Weekend Confessions

Posted on May 15, 2017 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

weekend confessions

Confession #1: I’m currently blasting Ariana Grande’s “Right There” and belting it in my apartment (you know I’m rapping Big Sean’s part too), because Megan moved out and I’m alone.

Confession #2: I miss Megan a lot. I miss the microwave and trash bin that she provided this semester too, but I miss her more.

Confession #3: Finals are DONE, and I am now a senior/physical therapy graduate student!!! But I’m really feeling the “responsibility drop-off” (← literally just made that up) and have been trying to balance my empty study schedule with my real life to-do list.

study break last week

crepe study break as a farewell to our friend Tom from Ireland!

fresh out of our gross anatomy final, dying inside a little but living the dream

Confession #4: Instead of doing the online portion for my CPR course on Thursday night after my last final, I went to a summer birthday celebration (for all of us who have summer birthdays that we cannot celebrate during the school year) and a bonfire.

Confession #5: The amount of sugar I consumed that night (cake + ice cream + cookies + s’mores) is really scandalous as a future healthcare professional, but no regrets.

Confession #6: Since I went to the bonfire, I went to sleep past 1pm, had to wake up at 7am to finish the online CPR course, literally RUN to print out my certificate and meet up with my friend Janice to go to the in-person portion of the CPR class. #responsible.

But now I am CPR certified! “Ah ah ah ah stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive.”

Confession #7: Lunch on Friday was very beige. For bucket listing, Rachel and I went to Roxy’s for grilled cheese and truffle fries, followed by Toscanini’s for the B3 (brown butter, brown sugar, brownie) flavor. A meal of champions!

Rachel and I both got the three cheese: VT cheddar, muenster, and fontina cheeses inside perfectly crispy, buttery white bread.

The truffle fries were RICH. Truffle oil with rosemary and salt. So fantastic.

In addition to the B3 (the required bucket list item), Rachel got marshmallow fluff and I got butter almond (so much butter that day), and we both enjoyed them thoroughly. I’d say Toscanini’s has the best ice cream in the Boston area! It’s so dense and satisfying, similar to gelato.

Confession #8: I didn’t finish this blog post but scheduled it to post for this morning, so it was incomplete when it went up. Whoops. Here’s the rest.

Confession #9: Instead of sleeping early on Friday night (which I needed because I was exhausted), I went to my first Red Sox game ever because one of the Deans of the school was giving out a bunch of free tickets to my friends and me while we were playing hacky sack outside earlier in the day.

Sleep vs. first (and maybe only) Red Sox game ever with friends on a Friday night?

I don’t even like baseball, but the experience was a blast.

My favorite part was dancing between innings to try to get on the jumbotron but failing every time. I maybe watched the actual game for a total of 5 minutes.

Confession #10: It has been utterly freezing over here in Boston in the middle of May (read: 40-50*F), but since people are moved out and it’s supposed to be hot for the rest of the week, my apartment’s heat is off. That means I’ve been incubating myself in multiple layers inside my room.

MIDDLE. OF. MAY.

What is this madness!?

Confession #11: I worked out with Ben on Saturday, and his original workout was too hard for both of us that we had to scale it down as we went on. It was a great one though!

10 crab walk pushups // 10 plank up downs// 10 plank shoulder tap holds // 10 burpee-squat-front lunge twists

.3 mi run

15 crab walk pushups // 15 plank up downs // 15 plank shoulder tap holds // 15 burpee-squat-front lunge twists

.6 mi run

10 crab walk pushups // 10 plank up downs// 10 plank shoulder tap holds // 10 burpee-squat-front lunge twists

.9 mi run

15 crab walk pushups // 15 plank up downs // 15 plank shoulder tap holds // 15 burpee-squat-front lunge twists

1.2 mi run

We ran on the grass to mix up the terrain, which was good. Those complex burpees were apparently added in just for me, but they were killer!

Confession #12: I returned my rental book a day late, but Barnes and Noble is generous and gave me a two day grace period instead of charging me $45 right away.

