Catch up, Size up, Pump up!

So obviously I'm writing on Saturday which is definitely not in keeping with Shabbos, but I've been doing a lot of hard thinking about this and I've come to a conclusion. Last night after I decided it was time to stop taking pictures of my food because I wasn't blogging it, I started eating whatever I felt like and too much of it. Not blogging is not an excuse to go crazy and that's what I did. I think the ideas behind Shabbos are beautiful and something for me to strive for but I also think that without being completely behind all of the principles, it's not a good idea for me to try and force myself to do it. I think this baby step was too big for me and I'm not ready yet. Yet! Anyways, I just thought I would put that out there!

Also, I don't want to make a habit of having these huge catch up posts with meals of all sorts in them. It was midterms week and it got pretty hectic but I think it just goes to show that my organization could use a little work but my priorities are right where they should be. (I think!) So I'll catch up now and hope to keep on top of it!

I had a little study time snack of a sliced up Fuji apple and peanut butter for dipping. I heated the peanut butter for a few seconds so it would be saucy.

Dinner was a big 'ol salad with pinto beans and wild rice, salsa, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper, and of course hummus!

Surprise surprise, a little cereal!

Midterm breakfast was banana oats with raisins and peanut butter!

No question about it, it was raining cats and dogs yesterday. Let's just put it this way, it was NOT bike-to-class weather but guess who did it anyways??

Our bikes just get drenched! ...don't ask why there's a fan out there...lol.

I got to my midterm as fast as I could and got completely soaked on the way! The tops of my legs were just saturated and my jacket and gloves weren't doing any better. I felt pretty good about the midterm considering. I would have liked to have studied more than just one day straight if things had worked out differently but turns out the studying I did was actually pretty good and I knew exactly what to say for the essay question!! There were some multiple choice questions I straight up guessed on but I'm usually a pretty good guesser. I'm hoping for a B :)

After the test I had studio and it was still just as wet out. I just made it! I felt sooo good after that test was over I rewarded myself with a Mountain Mix Mojo bar.

Studio was good. I sang a french song that I'm working on and even though I am still having some rhythmic issues with a duplet (gah, stupid duplets ahh!!) I did the song from memory woohoo!

After studio I had work for two hours which was very low key and after that... I was FIANLLY FREE! I rushed home thinking the pause in the rain was just for me :) and started the plan I had already concocted in my mind of exactly what I wanted to do. I just wanted to relax and watch the end of "Groundhog Day" in my bed! My roomie Kelsey has discovered that her gluten intolerance is demanding more of her attention so I agreed to help her out and take those pita chips off her hands :) haha. I set myself up with a tasty snack and just chilled out!

At this point I think I decided to stop photographing my food...I also over ate a bit at this point. Which is why I woke myself up this morning and dragged my booty to a free cardio circut class at the gym. It was awesome and fairly challenging. It started coming down again when I left and got completely soaked again! It's all good though cause I made myself a delicious breakfast smoothie and toasted pita with peanut butter. In the smoothie:

• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• last of my soy yogurt > 1/2 cup
• 1 small banana
• 3/4 cup soy milk
• 1 tsp. agave

simple and delicious!

The goal for today is a very simple one:

1. Do good things for Claire

Today I just want to take care of me and make sure I am doing things that are fun and make me happy like choosing recipes to conquer, painting my nails, whatever! I've been stressing out so much that last night when I was finally done, I still had to tell myself, "you're done. There's nothing else you have to do right now. Clam down. Let it go!" Does your brain ever do that? Think it's still on edge even when there's nothing going on? sheesh!

Well there is talk of getting a pedicure with Savannah today so I'm keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed!

On the Menu: Lunch and Studying

I just got back from my voice lesson which was great. I'm working on some American folk songs and I got to hear what they sound like with accompaniment for the first time today. They are not what I was expecting and I like them much more than I thought I would!

Before my lesson I did a little studying and had lunch. Some of my hearty cream of vegetable soup with a little wild rice, part of a pita and some hummus. I decorated the top of the hummus with paprika, salt, and pepper which of course makes it taste even better!

