My First Time {At Chipotle}

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Good morning!

This is the last week before spring break, and I can hardly stand it. Last week I said I had two field trips and a college visit on Friday, but that has decreased to one field trip and a college visit. I decided to pull out of one of the trips so I wouldn’t be too stressed over making up work.

Not gonna lie, I had a mini breakdown on Saturday morning because I was overwhelmed by all the things I had to do this weekend and the fact that I haven’t been getting that much sleep. Not insomnia or anything. Just overall, I was fatigued and not a fan of getting up early on Saturday and Sunday after long days and late nights. I mean, everything that happened this weekend was super fun, but at the same time, I just wanted to slow down and rest. I didn’t need to cry, but I just vented to madre, and I felt much better afterwards.

It’s weird— I wouldn’t cry if I didn’t have anyone to talk to, but once I get the words flowing, the tears follow shortly after.

[source]

It is springtime.

Other than that episode of typical Alison, my busy weekend was still nothing short of marvelous!

Thanks for hosting, Katie!

Friday

I received this Polar Loop activity tracker in the mail on Thursday because I won it from Gina‘s giveaway a while ago (luckiest win I’ve ever scored)!

I don’t need it for any reason in particular, but I’ve been wearing it for the past few days to see what it has to say about my activity throughout the day. Since I don’t have the heart rate monitor with it, I know it doesn’t show the most accurate readings, especially when it comes to calories (seriously, I don’t pay attention to those counts at all). I don’t completely know how to work the thing yet in terms of setting daily goals and such; I apparently need to walk, jog and jump, like, an extra hour every day, even if I’ve been dancing and walking ALL DAY. Yeah, no. I’ll probably end up giving it to mom for her walking/running ventures.

It makes for a pretty sleek watch though!

Moves

I headed to the gym after school to do a bodyweight upper body workout that looked like this:

5 min. row warmup + supersets of the following:

15 TRX rows + 10 TRX pike pushups
20 tricep dips + different pushup variations
10 TRX bicep curls + 10 BOSU pushups
40 sec. pulling down on the rope machine + 40 sec. pulling up on rope machine

I may or may not have done some core exercises. I forget!

After a quick, but necessary, afternoon nap, my friends from company, Livv and Jane, went to our other friends’ (from company) senior high school musical production of Legally Blonde! We actually bought the last three tickets available, so we were sitting in the very back corner of the theater, laughing our heads off and making comments at everything like little rascals. 😉 It was such a great show though!

Thanks for this beautiful selfie, Livv. Freaks in the back of the theater.

Saturday

Up and at ’em at 8:20 AM (okay, that’s not that early, but this girl was still exhausted) for an altar server meeting at 8:45 AM.

After getting back, I made a comforting bowl of banana oats with Greek yogurt and sunflower seed butter. The usual.

I maneuver my spoon to save the nut butter for last 😉

Then it was off to assisting dance class at 11 AM, followed by my very last Saturday modern class of my high school career. 😦 It was a great, challenging class. After that, most of company (some people had prior engagements) walked over to the train station to go the city. We had a performance at Peridance that evening!

Once we got to Grand Central, we subbed it over to Union Square, where I had this stuff for the first time:

Is Chipotle popular or something?

I finally “lost my Chipotle virginity” (<—my dad is so creeped out that I said that), and it was fantastic. The guac mountain was as good as people say it is. I must have gotten a little excited and asked for way too much food, because this bowl easily turned into THREE meals (lunch, dinner, and then lunch the next day) for myself. Now that’s a deal!

We made a Starbucks stop and then hung out at the park for a bit before going to the Peridance Center for warmup, tech rehearsal, and the performance, which started at 8:30 PM. Luckily, we were third in the program, so once we finished performing, we booked it out of there. Girls were beat from the long day.

No, this isn’t part of our dance. We’re just weird.

Before catching the train back home though, we were craving something…

Shake Shack vanilla frozen custard. Creaminess factor was unreal.

