Leap Day!

Happy Leap Year! Happy Leap Day! I urge you to leap as many times as you can today! I have certainly been leaping into massive puddles with my rainboots. I'm not ashamed.

How she keeps her umbrella under control is beyond me.

I'm taking an hour to sit and chill after my test today because I woke up this morning feeling sort of awful. That also means that I did not go to yoga this morning because I didn't want to throw up on the subway or anything like that. But I think it might have to do with dinner last night. Paul and I made a lightened up version of Alfredo from Running to the Kitchen because we both love Alfredo but we always feel a tiiiiiny bit guilty about our love.

The verdict? It was a bit different but CRAZY delicious. We both loved it and he is so darn picky with his Alfredo sauce. SUCCESS!! The delicious cheese might have upset my stomach, but I'm ignoring that.

Speaking of food...

So very, very red.

That's what my face resembled last evening after my run. IT WAS ONLY TWO MILES! I swear by the end of the Broad Street Run I'm going to upgrade to lobster status.

I was going to run alongside the river but it got too dark and my built-in running partner was busy studying. So I just hopped downstairs and got on the treadmill. I am rediscovering my hate for the treadmill. I just psych myself out so badly I go crazy. I also had to take two mini-walk breaks at the tail end of the second mile. So my goal by the end of this week is to bust that habit.

Today I'm catching up on some strength training, hopefully going to a spinning class, and going to dance later tonight. Hence the reason I'm vegging right now. :)

Happy Leap Day!!

How are you using your extra 24 hours this year?
As always, pictures from Pinterest. :)

Monday Funday

I know Funday is usually reserved for Sunday, but I feel like sometimes Monday gets a little bit sad when it gets such negative names attributed to it. It's really alright!

This morning, my alarm went off at six o'clock. After a quick five minute snooze, I cruised on autopilot to get out the door because I had everything picked out from the night before. It wasn't until I was on the subway that I realized I was awake before seven o'clock. And you know what? It felt awesome!

First step of the day: YOGA
It was totally worth the wake up call. At first I felt a little uncomfortable because I'm generally a "go hard or go home" gal when it comes to working out, so yoga felt a little slow. But man, by the end of it I was feeling so stretchy and bendy. I'm sore, but that's an awesome feeling. And I've learned some new stuff that I'm going to use to keep my muscles happy!

Then I came home and went to bed for another twenty minutes.

But then I woke up again, don't worry! I had peanut butter and jelly oatmeal and took a shower! I promise I was productive!

[p]

Next step: Survive classes, meetings, and tests!
Totally done and totally productive!! PLUS I GOT AN A ON MY ANATOMY TEST. WOOOO!!!

Then: Strength? Training?
Turned into lunch hour. And got moved to Wednesday because dance was going to run later than was originally planned. And I wasn't properly fueled. But that's my own bad.

Finally: DANCE, DANCE, DANCE!
I did it.

I topped of the day with a chat with the biff out in the beautiful evening weather. Spring is coming. I can feel it in my bones. :)

First day of Spring at Penn's Landing! 2010. Holy Moses. I'm such a hip-jutter-outter.

 

What mean things do you say about Monday?

The Start of Something Good

Not a dance major, but still totally legit.

I have written out a to-do list and a schedule for this entire week. My life is getting crazy and it's honestly pretty great. But maybe I just think it's great because Spring Break is in sight. And that means a BREAK, of course!

It also means Spring Cleaning in the Paul/Amanda apartment. Finally. We tend to be a little messy because we're both running around so much.

Speaking of running around...BROAD STREET RUN TRAINING STARTS NOW!!!


A reason that I have everything planned out is because running ten miles is a little intimidating at this point in my life. So I'm going to try to not overdo it but get it done. So here's my week in an exercise nutshell and I'll fill you in as the week progresses!

Sunday: That would be today. I had dance rehearsal for four hours. YAY.

Monday: Yoga at seven in the morning; strength training with Chiang and Paul; InMotion rehearsal in the evening

Tuesday: THE FIRST RUN!!! Two miles!

