The Mondays

Look Familiar?

It happens to the best of us. You wake up on a Monday excited to tackle the week ahead, jump out of bed and before your feet hit the floor it starts... Muckery.

I don't let days like this get me down, we all have them so I figure what's the point in letting it get me down. In my mind it's better to just plug away and eventually it will pass. Well last week I had one of those days. It was so bad in fact it ended up with one of my furkids at the emergency vet. Although it was quite annoying at the time, eventually it all worked out and looking back I even found some humor in the whole episode. So I thought I'd share it so the next time one of you is having a case of "The Monday's" you might think about Greek Girl and realize we all have them. You're not alone, just breathe and it will pass (a lot faster too if you try to find some humor in the situation).

It was Monday morning, I had a commercial audition in the city so I got ready and drove in like any other day. The audition was in a silly part of town where there is no meter parking for miles. The few meters that are available are either taken or too far away from my destination that by the time I walk to the audition; I will end up having to turn around to go feed the meter again because they are only one hour meters. So after driving around in circles I decided to bite the bullet and park. It would be $50 bucks for one hour. My audition appointment was at 12:10pm.

I think it's funny that casting directors give out appointments and have a cow if anyone shows up late. On the other hand they can make actors wait for hours as if it's no big deal at all. So I walk in and it is like a giant romper room. Toddlers and young kids everywhere literally bouncing off the walls, parents on iPads and cell phones totally oblivious to the fact that their kid are acting like animals. I sign in and ask the assistant who is doing the sign in's if she has any idea if they are running on time. She looks at me like I have six heads and says "Appointment times are out the window today, I can't give you a time just wait". I'm thinking oh gee nice, I'm glad I made it on time and am paying $50 to park.

I sat down and began to take it all in. We have a word in the Greek language for what was going on "χάος" it means Chaos! So after basking in the chaos for almost an hour they had seen a whopping one set of people for the role. It was for a family: a mom and two young kids for a food product. I could not wait any longer due to the $50/hr parking garage, so I asked if I could leave and come back - little miss sunshine aka the assistant said OK.

So I went back to the garage paid the $50 bucks, retrieved my car and drove around for about  half an hour to find some meter parking. Finally after what seemed like forever I found a spot on the corner of 30th street and 3rd avenue. I had to be extra careful to park not touching the white line (or the parking natzis will tow the car) yet far enough from the car behind me so my car would not get hit if they tried to leave. I maneuvered Jillian Jetta in the perfect spot which wasn't easy I might add as she is a 6 speed. I got out, fed the meter, got the receipt and walked back to the car. Put the ticket on the dash and was set to leave to walk back to the audition. No sooner do I lock the door does the guy behind me yell out the window he is leaving that I can have his spot.... UGG now I'm already on the meter clock. See you have to be back to the car by the time on the meter or guess what? You guessed it a ticket. So in cecil the turtle mode he leaves and I back up to his spot. I grab my stuff and run the four blocks back to the casting.

I go back upstairs (runnning four flights of stairs as the elevator is old fashioned and the operator is out to lunch) to find no movement in the casting order.  Apparently the software broke and in all the time I'd been gone they only saw one more group. Ov Vey! So I wait, and since I had to be back to my meter within an hour to avoid a ticket, guess what happened? Yup I had to leave again to go feed the meter. So I ran the four blocks back to the car, fed the meter, and returned. Finally after almost three hours of total Muckery I was able to be seen for the casting. I did a great job and kept my cool despite the circumstances. It didn't hurt that they paired me up with some adorable kids who did a great job.

I left and got over to the West Side Highway just in time to be stuck in afternoon rush hour with all the other people who live outside the city and commute in. I finally got home about five. At this point all I want to do is workout. So instead of feeding the furkids like normal, I decided to give them a treat to hold them over and feed them "after" my workout. I gave them all small pieces of the fruit from the smoothie I was making with my Nutribullet in addition to some doggie cookies.

