Sunny Saturday :)

I’ve been having some terrible allergies the past few days…it seems like everyone is. I thought the worst of the pollen was gone already…guess not! Even so, I can’t seem to stay indoors…the weather is so nice. I guess I’ll just have to deal with my allergies!

This is my last weekend before Finals…so I’ve tried to enjoy it a little bit at least :) I layed outside earlier for a little while and got some sun while I relaxed studied Nutrition. I’ve been so productive this week…its weird how school is just about over and I’m just NOW attempting to be productive…the irony. ha ha. I guess I’m just more motivated, now that the end is in sight ;) I even gave my townhouse a Spring Cleaning…it was much-needed, thats for sure! I was also getting it cleaned up because my b0yfriend will be here in 3 days…so excited. Even though Tuesday is going to be super-difficult to get through (2 exams, 1 discussion leader assignment, studying for another exam), I’ll just be glad to get the day over with and wait for the boy to get here! And after an exam on Wednesday, undergrad classes officially end for me…forever! :)

I think I’m going back outside to brave my allergies and go for a run…not sure how great that is, but I feel like I need a good run! I was contemplating Hot Yoga tomorrow, but I’m not sure sinuses and downward dogs will go to well together…has anyone ever done hot yoga with a cold/allergies?

-xoxo

Busy weekend!

This has probably been one of the busiest weekends I’ve had in the ‘Burg this semester! Friday morning, I went to classes and to the gym to get in a workout before Relay for Life that evening. My family got into town in the late afternoon, and we set up our campsite at Relay…it turned out so cute! My aunt and cousin came up with a cute theme and everyone contributed cute decorations, plus we sold ovarian/breast cancer bracelets and baked goods….which went over well. We did so good, and I’m so proud of my family pulling together to make this a fun night for my Aunt! Minus the cold weather, it was a lot of fun…and no we didn’t make it the entire night…way too cold!

Saturday, we went out for Brunch and just hung out for a while…the weather was gorgeous! Finally, around 2, my aunt, my cousin and his wife left to go home, but my parents stayed through today…so us three drove out on the Blue Ridge Parkway and ended up at a winery to do some wine tasting ;) That was so fun…first time I was able to actually TASTE the wine at a vineyard…last time we visited one up here, I was underage…so I had to sit back while everyone else enjoyed it. Not this time! We ended up buying a few bottles, and then drove on the Parkway some more…the mountains are so pretty this time of year. We were all sooo tired from the night before at Relay, so we had dinner at Panera and called it a night. Oh, I also FINALLY got my cap and gown…graduation is so soon!

I’ve really gotten in a routine of working out every day…it just works for me. I never feel like I’m overtraining or anything, so unless I get to that point, I like my daily workouts. Unfortunately, yesterday was just so busy that I didn’t have time to get a workout in…and I tried to not worry about it. But I still like to break a sweat every day…oh well. This morning, I woke up and went for a 5.6 mile run…I didn’t do a really long run like I usually do on Sundays, because I knew my parents would be waiting on me and they had to go back home today. After running, I got ready and we went out to a cute, local restaurant…they had Greek and Italian food….yum. I love Greek food….in fact, I had a Greek salad for lunch. So good. Plus leftover salad for dinner! ha ha… After my parents left, I decided to go to Hot Yoga…its been two weeks since I went last, and I felt like I could use a good stretch after running over 30 miles this week. Its been a while since I’ve done over 30/week…I definitely gravitated towards only running this week rather than including crosstraining…which is probably NOT a good thing. Crosstraining is a good thing to include in your workout schedule! :)

So, finally the weekend has slowed down…and this upcoming week is going to be soooo slack, so I need to enjoy it while I can! haha…4 day week minus my 9:30am class on Tues/Thurs…not a bad week at all ;) I hope everyone had a great weekend :)

-xoxo

Fitness&Nutrition-filled weekend!

Ahhh I think last week was the busiest week I’ve had (in a while, at least). Three term papers (yeah, I wondered how they could be term papers…the semester isn’t over yet!) kept me super busy all last week, which was  not fun. I took Thursday and Friday “off” from doing schoolwork to recuperate for the rest of the semester…still lots of work to do, but its coming together pretty well now.

