What You Didn’t See

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Between the week in the life vlog I posted last week and the Spartan Race on Sunday, I’ve shown a lot of the good and fun things happening around these parts.

Indeed, things have been good and fun, and I am grateful for that. I also like to think that I don’t just show the nice parts of life, but also the turbulence. Nevertheless, there are plenty of emotions and happenings that you didn’t see these past few weeks, so here’s a peek into what you didn’t see…

What you didn’t see before the week in the life vlog was my lack of productivity and my fear that I would not be able to become productive for work and classes. The weeks before starting work as a teaching assistant, I felt like my days would waste away and I would fail at doing simple tasks like reading my book for book club. I was genuinely concerned that I would crumble once I started work and classes.

(I have since reminded myself that having things to do makes me productive. Having nothing to do drains 99.9% of all motivation from me.)

Do any other single people out there find it takes forever to pack meals for the next day? How do parents do this for other humans every day??

What you didn’t see was my failure to keep up with book club and attend any meeting after the first intro meeting. (I still want to finish the book in my own time though!)

What you didn’t see before the Spartan Race was the real concern that my family and friends had for me when I reconsidered racing after my hip injury (← still don’t know what it really was). Some people were in disagreement with me attempting the race, and although I wanted them to trust my judgment, I am grateful and humbled to have people who care for me and keep me in check to make sure I was being a good PT-to-be.

avocado toast with bacon, eggs, sriracha + some veggie has been my dinner many times these past two weeks

What you didn’t see was the number of times I double-booked phone call dates and night plans in the past two weeks. I guess it was only one time each, but still — two more times than I should have done.

What you didn’t see was me yelling at a driver while I was walking to work yesterday morning. I’m not usually an angry person on the road as a driver or pedestrian, but I was pretty upset that someone making a left turn purposefully accelerated, nearly hit me, and honked at me for walking in front of her, to which I responded, “I have the walk sign!!” because I did indeed have the walk sign.

After steaming and shaking my head in annoyance for a few minutes, I hoped she had a better day after whatever was going on in her morning.

I had overnight oats in me at that point too, which helped.

I share these things because sharing all experiences — even the silly ones and the ones we’re less proud of — brings us together as #humans.

But now for some more fun things that you didn’t see yet!

Like these professional photos from the Spartan Race! I cannot stop laughing at them. Look at the seal on the first two photos — Spartan KIDS. Are we kidding!?

5947cdd18060e0487cce7f92-o 5947cde20bcef67f4070d575-o 5947de6a8060e0487cce8808-o 5947de850bcef67f4070de14-o

casually checking for some dirt under the nails. just a lil bit in there.

5947f91d8060e0487cce96b1-o

my friend Evan: “Is that the part of your day when you’re spinnin sick beats in da club?”

5947f9228060e0487cce96b4-o 5948636b0bcef67f40710bb5-o 594863728060e0487cceb534-o

the traverse wall — one of my favorite obstacles of the course!

5947eaa10bcef67f4070e477-o

my life flashing before my eyes. BUT LOOK AT HOW HIGH BEN JUMPED!!

5947eaa20bcef67f4070e478-o

I am Mulan.

HAHAHA I die.

I made my favorite meatloaf (← so easy and tasty, highly recommend) on Tuesday night, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it this week with some quinoa and roasted broccoli.

the sauce is ketchup, mustard and brown sugar, and it is BOMB

This is less fun, but it was fun while it lasted. I finished my bag of dried figs with Greek yogurt and peanut butter.

On Wednesday night, my dear friend Megan treated me to a drink for a belated birthday celebration! It was so great to catch up with this radiant soul.

We got mango margaritas! She called it the classic BU white girl drink, but guatever, I’m on board with fruity drinks. It was my first time having a margarita, and I was a fan. She got a sugar rim and I went with salt.

It was the perfect accompaniment to my fish tacos + honey ale cornbread (!!!).

Thank you again, Megan! ♥︎

Today is my last day of work as a gross anatomy TA, and I must say that I will miss it! The other TA I worked with has been amazing, and it was fun teaching the lab section of the course. I’ll get to know most of the students better in these next three years though, because a lot of them are my classmates! Grad schools starts Tuesday eeeeeeep.

Happy Friday!

