Almost There

Hi guys! Did you all have a nice Mother’s Day? Well, the real question should be did your mom have a nice Mother’s Day haha!

I’m pretty sure mine did. I realized a few weeks back (yes, I’m a little slow) that Mother’s Day was the weekend before I was coming home for the summer, and I wasn’t planning on going home this past weekend. But then I thought of an amazing idea: my family could all come up to spend the day with me! Well that’s exactly what happened, and I loved it! My parents and sister drove the 2 1/2 hours up to be with me. We had a picnic lunch by the huge (well, huge for CO) lake near my campus, walked around the city park (also huge, with another lake) for a while, grabbed some froyo, sat out on a patio downtown while my parents drank, got dinner at a nice restaurant then headed back to my dorm to load up most of my stuff. That took so many trips, but a lot less than if I had to load everything. I pretty much made my dad carry all the heavy stuff, haha, that’s what he was there for (just kidding). It was a really nice day, I loved being able to spend Mother’s Day with my mom having fun outside. The weather was perfect, too, sunny all day and really really warm! It was at least in the 80s, it probably broke a high temperature record it was so hot for May.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t struggle with restriction. I’ve noticed that I tend to freak out a lot if I have to eat out multiple times in one day. Then I restrict a little, which I never do normally anymore. We got Subway for lunch, and I’m not a huge fan of Subway, but I got a sandwich anyway, the veggie delite. It was the only one I really felt ‘safe’ about eating. I piled it with a bunch of veggies, got it on the wheat bread and only got regular mustard as the sauce. You’d think after choosing something so ‘safe’ (aka low-cal) I would have eaten the whole thing. Well…I didn’t. I would have, except I actually wasn’t really hungry and my sister only ate half of her sandwich (the Italian kind) and I didn’t want to look like a pig. So I only ate half. Then when we got froyo, which I normally really love, I apparently got a small amount because my mom told me that I could get more. If she hadn’t pointed that out, I probably wouldn’t have gotten more. Well, it was still yummy (it was the strawberry lemonade flavor, topped with berries). The place we went to for dinner had their menu online and I had checked it out beforehand to see what I should get. There was no nutritional info, so I just looked to see what sounded good and ‘safe’. At the restaurant, I ended up getting a salad topped with blackened grilled tuna, salsa and mandarin oranges. It has a dressing on the side, but it was creamy so I completely avoided it for that reason. I tried only a tiny bit, and it was really good and spicy, but I was just freaked out. I did eat most of my salad (including most of the tuna), but I knew it probably wasn’t enough. I did have a snack after my parents left, but it didn’t make up for all my restriction.

I hate to always end my posts with how I’m struggling, so I’ll end this one on a happy note: I have finished 2 out of 5 finals and I finally finished my paper for my composition class. I’ve just got to get through three more days, three more finals and then I’m free! Well, except for getting the rest of my stuff out of my room… J

Dinner tonight--sweet tater topped with strawberry Greek yogurt (with more on the side), grapes and unpictured iced coffee with almond milk

I Live for the Weekend!

*Note: If size numbers trigger you, then skip the third paragraph!

Hiya! Long time no see! I guess I’ve just been pretty busy over the last week and I didn’t have a lot to say that I thought was blog-worthy. But don’t worry, I’ve still been reading all your lovely blogs and commenting.

It’s safe to say that this weekend is already a LOT more fun and busier than last. I always have a better weekend when I go home, it’s just a nicer atmosphere and I always have so much stuff to do that I barely have time to do homework! Not such a good thing, but at least I enjoy myself ;)

My mom and sister came to pick me up yesterday afternoon. My sister hasn’t been able to pick me up in awhile but since she just got done with her musical, her schedule is pretty much free. I love the conversations the three of us have in the car—we can talk for hours and not get bored and we always have the funniest observations. It makes driving the 2 ½ hours totally bearable. And last night, we made a stop (a long one, lol) at my favorite mall. We grabbed dinner at the food court (I got a falafel gyro sandwich, which I didn’t really like that much, the falafel was too greasy so I ended up only eating the insides and there was a lot of the tzatziki yogurt sauce, which is a fear food of mine, so I ate as little of it as possible) and then got right to shopping! Abercrombie and Fitch was first since my sis had something she really wanted there. Don’t get me wrong, I love that store, but it is pretty expensive. However…I was the one who ended up buying something there, not her! I got the cutest pair of red, white and navy plaid checked shorts and I LOVE them! Yes, I am starting to love and be comfortable with shorts. But my mom insisted I try them on and I am so uncomfortable trying stuff on. I hate it. But I grabbed them in a size 0 and headed straight for the dressing room. To my surprise, my mom thought they were loose on me. I actually did too, but I was planning on wearing them with a belt. So she got me a size 00. I was so scared that these would be too small for me and then I’d feel bad, but they actually fit really well, not too loose or too tight. I just want you to know that I would have been comfortable getting them in size 0, but honestly, the 00s looked a lot better on me so I got them. And they were on clearance for $22!

