Scenes from the Weekend

{imagine dragons. freaking incredible live! best concert i've ever been to}

{swimming}

{spicy shrimp and avocado sushi from whole foods}

{playing in the fountain like 5 year olds} 

{pretending to be a photographer}

{love}

{chocolate coconut cupcake with coffee ice cream in the middle from sprinkles. heaven.}

{signed up for the giant half marathon in august! i'm so excited!! it's in one of my favorite cities and you run right along the water to the golden gate bridge and back to at&t park, home of my giants.}

what's the best thing you did/ate/saw last weekend?

Giving Thanks & My 18th

I am so happy right now. I love my family, I love my hometown, I love fall weather, I love leaves that actually CHANGE color, I love it all. Everything about this weekend has been absolutely wonderful - I think that Thanksgiving is rising in the ranks as one of my favorite holidays. I never really was all that excited about it in the past because Thanksgiving food isn't my favorite, but this year was the first year that I truly realized that the food is not what it's about. Being away from home has made me cherish my time with my family (including the kitties) all the more and made me appreciate so many things I would've taken for granted before.

I didn't end up taking any photos of the Thanksgiving meal but I did want to share some of the things I'm thankful for this year (not in any particular order).


1. The Lord's crazy love that never fails, never runs out, and never gives up on me. No explanation needed. I am so blessed.
2. My parents and my older brother - I don't know what I would do without them! They never fail to make me laugh when I'm down, always have the best advice, and just get me like no one else.
3. Being able to attend one of the best universities in the country. Not many people have the privilege of saying that - I am so grateful for my education!
4. My kitties! These little balls of fluff always turn me into the 5-year-old that I am at heart and give me so much joy.

5. Coffee that doesn't taste like dirt! I came home and my dad had bought my favorite coffee (Starbucks Blonde Roast) and made it for me - I don't know how I've been surviving on that nasty dining hall coffee. Maybe adding all that hot chocolate helps ;-)
6. Fresh fall air. Every time I've stepped outside since I've been home, I just stand there and breathe it in. I miss the fresh air and the colder weather a lot more than I thought I would. 

7. All of the little things I take for granted - always having food and water, a warm place to stay, safety, my health, and so much more.
8. Almond butter - Barney Butter especially!

9. The amazing friends I have, both old and new.
10. My Bible study at UCLA. They have made me feel so welcomed and and home which is a tough feat when you're making the tough transition to college. I love those girls so much!
11. My ability to run, lift, dance like a crazy person, and so much more. I am so lucky.
12. Music. Happy pop music to dance party to, down to earth country music, worship music, all of it.
13. Baking.
14. The blog world - the blogs that inspired me to create my own, the blogs that I read daily, and especially you guys. I love you all<3

I could go on and on.. I have so much to be thankful for! 

Anyway, I also wanted to share some photos of the past few days! :) 

When I got home on Wednesday night I stuffed my face with berries and pomegranate seeds, made pumpkin bread and dance partied with my mom, watched a random movie on an actual TV screen on my own couch while drinking pumpkin tea, and most importantly - was reunited with my babies!!

nose kissies! 

On Thursday morning I went to the gym with my mom and took BodyPump and BodyCombat. BodyPump used to be my favorite class, but since I started lifting heavy weight in my IFT classes at school, I wasn't as big of a fan. The bar constantly felt light and I'd rather do less reps with heavy weight than spend a really long time doing more reps with light weight. But BodyCombat was awesome! And just getting to workout with my mom made me so happy. 

We spent the rest of the day prepping for Thanksgiving - we had over 20 people over at our house - and then Thanksgiving night I got to go see the new Twilight movie. It was really good! I couldn't quite remember what was supposed to happen at the end but I was still surprised. Minus the creepy baby I give it a thumbs up!

Then Friday was my 18th birthday! I woke up to my baby girl snuggling with me, made pumpkin spice pancakes with almond butter and sprinkles and ate them while catching up on Glee, went for a run in the beautiful fall weather and ended at starbucks where I got a PSL. And then my brother came and picked me up<-- he's the best! 