So tell me:

Something I don’t know! 🙂

Do you like meatloaf?

Two things that happened this week!

Current Mood(s)

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

It’s been a funky weekend.

My mood is currently a slurry of the following:

Upset, confused, uneasy, and heartbroken by the shootings (Christina Grimmie + mass shooting at Pulse) in Orlando this weekend.

Sometimes God allows terrible things to happen in your life and you don’t know why. But that doesn’t mean you should stop trusting Him.

— Christina Grimmie (@TheRealGrimmie) February 21, 2013

I’m having a hard time just typing this blog post, because I’m watching several videos, reading tweets/statuses/articles, and just grappling with the whole situation and with the state of the world. May God be merciful to all, and may He grant rest to the souls of those who died and console their loved ones.

Friends, keep loving more deeply every day. Reflect on your purpose in this world. I don’t mean to be preachy right now, but when it comes to life and death, it’s important to ask yourself: What if my life on earth ended today?

7c4596b01eed639651802d7d30d97569

[source]

————————

Enraged, saddened, yet awe-inspired by the powerful letter the Stanford rape victim read aloud to her attacker.

————————

Unsure if cutting down on dairy is helping my tummy troubles. I’m currently drinking Lactaid milk (surprisingly, it’s exceptionally tasty milk) and avoiding Greek yogurt and cheese. I think I feel better with less Greek yogurt in particular (*tear*).

the day before my mom picked up some Lactaid // carbs+pb isn’t the same without a glass o’ milk

leftover green banana pancakes + banana cream sauce + glass o’ Lactaid (← doesn’t have the same ring to it)

overnight oats made without Greek yogurt but with extra Lactaid milk, chia seeds, and half a scoop of vanilla protein powder — not bad!

classic banana egg white oats (video tutorial coming soon!)

baked banana bread oatmeal for this week’s breakfasts

I’m also unsure because I’m weak. I had a tiny bit of ice cream Saturday night with our leftover apple strudel from the farmers’ market 🙂 And I had a few cheesy jalapeño Popcorners yesterday.

I didn’t keel over or anything though, so it’s all good.

Another likely culprit is definitely stress. I don’t notice my stress, but I think my body/mind has objectively been stressed these past few weeks.

——————————

All that being said…

I’m ashamed and disappointed in myself. Honesty is the best policy. I feel ashamed that maybe my tummy troubles were actually coming from a few too many days of eating until I was stuffed, even if it was just a bunch of vegetables.

I have definitely not been binging by any means, but I do know that I sometimes stress eat and/or eat too quickly when I’m stressed. I was struck by the possibility that maybe my insides haven’t been cooperating because I just haven’t been too kind to them in regards to the volume I eat.

So I’ve been more aware of my stomach cues (without worrying about calories or anything), which (DUH) has been helping me feel more comfortable. I’m tempted to beat myself up about my recent eating habits, but I know that will just do me a disservice. Evaluate, learn, make the changes, and move on.

Somewhat off topic: Lunches these days have been all about eggs, which I find are easy on my stomach.

two egg omelet with greens and onions + cherry tomatoes + avocado toast

avocado toast with sunny egg and sriracha (among other things) for lunch on Saturday

delicious bowl of quinoa, roasted broccoli, sautéed greens, onions, cherry tomatoes, chorizo + sunny egg + sriracha added post-pic

———————————

Thankful that my body can move and exercise. I always try to be, but I’ve had to especially remind myself to be thankful this weekend because of some recent body image issues that I’ll talk more about tomorrow.

Mom and I have been doing 7 minute workouts and Pilates together. So wonderful to move and groove with Madre.

Working at a rehabilitation hospital has also done wonders for my perspective on physical ability, movement, and health.

scene at lunch break

Saturday’s workout was a doozy! 4 rounds for time:

10 burpee tuck jumps
20 crazy Russian twists (10 each side, 15#)
30 side jump lunges
40 air squats with side leg lift
50 mountain climbers

HUSTLED on those last squats and mountain climbers when I saw that I could finish at 20 minutes

I did this yoga video yesterday, since everything was sore and my body had been craving good, organ-nourishing twists.

———————————

Happy that I get to spend quality time with my parents on the weekends. We went out for sushi on Saturday night after Mass, followed by an evening walk.

