First Shabbos!

Breakfast

I was so happy to set my alarm for 8 instead of 6:30 on Thursday night and strolled into breakfast with my fixins. I made oats with banana and walnuts which really hit the spot.

I also had some black coffee with a little sugar. Coffee is coffee at this point, know what I mean?

Workout

After doing some easy stretching and letting my breakfast fully digest, I threw on my workout shoes and actually went for a run around the campus. I came up with a loop around the school that starts uphill and finishes downhill. I did it four times and then cooled down on a shady grassy area behind some dorms. Then I did some circuits that I picked up from the Jillian DVD which included jumping jacks, push ups, bicycles, toe touches, high knees, butt kicks, and double crunches. Then I finished up with some more sit ups in my room (cause the grass was attacking me) and stretching.

Lunch

I basically lazed around my room after my shower, anticipating seeing some of my favorite ladies for Shabbos from when I was here last winter. I knew there was going to be intense amounts of delicious food so I wanted to leave plenty of room. The cafeteria kitchen pretty much shuts down on Friday in preparation for shabbos but they do leave some potato kugel. I enjoyed a few pieces with some hummus,

and also and orange. It would be a long time before eating again and this little lunch did a good job holding me over.

The family who housed my roomie Chelsea and I were really nice and the kids were bundles of energy!

Meet my alarm clocks. These two came bursting in the next morning and it's a good thing I can quickly flex my abs because yes, there was stomach jumping.
Both our Shabbos dinner and lunch and third meal were wonderful and we got to spend them with some of our favorite people! As a reminder, part of Shabbos is that no electricity or electronics are used from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday so there are no pictures of the food. But trust me, I was wishing I could have snapped shots of everything because it's always a feast worth remembering!

When Chelsea and I got back to our dorm we met up with our much missed roomie Sam! We decided to go have a little fun in the downtown area of Jerusalem and meet up with Chelsea's boyfriend and some of the guys from his study program.

Preparation.

The girls!
Sam and I went Polish if ya know what I mean!
Chelsea and her boo. Aren't they adorable!?

Breakfast

This morning I was a little late waking up and just barely made it to breakfast. I was in such a hurry that I forgot my camera and I was forced out of my normal oats and had cereal with banana and walnuts and milk (I know, milk! Ahh!) But it's all good. I was just happy to have something in my tummy before classes.

Snack

During a little break between classes I snacked on these rice cakes that my friend Netanya and I went halvesies on.
I dunked mine in my hummus, a winning combo in my book actually.

Lunch

Lunch today was brown rice, peas, and crazy salad fixings. I also had some veggie soup.
I got creative with my rice cakes and spread them with hummus and topped it all with cucumbers, onion, tomato, bell pepper, carrot, green olive and pickle chunks. It wasn't graceful to eat but it was tasty and afterall... it's an all girls school hahaha.
An ity bity green apple for a little something sweet.

Snack

I started a class today learning Hebrew, wooohoooo!! It's going to be tough since I have had no training at all and its seems like many of the girls have been to Hebrew school before. After class I has a little snack of more rice cakes and hummus and peach applesauce. Yum!
Dinner

I totally forgot that I took the battery out of my camera when I went to dinner so there's no photo of dinner tonight sorry! I had flashbacks of my childhood at dinner tonight because there was rice and corn, a dish that always reminds me of my mommy. There was also veggie medley, soy patty, salad, and a really tasty soup that I suspect was made with beef broth....but who really knows.

Right now I'm in the internet room where those of us who were going into internet withdrawls bombarded directly after class. I'm having a weird crampy stomach ache right now and I can't figure out why! I was in a rush more than once today at meal times...maybe I ate too fast? Nothing a good night sleep won't fix.

It's weird to say good night when I know you're all still in the afternoon. It's also weird that Sunday was a school day for me and it's a rest day for you all! It's all backwards up in the Holy Land haha.

Toodles!

Healthy Food Hunt

Snack

I decided to stay on campus after all and get some practicing in. I had this chocolate brownie Z bar and don't worry, it's unwrapped and I kept it far away from the piano while I was eating it!

Lunch

After I got a good sesh in I decided to go on a hunt for a restaurant on campus that was still open and offered something healthy. I ended up going with Panda Express and Jamba Juice. At Panda I went with steamed veggies and the Eggplant Tofu which was nice and spicy.
At jamba I got the five fruit frenzy which is blueberries, strawberries, banana, peach, and mango.
Not too shabby!
During opera rehearsal one of the girls in the chorus gave out lollipops!
Our rehearsals are 4 hours long so a double snack is almost necessary to keep going. I had this raspberry fruit strip and the rest of my nuts.

