A Taste of Sparkle

Good morning!

This week is exciting for me because I’m leaving on Friday for a mini-vacation! My family always goes to South Carolina for a couple weeks every summer, but since I’m in school, I can’t come for the full time, so they are flying my boyfriend and I down for the weekend

Also, I’m picking up my birthday present this week: a new laptop! I’m going to pick out my new MacBookPro as soon as I get some free time – going on vacation is great, but it also means that I have to be extra-diligent about getting all my work for this week done so that I can actually enjoy myself.

I’m bringing along my new Sigg water bottle and a Cookies ‘N’ Cream Promax bar to keep me energized through my classes today. I’ll be back this afternoon to give the lowdown on the Promax bars!

‘Til then,

Hi everyone! Sorry for the brief hiatus! My family came up to spend some time with me at school, so I’ve been with them this weekend. We had a lot of fun: we went on a hike, ate at my favorite restaurant, and saw Harry Potter again!

Today was pretty eventful. First up was my eight mile long run, a new record distance!

Running Stats

Distance: 8.00 miles

Time: 1:24:12

Pace: 10:31

I followed pretty much the same routine as last week: I did the run in two loops, stopping to get water and some sport moons in between. However, I think I ate my pre-run breakfast a little too close to actually setting out on my run, because I could feel it in my stomach for the first few miles. Something to remember next time, I guess!

Also something to remember for future long runs/my race day is that at the very end of mile 8, so close to the end that I could see the door of my house, I got a muscle cramp in my calf – ouch! Those hurt! I can still feel it a bit even though I stretched it out. I’m thinking that either I was pushing myself a bit too hard on the last loop (I ended up with a negative split, where my second 4 miles was quite a bit faster than my first.) or that my electrolytes, especially potassium, became slightly unbalanced toward the end. If it happens again, I’ll need to think about adding some Gatorade or other electrolyte mix into my mid-run refueling.

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Next, something sad happened: my favorite Sigg water bottle started leaking, all inside my bag! My phone, my wallet, my notebook: everything got wet, unfortunately. Luckily, almost everything is dry and fine by now, except for my phone which now “purrs” when I turn it on, lol. Hopefully it will dry soon.

The culprit:

This was the only water bottle I had, and since I’m away from my room going to classes for a good five hours out of the day, I really need something to carry some water! So on my way to the grocery store tonight, I stopped by EMS and bought a new bottle:

Excuse the silly hair!

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Well, I’m off to study some genetics, but I will be back tomorrow to give a review on more of my new protein bars that I’m trying, specifically these:

Yes, I bought them again! And that’s always a good thing

P.S. This site is taking up way too much of my free time: Passive Aggressive Notes

See you tomorrow!

What a way to start the week! I had 3 midterm exams in less than 24 hours! Well, I’m finally done and now I feel like this:

I let myself relax and read for a couple hours and now I’m going to try and get caught up on some things I’ve been putting off in order to study (like showering! Shh!). I’m going to make a big grocery store run in a few minutes with my list, and I also have to clean up a bit. I like to Swiffer the floors every Sunday, but I ended up doing work most of the day instead, so that’s on the agenda. Also, I’m lacking for weekly flowers! I need cheer in here, as my poor mums are sinking quickly.

Yesterday I managed to cram in a 3 mile elliptical workout (while studying, of course!) and today, it’s rainy and cold out, so I’m thinking a stress-relieving yoga session’s in the works for tonight.

Now, speaking of grocery shopping, here’s something new on my list:

I tried it for the first time yesterday for lunch because I was need of something quick, and I loved it! This is my first time trying Amy’s products because usually I don’t like frozen meals, but for a frozen meal, this was really good and saved me a lot of time.

It didn’t look quite as pretty in real like as it does in the picture on the box (when does that even happen, though?), but that certainly didn’t have any impact on its taste. I loved the black-eyed peas and rice combo, and you could actually see the veggies that they put in there. Also, with 9 grams of protein, it is a good little meal. I had it with some more veggies on the side, sugar snap peas and carrots.

Off to the store! I’ll be back later tonight, unless of course I’m doing this

Later!

My dad, my brother and I tonight, with my bag of farmer’s market goodies!

For under $10, I got:

• 2 fresh baby cucumbers
• a huge bag of snow peas
• a quart of baby new potatoes
• a spring of chocolate mint

I can’t wait to try the chocolate mint in a smoothie! And going along with my Mix up your meals challenge, I got cucumbers (with some falafel combo in mind), snow peas to munch to mix up my usual side of carrots, and potatoes to incorporate into dinner!

Speaking of dinner, we went to a great trattoria and ate outside in the breeze. I brought this delicious crepe that I got at the market for an “appetizer“! I split it with my mom. It was topped with berries and a tiny bit of powdered sugar, and was absolutely delicious!

For dinner, I got the Insalata Mista with balsamic vinaigrette. I topped with with some of the crushed garlic from the olive oil dipping plate, and it was yum. I enjoyed it because I usually don’t take the time to make up a beautiful salad like this, so having it was a bit of a treat.

For the meal, my mom and I split a Margherita thin crust pizza. Now the pizza from this place is just delicious. The mozzarella is fresh, there’s just the right amount of basil, and the crust is paper thin and crunchy. I had two and a half slices, which was just right. Since the crust is so thin, they don’t fill you up as quickly as the doughy, bready crusted pizzas, and you get more of the good stuff!

After dinner, my brother wanted to look around in a sporting goods/bike store and so I browsed around in there too. I’m so glad I did, because I had some good finds! First up are these Brooks sneakers, which were 30% off. I got them for only $80, and they’re purple! They are a neutral cushioning shoe and are a little bit lighter than my current pair of Brooks, but more structured and cushioned than my current Mizunos. I’ve taken to wearing my Brooks on long runs for the cushioning and my Mizunos for shorter runs, or else I end up pretty sore afterwards.

Lastly, I got something I’ve been needing for a while. I brought my bike up to school in April, but I couldn’t find my helmet and I don’t feel safe riding without one. So my poor bike has sat in the bike rack alone for three months. But luckily this bike store had some rockin‘ helmets:

What do you think? That’s right, you know I look super cool!

Check back tomorrow for a new meal/recipe and more great stuff! I’m thinking about having a contest/giveaway soon, but I think I need to build the blog up a tiny bit more first. But it’s coming soon, and I already have the perfect idea!

Sleep tight,

I am almost recovered from my night of no sleep! It was worth it though, I’m glad I went to the midnight showing.

This morning, I’ve been doing some research on the Alzheimer’s Association’s Run for the Memory campaign. It sounds like I will most likely be running my half-marathon as an individual effort for the cause. While I would love to run one of the ALZ’s sponsored races, I’m already signed up for my half in September and none of theirs really fit my schedule. Luckily, this program allows me to still make a difference by running my individual race!

I think I’ve gotten myself into a rut with meal variety. It’s great to have some go-to options for meals, but eating the same thing every day is already getting a little old. It’s time for a challenge!

Mix Up Your Meal Challenge!

Every day, I’m going to try a new meal for either breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I would love to try some oats at breakfast, cook up the tempeh I have sitting in my fridge, and try out some new recipes from my cookbooks. Anyone else?

Today I don’t have much time to spend on meal preparation, so I’m going to just do a simple switch-up. I’m planning on a quesadilla with one Joseph’s Flax wheat wrap, some soy cheese, and some kind of mix of veggies. I’ll let you know how it turns out this afternoon!

On the schedule today is an easy 3 mile run, because I took yesterday off due to lack of sleep. A nap was just far more tempting

See you this afternoon!