Cereal for dessert. It's study food!
The sky is looking very gray right now and there are big puffy clouds everywhere. It's supposed to be raining at least by tomorrow but I won't be surprised if it were to pick up any minute now.

My friend Aaron is in an ensemble called B.F.O.M. (pronounced bee-fom) which stands for: Brothas From Otha Mothas hahaha. They're an accapella group who do arrangements of popular songs and they are pretty snazy! Somehow whenever they have a performance something always comes up for me so this time I've committed to going and finally getting the chance to hear them perform. That's not till 8:20 tonight so I'm going to get cracking on the studying.

Till dinna!

Breakfast was feeling left out!

Breakfast managed to somehow slip out of my last post so here she is! I went to bed last night around 2 :/ and even then I was having really bizarre and kind of scary dreams for at lest the first 30 minutes of trying to fall asleep. Needless to say then, it was a coffee morning. An Extra Bold coffee morning! These Starbucks VIA singles are awesome.

In the mix for breakfast was

• 1/2 cup plain soy yogurt
• 1 small sliced banana
• 1/2 cup Blueberry Pecan cereal
• small scoop peanut butter

I added a squirt of agave and some soy milk to my coffee and as always two Gummy Vites to seal the deal.
Delicious!

Stress, The Real Culprit.

I have so much to say and to catch up on ahh! I just got out of my midterm and it feels great to be done even though now I have to focus on my anthropology midterm tomorrow.

So something was going on with me yesterday that I think would be really important and useful to put out in the open and talk about here...and maybe even get some feed back :) Yesterday got off to a weird start for me and I was pretty much in a bad mood from the moment I woke up. I ditched my cycling class, had a paper and two midterms hanging over my head, had a sugar attack the night before, and my throat was hurting. I was feeling so unmotivated to do anything and my attitude was that I had no choice but to suffer through the next three days. I did my best to pretend to be optimistic about the way I felt, hoping that it would pass and that if I just planned out my time and gave myself little things during the day to look forward to like snacks and breaks here and there that eventually I would snap out of it. At the time of course it feels like it will never happen and all efforts are futile so why bother? But I am a good pretender and just pretended I was a good student and went to class. Eventually I made it to work and while I was there I actually started to feel better and today I think I figured out why. When I'm at work, I know there's no where else I can be except there and the only things I need to worry about for the next three hours are my little jobs in the library. There's no point in stressing while I'm at work because the clock isn't going to tick any faster no matter what I do. Once I got off work I ran into some friends who were studying for the music history midterm. They convinced me to get coffee with them (and it really took convincing on their part!). Once the caffeine was in my system I started to feel even better and by the time choir rolled around, my mood was night and day from that morning! I was happy, once again, to be someplace where my only concern was the task at hand for the next three hours and nothing else. Plus my energy from the caffeine made a tremendous difference.

I guess what I'm getting at here is that whether or not we choose to realize it, stress is a HUGE factor in our lives that can shade every consequent action we make. In singing, if I sing one note is tense, there's a very good chance the next ones will be too. Getting stressed out about one thing led me to stress out about the next thing and the next thing...When I was forced into situations yesterday where it was useless for me to stress out and I had to focus on other things, I magically felt better! I know now that for me, a part of growing up and becoming a more mature, efficient adult will be mastering the skills of:

• balancing stressors with relaxation,
• always allowing myself the time to do what I need to do without sacrificing what's important to keep me as stress free as possible,
• and recognizing when one stressful thing is causing me to stress about everything else.

It's really hard for me to talk myself down from this kind of stress related bad mood because mostly I don't want to admit that I'm stressed, I don't want to do anything to help because I just don't feel like it will work, and I become overwhelmed and unmotivated. I learned from yesterday that there are things that work:

• make a schedule that allows for specific and realistic times to get everything done.
• allow yourself to dedicate a time slot to something completely unrelated to anything stressful where you can focus all your attention on something else.
• be around other people who are in a similar boat i.e. other people who are taking the test, other people with deadlines, people with similar goals.
• and as a last resort, have some caffeine for an energy boost!

