Hi, Summer!

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

What time is it!?

{Summer time! It’s our vacaaaation!}

I told you I’ve been listening to High School Musical.

Technically, my summer vacation started two weeks ago, but I haven’t really talked about my summer plans yet.

These first few weeks have been the “vacation” portion of my summer, during which I’ve had minimal responsibilities and plenty of time to hang out with friends and family, soak up some sun, and watch people graduate.

© Kelsey C. Photography

I’m currently living with my friend Christie for June and July before my apartment lease starts August 1. I’ve unpacked only as much as I need, and I’m trying not to invade her space too much. This means my food supply is doubling as a window display.

My bed situation is also kinda eccentric.

twin-sized mattress topper over a queen-sized bed

I’ll call it terraced bedding. It’ll be trendy in 15 years.

This week has been about errands, a little bit of work and adjusting to being farther from campus. I still hang out on campus during these days off, but now I’m about a one-hour walk or a 30 minute bus ride away. The walk isn’t too shabby in the mornings though!

So far this week, I:

worked one day
went to Mass and adoration a few times

moved and grooved

I had a coupon for a free smoothie from the gym!

cooked

leftover brown rice and peas + garlic roasted broccoli + chicken with salsa verde from Rachel (that I learned wasn’t actually for me to eat… we sorted it out)

cleaned
withdrew money and exchanged for quarters for laundry
did laundry
joined a book club! (It’s with some people from the Catholic Center who are staying here for the summer. We’re reading Brideshead Revisited. I’ve never been in a book club, but now I feel like a suburb soccer mom!)
finally got a Boston Public Library card + checked out Brideshead Revisited

blogged
read blogs
watched the Crossfit Regionals online
helped my friend Albert move out of his dorm
went pants shopping (two pairs of pants ripped in the same spot [the crotch area behind the seams!?] within a single week during finals)

Does anyone else take dressing room selfies and make specific facial expressions that your friends will be able to read, because you know you’re going to ask for their opinion on your wardrobe dilemmas?

Face says: “I know I already have athletic pants this color, but I still want these.”

Face says: “I’m about to branch out, so speak now or forever see me in these capris.”

Face says: “Shift dresses are not pants but they make me feel free and beautiful.”

For the record, I bought all of the above. I also did plan on sending these photos to my friends but never did, so I don’t know if anyone else approves. But OH WELL, I like ’em.

Madre kindly paid for my pants + dress as an early birthday gift. Thank you, Madre!!

You might have noticed that the dishes in my food photos look a lot nicer. That’s because Christie has exceptional taste in home/fashion/beauty, which makes my food photos look just a little bit more aesthetically pleasing.

GOLD silverware (goldware?)

the square bowls are my favorite – not the most practical, but as Beyonce says, pretty hurts

So I’m here in Boston doing my thang until June 1, which is when I go home to New York for a week for Pop’s 50th birthday celebration plus some bonafide family time.

Following that, I’ll be working back at BU as a gross anatomy teaching assistant for two weeks! I need to re-study.

After that, I start PT school! We start grad classes at the end of June through mid-August. This early start is what helps us get done in 6 years instead of 7 years (total). I’m excited to start the graduate studies and become closer with the other people in my program!

In other news, I had a leftover Reese’s bunny and took this photo of me getting ready for bed last night:

I looked like a Christmas tree, but at least I was…

I like to think I do important things with my time.

So tell me:

What are your summer plans?

What is something daring you’ve added to your wardrobe?

Have you ever been in a book club?

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?

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