Christmas Eve+ Christmas 2016

Date: December 26, 2016

Author: astottler

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas, Hanukkah, or whatever holiday you celebrate!

I kicked off Christmas Eve with a morning spin class, before returning home to have lunch with my family.

I had leftover lentil/bruschetta/feta over lettuce, GF sourdough, and a little sauerkraut.

For Christmas Eve, we decided to take a trip to the San Francisco Zoo to see reindeer and the polar bear. They have the oldest polar bear in captivity right now; she’s 35! That’s crazy; the normal lifespan for polar bears in captivity is 20-30.

She makes me miss Kali in St. Louis though!

It was also fun to see the decorations around the zoo.

Anteaters:

I never once saw the anteater at the St. Louis Zoo while working there.

Grizzly Bears:

All the animals had Christmas trees!

The tiger was beautiful and we got up super close to it:

River otters:

My parents and I split a Bobo’s Gingerbread Oat Bar, to get in the holiday spirit! These are delicious; I saw them and ordered them online since I couldn’t find them in stores, but I had to get a pretty big box of them, so we will be enjoying Gingerbread bars well into the new year!

As per our Christmas Eve tradition, my sister and her fiancé met us at Benihana, a Japanese steak house, for dinner.

I started with a salad, and half a sushi piece (they ended up messing up our order so I split it with my dad).

It’s always a great show!

I got fried rice, and picked some shrimp and veggies off my family’s plate!

Let’s be real: the fried rice is the best part.

After dinner, we relaxed on the couch with molasses cookies and Gilmore Girls.

I was so tired from the previous days, and was in bed at 10.

On Christmas morning, I slept in more than usual and woke up feeling like a new woman.

So, here’s a funny Christmas story. We don’t really leave cat toys out because Chloe will take them, but when I woke up, I saw one on the floor. A little bit later, it was gone. And when my mom got up, she told me that it sounded like my kitty Charlie was meowing at 4am with a toy, which didn’t make sense because he didn’t have any out. Well, it turned out that he got into his Christmas present at 4am and was carrying it around yowling! Silly cat. And of course, my dad found it in Chloe’s mouth shortly after she came out of her crate for the morning.

After solving the mystery, I quickly ate a granola bar and helped Chloe to her stocking. She was a big fan.

Chloe got a cool light up ball!

And this monkey, which quickly lost a leg.

I think I’m starting to get the whole snapchat filter on a cat thing down. I think it helps that Charlie has a patterned face (Yoyo was mostly just white).

The reason I only had a granola bar for breakfast was so we could go to the bay and do a little run/walk like we did last year. It was such a beautiful day; the thermometer said it was mid-40s, but it wasn’t windy and it was pretty sunny.

Chloe made a friend.

This trail is so pretty in the winter, and I could see all the way to San Francisco! Plus, I think my pace was about 30 seconds faster than last year, and that’s never a bad thing!

After our run/walk, we went to Starbucks for some holiday drinks. I had a cappuccino. Someone in front of us was incredibly nice and got a $100 Starbucks gift card to pay for the people behind in line, so we actually got our drinks thanks to that anonymous Christmas person!

After getting ready for the day, I had a mini lunch to tide me over before the main meal. Just the same leftovers as the previous day, plus some crackers.

I also broke into some candy from my stocking. Yum!

Before long, my sister and her fiance arrived to open presents. Check out this amazing painting my sister made for my mom!

I think my favorite present had to be the matching scarf set for Chloe and I!

My mom and I actually got each other the same beer of the month club, but we ended up mostly choosing different months, so there’s only 1 overlapping month! It’s too funny though that we had the same idea!

We had a little time left before we had to leave, so we popped in a Christmas special. This year was my favorite: The Year Without a Santa Claus.

Then, we loaded into the car to head to my Grandma’s house in Berkeley!

I broke out my sparkly pants for the occasion.

My Grandma outdid herself. Everything was beautifully set.

