It’s been quite awhile since I’ve written a post, and I’m pretty sure that this is going to be the last post on here for a good while.  At first, I felt kind of bad about not posting regularly like I had been, but then that feeling stopped completely.  I knew that I had about a month left of college, and I made the executive decision that I wanted to LIVE that month as much as I could, even if I didn’t write it down.  The experiences and memories are plenty enough for me, and I can honestly say that it’s been the best month of my life thus far.  It’s been filled with so any wonderful and unexpected things that have miraculously cancelled out all of the stress that comes with wrapping up my life as a student, community advisor, and resident of this wonderful town.  Now, to explain it all in one post would take FOREVER, and I think that I will probably lean towards keeping most of these memories to myself, but I do have a few pictures to share that will give you a rough idea of just how great this time has been. :)

First: Easter

Dying eggs with Jake and Wil!

Girly time with Maddie and Alyssa :)

Next…. life  in Warrensburg. :)

Everyone came in town for a great weekend a few weeks ago that began with the winery and included s’mores, bonfires, Fernando’s delicious dinner and tons of laughs.

Oh the winery…

Yep. We love each other.

A little day drinking on Saturday :)

Ash and I!

Other than that weekend… life has been filled with classes… homework… sleeping.. a mustache party…and lot’s and lot’s of margaritas.

Most of them have been with this guy… and his molestache.

More margs…yep Gram. This is the glass you gave me!

And more margs…. I told you. There have been lots :)

Mustache party!!!

Kim, Drew and I

Cyndi and Madonna :)

Then there was the CA banquet…

Abby and I! I am going to miss this girl like crazy!

And a little date night :)

It began with margaritas… obviously.

Continued with a delicious meal… (this girl loves steak. a lot.)

He’s a pretty good cook if I do say so myself. :)

And continued even further with me proving that I can be mean by killing a moth… and taking this AWESOME picture of its oozing guts.

And ended with finishing this entire bottle. Beergaritas are my love. What can I say? Drew and I are champs, basically.

The past week has brought finals, closing time in my building, preparing for my new job and graduating today!!!! :)

Oh, yeah.  I forgot to mention that I got a job!! :)  I am so excited to have been offered a position with Teach for America teaching elementary school in Mississippi.  I love a challenge, which makes me even more excited than normal for this opportunity because it will definitely be that.  I think that really having to work hard for something requires you to be incredibly passionate, determined and excited about what you’re doing and always makes such a huge difference in the lives of those you are working with and for.

Well, that’s about all.  It’s been a whirlwind of a month and I have loved every single crazy second of it.  It’s kind of a weird feeling thinking about leaving Warrensburg because it’s been my home for four years, but I just keep reminding myself that there is an incredible excitement that lies in all of the things that are ahead.  You know me.  Always looking for new adventures.

Now, get off your computers and go celebrate.  It’s Cinco de Mayo.  You know what that means.  MARGARITAS! :)

Here’s a Thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie

This week has literally FLOWN by.  I kind of feel that way about the entire year though.  It seems that as I get older, time goes by so much faster, leaving me wondering where in the heck it all went!  It’s exciting though because it also means that all of the wonderful surprises and plans that the future holds are coming that much faster.  Life is about to get pretty darn crazy in the next couple months. I graduate in 5 weeks (which is a total surprise to me because I honestly didn’t think there was anyway that I would finish college in a conventional time manner) and from then on out, I have a feeling that life will be in fast forward overdrive.  I. Can’t. Wait. :)

Well, to reel time back in a little bit and concentrate more in the present, let’s talk about today!  It really hasn’t been all that eventful, but I did get in an amazing and tough workout this morning!

Today’s workout included:

• 30 minutes of HIIT (high intensity interval training) on the treadmill (amounting out to about 3.5 miles)
• Ab work in the weight room and upstairs
• And a little bit of leg and butt work.  I tried using the stability ball to do forward lunges today and, let me tell you, it’s NOT easy.  I kind of looked like a goof trying to balance, but I could feel the burn like CRAZY so I don’t care! :)

This is what the lunges look like. Except not so graceful for this girl.

This workout was great.  It was intense, kept me heart rate up, and challenged almost all of my muscles.  It was the recipe for sweat.  That’s for sure.  I always know if I’ve done a good workout based on how much I’m sweating at the end.

Pretty nasty.