Right about then the monsoon started complete with thunder and lightening and torrential rain. One of the furkids "Pepe" is horribly afraid of thunder so I had to stop and get his doggie drugs in him fast (all natural no worries a little melatonin and "Rescue Remedy" drops to calm him down). I changed into my workout clothes and was about to go down to the workout room when I heard a bunch of commotion from the doggie room.

I rush in and find "Punkin" turning blue and four piles of throw up. Her eyes are all bugged out and she doesn't even look like herself. I grabbed her put her in the car and rushed to the emergency vet in the pouring rain. It was raining so hard I couldn't see. Thank God I got there in time... she threw up a piece of apple at home but I didn't realize she had stolen one of the other furkids apples because we found out later this is what was stuck in her throat.

They X-Rayed her and found that in addition to swallowing an entire baby carrot whole she had a triangle shaped thing stuck in her throat. They did emergency surgery to push the item down with a tube. They were unable to get it into the stomach, only to the bottom of the esophagus. They had to wait overnight for the specialist to come to do the next step which would have been endoscopic surgery to push the item from the bottom of her esophagus where they got it the night before into her stomach.

Needless to say it was a long night. The 6am X-Ray showed the triangle in the same spot. Then at 11:30am the vet called me to tell me they would try one more thing before doing the endoscopy which would have been another $1,200 or more. They fed her a tiny amount of baby food with some powder dye on it. Then re X-Rayed her, this time they found the little triangle was in her tummy. They called me to tell me I could take her home. With medicine and no hard food for a week, as her little throat was all inflamed from the trauma.

"Punkin" being sprung from the emergency vet!

The moral of the story... Sometimes you can make a bad day worse by putting off something. Although it wasn't intentional and I consider myself to be a very responsible dog owner, I put off feeding them when I got home because I wanted to workout. Which I never got to do anyhow because I had to rush "Punkin" to the vet. I didn't want to wait for them to eat, then take them out in the rain to do their business. I figured it'd be faster to give them a snack and feed them after. Even though they have dry food down all day, they love their special mash I make them every day. Had I just done it when I got home I quite possibility might never had had to spend a long night and a ton of money at the emergency vet.

An expensive lesson, but never give your furkids anything that is not mashed up or soft enough to go down their throats. The vet said they see dogs with apples stuck in their throats a lot. So the next time the Mondays come creeping up on you just sit back, take a breath and smile. The rain will stop eventually and if you find some humor in the situation somewhere, it will make it go a lot faster.  Looking back on it I realized you just can't make this tuff up. Life, it happens to the best of us... enjoy it, it's the only one we have.

Blessings, Love & Music,
Ava xo
www.avaaston.com

Rock Walls

My Rock Wall as it was Being Built

So I know I said I was going to spend a lot of my weekend going to the movies, watching fireworks and yes shopping.  Yes I did all that, but what I didn't expect was to build a rock wall.  As cliche as it may sound being a rockstar for me to be building a "rock wall".  No I am in no way changing my career plans, as the old saying goes don't quit your day-job.  Well as for me and building rock walls, I'm no pro.  Now singing, that's a whole other thing so Mr. Bricks, you can cool your jets cuz this Greek Rock-Diva is not going anywhere, except for the Grammy's when you get me my record deal, just sayin'.

So back to the rock wall, yes I somehow got sidetracked and decided to go all out and work on sprucing up the yard a bit.  No I don't have a money tree in my backyard (yet anyways), though I did look for it this weekend because if I did, I wouldn't have been hoisting boulders up over my shoulder that were bigger than my head and carrying them clear cross ROCKLAND COUNTY, and yes that is the county I live in. Instead I would have been paying someone to move them.  Of all the places to decide to live I chose Rockland county.  Now being a rising rockstar I guess it suits me just fine but as for the landscaping thing, not such a great idea.  See, they named this county "Rockland" because everywhere you go there are rocks in the land.  Get it?  Okay, I will leave the jokes up to Mr. Bricks. Anyway, because there are so many stinking rocks all over the yard it only made sense to gather them all up and create a wall along the driveway.