Hopefully this is relevant to other people as well and you find the advice I'm giving myself sound. I would love to hear of any other realistic techniques for balancing a hectic lifestyle because I am clearly no guru! They can't all be good days but I'd like to aim for something close.

For Lunch yesterday I made an awesome pita sandwich complete with

• hummus
• tahini
• yellow mustard
• paprika, salt, and pepper
• faux meat: roasted turkey flavor
• chopped yellow onion
• spinach
• sprout mix
• cherry tomatoes
• and pickles

It was so tasty!!
I really have an obsession with blueberries. This yogurt hits the spot for me. It's a good study food!
These veggie chips are insanely good. Another worthwhile Costco purchase. They are made completely out of veggies but they taste like sinful chips!
Medium Fudge Nut roast with a little Soy ahhh. This perked me right up!
I freaking love these dipped Mojo Bars. They're like dessert and are especially good when they come in the middle of a three hour choir rehearsal!!
At home after choir I whipped up a light dinner of

• cooked brussel sprouts, 2:30 in microwave with a little water
• 1/2 cup wild rice
• 1 tsp. vegan butter
• chopped yellow onion
• coriander
• cumin
• salt
• pepper

Simple and delicious, got the job done and held me over for a head first study sesh.
Later that night Amanda came over and brought study candy! Trust me this picture is merely a representation of what I had. A few peachy tasting things and more of the watermelons and blackberries, soo good! Amanda is a saint and brought so much to the table for the study sesh I don't know what I would have done without her! She is a certified smart-woman :)
The study sesh went pretty late and I fixed everyone some tea. I also had another bag of Veggie straws and hummus...
It all payed off in the end and I feel surprisingly good about the midterm.

I would love to hear any comments about stress or anything at all!!

The Sweet Tooth Monster Attacked

So, I don't know what was up with me last night but I was having a crazy sweet tooth and I wasn't aware of it in time to talk myself down from some less than amazing choices. It is important to give in every now and then and last night I certainly did.

As a sort of pseudo-dinner dish I mixed up:

• 1/3 cup rice pudding
• small handful chocolate chips
• small handful walnut pieces
• generous shake of cinnamon
• soy milk
• a little maple syrup
• scoop of peanut butter

It was pretty tasty actually and was perfect for relaxing with my room mate and watching "Groundhog Day" on TV. That movie is crazy! I never got to see the end and I really need to know what happened! Bill Murray is my favorite :)

I left to go meet up with some girlfriends of mine to paint tambourines! It sounds a little odd but trust me there is a whole story behind it. It was really fun to go back to arts and craft mode after such a long time!

When I got home I was sort of hungry and well... my cereal addiction kicked in big time. This is definitely not the only mug I had last night. You know, I really wanted it and I let myself have it. It was not the best decision but I can't change it now. All I can do is try to do better today!
I didn't have the best start in the world this morning but I'm making do. I decided that I probably need the extra sleep and ignored my alarm for cycling class. Unfortunately once my brain is awake and turned on there is pretty much no turning it back off so I ended up getting up anyways. I decided to whip up some creamy banana oats for breakfast. In the mix:

• 1/4 cup rice pudding
• 1/4 cup oats
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup plain soy yogurt
• 1 small sliced banana
• 1 Tbsp. milled flax seed
• shake of cinnamon
• splash of vanilla
• very small about of pure stevia
• scoop of peanut butter

Stevia is a natural sweetener derived from the leaves of a plant. I highly recommend it but also advise a lot of testing to find your level of sweetness. It does have a distinct flavor to it that is unlike other sweeteners and I have to be in the mood for it. Other than that it's great and has zero calories.
Notice how the texture of these creamy banana oats is totally different!
Banana oats, green tea, and two Gummy Vites sounds good to me!
Today is one of those long day where once I leave home I'm on campus till 8 o'clock tonight. Bleh. Not my favorite schedule but I'll make sure to pack some awesome snacks to look forward to.

Hopefully I will be able to better fend of the sweet tooth monster today. I'll sure be busy enough that I bet I won't even have time to think about it!

Salad and Satisfaction!

