It's February?!?!?!?!?

As you can see by my title, I am kind of bummed that January is almost officially over. I want there to be more snow before this winter ends!

Anyway, I have been telling you all that I have been trying to eat clean and go to the gym often, but I'm not sure if I told you guys how I was documenting it. I have an awesome Curly Girl Design calendar hanging in my kitchen, and every day I eat clean I get a check mark, and every day I go to the gym or get an alternative method of activity I get a smiley face.

January 

Woot Woot! As you can see, I did a pretty good job this month, minus the week I as on vacation, but I think that is to be expected. At the end of every month I will post my motivation calendar. And hey, if sharpie smiley faces are going to keep me motivated then that's pretty easy :) 

I have recently become very interested in the bike, and am going faster every day. Last week I was going 7 to 7.2 miles in 30 minutes, on fat burner mode, level 5. Today I went 7.85 miles in 30 minutes, on fat burner mode, level 8. *self five* 

Normally when I am biking I can feel myself sweating, but am always seriously disappointed when I can't see the sweat on my shirt. Today, I had a giant sweat stain on my shirt and I was SO EXCITED. 

From GoogleImages 

I have always seen this saying, but never truly understood it until today. 

That's all for now, and keep it up everyone!

Just Keep Swimming

I hope you understand my title, if not, go back and watch Finding Nemo.

From GoogleImages 

So last week I started classes again, which is always simultaneously exciting and dreadful. This semester I am taking sixteen credits which is kind of a lot especially since I am looking for a part-time job (not retail this time). For those of you who are curious I am taking: Group Counseling, Consultation and Community Organizations, Career Counseling, Adult Psychopathology, and Counseling Skills 2. So far I have only been to Career, Adult Psychopath, and Skills and am already overwhelmed with the amount of reading I have to do. Today I did 100 pages of reading and it was all for my Career class. What? The good news? I really enjoyed what I was reading. The bad news? We had three separate reading from three separate textbooks on the same subject to get different perspectives on the same things. Not OK. But I did it anyway because I know that career counseling will be part of my future career as a guidance counselor.

I'm not so sure I will love my Adult Psychopath class. Slash I'm not even sure I will like it. I do not really at all want to diagnose people and treat them from the DSM but that is exactly what I will be doing in this class. Oh well. It's a requirement so I will get through it and there are no exams so that's a plus. Although there are pop quizzes so I will feel like I'm in high school again. Oh well.

I think my Skills class is going to be awesome! It's a small, practical class, so I will just become a better counselor from it. 

I haven't had my Group or Consultation classes yet but I can only hope they are great. They are taught by the same teacher so I also hope he is great. 

This past weekend was really great. I spent Friday night at a wine club night, this month was dedicated to wine and cheese, so that was a blast. On Saturday my beloved Terpies got their buts kicked by Duke, but I did watch the game with 200 other Maryland alum at the NYC gamewatch. 

By: J Leland Malinski

So for the last three and a half weeks that I decided to be healthier I have only not worked out/had ample activity 4 of those days, and I only didn't eat cleanly 5 of those days. Out of 26 days could be better, could be worse, but I'm proud of myself for trying. Keeping on track while traveling was a little difficult, 5 of the last 26 days involved between 5-20 hours of traveling and being in the car. Looking back on my health and fitness pinboard has re-invigorated me to feel good about myself and my efforts so is some inspiration for you as well.

Source: iamnotasupermodel.tumblr.com via Briana on Pinterest

Source: soon2befit.tumblr.com via Briana on Pinterest

I don't know about you but when I am at the gym with my Nalgene more often than not I end up with water all over my shirt. Now don't get me wrong, I love my Nalgene, a lot. Not only is it pink, not only does it have Testudo on it, but it also has peace signs, a lair sticker, and a mickey sticker. I am serious. I'm going to post a picture, that's how much I love my Nalgene.

Back of Water Bottle 

Front of Water Bottle 

Now that being said, I also have some complaints about it because I am, indeed, human. 1) the mouth opening is just too big. 2) if I put anything but water in it it retains that taste for weeks, even if I run it through the dishwasher. So, two pretty big negatives.

I have been searching for a new water bottle, not actively, really, but a lot of people I know started getting the same water bottle that influenced me to buy it as well. I recently purchased a Lifefactory water bottle.

From Lifefactory.com

I know you are wondering what makes these water bottles so cool, so I will tell you. 1) They are glass! Which means no dangers of a plastic water bottle, no retaining any funky tastes, etc. 2) they are wrapped in silicone - the glass won't break and the bottle won't sweat too bad. 3) There are two caps you can get for your bottle - regular or sport top! So I obviously got both (I think it was $5). I haven't gotten it in the mail yet but I can't wait to use it, and it's dishwasher safe!!  