Confession #13: Briana, Sarah, Dom and I watched the Hannah Montana Movie on Saturday night, and I 100% enjoyed it.

Confession #14: I took a bunch of my friends to Le’s Vietnamese for pho on Sunday because it’s cheap and good food. They let me order and advise them on how to eat everything correctly.

Between six of us, this was less than $40! And it was so satisfying and delicious on the rainy day.

Confession #15: We went to buy froyo afterwards, and my cup was $7. So much for saving money.

The mochi made it really heavy…okay, the amount of froyo I got also made it really heavy.

Confession #16: I worked out with Sarah yesterday morning and my butt is mighty sore today. We did some rowing, weighted step ups, split squats, and squat jumps. That’ll do it.

Confession #17: A bunch of us got together last night to watch Inside Out, which Sarah and I had watched halfway through but had to leave during a cliffhanger. We finally finished it last night, and I am unashamed to say that I shed a tear. What a great movie.

Confession #18: I’m definitely not an early bird anymore. My three day streak was short-lived.

Hope you all have a beautiful week!

So tell me:

Any “confessions” from this weekend?

The best thing you ate this weekend!

Your guilty pleasure movie.

Are you CPR certified?

‘

Two Museums, Two Desserts, Two Blistered Feet

Posted on June 27, 2016 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

I did something this weekend other than “oh ya know, just layin’ low…” !!!

Not that there’s anything wrong with laying low (after all, I love kicking up my feet after work these days). But it’s nice to exit the abode and live a little, especially when the weather is as gorgeous as it was this weekend!

Friday

There’s nothing really to share about Friday except that I worked, ate my favorite dinner of the week, and went to bed at 9.

brown rice with eel + avocado = all the good things in sushi, amplified in a bowl

Also, BEN CAME HOME FROM SPAIN! He completed El Camino de Santiago, which is historically a Christian walking pilgrimage. There are many routes, but Ben did a super long one that totaled 890 km (553 miles) within 32 days. Casual.

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Congrats, Ben! YOU ROCK.

He actually came home at 2 AM Saturday morning, but I snuck into his room later in the morning to say hi to him before I left for NYC.

Saturday

Since I went to bed so darn early, I woke up at around 6 AM for some sunrise moves and grooves!

100 burpee workout // 10 reps of each // Click here for demos!

10 tuck jump burpees
10 T pushup burpees
10 candlestick to chair burpees
10 alternating side burpees (this one actually hurt my shoulder a bit because the pushup becomes kinda awkward, so I would not recommend this variation)
10 broad jump burpees
10 spiderman pushup burpees
10 handstand burpees
10 superman burpees
10 dive bomber burpees
10 plank jack tuck jump burpees

I tried to do some new/weird variations to keep things interesting, so it was definitely a fun (and tiring) one!

banana bread baked oatmeal with plain peanut butter + “My Maine Squeeze” almond butter from The Peanut Principle

from the farmers’ market 😀

Plus a couple pieces of my mom’s egg white pork bake.

After washing up, Pop dropped me off at the train station to head down to the city! Cue this Tori Kelly song (because she is the soundtrack to my life).

First of all, I saw an extraordinary number of dads with their kids on the train/in the city that day, and it made my heart explode.

Secondly, Park Ave looks so clean and luxurious, but it honestly just smells like manure. #overrated

First stop of the day was the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Can you believe I’ve lived in NY for 11 years, and this was my first time going there?

I guess if you don’t live in NY, you don’t really see the big deal. But this is one of those “must see” attractions in the city.

I did my tourist thing while waiting for my friend, Christine.

Squealing greeting + photos in front of the MET, because we’re bananas (yellow on the outside, white on the inside, in case you haven’t seen me make that joke 100 times on the blog).

apparently this is where Gossip Girl cast ate lunch in the show??

In we went!

We interspersed our “ooo’s” and “aaah’s” with some serious girl talk and some attempts at reading our people’s language.

