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The Enforcer

Hey guys! I haven’t shared a general life type of post with you all lately so let’s go through some highlights!

I of course have obligatory kitten nursery pictures. I only have a few more weeks-crazy! I’ll miss seeing those faces every week!

ImageImageImageImageAfter the nursery, I drove one highway exit away for training run #2. I ran by the bay where I normally would do my long runs. It wasn’t my first location choice for a shorter run, but one highway exit was all I could manage in that traffic! 

Being the smarty pants that I am, I failed to bring my Garmin. That wasn’t really an issue for me. I planned to run for time, but I kind of failed with that too. Luckily, when you do enough hard, long runs in a place, you have a very good sense of when you have 2 miles left. Since my run was 4 miles, I hit that out and back point from memory and it was fine. I felt kind of tired-the run felt long. At the same time though, I think I was going at a good pace. My original plan was 3x per week of running, but I think I’m going to bump that up to 4 for the next few weeks. Unfortunately, me feet weren’t great by the end-my new inserts aren’t the solution…

Overnight oats were exactly what I was craving for lunch, so I whipped them up from my vanilla yogurt that was on its last legs. 15 minutes of waiting, and they were good enough for me!

ImageI listen to an audiobook on my long runs. I had the idea a week or so ago that in the afternoons, instead of reading a book, I should just take my audiobook and go for long walks. This summer, I’ve felt pretty sedentary when I’m not working out. 

I really enjoyed it-my walk ended up being 2 hours long and very hilly. I’m thinking these walks will be decent training at least for the downhills of my half, sicne the movement is pretty similar. 

Here are some of the views:

ImageImageI didn’t sleep enough Thursday night. I had a 5:10 wake up for spin Friday morning. The thought of staying in bed could have crossed my mind if it wasn’t for this.

ImageAt 5:08 am, this guy busted my door open (not really sure how…) and started meowing his lungs out for me to get up. Not for attention, not to be petted, but so I would get my rear end out of bed. So, on 5 hours of sleep, I got up before my alarm. I don’t understand how he knows. When I wake up early for a workout (or the kitten nursery) he always wakes up and gets ready with me. I’m not sure how he can possibly know the day and time, since Thursdays I wake up an hour later. I swear, that cat!

After spin, I refueled with a plum, and eggs with kale and chive and onion cream cheese.

ImageAfter a quick nap, I helped my mom take our car in for service. While the car was being worked on, we headed downtown in search of a coffee shop.

We happened upon a little place that attracted us with its produce and Blue Bottle coffee. Blue Bottle for some reason sounded familiar to me, so we decided to check it out. 

ImageI ordered an oat bar and a cappuccino.

ImageImageHow adorable is this??

We got talking about health, nutrition, weight, eating plans, and life. We ended up staying for 2 hours, leaving only when the parking meter was going to run out. This little discussion sparked my last post, as well as another one I wrote at the same time, which should appear on Monday. It was really, really nice. 

That evening, I went to Crossfit and was able to Rx the workout (go at the prescribed weight/height of box). The workout was 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 of kettle bell swings and box jumps. The kettle bell swings were a non-issue. The box was higher than I was expected…And I thought for sure the workout would end with me picking pieces of Aurora out of the box. I have a bit of a fear of box jumps-and a pretty little scar on my shin to prove it. I’ll spare you the pictures of when it first happened. When I first began working with my trainer 3 years ago, I bashed my shin REALLY badly in one of the first sessions with him. He later told me he thought I’d never be back after that! I did it again a year ago, and now box jumps always make me nervous when I know they’re not a super easy height. 

I was worried also that I’d be tired at the end and mess up. It took intense focus, and a lot of nerves, but I successfully Rxed the workout! I don’t care that I was the last to finish-I still did, I pushed my boundaries, and had a ton of focus.

That evening I visited my sister in her new apartment where she invited a whole bunch of friends over. It was a ton of fun-pizza, boba, games. The highlight was learning how to make paper airplanes-which of course degenerated into all out paper airplane warfare. 

ImageThat’s all I have for you today! Also-expect a recipe coming your way soon!

What did you do this weekend? What is one exercise you’re terrified to do?

Hug a Cat

Hey guys! I haven’t exactly checked in in a little while. Not with a more normal, day in the life type of post at least. I don’t exactly have an excuse-sure Wednesday and Thursday were fairly busy, but I kind of decided to watch TV at night instead of post. I felt bad yesterday so I threw up a post I had been saving. I had a specific topic to write about but I’ll save that for another post so this isn’t crazy long. 

