Cool mornings

I awoke to a cool breeze coming in the window – a crisp fall-like morning today! 60 degrees, cloudy, rainy on and off.

My friend texted at 7am asking about our tenatively planned run – I said yes as long as it’s not raining, and it wasn’t at the moment, so we hit the pavement at 7:30am. Did a nice 3 miles in the cool air.

Def a scarf and cardigan day!  {Yayy fall!!! :) }

Now having oats and coffee – OIAJ with half a banana, soy milk, PB and Kashi Go Lean for crunch. Coffee on the side

Now I’m showered and ready for the day:

– class 10-11:30
– reading, finsihing a response due at 5pm
– interview prepping (eek)
– internship interview at 3:30
– meeting at 6pm
– class 6:30-9:30

Oh boy! Gonna be a long one today.

Labor Day Weekend

Well it’s been a flurry of a few days! Yesterday I went for an early morning run with Melissa. We covered about miles! Great way to start a Friday, and good to get into a running groove here in New Haven right off the bat. (I’ve also got that 10k fast-approaching on 9/18!)Breakfast was more OIAJ of course. With banana and PB. Mmm.

I then worked on our sunny porch and did some course applications and had lunch. The afternoon consisted of a failed meeting with my advisor (rrg) and a student group fair. I then drove (not biked, ops) over to Edge of the Woods, a neat little grocery store across town. It reminded me a miniature Whole Foods – pricey, but full of awesome natural foods. I picked up supplies to cook Jeff a yummy stir fry. I biked to his place and found him walking his roommates’ dog, Captain Wilson!

I got a new sort of tofu, sprouted! I think it actually ended up giving me a huge stomach ache. Maybe it was just too much soy in general. We had some white wine, too. Just good ol’ 3 buck chuck. Nuthin special, but tastes good on a summer evening. After eating we headed to my school’s first TGIF! (Thank God I’m a Forester!!) The theme was endless summer, so people were decked out in summer gear, bathing suits, and hawaiin themed clothes. There were kiddy pools and floaties! It was a lot of fun and everyone was really excited to be back and hanging out. It was also a beautiful night out! We caught up with people and headed inside for the dance party later in the evening. Fun times!

Today has been fun too – kicked off with an egg on toast with a side of local blueberries, mm. Coffee on the side, of course. I then headed to the farmer’s market with my housemates. It’s such a great Saturday morning activity – walk around in the fall sunshine, run into lots of people to chat with, and pick up locally grown tasty produce! We headed back in time to get ready for a cookout! We had a lovely cookout in the park down the street for our mentees (new first years we’re assigned to to help out with course selections, and just to be a buddy to). It was a fun time and we all sorts of yummy food – veggie burgers, potato salad, corn on the cob, chips, watermelon, mm!

I fit in a run today with Melissa again and we did our same course, this time about 5 miles. I followed it up with 3 sets of 20 leaning leg lunges, 30 tricep dips, and 2 sets of 10 push ups. Woo woo!

Now I’m getting ready for a little girls’ night action — going out for Mexican and margaritas!! :) 

 

SO excited for FALL!

Happy September!!!

I am SO excited that it’s the start of September, which means that fall is in the air! It’s my favorite season of all time and I am so excited for fall foliage, apples, pumpkins, crisp mornings, sweaters, apple cider, and halloween! There are just so many wonderful things to do in the fall weather, I just love harvest time!

But first, breakfast, on the porch of course!Overnight oats in a jar, mixed with frozen berrier, fresh blueberries, a drizzle of honey, and a sprinkle of go lean crunch! Annnd coffee of course!

I didn’t do too much to celebrate the start of September and autumn today because I was sitting in classes from 10am til 5:30pm! I scoped out some classes, but think I’ll just stick with one of the 4 I ended up sitting in on. The others just aren’t quite what I’m looking for. From yesterday’s listing, I’ve ruled out

• Management and the Environment
• Statistics
• U.S. Climate policy (I’ll take yesterday’s climate change course instead)
• Life Cycle Assessment Practicum

But I will take LCA! It’ll be a tough class, it counts as a capstone which means it’s like a master’s project course, but it’ll be a really valuable skill to have, so it’ll be worth it for sure. Hopefully I’ll come out being able to use the software to do life cycle assessments on different products for companies. And I really like the professor, he’s young and enthusiastic, and I took a class with him last spring.

Lunch was leftover yellow curry from the other night, over rice, mm!

After class I met up with some friends for a drink downtown and then headed over to Jeff’s cuz he cooked me dinner! Corn on the cob, kale chips, and baked eggplant with tomato sauce. It was delish!