Wednesday: Maybe yoga in the morning again if I need it; Spinning at the IBC; InMotion rehearsal in the evening

Thursday: Two miles! Also strength training thrown in there!

Friday: REST!!

Saturday: Two miles again

Now I'm off to bed because that alarm is in the back of my mind. And I know it's going to be painful. I'm such a whiner.

Pinterest, of course.

How do you get your butt up in the morning? JEEZ.

Study Break

My brain has short circuited. It no longer wants to learn about epithelial tissue, and it is not sorry about that. But that also explains the lack of exciting posts.

LAME.

Since this weekend was my birthday weekend, I gotta tell you I didn't end up studying that much. Big surprise, right?

You could study this picture, if you'd like.

I danced. I cupcaked. I sushied. I didn't sleep a lot. I got a lovely necklace from Italy that somebody had been keeping from me. :)

I ALSO. GOT A COOL GIRAFFE FROM ITALY. Holy moses. I love giraffes.

I wish he were this guy. :( (pinterest)

It was a great, great birthday that resulted in me using every spare moment this week to study anatomy. The sad part is, I'm not even joking.

So. Sharing some of my favorite pictures. Then I'm gone. Back to the books, son!

Always appropriate.

Clearly a happy camper.

InMotion girls are the best kind.

What would a biff picture be without Jake's eyes?

Such a classy bunch.

Our imitation of the St. Joe's Hawk.

BLAH. STUDYING. I wish I could listen to music but that would be counterproductive.

P.S. I have my first performance since last school year today. HOLY MOSES. I am so excited/nervous/excitedexcitedexcited.

P.P.S. Broad Street Run training posts will begin next week. :)

What do you listen to while you study? Can I have it?

It's About Love

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

I gotta say that I love this holiday. I know a lot of people hate it for being commercialized to the point of no return. Or they hate it because it capitalizes on the fact they are single. But there isn't enough love in this world as is, so why the heck WOULDN'T you take advantage of this holiday? I've certainly been telling everybody to have a splendid Valentine's Day.

Plus, seeing boys running around with huge teddy bears on the Broad Street Line and heart shaped balloons on campus is just precious.

These are adorable. (From Pinterest, of course.)

My day was full of awesome. First of all at midnight I registered for the Broad Street Run thanks to my insurance. Now I have to do it, no matter what. I'm also running with a really great group of people that I'll talk about in another post so it gets the attention it deserves. :)

Secondly, I discovered my anatomy test was multiple choice. That easily made my day a million times better. It went splendidly and I'm really excited about that.

Then I got home to my date and exchanged presents. I was also treated to a delicious sushi meal and then we made lava cake. YUM.

If anybody is interested, we used the Molten Chocolate Lava Cake recipe featured on Pioneer Woman's blog. And It was SO DELICIOUS.

Now I'm watching Dance Moms and loving my life and I hope you are all doing the same. Dance Moms optional, but suggested.

How was your Valentine's Day?

BIRTHDAY WEEK!

CELEBRATION!

It's officially time, guys. Birthday Week has officially begun. Because I'm awesome and cocky and self-centered and would like to formally dedicate this whole week to my twenty-first birthday.

Thank you.

Some other highlights this week include:

HOOTER THE OWL'S BIRTHDAY!

Dancing until I can't anymore. (I get to teach on my birthday!)

Broad Street Run sign-ups and training. What up?

Intense studying for anatomy.

Valentine's Day!

Hibachi birthday!

All of these colorful delights. (But not really. You get the point.)

AND THIS PART TWO! PLUS KAITLYN AND PAUL! WOOOOO!

 BIRTHDAY PARTY TOO! YAY!

So yeah. That's just a heads up for my week. My goal is to have a super big amount of fun, enjoy Valentine's Day, eat good food, spend time with great people, run a lot, dance more, and not fail my anatomy test.

READY? GO!

How are YOU celebrating my birthday week? :D (Well, don't I sound like a brat. Haha.)

