Pray, Eat, Move, Groove, Nap, Repeat

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

When this happens during spring…

…you think…

8-Frozen-quotes

…so when this finally becomes real…

…you GET THE HECK OUTSIDE.

I’m typing this on Monday night, but it feels like a Sunday because we had an extra day off for the Boston Marathon! But the weekend fun definitely kicked off on Friday…

Friday

Class, lunch, bible study…

tuna salad, artichokes, lettuce, tomato, roasted vegetables, and pesto in a whole wheat wrap

corn muffin 🙂

…and some moves and grooves outside with mah girl Christina from @foodietunes and Fit University! We warmed up and started with a 12 minute HIIT workout. 3 rounds of 30 sec work, 10 sec rest:

12 minutes can take it out of ya

Then we messed around with some yoga-y moves and partner pistol squats!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by CHRISTINA CHU, MS, RD (@christinaychu)

She also ~~convinced me to have~~ force-fed me a couple bites of her Zinneken’s waffle with chocolate, cookie butter, and whipped cream. Life isn’t fair sometimes.

It was decadent and amazing

Then I cleaned myself up for dinner with my friend Zoe, followed by my roommate’s fashion show that night!

She is FIRE. Always so cool to see her rock that runway (← sounds like an ad for a new Target teen clothing line).

I have never felt more awkward posing for a photo than in this moment. I have a lot to learn from Jordan in terms of effortlessness:

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via Mint Julep Facebook

Saturday

I went to bed way too late for getting up at 6:30 on Saturday. I joined some friends for BU’s Global Day of Service for the morning and early afternoon. We went to the houses of senior citizens to help them with yard work. It was a lovely day to be outside, and we all enjoyed meeting new people, serving, and reflecting on the day!

Afterwards, Rachel and I proceeded to shower and take long, delicious naps. I set my alarm for a 45 minute nap, but 90 minutes later I woke up not knowing anything.

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[source]

“5:45…am? Wait no, it’s sunny outside.”

After grasping a sense of reality, I did some random things before going to dinner with my friend Mai. We had some beautiful convo ♥︎

that quinoa-stuffed tomato was fantastic

I spent the night in my room by my lonesome, so I watched this Crossfit “Behind the Scenes” movie on Youtube, practiced handstands, did this ab workout, did laundry, and worked on a paper. I really enjoyed the “me time” to recharge (extravert who is secretly an introvert?).

Sunday

Up and at ’em early-ish again for a fabulous girls’ brunch at Sarah’s (one of the Catholic Center missionaries) house!

THIS WOMAN. Not only a radiant and inspirational woman of God, but a killer chef. She made us a crockpot egg/sausage/bacon/hasbrown casserole, blueberry cream cheese french toast casserole, and roasted potatoes. Whaaaaaaaat. Thank you so much, Sarah! ♥︎

‘Twas a beautiful day again, so a few of us took the 25 minute walk back to campus.

We went to Mass and lunch before doing some work (TBH, I just folded my laundry from Saturday night and took a 20 minute nap). Then I went on a short run with Zoe before we met up with Joe for the 1000 REP WORKOUT (← caps for dramatic effect).

I’d been asking my friends to work out with me for a while now, so I was stoked that they joined me for some moves and grooves outdoors. They made it a fun and funny workout 🙂

Refueled with milkshakes (milk = protein, so essentially protein shakes).

The rest of my evening consisted of Back Bay Mobile Soup Kitchen, dinner, a much needed shower, and homework.

the finish line the day before the race!

Marathon Monday!

Since Boston University is in the heart of Boston (unlike the arch nemesis, Boston College) and the marathon course runs right through campus, we get a day off of school! Some of my best girl friends and I started the holiday with a lovely pancake breakfast in the morning. Rachel was in charge of pancakes, I sautéed the bananas, and Zoe cooked the eggs. Dream team.

I loved Rachel’s impressionist pancakes.

one with almond butter, one with peanut butter (and then another with blueberry syrup…and another with more almond butter) + glass o’ milk!

Then we hung out before heading to the Mile 25 marker of the marathon course!

Atsede Baysa— first place woman!

I can’t get over how fast and resilient these people are. Holy cow.

I screamed a lot again this year, but not as much as last year. Sparing my vocal cords was a smart decision. But my favorite things to yell at the runners are:

“YEAHHHHHH!!!”
“COME ON!”
“YOU’RE ALMOST THERE!”
“YOU GOT THIS.”
“DIG DEEEEEEEP!”
“KILLIN’ IT!”
“KEEP IT UP!”
“YEAH CANADA!!!”

My friends reprimanded me for that last one.

We also got to see one of our friends running in the marathon (he finished in 3:00:05!!!), which was so awesome.

After a couple hours of cheering, I went to eat lunch and take a nap. I felt like I could nap for an eternity, but I got myself up after an hour and went to do some errands, move and groove a little bit outside, and do some work before having dinner with my brother and typing this up.

TL; DR — pray, eat, move, groove, nap, repeat.

Hope you all have a marvelous week! Cheer someone on (including yourself).

So tell me:

Did you get to go outside this weekend?