Now as crazy as it must seem to picture this little Greek Blonde girl with an iPhone and an Iced-Cup-O-Happiness wearing crocks and hoisting up boulders, I was doing it.  I had one of my favorite songs "Eye of the Tiger" playing in my iPod as I thought of Rocky Balboa training to fight the Russian in Rocky, my favorite movie and all I could think about was getting those 50 pound rocks to the end of my driveway - and I did it.  In style of course.  That is, I mean my shorts did match my T-Shirt and my Crocks were the fashionable choice for trecking through the muck (of course I would never wear one of my beloved pairs of sneakers) and oh did I mention "POISON IVY"? Yep, I braved it.  I set out to build a rockwall and sure enough I did and I did it while getting my yearly dose of poison ivy/oak or sumac muck that's grows out of control in my yard.  I even sprayed gallons of chemicals to kill it, to no avail.  Great, now I can be itchy while I go in the recording studio tomorrow. Fantastic.

Okay, I know you are wondering, what does all this have to do with anything?  Great question.  Well when I was trying not to crush my little Greek body (which is like a marble statue of course from all the working out I do) with these massive rocks I was thinking of some of my greatest rocks: Rocky, the Rock, Rock Music and of course Rockstars.  It made me think of all the tough challenges are a part of the road for anyone like me who wants to chase a dream.

See most of the time we are told to tear down the walls in our lives.  But sometimes we need also to build walls.  Walls that are fortified and strong with rocks.  Rocks that would crush you.  Rocks that you put there and place in the perfect spot.  Those walls we build in our lives sometimes are walls of sacrifice, struggle and triumph. Building this wall helped remind me of those important challenges I am faced with every single day.  It reminds me of how not to give up.  My rock wall is not done and just as my dreams have not been finished yet, I will continue building this wall and the rock wall of my life.  At the end I can sit back and admire my rock wall and realize what an accomplishment it has been.  That and of course it reminded me of how hard it is sometimes to keep going till you get to the end of the driveway with a 50 pound boulder over your shoulder - you know where your neighbor won't drive over your mailbox because you built a rockwall to protect it.  Oh that was the other reason for the rock wall.  But seriously though.  Life can be hard and following your dreams is even harder.  All of us from Rocky to the Greek Rock Chick have our own rockwalls we need to build.  So get your Crocks on and pick up your rocks and start building.

Love and blessings,
Ava xo

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

It's always sunny day when the Greek Girl is working out :D I know rain is a good thing, in moderation that is. The last few days around NYC the rain has been anything but moderation, it's been more like a long slow drowning. Wahh Wahh (Que. the sad violins). According to the weather app on my iphone ~ the sun is not supposed to come out tomorrow... however it is possible that it "may" come out on Sunday.

Most of my blog friends know about my love of running outdoors, and this rain frankly is cramping my style, no pun intended. Yeah I know I could go to the gym and run on the treadmill, but it's just not the same for me. There is just something magical about lacing up my sneakers and spending some quality alone time with my ipod, the road & the outdoors. My favorite time to run is magic hour just when it's turning dusk or mid afternoon when the sun is beating down on me.... Yeah yeah, I stay hydrated, wear sunscreen, all the things a good doobie does.