But didn’t quite fill us up, plus we knew there was pizza arriving at my house soon for the big gathering of dudes for a fantasy football draft (I still don’t really know what this means). Either way, I had some pizza and another beer when we got to my house after dinner. And we might have topped off the night by getting rid of eating some leftover pancakes, smothered in PB!! Ooooh grad school and college-style eating! So hard to avoid. Ah well.

Us ladies sat out on our porch chatting away while the dudes did their football thing. It was lovely!

Now for some relaxation and perhaps a viewing of the daily show (still haven’t accepted that I need to start doing work!! argh) before bedtime! Everyone else headed out to the bar, butttt I’m good with staying in tonight :)

On the docket for tomorrow: an early morning run, a meeting with my advisor, some course applications, student group fair, and TGIF party tomorrow night.

Gnight!

Climate Changin’

Today was the first day of classes! I only attended one, but it was a solid one – 3 hours long! Run down of the day:

– wake up
– few bites of banana
– gear up for the gym
– bike to the gym (1.7 mi)
– sweaty workout on the elliptical
– bike home (1.7 mi)
– shower, change, eat oats in a jar, on the porch, while still sweaty (starving!) and coffee

In the mix: 1/4c scottish oats, 1/4c soy milk, banana slices, scoop of PB, Kashi Go Lean cereal

– bike downtown to farmer’s market (1 mi) – picked up some local produce! 
– bike to school, go to class!

Climate Change and Mitigation – pretty neat class, we get 2 weeks to shop all of our courses until we decide which ones to take, so I have time to decide, but it seemed like a neat class. I need to brush up on my climate change policy, science, adaptation, etc so this sounds like the perfect class for this!

– ate greek yogurt mixed with fresh wild blueberries and kashi go lean cereal for lunch in class
– biked home (1.2 mi)
– walked to friend’s house to lend her my juicer and hang out
– walked home
– picked up Jeff and drove to Chipotle!! Mmmm veggie burrito!! And chips and guac, sooo good!
– a quick stop at Trader Joe’s on the way back for some essentials
– at home, figuring out more class stuff, emailing, etc etc!

Do you see a theme here? Lots of BIKING! Approximately 5 or so miles. Biking is my main mode of transportation here, because 1. school, my work office, small markets, and friends’ houses are all within about 1.5 miles of me 2. it’s best for the environment! 3. it’s great exercise 4. parking is tough near school and in the city in general 5. fairly safe with bike lanes on some streets 6.awesome in the good weather and gives me time to enjoy the gorgeous new england weather and scenery on my pedals around town, 7. and all of my friends and classmates bike everywhere too, so we have lots of group bike brigades! :)

Oh, and dessert: Last time I had this chocolate was in the car driving up from DC!   It’s so good, dark choc with chunks of toffee, walnuts, and pecans.

Tomorrow I’m shopping four classes:

• Management and the Environment
• Statistics
• U.S. Climate policy
• Life Cycle Assessment Practicum

ahh, it’s going to be  LONG day. But, it’s the only way to figure out if I actually want to take a class, so gotta do it. And, the reading and homework will start to set in tomorrow, eeee. Last night did not end up as an early bedtime night – alas, I will try again tonight. Shooting for 11! G night.

First Day of School!

Well, I’m back in New Haven and today is sort of the first day of school! It’s our course expo where we walk around to tables where our professors are standing and giving out syllabi. It’s a day to learn more about the classes we think we want to take and to say hi to all of our friends! I’ve caught up with a bunch of mine already and have been spending lots of time with my roommates and Jeff. It’s great to be back! I’m all unpacked in my room and it feels like home again. We hunkered down as hurricane Irene hit on Sunday and it was a good day to stay inside and unpack. And now it’s gorgeous, crisp fall weather here! Loving it, and super excited for FALL!!

I also love our front porch, and eating breakfast there! Ready for my first day :) Oats in a jar!! Mmmm, scottish oats soaked overnight in soy milk, topped with banana slices and a biggg scoop of PB! Coffee on the side.

 

I’m off on my bike to school soon and will be there almost all day. Then a 4pm meeting with my supervisor from my job to see if I’ve got a position lined up for this year! Then, I’m hoping to hit the gym or go for a run! C ya!

 

Breakfasts on the Porch

This morning I tried to sleep in since I knew I’ve got a slew of dawn-rising mornings coming up in our tent! But, I was awake and up around 8am. Ah well, I felt great so I hit the pavement for a nice run and did 4.72 miles. It was a nice cool 64 degrees.

