the latest mojo

hello there! happy tuesday :) 

i just wanted to pop in and tell you guys that i have two posts up on Daily Bruin Mojo. i'm really proud of them and i can't tell you how much fun i'm having spending time on these posts. i'd love it if you stopped by and checked them out - let me know what you think!

4 Ways to Mix Up Your Morning Meal in the Dining Halls (i co-wrote this with another intern - the first two recipes are mine)

Midterm Study Break: 5 Minute Dorm Room Workouts (& Playlist)

life's been kinda crazy lately but hopefully I'll be back soon with some more updates.


love you all! <3

Out With the Old, In With the New.

hey guys! :)

i spent a lot of time today working on the ol' bloggie - do you like the new header? i am in love with it! it's 50x better than the old plain one.

the only bummer is that i was getting really frustrated with the commenting platform that i was using (disqus) because i wanted to stop using it, but in doing so, i wouldn't be able to save any of the comments that i'd received. i then tried to export the comments that i had, which finally worked, but i didn't realize that that would delete all the comments too. and since i'm using blogger i don't have any way to import them. RAR. sorry, just had to get that rant out there.

so now i don't have any comments on my 165 posts that i've written in the past year and it's making me quite upset. but at least now i'm not using disqus anymore, thank god.

anyway, onto a happier note! i finally got my own domain so now my website is http://www.juliannabananna.com instead of having the blogspot attached in there! yay. so much easier to type and remember.

i think that's all for now - hope you all are having wonderful weekends!

any tips on how to fix my commenting platform problem? 
if you have a blog, what's the worst tech-y thing that's happened to you while working on it?

Six Things Sunday

I hope all your weekends were fantastic! Mine was crazy busy but still fun :)

I've seen a lot of "five things friday" but since it's not friday I changed it to six things that I'm loving lately!

 my new pink camelbak waterbottle- so fun to drink outta this thing! 

 my multicolored pens are awesome for colorcoding my anatomy notes. plus they're just fun to write with!

 using the fuzziest blanket and a super soft pillow on my chair so doing homework is comfy!

 WF all-natural peanut butter. just peanuts. enough said. 

 fresh raspberries! 

 aaand lexy in a box. she's in my shoebox that I put a little sweatshirt in for her - so darn cute!! 

have an amazing week!!

what are you loving lately?

Butterfly Award

I hope you are all enjoying your Labor day weekends!!

Mine has been pretty fantastic - I saw Taylor Swift Friday night, I went to a giant trampoline place with friends on Saturday, and then on Sunday I got all my homework done! 

I wish I had some interesting eats to show you... but lately to be honest I've been eating the same things. My energy is focusing on school and running so creating new meals isn't really a priority. I do miss cooking lots though! I know I'm just going to be short on time for this fall semester until my college applications are in. 

Last night's dinner was pretty much the fanciest meal I've eaten in the past few weeks... and it was a bowl of pasta. But a delicious one, at that! 

In the mix: pasta, marinara sauce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, fresh bacon crumbles (tons of flavor!! I usually don't eat bacon but this was pretty good), and parmesan cheese. 

In other news, I GOT A JOB!! I know that I'm a really busy girl already but I saw this opportunity by chance and applied for it. I have to pay for insurance on my car and am quite short on the moola, and this will help a bit lots! Plus, I'm super excited to meet new people, and it will be helpful on college apps. I'm working at a local frozen yogurt place that's been around forever (I know, dangerous, right?) and next week is my training. Then I start! I'm a little nervous about how I'm going to balance everything but I know I can do it. 

And one more update before I get to the awaaarrdd (Grinch anyone? maybe? no? haha) - the first cross country meet of the season is tomorrow! I'm hoping to beat my time from last year, but it's a super hard course so we'll see. Update on that will be coming soon :)

Good thing that Kathleen awarded me the Butterfly award, otherwise you guys would be looking at the same old same old - peanut butter tortillas, protein shakes, english muffin pizzas, eggs, and salads. Pretty much sums up everything I'm eating right now, hah! 

Here we goooo! 

Name your favorite color:

GREEN! Funny story: I used to hate green so much when I was a kid that I'd leave it out of the rainbow. And lemme tell ya- I drew a crapton of rainbows and my mom has binders full of all my pictures! Nowadays it's my favorite color, and three walls of my room are green (one is blue). 

