I am moving to LA…..

I have moved to a new home! Come

join the party at

www.supersana.com !!!!!

BOXING!!!!!!

At Fitbloggin I had the pleasure of meeting LA Boxing!

We kept contact after Fitbloggin ended and I am now their newest member!

So last night I headed out for a 7:45pm class! I have taken kickboxing before but nothing that required actual gloves and a bag…. These are some HEAVY babies! We punched and kicked the evening away!

I felt so legit in my gloves!

LA Boxing will be sponsoring my experience for the next 3 months! I will blog weekly about my progress!

What I LOVED about the class:

• The class was my OWN workout- I never felt pressured to keep up and I could take breaks whenever I wanted to.
• Great music! It really got me in the mood to jump and get my kick on
• Personalized attention from the instructor, he moved around the entire time and made sure we were doing the moves correctly.

My instructor did not mind that I was not punching the bag that hard- well I was scared! It was pretty heavy, thankfully my gloves will keep me safe.

So my title did not lie I AM MOVING! Please come join me on my new self-hosted blog SuperSana. I won’t lie I don’t think I have eaten a single blueberrymuffin since I have started this blog.

So head on over to SuperSana for an EXCITING GIVEAWAY!!!!

I am going to the….

CARNIVALLL!

  It was Quadmania this weekend at UMBC!

I am NOT a roller coaster or any kind of a ride person. Prior to last years event the only ride I had ever been on was the merry-go-around…..

With the convincing powers of a certain friend that is a boy I managed to ride the Ferris wheel and the Zipper. I am pretty sure I lost two years of my life.

I also rode something else for the very first time!

Another thing that I am also not is an animal person. Not sure why, but I am pretty terrified of them.

Sooooo I decided to ride one!

Note the VERY terrified face!

Many shenanigans later it was time to make Banana Bread!

Jpizzle and his epic bread pan making skills!

I was seriously impressed, I even managed to break his master piece. I decided I was better off with just standing around and looking pretty.

I however did get to enjoy some super yummie whole grain banana bread!

We rounded off our weekend with a walk to the campus tennis courts

And a mile run around campus with some butt kicking stairs!

Meet Baby G! My 21st b-day gift to myself. Now I know I am not a long distance runner but this baby may be the COOLEST thing ever! I have no concept of how far or fast I am going outdoors, so I use it to steadily increase my time and mileage! 

Question: Do you ever buy birthday presents for yourself? If so, what are they?

Taste of the Nation D.C

Last Thursday POM Wonderful hosted a contest for VIP tickets to D.C’s Taste of the Nation! Mission of the event from the website:

“Since 1988, Taste of the Nation has brought together the most creative culinary minds across the nation. Each spring and summer, pioneers of modern American cuisine, national celebrity chefs and mixologists including David Burke, Stephan Pyles, mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim, Bravo’s Top Chef Tom Collichio, Food Network stars Tyler Florence and Emeril Lagasse and thousands more like them donate their time, talent and passion at nearly 40 events across the United States and Canada with one goal in mind: to raise critical funds needed to help end childhood hunger. 100% of supports Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger.”

I was more than overjoyed when I was selected as a winner to attend! I hopped on the D.C metro for the FIRST time!

I met up with Quinn ( another winner of the contest and a lovely blogger:) )

We started off the evening at the Volt sponsored  VIP reception

( Excuse the flash)

Eats from the VIP:

Beet Macaroon with Foie Gras Mousse

I can’t say I have ever tasted something like this, it was flakey and sweet!

Volt chefs hard at work!

and I enjoyed the view from above, it was nice to see everything!

The event was at the National Museum Building, which by the end of the evening I was in love with!

We made our way down to the floor for some more eats- I had not eaten anything since lunch at 1:00 and I was good to go ( or so I thought).

Kellari Tavern on camera!

Spinach Pie and Scallop I can’t get over how light and HEALTHY this was!

Most interesting food item of the night award goes to:Firefly

Baby Octopus!

I made a dash for some Lebanese food!

Kababji had some grape leaves stuff with rice!

Occidental–Lobster roll, a definite first for me!

Enjoying a Anchovy Tartlet from Proof

Scallop

Indian food!!! Bombay Club– Shrimp with Mango Chutney I grabbed a menu on the way out, I will be stopping there again for sure!

Dessert had to be my FAVORITE part!

PS 7’S– Ice cream on a stick HOLY YUM! I need like 5 more of these!

The absolute star of the evening, Georgetown Cupcake

I honestly felt like I had died and gone to heaven! Each bite was light and flavorful.

I dove into the Salted Caramel and I loved every single bite!

We of course had to stop by and drink some POM Wonderful, who made this amazing evening possible!

