Post-CA Bar Life Update

Hi there! So, I survived the California bar exam.

Flash cards all day, every day. Actually, more practice essays and multiple choice questions. But flash cards, too.

Honestly, it wasn’t that bad. I think once you’ve billed well over 200 hours in a month, 18 hours of testing in three days just isn't as terrible as when you're coming off your laid back third year of law school. It was still stressful because memorization is not my strong suit, but nowhere near as nerve-wracking as when I took the New York bar in 2013. Also, Pasadena is really pretty!

It's nestled right up against the San Gabriel Mountains.

I ate most of my meals over the three days of the exam at Urth Caffe since it was close to my hotel and had delicious food. Highly recommend if you're in the area (it's an LA mini-chain focused on local and organic food).

Also: pretty outdoor seating.

There's not much to report life-wise or running-wise since studying took up the bulk of my time and my runs and workouts were strictly "let's burn off some stress and try not to lose fitness from Surf City training". Sourabh and I did a bit of hiking the weekend after the bar exam but both times were thwarted by nature/weather. 

First, we tried hiking in the Cleveland National Forest, but the area was closed because the area is trying to regrow from a forest fire. We hiked a few miles around the Irvine Regional Park instead but it wasn't quite the mountains I'd had in mind.

Still pretty, though.

We'd originally planned on heading up to Mammoth Lakes to hike but a major snowstorm was forecasted to dump a foot of snow on the mountain. Great for skiers, not so much for hikers with a foot-tall dog. So we did some short hikes in Orange County.

Apparently the powers-that-be were not going to let us escape from cold precipitation, though, because while hiking in the Santa Ana Mountains we were stuck in a freak hail storm. 

Before the hail...

We did catch a gorgeous, stormy sunset one night at Newport Beach.

Thankfully, last weekend was a bit more successful. My NYC office mate (and friend) Hana is visiting and the weather was great, so we got outside a bunch and had some delicious meals. Saturday dinner at Red O in Newport Beach (great Mexican food and even better people watching -- think the real housewives of OC types). One of our servers apparently wasn't used to normal appetites since he said "this is all for just you two?" when dropping off our food. And when he dropped off our dessert, he said "oh, only one?"

I mean, please confirm for me that this isn't that much...

Duck taquitos, beef short ribs sopes, ahi tuna tostaditas, guacamole and a chopped salad. (Unpictured: churros)
This is not SO MUCH food for two people.

Sunday morning we went to a SoulCycle class. It was hilarious after I'd watched the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt episode with a parody of spin cults the day before. The candle part was just so spot on... (Decent workout, though.)

For class, I tried out this top that I kept from my SWEATSTYLE delivery:

It's an ALALA tank top in the water print. I don't normally pick up prints, but I liked this one a lot. There's also a line of mesh running along the arm holes, which was cool. SWEATSTYLE is a service where you receive an outfit of workout clothes every three months. I'm not normally a fan of the delivery box services since I'm pretty specific about what I wear for work, but I like fun workout clothes, and I think Helena (the founder of SWEATSTYLE, a co-founder of Uplift Studios and a former attorney) is awesome, so I wanted to sign up.

Short review: I really like this top and it held up very well to the amount of sweating I did in the SoulCycle class. I'm going to do a full review after the next shipment I receive, but after one shipment I'm a fan. Receiving and returning the items was easy (and I'm lazy about that kind of thing). I liked that it exposed me to new brands other than the big "default" workout brands. I'll report back next time...

Post-class we had breakfast at W Cafe. I made sure to pick a place that had outdoor seating since Hana was coming from a brutal NYC winter, and then we headed for the hills and hiked at Santiago Oaks Regional Park.

Everything is SO GREEN right now. 

We did a short hike but the route was steep (Hana's fitbit said we went up about 700 feet over a mile and a half or so).

Mason was a brat and refused to walk . I was worried he was overheated and kept carrying him and giving him water. But as soon as we reached the top and I said "we're going back", he started running downhill. He wasn't even subtle about it. He'd just been lazy and hadn't wanted to walk.

Mason's preferred position. Unless he could be eating.

