Weekend Updates

Well hi there!

My week calmed down after the little Sephora adventure, thank goodness. My electric kettle, popcorn maker and personal blender came in the mail! That was exciting. I'm gonna wear the heck out of the blender-I love it already. My first smoothie in it was fantastic: I threw some silken tofu, soy milk, frozen berries, banana and ice in aaand it make the perfect afternoon snack!

It was a good lookin' smoothie too :)

I also finalized my class schedule-had to add a class and drop another one, but I'm still happy with it. No friday classes, and plenty of time in the morning to train for my first half marathon!

Yesterday was amazing. My family and I went to the Academy of Sciences in SF-definitely my dream job to work there. They were featuring an earthquake exhibit but the animals were my favorite part :)

Baby ostrich! :D

Isn't it adorable how they make themselves into suction cups?

I AM A BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY LOOK AT MY WINGS

Eel with *electric* colors!

And last night I had some friends over for what was SUPPOSED to be a Joseph Gordon Levitt movie marathon but we watched maybe 20 minutes of 50/50 and then turned it off and played Apples to Apples. It was so fun-all these girls are like sisters to me and I won't get to see them for a solid couple of months after I leave. Plus I got to make apple nachos for the first time! You take 3-4 large Granny Smith apples, slice em and lay em out all pretty and cover them with marshmallow sauce (made by melting a bag of large marshmallows + 1/4 cup butter in a pan), chocolate syrup, caramel sauce, mini chocolate chips, and sliced almonds. 

It was a hit! I think I'll use a sweeter apple next time though. It was super easy to make-perfect dessert/snack.

This morning was the best-I got up and made pancakes for everyone! I used the Krusteaz plain buttermilk mix and made three variations of it: pumpkin, peanut butter chocolate chip, and lemon blueberry (naturally I had one of each). All three were absolutely delicious and sooo fluffy! And we had bacon. Can't forget the bacon.

So today I have a shift at the library bookstore but after that I'm just chilling because I definitely did not sleep much last night.

All in all, the last 24 hours were one big party and now I'm happy but incredibly tired. Adios!

Favorite party snacks?

It's About Time

I've gotten really unmotivated about my running lately. My main reason for running is simply to feel good and stay happy. Well, since school got out I've had nothing to stress about and have been rather content doing really wimpy runs. So what do I naturally plan to do to get back into running?

Yep, I think I'm going to train for a half marathon.  There's a really lovely one down in Palo Alto during my month-long winter break and it's small (250 people). No hills. Great views of the Bay Area. Lots of open space. I figured it might be a nice first half marathon. In 2010 it was an absolute mess due to torrential downpour but last year it was crisp and clear. So we'll see how the weather is this year. But I'm really excited about it!

Training: the make/break-it factor of this whole thing. I've never had a gym membership before, so I've never made an effort to check my pacing or do speedwork or any technical running stuff. But having access to a treadmill at college opens up a world of possibilities! Like maybe actually doing real mile repeats at a 8:25 pace. There's a 10-week plan in one of my old Runners World magazines so I know EXACTLY what I should be doing each day! And it still leaves me time for spinning and yoga classes and swimming (which I don't do now but might try).

Isn't it beautiful? And completely doable too!

So that means thaaaaat I gotta get better at fueling my body. I've finally found my ideal pre-run snack (spoon of peanut butter and half a banana) and post-run breakfast (overnight oats are my new best friend) but my energy levels crash around 4pm on days I run. So my challenge will be finding food that will keep me going later in the day. I'm going to experiment with smoothies because they're ideal for eating in the middle of my afternoon classes without being completely obnoxious and I can make them super duper yummy. Plus, they'll help me incorporate fruits (and some veggies) into my diet continuously. 

I can't wait for mine to arrive sometime next week:

Favorite smoothie? Ever ran a half marathon?