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“I’m buying you tequila shots!”

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jokes Nina Dobrev, upbeat but contrite.

Still, says the 26-year-old actress, every new route holds its own excitement.

“We shot until 6 a.m., and then I flew here,” she says.

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“I forgot to take them off.”

“It’s important for me that it be epic and powerful,” Dobrev says.

“I feel like I’m a completely different person than I was and I’ve grown so much.

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It’s been a big part of my life, and I want it to be beautiful.

I want it to end well.”

Never once does she say leaving is scary; she does, however, call it bittersweet.

“I’ve loved working on this show,” she says.

Still, like any smart professional, Dobrev’s been thinking a few moves ahead for years.

“I’m very business-minded,” she says.

She’s eager now to tackle even more ambitious film roles.

We’re beneath a sign that reads I AM WHOLE AND COMPLETE UNTO MYSELF, all in capital letters.

The restaurant’s vegetarian menu plays on identity.

If you order a marinated kale salad, you are saying, “I am …

If you want corn and portobello mushroom tacos, it’s “I am…transformed.”

He delivered pizzas and pumped gasoline until funds were sufficient.

“I learned hard work from them.”

Gymnastics was four hours a day, six days a week.

There wasn’t time for both.”

In her early teens, Dobrev began going to Toronto to try out for acting parts.

“I would take the subway,” she says, “and then four different buses.

Nothing was ever handed to me.”

She got the part based on that.

She fought for it."

As our food arrives, Dobrev digs in.

There’s roasted brussels sprouts, a couple of salads, those corn and portobello mushroom tacos.

Regardless, she wants pictures, because she likes to chronicle these things.

“My taste buds are alive and well,” she says.

“Living in Atlanta, I started a restaurant bucket list for friends.

There’s a whole burger section.

Everybody loves it when they come into town.”

Dobrev says she’d possibly like to expand and publish it.

“Like a travel guide,” she says.

With her show ending, the first thing Dobrev wants to do is explore.

She’s already planned a cross-country road trip with six friends after her final episode wraps.

Read the complete feature and find out about Dobrev’s upcoming plans by downloading the digital edition now.

“Whatever she wants to do, she’ll excel.”

Bodysuit;LucasHugh.comfor other styles.

“I’m excited to put up that fight.”

Sweater, Lucas Nascimento;MatchesFashion.com.

Sports bra, No Ka ‘Oi, $120; Performance Ski, 970-925-8657.

Briefs, Spanx by Sara Blakely, $58;Spanx.com.

Earrings, Tenthousandthings, $85;TenthousandthingsNYC.com

Styled by Melissa Ventosa Martin.

Photo Credit: Andreas Sjodin