Spinning and Maleficent

This morning, a miracle occurred and I woke up on time to go to spin (I tend to oversleep for absolutely everything haha). I rolled out of bed and met my parents at the gym, and after a bit of running around, finally found the new spin room.

I wish I took pictures, the new setup is so nice! It feels way roomier and it didn't overheat like it normally does with so many of us in there. It was a 60 minute class instead of a 45 minute like I thought, and it kicked my trash. A little over 40 minutes in and I almost got sick, so I dialed it back a notch because I wanted to finish strong.

I actually tried to take a picture on the bike for the blog, but then I tipped off my bike and I was a bit embarrassed so I just walked out after the cooldown.

Of my qualities, grace is not one of them ;)

When I got home I refueled with some cookie dough hummus and apples. It sounds gross, but I promise it's super good :)

I don't have the original recipe, but I just added a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas, a little under 1/4 cup of peanut butter, a tablespoon of vegetable oil, some agave nectar, a sprinkle of raw sugar, and a splash of coconut milk and blended it in my food processor, then stirred in chocolate chips. I love it because it satisfies my sweet tooth, but it also packs in a good dose of protein and fiber :)

A little while later my boyfriend came over, and we went into town to do some Christmas shopping. I didn't get as much done as I planned on, but I knocked out stuff for 3 people so it was a success :)

Afterwards we went back to my house and watched Maleficent. If you've never seen it, I highly highly recommend it! It was a really great twist on the story, and I was almost in tears a couple of times. Definitely watch it :)

What was your workout today?

What's your favorite Disney movie?
For me it's a tie between Aladdin and Hercules :)

Thanksgiving things and I may have a problem

Happy Friday!

Yesterday was pretty busy, so I was absent from the blogging world, but I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving (or just a great Thursday) :) Mine was spent relaxing on the couch/napping while watching Friends, then going to dinner at my dad's cousin's house.

It was our first year not hosting Thanksgiving, but it was still a lot of fun! Plus it was way less work to just bring a couple dishes instead of making the whole dinner ;) Afterwards I stopped by my boyfriend's house and saw him and his family for awhile, then I met my mom for some late (early? it was 11pm) Black Friday shopping.

I'm one of those people who can't be trusted shopping. I went in not looking for anything specific, but I walked out with 2 cardigans, 2 sweaters, and a pair of (super super fluffy and warm) socks.

Everything was 40% off and I needed more winter clothes, so #noregrets ;)

Brooks also had an amazing Black Friday special where when you spent $100 you got this shirt for free. Needless to say, my new Ravenna 5's and that shirt should be in the mail by Monday.

Although I took care of myself, I still have a lot of shopping to do for my family, so I'm trying to convince my boyfriend to go down to Richmond with me tomorrow. But first, my parents are going to the gym in the morning so we're doing a family workout! Well, we're not all working out together, but we'll all be at the gym at the same time so close enough :) My knee's feeling a bit better, so I'm hoping that this will help instead of hurt :)

Also, here's a bonus picture of my dog Bailey. She looked so cute and peaceful sleeping in the chair, so I went to take a picture of her and this is what I got.

Typical.

How was your Thanksgiving (or Thursday for non US people)? :)

What are you most excited for this weekend?

Tangent Wednesday

I know most bloggers do Tangent Tuesday, but after sitting here for awhile I couldn't think of anything to blog about, so lets go with Tangent Wednesday ;)

1. I've finally accepted that I'm an injury prone person.

I woke up this morning hoping to go to spin, but my knee hurt just going down the stairs, so I think it's gonna be a rest day. Whenever I jump into a new workout schedule all at once, it feels like it only takes a few weeks for something to hurt. My left side is really injury prone, so I've been foam rolling like crazy and I'm going to work on strengthening all the muscles in my hips/legs to hopefully fix the problem :)

2. How cute are these Brooks??

I have these Ravenna 5s in the blue/coral color, but I saw these on the site while looking around and I need them in my life. A runner needs to rotate her shoes, right? ;)

3. Thanksgiving cooking has begun.

My grandma's on her way over for us to begin prep! We're not hosting Thanksgiving this year, but we're still making stuffing balls (both meat and vegetarian :)). Prepping as much as possible the day before really makes Thanksgiving flow more smoothly! Plus then there's more time to turkey trot or workout ;)

4. It snowed!!!

Well, more like it flurried, but it was snow and it was beautiful. I love the snow and all things winter, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more ;)

5. I finally found barre classes in my area!

After reading a hilarious story of a man's first barre class and reading about Kris's experience, I've been dying to try a barre class. I found a studio downtown and a drop in class is only $10, so as soon as my knee's all better I'm definitely trying it out :)

What's a tangent for your Wednesday??