Felt good and I chugged along at about a 10 minute mile which, considering all the hills, is quite alright. It was nice to have company on the run too – lots of other runners out bright and early on this lovely Saturday morning! I came home and did

– 1 set of abs with some other abs moves
– 10 push ups on my knees
– stretch

Half a Shower (cuz there’ll be more sweating later on!) and breakfast:

Oats with soymilk, topped with blueberries, half a small banana slices, honey from yesterday’s market, and home-made granola!  It was quite the rockstar bowl. Side of french press coffee.

I love eating out on our back porch. My mom has it decorated with plants and doodads and it’s a great sunny start to the day. Now I’m off to meet my dad for a bike ride! :) Happy Saturday everyone!

 

 

Day at the Beach, Flapjacks, and French Press

Yesterday was a day at the beach! Mom and I drove down equipped with coffees. We arrived at the beach and had to wait in line to park. I snacked on a peach and some pretzel slims. You know you’re on the cape when there are hydrangeas everywhere! It was a perfect day on the beach and I had a blast playing with my little cousins who are 6 and 2!  I also enjoyed some Fage yogurt topped with flax seed. I also snacked on strawberries and blueberrie, as well as TWO of my home-made granola bars – I had to have one of each! ;) I had a banana bread oat bite and an oatmeal snack bar. Kind of a hodgepodge lunch eaten throughout the afternoon, but it worked! These kiddoes were so cute! 

There was also a dog, Phoebe! 
We headed back from the beach around 5 and showered up and headed out to dinner at one of our favorite places, the Marsh Side.  We started with some pinot grigio. 
I had a big greek salad for dinner, and 2 pieces of bread from the bread basket. Then, ice cream! My favorite ice cream place of all time, and I got grasshopper (mint ice cream mixed with oreo hunks!) MMMmm soo good.  Happy girl with ice cream:As for this morning…

I started the day with a quick 3 mile run. I was planning to do interval sprints but just wasn’t feelin it. It was pretty warm and sunny so I just plugged along on my flat 3 mile route. Started at 8:46am, ended at 9:17am. I then banged out:

– stretching
– 3 sets of 15 reps of tricep over-the-head lifts, 12 pound weight
– 3 sets of 20 reps of bicep curls, 10 pound weights each arm
– 30 push ups on my knees

All the while I was on and off hold with my school health insurance – not fun! But made the weight-lifting seem quicker.  After the workout and shower it was time for….. FLAP JACKS AND FRENCH PRESS!!! Remember how I got a delivery? It was time to make use of it! I whipped up some flapjacks and added to the mix: blueberries, walnuts, and some of the final sprinkles of my Cville Cluster Granola (this addition totally inspired by Kath in this post)

I also cooked up a few morning star faux sausages (love these!). The flap jacks (why is it waaay more fun to call them flapjacks vs. pancakes?! It’s so rustic and outdoorsy sounding) came out awesome, and I topped my first one with syrup and the next with raspberry jam.

 

 

I also used the french press! The coffee came out good, but mom and I have to admit, it’s not anything super amazing. I wonder if it’s the coffee we used that wasn’t super amazing? Not sure. But it was good!

I’ve got a to-do list to tackle today!

• Pack for camping/ organize my disaster of a room
• Pack for Mexico
• Laundry
• CVS
• Trader Joe’s
• Farmer’s Market
• Make granola?
• Buy new head phones
• Coffee date
• Dinner date

Ready, go!

Banana Bread Oat Bites

Well, I had a second baking adventure last night! I’m on a streak, huh? This time I tried out Allie’s Banana Bread Oat Bites that she adapted from cooksrecipes.  I’ve got more than enough ingredients from my Whole Foods bulk run, so I went for it! Maybe I’m on a mission to find my favorite granola bar recipe… 

This recipe involved mashed up bananas, vanilla extract, and some canola oil for the wet ingredients.. And rolled oats, coconut, sunflower seeds, and cinnamon for the dry ones. As for the fruit, I did almost the same as the other night’s bars, with dates, cranberries, raisins, but this time I also added some dried apricots. Some mixing action… All mixed up. Pre-oven…

(Missing one was split between mom and me – had to try ’em out!)

Post oven.

The verdict: Amazing!! I must say, I think I liked these better than the oatmeal snack bars. It’s the banana!! So yummy.

