See Ya Later, Boston

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

I’m back home in New York!

Where there is a kitchen and where the toilet paper is thick enough to use only three squares instead of seven.

That being said, I actually consider Boston my second home (maybe even just “home” now), since I do spend 8/12 months there. I also feel that the people I’ve met at BU are truly my second family. And I’m gonna cut the sap right there before I start crying and you start cringing.

Even though I’m not going to be living at “home” in Boston for another 8.5 months (oh my gosh) because I’m going to Dublin in the fall, I tried my best to maintain a “see ya later” attitude rather than a “goodbye” attitude, especially when it came to leaving friends.

My last few days in Boston were wonderful, spent with many people I love, and for that I am so grateful.

On Thursday, Rachel and I walked and talked for 2 hours, more or less. The weather was just perfect. We also watched The Parent Trap that night, which was a fantastic choice.

My favorite moves of the week: Hillary’s Dirty Burpee Workout on Saturday morning. I had to dodge lots of families who were hanging out by the river for graduation festivities, but it was like an agility obstacle course, ya know? There were also so many other people working out too!

last time workout there for a long time

That workout took everything out of me. The burpees felt like a break in between the .25 mile runs, which is evidence of how ~~much~~ little I run.

I tried this Aussie yogurt from our campus market store, since I had some dining points left to use. It’s called Noosa and it’s some of the richest, most delicious yogurt I’ve ever eaten. But I’m probably never going to have it again because I’m too cheap and buying individual cups of gourmet yogurt doesn’t seem very economical.

I also finished up some Nature’s Path multigrain wild berry freezer waffles for breakfast one morning. Topped with pb and banana, naturally.

On Saturday night after Mass, our Catholic Center chaplain, Fr. Barnes, hosted a potluck dinner for all the non-seniors who were still on campus. ‘Twas a lovely evening. We started with cheese and crackers (arguably the best appetizer of all time). My friends Casey and Fiona came through with some smoked gouda, brie, and sharp cheddar #BLESS.

My friend Nico brought quiche, which made me squeal.

Fr. Barnes made us the most satisfying spaghetti ever. Plain spaghetti tossed in olive oil with fresh tomatoes, grilled corn, raw garlic, Italian sausage, and basil. KILLER. I roasted some balsamic brussels sprouts and green beans to go along with it.

“Look bourgeoisie.”

Chef Barnes and Casey— two great people (p.s. Fr. Barnes has an awesome blog)

On Sunday morning, I attended the graduation for the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences with some friends to support more friends. I hope we embarrassed them by how loudly and obnoxiously we cheered.

Mom and Pop so generously drove up to Boston just to help me move out and drive me back home. What a lucky girl I am.

We ate dim sum for lunch and then hit the road. Back on the home front, I had/still have a lot of unpacking to do, but I got to cook! Honey mustard paprika salmon + honey balsamic roasted green beans and asparagus (can you tell that I like roasted things in balsamic?). Mom made quinoa too.

I didn’t take a pic of the roasted veg

In the midst of unpacking, I saw that Emily from Beauty in Christ sent me the sweetest package! Nuttzo + homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookies! She’s so good to me.

Of course, I microwaved and ate one of her cookies for dessert, and they are seriously some of the best peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever eaten. UGH. Thank you so much, Emily! ♥︎ I highly recommend checking out her blog if you love good reflections and inspiration regarding body image and ED recovery + beautiful things/positivity in general.

These next few days I will be with my friends Fiona and Rachel in upstate New York! I won’t have service, which is honestly a blessing, because I need to get my eyes off pixels for an extended amount of time. I’ll catch up with you guys soon though!

Hope you have a great week! Squeal with excitement over things like quiche.

So tell me:

Do you feel like you have/ever had a “second home” somewhere? I do still love home in NY and being with my parents ♥︎ Love you, mom and pop.

What is the best thing you ate this weekend?

Do you buy individual cups of yogurt or just big tubs like me? I buy individual ones if they’re on sale!

