A random sick day vlog.

Posted on March 18, 2020 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Boston University has officially made all learning remote for the rest of the semester.

The poor undergraduates who live on campus have been advised to stay home…but are also being asked to move out within 5 days. Good grief.

Yesterday I decided to film a random sick day vlog, mostly because I had very few important things to do.

Enjoy, if you so choose to watch!

The Blonde Ponytail 100s Challenge

Irish Apple Cake

So tell me:

What kind of activity do you like to do when you don’t really feel like working out?

What is your go-to food to use up a lot of milk / eggs?

What did you do yesterday?

Do you have your life together? I don’t.

Camping “Lite” + Life Lately

Posted on July 10, 2018 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

I have a first degree burn on my upper lip from a blazing hot marshmallow.

On a separate occasion, my friend Zoe flung a blue-flaming marshmallow onto my lap. It’s been an exciting week!!

This weekend, some of my friends and I headed to the lovely state of New Hampshire to camp at Bear Brook State Park. I’m going to call it camping lite, because there were pretty nice bathrooms, and we ran to the grocery store once to pick up bagels and beer LOL. However, we still started our own campfires, cooked on the campfires, slept in tents/hammocks, hiked a bit, swam in lakes, and I didn’t shower for three days despite the campsite having bath houses (*shrugs*). Hygiene seemed very optional in our group on this particular weekend.

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Truly though, this was the most magnificent weekend. I had been wanting to go camping for ages (mostly for the goal of seeing stars, which we did two nights in a row!). We could not have survived without our friend Domenica who came through with literally ALL the camping equipment, as well everyone besides me who knew how to start a campfire.

We cooked burgers, brats, toasted bagels, and s’mores on the campfire throughout the weekend, and let me t e l l you: nothing tastes better in the world than food that you really work for (and that has natural smoke flavor, mm, and maybe some crunchy gravel #texture). I still smell my smoky hair (I promise I’ve showered multiple times since the trip), and all I think of is our kumbaya circle around the fire and how time just seemed to slow down twofold out there.

Other highlights included:

A three hour trail walk that had some nice hills. Zoe and Connor were brave enough to be the first to eat wild blueberries on the way, and thank the Lord, because those li’l bloobs were life-changing. Special thanks to Rachel and Austin for navigating the confusing trail map. The only bummer was that the summit of the hike was view-less and infested with ants. Like, we got up there, stayed for 0.5 seconds, and immediately ran back downhill while slapping biting ants off our ankles.
Saying a rosary with all my friends while walking on the trail.
Deep chats and fireside stories. (Almost didn’t add this because it sounds so freaking cheesy.)
Waking up to tall pine trees and blue skies that we could see through Dom’s open-top tent.
Waking up to Dom’s alarm, a rap song called “Stomp the Bleachers.”

Swimming in lakes. And finding out that it is VERY normal for people to pee in lakes and oceans? I knew that people did it, but I did not know that it was so widely ACCEPTED. Also that pee is sterile?? My whole world has turned upside down.
Treading water and swimming (leisurely) for the first time in ages. Not a modality that I am used to; it felt like more of a workout than it should have.
Visiting Domenica’s family and seeing their farm full of chickens, bees, and a pig. Her parents very generously hosted us for lunch and dinner on Sunday, which was fantastic all around. We are so grateful!
Domenica’s family. I just love them.
Going to Mass on Sunday with the crew.
A water station right next to our campsite, so that this water chugger never went thirsty.
The sky full of stars each night. Makes my heart flutter.

It was also gloriously cool in the evenings, which was a welcomed change from the sweaty nights we’ve been having in our hot box apartment in Boston. It was pretty brutal last week.

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peep Zoe top left with an ice pop and box fan

Fourth of July was a blast! A bunch of friends came over to our apartment for lots of noshing and a little drinking throughout the day, complete with a visit to the park, JP Licks ice cream, and fireworks over the Charles River at night.

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Oh I just reminded myself that I want to see how the World Cup is going. I am only really into it by diffusion from friends’ enthusiasm. Top left photo shows Sarah, Zoe and I watching the Colombia v. Poland game a while ago at a bar.