With all this rain lately I have had no choice but to take my cardio workout indoors. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Well that depends on how one defines good or bad. When it is raining so much that I can't run outdoors on a cardio day, I usually do one of the gazillion DVD's in my fitness war chest. Yes I have a fitness war chest, doesn't everyone? ;D So since all this rain got me whining about not being able to run outside, it got me thinking today may be a good day to talk about what kind of workouts I do. As I receive a lot of emails asking about what do I like to do to stay in shape, etc. So here we go ~ sharing: :DD

Most of you know I have a few "fitness gurus" who are trainers I have a tremendous admiration for. You could say they are my heros, each one of them have amazing workouts on DVD & do so many things to help people become healthy: Jillian Michaels, Bob Harper, Jackie Warner, Billy Blanks, Tony Horton, Debbie Siebers, Saun T, Brett Hoebel & Chalene Johnson. Jillian, Bob & Jackie & Billy's Tae Bo's DVD's are easy to come by, they each have their own web sites & most retailers like Target also carry them. All my other fav's come from www.beachbody.com

So to date I have completed several programs from beachbody.com: Original P90, Slim in 6, Slim Series, P90X, Insanity, Rev Abs, Chalene Extreme, & last but not least I am currently checking out Turbo Fire before I start it full blast for 90 days. For me I just feel better when I workout it is that simple. Had I not been a little Greek Girl who at one time had a little extra baklava hanging around, and been born skinny like my sister's that may not have been the case. But alas, I have developed a serious addiction to endorphins (you know God's medicine, that makes you feel good) and end up working out 5-6 days a week. Hope you check out some of the workouts & find one that is right for you. Of course I just know your ipod will be loaded with Ava Aston Tunes to help push you through the hard workouts ;D just sayin.

Blessings ~
Ava :D xox

Pizza - The Other Food Group

Mr. Bricks spent an hour trying to convince me that Pizza was a food group in the Government's new recently unveiled Choose my Plate new food pyramid. He even provided the above photograph as proof that Pizza is a food group that the Government wants us to eat on a regular basis. I'm unsure why he would not know I would realize the image was photoshopped for his benefit. Maybe it's my blonde hair? Could the chemicals be seeping into my noggin, ya think?

I like Pizza just like the next Greek girl does, but I also know the ingredients in Pizza can wreak havoc on a body if you don't work out on a regular basis if you eat a lot of it. I'm not saying I'm perfect, I am just saying I like Pizza ~ but I like my skinny jeans... so, if I eat a little Pizza, I work out a bit more. (Something Mr. Bricks knows nothing about, btw).

No matter what the food in question is when having a conversation with Mr. Bricks, if I like it & it's good for you, it's a sure thing that Mr. Bricks will make a face as if he is about to hurl.  I've tried on many occasions to convince him to eat healthier to no avail.  I tell him he can still have lots of yummy foods, just modified, or if that is not possible that everything in moderation. His reply... "oh so you mean I can have three McRibs per day instead of 5"?  See what I mean?

Some of the ways I make things healthier are pretty simple, but often overlooked. First I always eat every three hours, if not the horns will come out. I used to think it was just part of my Greekness, but I have since learned that your body is actually designed that way.  It's kind of like a fire, you can keep a fire burning by keeping kindling wood on it, but if you put a bunch of big logs onto a fire, the fire will burn out.  Same thing with your body, small meals every three hours while you're awake & you're golden.  It's what those little meals consist of that can lead to lots of Muckery.

The saying "you are what you eat" is really very true (and this may be why Mr. Bricks resembles a Mc Rib sandwich, just sayin).  Sodium is the hidden reason why so many people "think" they are eating healthy and are really not.  Most things have insane amounts of sodium in them, so you really need to check out the labels, especially so called "healthy" fast food.  I try to eat at home to avoid sodium, I stick to lean protein at every meal, lots of salad, and vegetables.  There are a few things I absolutely can not live without, well we already know ~ I'm not giving up coffee ever....  back to the list: Egg Whites, Lowfat Ranch, Olive Oil (teeny drizzles), Morningstar Farms Griller's Original veggie burger, raw almonds, Smart Balance Skim Lactose Free Milk, Fage Greek 0% Yogurt, Steel Cut Oatmeal, Peanut Butter (it's a superfood), Protein powder, tons of water & chocolate... I eat a small piece of chocolate after dinner every day. I like to think of it as my reward for working out so hard.  Oh and baked potatoes, most people stay away from carbs, and yes refined sugars/any sort of white bread you should stay way from.  However, contrary to popular belief potatoes are a super food (just like spinach & Broccoli) and very good for you.  It's what people put on them that can lead to trouble. I like to have lowfat Smart Balance & lowfat Cottage Cheeese on mine, Yummo!

