I never lose stuff. Even though my room almost always looks like it’s been hit by a tornado, I know exactly where everything is…99.9% of the time. I have a method to my messiness.

That being said, today has been all about searching for stuff. With half my stuff in the new house and half my stuff in the current house I’m a bit confused as to where everything is. One thing I seriously can’t find is the charger for my point and shoot camera. I’ve searched high and low for that guy and I need it for my upcoming trip to Chicago!

***

Due to my veggie shortage yesterday (not counting the veggie chips), I woke up in the mood for some serious veg. I made a gigantic Beet, Blueberry, Kale Smoothie.

In the Magic Bullet:

• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1 cup kale, steamed
• 1/3 cup beets, steamed
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• xanthan gum, stevia, water and ice

I also had a sweet potato waffle with some almond butter.

***

Then I got in my bathing suit to hit up the pool! Summer is coming to an end and I still look like Snow White. I’ve laid out in the sun for an hour (total) this entire summer. Much to my dismay, the pool was closed because there was glass found in the water. Fail.

Determined to get some sun, I went out to the terrace instead. This was taken with my cell phone because I wasn’t about to take my worth-more-than-my-life camera out into the sauna.

It. was. burning. hot. I sweat some serious puddlage and barely lasted an hour.

***

Lunch

The same sandwich as yesterday, open-faced.

Unlike almond milk, this almond cheese has 7g of protein per serving!

With a side of veggie….chips.

I hope they serve these in heaven.

And some ‘loupe.

I stopped by a small Health Foods Store today and found so many items I’ve seen online but never in stores, including the impossible-to-find guar gum! There were all sorts of spices, bars, allergy-free snacks/ingredients and bulk foods.

Everything was a tad overpriced so I just got a bar to munch on.

Not just any bar though, this one was special. It had 18 sprouted grains, nuts and seeds including sprouted millet, sprouted amaranth, sprouted adzuki beans, sprouted chia seed, sprouted quinoa, dates, almond butter, and all sorts of other goodies.

Not bad! The apple cinnamon flavor was strong and I liked the dense texture.

***

I’m gonna head to the gym soon and then I’ve got my work cut out for me in the AllieBar department. My goal is crank out 9 batches between today and tomorrow.

I think I can, I think I can…

Before I go, look what I found at a red light…

Me too

Tell me: What’s the best/funniest/most awkward license plate you’ve ever witnessed?

Two months from today, May 16th 2010, is the date of my college graduation! (Everyone say woohoo!!) However, I checked my calendar and I am actually turning in my last paper (EVER) on April 30th. Which means…I’m done done DUNZO before exam period even begins!

So really, I’ll be free in 45 days. That’s just a little bit longer than the stretch of time Noah and the animals were inside the Ark….but who’s counting?

Source

I’m still unsure what I’m going to do in those 2+ weeks between being done and graduation, but now is not the time to worry about that. I’ve got the most jam-packed 6 1/2 weeks ahead of me starting…NOW!

***

I woke up early yesterday to drive down to school. In my groggy state, I almost forgot a whole duffel bag of clothes, my LAPTOP, and my books!

I did forget my French Press though–AW SHUCKS!! I’m gonna miss that guy every morning.

My dishes at home aren’t the most photogenic, huh?

Banana whipped oats w/ almond butter. I used 1/2 a banana.

I tried slicing the grapefruit again to get the little wedges. I succeeded….with only half of it though.

Ta da!

Snax for the road included a granola bar and a pear.

Along with about 1/4 of this package of almond cheese (2 servings). I ate it like string cheese while boppin’ in my car to some country tunes…..gotta prepare for re-entering the South!

I arrived with about 30 min. to unload before my 2 1/2 hour class. I had a random sample of cheese ravioli and another granola bar before running to class.

***

Dinner was a meal packed for me by my daddy-o (Peter’s Kitchen take out?). Salmon with romaine and avocado.

It was rather small, so spruced it up with about half of this dining hall salad bar salad:

But really, I was more excited for dessert (duh!)…

A new Rosie’s find–A Raspberry Oatmeal Bar!

It was essentially a raspberry crumble bar with your typical brown sugar + butter + oats topping. I’m not a huge jam person but the raspberry jam in this was mighty tasty!