*All pictures with not my face in it credited to Pinterest. :)

A Belated Game of Tag

So my lovely dear Abby from Style Princess tagged me to do this...on January 19th. See how efficient I am and how prompt I am with my blogging? Nothing has changed from Italy. Except maybe I speak more in English now. SO YEAH! I'm it!

The Blogger Game:

The Rules

1. You must post the rules.

2. Post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.

3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged.

4. Tag eleven (too bad I don't have eleven bloggerpals) people and link them on your post

5. Let them know you've tagged them!

My eleven fun facts:

1. I have a stuffed Simba that I've had since I was super tiny. He's recently been joined by a cherry-scented bear. And I love them.

2.  I still have Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus songs on my ipod because I refuse to acknowledge the fact I won't need them to teach children to dance anymore.

3.  My professor this semester stereotyped me as a strange legwarmer/sock wearer. He was correct.

4.  My sister and I have seen every single episode of Gilmore Girls and used to have summer marathons. It is sad how much I know about that show.

5. I get really, really, really excited about sporting events. If I go to a game where people won't cheer and yell with me...well. I wouldn't go to the game with them in the first place.

6. My car's name is Excalibur. I don't drive him anymore and I guess he's officially been handed down to my sister. She claims that she renamed it Bubbles. Or something stupid like that. Clearly it is a boy car.

7. I used to hate potatoes, tomatoes, and ketchup. Now I will eat them all except for ketchup. I do, however, eat Whole Foods ketchup because you can trick me into thinking it is barbeque sauce.

8. I LOVE DINOSAURS. I was OBSESSED with them as a kid. And I think that's still in there somewhere.

9. Laundry is my least favorite chore. I absolutely hate it. I have wash in right now, in fact. And I hate just thinking about it.

10. I would live in athletic clothes if I could. I'm either at either end of the spectrum. That or dresses. You will never ever ever ever find me in jeans. Think you did? Check again. They're jeggings.

11. I love living in Philadelphia and I feel like such an awesome person living where I do. Also, I think that Philly's food trucks are awesome.

Abby's Questions:

1. What is your favorite holiday?

Is it really, really lame to pick my birthday? Because I would absolutely pick my birthday. And then I'd pick Christmas. But I absolutely love every holiday and go crazy for each one.

2. What is your favorite baked good?

I think I would used to say brownies, but they're typically too sweet for me anymore. I really like fresh baked cookies with chocolate chips, craisins, and some oatmeal. That's incredibly specific.

3. What is your favorite picture of yourself/friends of all time?

That's like asking me to pick my favorite child. Honestly?

Moose girls love.

I love this picture so so much.

:D

Maybe my favorite biff picture for life.

You've seen this like 309572305 times.

On our road trip to Kansas. :)

You asked. I bet you're sorry now. I really can't pick just one. These don't even cover it. I LOVE PICTURES.

4. Least favorite movie?

There are a few I would imagine that I do not like. But I distinctly remember going to see Bad News Bears (the remake one) in theaters and nearly crying because I thought it was that awful.

5. How many licks until the center of a Tootsie Pop?

Nobody licks Tootsie Pops so that answer is irrelevant.

6. Gloves or mittens?

I look stupid in mittens because of my tiny hands. So gloves.

7. Least favorite book you had to read in high school?
The Crucible. I hate the book. I hate the play. I hate the movie. I hate anything and everything having even a slight relation to The Crucible.

8. How high are your highest heels?

Really not very high because I don't want to be too tall. I'd say normal size.

9. Favorite Disney character?

Jasmine or Simba. Really I have a soft spot for most of them.

10. Tea or coffee?

I haaaaate coffee. So I'mma go with tea.

11. Describe your favorite jacket.

Silly Edinburgh girl. :) I don't like any of my jackets because that means it is cold outside. Is that an acceptable answer?

I tag:

I don't have any friends. I'm not going to play favorites. So anybody that sees this can play! :) But I guess if I'm playing tag, I'll tag Lauren, Kristin, and Alyssa to start with.

