Letting loose a little

Being so regimented, with my work schedule, to working out, and to what and when I eat, can have it's benefits! For example, I've managed to budget better over the past 6 months (partially thanks to websites like Mint.com - which I recommend for all my friends who want to know exactly where their $$ goes); and I am able to accomplish most of the things I set out to do because I have such a schedule. That being said, constantly being in control has sorttttt of put me in overdrive on how strict I am with sticking to my plan. So, with the required increase in miles as I prepare for the last bit of a climb before we taper off to the half, I'm trying to let myself RELAX a little more and just "go with it" (as Felice would say).

Thursday:
Workout: Jenny taught me how to use the TRX and kettleballs at work and then I finished my workout with a 3-mile treadmill run (thank you, rainy weather).

Fun food:

Lunch: See below, which I also had with a side of grapes!

Leftover stir-fried tofu with edamame, broccoli, carrots, and spinach served over a piece of whole wheat toast 

For dinner I was boring and had a package of Smart Ones (like Lean Cuisine) because I was feeling lazy, but I treated myself to one of their Mocha Fudge Sundaes too :)

MMMM CHOCOLATE!

Friday:

Happy that it's almost the weekend! (Yes, I took the picture in my bathroom at work, haha)

Sweater (Old Navy); Shirt (Banana Republic), Jeggings (Guess)

Workout: Quick 3-mile lunch break run with Jenny outside! Finished with a foam roll to stretch out and then Jenny taught me some more core exercises using the stability ball :)

Food:

Went out on a DINNER DATE with... my roommate Felice! It was so nice! I can't believe this is the first time I've gone out to eat in Boston SINCE THE SUMMER! We went to Estragon down in the South End, because Felice wanted Tapas (which I'd never had) and this was highly rated on Yelp:

Roomie love!

We both treated ourselves to drinks, Felice got this Violet red wine, which was fruity but subtle, and I got Effewere (spelling!?) Apple beer, which was also really good! For our tapas, we got Espinacas a la Catalana (Sautéed Spinach, Pine Nuts, Golden Raisins), Pez Espada a la Vasca (Basque-Style Seared Swordfish Fillet, Guindilla Chiles, French Fries) and Mejillones (Steamed Mussels, Chorizo, Tomato,
Tarragon, Spanish White Wine)

Tapas!

For dessert, we went to J.P. Licks and got delicious ice cream!

Coffee chip and oatmeal cookie!

Saturday:

For a brisk Saturday morning, doing the 11-mile run was not on top of my list of things I really wanted to do, but training with Team Challenge made it SO much easier!

Minuteman National Park - 11 mile run!

After the run, Sarah, my mentor, and I went to Nourish, a cute little lunch place in Lexington Center and both got Vegetarian Chili and Sweet Beet and Feta Salad... mmmm

      

Unfortunately, the post turned out to be more pictures than actual "posting" but I promise my next one will be more of an update! Now I have to head off to school to get some homework done before I start procrastinating at my apartment!

Eventful weekend!

So much happened over the weekend that I apologize in advance for the long blog post!

Saturday:

I visited my grandparents for a very nice lunch (and coffee ice cream dessert!) and they gave me a brand new, white 16GB iPad2 as a combined graduation / Christmas present! (see below). I absolutely love it and know that it's going to help me organize & be more productive (and enjoy movies / magazines on plane rides home :) ). I need some good application suggestions though because there are way too many to search through...

My new iPad2 (thank you Gran and Granddad!)

After my big feast of a lunch, I drove down to Quincy to meet Team Challenge for our 10 mile loop on Quincy Shore Drive. It was an afternoon run, so the sun started to set while we were running. It was beautiful to watch but by the end I was glad to throw on some more layers!

Thanks to Coach Jenny for the awesome photo-skills; some of us girls of TC finishing our 10-mile run in Quincy

And, because I felt like I was coming down with a cold, I ended my Saturday night by painting my nails a fresh red glittery holiday color and cozying up to a nice movie & tea on the couch at home :)

Glittery Xmas red: hey, if Starbucks can get in the holiday spirit with their cups, so can I with my nails!

