Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The Ups and Downs of Having a Meal Plan

Today was actually pretty productive. On Tuesday and Thursdays I have class from 10 to 11 and then have a 7 hour break until my class from 6 to 8. Usually, this means that I lounge around and do nothing for several hours and then at 8:00 panic and realize how much work I have.

Not today! I managed to get in nap (counts as productive), got my Russian homework done, finished almost all my readings, and worked out with Ali.
Sadly all the treadmills in the gym were taken (which is a tad ridiculous since there are a billion), so I just spent 30 minutes on the elliptical. It wasn't too bad because I ended up watching the end of the movie Avatar while working out. Embarrassing story: I cry at almost any movie I watch. I had to work hard to hold back the teary feeling because I was in the middle of a public gym. I do not want to be the girl crying while working out again haha.
Afterwards I headed back to the house, and decided to continue my workout by running a little bit on the treadmill. I ran a mile in 9:40 (yay!) and then decided to walk for another quarter mile to cool down. I finally decided just to spend the next 7 minutes walking on a slight incline with 5 pound weights so I could complete a full 20 minutes on the treadmill.

I also attempted to take pictures of my meals today because its been awhile since I last busted out my camera. Although the food we are served is usually really delicious, I'm really missing my kitchen back home.
Today I had my usual breakfast of scrambled egg whites, a piece of turkey bacon, and oatmeal. I've even gotten used to eating unsweetened oatmeal! The trick is I put a billion things in it like chocolate chips, brown sugar, raisains, and fruit.
For lunch, we are usually given a meal or two and then left to assemble it how we want (for example everything you need to make a wrap). Today was Greek themed, so we had all the items to make a pita pocket!
While I originally went for tofu with Tatiki, I made another one using one my falafels and hummus and it was thousand times better. Lunch at the house is almost always a winner:)

It was good lunch was so delicious because dinner was not. I was not a fan of the porkchops and potatoes, but I didn't have time to be picky (lame night classes) so I didn't try to get creative with alternatives.

When I got back from class, the cereal was calling my name and made up for the lame dinner.
I could eat literally over 3 bowls of cereal in a heartbeat, so I've learned ways to stay satisfied on one: mix a bunch of different cereals together. When I mix granola, Captain Crunch (not healthy haha), and Shredded Spoonfuls, I'm always convinced I can't replicate it and am even happier with the bowl. Win win!

Off to bed! I've realized I really need to get to bed earlier when I have morning classes so that I won't depend on my "productive naps" so much.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Hollywood Hike

I promise I'm actually alive and well. I've just been super busy with homework, reading, and quizzes. As of right now, I'm avoiding memorizing the names of historians who study Homer. Fun, fun!
I don't like work. Or the fact that this is an old picture.


There have also been a few football games tossed in there,

a couple nights out with friends,
and most importantly, finally getting a visit to see Scott!

Now, I'm newly motivated to start up my blogging again (I forgot that people don't like hearing me talk about how my workouts or how I'm trying to be healthier that much, and I've missed writing about it). I will spare you my two weeks worth of workouts, but I am planning on making a workouts tab to better record it.

Today, I had a really fun hike to the Hollywood sign. I've hiked to the sign a few year ago with my family, but have not had a chance to do it again since. Sadly, I think we took a few wrong turns that didn't take us right above it, but we did have a great view of the sign and of downtown.

It was really great weather and a lot fun to get outside. It's funny how different hiking is in a city than it is in the mountains, but I really appreciated the change of scenery. I've left campus once since I've been here! Plus I think a morning hike was the reason I was so productive up until now today. I kicked some serious homework and cleaning butt afterwards.

Sadly, I have an 8:30 class tomorrow (how is 1:00 am already?!) so I'm off to bed. I'm so happy to be back!

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

We Run the World

The upside of going to college in the middle of smoggy LA: having an absolutely beautiful, free gym at your disposal. Well, free except for the pesky college tuition and housing costs that accompany it. I'm sure my student loans would beg to differ with the free gym statement.


Today my crazy sorority rush schedule ended, and I finally had a normal day of classes with no responsibilities before, during, or after.
Final day of the busiest week ever!

Which means I finally made it to the gym in order to kick my butt back into gear and work off the billion cake pops I had during the weekend (and yesterday). Seriously, those things are the most wonderfully addictive desserts in the world.
I once again went for a run on the gym treadmill, and realized that although I miss my great views from home, I really like running on the treadmill. I always start really slow and speed up throughout my workout, and pressing the faster button always makes me feel so tough and in shape. Add that dorky feeling plus Beyonce's Run the World (whee! new playlist!) equals me running faster than I've been able to run in awhile.

