What has been going on lately leaving me such little time to post? This one is part of it! She’s quite the handful. Fortunately, I think we’re starting to get through the worst of the biting phase, but it’s still a work in progress. She started puppy school a couple of weeks ago, and already knows come, sit, down, and shake. She’s a bit headstrong though, and still somewhat easily distracted. She listens to every word we say, and cocks her head to the side when she doesn’t know what we’re saying or if she hears a new noise. She puts her tongue and mouth on everything, and anything is fair game to be chewed on. The weird thing is she really likes licking feet and ankles. She’s also started jumping up to put her front paws on all the furniture. It’s only a matter of time before she’s stealing food from counters!

Work at the vet has been going really well, and I really like my job. That said, it’s basically my entire life right now, to the point that I have dreams about it every night.

And finally, food. Because I’m home, food is a lot more interesting! Last Sunday, I went to another Giant’s game with my mom and got cauliflower flatbread.

And a hot fudge sundae. YUM.

Oh, and a sunburn. Look at what a beautiful day it was in SF though!

Other notable and colorful meals?

A teriyaki bowl with asparagus. Quick and easy.

An egg white scramble with spinach, nutritional yeast, and lemon thyme salt, plus oatmeal and an amazing nectarine. My friend who lives on an orchard visited me again last weekend!

My current go-to work lunch. Recipe coming soon!

Eggs with brown rice/quinoa blend, plus a nectarine for breakfast.

Cooking Light Asian Lettuce Cups with mint snow peas, plus brown rice/quinoa.

A post-workout protein smoothie into which I accidentally dumped a third of the container of dark chocolate cocoa powder, hence the intense color. The smoothie was half cocoa powder, and the other half was a frozen banana, soy milk, a pinch of protein powder, and a handful of spinach.

Froyo at lunch at work. Want to hear something terribly sad? I realized I’m allergic to one of my favorite froyo toppings! Apparently the last ingredient in Heath bars is almonds. On the one hand, this makes me really sad that I won’t be able to enjoy Heath in my froyo any longer, but on the other hand, I’m glad I have an explanation to why I was having a significant mystery allergic reaction. Boo.

Brown rice+my copycat SweetGreen salad-watermelon and feta!

A very pale but delicious dinner. Cooking Light’s lemon marinated grilled chicken, rice with feta and spices, and frozen then baked cauliflower with Greek seasoning blend.

A simple breakfast of eggs, and blueberries/a tiny banana with sun butter.

And finally:

The Primavera salad from Le Boulanger with no nuts and added chicken!

What’s the best thing you ate last week?

1. Fruit. This is such an easy one, and I especially love it during the hot summer because it just seems so refreshing!

2. Veggies and guac. I snacked on this quite a bit during the school year. If you buy a pouch of the guacamole spices, it’s as easy as mashing up half an avocado and dipping.

3. Part of a bar. During the school year, before a workout I’d grab half of a Thinkthin bar. Right now, I’m sampling my wide selection of quest bars. I’m finding I enjoy them in small pieces because for me they start tasting funny by the end of the bar, and they’re pretty dense which can be hard on my stomach. Eating a bite or two of a bar here and there may be obnoxious if you live with people who would actually like to eat a WHOLE said bar, but the Quest bars are mine so no shame.

4. Laughing Cow with carrots. This is the perfect mix of protein and produce. It’s just what I need to make it through the afternoon!

5. Yogurt. Specifically, stand-alone yogurt. For a snack, I prefer something that is satisfying as is. For example, vanilla yogurt wouldn’t be a good snack for me because I’d need granola and sunflower seed butter. Coconut yogurt is perfect for this.

6. Coffee with milk. Sometimes you do need a little pick me up, especially in the morning. If you’re like me and like the milk to coffee ration more on the milk side, this is perfect. The milk has protein and some carbohydrates. And yes, I’ve used this as a post-workout recovery drink. No shame.

7. Leftovers. Many times, snacks are seriously lacking in nutritional value. Leftovers are the perfect mini-meal, and they often include easy to grab veggies. The other day I grabbed some leftover sweet potato wedges for a snack-more delicious and nutritious than chips!

8. This smoothie. I do best when my snacks are on the light side, especially if it’s right before a workout. This smoothie really hits the spot because it’s super refreshing, tasty, and sneaks in some veggies.

1 cup dark chocolate almond milk

handful of spinach

half of a frozen banana

large handful of ice

pinch of xantham gum

Blend and enjoy!

9. Dark chocolate. Sometimes all you want is something sweet. This will fulfill that while offering antioxidants and a small caffeine boost.

What are some of your favorite snacks?