Sunday

That alarm could not have sounded worse at 7:40 AM. Dad and I had a religious education faculty meeting at 8:30, so that happened, followed by teaching per usual. I do love teaching, so there is no complaining there! I attended 11:30 AM Mass afterwards.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day yesterday, so I took a short study break to do some sun salutations and random burpees outside. The Polar Loop was also urging me to move around, so I thought, heyyy why not?

A two hour nap also took place, which was just what my body needed.

I baked.

I did homework.

I read blogs.

I typed this.

I ate dinner.

Spinach, soba noodles, curry chicken, sriracha

And then I realized: Life is wonderful. And I’m such a drama queen for crying about it.

I’ll work on it 😉

Happy Monday, friends!

So tell me:

Do you like Chipotle?

What was the best thing you ate this weekend?

Do you just cry sometimes? Please make me feel like less of a baby.

What did you do this weekend?

Benefit Week in a Nutshell

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Hello, world!

Man, have I missed talking to you all. I was trying to save a crapton of blog posts to read in my “Save for Later” folder on Feedly, but I knew I just had to press “Mark all as read.” Fresh start this week!

In the past week, I have been running on adrenaline, sugar, and the love and energy of 14 amazing company mates! If you’re not sure what’s been up in the last 7 days of my life, you can read about Benefit Week here (It’s basically my dance school’s biggest, most important, funnest performance of the year). You can also check out Instagram, because I’ve actually been posting pictures of humans rather than just food. Proof that I have friends. 😉

There is so much to say about my very last Benefit concert with company that I actually cannot fully explain it. Thus, I’ll sum up the week in {mostly} pictures! There are lots.

Although we had rehearsals on Monday and Tuesday, I’ll start with Wednesday, since that’s when the dressing room decorating started. These themes have nothing to do with our dances. This tradition is just for fun! 🙂 I actually don’t have pictures of us dancing because….well, I can’t take selfies on stage.

Wednesday

There are no freshmen in company this year, so the new sophomores took over for Wednesday’s themed dressing room. The theme was….

Eloise at the Plaza!

I have neither read the book nor watched the movie, but it was such a cute and unique theme!

They call me Y-money.

Wednesday’s rehearsal included a 1.5 hour staging/lighting rehearsal for the younger dance class I assist and then a full run-through of the show.

Thursday

There’s only one junior in company, so she was joined by the veteran sophomores for decorating! The theme was…

Woodstock/60s!

Such a fun theme! Thursday was our first Community Concert (for disabled and underprivileged in the community). It was a great “opening night!” I do have a picture of me from our big warmup on stage, thanks to my company director:

May O’Donnell technique warmup

Friday

Seniors’ turn to decorate!! There are eight seniors this year (more than half of company), so we went all out with our dressing room theme…

Circus!

This theme worked out so well, and we all had a blast with it. I was supposed to be some sort of acrobat/trapeze artist person…I just found this purple ballroom dancing dress in my closet and used that.

Each year, seniors design and order shirts that coincide with their dressing room theme. Ours said “Cirque du Company Benefit 2014” on the back!

Thanks for the photo, Lilly!

Company ♥

Saturday

Benefit day. There is always such a mix of emotions on this day— tears of joy and tears of sadness. We are so thrilled to be dancing together at this big show, but we’re also heartbroken that it’s the seniors’ last one. We soaked up every second of it!

We started with lunch at a great Italian restaurant:

Crab cake for me!

Bux all around.

And then we headed to the theater to walk around, do some company traditions, and bond.

After the show:

Thanks for the photo, Livv!

And with that, Benefit came to an end… 😦

To say that dance company is a big family is cliche, but it’s also an understatement. Our emotional, hormonal sob session on Saturday night sums up our relationship pretty well. I’m wiped out, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. All of God’s blessings are so humbling. I love you, company ladies!

Have a great day, everyone!

So tell me:

Did you ever have/Do you have a group of friends with which you are super close?

What did you do this weekend?

That’s When You Know… {MIMM #29}

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Hello there!

I hope you all had a great weekend! This weekend was a good mix of work and play for us here. I noticed a lot of things that made me think, “That’s when you know…” so here is a weekend recap with all the things I now know.

