Over due post

I have been seriously lacking in the blogging department lately. This needs to change, unfortunately I have an uber busy week coming up before the weekend's festivities begin! This weekend is St. Patrick's Day and Phillip is coming into town! YAY! I get to see my cuddle buddy for the first time in 2 1/2 months!

BUT lets detour before I talk about this coming week and backtrack to the last couple days shall we?

Friday: Friday was filled with tummy troubles. But I had to put those aside to welcome my sorority sisters! (lack of pictures is due to me forgetting my camera most of the time :/ fail).

When they got here, they were pretty tired, so we decided to spend friday night in and watch P.S. I Love You, appropriate movie if I do say so myself ;) After a pint of Ben and Jerry's cookie dough for them and crackers (for my tummy) for me, we passed out.

Saturday: Saturday was filled with lots of walking and an adventure to the Blarney Stone! I already went there earlier this semester, but it was nice to go again and see things I neglected before :) ALSO there were two weddings going on!

Yes I was a complete creeper and took this photo ;) What can I say, I LOVE weddings :D

Isn't this car jammin?!? LOVE it.

Anywayzzzzzz
After Blarney, we took the bus back to Cork and were pretty hungry so we stopped by this little pub and grabbed some food. I got the smoked salmon sandwich and an irish coffee...YUM!

After this there was an undocumented gelato run. This time I got oreo AND cookies and cream. I mean come on?!? cookies and cream is soooo good I couldn't help myself ;)

After our delicious meal, we headed back to my apartment and got ready for the rest of the evening. We went to this traditional Irish pub, where we preceded to get pints and have a jolly good time!

*side note: this weekend was also filled with countless (and I mean countless) amounts of snacking...I can't remember how many bags of animal crackers, cheese-its, and handfuls of reese's (tiny) eggs I had.*

I forgot how much I love snacking...and then I remember how much I love healthy eating and everything turns out great!

Now for today! Whew!

After dropping off my sistaaaaaas at the bus station, I walked to the gym and completed a 45 min workout that looked like this

10 min stairs
10 mins elliptical
7 mins abs
5 mins stretching and core strengthening

It was a solid workout that made me sweat, which was exactly what I needed after this indulgent weekend.

After that cardio heavy workout, I was ready for some oatmeal :) So I took a page from my friend at Peanut Butter Fingers and used the jar of peanut butter I had that only had about 1 tablespoon of pb left and created a delicious creamy pb filled oatmeal :) YUM. plus a side of raspberries.

The best part? at the bottom where the peanut butter didn't get fully incorporated into the oatmeal...GOOD EATS. So delicious :)

After that PB filled morning it is time for me to prepare for this week! This includes: 2 exams and 2 papers I have to complete before I can enjoy the company of phil and baking for St. Patrick's Day!

I might be a little bad about blogging this week, so please forgive me. I'll try my best!

Love you all (or for those who read this silly thing ;) )

xo

Tummy troubles

Hello fabulous followers! (haha alliterations)

Sorry for the absence as of late. I have not been feeling too well and needed some time to recuperate. Unfortunately i'm still feeling sub-par, which stinks because my sorority sisters (not all, just two ;) ) are coming to pay me a little visit for the weekend!

I couldn't be more excited. It's going to be so nice to have some familiar faces to talk to and to hang out with. It will get me out of my apartment and let me have a little fun. Hopefully I feel better by then :(

I'm not entirely sure what is wrong. It's like my entire abdomen is inflated. I looked it up (being the doctor that I am..helllooo self diagnosis). It could be that I have been eating too many veggies, which is entirely plausible. OR It could be that i'm lactose intolerant. I really hope it's the first of the two, because I don't know what I would do without cheese or greek yogurt in my life :(

That was probably too much information, but too bad :)

Anywho, I am cleaning up my humble abode whilst waiting on my international travelers to come!

Going to run some errands and get things ready for the crazzzzy weekend ahead! Oh and maybe get some homework done ;)

I'll post again soon, I promise!

xo
Sara

Questions: Have these tummy troubles ever happened to you? And if so, what did you do to relieve the pain?

