The Most Ice Cream I’ve Ever Consumed

Posted on June 9, 2017 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

This post is not about “health.”

It is about L I V I N G though.

More on that in a bit. I’m back in Boston! I packed up my bags and took a train from New York to Boston on Wednesday afternoon. First, I had a dentist appointment (no cavities, but I have a chip in my front tooth and my wisdom are just starting to come in apparently?). Then Madre kindly took me out to lunch at Thai Basil before sending me off.

“Bangkok Box” lunch special: salad, dumplings, chicken and veggies with peanut sauce, brown rice, and tapioca corn pudding — all for $10!!

Madre’s “rad na” (flat rice noodles, chicken, and Chinese broccoli in Asian-style gravy)

We shared a lot of my box, and she gave me most of her rad na to take on my train ride 🙂

The train ride went pretty quickly with some music, reading, blueberry-eating, and napping.

I arrived in Boston a little past 7pm and decided to eat some of the leftover rad na for dinner outside the train station before calling an Uber to 1) let time pass for the Uber to be a little less expensive; 2) enjoy the perfect weather.

So much for trying to save money on Uber though… There was a lot of confusion with pickups/cancellations, and I ended up wasting quite a bit of money in the debacle *facepalm*. But Uber kindly refunded a lot of it once I messaged them about the situations.

It was frustrating, but I made it home safe and sound. God is good.

When I got back, my Spartan friend, Ben, texted me: “Give me 10 minutes of abs to do!” So I looked on Pinterest and sent him this:

[source]

I did the workout as well, in solidarity. It looks simple, but the lack of breaks until the end of the round is a GAME CHANGER. What a burner. I also did this 9 minute yoga because I just needed a good stretch after sitting on the train for hours.

Yesterday morning started with some leftover green pancakes that I froze before I left Boston. I’m glad I had them because I hadn’t gone grocery shopping yet.

two with almond butter + two with peanut butter

Plus frozen grapes! Nature’s popsicle.

I walked(!) to Trader Joe’s to grocery shop and meet up with Rachel just to catch up. We hadn’t seen each other in half a month! The plight of best friends.

When we got back to my apartment, I unloaded the groceries and arranged lunch shortly after.

“snack plate” lunch: crackers, carrots with Sriracha hummus (so good!), lettuce rollups with ham + pepper jack + mustard

Rachel and I had some much needed chat time before she left at around 1pm. After she left, I ate a leftover piece of French toast from forever ago for lunch dessert (had to cut off some moldy parts of it, but I promise the rest was still okay).

Then it was time to cook! I made whole wheat spaghetti with sun-dried tomato pesto and fresh basil + grilled chicken breasts with dried thyme, basil, and oregano.

I’m looking forward to having it these next few days! Sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil are two of my favorite things.

I moved and grooved with this low impact workout from Millionaire Hoy on YouTube. Have you ever seen his videos? He’s so funny and energetic! And his moves are really unique.

After a shower, I walked to the Catholic Center for Mass (and sweated again), but upon arrival, I promptly learned that the Catholic Center was actually closed. Womp womp.

My friend Christina also showed up for the Mass that wasn’t actually happening, so we got to chat for a bit, which was nice!

I ate the spaghetti and chicken I had packed for dinner while heading to the T station to meet Ben for THE SCOOPER BOWL.

This was my first time going to Scooper Bowl, but it’s an annual, three-day fundraiser in Boston for The Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Insitute. Adults pay $15 (88 cents of every dollar goes to the DFCI) for all-you-can-eat ice cream. Isn’t that MADNESS!?

Indeed. Madness of the best sort. Masses of people came to City Hall Plaza to line up for a scoop of various ice cream flavors from several vendors including Baskin Robbins, Hood, Arctic Zero, Yasso, Friendly’s, Ben & Jerry’s, Vice Cream, Yuengling’s, Breyer’s, Edy’s, and Minus the Moo.

And these tastings are legit scoops. Not little baby spoon samples. This is SCOOPer bowl, kids. I consumed approximately 7 scoops of ice cream.

[source]

We tried to find a shorter line to start, so Arctic Zero was first (ha). The reactions on people’s faces after they tried Arctic Zero were hilarious. I don’t mind Arctic Zero, but most people were not fans.

Arctic Zero – cake batter

Friendly’s – peanut butter fudge (so good)

Ben & Jerry’s – Bob Marley’s One Love (banana ice cream & caramel and graham cracker swirls & fudge peace signs – probably my favorite flavor of the evening!) andddddd Frozen Flakes (cereal milk ice cream with cereal milk swirls – also very tasty)

Vice Cream – mint chocolate chip (different but good texture)

The founder of Vice Cream is a cancer survivor himself, and his motto was, life is too short, so #EFIC (eat f***in’ ice cream). Well, I’m obviously on board with that.

At this point, I told Ben, “I’m coming to my end…” But we persevered.

Breyer’s – Oreo (classic, always a good choice)

I didn’t finish this one nor any of the following ones, but it was still fun to taste them.

Baskin Robbins – raspberry cheesecake

Yasso – chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream bar (honestly the worst thing of the night…Ben put it well: “It tastes like biting on the popsicle stick itself.”)

