New Outfit and Week Workout

Hey everyone!
Whee! Workout for the week!
Monday- HIIT on the treadmill. 8 seconds sprinting 12 seconds recovering for 15 minutes. With an additional walking warm up/cool down for 3 minutes before and after. This ended up feeling more like a workout for my fingers (constantly pushing the faster/slower buttons was exhausting) than for my legs.
Tuesday- HIIT on the treadmill. 90 seconds sprinting and 3 minutes recovering. Repeat 6 times.
Wednesday- 2.5 miles around the school with my friend (we ended up walking a little bit).
Thursday- HIIT on the elliptical. 8 seconds sprinting and 12 seconds recovering. Elliptical is so much better for this workout.
Friday- Took the day off. How is it that the day I'm most free is the one that I don't squeeze in a workout?

I've been trying to incorporate more high intensity interval training in my workouts, but I don't think I've been pushing myself as hard as I could in them. I usually realize by the end that I've been restraining myself, and that I have a lot of energy left at each workout.  I'm going to have to work on going more full out this weekend/next weekend. Either way, 4 workouts in a row isn't too bad, and I'm happy I was able to fit them in with a busy week (of course on Friday when I had nothing going on except for 4 hours at my internship, finding time to work out was impossible).

PS. Since I spoke about wanting to document memories on my blog in my last post, I thought just for funsies, I'd post my latest favorite outfit. PPS for the few people who do read this don't judge me: I promise my pictures will evolve the second my camera works again :). Sadly, until I get my new camera charger from Amazon, you'll have to deal with my photobooth pictures.
It's crazy how even after a hard workout, nothing makes you feel cuter than wearing that outfit you've been planning for the last week.

Open back

high waisted deep green skirt

My great grandma's necklace

After a crazy couple days, I plan on sleeping in tomorrow, and getting some work done before I go visit Scott. After finally making a to do list for this weekend, I realized I've been in denial that this school year is almost over and my work is building up.
Have a great weekend!

Shocking turn of events: A new post!

After months of not posting, I've finally decided to go for it again. After months of posting almost everyday and then loosing my camera charger, I had realized I just wasn't interested in writing blog posts anymore. Classes, internships, clubs, and social events were (and still are) keeping my life much busier than it was in summer. Not to mention taking pictures of your food can get embarrassing when you're suddenly sharing meals with 60 other girls who live in your house.

However, I recently spent a lot of time procrastinating reading over my blog, and I fell back in love. I had no idea how much fun it would be to have so many memories documented to relive over again, when I may have previously forgotten about their significance. I love seeing how great of a summer I had, and being able to have a fun creative outlet that is just for me.

This blog also played a huge role in keeping me accountable with getting/staying in shape. I've written before about how everything about fitness fascinates me: blogs, workouts, races, clothes, other people's regimens. And although I do like working out, I'm typically very unmotivated. This blog gave me a jumpstart to working out regularly that held it's momentum until actually around the past month (I haven't stopped, but I haven't been working out as regularly or pushing myself).

Hopefully,  I can get back started and use this blog as a tool to document great memories and motivate myself a little more. So, in that spirit, here's a few memories from the past few weeks:

Spring break in Palm Springs with friends:

Hiking

Waterfall at the end of the hike

Out to dinner

Literally spent everyday by the pool

And this weekend was filled with a date at the Huntington Library with Scott:

So here's my not-so-eloquent dive back into blogging. Hopefully my posts will become more frequent (and have more thought put into them but my brain is fried from political philosophy and Russian) because I've missed Watermelon Smiles!

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.

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!