WIR #31: the hummus edition

It's one of those weeks where I can't promise I'm going to make it here every day... I know I say that a lot... I should probably adjust my expectations... but where's the fun in that :)

Anywho... the to-do list is getting smaller, and that my friends is exciting! I have 2 presentations and 2 diagnostics separating me from a bunch of holiday fun, and those 4 things aren't even as bad as they sound! Don't mind the fact that I brought my coffee mug to the clinic with me, it's been a long Monday. 

Considering my eats last week contained 2 full containers of hummus.... lets just say I'll be happy for the semester to be over for the sake of my waistline alone. What can I say stress eating has always been my forte. 

In the same vein last weeks craziness made it a little rough to get any "real" exercise. Though I took a few 1/2 hour walks and did a bit of yoga, so I guess the week wasn't a complete loss. 

My own life may have been a sad mess of reports and hummus, but my bestie had some fabulous news to share :) 

I'm super bummed that she is still all the way in Buffalo so I won't see her until after Christmas, but can't wait to celebrate the good news in person. Plus her boy did an amazing job on the ring ;)

Not as an impressive of a list as the one Meghan accomplished, but I'm pretty proud of myself. I also can't wait for next week when I'll officially be done with my last semester on campus as a grad student!

Chopped Kitchen Challenge: December 2013

Hey guys! I've got a quickie post for you today as I'm in prep mode for my final conference this afternoon and my full day of testing tomorrow (yikes!). But I had to make sure I was around to share the Chopped kitchen Challenge for this month!

In case you missed it (I know the weather around here hasn't caught on yet, shhh!) it's officially December. And that means it's the month of endless holiday parties! Usually this time of year those parties include plates and plates of cookies and other baked goods! 

Since I know most of you will be baking anyways, I've gathered up a few ingredients that (to me) scream holidays! If you're up for the challenge go ahead and bake something with cocoa powder, peppermint, citrus, or cinnamon (I wouldn't recommend all 4 together but if you can make it work...).  You should link up even if you bake something really awesome without any of these ingredients. Think of this as a giant, virtual, cookie exchange; and the party starts December 19th!

So mark your calendars, preheat your ovens, and let's get cooking!

WIAW #29: The holiday leftover, mad study dash, edition

Hey guys! Hope you all are having a fabulous week so far, and if not at least it's almost over? I'm keeping things short around here since I'm supposed to be cramming studying but breaks make you a more effective studier (I think that's a scientific fact?)

Anywho today's the day for delicious eats and since I've been going at the books like crazy trying to finish the semester on a good note, my eats have been a little crazy this week (it's okay because at least I'm not hallucinating...yet). They're also a little heavy on the leftovers because there is literally nothing easier than food you can grab straight from the fridge.

Like giant bowls of apple cranberry crunch, a cross between a crisp and a fruity baked oatmeal, this is a staple at our Thanksgiving table and I always get dibs on the leftovers!!

Or salads made with the piles of leftover greens my Aunt gifted (?) us for hosting (never question free salad greens, just take them and enjoy!) 

Of course multiple mugs of multiple teas were consumed throughout the course of the day? What else would I use to keep my sleep deprived SLP-brain running?

(Thanks goodness for free refills on hot water!)

A quick jar of chili (made for my brother before he got on the bus back to school) re-heated in my oh-so-favorite school microwave. Bright side of this being the last crazy week we have on campus... a lot less time spent in our basement of a clinic!! I may have been so excited that I forgot to photograph said chili until after I'd eaten it... but I will say it was delicious!

And what better way to refuel for a late night of studying (and writing that darn voice paper I keep talking about) than a mug of hot chocolate, in front of the tree of course. 

Leftovers, yay or nay? Anyone else ready for this week to be over?

WIR #30: Christmas gifts and healthy goals

Hey guys! Everything was a little off around here last week due to the holiday, but I enjoyed the extra time with friends and family and hope you did to. This kicks off my last crazy week of the semester (and pretty much ever in terms of school) so let's get listing all there is to do  this week (and all that got done last week!)

I checked my first goal off my 25 by 25 last week by running the local Turkey Trot with my brother on Thanksgiving. Well not really with him... he finished a good 8 minutes ahead of me... but hey I ran the whole time too! 