We enjoyed snacking on olives and pickles, and sipping champagne. Olives feel like Christmas to me! When we were little, my sister and I used to put them on all our fingers while we waited for dinner to finish cooking.

My Grandma is also a fantastic cook, and she roasted an amazing turkey and ham.

She also made manicotti in honor of my sister’s recent Italian travels.

My dad was on carving duty.

My plate:

I was unintentionally a little heavy handed with the salad, but it was delicious! It had grapes, dried cranberries, and champagne vinaigrette. We also had glazed brussels sprouts, green beans, black eyed peas, mashed potatoes, and of course turkey! I’m glad I realized how delicious turkey is with cranberry sauce. I enjoyed mine with cranberry sauce and cranberry orange relish.

Next, we opened up our holiday party poppers!

I really liked my joke:

How did Scrooge win the football game?

The ghost of Christmas passed.

After cleaning up a bit, we embarked on dessert. My mom and I split a delicious piece of pumpkin cream pie.

I didn’t have any, but there were beautiful cookies and a chocolate log cake.

I also had some chocolate vanilla swirl frozen yogurt with fresh berries!

It was a fabulous Christmas, surrounded my those I love most. I hope you, and your family and friends had a great holiday!

Last Day At The Zoo

Date: November 18, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hi friends. It’s Friday night and I’m cuddling with Scooby in my bed while listening to the crazy wind outside.

The weather here is crazy. Get this: yesterday: highs of about 80. No jacket weather. Hot. This morning: similar. About 70 degrees. The rain started and it was warm. One hour later, the temperature dropped 10 degrees. And has been dropping steadily since. Lows for tomorrow are in the 20s. What?? I don’t understand crazy St. Louis weather.

This morning goodbyes continued at Crossfit. The workout today was a great one though. We did 5 sets of 5 deadlifts at 65%, and I used 155 lbs. Then the WOD was a partner “double Jackie,” which equated to 2000m row, 100 thrusters (35#), 60 pull ups split between 2 people. The coach matched us up, and I was paired with another coach. So I knew it was legit. We switched every 250m for the row, every 10 for the thrusters, and every 5 for the pull ups. I knew the pull ups were definitely going to be the hardest for me. I can’t really do more than a set of 5 for lots of reps, and my only rest time between sets was while my partner did her 5. So there was very little rest. The last few sets were tough! I already feel things in my shoulders.

Because it was so warm, I was strangely craving a protein smoothie afterwards. It went along well with my plan of using everything up, so I went with it!

Frozen banana, cocoa powder, milk, Quest salted caramel protein. Plus some snap pea crisps on the side. I’m a little obsessed and have then any time of day.

This morning I had to say goodbye to this goober:

He was being especially playful this morning. He started by tossing his rawhide bone around the pool, and then came right up to the glass and interacted with this kids.

What a goof.

I love the sights and decorations around the zoo.

I especially love the gumdrops.

Today it was supposed to rain, and I almost made it without getting wet. I just hate wet feet. I brought 2 pairs of extra socks to change throughout the day. My feet got super wet coming back from these guys:

Here’s Saka and Makini looking like they felt just about how I did about the rain:

Lunch:

Quest chips for protein and a salad with pear, goat cheese, and Newman’s Lite Balsamic.

And before I knew it, I was at my last observation. I was FREEZING. The temperatures had dropped quite a bit, and with wet feet I stood no chance. I had dry socks, but those only get you so far with wet shoes…

After work, I went to Whole Foods for dinner+productivity. I majorly struck out with the hot bar. All the delicious looking things either had wheat or tree nuts, so I ended up with 3 forms of potato. Not the end of the world though. Anything you can douse in ketchup, right? I also had some mango kombucha.

After eating, I pulled out my laptop and got some work done on my Microbiology class. While doing that, I noticed an add on my table for 4 Hands Stout. I went to 4 Hands on the Brewery Tour and have been loving their Chocolate Milk Stout ever since. Well, the add was for some of their seasonal flavors, Gingerbread Stout and S’mores Stout. What?? As it turns out, this Whole Foods had quite a selection of beer on draft. Right??

