Life Lately.

hey guys!!

i'm finally adjusting to being back on an actual schedule down in LA after 3 1/2 weeks of pure relaxation. i am loving being back here at my second home, though!!

these sunrises will never. get. old.

life lately, well, let's just say it's been pretty hectic. in a totally awesome way. i've been doing so many fun things with my friends (like going to a UCLA gymnastics meet, seeing les mis, going out for pizza & froyo, watching the bachelor together, and so much more!). i've met even more amazing people this quarter, and am just soaking up the blessing that my life is right now.

at the gymnastics meet!

i've been getting back into the swing of actually doing work - this quarter i'm taking the next chemistry & math classes in the series i'm in, and a religion class on judaism, christianity, and islam. i'm praying that i don't get murdered by the research paper i have to write.. cause this girl is not a writer!

i also applied for a job and after 3 interviews last week, i got it! i start training sometime next week and couldn't be more excited.

insert random photo of my current favorite outfit(:

on the workout front: remember how i said i was going to be doing best body bootcamp? well, i had the best of intentions when i signed up for the bootcamp - it's such a great way to kick off the new year. but, when i signed up, i kinda sorta forgot about the craziness that is the beginning of a new quarter. i also forgot how crowded the gym gets, and that my personality just doesn't quite go with doing solo workouts. i'm a group exercise girl through and through. i forgot how much i love my barbell class and if i did best body bootcamp, i wouldn't be able to take that class.

so instead of putting the pressure on myself to finish out the entire 8 weeks of the bootcamp (which is almost an entire quarter), i decided that it's just not for me right now. this isn't in any way saying that tina's program is anything but awesome (because trust me, the program is really great), but i didn't want to stress myself out about something that i don't need to be stressing about.

i'm going to save all the workouts from the program for another time in my life when i can really 100% commit to them. and i'm happy that i'm able to make that decision with 0 guilt.

and for now, well, let's just say that i'm IN LOVE with my intense functional training barbell class. it kicks my booty unlike anything else i've ever done. today we did a really great workout:

• 5x3 snatch
• 5 rounds of
• 15 RDLs (romanian deadlifts)
• 10 bent over rows

• 100 burpees for time

it's safe to say that was one of the hardest workouts. ever. the instructors didn't tell us about the burpees until we'd put all of our weights away (silly me, thinking that we could be done). there was a 10 minute cap on the burpees and we just did them as fast as possible.

and HOLY CRAP THAT HURT. like hell. but i did in and finished in 7:59 - the first girl in my class to finish! i was so proud of myself. i can't wait to see how i improve by the end of the quarter!

walking back up to my dorm was quite the challenge, my muscles are so dead. i don't even want to think about tomorrow.

so right now, i'm putting myself through the pain of the stick:

and slurping up this yummilicious drink ($3 and ohsoworthit):

and somehow have a huge smile plastered on my face despite my level of exhaustion.

growin' dem muscles :-)

pretty sure that smile isn't gonna be there when i try and get out of bed tomorrow ;)

what's the hardest workout you've done lately?

WIAW: 10th Week & My First Barbell Competition

hi friends! happy WIAW!


i don't have any healthy recipes for ya (but will have plenty when i go home!), but i did actually take pictures of most of my food yesterday - so here's a mostly full day of eats for me!

breakfast: cereal, banana, milk, and a few sips of {awful} coffee. i cannot wait to drink good coffee at home again!

midmorning snack: roasted almonds while studying in the library. chemistry, i hate you.

lunch: whole wheat sandwich with turkey, lettuce, tomato, and dijonaise, an apple, and SoBe Lean.

i also grabbed an {unpictured} nonfat no sugar added mocha as a treat on the way to class. i'm addicted to these things and don't really care about the whole fake sweetener thing. i tried to look it up online once to make sure there wasn't anything crazy weird in the drink {the cafe on campus is coffee bean & tea leaf} but then realized i was still going to drink them anyway so it didn't really matter. i'm weird like that.

afternoon snack: animal crackers (real ones! not those weird cookie things.. anyone else know what i'm talking about?) while doing my reading. it was only a buck for a bag of them at target! i put them into individual baggies so that i wouldn't plow through the whole bag in one study session.

workout: yesterday was my first ever IFT barbell competition! i almost chickened out but i am so glad that i went since it turns out that i won't be able to make the second half of the competition on thursday.

yesterday we did deadlifts and pull-ups & we got three attempts to get our heaviest weight. since i wasn't quite sure how much i could lift, i started with 135# for the deadlift and worked my way up to 160# (which was my 3rd attempt). i think i probably could've done 5-10 pounds more but i am so proud of that!