Tuesday things

Last night I went running with my friend and my mom, and I tried to take a picture:

Yes, I know my photography skills are impeccable ;) It was strangely warm last night, so we went out for a quick 2 miles around the neighborhood. I realized yesterday that I have NO CLUE where my Garmin charger is, so I don't know the splits, but I think we were out for a little over 20 minutes. 

A few hours later the runger kicked in, so I woke up the house to make tofu scramble.

Fact: Breakfast tastes 1847% better at midnight :) Plus, this is super easy to make! You just throw some crumbled up tofu, turmeric, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and spinach in a pan and heat it through. 

This morning I planned on going to a CXWORX class and then Spin, but I overslept a bit and missed the first class. I still went to the gym for spin, but they renovated awhile ago and I realized that I had no idea where the spin room was! I walked around for a few minutes, but class had already started so I just hopped on the treadmill. 

I did a 5 minute warmup and then 15 minutes of alternating 30 seconds sprinting and 30 seconds walking, then did 45 minutes of upper body and abs. I tried doing lower body as well, but after running my knee wasn't a happy camper.

My left knee's been super stiff when trying to bend it for the past couple of days, so I'm going to lay off running tomorrow and hope it feels better for the turkey trot on Thursday! (Yes, I'm still wearing ghost socks, don't judge me ;))

After the gym I had a little bit of time to kill, so I did my hair and makeup for the first time in forever a week :)

After that I had an afternoon date with my grandparents! I haven't seen them in awhile, so they picked me up and we went out for bowling and lunch :) They both used to bowl league when I was a kid, so they got me into it and I eventually joined a league too for a few years when I was a teenager. 

I have the rest of the night off, so it'll be spent in bed watching old episodes of the Biggest Loser :) Oh, and flipping the house upside down to look for my Garmin charger. 

Do you like tofu? 

Typical vegetarian, but it's one of my favorites ;)

What's your next race?

Staying motivated

This past week has been a super crazy one, BUT after work tonight, I'm officially on fall break! :) Which means it's time to party:

And by "party" I mean curl up in bed with hot chocolate and watch Gilmore Girls ;)

With a bunch of free time coming up, it's easy for me to go into total veg mode, but I really need to take advantage of it. Janae over at HRG wrote a great post on how to stay motivated, and it's 100% spot on. 

However, in addition to keeping up with my workouts, it's about time to start studying for finals, so I've been working on a couple of ways to stay motivated myself :)

1. Make a to-do list

It's a bit messy, but it does the trick ;) I always try to keep my to-do list simple, because otherwise it can get overwhelming to see how much I have to do. I also like writing my workouts in the corner to keep myself on track :) (I was apparently really excited about my rest day Friday)

2. Block out study time

Time management isn't always my forte, so choosing certain days to work on certain subjects really helps. Like, I have tomorrow off from work, so I'll try to review all of my anthropology notes that day, and I have some extra time Wednesday that can be devoted to reviewing math :)

3. Plan fun breaks

When studying, my energy levels drain when I'm stuck inside the house all day. To change it up, I'll plan breaks to go out to get coffee, go to the store, or go running with a friend. 

4. Don't think about it

This might sound like a weird one, but I find that I'm most productive when I don't think about it, I just do it. Just like it's easy to talk myself out of a workout, it's easy to just push studying aside and do other things instead. In both situations, I try to just get up and tackle it anyway, even if I'm not feeling it. The feeling of accomplishment is always worth it, and it saves a lot of time I'd otherwise spend procrastinating ;)

What are your best tips to stay motivated?

When does fall break begin for you (for US readers)?

Thanksgiving blend and Christmas Town

Happy Sunday!