The rest of the night was spent organizing, planning, and getting my life in order, as per usual. I swear I spend more time planning to do work than I actually spend working!

I had a piece of chocolate, a small bowl of pumpkin ice cream, and ~ 2 TBSP of almond butter to end the night.

Workout: I took a rest day because driving is a workout in itself . For real!

**Last chance to enter the Xagave giveaway!

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all–in which case you fail by default.

~J.K. Rowling

It never fails to amaze me the incredible amount of support that you all have given me this year. Thank you all for your kind and reassuring comments on my last post. I’ve read through all of them and I’m pretty sure I’m going to read through them again and again.

My awesome brother (miss you!) commented with a link to a video of J.K. Rowling’s commencement speech at Harvard University back in 2008, The Fringe Benefits of Failure. It’s about 20 minutes long but so worth the time. It was a great speech and I advise all of you to take a peek. She touches on her own anxiety post graduation and how she followed her true passion, writing. Thanks, bro!

(Source: J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo)

Her English accent is beautiful! I miss it so much from my London days

***

So yesterday at Target, I spotted these leggings that look like denim! Believe whatcha see! They really do look like jeans–even when they wrinkle. I’m not sure if I’m going to keep them yet…

I also picked up Lady Antebellum’s NEW album!! Maggie, my intern friend from this summer, introduced me to the group and I’ve listened to the album she gave me on repeat every single drive to and from home this year. I love this group!!

My favorite mascara. Have any of you tried this? They call it ‘beauty tubes technology’ and I kid you not, they are beauty TUBES!! All you need is water to wash it off and they come off in ‘tubes.’ I’ve saved so much money on make up remover and cotton pads. Best. Invention. Ever.

Pre-workout breakfast:

Ezekiel English Muffin w/ cottage cheese and cinnamon.

+ an Apple

+ Coffee

(I also got some new on-super-clearance placemats that were $1 a piece or less!!)

Believe whatcha see….I had ice cream for breakfast! Well technically it was early afternoon already.

I finally got some pumpkin ice cream (better late than never, right). It was on sale at Target!

AND I got a new appetizer dish and small bowl. Likey?!

Now what’re those cookies? Thinaddictives Cranberry Almond Thins. Yes, they are thin and YES, they are addictive.

They are like super thin biscotti cookies. I got ‘em at Costco.

They come in individual pouches (although that has NOT stopped me from eating more than 1).

Despite the sunny 60 degree weather, I hit up the gym. I ran yesterday and 2 days in a row would have aggravated my shin. 60 min. on the elliptical and 20 min. of arm weights. Done and done.

Post workout fuel:

Believe whatcha see:

The power of 3!

1) 2% cottage cheese

2) Kefir

3) Greek Yogurt

With mango and pineapple chunks. EPIC!

Then I had a plate of s’more tropical fruit with coconut sprinkles. Doesn’t it look like a snowman or penguin face?

A Lemon Poppyseed Heart Thrive.

It was pretty good. It reminded me of a a lemon poppyseed muffin which I haven’t had in forever!

Then I met up with Sarah, Josh, Lucy, Susan and Sara at a bar/restaurant in Chapel Hill. You’ll have to wait and see what went down

Umm who’s ready for spring break!? Need I even ask such a silly question? I’ve already started packing…ha! I’m pretty sure I’m the lamest college student in the world. I can’t wait to get away from school and go home, even if it’s only for a week. I know I’ve got some homebody bloggies out there though. You know who you are. Homebody pride!

On a more serious note, I popped in to say hi to my dietician/life coach/confidant yesterday and asked if we could start meeting again. I need to get in a better place before I am released into the real world (this place is twisted NOT the real world). I’m not seeking her out for nutrition guidance but rather emotional support and someone to confide in. At our school, services such as seeing a dietician and a psychologist are free included in the sky high tuition so I might as well take advantage of it while I can, right?

There were a couple tears shed and she barely scratched the surface. I spend a lot of time convincing myself that I’m okay when I’m here. I put a lot of effort into being a happier person when I’m here but there comes a point when I can’t try any harder. I need a break!