We also went to American Eagle, and the sales associate that greeted us was wearing this really cute cropped t-shirt. Normally, I’m not a fan of t-shirts, but it looked so cute so I had to find it. Luckily I did and I bought it for only $19.50! It’s a charcoal grey, loose and cropped and it has this cool pastel-colored Navajo-style pattern across it. I love mixing boho/hippie style with girly stuff so this tee was perfect for me.

Sorry this photo is so awful, I took it on my phone but forgot the cord so I took a picture of a picture. But it was my vegan gyro and it was delish!

At Hollister, I was on the lookout for a navy tank top to go with my new shorts. It wasn’t hard to find one—what was hard was deciding which one to get! My mom said she would buy it for me, but I was on the fence between this really pretty one with ruffles on it or one with a simple silk bow on one of the straps. I ended up getting a completely different one with smaller ruffles that seemed to look better with the shorts. And since I had a little bit more money left, I got ANOTHER pair of shorts! Am I crazy or what haha! I’m actually really excited to wear them show them off. Honestly, I’m sick of always feeling ashamed of my body and trying to hide it while still looking cute. It’s hard to do and I’m just over it. Why can’t I wear shorts and feel good about it?



Not my new shorts, but I love these too!



Today has been really really busy too. I woke up at 7 (early for me) so my dad and I could go downtown to a film festival. We saw some animated shorts which were cool and we’re headed back down there tonight for some more short films. After that, we got some lunch at a Mediterranean place. I got a vegan gyro sandwich with hummus, tabbouleh salad, olives and all kinds of roasted veggies, like sundried tomatoes and artichoke hearts (first time I tried them and I love em!). It was the bomb.com, no lie! A million times better than the gyro I had last night, but it was so huge that I couldn’t finish it. Then we went to Whole Foods (yay!) and I got so much stuff, it was ridiculous. A lot of it is new to me, so I can’t wait to “review” it all in the near future. In fact, for part 2 of my afternoon snack, I tried a Medjool date with some almond butter…um, yum! Why didn’t I try this earlier? I love love love Whole Foods so much!



Action shot lol



Well, me and my dad are about to head downtown again and we’re grabbing dinner at an organic peanut butter and jelly place before the shorts program. Trust me, I don’t normally eat out this much, and it does make me anxious ED-wise, but I love spending time with my family, so it’s all good. See ya later!

Q’s: Are you uncomfortable trying clothes on in dressing rooms? Favorite type of cuisine (mine is Mediterranean, obvs!)

Not Quite the Clean Plate Club

I’m glad you guys all liked my vlog! It was so much fun to do, so if you have the technology to do it, I definitely recommend it!

Hopefully the title of my post isn’t too confusing—I’ll explain it in a bit. First, a quick highlight of my weekend. I was lucky enough to get to go home for the weekend, since my sister was in a musical at her high school and it was my daddy’s birthday yesterday. I always enjoy the weekends I spend at home, since I always have so much to do, but then they fly by and then I’m back at school. Anyways, Saturday morning was pretty typical, I woke up and had breakfast and then got ready for the day. It was really really nice, sunny and 80 degrees, so I got to have lunch and do yoga with my sis out on the deck. I love being outside, so it was great. I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with my sister, though, since she had to be at school by 3:15. So me and my dad dropped her off, and then he drove me to Keva Juice to drop off my job application and we headed to this new froyo place that’s way far away from our house, but since we both love froyo, it was so worth it. This place was AMAZING! It had so many more flavors and mix-ins than any place I’ve been to. I got a swirl mix called Oreo Joe; it was basically cookies ‘n cream and coffee froyos and it was so delish! I only ever top mine with fruit, so I got some berries and mango. Yum!



Since I forgot, I only have pics of Monday's food.
These are PB Pows, aka one of my fave cereals, plus bloobs

After that, we went to Noodles & Co. to get takeout, since we had nothing for dinner at home and didn’t have time to make anything, because of my sister’s musical. I got my usual, the small Pad Thai with shrimp, and my dad also ordered a ciabatta roll and a cucumber salad. It kind of made me nervous, because even though we were going to share them, I was scared of the extra calories. Well, the roll was really tiny, and the cucumber salad was good but probably low-cal. And I could only eat half of my noodles after that froyo, so I didn’t really eat that much. I was also nervous because I wouldn’t be able to have my evening snack at the usual time, so I packed a mini Clif bar and went to go see my sister’s musical. She was in Thoroughly Modern Millie and part of the chorus, but she and the entire cast were amazing. Definitely an enjoyable, though long night. Back at home, my mom and I watched the new SNL and then I hit the sack around 1. 