Yesterday morning (Friday) I donned by neon shirt and headed out for an early morning run. I checked the weather report-47 degrees was the low…and the low was at the time of my run. Awesome. The temperatures are really starting to cool down here. Want to know something bizarre? Next week we have lows of 47 and highs of 80. While it does tend to get cold at night here, that much temperature difference is insane!

3 miles were on the schedule for Friday morning. I ran half a mile there, and half a mile back, so my workout was 8x400m repeats. I really like these-and yesterday I felt like I was flying. I don’t wear my Garmin for these, but I’m sure I was well under my goal pace. Something I like even more? 200 repeats. I’ll get to do a lot of those while I train to PR my 5k. SO pumped. I just felt really great out there Friday-I felt like I was flying on my 9 mile run last weekend as well-I feel like I’ve suddenly gotten a lot faster-perfect timing though! T minus 8 days until RACE DAY.

I’m liking my new post early morning workout coffee ritual.

It’s always cold in the morning, plus if I go straight from my workout, I beat all the on the way to work/class crowd. Perfect. 

Walking back to my dorm, I saw this:

I wish I lived on the first floor. The cat is back! I called to it and it came running over to me.

Such a sweetie! He almost made me late to class, but so, so worth it.

And…um…he followed me in the door. Which was obviously a problem-it was a good thing my friend was there to kick him out because I definitely didn’t have the heart to do it!

I took zero food pictures from yesterday. But I did do things. And eat things. My dorm had a “homecoming” dance, so we all got dressed up and had fun. When I get the pictures back, I’ll show you guys! I also got ready and totally showered in 15 minutes flat. Because my friends wanted to leave and I was watching How I Met Your Mother….Priorities people! It was actually a lot of fun-everyone was expecting it to be super awkward, but it really wasn’t. It was great to connect with people from my dorm. 

This morning I decided to go to Crossfit. 2 weeks ago I PRed my clean and jerk, but today I just couldn’t get it up. You can’t PR everyday, and you don’t always have good lifting days. I wasn’t committing on the jerks, and I kept missing the cleans. I’m pretty sure in the last 2 weeks I’ve developed some bad habits-it felt awesome 2 weeks ago, but then the following week, I started banging up my legs doing cleans. 

Which is not right. I was having the same problem today, but no bruising. I could tell I just wasn’t getting in the right position. But it happens. I was frustrated, but looking forward to the WOD: 3 400m sprints with 2 minutes of rest, and then 1 minute of rest in between. I brought my running shoes for this. I was expecting to finish last because everyone else was guys, but it didn’t turn out that way at all. I beat everyone in my heat (we split into 2 heats, starting 10 seconds apart to avoid running into each other), and even passed a person or two from the heat before me. It. Felt. Awesome. I’m starting to really look forward to training for the 5k-I haven’t done much fast running lately, and I forgot how much I liked it! And passing people? Best thing ever. 

On a sidenote, I REALLY need to do a timed mile, but I’ve been putting it off. My last one was 8:00, but that was pretty soon after mono and before any half training started. I would think I’d be somewhere around 7:30. I would LOVE to get down to under 7:00 like back in the day, buttt we’ll see about that. 

After my workout, I made the world’s worst smoothie. I brought my little packet of chocolate protein powder and cocoa powder to the dining hall, and even waited in the super long blender line. I added blueberries, mango, and milk. And…..WAIT FOR IT-arugula. I wanted spinach but they only had an arugula spinach mix, so I figured, why not? WRONG. WRONGWRONGWRONG. Arugula is a lot more flavorful than spinach. So I had 2 giant glasses of chocolate arugula. It was awful.

I attempted to drink it alongside a biscuit and some chicken/guac. But then gave up and just got another biscuit. Shudder.

Hopefully you guys are having something at least a little more delicious! Tomorrow is my last “long” run before my race. I’m doing 6, even though my plan calls for 8. Last time I felt like my legs really benefitted from the extra rest. The body wants what the body wants! (Which, by the way, is NOT an arugula smoothie.)

Have a great Saturday!

Let’s go back a few days, shall we? Wednesday was my last day of Health Psych, and I had a final. I had to do some last minute studying after spin, which meant no nap. So therefore, a cappuccino was a necessity. One bonus to making your own-you can add as much milk foam as you want

Every time I drive in to school, I’m amazed by how beautiful my campus is. Always perfectly sunny. 

My final went well, and I finished early enough to come home and relax before Crossfit. Given the title of the post, I thought I’d share this week’s WODs with you. 

