Productive Procrastination

Good Morning bloggies!

Workout

Last night at 9PM I decided to do the Jillian DVD which is weird for me since I almost always do my workouts in the morning. But I gotta say, I felt so much more loose and energized than I do in the mornings. Plus the sliding glass door was like a mirror since it was dark out and I could see myself and make sure I was doing everything right. I guess I had the idea that if I workout in the morning it won't be weighing on me all day. But I shouldn't immediately forgo the idea of working out at night since there are clearly some benefits to be had. By the way that makes for Day 8 on the 30 day shred. Obviously I'm not taking a 30 consecutive day shred haha.

After those peppers roasted and sat in a bowl with their own condensation for a while I peeled the skins off and put them in this jar for later. I think I could have gone 5 extra minutes in the oven with these but they are still going to taste great. It's funny how the skins on the green peppers were really difficult to get off while the yellow ones just popped right off.

Workout

I woke up feeling like I got some good rest so I put on the workout duds and did the Jillian DVD. Having done the workout the night before I really noticed how much more stiff and tight my body felt. I am still learning so much about my body! Day 9, one more day and then it's on to level 2!

Breakfast

For breakfast this morning I made a smoothie with

• 1/2 cup crushed pineapple
• handful of spinach
• 1 small banana
• green tea

I toasted a bagel thin and had a peanut butter and honey breakfast sandwich.

Later when Savannah woke up she made coffee for the both of us!

Now we are planning to head to the library to crack down on some paper writing. It's all about attitude right? Yes! I am going to get organized and get into it. I mean, it's a paper about the earliest operas that ever existed. This is my thing!

Alright. Enough "productive procrastination". Ta Ta!

Run Run Sing Sing

Workout

It happened! I got myself out of bed and actually worked out! I'm sensing a new trend y'all and it's a good one. I decided to run to the gym since my normal dirt path is probably a mud path right now. When I got there I did some biceps, triceps, and standing ab exercises. I also did a few lunges and a set of squats. Then I ran home. According to my iMapMyRun app on my iPhone the total distance was 2.50 miles and I completed it in 27:04. I know these aren't the best times in the world but I'm proud of myself for doing it and I think putting it all out there is a good thing. I only stopped for the street lights, probably a good thing.

Breakfast

After my speedy shower I whipped up a breakfast smoothie which included:

• handful of spinach
• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• half a frozen banana
• 2 pitted dates
• 1 Tbsp. cashew butter
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1 Tbsp. milled flaxseed
• just enough water to get it blending, less than 1/8 cup

It came out really nutty and thick almost like a shake. Can't even taste the spinach! Hopefully this will tide me over till at least 2-ish. Maybe I shall pack some snacking veggies... Anyways, I also rehydrated with some H2O and took my Cleanse tablets and my Women's One a Day.
I have a lot to look forward to today:

• 2 voice lessons, the second of which my accompanist is coming to
• Free time since it's dark day for the opera
• possibility of getting my eyebrows done...possibly getting a hair cut?? Should I get bangs? Ugh, the indecision!
• having some time to get some real work done on my Ethics paper (I'm trying to put a positive spin on this one)
• And last but not least, my friend Rebecca is having her birthday dinner tonight! We're going to a place called Edomasa Japanese Sushi Bar & Rastaurant. I've already started doing a little research to see if it's reasonable for me to try and stay as close to raw as possible. What are fermented soy beans a.k.a natto??
  

Well that first voice lesson is comin' up here soon so I better go get ready. It seriously feels like Friday to me what the heck?

Ta Ta!

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!