RACE!

Well, it’s official: I’ve been bit by the racing bug. I ran my very first race today–a 10k, and I am in love. I had so much fun and as soon as I finished I began thinking about all the other races I want to complete. 

Today was such a fun day, I met up with a fellow blogger Michelle, and finished the race in 59:36. I felt great the entire time and could have kept running–it was awesome! 

Here are some pictures:

Well, I had to get up waaaayyyy too early for a Sunday so I think a nice nap is in order, then some Fathers Day festivities!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD-I LOVE YOU!

Fun!

Wow, what a fun and exciting week it’s been. I’m finally back–exhausted, hungover, sunburned, and still feeling like I’m on a rocking boat, but it was so worth it. I want to be back right now in the hot, gorgeous weather instead of the dreary clouds that I’m used to here in Pittsburgh.

Here are some cruise highlights for you:

We sailed on the Enchantment of the Seas through Royal Caribbean. It was a pretty big boat:

Full of not-so-big rooms and even smaller bathrooms:

We played BINGO but unfortunately didn’t win any money. I did however walk away with an awesome BINGO stuffed animal. I guess it was a consolation prize.

First stop was Key West. I pity the fools still in Boston.

It was absolutely gorgeous. The weather the entire trip was sunny and hot—just what I like. I determined that I really need to move somewhere warm because I’m just so much happier when I’m not surrounded by clouds and cold.

We made lots of new friends on the trip.

I spent lots of time reading out on the deck. It was so peaceful.

What’s a cruise without drinking? I had a chocolate martini which was absolutely divine. It tasted like a milkshake!

Next stop: Cozumel. We boarded a speedboat and went about 30 minutes out to a private beach where we biked and snorkeled, layed on the beach, had a Mexican feast, and I got to practice my Spanish with the hottie tour guides. They loved me–I think they were just intrigued by how unbelievably pale I was-I’m not sure if they ever saw someone so white before, haha.

We also saw Mayan ruins:

The water was gorgeous:

The crew was great and they left us fun towel animals in the room:

The waiters even sang and danced for us:

It was a great vacation, and while I was sad to come home, it was ok because I had some celebrating to do! Yesterday was my 22nd BIRTHDAY!!! I got back to my house around 7:30 pm and got started on an interesting night. I had a birthday drink with my family. My cousin, who is an under 3-hr marathon running training for an Ironman was in town and wanted to go for a quick run with me. This is where the poor decisions of the night began, but, hey, that’s what birthdays are all about, right? 

After my drunk 20 minute jog sprint, I came home and showered super-fast and hit the bars with my friends. There I spoke the famous last words: “But this long island iced tea doesn’t even taste like alcohol!” and I think we can all guess where the night went from there.

I’m sad my indulgent week is over, but it was definitely fun and I’ll remember *most* of it forever.

Getting Ready

My whirlwind of a week is starting soon and I’m getting ready for all the fun I’m going to have. I leave for Florida early, early Wednesday morning for my CRUISE!!! I can’t wait because I’ve never been on a cruise before and haven’t been on any sort of vacation in a long time. It’s going to be so much fun. Also, MY BIRTHDAY IS IN A WEEK!!! The big 2-2. Definitely not as exciting as 21, but I’ll take it. I seriously love birthdays so much. Overall, I’m not really a ‘must be center of attention’ sort of person but I just love how on your birthday everything is about you. Everyone has to be nice to you and you get all sorts of gifts and cards and phone calls. It just makes me so happy! 21 was full of ups and downs for me, but overall it was a good year—very much due to the fact that it was also the Year of The Blog which is turning 1 pretty soon. Crazy how time just flies by. 

Anyway, over the past few days I’ve rekindled my love for some old favorites. Like cinnamon raisin peanut butter

I don’t know how my family gets along without me because they obviously didn’t stir this jar when they first got it because now its close to the bottom and full of raisins. Works for me though!

Last night I made Chicken Florentine which holds a very special place in my heart because it is the very first recipe that I ever cooked by myself in my little kitchen Junior year. This was right when I started cooking and had basically no idea what I was doing, honestly I’m surprised I even managed to turn on the oven! It’s a really simple recipe but so delicious.

Basically just saute some onions then mix in chicken stock, flour, and frozen spinach and pour that over chicken, and top it all with a breadcrumb/parmesan mix. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes and it’s good to go. 