Yuengling’s (not the beer!) – Butterbeer (ironically…but they made a disclaimer that it had nothing to do with Harry Potter)

My stomach/palate/heart/wellbeing could only muster a couple bites of these last flavors, but man, oh, man was Scooper Bowl an adventure. I loved it.

#SpartanDiet

I do not condone excessive amounts of ice cream frequently, but I do condone livin’ a little every once in a while 🙂 And honestly, I felt a little crappy (physically) afterwards, but not terribly so.

Ben told me he’s going to work out a lot tomorrow, and I told him I’m going to eat so much soluble fiber.

Happy Friday, friends! Eat some ice cream this weekend.

So tell me:

Which ice cream flavor above sounds the best to you?

What is one way you “lived a little” recently?

Something you did yesterday!

I Don’t Just Want To Be Fed Information

Posted on July 1, 2016 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

My legs are so ready for this tropical vacation coming up.

Julianna shared a photo of her burpee knees the day before on Snapchat

At least the chlorine from pool therapy is keeping my legs smooth. The chemicals are basically burning off the [already minimal amount of] leg hair that I have.

This week has been hectic, a little weird, but really great overall.

Hectic because of work and domestic duties (miss you, Madre).
Weird because of earlier wake-ups and seeing a severed squirrel on the ground one day.
Really great because of the little laughs/blessings that all add up. Also, SUNSHINE!

Food scenes from the week:

nectarine banana overnight oats in a peanut butter jar

classic ♥︎

roasted green beans (olive oil, salt, pepper, and lots of garlic @400F for 25-30 min)

overnight oat smoothie with greens added in the morning before blending

a gigantic bag of kale cooked down into four servings (sautéed in olive oil with onions + tossed in spicy mustard, maple syrup, salt, and pepper — my favorite kale recipe!)

impromptu baked chicken thighs (half a jar of Victoria’s tomato basil sauce, fresh basil, lots of garlic, baby carrots @ 400F for 30 min, topped with freshly grated parmesan and broiled for 5 minutes)

leftovers for lunch

Favorite moves and grooves this week:

This Blogilates ab workout. You will be cussing her out in your head, it’s that hard. My abs don’t usually get sore, but this made my abs sore for two days. And this 16 minute workout (4 rounds, 30 seconds work, 10 seconds rest):

burpee tuck jump
up down planks
goblet squats
staggered pushups
burpees
side lunge with twist

Bonus: I got ONE strict toes to bar last night right before going to bed! It made all my muscles hurt.

The busyness and weirdness this week were dampened by the fact that my family is leaving for a tropical vacation, as mentioned above. We’re celebrating my parents’ 25th anniversary and my brother’s graduation from college. I’m obviously just along for the ride.

[source]

I won’t have wifi, since we’ll be on a cruise in the middle of the ocean, but I’ll be sure to share the shenanigans when we return. Please pray that we have safe travels! The cruise company contacted us about the possibility of contracting the Zika virus, so *thumbs up*.

I’ll pray for you too if you have any travel plans coming up 🙂

Lastly, I have a Five Minute Friday vlog today! It’s about how I am trying to more actively stay connected with current events and worldwide issues.

link to video!

p.s. here’s one of Demi’s rant tweets:

How many people can name someone on the FBI’s top 10 most wanted list

— Demi Lovato (@ddlovato) June 23, 2016

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend and happy July!! Happy 4th to all my American friends too! (I was about to say, “May the fourth be with you,” but that’s two months off.)

Goodbye for a week or so. I’ll miss you!

So tell me:

Do you find that you let information/news/opinions be fed to you, rather than read up and formulate your own opinions?

What is your favorite way to eat kale?

What are you doing this weekend?

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Back in Boston + Five Minute Friday #7

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Dinner last night was leftover salad with hummus, Popcorners, a frozen banana, and two spoonfuls of cashew butter. Why did I come back to Boston when the dining halls aren’t open yet???

Well, despite the fact that dining halls aren’t open, I am both nourished and having a great time with friends.

Rewinding back to New York: On Tuesday night, my parents kindly took me out to dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurant for the best sushi ever.

I came home and made myself some peanut butter banana soft serve (frozen bananas blended in a food processor with a splash of milk and peanut butter)— an old time fave. I ate it with a little Greek yogurt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and granola. Fabulous.

And then this beautiful person came to visit me after her class ended (at 10 pm!)!

Daliza! ♥︎ I fed her a pancake with half peanut butter and half nutella + glass o’ milk. Her visit would be incomplete without me giving her something with peanut butter or nutella on it.

Wednesday morning involved overnight oats, packing, and some moves and grooves (handstand walks, pushups, and a 16 minute interval workout) before preparing brunch for my friends Joe and Louis.

French toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon

“The bacon was very good, Alison. The whole brunch was very good, but the bacon was VERY good.” — Louis

It was my first time cooking bacon, so I’m glad it turned out well. I also blended up a green peanut butter banana smoothie (milk, greek yogurt, frozen banana, peanut butter, and spinach) and ~~forced it down their throats~~ convinced them to try it, since I knew for a fact that they would not be able to taste the spinach.

Screen Shot 2016-03-10 at 11.34.58 PM

They didn’t taste the spinach. #VICTORIOUS. (“There’s like a little bit of an aftertaste.” ← yeah, sure, believe what you want.)

I made myself an avocado, bacon, and egg toast + another egg + sriracha. I also ate my weight in leftover roasted brussels sprouts while I was cooking.

This was amazing.

Joe, Louis and I hit the road for Boston and made it back in time to enjoy the FREAKING GORGEOUS weather. It hit 70 F — shorts and t-shirt weather! As soon as we arrived on campus, we joined more friends for Can-Jam until it got dark.

Then we ate dinner at the food court on campus, chilled out on the dock, and played the Ellen Degeneres iPhone game, “Psych”, until we were all falling asleep. Good people, good times.

Yesterday’s activities included some quick moves and grooves (this ab workout), Mass, lunch at Tasty Burger, the Museum of Fine Art, and a special pre-screening of the new movie, The Young Messiah. It’s hard to pick out the best part of the day!

This was a “dine-in” theater with the most luxurious seats I’ve ever seen in a movie theater.

And today I’m going to Mass and lunch with a friend, maybe working out at the gym, and definitely doing lots of studying.

Now that we’re all caught up, how about some Five Minute Friday action? (This post probably took you five minutes to read already…sorry.) This week I’m talking about something very random: where I would want to live after I graduate!

link to the video!

Taking a video of myself on a tire swing in a park that I’d never visited before. Sounds about right for me.

Hope you all have an awesome weekend!

So tell me:

Have you ever tried convincing someone that a smoothie with spinach does NOT taste gross?

If you could live anywhere, where would you live and why?

If you love where you live, why is that?

Weekly Moves and Grooves XXVIII {Fitness with Friends}

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

The pressure is finally on.

I was telling you all on Thursday that I wasn’t quite feeling the pressure to study for finals, but it has definitely hit me, don’t you worry. One more week—we can do this! Moving and grooving (especially outside when the sun is out) has been a wonderful way to take a study break and get the blood flowing in between long periods of sitting.

This week involved more workouts with friends (only two, but that’s still more than usual). I should work out with buddies more often— it’s twice as fun and motivating!

Sunday

Rest

Monday

circuit workout a la dorm

4 rounds:

6 chair mountain climber complexes (10 decline mountain climbers ➔ step off to one side ➔ pushup)
20 tuck jumps
10 pushups to T
20 jump lunges
10 burpees
20 modified v-ups

This took a little over 20 minutes, and I was beat from those chair mountain climber complexes.

Tuesday

Purely Twins’ 100 burpee workout

Agh, my favorite.

Wednesday

squats with PJ + assisted pull-ups and burpees + ab tabata

This was my first time ever having a squat buddy! PJ saw that I was at the squat rack and came over to be my spotter (which I guess I should have more often?), and we ended up taking turns squatting our ~~hearts~~ legs out. I don’t remember how many sets I did, but I started with 115# and worked up to 135#.

PJ was squatting somewhere between 200-300# (he’s been in the 1000 pound club— the total pounds of his bench, squat, and deadlift were over 1000 lbs…actually, 1200 lbs!).

Whatever the weight, we were both waddling the next day.

I also did 10 min. EMOM (every minute on the minute):

3-5 assisted pull-ups (70-80# assistance)
5 burpees

Then 4 rounds of 20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest:

weighted Russian twists
weighted toe touches
spiderman planks
mountain climbers

Thursday

Rest (for SURE)

Friday

4.54 mile run

Hey, hey look at that. I ran! As usual, I was having an internal debate as to whether I wanted to run or not, but the weather was perfect, and I thought it would be a good study break/shake out for my sore legs.

I ran in the afternoon and just took a screenshot of this at night, in case you were wondering about the time.

I wasn’t planning on running negative splits (let’s be real, I don’t usually plan on running, period), but I was chasing this random guy towards the end who was running slightly faster than my pace. Also, starting off slow and steady definitely works well.

Saturday

ultimate frisbee with friends

Wowza, this was a WORKOUT, but it was incredibly fun! I can’t do sports that involve hand-eye coordination usually, but I can do frisbee. We were all smoked after playing, but it was just what we needed during study period.

All my workouts caught up with me by Saturday afternoon after frisbee, so I was walking slower than a snail for the rest of the day. The only thing I wanted to do was eat, foam roll, and sleep. I did one of the three. Guess which one!

{answer: eat}

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Hope you all have a lovely Sunday! It’s a steamy 72F today and 81F tomorrow here in Boston!

So tell me:

Do you like working out with friends?

Have you run outside recently?

What was your favorite workout this week? Frisbee wins for me!

Weekly Moves and Grooves XVII

Posted on February 8, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Happy Sunday!

It’s been a while since I’ve shared weekly workouts (last year was the last time I did!), and since I can’t do daily posts throughout the week, I thought I’d bring them back on Sundays again. I do these posts for myself too as a way to track progress and see how I feel in terms of fitness on a week-to-week basis!