POM Mocktail- Was so light and refreshing!

I can’t even describe how amazing this evening was, it was a chance for me to taste an assortment of delights that I normally would not!

I am also going to Taste of Catonsville next Monday! And I will be more prepared to tickle my taste buds!

Thanks to POM Wonderful and Quinn for her company/ metro directing skills!

Westside Shelter

For the past two semester I have been volunteering at an off campus homeless shelter. Every Saturday myself and 3-4 other volunteers spend the morning working with the clients. Typically we are there to work on resumes, job searches and bring in positive energy.

Today we decided to plant a garden! This is just the beginning of a project to bring in a catering company to use the vegetables we are going to grow as well as have a healthy diet for the shelter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

( I was clearly working hard)

I was a great way to spend a Saturday morning!

 

I enjoyed some lovely eats:

Fresh fruits and a Tomato and Mozzarella Panini

Vegetable Biryani

I ended the day with a 5 mile bike ride and 2.5 hours of roller skating!

QUESTION: What projects do you work on in your local community?

145.5 Post-spring break life

Thankfully the weather is all sunny because I am losing my mind….

My baby 🙂

as per usual school is back in full swing. I have 24 credits left to graduate and it’s officially crunch time!

Earlier this week I banged out two miles 😉

Does anyone have attractive kneecaps? Because I sure don’t!

Running is HARD. I want to stop many many many many times. I want to be fast. I want to finish at a set time. I ran two miles in 22 minutes.

This might seem slow, but when I first started running 3 months ago, I could not run for longer than 30 seconds.

I love pushing myself.

When stressed I either cry or run. Sometimes crying wins more than running. It happens.

I love being a runner. It is heart-pumping and majorly kick-ass!

It is the beginning of April and lets see where I am with my weight-loss

Yes, this is my healthy living blog, and a big part of being healthy is being at a healthy weight, so I will be talking in numbers.

( Click to enlarge)

I am freaking proud of myself

156.5

145.5

Staying healthy in college:

-Share dessert! I always have a friend next to me when I want dessert.

-Make working out a priority. Exams and homework will always be there find time to get your workout in.

-Eat! I eat every 2-4 hours. If you let yourself get too hungry you will settle for an unhealthy choice just to let yourself be full.

I hope everyone is out enjoying this LOVELY weather!!!

Fitbloggin’10 Bloggers take Baltimore!

I have been having an AMAZING spring break, but all good things must come to an end 😦

Lets recap!

Beginning of spring break!

What other way to start off break with a Fro-yo baby from Tutti Frutti.  Don’t worry I split this with my sister!

To kick start my career ( read: attempt) as a runner I strolled over to Road Runner conveniently located next to Trader Joe’s. Totally breaking the bank.

Road Runner was having a free shoe dogging event and I gladly took off my rain boots for some custom made insoles. $62 dollars later, I walked out with “bumps” under my feet that I had never felt before.

Shoe Dogging

HIGH aches!

I decided to take these bad boys out to test I headed over to Great Falls, VA

Potomac River Great Falls, VA

Great Falls, VA

MASSIVE Rocks. I was not badass 😦

I will be going back to Great Falls many many times! It was an AMAZING trail!

Working out has become a GREAT addiction my life. I am so happy and positive after every work out- being able to push myself to run a mile in 9:40 is something that I could never do before.

This leads me to Fitbloggin’10 , a special thanks goes out to Roni and her staff! This was my first blogger’s conference and I was so amazed and inspired by everyone that I was able to meet!

Friday afternoon started off with the POM Wonderful Cocktail party!

On my way to the POM Wonderful Cocktail Party!

Fitbloggin' nametag!

POMtini

I got to meet-up with some sweet bloggers!

Ashley, Cara, Me, and Stacey

Ashley,  Cara, Me, and Stacey

Dinner that night was a Veggie Fiesta bowl!

I can safely say that the star of the show would have to be all the SWAG!

Major thanks to: New Balance , Thrive , POM Wonderful ,Gruve for some AWESOME products!

I was able to attend some great session!

Eat some great food!

Enjoy the Inner Harbor!

Inner Harbor, Baltimore MD

Downtown Baltimore, MD

Inner Harbor sunset!

What I am most excited about?

Spring!!!!!!

I plan on spending everyday with some sunshine 🙂 Have a great one!

The return of the blogger…

I have no shame.

I am a super slacker blogger.

 I can’t promise that I will ever be a consistent blogger. Oh well.

Life recap?

NYC bus tripppp!

My friends and I decided to take the bus up to NYC . I LOVE the city, the life, the energy it’s all amazing!

Walking around in Times Square

I saw my FIRST broadway! It was soooooo AMAZING

MAJOR LOVEEE!!!! I can’t wait to go see another one!