I showered and then my mom took me to get foot massages, which were heavenly!! We came back home and cleaned up a bit and then went as a family to get a late lunch at Panera. I got broccoli cheddar soup, the turkey avocado BLT, and asiago bread as my side. So good! 

After Panera my mom and I got Peet's (my family always gets afternoon coffee together) - I ended up getting a pumpkin chai latte that I didn't snap a pic of, but it was really really good. Then we headed to Target (because I love that place!!), Whole Foods (more pomegranate seeds for meeee!), and came home to start making my birthday dinner. We made the Pioneer Woman's mac n cheese, and my dad made me steak. So delicious!

I opened presents after dinner and all I can say is that my family went above and beyond to make me feel loved on my birthday. I got some homey things - a kitty towel, two cute little bowls, a little decoration thing for my dorm room, and a super nice mattress topper for my bed at school! 

My brother got me a Starbucks gift card and the ZZ Ward album (love!). I love actual CDs. 

I also got almond butter, dark chocolate, and rainbow sprinkles (!!) and three new workout tanks. If that doesn't show you how well my family knows me, then I don't know what does. 

And to top my already amazing day off, the Christmas lights were up, the fire was lit, and I was snuggling on the couch with my man and a mug of sugar cookie tea. It's the holiday season!

I had a huge mug of mocha and peanut butter ice creams with some leftover chocolate cream pie crumbles for dessert - I think I've single-handedly taken down an entire half gallon of ice cream since I've been home! We also opened the ginormous peppermint patties that I got my brother for his birthday (it was earlier this month) and I had a few pieces of that too. It was so much better than a regular peppermint patty!

This morning I got up and made another batch of pumpkin spice pancakes (1/3 cup Kodiak mix, 1/3 cup pumpkin, a few shakes of pumpkin spice, a sprinkle of brown sugar, and enough water to get it moving) with almond butter and more rainbow sprinkles. Who says you only can have rainbow sprinkles on birthdays?? 

I'm sad that today is my last full day at home but I'm trying not to think about it too much because being sad will ruin the rest of this weekend and I don't want to do that. The sadness needs to wait until I'm actually leaving tomorrow! I'm going to just focus on how wonderful my mini-break has been already - filled with family, kitties, and good food. What more could a girl ask for?

how was your thanksgiving?

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? 

it's the little things.

when your friend bakes you coconut chocolate chip oatmeal cookies even though she doesn't like coconut <3

when you get awesome packages in the mail. thanks, chobani!! {p.s. that vanilla chocolate chunk flavor? AH-mazing! i am in LOVE with it!}

getting to petsit for 7 of the most adorable kittens ever. my dad keeps reminding me that we have 4 cats and don't need any more pets but THEY'RE SOOOOO CUTE! and i think they're up for adoption soon.. we'll see if i can work any magic by then ;) 

having to work in a new location and then realizing that it's worth having to drive 20 extra minutes to get there because on your lunch break you can get a huge salad at whole foods next door {this one cost $10. whoops.}

my newly created celebrity husband board on Pinterest. yep, i went there. makes me so happy. 

my Friday treat: triple shot 2 pump vanilla nonfat latte. sometimes you just gotta get the real deal. 

i'm so glad it's the weekend! i have a long shift at work tonight (day 6.. woop woop! my next paycheck's gonna be ballin'. haha.) but then i have a full two days off. i think i'm going to go outlet shopping and see a movie! 

what made your week this week? 

any fun plans this weekend?

