Chronicles of Becoming a Grownup

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Head over to Spoons for lots of thinking out loud!

1) I’m very tempted to see if I can cook an egg on the sidewalk. It is blazing hot here in New York!!! It was 92F yesterday, but I’m pretty sure it felt like 110.

for now I’ll stick to cooking my eggs on the stovetop

2) Let’s talk about transitioning into a grownup. I guess I’m at a point in my life where I have a million revelations about how the world works, how other people work, and how I myself work. It’s really cool to be learning so much about life through new experiences, rather than just learning about them through textbooks and lectures.

3) So here starts my chronicles of becoming a grownup. Account #1: I was taking in the trash bin from the curb, and the lid was open. As I went to close the lid, I looked inside and saw a profusion of maggots at the bottom of the trash bin. Cue ALL THE HEEBIE JEEBIES.

[source]

Rather than waiting for my dad to get home, I put on my big girl pants and used our garden hose + dish soap to spray the trash bin a bunch of times and rinse out the nastiness. Biggest accomplishment of the summer, in my opinion.

3) Account #2: I’ll clean the floors meticulously, admire the newly cleaned floors, walk two feet forward, and find more dirt/crumbs/scuff marks. Then I’ll clean that spot, walk away, come back to that spot 15 minutes later, and find that I missed a whole section of dirtiness thanks to the different lighting.

[source]

4) Account #3: I paid for my own year-supply of contact lenses for the first time ever ($$$$). Then I realized those contacts weren’t fitting my eyes correctly.

[source]

I’m getting that worked out, don’t worry.

5) Account #4: I’ve been making several doctor appointments, going to those doctor appointments, making decisions for myself (“OKAY I’LL TAKE THAT SHOT SINCE YOU SAY IT’S GOOD, DOC. I DON’T FEEL PRESSURED OR ANYTHING.”), and figuring out how insurance cards work…and stuff.

[source]

Copay? Erm, yes? No? Can I phone a friend?

6) I often wonder how I’m going to get through life. I’ve been raised in a comfortable, loving environment; I’ve been pretty spoiled. But I’m trying to learn as much as I can, taking each experience (no matter how ordinary) for all it’s worth, and slowly learning how to be a grownup. All with God’s grace. #LordHelpMe

7) And don’t get me started on the mental/emotional/spiritual changes and revelations that are occurring as I become a grownup. To be chronicled in the future…

8) Let’s lighten up this post with some food photos. I’d like you to know that pesto and goat cheese go together mighty well.

pesto chicken, goat cheese, greens on an English muffin

And that summer peaches are one of life’s simple pleasures.

9) I tried a sample Vega One French Vanilla nutrition shake (from Blend, surprise surprise) mixed with just water yesterday (since I was drinking it on the go).

in a Quest shaker bottle, also from Blend

I don’t know if I’m just not a fan of the whole protein powder + water thing, but this was gnarlyyy. In a bad way. It was kinda goopy and mealy, and the green color (from the veggie content of the powder?) did not help the cause. I still finished it, but it was a little bit of a choke.

I’m not discrediting Vega One. I’m sure it would have been great in a smoothie or something, but with just water? Never again.

10) This seems like such a complain-y post, but it’s all for a good laugh (if you’re not laughing, at least I’m laughing at myself). God is good, and I am grateful.

Hope you have a day filled with learning, discovery, and good vibes (<— idk, trying to be hipster).

So tell me:

If you’re around my age, what’s a recent experience that made you feel one step closer to being a grownup?

If you’re already a grownup, do you still have trouble doing grownup things? (This question is to comfort and console me for the future.)

Have you ever tried just protein powder and water?

Day in the Life: Internship and Domestic Duties

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Another phase in life, another one of my favorite posts!

I use the term “phase” lightly, because I’m just referring to the in-school phase vsersus summer phase. No major life changes have occurred in the past two months (unless you count the hike up Bear Peak, which was pretty life-changing IMO).

Here’s what a typical summer day has been like for me! And since I’m sharing my eats, I’m also linking up with What I Ate Wednesday— still the coolest online food fiesta around.

