Midterms and THE BIG ANNOUNCMENT

Oh, hey, whats up midterms? Well, technically midterms haven’t started for me yet, but the sense of doom is lingering in the air as they become closer on my calendar.

But truly, although there hasn’t really been any clouds over Eugene lately, there has been a lot of crankiness, unhappiness and grouchiness all over campus. And I refuse to let it sink in. I have been so good this week about keeping the upbeat glow radiating off me, despite midterms.

Some things keeping the glow going?

Pumpkin…Everything

Probably one of the grossest looking meals of all time, but I have been craving it every day since I got my hands on organic pumpkin.

Pumpkin Oats!

I added:

• 1/2 c. oats
• 1/3 c. canned pumpkin
• handful of goji berries
• 6 drops of liquid stevia
• 1 1/2 T of cinnamon
• topped with 2 T of almond butter

I don’t have any nutmeg, or other seasonings so I just went with a heaping amount of cinnamon. It still worked though

A few days ago the sorority served an amazing pumpkin dessert. I saved a few servings of it and finished it off today.

It also doesn’t look that appetizing, but heating it up in the microwave for a few seconds is amazing! It gives me a bit of a stomachache for a few minutes after, but its so worth it!

La Perla

In a project for one of my architecture classes we have to study a place. My group decided to study a place with benefits AKA beneplace. As in La Perla, which serves excellent handmade, woodfired, Neopolitan pizza.

They have a beautiful open kitchen where you can watch the chefs make the pizza and salads

 

Richard and I went for lunch today, so I could observe human behavior at lunchtime. It sounds like such a creepy topic, but its actually really fun to just people watch!

I got the 1/2 Sandwich 1/2 Salad option. A Caprese Sandwich with an Insalata d’ Arugula.

With water to drink. I absolutely love how they serve the water. It’s so charming!

I had no problem finishing off my lunch

Flowers

On the way back from La Perla I stopped at a local flower store and picked up some daisies for my roommates and I

Just a little something to brighten up their day.

New Running Shoes

My new running shoes came in the mail!

I thought they were going to be red, but ended up being bright pink! They’re really fun though.

My Summer Plans

Ever since I found out my summer plans two weeks ago I have just been beaming. I keep thinking about the adventures, the fun, the relaxation and the killer tan I will acquire while I study abroad.

(source)

In Rome.

(source)

I almost peed my pants when I found out.

Good thing I’m preparing my taste buds with all this Italian food

If you could study abroad anywhere free of cost, where would you go?

A Mediterranean Feast

Hey bloggies! Whew have I had quite the day!

Internship

My intership was only two hours today! Yippee! Though I absolutely LOVE it and love everything I’m learning, getting to enjoy the sun isn’t bad at all.

Lunch

I originally packed my lunch to be eaten at the office of my internship, but I got off at lunch so I was able to eat it at home

An absolutely delicious peach from the local produce stand and two slices of Stairway to Heaven Pizza from The Rock.

The description for the pizza (in the words of The Rock):

We start with garlic butter brushed dough, topped with fresh mozzarella and baked. We then top it with fresh baby arugula, diced tomatoes, prosciutto, parmesan cheese and finally, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Ooh, it makes me wonder…

Both were sooo yummy.

Workout

After letting my lunch digest, I headed to the local state park for a nice run in the sun. However, I died after two miles. I guess sun + humidity + not having run long distance in 2 months will do it to you unfortunately.

I felt ok right after the run, never actually reaching the runner’s high but now I feel great that I went on the run! My body feels very light and just very happy.

When I got home I grabbed the Grantster for a walk in the neighborhood.

We were both happy to spend some time together. He has a hard time with fireworks, so the past few nights have been very rough for him. I’ve also been out of the home a lot since I got back to the cabin, so there has been a lot of missing Grant and Michelle time.

Dinner

Since it is such a beautiful day, I decided a Mediterranean feast was in order.

Prepackaged gnocchi from the produce stand, with pesto and parmesan cheese

A mini Caprese salad, both the mozzarella cheese and tomato’s from the produce stand (I’m really loving the stand if you can’t tell!)