Mom and Pop’s sashimi for two

cutest soy sauce dish

my order: “Soho roll” (tuna, salmon, yellowtail, avocado, rice, roe, wrapped in soybean paper) + eel cucumber roll

Ain’t nothing like gooooooood sushi.

——————————

Excited for friends and family in their adventures and endeavors. It’s so cool to see loved ones explore the world, learn, grow, and allow God to work through them.

——————————

So there’s a lot happening in the head and the heart right now. A lot of it is growing pain, I think, which is encouraging and comforting. God is good, always.

I’m sorry if this post seems like a big, negative smash on your Monday, but that’s not my intent. This is just a reminder to myself and to all who read this that we need to support and uplift one another. Joy, beauty, heroism, and love exist, and it starts with you.

mother-teresa-do-not-wait-for-leaders

[source]

So tell me:

What are your current moods?

Have you ever gone through periods of “meh” eating habits, even if you have a healthy mindset?

What are you thankful for today?

What is the best thing you did this weekend? Mass + dinner and walk with the parents ♥︎

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

See Ya Later, Boston

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

I’m back home in New York!

Where there is a kitchen and where the toilet paper is thick enough to use only three squares instead of seven.

That being said, I actually consider Boston my second home (maybe even just “home” now), since I do spend 8/12 months there. I also feel that the people I’ve met at BU are truly my second family. And I’m gonna cut the sap right there before I start crying and you start cringing.

Even though I’m not going to be living at “home” in Boston for another 8.5 months (oh my gosh) because I’m going to Dublin in the fall, I tried my best to maintain a “see ya later” attitude rather than a “goodbye” attitude, especially when it came to leaving friends.

My last few days in Boston were wonderful, spent with many people I love, and for that I am so grateful.

On Thursday, Rachel and I walked and talked for 2 hours, more or less. The weather was just perfect. We also watched The Parent Trap that night, which was a fantastic choice.

My favorite moves of the week: Hillary’s Dirty Burpee Workout on Saturday morning. I had to dodge lots of families who were hanging out by the river for graduation festivities, but it was like an agility obstacle course, ya know? There were also so many other people working out too!

last time workout there for a long time

That workout took everything out of me. The burpees felt like a break in between the .25 mile runs, which is evidence of how ~~much~~ little I run.

I tried this Aussie yogurt from our campus market store, since I had some dining points left to use. It’s called Noosa and it’s some of the richest, most delicious yogurt I’ve ever eaten. But I’m probably never going to have it again because I’m too cheap and buying individual cups of gourmet yogurt doesn’t seem very economical.

I also finished up some Nature’s Path multigrain wild berry freezer waffles for breakfast one morning. Topped with pb and banana, naturally.

On Saturday night after Mass, our Catholic Center chaplain, Fr. Barnes, hosted a potluck dinner for all the non-seniors who were still on campus. ‘Twas a lovely evening. We started with cheese and crackers (arguably the best appetizer of all time). My friends Casey and Fiona came through with some smoked gouda, brie, and sharp cheddar #BLESS.

My friend Nico brought quiche, which made me squeal.

Fr. Barnes made us the most satisfying spaghetti ever. Plain spaghetti tossed in olive oil with fresh tomatoes, grilled corn, raw garlic, Italian sausage, and basil. KILLER. I roasted some balsamic brussels sprouts and green beans to go along with it.

“Look bourgeoisie.”

Chef Barnes and Casey— two great people (p.s. Fr. Barnes has an awesome blog)

On Sunday morning, I attended the graduation for the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences with some friends to support more friends. I hope we embarrassed them by how loudly and obnoxiously we cheered.

Mom and Pop so generously drove up to Boston just to help me move out and drive me back home. What a lucky girl I am.

We ate dim sum for lunch and then hit the road. Back on the home front, I had/still have a lot of unpacking to do, but I got to cook! Honey mustard paprika salmon + honey balsamic roasted green beans and asparagus (can you tell that I like roasted things in balsamic?). Mom made quinoa too.

I didn’t take a pic of the roasted veg

In the midst of unpacking, I saw that Emily from Beauty in Christ sent me the sweetest package! Nuttzo + homemade peanut butter chocolate chip cookies! She’s so good to me.