My contribution every time: “I have no idea what it means, but it looks familiar.”

At least we’re proficient in fit fam culture.

Art eventually drains ya girls, so we headed over to lunch at Bluestone Lane for some Australian fare at around 1 PM.

the restaurant is an extension of an Episcopalian church!

I spy vegemite toast and the word “brekkie”

Christine got the egg and bacon roll + I got the Aussie meat pie with mint pea puree

dynamite

Our waiter was Australian, which really added to the experience. Arman, I could not stop thinking about you.

We made it our mission to find both ice cream and Levain Bakery for dessert, so we took the scenic route and walked around the Central Park reservoir. It was the absolute perfect day to do it! Hot, but not unbearable, and bluuuuuue skies.

We didn’t know where to get ice cream, but we happened upon Amorino Gelato, which is famous for making roses out of their gelato! That stuff is expensive, but it is undeniably pretty and delicious.

Christine got fruity flavors + I got pistachio, black cherry, and a cookie butter flavor!

That cone was tiny and that gelato was melting wicked fast. You would think I was a magician, that’s how quickly I made it disappear.

We continued walking and found the legendary Levain Bakery. I had been hearing about their incredible chocolate chip cookies since I moved to New York, basically. This was THE DAY.

But first, a short wait on a line that spanned half the block. Expected.

this is my “THIS IS BETTER THAN DISNEY WORLD BUT I’M TRYING TO BE CIVILIZED” pose

We descended into the little bakery…

…I bought one chocolate chip cookie and one oatmeal raisin scone. We desperately needed to charge our phones, so we walked over to a Starbucks, where I finally unveiled the glory…

these are both HUGE

…wait for it!!!

You have no idea how long I had been waiting to take that money shot. Ladies and gents, this was one of the best things that my taste buds have ever encountered. I’m not even a big fan of chocolate.

Warm.

Crispy on the outside.

Slightly under-baked and gooey on the inside.

Melted chocolate chips.

Rich walnut chunks.

Thick and decadent.

– a poem about Levain’s chocolate chip cookie by Alison

Christine and I split the mega cookie, and we had a few bites of the scone, which was fantastic as well. Not too sweet at all, but BUTTERY. The bag smelled like buttered popcorn. Mmmmm.

Afterwards, we walked back around the reservoir to where we started, and continued with some more girl talk until Christine had to leave. Next museum of the day was Cooper Hewitt Museum of Design with one of my high school dance company mates, Susie!

had to take a pic of this

This is probably my favorite museum of all time. It’s so interactive, and the vibe is an intersection between classical architecture and modern technology.

They give you this high tech pen that acts as a memory stick. The pen has a “+” sign on the back that synchronizes to the “+” sign on each description panel on the exhibits. When you go home, you go onto their website and enter your unique code that they gave you, and you can see pictures of all the exhibits you saved via the pen. MAGICAL.

This immersion room is your childhood dream. You basically design your own wallpaper with the pen, and watch it come to life in front of your eyes.

Five stars for Cooper Hewitt! Thank you so much, Susie, for suggesting it!

We worked up a good appetite playing around in the museum. Susie chose an excellent Greek restaurant called Korali for dinner.

a rare moment when no cars are about to run you over in the city

beet salad with grapefruit, pine nuts, goat cheese, fennel, dill and scallions

when the manager walks up to you offering a FREE platter of melted Greek cheese, you do not refuse (such a nice gesture of them!)

soup of the day: lentil

Susie gave me a bite of her lamb shank, which was heavenly

We also walked by this gem of a Citi bank sign (great eye, Susie).

This is Gabby Douglas, US Olympic Gymnast. But peep the caption in the upper left hand corner…

THIS is Allyson Felix, US Olympic Track and Field Runner:

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Alright, Citi Bank.

And then I bid NYC a good night.

Ben picked me up at the train station, and I was all excited to tell him that I walked 11 miles that day (according to the Apple Health app), but then I remembered that he had been walking an average of 20 miles per day for the past month. Overachiever.