Dinner

For dinner I went to Shabbos! Out of respect I didn't use my camera to take any photos but there was all kinds of delicious salads, soup and couscous!

I came home for a little dessert: blueberry pecan granola.

It may be the weekend but for this food playing girl, the work don't stop! I have a voice lesson Monday morning at 11 and a big surprise for the evening!!

Fridizzle!

Breakfast

I had work at the library Friday morning at 9AM so I packed my lunch and waited till I got off at 11. As you can probably imagine, I was HUNGRY! Good thing I had an awesome breakfast waiting for me: Baked Banana Oatmeal with blackberries and strawberries!!

Lunch

After studio and my lesson I had a little free time before opera rehearsal. It wasn't really enough time for me to come home so I stayed on campus, ate lunch, and attempted a little reading. I had some broccoli soup that I reheated in the corner store...
an apple...
and a little while later this chocolate chip Z bar.
Right before opera I ate a little more than half of these nuts and finished them during the opera break.
During opera I sneaked in these dried mangos!

Dinner

For dinner I went to Shabbos at the Shushans! Out of respect for Shabbos I did not take any pictures but the food included a little red wine, an array of salads, soup, and matzoh!

When I got home I chilled out in front of my computer and had a bowl of blueberry pecan granola.
I was exhausted! It was quite the week. At least it's finally the weekend!

Shabbos Weekend, Kindergarden Friends!

I was in such a rush to get out of the house on Friday morning that I didn't think to grab any of my tasty snacks. Luckily I had this fruit strip in my bag which I ate during studio.

Doesn't my car look all nice and shiny!? I was so happy to finally get it back even though I do have to bring it back again to get something else fixed. It's always one the or another I guess. I went to LA this weekend to have Shabbos with the Zarets and even my brother flew in from Sacramento!

I knew I needed to keep a lot of room in my stomach because they try to stuff you to the brim on Shabbos. But I didn't want to starve on the drive down. I picked up a Carrot juice smoothie from Blenders and a chocolate chip Clif Bar.
Orange!
So I didn't take any pictures of the food on Shabbos but rest assured everything was amaaaazing and I did my best to keep myself in check!

After Shabbos Eric and I went to visit some friends who we met when I was in kindergarden! Alex and I went to kindergarden together, Dena is his younger sister. They made a special vegetable dinner for the weirdo vegan as I'm known there haha. It was sooooo delicious!

Juice to drink which is a treat for me!
Afterwards, Dena and I were on the prowl for some sweets! Cocoa puffs hit the spot.
Breakfast was some reheated grilled veggies and an english muffin with apricot pineapple jam. Oh! and coffee with almond milk. Alex provided the stuffed animal and the gang sign lol!
Lunch was a little pasta and some marinara sauce from an Italian Deli.
I don't know why I haven't mentioned it yet but I LOVE this gum! It's the cinnamon flavor by 5 and I use it all the time to give my mouth something to do and to stop me from eating more once I've finished.
Dena had a benefit piano recital that afternoon that we went to and she was great! There was a little reception after and I grabbed some punch. It was grapefruit, cranberry, and sprite tasting.
Early dinner pre drive home meal was awesome!!
When I got home I had the last of my oatmeal cookies smothered in peanut butter and chocolate chips!
I still wanted something so Kelsey suggested protein. I made a simple sandwich with fake sausage and hempseed hummus.

I had an awesome weekend and I totally enjoyed myself but I'm feeling a little off. I feel like I've lost sight of my normally second nature healthy habits. This week my small goals are going to be

1. drink more water
2. eat more fruit and veggies INSTEAD of sweets
3. exercise AT LEAST twice

If I can do that this week I will feel accomplished.

Good Shabbos!

Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! I can't believe how long it's taken me to finally get a chance to finish this post! Despite what the time stamp may say I'm actually only just now at 4:05 getting a chance to sit down and blog.

Uh oh, guess who went to Student Health this morning?? Yeah, I woke up feeling pretty icky so I just decided that I may as well go before it gets really bad. I got set up with some new allergy meds and got a referral to a local allergist. Hopefully I can get retested and start allergy shots soon! The nurse who saw me warned me that the meds may make me a little wired. I didn't really believe it and I figured anything is better than the Benadryl knock out but man, I'm all cracked out! I was such a busy bee at work and I'm still sort of buzzin!