WIAW Returns! {Long Run Eats}

hi guys! i haven't participated in WIAW in awhile (mainly because i've been lazy and haven't captured a full day's eats in quite some time!) but i'm excited to be back this week!!

these meals/snacks are all from monday, when i did my long run of the week for my half marathon training plan.

before i left the house, i had my usual pre-run breakfast of toast with almond butter and coffee. i let it digest for an hour or so while reading blogs and then started to get ready to go. i couldn't find my usual sour jelly beans that i've been using as fuel on long runs, so i stole one of my dad's cappucino hammer gel packets (he bikes a LOT so we have lots of fuel-type things around the house!).

i set out not sure what to expect on my run. i just recently spent 3 days at college orientation and didn't work out any of those days, and i had done BodyPump the day before (i originally hadn't been intending on doing my long run on monday, but that's just the way my schedule worked out).

but, despite my doubts, i had a great run! i did a big loop starting at my house with a few water stops planned out along the way. around mile 6, i took the gel and drank a bottle of water. i honestly was expecting it to taste disgusting, despite my love of coffee, but i LOVED it! it tasted kind of like a mocha frosting or something, and didn't mess with my stomach one bit. new favorite running fuel!

(the overall run was at 9:07 min/mile, i just finished with a pace of 8:44, in case you were wondering!)

i finished my run feeling on top of the world, and like i could've added those 3.1 miles without too much more trouble. i'm feeling really confident and i think i'm going to do my solo half marathon sometime in the next week! WOOHOO!

yep, i'm a crazie. :)

when i got back, the first thing i did was blend up a green monster. (i think i need a shirt that says 'will run for green monsters' because it's SO true!) in the mix was a few fresh strawberries, a cup of plain greek yogurt, a cup of frozen mixed berries, ~1/2 cup frozen spinach, and almond milk.

i also had one of my mom's homemade bran muffins, warmed up with some almond butter. YUM!

then we got to work on making my brother's and my tshirt quilts! ever since we were little my mom started saving tshirts from important stuff once we stopped wearing them, and i've been adding to the pile of favorite tshirts ever since. the plan was to make my brother Jay and I tshirt quilts for college, and i'm SO excited that it's finally actually happening. i spent most of the afternoon picking which shirts i wanted, helping my mom cut them, and laying them out.

here's what my quilt/blanket is {hopefully} going to look like!

i love all of the color and happy memories all of those shirts hold, so i can't wait for it to be finished! (also, my mom is the BEST! i got home from work today and she was already starting to sew my quilt!)

while we were cutting the shirts, i had an unpictured bowl of cookie dough ice cream as an afternoon treat. then, we headed to target and whole foods for some fun shopping! i got sheets, pillowcases, and a mattress pad for my dorm room (more on that later, i'm planning on doing a big post with everything i'm bringing next year further in the future!), in addition to lots of fun foodie goodies! while we were walking around i got one of the new starbucks refreshers berry drinks. it was pretty good!

here's the {food} loot from both target and whole foods:

• peanut butter panda puffs
• 2 jars of Barney Butter
• a box of truvia packets (new love!)
• a big container of vanilla chobani
• coconut m&ms (guilty pleasure)
• a few luna bars, a balance bar, and a PureFit bar (new whole foods find - so good!)
• 3 bars of dark chocolate

so yeah, basically just lots of fun treats! i was one happy camper :) 

i had a bowl of the vanilla greek yogurt with almond meal and sprinkles when we got home (major long run munchies kicking in!) to hold off my hunger until dinnertime.

we had whole foods hot bar for dinner - i got fried rice with tofu, a few roasted potatoes (underneath), and a sesame noodle salad thing. it was all delicious!

dinner was enjoyed while having a family movie night watching the dark knight! i'm super excited for the new batman movie to come out on friday!!

dessert was a bowl of coconut and pretzel m&ms, and a LOT of unpictured kettle korn.

*random tangent* looking back, i probably could've had a few healthier things to refuel, but lately i've been trying to not worry so much about whether something's healthy and just enjoy it if i'm craving it. i'm trying to 'let go' a little bit, i guess you could say, and just relax and ENJOY myself more. so what if i have a little extra sugar one day? everything balances out in the end. i know that overall i have a VERY healthy diet in comparison to many people my age, and splurging every once in awhile (as long as it is making me happy) is a good thing. *tangent over* haha :)

and then i faceplanted in bed. twas a good day.
what's your preferred long run fuel? 
favorite thing from the whole foods hot bar?