The Answer Should Be Yes

Date: June 27, 2015

Author: astottler

Well hello guys! It’s been a little while, hasn’t it? My life has literally been nothing but the vet lately. Animals are taking over my life. Because then I come home to a crazy pup and a needy kitty!

I’ve had no energy or desire to pop open my computer these past few days. The first couple of days were totally exhausting, and my brain shut down before 10pm. Yesterday I started work at 7. I’m there for 9 hours a day, including lunch, and I’m on my feet the entire time. Needless to say, my feet haven’t been too happy about this! I love working at the vet though-I’m getting the hang of things much faster when I’m there 40 hours a week rather than the 4 hours a week I had been doing during school.

What else have I done this week? I went to the Farmer’s Market on Thursday-there’s one in the evenings right next to work on Thursdays. I’ve done some workouts, including teaching my spin class. One workout in particular I’d like to mention is the reason my legs are currently sore, and will only get more sore.

I mentioned it before, but I’m working with a trainer this summer. I trained with him all throughout high school, and in just the 2 weeks I’ve been with him this summer, everything is improving. My Olympic lifting technique is improving rapidly. In Crossfit, I feel like the strength/Oly portion gets glossed over on the way to the WOD, so this is really good. I still need to get a little more confident in my lifts, and my max weights should go up even more. Yesterday we did both snatches and cleans. I PRed my snatch again this week-from the power position. How crazy is that?? Then we did squats. I’m on a lifting program, and this week was sets of 10, 10, and 8. Yuck. High rep squats are the worst. My first set of 10 was 145#, my second was 155#, and my set of 8 was 165#. I can confidently say I’ve never done a set of 10 at 155# before. The thing though is, I never doubted that I wasn’t going to make these lifts. I think the mental aspect of weightlifting is incredibly important, and in high school, this is something that really shaped me in other areas of my life, which is one reason I fell in love with weight lifting. I actually wrote part of my college admissions essay about this. I can’t believe I’m actually sharing this, but I think it is really important so here’s a little excerpt:

“In weightlifting, I learned to push through mental roadblocks, launching myself into uncharted territory. With my mind, I could push my body further than with sheer strength. With difficult lifts, I found that if the thought of failure crept into my mind, I would instantly fail.”

Also note that I was a much better writer 3 years ago-being a science major does not foster the same types of skills…

I think that weightlifting has been a huge influence in shaping who I am.

Anyways, back to the workout. After squats was push presses and bent over rows. Then conditioning. My trainer asked me how my legs were. I said they were okay, to which he replied, “Oh, I thought they’d be shot.”

The answer should be yes, they were shot, because then I proceeded to do conditioning full of burpees.

6 minutes, on the minute:

1. 1 power clean (85#), 10 burpees

2. 2 power cleans, 8 burpees

3. 3 power cleans, 6 burpees

4. 4 power cleans, 4 burpees

5. 5 power cleans, 2 burpees

6. 6 power cleans, 1 burpee

I honestly surprised myself that I even finished 10 burpees in a minute!

But yes, now I’m feeling those squats. I started to get sore 2 hours later. So this should be interesting.

Foodwise?

Breakfasts

I mashed up a ripe banana with cocoa powder and then stirred in oats. I topped all that with plain Greek yogurt and sunflower seed butter.

Eggs+oatmeal. My berries to oatmeal ratio was 2:1 which was just about right. Oatmeal isn’t exactly my thing.

Lunch

For the first half of this week, I packed really unphotogenic sweet potatoes stuffed with black bean soup, chicken, and avocado. Plus a veggie. I’ll spare you the pictures. I finally settled on a favorite work lunch of a salad with dates, feta, chicken, nectarines, and champagne vinaigrette.

Dinner

Black bean soup with cheese and avocado.

Salad with corn and avocado, topped with Trader Joe’s BBQ chicken.

Parmesan encrusted chicken over garlic spinach, with a sweet potato on the side.