Yesterday, I helped Relay for Life raise money at a Hot Yoga class at the local yoga studio…and I even had time to take the class too :) I LOVE Hot Yoga, which I’m sure you already knew if you read my blog…ha ha. I think we raised a pretty good amount for Relay, and there were LOTS of people that had never done Hot Yoga before, so maybe the studio will have lots of new yogis now ;) When I got back to the townhouse, I knew that I had a hot date with my Nutrition project…yes. I started compiling it and doing calculations around 6pm, and I didn’t finish working on it until almost 11pm! But the important thing is, its done, and now I can focus on other work I need to get done!

I actually feel productive this weekend…I took an online quiz this morning, and after a long run, I have to go to a Personal Training practice sesh (we have to go to 3 events/practices to get credit for class). So all in all, this weekend has been FULL of fitness and nutrition…and I love it. Maybe I should rethink my career path…haha. Fitness>lawyer-ing. However, the $$$ is probably a LOT less! And with my shopping obsession, maybe I should stick with going to law school and (hopefully) making big bucks……

-xoxo

A Weekend of Improvisation ;)

After failing to get to a Hot Yoga class yesterday, I knew that my goal for today was to finally make it to the studio! Ideally, I’d love to do Hot Yoga at least once a weekend, but between snowed-in weekends we’ve had since January and then traveling home a few weekends ago, I have only had the chance to go three times so far. I really wanted to get a session in before I go home for Spring Break on Friday(!)…and I might be making a trip out sometime next week to my favorite Hot Yoga studio near my hometown ;)

Anyways, I woke up at 6am this morning with a sore throat…and the TV volume up pretty loud. Apparently I fell asleep while watching SNL last night and slept for ~6 hours with the volume up loud. Did anyone see SNL last night? I love J. Lo! But back to that sore throat…I’ve been having “allergies” the past week or so, and I’m beginning to think its a cold…but I don’t know. It hasn’t gotten worse, but it certainly hasn’t gotten better. When I woke up at 6am, I chugged a pack of Emergen-C…and then another around 11. Can’t be getting sick right before Spring Break!!! After all of that, I decided I would start on some school work (surprise, I know), and I also did laundry and cleaned the kitchen, my room, and bathroom. I was on a roll apparently ;) Then I still really wanted to get in a 5-mile run, so I braved the cold and snow flurries and went out for the run a little before I was supposed to go to Hot Yoga. I got back around 3, and left for yoga at 3:30. I felt fine, but I probably should’ve drank more water and possibly had 1/2 banana. The yoga studio was extra hot and humid today…even the instructor noticed and acknowledged it…she turned on the ceiling fan and opened the door to let in a little cool air! I started to feel very lightheaded and nauseated while we were standing and doing balance poses, so I had to go into Child’s Pose a few times. This is sooooo rare for me…I never get that dizzy feeling! I think it was a combination of the extra hot studio, sweating on my 5-mile run before yoga, and not replacing electrolytes. I also normally do Hot Yoga first thing in the morning, so I have never ran before a class before. But overall, it was still a great session and I feel really rejuvenated now! :)

I’m sure that running outside didn’t help my potential “cold”…but when I have something I want to do, better believe I’m going to do it! ha ha…so I didn’t get my 10-miler today, but I got 5 yesterday, 5 today and Hot Yoga. So it all balanced out anyways :) It was a pretty good weekend, and the best part is that in less than 5 days, I’ll be headed home for a whole week! ;)

-xoxo

Fail.

I had big plans for a Hot Yoga class this morning. I went to bed relatively early and made myself get out of bed at 8:50am to get ready and drive to the studio. I looked out the window…surprise, surprise–there was snow on the ground. If you know me, you know that I am NOT going to drive in snow, especially since my townhouse is kind of at the top of a hill and I’m terrified of my car sliding around. I meant SUV…with 4-wheel drive. Ha ha yes I’m just afraid for no reason, I admit it. But anyways, I had to skip Hot Yoga…I was really looking forward to it after hitting the gym hard this week. I did Body Pump twice, lots of running, and lots of elliptical intervals throughout the week. So that was a little disappointing, but I might go tomorrow afternoon…its just such a good feeling after 90 minutes of sweating out toxins and getting some good stretching in. Does anyone else love Hot Yoga as much as I do?!