(Apparently “that’s when you know” is a trendy catch phrase right now, so you could call me a conformist. Mainstream is the new hipster.)

You know it’s been a good weekend when you link up with Katie!

Home-cooked meals made my someone other than domestic Alison, the water pitcher always being full, and constantly hearing Thai TV in the background➔ That’s when you know Mom is home! (Even though now she’s already in Europe.) 😦

Having breakfast WITHOUT nut butter➔ That’s when you know it’s Friday. (I’m giving up nut butters on Fridays for Lent— in addition to abstaining from meat— because it’s a much bigger sacrifice for me to give up nut butter than meat.) 😀

Working out in the backyard (even if that means potentially being judged by the neighbors), rolling down the car windows, and road kill EVERYWHERE➔ That’s when you know it’s spring. (Except for the fact that there’s a 60% chance of snow on Tuesday. -_-)

Watching the school production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, going to the diner with friends at 10 PM, and eating the most satisfying omelette + potatoes meal➔ That’s when you know it’s been a good Friday night.

Wanting to do nothing but sleep from Saturday afternoon through Sunday➔ That’s when you know you had a tiring 5 hour dance rehearsal.

Scraping every last bit of peanut buttery-oatmealy-yogurty goodness out of your bowl➔ That’s when you know breakfast was killer. And that’s when you know you love the new peanut butter Mom brought home.

DREAMY.

Literally jumping out of your chair while doing your homework and somewhat aggressively running up the stairs to do squat jumps and pushups➔ That’s when you know you’re antsy.

Listening to Demi Lovato on Spotify all weekend➔ That’s when you know you’re a typical teen that thinks she has sophisticated music taste, but not really.

Not being able to find room in your stomach for dried figs and Greek yogurt➔ That’s when you know you’re full.

Your dance friend is trying to get ahead of her “ahead list”➔ That’s when you know there’s a busy week ahead.

Today marks the beginning of the busiest, most exciting week of the year for dance company! It’s Benefit Week, which is the equivalent of hell week for the theater peeps. Quick summary of Benefit Week: Our biggest show of the year is on Saturday, and we have rehearsals at the theater all week, as well as two free performances on Thursday and Friday for disabled and underprivileged people in the community.

For the dance company, there are also tons of fun things that go on backstage. It’s a tradition for each grade in company (freshmen/sophomores, juniors, and seniors) to decorate the dressing room on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday with a particular theme that is a secret to all the other grades until the big reveal on their respective days. It sounds confusing, but here’s an example: Two years ago, the freshmen/sophomores decorated the dressing room on Wednesday with a jungle theme, juniors decorated on Thursday with an outer space theme, and seniors decorated on Friday with a Wizard of Oz theme.

We go all out for our dressing room themes— costumes and everything. It’s a little insane, but it’s a blast. It’s just funny when people think our themed costumes are our real dance costumes. Two years ago, people on Facebook thought the frog costume I wore in the dressing room was actually part of the show, but it was actually just a part of our jungle theme. No, I will not show you a picture of it. I was so close to posting it but…nah.

Basically, the themed dressing rooms have absolutely nothing to do with the dance show. They cost time and money, but they’re a tradition and we love them anyway!

I hope you all have a fantastic week! If you don’t hear from me, know that I’m just groovin’ it out at rehearsals or shows. 🙂

So tell me:

_____➔ That’s when you know…

What was the best thing you ate this weekend?

Are things looking spring-y where you are?

Feelin’ Lucky {MIMM #28}

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Good morning and…

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Fun fact: St. Patrick’s original associated color was actually blue. So if you accidentally wear blue today, you can tell people that.

I hope you all had a fun weekend filled with some luck and {root} beer (as my Economics teacher says)! I wouldn’t say my weekend was filled {root} beer, but it was definitely filled with loads of smiles, tears, and delicious food, which always makes me feel lucky. And marvelous!

We’re lucky to have Katie as the fabulous host of MIMM!