I had great company while watching the broadway

My friend Bobby loves all things music and we had a great time- he made sure I did not get mugged or lost in NY. ( Ladies he is single 😉 Heheh!)

I had the pleasure of meeting several lovely ladies at last weekends MD/ DC blogger meet up!

I had the pleasure of meeting:

Anne
Ashley
Kat
Matt
Jacquie
Aurora

And a special thanks to Lauren for setting this all up!

We all met up at the Great Sage 

For dinner I ordered the ‘lasgana’

This would have tasted great with some pasta!  Eggplant ❤

For dessert I ordered this baby. Major love allllllll the way 🙂

I could go back for round 2 , 3 or 4…..

Between school, research, interning, working out and volunteering, I am not too sure how I find time to sleep.

I have been taking some late night trips to the gym for some sweat sessions.

The company makes it all worthwhile

😉 I have been consistently running a mile in 10:50 ( non-stop). Running is HARD I have to mentally talk myself through it all.

It also has me ending my days with the following. Yes, I ice my knees next to a space heater. I have a giveaway coming up this week related to the pic. Any guesses? No you can’t have the space heater.

This week a few students and I had the chance to help out at a visual acuity screening at an inner Baltimore City school. We were working with some of the most adorable 3-4 year olds. I want to take all of them home…

And just incase I was already not busy enough my mom and sister decided to throw me a pre-birthday party. My actual birthday is not till the 31st…

Pretty in Pink!

Me and my friend from high school

We rounded off the weekend with my other friends (actual) 22nd birthday at P.F Changs down by the inner harbor.

*whew* I have been a busy girl!

I won’t be offeneded if you did not make it to the end. Come back next time for a fun giveaway!

Go out and enjoy this AMAZING this weather!

A week of tears

In my sophomore year of high school I took  American Government and Politics AP. As a total science person this class was something I just took to learn. I actually enjoy the class- it was with a small group of my friends and whenever we finished our classwork early we watched The O.C. Even the guys in my class watched! I enjoyed this class until after we took our midterm. The exam was 70 multiple choice questions and after I finished I joined the rest of my classmates who were setting up a card game.

Two days later in the middle of my English class my American Gov teacher pulled me out of class and told me that he knew that I had cheated on the midterm.

His reasons:

1) He hands out the answer keys every year- and because I had older friends I clearly had gotten my hands on them

2) I was HAPPY when I finished the exam.

3) I got questions right that he had not covered in class.

4) My grade on the exam was a C

This was 5 years ago and can still feel the tears as I type this out.

I had to go to a meeting with my guidance counselor who told me that there was nothing I could do to prove that I was innocent. The teacher had been working here for years and no one would believe me.

This was the first time something like this had happened to me. There was no way I had cheated on the exam and I could not even even prove it. It was his word against mine.

I even had my parents come in for a meeting- they were told the same thing. I should not make a big deal about this, otherwise my teacher would write a letter to my future college telling them about my academic mis conduct.

(Looking back I can see that they just told me this to make me go away)

I had the option of dropping the class- with a grade of an F or staying in the class and get a final grade of a C no matter how well I did on any other assignment.

I stayed in the class. My teacher did not even look at me. I would raise my hand to go to the bathroom and I was ignored. I left the class in tears everyday.

This was a big deal to me- I was well liked by everyone and to have someone especially a teacher treat me this way was awful.

I no longer wanted to go to school and my parents understood and let me stay home until I felt better about going.

The only person who I could talk to was my English teacher and she believed me- even after I graduated high school I would still e-mail her for advice. Sadly she lost her battle with Colon cancer last spring- I sometimes wish I could e-mail her for advice. I really do miss her.

5 years later: I wish I could have said something. Even now I still find it difficult to stand up for myself when I am in a situation where I am not treated the way I want to be.

I need to remid myself that I do have a voice and that I can use it!

I need to end this post this is a major tear subject for me.

I hope everyone is having a lovely Valentine’s day!

Thanks to everyone for their lovely comments on my last post ❤

Dear bloggy readers, (148)

Dear bloggy readers,

Thanks for taking the time out of your busy days to come hangout read my little bloggy. I love being able to share my thoughts and feelings with everyone. More importantly I am inspired by everyone. Your excitement over my good news- makes me love everyone even more. I share mostly about my health and fitness, but some days I just want to blab about my personal life. Blogging sometimes feels soooo good! Just getting your thoughts and feelings out there and having other people being able to relate is a positive experience.

There are so many things that happen to be that directly impact what I eat or if I even workout that day. Even with some changes in my personal life that took me  off guard I stuck with my plan to run. I could have easily decided to take some personal time for myself but I knew I had a goal and I stuck with it.