Take out-a chicken burger with dijon and avocado on a gluten free bun.

And of course-this is necessary:

How was your week?

Busy but Not Busy

Date: June 18, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! This week has flown by. What did I even do?? I start work next week!

Sunday evening I went to the county fair. I went by myself, and it was 95% just to see the animals! I seriously contemplated buying a cow.

Plus there was a petting zoo! Totally worth the $3 to feed the ruminants. Speaking of which-guess what just came on Amazon? I’m pretty pumped to read this. Yes, this is a textbook on the digestive system of ruminants (cows and goats and sheep, etc)

Workout wise this week, I’ve done some morning Crossfit, some spin, and some workouts with my old trainer from when I was in high school! I first lifted weights with him. I was concerned coming back given the last time I trained with him I was in the best shape of my life, but it’s been good! I actually PRed my snatch by 8 pounds today. Except it was from the high hang-not even the mid hang. For those that don’t know much about weightlifting, usually you start from the ground because you get more power. Also-it was a power snatch not a full snatch. What all this means is I’m a lot stronger than my PR and next time I do full snatches I should be able to get even heavier! Technique is everything! Now all my lifts are in the triple digits!

On Monday he went easy on me and we didn’t do much conditioning, but today I had conditioning involving intervals of slam balls and max effort 250m rows. Killer.

Foodwise, what’s been going on around here?

Breakfast

Eggs, oatmeal, and fruit are the current formula. A couple of days ago I made oatmeal with cocoa powder stirred in (and a banana). I make a big batch and then can have it throughout the week. It was super convenient to grab a few bites before morning Crossfit!

Lunch

A sweet potato stuffed with chicken, spinach, salsa, cheese, and guacamole. This is great for a quick lunch!

Super ugly but got the job done-spinach, quinoa veggie blend, and chicken maple apple sausage. Plus guacamole and carrots. I love these individual packs of guacamole!

Lunch with my sister! A turkey sandwich with smoked gouda. I ate the insides out since I’m not doing gluten right now. On a side note-my stomach seems to be healed!

Dinner

Brussels, laughing cow, and maple apple chicken sausage. This is an old Carrots N Cake recipe!

Chicken vegetable soup with a side caesar salad (which was massive).

A frittata with potatoes and cheddar, broccoli, and Trader Joe’s Polenta.

Homemade banana ice cream. Banana, cocoa powder, and a touch of milk to get it moving.

Puppy

I swear she’s gotten so much bigger already! She went from 8.5 to 11 pounds in the first week we had her! Her snout and body are both longer, and yesterday she seemed to find her bark. She can be a handful-sometimes she goes psycho-puppy on us and is a biting machine that cannot be contained. She’s an angel when sleeping.

My friends came over to visit her yesterday evening. Totally already killing her selfie game!

1 Day!

Date: June 5, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! I am currently in the midst of finals. Yay for the quarter system! My first final is tomorrow (yes, on a Saturday…cool) so I’m taking a quick study break to blog!

Guess what my parents will be doing while I’m in my final?

Bringing this girl home!

To say I’m excited would be the understatement of the year! We still need a name though! Right after my final I’m hightailing it home to meet her!

One of the reasons I wanted to post today was because I’m now doing some different and specific things with my eating and nutrition. It’s kind of complicated and for a variety of reasons which I may eventually post on, but I wanted to document a day.

This morning I did a super quick track workout-just 6x400m. Beforehand, I ate half a banana. Then….this is actually super exciting…I had a cappuccino! It was decaf-believe me-but I haven’t had one since February since the whole destroying my stomach lining thing, and my body didn’t hate it and it was delicious!

I needed one before the year ended!

Breakfast was at the dining hall-I had to bring my own sun butter, but I made a yogurt bowl with plain greek yogurt and honeydew (the only fruit option…which actually was really good in yogurt-who knew?), and some roasted potatoes.

Then I hit the library for a few hours before lunch.