I just got back from the grocery store and have a fun dinner planned for tonight so I’ll definitely keep you posted! But for now, it’s off to spinning class. Bye!

Good Food

I’ve finally had a full day of good food worth blogging about. Things here have been pretty calm, I’ve been doing a whole bunch of nothing and I’m trying to enjoy the relaxation and quiet rather than be bored with it. This is probably the last time in my life where I will have 2 months to focus on absolutely nothing but me so I need to take advantage of it while I can. As a result, I’ve been filling my days with running, reading, and relaxing. I’m getting the hang of it!

Breakfast

I slept like a log last night, I was exhausted for some reason! When I finally woke up around 8 (yes, that is considered sleeping in for me!) I made a quick bowl of cereal and then got back into bed to read for a few hours. It felt so lazy and luxurious, mmmmm. 

Lunch

After I was done being a bum I ran some errands and made myself my very favorite lunch. Oh how I have missed my omelettes! Today’s was filled with red pepper and laughing cow. It was so perfect. I also had the traditional english muffin and pear to round out the meal.

Then me and my dad went to the car dealership to fill out the paperwork for my mom’s new car! I’m basically in love with this car, it’s amazing. I really don’t know anything about cars but this one is sleek and drives really smoothly so I like it. It’s an Acura but don’t ask me anything else about it because I have no idea! It’s silver. There, that’s about all I can tell you.

Snack

Cottage cheese, carrots, and cherries. I am seriously anxiously awaiting the return of my beloved rainer cherries which are basically my favorite food on earth. When I spot them at the grocery store you better believe I’m going to start jumping up and down screaming and make a scene because I’m just that excited. Hopefully I’ll be alone because whoever I’m with will absolutely pretend they don’t know me.

Dinner

I made the quickest, easiest, most delicious dinners tonight. Caramelized Scallops with brown rice and snap peas. So good! Definitely 5 stars. My dad told me it was one of his favorite meals that I’ve ever made. He doesn’t have incredibly high standards when it comes to food (ie-is just as happy eating a twinkie as he is a gourmet dessert…) but who doesn’t like a compliment? I have to admit, it was pretty delicious and there was no chopping involved which meant minimal clean-up which is always a plus in my book.

Dessert

And while I’m going on a cruise in a week and should probably be cutting back on the desserts in preparation for the smorgasbord of food, endless buffets, midnight dessert bars, and tropical drinks, I just couldn’t turn down a vanilla Dairy Queen with rainbow sprinkles. This is my favorite summertime (or anytime, really) treat, and I miss it so much when I’m at school. Ahhh, the simple pleasures in life.

Ok, I’d say it’s time to veg out on the couch with a movie, a cup of tea, and my slanket. Yes, I have a slanket. My friend bought it for me as a graduation present and it is actually the best gift I think I’ve ever gotten. It’s quite possible that I’m going to crank up the A/C way higher than my family would ever accept just so that I can cozy up in this all summer. Love.

How Old Am I?

Hi friends! I realize that I’ve been a terrible blogger lately, I guess it’s because I really have nothing going on to update you on. Being back home is boring. I really haven’t been doing much of anything lately, which was relaxing for a while but now I’m getting antsy. Good thing I have a lot of fun trips coming up in the next couple months including: a cruise with Aliza, my Grandma’s birthday party in Ohio, a long trip to New York, and a weekend in Chicago!

I also just signed up for my first 10K Race! I’m running the Father’s Day Race for Prostate Cancer Education, Awareness and Early Detection. I’m really excited about this since it’s my first real race ever. 

Besides running, I’ve also gotten back into taking spinning classes, I’ve been doing some cooking, cleaning, and organizing, and consequently having a bit of an identity crisis. I have no idea how old I am anymore! My friends at school always joked that I was like a grandma because I would go to bed early and wake up at the crack of dawn. Now, I really don’t know how old I am. Some days I feel like a middle-aged housewife: get up, make coffee and breakfast, clean the house, run errands, exercise, get my nails done and chat with the gals at the salon, make dinner, clean up, and go to bed. Then, other days I spend with my grandpa (who is doing a million times better! yay!) at the nursing home, chatting it up with the other 80-something-yr olds, come home to a 5:00 dinner and fall asleep reading a book on the couch. Then, last night I went out with my friends who I’ve been close to since elementary school, stayed up playing video games all night and felt like I was back in high school. It’s confusing!