Rachel and I also went on a grand food bucket list date a couple weeks ago. We started with a DECADENT brunch at North Street Grille early in the morning (tiny place — long line forms fast) for lobster benedict (the bucket list item) and chicken and waffle sliders. All with a heck of a lot of home fries. Ho.ly.mo.ly. Not gonna lie, we thought the chicken and waffle slider was the winner over the lobster benedict, but it was all phenomenal anyway. We bought but did not eat (not enough stomach space) a bar of Taza chocolate, and then we slooooowly sipped iced hot chocolate from L.A. Burdick and gave the last of it to Sarah to finish later.

Besides my vacationing, I’ve been volunteering at the Little Sisters of the Poor, which is basically a skilled nursing facility/nursing home/hospice for elderly folks from very low income backgrounds. It’s been a wonderful time. I am learning a lot about joy, patience, and being very present with the person right in front of you.

I’ve also been walking a lot because it’s 3 miles each way to Little Sisters of the Poor.

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And here’s a random photo of one of the most soul-nourishing sunsets that I watched from campus last week. Lots of growth happening here.

Next Monday starts six weeks of PT clinical!

So tell me:

Have you ever gone camping?

What is your favorite part of camping?

Do you pee in lakes (be honest, no judgement; I have done it)?

What are some highlights of your summer so far?

Feelin’ The Heat

Posted on June 12, 2017 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

🎶 I’m burnin’ up, burnin’ up for you babayyyyy.🎶

Does ANYONE remember that Jonas Brothers’ song!?

It’s finally getting steamy over here in Boston! I used to hate the heat, but I appreciate it now. Mostly at night when I can walk out of a restaurant and not have to brace myself in the chilly air (← problems that are not real problems).

I was definitely feelin’ the heat of the sun this weekend and also feelin’ the heat of work/school starting up again. I’m excited to have a routine again though. I can only go so long as a nomad of life. I’m actually currently typing this as I help proctor an exam (don’t worry, I’ve got my eyes on the students too 😉 ).

Friday

I worked all day at my usual side job as a house helper.

overnight oats in a pb jar(!) for the morn’

Living farther from work/campus in June and July means my sustenance depends on tupperwares.

“use all the leftovers” kind of lunch — two eggs, two egg whites, greens, pepper jack and feta

After work, I met up with an incoming BU freshman who I met on one of my campus tours. We had a lovely time chatting and getting to know each other for over two hours over berry hibiscus iced tea at Pavement.

I also went to the gym that night for the first time in a long time! I still can’t run, but rowing is fine. I missed cardio (never thought I’d say that) these past couple weeks after very little impact for my healing hips. It was also bumpin’ in the gym on a Friday night. People are so dedicated in the summer!

The moves and grooves:

Warmup (5 min rowing)

3×10 scap flye pushups // 3×10 stability ball scorpions
1×10 lat pulldown (70#), 3×6 assisted pull-up negatives (50# assist) // 3×10 decline pushups
1×10 military press (20# DBs), 2×10 Arnold press (12# DBs) // 3×10 med ball squat cleans (20#)

21-18-15-12-9-6-3 cals rowing // 8 burpees between each set

Boston was looking SO FINE on my way home.

Bedtime snack:

Saturday

I got up relatively early the next day to meet Ben for our usual Saturday Spartan workout. He let me lead so that the workout was sure to be friendly for my hip. He also asked me to “murder his arms,” so I immediately thought of Lori and Michelle’s 18 minute plank workout, aka the slow but sure killer. He kept calling the exercises “fake,” but that’s just because they were hard 🙂

We also did some reverse rows, tricep dips, and this same 10 minute ab workout from Pinterest that we did a few nights before.

With wiggly arms and warm cores, we parted ways. A tupperware breakfast to enjoy on a bench:

leftover green pancakes with almond butter and jam

Then I went to Mass downtown and walked home for lunch.

leftover Thai food

For the rest of the afternoon, I studied a little bit of gross anatomy for work, read some Brideshead Revisited, and took a delicious 20 minute nap (← My mom calls naps delicious and I don’t know I feel about it, but here I am.)

Saturday evening involved a super special belated birthday surprise from the bff, Rachel! She asked me to put on a cute dress, come over to her place for dinner, and let her take me out for the night. Already loved everything about it.

I arrived to a set table and the smell of pasta cooking on the stove, and we soon sat down for a lovely dinner of salads with arugula, feta, dried cranberries and homemade apple cider vinaigrette…

…and tortellini with marinara. So simple and satisfying.

Look at this chef!