So naturally, I had to give it a try. With that discovery, my night of studying got a whole lot more interesting.

I ordered a Gingerbread Stout.

It was delicious. To be honest, not really sure I got the Gingerbread flavor, but it was great stout. Maybe a little milder than the Chocolate Milk?

I spent an hour or so sipping that and doing homework before picking up a treat to take home and eat in front of Netflix, cozied up with a kitty.

Honestly, this is all I wanted for this night. A coworker invited me to a speakeasy downtown, which sounded like a ton of fun, but after freezing my butt off all afternoon and with rapidly dropping temperatures and crazy wind, I did not particularly want to venture outside again!

Wish me luck as I brave the cold tomorrow!

When You Feel Like a Potato

Date: November 11, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

This morning I woke up and was having one of those days. I felt sluggish, lazy, sort of sad, and overall like a blob. The best way to describe it? I felt like a potato. My diet has strayed more on the side of sweets lately and I felt kind of off as a result. Lack of sleep from the election. And after spending the previous night talking politics to my mom and ranting on the blog, I woke up feeling dirty. I didn’t want to do anything. I wanted to just stay in bed with a massive bowl of cereal and hide from the world, and slide into more potato-ness.

But then I decided that that just wouldn’t do. I needed to figure out how to turn myself around, because I had scary visions of my entire rest of my gap year in potato-land. As I mindfully made this decision, I wanted to do a post on it, because we all have potato days. Here are some things I did to bring myself out, or that made me smile.

-I started referring to myself as a potato which I definitely found amusing. It lightened the situation.

-I decided to make a blog post about coming out of bad days, therefore forcing me to focus on the small positives throughout my day.

-I started my morning with a workout. Exercise first thing ALWAYS helps. We did 4 sets of 10 back squats today (yuck) at a relatively light weight. Then the WOD was 5 rounds of 150m run, 15 box jumps, and 10 hand stand push ups (which I did off a box). At the start of the WOD, I just didn’t feel like moving. But one round in, I felt much better.

-I made myself presentable. Looking good on the outside always makes me feel better on the inside. I didn’t have the option to wear cozy clothes (zoo uniform), but I considered not wearing any makeup, and decided I would feel better if I actually put the extra 2 minutes in.

-I hugged a Yoyo on the way out the door. A selfie occurred. He was not amused, and both kitties were a little suspicious about why I was chasing around trying to hug them, but it lifted my spirits! Especially because then they got riled up and started wrestling and it was kind of adorable.

-I took a second to appreciate the pretty leaves outside on my way to the car. I love fall.

-I played my current jam on the way to work.

-I got an awesome parking spot at work (also I love my Spanish music. Enrique <3)

-The zoo is starting to put out holiday decorations and I love it!

-Polar bear eating lettuce. Enough said.

-Watching and listening to little kids can be endlessly amusing. They all LOVE our polar bear Kali. This comment this morning that a kid was repeating over and over cracked me up: “He’s a beautiful specimen with a giant butt!” True.

-Vegetables. The best way to feel better and to start eating better again. Nothing crazy, just veggies. I had a salad with champagne vinaigrette, humus, goat cheese, and an egg for lunch.

-Productivity. Sometimes I feel guilty about not getting things done and it can be a little bit paralyzing. I took some time on my lunch break to get ahead on Microbiology reading.

-Timehop. I love it. I wish it would somehow be able to look at pictures on my computer since I’ve deleted most from my phone, but I saw this gem. I was a minute early on 11/11/11 at 11:11 I guess!

-The Sun Bears were pretty active today, which made them fun to watch!

-My zoo buddy hung out with my for the very end of my observation while I was a little bit overwhelmed, and it was helpful to have an extra set of eyes! Plus she brought me a cookie <3

-I made plans with myself to do something more interesting for dinner than eggs and lettuce, so I stopped at Whole Foods so I could get dinner and spend some time afterwards studying.

