Gentler Moves and Grooves

Posted on June 7, 2017 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Yesterday was a very blue Tuesday!

Not because it was a sad day, but because the color blue popped up a lot.

Breakfast was the last of my Fage Greek yogurt (the BEST – thanks, Madre!) with blueberries, purple corn flakes (blue enough), cinnamon, and almond butter.

On the other end of the day, I met up with my friend from study abroad, Cristen! She and I (along with Megan) experienced so much of the great green Ireland and Edinburgh, Scotland together. And she loves peanut butter + banana as much as I do!

We discovered on our abroad adventures that we live pretty close to each other, so we finally met up for some ice cream at The Blue Pig.

Isn’t it adorable!? I got the roasted banana with salted caramel + fluffernutter (basically vanilla with large chunks of peanut butter), and both were very tasty. It wasn’t the creamiest ice cream, but the flavor was on point.

Cristen was the best part of the night! I love catching up with this one.

I actually had second dessert when I got home because I still needed something to fill the tank. Mini muffins with a glass o’ milk to the rescue!

My aunt made these, and they are BOMB. Perfect amount of sweetness and great texture.

I ate these while geeking out with Ben over the solar eclipse that’s coming across the United States this August 21st. We found this video in our research, which is equal parts hilarious and incredible.

Other foods of the day included salads and half a bagel with Kerrygold butter. Memories of Ireland…

nothing like toast with quality buttah

Madre even had the idea to make egg-in-a-hole with a bagel, so I made it for her as a midnight snack. It looked scrumptious!

Her dreams came true and she loved it.

Besides eating, I moved and grooved a bit yesterday. I mentioned in my last post that I likely have a minor labral tear, but there are still many movements that feel good/are not painful. I definitely want to keep some good range of motion in that hip joint, so I’m exercising but being verrrrry conservative and immediately stopping anything that doesn’t feel nice. Like walking. Walking doesn’t feel nice, so I’m not doing that as much (Boston will be hard when I get back there!).

The goal is to not need surgery 😀

Here’s what I did:

(Superset = three sets back to back. Also, my hair has a mind of its own.)

This workout was all about pain-free movement, not about speed or reps. It was still fun though!

Back to Boston today!

So tell me:

Did you eat anything/go anywhere blue yesterday?

Will you be in the path of the total solar eclipse on August 21st!? We will not be, unfortunately, but if you will be, PLEASE FILM IT. The chance of a lifetime. I love space things (← obviously not an expert though).

Your opinions on buttered toast.

Have you ever needed to modify workouts due to injuries?

Let Me Brag About My Friends Again

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

I’m currently sitting outside on this last day of spring break, and I’m feeling all kinds of emotions.

Sad that spring break is over, overjoyed that the weather has been beautiful, grateful for amazing friends, anxious for the second half of the semester, and excited for what’s to come.

But can I brag about these people in my life who I call my friends (I think they call me their friend too, but who really knows)? These last few days of spring break have been wonderful in every way, but mostly in how down-to-earth, fun, and faithful my friends are. I’ve said this so many times before, but they constantly inspire me to be better and grow closer to God.

Friday

Friday started with some homework, maybe? I don’t remember. Regardless, the important part of the day was Mass and lunch with my friend Katie!

perfect weather

We chatted about the very depths of our souls over some bomb salads from Sweetgreen. I forgot to take picture with her, so my type-A-blogger self is sad.

The rest of the day involved Kan-Jam, a trip to the gym (too many heavy squats ➔ sore for DAYS), homework, and early bedtime.

Saturday

I worked from 10-3 before playing outside in the perfect weather (again). I also stopped by Whole Foods to buy a box of salad greens, Fage Greek yogurt (that was on sale!), fresh strawberries (also on sale) and Nature’s Path mixed berry buckwheat freezer waffles (also on sale #collegebudget). Those four things were my sustenance for the weekend.

crumbs everywhere on my bed

Yogurt, nut butter, waffles, berries, and leaves— nothing out of the ordinary for me anyway.

Saturday night brought some fun festivities! My friends and I went out for drinks…

…and I was the only one in our group under 21, which explains my Shirley Temple pictured above.

*waitress taking orders*

Friend 1: Guinness, please.

Friend 2: I’ll also have a Guinness.

Friend 3: Guinness.

Friend 4: Guinness for me too.

Me: …Can I get a Shirley Temple?

Honestly, that’ll probably be me when I’m 21 anyway.

Nevertheless, ’twas a grand ol’ night, complete with live Irish music and dancing. I’m grateful for my older friends who let me have fun with them despite me being an infant.

They went to another bar at 11, at which time I actually needed to go home. #NoFakeID

Sunday

That one hour loss, guys. IT GOT ME.

Nothing a good breakfast can’t fix though!

Better yet— Mass with friends… and more perfect weather!