Of course, I microwaved and ate one of her cookies for dessert, and they are seriously some of the best peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever eaten. UGH. Thank you so much, Emily! ♥︎ I highly recommend checking out her blog if you love good reflections and inspiration regarding body image and ED recovery + beautiful things/positivity in general.

These next few days I will be with my friends Fiona and Rachel in upstate New York! I won’t have service, which is honestly a blessing, because I need to get my eyes off pixels for an extended amount of time. I’ll catch up with you guys soon though!

Hope you have a great week! Squeal with excitement over things like quiche.

So tell me:

Do you feel like you have/ever had a “second home” somewhere? I do still love home in NY and being with my parents ♥︎ Love you, mom and pop.

What is the best thing you ate this weekend?

Do you buy individual cups of yogurt or just big tubs like me? I buy individual ones if they’re on sale!

Egg-Celent Weekend

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

I had to.

I know you’re cringing at the pun “egg-celent,” but it’s quite an accurate adjective to describe my weekend. Lots of great company, delicious food (including EGGS of course), and lots of my weird antics per usual.

‘Twas marvelous! Linking up with the fabulous Katie 🙂

Friday

I successfully did Susie’s prom makeup in the morning! It took a few tries, but she looked gorgeous, if I do say so myself.

We had our senior picnic on Thursday, and next up was our fancy shmancy senior luncheon. We ate good food and signed each other’s “Class of 2014” pennants (those flag thingies), which was fun just because you felt like a celebrity signing your autograph 100 times. There was also a chocolate fountain, so that was a hit…for the people that actually really like chocolate.

Who uses that “inside the plate rim” rule anyway? I cleaned that plate right up.

“Core Four”

Chorus buds

CHEESE!

Stunning Sam (aka salutatorian!)

The fountain of youth

I wasn’t feelin’ that chocolate though. Except for the brownie.

Since my principal wanted my commencement speech draft sent to him by Saturday, I spent most of my afternoon and evening (after a nice, long nap) finishing that sucker. I grooved so hard when I practiced it and found that it was not too long and not too short. Hallelujah!

My moves were little bursts of 20 air squats, 20 pushups, 20 sit-ups, and 10 burpees (5 rounds total for the 100 challenge) every time I needed a mental break from speech-writing.

Saturday

Woke up late, moves were a ton of handstands, cleaned, went to church, and babysat all night!

I did have a killer lunch that day:

English muffin with avocado and sunny eggs + sriracha. PARTY IN MY MOUTH!

This made me sad though:

Not even because it got on my laptop (we already know that’s a usual occurrence), but because I wasn’t able to dip my bread in the yolky goodness since it didn’t land on my plate.

Judge me.

Oh, and when I babysat, one of the boys asked me to read this book to him twice:

LOL.

It’s a Spanish dialect called Catalan. It’s like Latin + French + Spanish all in one. I did my best, but let’s just say it’s a good thing they were not harsh critics. I feel like I may have accidentally cursed in a different language, considering the way I was trying to pronounce some of those words.

Sunday

Father’s Day!

I woke up bright and early to make dad a special breakfast:

Kale, onion, mushroom, swiss frittata. More eggs!

I sorta winged it with the frittata, using some online recipes for guidelines, but it was super tasty! I’ll probably post the recipe later.

I totally scraped off and ate all the crispy, flavorful bits from the bottom of the cast iron skillet after mom put the rest of the frittata away. She asked me: “Are your eating the charcoal?” Yes, ma, I’m eating charcoal.

Moves: Jess’ Lean Legs workout. I haven’t done this in forever, but I remembered how much I love it. Love to hate it, that is.

Apparently my quads were starving afterwards, because I housed a Hugh Jass lunch (even with a big breakfast and pre-workout snack).

Sautéed kale, mushroom, chicken with garlic and some leftover steak+potato hash

This was only ⅔ of it. I finished the other ⅓ when my plate wasn’t so full. I think I satisfied my protein intake for the next two days with this meal.

Then I had a lovely catch-up session with my good friend, Anushka! We chatted over some vanilla ice cream 🙂

Dad decided that he wanted to go to Bareburger for dinner, so we went there for a late dinner and final Father’s Day celebration. I got a lighter meal since my lunch consisted of a whole farm.