I think that I’ve drank about 532894058323472389 gazillion gallons of water this week.  I’ve been working on cutting out soda completely, but the cold turkey approach just didn’t work so I’m working more on moderation right now.  I find that having the tumbler cup actually helps me drink more water because I drink a lot faster through a straw than I do from a normal glass, so it’s working out pretty well so far!

The rest of the day has been spent taking a long shower, enjoying a delicious lunch in the dining hall and studying my butt off for a test that I have in about an hour and a half.  I hate tests.  This is mainly due to the fact that I tend to do EVERYTHING in life really really fast.  This includes; eating, test taking, running, talking, drinking, etc…  I need to SLOW DOWN and take my time more often.

Well, on that note, it’s time to go read over my notes one more time and get ready to head out to Lee’s Summit!  Hope you all have had a wonderful day so far and that it continues! :)

Things I’m Grateful for Today:

• The sun shining
• The crazy rainstorm last night
• The air-conditioner finally working
• Drew for letting me use his clippers to chop off these stupid fake nails, so that I could play guitar
• Good friends, good laughs and wonderful times

Here’s a Thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie

My mom and Bob came to Warrensburg the Wednesday before spring break to go to the banquet for my major with me.  It wasn’t a huge deal, but it meant a lot that they were able to come and meet my professors before I graduate in May.  We headed back to St. Louis that night and so began spring break!  I didn’t have any big plans except for preparing for a big job interview (which I will fill you all in on this afternoon for the sake of not letting this post become a novel), celebrating my birthday, hanging out at home, going hiking with my mom and Bob a bunch, doing a little bit of post interview celebrating with Jen, and seeing the puppies! :)

Obviously seeing the pups was the most important thing…obviously.

Look at her smiling :)

This picture was after a VERY long game of fetch with one of his babies.

And celebrating my birthday, which is also conveniently St. Patrick’s Day.  Birthday’s around here= cake….

They surprised me with this delicious cake when we got to the bar!

And maybe a little tequila… :)

Yep. Clearly a little excited.

I went over and hung out with Jen and the boys the next day and we had a lot of fun just bumming around the house.  I realized that Jake looks JUST like Alton Brown with his glasses on.

TWINS

And I realized that Wil looks just like… a robot?  I think?  Haha!

I think this was a school project haha

Throughout the rest of the week, I pretty much stayed at mom’s house.  It was a lot of fun to have time to just relax and hang out with her, while I prepared for my job interview.  We went to Castlewood A LOT to hike and it was AMAZING!

It's seriously one of the most beautiful parks. It was a little cloudy that day though.

Also, her and Bob started a new eating plan right when I got home, so I got to try out all of the new recipes with them!  This also meant that the house was LOADED with fresh fruits and vegetables (and a huge bag of frozen blueberries that I demolished throughout the week).  I was definitely a happy girl.

This was one of mom's meal #1's for a day. Look at those fresh berries!

And these were the delicious chicken skewers that they made! I didn't eat one because I had eaten right before I got home, but I picked on the peppers and onions and they were delicious!

My interview was Friday and between the nerves leading up to it, tons of work put into it and the lack of sleep, by the time I got out of there I was relieved and ready to celebrate a bit!  Jen took me to Jilly’s Cupcakes (she won cupcake wars on tv!!!) and we each tried a cupcake.  Silly me completely forgot to snap a picture of mine!!! The one that I got was called the Reese’s Chunkage and it was to die for.  So, so rich though!

This is a picture from the website!

After finishing, we decided to run next door to Down Under and grab two waters (and a margarita for me?) to wash them down.  :)

What can I say? :)

Saturday was spent just kind of bumming around and getting my stuff together to head back to school Sunday morning.  And of course there was a promised trip to fro yo with Jake, as well as shopping for a birthday present for his girlfriend.  :)

Boy we look a little rough here, eh?

So there ya have it!  Spring break St. Louis style!

Well it’s time to go throw something together for breakfast and then head out for a run.  Hope you all have a great morning!

Here’s a Thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie

It has obviously been a LONG time since I last posted on here, but I can safely say that my break is over now.  However, it was much needed.  Life has a funny way of taking over sometimes and I think that while it definitely stepped in for a good while, the effects of it didn’t fully catch up to me until the past couple of weeks and I knew that I just needed to take a step back from a lot of things, including the blog.  I realized that one of the things that I needed to stop focusing on was food and, while the blog is completely about healthy living, fitness, balanced lifestyle, etc… food was just one thing that I needed to pull my focus off of for a little bit.