The food wasn’t that great since I was early and it was probably still from lunch. But I was enough out of my potato-ness that this didn’t bother me.

-Kombucha. Always helps.

-A delicious and healthy dessert to eat while curled up on the couch. I had half a piece of healthy pumpkin bread with semisweet chocolate chips, vanilla Halo Top, and whipped cream.

-Spending the rest of the night snuggled up with Scooby, watching a Rom-Com set at Christmastime, while eating said bowl of deliciousness.

And now I don’t feel like a potato.

Day in the Life: Fall 2016

Date: October 13, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

It’s that time again! Day in the life!

5:45am: FREAKING YOYO. We were both feeling sad the night before (post-baseball blues. As heartbreaking as it was, I honestly think the Cubs were the better team and deserved to win, that’s just not how you want to go down…) so I let him sleep with me. Around 5:45 he got sweet and especially restless and wouldn’t stop walking across my face and chest.

6:15: Alarm goes off.

6:45: Leave for 3 mile run. It’s dark in the mornings! Also chilly! Upper 40s.

The run actually felt better than expected! I basically always do the same 3 mile route. I live in a good neighborhood but there isn’t a ton of space to go in different directions. I also am pretty much limited to 3 miles right now. I spent so much time on my feet and walking at work that my stress fracture spot sometimes gets a little sore if I pass 3. And I’m ok with that for now. Decent speed though! Good negative splits—I’ll take it!

7:20ish: Make and eat breakfast. I’m in the mood for a flapjacked muffin, so I eat a S’mores one with mango.

The key to these is to slightly undercook them so they stay gooey and don’t get tough!

7:45: Pack lunch for the day.

7:50am: Shower and get ready; pack up my bag.

8:25: Run out the door and drive to work.

8:45: Arrive at the zoo!

I was at a colder part of the zoo this morning, and was determined not to be cold. I packed layers on layers. Fleece lined long sleeves, sweatshirt, fleece north face, gloves.

9:00: My day officially begins! I walk to my first observation, and see one of the cheetahs! They weren’t out much earlier this fall so it still feels like a treat to see them!

Then it’s time for my first observation.

Somali Wild Asses.

10:30: Our next observation is cancelled due to construction so we head back by way of the warm bird house.

And then it’s back to the lab to work.

12:00: Lunchtime! I haven’t managed to fully warm up so I’m grateful for my soup! I made it Tuesday night, another wing it recipe, but the same as before.

Chicken, ginger, garlic, mushrooms, soy sauce, asparagus. Essentially. I added a little coriander too for some warmth, because why not?

I also had a few sweet potato tortilla chips and some Vans Say Cheese GF crackers.

1:00: Lunch is over, back to work!

2:00: Next observation starts.

3:00

4:00: Snack!

5:00: Off for the day! After some debating, I decided to go to Crossfit. Like I said before, I’ve been suffering a little bit with post-baseball blues and wanted something fun to do after work. I ripped my finger doing toes to bar and snatches the previous day. (I also hit 110# for 1 RM thrusters…I was happy with that!)

This is the time of year when I start to look like a weather confused CA girl. Shorts. 2 jackets. It’s cool.

5:15: Arrive at Crossfit, and sit in my car for a few minutes before heading in.

5:30-6:30: Crossfit!

For strength, we did 1 rep max weighted ring dips. Which for me was find the lightest band, because ring dips are not my strong point.

Anytime I see pull ups in a WOD, I try to make it. It’s one of my newer skills, so I have fun with them! This workout was 50 pull ups, 75 push jerks, and 100 front squats. You work every other minute and rest every other minute. I was a little worried about my torn finger, but as I learned in the middle of my workout the previous day, I found the best possible place to tear a finger. I made it through! I used 55#.

6:45: Make dinner! You know I have to snack while I cook.

7:00: Dinner on the table. Nothing crazy here. Avocado toast, scrambled eggs (1 whole+1 white+milk) with Irish cheddar, and spinach with nutritional yeast, coriander, and garlic.

