tying it all together

I'm about to jet off for the weekend, guys, and I've got a Tori Amos concert at the Greek Amphitheater to catch tomorrow night (see ya there, Di!), and some sort of post-birthday ambush thing going on Saturday night (my friends Eric and Stacy are kidnapping me and not telling me where I'm going -- nevertheless, I'm excited).

In the meantime, I've got an ice cream date with one of my favorite girls tonight after a casting workshop, and tomorrow I get to visit my mom and swim in her swimming pool. I got no complaints :)

Before I bid you guys a fantastic weekend, wanted to leave you guys a couple things to check out:

steps two, three, four, and five of how to make it as a working actor in LA are up on my Examiner.com page, so check 'em out...

and remember that blog I posted about those cute little chalkboard signs? Well Shanna over at Shanna Suburbia had an even cuter idea...and then I read Nina's blog over at Naturally Nina and saw that idea put into adorable action. I'm totally doing this with some plates or serving trays that I find at a flea market.

Right now I'm craving fresh watermelon slices, ice cold lemonade, central air-conditioning, and a good pair of comfy jean shorts with flip flops. I hope all of you have a lovely summer weekend and I'll catch y'all later. :)

withdrawal

I have a serious sweet tooth, and I'm more than a little cranky that all of the Nestle Toll House cookie dough got recalled due to...whatever. I didn't even pay attention. I could eat the chocolate chip cookie dough from Toll House for a week straight and be a happy camper. Infectious diseases be damned.

At any rate, my sweet tooth has been slightly pissy lately, what with the aforementioned lack of cookie dough (does that stuff ever even make it into the oven? Not in my kitchen), plus I was having serious writer's block/depression on Monday while trying to make my script Suck Less (I actually texted someone: "My script sucks monkey balls" and then just let them wonder), so I met up with a friend and we inhaled crepes at a crepery that opened up just across from my favorite movie theatre. Strawberries + banana slices + hot Nutella in a crepe = problem temporarily fixed.

But damn, I need my cookie dough soon or I'm gonna start to get all twitchy. Do you guys get like that too about specific foods? (Coffee and cigarettes don't count, too obvious.)

18 hour day of OOF

Hey everyone!

So I didn't get a chance to blog at all yesterday, as my alarm clock went off at 4:45 AM (yep, you read that correctly) so I could take my bestest friend in the whole wide world (you can call her Alyssa) to LAX so she could catch a 7:30 international flight.

Ooof.

Then I headed straight to work, worked until 4, and headed out to Santa Monica to do a freelance gig until 7. Ate dinner in my car, came home, fell asleep on my bed from 9:30 to 10:30, woke up, did some chores around the house that I was supposed to do earlier, then dropped back into bed like a sack of potatoes.

And then lay awake. For over an hour. Ever have that -- your body is exhausted but your mind just won't shut up? I have that, oh, almost every night. And then when I do fall asleep I don't have very good dreams most of the time. I think it's anxiety, whether from past, present, or future events, playing itself out in my sleep. Either way -- do NOT appreciate.

Anyways, some thoughts, questions, and the best lemonade stand I've ever heard of for y'all before I sign off:

Either my brother also reads my blog or it was just plain serendipity, because my mom called and said that not only had my brother found the chair hammock I recently blogged about in her garage, but that he'd brought it over to my aunt's so I could pick it up. I'm thinking about hanging it on my balcony and lounging in it while reading and sipping lemonade.

Summer drinks. I love cool, refreshing, fruity drinks -- but I don't drink alcohol, so about 95% of these recipes I can't use and have no idea what to substitute instead of booze. Ideas, tips, or recipes, anyone? At any rate, enjoy the link -- it's 50 cool summer drinks, all of which look amazing.

Also: I love buying things intended for the kitchen and using them someplace else. I have a pots and pans rack from IKEA mounted above my bed that holds all my necklaces and pretty picture frames and cards I get in the mail, and I just found these at Sur La Table and instead of using them to identify summer drinks, I will be labeling each one in chalk (I'm thinking DREAM, LOVE, and BREATHE) and hanging them on a wall somewhere. I'll share pictures, I promise.

Finally, as I'm noticing an accidental lemonade theme here for my blog post (when life throws lemons at you for 18 hours straight, make alcoholic lemonade while buying things at Ikea?) so I leave you with this amazing virtual lemonade stand -- it's the cutest idea in the world from a kid whose heart is in the most amazing place.

Happy Tuesday, guys!



photo credit: I got it here

happiness is a warm list

I'm recovering from the bummer that was yesterday with a list of things that are making me happy right now. It's cheaper than drowning my sorrows in a swimming pool of Rocky Road. (Also, easier on the thighs.)