It’s becoming one of the most (if not, THE most) hectic times of year with school, dance, and church events, so it’s easy to overlook all the blessings right in front of me. We’re all doing ten things at once at any point in the day, but it’s a wonderful thing to just reflect on all the things we’re blessed to have. So here’s to all the blessings from this weekend! But for the sake of St. Paddy’s day, we’ll just say lucky. 🙂

Friday

We were lucky to have a chilly, but absolutely gorgeous day on Friday. I couldn’t fathom the idea of cooping up in the gym for a workout, so I opted for a refreshing outdoor workout.

Moves consisted of several plyo exercises (jumping jacks, high knees, burpees, jump lunges/squats) and different variations of pushups. I took sufficient breaks and took it easy, but it was nice to get the blood flowing in the great outdoors… of my backyard.

I’m lucky that coconut oil tastes good. I tried that trendy oil pulling technique (inspired by Gina and Katie) on Thursday. Basically, you swish around a vegetable oil in your mouth for about 20 minutes every day, and it’s supposed to aid in teeth whitening, gum health, and have some other health benefits. I’m in it for the teeth whitening. I still haven’t done it again since Thursday though…

Let’s face it. Swishing oil in your mouth for twenty minutes is kinda nasty.

I’m lucky to have had another smooth evening babysitting my company director’s little guy. I fed and changed him, and then he went to sleep in no time. All I had to do was check on him every once in a while, watch Youtube videos, read blogs, and do homework. Is that what motherhood will be like?? 😉

I’m also lucky that they had watermelon popsicles in their freezer.

Yeah, I raided their freezer (with permission).

Saturday

I’m lucky to have peanut butter, oatmeal, and Greek yogurt. As if I haven’t made that very clear.

I’m lucky to have lunches on the go. This was eaten at dance: spinach salad with curry chicken and grapes + BelVita biscuits.

I’m lucky to have a dad who loves taco night as much as I do. We had a fiesta in honor of St. Patrick’s Day because we’re multicultural like that.

Whole wheat tortilla, lean ground beef, cabbage, avocado, cheese, cilantro, pineapple salsa, and squeeze of lime.

It had beef and cabbage, so it’s sort of like corned beef and cabbage, right?

Sunday

I’m lucky to have 14 dance company girls and an amazing company director who made my last company rehearsal EVER pretty darn great. My feet hurt and we were sweaty beasts, but I’m glad to have spent it with such beautiful, hilarious, loving ladies. I didn’t cry, but the waterworks are guaranteed to come during our last show in less than two weeks.

I WON’T CRY NOW.

I’m lucky to have a dad who will run to the store to pick up some buttermilk for Irish soda bread. I’m a huge fan of the stuff, so of course I had to make some for St. Patrick’s day! I used this recipe (I used half whole wheat flour), which is a fun twist on the traditional Irish soda bread with raisins. This one has dried apricots and orange zest!

Sample with some buttah. The crispy crust— DUDE.

Lucky. Lucky. Luckkkkyyy. I’ve been saying it in my head a billion times, so now it has lost its meaning and it sounds weird.

I hope you all have a great day!

So tell me:

Did you do anything for St. Patrick’s Day this weekend?

What is your favorite St. Paddy’s food?

Ever tried oil pulling?

What are you feelin’ lucky about?

Weekend Confessions II {MIMM #26}

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Hello!

Man, I feel like I haven’t been a part of the blogosphere much at all in the past few days. Schoolwork, dance, and the usual engagements have kept me on my toes, that’s for sure. Nothing to complain about though 😉

I’m feeling the “confession” style post today to recap my weekend. I did one of these a few weeks ago, but since I always love reading about others’ deep, dark, treacherous secrets, I thought I’d share some of mine again! Just kidding, these confessions are about things like food and more food.

Because fun confessions are marvelous 🙂 Thanks for hosting, Katie!

Confession #1

I played Cards Against Humanity, which is “a game for horrible people,” so that’s that.

If you’ve never played it before, it’s basically super inappropriate Apples to Apples. I was at my friend Pam’s house with all the other senior girls in company, and we definitely got some good laughs out of this game. Should I feel grimy? Because I kinda do after playing that game.