Anyway, I really have been slacking on the photos but here are a few highlights. I haven’t been using recipes for anything (which is a really big step for me to finally feel really comfortable in the kitchen) but everything has been coming out deliciously!

Sarah’s infamous crack wrap: 

Holy hell! This is the best thing I have ever tasted. WHY did it take me so long to try it? I think I’ve had this for lunch every single day for the past week and it just keeps getting better and better.

Maple/Brown Sugar glazed salmon with asparagus:

Sweet and sour tofu with pineapple and brown rice:

Grilled chicken with sauteed veggies and Israeli couscous:

Well that’s all I’ve got for now, until next time!

Sleep

I seriously have slept more in the past 2 days than I have in the past 2 weeks, it’s been great! I’m really excited about focusing on my health again, including sleep. My friend put it pretty accurately when she said “everyone warns us of the Freshman 15, but nobody really prepares us for the Senior Week 15″ and it’s so true. In the past week or so I’ve probably exercised maybe twice, barely slept, and ate and drank way too much. My body is in desperate need of some healthiness and I’m excited to provide just that.

Breakfast

I woke up this morning and knew exactly what I wanted for breakfast: WAFFLE TOWER obviously. I missed these.

After breakfast I went for a glorious run. It was a little tough to get myself moving at first, especially given the insane hills that surround my house, but once I got in the groove it felt great. 

Lunch

I headed to the store to pick up some heavy duty trash bags so that I could deep clean my room and while I was there I picked up a big salad with tofu. I have really been slacking in the veggie department lately (are olives veggies? Because I’ve been having plenty of those in my martinis but for some reason I don’t think that counts…) 

I also tried some dried pineapple which was delicious but I don’t know if I would buy this again just because it was super expensive for a really small portion.

Snack

After lunch I went on a cleaning rampage and got rid of so much junk that had accumulated in my room and closet throughout the years. I had shoes and clothes that I haven’t worn since middle school! I also found some amazing pictures and middle school diaries which were fun to look through! I successfully cleaned and unpacked all my stuff which made me feel much better–I hate messes and disorganization! 

I worked up an appetite and had some crackers and pretzels while ordering some pictures.

Dinner

I was exhausted from all my unpacking so my dad and I decided to just go out to dinner at our favorite little bar/restaurant. I skipped the drinks tonight because I’m sort of becoming an alcoholic and just stuck with splitting some popcorn as an appetizer and a chicken salad with feta, berries, and cranberries for dinner. 

Dessert

We rented the movie Doubt and I really enjoyed it. Meryl Streep is by far the best actress ever!  I wasn’t hungry but my sweet tooth was so I just had a few of my dad’s peanut m&ms and called it a night. 

Now I’m ready for bed (seriously, all I do is sleep!) so I will see you all later! Goodnight!

Surreal

Hey guys! Sorry I haven’t been around at all the past week—I’ve been so busy living and having fun! I can safely say that this past week has been the absolute best week of my college career. It’s amazing what no classes and pure relaxation and fun will do to you! The week started off with the amazing third eye blind concert, followed by a fun trip to visit Aliza in New Hampshire, a fancy night out with Senior Gala, amazing times hanging out with my friends, and graduation. It’s so surreal that it’s all over now, I’m sort of freaking out about it! I’m having so many mixed emotions that I can’t really deal with it.

Here’s me and my family before dinner:

And with my best friend Aliza and her family after a fancy-schmancy dinner out in Boston:

And graduation. After 4 years of anxiety, tears, struggles, triumphs, laughter and smiles I made it: Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations. That is definitely an accomplishment to be proud of!

My “little sister” from my sorority even came up to watch me graduate!

I just got home from an 11 hour drive (which I may have slept pretty much 8 hours of! My exhaustion is finally catching up with me because I’m still ready for bed!) and I’m really having a hard time dealing with all my emotions. I’m filled with pride, relief, anxiety, and regret. I don’t know how to handle everything and I’m pretty much just struggling to keep it together and not totally break down. You guys have all been there this year so you’ve seen it all. I’ve finally, finally found my place at school and now it’s over. I’ve made such amazing friendships this past semester, and even more in the past few weeks, and I’m devastated to have to leave them. Never before have I been sad about going home, but now all I want is to go back to school and be with my friends there. While I have a lot of friends that will be in Pittsburgh this summer and next year, they aren’t the people I want to be with anymore. I’ve been texting, calling, and video-chatting my college friends nonstop and I would give anything to have just a little more time with them. I am so full of regret that I didn’t develop these close ties sooner because my time in college would have been so much different. 