5:55 AM First alarm goes off. Ignored.

5:58 AM Second alarm goes off (yes, I set an alarm three minutes after my first). Basically force myself to fall off the bed in order to get up.

6:05 AM Drive Pop to the train station.

6:30 AM Come back home and go back to sleep.

8:15 AM Wake up, take two. Go downstairs to start preparing breakfast, which was Amanda’s blueberry muffin breakfast bake!

8:35 AM Go back upstairs to get ready for the day, pray, all that jazz.

9:00 AM Dress up breakfast with Greek yogurt and banana cream sauce. Picture time!

9:15 AM Blog, pack lunch, and watch the Today show while eating. Dig in with a baby spoon in an attempt to savor it, but end up taking bites that were bigger than the spoon.

did you enter my big giveaway!?

10:15 AM Go upstairs to change out of PJs and put on makeup.

10:30 AM Leave for PT internship.

11:00 AM Arrive at PT internship and eat a Nature Valley granola bite (their new product coming out next month!) before heading in to start the day.

need one of those rolling standing desks for school

1:30 PM Snack break for a BelVita biscuit.

2:30 PM Lunch break. I packed brown rice with leftover pork, grilled shrimp, and veggies + the rest of the BelVita biscuits.

4:15 PM Leave internship and go grocery shopping. Take much too long looking for Enlightened crisps in the natural section (couldn’t find) and deciding whether or not I want to buy pork butt for pulled pork later in the week (didn’t buy just yet).

random selfie in which my eyebrows look like my eyes, or my eyes look like my eyebrows— squinty and black

6:00 PM Arrive home, put groceries away, waste time on social media, change into active clothing, and eat a few of these Somersaults that I just bought using a coupon from Blend (one of which you can win in the giveaway package!). I had to tell myself to zip up the bag before I ate them all if that says anything about how good they are.

6:30 PM Go for a neighborhood walk. Pray some, listen to music some. Enjoy the heat and sunshine.

7:05 PM Back home to do some bodyweight Bulgarian split squats and stretching.

7:30 PM Wash dishes that I left in the sink from breakfast.

7:40 PM Start warming up dinner. Hooray for grill leftovers! I had the same exact thing I ate for Memorial Day lunch and dinner.

8:00 PM Eat while starting this blog post, checking Facebook, watching Chopped, and texting my friends. Aka what you’re not supposed to do while eating a meal, but #sololife.

9:25 PM Dessert time! Vanilla bean ice cream with macerated strawberries and a peanut butter honey cookie from WB Kitchen (also from Blend swag). Start typing this post in real time.

9:45 PM Shower. Start typing this post as a pretense to what I’m about to do (actually shower at 10:05).

10:20 PM Start to wind down with reading. Brush teeth and pray.

10:40 PM Pick up Pop from the train station. This was an extra late night for him.

11:00 PM Head to sleep!

______________________________________________

Hope you all have a fine day!

So tell me:

Do you ever set your alarms less than five minutes apart?

What did you eat for lunch yesterday?

What do you summer days look like?

Dad and Daughter Weekend

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

God bless America and God bless three day weekends. I don’t know why I said the latter; I just came back from vacation.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a lovely Memorial Day to my fellow Americans. As always, it’s nice to have a day off, but it is essential to remember why we do. Thank you to all the men and women who sacrificed their lives so that we could live ours freely and joyfully.

[source]

Let’s catch up!

Friday

Up and at ’em early for my physical therapy internship! Brought to you by overnight oats in a jar.

I’ve been adding chia seeds to the mix, and they increase the doughiness factor by at least 50%. I totally made that up, but chia seeds = thicker overnight oats = even better texture.

Lunch was eaten in the parking lot after my internship. It was tuna salad I had made that morning (with Greek yogurt, mustard, honey, olive topping, paprika, and black pepper) on mixed greens, alongside 34 Degrees cracked pepper crackers from Blend.

Cracked pepper crackers that are like crack.