I really loaded up on the veggies-a side salad, a couple of carrots, and lettuce cups with sautéed veggies. Plus chicken with ketchup and brown rice.

I also had a couple of bites of chocolate soft serve. I’m trying to learn to enjoy sweets in small portions without totally denying my sweet tooth!

My afternoon snack was some chicken and a mango.

And then right before Crossfit I had half a banana, some seed crackers, and sunbutter.

At Crossfit we did back squats with a slow descend. The WOD was 3 rounds of 15 pull ups, 30 double unders, and 15 kb swings. The trick was that the kb swings were with a kb that was a size heavier than we would normally use-and it definitely made a big difference in the difficulty level!

I stopped at Whole Foods for dinner.

I got cauliflower bisque and added spinach and chicken breast for some more staying power, plus a little potato salad and some mushrooms (which I ended up not being a fan of). And kombucha!

I also got some fancy raw chocolate bar.

It was filled with some sort of date paste. Good, but I think I may not be ready for the caffeine content of dark chocolate because I’m definitely feeling this a bit!

So that was my day. I know I haven’t been blogging much lately. I feel like I’m at sort of a Crossroads. I’m trying to make some lifestyle changes this summer, and I will also have a ton of blog content this summer (hello-PUPPY) so we will see.

Do you have any puppy name ideas??

Sonoma Adventures

Date: March 27, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Friday! It’s my last weekday of spring break, and I have lots to share! I will likely post again later this afternoon with some life updates.

My family just got back from a little mini-vacation to Sonoma, by way of Muir Woods.

Muir Woods is a Redwood Forest, and I haven’t been in 15 years, so it was a perfect stop on the way to Sonoma.

We took the 2 mile trail, which took us about an hour, with plenty of picture stops.

(Working on teaching my mom proper selfie form)

The redwoods were beautiful. I think the pictures speak for themselves!

We got a bit of a late start, so we were plenty hungry for lunch when we finished the hike! We stopped in Mill Valley for lunch, which had an adorable little downtown. My mom and I split an artichoke and a chicken balsamic chicken sandwich with garlic aioli.

After walking around a bit, we made the rest of the drive to Sonoma. My parents walked around the square a bit while I iced my sore foot, and we ordered room service for dinner-a turkey wrap for me!

Wednesday morning, I started with a training run on the treadmill-4 miles. Breakfast was a complimentary continental buffet, but they had tons of options!

The muffin ended up having nuts. Boo!

Then, we were off to explore the square.

Chocolate tasting! We came home with a box. They had samples of the apricot ganache filling of the apricot truffles, so I had to bring home one of those!

The Sonoma Mission:

I found us a fantastic little lunch place-The Sunflower Caffe. They had outdoor patio seating, with a fountain. On a California spring day, this was perfect.

I had the Vegan Pita, which was a whole wheat pita stuffed with greens, avocado, and a bean salad and served with red pepper sauce. Delicious!

Sonoma square:

There’s a lot of history here. The square was the site of the Bear Flag Revolt, where California declared its independence from Mexico in 1846.

M&M cookie from a little bakery.

In the afternoon, we visited some dogs. My family may be getting a puppy this summer, so we went to meet a breeder and her beautiful dogs.

On the way back, we passed a dairy farm with a whole bunch of calves out front. Since I’ve been obsessed with ruminants (especially cows) lately, we pulled off to get a closer look. This guy was friendly!

As promised, I will have a post on the dairy industry and cows up soon!

We went to the El Dorado Kitchen for a nice dinner.

Roasted brussels sprouts.

Cod with roasted cauliflower and grapes.

And caramel banana upside down cake with meyer lemon ice cream. Amazing.

After dinner, we saw Insurgent. I didn’t love it. I thought the first book in the series was the best anyways, but I don’t love the actor who played Tris. She seemed a little whiny, and I thought there were some bad special effects. The books are always better though! Did anyone else see it?