Walnut apple salad with applewood-smoked bacon and goat cheese (mmmm) + quinoa veggie burger

It was delicious! I also had a bite of my mom’s classic beef burger, which was awesome.

WOW that was a jam-packed weekend, now that I’m blogging about it. This was a random, long post again….sorry. Tomorrow I have a short post with a VLOG though! 😀

Have a marvelous Monday, friends!

So tell me:

What was the last thing you ate that was a party in your mouth?

What is your favorite way to eat eggs?

What did you do yesterday?

18 Things

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Hi there!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Mine was both exhausting and fun— there was a sleepover, waffles, delicious dinner, a dance show (last one EVER), and I turned 18 somewhere in there.

Linking up with Katie!

So here are 18 things about my weekend during which I became a legal adult:

1. Moves

After school on Friday, I headed to the gym (there are 3 days left in my membership!) for a workout.

5 min. arc trainer + supersets:

10-12 pistols each leg + 15-20 Bulgarian split squats each leg
20 hamstring ball roll-ins + 30 Bosu lunge hops
20 lunge pulses + 20 single leg bridge pulses each leg

Plus core work!

2. Dance company dinner

At my favorite Japanese restaurant! I got the roll combo with eel avocado, yellowtail, and tuna rolls. They’re all my absolute favorites, so you better believe I finished that whole plate. No sushi left behind.

3. Dance company sleepover

‘Twas a crazy night with 14 girls sleeping over, but it was a blast. We signed T-shirts, screamed Frozen songs at the top of our lungs, and played Cards Against Humanity. Successful sleepover indeed!

4. Epic breakfast

Waking up at 9 AM after going to bed at 3 AM was not ideal on my birthday, but making breakfast (best meal of the DAY) for my best gals was worth it. My super-mom did most of the work though. We have enough waffles and cereal for the rest of the year I think.

The only thing I really did— gluten free banana pancakes.

Approximately 1/5 of all the waffles we made. {We froze all the leftovers.}

Part of my breakfast: pancakes with Greek yogurt, peanut butter, and maple syrup added later. Heavennnnn.

Thanks so much, mom and pop, for being such generous hosts to all my dance friends!!! It has been requested that you start a hotel service…but I think you’re already there.

5. A nice nap

‘Nough said.

6. Beautiful weather all weekend

Like, perfect.

7. Wonderful Mass with my family

It’s the last week of the Easter season!

8. Awesome birthday texts from my friends

9. Phone call with the brother

So happy that I got to talk with Mr. Penguino.

10. Eighteen burpees

…ya know. I ♥ burpees, so it just seemed appropriate.

11. Amazing birthday dinner

I chose to go to a Latin restaurant called Sonora that my parents had raved about in the past, and it was the BOMB. We all shared a few tapas, a couple entrees, and of course a couple desserts.

Salmon ceviche

Quinoa, goat cheese, roasted eggplant empanadas with a chocolate molé sauce. WHOA.

Dad’s halibut with quinoa gnocchi (!!!)

Mom’s stuffed chicken with some sort of green potato mash

Pork tacos

Cheesecake with dulce de leche ice cream and guava sauce

Chocolate jalapeño bread pudding with dulce de leche ice cream. This was awesome.

12. The waiters sang happy birthday to me really quietly

I was kinda hoping they would have fireworks and a mariachi band though.

13. Best birthday presents ever from Daliza

Cutest collage ever.

Uhhh how cool is this?! She drew the little mascot on there and everything!

The goodies in the box.

Daliza is one of my best friends ever, and this gift meant the absolute world to me. I swear it’s not just because she gave me sunflower seed butter. 😉 I can tell that she put so much effort and thought into it and I appreciate it from the depths of my nut-butter-loving heart. Thank you so much, Daliza!

14. Woke up automatically at 7 AM yesterday morning

My internal clock hates me -_-

15. Watched CrossFit Games while eating breakfast instead of trying to go back to sleep

Bad idea. I was so tired for the rest of the day.

16. Last dance show with my dance school EVER

That sounds more emotional than it was. Yesterday was the show for the younger dance classes in our dance school, so we did perform shortly, but we mostly just helped out backstage. It was a long day.