I saw my partner in crime (Daliza) on Friday night! I greeted her with egg yolk dripping down my face/hands/arms as I ate this for dinner:

Once you break the yolk, there’s no turning back. You just have to inhale the rest of the toast so you don’t lose the dippy goodness.

P.S. I’m going to convince Daliza to do another vlog with me!

Saturday

I slept in and made a rather patriotic breakfast for Dad and myself— Greek yogurt with blueberries, raspberries, banana, cinnamon, nutmeg, stevia, chia seeds, a leftover whole wheat banana pancake, and Nuttzo power fuel.

I don’t remember everything I did on Saturday, but I do know that I finally decided to unpack my luggage, did some moves with a leg strength circuit, and attended Mass. I also ate some delicious things in the afternoon!

Lunch was a salad with homemade tahini dressing, leftover pork chop (buried under there), and a sweet potato with melted garlic herb cheddar. Weird but YUM.

I was feeling lunch dessert that day (…like every other day), so I broke into my stash of mint chocolate chunk Quest bars from Blend. I followed Aimee’s suggestion in my last post’s comments and microwaved it for exactly 23 seconds before topping it with peanut hazelnut butter.

Yep, I’ll be doing that again! 🙂

Oh! I got new sneakers in the mail too! I won these in a huge raffle at the end of Blend retreat. Lucky for me, because I left my other sneakers in Boulder since they were so muddy from hiking all week.

Thanks, Wellcoin and Puma!

After Mass, Pop and I went to my favorite Japanese restaurant for dinner! I went with the classic sushi combo that comes with yellowtail, tuna, and eel avocado rolls. All gone into my tummy.

The waiter also surprised us with a complimentary dessert! Chocolate souffle cake with raspberry ice cream. Ohmahgoodness. I know I say I don’t like chocolate that much, but this was dreamy.

Pop and I hunkered down for the night and watched not one, but two movies— The Giver and Macfarland USA. I totally loved both!

Sunday

Another sleep-in day, another breakfast for Pop and myself. I hadn’t eaten cookie dough cereal in a long time, so it wasn’t difficult to choose what I wanted that morning.

I cleaned the floors on Sunday, and look at this horror.

This is a picture of cleaning done in the highest shoe-traffic area of our house, but still, yuck! (Two-year-old word, I know.) You don’t really notice the dirt until you get down and scrub.

Moves involved yoga and a quick walk around the neighborhood. The weather was perfection!

I babysat at night and actually enjoyed my snack-time-esque dinner.

I brought all the snacks myself, except for the cheese 🙂 (I was given permission.)

Monday

Pop and I started our Memorial Day with Mass and the local Memorial Day parade.

Then we headed back home to cook and eat for the rest of the afternoon! Pop and I have never grilled without mom being around, since she is Mrs. Chefmaster Hospitality. But we had a successful cookout, I’d say! I shopped for the food, prepped it, and then left the grilling for Pop. He nailed it.

We had simple beef burgers with garlic herb cheddar and caramelized onions + tons of grilled vegetables. We also ate outstanding grilled shrimp using this marinade recipe.

glass o’ vino in hand, what a natural

Having a BBQ for two people also means lots of leftovers for the week!

Moves included grooving to music in the kitchen and a two mile neighborhood walk. I see a tan emerging!

After eating more of grilled goodies for dinner, we ended the night on a sweet note, as every night should end in my book. I macerated some fresh strawberries in lemon juice and honey for a few hours, and then we ate those on top of vanilla bean ice cream with a slice of the blueberry poppyseed mini loaf from Flagstaff House in Colorado!

Me: I macerated some strawberries.

Dad: That sounds like it hurts.

[5 minutes later]

Dad: What did you say you did with these? Masqueraded?

Me: No, macerated. But masquerading them sounds fun.

_________________________________________

Hope you all have a great day! Clean your floors perhaps, eat string cheese, and say thank you to more people. *Also, stay tuned for an awesome giveaway later today!*

So tell me:

One productive thing you did this weekend.

One fun thing you did this weekend!

Do your floors ever get this dirty? We clean them often, I swear.

Americans, what did you eat for Memorial Day?