Wednesday’s strength portion was back squats. At my box, we have quarters of the year-every quarter we work on different strength lifts. I think last quarter it was cleans and deadlifts-too bad because I would have loved that! This quarter it is snatches, back squats, and presses. Presses are hard for me-I’m bad at anything overhead, and I’m so used to push presses! I do love back squatting though. Anyways, here’s the WOD:

4 rounds:

5 Deadlifts

10 Toes to Bar

100 double unders

This workout doesn’t look bad, right? The deadlifts were on the heavy side but definitely doable (155 for me). The killer? Apparently if you can’t do double unders, the sub is 3-to-1 single unders. Which meant I did 1200 single unders….Ouch. The good news? My calf held up great! So hey, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?

Dinner was a good one. We made sloppy joes with turkey meat, and chopped in celery for some extra veggies. Served with a sweet potato with cheddar and coleslaw.

The highlight really though was “dessert.” My neighbor brought us a ton of fruit from his fruit trees the other day!

That’s a ton of apples! But I had an idea for them-never fear!

I saw a recipe for apple custard on Sugar Free Mom a while back and have been wanting to make it ever since. The recipe is super simple-and no sweetener- just apples!

I made a quick whipped cream-just heavy whipping cream whipped up, no sugar. Sadly, I had a slight mishap that ended with cream shooting all over the kitchen, so I never really got to the point of stiff peaks. But still good enough for me!

(Sidenote- don’t try whipping cream in too small a bowl so that little flecks spray out, and then try covering the bowl with saran wrap while you whip….)

I REALLY liked this. The touch of nutmeg reminded me of the holidays. I think this would be better if it was blended a little more, and maybe even with different apples. I’m thinking I can easily make a lazy college student version with apple sauce in the microwave! And the best part? It was a great snack the next day too! I highly recommend this recipe!

Thursday morning was a little crazy-kitten nursery and then straight to a meeting with my professor.  The good news is my little black kitten is doing infinitely better! He’s gained weight and is incredibly playful. Naturally I kind of hoarded him….and took tons of pictures. Black cats who are super energetic do not photograph well though. 

The only issue with my shift-we have a really small shift to start with, and somehow I ended up having to syringe feed an entire litter of kittens by myself. Kittens are surprisingly not receptive to having food shoved in their mouths…It was bad because I had to leave by a certain time, but all worked out in the end. 

I’m starting to rethink my career choice. The current plan is to do nutritional research. Which still sounds really appealing. But at the same time, I love animals, and I love working with these kittens. So maybe a vet? I’m doing animal behavior research this summer which does connect. I would never want to do surgery though! I couldn’t handle that. 

Thursday I was planning to do a mile run and then Crossfit. I don’t want to shock my calf when I start training again next week. However, the calf soreness starting coming in in force (yayy 1200 jump ropes…). My whole body just was not feeling anything at all, so I took a rest day. I don’t plan rest days into my schedule, and this is why. It’s easier for me to just judge when my body needs a break, and give it a day then. 

Dinner was turkey burgers, with an idea stolen from Audrey. Stuffing a burger with laughing cow! We had turkey burgers filled with a triangle of garlic and herb laughing cow. This was good, but would have been better if our grill hadn’t died. We have to make the burgers in the oven, and that combined with unseasoned meat led to really bland burgers. On the side was green beans and sweet potato wedges. 

On Friday, I had lunch plans with my best friends from high school. I decided to at least try to look somewhat cute, so I wore a dress. And since I was proud of myself for making an effort, I look a selfie with horrible lighting. 

I need a haircut really badly! I didn’t even realize how long my hair has gotten!

We went to lunch at a formerly Malaysian-turned-Chinese restaurant. We’ve been there a few times before before it was a Chinese place, and they still have many of the same menu items. We ordered Pad Thai, Curry Chicken, and Mango Chicken.

Everything was delicious, although I hope my face doesn’t rebel from the peanuts in the Pad Thai!

It was really great to talk with these friends. I haven’t seen them in so long! We still keep in constant contact though, so it was as if nothing had changed. 

Later that evening, I was back at Crossfit for a brutal WOD. It was:

3 rounds:

20 burpees

20 front squats

20 box jumps

The worst part? They made us go really heavy on the front squats. I had to break mine up into 5s, and it was still a strain. This workout was weird for me-it’s not like my legs were burning, I just couldn’t physically lift more than 5 in a row. I guess that’s the point…Plus I think I was suffering from my lack of naps in the last week- I depend on those!

Dinner was really ugly-not a whole lot of color. I made a kale and chocolate smoothie. Since I have a Vitamix now, kale can be blended much smoother, so I’m fine adding it to a smoothie now. Since I was worried about the bitterness of the kale, I added some frozen mango as well. Although, thanks to Jessie for her recommendation on how much xantham gum to use-it turned out great!

After complaining about how small our glasses are, I decided I should probably just use a bowl. On the side were carrots and laughing cow, plus some lentil crisps. It was a very dirt toned meal.