Ok, that's all for now. I'll post more soon, and thanks for reading :)

The Happiest Place on Earth

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted, I have been crazy busy, and I will update you now.

Over break I went to Orlando, Florida with five of my sorority sisters from college for a week to go to Disneyworld and Universal. As hard as it may seem to most of my readers (who I assume are on the east coast), I had never been to Disneyworld before! Being from California, I have obviously been to Disneyland.

The six of us drove from Maryland to Orlando in one day. We left at 5am and got to Orlando at 7pm. Longest. Day. Ever. That was a Friday. On Saturday we went to Universal Studios! Let me tell you the best thing about going to the amusement parks in the middle of a random week in January - NO LINES. We went on every single ride in the park and didn't wait longer than half an hour to go on any of them. #winning

With Shrek and Fiona

With Scooby and Shaggy 

On Sunday we went to Universal's Island of Adventure. If you don't know what that means, it means we went to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! The Harry Potter ride was AMAZING and I semi-conquered my fear of roller coasters with the baby coaster, the flight of the hippogriff. 

The Hogwarts Express

At Islands of adventure was also Seussland, and while it was a little lame and obviously for little kids, we got one of the best pictures of the whole trip there:

Getting Splashed with Water 

On Monday we went to Disneyworld's Epcot park which was amazing! Since it was my first time at Disneyworld I was given a "It's My First Visit" button by the ticket booth lady. I shamelessly wore it during the park that day and when we went to the Magic Kingdom. Since this is a semi-professional blog I won't get in to all the details, but while in Epcot we went "around the world." It was a blast, we spent about 10 hours in the park, and we ended the night with a viewing on the famous Epcot fireworks!

Stuck in a phone booth in London 

Mary Poppins in Epcot

The whole group in Morocco

Countries lit up in the dark 

The next day we had a day off that we spent relaxing by the pool and doing water aerobics.

On Wednesday we went to Disney's Magic Kingdom! I was literally so excited I was annoying the crap out of my friends - oh well. (sorry guys)

Love Love Love 

My favorites!!!

Cinderella's Castle!

We watched the parade in the middle of the day which was surprisingly wonderful. We waited in line for a while to meet characters. Things I learned: Mickey is really short and the princesses are so nice it's kind of creepy.

Mickey! 

Yup, she let us hold her hair...

 We of course stayed for fireworks at the Magic Kingdom as well and just had a phenomenal day :)

Wish upon a star...

BOOM

We decided to take the drive back to Maryland in two days - staying overnight in Charleston, South Carolina because on of the girls on the trip's mom lives there. I can briefly tell you that Charleston is a great place and I look forward to spending more than twelve hours there one day. After driving back to Maryland I got to spend a few days with my boyfriend before coming up to New York, so that was nice as always. 

I got back to New York on Tuesday, started classes on Wednesday. Now I am just focusing on getting back to the grind. I went to the gym yesterday (Wednesday), and today (Thursday), so that's a good start to my goals. I have decided to get really in to biking for a few reasons. 1) It doesn't hurt my ankles at all 2) I can go really far in not that long of time 3) I bought a bike 4) When it gets warm out I want to ride my bike everywhere (aka to/over the Brooklyn Bridge). 

Well, that's all for now (I know, a lot), and I have an exciting weekend coming up that I will fill you all in on next week. Motto for the weekend: Duck Fuke!

Winter Break Productivity

Hi Friends,

Being alone in my apartment has somehow made me motivated to get sh*t done. Strange, isn't it, how only when we are entirely alone we realize what it really is that we want. Anyway, today I had an appointment with the career center at school to go over my resume and cover letter for my fieldwork next year. I am SO excited for my fieldwork. For those of you who don't know, my fieldwork is a year long internship placement in a school as a counselor. CANT WAIT.

I learned a lot of new things today about cover letters and resumes that I never heard of before. For example, my resume is now two pages long, and apparently that is ok.

From GoogleImages 

Anyway, I found the school I want to intern at, so I am trying to get the ball rolling as soon as possible so I am the first (hopefully) student who applies to intern there. As you can imagine, I spent the good majority of my day updating my resume and cover letter. 

Back to healthy lifestyle: since I moved to NYC I have been eating really healthy, but recently I have been trying to make extra healthy food choices. One of my favorite food blogs is Skinny Taste. Literally any food you could want to eat is on this website, only the healthy version. You may not know this about me, but my favorite comfort food is chicken tenders and french fries, and she has a pretty guilt-free variety of that, aka I love her! Also, for those of you on weight watchers, or know 

someone on weight watchers, she puts the points value for each recipe. 