Hot Oats on a Hot Day

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

I ate hot oatmeal for the first time in a while yesterday!

Part of me feels like hot oatmeal is not appropriate for the summer time, but the other part of me is okay with it because of the gift and privilege of air conditioning. Also, it was a dreary day yesterday, so hot oatmeal seemed cozy.

In case you’re wondering how I make my hot oats, here’s what I did:

Fluffy, Voluminous Banana Oats with Chia and Sunflower Seed Butter

(if I want to be creative with naming, I’ll call these “Ray of Sunshine on a Cloudy Day” Oats)

1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
half a very ripe banana, sliced
dash o’ cinnamon
pinch o’ nutmeg
splash o’ vanilla extract
drizzle of maple syrup
1 egg
heavy sprinkle of chia seeds
big spoonful of sunflower seed butter

Chuck the oats in a small pot over medium heat. Add the water, milk, and banana.
Once the pot bubble bubbles, toils, and troubles, start stirring. Add spices, vanilla, and maple syrup, and keep stirring until the oats are a little bit thicker than you’d like. It will become more fluid once the egg is added.
Whisk the egg in a small bowl and then turn off the stovetop heat.
Slowly and gradually pour whisked egg into the oatmeal while stirring vigorously (unless you like scrambled eggs in your oatmeal, I won’t judge)
Once the egg is fully incorporated, add the chia seeds.
Pour your fluff-tastic oats into your favorite bowl and use your favorite spoon to lay a generous scoop of sunflower seed butter (or any nut/seed butter) into the warm pillow of oats.
Feel the warmth of the oats like a ray of sunshine and the fluff factor like that of a cloud. Your ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. The end.

_________

In other exciting news, I think I have a super tiny fish bone lodged into the side of my tongue/tonsil/Eustachian tube/all three. We took my uncle out for sushi last night at my favorite Japanese restaurant, and I guess there was a fine little bone in one of my pieces of eel avocado sushi that decided to make itself comfortable in my mouth. It kinda hurts and I don’t know what I’m going to do.

For now, I’m going to try brushing it out/waiting it out. If the pain escalates or the discomfort continues, I might have to go to the doc. That won’t be embarrassing.

“What brings you to the office today?”

“Sushi.”

Do any of you have any suggestions? I’ve heard that eating bread or bananas may help catch the bone to pull it out. I tried the banana, but that didn’t help a bit. I feel like the bone is completely buried.

__________

Lastly, head on over to my dear friend Emily’s blog, Beauty in Christ, if you would like to read my guest post about Healthy Living and Fulfillment. 🙂

Hope you all have a wonderful day! Watch out for fish bones!

So tell me:

Do you eat hot oatmeal even in the summer?

Have you ever gotten something stuck in your throat for a prolonged period of time?

Meeting Bloggers In Person

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Today is the day!

The day I get to meet so many amazing bloggers in the flesh at Blend. That sounds so creepy, but seriously, I’m stoked! But the blogger meetups actually started yesterday when I had lunch with Emily from Beauty in Christ. It was so wonderful!

We had a great time talking about our life stories, spilling our joy in Christ, and eating delicious food (of course 😉 ). Emily chose Vert Kitchen for lunch, and it was fan.tas.tic. It was one of those cute, organic, green restaurants with plenty of healthy options, but still plenty of flavor.

I ordered the turkey sandwich (which included goat cheese, balsamic figs, tomato, and mixed greens) with a side of quinoa salad. Polished that baby OFF.

Somewhere in our conversation, Emily and I talked about how weird we feel before meeting a blogger. We all “know” each other through the internet (I mean, y’all probably know more about me than some of my “real life” friends), but how can you know what a blogger will be like in person?

To be honest, I feel nervous and slightly anxious meeting or talking to bloggers on a more personal level for the first time. Whether it’s texting, FaceTiming, or meeting in person, I always wonder:

a) What will he/she think of me as a person off the blog? In action– in real life.

b) Will he/she be outgoing like he/she is on the blog?

c) Should I act extra healthy-living-blogger-esque around them?

