Brought To You By The Letter "R": Rest, Recover, Refocus

    Hope this entry finds everyone having a restful post-Thanksgiving weekend!

Instead of going home to Albuquerque for Turkey Day, I went to New England to celebrate with my extended family. My Chinese grandmother is one of twelve, so that translated into about 40 people getting together for a delicious dinner, complete with turkey, pumpkin pie and wontons. Yum!

Afterwards, my boyfriend and I came to my cousin's beach house on Cape Cod. Just my luck, I got sick upon pulling into the driveway, and have been plugging myself full of antibiotics and nasal steroids for the past 48 hours. But, I'm trying to make the best of it. I always try and use long weekends as opportunities to reenergize and refocus. (I've only got four weeks left of college and, in addition to this cold, I've got a serious case of Senioritis.)

Here's what's in my Post-Thanksgiving Survival Kit:

VOGUE -- I feel like I never take the time to read my favorite magazines cover-to-cover, when often there's so much worthwhile stuff in them! December Vogue has a great cover story about Cate Blanchett and her husband, director Andrew Upton. How they make their marriage and their creative partnership work is really fascinating. Read most of the article here.

My Journal -- I'm the worst diary keeper ever. I usually write something really motivated and then get too busy/tired/distracted to write in it again. (I think my last entry was when Obama was inaugurated...Oops.) Nevertheless, I feel like writing things down is always very helpful when trying to make goals and stick to them!

Charlie Rose videos - So two nights ago I couldn't sleep, and I decided to watch Charlie Rose interview Tim Burton. (Tim Burton is totally that weird, bullied kid in elementary school who ended up being a genius and now he gets to stick it to all the mean kids with every movie he makes.) Later, I went on the Charlie Rose website, and I'm obsessed - he has so many archival videos with all of his guests! I like them because they're a bit longer than the Lynn Hirschberg screen tests, and more in-depth than Inside the Actors Studio.

Auditioning: An Actor Friendly Guide by Joanna Merlin -- A teacher recommended this to me, and it's amazing. I really like having books that no matter how many times you read them, you always find something helpful. However, I find that if I cram in books about acting, I usually get bored or stressed out, so I'm trying to go chapter by chapter and let the wisdom sink in.

The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy -- In addition to being terrible at journaling, I'm also awful about reading books. Which is silly, because books are great. I bought "The Dud Avocado," because the description reminded me of Mad Men meets "An Education" - I just saw it and loved it! - and because Groucho Marx said it made him "scream, laugh, and guffaw, (which, incidentally is a great name for a law firm.)"

A Cup of Tea -- Usually I'm an English Breakfast girl, but being sick and everything, I went for Chamomile with wildflower honey.

I'm heading back to NYC tomorrow...hopefully I'll be feeling better and ready to take on the week!

—Alexandra Fiber

Photos by Matt Duckor

Comments

[Brandi Ford]

Hope you feel better soon!

[Mariana]

Get well soon! And profit from the rest and the wisdom:)