Food is a funny thing. It’s something that our bodies need to live.  We need the nourishment from the different vitamins and minerals that it contains, the energy that it fuels us with and so many other things that it provides.  However, there is this whole other side to food that can literally consume you.  Whether it’s not eating enough, eating too much and feeling guilty about it, eating the wrong kinds of foods, counting calories obsessively, exercising obsessively to burn off the food that you eat, or just having a relatively unhealthy relationship with food; it can consume you.  I see it the most often in girls (and I am most definitely guilty of a few of these too, so don’t think that I’m just talking about other people) and it’s just so sad.  This is something that I have been wanting to write about for awhile now, but every time I sat down to write, it was just a jumbled mess that I ended up deleting.  This time though, I’m posting it regardless of how jumbled, blunt and completely honest it ends up being.  At first, what I was writing was just about how it literally ties my stomach in knots and breaks my heart to see/ hear about/ know people who struggle immensely with food.  If you step back and look at it, it just seems like such a small and insignificant thing, but the fact is that it’s just not so small for some people.  It’s something that starts small, and begins to grow and grow and ultimately spirals downward and completely out of control.  It ultimately takes control and tears apart that person’s life, affecting them and their families and close friends.  It is a horrible thing.

I hate that supermodels are a size zero because they are the women on the covers of hundreds of magazines across the country, portraying the ideal woman and staring back into the eyes of every little girl, adolescent, teen and adult who waits in line at the supermarket to buy groceries each day.  Zero is NOT a size.  I hate that we see celebrities withering away to nothing in magazines, online, on television, etc… I hate that a number on a scale can determine someone’s mood for that entire day, week, month, year, or several years.  I hate that little girls talk about losing weight, or look in the mirror and think that they’re not good enough because of how their bodies are shaped.  I hate that eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.  I hate that anorexia is the 3rd most common illness among adolescents.  I hate that treatment centers charge THOUSANDS of dollars PER DAY to treat people suffering from these illnesses.  I hate that I know all of this, but I feel like being educated now can help me to be an advocate for those who struggle with this and for their families.

Now, I don’t want you to think that by saying all of this that I’m bashing a healthy lifestyle or discouraging fitness and exercise because I’m absolutely NOT.  I think it’s so important to maintain a healthy diet and to exercise every day (even if it’s just a little bit) in order to keep your body healthy and your heart strong.  I also am not discouraging weight loss.  I believe that if someone needs to lose weight in order to reach their healthy body weight (according to their bmi) and approaches it in a healthy and balanced way, then it is absolutely ok!    You know that I am obviously a huge advocate for healthy living, or this blog wouldn’t have come to be in the first place.  My little bit of word vomit above is more so just getting a little bit of built up frustration off of my chest.

Alright, well I’m sorry for starting on such a frustrated note, but it kind of needed to be said and I feel SO much better.  Now it’s time to catch you up on the past week or so of life!  I know it’s been longer, but last week was spring break and I have a few pictures of that, so that’s what we’re going with.  :)

That post, however, will be up in the morning because this is going to be a novel if I don’t stop typing.  And it’s time to make a little popcorn and catch up on GCB.  Gotta end the night on a light note. :)

Considering the seriousness of the topic of tonight’s post, I feel that it’s probably a good idea to post links to a couple of resources for help in dealing with eating disorders personally, as a family member, or as a friend.  They are also full of ways that you can get involved and support the cause.

National Eating Disorders Association

Eating Disorder Help

Here’s a thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie

Today will be a short post, but I promise I’ll make a longer one tomorrow! :)

Things I’ve Learned This Week:

1. Finally buckling down and buying a fan after months of sleeping in a room with zero air flow… aka: sweating my butt off every night… was the best idea in the world!!  Thanks for making me do it mom! :)

2. Going to buy the fan right at the beginning of a monsoon?  Not so great of an idea.

I literally got SOAKED. And my eyes bug out a lot more than I thought they did...