When I came home after choral conducting (which was awesome today!) I decided to go all out on a salad. In total I used:

• about a cup of spinach
• about a half cup of brussel sprouts cut in half
• 1 tsp. vegan butter
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves roasted garlic
• 1 tsp. tahini
• 1 tsp. hummus
• 2 tsp. salsa
• ground salt and pepper
• squeeze of fresh lemon juice
• drizzle of balsamic vinegar

I microwaved the brussel sprouts with a little water for 2:30 to soften them up.

In the mean time I heated a pan and melted the butter.
Then I added the garlic and onions till and sautéed them a little.
Next I popped in the brussel sprouts
Tahini is awesome in salad dressings and has sort of a peanuty taste. It's made of sesame seeds.
Here I added the tahini and a little salt and pepper.
Next some fresh lemon juice and not pictured, hummus and salsa.
I served my salad with eight sun dried tomato basil wheat thins and green tea with fresh mint leaves! Delicious!
I ate around 4:30 which always puts the rest of my eating at weird times. But I was hungry when I came home!

I have some very good news: I FINISHED MY PAPER! I'm off to relax a little with my roomie bootch besty Savannah!

Afternoon Snack or Mini Lunch?

After Music History I found a bench area outside the main library to sit and talk with my mom. As soon as midterms are over with I need to start researching my options for a new apartment next year and I've got Mom on the job to help me start the searching process! I am my father's daughter and we both actually really like making plans. (He would search on the computer every Sunday for literally about a year for the best cars until finally he bought a new one. I didn't get it before but now I'm just like him!) I could sit at my computer and look for hours at new apartments and actually enjoy doing it. So for now I better steer clear of house hunting, at least until after my studying is done.

For my afternoon snack, which is actually kind of a mini lunch, I enjoyed a Fuji apple, mixed berry Whole Soy & Co. yogurt, and a Peanut Butter Pretzel Mojo Clif bar.

It was too chilly for me outside in the shade and I wanted to plug my laptop in before it died so I moved into the lovely 24 hour study room. Here I am looking super studious. Haha I'm such a nerd.
I have choral conducting at two and we were supposed to work on pick up entrance cues. That sounds fancy doesn't it? It's one of those things I really take for granted as a performer cause once I'm on the flip side I really see how awkward and unnatural it is for me to give the cue. I'm used to seeing it not doing it. I better go practice!

After class I'm heading home and meeting back up with Greg to finish the paper once and for all! I'll probably also make myself something veggie packed like a salad or some of my hearty cream of vegetable soup. And definitely some tea! I am cold!! On the plus side of having this dry throat thing going on, it forces me to constantly be drinking water. I guess that's one way to meet my goal!

Ok focus time. I like blogging I don't want to stop! But my practice room calls and I sure have my work cut out for me.

Hope you're lunch is delicious!

Time for Prioritizing

Guten Morgen Alles. Dinner post is coming in late this morning with breakfast because my friend Greg came over to work on that paper last night and I ended up staying up later than I usually do. My stomach was still on the rocks last night so I looked up foods that would be easy on my system. Mom says rice is one of the most easily digested foods and I read that yogurt is supposed to help with indigestion so naturally that led to: Rice Pudding! I adapted a few recipies I read on vegweb.com to include yogurt. I ended up with something like this:

• 1 cup water
  
• 3/4 cup plain soy yogurt
• 1 cup brown jasmine rice
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 Tbsp pure maple syrup

As it cooked I prepared a bowl with one small slice banana and some raisins. It ended up cooking for about 40 minutes? I think? I started at twenty and kept adding time till I felt like it was just right and I didn't keep very good track of how much I was adding...oops!
Yum! It was not too sweet and very hearty. I was hoping for a little more pop out flavor but it's a great base for adding.
Which is exactly what I did! I finished off the last of my almond butter which was an awesome match for this ricey dish.
At the very end I added half of a vegan molasses cookie (of which I later ate the other half :/).
Uncle Eddies are soooo delicious! My non vegan friends can't tell the difference.
Finally on to breakfast! I had a rough night sleep, waking up from coughing at 4 am is no fun. I took some cough syrup and when I eventually woke up to my 7:30 alarm I was feeling sort of weird. I had work at 9 so I got myself together and made some breakfast. I started with 1/3 cup of left over rice pudding which I heated for about 50 seconds in the microwave. Then I added:

