May Challenge: Alcohol Free

Yes that’s right! My challenge for May is to go alcohol free for the entire month. Ever since I went off to San Diego for Spring Break I feel like I’ve been drinking more and more often.

Spring Break Fun

Toasting Spring Break Goodbye

Wine-o Dinner Parties

Just Celebrating the Weekend

I used to just drink 2-3 times a month so all this consumption is abnormal and honestly, way too high in calories! Moderation is the key to everything. This includes kombuchas which contain trace amounts of alcohol.

So I intend to use this month to reset! ! Plus it’s always a good reminder that you can still have fun without alcohol. =)

Who’s with me?

Nihon no Tabemono

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Thursdays always feel like my longest day. I get up early and go to school then by lunch I’m home saying hi to Chase and then I’m off to the food bank to stock shelves for two hours. Once that’s over I generally come home and pick up Chase and we go out and do something fun. By the end of the day I’m always shocked that it is still Thursday! And then I freak out that I didn’t fit in a workout. -_- So sometimes I just need to remind myself to relax. It’s my “Friday” night.

I think I’m going to move my rest days to Thursdays for this exact reason.

Dinner Party

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Ouch.

Sometimes in fun social situations I, like most humans, go a little overboard. Last night was one of those times. But honestly, I wouldn’t have changed it. =)

Surprise Day

Today turned out to be surprisingly refreshing and laid-back. Win and I have decided that perhaps we tried to pack too much into our Spring Break vacation week. >.< We just keep feeling like we are rushing everywhere!

This morning I got to sleep in while Win took her car in for an oil change though. Gods I love sleep. I am so exhausted by the end of the day here the nights just don't seem long enough. By 9am it was go-go-go again though.

We had a brunch with my sweetest reader, Heidi, to get to at The Mission of course! Heidi was the first person to suggest me eating there two years ago and since then it's become one of my favorite places in San Diego. Of course, The Mission being as amazing as it is we had a lonngg wait. Brunch turned into lunch but when we finally sat down it was well worth the wait.

Snorkeling Day

You will not believe what I did today. I went snorkeling. IN THE OCEAN! This is a big deal for me. I grew up watching Jaws and having a phobia of being in large bodies of water because of it. Seriously, I would get panic attacks in a lake. Never in my life did I think I'd ever actually go in to the ocean.

It was an amazing experience. At first going in and trying to breath through the snorkel freaked me out a bit. But once I got the hang of it it was so fun! I love floating with the waves, staring at the sea bed looking for wildlife.

We ended up only seeing one tiny leopard shark but, honestly, that was enough shark for me. We also saw some rays and other fish which were super cool! We swam for about an hour and a half and then we realized how freaking cold we were!! We got out to lay in the sun for a bit to warm up but our wet suits kept us pretty cold still. I couldn't stop shaking and my hands were blue so we decided to call it a day.

Anyways I sadly do not have any photos of Win and I's snorkeling adventure in La Jolla. We bought an underwater camera but since it's a disposable we're going to have to take it in to be developed! I promise to share them with you all as soon as I have them though.

So instead of (hopefully) amazing underwater shots I give you photos of food! I had a big bowl of Coach's oats for breakfast with a banana and peanut butter mixed in. Yay oatmeal! I've forgotten how much I love this stuff. Sorry Weetabix, but you're gonna have to share me.

Fashion Day

Gah! I've been so busy it's been really hard to find time to blog! Forgive me!

Yesterday started off on the right foot with a banana before heading off to do an hour of hot yoga. There were a few poses I couldn't do because of my foot, but in general I think it was really good on my hurting body and got me to sweat buckets. On the walk home I grabbed a doppio ristretto with 2″ hot water, 1 raw sugar, and a splash of half and half to refuel.

Interesting thing about Starbucks in SoCal…they seem to think it's okay to take all day making espresso! Seriously, I've never seen a slower Starbucks before. Seems like they don't know how to drink sequence or anything…Win thinks it's due to the laid back attitude everyone has here. It's freaking nuts.

Adventure Day

Today turned out really adventure filled.

It started bright and early with Win making us egg white veggie scrambles in small whole wheat tortillas. Plus a banana! (I'm in love with them) And followed by a Mexican Mocha on the road for an hour drive east of San Diego.

Off the Sunrise Highway we found amazing hiking trails! My foot is still really messed up from yesterday but getting it moving actually helped the pain subside.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day!

We had fun chatting and taking silly photos.

Plus the traditional “Lets try to fit our giant heads in the photo and still have some background”!

After our hike, we headed to the nearby small town of Julian where we had crisp and clean veggie wraps (half each) and split slices of pie! This town is famous for pies. We shared an apple peach crumb slice and an apple mountain berry crumb one. Perfection. Normally I find pies too sweet but these ones were just right.