I also did 100 burpees yesterday for the #elf4health challenge... that was a first for me. 

I worked an odd schedule of hours at job #2 and spent some time yesterday prepping craft supplies for the Christmas party at job #1 later in the week. 

We hosted half of my mom’s family for a fantastic Thanksgiving celebration.

Best part of hosting is leftovers for days… including half a pan of my favorite apple cranberry crunch all to myself :)

And cranberry sauce to top pancakes as I continued to teach BF how to make them over the weekend!

Speaking of the Bf we also spent some time hanging out with his family on Friday AND he took me to see Catching Fire (which is the first movie EVER that I’ve thought was better than the book).

I helped decorate our Christmas tree and wrapped all my presents, because I’m on top of things like that.

This week I have my last day at my clinical site, conferences with my clients on campus, a demonstration on vocal hygiene (to go with the paper that I’m totally done writing…), half a dozen meetings, and written comprehensive exams on Friday. We’re also having problems with our router again… so if I seem a little quiet this week let’s just blame it on lack of reliable internet access.

Do you like to get your Christmas shopping done early? 

Selfie Sunday

What? A post on a Sunday...who am I? In my defense I wrote this up before the weekend started (love you all but not enough to cut into my BF time). I just couldn't resist the first week of the awesomely titled link up at Arman's. I get to talk about myself and I get an excuse to take some selfies? That's a link up I can get behind! 

What is your cultural background?

I'm a european mix (including polish, dutch, german, and some other small percentages). Basically this means I rock totally awesome pale porcelain skin year round and that my dad's family likes drinks... and pierogi. 

What was your most memorable birthday and why?

I could be mean and say 13 where my parents said I could get a cat and then backed out AFTER we had gone to play with/pick one out at the shelter (love you mom!). Or that one in college that fell on Friday the 13th and I had to sit through a 2 hour calc exam. Looking back I've had some pretty interesting birthday's. 

(this one wasn't even mine but how cool is that pinata?) 

What is your #1 thing you want to accomplish in your lifetime?

I don't know if I've settled on one thing yet... I want to write a book. And raise a family. And have a garden. And love my job (where I hope to make a difference). I guess for now I could say I want to accomplish living my life. I want to be able to look back at the end and say that was awesome. 

(deep stuff, right?) 

What is the stupidest thing you've ever done?

Besides tequila shots? I kid, I kid :)  At this point I'm going to go with trying to convince my parents to take me to audition for a role in Annie when I was little. I loved musicals, I knew all the words, and I thought my acting was fabulous. I know now that this was a very smart move on my parents part because I cannot carry a tune in a bucket. 

Who was your childhood hero?

I guess I would have to say an author, or a hero/heroine from one of my favorite books for this one. I was a pretty nerdy child and I hate to say I didn't know much about people outside of my family and the books I read. Let's go J.K. Rowling for real person and Samwise Gamgee for fictional character (yeah I read the LoTr books in 5-6th grade, blame my dad for that one). J.K. Rowling made a pretty nice living for herself doing something she clearly loves which is something I'm aspiring to right now. And Samwise Gamgee is literally the epic best friend, the kind of person I both strive to be and am lucky to have found in my life. 

(You can't see my face, but I'm the nerd in the chair!)

Wow, was that deep enough for you on a Sunday? Hopefully the shameless selfies helped  to lighten things a bit. 

I told you mine now tell me yours, whats the stupidest thing YOU'VE ever done? I'm dying to know :) 

30 Days of Fitness: December 2013

Happy Friday everyone! (I guess happy Black Friday if you do that sort of thing, or Happy Food Coma day if you're feeling as stuffed as I am from yesterday...).

I know it's technically November for another 2 days but I hope you don't mind December's 30 days of fitness a few days early (you don't mind, right?)

November was supposed to be run focused, helping me to build speed so I could meet my goal in my first 5k yesterday. 

If were being truthful November was a pretty lazy month... I started out strong but then I got random days off (which threw off my routine) and I got sick and it was cold. So while it wasn't horrible I didn;t work out as much as I would have liked and I can feel it in my body. When I'm not active my whole body feels slow. I have a harder time getting out of bed and a harder time focusing in classes.