• 1/3 cup rice pudding (already mentioned above)
• 1/3 cup plain soy yogurt
• 1 small sliced banana
• small handful raisins
• generous sprinkle of cinnamon
• splash of pure maple syrup
  

Rice pudding with yogurt and two Gummy Vites was the total. I didn't have time for tea this morning sadly but it's ok, I think I'll live!
My iPhone tells me it's supposed to rain here today but I just don't see that happening. I mean, knock on wood, but it's pretty sunny and nice out today. Unfortunately I am doomed to spend most of it studying, preparing for midterms, and putting the final touches on my paper. I packed myself some good snacks for school today so maybe I will get a chance to enjoy them outside while it's still nice out.

I hate to say it but this week I may have to sacrifice some exercise opportunities. I know it's terrible! But such is the struggle of being a college student. School is my number one priority and I know that I can put the time in and get A's if I really put myself to it. I will work something out for exercising so I stay sane this week, no worries :)

See ya later!

Bad Girl

So I was kind of a bad girl... I decided not to go to class today because I wasn't feeling well and I thought I would benefit more from getting some extra sleep and resting at home.

I set myself up with a mug of tension tamer tea, a squirt of agave, and little bit of soy milk. I worked on my paper a little and after an hour I took a little nap. I woke up at 2 and made some lunch.
I reheated my hearty cream of vegetable soup and ate it along side some sun dried tomato basil wheat thins. Pretty tasty but I hope my stomach doesn't get mad at me!
I reeeeeally wanted to eat a cookie but I know my stomach would probably get whacko on me and I would probably regret it later. Maybe if I'm feeling good...or I finish the paper (!) I'll go for it but for now I made the healthier decision and went with a Fuji apple and a glass of refreshing water.

I'm off to work on the paper again and hopefully I can even get it out of the way before choir at 5. I don't think I'm going to sing tonight but I am still obligated to go and follow along with my music. It will be interesting to just listen for a change.

Tschüss!

Full of Surprises

Good morning! I should explain that there is a very good reason I did not post anything last night. Kelsey and I agreed to rain check our dinner date because it was actually one of her friend's birthday dinners last night which trumps "just because". It actually worked out for the better because last night after I had that late lunch early dinner pita sandwich I got the worst stomach ache! I tried everything to make it go away but it was pretty bad. So I called my mommy of course and to put it in perspective, when I told her how it felt she asked me, "...have you seen the movie Alien?" Yeah, I just wasn't feeling so hot. I went to bed super early and didn't post anything because I didn't eat anything else the rest of the night.

I was still hoping that it'd pass by the morning so that I could go to my cycling class and be super on time to make up for being late every other time. Luckily when I woke up I did feel a little better but I vaguely remember coughing in my sleep and wasn't surprised that I had a sore throat. I was really conflicted about whether I should go or not but I took a cue from Tina who, even when she's feeling lazy and doesn't want to work out, finds a way to make her self get up and do it. Most of it is psychological anyways so I just kept telling myself 'something is better than nothing' and 'you don't have to go as hard as usual'. I'm glad I went and sweated it up. The teacher is super motivated and her class is always pretty intense. I feel good that I did something, especially when I think I might be on the brink of getting the illness that my roomie had last week.

As for breakfast this morning, I'm still trying to be stomach conscious which is difficult with a diet that is so high in fiber. I decided to use applesauce in some oats in the hopes that it will be nice and easy to digest. In the pot:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 snack size cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
• 1/2 Tbsp. peanut butter

Green tea, oats, and two Gummy Vites.

Yesterday really was full of surprises and it carried over to this morning. When I checked my email this morning I got an amazing surprise: the deadline for the paper got pushed back a day! Woohoo!!! I still have two midterms this week though and I'm just going to do everything I can to stay healthy through it all.

See ya 'round lunch time!

P.S. Happy February!