After Mass, I knew that I had to move and groove outside. It seemed like all of Boston was saying hello to the blue skies!

I ran into more friends, who were willing to put up with my selfie shenanigans in the middle of their workout.

We all burpee’d a lot.

Lunch was the rest of my salad greens, Snap Pea Crisps, and an almond butter Perfect Bar.

I was planning on doing some more studying, but I didn’t need to do any work… So I went back outside 😀

As soon as I whipped out my phone, this squirrel that was stuffing its face stared me down and looked like it was about to kill me.

More frisbee!

It was also my friend Lauren’s birthday!!!

four-eyed friends ♥︎

The dining halls opened last night (praaaaaise), so a few of us chowed down.

Then I joined my saintly friends for Back Bay Mobile Soup Kitchen for a little while before coming back to ~~do some work~~ attempt to do work while waiting for RACHEL TO COME HOME!

She was on a mission trip in Guyana for spring break, so I had not talked to her/seen her/contacted her/known every detail of her life for what seemed like FOREVER. She shared her experiences from the mission trip, and I almost cried. God worked through her in such profound and incredible ways.

She also saw a lot of stars 🙂

Back to the grind today. Sophomore year will come to a close in just six weeks, help.

Hope you all have a kick-butt week! I’m going to need a couple kicks in the butt just to get out of bed.

So tell me:

Something you loved about this weekend.

Something you love about your friends.

Have you ever been “that” person under 21?

Have you ever been on a service or mission trip?

I Eat With Gusto

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Hello from Beantown!

And happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day to my American friends! Fun fact: he received his PhD at Boston University, hollaaaa. In honor of such a courageous and exemplary man, here are some of my favorite quotes of his:

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

I have decided to stick to love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.

We must use time creatively.

Thank you, MLK Jr. ♥

Friday

My train commute to Boston was smooth and swift, thanks be to God. Mom even packed me a bag full of pomegranate arils because she is sweeter than the pomegranate itself.

complete with a plastic spoon

Ben was also kind enough to help me take my bags from the train station to my dorm since I’m a chronic over-packer and had about twice the bag/weight limit. I took him out to lunch afterwards at one of our favorite spots— Mei Mei’s!

We both ordered “The Double Awesome” scallion pancake sandwich (Mei Mei’s special), which has local greens pesto, Vermont white cheddar, and two oozy eggs. Sounds like heaven, tastes like heaven. Ben also shared a bite of his fried pork dumplings and sriracha rice with me. Mmmm.

That orange is not cheese. It’s yolky deliciousness that I got on my face, on my sweater, and in my hair. It’s all or nothing with this kind of food. Ben and I were sitting at the window barstools, so the world could see us grappling with our sandwiches and fighting to catch every drop of egg yolk.

Ben wants to try to make this at home, but he said, “I need to perfect the art of the egg. Like, how do you make it watery?”

Me: “You mean…runny?”

Ben: “…yeah.”

Silly dude.

So, uh, college life. I do love it, but I was living off of naked salad and yogurt for the first couple of days when the dining halls were still closed. I went to Whole Foods and picked up a small box of spring mix with herbs and five Fage Greek yogurt cups that were on sale.

Behold, dinner.

I ate the salad with just salt and pepper because I didn’t want to spend money on dressing for just two days. It tasted…green. But honestly, these are some of my favorite foods anyway, so I’m not complaining. Protein, greens, and peanut butter. Got my food groups covered.

Saturday

Moves to start the day: 100 burpee challenge!

Breakfast involved yogurt and oats a la microwave.

How a proper lady would eat this: one bowl at a time.

How I eat this: dip my spoon back and forth between bowls to get some yogurt and some oats in every bite and licking my spoon clean of all the nut butter.

I worked for most of Saturday and ate more of my greens for lunch, plus two Wasa crackers with Laughing Cow cheese, curry powder, and black pepper. You need to try that combination!

I quite enthusiastically ate handfuls of pomegranate arils immediately after work because crackers and leaves aren’t a substantial lunch for me and I was hungryyyy. Then I came back to my dorm and ate yogurt #2 of the day.

Afterwards, I braved the cold and jogged to the gym for an upper body workout. When I jogged back, expecting to eat dinner in the dining hall, I was greeted with disappointment. Dinner was only from 5-7 pm Saturday night instead of the usual 5-9 pm.

To Subway I went!

grilled chicken, pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, and honey mustard on wheat

Subway is so good. I followed this up with the rest of my greens, snap pea crisps, and yogurt cup #3.

I was FaceTiming with mom when I was eating dinner, and she remarked at my large mouthfuls of salad. It’s true— I can’t eat salad in a pretty manner. You either eat one leaf at a time or you look like a brontosaurus. I prefer the latter so that I can actually taste the salad.