I ate while watching Netflix. I’m watching the United States of Tara, which is about a woman with DID. The way the show is done reminds me a little bit of OITNB.

Dessert: a few GF cookies. These new ginger cookies from Trader Joe’s +WOW chocolate chip.

7:30: Start to watch the Dodger-Nationals game. I stream it while cleaning up my room a little bit. It’s SO good to watch baseball again, and while I do care about the outcome of this game, it’s not the same type of crazy stress as with the Giants. (My superstitions were getting a little ridiculous for our games. Knock on wood by knocking on my head, then Yoyo’s head, then hand on Yoyo for the pitch. #noshame)

8:00: Start this post while watching the game+snacktime.

I have some of these+snap pea crisps+pumpkin spiced pumpkin seeds.

9:30: Start Saturday’s spin class while watching baseball, and continue this post.

Somewhere 10-11: Bedtime!

It’s Monday

Date: September 26, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hi guys! I feel like a lot of my posts lately have been just WIAWs or weekend recaps, so I wanted to do a normal day to day blog post. I’m currently blogging while watching the debate. One of the upcoming debates is actually in St. Louis, and I’m going to stay as far away as possible…

I started my morning with 6am Crossfit. Beforehand, I grabbed a few handfuls of pumpkin spice cheerios for some squat fuel. Lately, Monday workouts have been entirely strength, no conditioning, which is a good complement to my schedule because I teach spin (aka cardio) on Monday nights. The main events were squats, and we did 5 rounds at 75% of as many reps as possible without losing tempo. For reference, I did all my sets for 5 reps.

Then, we did 5 sets of bent over rows, before moving on to a final strength portion.

We did 4 rounds of max reps of kipping pull ups (I got 8 good ones and then called it there because I wasn’t fully making it over the bar), 10 pistols, and 20 hollow rocks.

I think I’m already sore from squats…

Breakfast post-workout was cantaloupe.

And a yogurt bowl. It’s not the prettiest, but I’m bringing this old favorite back. Mashed (super) ripe banana with cocoa powder, plain 2% Greek yogurt, and sunbutter.

Then, it was off to work! I actually saw a cheetah up close today! They’re usually hiding.

The weather was SO nice today. It was 60s and 70s. I almost needed a jacket! Fall, please stay around!

While I’ll start transitioning away from this salad once nectarines stop being so good (Target has the best), and will be having soup later this week, today’s lunch was one of my 2 typical (my other being sunbutter+jam sandwich with carrots).

Butter lettuce, nectarine, chicken, goat cheese (this week it’s garlic and herb!), and Newman’s Own light balsamic vinaigrette. Van’s GF Everything crackers on the side.

My coworkers are awesome. I feel like we’re finally getting to know each other, and they certainly brighten my day!

For an afternoon snack, I had a chocolate mint Vega protein bar. I love that flavor, and stocked up yesterday.

After work, I headed straight to the spin studio to teach my usual 6pm class. It was a good one!

By the time I got home, I was more than ready for dinner. I drank some mango kombucha and snacked on some of this gluten free snack mix while getting everything together.

Dinner was leftover ginger chicken mushroom soup+avocado toast with garlic salt. It’s been FAR too long since I’ve had avocado toast, and I was impressed with this avocado!

For dessert, I had a sea salt caramel Yasso bar.

I’m trying to get back into the whole “more smaller meals” thing, so for a mid-deabte snack, I had a rice cake with asiago laugh cow, which I had never had before, and raspberry jam. Honestly, I think all the laughing cow flavors basically taste the same.

I’m not sure how long I’m going to be able to hang with the debate for. I also took some allergy medicine which is likely to start knocking me out soon.

But it’s nice to check in with a normal post! I’ve seen some posts come up on time hop, and I miss the day to day blogging! In all seriousness though, it’s crazy through how much this blog has taken me. I started it at the beginning of my freshman year of college, and now I’m blogging from my house in St. Louis. What??

So we’ll leave it here.

Did you watch the debate?