After finishing, we cleaned up and headed out into town. Before dinner I didn’t know where she was taking me, but after a little thought and prodding, I figured out that she was taking me to the Omni Parker House for drinks and desserts! So fancy!! Also a food bucket list destination 🙂

We sat down at the bar (what a GROWN WOMAN thing to do, we’re GROWN WOMEN wow) and ordered a drink each, plus two cakes to share.

We had to get the original Boston Cream Pie, because a) it originated at the Parker House; b) it’s on our food bucket list. I also learned that Boston Cream PIE is actually cake.

The second cake was carrot cake, because Rachel knows it’s my all-time fave.

Neither cake blew me away, but they were both still cake, rich and delicious!

Our drinks thooooough. We took the waitress’ recommendations , so Rachel got an “Craft Manhattan” on the rocks. It was Woodford Reserve Bourbon (which the menu says has “a bouquet of banana bread, orange and vanilla” WHAT) paired with Doulin Rouge (“a lighter sweet vermouth”), stirred with orange bitters.

I don’t know what half of those things are, but it was super strong and good.

And I got the Blackberry Whiskey Sour, which was Jack Daniels Tennessee whiskey, lemon juice, simple syrup, and blackberry puree. So like juice, just how I prefer it. Rachel said it was one of the best drinks she’s ever tasted.

It was so wonderful getting to chat with my best friend all night and do fancy grownup things with her. Thank you so much again, Rachel. Love you forever.

I slept in on Sunday and started the day with some yoga in my room. Other happenings included a sweaty walk to a work meeting, sitting by the river, and Mass. I won’t get into too much detail about my day on Sunday because I have a “week in the life” vlog coming for ya later this week! I might do the full week, I might just do half a week because my life isn’t that interesting. We’ll see.

Have a fantastic week ahead, friends! Eat cake and do something fancy.

So tell me:

Have you ever eaten Boston Cream Pie?

Two things you did this weekend!

Do you ever have to pack a whole day’s worth of food with you?

The Most Ice Cream I’ve Ever Consumed

Posted on June 9, 2017 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

This post is not about “health.”

It is about L I V I N G though.

More on that in a bit. I’m back in Boston! I packed up my bags and took a train from New York to Boston on Wednesday afternoon. First, I had a dentist appointment (no cavities, but I have a chip in my front tooth and my wisdom are just starting to come in apparently?). Then Madre kindly took me out to lunch at Thai Basil before sending me off.

“Bangkok Box” lunch special: salad, dumplings, chicken and veggies with peanut sauce, brown rice, and tapioca corn pudding — all for $10!!

Madre’s “rad na” (flat rice noodles, chicken, and Chinese broccoli in Asian-style gravy)

We shared a lot of my box, and she gave me most of her rad na to take on my train ride 🙂

The train ride went pretty quickly with some music, reading, blueberry-eating, and napping.

I arrived in Boston a little past 7pm and decided to eat some of the leftover rad na for dinner outside the train station before calling an Uber to 1) let time pass for the Uber to be a little less expensive; 2) enjoy the perfect weather.

So much for trying to save money on Uber though… There was a lot of confusion with pickups/cancellations, and I ended up wasting quite a bit of money in the debacle *facepalm*. But Uber kindly refunded a lot of it once I messaged them about the situations.

It was frustrating, but I made it home safe and sound. God is good.

When I got back, my Spartan friend, Ben, texted me: “Give me 10 minutes of abs to do!” So I looked on Pinterest and sent him this:

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I did the workout as well, in solidarity. It looks simple, but the lack of breaks until the end of the round is a GAME CHANGER. What a burner. I also did this 9 minute yoga because I just needed a good stretch after sitting on the train for hours.

Yesterday morning started with some leftover green pancakes that I froze before I left Boston. I’m glad I had them because I hadn’t gone grocery shopping yet.

two with almond butter + two with peanut butter

Plus frozen grapes! Nature’s popsicle.

I walked(!) to Trader Joe’s to grocery shop and meet up with Rachel just to catch up. We hadn’t seen each other in half a month! The plight of best friends.

When we got back to my apartment, I unloaded the groceries and arranged lunch shortly after.

“snack plate” lunch: crackers, carrots with Sriracha hummus (so good!), lettuce rollups with ham + pepper jack + mustard

Rachel and I had some much needed chat time before she left at around 1pm. After she left, I ate a leftover piece of French toast from forever ago for lunch dessert (had to cut off some moldy parts of it, but I promise the rest was still okay).

Then it was time to cook! I made whole wheat spaghetti with sun-dried tomato pesto and fresh basil + grilled chicken breasts with dried thyme, basil, and oregano.