The lentil snaps are the same brand as snap pea crisps. When I bought them, I didn’t even realize they were lentils-I thought they were just a different flavor of snap peas! I loved the flavor though-it was definitely something different.

Aaaand that brings us all the way back to today’s WOD. AKA the reason why I’m having trouble typing. And why raising my arms is a joke right now.

For the strength, I worked on cleans. I didn’t miss any of the strength days, and Saturday is usually a make-up day. I really haven’t’ worked on them from the ground in a long time, just from the hang. My stupid gym at school doesn’t have bumpers, so it’s not really an option. I was a little off balance today, but still felt good.

The WOD:

5 rounds:

10 thrusters

10 push ups

This was arm suicide. My legs? They felt fine. My arms were DYING. At least this was a quick workout. My wrists are destroyed though, between all the front squats yesterday, and then the thrusters today. And since we “finished too quickly,” we had to do 100 sit ups afterwards. 

Sorry for the crazy long post- I’m finally catching up on Fringe with my family and it’s super addictive! And now I’m off to lunch!

What are your plans for the weekend? How do you plan rest days? 

Chocolate Protein Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 scoop chocolate protein powder

1 T cocoa powder

1/2 frozen banana

1 c unsweetened almond milk

1 pinch xantham gum

1/2 vanilla kefir (you can sub yogurt here)

1 handful spinach

1 large handful ice

Directions:

1. Blend almond milk and spinach together with the half banana first so the spinach can get extra well combined.

2. Add all ingredients but ice and blend.

3. Add ice last, and as necessary for consistency.

This made 2 glasses for me, and the total is about 300 calories. 

And it was just as delicious the second time!

So now on to my life. Yesterday I went to Target to look at summer clothes, and things besides workout clothes to wear in Hawaii. Speaking of which, it’s still kind of a ways out, but I’m looking for guest posters! Email me at astottler @ gmail.com. 

I took the evening off to rest my calf. More on that in a moment. Here’s yesterday’s food!

Lunch was polenta mixed with onion and chive cream cheese and topped with leftover broccoli.

My mom got polenta from Costco, so there’s kind of a ton of that. 

Dinner was vegetarian chili, plus a cilantro lime salad. I love homemade salad dressing-it’s amazing how fresh it tastes! It makes a world of difference in flavor. 

Also, at Target yesterday, I picked up this:

This has freeze-dried yogurt! It was actually really good-the mix had freeze dried cranberries and blueberries as well, and made the perfect snack.

I’ve talked about it the last couple of days, but my calf has really been bothering me lately. It started about 7 miles in to my long run, but it wasn’t very intense so I figured it was nothing and kept going. It wasn’t really bothering me at the time, but it tightened WAY up afterwards. Yesterday morning I ran a little at Crossfit and it was bothering me a bit by the end. I’m extremely frustrated that this is happened given my race is in less than 2 weeks! I haven’t had any problems this whole time (besides my weird foot thing), and of course this would come up right before my race. I skipped today’s run. If it continues to feel better tomorrow, I might test it a little with a baby run (I’m talking like a mile here) as long as there is no pain. I’m confidant that it will feel better in time for the race (or at least good enough), but I don’t want to take any chances. I went to my dad’s physical therapist today who has been known to work wonders, and I’m going back tomorrow. I’m not really sure what’s going on or how serious it is (as in how much my brain is simply just freaking out on me). I really don’t like the idea of having a problem with the muscle. For some reason pulled muscles give me the heebie jeebies. Joint problems? I’ll take it. But NOT muscle tears/strains. Ugh. 

But here’s the good news. I was able to cross train this morning. I took a morning spin class where I was very conservative. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to stand on the bike (extremely carefully of course). I also did some front squats and abs. I was going to use the rowing machine but it stretched my calf a little more than I’m comfortable with. So that’s that. Lots of spinning until I’m good to run again. And ab work, which I so desperately need. I’ve been seriously slacking there. 

I refueled from my workout with a new-to-me yogurt, apple cinnamon. I’m a fan! I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but it was good. Plus half a piece of frozen zucchini bread. 

I hope you all are having a great week! Send lots of healing vibes my way!

Have you ever been injured right before a race or big event? What did you do?

A quick blogging sidenote-my blog currently has basically no recipes and basically no workouts, When school is out (which is fairly soon) I’ll get on posting some more of those things in a more organized manner. 

Also, I really want to tell you guys about a complement that I received the other day. I was at a party with some friends and a guy came up to me and complemented me on my weight lifting. This was super awesome; I am so proud of my weight lifting! Best complement ever!

Saturday morning, I was in the mood for a smoothie, but I couldn’t really pass up the guacamole, so I mad a small Mexican salad bowl as well. I was trying to base the smoothie off of my Dark Chocolate Blueberry smoothie, but I kind of failed at that. I didn’t have the protein powder or peanut butter, or really the right amounts of anything. And I added spinach. The flavor wasn’t terrible, but the smoothie just wasn’t cold enough, so maybe it would have been better if I had added ice. Not that it was a bad smoothie or anything, but not my best effort. 