While sometimes I can be quite eloquent, I know that this post is anything but that. It’s disjointed and probably a little incoherent (which may also be the result of the 2 gin and tonics I’ve needed in order to relax tonight…) but I guess that is an accurate representation of how I feel right now. I just don’t know what’s going on or what I want or how I feel. I’m confused and overwhelmed, and a little lost. For so long my life was on a set path: high school leads to college, one semester flows into another, followed by summer and then a return for another year. But now what? I have a few months off and then I start my job at the end of July. But then what? I work. And work. And work? There isn’t a culmination point, there is no end to work towards. I am such a goal oriented person and it is so scary for me to not have a specific thing to look forward to. I feel a little lost, with no direction, and it’s scary. 

It really didn’t hit me until today that I’m actually done with college. I’m done with such a big chapter of my life: my full-time education, that I don’t know how to act. I honestly can’t grasp the fact that I’m not going back to Boston in a few months. I’m here, permanently. While I am moving forward by starting a new career and starting the next phase of my life, I feel stuck. I feel like the past 4 years were for nothing; I’m back in the same place I started. I want to be back at school, I want to be back with my friends there, I don’t need or even really want to be home right now. I’ve never, ever, felt this way before–usually I am counting down the seconds until I can get home and am always so incredibly happy when I’m here but for some reason now it’s the opposite. I just don’t know how to deal with it!  I’m not the same person I was before and I’m afraid that being back in the same place, doing the same things, will bring back all the same struggles that I’ve dealt with and overcome this past semester. I’m sort of freaking out. Hmmmmm.

I guess I’ll go to bed and hopefully wake up a little more at ease. I know that I’ll stay in touch with my friends from school, but it’s just not the same. I feel like I took for granted the time that I had with them and now I’m really regretting that I didn’t appreciate and cherish it more. I know that it’s futile to look back at it like that and I should be happy that I am able to finally look back at school in a positive way, so I guess that’s what I’m going to try to do!

I promise I’ll be back soon, I have nothing else to do besides unpack so I won’t go MIA on you guys again!

BEST NIGHT EVER

Tonight was the best night ever because I finally got to see my absolute favorite band in concert. I’ve been obsessed with Third Eye Blind for years and years and finally got to see them live! YAY! No cameras allowed so I don’t have any pictures unfortunately. The only semi-decent one I got on my phone was of the ticket:

And I owe it all to my good friend and fellow blogger, the smart, beautiful, amazing Katie. Her boyfriend plays in the awesome band The Upwelling who opened for Third Eye Blind and he hooked me and my friend up with some tickets. I can’t thank them enough! Ari has done some guest posts about his time on tour and he’s such a funny guy! I got to meet him tonight and he was really nice (and cute!). It’s pretty funny because I’ve met Katie’s boyfriend and she’s met my family, so I think it’s about time we get together and meet too!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Katie—I had the best time ever and am so happy right now! And exhausted, it’s tough work rocking out all night, haha! 

See you tomorrow!

Happy Mother’s Day!

This is the first time in my life that I’m not home with my Mom for Mother’s Day, it makes me sad! I bet she’s sad too because I’m sure she knows that if I were home I would be cooking and baking up a storm for her. Don’t worry Mom, I’ll make it up to you!

It’s been so weird being done with classes and not really having anything to do. It’s boring! I’m a very goal-oriented person so just sitting around and wasting time makes me really anxious. 

Breakfast

Overnight Oats. While I was cleaning out my cupboards I found just enough oatmeal left for 1 last bowl, and boy was it a good one. I made it the usual way: 1/2 c oats mixed with 1 T flax and a pinch of salt soaked overnight in 1/2c water. Then this morning I added 1/2 c greek yogurt, 1 banana, and cinnamon! So good.

Snack

After catching up on some blogs I decided to start packing. I still have a lot of time until I leave (1 week!) but I was bored so I got started on what I could. My room looks so sad and lonely with all the pictures and decorations taken down. Packing really made me hungry though so I had my favorite (and last, boooo) WCMN. I better be able to find these at home!

