Happy Valentine’s Day everybody! I’m pretty sure this guy is my valentine:

I slept 9 hours last night, but I’m definitely still recovering from the previous night, so this was pretty awesome. 

I’m pretty sure Valentine’s Day is a good excuse to eat cookies as pre-run fuel, right?

These were a Valentine’s gram-one from my roomie and the other from my favorite K-pop star. Yeah, I didn’t know I had one either. 

I decided to be over the top pink today because I’m pretty sure I’ve never actually worn this sweater, and it’s just too perfect for Valentine’s day. I guess pink isn’t really my color which is why I haven’t worn it much!

For this morning’s run, I did my 50 minute treadmill workout. I took it kind of easy though-I woke up sore and tired-so I didn’t do any of it at 1.0 incline, and it actually felt fairly easy!

I also made some awesome scrambled eggs this morning. With goat gouda <3

After class (more on that in a minute) I experimented with popcorn and my new chocolate making skill-chocolate coated popcorn!

Not the biggest winner though-the popcorn wasn’t very salty on it’s own, and I made with chocolate with just maple syrup, nonfat milk, and cacao powder.

And besides Valentine’s candy, I did eat some veggies! I really liked this Trader Joe’s salad!

Now onto Valentine’s day. I know some people get sad/depressed being single on Valentine’s day but it really doesn’t bother me. I mean come on-either way, this is a chocolate holiday! Priorities, people! Last Valentine’s day, I had a 6k test (rowing) and then went to the beach with my rowing team. 

In terms of Valentine’s I’ve given out, my favorite thing of the past when I was less busy/had better access to a kitchen for the holidays was M&M cookies. I used a chocolate chip cookie recipe, and then replaced the chips with holiday M&Ms of choice. They were always a big hit, and definitely one of my all time favorite cookies! Sadly, that was wayyy pre blog so I have no pictures…

AND in the spirit of Valentine’s day, I’ve decided to share a little story with you all. I don’t usually talk about this aspect of my personal life on here, but I thought you guys would get a kick out of the awkwardness of a high school relationship. 

In high school, I ended up “going out” with a guy I really didn’t know much probably less than a week before Valentine’s day. So that was one of the most awkward Valentine’s days of my life. I had no idea what the proper etiquette was for something like this (I ended up making the perviously mentioned cookies). The worst part was that every year in the Spanish class I was in, the students make super cheesy, super silly valentines and plant them throughout the school. My new boyfriend was in the same spanish class, so I ended up making a ridiculous one for him. But he didn’t know enough Spanish to understand it, and when I explained it, he just flat out didn’t get it or apparently my sense of humor. “I think your socks are cute” is a lot less romantic in English….ohhh high school relationships. Let’s just say that one was destined for failure. 

And since we’re on the topic of cheesy Spanish things-check out this music video. Sexy macarena and creepy lyrics? Sign me up!

You’re welcome.

Also, since today is basically about chocolate (let’s be real here), here’s a video my sister made a couple of years ago. Has anyone heard of epic mealtime? She made a vegan chocolate mountain parody. In summary, no one was strong enough to lift it…

Aaaand now I’ve started myself on listening to Spanish music. Best way to spend Valentine’s day! 🙂 I can’t wait to take Spanish again next quarter!

Speaking of academic curiosity-I freaking love Biochem. I love metabolism, but I also love the endocrine system and hormones. One thing we discussed today that I thought might be of interest to some of you was this particular process:

A testosterone hormone, androgen, needs to be converted into estrogen for a healthy reproductive system. An enzyme in fat cells does this conversion. So when the body is stressed (aka starving), fat cells are depleted, hence the loss of cycle. My professor also mentioned that in many people, running 45-50 miles a week will do this (although I can’t verify this and I’m sure it varies person to person). Another interesting thing is that this number applies to males as well-this type of mileage will actually result in lower sperm count. Who knew? 

Also, another totally random and interesting fact-lactation is actually a very strong contraceptive (hormones)-and in hunter gatherer populations, it is common for women to get pregnant about every 5 years (because the children breastfeed for a very long time). Even more interesting-this timing means that a woman may only get 6-8 periods in her life. And apparently there are study linking this to lower rates of certain reproductive organ related diseases later in life. Totally random, but I thought it was interesting!

On that note-everyone go out and enjoy your Valentine’s day!