After brunch, I did a quick workout before meeting up for coffee with some friends. And by coffee, I mean a mango smoothie. Basically the same thing, right? I didn’t have time to get through everything I had planned, but basically I started with 1k on the rowing machine, then did a leg circuit with single leg squats and single leg deadlifts. I had planned on doing another leg circuit, but I ran out of time. I always overestimate how long things will take, and how much is reasonable to do in one workout. I plan these elaborate long workouts, and usually end up skipping things. I had planned on doing some sprints on the rowing machine later as well, but that didn’t happen. 

Next, I did this:

20 Minutes, As Many Rounds As Possible of:

5 Pull ups (I did pull downs on a machine)

10 pushups

15 air squats

I have no idea how many rounds I got through, but each round took less than 1:30. I followed that with a plank circuit. 

That afternoon, I went to Half Moon Bay for a retreat with my sorority. We went to the beach briefly, mostly to take pictures. The water was quite cold, and getting even my feet wet was unpleasant, but worth it for the scenery!

And we saw a cat on the way back! Yay!Dinner at retreat was burritos-with plenty of salad of course!As you have seen, throughout the week I received gifts from my Big (a sorority thing). Yesterday was when I got to find out who she was! How did she do the reveal? She held up this shirt:HOW GREAT IS THIS???

Hmm I might just have to wear this for a race…I feel like it expresses me quite well. And yes, thanks to my big, I do have avocados. 

We spent to rest of the night doing fun bonding type of activities, and before I knew it, it was time to return to the real world.

I was thinking about doing a run today, but then I remembered there was a power yoga class offered today, and I haven’t had any rest days all week. Since I ended up not going to yoga at all this week, I decided it would be perfect, and it was. My hips are sore from a lot of the leg work I’ve been doing lately, and we focused on that quite a bit. I also saw my Psych professor- she’s an aerobics instructor, and was teaching the class before mine. It’s always so weird to see teachers/professors outside the context of the classroom. After yoga, a nap was in order. I wasn’t all that tired, but I did not get much sleep the last 2 nights, so I knew it was a must. This afternoon and evening has been spent working on a take-home test due tonight-I finished right before writing up this blog post! I did break for dinner around 5:30. My friend wanted to go to Jamba Juice, and since it was hot, I decided that it might be a good way to cool off. I got one of the fruit and veggie smoothies- the tropical one. In this one, I think the only veggies in it are veggie juice, but I actually really like it because it wasn’t as sweet as smoothies blended with fruit juice. After that, this happened:Turkey burger and sweet potato fries. Hey, I got the veggies in my smoothie, right?? As I may have discussed before, we get a certain number of meal plan dollars to use each quarter as part of our meal plan. They work at several different restaurant type places on campus, including this place, which I’ve never actually eaten at before. I have never used up these meal plan dollars. Last quarter, I had a good excuse though (leaving school 4 weeks before the end of school due to illness). This quarter, I all of the sudden realized that I have three weeks left, and over $100 to spend, otherwise they will go to waste. So at dinner, I treated my friend, as well as some other people we happened to meet up with, and chipped away $50 from this mountain of meal plan dollars I need to spend. Yay! I still have a ton, and I am planning on buying some really expensive salads in the near future!

Well, that’s all I have for you today. Before I leave you guys those, I want to make a shout out to my friend Elizabeth. She just started a fashion blog, so if you like fashion (or even if not), check it out! It is called Styles by Elizabeth.

Have a great week!

And of course, baking. I’m still unsure about posting the recipe because it was highly experimental. I liked it, but not sure that others would. I majorly modified my favorite pumpkin bread recipe and ended up with what I will call Gluten Free Coconut Pumpkin Pudding Bread. 

Last night I lifted weights (my gym at home is SO much nicer), and this morning I went to abs class and did a spin class on my own that I wrote up for myself. SO I guess you could say I did a spin workout, but since I want to be a spin teacher, I designed it in a class format. 

Breakfast was a smoothie with milk, spinach, mango, cherries, and strawberries, plus some of my baking experiment from the night before. And lunch and dinner at school consisted of leftovers from home! YUM.Now, I realize this post was really long, so yay if you made it this far! And I promise to be a better blogger and actually post as it happens so it won’t be so bad!

What is your favorite home cooked meal?

Breakfast was a smoothie with the random fruit the dining hall had out (after waiting for a while). They were out of fruit for a while, and never restocked the frozen fruit. Annoying! My smoothie included strawberries, apple, and soymilk. It was ok. 

