MIMM 8.19.13

happy almost-tuesday, everyone! thought i'd participate in katie's marvelous in my monday link-up since this is a random post and what better way to tie it together than some marvelousness?

marvelous is... snuggles with my baby girl. who apparently had a question while she was sleeping, haha!

marvelous is... saturday morning coconut flour pancakes with dark chocolate dreams PB and fresh raspberries. 

marvelous is... this awesome sign i found in chinatown! regretting not buying it already..

marvelous is... a beautiful day in the city!

marvelous is... being reunited with one of my best friends from school for the weekend! she matches my crazy.

marvelous is... brunch with friends! i got a spinach, mushroom, and avocado omelet that was delicious. 

marvelous is... iced skinny mochas from starbucks. i'm obsessed and it's kind of a problem because my wallet isn't happy about spending $4 every other day on a drink, haha. 

marvelous is... going shopping & finding some good deals! i love this dress, and i also got a pair of mint shorts for $10 (score!) and a few pieces of jewelry (like the ring in the above photo for $3).

marvelous is... the toasted marshmallow latte i got at biscoff in SF. soooo good! 

 marvelous is... RX'ing a WOD! even when it's one with tons of pull-ups and you forgot to tape your hands and now they're ripped. #worthit

marvelous is... luke bryan. and his new album. playing it again. and again.

what was marvelous in your monday?

Spring Break {2013}

i can't believe break is almost over already! it seems like i was just talking to you guys about trying to survive finals and here i am typing this up with only a few days left of spring break. 

it has been a truly amazing and much needed break, though! i wanted to share some photos with you guys, because i took lots {pretty sure one day my iPhone is going to explode with photos. juuust sayin'}. 

brunchin' with the big bro at corner bakery:

my crazy family is reunited {and to top that off, we went to the happiest place on earth!}

and of course a little kid's souvenir cup at carsland was 100% necessary. 

i had so much fun at disneyland and california adventure- we hit up all the best rides (space mountain, indiana jones, matterhorn, buzz lightyear, california screamin', tower of terror, soarin' over california, radiator springs, and more!) and i don't think i've ever appreciated getting to spend time with my family more. 

i had lots of cappucinos (seriously, people. you don't realize how good starbucks is until you're deprived of it for weeks at a time) and i also ate lots of good food - we got pizza 3 out of the 5 nights my parents were here (in classic foster style). we also ate lots of cookies and froyo and all of that wonderfulness! 

after our two days at disneyland, my mom and i had a day together shopping, which was so much fun! i got a few new dresses, skirts, and shorts that were much needed because it's going to start getting hot here really soon. this is one of the skirts i got: 

on our last day, my family went to see olympus has fallen (i thought it was a great movie!), had dinner at the counter (also known as my favorite place ever), and watched modern family and nashville on TV. basically a perfect day. 

 all in all it has been a wonderful break and i couldn't've asked for anything better! my parents dropped my brother and i off back at campus today and i've spent the day unpacking, cleaning and organizing my room (took soooo long!), picking up some essentials, and eating at whole foods. that spicy shrimp and avocado roll hit the spot!

aand now i'm eating a ginormous bowl of panda puffs (best cereal ever..anyone with me?) and am planning on skyping some friends and watching a movie for the rest of the night. 'twas a good day! 

stay tuned for a Quest Bar review coming your way soon - if you haven't already gotten the hint from twitter, it's safe to say that i'm addicted. i can't wait to tell you guys about them! 

xoxo

An Amazing Weekend.

I had one of the best weekends! My parents flew down to visit and I have been looking forward to seeing them for so long!!

They came and picked my brother and I up on Friday afternoon and as soon as I saw my parents I launched myself at them and tackled them in hugs. I had tears of happiness coming down my face because I was so overjoyed to see them.

REUNITED<3

Although this weekend was Parents' Weekend and a lot of families did the planned events for the weekend, my family decided to do our own thing and just spend quality time together. And I'm so happy we did!

