WIAW: Fun With a Ninja

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Halfway to the weekend, lemme just do a little dance for that.

It's been a long week and I feel like most of the time I've been running around like a maniac and I'm definitely looking forward to some relaxing.

But since it's Wednesday and I love joining Jenn's little mid-week party, here we go

Breakfast:

Overnight oats made with almond milk, flax, PB2, brown sugar

And I am having a bunch of fun with our new toy

Post workout snack:

Green smoothie made with spinach & kale, dates, berries, flax, chia, banana, & an orange

I snacked on the smoothie throughout the day which came in handy when I started getting a low during my two workout classes.

Snack between classes:

Organic apple with natural peanut butter

After finally getting home from class and running errands

Lunch (eaten at like 3):

Quinoa fried rice, recipe by the lovely Jenn

Afternoon snack:

 Cheese puffs from Whole Foods

Organic carrots with hummus

Dinner:

Burrito from Whole Foods with spinach tortilla, black beans, cheese, and sour cream

Dessert:

Justin's dark chocolate peanut butter cup

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

Be back soon with another post!

Playing Catch-Up

Alright I'm not starting this post with an "I'm sorry I haven't blogged" because I'm not. I've been crazy busy this last month so lemme give you a quick catch-up.

I started my last year of college!!! So excited to finally be done. I have to take an intro to kinesiology class and as much as I like kinesiology, this class is a total snoozefest. It's at 9:30 and I am not a fan of my teacher. The first day of class she walked in looking like someone woke her up with an air horn and I just knew I wouldn't like her and she hasn't proved me wrong. She's rude and mean and yet feels like we all love her. She talks in such a montone voice that I have to actively look around the room to not fall asleep. And she can't remember when she assigns up homework and assumes we've already done something when she hasn't even assigned it. Clearly I'm not a fan of this class. I have two fitness classes with a teacher I absolutely adore. She's 51 and very spunky. I'll actually be writing about her classes in another post. I have a creative writing class that I'm not 100% excited about, but it's not horrible. And then I have a chemistry class to get into physiology for next semester. It's way waaay easier than my high school chem class so it's been a breeze so far. However the teacher is amazing so I actually enjoy going to her class.

I have plantar fasciitis so I've been seriously limited on my workouts which lemme say is torture. Pure torture. I'll talk more about this on Friday (so you'll have to come back *hint hint*)

And finally, I got Zumba instructor certified!!!

I took an eight hour instructor training course in Fremont and I was exhausted by the end of it. We went over every variation of the four basic steps, meringue, salsa, reggaeton, and cumbia. My teacher is actually a local instructor and the person to bring Zumba to Santa Cruz. She's 51 and I swear she doesn't look a day over 25. She was really sweet and kept us all motivated to go when 3 hours in all we wanted to do was lie on the ground. It was tough, but I did it and now I'm just working on getting a class put together so I can try and teach somewhere. Thankfully we got a bunch of material so I can review all the stuff we learned

So there we go, caught up for the most part. I'll be back soon with more posts!!

The End of My Last Summer

Hello everyone!

I'm terrible at blogging, I swear. I have written who knows how many "I'm still here!" blog posts since I've started this blog. I think some of it has to do with blogging and not getting any feedback from readers which is discouraging. The other part is I just haven't had a whole lot to write about.

But since this is the end of my summer vacation I can write a bit about what I've been doing with my time.

I start my last year of college *gulp* so this is technically my last free summer vacation before I get my degree and start being an adult (ha! like that'll happen).

I won't lie, I'm beyond excited to finish school, it gets reaaaaaaal old when you've been in school for 18 years. 

But anywho, this is about my summer vacation! 

I can't say I went on any exciting vacations, because I didn't.

Nor can I say I spent all my time at the beach, because I didn't.

I live like a 5 minute walk to a gorgeous beach and yet I haven't put my bikini on and dipped my toes in the ocean this entire summer. It's pathetic. I haven't even touched the sand the whole summer.

