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Last Post from This Side of the Mississippi

Happy Friday! I’m currently at the airport waiting to board my flight to DC! I’m not sure what my schedule or WiFi will be like for the next couple of days, so I wanted to take the chance to recap some things now. First things first. I wanted to visit the Kitten Nursery I worked at last summer before I left, so of course I have to share adorable kitten pictures. IMG_8145 IMG_8146 IMG_8147IMG_8149IMG_8151IMG_8155IMG_8156IMG_8159   I’ve been trying to eat mostly whole foods lately, so here’s some things from the past couple of days. IMG_8161   An egg and lower sugar raspberry jam made by my aunt. Lunch out with my sister-I started with a giant cappuccino which I couldn’t finish! (But you better believe I drank all the milk foam!) IMG_8163

For the main course, my mom and I split a gouda arepa (corn based) and a salad with chicken, avocado, and gouda. IMG_8164 IMG_8165   And as my last dinner at home, I had one of my favorites-grilled chicken and peach salad with goat cheese. On the side was some whole grain bread rolled in sunflower seeds. IMG_8172   And then lunch this morning pre-airport was simple-2 eggs, half an avocado, cheese and crackers, and some English peas (unpictured). IMG_8173 IMG_8174 IMG_8175   Today, I went to my last home Crossfit, got a couple of episodes of Scandal loaded up on my computer to get in the mood, and said goodbye to my kitty. IMG_8178 IMG_8179   I’m going to miss him! Catch you all from the other side of the country!

Running the Golden Gate

I had the best day today. Seriously. Since I finished my first final yesterday and I don’t have another one until Wednesday, today was definitely a day off!

This morning, I ran with Crossfit in San Francisco! We carpooled up to Crissy Field and I ran with my phone for picture taking purposes.

It was an absolutely beautiful day to run. Fairly warm but windy up higher, with some fog around the bridge.

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My Crossfit coach’s dog.

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Please note how high up the bridge is in these pictures, and that we began at sea level.

A group of us wanted to run the bridge, which was a bit of a ways up-lots of stairs! And the bridge isn’t super flat either! So here are some bridge pictures!

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And of course proof that we indeed did reach the other side:

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We definitely kept up a decent pace. When we weren’t climbing, it was under 9:30 which is on the fast side for me, especially after the hills! I was basically dying by the end. We ended up doing just under 7 miles and my legs are definitely feeling it!

On the way to brunch afterwards we stumble upon a giant food truck gathering so we stopped there instead.

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The first thing I got was the best latte I’ve ever had. By far. It was AMAZING.

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Since the coffee took a while and I didn’t want to make everyone wait, I got my food from the place with a shorter line-I ended up with and Indian roll filled with Chicken Tikka Masala.

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It was good but MAN was it spicy. I bought a bottle of water and was getting seriously concerned when my water was disappearing faster than the pain in my mouth! I’m the biggest wimp with spicy food!

I then went back home to drop some things off to begin the move out process and ended up getting drawn in by the air conditioning and the cats.

I actually broke my no sugar thing. Sort of. I was tentatively planning on ending it today, and I celebrated with a slice of leftover birthday cake from the freezer.

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It didn’t spark any crazy cravings, so here’s to another week! I know what my next dessert will be though-I volunteered to bake a Boston Cream Pie from scotch for my sister’s graduation next weekend!

Like I said, I was sucked into the world of cats at home. I ended up not leaving until late into the evening, and I spent a lot of time with a very purry kitty.

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It was such a hot day today, and since my dorm has no air conditioning, it gets pretty bad. I’m sitting here now sweating! I also had dinner at home. We had a spinach and mushroom quiche from Whole Foods, broiled asparagus, and a green bean creation I made. I sautéed up some frozen green beans (we didn’t have a lot on hand in the veggie department) with roasted garlic, green onions, and later some garlic and herb laughing cow. Yum!

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A tough run in an awesome place, with awesome people, plus cat time? Does it get any better??

What did you do this weekend?

Thanksgiving Eve

If you’re reading this on Thanksgiving, then Happy Thanksgiving! I wanted to pop in quickly to share some eats from Thanksgiving Eve (it’s currently Wednesday night). 

Today was our last day in Napa. We decided to go out for a nice breakfast at the hotel restaurant. I ordered fruit with yogurt, which was of course delicious.

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What really stole the show was the Belgian waffle. Can you believe I hadn’t had a waffle in months? I haven’t had one at school yet-it used to be a weekly thing! My closest dining hall doesn’t have frozen blueberries to top it with (so totally not worth it) and the lines at the other dining hall WITH the berries are insane, so that’s not happening. But this little guy was fantastic! My family ordered one for the table to share.

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Topped with vanilla berry compote.

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On our way into downtown, we made a stop at Whole Foods-the granola bar I wanted to eat before my Turkey Trot is no longer carried by my local Whole Foods-sadly we struck out in Napa as well so I’m going into the race on an untested breakfast (YOLO). However, we did see that this Whole Foods had a coffee bar, and decided it would probably be a good idea to test it out.

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A cappuccino-of course. I also tried some of my mom’s Pumpkin Spice Caramel latte, and I actually really liked it! I normally can’t do sweet coffee, but this wasn’t too sweet (ok, or that coffee-y). Maybe next time!

After walking around downtown, we stopped in an interesting marketplace for lunch. We decided on a Venezuelan place, and each ordered an arepa. 

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It should be no surprise that mine had avocado! It also had tofu, plaintain, black bean, and garlic aioli, all on a sweet corn “bun.” Delish!