I'm a pretty slow runner (I'm talking 11 minute pace), but I made it up to 7.3 mph (just over an 8 minute mile) pace by the end. The run ended up being a little over 2.5 miles, and I left the gym feeling awesome.

And when you're having an awesome day, why not roll with it? A few hours later, my friends and I decided we wanted to renew our motivation to complete Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. Even though we all had to manage using different weights (we rotated through 3lb, 5lb, and 8lb which were death since there were conveniently 3 circuits). It was actually really fun completing it with friends even though I already feel myself getting sore now.

I also am going to a super fun event tomorrow that I'll tell you all about! And you may actually (gasp) see a picture or two, but until then here's a hint.
I have an 8:30 am class tomorrow, so it's time for bed. Night!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

On the Bright Side

What makes me happy:
1. Only 1 more day until I have my life back!

2. I miraculously fit in a 2 mile run on Friday (my days have been 100% filled these past few days with school and rush). All the normal treadmills at the gym were taken, so I ended up using an eco friendly one which I think I may have liked better.
My super cool expression was supposed to be me being tough
3. Seeing my picture displayed on the photo album in the sorority. 

Oh hey there

4. Red Velvet Cake pop!

5. Winning an amazing giveaway!

I cannot wait until I have a normal schedule. Monday is calling my name! :)

Friday, August 19, 2011

Goodbye Dorm Food

You know you no longer eat dorm food when you're served this for dinner:
Edamame and Quinoa Salad, Orzo and Asparagus salad, and Chicken Caesar Salad 
My food/living situation provides me with a meal plan at the sorority house and a small kitchenette (no oven or burners) and fridge, so most of my meals are prepared and served buffet style for my "sisters" and I. However, unlike dorms, it provides only one meal option (like if teriyaki chicken for dinner) and a salad bar. I'm definitely happy the menu includes healthy/fancy meals instead of last year's always present fried food buffet area. Seriously the specialty was that they made a different type of fry each day of the week. That becomes a little hard to resist ;)

I've been really good about trying to have a morning workout at least once a week! Yesterday, I got up at 7:15 to do a quick 30 minutes on the elliptical before starting my day.

I continued my small workout streak by doing something I've been meaning to start forever: Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. I have been telling my friends here about how I've been wanting to do it, and they got excited and convinced me to finally start today with them.

Even though I started on level 1 with 3 pound weights, it was hard! I was definitely feeling it by the time it was over. And since it was only 20 minutes, I'm beyond excited that I can fit it easily into my schedule since it's been more than a little crazy lately.

Off to bed! It's another big day tomorrow:)

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

The Reason for my Bad Blogging

I have been so busy from the second I moved back to school, and honestly it's only going to get busier. I am in a sorority on campus, and we move in early for "rush school."

While it's fun to see all my friends, this means 12 hour days with literally no time to do anything else (don't worry classes have not started). It's supposed to be very private information and traditions that we learn, so I'm not allowed to share the information and don't have time to take pictures throughout the day.

I miss blogging, but it's been hard keeping up with just reading other blogs much less finding time to write my own posts. So for the next week and a half, I'll probably just be a blog lurker before jumping back into this.

On the plus side, I managed to squeeze in a workout or two (ish) the past few days. The first morning workout was a bit of a fail because I couldn't figure out how to turn the treadmill. Obviously not the sharpest tool in the shed that morning. Ends up there is a switch on the bottom of the treadmill you have to turn on first. Lamesauce. So I did 30 seconds of mountain climbers, lunges, squats, sits ups, and hip lifts (3 times each except for the lunges) until someone was awake and able to show me how turn on the treadmill. Since I didn't have to much time left until I had to be ready, I just finished up with a mile run.
Urban Running destination.

The other workout I had was a really fun one on Monday. A group of my friends and I went for a 3 mile run to the Staple Center at LA live. The run was a little quicker than I'm used to, but there were so many stoplights (and walking up to the light when it was red) that it was still enjoyable. Do NOT do that run unless you are with a big group of people. LA is not the safest place to be running around in. I'm already missing my views from home.
Beach side runs at home


Thanks for hanging in there everyone! It's been a little crazy and it's about to get crazier ;)

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Summer's Over

I have had the most hectic day. I officially moved back to college.

I managed to forget my bath towels, razor, alarm clock, Jillian Michael's 30 day Shred, and a billion other things. I even had to deactivate my facebook which is causing me going through withdrawals. PS Scott I'm sad because I really want to write something on your wall along the lines of I miss you a lot:)

I'll be sure to catch you up on everything,  but I am exhausted.


