's awesome. my best friends and i have a rock band called 502 pussy control, and we're awesome! i spent so many consecutive hours playing lara croft: tomb raider reborn one week that even my dreams were of being ship wrecked on an island. (binge watching arrow when my fingers were cramping didn't help but that's another post.) i still have the original game boy i got for christmas when i was 9, it can still play mario, kirby, home alone, zelda, all the classics. but i still think i'm a little shy of being a "gamer."

mal is a gamer

lately i've been

i was able to prep this post while on the plane from nyc so, here we go!

lately i’ve been…

since i’ve recently started posting again i decided to on this survey i saw on peanut butter fingers blog so we could all get better acquainted.

cooking: my own lunch for work. it’s mostly some lazy variations of chicken breast and rotating bases and toppings, ie. rice, salad, pasta. i’m going to get into that in next tuesdays post.

update - the self magazine 30 day summer challenge

so week 4 is here and everything hurts! ok, maybe not hurts, but there is definitely some aching, in a good way.  i’ve enjoyed the last 4 weeks of scheduled butt kicking, not to commandos really but i no longer fear the burpee.

just charge it honey!

there are many activities my mom and i enjoy together: watching college basketball, watching college football, netflix binges on crime dramas and shopping. it's our cardio. more specifically, bargain shopping.

when she came to visit me on her first solo trip to los angeles we decided to check out the outlets at camarillo. we figured a nice chat on the drive there, 2 hours of shopping, some lunch, and be back in time for dinner and some tv shows. 9 hours later the back of my jeep was filled and we were trying to find a restaurant to feed our hangry selves.

i swear we left stuff for other shoppers

so...um...yeah

it's been a long while.

i went back to freelance film work in september of last year and so my life is a tad less structured, which i happen to love. i can be a tad ocd organized but i'm also a problem solver so when the work gets flipped upside down, i dig it. that's probably going to be how this blog is going to go from now on.

matcha mochi yogurt pops

on monday i proudly posted to instagram ...

i made mochi!

posting that was much easier than the actual making of the mochi. what began as a lark to make some popsicles i saw on pintrest turned into a half day scavenger hunt around santa monica.

i've been stuck in a toy box

it's been awhile and i don't really have an excuse. not much has been going on, except for the awesomeness at the end of this entry. welcome back!

as a kid i had a small box of legos, just enough to build a house with half a roof. legos were a tad pricey and i spent most of my time glued to my game boy. there weren't nearly as many kits as there are today, i think pirate ship and robin hood were about it. my best friend had robin hoods castle, i played at her house a lot. i'm super jealous of kids today as the massive options for legos, but silently laughing b/c there's no way my mom can say no when i just have to have some. (ok, i laugh out loud)

if you read my first house guest entry, you know that i have a little thing for legos. if you haven't read it, go have a look b/c lego land is awesome! also, there's me with lego luke sykwalker --->

the last year has been all about the legos for me. first there was the to scale star wars x-wing in ny.

x-wing in times square

food clubs

a few months ago while doing my morning round of blog reading: into the gloss, peanut butter fingers, the nerd machine, you get the idea, i came across an interesting piece on a food delivery service called blue apron. julie at pbfingers.com had gotten blue apron as a christmas gift and was posting some seriously delicious pics.

as luck would have it that day blue apron was a gilt city deal for los angeles that week, dinner for 2 at half the price. i'm just one so, more food for me! i bought one straight away. after signing in to my blue apron account another deal came up for a wine club they were partnering with, club w. food and wine, gilt.com, you have my heart.

drinks!

protein pancakes

nearly every fitness/health food blog i read has a recipe for protein pancakes. also a trend, these bloggers seem to have enough time to make one fresh every morning. sadly, i do not have that luxury. whether la traffic, work sched or inability to wake before 6:50, there's no way i'm getting showered, dressed and fed before i head to work.

then last weekend as i preheated my oven to warm up my trader joe's blueberry waffles i thought, i wonder if the protein pancakes would reheat? guess what, they do!

you'll also need milk

pop physique

if you're not following mindy kaling on instagram, you should be. the sartorial pics alone are enough to brighten your day. a few weeks ago in a refresh i saw this

via instagram.com/mindykaling

it was like something out of speed racer. i had to google away. pop physique is yet another exercise class created by a former ballet dancer, but this time, the music is rockin! i found one in my neighborhood and decided to give it a whirl. lucky me, groupon had a 5 classes for 50% off deal, score!