 What whizzes you off:

When people try to impress other people. I know that sounds really odd, but it bothers me because they end up acting in a way that's not themselves! I don't try to impress anyone - it's pretty much if you like me, you like me, and if you don't, you don't. I don't try to schmooze (<- this word makes me giggle) or show off to people because that's just not who I am. I don't care if I'm popular or not, whether every hair is in place all the time, or if I run out of the house without makeup on. Whenever you see me you get the true ME, not somebody else. 

Name your favorite dessert:

K so this is pretty much the hardest question ever. Instead of picking my favorite I'll show you guys what I made yesterday! It's a super simple ice cream pie that I threw together when I got the urge to bake but didn't have time. 

The crust is just smashed chocolate wafers, a little melted butter, and some chocolate syrup mixed together and pressed in a pan. Fill the rest of the pan with your favorite ice cream and bam! Dessert is served. I used chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.. heaven. 

Best feature:

I LOVE my legs. They are so strong, muscular, and carry me through everything! I also love my newly-defined arms and my smile. 

love the smile... the sunburn? notsomuch. (:

Your favorite pet:

I have four! There is no favorite. I love my kitties so much. In fact, just the other day when I was petsitting for a neighbor, I got to play with a super-cute kitten that they're fostering. I tried to get my momma to adopt him but no dice. I guess four kitties are quite a handful already! Plus Ginnie the primadonna would get her feathers all ruffled :) 

Your biggest fear: 

Losing someone that I love. I can't imagine life without my family or friends and losing them would just kill me.

Guilty pleasure:

That's a toughie! Non-food related I'd have to say celebrity gossip magazines and Facebook. Addicting! In terms of food, I don't have a guilty pleasure, per-say, since I strive to not feel guilt about any food I eat. But I really do love nuts and nut butter (<- who doesn't??) and my new favorite is this all natural peanut butter. It is jam-packed with peanut flavor and is 99%  peanuts! The bottom part is especially good since when you get down there it's all crumbly. 

When you’re upset you:

Talk to my mommy. Most teenagers I know don't have a good relationship with their parents but I am lucky enough to call my mom my best friend. We always have the best time together and she can always make me laugh.

What is perfection:

It doesn't exist!!! Nobody is perfect and that is what makes us special. I think the imperfections are the most beautiful. 

Since Kathleen tagged a million people (lovee it!) I figured instead of trying to find someone that's not tagged, if you haven't done this award already, I tag you! 

True Definition of a Love/Hate Relationship.

This morning's cross country practice had me thinking all these crazy thoughts about running. "why do i enjoy this sport?" "this is torture" "i think my legs are going to fall off" "this is insane. why did i join this team again?" but then after practice, I was thinking all these lovely happy thoughts: "I love to run. That felt awesome!" "I finished 10 miles!" "this is why I love cross country". 


It's so funny how my thoughts change all the time about running. It truly is a love/hate relationship - I think it's that way for almost every runner. It's a painful yet rewarding sport that requires a lot of hard work.

Anyway, this morning at practice we did one heckuva workout that left me drained and exhilarated at the same time.

First we ran 4 miles (through some hills, too!) at a decent pace to this state park in my area. There is a trail there that wraps around a hill and slowly climbs until it is super steep.

We did 3 hill repeats up this steep hill that were some of the hardest hill repeats I’ve ever done. About halfway up the hill each time, I hit a wall - my legs were screaming at me and my lungs were gasping for air. It was a tough mental battle that I had to fight and by the end of each repeat, all I was thinking was “just put one foot in front of the other. one foot in front of the other.”

After the repeats, we did a 12-minute tempo run back toward the school. I got a cramp about four minutes in so I fell behind a bit but toughed it out til the end of the tempo. When I finally finished the twelve minutes I walked for a little bit to catch my breath. At this point I was getting close to exhausted and the last 2.5 miles back seemed excruciatingly long.

I slowly jogged it back toward my school, dreaming of ice cold drinks and just sitting down and stretching. I was SO tempted to walk the entire way back (that’s how tired I was!) but I chugged along and told myself that walking back would take three times as long as running nice and slow.