Not to mention I have a lot of anxiety about the future that I tuck in the back of my mind. I normally do a good job of ignoring it, but graduation is in less than 3 months and it’s getting harder and harder to ignore. Seriously, what am I doing to do come mid-May? I have no idea and that scares me.

***

Okay then. That came out of nowhere! It’s remarkable what gets lodged in my head sometimes. Let’s get to the food, shall we?

Our Culinary Cultures Class:

A student brought in her grandma’s Chocolate ‘Souffle’ Cake: w/ a rich buttery sauce.

My professor roasted two lemon-stuffed chickens with salt + pepper. That’s all! Nothing else. No other spices or herbs. I ate the piece of bread is all. I still need to reflect on my meat situation. That’s a blog post for another day.

After class, the sun was out and the weather was BEA-U-TIFUL!! So I strapped on my running shoes, shin sleeves, and Garmin and headed for the WaDuke Trail.

I ran 4 miles and then ran to the gym to do some leg weights and abs. The sun just brings out the energy from within my body. Anyone else?

***

Moving on…my favorite icing technique.

A great post-workout snack I picked up on campus.

It’s high in carbs and protein while relatively low in fat….the best combo for your muscles post-workout.

Fun ‘n’ cool ingredients:

Heart <3 shape!!

I had the apricot flavor back in the beginning of the year and loved it. There are several other flavors such as date, cranberry, apple, raisin, and poppyseed that I still need to try.

For some more protein and nutrients I had an Alive! Shake

With spinach, almond milk, banana, and strawberries:

Sandwich round w/ 2 egg whites, almond cheese and kabocha squash:

So many of you asked about the almond cheese so here are my thoughts:

I liked it a lot! It doesn’t have the same strong flavor as dairy cheese. It’s not as salty and not as greasy. As I say with most healthified versions of things….you can’t compare it to the real deal. I tend to like quirky, healthy tasting foods. That’s just the way my taste buds are built. So while I liked the almond cheese a lot, some of you may think it tastes like a far cry from real cheese. Just wanna put that out there before you spend $4 on a block of fake cheese

I do like that it melts in the microwave.

I’m still working on this kabocha squash I roasted ~2 weeks ago. Savoring every slice.

The rest of the night was spent at Costco and Target. I got some cool stuff that I’ll show you in my next few posts.

Here’s a preview:

Oh and I baked…again. I can’t help it!

Call me crazy but I woke up extra early on a Friday morning (okay maybe just MY version of ‘extra early’) just to make breakfast—strawberries ‘n’ cream.

….in my oat bran! That’s Greek yogurt by the way. I kept it light knowing we would be eating in class.

Call my crazy but I opted to walk the mile to class instead of drive, despite it being a frigid 20-some degrees outside. Then one of my classmates picked me up midway because she felt bad for me .

Anyone else just enjoy walking?!

Call me crazy but I whipped out my camera in my Culinary Cultures class. Not in front of the class….well sorta. I am now the designated camera girl (or photographer if you will) and I help take photos of the food that each student brings in. I also brought my own camera and snapped some shots.

Today we had 2 students bring in food.

1) Italian Creme Cake (no substitutions in this baby!)

I did tell Amanda, the baker of this cake, about my blog when I whipped out my camera. (Hello Amanda if you’re reading!)

2) Coffee Cake (again, no substitutions)

The crumbly topping was outta this world!

Call me crazy but I think it’s somewhat refreshing eating desserts made with the real stuff. It’s true–you really don’t need a big portion when it’s made with REAL butter, eggs, and sugar. A little goes a long way.

**We also enjoyed a creeeeamy tomato soup that our professor made. It looked like this…except in a plastic cup

Source

Call me crazy but I was excited to get to the gym despite having an intense work out yesterday. I ellipticalled for 65 min. and then did a quick 20 min. full body strength training sesh.

I’ve been doing 1 set (sometimes 2) for each muscle group. I’m thinking it’s about time I take my strength training up a notch and increase it to 2 sets or 1 set of 2 different exercises per muscle group. I am certainly reaping the health benefits of strength training with what I am doing now, but I think my body is ready for more.

***

Call me CRAZY but I was craving a Kefir Green Monster despite my body being frozen.