3. Getting over a heinous cold?  Don’t waste your money on Mucinex or Sudafed.  Go for a run outside because it will shake up EVERYTHING in your chest.  I have been hacking up a lung for about 3 hours now.  The run was GREAT though!!  I ran through Pertle Springs, which is a BEAUTIFUL park in Warrensburg, but I forgot to take pictures.  Well… leave it to google images to pull up this picture…

This is Pertle Springs in 1924. This picture officially creeps me out. Someone could write a whole scary movie script off of this one picture. I am going to have bad dreams tonight.

4. I have a new found love for frozen margaritas.  Are they good for me?  Absolutely not.  Do I care?  Absolutely double not.

Strawberry... :)

5. I cannot WAIT to get home for break and take these guys to Castlewood Park for my birthday.  No going out this year.  Last year was fun and all, but the three of us have already conjured up a pretty sweet birthday night that sounds much better than the bars. We’re going to hike at Castlewood for a few hours and then go over the beach on the riverfront and grill out for dinner, skip stones in the water, roast marshmallows and make s’mores!

The boys at Castlewood a few weeks ago! :)

Well, that’s all for now!  Time to get ready and head out to see some friends, and then get sleep because it’s going to be a busy girls day tomorrow!  Hilliary, Karley and I are heading to Lee’s Summit for a little window shopping, lunch and maybe a trip to the new cupcake shop!  I’m not a fan of cupcakes at all because I really don’t like icing (it’s a weird complex having to do with my pure hatred for whipped cream.  The only icing I like is on my mom’s birthday cakes she makes), but it will be fun to go nonetheless!  Hope you’ve had a great week. :)

Here’s a Thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie

Why, you ask? Well, by all means, let me tell you.

1. I totally aced my Family Policy midterm this morning.  And I totally got really excited and danced around my room for about five minutes after seeing my grade.

2. I found a brand spankin’ new package of Dunkin Donuts Pumpkin Spice Coffee in my pantry that I had forgotten about, so I cracked it open and drank an entire pot while I chatted with my momma on the phone. :)

Love. Of. My. Life.

3. I got to watch the weather go from cloudy, to raining, to snowing, to sunny all in a matter of an hour.  It was odd, but kind of beautiful at the same time.

It definitely wasn't pretty like this though :)

4. I opted out of the gym today and tried an at home workout that was pretty kick a$$ if I do say so myself.  I started with the Insanity Max Interval Plyometrics Workout  and then finished up with The Figure Method Workout that I found on Pinterest.  It’s a ballet based workout to build muscle and lean out your legs. Overall?  A great workout! :)

This is the Hotty McHotty Pants that does the Insanity workouts. Yep. :)

5.  I haven’t drank any diet soda today!  Yahoo!!!  I say this with a forced smile though because it’s been really hard.  I didn’t realize just how much my brain depended on the caffeine.  Looks like there is going to be A LOT of coffee in my future.  I bought a few Vitamin Water Zero’s earlier tonight though, and they are surprisingly REALLY GOOD.  I think that given a few more days, the caffeine cravings should diminish (I hope).

6. After finishing up my homework for the week, I decided to have a night in tonight and ran to Hastings to rent a few movies!  :)

And…

Super creepy looking.

Time to snuggle up with some popcorn and a blanket!! :)

Hope you have a GREAT Friday night.

Here’s a Thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie

I am SO excited that it’s finally March.  Want to know why?  (You do.)

1. Beautiful spring weather and blossoming flowers

2. I can start wearing shorts again.  FINALLY!

3. It’s my BIRTHDAY MONTH!!!!! :)

A birthday which also happens to be on St. Patrick’s Day!

So these would be a much more fitting birthday treat... but I love pink more.

I have decided that, since I can’t even remember my 2012 goals (go figure), I would make a small list of goals for each month with an idea of how to accomplish each individual one.  I have a tendency to make goals and while I do work to achieve them, if I don’t have an exact plan of how to ‘get em’ done’ then I end up forgetting about them.  Also, since I don’t exactly participate in lent, but still believe in the idea of giving up something you enjoy to glorify God, I’ve decided to incorporate that into my March goals too!

My March Goals

1. Go out more.  Now this doesn’t mean going out on the weekends and all that jazz, but rather just going out and doing things more with people.  I am SO guilty of holing myself up because I let my class schedule completely swallow me whole, but that is changing now.  Whether it’s going to see a movie, going for a walk around Warrensburg, playing catch at the park, going to grab ice cream with a friend, etc… I think it’s important to have that social life, regardless of how busy I am with school and work.