Here’s the recipe from Allie’s blog, with my modifications in pink:

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 cup chopped dates (I did a combo of dates, raisins, cranberries, and apricots) 
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 2 TBSP canola oil (I did 1 TBSP)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Optional add-ins:

• 1 TBSP Chia Seeds (I did sunflower seeds and shredded coconut) 
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• I added a sprinkle of chocolate chips – only ended up in some of the bars! 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350* F. In a small bowl, combine chopped dates and a splash of hot water and let sit for a few minutes (to slightly rehydrate). In another small bowl, mash bananas with a fork. Mix in chopped dates, vanilla extract and canola oil. In a large bowl combine dry ingredients (oats and optional mix-ins). Add banana mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. Let batter sit for 15 minutes. Form batter into cookie-shaped patties and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Makes ~14.

Now I’ve got all sorts of bars for our camping trip! :) 

As for this morning: It was a beautoful morning here in Newton and we’re about to head off to the Cape for the day. I wanted to get in some exercise before we hit the road, and with two days of long runs in a row, it was time for some cross training! I got up early and was biking on my mom’s new bike by 7:30am. I biked my running route (boring, I know) and added on some extra hills, totaling an 8 mile ride. Took about 45 minutes cuz I bike pretty slowly. I came back and was a weirdo and did some exercises in the back yard. I did:

– 100 leaning lunge combos with no weights  (or is that 50, since you alternate legs? I don’t know how to count…)
– 60 half dead lifts holding a 12 pound weight
– 1 set of the ab workout 
– stretch
Shower, breakfast similar to yesterday’s:  1/4 c rolled oats, blubes, strawbs, walnut pieces, drizzle of honey. Yum! Coffee with almond milk, too. (didn’t try out the french press, need coarser coffee grounds!) And we’re off! Happy Thursday!

Cool running

I had a great run this morning! I think it was better than yesterday due to:

– new additions to my running play list
– 10 degrees cooler weather
– cloudy vs. sunny
– I brought water 

I did a similar route to yesterday but changed it up a bit to make it longer, and to tackle not fewer, but different hills!

I rocked out 6.6 miles in about 1 hour 10 minutes. Not bad! Came home and watched the Today Show while doing:

– bicep curls with 10 pounds each arm, 20 reps x 3 sets
– various shoulder and triceps lifts
– 30 push ups on my knees
– lots o’ stretching (my abs were super sore this morning from yesterday’s ab workout)

Kind of a bummer not having all the weights and equipment at a gym, but it’s okay, I’ll have a gym at school again soon enough. For now it’s living room workouts!

Breakfast: rolled oats topped with a drizzle of honey, cinnamon, blueberries, strawberries, and walnuts pieces. YUM!Coffee w/ almond milk, too. I then headed out the door for a dentist appointment – good news, no cavities and teeth look good! Then I went to meet a friend for coffee and to meet her new PUPPY, Reese! It was great to see her and her puppy is completely adorable. I had a grande coffee as we sat outside and chatted. Puppy kisses. 
 Happy Wednesday all! 

Hometown visit

Good morning, Newton!

I woke up to a sunny, cool day in New England (<3). I love sleeping with my windows open – something I couldn’t do all summer long in DC. I got up and hit the pavement for my first run here at 9am. It seemed cool out but once I got going it quickly felt hot. I guess it was 73 and humid, so not exactly cool. I was excited and determined to do my old 5 mile route here, a route i haven’t been in shape enough to run since LAST JUNE! wow. I was excited to see how my body did. Well, I survived. I had forgotten how challenging HILLS can be!! My routes all summer in DC have been long but really, really FLAT. So these hills really kicked my butt, but, I didn’t give up, and never stopped or walked! SUCCESS! (shoulda brought water though! lesson learned) I came back hot, red, and sweaty, but happy I did the 5 miles. I then kicked it further and did Audrina’s ab workout twice (I decided this week is ab week, like shark week, only less awesome) and 20 push ups on my knees. Followed by lots of stretching — I’m still really sore from Sunday’s lunges, maybe that’s why the run was so tough too.

I then had a conference call with my internship to hear my fellow interns’ presentations. While on the call I had 2 cups of coffee, followed by oatmeal and bran! Made by momma. I topped it with blueberries, walnuts pieces, dried cranberries, and almond milk. Yum!

It’s nice to be at home for a few days. Short visit, but nice. Then it’s off on a few end-of-summer trips before school starts at the end of August. Hoping to see a few friends while I’m here in my home town :)

Oh and about that big zappos box that I never revealed its contents… well, here’s what was inside!

I kinda neglected posting it because I ended up returning the hat :( It was just too big and too expensive, AND, because my lovely friend found me an even better hat! I really wanted a white one and she happen to be at Banana Republic and she found me the perfect one, and for half the price of the one I had ordered from Zappos, so it’s a keeper! I’ll be sporting this on our trip to Cancun in less than two weeks! :)