And since we were in a marketplace, there were plenty of dessert options. I had a pumpkin pie cupcake-it was filled with caramel! I probably could have done without the buttery icing though!

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And on our way out, we stopped at an Italian bakery for what were more or less cream puffs-mine was milk and honey. 

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Dinner later was a new to me flavor of kombucha, plus broccoli and an omelet with mushrooms, spinach, and gouda.

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And of course, I’m enjoying plenty of love from this guy.

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Now, I’m off to hopefully fall asleep and dream of trotting turkeys! I have my playlist made (which may or may not be half Christmas music), my clothes laid out, and my alarm set! Now I just need to get sleepy…maybe I’ll go read my textbook for school-that should do the trick! Yayy finals in a week. 

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy your Turkey Trots, but make sure to take in all the precious family time you can get!

 

MIMM-Summer’s End

Happy Monday everybody! This is the last Monday before school starts-I start so late! So let’s make it Marvelous! Thanks to Katie for hosting this party.

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Marvelous is…

Moving back into my dorm this week! I actually do think I’m ready for school to start. This has been a very low key summer, which is exactly what I wanted, but I’m getting a little antsy.

Marvelous is…

Jumping onto the pumpkin bandwagon early with a new recipe! Baby pumpkin pie-and it’s microwave friendly! The recipe should be up Monday night.

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Marvelous is…

Fig and goat cheese salads. Can’t. Get. Enough.

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Marvelous is…

Rocking my 10 mile run today. I beat my last 10 mile run time by over 4 minutes!Image

This is my last flat long run for a while since my race is hilly. I’m a little nervous because up until this point all my long runs have been flat. As far as today’s run? It felt pretty good. The shoe insert I carved out helped my foot feel better at least somewhat-it didn’t become an issue until the turnaround point. I’m convinced I would be soo much faster if my foot didn’t kill me every run. I’m getting custom inserts made so hopefully that fixes it. Also-I took a look at the carved inserts after my run, and since they’re foamy, they completely flattened, which is probably why the hole stopped helping. Oh well. Also, I rolled my ankle around mile 2. It wasn’t too bad so I shook it off and kept going. I think ice and compression socks may keep it from being an issue. 

Marvelous is…

Post run lunch. WIth a side of ice bucket (for my foot pain and ankle-killing 2 birds with one very, very cold stone).ImageImage

Lunch was a couple of baby sweet potatoes topped with spinach and an egg with spices. I also had a smoothie-cherry, pineapple, and lots of pineapple coconut water. So refreshing!

Marvelous is…

The fact that no matter what random clothes I pull out of my closet, I always seem to be wearing the same colors.Image

Marvelous is…

Relaxing post run with an adorable kitty. I’m going to miss him so much when I leave! And the poor thing-he has allergies so right now his eyes are pink rimmed, runny, and itchy. 

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Marvelous is…

Soaking up the last bit of summer with one more summery meal. Yes, I realize this contradicts the above statement about pumpkin.

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I made Grilled Peach and Chicken salad, except I used nectarines instead of peaches.

And for dessert-some of the last summer fruit in the form of a fruit bowl. Topped with sunflower seed butter-perfection.

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What is Marvelous in your Monday? Are you excited for fall or sad that summer is ending?

…And the World Didn’t End

First of all, Happy Memorial Day everyone! I want to take a minute to remember all those who have made sacrifices to our country. 

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My day has been rather low-key. I actually got to sleep in today, and got 10 hours of sleep! When was the last time that happened?? Unfortunately, my allergies were going crazy this morning. Naturally, that would happen the same day I run out of tissues…I’m not sure what I might be allergic to or why it is such a problem all of the sudden, but it sure is annoying!

I planned to take some homework with me to the dining hall so I could grab brunch and then do work until I was ready for the gym. I ended up having a larger brunch than planned, so I was there for a good two hours, reading about Darwin’s finches (I’m in a class about evolution).

Upon arriving at the Spin bikes, I quickly realized that I was missing part of the shoe that would be integral in using my new shoes. I guess there is some clip that screws into the shoes. I am obviously so knowledgable. My wonderful mother went out and bought one for me though, so whenever I see her next, and I will finally be able to try my shoes!

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It looks something like this.

I did a short workout at the gym- 2 sets of 10 minutes on the erg, with the stroke rate 18, 20, 22, 24 for 4′ at 18, then 3′, then 2′, then the last minute at 24. I followed that with 10 minutes of abs. Why was my workout short? Because today kicks off my half marathon training! I am going for a 3 mile run with my sister pretty soon! In 10 weeks I will be running 13.1 miles!

I spent most of today doing laundry. Unfortunately, after my first load in the washer, there were no dryers free, so I attempted to hang everything in my room. Luckily, now everything is in the dryer! I usually do laundry early in the morning before everyone is awake, but I slept in today so that wasn’t really an option. 

The only other noteworthy thing from today- I ate dessert. I’ve gone more than 3 weeks without, but I finally caved. I had a chocolate avocado cupcake and some dark chocolate. And you know what? Nothing happened. Sure, I feel a little sick, but the walls didn’t crumble around me, and I didn’t eat an entire batch of cupcakes. Nothing tasted quite as good as I was expecting. I also realized that I am probably eating too many sweets that aren’t technically desserts, like muffins and pancakes. I intend to continue avoiding sweets after this-I just don’t feel that great; however, if something is amazing, I might try it. The biggest downside- I had wayyy too big of a snack recently giving I’m running in 30 minutes. Ugh. Oh well, what can you do? Sorry I don’t have any pictures from today. I’ll compensate like I normally do, with an adorable kitty picture! (And only 2 weeks before you guys get ‘fresh’ kitty pictures!)

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