Gelato in Ireland? Say WhAt?!?

I slept like a rock last night. Thank goodness because I don't think I could have handled another sleepless night!

With around 8 hours of sleep under my belt, I was ready to conquer the day! Going to class per usual was great, Archaeology is always a fun class to go to because 1. um hello? I'm an archaeology major ;) and 2. I love to listen to my professor's Irish accent.

After I went to the gym. I'm on a role this week! Every day so far and it feel great! It also felt great because I knew I was going to be having a delicious treat later that day ;)

LUNCH:

Lunch was a pita stuffed with cheese, spinach, and smoked tofu. I also had a side of grapefruit and sweet peas. YUM!

I'm so awkward when I take pictures of myself eating. :/ oh well :)

After lounging around for a couple more hours it was time for...GELATO!

Yes, gelato in Ireland. It sounds weird, but it was deeeeelicious!

I got the forest berry (which was aight) and then the cookies and cream. The cookies and cream was by far my favorite. It was creamy and had bits of chocolate crunchy cookies mixed in. It was a great contrast in textures, which I LOVE.

Even though it was pouring out, it made my day a little better :)

Yes, this is a sweater with anchors on it. Don't be hatin'.

After gelato, I had to quickly hurry back to my apartment to grab dinner and head to my night class. But while waiting for the bus, I felt like I needed a little pick me up to keep me going through the rest of the night. Insert--Gloria jeans coffee. Plain coffee with soy and a little sweetener did the trick!

After arriving back to my apartment, I didn't have that much time to eat so I threw together a 'dilla of cheese, spinach, crumbled tomato marinated tofu and salsa...Did the trick! That held me over until I came home around 7:30 (The professor let us out 40 mins early, YES!)

Once home, I skyped with phillip (haha) for a little and then decided I wanted a little late night snack. These late night snakes are going to be my demise...I think my stomach is telling me I need to go to bed earlier. Annnnnnyway I had a bowl of stove popped popcorn with galic salt and cinnamon (don't knock it till you try it, is an amazing combo) and home made hot chocolate with soy milk. That definitely did the trick because for some reason today I was just in a funk. But hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

Now it's off to bed.

Night!

Not a happy camper

For the past couple of nights now I have had the most difficult time getting to sleep. It's been horrible. I have so much going on in my mind right now that I can't seem to shake it when it is time to sleep. :( Needless to say, last night/this morning was not any different.

I went to bed at 11:30 (an hour later than I intended) and woke up at 3:00 am. yes. 3 A.M. NOT A HAPPY CAMPER. I could not go back to sleep. For some reason I was wide awake, so I decided to start my day early.

First Breakfast:
I had a delicious toasted cheese and jam sandwich with a side of yogurt and granola (it was 5 my the time I had breakfast and I was not about to get out of bed and get my camera...sorry ;) )

It was just what I needed to start my day. That and skyping with my bestie Fiona. She always knows how to cheer me up! (she lives in vancouver canada. the time difference was awesome because she was just going to bed and I was waking up!)

After my unintentional wake-up, I sat in bed until 8 and then got ready for class. I thought this morning was going to drag on forever, but it actually went by quite quickly.

After my two classes I decided to treat myself to a little indulging in the city center. Which included Lunch!

Lunch today was:

JUMP JUICE! I got the green kiss, which had this speculum powder to make it turn green, mango, apple juice, a banana and frozen yogurt. Just what I needed/wanted! It looks weird, but it was truly delicious :)

Earlier today I wanted Ice cream, but decided to get this instead and was very happy I did!

After I got my smoothie, I went to pick up my shoes from the cobbler {Isn't it cool that they still call them cobblers here?!} They look marvelous and ready for some walkin'!

Then I needed some retail therapy (after my stressful sleep deprivation) and went to H&M. Only to find out that they do not accept american gift cards over here, sad day :( BUT I still bought two things! (I will show off later).