• 1 cup frozen spinach
• 1/2 banana
• 1/3 cup kefir
• 1 TBSP Butternut Squash
• H20
• Stevia

.

Call me even crazier for photographing my food outside in a t-shirt and wet hair!

I also enjoyed a BANINI (I haven’t had one in ages).

Inside the Banini was almond butter, banana, and butternut squash puree. See it?

And an apple w/ almond butter (not pictured).

All together now.

Call me crazy for worrying about not having enough veggies in case we actually wake up with the predicted 6-10 inches of snow tomorrow morning. Most people stock up on bread, eggs, and milk….

Not this crazy chica! I scrambled around campus to get some veggies in case the whole world shuts down tomorrow (highly likely in NC).

I’ll probably have some version of this beautiful salad tonight for dinner. Perhaps some kabocha squash too?

Now I am snackin’ on a Rosie’s Granola Bar as I type this.

LOVE.

Call me crazy but I’m thinking the weathermen might be right this time….

100%.

***Winter Storm Warning for tonight. I guess I can’t go out later. Bummer, huh?

‘SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATIONS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES ARE EXPECTED IN THE TRIANGLE…. ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOW AND SLEET WILL SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACT TRAVEL ACROSS THE WARNING AREA. AFTER PRECIPITATION BEGINS LATE FRIDAY EVENING… TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN NEAR OR BELOW FREEZING THROUGH MIDDAY MONDAY.’

Wow, thanks for all your enthusiasm about my class. I think I’m 500x more excited than I already was! I will certainly keep you posted about our weekly shenanigans. This Friday, a UNC graduate student (who missed our first class to attend a hog killing??) is bringing in a dish. He goes to UNC…figures

We’re also doing an interactive cooking demonstration–it just gets cooler and cooler!

***

I’ve been neglecting oatmeal/oatbran lately in favor of yogurt, kefir, eggs, and Ezekiel English Muffins. I just haven’t been craving it at all. I think I had it too much at the end of winter break. I need to be careful with our fragile relationship! I knew oat bran would be the perfect thing for my almost-empty-almond-butter-jar for some oats-in-a-jar but I just couldn’t picture myself satisfied afterwards.

I wanted yogurt+kefir, my true love <3, So that’s what I had. There’s a twist though!

I was adamant about using this jar for some reason. So I loaded it up with kefir, Greek yogurt, microwaved pear chunks, cinnamon shakes, and sesame honey almonds.

The love is down underneath….see?

Tie-dye!

Shake it!! –> distributing the LOVE

YURMMM!!!

I think I’m going to keep the jar (wash it out of course) and use it again!! It was fun to shake things up!

***

So the other day I got this bar because my favorite sweet/dessert in the whole wide world is carrot cake! I love trying new bars so I gave it a whirl.

EW. This tasted bleghh. It looks like a Rice Krispie Treat but it did NOT taste anywhere near such a thing. I’m having a hard time piecing together the words to describe this bar. Cardboard? Tasteless? Dry? Ick. Bummer.

It sure smelled like carrot cake though! Brownie points for scent.

I was having some random tummy pains during class and knew an early dinner would be completely welcome. I quickly whipped up some Gyoza Tofu w/ Spring Mix, Red Peppers, and Grape Tomatoes.

I pan-fried the tofu with the TJ’s Gyoza Sauce. Purrrfect!

OH-range. Lookin’ pretty.

All together now.

Midway through, I decided to grab a slice o’ bread to make a mini sandwich.

After teaching my 2 oboe students, I went to the gym to watch the Duke Basketball game. I had a surprisingly energetic workout. I’m not sure where my energy came from at 9pm since I was yawning all night.

I did a swift 60 min. on the elliptical and then 30 min. incline walking on the treadmill (by accident!!!). I got totally sucked into the game and forgot I was even working out until I suddenly got SUPER HUNGRY. Yes, I forgot I was working out. Shush up.

.

I was on the verge of gnawing my hand off! SNAX to the rescue! (we sure have a love/hate relationship).

Banana Almond Butter Ice Cream Sandwiches! w/ some chocolate covered raisins:

TJ’s Tart Froyo+Kefir

1/2 of my new favorite Luna Bar

Dr. Kracker crackers.