1/2 Starbucks Instant Via vanilla with Truvia and splash of skim



I tried to get all creative with the newspaper underneath haha.
Just a flax waffle with bloobs, some plain Oikos Greek yogurt
and a Morningstar spicy meatless sausage

Sunday was my daddy’s birthday, so we went out to lunch at this Mongolian grill place. I was also anxious to eat out there, so I ended up not getting very much food. I got a small plate of rice noodles with only a few spoonfuls of spicy sauce, fake crab meat and veggies. But I honestly wasn’t that hungry, so I didn’t even finish it. However, as my mom was driving me back to school yesterday afternoon, I was suddenly starving! Luckily, I had brought along some Annie’s Bunny Grahams (love those things). Well, we ended up driving right into this freak snowstorm, and the conditions were almost white-out, so my mom decided to turn around and take me back to school today instead! I was really excited, since that meant even more time at home. So we drove home, but stopped at the store to get my dad a pie for his birthday.



A really interesting sauce I made, with
unsweetened applesauce, nonfat Greek
yogurt, cinnamon and chili powder



Lunch, part 1: quinoa mixed with that sauce,
baby carrots, more bloobs and watermelon

Part 2 of lunch: Gardein meatless chik'n
tenders and a Blue Bran Vitatop

Back at home, I was still starving even after my snack, so I ate a bowl of cereal. Luckily, that was enough (just barely) to tide me over to dinner. I finished my Pad Thai and had a yummy banana caramel coffee protein drink on the side. But apparently that wasn’t enough, because by the time we sang happy birthday to my dad, I was feeling hunger pains again. I did not have the pie and ice cream, though (big fear foods)—I instead had an apple crisp Vitatop with some mango sorbet. It was still yummy but…an hour later, I was really really hungry again! By this point, I was having a mental battle with ED. He was telling me that I’d already eaten enough, but I knew that if my body was hungry, that meant I hadn’t eaten enough. Plus, I really hadn’t eaten much at all at lunch. So I grabbed a mini Clif bar and a handful of cereal. Finally, I wasn’t hungry after that. Yes, it was scary to eat 4 snacks and 3 meals in one day, but it was worth it! I felt so proud of myself, despite the fact that most of the weekend, I wasn’t able to finish my food. So I’m not a member of the Clean Plate Club, but I ate when my body wanted me to, and I didn’t get FAT! Take that, ED!

Q’s: Is it hard for you to listen to your body? How was your weekend?

An (Almost) Good Day

Happy Thursday, girlies! Hope you’ve had a great day and are looking forward to the weekend. I’m just looking forward to next weekend, which is the start of my spring break!

So today’s post will be kinda short, just an update on the things from yesterday’s post and a little rant at the end which hopefully won’t be too negative.

I had a really nice time tonight with my friend. We just went out to eat, at the salad place I mentioned recently called Mad Greens. It was her first time there, and she loved her salad. I liked mine a lot, too. I got a Greek kind of salad, with Kalamata olives, citrus grilled chicken, onions, lettuce (of course!), tomatoes, cucumber yogurt dressing and edamame. Yeah, that’s kinda random, but I asked for no feta and the woman serving me asked if I wanted to substitute something, so I said edamame ‘cause I love it! Plus it’s a healthy fat (just like the olives), and I know I could use a little more of those, plus the dressing was fat-free, so I did need more fats.

I also had the strawberry banana overnight oats and the chocolate yogurt mess and they didn’t disappoint! I added an actual banana to the oats in the morning and that made them even better. And of course, the chocolate yogurt mess was amazing! Chocolate Greek yogurt with Bear Naked granola and half a banana—yum!



Yep, those are flax seeds (and a banana chunk)





Chocolate+granola+banana=pure yum



Other than that, the rest of my day wasn’t too great. My neck is feeling a little bit better but not much L And I’m really just getting annoyed with my roommate. We never really hit it off, and she barely talks to me, unless I ask her something first. And she just sits at her computer every time she’s in the room, which is the majority of the time. That’s what really annoys me. I’m out for like 7 straight hours three times a week and I get like a one hour break to myself for dinner! Tuesdays and Thursdays are usually better, but for the next few weeks she doesn’t have her first class, so she just sits at her computer until her next class starts. It bugs me because I do workouts in my room when I’m alone, like yoga and cardio, and I feel really weird doing it when she’s in there so I have to cram it all in later. And I feel awkward eating around her, but I don’t know if I can just like tell her to leave when I have breakfast. I feel like I’m always compromising, and I barely get the room to myself. Okay, rant over!

Q’s: Have you ever been to a salad restaurant? Any suggestions for what to do about my roommate?