And a wildcard Greek Salad thrown in. I wasn’t originally planning on making this, but I saw it on the Fitnessista’s blog today and had almost all of the ingredients.

I used Champagne Wine Vingear instead of white wine vinegar (we didn’t have the latter), minced garlic instead of garlic gold and basil instead of parsley. I just used what we had. My mom couldn’t stop eating it! She asked me to make it for tomorrow. Looks like I’ll be having another trip to the produce stand! Oh darn

Weekly Goals

Last week I made a set of goals , the Contract, after pondering about what I want to be in life when I got a break at Convention.

I kept most of it, but I did make just a couple of changes:

• Instead of going on a pure dessert detox, I’m allowing one dessert per week. When I first got home I had dessert with every meal and I blew up like a balloon (Imagine that!). I also usually feel pretty horrible after a dessert too, so this will help keep my body in check
• Instead of drinking green tea when snacky, I know that I’m just dehydrated so I will drink water instead. The green tea makes my metabolism speed up like crazy to where I’m never satisfied. I’m trying to limit my intake to only one cup of green tea due to my body’s reaction to it.
• Instead of saying hard cardio 2x per week and light to moderate cardio 2x per week, I’m just saying doing cardio 4x a week. I will just listen to what my body can take.

My new contract!

What is your favorite Mediterranean dish?

Greek Yogurt is so in

Good evening everyone. I hope all the Americans are having a fabulous Memorial Day weekend (woohoo another 24 hours!) and all the Canadians had a good weekend. I’m going to make this post short, cause I just need to sleep.

Breakfast

I woke up feeling fantastic this morning! I’m so happy to be over this bug! I think the workout last night also really helped.

I just can’t get over this raspberry-coconut oatmeal.

I followed this with a foolproof half a naner dipped in sunflower seed butter.

It was a nice, hearty breakfast for sure.

Snack

I recieved a box of Kardea samples last night, and I was super excited to try one today

I went with the cranberry almond (sorry, no picture) which was really good! I will do a full review later though.

Lunch

After working in studio for a few hours, I was excited to come home for lunch. Since the only veggies I have in the fridge is bell pepper, spinach and salad mix I topped a piece of naan with organic marinara, red, yellow and orange bell pepper, spinach and goat cheese and put it into the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes for a homemade pizza.

As I was devouring this, I stopped by Tyler’s blog and saw his homemade “Frappe-Tyler”

I seriously could not resist. My blender was currently in the dishwasher, so I patiently waited for it to finish and got to make this.

A chocolate homemade frappe filled with:

• almond milk
• ice
• chocolate protein powder
• chia seeds

Omg, Tyler you are a genius! I have a feeling this is going to be my new summer drink. And I promise to get a better picture, this one truly didn’t do it justice. We just didn’t have any clear glasses left

Dinner

I’m still craving veggie’s after being sick the last couple of days and like I said, I have a very limited amount of veggies so I made a Southwest-inspired salad.

In the salad:

• spring greens
• red, yellow and orange bell pepper
• leftover cheesy rice
• blue corn tortilla chips
• Annie’s Woodstock dressing

I didn’t think that I had enough calories, so I ate this times two.

I then had the worst chocolate craving! The only chocolate I had was MaraNatha’s dark chocolate peanut butter so I just stuck a spoon in there are started to eat. It was soooo good, but I felt a bit guilty. Oh well it was only about 2 tablespoons of it.

Workout

I was debating whether to work out tonight. My body was really sore from the intervals last night, but it felt so good to get into the gym again so I went on the elliptical for 30 minutes and watched Harry Potter. I still don’t know if it was worth it. I am so incredibly beat right now.

Snack

As a post workout snack I devoured some greek yogurt topped with blueberries for some much-needed protein.

This is about 100 calories. Move over 100 calorie packs of Oreo’s, greek yogurt is so in.

What is your favorite post work out snack?

And do you have a favorite summer drink?

Trail Mix and a Hike

Good afternoon everyone!