Lotsa snax sounded like a better idea than a meal considering it was already 11pm. I guess I worked out pretty hard though because I am hungry again!

Holiday Gifts

Look at the free (and almost free) gifts I came home to courtesy of Open Sky, Kath, and Tina! I should also thank Twitter too because that’s how I found out about the limited time deals!

Gifts will probably be low key this year due to my crazy expensive tuition costs, so Kath and Tina are my Santa Clauses this holiday season. Just to put it into perspective, one year of tuition+room+board+a trillion miscellaneous fees could buy me ~100 SLR cameras. Four years=400 cameras!

Okay, education is important but 400 SLR cameras would be pretty cool too

I opened all of the boxes immediately (I guess I should have waited for Christmas Day, huh?) but I thought it would be fun to show you the gifts one at a time. Hint: they’re all food/kitchen related! Are you excited!?

Holiday Goals

I decided this morning that I need to set a few goals for my 4-week winter break to avoid wasting away and getting nothing accomplished. All semester long I’ve been repeating ‘oh I’ll do that over break when I’m stress-free’ and I know that if I don’t spell out my goals, nothing will get done! Hopefully you all will hold me accountable!

Allie’s 10 Holigoals (okay, that was lame):

1. Actively search for a job, and apply to at least TWO. Two isn’t a lot, but seeing as how I’ve applied to one this whole semester, it’s plenty!

2. Fix up my blog--there are so many little things that I need to change/fix. I feel like it’s a little rough around the edges right now.

3. Workout at least 5 days a week. I’m pretty consistent with exercise at school but I tend to skip workouts when I’m at home, most likely due to lack of structure and STRESS.

4. Strength train 2x per week. My strength training has reached an all time low of about once a week (sometimes once every other week!).

5. Read a book!

6. Go easy on the sugar. My sweet tooth has been a little insane the last couple of weeks and it’s time to give him a break! The more sugar I eat, the more I want, and the worse my body feels. Obviously, I’m not cutting out sugar–gosh that would be way too difficult–but rather cutting back a little bit to a moderate amount.

7. Do something for someone else [in need of my help].

8. Try a new vegetable. I’ve tried many, but I know there are plenty out there that I haven’t tried yet.

9. Update my iPod! My iPod turns 4 years old this Christmas! I haven’t added new songs or playlists to my iPod in a loooong time. My workout playlists are getting old, boring, and predictable!