I had plans for today to be my “rest” day, only doing Hot Yoga, and then running 10 miles tomorrow. But since that clearly didn’t happen, I ran 5 miles on the treadmill today and tackled a few hills/intervals…I’m thinking of running another 5 tomorrow and then doing Hot Yoga in the afternoon. I know it isn’t going to be 10 miles all at once, but it still accomplishes the basic goal of running 10 miles this weekend + Hot Yoga. So I’ll go with it I guess :) I can’t wait until next week, when I get to go to my hometown gym (YMCA) alllll week! I miss the fab Spinning classes and the best Ab classes I’ve ever been to…and all of the instructors are awesome! Its the little things in life that make me happy ;) I also will probably get in a 12 or 13 mile run while I’m home…just as prep for my Half on March 21st. I’ve maintained my endurance and have been running 10-12 mile runs regularly, so I’m not really building up. I have been working on more intervals/high intensity training and I think I’ll definitely run the Half in less time this year than I did last year. We shall see I guess ;)

Well I’m going to relax & enjoy the rest of the day…I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far! :)

-xoxo

Three Things Thursday

I totally meant to post last night, but I got caught up studying for my THREE exams that I had today and didn’t have time…oops! Speaking of those three exams…wow, can I just say I’ve never been happier that the day is over?!

1. I feel like this week has been full of boring workouts…I’ve been so busy that I haven’t done Spinning or BodyPump or Hot Yoga…I’ve done an hour of cardio every day-elliptical intervals on Monday, 5 miles on the treadmill on Tuesday, 50 minute Strength/Cardio DVD on Wednesday, and hill intervals on the elliptical today. So very plain. That’s why my plans for tomorrow are BodyPump in the afternoon and then hitting it hard for some speed intervals on the treadmill. And hopefully hot yoga on Saturday? We’ll see…

2. Spring Break is officially two weeks away, and I couldn’t be happier. It also means that graduation is right around the corner…scary, but exciting ;)

3. USA Men’s Snowboarding team is full of hotties….mmm…I was totally distracted last night while attempting to study. ha ha. But most of them are really short…which is a problem because I’m tall and can’t stand guys that are shorter than me. That’s a dilemma. Haha…disclaimer: I’m completely in love with my hawt boyfriend, who happens to be quite a bit taller than me, so no worries ;)

Three Things Thursday

1. I. am. so. sore. I did BodyPump last night…which turned out a lot better than the first time I did it at my new gym. The actual certified instructor was back, so it was the same super-challenging workout that I experienced a few weeks ago. Being the crazy person that I am and always accepting a challenge(!), I was asked to do a BodyPump class today at the university gym because an instructor was testing out to become certified and they had to videotape the BodyPump workout. So yes, I just did BodyPump two days in a row. Ouch.

2. Because I was feeling soooooo sore from the above workouts, I went to Hot Vinyasa tonight. It felt lovely. Not to mention I mastered the headstand tonight…actually on the first try! ;)

3. I’m not so pumped for the snowstorm we’re supposed to be getting, starting at approximately 1am. Its being called a re-do of last weekend, which majorly sucks! All of that snow is STILL on the ground, so looks like we could be looking at 24″ of snow on the ground after this weekend. Yikes.

-xoxo

Relaxing & Productive Day :)

Hot Yoga this morning was really nice…what’s even nicer is not having to drive an hour to get the the yoga studio, like I had to do when I was at home! I just love how I feel after a hot yoga class…I’m so refreshed and I really do feel like I sweated out toxins…I’m convinced my skin even looks more radiant! I have a feeling a weekly sesh is in order from now on ;)

I got quite a bit done today, actually. Its weird not being at home, especially on the weekends when I have time to actually think about missing my family, boyfriend, and friends from home. Even so, today was fairly busy and has been pretty good so far. I had lots of things to mail at the post office today…all related to law school applications, of course. That has become my life these days! I’m so near to the end of the application process, though. I am working on the last one right now, actually…I still am contemplating one or two more schools, but I haven’t decided yet!  After my post office trip, I had to go buy a few more textbooks…they’re breaking my bank account!!! The one for my nutrition class was pricey, but I actually think its something I would read regardless of if I was taking the class! It seems really interesting, and has lots of good info about healthy diet & lifestyle approaches. Another textbook that I need for a class has been MIA in all of the bookstores around here, so I finally broke down and ordered it from an online store. I also kind of “window-shopped” spent money on Amazon.com…I just bought books that I doubt I’ll have time to read until Summer…ha ha. I ordered “Dear John” and “The Last Song” by Nicholas Sparks, because I really like to read the books before I watch the movies. Normally if I watch the movie first, I end up not reading the book! I also pre-ordered “Sweet Little Lies” by Lauren Conrad…I totally got sucked into her first book “LA Candy” and loved it, so I’m sure I’ll like this new one as well :)

Looks like I’m going to relax tonight…maybe watch the SAG Awards…I’m actually watching the “Live on the Red Carpet” on E! right now…I’m a little too obsessed with pop culture!