I am really craving owning a hammock again (I owned a small chair hammock at one point, and it might still be in my mom's garage), and this one looks super-comfy.

Lately I've been putting fresh sliced strawberries in all the lemonade I've been drinking. I've been getting them at the farmer's market, but Trader Joe's has organic ones on sale for $2.99/1 lb container. Awesome! Also, they are now selling sweet potato fries, so maybe I can learn how to cook them for my very self. And then dump a large amount of bleu cheese dressing on them.

I found the EASIEST recipe on the planet for chocolate croissants. I served them up for guests at dinner the other night, with sliced fresh strawberries on top (noticing a theme? I'm obsessed) and they came out AMAZING. Ready for the recipe?

Grab chilled Pillsbury crescent rolls from fridge/supermarket
Unroll into triangles on cookie sheet
Place about 10 chips of semi-sweet chocolate chips on the larger end of triangle (usually makes two rows of chocolate chips)
Follow instructions on crescent roll package for which temperature to bake at
Bake about 9 minutes, until crescents are golden brown and chocolate is oozing out just a bit
Eat. Then celebrate how awesome you are.

Totally easy, right? One of my favorite things to munch on in Paris was the chocolate croissants -- and they weren't all dry and flaky like the ones in the U.S., just doughy with just a bit of crust to them. These are a fairly good substitute until I can get my butt back to France.

I just got this book and I am so excited to read it, you have no idea. Jane Austen + Zombies = loveliness.

I also just got the first half of the last season (got all that?) of my favorite TV show, Battlestar Galactica (what? I'm a nerd and I'm okay with that) and I Can't.Wait. for season 4.5 (the second half of the last season) to come out on DVD on July 28th. FRAK! Why do I have to wait so long?!

And finally, I am celebrating the fact that my very first post over at Examiner.com is up! It's not the most fascinating post I'll do on an actor's life in LA, but give it a read and lemme know what you think! (Oh, and try to be nice in the comments section, although I know all of you guys already are. My blogging partners-in-crime have been encountering some swirling negativity out there in the comments section these last few weeks, and we in the blogging community are wondering if it's the weather or a sugar-low.)

Have a perfectly lovely rest of your Thursday, people!

smile like you mean it

Hello. Nice to meet you! I'm Tracy.

I realize that I never officially introduced myself back when I began my blog, mostly because it started off as a blog I never intended anyone to find, way back in 2008 when I needed a cheap therapist (and blogging is just that, believe me), and then when I re-vamped it in 2009 to use as a vehicle for which to plug projects I was working on as a writer, actress, photographer, whatever. And I named it Res Ipsa Loquitur ("the thing speaks for itself") because I wanted my blog to speak for itself, and I wanted to avoid the whole "this is who I am as a person" blog because, let's face it, sometimes those are redundant. I mean, if you can't tell my personality from my writing, then I'm not a very good writer, am I.

Wait, don't answer that last question.

At any rate, life has me struggling to keep up this week, I'm not sleeping very well, and I've been busy throwing parties instead of giving gifts (stay tuned later this week for my epiphany on what the hell that means, even though it wasn't really my epiphany).

So here I am, feeling the writer's block, looking to reach out and touch faith (mmm, Eliza Dushku...wait, where was I?) and I dunno...SHARE. Something. Anything.

Things that make me smile like I mean it:

Ray LaMontagne's song "Meg White." Adorable. Watch a homemade music video of it here.

This place has the best red velvet cupcakes I've ever had.

Two words: deep-dish Chicago style pizza. Root beer brewed on the premises. And a pizookie (a just-out-of-the-oven, melt in your mouth cookie that's the size of an individual deep dish pizza. With ice cream melting on it.) Wait, that's more than two words, isn't it. I love this place.

Why haven't I bought this already?!

I'm just starting to watch this show, and it makes me laugh so hard I cry.

I'm celebrating the fact that I no longer watch this show, so I don't have to tear my hair out waiting for the next 8(!) months to see what happens.

My obsession with fresh mozzarella, sweet potato fries, and Cherry Garcia continues. Not all at the same time, though. Ew.

blowing bubbles + kitten = hours of free entertainment

This trailer. I am so excited to see this movie.

I am currently reading this. It's getting really, really good.

Enjoying root beer floats for dessert after dinner every night.

and a partial list of other joys: daffodils, watermelon, strawberry smoothies, chocolate sauce and raspberries, fresh green beans, butter and salt, goat cheese, snooze buttons, good running shoes, clean pillowcases, a new pad of post-its, comfy flip-flops, sunshine and shade (and just enough of both), hot milk at night before bedtime, used bookstores, sprinklers, puppies, laughter, and hot fudge sundaes.

And now you know almost everything there is to know about me. Almost.