After my parents picked us up, we went and got our afternoon coffee and then stopped at Whole Foods to pick up dinner. I saved a lot of errands to run this weekend (because a. running errands is a LOT easier when you have a car, and b. grocery shopping with my mom is one of my favorite things to do) - and my mom said that she would buy my usual groceries. I usually pay for them with my own money so needless to say this made me so excited!

I got some of my groceries (see the loot at the end of the post!) and picked steamed broccoli, tomatoes baked with cheese, and roasted potatoes for my dinner (forgot to snap a pic) since all of those things are really hard to find in the dining hall. The rest of my family got salads to go with the pizza that we ordered!

After dinner we just talked and caught up and then I crashed hard in the beautiful big fluffy hotel bed. It. was. glorious.

Saturday morning I slept in and then worked out with my momma! That was one of the things I missed like crazy- that and having someone to show off all my hard work to! haha :)

After showering up I had an amazing breakfast- all things I can't have in the dining hall yet again. Fresh raspberries (!!!!), chobani, and ciabatta bread with almond butter.

Once I finished eating my mom and I headed out to the mall where we got chair massages, went shopping, and got Subway for lunch (fyi their chopped chicken salad is really good!).

Then we met up with my dad and brother to go see Flight - it was a pretty good movie although I prefer happy feel-good movies. And then I GOT FROYO!

I got peach, tart, and coconut yogurts with raspberries, cheesecake, cookie dough, m&ms, almonds, and coconut shreds.

Before dinner we had a hotel hair-cutting session (cracks me up everytime) and then my mom and I did a little more shopping before we got seated at BJ's. The restaurant is right in the mall that our hotel is close to so it worked out perfectly! I didn't snap any photos because the lighting was so bad, but in the end it didn't matter anyway because I didn't end up eating the steak I ordered. Long story short they lost my order somewhere along the way and then tried to act like they hadn't messed anything up and served me a medium-rare steak (barely cooked on the outside) when I'd ordered medium-well done. Since we'd already waited so long for our food we just asked them to take it off the check instead of making me another one. So I just ate the veggies that came on the side and some of my brother's fries and then... froyo happened for the second time in one day! #noshame

After dinner my brother opened his birthday presents (he's turning 20 tomorrow!) and then my mom and I watched the first two episodes of Nashville - I'm officially hooked. That show is so good!

This morning after another workout with my mom, my parents dropped us back off on campus. It was so hard to say goodbye - I tried to hold myself together but I just couldn't. I'm so close with my parents and being away from them has been one of the hardest things about coming to college. But how lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard?<3

To pick myself back up, I got a pumpkin spice latte and then set to work getting unpacked and putting all my food away.

please disregard the fluffy pillow pet and the computer - there's not much space to take photos in a dorm room! haha:)

The loot: honey pretzel twists, bulk cinnamon raisin granola, dry roasted edamame and goji berries, roasted almonds, Barney Butter (!!), dark chocolate chunks, a dark chocolate bar, whole wheat tortillas, string cheese, baggies of trail mix (my mom brought them from home),  greek yogurt, fresh raspberries, bars, and a box of candy corn and other halloween goodies.

Needless to say I'm one happy girl right now!

The rest of the afternoon has consisted of lots of laundry-doing and after I publish this post I'm going to get to work on all my homework and studying that has yet to get done.

what was a highlight of your weekend? 
ever had froyo twice in one day? 

shopping day.

what's a girl to do with a day off of work {finally!}? shop, of course! 

i've been eyeing a few items on the lululemon website for WEEKS now, but only just the other day did i find out from a friend that there's a store 20 minutes away from me! i can't believe i didn't figure this out earlier - especially since they have a run club each week and fun yoga events. hopefully i will make it to one or two of those before i leave for school in a month!

anyway, before we left the house i went for a 4-mile run and then refueled with lunch: 95% lean frozen turkey burger (only ingredients were white turkey, sea salt, and black pepper. win!) with half of an avocado and some ketchup on toasted whole wheat bread.