2. Keep working hard in my classes.  I have really surprised myself this semester with how well I’m doing with the work in my classes and how focused I have been.  It usually wears off, but I think that I’m finally finding a good balance and gaining a better understanding of who I am, and it’s really helped me with this.  To put it lightly, this semester has been nothing short of challenging.  I can remember driving back to school from winter break thinking, wow this will be the first semester that I don’t have to go home for anything except spring break.  I should have knocked on wood.  I have literally been home just about every other weekend so far, but between the driving and chaos of life in general, I think I’ve done a decent job of keeping up with everything.  :)

3. No more diet soda.  This is my lent goal.  I drink ENTIRELY too much diet soda, and I think that a few days of caffeine headaches will pay off in the long run if I am doing something that will benefit my health.

4. Run outside more.  It’s beautiful, so why not? :)

5.  Be honest about everything.  I am typically always honest about things, but I think that I have a tendency to hold back when I feel like I need to protect myself, or someone else.  The idea of hurting someone or completely changing a situation with just a couple of words makes telling the truth a scary thing.  The reality is this though:

The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it. (Flannery O’ Connor)

So that’s it!  Short and sweet.  I’m excited for the start of a new month and all of the changes it will bring.  Speaking of changes, a few have been made around here.  First of all, I dropped my World Masterpieces class.  It wasn’t a class that I needed and I really only signed up for it because I thought that it would be fun, but it’s honestly killing my gpa already and I have a 4.0 in all of my other classes.  I refuse to let a class that I don’t even need affect my gpa when I’m graduating in two months.  It also was the most time consuming class and I think that having the extra time will give me the opportunity to work on building up my blog, going out and doing things and time to just breathe.  Sometimes that’s all you need, ya know?  The second change is that I am not doing the Jamie Eason plan anymore.  Now, I know you’re probably laughing and thinking, “Yep.  Sounds just like Susan.  Inability to commit.”  Not the case.  I’ve learned SO much about myself and one thing that is detrimental to my commirting to anything in life is not telling myself that I CAN’T have something.  When I told myself that I couldn’t keep doing school two years ago, I ended up fighting like hell to stay in and graduate.  When I tried to give up ice cream for lent last year, it ended up being ALL I thought about (and same with Rice Krispies last semester).  And it’s not because they were things that I really wanted all the time, but the idea that I absolutely cannot have something makes me want it even more.  I’ve always been that way.  So, following this plan was great at first, but having to cut out cardio and cut down to just one piece of fruit a day, etc… just really sucked for me.  I have always kind of been defiant in that anytime I’m told that I can’t do something, I fight the idea and prove it wrong.  So having a plan that told me what I could and couldn’t do at the gym, and what I should and shouldn’t eat (even though I followed the eating plan loosely) ended up being useless to me.  It took away the excitement of going to workout because I didn’t have the ability to come up with my own workouts, and it took away from some of the fun I have with cooking.

My new approach?

Do what I want.  If there is nothing that I can’t do, and no limitations placed on any part of me then I am not setting myself up for the failure of being unable to follow the rules.  If I want to run for forty minutes then you better believe that I will do it.  If I don’t feel like going to the gym one day, then that’s ok too.  If I want a huge pint of ice cream one night because, well, I just love ice cream, then I will eat it.  If I am making fish and roasted vegetables for dinner because  I honestly really enjoy eating fresh and healthy foods, then I will eat it.  I think that allowing yourself to have anything gives you a good sense of balance within yourself and allows you to really listen to your own body.

Alright, well that was an incredibly long post and kind of turned into a ramble, sorry!  :)

Hope you’re having a great March first and, if you live in Warrensburg, FREAKING GO OUTSIDE AND ENJOY THIS BEAUTIFUL DAY!

Here’s a Thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie

Filed under: Uncategorized ]]> http://happy-hippie.com/2012/03/01/i-do-what-i-want/feed/ 1 happyhippie317 http://happy-hippie.com/2012/02/24/the-good-kind-of-busy/ http://happy-hippie.com/2012/02/24/the-good-kind-of-busy/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:54:55 +0000 Happy Hippie http://happy-hippie.com/?p=1371 ]]> It’s FRIDAY! 

Yes, yes, yes.