After some shopping, I needed groceries for this week. Grocery shopping always makes me hungry, however I was already craving this sweet piece of deliciousness.

This is a natural foods bakery that I discovered in the city center. I wanted a cookie and this place did not disappoint.

LOOK AT THIS THING. IT'S THE SIZE OF MY HEAD!

I was a happy camper after this :) giant double chocolate chip (white AND dark chocolate) cookies. YUMMO.

I was so tasty!

Good thing I broke it in half so that I could savor the rest for after dinner! It will be a nice little sweet treat after my 2 hour long workout later tonight! yes, two hours. I'm taking a kettle bell class and then zumba right after. If I want to get into shape, i'll need to work hard core right?! (with minor indulgences along the way ;) )

well. That was super long, my apologizes.

Chat you cats later!

xo

Carbs, Cashel and Late Night Cravings

Hello Hello! Happy Saturday everyone!

Today was very very eventful!

First off, Breakfast: Oatmeal. with blueberries, toast with peanut butter and jam. Definitely needed this filling meal to hold me over for my FIELD TRIP TODAY! Yes, I'm studying abroad and I go on field trips with my class. Don't be hatin.

It was a beautiful day today, which made the trip, itself, much more enjoyable. After adventuring to many different places in North Cork, we got to the Rock of Cashel in enough time for lunch. Now I had my lunch on the bus, but a group of us went to a pub and sat down to relax. I got a coffee (plain) with a brown bread scone. MORE CARBS (of course I had jam to go with it!) I also had a little snack of these munchies. 1. they are small and 2. I have so many! I need to finish them off (totally justifying having three after lunch).

On the bus ride back, instead of listening to music, I decided to read. I KNOW crazy ;) but i'm really into The Hunger Games right now. I read 7 CHAPTERS. I'm flabbergasted by this as well *gasp*.

Anyway after I got home, I had a quick dinner. Skype le parentals and decided to do some blog creeping until I was going to go out. Sadly going out did not happen but this did:

This is a rice cake with peanut butter. This was only PART of my late night snack...the rest included: 1 handful of peanuts, 1 handful of almonds and 2 dates with peanut butter. I seriously have a problem with late night munchies. I either need to go to bed earlier, drink more water OR lock all of my food up an hour before I go to bed. Oh lawd, what WILL I do with myself.

Anyway, I'm blogging this whilst in bed and decided what movie I should watch...I think I'll scour through netflix and pick a good rom-com. I need some romance and funny business in my life right now. However only 2 weeks separate me from my cuddle buddy! Phillip arrives on the 17th and I couldn't be more excited!

Anyway, this is an oober long post (my apologies).

But a side note: One of my really good friends, Kelley is traveling to Tanzania this summer. Please help her raise money! She makes amazing crafty items and truly deserves this. I don't know anyone who would deserve this more. :)

Ok, NOW i'm done :)

toodles lovlies!

xo

Chocolate flourless oatmeal cookies

Sorry for the absence as of late. For some reason, I've lost a lot of motivation lately, but luckily it's been regained with Peanut butter fingers. This blog has motivated me and provided me with a lot of support and help with a lot of things I have been going through right now.

Needless to say, i've felt pretty poopy (yes I just used the word poopy, Phil has tried to swear less and fortunately it has rubbed off on me). Lately I have not wanted to go out, see people, or do pretty much anything. Then I found Peanut butter fingers and it's helped me change things around. I've always had issues with food and body image, but reading this blog has truly enforced moderation in my head and helps me realize that having a couple cookies...or 5 ;) is OKAY! It's ok to indulge and treat yourself. If you crave it, eat it, otherwise you will over indulge and feel even worse later!

I'm going to try and keep up with this motivational high and hopefully things will turn around :) (I'm thinking positivity in the future).