Maybe, that's why Mr. Bricks is going to have to have his own tour bus... Mine will be filled with workout equipment, a treadmill, healthy food, and yes even the occasional slice of pizza.  His will be filled with Diet Coke, McRibs, and anything else salty and the polar opposite of a superfood.

Have a healthy super day.

Blessings!

Ava

xox

Melancholy

I'm kinda feeling a little melancholy as I sit here writing and addressing my Christmas cards. The fireplace is crackling and filling the room with warmth and the smell of freshly split pine. Jingle Bell Rock and other Christmas tunes fill the house with the proper sounds to keep me in the spirit of the season. My four little doggies are slumbering at my feet with visions of rawhide bones dancing in their little Pekingese noggin. The aroma of freshly baked cookies is coming from the kitchen... well ok, I lied. Not so much on the cookie smell, since I don't bake and there is actually no yummo freshly baked cookie smell in the house. But the rest of the sights and smells have me in this very melancholy mood.

Before I named my post Melancholy, I decided to makes sure I was using the word correctly. It appears I have a large following of school teachers who are keeping me on a very short leash grammatically. I should be offended, but I'm not. I know they just want me to look my best on my blog. Although I must admit that sometimes when I get an email from them correcting me, I do feel like I've been sent to the principal's office - just sayin'.

So I looked it up at dictionary.com and this is their definition of melancholy:

mel·an·chol·y

[mel-uhn-kol-ee] plural -chol·ies, adjective

–noun
1. a gloomy state of mind, esp. when habitual or prolonged;depression.
2. sober thoughtfulness; pensiveness.
3.Archaic .
a. the condition of having too much black bile, considered in ancient and medieval medicine to cause gloominess and depression.
b. black bile.
Ewww...OK, not sure what the color of my bile has to do with feeling a little depressed -- but I will just roll with it because, well, because I'm feeling melancholy. See how this melancholy thingy works? Oops... the teachers don't like me using the word thingy -- Sorry. My bad.

So we're down to the last couple of weeks of 2010 and I always hate to see the year end because I know there are always things I wanted to do but just never got around to it.

On the other hand I had some tremendous things present themselves to me this year giving me opportunities that I could have never dreamed of happening. When I was sharing this with my manager Mr. Brick's yesterday he said, "I know what you mean Ava." Mr. Bricks went on to say, "In my wildest dreams I never could have imagined that McDonald's would bring back the McRib. It just made me giddy as a young school girl?"

Ok that is just scary to me that a grown man can get giddy as a school girl over a fake processed pork sandwich. There's something just a tick off with him. Mr. Brick's is not right in the head I tell you.

Although I didn't start writing this little blog until October, I'm still feeling melancholy about it because just like with my song writing, I started writing it as a way of expressing myself -- and now I will soon be writing my 75th blog post.

I can reflect fondly over all of the blog stories about my obsession with sneakers, my Greek heritage, Mr. Brick's obsession with McDonald's, my non stop working out, eating healthy, daily 5 mile runs (weather permitting), my acting auditions, my love of Greek diner food, my Cd's sales, The Tea Party Patriots, Punkin, BoBo, Pookie and Itty Bitty, The Kardashians sisters, the pitfalls of living in New York and all of the day-to-day muckery in my life. I know its all good because it allows everyone to log on and read what-a- reality-show-waiting-to-happen my life really is.

So I'm going to spend a little more time sittting here in my melanchony mood and just smile. I realize I am truly a blessed Greek girl and God is an awesome God!