Since this post is getting long, I’ll cut it off here and throw the last few things into my life update post!

What is your favorite animal?

Eating and Limping My Way Through Napa Valley

Date: September 9, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! I hope everyone’s week is going well. Today I want to share my little road trip with you guys!

Immediately after my race, I headed home to shower and pick up my dog for a little family trip.

My family always goes to Napa over Thanksgiving, but this year we decided to do a quick trip before school started since we didn’t have a vacation this spring/summer. We’ve also never taken my dog before!

We arrived in time for a late lunch in St. Helena. Luckily, the area is very dog friendly and we were able to eat outside with my dog.

We went to a place we discovered last year, called the St. Helena Bistro. They had the most amazing brussels sprouts ever, and while those weren’t in season yet, I still ate very well!

To start, we shared bruschetta and a grilled artichoke. Both were fantastic.

For my main course, I went with a salad with avocado, heirloom tomato, fresh mozzarella, and olive oil.

It was delicious and so fresh! We also shared a dessert-crispy banana with chocolate gelato.

We walked around St. Helena a bit, and stopped in an olive oil store for olive oil and barbecue sauce tasting. Another must visit place in St. Helena is Woodhouse Chocolates. They have the most amazing candies-the fresh mint tastes just like eating a mint leaf.

After walking around in the heat, we checked into the hotel to relax and watch some football and baseball before dinner. Dinner was a place in downtown Napa I found as one of the top things to do in Napa. They were known for their pizza, so we chose to split a couple of pizzas and some appetizers, starting with a simple salad with lemon vinaigrette and parmesan.

The other app was creamy polenta with grated cheese on top.

The pizzas we chose were margherita and white cream with shaved truffle. Obviously, the truffle pizza stole the show. I’ve never actually seen a truffle before-I’ve only had truffle oil before so this was quite the treat!

On the way home from dinner, we stopped for dessert at another place in downtown Napa, Grace’s Table. We split a vanilla bean cheesecake, devil’s food cake, and chocolate mousse with brandy cherries.

The next morning, after a quick hotel breakfast, we visited the Petrified Forest, which was dog friendly. This is an area where trees have basically been turned to stone as the result of a nearby (now dormant) volcano erupting and spewing ash everywhere, followed by flooding over the area. It was amazing-the trees looked just like a normal log, but they were stone!

We went on about a mile hike through the forest to look at the trees and some ash fall. My feet were not feeling so hot post-race day, and walking was not pretty at all.

The photo below is a Manzanita tree-it looked like someone had dripped red paint all over the bark-it was an amazing looking tree.

The next picture is what the petrified trees look like when they were first discovered and before they have been cleaned and exposed.

When we went on the path to see some ash fall, we had a great view of the former volcano.

And here’s a shot of me with all the pale and sparky ash.

And another picture from the hike. My dog is quite photogenic!

Afterwards, we headed back to downtown Napa to Oxbow Public Market for lunch. It’s an indoor market with places to eat and buy gourmet foods. We went to a place we discovered last year that appeared on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives for their arepas. They were so, so delicious. I got the vegetarian on a sweet corn arepa, which was filled with tofu, fried plantain, avocado, and black beans. So, so good.

For the last hurrah before returning home, we went to a highly recommended (by the Internet) bakery called Sweetie Pie where we shared a coconut raspberry bar, salted caramel fudge cake (my choice), and chocolate soufflé cake.

Then it was time to say goodbye to Napa, and we headed home.

We haven’t taken my dog on a trip in years, but luckily this area is very dog friendly. In addition to lots of outside seating and water bowls for dogs placed outside, almost everyone who passed us stopped to comment on how cute he was and to pet him, which he of course loved. One funny thing is that even though he’s 13 now, almost everyone asks if he’s a puppy.

He clearly had a great time, and slept the whole way home.

Overall, it was a really fun couple of days! We did some different things that were more dog friendly, and had a great time!

Do you have a vacation spot your family likes to go?