But on another note (whilst scouring this blog), I came across a recipe for chocolate oatmeal cookies...which I tweaked a little ;)

THEY ARE AMAZING..and have a very intoxicating smell (they are sitting in my room. VERY DANGEROUS). They taste like brownies with oatmeal inside. yummmmmmmmm. so good. The recipe actually came from Kalyn's Kitchen. This recipe called for sugar free substitute, but I used real sugar and gluten free oats instead. (just what I had on hand). And they turned out phenomenal. Not sugar-free, but gluten-free! And sometimes you need a little sugar :)


The rest of today was very productive and I got *ish done, which i'm happy about.

I also (after many MANY months of a knee injury) I ran. I ran 2 miles today. I didn't hurt my knee and it felt amazing. I need to get my endurance up again, but once I get home and see what is really wrong with my knee then I can start to train for the 15K that i'm planning on doing next year. Hot chocolate race anyone??

I think yes :)

Going off on a tangent here...I'm trying to be more positive and I do believe it is working. I have three more weeks of class here in the home-land and then 2 month until i'm home..CRAZYNESS. But i'm pumped.

I'm going to try and update this a lot more. This is my loving life, healthy eating, exercising blog. Please enjoy!

Something I try and think about every day :)

xo

A little piece of mind

These past few days have been craZay! However, i've managed to get my workouts in AND do some homework ;)

(for those of you who want to know what workouts I do go to bodybuilding.com, there you can set up a plan...and...IT'S FREE!)

I realized last post that it was obnoxiously long, so from now on I won't be posting EVERYTHING I eat lol only the yummy stuff that I find interesting, speaking of which...

Meal 1 today was..wait for it..MY FIRST PROTEIN PANCAKE. ok, now you might think to yourself..a protein pancake? why not just eat a REAL pancake, well for those skeptics out there, this tasted JUST like the real thing, and believe me, I would know, I am a pancake enthusiast :)

ANYWAY it was absolutely delicious (I added blackberries, YUMMO!)

Today in general has just been splendid. I slept in, had a pancake, worked out and now i'm off to start my day by planning my month vacation with my friend megan (we are going to amsterdam, paris AND london) in april :) AND i'm going to get my outline done for my paper/study for my quiz that is in two weeks. PLUS tonight i'm going to go see the Vow. yes today is just amazing.

Now, something that makes every day special for my is my walk. Now a walk usually isn't special, especially in Cork, when you have clouds of exhaust shoved down your throat every five seconds, however, there is this one section of the side walk that I always walk past that makes my day just all the more enjoyable. Sometimes I even go out of my way to walk past it.

This side walk is about 2 mins outside my apartment and it's in front of some houses. One of the houses has an amazing garden that has gorgeous flowers, now that alone would make someone smile, but not me. For me it's the scent. These flowers give off the most fragrant aroma ever. It is a little piece of amazingness in my day. It puts a little pep in my step if you will ;)

It's the little things though out your day, or in your life that make it worth wile. It's like there is a wall of smoke and then all of a sudden, the smoke separates and this fragrance just comes RIGHT AT YOU! It's amazing.

Being abroad has truly helped my appreciate the little things and everything that I have back home. I has helped my come to terms with issues i've faced and helped me realize my full potential.

I'll probably come back on later tonight and do a little *review* of the movie :)

Till then!

xo
SF

Journey: Day 2

As previously stated, I am in the midst of weight training. Actually I just started ;)

Weight training, for me, is something new to do and something to mix up my normal work outs. I've been the type of person to try and stick with one thing and see if it works, but unfortunately I'm too impatient enough to actually sick with it if I don't see results. Hence weight training.

It is day two and I already feel a difference in my body.

Recap:

Day 1:

Workout: Triceps/Chest
It was insane! Hard in the beginning but once I was done, it was an amazing feeling. (I follow bodybuilding.com, for those who wonder what work outs I do :) )

As for meals...I'm supposed to be sicking to a protein based diet with greens and some carbs/starches (not after 7:00pm though). Which is hard because I'm usually a late night eater..but that is all changing!