Breakfast

I wasn’t sure what to eat this morning. Last night I was craving some french toast, but since I had pancakes yesterday I went for some good ‘ole oatmeal

Coconut-Strawberry Heart Oatmeal

• 1/2 c. quick oats
• 1/2 c. almond milk
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 1/2 T of the MIX
• vanilla

Topped with:

• 1 T So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer
• coconut flakes
• strawberries shaped into a heart

It was delicious as always.

Lunch

Lunch came pretty soon afterwards because I had a hike during my normal lunch time

I made the same pizza I had a couple of nights ago.

The steam fogged up my camera lense!

I love how veggie loaded this thing is with spinach, red and orange bell pepper and onions! It was so amazing.

Hike

My friend invited me for a hike. It was the same one I did last week, but I was definitely not going to turn it down!

This time around the hike was SO much easier. We talked about life and politics instead of complaining about how steep it was. Plus we were actually going at a way faster pace.

I ate about half of some homemade trail mix at the top.

• Corn puffs
• Life cereal
• dark cocoa chips
• coconut flakes
• raisins

It was pretty decent. I need to work on the mix a wee bit more though.

What have you been up to today?

An Uplifting Afternoon

Hey bloggies! My note to self has really turned my week around! It made my negative thoughts disappear and allow myself to see the good and just be happy with what I have been given.

Breakfast

I started off my day with a great breakfast of Overnight Oats and a Fruit Bowl with Coconut Banana Cream on top.

Sorry for the cruddy lighting. It was really dark this morning–so no natural light

In the Overnight Oats:

• 1/2 c. Quick Oats
• 2/3 c. almond milk
• 3 T So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 T chia seeds
• 1 T flax seeds
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Topped with:

• strawberries
• more cinnamon

I’m absolutely falling in love with overnight oats. I’ve had them three times this week and I’ll definitely be having them a lot more

The fruit bowl was also tasty as always

Mmmmm fruity goodness

Needless to say, I had absolutely no problem polishing this wonderful breakfast off

Operation Beautiful

Today I laid my first Operation Beautiful note! I’ve been wanting to do this for such a long time and finally I just had to do it. The note to myself I made this morning made me want to inspire other women to feel their best as well.

I felt fantastic leaving this note and I’m excited to hear what the girls in studio will say about it.

Lunch

I have been planning this lunch since two weeks ago. For some reason my lunches were always on the go these past couple of weeks so I am super glad to finally be able to make this beauty.

PIZZA!

This was based on Emily’s pizza.

• pita bread
• light layer of organic marinara sauce
• spinach
• onion
• red bell pepper
• orange bell pepper
• avocado
• topped with goat cheese

The aroma of the pizza filled my apartment. It was absolutely fabulous!

Later

Tonight will be a quieter roomie dinner with just Richard and I but I’m super excited. He told me that its a yummy pasta stuffed with veggies. I just may be in heaven

I also have another surprise in store for you bloggies tonight!

Challenge for the Day: I really encourage all of you to write your own note-to-self and try to make everyone around you feel great about themselves

Cleaning on a Friday?

Hey Bloggies! I hope everyone is enjoying the last episode of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution tonight! Naturally me being on the west coast, everyone gets to watch it 1-3 hours before me.

Dinner

Tonight was another roomie dinner, so it’s time for some sneaky camera pictures

A pizza-like pie was the main course.

• Pillsbury dough for the crust (335 calories for the crust in that slice alone)
• sausage
• cheese
• bell pepper
• mushroom
• tomato sauce

With a side of fruit in custard

In the fruit bowl:

• banana
• kiwi
• mango
• pineapple

In the custard went

• egg whites
• butter
• sugar
• vanilla
• milk

The custard was oh so healthy It was definitely a splurge meal.

It was hard to control portions since they were already served to us, but I didn’t take seconds and I grabbed the smallest piece of the pizza pie.

Later

Today has been a chore-like day. I have done laundry, cleaned my room, did my grocery list, cleaned my cupboard, started on some homework, as well as did some zumba and weights in my room. I still did enjoy it though cause I went over to my sorority and laid in the sun and got to read my book. And oddly enough, I really do like doing these little chores. I love the outcome and feeling like I have done something today.

Do you like doing chores like cleaning? Or is something you absolutely dread?