Sunday:
Despite feeling groggy from my cold medicine, and it being pretty chilly, I managed to get myself over to Cambridge for the 5K4Life Race for ALS and I got my fastest 5K time ever: 22:41! I felt so accomplished afterwards for pushing myself, and the extra speed kept me warm and I ended up feeling better post-run! I enjoyed a delicious turkey sandwich, courtesy of the race people, and tried Vita Coco water (which people can't stop raving about) and I didn't like it AT ALL. It's way too sweet and doesn't taste like anything special so I'm not trying that again.

Yummy Turkey sandwich and not-so-enjoyable Vita Coco water post-race in Cambridge

After a productive Sunday of catching up on schoolwork, I went over to Hugh's and cooked my mom's breaded chicken (using Pepperidge Farm Herb Crusted stuffing), steamed broccoli, and a little side salad. We watched "Homeland", which is a new show and is REALLY interesting!

Home-cooked breaded chicken tenderloin, steamed broccoli, and spinach & green pepper with feta cheese salad

Monday:

Pushed myself through a 4 mile run with Jenny from work, which was tough because I think I needed a rest day. My time was still under 9 min/miles but my legs felt like lead and the entire run I was praying it would be over soon... not the most fun feeling!

For dinner: :)

Spinach salad with cooked carrots, mushrooms, and black beans with whole wheat toast!

Tuesday:

Work outfit: Not my favorite, but it's supposed to be up to 67 today so I thought I'd celebrate with a skirt! I'm also wearing my new jewelry that I got from NY when I visited Jade w/ Ashley.

Also, spotted THIS at Walmart this morning and couldn't resist:

Yum... that's all for now folks!

Hello Mr. Nice Watch

I didn't have a good title for this morning's blog, so I just chose the first song title on my "Running" playlist! Speaking of my iPod and songs, I need a wider variety of songs (or just more of them!) because I find that I quickly get bored on my runs when I can anticipate the next song or have heard it too many times.

By the way, despite Boston being notoriously known for bad weather and snow, we've been BLESSED (knock on wood that I'm not jinxing this) with beautiful sunshine for a looooonng time lately. Granted, I was in California in 80 degree sunny weather during the snowstorm last weekend, but still!

Beautiful Brighton!

P.S. Recently have been discovering that a lot more people than I expected actually read my blog and I feel honored but at the same time, now more pressure to make these posts interesting and worthwhile! I hope they are! In future blogs, I'll incorporate more details about cool recipes I try or outfits (that are cheap!)

Workouts

Thursday: I was crunched for time because I got outside half an hour later than I'd hoped, but this didn't deter my plans to get in 7 miles, and I did it in exactly 1 hour and 1 minute! Hooray! At the time it didn't feel this way, but afterwards I felt great and accomplished for not being overwhelmed by lack of time or the fact that it was chilly outside.

Friday: Pretty tired from the week's workouts and knowing I have a 10-mile training run today (Saturday) and a 5K tomorrow (Sunday), so I took it easy and did 30 minutes on the elliptical. Nothing big :)

Outfit for work on Friday:

Sweater: H&M $12.95

Shirt: Banana Republic Outlet $8ish

Boots: Forever 21 $35

Fundraising

Had a few more people both at work and peers of mine donate to my Active site, which is AWESOME! I'm inching towards that $3700 goal and I know that if I really push for reminding people and contacting as many people as possible, I can get there. It's a little intimidating to know that the deadline is November 16th and that I'll be responsible for the missing difference between what I've raised now and my goal; but fortunately, I can get refunded up until January 4th for any last-minute donations and late matching gifts that come in - so that leaves me with some more time.