I still gave myself a foot massage before bed.

Sunday

I got up a little past 7 to get ready for Mass and say goodbye (already!) to Ben and Madre. Not for long though. Pop and I will meet them in Florida soon for our big family vacation next week!

Breakfast after Mass:

banana egg white chia seed oatmeal

I also had leftover roasted broccoli while cooking this. Cravings, man.

I watched some gymnastics, read some blogs, and napped before getting up and eating again. Sundays, man.

smoked salmon avocado toast + unpictured carrots and hummus + half a frozen banana

Then I started this blog post and FaceTimed with my beautiful friend, Briana, from college. Followed by some killer moves and grooves in the basement (which I have deemed to be my “pain cave”).

60 seconds strength/45 seconds cardio/20 seconds plyometric/15 seconds rest

3 rounds of each block, 1 minute rest between blocks

BLOCK #1

weighted reverse lunges with kick (30 sec each leg)
burpees
squat jumps

BLOCK #2

pistol squats (30 sec each leg)
jumping jacks
broad jumps over a step, lengthwise

BLOCK #3

weighted Bulgarian split squats (30 sec each leg)
high knees
full sit tuck jumps

BLOCK #4

I hadn’t done a workout that made my quads cry in a while. I stretched out before Pop and I went to one of our favorites for dinner— Bareburger!

I made my own burger: turkey burger, spinach, sprouts, tomato, pimento cheese on sprout bun + ketchup and mustard

sweet potato fries with their curry ketchup + special sauce

the inner beauty of my burger

Pop’s “Hog Wild” burger: wild boar burger, pimento cheese, frizzled chickpea onions (!?), fried egg, and pickled green tomatoes on a brioche bun

Decadence once again.

We picked up some groceries afterwards, and now I’m finishing typing this while watching sports on TV (← yay for Olympic season coming up!). ‘Twas a fabulous weekend filled with good food, great conversation, and even better people.

Back to the grind today, but one more week until vacation! Hope you all have stellar Monday. Give yourself a foot massage. You deserve it.

So tell me:

Two things you did this weekend!

What is your favorite museum?

What is the best cookie you’ve ever eaten?

Are there any sports you are following currently?

Five Minute Friday #16: Fitness is More Than Skills and Numbers

Posted on June 24, 2016 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

I just watched the US men’s gymnastics Olympic Trials, and I’m still speechless about it.

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I’m convinced that they’re not humans.

I’m also really sore from Wednesday’s workout as I type this, so anything that looks remotely strenuous sends pain waves to my brain.

4 rounds:

10 squat cleans (55-65#)
15 box jumps

3 rounds each:

12 curtsy lunges each leg (55#) ← died.
25 plank jacks

10 deadlifts (135#) ← died again. I don’t think I had deadlifted 135 in my life.
20 jump lunges

Finisher: 5 min AMRAP

16 alternating single arm DB swings (20#)
15 goblet squats (15#)
30 mountain climbers

On the food front, I was obsessed with this lunch salad this week:

mixed greens, chopped Thai basil, mint, and cilantro, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, fish or chicken, peanut sauce

The fresh herbs are…

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^^^This photo is very obnoxious if you don’t understand the reference, I’m sorry. Actually, it’s obnoxious regardless.

Today I have a Five Minute Friday vlog! It’s been a hot minute. This week I’m talking about three lessons I’ve learned at work so far, including the lesson that fitness is more than skills and numbers.

Sure, competitive athletes measure fitness/performance based on race times, weight lifted, and reps accomplished (and I am a proponent of the attitude that what you can do > how you look when it comes to fitness), but let’s take it one step deeper…

link to the video in case it doesn’t work here!

Yes, there are baseline levels of fitness that we measure and need for health, but those little steps to get there are indispensable and worth celebrating!

Happy weekend, friends! I’m going to be hanging out with a couple friends in NYC tomorrow, and I’m STOKED.

So tell me:

What are your thoughts on the “fitness journey”? What does it mean to you?