-xoxo

INdependent

This past Fall semester was glorious. Why? Well for one, I was commuting to ODU from home, and I lived with my family & saw my boyfriend every day…I was spoiled. But the other reason was, I took only Political Science classes (which is my major). No French classes, no other electives, nothing. Just PSCI. It was fab! I enjoyed going to class every day, and I was always excited to learn new things. Fast forward to Spring 2010…the present…and I have been feeling bummed since classes began on Tuesday. In order to complete the minor that I chose (French), I still have to complete two 3000-level French classes. The thing is, I’ve really lost the desire to take French anymore. For a while now, I’ve dreaded going to any French class (I’ve been taking French since middle school, over 7 years) and I’m just always swamped with work in my French classes. Which means I don’t get to enjoy my other classes and I feel constantly stressed! So I have been thinking about what I REALLY want, especially since its my last semester of college…and I decided I would drop my minor and just take a few classes that genuinely interest me. So I signed up for a Food & Nutrition class…which I went to today for the first time, and it is right up my alley! I should’ve gone to school to be a nutritionist/dietician! But I love my Poli Sci as well ;) I also am force-adding (it’s overfilled!) a Personal Training/Fitness Instructor course which will prepare me for the ACE examination…which is what I’ve wanted to do for so long now. I want to work in a gym (during the summer, while in law school, etc.) and possibly teach group exercise classes, spinning, etc. So I finally feel happy about this semester, for the most part. I have confirmed that I have met graduation requirements, so I can breathe a little more…and now I have 3 Poli Sci courses, 2 Health/Fitness courses, and 1 English course focusing on…Harry Potter…haha…yes it’s an easy and fun class :) So that relieves a substantial amount of stress for me, and I can focus on the things I love most…Politics, Health & Fitness, and reading! ;)

Speaking of de-stressing, I am going to a 90-minute hot yoga class tomorrow…my college town just got a Hot Yoga studio which is really exciting. I had so much fun when I went to a class around home a few weekends ago. I also got to drive out today (thankfully the ice is mostly melted!) and I joined a gym that’s literally a mile or so from my townhouse, and right near campus. The on-campus gym is just WAY too crowded, and now with living off campus, its a terrible time trying to find a place to park. So I figured it would be worth my while to check out a different gym! I did 45 min. of cardio/strength training and then a Spin class. It was so-so…I much prefer my gym at home, but this will have to do for a few months!

I love to cook, but I’m actually a much better baker than anything. I tend to stray away from cooking meats for fear of under-cooking/over-cooking/handling raw meat. But I can make really good lean turkey burgers, and I actually prefer handling ground turkey rather than chicken. But I went to the grocery store after I left the gym, and there was boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale…and I actually bought two packs! I even went back to the townhouse and cut up the chicken and made a stir-fry with a little EVOO and some spices. It was really great…I’m getting the hang of cooking for myself! I also had some raw carrot chips and mushrooms with some plain hummus…delish!

So I think I just wrote a novel…oops! That’s probably more than anyone wanted to read, so I’ll go back to watching 50 First Dates and finishing my glass of wine ;)

-xoxo

Can I Just Say…

I miss ODU sooooo much! I find it so hard to believe that I used to discredit everyone I knew who went to ODU just because its local and it didn’t seem like “real” college…even though it totally is! In fact, I enjoyed my Political Science (my major) classes so much last semester when I was commuting from home to ODU. Now that I’m back at Tech, I’m back into the Political Science classes that I’m used to and not impressed by. I didn’t think I would dislike this college so much, but I truly do. I am semi-depressed I think…ha ha…and I would love to pack my bags and head home. BUT I’m not, because I only have one more semester to go until I graduate and can start fresh in Law School. Speaking of Law School, I found out today that I was accepted at one school…I just applied last week! And they are offering an academic scholarship, too :) Now, this is definitely not my first choice of schools, but it is an option, and I just feel relief to be accepted SOMEWHERE! A little less stress relating to that matter :)

I have been getting in some good workouts, and I hope to do some hot yoga on Saturday at the new studio here…we shall see. At least something makes me happy while I’m waiting for this semester to end!

-xoxo