Have you ever spectated a big race? Are you a big cheerer?

Two things you did this weekend!

How do you feel about naps?

Sandwiches Taste Better Outdoors + Weekly Moves and Grooves

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

It’s TRUE.

When Jen from Peanut Butter Runner said, “sandwiches taste better on the beach,” I started hoping that I could experience a better-tasting sandwich based on the location at which I ate it.

Even though I didn’t go to the beach yesterday, I did eat lunch outside under the hot sun. The cars passing by sounded like waves washing ashore (Boston University Beach reference!), so it was close enough.

whole wheat pita with avocado, hummus, pork souvlaki, mint, and sriracha

Lo and behold, my sandwich tasted ten times better than any sandwich I’ve eaten indoors this summer. Any psychologists out there wanna get a PhD in this matter? I can be one of your experimental subjects.

Another reason it could have tasted that much better is the fact that I had an unexpected day off my internship. I was only there for an hour before the PTs sent me home, since they forgot to tell me that they had a 2 hour meeting in the middle of the day.

Since it was such a nice day, I decided to walk around and explore the town. My internship is in a cute, quaint town half an hour away from my house, so I was excited to have a spontaneous date with myself. 😀

I felt like the Barefoot Contessa walking into a boutique cookware shop and an organic, local market. I also wish I was a better food photographer so I could have an excuse to get ALL THE PRETTY THINGS.

I went home and napped for almost two hours. Excuse me?

I mean, I’ve usually been getting fewer than 8 hours of sleep per night, so maybe my body just wanted to catch up. But I was knocked out during this nap. I know because I don’t remember turning off my alarm after the first 45 minutes. I always feel slightly guilty when I indulge in such a long nap, but I know I need to honor my body and focus on rest this summer!

On that note, let’s move on to another edition of…

Saturday: 30 minutes pilates

Sunday: gymnastics warmup + 1 mile walk

Monday: 2 mile walk

Tuesday: 8 minute abs + messing around with dance choreography (missing dance like CRAZY this summer)

Wednesday: 20 min lower body barre + 2 mile walk

Thursday: donkey kicks and bridges + handstands

Friday: maybe a complete rest day, maybe some yoga, whatever feels right!

_______________

Happy Friday, folks!!! Take a nap if you need it 🙂

So tell me:

Do you think food tastes better in a certain location/situation? Besides food tasting better when you’re hungry 😉

Do you like napping when possible?

How did you move this week?

WIAW: Sweet and Salty

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Ciao! Come stai?

I’m trying to be worldly in honor of the World Cup. Also, I’m glad you all enjoyed my Would You Rather vlog yesterday! I’m always nervous posting videos of myself…because, well, it’s my face and my voice and my eyes that can never focus on ONE THING.

Today I’m actually headed to Boston University for orientation! I’m the cliche mix of nervous and excited, but mostly excited. Pray that I make friends, please.

In the meantime, here are some of the sweet and salty eats I ate on some day last week. Sweet + salty is a match made in heaven, am I right?

Joining Jenn for some WIAW fun!

Breakfast

Sweet: banana blueberry overnight oats // Salty: sunflower seed butter (On the bottom AND the top. I was feelin’ it.)

The absolute BEST.

Snack

Just sweet.

I didn’t add salt to these…

Lunch

Salty: cheesy scrambled eggs with whole wheat tortilla // Sweet: strawberry jam

Spinach salad with salt – pepper – honey – olive oil dressing

I’ve seen the funky jam+egg sandwich combo on other blogs before, and I’d always wanted to try it out. Last week I finally did, and it was pretty good! I think I may have spread too much jam on my tortilla though, because all I really tasted was the jam.

Snacks

Sweet: Greek yogurt with cinnamon, nutmeg, honey, banana // Salty: almond butter

If that’s not a beautiful snack, I don’t know what is.

Just salty: romaine with spinach artichoke hummus

Dinner

Leftover steak and potato hash + naturally salty salmon marinated in sweet vidalia onion dressing and dill + spinach

Random but deeeelicious!

Dessert

Just sweet: the usual dried figs with Greek yogurt

It’s just too good.

And that’s about it! I seriously don’t understand people who don’t enjoy sweet and salty things (I’m talking to you, Livv). It’s a taste symphony that was destined for our taste buds. It’s that deep.

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

So tell me:

What are your favorite sweet and salty combos?

Have you ever tried a jam + egg sandwich?

WIAW: Benefit Week Eats

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

Good morning!

I hope you all had a good-spirited April Fools’ Day! Nothing much happened around here. The only thing some people (including myself) did in school was turn on our cell phone alarms for 2:23 PM, and then we left them in our lockers to make a commotion right before school ended. Apparently it caused a little bit of concern, since I guess it is alarming (literally) when all the lockers seem to come to life. It wasn’t anything groundbreaking though. After all, we’ve gotta save some juice for senior prank 😉

With the lack of posts all last week, I have not shown my recent eats! What a shame since I obviously love posting food pictures (*cough* Instagram). So naturally, I’m joining this week’s WIAW party to share what fueled me through my moves and grooves during Benefit Week!