I swear I’ve never been so glad to see the front of my school. Or a water bottle, for that matter!

The total distance that I ran today was 10 miles. I am so proud of myself for fighting that uphill mental battle and finishing strong. The longest I’ve ever run is 10 miles so maybe in a little while I can get to 11 miles!

After stretching for a little bit I got in my car and promptly sucked down an entire water bottle in about 20 seconds flat. Then I stopped in a gas station on the way home to pick up some rehydration.

These tasted like liquid heaven. Ice cold refreshments after a long hard run are truly the best things ever!

When I got home, the only thing that sounded good was an cold and creamy smoothie in a bowl.
A brown one, at that. I blended up my usual chocolate shake (smoothie? shake? what’s the difference??) and topped it with a mix of Honey Nut Cheerios, All-Bran, and chopped walnuts.

After showering I got to work on some bloggy stuff and also got my bake on in the kitchen. I made some yummy peanut butter bites that will be perfect pre-run fuel – the recipe is coming soon!

I had a couple of them fresh out of the oven and they were fantastic.

Today I also received a reminder of the upcoming school year in the mail:

I have some summer homework for my honors anatomy class that I need to get goin’ on! I am actually pretty excited about the class (minus the whole cat dissection thing…) because I’m so interested in nutrition and fitness so it will be cool to learn about how the body works.

I’m off to start my homework and make some lunch!

What is your go-to mantra when you hit a wall on a run?
Favorite post-workout drink (besides water)?


PS- I started using Windows Live Writer today but for some reason it won't publish my posts to the blog! I keep getting a message that says "The remote server returned an error: (403) Forbidden." and I have no idea how to fix it since I am not exactly the most computer savvy. Anyone have any solutions??

Bootylicious Award

The lovely Tara over at XC Foodie tagged me for the Bootylicious Award (which Carrie started!) - so here we go!

name 3 things that are lying next to you

Watching for Wonder's CD - check them out, they are awesome! + a spoon and an empty Sobe Lifewater bottle (this flavor was fantastic!)

name two foods you can't live without

Peanut butter & tortillas. They're two of my favorite foods and they go perfectly together. 

name two things you can't live without

God and running. I know that I couldn't survive without either! 

name two people you can't live without

Letss make that three: mommy, daddy, and my brother Jay. My family is really close and I know that I wouldn't be here today without their love and support. 

me + jay

mom, dad & me in nyc

name one thing you did today

Instead of just naming one thing I'm gonna follow Tara's lead and tell you guys what I did yesterday afternoon since I missed my evening post!

• I had a failed attempt at making pb protein balls... hopefully that will turn into a success soon!

• I went to get froyo with one of my friends to catch up since I haven't seen her for a lot of the summer. Plus I kinda have a love affair with froyo :)

• I helped my mom out at her work for 3ish hours and made lotsa copies! 

• My friend Ryan came by and we went and ran random errands with searching for a geocache every once in awhile. Then we went and got sushi - it was the first time I'd ever tried it! Ryan took me to this awesome place and I have to say that I've definitely been missing out on some good stuff. Afterward we went night swimming with a few other people and had a great time - plus we went to get shakes for dessert. Talk about a great night!

This summer has been the best summer of my life - just yesterday alone was freakin' amazing. I don't want it to end!!!

Instead of tagging seven people, I'm tagging all of you. If you haven't done the Bootylicious Award yet then go for it!! Or do it a second time, even bettah :)

Cancelled Flight

Well, I'm back a lot earlier than I thought I would be! My mom's and my flight to the East Coast to go to a family friend's funeral got cancelled and we couldn't get any other tickets :(

We didn't find out until late this morning, so I had been running around like crazy trying to get everything together until we heard that we weren't going to be able to make it.

Our friend are in our thoughts and prayers - last night I made a bunch of inspirational cards (bible verses and song lyrics) that I was planning on bringing with me on our trip. I think I am just going to mail them now so at least they get them!

I managed to get to cross country practice this morning despite having a not-so-great night's sleep and I squeezed in a 5 mile run which felt really nice.