Wednesday morning, on the way out to 5:45am spin, I was greeted by this:

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Silly cat. 

My spin teachers are in the habit of talking about doughnuts. Meh. After spin, I headed off to run, only to be met by a dead Garmin. It died about 5 minutes in to my 5 mile run. I thought it would have given some type of warning to charge it BEFORE it died?? Then again, maybe I left it on again….Luckily I had done that same distance at the same place so it was fine. And I took a super easy pace.

Since I had woken up at 5:10 that morning, caffeine was in order, especially with the day’s midterm (and studying for midterm…). My mom has been meaning to use her espresso maker more so we made a cappuccino!

ImageIt was really good! Cappuccinos are about the only coffee drink I’ll have. I’m kind of obsessed with milk foam. And extra bonus-I can add as much as I want (read: a lot)! So this was even milkier than what I would order. Would they look at me funny at the coffee shop if I order extra milk foam? Image

My midterm went well. I suffered from the fact that I haven’t actually written anything on paper for the last few months. There were essay questions, and my hand was dying. But at least I got to write about the obesity epidemic, one of my favorite health topics!

I had a softball game Wednesday night, and my sister and her boyfriend decided to come home for dinner when they realized we’d be having waffles. I’ve been dying for waffles or pancakes lately, so when I saw a whole grain mix in our pantry, I knew it was time. 

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I topped mine with butter and hot blueberries-just the way I like it! On the side (because obviously the waffles are the main dish), I had a frittata with spinach, goat cheese, and caramelized onions. And some frozen cherries! Yummm. By the way, that’s not the only waffle that was consumed that night. Just the only one that would fit on the plate. 

Thursday morning was a rough one at the kitten nursery. One of the kittens has scabies, which is a skin disease that can be transferred pretty easily to other kittens and to humans. Everything was basically on quarantine, and we had to wear gowns the whole time. The poor kitten was feeling just fine, but we weren’t allowed to play with her at all. However, this wasn’t the worst part of the morning.

One litter of kittens was not doing well. They were new 2 weeks ago, and I remember them all being super active and playful. This week however, they were much mellower and clearly not feeling well. They had pretty loose stools, and some were loosing too much weight. One little kitten was just not doing well at all. She had lost a lot of weight and wasn’t eating much, so we were supposed to bottle feed her, but she resisted that as well. The only positive is she did purr when I picked her up. Last night, they sent out an email that they had to euthanize her because she was suffering and wasn’t going to make it. That’s the hard part of this job-these kittens are so tiny (she was .27 lbs today) and who knows what has happened to them before they come in. As volunteers, we do as much as possible to keep them healthy, but sometimes there really isn’t anything we can control. When I got home, all I wanted to do was give my kitties a big hug. I’m so grateful they’re healthy, happy, and loving. I have to be thankful for the cats that I can save-we rescued Charlie from Stockton. ImageThis is Charlie the day we found him.

He was wandering around the hotel we were staying at (for softball) calling out to us. Stockton is not a nice place-it has some of the highest crime rates in the country. At one of the softball fields we played at, you could hear gunshots from the field. The hotel was adjacent to the highway, and it was clear he had been dumped. We saw him that morning meowing at us before the game, and between games we returned to search for him. We bought some cat food at the store, but couldn’t even find any boxes-we ended up finding some cardboard (like a box, but no top or bottom) that kind of held him in. It was 90 degrees though, and he was an escape artist. He ended up in the engine of two different cars. On the 2 hour drive home, he sat on my lap in the box and cried if I didn’t constantly have my hand in the box. 

If we hadn’t taken him home, the hotel would have called Animal Control-my dad was looking into nearby shelters, but they were full. When he talked to the hotel front desk, they told him to call animal control. Animal control would have euthanized him.

I can’t even imagine how someone could have dumped him. He’s one of the sweetest cats I’ve ever met-I’ve never once seen him angry. He’s never clawed anyone. And the only time he bites is if he gets a little too frisky. He’s such a softie-I can’t imagine why someone wouldn’t have wanted him. 

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I guess what I’m saying is appreciate your pets. Give them a hug and be thankful for them, and feel happy you saved them. Not all animals are so lucky.

Morning Blogging

So I’m blogging in the morning before class…this is weird. I don’t know how people blog before work or school. I’m always in such a hurry as it is. But today I don’t have class until 11 (midterm yayyy) and this morning is a rest day (although I might go for a bike ride later). But since I didn’t have time to post last night, this is perfect!