My meals for yesterday were:

M1: oatmeal with flaxseed, chia seeds, honey, cinnamon, and mixed nuts. --> DELICIOUS. I don't know what I would do without my oatmeal :)

M2: Banana with vita coco water (pomegranate and acai) yummmo

M3: organic wheat bread with avocado, tomato with a side of snap peas and blueberries :)

M4: Protein shake (loveeeeee vanilla protein! They don't have many brands that I know over here, so I looked and compared all the nutritional values and found that USN was the best option, plus, it tastes yummy!)

M5: Quinoa with peas and tuna

M6: (it was during my late class and I knew I would be hungry) Medjool dates with a little natural peanut butter on the inside (I give credit to Kelley Olexa for that yummy treat!)

M7: I didn't go to bed till around 11-12 pm so (of course) I was hungry again, so I had a handful of nuts to tide me over.

I eat around 6-7 meals per day, it keeps me going and makes sure that I am not starving till my next meal.

As for hydrating myself, I like to drink a lot of tea, coconut water and almond milk, however, I do try to drink as much water as possible. But sometimes you just forget ;) *goal* drink more WATER!

Day 2:

Workout: biceps/back
I was definitely feeling it this morning, however, I got up, and went to the gym! It's an amazing feeling when you have enough time to actually go to the gym without rushing.

My food for today was less then creative...I just kind of ate left overs so they wouldn't spoil.

M1: of course...OATMEAL, today it was amazing, seriously, I mixed in a banana with blueberries and honey and cinnamon. SOOOO good, for some reason oatmeal just does it for me in the morning. It's warm and comforting, especially in Ireland when it's really cold, like it was today :)

M2: protein shake! and the rest of my banana chips (about 1/4 cup) i wanted to finish them, because during my training it's not good to have dried fruit because of all of the added sugar.

M3: Quinoa, avocado, and black berries. Now, I LOVE all fruit (no, really, I do) But, besides strawberries, blackberries have to be one of my favorite. NOM NOM

M4: was an Apple. I was running out of class and I knew I wouldn't have time to get back to my apartment so I grabbed an apple before I left. Smart on my part because I was STARVING!

M5: now, usually this is the meal I count as my dinner, but I knew that I would be hungry again later, so I treated this as another "light" meal. Again, with this training, you're supposed to have protein, greens and a little carbs at every meal except for dinner (no carbs) however, I was CRAVING peanut butter, so I had 2 slices of organic whole grain toast with pb. a little piece of heaven during this dreary day :)

M6: quinoa, tuna and a tomato...not the most delicious thing i've ever made, but it did the trick and I know I won't be hungry again till the morning. Which was the purpose after all!



I know this post was long, I'm sorry, I need to post more often. However, I hope this gives you insight on to my daily routines and how I choose to live my day-to-day life :)

Something to remember...

I say this to myself every day. And it works :)

xoxo
SF

In the Beginning

This is my second Blog. Hopefully it is as much of a success as my first one ;)

This blog will pertain to my everyday life, a journal if you will, of feelings, ideas, and my journey to a healthy, confident and goal-ridden individual. Most of my life, I have battling with myself on countless things and I think it is time for a change. Studying abroad has really opened my mind to new things and had given me the confidence to go forth in my life a stronger woman.

This blog will hold my goals, my setbacks and also posts on my health (starting weight training) and "diet" as well (aka I'll post pictures of fitness updates and meals I will be eating!) :)

I like to document things, so this is the perfect opportunity to do so. I don't care if no one reads this, It is a compilation of my mind and the workings of a determined person.

Goals I have:
1. To be more CONFIDENT

2. Don't let things get to me

3. Live and Lead a healthy lifestyle that can motivate others

4. Smile more

These goals may seem generic, but it is the generic ones that people have the most difficult time with. It is these types of goals that people assume will come easy, but really they are complicated and take dedication to achieve. Once These goals are achieved, I will be able to look forward to new goals and a life that, in my mind, is perfect :)


Feel free to leave comments!

This is the year of change. This is MY year.

xoxo

SF