Nice to see you again, LA.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Mammoth Adventures

After an extremely active trip to Mammoth this past weekend, I rested and just hung out with friends today.
I've been excited to recap the amazing trip I had this weekend. In my "about" section, I talk about how I am trying to live a healthy lifestyle. This weekend I felt like I achieved that healthy lifestyle. From the moment we got to Ali's cabin on Friday, we were up and moving.
The road trip took place in my beloved car! I'm proud to say I drove 4.5 out of the 6 hours. Luckily, I had my traditional Egg Mcmuffin for breakfast to fuel my drive. 


Once we finally got to Mammoth, we immediatley decided to go for an easy bike ride around the neighborhood. The ride was really fun until my clumsiness got the best of me. It's been awhile since I last went bike riding, and I braked too hard/paniced a little and fell. Luckily, I didn't get hurt besides a few scratches and bruises. Don't worry the story we told was there was a big rock in the way ;)
All bandaged up...and being Spock.
Sadly my bike drama did not end with the fall. After 10 more minutes of biking, the bike broke when I was switching gears. The four of us ended walking the bikes to the nearest bike shop to get the bike (and my hand) all fixed up.
It ended up being a funny story, and we spent the rest of the night swimming at the pool and jacuzzi.

Saturday was spent hiking to Rainbow falls. Scott, Ali, Grant, and I took the tram down to the hiking area, and started our hike at Devil's Postpile.
We walked the next 2.5 miles to the beautiful Rainbow falls. We had originally planned to go swimming in the falls (which my family did a few years ago), but with so much snow this winter the falls were much stronger and did not look safe to swim.
Luckily, Scott suggested that we hike an extra half mile to Lower falls to go swimming there since we were already wearing our bathing suits. Once we got there and ate our picnic of pb&j's, we took off our tennis shoes and made a quick discovery: the water was freezing. The second we put our feet in the water, it was like pins and needles until our feet became numb. Some onlookers were definitely laughing at our shock ;)
Ali was the first one to brave diving in and I jumped in after. The boys were the last ones to get wet, so I think we showed up them this time! While the water was shockingly cold and the rock bottom uncomfortably sharp, it felt so amazing to cool down and warm back up on the rocks before heading back.
The overall hike was 6 pleasant miles. We spent the rest of the night watching the new Jersey Shore episode. My love for Jersey Shore is no secret. I am SO EXCITED for this season. It was such a good episode.


Sunday started off with a quick (but very painful) hike up to the base of Mammoth rock and climb to the top with our group and Ali's brother and cousins. The views were incredible, but the hike was super painful for me. I don't always do extraordinarily well in high altitudes so I was panting a little heavier than was comfortable.
Mammoth rock is the boulder sticking out there
After getting back from the hike and grabbing lunch, the four of us headed over to June Lake where my grandpa has a cabin. We hung out on the lake and went canoeing over to the boulders on the side of the lake. There we jumped off the boulders, tanned, and swam in the lake. We canoed around the lake for a little bit longer before heading back home.



This was definitely my favorite part of the trip!
That night we went out to eat at Whiskey Creek (I got fish tacos and sweet potato fries), and Scott and I took a quick detour from the cabin to go visit some of his family friends who live in the area.

Even though we were planning on leaving Monday at noon, Ali's parents invited us to go on a morning bike ride with them. I was super nervous about the bike ride because I was warned that it was a difficult uphill ride. I'm proud to say that I completed the 6 miles of pure uphill. I had to motivate myself to just keep pedaling and telling myself I could do it on the last part of the ride. The views from the trail was absolutely beautiful and seeing the lakes brought a bit of relief too. The downhill ride was super easy since I didn't have to pedal once. 

I was really proud of myself for completing the ride, and it felt good to have my legs a little tired once I got in the car for the 6 hour drive ride back (Scott took the wheel for the four of us this time).

This weekend was amazing, and I'm so happy that I was invited to experience a fun weekend vacation!


Thursday, August 4, 2011

Mammoth Bound

Guess who's going to Mammoth Mountain this weekend?
Ok, so we're not going to the beach butttt
We are!

Ali (aka running buddy) invited us up to her cabin in the mountains for the weekend! So I have no idea if there will be internet access, but I am super excited to go for hikes, swims, and be outdoorsy.

So for the next few days, I'll be here:

Good night!