Because I was on the go this morning I decided to make a breakfast smoothie. Sorry to my roomies who were sleeping while I used the blender! :/

In the blend:

• 1 cup frozen berries
• 1/3 cup coconut milk Kefir
• 3/4-1 cup soy milk
• 1 Tbsp almond butter
• 1 tsp. light agave syrup

This was the first bottle of Kefir I ever tried and I can only describe it as something in between yogurt and milk. By itself it isn't the most delicious but it's awesome when mixed with fruit and stuff. Kefir is actually a grain that is mixed with fermented milk and constantly stirred. The product is a yogurt-like liquid chalked full of probiotics. An awesome addition to a dairy free diet since us vegans don't consume probiotic dairy yogurt.
I've never done this before but I thought I would give PB&J Pita a try. I toasted half a pita bread on low and smothered the inside with peanut butter and apple butter. It was sooo tasty! Definitely a new staple of mine and by the way, toasting it made it that much better.
Lunch today is a spinach salad with the last of the roasted brussel sprouts, bean sprouts, cherry tomatoes, yellow onion, and some of that super tasty Annie's Naturals Lite Italian Dressing. Sliced mangos and a Peanut Butter Pretzel Mojo bar to round things out.
The breakfast smoothie in all it's glory, so yummy! The almond butter is the secret ingredient.
The Dynamic Breakfast Duo.
After my doctor's visit I still had a good 30 minutes before class so I decided to treat myself to some Fair Trade Hazelnut brew with a splash of soy.
I think this is the way to go from now on with coffee. Not only is it cheaper to just get brewed coffee, I can control exactly how much soy goes in my drink and I know it's soy! Sometimes I get super paranoid that the baristas used regular milk. Of course every now and then I'll have to switch back to my classic cappuccino with soy cause I love me some foam. But this really hit the spot this morning.
Another beautiful day at UCSB.
There's me putting on my happy face and being a good sport even though I feel lousy.
But I'm still a gangsta!

I can't believe what a good flow I've been having since I made the trip to Student Health. And to think, I was considering not coming to classes today when I woke up super drowsy and feeling like a sicky. The main reason I knew I had to come was because I had studio and work today.

Studio is a class that is connected to voice lessons and is an opportunity for all the students of one teacher to meet and sing for each other. It's a time where we get some performance setting practice with an accompanist, give and receive constructive criticism, and hear each other's progress. I really enjoy studio because performance setting practice would be hard to come by without it. I'm so glad I decided to stick it though today because I had an awesome studio. I got to run through the songs I'm performing tomorrow and my teacher was getting really nit picky. I feel really solid with the songs and today we got even more into the mood behind the words and the relationship to the music. It was just awesome and I'm really confident for tomorrow. The performance is at 11:30AM and I'm ready to get up there and do my thang!

So last night I mentioned that I had an important announcement and I do! I haven't talked much about it yet but I've recently been getting more into my Jewish heritage. This winter break I had the amazing opportunity to be a part of a two and a half week trip to Israel through a group called Jewish Awareness Movement, JAM. I was so lucky to be able to go with my brother Eric whose very presence made the trip that much more of an awesome experience. We learned so much about Judaism and Israel and came back with a definite sense of pride in our heritage. (My profile picture is of the two of us it Tzfat!) One important lesson I learned about embracing this new part of life is that you must take it in baby steps. Doing too much all at once can have a backfire effect. One of the things I've decided to try and take on is Shabbat. Shabbat is a traditional meal (or meals) that commemorate the day of rest during creation and begin at sundown on Friday night and end at sundown on Saturday night. During that time the concept of rest is taken to the extent that no electricity is turned on or off, no writing is done, no cooking, no driving, no television, etc... I'm far from an expert on all this but like I said: baby steps. I just want to give everyone a heads up that I will not be posting on Friday nights or Saturday during the day. I have to break Shabbos this weekend unfortunately because I have a performance but at least tonight I can do whatever I can to stay in the spirit of Shabbos.

The ideas behind Shabbos are really beautiful and I look forward to dinner at the Shushan's all week! I also think this will be a good way for me to take a break from blogging so that I don't come to resent having to blog. I really enjoy keeping this little online journal and it's something that I get to do!

Anyways, the plan now is to make some more progress on the ominous motet paper so that I can enjoy my weekend. There Shusan's are hosting a BBQ this sunday for their son's first haircut (which may sound like a silly reason to celebrate but in orthodox Judaism, little boys are not supposed to cut their hair until age three). I really want to go chill with them without stressing about the paper.

I wish you all a relaxing (or productive depending on your goals) weekend and you will be hearing from me again soon!