Food

Thursday: Did the normal banana & Chobani with Uncle Sam Original Whole Grain cereal breakfast (it's become my staple - so easy to prepare; healthy, cheap and filling!); and it was SUSHI THURSDAY at work!!! Sushi Thursday only happens every first Thursday of the month, where they have chef's come in and prepare "fresh sushi." I purposely saved up my "Lunch on Me"'s (I had 3 of them, worth $5 each) just for this occasion! So I used two ($10) and got a big bowl of soup (Sweet and Sour Vegetable - it was incredibly spicy; tasted like a soup you'd get at an Asian restaurant -- so delicious), an apple, a bottle of Sprite Zero, and one roll (6 pieces) of Salmon and Avocado Sushi... all for $10! The other rolls were more mixes of sushi and sashimi, which still looked great, but were really expensive. I had the soup / apple for lunch and the sushi for dinner (see below for the remains... forgot to snap a photo before I ate it!)

Friday: Same breakfast (shocking!), and had a turkey with spinach, mushroom, and cucumber sandwich on whole wheat bread for lunch. Now... DINNER! I met up with Ana Sofia at BU and she treated me to the most fabulous feast of a guest meal at Warren Towers!!! Oh, thank goodness I don't live on campus (and never really actually had a dining plan as a BU undergrad), because I'm pretty sure I'd gain 30lbs from just the quantity of food I'd consume. Picture 5 different, equally delicious stations of prepared foods, ranging from pizzas and calzones, to the vegan/vegetarian option, to omelettes, quesadillas, salads, sandwiches and a "comfort food" station. To go along with all of this, they have unlimited fruit, cereal, coffee, soda, and frozen yogurt. I. Was. In. HEAVEN. To make this a proper dining experience, we got there at 6:30pm, and didn't leave until 9:30pm. Yup, and, oh yeah, dining closes at 9pm... See below for detailed pictures of the delectable food I devoured and felt so completely ecstatic about eating :)

Fruit of the Vine and Polenta Vegan dish (Meal #1)

Mmm Cinnamon Toast Crunch! (x2 bowls... oops!) a nice finish to the wonderful feast

Tofu salad with chick peas, broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, spinach, italian dressing AND salsa :) (Meal #2)

Needless to say, I underestimated the value of BU Dining. THANK YOU ANA SOFIA FOR THE NICE TREAT!

This week is FLYING

Who would have thought that catching up on work would make the days go by so quickly! First off, November is here – unbelievable how fast Fall is here and soon it’ll be winter (Starbucks holiday cups are out, makes me excited for egg nog and Christmas morning!). Along with the festive holidays comes the brisk and chilly weather – which, I was anxious about because I didn’t think I’d be motivated to run outside (and running more than 5 miles on the treadmill is depressing), but it turns out that the cold air is nice when you’re rushing through back roads. It’s actually really nice.

I did runs on Monday and Tuesday, and then switched it up and did Power Yoga at work yesterday with a 2-mile cool down. The yoga was great because I got some good stretching and breathing practicing in, which was perfect for a mid-week relaxation. Today I’m hoping to do between 6-8 miles with Jenny!

Got some quality time with friends this week too, which was great: Sassy and I had our Dexter ritual on Sunday, Hugh and I watched a new TV show Homeland and made pesto pasta (see below) 

Pesto pasta and a side salad with feta cheese and balsamic vinaigrette dressing!

and I had some sour skittles J and then Tricia and I FINALLY got to catch up and have a delicious chicken and black bean with veggie mixture over a bed of spinach salad mix topped with fresh avocado! (see below)

Picture doesn't do it justice! (Disclaimer: It looked better before being half eaten!!!)

We, naturally being sweet-toothed people, followed that up with equally tasty Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie Froyo.

It’s so nice to spend time with the people who matter!

I’m looking for some tips on fundraising because I’m still a little ways away from my goal but I don’t know what other tools are out there to utilize to try and reach peers and colleagues who haven’t yet given. I think I’m going to try and put out flyers at the gym at my work and at Ingalls at BU. If anyone has any advice though, please leave a comment on this post – I’d really appreciate it! I only have 2 weeks left and could really use the donation-boost!

Also, I soooo badly wanted to wear this outfit to work (and so I did!) but they would have gone PERFECTLY with these shoes:

Comfort is much more important!

...I also would have died trying to walk anywhere in them :(