As always, hosted by my hero, Jenn. 😉

In absolutely no particular order, here are some of the things I’ve been eating:

Breakfasts

Overnight oats in a mug

Overnight oats in a peanut butter jar. GAHHH. (Perfect for transporting to early morning AP Calc review.)

Overnight oats in an almond butter jar. Also taken to early AP Calc review. I’m sure people were judging, but guatever.

Gina’s cookie dough cereal with bananas and strawberries

Banana bread English muffin with nut butter, banana slices + glass o’ milk (haven’t had one of those in a while!)

Strawberry banana oats with a heavenly puddle of peanut butter.

Amanda’s oatmeal cookie dough smoothie (with spinach for green powahhh) + Greek yogurt for spoon dipping

Friday’s nut butter-less breakfast: Greek yogurt, strawberries, banana, chia, hemp, cinnamon, nutmeg, honey

Lunches

Whole wheat wrap with avocado, spinach, soft boiled egg, feta, and salsa added later. SO GOOD. I had another variation of this for dinner one night with two eggs and spicy brown mustard instead of salsa. I highly recommend this combo!

Crab cakes on Benefit day!

Chicken, cheese, spinach, spicy brown mustard sandwich on some weird-looking, but delicious, purple fruit/seed bread

Naked Juice samples at school!

Snacks

Cute cookies and goodies from the “Eloise at the Plaza”-themed dressing room

A crapton of white cheddar popcorn and animal crackers from our circus dressing room

I brought a Greek yogurt mess to dance almost every day last week. Included strawberries, banana slices, and nut butter.

Green tea frappuccino from Starbucks on Benefit day (Thanks to Susie and others for picking up 15 orders!)

I tried it! Carrots and almond butter— pretty darn tasty!

Greek yogurt with banana and pineapple. Loving the summery produce!

I’ve also been having lots of dried figs and Greek yogurt per usual. 😉

Dinners

Farro, spinach, grilled chicken

Multigrain pasta, spinach, soft-boiled egg

Grilled chicken, spinach, feta + avocado toast

Farro, spinach, ground turkey, avocado, sriracha

The best tomatoes I’ve ever eaten. Just wash ’em and eat. So fresh and flavorful!

Dinner with the family (Ben was home for a day!) on Sunday! Ben got Sambal chicken and seafood. The other three of us shared a huge Sushi for Two platter. We also had some spring rolls as appetizer. Mmmmm.

How’s THAT for a recent eats recap?! It’s a good thing I just ate dinner, because otherwise, I would be hangry right about now. 😉

I hope you all have a great day!

So tell me:

What is the best vegetable you’ve eaten recently?

What do you like to put in wraps?

Thanksgiving Leftovers Frittata

Posted on November 30, 2013 by Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves

Because Thanksgiving leftovers are even better the second time around. Especially when you fiddle around with other ingredients! I knew we wanted to make a lot of wraps with the leftovers…

Inside: spinach/kale, leftover quinoa stuffing, cranberry sauce, and turkey.

As good as those looked, I wanted to do something a little more exciting. After researching some frittata recipes, I got an idea of how to actually make one. Ha. And then I decided to throw in a bunch of leftovers!

It turned out splendidly! I heard lots of “Mmm’s” from the family, so that’s a good sign too. We polished this baby off in one day no problemo. All the flavors of Thanksgiving are packed into this brunch (…and lunch and dinner) dish, but it’s a twist on the regular ol’ monster of a leftovers sandwich. Not that those are bad though.

This is a super duper flexible recipe, using any leftovers you have on hand. I also recommend using a cast iron skillet if you have one! The crust that forms on the bottom of the frittata rocks.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Frittata

Serves 6

Ingredients

4 eggs
3 egg whites
1 c. diced leftover turkey (I used both dark and white.)
2 c. diced vegetables (You can use fresh or whatever is already cooked. I used celery, onion, mushrooms, and green beans.)
¼ – ⅓ c. parmesan cheese (or any kind of cheese you have)
1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh sage or rosemary (or 1 tsp. dried herbs)
cranberry sauce (optional)
pinch o’ salt and dash o’ pepper
cooking spray, oil, or butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 F.
Grease a large, oven-safe skillet (preferably cast iron) with cooking spray, oil, or butter. Make sure to grease the sides of the skillet as well. Sauté vegetables on medium-high heat until soft if using fresh veggies. If using pre-cooked vegetables, just heat them through in the skillet. Once the vegetables are warm and/or soft, add the turkey. Stir and let the meat heat through.
In the meantime, whisk the eggs and egg whites in a large bowl. Stir in cheese, herbs, salt, and pepper.
Make sure your vegetables and meat are evenly distributed throughout the skillet. Add the egg mixture to the skillet and let the bottom and sides cook through (about 5 minutes).
Evenly place six small dollops of cranberry sauce around the top.
Transfer the skillet to the oven for 18-20 minutes to finish cooking.
Once the eggs are set, remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
Cut into six slices (I actually cut it into eight— force of habit) and serve it up!

Before going into the oven

After. Ta-da!

Let me know if you try this out!

So tell me: What are some of your favorite ways to enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers?

Daily Moves and Grooves