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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

I haven't died!

hey guys! sorry for being so MIA recently.. i was spending a LOT of quality time with my chemistry and calc books. i just had my chem midterm today and my calc midterm yesterday - i think both went fairly well (i reallllyyy hope they did!) which is a huge load off of my shoulders.


i also just decided that i am going on fall retreat with my christian group this weekend (AHHH! so stoked!) which means that i will be busting my butt to get all of my work done before & after this weekend - especially since parent's weekend is the following weekend! so i apologize in advance if i'm MIA for a little while longer.

promise i'll be back soon with more exciting posts ahead! :)

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Highlights of the Week

happy saturday everyone! i am so happy it's the weekend!! it has definitely been a long week to say the least. but here's some of the highlights! 

finally getting to put on jeans because it's been a little chillier this week! 


making a trip into westwood in the middle of the week solely for a ginourmous cup of coconut froyo (with strawberries, brownie bits, almonds, coconut, sprinkles, chocolate sauce, and shredded coconut). it was SO good.


getting to wake up to this sunrise. talk about beautiful! 


a reese's pumpkin. no explanation necessary. 


going for an awesome 7-mile run with my running club on wednesday. we ran straight uphill for the first half of the run but it was so worth it - check out this view!!


getting care package from home with BARNEY BUTTER. (and other snackage, a mug, a bowl, pajama shorts, and hair bows. my mom rocks.) i was running around like crazy freaking out and all of my friends were cracking up at me. 


going to my second barbell class on Thursday night - we actually used the barbells this time and learned deadlifts and cleans. i deadlifted 100 lbs (and i'm finding my 1-rep max next tuesday!) and was SO PROUD of myself! and i felt so badass doing cleans with such a huge bar.


getting to drink tea in my room! i am so glad that my mom sent the mug because i've been drinking tea like crazy after coming down with a cold this week. 


seeing a gorgeous double rainbow after a thunderstorm on thursday afternoon!! 


trying my first ever pumpkin smash smoothie from jamba juice. it was pretty good but i definitely prefer fruity smoothies. 


unfortunately the lowlights of the week were getting sick and having a bedbug scare. long story short my roomies and i had to move out for a night to a different building because we thought we got bedbugs, but luckily we didn't get them! but it was definitely really stressful (not to mention i didn't get any sleep thursday night) and that on top of being sick did not make for a fun friday at all. i'm just happy to be back in my own room again!

this morning i woke up and was feeling like crap, but after texting my mom (who suggested that i get out and move a bit to clear my sinuses) i ended up going for a short run a little less than 3 miles. 


i ended my run at starbucks and got an iced coffee with 1 pump pumpkin spice. i sucked it down in like 5 minutes and went back for my free refill (yep the barista definitely thought i was crazy haha), and somehow ended up buying an egg wrap because any non dining hall food sounded delicious. and it tasted SO FREAKING GOOD! i am definitely sick of oatmeal, salad bar, peanut butter toast, and turkey sandwiches. i cannot wait to make my own food when i go home for thanksgiving and christmas!


i've spent most of the rest of today in my room trying to get some work done.. but it's so hard to be productive when i have a huge list of stuff i want to finish this weekend. it's like it's so daunting that i didn't even want to start! haha. and then tonight i'm going out with some friends to celebrate one of their birthdays! 

what was a highlight of your week?
tips on productivity? 

Saturday, October 6, 2012

A Little Home.

(warning: long post ahead!)

I love UCLA. I love my friends, the campus, Westwood, my classes, the fun events, just everything.

i can't believe that i get to go to school here :) 
But with all that said, I definitely had a tough last couple of days this week. It all started on Wednesday when I just felt completely exhausted. I hadn't realized how little sleep I was getting (compared to my usual amount) or how hard I was working myself. It got to the point where I took 2 naps on Wednesday afternoon and still felt super, super tired. I was tired of dealing with people all the time, so I called my mom. The second I started talking to her I just burst into tears. And immediately she recognized that I had completely wiped myself out - because one of my reactions to being overtired is that I cry really, really easily. She listened to me rant for a few minutes, and then she was like "Julianna. I know this voice. I can tell that you are completely exhausted. Everything that's stressing you out right now will look so much better after you get some good sleep - you just need to go to bed right now." So at 5pm I just passed out on my bed. And woke up feeling much, much better.

just thought i'd throw this little gem in here! hahaha :) 
Lesson #1: I need to know my limit of when I am exhausted. and I need to start going to bed earlier!!

Another thing that made the end of this week really hard was being homesick. A lot of my friends left last night to go home and it made me realize how nice it would be to be able to go home, see my family and my kitties, sleep in my own bed, and have some SPACE. I love everyone here, but that doesn't mean that I can be around people 24/7. As my mom put it, I'm a really outgoing person, but I need my alone time. And living in a triple makes that really, really hard. So I escaped to Starbucks for a few hours today to study and being alone was so nice! And  as I'm typing this there's no one in the room and I've been alone for over an hour - new record!!

Lesson #2: I need to escape for a few hours a week (at minimum) to just have some ME time.


I definitely learned a lot this week! I still am figuring out how to balance everything, but I know that eventually I'll get there.


This song perfectly describes how I was feeling this week:


I am so thankful for technology because my mom's been sending me kitty pictures and videos and I love skyping my parents. Just little bits of home help a LOT.