Blessings,

Ava

xox

Leftovers

Let me go on record and say the absolute best television show ever made is NBC's The Biggest Loser. I love that show. Many times before I have said what an incredible job the two trainers, Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper do. They are very inspirational and have done amazing things to people's lives.

The other night they had a "What Ever Happened To" episode of "The Biggest Loser" when they brought back prior contestants. It was an incredible show. I thought the timing was very ironic for that show to air the night before Thanksgiving. Coincidence? I think not.

One of the best/worst part of any holiday celebration, like Thanksgiving is dealing with the leftovers.  It is the worst part if the shindig was at your house and now you have to cram all of the left over food into the refrigerator.  It was pretty touch and go with just your own food. But now you must add all the dinner guest's leftovers and it becomes a game of Tupperware chess.

The best part about it is.... hmmm, wait not sure if there is really a best part about having all of those leftovers ready to be eaten within a few microwaveable seconds.  I think it is way too tempting for most people to handle. I think they can too easily nibble, graze and eat it until it is all gone. Not good.

You know I am always talking smack about my manager Mr. Bricks and how unhealthy he eats. I worry about the little weeble during times like this. Fortunately, this Thanksgiving Mr. Bricks is in Seattle with his family and so he won't be able to have his own leftover food drama filling his own refrigerator.

When you have a houseful of leftovers your body parts start going to war with each other. They all have an opinion about the leftovers and what to do with them. The conversation goes something like this:

Your brain: "It's ok to have a just a small portion of potatoes with some warmed up gravy. It was really good yesterday, wasn't it?"

Your eyes: "Look at how much room is left on that plate. That is not that much food! You should go ahead and put a couple more spoonfuls of mashed potatoes on that plate. Hey add some turkey and leftover green bean casserole while you are at it.  Yesterday you had the plate stacked a foot high with food."

Your conscience: "What would the Greek Blonde girl think?"

Your stomach: "Don't listen to the brain, he thinks he knows it all. You will be full with 1/2 of that amount of left overs. Trust me. Have I ever let you down?"

Your Brain: "Oh, don't even go there stomach. You have spilled your guts many times."

Your Butt: "I need to butt in here...Look, I am having a heck of a time trying to keep myself in those new skinny jeans you just bought. Listen to your stomach and take only 1/2 of plate of food right now."

Your Brain: "You're just an ass."

Your Butt: "Hey, I resemble that remark"

Your Heart: " I just love you all. Can we not argue and just all get along? You're going to give me an attack."

Your conscience: "What would the Greek Blonde girl think about eating all of these leftovers?"

Your Eyes: "Hey, check out that pumpkin pie Aunt Rosie left. It looks yummo."

Your Stomach: "You just need to shut the fridge door and turn a blind eye to all of those leftovers."

Your Eyes: "A blind what? Oh, that was cruel. That was a real low blow, dude."

Your Conscience: "Step away from the ice box.  Do not piss off the Greek blonde girl."

Your Stomach: "Yah, just tow the line."

Your Big Toe: "Did someone say my name? If so, you nailed it?

Your Brain: "No that was T-o-w, not T-o-e."

Your Big Toe: "Ok, my bad."

Your Hips: "Most leftovers are fine. Anything but cottage cheese."

Your Brain: "I think I will just freeze this food so I am not tempted to eat it all now."

Your Butt: "Thank you Brain. You are smarter than I thought!"

I'm not making this crap up. You all know it really happens. Whenever me and my sisters did not finish all of the food on our plates my Mom would always say that our eyes were bigger than our stomachs.

If you were unlucky enough to end up with a refrigerator full of leftovers the best way to deal with them is to put them in the freezer. That way they won't just be staring at you when you open the refrigerator door for the next week! Out of sight, out of mind. And your conscience would then add.... better yet, out of stomach!

Have a great day!

Blessings,

Ava

xox

Visit my website at www.avaaston.com