What is the best thing you ate for lunch this week?

Have you ever had a secretarial job?

What are you doing this weekend?

You Want To Be Productive But Then…

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Friday was the best April Fools’ Day of my LIFE.

I am truly grateful that all of you are so supportive of my fitness company endeavors. 😉

how I felt about tricking even my DAD about starting a fitness company

This weekend, I had a nice long list of schoolwork and shorter list fun things that I needed/wanted to accomplish, but one thing leads to another, and the list of accomplished fun things inadvertently becomes longer and the list of accomplished schoolwork consequently becomes shorter…

Friday started off on a productive note with banana oats in an almond butter jar, biomechanics, a campus tour and a workout at the gym.

fab lunch: kung pao sweet potatoes over spinach + bbq lentil meatball sub

There were definitely some time periods during which I could have been studying when I opted to chat with new and old friends…

salad with carrots, chicken, beets, and balsamic + some unknown, delicious, cheesy couscous concoction

…but I think some more homework snuck in there before a bunch of my friends and I headed swing dancing!

we’re so gross and sweaty in this photo FYI; TMI

too adorable

It’s always fun to move and groove, even if it’s with clammy men who are either exceptionally advanced or exceptionally…not advanced.

My fellow banana (yellow on the outside, white on the inside) friend, Christine, was in town this weekend so I had to hang out with her. On Saturday, I ate wild berry freezer waffles with peanut butter and an apple in 60 seconds before meeting up with Christine for coffee/tea and a bomb pear almond scone that she kindly shared with me.

Girl talk with Christine is always a fun time! It wasn’t the studying I planned on, but it was 100x better. You should check out her blog for fashion and fitness (especially because fashion is nearly nonexistent here on Moves and Grooves)!

I went to work from 10-1 and then grabbed a freaking weird (but yummy) lunch while ~~studying~~ reading blogs and getting caught up in a political discussion thread on Facebook.

“seared tuna” salad + roast beef, smoked gouda, veggie, mustard, artichoke herb spread sandwich on whole grain ciabatta + apple

I told you it was a freaking weird lunch. Separately, everything worked well, but I must say that the seared tuna was a little more like a fish version of spam. Not the worst thing?

Then I cranked out some work. Wait no, I went to go pray at church with my friend Kelsey for a bit. The prayer time was much needed. Then I actually cranked out some work. Homework intermission was brought to you by Amsterdam Falafel!

three falafel on the bottom with almost every topping possible

It’s one of the places on the food bucket list that Rachel and I are making our way through. Since Rachel already went to Amsterdam Falafel on her own though, I decided to go there on my own for dinner on Saturday night.

I ate this in private. I know for a fact that I looked like a caveman eating this. ‘Twas super tasty!

I ended my night with some yoga. My arms and shoulders were BRICKS from whatever I did on Friday (probably the wall walks), so yoga was lovely.

For Sunday morning, I set my alarm for 8:00 and 8:30, the latter for if I wanted to sleep in. I turned off both alarms and slept until 9:20. I knew I needed it, so I was okay with sacrificing that extra hour of work for quality zzz’s.

Breakfast was a leftover whole wheat pancake with peanut butter, banana, and cinnamon.

Then I went to confession and Mass with Kelsey before heading to lunch to be greeted with the best dining hall meal ever!

It was “Sargent Choice” day for brunch in the d-halls, which meant that the Sargent Nutrition Center took over the options for the whole dining hall. They offered avocado toast (!!!) with sautéed spinach and a fried egg, so I beelined for that (and topped it with sriracha, of course). Plus a side of garlicky kale and butternut squash.

And then for my sweet tooth, I had some plain Greek (!!!) yogurt with kiwi, peaches, and blueberries + applesauce tea cake with brown sugar glaze.