Don’t get me wrong, I like to take my time when I eat, and I can eat like I’m with the Queen of England if I wanted. But sometimes (most of the time) I just eat with gusto.

Sunday

The dining hall was open all day yesterday, so I definitely hit that up for breakfast!

oatmeal with coconut, honey, peanut butter, and banana + egg white, veg, cheese omelet

Fill.ing.

I went to Mass at the Catholic center and had a hug fest with all my dear friends again. Ugh, so happy. Then a couple of my friends and I made our wallets cry when we went to buy/rent books for classes. At least you get a reusable bag when you spend over $400.

I ate a super late lunch of veggies and chicken, and little later, moves were done with my pal Albert! We did abs and ran two miles on the treadmill.

Dinner was weird because I had a late lunch, but I wanted to eat before the dining halls closed. That being said, it was tasty!

salad + whole wheat corn muffin + pear

I saved the pear for later because I wanted my fruit in another form…

apple crisp a la mode!!!

The crust was buttery, sugary perfection. Oh, what BU dining hall desserts do to me.

We have today off for MLK Jr. day so this is my last day before we dive into the real work. If you also have a day off today, have a great one! If you don’t, still have a great one!

So tell me:

Are you an enthusiastic eater?

I can buy three things from the grocery store to eat for the weekend. I buy___, ____, and ____.

WIAW: Day In the Life of a High School Student

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Hello!

I hope your week has been going well so far. The busyness of the weekend has definitely spilled into this week, but it’s all good!

I’ve been seeing a few bloggers do a day in the life post (which is actually one of my favorite posts to read), so I felt like posting one this week as well. Maybe I’m just super nosy, but there’s something fun about knowing what others do on a regular day. Daily life happens, so why not talk about it and share the similarities and differences with one another? I feel like a day in the life post is also a way to reflect on all the little things that brightened our day 🙂

Some of you adults may not want to re-live the high school days, but that’s what I’m bringin’ for ya on this WIAW. Here is a typical day of eats and activities for this high school senior!

Hooray for Jenn, the host of the wonderful WIAW party!

6:34 AM — Internal alarm wakes me up one minute before the phone alarm rings. Turn off alarms and decide that I can actually roll out of bed right away. Freshen up in the bathroom.

6:45 AM — Morning prayer + change + makeup.

7:00 AM — Open the fridge excitedly to get my favorite breakfast waiting for me!

Overnight oats!

Enjoyed while reading and commenting on blogs per usual.

7:35 AM — Kiss mom goodbye and drive off to school.

7:40 AM — Traffic on one of the busier roads + stuck behind a truck stopped in the middle of the road and taking up a whole lane.

7:45 AM — Realize the senior parking lot is full. Go to park at the other lot that’s a little farther away. A little morning walk in the frigid air never hurt anyone…just keep your face down from the burning cold wind.

8:00 AM — School starts.

9:30 AM — Snack in Italian class. Discreetly open the wrapper…

{Photo taken at home before school} Taste of Nature Polynesian Coconut Breeze bar that my parents brought from Canada. This tasted like a lemony coconut macaroon! So delicious.

10:30 AM — Snag some Cheerios from Kristi in Business Calculus (see my Cheerio algebra here). 😉

We obviously had an extremely productive class taking statistics of what each student preferred at Chipotle.

I also learned that I would be in deep trouble if I actually bought stocks in the real world. I’m losing over $3,000 right now. WHOLE FOODS IS LETTING ME DOWN.

11:50 AM — Lunch tiiiiime!

Turkey, cheese, spinach, mustard sandwich {recycled photo}

Clementine {photo taken at home because I forgot to take one at school}

2:45 PM — Drive my friend home because it’s too flippin’ freezing outside for her to walk home.

3:00 PM — Afternoon snack while reading some blogs and catching up on emails.

Fage strawberry yogurt

Popcorn (this handful times, like, 7)

3:30 PM — Conjure up the courage to be somewhat political. I call NY Representative Nita Lowey’s office in DC to tell her that I want her to vote for a certain bill. A young guy at her office answered, jotted down the request, and it was over. I feel like such a citizen! 😉

3:35 PM — Do homework and study for Italian midterms. I never leave the space heater during this time. I pace back and forth and even do squats in front of it to evenly heat my body, all while trying to memorize Italian phrases.

5:00 PM — Discreetly smile and jump up and down when I find out I got into the University of Maryland and their Honors College! My mom is in the kitchen with me, but I don’t want to tell her about it quite yet. She’s cooking and I’m finishing studying.

5:10 PM — Give mom a big hug and quickly say, “I got into the Honors College at Maryland.” Her immediate response is to take a picture of the letter on her iPhone and text it to Dad and Ben (she’s obsessed with technological communication, I swear).

A celebratory/pre-ballet snack: