Free Fruit Friday

So the morning run didn't happen. Oh well, I kinda saw that coming. I lounged around in bed, and thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful amazingness of my comforter and pillows. Plus I've gone for early morning runs the past two days.

For breakfast I had lots of random things that made for some pretty boring photos. A bagel thin, greek yogurt with a spoonful of strawberry jelly and cherrios, and a banana with peanut butter.

I was not happy with how small the banana was

Since you guys all know I love my business casual and showing off outfits here's my work outfit.

Please ignore the badly shopped out address. My talents are still in the making

And my lovely sister decided that she would not take real pictures of me until I did a "sexy" one first. It did not end well. Bunched up dress + serial killer stare = fierce. 

Smaller means less embarrassing, right?

After a long morning shift at work (9-1:30) I was super ready for my lunch break. I drove home and preceded to have the best. lunch break. ever. My dad was home too for lunch and we both watched Lord of the Rings--not going to even bother hiding my love for the trilogy--and ate lunch together. I was absolutely starving so I attacked our kitchen. I had one tamale, a bagel thin with cream cheese, banana with peanut butter, and an apple. It went unpictured because trust me 1) it did not look appetizing 2) they were not all eaten at the same time and 3) I was very focused on Frodo, Sam, and Smeogal.

Oh hey, cuties

My work day ended when I left the office and looked around the small Farmer's Market that was happening right outside. I love anything and everything that has to do with street vendors, so I had a good time looking at all the food and getting some free samples. I almost ended up buying cherries, but then I remembered I'm trying to save money and that my family would eat them all in one second. So I just enjoyed the fruit that was given to me.

Super cute

Summer fruit!

When I got home, I relaxed for a little bit, and then had to force myself to get outside to get in some form of exercise. I never thought I would say this, but I think I'm preferring to work out an hour or so after I wake up. It was really hard to get motivated today, and I really was not feeling like running. I decided to take Roxy for a walk without any pressure to go for a long run.

Today I realized one odd habit I do to get pumped up is that I get Roxy all riled up for her walk. When she's freaking out about hearing the word "walk" and seeing me get her leash, I almost always get at least a little more excited to go too.

I took her around the neighborhood and went for an overall route of 3.2 miles (I love runningmap so much), and ran about 1.5 miles of it. I was actually happy with that because I just wasn't feeling it today. I also looked pretty ridiculous since my clean workout clothes stack is running pretty low...

Pink&white shoes, pink&red shorts, red&white shirt. I think it's safe to assume I was very visible on my run.

Dinner was a lovely creation from my mom. Spaghetti with tomatoes, carrots, onions, and lean ground turkey with an Italian salad.

I tend to go crazy with Parmesan cheese. The first step is admitting you have a problem.





Good news! I'm seeing Scott tomorrow! I'm super excited! I've given in to very cheesy titles, and I'm not even going to apologize for this one.

Happy Julia: going for a walk with the puppy, free fruit samples, Lord of the Rings lunch date, seeing my little brother's secret place (he was very adamant I did not give away his hideout on the blog), 10 hours!

Scary runs can be fixed with a cupcake

This morning I went for a run with my running buddy againnnn :) We walked to the fire trail from her house and ran it 3 times (down, up, down) and then walked 1.3 miles home (which included the steepest street known to mankind) and talked. The fire trail is approximately a mile long so we ran about 3 miles.

I love running on the fire trail because it overlooks the beach and has an incredible view, but today Ali and I had a scary incident. There was a huge snake laying out in the middle of road. I know that there are snakes in the area, but I expect them to be off the concrete in the grass or something not laid out in the middle of where we run.

After that I was super freaked out and literally jumped when I heard a lizard run by me. I feel like I might be taking a little break from that route.

For lunch I went to The Yellow Vase cafe to meet with a girl from USC. Since I was making a first impression, I didn't take any pictures of the food. Which was sad because it is the cutest little cafe ever. I ordered the California Chicken Panini which was made with chicken breast, tomatoes, avocado, mozzarella, and hummus. It came with a light salad, and was filling and healthy (or at least seemed healthy).

Casual first impression outfit...do I over think things? Probably haha. Psttt say hit to Roxy!

The outside! I think yellow is becoming one of my favorite colors

I actually headed back with my little sister later today because we both started craving one of the Yellow Vase's cupcakes. They close early, but the lady working there was nice enough to let us get one 11 minutes after their official closing time. Score! We shared a carrot cake cupcake.

Carrot Cupcake!

More good news, I'm working at the office all day tomorrow! Which means I can actually have an organized blog post! I'm also going to attempt to get up at 6 in the morning to go for a run, but in all truthfulness there's probably a little less than a 50/50 chance of that happening. I really should start going to bed before midnight.

Happy Julia: buying an adorable little notebook, James' hugs, making it to USC and back in under two hours (I had to pick something up), a cute episode of Kitchen Nightmares (I know doesn't seem likely)

Julia loves June!

I can't believe it's already June! I know it's cliche, but it went by so quickly. Here's a quick recap.

A few highlights of May:
- Official start of my blog... I really started posting pretty consistently this month. 
- I finished my freshmen year of college!

- I packed up and left the dorms

- Set a fitness goal
- saw Scott...ok so that's not unusual but still noteworthy :)

- I started to try to cook more

- I went to the Hermosa Beach Fair

- and of course there was a billion other things I have done, but these are just some of the fun things I've mentioned :)

And of course now to look towards the future.
What to look forward too in June:
- HAWAII! My grandma is taking my family to Hawaii for my Mom's birthday. I've only been out of California twice so to say I'm excited is a bit of an understatement.
- Mine and Scott's anniversary is coming up! Yay June 23rd <3
- More fitness goals! I've decided to make it a goal to work out at least 5 times every week (I'm at about 4 right now which is a little more than normal, but I want to make a habit of 5) and to have my normal runs be a distance of 3 miles. As of now, 3 miles is a long distance, but I want to get in the habit of doing  it more.
- I will hopefully be going on a few fun all day/or overnight hikes in LA. These aren't for sure yet, but I really want my Dad to take me and some friends and/or boyfriend to do a few hikes.

Anyway, today I honored National Running Day by going for a run on the strand. Ali and I met at 10 this morning and ran to the pier (1.85 miles), and then ended up walking a half mile before running the last 1.25 miles. I was a little disappointed I didn't make it the whole way through without walking because I remember doing this route my freshmen and sophomore year in high school and had considered it an easy run back then. It was frustrating realizing that I really am starting over on my running endurance, but I am really determined to be able to do 3 straight miles soon. I still had a good workout today though, and was overall pretty happy with the run.

More good news! I got to work at the office today from 12-5! I babysat yesterday too, so for being currently unemployed I would say I'm doing pretty well :)

I ruve business casual

Since I am bad at documenting my meals--it's more of a if I'm in the mood type of thing--I'm just going to focus on a tiny portion of what I'm trying to eat more of... oatmeal! Also known as the most valuable food item in the healthy blogging world.

Since I'm still a big baby with oatmeal (I like it already sweetened), I'm trying to ease myself into eating healthier breakfasts of oatmeal that are still delicious. 

I shall call them my dessert oats.

Yesterday, I used maple syrup flavored oatmeal and put a spoonful (a little less than a tablespoon worth) of peanut butter and vanilla ice cream. This was the most amazing thing I have ever eaten. I don't care if it probably canceled out the health factor of oatmeal, it was worth it. And I actually did not put that much in.

Today, I brought home a small Dove piece of dark chocolate from work (there was a bowl right in front of me which ended up being a major snacking source...oops) and chopped it up to put into my regular oatmeal. Yes you heard me right... my regular no sugar added healthy oatmeal. And yes I put chocolate in it, but according to this it only added an extra 37 calories. Oh and a super small spoonful of peanut butter. As much as I wanted to love this oatmeal, it was good but nothing more. I guess I'm still taking baby steps to making this my new love.

PS sorry the pictures aren't the most beautiful creations. I'll eventually work on it, but I love using those bowls because I can put in the perfect amount of water for thick oatmeal. And I mix in all the toppings after the picture :)


So the oatmeal pictures make me seem really unhealthy, but I can assure you I'm trying to be very careful about what I'm eating. After all I have several important things coming up!

Happy Julia: being able to work today, being able to go to bed relatively early tonight (just post this and  shower!), going for a run after taking a few days off

Happy Memorial Day!

I had a great lazy day today meeting with family friends, hanging out with my siblings at home--I may or may not have chased Johnny around the house for 20 minutes for a hug just because I knew he didn't want one-- and had the obligatory family BBQ.

Yay for the first official BBQ of the summer! Nothing says summer quite like all these goodies.

My grandma's homemade 7 layer chips.

Oh hey there grandpa

The meal... hamburgers

and WATERMELON. In case it wasn't already obvious enough here and here (or, you know, by my blog name), one of my favorite foods is watermelon. I could eat it all day everyday, and we don't ever get it enough.

For dessert we had make your own banana splits. Even though the chocolate sauce was running a little bit low by the time I got there, I made up for it with extra banana and created the best split ever. Nom.

I was actually happy (health wise) with my portion size... maybe I should go last more often?

I had a good time talking to my grandparents and just having a relaxing holiday (ok so I don't work, but it still felt like a holiday to me).

Happy Julia: talking with my Mom's friend's daughter about USC, law school, and randomness, chasing Johnny around the house and backyard (and feeling like a 5 year old), talking to my dad about organizing a hiking trip, finding out that Scott liked the Hangover 2 just as much as I did