Today was absolutely beautiful out. Sorry to all you guys who are experiencing snow/rainstorms right now!

I had a quick lunch at the bookstore. 

Minus the bread though. I couldn’t afford to fall asleep in Chem (again-ish). The difference I felt between sitting in class today, with no bread in my system, was like night and day between how I felt Monday. I felt amazing and alert. I’ve felt great and happy all day. Maybe it is the weather, or maybe it’s my super clean eating. I don’t know. Either way, yay!

I had to break out the new sunglasses!

Sorry for the lack of smile. I was in a VERY public place…

I wore them a bit before realizing something was off…

Whoops…

I love these new sunglasses. While I have been known to rock the neon green shades, they simply don’t stay on my face very well…

Exhibit A. (Me and my sis in Santa Barbara 2 years ago! Also note the bash on my shin from box jumps…)

Exhibit B. (End of Senior year.)

Where was I? Outside in the plaza, there was a mariachi band playing. 

Also, can I just say there are a lot of tourists this time of year? It’s difficult not to run them over. Meh.

I arrived at Chem early so I sat in the shade of a tree. I overheard some guy talking at the next table about the tons of caterpillars that fall from the tree. “Hmm,” I thought. “I don’t see any caterpillars.”

A minute later a noticed a ton on my backpack. Which led me to believe they could be crawling all over my body. They weren’t, as far as I know…

Snacks after class:

Boring, boring. But delicious. A little while later I went for a run (roughly 4 miles). This was my first time since I was sick doing a double day. Not counting yoga, that is. Mannn was I feeling it. Plus running hasn’t been terribly easy as of late anyways…I guess two-a-days take some getting used to. But it got me to thinking what great shape I was in at the end of last summer, when I ran my 10k. I think I was in the best shape of my life then. Which is probably why I could never PR on my 6k test for crew, I couldn’t really get better. It’s sad how much I’ve lost. I was doing 3-a-days at the end of summer, with some regularity. Mostly because I wanted to do tons of different classes/training sessions, and was training for my 10k on top of that. And a lot because I was bored. I had a lot of time, and nothing else really to do! I would regularly get my butt out of bed super early (5:45 am spin anyone?), go to spin, then go straight from there to do my 10k training run, then straight from there to do my softball conditioning. 3 hours of exercise before 10 o clock! And it wasn’t THAT big of a deal. Just to be clear, I am not recommending doing this!

At the beginning of the year, before crew started, I regularly ran the Dish, which is a roughly 5 mile run from my dorm, with 2 miles of straight uphill. I ran this 2 or 3 times a week, because I had nothing better to do (still wasn’t comfortable with the gym/didn’t know the best time to go). Now the thought of doing this run seems impossible. My run was really a great time to reflect on how much I have lost though. But at the same, all the more motivation to get super fit again! On a similar note, if avoiding bread/grains (and possibly dairy) makes me feel this awesome, then I need to just stick with it! It wasn’t really hard, minus the momentary craving for pancakes at breakfast…but I guess the knowledge that it will put me to sleep is enough to deter me…

Post-run, hot and sweaty picture. Since so so many of you guys post them, I figured I might as well jump on the bandwagon…

Snacks before yoga.

Dinner should have been awesome and ended up being not very good. I thawed a sweet potato (I roasted them at home so they would get that nice flavor),, which was good, but put it in my salad, which was a bad decision. Bad decision #2 was putting in zucchini and carrots which turned out to be seasoned in a sweet way. Ick. The thought of that seasoning…I don’t know why but I really dislike it. 

I went back for more chicken and veggies, so get that weird taste out of my mouth….

And since it’s prom season, throwback to my proms!

Junior prom:

I curled my hair. It doesn’t hold a curl.

End of the night (don’t ask):

Straight…

So Senior year I curled my hair and didn’t put hairspray in because I figured, I’d rather have straight hair at the end of the night than straight, stiff hair.

Basically straight already!

How were your proms? What do you think about while running?

After dinner I made a smoothie.Banana, coconut milk, cocoa powder, and a touch (and I mean a touch) or mint extract. I learned my lesson! it was just enough mint to not really taste minty, but to be refreshing. I’ll take it!