Confession #2

I had breakfast for dinner on Friday night because Fridays require abstinence from meat, but also because I was lazy to cook fish.

Two-egg omelet with broccoli, spinach, cheese, and ketchup + avocado toast

I ♥ eggs. Just get me chicken coop, and my protein (and cholesterol) will be set for life.

Confession #3

I took a picture of this at the dentist office:

I was just excited that the fitness columnist for this Prevention magazine is from University of Maryland. Possible career involving writing + fitness?!

Confession #4

I packed an eh lunch for dance on Saturday. It was either the somewhat dry chicken or the questionable feta cheese. Or maybe I just really wanted a grilled cheese instead.

Chicken, broccoli, and feta

Confession #5

I kinda died over this pool of crunchy peanut butter on Sunday morning.

I had to melt it in a small bowl in the microwave first because for some reason, crunchy peanut butter stiffens up in the fridge a lot more than other nut butters. But that just means it became warm and fantastic in the microwave. Swoon.

Confession #6

Instead of being fueled by Popcorners at dance yesterday, I was fueled by string cheese and pita chips with hummus.

A LOT more pita chips. Plus another half of my friend’s string cheese.

Me: “We shouldn’t just waste a cheese stick.”

Confession #7

Dance was pretty much a high intensity workout yesterday. Rehearsal involved running our 13-minute piece straight through a couple times, and all of us were definitely fried by the end of the day. I feel the soreness already.

Confession #8

I’m so spoiled by Mom’s cooking. Now that she’s on vacation, I’ve been having to step up my cooking game, which isn’t nearly as finessed as her’s.

Exhibit A: I had to text her to ask how to cook pre-packaged gnocchi. Before you laugh at me, I know how to cook pasta and I know how to read directions. It’s just that a) I’ve just never cooked gnocchi before, so I wasn’t sure how long I was supposed to boil it, and b) Mom the space-saver threw out the box for the gnocchi, so there were no directions. It’s a good thing I asked her, because it only takes three minutes to cook! If I hadn’t asked, it may have been gnocchi soup for dinner.

Instead, it was a simple, yet tasty dish. I used a jarred sauce, but I upped the veggie power by adding broccoli.

I had the gnocchi with leftover grilled chicken and brussels. I seared up some roasted red pepper spinach sausage for dad.

Confession #9

I made tuna salad sandwiches for meatless lunch options this week.

Into the salad went: two cans of tuna, ¼ c. Greek yogurt, 1.5 tbsp spicy brown mustard, 1 tsp. dried dill, lots of pepper, 1 tbsp. honey, drizzle of olive oil, lots of halved red grapes

That’s not really a confession, but eating tuna salad doesn’t sound too sexy.

Confession #10

I finished two tubs of Greek yogurt in less than a week. By myself. It’s an addiction when two tubs are right next to each other in the recycling bin.

Confession #11

Mom and I send those chubby Facebook stickers to each other to represent how our days went.

Confession #12

I could be doing bio homework right now, but I’d much rather be blogging. I did half of the homework, and it’s due Wednesday anyway…. 😀

Hope you have a wonderful day!

So tell me:

What was the best dinner you had this weekend?

Have you ever played Cards Against Humanity?

What is one food you go through in the blink of an eye?

Any other weekend confessions?

Daily Moves and Grooves

pray. eat. move. groove.

Tag Archives: company

My First Time {At Chipotle}

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Benefit Week in a Nutshell

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

That’s When You Know… {MIMM #29}

Feelin’ Lucky {MIMM #28}

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Weekend Confessions II {MIMM #26}

Confession #1

Confession #2

Confession #3

Confession #4

Confession #5

Confession #6

Confession #7

Confession #8

Confession #9

Confession #10

Confession #11

Confession #12

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

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Wednesday

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Saturday

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Friday

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Sunday

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Confession #1

Confession #2

Confession #3

Confession #4

Confession #5

Confession #6

Confession #7

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