I mean look at it! How can anyone resist this?!

 

I have however been spending my time attending as many classes as I can at my gym, watching t.v., and sleeping. I'm enjoying naps since they'll be few and far apart once I start the semester. I do run by the ocean every week so at least I can see how pretty it is.

Michael and I got to experience a Spartan Beast as spectators while we watched his best friend/brother do the race. 

It was insanely fun to watch and we can't wait to do it next year. We got to see what it's like so we can prepare ourselves accordingly, which unfortunately we didn't do as spectators. We didn't bring food or water, nor chairs or jackets. By the end of the race I was cold, hungry, tired, and very very cranky. Thankfully I can prepare anyone that plans to come out and watch us do it so they won’t be quite as miserable as I was.

Overall summer has been incredibly relaxing and quiet which I definitely appreciate. This upcoming semester is packed full of classes and I’m planning to start my personal training certification so that’s like double the amount of schooling right there. Though as much as I have loved not doing anything but workout and veg all day, I’m getting a little stir crazy. I’m looking forward to a new routine and something to keep me occupied.

So goodbye summer vacation and hello pumpkin-spiced everything!

WIAW: Trying Some New Stuff

Wednesday! Yay!

Oh man I love Wednesday, it's so close to the weekend, Michael loves this commercial when it comes on

Has anyone else seen this commercial? It cracks Michael up every time it comes on

And of course it's What I Ate Wednesday with the lovely Jenn

Breakfast:

 Eggs in a basket made with olive oil and spinach.

Michael makes the best, it's amazing

After breakfast Michael and I passed out until lunch since he is working nights and I slept too much over the night and was tired so I slept even more and somehow it helped? I have no clue how my body works lol

Lunch:

 -Annie's mac and cheese

-The best lemonade I've ever had--Santa Cruz Organic Peach Lemonade

Post-workout Snack:

-Banana

let me just say I have a love/hate relationship with bananas. I love them because they're delicious but man do they hate my stomach. I've been working on getting my stomach used to eating them again and we're having a bit of a power struggle over here

-And some delicious water

It's been humid and muggy around here so I've been sucking water down like a fish

 

Afternoon Snack:

Garlic hummus and pita crackers from TJ's

 Strawberry mochi ice cream from TJ's....sooooooo delicious!

 Grande berry hibiscus refresher from Starbucks

 And Cheez-Its

Now I didn't actually eat these at home like this picture indicates, Michael was in his truck next to me at a stop light and was throwing Cheez-Its at me from across the way...it must have been entertaining for people to see Cheez-It's randomly fly out of a passenger window and my hands wildly grab at them out of my window  

Dinner:

A new recipe to come!

Mini Mexican pizzas made with beef-less beef crumbles and beans

A side of Mexican rice pilaf and refried beans 

Dessert:

Milk & white chocolate drizzled caramel popcorn

AKA: crack

Hope everyone has an awesome week

And that you'll be back for my recipe!

WIAW: I'm back!

Holy moly it's been a long time since I've done a What I Ate Wednesday post.

I'm talking like 5 months....5!!!!

I was MIA from blogging for a few months and then everytime I would take a picture of my food I would forget to take pictures of the rest of my day or forget to post altogether

But I actually remembered (minus 1 picture but that was because we were out at dinner)

So without further adieu, my WIAW post

Since I've been out of school I've been soaking up as much gym time as possible before I go back in a little less than 2 months. Mondays around here consist of an hour of cardio kickboxing circuit and then an hour of Zumba so I have to fuel up accordingly.