and i actually put on a normal outfit today! usually i wear running shorts and tshirts to work since things are prone to get froyo all over them, and since i've been basically living at work i haven't put on normal clothes in quite awhile. it definitely felt nice :) 

and then it was time to shop!

i tried on about 50,000 things in lululemon and basically wanted to buy the whole store. luckily i talked myself out of any sort of pants or long sleeved anything because i'm going to be living in LA so those would basically be a waste of money. i mainly was looking for a really good running tank, but all of the ones i tried on i wasn't in love with (or not enough to fork out $58 for it!). but i did find an awesome pair of running shorts that are super comfy and light, the perfect length, really flattering, and have a zipper pocket and 2 fuel pockets. (they're the turbo run short, in case you were wondering!) i also had to get a pink headband, of course! 

i gotta say i'm so proud of myself for only spending $77 on my first trip to lulu! 

i also stopped in sephora while my mom was doing some other shopping - i wanted to get an eyeshadow primer so that i could wear a little eyeshadow without it clumping up in the creases of my eyelids. 

i ended up getting the urban decay eye shadow primer and also got one of their eye shadow pencils (the color was called rehab). i love the eye shadow! i tried it on when i got home and it's the perfect shimmery light brown that i was looking for. and so far there's no creasing - fingers crossed the primer lasts for awhile. 

i also grabbed some blotting papers for when i'm out and my face gets oily (which happens a little too often) and a sharpener for the eye shadow since i didn't have one. i still feel like such a newbie to makeup because i don't wear it that often - and walking in sephora can be so overwhelming! luckily when i got my makeup done for senior ball i figured out that i really liked the urban decay brand which helped me narrow things down a little bit. 

my mom still wanted to shop a little bit but at this point i was in need of an afternoon pick me up. enter: cappucino froyo with chocolate sprinkles. this was SO good. 

and then we went to our last stop - target! i got a workout tank there a few weeks ago and really liked it, so when i didn't love any of the ones in lululemon i figured going back to target and grabbing a second tank in a different color would be a good idea. i actually brought in my new lululemon shorts to try on with some tanks to make sure i liked the two together, and ended up getting a light blue one. 

i also finally got a blender bottle!! i can't wait to try making iced protein coffee with this baby. 

all in all i spent around $150 today - all on things that i absolutely love! it was nice to splurge since i've been working SO MUCH lately and haven't been shopping in quite awhile. i also find it funny that all i bought was workout clothes and makeup, and no normal clothes. story of my life 

i'm off to make dinner - some cheesy pasta is sounding mighty good right now!

where do you normally buy workout clothes?

favorite piece of workout gear?

summer lovin'

this post is really random.. you've been forewarned! ;) 

{current favorite breakfast: greek yogurt with cocoa powder, topped with love grown cocoa goodness and melty peanut butter}

{my new UCLA shirt my brother brought back for me!}

{multigrain bagel with walnut raisin cream cheese (LOVE!) and a vanilla coconut yogurt}

{finally got my bulletin boards updated with more recent pictures!}

{she is THE laziest cat ever. also, the cutest. ;)}

{spending lotsa time outside in the sun!}

{break from sleeping in the hammock: smoothie time! 1 cup frozen pineapple, 1/2 cup frozen berries, 1/2 cup frozen spinach, 1 container plain greek yogurt, almond milk}

{back outside!}

{dinner eaten outside- whole foods salad with mushrooms, cucumbers, carrots, red onion, chickpeas, and feta cheese, topped with some steak my dad barbecued, and a few alexia fries on the side!}

i've also had fun hanging out with my brother (who just came home a few days ago - we watched star trek this afternoon and it's so nice just having him around!!), shopping with my momma, going to a few friends'  graduation parties, and being a complete couch potato. seriously laziest girl ever over here! 

i also started writing out my summer bucket list! it's still growing but it makes me happy just looking at it and knowing that this summer's going to be amazing!

toldya it was a random post! ;)

what's on your summer bucket list? 

current favorite breakfast?