I’m looking forward to having it these next few days! Sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil are two of my favorite things.

I moved and grooved with this low impact workout from Millionaire Hoy on YouTube. Have you ever seen his videos? He’s so funny and energetic! And his moves are really unique.

After a shower, I walked to the Catholic Center for Mass (and sweated again), but upon arrival, I promptly learned that the Catholic Center was actually closed. Womp womp.

My friend Christina also showed up for the Mass that wasn’t actually happening, so we got to chat for a bit, which was nice!

I ate the spaghetti and chicken I had packed for dinner while heading to the T station to meet Ben for THE SCOOPER BOWL.

This was my first time going to Scooper Bowl, but it’s an annual, three-day fundraiser in Boston for The Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Insitute. Adults pay $15 (88 cents of every dollar goes to the DFCI) for all-you-can-eat ice cream. Isn’t that MADNESS!?

Indeed. Madness of the best sort. Masses of people came to City Hall Plaza to line up for a scoop of various ice cream flavors from several vendors including Baskin Robbins, Hood, Arctic Zero, Yasso, Friendly’s, Ben & Jerry’s, Vice Cream, Yuengling’s, Breyer’s, Edy’s, and Minus the Moo.

And these tastings are legit scoops. Not little baby spoon samples. This is SCOOPer bowl, kids. I consumed approximately 7 scoops of ice cream.

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We tried to find a shorter line to start, so Arctic Zero was first (ha). The reactions on people’s faces after they tried Arctic Zero were hilarious. I don’t mind Arctic Zero, but most people were not fans.

Arctic Zero – cake batter

Friendly’s – peanut butter fudge (so good)

Ben & Jerry’s – Bob Marley’s One Love (banana ice cream & caramel and graham cracker swirls & fudge peace signs – probably my favorite flavor of the evening!) andddddd Frozen Flakes (cereal milk ice cream with cereal milk swirls – also very tasty)

Vice Cream – mint chocolate chip (different but good texture)

The founder of Vice Cream is a cancer survivor himself, and his motto was, life is too short, so #EFIC (eat f***in’ ice cream). Well, I’m obviously on board with that.

At this point, I told Ben, “I’m coming to my end…” But we persevered.

Breyer’s – Oreo (classic, always a good choice)

I didn’t finish this one nor any of the following ones, but it was still fun to taste them.

Baskin Robbins – raspberry cheesecake

Yasso – chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream bar (honestly the worst thing of the night…Ben put it well: “It tastes like biting on the popsicle stick itself.”)

Yuengling’s (not the beer!) – Butterbeer (ironically…but they made a disclaimer that it had nothing to do with Harry Potter)

My stomach/palate/heart/wellbeing could only muster a couple bites of these last flavors, but man, oh, man was Scooper Bowl an adventure. I loved it.

#SpartanDiet

I do not condone excessive amounts of ice cream frequently, but I do condone livin’ a little every once in a while 🙂 And honestly, I felt a little crappy (physically) afterwards, but not terribly so.

Ben told me he’s going to work out a lot tomorrow, and I told him I’m going to eat so much soluble fiber.

Happy Friday, friends! Eat some ice cream this weekend.

So tell me:

Which ice cream flavor above sounds the best to you?

What is one way you “lived a little” recently?

Something you did yesterday!

Permission

Posted on May 29, 2017 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

On this Memorial Day, let us never forget those who served our nation for the sake of our freedom and safety.

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A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.

– Joseph Campbell

How was the weekend!? Or how IS the weekend (for those who have today off!)?

This weekend (alright, this whole week), I’ve given myself permission to embrace this period of almost zero obligations. I had to get over the phase of discombobulation of having nothing to do, but it’s been a pleasant week of acclimating to living farther from campus and relaxing.

Friday

There have been some errands and work in there too (keeps me sane TBH), like on Friday. I gave a campus tour, since a lot of BU’s tour guides are out of town these next few weeks. In classic me fashion, I was running late and had to speed walk for 1 hour to make it right on time.

Luckily it was a beautiful day for rush-walking + touring!

Afterwards, I gave myself permission to do a quick 16-minute workout, even though I had all the time in the world and all the gym space in the world (three cheers for the summer lull!).

