After all the graduation mumbo-jumbo, it’s time for a normal catch up on normal life. Food. Fitness. Animals. That’s just about how we roll around here, isn’t it? So let’s do a food+fitness recap of the week.

Fitness:

Monday: Crossfit

A1: Front Squat @30×1 – 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
A2: Banded Shoulder Stretch 30s/side
+
3 Sets with no rest

30 Double under ( I did 10 calories on the assault bike)
12 DB Front Squat
12 Wtd Hanging Leg Raise (No weight for me because I didn’t want a dumbbell on my foot…)
12 Burpee (I did 15 V-ups)

Tuesday: In the morning, I went to my mom’s aerobics class with her, although I couldn’t do absolutely everything with my foot. It was a lot of fun! Exactly what I would imagine a fitness class in the ’80s would be like, complete with the music.

In the evening, I went to a spin class at the local studio. This was the first time in a class I was able to stand a little bit! I stood maybe 1/3 of the time we were supposed to stand, and took it super carefully.

Wednesday: 6am spin class at the same studio, and was able to stand even more than the day before! At this point, it doesn’t hurt my foot, but my foot gets tired before it’s overused to the point it stops hurting, so I know it well enough to know when to back off.

In the afternoon, I went to my Crossfit gym to make use of the open gym while my parents walked the dog. I worked on bench press mainly, working up to a heavy set of 2. Then I did pull ups and dumbbell rows. All arms!

Thursday: I went to the Crossfit gym again to do my own workout. I’m not quite ready for Olympic lifts yet (probably next week), so I didn’t do the class. I did 4×4 deadlifts at 165#, going slow down. Then I did 4 sets of 8 single arm kneeling db press at 25#, and 6 single leg RDLs, keeping it light for my foot at 35#. I finished with 4 rounds of 10 tricep dips, 25 abmat sit ups, and 30s sprint on the bike.

Friday: Not there yet, but soon, Crossfit! Back squats, plus an on the minute WOD of pull up holds, handstand holds, and kb swings.

Food:

A few highlights include some recipes stolen from my friend’s Pinterest. She seriously has the best pins!

Lemon chicken and veggie soup, which we topped with feta and served with sweet potato tortilla chips.

The best thing though? Probably the best salad I’ve ever made. Grilled romaine salad with corn and avocado. If you’ve never tried grilled romaine, you need to. This salad had a corn, avocado, and basil blend (which we added grilled chicken to), with a maple miso dressing. Seriously, this was amazing.

Other non-pinterest delights:

Nachos, the last meal on campus after we finished moving out. I wanted froyo, but the place was closed.

Breakfasts: Yogurt with some variation of fruit, granola, and sunbutter.

Coffee with my mom at my new favorite coffeeshop near home+a gluten free brownie. SUPER good.

 

Leftover soup with GF avocado toast.

Morning glory bread. Recipe to come. It’s still not 100% what I was looking for, but still delicious!

Delicious, simple dinner. Leftover grilled chicken, yams, 2x roasted. First as a whole yam, second in chunks to make the edges crispy. Obsessed. Plus roasted zucchini with crushed garlic, salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast.

Cooking Light BBQ chicken with peach and feta slaw (we used chopped lettuce in place of slaw). Such unique flavors!

Animals:

And now I’m off to Crossfit! Have a fabulous weekend!

My friends, we made it. I am officially a college grad. (See part 1 of grad weekend here.)

So here we are. Graduation Day. June 12, 2016. My whole life 2016 was a big year. I always knew it would be the year I graduated college, and I never really considered that there would be any years after 2016 (2017, what is that??). And now it was here. Somehow I never thought we’d get here. I never thought college would end. It seemed like the thing you worked your whole life for. And now I was graduating?? When did I grow up? I don’t feel mature enough to be a college grad!

Breakfast: the typical yogurt+sunbutter+blueberries+granola. Gotta fuel up for the big transition into the real world!

(I was out of bowls. Well, or so I thought until I went to move out…oops.)

My handiwork. Stanford has a tradition called Wacky Walk. Every year, the undergraduates go to the commencement wearing silly costumes. We parade around the stadium as we enter. (And wear normal caps and gowns for the department ceremony.) After literally 9 months of trying to figure out what we wanted to be, we decided on emojis, and I’m so happy with how they turned out! We each chose our favorite emoji, one which we felt represented us the best.

My sister was graduating with her Master’s so we joined us for the ceremony!