Breakfast:

Steel cut oats with brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins

Blueberry Greek yogurt

I've discovered the only way I make it through kickboxing is with this combination so I'm sticking to my tried and true method

Between kickboxing and Zumba I munch on some yummy gummies I discovered at Whole Foods

Between-Workout Snack:

I didn't have the pomegranate kind (it's a recycled pic) but they have these cherry flavored kind that are just awesome

  And then after Zumba I changed into my new bathing suit to swim for the first time in a few years. If you look at the end of the pool there are arm chairs and a fireplace, my gym is so swanky haha

Once I got home and showered I needed some fuel from 2 1/2 hours of cardio so I tested out this new sandwich recipe Michael and I found   

Lunch:

Multigrain bread with goat cheese, sliced green apples, and a mixed "Superfood" greens mix

And lots and lots of water

Michael's parents took us out to dinner at this awesome Japanese restaurant where unfortunately I didn't get a picture of my dinner so just use your imagination

Dinner:

Tempura vegetables (green beans, pumpkin, sweet potato, summer squash, and eggplant) and brown rice.

And even more water

Dessert on the other hand I definitely got a picture of

  Dessert:

Tempura bananas with vegan coconut ice cream

Drool

Ha! I actually did an entire post for once! So proud.

Any once else a sucker for tempura fried dessert?   

Christmas in July

Happy Monday everyone!

It's definitely a happy one over here because I finally get to swim since I got a swimsuit!

I was a competitive swimmer when I was younger

Aww lol

I swear I was born a fish and I was so bummed when I didn't end up with a swimsuit to swim in at the gym...bikinis just don't cut it. 

So this past weekend Michael and I went to Sports Authority to get me a new swimsuit because apparently where I live people only wear one-pieces with frilly skirts or bikinis. 

The minute we walked in Sports Authority I actually got choked up and giddy. I've never been more excited in my life to be in a store. I kept walking around saying, "This is awesome. I love it here. I'm never leaving." 

I've found my own heaven haha.

I even found the exact bathing suit I was looking at online which made me squeal and jump around.

For me, a new bathing suit in a sports store is like Christmas.

We walked out with a swimsuit each (I'm even dating a former competitive swimmer, it's destiny lol), goggles, and I got 2 Nike Dri-fit tanktops.

It was by far the best day ever. I can't wait to try out my new swimsuit and get back in my natural habitat.

What have you bought lately that makes you happy?

Any other former competitive swimmers?

Favorite swim stroke?

Fourth of July '13

A few days late, but it's here!

Fourth of July here in Santa Cruz was absolutely gorgeous...it was actually sunny!

Practically every year since I moved here it's been cold and foggy so I wasn't expecting nice weather this year. 

In not expecting sun, I didn't put sunscreen on and now my nose is at least 3 or 4 shades darker than the rest of my face, it's embarrassing.

Anywho, you're not here to listen to me ramble about my burned nose so on to the pictures!

I started out making whole wheat pancakes for Michael, my mom, and me

 They had to be festive!

After breakfast Michael and I headed out to see our town's parade

I didn't get any pictures of the parade except a picture of goats before the parade even started, whoops!

The Boy Scouts made a float that looked like a tank which blew fire out of the front cannon! They make such awesome floats every year. I got to see my old high school cheerleading team which is always enjoyable.

After the parade we headed back to my house to walk down to the beach (oh the perks of living next to the ocean) to get some lunch. It was crazy crowded with people so it was nice to just walk rather than fight the tourists for parking.

The view from my chair.

See what I mean about the weather? The fog burned off quickly rather than blanketing us all day like usual

 My delicious Malibu Lava Flow. Pina colada mixed with strawberry daiquiri, and they even added some blue curacao to make it red white and blue!

Calamari and fries, hey it's Fourth of July!

Once we headed back home we just relaxed until dinner 

Grilled grass-fed local beef, corn, and garlic bread

Oh holy yum. I haven't had steak in so long, but I was craving it so I gave in.

We also cracked open my favorite Pinot Grigio

The rest of the evening was spent was Les Miserables and eating shortcake

Michael went a little overboard haha

Unfortunately people decided to set fireworks off until 2 AM and I had to deal with a scared-out-of-his-wits cat and a protective dog all night.

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Fourth of July!