That is EXACTLY what Friday feels like this week.  So, I haven’t posted since Tuesday, but I definitely have a legitimate excuse.  Here are Wednesday and Thursday in pictures:

Wednesday:

Woke up VERY snotty and sick

Still chose to go to the gym because I am determined to follow this program and complete it

I completed 20 minutes on the elliptical before doing this great workout from the Live Fit Trainer.  Workin’ those bombshell muscles! :)

Did loads of homework...

And spent the rest of the day/ night with my new bff…

 As far as food on Wednesday went, I honestly couldn’t tell  you what I ate.  I semi stuck to the plan, but my appetite was nonexistent due to a surplus of snot running down my throat, so I really didn’t eat all that much.  Boo for being sick and not being able to taste a darn thing.

Thursday:

Woke up early with a terrible sinus headache, but snot free!!

Deemed myself cured, so I headed right to the gym...

I realized immediately upon beginning my cardio however that my body was NOT having it, so I skipped out on cardio and just completed the legs/ calves workout from the trainer.  I have to say as a little side note that I have always been afraid of doing leg workouts like this because I don’t want to “bulk up” my legs, but from the couple of times that I’ve done this workout I have been proven wrong!  As far as leaning out and defining the muscles that are already there, this is definitely the way to go!

The rest of the day was spent like this…

Between class, two meetings, studying, a presentation and a midterm that lasted until 9pm, I pretty much came right back and passed out.  It was an INSANE day, but it felt so good once I realized that I had successfully made it through the week and aced every single test despite my stupid cold. :)

I woke up this morning at 5 am.  Why, you ask?  Well, let me tell you.  I have no freaking clue.   After laying in bed for about an hour trying to fall back asleep, I gave in to my hungry tummy and munched on a little bit of Fiber One while I checked some emails and then headed to the gym!  It was a MUCH better workout this morning.  I finally feel pretty much back to normal, so I did 20 minutes of HIIT on the elliptical before completing the final circuit workout for this week.

Shoulders are NO JOKE

I added in a few more ab exercises at the end because they are my favorite muscle group to work and probably the only exercises that I could do all day without getting tired!

Well it’s going to be another busy day today, but definitely the good kind of busy! :)

I’m heading to get my car inspected in about an hour (which I should have done 3 weeks ago, but I am a procrastinator) and then hitting the road.  St. Louis bound!!  My dad and Jen are headed to Vegas for a business trip, so I get to babysit hang out and have an AMAZING weekend with these guys:

But lets be real; babysitting is just a cover up.  The real reason I want to go home?  Well, I miss this handsome guy and can’t go too long without seeing him!  :)

I this that I miss him the most because he’s the only one who will share popsicles with me, lay on the couch and listen while I play the piano, and my favorite: lay on my bed and listen to 70′s music on my record player with me.  He has good taste.  :)

Time to shower and get movin’!!

Here’s a Thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie

I have to admit that my early morning wake up was something that I am going to turn into a habit.  Completing my workout first thing this morning was great for so many reasons!

1. I had more time and was able to really focus on what I was doing
2. I had more energy than I do in the middle of the afternoons, which is when I typically workout
3. The gym was pretty empty, so I didn’t have to fight any meat-heads for the benches in the weight room
4. My attitude towards the day became significantly more productive

Morning workouts are CLEARLY a must for this girl.  :)

After showering and getting ready for class, I made up a quick protein smoothie to take with me in hopes that it would fend off any hunger during class.  It did just that, and it was the BEST smoothie I have ever made.  Instead of using a frozen banana, I decided to try using a plain Greek yogurt mixed with sweetener and it gave the smoothie a perfectly thick and creamy consistency.

In my cute pink tumbler :)

In this smoothie, I used:

• 1 scoop organic vanilla protein powder
• a handful of frozen strawberries
• 1 container of plain Greek yogurt mixed with Splenda
• a little bit of water

After class and a little bit of studying in the library, I headed back to my room and made up a quick and easy lunch of a grilled chicken breast and roasted brussel sprouts.

Want to know something funny?  I only love roasted brussel sprouts because of the leaves that fall off and get burned in the oven.  I love burned brussel sprouts.  Yep, I’m a weirdo!  They remind me SO much of kale chips, so I’m thinking that one of these days I may just take the time to pull apart each brussel sprout and burn them all haha!

Get in my belly!