for the pull-ups, girls were supposed to do as many pull-ups as they could consecutively or do a negative (where you start at the top of pull-up position and lower yourself as slowly as possible) for as long as they can. i haven't exactly attempted a full on pull-up yet and i didn't want to screw up the form, so i did a negative and held it for 40 seconds! i was so proud of that - i hung on longer than any of the other girls in my class (there were ones in other classes that did 45 seconds i think) and everyone was cheering each other on which was so cool. makes me sad that i won't be able to make it tomorrow!

post workout: almond butter + chocolate chips. i should've grabbed something with a lot of protein but i reeeally wanted nut butter! it is what it is.

dinner: plate 1: steamed broccoli and cauliflower, some sort of chicken & spinach salad, and a barley salad.

plate 2: veggie pizza with parmesan cheese, a cup of milk, and a half decaf half hot chocolate mix.

{unpictured: small cup of plain vanilla froyo with sprinkles, and then a piece of AMAZING yellow butter cake with raspberries and white chocolate buttercream that we had at bible study cause one of my leaders' birthdays is today! it was so freaking good. no regrets whatsoever about breaking my 'fruit for dessert' during the week rule.}

also, yesterday was probably the last day i'll actually have worn real clothes for the next 8 days..

cause the week of yoga pants is beginning! everyone knows it's perfectly acceptable to wear yoga pants and sweatpants 24/7 from now until christmas break ;-)

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thought of the day:

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have a wonderful wednesday everyone! 

Life is Crazy.

hello friends! happy monday! i hope you all had wonderful weekends :)

life has been quite crazy over here. ever since i got back from home a little over a week ago, i've been catching up on all the work i failed to do over thanksgiving (a girl's gotta get a break sometime!), catching up with all my friends, and most importantly, catching up on sleep.

recently i've been getting headaches a LOT more frequently than i used to. as in, every day kinda deal. i knew something had to be wrong and i started keeping a journal of possible triggers that could be causing the problem - workouts, food, caffeine (aka coffee), stress, sleep. i tried to fix the first three in the beginning, but when it came down to it, i discovered that i just needed more sleep. period. my body was used to having anywhere from 8-10 hours of sleep a night before i came to college and i just expected it to adapt to only having 6 or 7 without any problems.

i think it's crazy that it took me until 9th week to figure out the cause of the problem, but hey, at least i did eventually! ever since i've started going to bed earlier (i made a rule of 8 hours sleep minimum. don't care how much work needs to be done, going to bed is more important) i haven't had a single headache in over a week. big stuff, people!

in trying to figure out the cause of my headaches i've also tried to clean up my diet a little and eat more foods that energize me, and don't leave me in that post-meal slump. most of these eats are comin' your way tomorrow for a WIAW food dump post. haha :)






















on the workout side of things, last week i took things easy because i was nervous that doing high intensity workouts might have been part of what was causing my headaches. i went on quite a few runs with girls in my bible study, did the elliptical, and took a few rest days.

**just wanted to throw in a note here that if i wasn't able to figure out the cause of my headaches on my own, i was going to go to a doctor to make sure there wasn't a bigger problem**


but today i went back to my IFT class and did a totally kickass workout that i wanted to share with you guys! it was probably one of the hardest workouts i've done so far and it. was. awesome.

Source: Uploaded by user via Julianna on Pinterest

i used a 60# bar for my cleans, 2 15# dumbells for the thrusters, and the thickest resistance band for help on the pull-ups.

you could easily do this workout at home if you have a jumprope and kettlebells or dumbbells - just leave off the first exercise (cleans) and last exercise (pull-ups).

after the workout one of my instructors came over and told me that my cleans were looking really good (YAYYYY! i've been working on my form for so long now!) and asked if i was going to the competition tomorrow. IFT is very similar to CrossFit (not speaking from my own experience here, just what i've heard) and they have competitions here at UCLA at the end of every quarter to see how much you've improved since the beginning. if i'm not too sore from today's killer workout, then i think that i'll go tomorrow and see what i can do! i'm really excited for that.

post-workout fuel today: chicken caesar salad, milk, and a fruit cup. you gotta make do with the food to-go and this lunch was pretty good!

on that note i better get off to studying. 10th week = death week. quarter system peeps, ya feel me? i'm drowning in work over here and studying for finals is scary and overwhelming. i'm doing my best to not stress like crazy, focus, and get things done. but if i don't resurface until i'm home for christmas break, you'll know why! 11 more days of busting my butt and then i will be home and truly enjoying the christmas season. until then, michael buble will have to do ;)

what's the best workout you've done lately?