My questions:

1.  What's the best food you've ever bought from a truck?

2.  What's your favorite song to dance to?

3. What is your favorite class right now and why?

4. Chloe or Maddie? (If you don't watch Dance Moms, what's your favorite TV show?)

5. What is your stance on best friends?

6. Tell me about your favorite vacation.

7. Who was there for the happiest moment/day/week/etc. of your life?

8. What is your favorite form of exercise?

9. Do you cook/what is your favorite thing to cook?

10. What has been the worst job you've done so far?

11. What's your favorite city? It can be anywhere in the world.

Let me know if you do this and I'll cling to you desperately for blogging friendship read your answers!

Burning Out

Today I'm going to whine about rant/muse/discuss burning out. It's a topic I am all too familiar with, to be perfectly honest. I know that's an awful relationship to have with the concept but it's true.

Eventually they'll burn out. I like to think this is my candle style.

So far, school has been pretty awesome. Some of my classes are tough or have a lot of work, but I'm totally managing them this far. Which is pretty impressive, as far as I'm concerned. I think it's because I've finally found the perfect balance of enjoyment and what I'm going to do. I love it. I'm a nerd. Get over it.

Finally went through! IT FINALLY WENT THROUGH! :D

Speaking of balancing those things that I love to do, dance is NOT out of the picture. FINALLY. No more whining about how I'm never dancing on this blog. I'm dancing with InMotion (obviously) and I'm in an admin position. So that sucks up a lot of my thinking time. And eating time. And time. BUT I LOVE IT. And there's a show in the works for that and some performances coming up, so AWESOME.

My lovely captain and friend Laura is also being an AMAZING person and directing a dance show for undergrad theater students. Which is awesome because there aren't really that many opportunities for dancing in the department. At least not the kind of dancing that we're looking for. But I digress. I'm dancing/choreographing/involved in what feels like 32059732057 pieces. Again, AWESOME. But that means a lot of dance rehearsal. (Not that I'm complaining.)

This is related, I swear. We were dancing on Liacouras.

But wait! There's more! I got a job! They want me to work eighteen hours a weekend. At first I was like "AW YEAH, MONEY! I guess I'll try to have no life and at least pay my rent!" But now I'm realizing that I'll have to drop a day. It won't be nearly as much money, but I'll hopefully stay on staff for the summer time when I can work lots of hours. And hopefully get lots of tips because, let me tell you, the pay is NOT great.

The more I think about how great this stuff is, the happier I am.

That's pretty hectic as is. But naturally, I think it's perfectly acceptable to do some more!

Training for this little number, for instance.

BROAD STREET RUN, YEAH! First off, this takes up a lot of my worry time because I don't think I could run ten miles if somebody had a gun pointed to my head (And Lord knows Philly is the place to find that. ;) Love you, Philly). But I really want to do it, and I know I'll kick my butt if I don't. Plus a lot of my friends want to do it as well. So I think it's going to be really, really fun. So yeah. Training for that comes in soon.

Plus I really like taking classes and keeping up with my exercise in general.

Throw in commuting, maintaining my friendships (Well, that's a given. Otherwise I would whine and complain about my life more), cooking, eating, sleeping (Yes. I sleep. Not sleeping will NOT solve this problem), and random other stuff that pops up. That does not equate to a lot of time. Even that one guy I live with and I don't see each other for twenty-four hours sometimes. NUTS!

So I guess my point is. I was supposed to go running this morning but I was dead and felt like throwing up when I woke up. So I slept in. And I'm being lazy until class at 12:30 because otherwise I'm going to get sick. I'm trying so hard to keep a balance. BUT IT IS SO HARD. But I'm going to continue doing it anyway. Because I'm like that.

I look just like that too.

What do you have to balance in your life before your candle reaches it's end? How do you do it??

*Most pictures are from Pinterest, except for the one with my face in it or the one with my name in it. But I thought those were pretty clearly mine. :)

A Note About Love

I found this today and thought the world needed to know. :) If I make the image extra large it looks awful with the layout. So just do me a favor and click on it. It'll get bigger and all that and it'll make your day, no matter what your stance on love is.

Found it on the Facebook.

Happy February to all! It's the best month you know. So stay smiling!