Before I get to anything from today, I just wanted to address some blog issues. I wanted to apologize for the slightly (ok sometimes a lot) depressing/negative nature of my posts as of late. This whole sickness thing can get me pretty down, but I swear I’m normally a super happy person! I want this blog to be a fun place, without negativity. And this blog will become a fitness blog again soon, I promise! I’m planning on some normal exercise this week, and boy, I cannot wait! I also wanted to clarify why I’m going to attempt a semi-Whole30. I figure it is a good way to get more nutritious foods into my diet, which is super important for me to get to feeling 100% faster. Plus, my liver function is kind of off so reducing sugar is pretty important! Also, I think it will be a fun way to try new recipes and experiment with new flavors. Although eating Paleo is generally pretty meaty, and things should get interesting when my vegetarian sister comes home! The current plan is to try this strict Paleo thing for 5 days, and then reevaluate this Friday night where I want to go from there. And given the possibility of a gluten sensitivity, I don’t need anything else putting me to sleep! With that in mind, here’s today’s lunch (brunch?).Leftover chicken, potatoes, cabbage, and carrots. Plus mashed avocado and mango salsa for the chicken. The avocado took some of the kick out of the salsa, which was a relief! I also ate a mango, which I WAS planning on photographing….

Ok, now to the meat of the post. I’m sure a lot of you guys have been seeing stuff about the Liebster Award going around, and since Brittany gave me a shout out, I figured I’d take this opportunity to let you guys get to know me a bit better. I mean, I talk a lot about my life, but not really about myself. I’ve never really done any surveys or anything, so hey, why not!

Random Facts About Me

1. I love to read, but I seriously cannot read any books during the school year. It’s fine for a few chapters, but as soon as the book gets exciting, I CANNOT put it down. Note: Reading an entire book on your phone in a day is a bad idea. You will likely walk around in a daze and squint a lot.

2. I really want to study abroad, probably in Chile. I loved studying Spanish in high school (and I love Spanish music), so it would be awesome to improve my Spanish. Plus, they have penguins. And who doesn’t love penguins? 

3. I love avocados. I sprouted 2 avocados pits almost a year ago (my babies are growing up!) and now I have 2 beautiful avocado plants!They’re much bigger now, but I don’t really have any recent pictures. And they’re not too photogenic right now. After much stress (as any concerned parent would feel), I learned that in cooler climates avocados drop their leaves in winter. PHEW. But they are my babies and they live in my dorm, weather permitting (one wasn’t getting enough sun inside).

4. I hate talking about myself. Hence why I probably have not done any surveys yet. But I have a blog….hmmm….

5. One of the main reasons I wanted my own healthy living blog was because the whole community seemed so awesome, and I wanted to be part of it.

6. My dad reads every single one of my posts, usually right when I post it. WHich begs the question, how often does he check…?

7. I am the hugest Giants fan. I watched about half the playoffs last year on my phone between classes. #dedication

8.I love celebrating holidays and going all out. I love traditions. And I am dying to do a Turkey Trot.

9. That being said, I take Thanksgiving very seriously, and try to do everything to maximize food intake (morning run, tapering meals in the days up to, wearing expandable clothes).

10. Last year I gave myself frostbite on my foot. In the middle of spring. In California. Apparently I left the ice on a LITTLE too long. I’ll spare you guys the pictures (you’re welcome). It was really embarrassing to not be able to practice (softball) because of this. In 70 degree weather. 

11. Hair is my 4th greatest fear. All my friends know this. I absolutely CANNOT STAND those hairs that seems to be left everywhere from shedding. This is possibly the worst part about living in a dorm. Black hairs in the shower (shiver).

Questions that I am stealing from Brittany:

1. What’s your favorite movie of all time?

I haven’t really seen too many movies lately, so I have no idea what modern-ish movie. I mainly watch TV shows (detective ones mostly!), so I’m going to take the Disney cop-out and say Aristocats.  Or Sleeping Beauty (hello, Princess Aurora!).

2. What do you do as soon as you walk in the door after work/school?

In theory, this should be take a nap. But let’s be honest. It’s all about the food.

3. Do you put your toothbrush in a drawer or in a toothbrush holder?

A drawer. But I don’t know that I like this situation. It doesn’t seem very sanitary….(I guess I forgot to mention that I’m a bit of a germophobe!)

4. What vegetable do you love? Hate?

I love brussels sprouts. And avocados. And sweet potatoes. I find it amazing that a lot of people didn’t have veggies that they hated. Don’t get me wrong, I love veggies. But I hate cucumbers. And green peppers. I’m coming around on red peppers, but it will be a while before they fall into the “love” category.

5. What is your favorite go- to outfit for a saturday?

Definitely shorts and a T-shirt. Let’s be honest. I’m not going anywhere interesting.

These are Teriyaki chicken tacos from a local Mexican place, Coyote Cafe. They are so good! They have pineapple on top and I’ve gotten them every time for years!

Here is a beautiful Vitamix smoothie with strawberries, pineapple, peaches, and mango. Not too shabby! I absolutely love this blender!

And here is the rest of this beautiful meal: leftover frittata.