( For those of you who have not read my previous posts I have been injured for the most of 2009)

I am following the couch to 5k plan but modifying it on how I feel physically.

Plan for Week 1:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.

What I did:

20 mins on the acr trainer at ( cardio program level 5) I wanted to avoid running for as long as possible- I was super nervous about getting started)

Treadmill warmup 5 mins: incline 5 speed: 3.0

I was gearing up to breakout into a run at 4:41 when I looked down and saw that my shoelaces were untied. The last thing I needed was to slip and fall flat on my face.

I finished out the plan ( with tied shoelaces). Boy do I need those 90 secs of rest.

Running is hard. But it feels good. I have done this workout twice this week. I gave myself 3 days to recover because of how sore I was.

As you may or may not know I have been watching what I eat for the past month. No calorie counting, just eyeballing and stopping when I am full.

Results?? Lets see them

Compare with 156.5

Dec 31st                            Feb.9th

Arms: 12.5 inches    Now: 11

Bust ( w/ double bra): 37 inches Now: 36 inches

Abs ( around belly button): 37 inches Now 33 inches

Butt: 40.5 inches  Now: 40 inches

Biggest part of Thigh: 23 inches Now: 24 inches

Height: 5 feet 2 3/4 inches

Weight as of Dec 31st 2009: 156.5 Now: 148

BMI: 27.2 ( I put myself in as 5′ 3”)  Now: 26.2

Overweight = 25-29.9

Pictures?

Front:

Before:

After

Back

Before:

After

Side:

Before:

After:

I am so happy with the results, but more importantly with the progress that I have made. I am HEALTHY and I am RUNNING again. Sure it is slow, but it is progress.

What now?

– If you have not been watching the news the baltimore/DC/ east side has been getting hit with blizzards

We just got done with 28 inches from part one and tonight starts part 2. I want to resume my training ASAP but mother nature has other plans.

I have signed up for the First step Striders 5k training program! Starting March 3rd at 6:15am at my old high school!

– I am excited to be able to run outdoors and get my training on 🙂

So in conclusion to this long and winded letter, please keep reading my bloggy. I am trying to get back into school with 19.5 credits- so things are a bit rough!

Love,

ME

Spring semester 2010

I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off!

My semester just started on Wednesday and I am already booked solid. This does not even include school and study time.

I had some paper work to do for my internship, I love being an intern and I will do pretty much whatever needs to be done. Which is why I ended up with the task to enter clothing inventory for 70 people into a spreadsheet.

It’s seriously been taking me forever. But I have to just suck it up and do it.

I have been having some AMAZING eats.

The wonderful lovely people at Pom Wonderful sent me a few samples of  100% Pomegranate Juice.

Despite all the amazing antioxidants the juice contains I had a hard time adjusting to the tart taste of the juice.

So I decided to mix it up a little.

Clear Splash+ Pom Wonderful = AMAZINGGGGG. It was sooo much better than soda. My taste buds had a field day.

I hope I don’t start looking like

[Source]

Because I have been killing some serious spinach.

Burrito style

Corn+ Tabouli+ Plain non-fat yogurt+Potatoes+ Spanish ( cooked)+ Peppers + Corn

Wrap style

Tj’s horseradish hummus+ Spinach and potatoes combo

And my fav combo

FETAAAAAAAA

I am obsessed. And when I get obsessed with something I eat it for three days straight…

Speaking of an obsession. Have you all tried Popchips?

[Source]

I snagged a bag at Costo last week- and I am SERIOUSLY obsessed! They taste AMAZING and the best part is that they are HEALTHY.

“We don’t fry it (unhealthy). We don’t bake it (undelicious). We take wholesome potatoes, add a little heat and pressure, and pop! It’s a chip. The only thing added is a flavorful blend of seasonings for a snack so delicious and crispy, you won’t even notice it’s (we hesitate to say) healthier.” –Popchips

Obviously being at school does change my lifestyle I have all 8 am classes and I have not been going to bed till 2am most nights. This gives me about 4 hours of sleep, I don’t like to make a habit of this but my body will have to adjust. I have been sticking with my plan of watching what I eat and it’s been amazing so far. This month I have lost 5 pounds.

This is bringing me closer to my goal of having a healthy weight.

I may be eating less, but I don’t feel less full. My body lets me know when I am not eating enough- through the form of headaches. Not sure if this happens to anyone else, but it is annoying. Even if I am late eating a meal.

I have been hitting the gym everyday with low impact exercise, my injury is still feeling great. I am aiming to start running mid-feb.

Until then it is cycling and power walking at 4.5 with an incline of 5.

When I workout I feel attractive.

Happy Friday!!!!

Are you doing anything exciting this weekend?