The rest of my day has been filled with lots of flower  research (we are trying to get the family flowers by today) and eating copious amounts of chocolate protein shakes and peanut butter tortillas. But seriously, that's what I've eaten today - the same breakfast and lunch! At least I'm getting in some greens in the shakes :)

I may actually be getting a little tired of my blended drinks, though - what a shocker! I've eaten so many because they're so good but after my second one today I started thinking that maybe I should tone it down a notch ;)


On another note, I have my senior pictures today (class of 2012 holla!!). Of course they're scheduled for the day that my hair decided not to cooperate - sometimes curly/wavy hair drives me nuts and other times I love it! I'm praying that it will fix itself by 5pm todayyyy....

heh..

Okay so this is getting to be my randomest post ever, but I got to thinking about blogging today and have a question for you all!

I absolutely love reading blogs that chronicle the blogger's life through eats and workouts - my favorites are the blogs that post daily eats, which is why in general my blog tends to be more of a recap of my day type 'o thing.

Do you guys prefer more daily eats posts, or less frequent posts that include recipes, workout tips, etc.? Once the school year starts up and I lose most of my free time, less frequent posts are going to be more common with a WIAW thrown in every once in awhile.

I'd love to hear your opinions!!

ABC's of Me

Instead of boring you guys with more photos of my addicting protein shake that I ate for lunch, I figured I'd write a fun post! So here you go :)

The ABC's of Me


A. Age: Sixteen

B. Bed size: Twin. Cause I'm still a kid on the inside!

C. Chore you hate: Cleaning the bathrooms. Worst job ever! The toilet and shower are the most disgusting.

D. Dogs: Cats. I am a little biased :)

E. Essential start to your day: Peanut butter on a tortilla. I eat this snack every day before I work out.

F. Favorite color: Light green.

G. Gold or silver: Silver.

H. Height: 5'6". I think. I'm going to the doctor's for a check-up soon so the mystery will be solved by then.

I. Instruments you play: I have played piano since the first grade. Just this past year I stopped taking lessons (I took 10 years of them!) because my schedule was getting crazy busy and I felt like they were becoming a burden. I haven't played in a little while which reminds me that I want to get back into it! I also play the flute, piccolo, and had a failed attempt at trying to learn how to play the guitar.

my piano!

J. Job title: Soccer referee. Minus the fact that I haven't reffed a game yet! I became a licensed referee back in May and the soccer season starts in the fall so I will be refereeing soon.

K. Kids: I can't decided if I want to have 2 or 4! Or maybe 3. I do know that I want to have kids, though.

L. Live: Cali. I love this place! The weather is amazing and I live in such a great area.

M. Mom's name: Janet. Fun fact: everyone in my immediate family has a name that starts with J.

N. Nicknames: People on my soccer team used to call me Juli (for ease of screaming it on the field) but I'm not a fan. I really just like my name the way it is. And it rhymes with banana, in case you were wondering ;) But on paper my family abbreviates my name as Jul.

O. Overnight hospital stays: None, except when I was born.

P. Pet peeve: People pronouncing my name wrong. Is it really that difficult??

Q. Quote from a movie: 

I love Star Wars. 

R. Right or left handed: Right.

S. Siblings: One older brother that is leaving for college soon. Which means I am soon to be a single child. Waahhhhh!!

T. Time you wake up: It depends - during the school year I typically wake up around 6:45 or 7am and sleep in on the weekends. This summer I've been waking up around 7:15 to go to cross country practice, but on the days that I don't go I sleep til 8:30 or later.

neww alarm clock

U. Underwear: Say whaaatt? Who wrote this thingy? (:

V. Vegetables you dislike: Plain tomatoes and plain olives. Yuck!

W. What makes you run late: Reading blogs instead of getting dressed and ready to go in the mornings. I currently have 34 blogs in my google reader and I probably read another 30 on a daily basis.

X. X-Ray's you've had: I have no idea. A bajillion in the dentist's office, that's for sure.

Y. Yummy food you make: lots! But my main stars are definitely my baked goods.

Z. Zoo - favorite animal: Panda bears. When I was younger my family visited the National Zoo in D.C. and they had the cutest little bears ever.

If you haven't already done an ABC's of me post please do! I love reading them and learning more about the people behind the blogs I read.