‘Twas a fun one! 4 rounds, 30 seconds work, 10 seconds rest:

burpee deadlifts (30# DBs)
alternating DB snatches (30#)
modified v-ups
box jumps
squat OH half burpees (10#)
up down planks

Then I nommed on the lunch I packed that morning (part of the reason I was running late). I gave myself permission to take my time to eat this. I’m sure some of you understand that weekday lunch is often more or less inhaled on many days.

leftover peas and roasted broccoli + egg, avocado, pepper jack, sriracha sandwich + blackberries

I had big plans to get a lot Brideshead Revisited reading done for book club, but I got through thirteen pages before I gave myself permission to take a nap in the library’s armchair.

never goes to the library during the school year // falls asleep in the library during the summer

Before going to the library, though, I tried being that person to read on the stationary bike at the gym, but doing that kinda nauseated me. That + gym music = entirely ineffective reading.

I was awoken by an announcement that the library was closing in an hour. Thankfully, my friend Ben welcomed me to hang out with him before dinner, because I was groggy and without anything to do (what a nice problem to have).

Lauren, Nico, Ben and I went to Shawarma King for dinner. I got the vegetarian combo plate, which had falafel, hummus, babaganoush (omg so good), stuffed grape leaves, tabbouleh, cucumber tomato salad, rice, and pita. HOT DANG. I finished 85% of it.

Then we went to Athan’s Bakery for dessert! I got their pistachio gelato, which was the most sub-par gelato I’ve ever had, but it was still a delicious frozen treat.

We finished the night watching the original Grease movie. It’s the best bad movie of all time.

Saturday

Overnight oats to start the morning!

strawberry banana overnight oats topped with the last of my KIND peanut butter granola

This fueled another nice long walk towards campus…

please interpret this art

…for another Saturday Spartan workout with Ben!

Ben planned out this fun workout for us:

4 rounds:

run around baseball field
15 triangle pushups (slightly inclined)
2 flexed arm hang holds, any grip (15 seconds each or until failure ← definitely only held it for 5 seconds at some points)
25 Roman chair leg lifts
15 inverted rows
10 step up hops each leg

Topped it off with 10 minutes of core work.

I packed a snacky lunch to eat between the workout and a meeting with my spiritual director (basically someone who teaches me how to better give God permission to speak to me through prayer and to work in my life — the most important permission I could ever give).

rosemary Triscuits with pepperjack cheese + carrots with hummus

I gave myself permission to actually think about the taste of this snack (I guess people call it “mindful eating”), and it was 10x more satisfying than any other time I’ve eaten carrots and hummus/crackers and cheese.

loads o’ popcorn

I rushed through the popcorn and KIND bar, but they were still tasty.

I also gave myself permission to buy water from Starbucks for $0.27 because all the places where I usually fill up my water bottle on campus were closed.

This was less about permission and more about a fundamental need for water. I am endlessly grateful for constant, easy access to clean drinking water.

After spiritual direction, I video chatted with my uncle, aunt and cousins for two hours. We had a beautiful conversation. Ugh, I love them. I got to spend most of the two hours outdoors before I had to charge my phone.

The only downside was standing up and realizing that the bench I was sitting on gave me splinters all over my backside.

I picked up some groceries afterwards and gave myself permission to take an Uber back home instead of walking or taking the bus (the fact that an Uber was only $2.20 at the time was also a big factor).

Look what I found at the store!

Burpee plants!

Back at home, I showered, warmed up some leftovers for dinner, and spent time with Christie’s boyfriend’s dog, Koga. I got a taste of the neediness that most dog owners talk about. It’s annoying in the most adorable way.

Sunday

I gave myself permission to SLEEP. IN. I slept until 9:40! I promised I’d make French toast for all of us in the morning though, so I quickly got to work on that.

one whole wheat + one brioche topped with butter sautéed bananas, peanut butter, maple syrup, and slivered almonds + strawberries + glass o’ almond milk

Definitely taking full advantage of Christie’s pretty dishes and silverware for my food photos 🙂

I planned on running to the park ~4 miles away to meet my friends for a picnic in the afternoon, but my hip/quads/knee (!?) have been hurting these past few days, and running was a solid no-go yesterday. So I gave myself permission to pass on the picnic, walk home and do yoga instead.

The pain? Google says it could be some muscle tightness. Could be a labral tear. Hopefully not the latter.

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I forget what I did for the rest of the day, but in the evening I walked to campus for Mass, and my friend Evan kindly drove me home afterwards (God bless gentlemanly friends).

Chopped salad for dinner! (Read: Salad cut up with a pair of kitchen scissors.)