10. Put on real clothes and take a walk outside every single day…so I feel like a real person. I tend to lounge around my house and wear baggy sweats all day long when I’m home. I usually end up feeling like garbage and then eat garbage too. It’s going to be cold but I’ll get over it. Maybe I’ll sip on Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Coffee to motivate me….and totally defeat the whole purpose.

~~~~~~~~

Speaking of which…..I had some BUX on my drive home yesterday! A venti half caf (full caf would have killed me) w/ 3 *magical* pumps of pumpkin spice syrup! Lalalalala.

Check out this ornament message!! Awwww. It’s referring to us bloggies and bloggy readers, obvi!

This morning, I woke up and had 1/2 a Zbar before setting out for a strengh+cardio workout. See, I’m already working on goal #s 3 and 4!

I did full body weights interspersed with elliptical/incline treadmill walking. It ended up being about 30 min. strength and 30 min. cardio. Pahfect.

Afterwards, I ate the other half of the Zbar.

I also made a yogurt parfait with :

• Pumpkin Pie yogurt

• TJs European Style Yogurt
• Banana slices
• Kashi Puffs Cereal
• Blueberries

Off to get ready for a holiday party!!! I’ll be back with details and photos.

Quirky Qs (it’s been awhile!!):

1. What are your holiday goals?

2. What are some of your strategies for staying healthy during the holidays?

3. Which one of my goals are you going to hold me accountable to!?

My 1600+ classmates and I woke up at the crack of dawn to register for next semester’s classes. All seniors register at the same time so everything is fair and even. Registration involves staring at the clock as it ticks from 6:55 to 6:56 to 6:57 to 6:58 to 6:59….

…and then BAM! 7:00 AM hits, and your finger clicks as fast as possible on the ‘enroll’ button. Then you sit in agony for a good minute before the website spits back whether or not you got into the classes you ‘bookbagged.’

Intensity level=9

Heart Rate=sky high

Anxiety=10

This morning I got into all the classes I wanted except Intermediate Golf . I wasn’t even fast enough to get on the 16 person wait list that formed by 7:01 AM!!! I blame it on my highly distractible mind because at 6:59 I was still clicking around as if 7:00 was NOT just around the corner. BAH!

After registration, I am always wide awake. Today the early morning wake up call was put to good use because I had to get ready for class.

I had the same waffle mountain as yesterday, but today I used yogurt.

After Golf class, I ran the WaDuke Trail and then made a loop around the athletic fields.

• Total run: 4 miles
• Avg HR=168

I walked 0.12 miles throughout (mostly up the steep hills!). Afterwards, I popped into the gym to do 20 min. of strength training and ab work, just enough time to hit each muscle group once.

To Race of Not to Race…that is the question.

The Eve Carson Memorial for Education 5K Race is on November 21st. I’ve been back and forth all week about whether or not I want to run in this race. Not only do I delay Thanksgiving Break one day, but to be quite honest, I’m not sure I can run it. This will be the first race I will have ever run in. Back when I was running longer distances (6-8 miles), it was just me and the treadmill. For some reason I just didn’t think I could handle running on land. Sounds silly, huh?

I am registering for the race, but I’m still nervous about whether or not I will make it. Duke is subsidizing the cost for me! It doesn’t get any more enticing than that, but it’s my legs that have to carry me to the finish line!

I know, I ran that distance and more twice this week but it still scares me. Eve Carson, the Student Body President of UNC Chapel Hill ~1 1/2 years ago, was shot and killed her senior year of college. It was an unfortunate event that shook the lives of many in NC and beyond. I will run it for her!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For late lunch, I had a salad from the dining hall salad bar that I spruced up:

• tofu
• avocado
• goat cheese
• red peppers
• red onions
• spinach
• eggplant
• TJs Sesame Soy Ginger Dressing

I also had some Sun Dried Tomato Hummus with cucumber slices, sweet potato chunks and grape tomatoes

I got bored with photographing food in mid air (off my front porch), so I used my bed

I ate 1/2 of this Clif Bar before lunch and 1/2 after. Love this flavor!

I also had some snacklings as I worked read blogs and typed this post up.

Not even 2 hours later, I was hungry again! I had TJs Euro Yogurt, Kefir, TJs Tart Frozen Yogurt, and some toppings!!

We have a cook coming to do a demo for the seniors and juniors in our sorority tonight!! I hope there will be samples

Another unproductive day. I’m going to have to ban myself from the gym and the oven if I can’t get my shiz together! I woke up and did accounting homework for about an hour while munching on a pre-workout snack.

I ate half the muffin, half the Z-Bar and an Aprican Almond Butter Bite.

After working out, I had the other halves My workout was the only productive thing I’ve done the whole day….as usual.

• Walked 25 min. to the gym
• Ellipticalled for 50 min.
• Quick lift sesh for 15 min.
• Walked 25 min. back

I didn’t get back to my apartment until almost 4 PM! I didn’t wake up until 10 AM (yikes!) so it was actually like my ‘lunch time.’
I’ve had the following ingredients in my fridge for the past couple of weeks that NEEDED to be rescued (eaten up):