My First IFT Class!

Hey guys!

Since I finished up my Intro to Barbell class last week, which was a prerequisite to the IFT (Intense Functional Training) classes offered here, I decided to go to IFT tonight. And let's just say I completely had my butt kicked in that super awesome I'm not gonna be able to walk tomorrow kinda way.

I've been told that these IFT classes are very similar to CrossFit - and if they are, let's just say that I will be hitting up CrossFit in my hometown this summer! There's two types of IFT classes here - just plain IFT and IFT barbell. Tonight I took the plain IFT class but I'm planning on hitting up the IFT barbell class on Thursday.

Anyway, back to today's workout! We started out with a few laps around the gym, and then we used these little balls and did some myofascial release exercises. After that we did some jumping jacks, hip thrusters, bodyweight squats, and pushups, before starting the actual workout.

Today's warmup:
1. TRX Rows
2. Vertical Jumps (sideways next to a wall, trying to hit higher each time)
3. Push-ups*
4. Flutter kicks

*side note: it is SO HARD to do push-ups with proper form. it's crazy that i've been doing them wrong for my whole life, but doing them so you actually work your chest is so hard. i could only get through 3-4 at a time before having to take a break. 

Once we finished the warmup, I was already a little out of breath and sweaty! And then came the killer WOD.

We did 4 stations of 3 minute AMRAPs
1. Sit-ups and slamballs (alternate 10 reps each until time is up)
2. Pull ups and jumping lunges (7 reps each)
3. Burpee Broad Jump w/ wall ball
4. Medicine ball side tosses and agility square (which was just 4 cones set up that you had to go around once, changing direction quickly)

The killers were the burpee broad jumps and the pull-ups. I did my pull-ups with the Level 2 resistance band and my arms were shaking so much by the end. I can't imagine doing pull-ups without a band right now - but that is one of my goals for the end of the year!

After the WOD we did a round of tabata abs (v-ups, superman, cherry pickers, and something else that I can't remember) and by the time we finished that I was laying on my mat completely wiped. Whoever said that short workouts aren't effective is lying. This one hurt more than any workout I've done in quite awhile!

And you can bet I'll be there next class ready for more. This girl can't turn down a challenge!

Even though my butt really, really hurts.

have you ever taken an IFT class or something similar?

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? 

Lately {Eating, Sweating, Doing}

happy WIAW everyone!! i have so much to share with you all today! :) 

what i've been eating:

vanilla Chobani with a farmer's market nectarine, walnuts, granola, and chia seeds

nonfat latte and a coconut macaroon

another Vitality Bowl.. whoops ;) this one had acai, guarana, strawberries, banana, flaxseed, soy milk, apple juice, spinach, and broccoli and was topped with granola, strawberries, kiwis, and goji berries.

super ugly but delicious lunch! a bed of rainbow quinoa topped with baked crispy tofu, and a mix of sauteed mushrooms, tomatoes, and shredded carrots that i added a little milk, flour, and pine nut hummus to. so good!

breakfast at my new favorite cafe! egg, cheese, tomato, and avocado sandwich on multigrain bread with a side of fruit and a large coffee.

a bowl of strawberries with vanilla chobani topped with homemade granola (see below)

more homemade granola with almond-coconut milk, and a simple berry smoothie with spinach added in

another homemade 'vitality' smoothie bowl

how i've been sweating:

• saturday: bootcamp class at my gym that killed me! i was so sore after!
• sunday: easy 4 mile shakeout run
• monday: 15 mins stairclimber + upper body weights workout 
• tuesday: 9.7 mile run (i only was planning on going 6-7 but my route ended up being a lot longer than i thought it was!) 

also, check out my progress! i'm so proud of myself for working hard to include strength training in my routine and am so happy with my arms- my shoulders really pop!

what i've been doing:

• baking! i made chocolate chip scones with a milk chocolate drizzle from ina garten's cookbook:

i also made golden granola from jenna's book, white jacket required. this stuff is SO FREAKIN GOOD. 

• working. last shift on friday! :( 
• school shopping.

i've ordered all of my textbooks (EEKKKK! haha my chem book scares the crap outta me!) and gotten a few more things for my dorm room. i can't wait to move in and show you guys what it looks like! 

• watching food network. hey, if i have the time, might as well, right?!

the great food truck race + m&ms + fancy root beer. definitely my kinda night!

• having quiet time doing the #shereadstruth study every morning. i am LOVING it! 

what have you been eating, sweating, or doing lately?