Since I'm all about honesty and accountability for this month I decided on a challenge that will really keep me accountable. I already mentioned I'm doing Elf4Health which is an amazing social media based fitness challenge, with encouragement and accountability built right in. 

I also took advantage of a coupon I found for a free $5 start to join up with Gym Pact. If there's one thing I hate more than leaving my blanket pile bed in the cold it's losing money (especially since I'm broke as it is) so this will get me moving for at least 30 minutes 5 days a week. 

Besides the built in challenges that come with Elf4Health (like those burpees on Sunday that are going to kill me!!!) I'm not setting any specific routine or program of exercise to follow this month. My goal is just to get up and get moving :) 

WIR #29: The ER edition

Hey guys! Getting this in just under the wire today, but when I fill you in on what my Sunday consisted of I'm hoping you'll cut me some slack...

But before we get there I have lots of other great things I checked off my to-do list in the last week, so let's list those first shall we?

Big thanks as always to the lovely Meghan! 

The work
Did a few hours each at jobs 1 and 2 and picked up some bonus hours tutoring geometry for an old tutoring client of mine. I have lots of hours lined up at job #2 for when my client is on holiday breaks which will be awesome for my bank account. Did a couple of papers and clinical reports for school. There's only 2 papers, 1 demonstration, client conferences, and comprehensive exams (those are next week already... yikes!) are all that are separating me from the last winter "break" I will ever have as a college student. Now if only these papers would go ahead and write themselves...

The workouts

Were less than stellar, I'll admit. I went for about 8 miles total of run/walks last week, which means this weeks 5k may very well end up being the death of me. At this point I'm shooting to finish in 28 minutes and hoping my competitive spirit will kick in when I see all these people (including my baby brother) going so much faster than me. On the good side I foam rolled like a champ last week AND found a new yoga video I'm addicted to. I also signed up for the Elf 4 Health challenge and got paired with an awesome elf for the first round. 

The eats
Nothing crazy exciting here last week, except for the day I gorged myself on sweet potato fries...

And the pancakes BF and I made for lunch on Sunday, well after the ER incident...

But I think there will be enough food going on THIS week to make up for it.

The life

So this is the part where I fill you in on how I "ruined" a perfectly good weekend with the BF by getting the WORST migraine I have ever experienced at about 2am on Sunday. We'd had a great night out, shared a few drinks (nothing excessive or out of the ordinary), met some interesting characters at the bar (like the pair of recently divorced wives out to find some "young love" their words not mine), and cheered the hawks on to a nice win (even though the cable cut out literally seconds before the final buzzer). 

All in all a great night for us, made better by the prospect of sleeping in the next day (one of my favorite weekend activities). Well apparently my brain had other ideas. I woke up at 2:30 with a horrible migraine. Okay fine, life happens. Took my triptan, rolled over in bed and tried to go back to sleep. The problem with pills is that they only work if you can keep them down and this time around my stomach was having none of that. I'll spare you the details but after a few quick runs to the bathroom I was feeling pretty icky and the headache wasn't fading. Next thing I know the pain spikes like crazy and I lose feeling/control of my arm. 

Needless to say I woke the BF up at this point asking to go to the ER. 20 minute car ride, 1 full trashcan, and a struggle with paperwork later and we were settled into a room for the next 2 hours. I got countless pokes and prods, a CT scan (even though my MRI a few months ago was clean), and an IV full of something. Once the head pain faded some control of my arm came back, it was tingly and stiff but at least I could feel it. No one could find anything wrong or any reason as to why I should have been having arm problems associated with my headache. We left around 6am with instructions for me to make an appointment with my neurologist ASAP to follow up. 

Needless to say I spent most of Sunday sleeping, including a nap on the BF while he watched football, and going to bed way way early, and I am kind of grumpy that such an incident happened. I was all excited last week when my perscription came (my insurance refills automatically through the mail) and I still had a month and a half of my last three month supply. I thought I had been getting my headaches under control and was so happy that their frequency and severity had lessened. But this last one was scary. Majorly scary. So it's back to the drawing board in terms of management, but no doubt I'll figure it out eventually. 

Are you a competitive person when it comes to exercise? Any other migraine sufferers out there with advice to share?