Yesterday I was up and on the go from 5:40am to 9:30pm, so I didn't get a chance to post anything, so here's a recap of Friday:

After my morning math class, I had a cup of the Thanksgiving blend and sat down to study catch up on blogs :) I'll be so sad when the Thanksgiving blend is gone, I've loved it this year! Speaking of which, isn't it crazy that Thanksgiving is this week??? In my mind it's still October.

The weather was beautiful for a run, but I had to be to work pretty soon after class, so it turned into a rest day.

After going a bit crazy with eating out (I became a regular at the Subway across the street), I've been making more of an effort to bring food to work :) My new favorite is oatmeal! It's super easy to just throw some oats, cranberries, and pumpkin seeds in a ziploc and add some steamed soy. I just add the soy because I love the flavor it gives the oats, but hot water would work just as well :)

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Saturday morning I had to be to work at 6:30, so I set my alarm for an ungodly hour 5:40 and got moving.

When I pulled into my driveway after work, my parents were loading my nephews and niece in the car to go to Christmas Town.

Busch Gardens in Williamsburg puts this on every year, so it was exciting to get to go with the little ones :)

The park was decorated gorgeously! I wish I had taken more photos before it got dark (I need to step up my blogging game), but I definitely felt like I was in The Nightmare Before Christmas.

So just imagine a real life version of this and it's pretty spot on ;) The only thing that would have made it better is if they had Jack and Sally.

Enjoy your run/workout/rest day!

Power naps and quick workouts

Do you ever wake up some mornings and think to yourself, "this just isn't happening"?

After a late night, my 7:30 alarm came way too early. As much as I wanted to hit snooze a million times, I had an appointment to rush off to and then a full day of anthropology studying ahead. 

I sat down with the best intentions to study, but it turned into reading blogs and snacking to keep myself awake. Oops. Speaking of which, have you ever tried warmed Clif bars??

If you haven't, please go try this ASAP and you can thank me later :) I popped this baby in the microwave for 15 seconds, and I'm pretty sure I heard angels sing.

After realizing studying wasn't working, I thought about going for a run, but I decided to be lazy take a quick nap instead. After an hour, I woke up feeling way more energized and ready to tackle everything :) I looked over my notes again before my night class, and actually absorbed everything and nailed my quiz. Power naps are totally underrated and work wonders :)

After class I still wanted to get in a good workout, but I knew my gym was only open for another hour, so beforehand I looked up a quick weight workout and found this from Women's Health Magazine:

The workout looks easy enough, but by the end I was happy to do abs because I could finally lay on the floor ;) The best thing was that I was in and out of the gym in 40 minutes and felt like I worked all my muscle groups :) I'll definitely be keeping this handy for when I'm on a time crunch. Although I'll probably add squats or lunges to target the legs a bit more :)

What are your favorite weight exercises?

Do you have any fun plans for the weekend?

Winter and Wegmans

Happy Thursday!

That has been me the past few days. Winter's finally hitting in VA, and I can tell it's going to be a rough one!

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, but on Tuesday I opted for an indoor workout and hit the gym to pump iron! I did about 70 minutes of full body lifting and some stretching before calling it a day. Afterwards, I went to Wegmans for 5 things.

Oops.

I love all things seasonal, so when I saw the Coconut Milk Nog and the seasonal Clif bars, they jumped into my basket before I could stop them. They were delicious and 100% worth it ;)

Yesterday, I had class in the morning and went on a FREEZING run. (Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating...it was 3 degrees above freezing)

I set out for a quick 2 miles, but once I warmed up I was feeling really good, so I kept going to make it a 5k loop! My Garmin was dead so I don't know the exact time, but between my warm up and cool down I was outside for about 40 minutes :)

How was your last run?

What's one thing you can't resist at the store?

The one with the First Post

Welcome to my blog! I'm Dana, and I'm just a girl living in Virginia. I work as a barista at Starbucks part time, and I have a passion for coffee and fitness.

As a full time student, this past semester has proven to be really challenging. I was hitting the books and working more than usual, so unfortunately my fitness took a huge hit. Right now my current goal is to establish a solid fitness routine again, then move into half marathon training. :)

Outside of all of that, I love cooking/baking, reading, and spending time with my family/friends/boyfriend of 3 years. I also have two dogs and a cat, so you'll be seeing plenty of all of them on the blog. ;) (I also love FRIENDS, so this post title may or may not have come after watching a marathon of the show...)