As usual, my day began with a 7am spin class. There are these two adorable ducks that have been hanging out near the gym. Which is nowhere near water…And Wednesday they were sleeping in the grass outside my dorm. I’ve been meaning to snap a photo of them but I didn’t get the chance, until I saw them snoozing on my way back from Spin. Too cute!ImageI attempted to make my breakfast look pretty…ImageI had been planning on using my real camera in my room when I am eating instead of my phone, but my roommate is still asleep when I am eating, so it is kind of dark. And it’s not really fair to wake up my roommate just to take a picture….For some reason, my iPhone takes better pictures in this awkward lighting…Who would have known?

My 9am class had a midterm, but it was not difficult. I was done in half an hour. Then, I went to the library to study for today’s midterm, since I knew I had a lot going on tonight. At the library:ImageWhat is that, you may ask? It is a Coupa Coffee machine! You swipe a credit card and select your drink, and it makes it right in front of you! I had a Cappuccino. ImageMilk foam (AKA the only reason I like this drink).ImageEspresso.

ImageThe finished product!

I spent 4 hours in the library working yesterday…with a lunch break 🙂ImageA salad from the actual Coupa. No salad machine! Although how awesome would that be?? This is what I got: 

beverlyhills chopped salad

chopped mesclun greens, romaine, chicken, tomatoes, olives, asparagus, and avocado topped with gouda cheese and tossed in a dijonmustard vinaigrette

YUM. I also learned you apparently get wayyy more when you get it for there, and not to go. Look at the height on this thing!Image

After 4 hours of hard work, my brain was pretty fried. In Psych section, we talked about our week’s project. We had to pick a social norm, violate it, and get a picture of ourselves doing so. The best was a person who wore tons of makeup on one half of her face, and people thought she was actually insane. Mine was boring. I went to the dorm lounge and did my homework upside down. I thought it was weird, but no one so much as looked up. ImageApparently I do stuff like this normally? I have been caught doing yoga with my textbook before…Yesterday I got the best idea for what I should have done. I should have walked around with a camera to all my classes and taken a picture of everything. How perfect would that be for the blog??

After class, I had to do laundry. I had an event last night, and not too many clean clothes. Although it turns out I had everything clean that I needed….Oh well I needed towels. Unfortunately, since I was under some time pressure (had to make it to yoga), I only did a really small load that would dry in time. And I still have a ton of laundry…as in, I have very few clothes. As in, my workout clothes are dirty. Good thing I have so many! 

Pre-yoga snack:

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One thing I’ve noticed since I gave up desserts is things are starting to taste really sweet. Like this oatmeal-ish thing. Interesting…It’s been a week guys! And honestly I don’t miss desserts. I was thinking, “I’ve had no desserts in the 19th year of my life! Maybe I can do the whole year!” Somehow, I doubt THAT is going to happen!

Yoga was awesome, as usual. I can feel myself getting stronger again. After yoga, I headed to Spring Fair. Yesterday, all the dining halls put out their best efforts in a Fair, where we could get tickets and get all kinds of delicious things. Since the fair was in the plaza, all the dining halls were closed. ImageAaaaall of the bikes.ImageI got Hawaiian food from the best dining hall on campus. To be honest, I was disappointed. It was kind of plain. ImageThen I got a lettuce leaf (that sounds sooo filling) and a veggie empanada from a different place. The empanada was good, but not my favorite combo of flavors. Image

After the Fair, I ran back for a shower before heading out…to make challah! My school has a program called Challah for Hunger, which makes and sells Challah to students and the proceeds go to charity. My sorority is vaguely Jewish ( I’m not. Only like 3 people are…) so we get a chance to do some of the baking sometimes. 

Note: in taking these pictures I managed to coat myself and phone in flour and dough. Sacrifices, guys. ImageImageLOTS of dough.ImageAll I was actually doing was braiding. 

ImageImageAaaand done!

There was plain, chocolate chip, cinnamon raisin (I want to try this!), and banana. I know there was going to be Sun-dried Tomato and some other flavors as well, but I had to leave.  I had to go to another sorority event. I didn’t actually decide to get any challah because I didn’t want to encourage myself to eat late at night, but that kind of backfired when I had yogurt after the mixer…

Ah well. It is Friday! Happy Birthday to my fabulous mother!

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Any fun weekend plans?