The Bigger Picture

Before I get into the rest of this post, I just wanted to say one thing.
I am so, so thankful for my health. I got some really sad news about a family friend today, and while I won't get into it on my blog, I just want to say that I truly appreciate how fortunate my family and I am for being healthy.
The news was a reminder to appreciate my body and not get so caught up in the little things because in the long run, not liking how your stomach looks one day does not matter at all. 

***
Anyway, today I had a bowl or two of Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast along with some fruit salad leftovers.

Lunch was a breakfast burrito with 2 scrambled eggs, cheese, bell peppers, and mushrooms.
 Which was soon followed up by a smoothie (4 frozen strawberries, a banana, greek yogurt, a little bit of milk and oj).
Dinner was a quick "Smart Taste" pasta and watermelon. The veggies are a tad lacking because I realized we ran out of lettuce, but I made up for it with a ton of watermelon pieces.
Ugly pictures get put in a smaller size ;)
Today has been a really laid back day, but I'm really looking forward to going to bed. Tomorrow should be really busy!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Haircuts and Hamsters

Before I get into this post, I want to have a quick tribute to the passing of July (aka my favorite month of the year).






And celebrated my (and my sister's) 19th birthday.
Plans for August:
- Going back to school (ah!) and all the shenanigans of that
- Trip to Mammoth with Ali, her family and boyfriend, and Scott!
- Trying to standup paddle board (hopefully!)


******
As my last birthday celebration came to an end, I realized something: I am so excited to eat healthy foods (or try to) again. After days (4 to be exact) of eating birthday cake, ice cream, and cupcakes, I can officially say I feel gross. 
And almost burned out on sweets. I give it a day until my sweet tooth will return with a burning passion for all things dessert. 

Starting tomorrow, I am going to officially make some healthy meals and snacks without venturing into the leftover cake for breakfast. Anyway, carrot cupcakes for breakfast was so yesterday. Literally. 

But until tomorrow morning, I can still share my beautiful lemon cake with lemon icing made by my grandmother.
I especially like the homemade cake decorations. Nothing says "Happy Birthday" quite like a hamster holding balloons ;)

Oh, and I got a haircut! I'm a big baby about change so even though it was just a trim, I'm still sulking about the house about how it's so short. Here's a before and after picture (I'm even wearing the same dress!). And I'm realizing now that you really can't see that much of a difference.

Oh well, I promised it looks different in person!

It's time for me to go to bed! I really need to start doing that earlier at night :)

Monday, August 1, 2011

6 Man and Birthday Cakes

On my actual birthday, I celebrated by going to 6 Man--a big beach volleyball tournament event that rivals the crowds from 4th of July. Scott came up for the weekend, and we met up with a bunch of my high school friends to head over together and celebrate.
Seriously this is only a fraction of the people there.

I was given birthday gear by my girlies:)
Hehe I'm loving my new shorts

That night Scott and I went to Sammy's Woodfired Pizza for dinner. We shared an appetizer of cheesy bread and I had a few slices of BBQ pizza. Oh, and a messy sundae the size of my face that Scott and I shared.
The next day, Scott and I had a beach day before heading to my grandparents house for dinner. We all went for a quick swim before digging into the food. My grandmother Wendy is the most amazing cook, and everything she served was absolutely delicious. After snacking on unpictured appetizers (shrimp! my favorite), we had my grandfather's grilled steak, Caesar salad, garlic bread, and potatoes.
Since my grandparents were out of town on my sister's birthday, we were celebrating both of ours...which meant double the dessert.
Enter her chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cake...

And my carrot cupcakes!
I was clearly too excited to slow down and take a good picture
There was also lots of fruit thrown in for good measure: lots of watermelon, pineapples, and strawberries.

****
I'll spare you pictures of what I ate today because 99% of it was leftovers. Eek I actually had a cupcake for breakfast. Whoops.

I finally attempted a run today. After the mud run, I used my lack of a goal to try new workout classes and slack off different things. But to be honest, I've missed running. Ok, not quite the actual running part, but I've missed feeling in shape and being the high that came from being able to run 3 miles. 

I ended up going for a quick 20 minute run (probably just a little under 2 miles) with my dog. The whole ordeal was a little more stressful than it should have been because after driving there I realized I forgot to bring a leash. I decided to just stick to a trail, and be thankful that my dog is well behaved. If I drove back home, I know I wouldn't have done anything.
The view from where I ran
On a happier note, I got to wear my new present from my parents: a Nike workout shirt! I felt very stylish while running.

It feels weird not recaping July and planning for August like I usually do at the beginning of the month, but I really wanted to get this post done:) Maybe I'll postpone it to (August 2nd I have one last birthday dinner with the other side of the family) August 3rd. There's so much to look forward to!