Answers:

a) What goes on my blog is 100% reflective of my brain, my words, and my daily activities. The only thing I can do is act like myself when I meet a blogger. The worst that could happen is that he or she doesn’t like me in real life and we don’t become real life friends. Not meant to be. Life will float on.

b) Maybe people blog because they don’t like to be outgoing in real life, so they may very well be more contained or shy in person. I completely get that and appreciate that. Some of my shyest friends have the funniest things to say when they write or do decide to speak out in big groups. Blogging is an outlet for thoughts that do not have to be said audibly. That’s the beauty of blogging!

c) As a “healthy living blogger”, I also have a minor (and irrational) anxiety that other bloggers will be extra observant of my fitness, what I eat, or how much I eat. But then I remind myself that the healthy living blogging community is a supportive and nonjudgmental one. You guys see that I don’t always eat healthily or “get after it” in my workouts, so why should I try to tune those things up when meeting bloggers in person? I certainly don’t do that around my real life friends. WE’RE ALL HUMANS.

I had to rant about that, thanks. I’ll finish my rant by saying that meeting with Emily (and Kath + Clare last year) totally canceled out my anxieties. It’s so much fun meeting new friends!

In other news, we went to an all you can eat Italian buffet called Cinzetti’s last night.

Such a thing does exist in Kansas (where we first discovered this phenomenon) and Colorado, evidently. It’s immense and not healthy at all. But it’s yummy comfort food to the max.

I’ll be back sometime soon to tell you all about Blend! I’m sure social media will be stormed by our photos and cute hashtags. If you’re going, I CANNOT WAIT TO MEET YOU!

So tell me:

How do you feel when meeting bloggers in person? Or how would you feel? Do you share similar anxieties at first?

Would you eat at an all you can eat Italian buffet?

That Time I Fell Into a Canyon

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

with Amanda today!

1) Guess what! I wasn’t sore yesterday! After the hardest hike of my life, I was fully expecting to wake up not being able to move my body, but I felt fresh and fine. I was confused. The hike felt so hard and painful, but I guess it was mostly the altitude? Or maybe I recovered so quickly because I ate very well after the hike? Whatever it was, I’m just happy I was not completely debilitated.

2) We saw more beautiful rocks yesterday! Our family friends drove us to Colorado Springs, where we first visited the “Garden of the Gods”.

please smile, dude

3) After walking around the pedestrian-friendly path for a while, we ate an incredible lunch at The Sahara Cafe— a Middle Eastern restaurant with the most amazing falafel ever.

owned this chicken gyro

4) I was stuffed for the next 6 hours after that meal, because what you don’t see are the sweet potato fries, babaganoush, and baklava that I also ate with the falafel and gyro.

5) All that pita bread must have energized some of us, because our next stop was Cave of the Winds, where four of us decided to do the “Terror-Dactyl” ride. Basically, you fall into a canyon, just strapped in by a few seatbelts and hung by a cord. Juuuuust rocks under us.

Supervisor: The ground comes at ya pretty fast, so it’s over quickly whatever happens!

Oh….

I apologize for my blood-curdling scream

I prayed beforehand. The worst part was actually the beginning when they tilted us forward so that we were parallel with the ground and all our weight was resting on their somewhat questionable seatbelts. There’s a GoPro video of Ben’s and my face during the whole thing, which I’ll be sure to share when I get it!

6) It was totally amazing and worth it (the fear and the $50…).

the daredevils’ “before” shot

head first into this beauty

walking the plank

after the drop, taking in the scenery and thanking God we’re alive

Even my mom and aunt did a ride! They took the less extreme, but still thrilling zipline.

my mom and aunt on the zipline!

7) After that excitement, we slowed it down with a fun cave tour! All those stalactites, stalagmites, and slightly claustrophobia-inducing rock tunnels.