I also think there’s one important thing I need to talk about in this post. The issue that was very present at our commencement, and has launched Stanford into national news for the past few weeks. I wasn’t sure if I was going to talk about it on this blog, but I feel compelled to speak given it’s something that happened right here at home. Brock Turner. I don’t think anyone disagrees that the sentencing was ludicrous, but I want to give voice to the protest that happened at Wacky Walk, because I think it was often glossed over or misinterpreted. There were swarms of reporters there (I actually got spoken too and quoted in an article), but I think they’re missing part of the message. It wasn’t just about the sentence, about throwing out the judge. It was also about getting Stanford to enact change. The policy for sexual assault is not set up to prevent future sexual assault. Many assaulters are repeat offenders. Stanford has a list of names of those it has found guilty of sexual assault, and those names should be released so that students can protect themselves and be wary. (If you are interested, sign the petition here.) This is such a small step that would radically change the culture. Stanford should be a leader here and take action.

Back to our regularly scheduled post. The commencement address. It was…unexpected. The main speaker was Ken Burns, the documentary maker. I think most people assumed sort of a bland speech. That it was not…It was definitely one to remember, and my fellow students and I couldn’t quite believe he was saying what he did (not that anyone seemed to disagree). It was a very strange forum for that message though. Also, in all the videos of the speech on youtube, my emoji and I are featured!

Following commencement, I biked off to my department ceremony, where a cheese and veggies spread awaited me. My mom actually got suer lost coming to my department ceremony, and I had to talk her through directions while she frantically walked in circles. She made it just in time for some food, before we had to be seated.

Before I knew it, I was walking the stage to accept the little piece of paper that represents so much.

During the ceremony, I was reminded what I’m doing, and why I’m doing it. I think my thinking about the future as of late has been selfish; I have to remember that I work hard and follow my calling, but for the greater good. I’m part of something bigger than myself. It’s easy to forget that while grinding through problem sets.

After the ceremony, froyo was entirely necessary. Plus, my favorite froyo place ever (Wildberry) is right off campus!

I spent the afternoon relaxing in my dorm room with Netflix and banana bread.

Before cleaning myself up and heading home for dinner with my family.

To start, we shared grilled artichoke with horseradish aioli.

For my main meal, I had a salad with kale, beets, and goat cheese.

After dinner, my mom made my sister and I re-don our caps and gowns for photos together. Outside. On a random street corner.

And thus, I am graduated. So-what’s next? I am applying to Veterinary school in the fall, and am still working out my plans for next year. In the meantime, I will be leaving for Tennessee soon for 5 weeks. I will be in Knoxville, and could not be more excited for this incredible opportunity.

Phew. I am still wiped from this past month, but I think it’s about time I sat back and wrote about this past weekend. It was surreal; I cannot believe I am a college graduate! This blog has taken me all the way from Freshman year to graduation. How crazy is that? So let’s dive right in to my final weekend at Stanford.

Saturday morning was Baccalaureate, and I got a quick sweat in beforehand. I’m definitely one for routine, and exercise has helped keep me sane! I did a Blogilates abs video+short flute video before heading to the gym for 20 minutes of HIIT on the spin bike.

Breakfast was yogurt+granola+sunbutter.

Baccalaureate:

I was apparently running late because they didn’t actually tell us when to get there, but when I arrived I luckily ran into my friends, who saved a spot for me inside the church where the seniors were lining up.

This was my first time donning the cap and gown! Honestly, the question running through my head this past month has been, “How did we end up here??”

We then proceeded outside to the main quad, through a crowd of friends and family. This was my first moment of “this is really happening.”

Sidenote: it was also scorching out! My seat was luckily sort of shaded.

I think Baccalaureate was one of the most emotional parts of the weekend for me. I was sitting with some of my best friends, and time to reflect on the past 4 years, and how much they mean to me. I will try my best to stay in touch, but it’s definitely something I worry about. It’s harder when you can’t just walk across the street to see someone.

After the ceremony, I got to meet my friend’s extended family, who were just the sweetest.

And then picture-taking ensued.

(This is actually the 1916 plaque…we cheated a little because the 2016 plaque was too far!)

After the ceremony, my parents and I went out to lunch at Whole Foods. We wanted something easy and light, and enough off campus to not hit crazy crowds.

Smitten (Nitrogen ice cream) is attached to Whole Foods, and my parents got some, which I helped out a bit with 🙂 Chocolate, and earl grey.

Next on the agenda was pictures in the quad with my friends.

Here are a few of the shots:

I apologize for the photo overload, but graduation doesn’t happen every day!

After pictures, we went to tea at the president’s mansion. I didn’t stay too long though; after the day’s festivities, filled with walking, my foot was really starting to bother me.

Then, I headed home with my parents to get ready for a party at our house for myself and my friends and our families.

Dinner was soup, shockingly 🙂 My mom made summer squash soup from PaleOMG. I had it with some GF avocado toast (and some cheddar chive cheese on one piece).