I end up eating more when the dining hall offers things that I normally eat at home, because I’m like:

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My afternoon consisted of a Catholic student group meeting at Harvard and a dorm workout (warmup, foam rolling, and a 20 minute leg circuit workout):

3 rounds of 10 seconds rest, 30 seconds work // Do each exercise twice for each round (once on each leg if applicable)

pistol squats
split jack lunges
side lunges
squat jumps/air squats
donkey kicks

Then stretch!

I showered, did laundry, did some work, and then went to dinner with some friends, which ended with a good ol’ bowl of {three different kinds of} cereal.

Afterwards, I called my parents for a quick bit to talk about some study abroad business! I’m going to Dublin, Ireland this fall!

My beautiful study/snapchat procrastination buddies for the night:

It’s funny because I feel like the three of us talked the whole weekend about how we need to do work, yet we could not get ourselves to be as productive as we wanted to be. C’est la vie.

Hope you all have a productive week!

So tell me:

You want to be productive but then…

Have you ever been swing dancing?

Do you freak out when a restaurant/event/dining hall offers a bunch of healthy food that you love?

Things to do in Dublin, Ireland! 🙂

New Things in the New Year

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Greetings from New York! Let’s talk about some new things that I’ve already experienced in this new year! (Has the word “new” lost its meaning yet? If not, it will after you finish reading this post.)

Our last day of 2015 and first day of 2016 was spent with family, friends, and food. Classic. December 31st included sore muscles in new places that have never really been sore before (maybe my subscapularis?. It also included a delicious Vietnamese lunch with my cousins.

grilled chicken and shrimp vermicelli bowl at Saigon Star (one of our faves)

We counted down to the New Year with our other cousin’s family and all their cool kung fu friends. I helped out by cooking some rosemary roasted potatoes and a garden salad, and I got a new compliment from my little cousin: “These are the best potatoes ever!” I might never hear that again. #cherish

Also, check out this beautiful appetizer spread by my aunt!

Do not be deceived. I ate this and much more.

Camping out by the snacks. She’s my mini-me.

Dessert was mochi ice cream and freshly baked {Pillsbury} chocolate chip cookies. Perfection, I say.

We learned some new moves and grooves with Just Dance on the wii. My mom filmed Ben and me dancing to “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga. I was doing the dance a lot better in my head.

when around kung fu masters, you do active things always

When it came time to count down the last seconds until 2016, we poured some bubbly and watched the live Times Square ball drop on TV. It was great, except the TV kept freezing up, and of course it froze on the last 5 seconds of the countdown.

“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, fi- NOOOOOOO!”

Nevertheless, 2016 was still there and we all had a fun time celebrating.

reppin’ my classiest wardrobe selection

On New Year’s Day, I got up early to try a new fitness class — the ever famous BodyPump! Now let me make this clear: I only tried this early (9:30AM lol) class on New Year’s because a) it was free with a gym trial pass; b) I don’t have BodyPump close to home; c) my cousin Liz came with me.

Verdict? I enjoyed it! It could have been more challenging, but that’s because Liz and I stuck with lighter weights since it was our first time. I would do BodyPump (or other Les Mills classes) again, but I don’t know if I would actively seek it out.

Later that day, I watched a new movie. Guess which one.

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Star Warzzzzzz! I’ve never seen any other Star Wars movies, but I didn’t find it too difficult to follow the plot, and I actually loved the movie! BB8 (pictured above) is my favorite.

Ate a banana from home and a whole small bag of popcorn.

My family and I departed Canada on Saturday, Subway sandwiches in tow. Thankfully, the drive was safe and pretty swift.

road trip snacks!

Before hitting the road, I did this quick leg circuit. After the long trip, I was missing Just Dance with my cousin, so I did a random Shaun T dance DVD in the basement.

Yesterday involved Mass, buying new textbooks for the semester, Korean food, another new movie, errands, and a short workout.

beloved Korean side dishes

chicken bibimbap shared with Madre

After Mass and lunch, Pop and I watched the new film Brooklyn in theaters. We both loved it! It’s pretty much a rom com, but more old-timey (it takes place during the 1940s era of immigration in America).