It was so neat! Our tour guide was awesome, and the history was fascinating. If you’re ever in Colorado Springs, I 100% recommend Cave of the Winds. Let me know if you try the Terror-Dactyl 😉

8) “Eat, hike, repeat” is our theme of the week, so after our afternoon activities, we ate a late dinner at Thai Diamond Cafe. I was still kinda full from lunch, so I shared bites of everyone’s food and ate a salad that I had originally packed for lunch. I left the restaurant very full again 🙂

9) I’m going to meet Emily from Beauty in Christ today!!! I am so super excited. I can relate to every single one of her blog posts. It’s so wonderful to have a blogger friend who is about my age, who has gone through similar experiences with an eating disorder, and who loves Christ with a passion.

10) Speaking of blogger friends, Blend is tomorrow!!! So many exclamation points and so many things to be grateful for. I am blessed to just be alive, but God’s generosity is overflowing every darn day.

So tell me:

Would you do Terror-Dactyl? Have you done anything like it?

Have you ever gone on a cave tour?

What did you eat yesterday?

Fascinating Friday Links #41 + Giveaway Winner

Posted on August 15, 2014 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Hi there!

I feel like I have so many things to tell you guys before I leave for Boston, but I just don’t know where to start. I rarely plan my posts, but that’s what I’ve done for the coming week. I might even throw in a couple more posts than usual, but I’ll do my very best to keep them short and sweet (something I can’t always do).

In the meantime, hopefully you all have some time to wind down and catch up on rest and family time this weekend. Here are some Fascinating Friday Links for your reading pleasure!

Health and Fitness

[Great info on portions] Portion Control and Sizes via The Fitnessista + What Does 100 Calories Look Like? via Kath Eats Real Food and Live…Don’t Diet

[For overall health] 5 Simple Diet Changes via The Lean Green Bean

[I didn’t know what free radicals were until this post!] Foods That Fight Oxidative Stress and Aid in Recovery via Cotter Crunch

[Healthy, delicious and quick] 15 Lunch Ideas for Busy Professionals via The Almond Eater

[Move and groove] 12 Minute Lower Body Interval Workout via Purely Twins + Weight Plate Workout via Run Pretty + Bodyweight HIIT Workout via Your Trainer Paige

Food for Thought

[Your past should not define you] I Am NOT My Past via Story of a Girl

[We’re all guilty of many of these] 12 Toxic Behaviors That Push People Away From You via Marc and Angel Hack Life

[Women are not objects] These Are The Things Men Say To Women On the Street via Huffington Post

[Two powerful words] The Secret to a Strong Marriage After Kids via A Healthy Slice of Life

Food for Belly

[She just knows] Cookies and Cream Banana Soft Serve via The Healthy Maven

[Totally what I want] Cookie Dough Banana Pudding Breakfast Parfaits via Yeah…Imma Eat That

[Fresh flavors] Pesto Squash Noodles and Spaghetti via Cookie and Kate

[Sunday morning…] Baked Whole Wheat Peach Pancake via Cookin’ Canuck

[I like saucy rice] Unstuffed Bell Peppers via Budget Bytes

Miscellaneous Fun

[I’m mostly Ashtanga, Vinyasa, and Iyengar!] Quiz: What Style of Yoga Is Best For You? via Greatist

[So awesome] Automated Thanking Machine Video via San Francisco Globe

[Interesting to know the less glamorous aspects] The Cons of Blogging via The Healthy Maven

[Definitely me] Any Other Fake Adults Out There? via The Lunchbox Diaries

[I’ll need these soon enough] 8 Tips for Navigating Grad School via Better With Sprinkles

Giveaway Winner

Thank you to all of you who commented on the Beauty in Christ book giveaway post! The winner [picked randomly] is:

Congratulations, Natalie! Email me at dailymovesandgrooves [at] gmail [dot] com so I can get your info to send the book to ya!

{P.S. I used to never know why bloggers typed out their emails like that, but apparently it prevents spam!}

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday! Happy Feast of the Assumption, fellow Catholics!

“And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” — Revelations 12:1