Anyway! I also wanted to do a little weekly recap of my workouts for you guys - I'm trying to make it a priority to fit them in. It keeps me sane, gives me some alone time, and always makes me feel better! :)

Monday: 4.5 miles with the running club that I'm a part of!
Tuesday: 1 speedy treadmill mile + Tina's Pug Workout
Wednesday: 2 treadmill miles + upper body weights workout
Thursday: a Cardio Hip-Hop class (one of the classes I get to go to as a part of the group fitness pass I have!). it was really fun- brought me back to the one dance class I took as a sophomore in high school! I wasn't very good but I think I'll be going back every week because I know that's the only way I'll get better. Not to mention booty-shakin is so much fun! ;)
Friday: 3 miles with the running club
Saturday: bike ride into Westwood (to Starbucks, Target, & Trader Joe's) - I'm counting this as my workout because biking back up the hill to my dorm is really hard, especially with my books and the stuff I bought!

And some recent eats (you can also check out my WIAW post!):


I had a coupon for a free Odwalla bar with the purchase of a juice - & I'm really glad I bought the juice because I think that combined with lots more fruits/veggies, my daily vitamins, and working out has kept me from getting sick! 


I've been eating lots of whole wheat crackers with almond butter - it's the perfect snack to tide me over in between meals. 


My almost daily breakfast: oatmeal with a little brown sugar, raisins, and almond butter (I put spoonfuls in baggies and bring them with me to breakfast. I'm a freak. hahaha but it makes me happy!) 


Iced coffee productivity! I've found I get so much more done if I leave my room and go study elsewhere.


One of my favorite lunches so far - a small cup of shrimp and corn chowder, a side salad (which was really good! it had a ton of chopped veggies, good mixed greens, and a really good vinaigrette), and a banana, which I ate with almond butter, of course ;)


Vanilla greek yogurt with frozen raspberries and frozen pineapple - the the perfect snack for a hot afternoon. 


A turkey, lettuce, and tomato sandwich on wheat bread. I took off the top piece of bread because I love open face sandwiches, and I had some sunchips with this too. 


A LOT of spoonfuls of Barney Butter have been happening. So I guess it should've been no surprise when I hit the bottom of the jar yesterday. It was definitely a sad day! I bought a jar of TJ's almond butter last week so I've started using that (and a third is already gone... whoops!) because I can't be buying $9 jars of almond butter on a college budget. Now you know what to send me for my birthday in november! ;) 

Right now I'm doing laundry and getting all my stuff organized - I'm thinking a low key night is in order! I'm definitely pretty tired so a night with to-go food sitting on my bed catching up on my TV shows sounds absolutely perfect. 

do you ever feel like you need 'a little home'? 
what lessons did you learn in college? (or what have you learned so far?) 
stay tuned for a post on my {unusual} college dorm room necessities and a post on how to stay healthy and active in college! :)

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

WIAW: First One in College!

happy WIAW everyone! i thought it would be fun to do a day in the life post for you all today! tuesdays are my busiest day of the week but somehow i still managed to snap photos of almost everything, which i am super proud of myself for :)


every day i wake up at 6:45am (because i have class at 8 every day! aah!) and get ready super fast because the only way i can sit down and have breakfast before class is if i leave my room a little after 7. lately i've been working out later in the day and showering then (or at night), so usually in the morning i throw on my workout clothes since i sweat to death walking to class anyway. 

i got breakfast at one of the 'to-go' places but usually i just sit down and enjoy it since i hate eating while i'm walking! today i had cereal, banana, nonfat milk, and coffee. 


i went to my chem discussion and then came back to my room to finish my first chem problem set that's due tomorrow. surprisingly i'm actually really liking chem so far! i snacked on some carrots and a string cheese while i was working, and then when i was done i headed down to the gym to get a quick workout in. 


i did a 1-mile run and then Tina's "pug" workout which was 100 pushups, 100 sit-ups, and 100 jump squats, broken up into sets and done as fast as you can. i did sets of 30, 25, 20, 15, and 10 and finished completely out of breath and super sweaty! i definitely recommend this workout if you're in a time crunch and want an intense workout. 

i came back to my room and made a smoothie in my magic bullet (so glad that i bought one!):

  • 1/2 frozen banana
  • 1/2 cup frozen pineapple
  • 1/4 cup frozen raspberries
  • ~1/2 cup vanilla greek yogurt
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • enough water to get it all moving (since i don't have any other liquids to use)
i also had a big scoop of almond butter and some chocolate chips after my smoothie, because even a smoothie needs dessert ;)



after i ate i showered up and sprinted to class - it was super hot today and i was definitely sweating bullets by the time i got there! 


i had an hour break in between classes so i grabbed some iced coffee and did a little bit of work. & during my last class i had a baggie of trail mix that i munched on.


i also got to talk on the phone with my mom a little bit today before going to dinner with my bible study group! i am so happy that i got involved with this Christian group on campus because i am loving all the girls in my group already and had so much fun getting to know them tonight. 

for dinner i made a big salad with spinach, mushrooms, carrots, cucumbers, chickpeas, hardboiled eggs, feta, and a little bit of ranch dressing. i also had a couple of bites of the pasta bowl, an unpictured chicken breast, and a little bit of (also unpictured) froyo with sprinkles of course! 


we had our bible study after dinner and i just got back from that - so now i've got my face in my books and need to get a little more work done before bed! of course i found out that this week's episode of Switched at Birth is online, too, so now i've got to stay focused and avoid the temptation to watch that, haha :) 

happy WIAW everyone! 
what's your favorite 'quick and dirty' workout that you do when you're pressed for time?