• avocado
• onion
• mini peppers
• apple
• carrots

I never ever ever throw away food so I decided to get creative! I made a salad with goat cheese, avocado, mini peppers, tomatoes, and lettuce.

With an eggplant, avocado + goat cheese panini.

Amaaaazing!

The rest of the night was just a series of random [healthy] eats.

Strawberries and banana slices with a couple bites of tart frozen yogurt and almond milk.

Wheat berry Salad w/ goat cheese, avocado, mini peppers, and onions.

More leftovers….1/2 an apple and 3 carrot sticks! I’m allergic to these raw so I decided to bake ‘em up! The oven and I are joined at the hip, I swear.

Baked carrot ‘fries’ w/ a wad of pumpkin butter…

Baked apple chunks w/ pumpkin pie spice and maple syrup

While photographing my food, the UPS guy came!!! He asked, ‘Are you taking pictures of your FOOD!?’ To which I responded, ‘Yep! I’m bloggin’ about it!’

He probably thought I was psychotic…no worries. Anyways, he tossed me this package (literally, no joke). We live on the 2nd floor and he asked if I wanted to catch the package….

IF HE ONLY KNEW WHAT WAS INSIDE!!!

….you’ll have to wait too!!!

I got up at 5:30 AM out of complete and utter love for my parents. The sky was pitch dark and the air frigid cold while I waddled my way over to give my parents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

To see these fine, young, gentlemen…

Source

Play in Cameron Stadium…

Source

Because no other school does it quite like this…

Source

While it’s no Carolina Game, it’s still a Duke Basketball game and we’ll sit closer than the regular ticket holders…in the student section (court side bleachers).

Now, I may not be the biggest fan of our school, but I do love our basketball team. Tickets aren’t just sold to anyone though.  Only because it’s parents’ weekend are they selling tickets. I get in for free but each additional ticket (max 2) is $20–A STEAL!!!

What else?

I also got discounted tickets through our school for the NC State Fair that will be going on that same weekend. I’m SO excited for this because despite living here for 3 years, I have yet to attend once!! I love the fair-atmosphere and who better to go with than the ‘rents?

Get ready for a jam-packed weekend, Momma and Poppa!

.

.

.

After peeling off ALL my jacketSSS, I promptly jumped right back into bed for 2 hours!

Before class I had a yogurt bowl and a bananadilla. I totally forgot I bought this ice cream sundae bowl on clearance from Target!

The Bananadilla contained bananas (duh), pecans, and almond butter.

Nothing too crazy: chia seeds, flax seed, Kashi Puffs, bananas, dried cranberries, TJ’s Euro yogurt and kefir

…little did I know I wouldn’t eat for another 7 hours!!!!

Here’s why:

1) Health Fitness and Wellness class was fine. We did some progressive muscle relaxation with a total yogi that was a monk in Thailand at one point in time.

2) Then I had an interview to be a recruitment counselor for sorority rush in January, which went pretty well. I tried to perk up with some coffee, which I drank during #1 hahaha…oops!

3) I sent off Krista’s BSI prize at the Post Office.

4) Checked my email and found out that my second class was CANCELLED–HALLELUJAH!!!!

(#4 turned my whole day upside down!)

5) I checked the time and it had been 4 hours since I ate breakfast…..the MAGIC amount of time I need to digest before running.

I ran 4 miles! I only intended on running 3 but once I got there it felt too good to stop! I really hope my shins don’t punish me for this.

I ran 0.5 mph faster than the last time I ran on a treadmill a couple weeks ago. I really think a) running outside and b) using the Galloway method has helped with my endurance. l think the incline variation and wind resistance outside has also helped a lot!

Afterwards I did 20 min. on the Arctrainer, some ab work, 15 minutes of yoga, stretched, and walked the 25 min. back to my apartment…while snacking on THIS guy:

….I was on CLOUD 9.…and still am!!!

I think I’m finally back in the running groove again. I was seriously starting to get down in the dumps about it a couple months ago because building my endurance back up was so much harder than I anticipated…especially withy my annoying shinnies!!

…ALLLL because my class got cancelled

Best day EVER (those are the endorphins talking).

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Dinner

I quickly made a wheat berry salad with:

• butternut squash
• dried cranberries
• chick peas
• avocado
• feta cheese
• onions
• olive oil

On a bed of lettuce…

…with mini-peppers!

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OIKOS GIVEAWAY WINNER!!

Congratulations Lauren!!! Email me with your address so I can forward it on to the Oikos peeps!

Lauren said, ‘Yoga has been so essential for me after I started running. It’s one of the best ways to relax the body and offers excellent recovery streaching after a long run. I love it! It’s so freeing for the mind and body.

What a fantastic giveaway darling. Oikos has changed my life! I am a life fan of this company!

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Quirky Q’s

1) Have you ever been to a state fair? What’s your favorite part….and thing to eat ? I’ve never been to one!! At least I don’t remember!

2) What would you give anything to get tickets for? A Britney Spears concert!!!

Okay now I’m off to find s’more food!