Lunch that day was macaroni and cheese (this is Sunday, still playing catch up!). Plus steamed veggies. I swear I have not been able to get enough mac n cheese these past few weeks. It was one of the first things my stomach tolerated, and it feels amazing on a sore throat. Anyone with a sore throat: eat mac n cheese! Lunch was followed by a bit of a treat: trying the new froyo place in town, Menchie’s!

Sidenote: This post will include an embarrassing amount of frozen yogurt (sorry I’m not sorry!). This is salted caramel and devil’s food. My evaluation? Eh. I should have gotten the pistachio. I was trying to recreate my salted caramel experience from WIldberry, but this just wasn’t it. It was a bit bitter. And the devil’s food was ok, although I thought it was a bit bland, but it was sugar free, so afterwards I noticed a kind of weird taste. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I spent the rest of my Sunday cranking out my paper. This whole time I’ve been sick, I told myself that when my fever broke, I’d make chocolate chip cookies. And Sunday was close enough, and I was so ready to bake after finishing my paper (which ironically is about how sugar is hurting our country….). I made the recipe on the back of the Nestle chocolate chip bag. Best recipe ever! Has anyone seen the Friends episode where Monica and Phoebe bake like 30 batches of cookies to try to recreate Phoebe’s grandma’s recipe, and then it turns out to be the Nestle Tollhouse recipe? Yeahh I’ve been watching that show a bit too much lately (I’m almost done with all the seasons…). Anyway, the cookies turned out great!

Let’s just say I never really make the effort to actually put them in nice balls….For some reason, everytime my mom makes this recipe, the cookies totally flatten out and run together. It is so weird that this didn’t happen to me! I also only made a half batch because a whole batch makes 5 dozen, and well, there are 3 of us.

In my opinion, there is one thing that must happen with chocolate chip cookies (and most cookies in general). They need salted butter. They have sooo much more flavor with salted butter! It’s the best!

So what was dinner Sunday night? An awesome dip from Cooking Light! My mom made it for my softball team party a year ago and we just couldn’t get enough! It is a mushroom artichoke dip, and is awesome with whole grain pita chips.

So good!

Yesterday I had class in the afternoon, and decided to stay on campus afterwards to clean up my dorm and get things squared away for break. Technically this is dead week, and next week is finals, but I don’t have any finals and I just have class up until Thursday, so I have a long break. Plus I had to meet up for a group project. After walking around campus a bit, and walking up and down stairs a few times, I suddenly realized I felt like I was going to pass out. It’s weird. I feel fine, but it’s the little things. Like apparently being on campus and  living life for an hour and a half is enough to merit a nap. Luckily I have a bed there! It was so nice to see all my friends though! I definitely missed them! My mom had a class on campus that ended at 9:15, so she picked me up after her class, and I may or may not have demanded froyo. It’s embarrassing, the Internet search history on my phone is mostly frozen yogurt places. There’s a great place on campus, Fraiche, that is open pretty late, and is one of those healthy, organic places. I have come to seriously love tart froyo.

Plus mango and blue berry! Yay! So yes, after that day I basically fell into bed! I would have posted this morning but I had a project to work on. I can’t believe this was only yesterday!

Since we have extra dip, I’ve been thinking up creative ways to use it. Yesterday, I stirred some into my leftover mac n cheese (leftover mac n cheese is always so dry!), and this morning, I put it in scrambled eggs. That was certainly a delicious idea!

Tea and fruit on the side!

Lunch was quick on the way out the door. I’m realizing I’ve never posted this recipe before! I might need to make it its own post! It’s my all time favorite smoothie! Peanut butter banana!

Since this post is so long and the recipe is at the bottom, I’ll do a separate post for the recipe page, but I don’t want to leave you guys hanging, so here’s what this is: 1/2 cup milk, 1 frozen banana, a large spoonful of peanut butter. That’s it! It’s super creamy and delicious, and the more you blend it, the fluffier it gets! I haven’t had this in forever!

In class today, we skyped in with the guy who wrote our textbook, and gave presentations to him. How cool is that?

After class was a treat. My sister is sick and needed a prescription filled, so my mom offered to pick it up. Aaaand it just so happens my new favorite froyo place is right next to the drugstore, soooo….It’s not like I had a choice.

Salted caramel pretzel, chocolate, and brownie on top. YUM. Plus some tart with pineapple on the side, because I rally wanted to try it and YOWZA it was good! I might get that next time!

After that, my mom and I went to Costco, which I always love. It’s so fun to look at large quantities of stuff! Plus, is there really anything they don’t sell? And of course, the free samples!

Dinner was chili and broccoli. The turkey chili was topped with cheddar and avocado. Plus chips for dipping!

And let’s just say those cookies are as good as gone.

And guess what? I am officially off medication! Hard to imagine I was taking 30 pills a day a week ago!

Have a great night everybody!

What is your favorite type of frozen yogurt?