Well, luckily I completed my workout this morning because after lunch my cold was fighting me with FULL FORCE and it won.  I felt super crappy, so I curled up and fell asleep for awhile unaware that I would wake up feeling even more crappy.  I made a quick trip to Walmart before my duty shift began at 5 to pick up the miracle drug…

I only resort to medicine that I have to drink (Theraflu or Alkaseltzer) when I REALLY feel sick because they typically trigger my gag reflex really bad.  I don’t know what it is… maybe the fact that Alkaseltzer is disgusting and bubbly and tastes like barf, or maybe it’s due to a new little fact I learned today.  Let me explain first that there is nothing I hate more in this world than a cough drop.  I literally will NEVER take one.  I would rather have a raw, swollen and bleeding throat than suck on a cough drop.  Well, I made one of the daytime Theraflu teas and was hopeful that the berry flavor would taste decent.  I must have completely missed the little text on the front of the box saying that it was MENTHOL INFUSED.  Oh my gosh.  Long story short, I rewarded myself for each sip of the tea with a huge drink of diet mountain dew because it each sip of the tea made me gag.  Literally.  Well, it is what it is, but I’m sure hoping that the nighttime tea will clear my head up so that I can sleep tonight.

Now… onto my dinner surprise!!  :)

While at Walmart, I remember that I was out of Tilapia and when I went to grab some, I noticed that Swai was the same exact price.  I had never heard of Swai, but it looked delicious so I decided to give it a try!

This is what I ate! (except not this big. obviously.)

Swai is a catfish-like fish that’s found in Vietnam.  It has a very mild flavor.  VERY mild.  It honestly didn’t taste very fishy at all, but I was ok with that!

I sprinkled it with a little salt and pepper and paired it with a serving of Alexia’s Sweet Potato Fries to make a delicious meal!  :)

The rest of the night is going to be full of homework, research and watching Jane by Design!  Pretty darn perfect, if ya ask me.

Hope you’ve had a wonderful day!

Here’s a Thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie

This morning began quite early (7am..EEK) due in large part to the stupid cold that has taken over my body.  You know when you have a cold and you wake up all snotty with a dry throat and pounding head?  Yeah, me too.  Well, upon waking I made a very quick decision to scour my room for some sort of cold medicine, figuring that I must have something on hand from past colds.  Colds/ Bronchitis are pretty common for me around this time of year, so luckily I had some left over Mucinex and Day Quil stashed away in my nightstand! :)

Before I went to sleep last night, I was browsing around Pinterest and found a picture that stuck with me and kind of set the tone for today, so I figured I would share!

Well, that was the exact thought that popped into my head after taking my medicine this morning and, after chugging a bunch of water I decided to take advantage of the few extra hours that waking up early gave me!  I brought back the Jamie Eason 12 Week Live Fit Trainer today!!!  Hallelujah!!  I’ve decided to just start the program all over, because I want to do it right and life has kind of jumped in the way for the past week.

This morning’s workout was the exact same as my first one on the program, so I will just use a recycled picture.  Go green. I began with a twenty minute warm up on the elliptical to get my heart pumpin’ before completing a great (and tough!) chest/ triceps workout!

Today's workout!

I left the gym much sweatier than the first week that I attempted this program, but I feel like that’s probably due to the fact that I did do a cardio workout (bad girl.) and that I’ve been out of commission for a few days.  It felt SO great though!  Oh my goodness.  Upon leaving the gym, I ran by the grocery store to pick up a carton of eggs and returned home to make a delicious breakfast of 5 egg whites and two pieces of Healthy Life toast.  I kind of mixed it all up and put two of the egg whites on the toast with a dash of ketchup to make a sandwich and enjoyed the other three on the side with a little bit of garlic sea salt.  Maybe I’m weird, but I seriously love LOVE LOVe egg whites on toast.  It’s quite possibly the most bland meal imaginable, but it does it for me!

Breakfast was eaten while watching Dr. Oz, of course.  I feel like of like my mom in that I’ve developed a love for random morning television, but Dr. Oz ALWAYS has something interesting on his show that I didn’t know before watching, so I consider this educational television.  Better than those Kardashians…. (Sad to say… but I’m a sucker for them, too.)

Well, it’s time to shower and try to look a little less haggard today.  I don’t wear this tired/ sick/ stressed look well at all and, quite frankly, I would be perfectly alright with it leaving RIGHT NOW.  :)

Here’s a Thought:

Talkatchalater,

Happy Hippie