Last night I went to the gym at 11pm, and tonight I went to the gym at 10pm - improvement, right? Well I couldn't fall asleep til 4am last night, so hopefully tonight I get to fall asleep at 3am? Regardless, I was pretty proud of my workout today. There is a gym in my building, and I am ashamed to say I never really used it until now. Both last night and tonight I have had the whole (tiny) gym to myself, which is awesome because I get to control the TV! Working out to TLC is way more fun than working out to any other tv shows. Tonight it was Four Weddings and What Not To Wear.

Today I went down to the gym fully intending on riding the bicycle. After riding for 30 minutes, and 7 miles, I didn't feel thoroughly worked out. I then decided to walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes while I watched What Not To Wear. After walking for a little bit, I decided to try running for just a minute or two to see how it felt to do it again, and, surprisingly, it felt AWESOME. So, strongly considering trying running again, but no guarantees.

I had an interesting conversation tonight with one of my good friends, and she really made me realize how important maintaining my blog is. Not only is my blog important for my success, but she made me realize that other people count on me blogging as well. Or at least she does. But feeling responsible for another individual's motivation to live healthier is a lot of pressure. I also feel incredibly touched and humbled by her saying that to me. One of my motivations for living healthy is my blog, and one of her motivations for living healthy is also my blog - it was very flattering to hear. Don't worry, this doesn't mean I am going to start blogging every day, or expect you to read it every day. It's just going to help keep me motivated. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year friends! Sorry I haven't been blogging in a while. The original point of this blog was to start running, right? I have seriously strayed from my original purpose, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed.

Being holiday season and all, my friends have been inspiring me with their own weight loss and healthy eating adventures. Because blogs should always dual serve as a sounding board for other blogs, I will shamelessly promote my friends' blogs now. Well, mainly one blog. My friend Julia has started a blog called Adventure to Weight Loss and I am really proud of her. Blogging is hard, dieting is hard, and watching what you eat is hard. Blogging about intimate parts of your life for the whole world to read - that's the hardest thing that she's doing. So read her blog, support her, be proud of her with me. 

So anyway - back to my blog post. I have been feeling very blah lately, mostly because some aspects of my life are completely falling apart, but I really don't have anything to complain about. My boyfriend's parents gave me a Trader Joe's Cookbook for Christmas called Lighten Up! IT IS AWESOME!!! Sorry for the shouty capitals. So far I have made "Pan-Fried Polenta with Warm Blueberries," "Try It, You'll Like It Turkey Chili," "Spicy Quinoa, Black Bean, and Mushroom Soup," "Sandwich Love," "Best-Loved Chicken Balsamico," "Dijon Salmon with Artichokes," and "Caramel Apple Oat Bars." Wow, I didn't realize I have tried that many recipes in the last week. I absolutely love Trader Joes - mainly because the food is a) cheap, b) delicious, and c) relatively healthy. Last week I bought $175 worth of groceries from the Trader and I don't think I will have to buy anything for about a month except for fresh fruit. 

From GoogleImages 

The recipe book has something called the "2 Week Challenge," which is basically to eat everything healthy for two weeks (no dairy, no white flour). I'm trying to follow it, but I can't do it exactly right now. I have been back and forth from my apartment and my best friend and boyfriend's house, but when the semester starts again and I can cook all of my own meals for two weeks straight I will definitely do it. Also, this recipe book doesn't really feel like dieting, feels more like eating delicious food, which is always good for me. 

Right, so today I basically did a whole lot of nothing. I stayed in my bed basically all day, and somehow managed to be productive. I wrote a cover letter for an internship I want next year, made an appointment at the career center at school to have it reviewed tomorrow, and did a required 2-hour online school violence workshop to become a certified teacher. I also edited my friend's cover letter and cooked a lot.

I was pretty proud of my day, but sitting on my couch watching TV I felt like such a gross slob. There is a gym in my building and I had literally used it twice since moving in in August. What is wrong with me? I have to say, I have been eating pretty healthy since I moved to New York, and some of the clothes I bought in the summer I can no longer wear because they are too big. That has never happened before, and obviously I was really excited.

So at 10:45pm I decided to go to the gym, why not? I did 30 minutes on the elliptical and walked to five minutes on the treadmill after to cool down. I feel pretty great right now. Every New Year brings new resolutions, and I didn't really feel like making resolutions this year. So instead I made a broad resolution to be happy, whatever that happens to mean at the moment. 2012 had super intense highs and supper shitty lows, and right now all I want is to be happy in 2013. 

So you can expect a lot more exercise-related posts again - but I am not going to limit myself to running anymore. I am going to do whatever I feel like doing, and be proud of myself regardless. So I might ride my bike outside, use the elliptical, run, walk, whatever makes me happy that day. 

Happy 2013 everyone! Much love, and I'll post again soon,

B