Then I hit the gym. Campus is pretty much deserted right now except for the seniors so the gym was gloriously empty. I got in a great workout! I’ve been participating in Gina’s Summer Shape Up Challenge and I LOVE IT!!! My workouts had been getting really repetitive and dull so this challenge was the perfect motivation to shake things up. Gina seriously knows what she’s talking about too! After doing the legs workout I could barely walk down stairs of sit down for days! That sort of soreness that comes after a great strength workout is the best feeling ever! Am I right?

Lunch

I came home and promptly made myself some lunch. Salmon pouch pita, carrots, and cottage cheese. These Rachel’s cottage cheese’s are my new obsession. I love them! So far I’ve only tried the sweet flavors but I bet the savory would be good too. I think they have just the right amount of sweetness to them and I like the consistency a lot. Definitely give them a try!

Snacks

After lunch I took a nice long walk to enjoy the beautiful sunshine. I love when spring finally comes to Boston because people come out of hibernation and everything is so alive and exciting. It’s great! I got home and was hungry again so I munched on an apple, carrots, and a yogurt. I couldn’t seem to get full!

Dinner

For dinner my friends were going to Panera so I obviously jumped onboard. I love it there but there isn’t one that is convenient to get to without a car here so I can’t go very often unless someone is willing to drive me. I got the Asian sesame chicken salad, wheat baguette, and a fruit cup and it was just as good as I remembered. I was a little disappointed that the Strawberry Poppyseed Salad wasn’t back yet though because that’s my favorite!

I don’t really have anything else on the agenda tonight (I’m so bored!) so I think I’ll just catch up on some of the tv that I missed due to crazy work at the end of the semester. I’m like a month behind on 30 Rock! 

See you later!

4 Years

Since I have plenty of time this week and nothing to do, I thought I would take a little trip down memory lane and reflect on the past 4 years. There have definitely been some bumps in the road and there were many times when I just had to take it day by day and even hour by hour because looking at the big picture was just too overwhelming. There were so many times when I was counting down anxiously for graduation and now it’s basically here. 1 week from today and my undergraduate years will be officially behind me. It’s hard to believe.

If I could go back in time would I do things differently? If you asked me that last year, or even last semester I wouldn’t have even needed time to think about it-my answer would be a positive YES. But now, I’m not so sure. I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting and soul-searching recently and while it took me a long time and lots of frustration and tears to get to the place I am now, maybe it was worth it. I’m not going to try to pretend that I love it here now, because that is not true. However, through my trials and tribulations I feel like I have finally started to make progress in discovering who I really am. For so long I tried to be what I thought was expected of me, I tried to please everyone else, and I never really thought about who I am or what I wanted. I’m still not there yet, but I’ve come such a long way. I definitely didn’t get there on my own though, I could never have made it through the past 4 years without the constant love and support of my family and closest friends. I’ve learned that, especially for me, it’s not the number of friends I have, but the quality. I feel great about the friendships that I have developed and I know that they wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t for everything I went through in the process.

4 years ago I graduated High School as Valedictorian of my class:

I then went on to have what I thought was the summer of my life before beginning college.

Freshman Year

I explored Boston

Rang in the New Year at home with my high school friends

Watched the Steelers win their 5th Superbowl

I also had a hard time finding the right group of friends, struggled with maintaining a long distance relationship with my high school boyfriend, and made 2 of my best friends in college, Aliza, and my freshman year roommate Lisa.

Sophomore Year

I went to Steelers games

Went to Israel on Birthright

Joined AOII

But I also had my hardest semester where my best friend Aliza transferred and I had my heart broken, all in a matter of weeks. I was miserable but made it through with the help of my family, Lisa, and my new sorority sisters.

That summer I went to Israel and actually had the best summer of my life.

Junior Year

I spent a semester studying abroad in Spain and traveling throughout Europe 

I came back to campus in the spring and really focused on getting my life back on track with healthy eating and exercise. I lived with horrible roommates but became a lot closer with the girls in my sorority.

I came home for the summer and celebrated my 21st birthday

Developed my cooking skills (and my 6-pack)

Deepened my yoga practice and became a runner

And began blogging!

Senior Year

This year has been full of ups and downs and you’ve followed me through it all and been so supportive and encouraging. I don’t know if I could have made it without you all.

I was a Flapper for Halloween

Voted in my first presidential election for the nation’s first African American president!

Had fun on visits with my mom and dad

Watched the Steelers win their 6th Superbowl

Made amazing friends

I’ve definitely changed a lot since Freshman year but I’m pretty happy with the person that I’ve become. I’m ready for graduation and I’m excited to start the next chapter of my life.