Then, the frantic preparation process began. We had about 20 people coming, and a dessert spread fit for twice that!

My biggest accomplishment of the year had to be the decorations for the GF chocolate cake.

We had several dietary restrictions, but there was something for everyone!

Everything free cookies, my beautiful cake (GF, dairy free, soy free), pineapple upside down cake, raisin energy bars (which I should post the recipe for at some point; my family is known for these).

GF cake with buttercream, whole foods fruit tarts and chocolate mouse cups.

Blueberry crisp.

Sundae bar.

Appropriate plates and napkins.

Then, we were ready!

I wish I could have taken a picture of my own bowl because it looked/tasted delicious, but it was too crowded to find my phone! Course 1 was the powdered sugar chocolate cake+ice cream+blueberries+caramel and fudge sauces. I also had some blueberry crisp.

It was such a fantastic night. I loved meeting and chatting with everyone’s families, and I think everyone had a fantastic time.

I stayed up late that night talking to my friends one last time, and finishing up my costume.

More to come….

 

It’s the Saturday before graduation, and I’m sitting at home (my home-home, I’m local and we’re prepping for a party tonight), watching the Giant’s game. I wanted to do a quick update on the week’s festivities. I also want to include food+fitness in these recaps because 1. that’s what we’re all here for, right? and 2. They are still big parts of my life, and I want to show how that fits into the events.

Thursday morning began with physical therapy (seriously, so much better every day). After, I headed to the gym to do a spin workout on my own. I did a little workout I made the summer after freshman year, and is the spin workout I’ve done more than any other. I had a fun time listening to the music from that period! Strangely enough, there was lots of Pitbull. The workout also had 8 rounds of HIIT intervals, which are always tough. I did 1 min max effort/1:15 40% effort, recovery. It was just the best workout, and I had a blast. I left feeling so happy.

Lunch was a final meal from the freezer, since everything was getting tossed that afternoon. I had a savory steel cut oat meal (looked disgusting, tasted delicious) with chicken and cheese, which I then added some spinach to. I also made a little salad of leftovers from the fridge: lettuce, artichoke and olive salad, and light champagne vinaigrette.

After lunch, we made a run to the craft store to make our Wacky Walk costumes. Stanford is a bit silly, and we have a tradition that for the main commencement address, the students dress up in crazy costumes and parade into the stadium.

(Snack: blueberry oatmeal muffin)

After brainstorming and agonizing over it for literally the entire year, my friends and I decided on emojis.

We spray painted foam core and then make the face by tracing a projected image. The process:

We didn’t get to completely finish before the big event for the day: Dinner on the Quad for seniors.

My sunburn is still going strong, but I was really impressed with my makeup job. Here’s a little before and after:

Obligatory pictures since we dressed up:

Salads to start:

For my main course, I requested the vegetarian option (since I don’t eat red meat), which was tofu with some type of sweet potato based ratatouille.

It was a nice event, but we didn’t have an intensely great time so we ended up leaving a little early (it went until late that night!) Instead, we returned to my dorm to enjoy blueberry banana bread, finish our emojis, an play taboo. I haven’t laughed so hard in a while!

Check it out:

Friday morning, I went to physical therapy again. I just had a granola bar and fruit beforehand, and then snacked on banana bread after before noon Crossfit.

I was really excited for Crossfit, because this is the first workout I could do un-modified in almost 2 months! I kept everything light for sure though.

Workout:

Back squats, slow on the way down, pause at the bottom. Sets of 10-6-2-10-6-2, going up i weight.

WOD: EMOM of 6 pull ups, 30s handstand hold on box, 15 Russian kettle bell swings.

It felt good to be back at it!

I was at a bit of a loss about where to eat lunch since our kitchen was closed, so I decided to just go to Whole Foods.

I made a salad with chicken, dried cranberries, parmesan, and balsamic, plus roasted broccoli and carrots on the side.

Later that afternoon, we had a parents welcome at my dorm. Again, leg makeup on point.

We had quite the spread, including GF blueberry cake!

We went out to dinner afterwards, which I was super excited for because…

SWEETGREEN!I fell in love with Sweetgreen in DC, and I was super excited when I learned that the salad spot would be coming to Palo Alto. I went the seasonal watermelon, feta, and mint salad+chicken. (Copy cat recipe-> here)

It was good! I think the DC salad was better though, to be honest! They have it DOWN there!

After dinner, we walked across the street for frozen yogurt, where I ordered a small chocolate with raspberry puree and chocolate shavings.

After dessert, I made it through on episode of Netflix before totally crashing. it’s been quite the week!