WIAW: Domestic Alison

Posted on March 12, 2014 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Guess who was able to abandon her long, black downy coat yesterday??

It was a balmy 60*F yesterday, which warranted rolling down the car windows and children riding their bikes outside in shorts and t-shirts. Honestly, I also think it was the gorgeous weather that kept me sane and so joyful during yesterday’s jam-packed day.

It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve joined the WIAW party, but I’m thrilled to be linking up to Jenn‘s shenanigans today! Even though I’m quite fashionably late (I’m finishing this post during the last period of school).

I’ve made fun of my brother by calling him “Domestic Ben” in his new apartment, but with my mom on vacation, I’ve been pretty domestic myself. When there is no mother in the house, it seems like there are a thousand different things that need to be tended, scrubbed, and picked up that I didn’t usually worry about before. Example: filling up the Brita water jug. All of a sudden, it’s not a perpetual source of water anymore. Hm.

So here are my eats from Monday and Tuesday, along with tidbits of “Domestic Alison.” Props to stay at home mamas (and pops) who do all this plus a billion other things throughout the day! Note: I do these things when my mom is home too, but just not as much 😉

Breakfasts

I’ve been dropping off my dad at the train station every morning, so I’ve been waking about 25 minutes earlier in order to fit in my favorite meal of the day.

Monday

Banana bread English muffin with almond butter and sunflower seed butter + Greek yogurt with bananas, cinnamon, nutmeg, and stevia

Tuesday

Overnight oats in an almond butter jar! This was perfect to take in the car since I was running late…

I wave goodbye to pops at the station and then head to school a little earlier than usual (which means a spot in the senior parking lot!).

Snack

Brain food:

‘Chios in business calc. I just made up ‘chios, so don’t say that in public.

Lunch has been chicken, cheese, spinach, and spicy mustard sandwiches on really delicious bread, but I keep forgetting to snap a photo. I’m sure you can imagine what that looks like though. Oh, and mom actually made these sandwiches before leaving for Florida. She spoils me even when she’s far away.

Snacks

Coming home from school, there is an unusually high pile of dishes both in the drying rack and in the sink, so I’ve been {domestically} taking care of those in the afternoon.

Monday

Greek yogurt (duh) with banana and pepita sunseed butter post-workout

Tuesday

Broccoli + crackers with carrots

‘Chios

I got my {domestic} baking on with some banana applesauce oatmeal muffins (this recipe). My dad loves muffins for breakfast since they’re quick and he can eat them with almond butter (his fave). And I love them for Greek yogurt bowls!

Of course I had to sample of half of one with some sunflower seed butter. The applesauce brings in the most amazing addition of flavor to these muffins!

This Tuesday snack fueled me through some homework and then a fun ballet class.

I was planning on going to Trader Joe’s right after ballet and right before picking up my dad from the train station, but the time frame was a tight squeeze, so I skipped TJ’s and went home to marinate some salmon instead. Who can only spend 15 minutes in there anyway?

Dinners

Monday‘s dinner was a throw-together of leftovers:

Avocado toast + spinach/kale salad with brussels, feta, grilled chicken, and balsamic

Then at 10:30 PM, I decided to grill up some chicken (seasoned with curry powder, sea salt, and pepper) to make dinners a little easier for the rest of the week. I was also FaceTiming with my mom while grilling, which kept me company. I seem to do all of my cooking by myself like a loner.

Sliced two chicken breasts into 1 inch slices, put on lots of curry powder, sea salt, and pepper. Cooked on a skillet.

Tuesday‘s dinner was a new salmon recipe that I made up on the spot in the 10 minutes I had before picking up pop.

Quinoa/rice blend, brussels, maple-mustard salmon

For the salmon (2 filets): about 3 tbsp. spicy brown mustard, 1 tbsp. maple syrup, salt, and pepper. Bake in oven for 9-12 min. at 400F.

I decided to try some new flavors with the salmon since we usually have teriyaki or some other garlic seasoning. I literally squeezed a bunch of condiments on there, rubbed it on with my hands, and threw it in the oven. I desire to be a rustic chef.

Dessert

Monday AND Tuesday