On our drive back to San Diego, we got sidetracked by the Viejas Resort and Casino! Normally not gamblers, we didn't really know what we were doing…

But somehow I managed to turn my $20 into $29.66!! Victory! We quickly cashed out and ran…and didn't get very far! I ended up spending it (plus more) on a new pair of flats that have Dr. Scholl's inserts built-in. My feet felt 100x better in them.

When we got back to Win's apartment we worked on her thesis for awhile before cooking up dinner. An encore of roasted Brussels sprouts with a peanut mustard sauce and the other half of our veggie wraps. Plus some more wine!

Last time I was in San Diego Win and I got delectable desserts at a place called Extraordinary Desserts. They were soo memorable, we knew we had to go there again. This time we split a Macadamium Shortbread Cookie…

And a Strawberry Coffee Cake! Wow am I full now.

Icing my foot right now. =( Hopefully I'll be able to be more active tomorrow. I feel like I'm really letting us down!

 

Pampering Day

So while yesterday was all about family, today was definitely all about Win and I. We pampered ourselves!

We started the day off walking to Win's yoga studio and signing me up for their free weekly pass. We then did an hour long hot yoga intro class in which I sweated buckets and was extremely shaky by the end! It was intense and such a great way to start the day.

On our walk back home we stopped into Starbucks so I didn't faint. I got an iced tall nonfat latte with caramel drizzle. <3 It's never tasted soo good. I informed Win that I'm gonna need breakfast of some sort from now on!

Family Day

Man am I exhausted! Today was filled with one thing: family!

Including my favorite little cousin, Raiden! He's gotten so big and active. He basically ran all over all day long!

Surprisingly, I wasn't hungry for breakfast. SHOCKING I know. I knew I should eat something to get my metabolism rolling though and luckily Chris & Glo had a perfectly underripe banana for me to devour while I typed up yesterday's post.

At noon we arrived at the main event: meeting baby Evan, my cousin Derek and his wife Rita's baby boy who was born in December! Check out his hair. Born that way. Also a super sweet little guy.

Better shot of the hair!

Win's always a natural with babies.

Me? Not so much. But I do love all my baby cousins!

Group photo! (minus Chris, Glo & Raiden who had to leave due to nap time, and mother, Rita, who took the photo.)

At their gorgeous house we swarmed, 9 cousins and spouses plus 2 babies! We had a lot of refreshments: Arnold Palmer's and chips.

Plus a smorgasbord for lunch: grilled salmon, a really delicious green salad, and an equally yummy quinoa salad. (Plus some breadstick which I didn't like so didn't finish.)

For dessert Kristen (my cousin Mark's wife and who's wedding I attend last September) made a mascarpone cheesecake with fresh berries. It was really tasty but I ended up not eating it all. I just didn't need it. Intutive eating win.

We didn't end up leaving their house until 7pm! O.O It was a long visit but it was such fun seeing everyone and playing with baby Evan. Next Win and I booked it down to San Diego to get some dinner.

Since it was late, we stuck close to Win's apartment and hit up Ranchos Cocina for vegan Mexican food. Sadly, the experience was a little lacking. The menu was so huge it was hard to pick food! Plus, the waitress just decided not to bring us the margaritas we ordered. =( Instead we munched on chips and somehow made a decision. I ended up with the Veggie Trio Enchiladas: one blue corn avocado, one enfrilojada with mole, and one tofu with rice and beans. I asked for brown rice but alas no beans. (har har!) The enchiladas were really yummy and I ate pretty much the whole plate minus the blue corn avocado one(just not enough texture).

It was decent vegan fare. Tasty, filling, and satisfying.

On our way back to Win's place we hit up a CVS for Riesling white wine and dark chocolate to go along with our Red Box rental, Pitch perfect.

Ah I love vacation. ^_^ Night!

 

Someone Up There Hates Me

Sorry this is a day late but yesterday was really rough. I feel like I tell you all that more often than not but seriously, yesterday was mean. I woke up at 5am in pain and hardly able to move. I had tried out one of Chase’s new pillows (you know the ones that have that supportive neck shape) and it had completely put my neck at an odd angle.

I put some heat on it, took some ibuprofen, cried a bit, and managed to fall back asleep for a few hours. I skipped my hospital shift because there was no way I could even lift a food tray with my right arm. My trapezius apparently got it good. Not only could I not move my head to the right but I couldn’t abduct (lift) my right arm either. Let me tell you, showering and trying to put makeup on and do my hair was a joke.

Pretty upset that this should happen to me right before finals, I made myself a bowl of Weetabix with blueberries and TJ’s Nuts About Raspberries Trek Mix. I needed chocolate this morning. Sadly, yet again my favorite trail mix has proven that it tastes best on it’s own!