Sunday night we grabbed sushi on Newport Peninsula (it was meh) and dessert at Monster in the UC Irvine area (very tasty) before we headed to Turtle Rock to catch the last of the evening's sunset.

And now you're about caught up. In training news, I *think* I've picked a new half marathon to aim for, and I just put together a training plan. This week is the first week of training, so I'll be back to workout recaps soon!

Is anyone interested in a more detailed description of the bar exam? Happy to write more about it but also don't want to do a long post about the exam only to bore people.

Random Bits & Pieces: Graduation Week

This post is all over the place, but that's how my week has been, literally. I started it in Cuba and will be ending it in Canada. Oh, and I'm graduating from law school today!

I got back from Cuba late Monday night, celebrated Sourabh's birthday with him on Tuesday (low-key since he's in the middle of the writing competition for journals at Columbia), then ran errands and cleaned our apartment Wednesday before my parents arrived last night. Phew!

I was so frazzled today that I completely forgot about my date with Carrie to do some much-needed Trader Joe's shopping!! The biggest apologies ever, Carrie, and thanks for being so understanding :) We'll be meeting up before book club next weekend. For those reading Savor, how are you liking it??

My parents are here now and I'm so excited for the short road trip we're taking after my graduation. We're going up to Montreal and Quebec! Anyway, to recap the post-Cuba and pre-graduation part of my week, here's what happened.

Sourabh was craving some top notch pizza for his birthday, so we headed to Motorino on the Lower East Side. It was fantastic. I got the Ramp Pizza and Sourabh had the Brussels Sprouts pizza without pancetta (he doesn't eat beef or pork). Both were great, but my ramp pizza was definitely the winner. The place was cute, too, without being kitschy. I'd definitely go back!

While in Cuba, there were a few things I really missed. Easily available fruit and veggies and iced coffee, to mention a few! It was crazy to me how little vegetables are in most cuban dishes -- it's very starch-heavy.

So the morning after I got home, the first thing I had was a bowl of plain Chobani Greek yogurt with some KIND granola (from FitBlog!) and a giant heap of raspberries. It was so satisfying!!

I also missed sweating a lot, despite running a very sweaty mile on the Malecon (the seaside promenade). Unfortunately, I didn't head out early enough, and even at 7:30 AM I was sweating buckets. Plus, the promenade isn't well-kept, so I stumbled quite a few times. Still, it's pretty cool to be able to say I went for a run in Cuba!!

I got back into the sweaty swing of things Wednesday by taking a fantastic spin class at Flywheel UWS with my friend Hana, taught by the amazing Dani Devine. Hana just graduated from UVA Law and just got back from Spain, so we had lots to catch up on! I'm taking a Refine Method class today, too, to make sure I get strength training in as well.

Oh yeah, another thing I missed. Hi cute face. Is there anything as great as how excited a dog is to see you when you get home from a trip, by the way??

And check out the sister cats, Bea and Betty, acting too cool for school. I know you missed me, cats. I'm the only one who pets Bea at 2 AM when she meows for attention...

I'm graduating this afternoon, so I will likely have a ton of photos tomorrow on the blog. I'll try to Instagram in real time, though, so follow along there if you're curious about what a law school graduation looks like! Hint: we wear funny robes and hats.


Do you have pets who miss you when you're gone? Do you miss certain foods when you travel?

I Can't Clean, Birch Box, and my Favorite Water Bottle

First off, yesterday I forgot to mention a key detail about Mason eating a pack of gum (AKA the kitties' first assassination attempt of 2013). 

He got into the gum while I was doing a deep cleaning of the kitchen for the first time in ages. I always do the pots and pans and rinse out the sink, but I hadn't scrubbed the oven or cabinet doors in months. I was so intent on scrubbing, I didn't see the cats putting their nefarious plot into action and knocking my gum on the floor for Mason to eat. 

"Mom, please don't clean. For me."

Basically, I now believe that I should never clean again, or I risk putting my dog in danger. It's a pretty clear correlation, right? Right.

Birch Box

Now, on to my Birch Box review. I signed up for Birch Box because it sounded like a fun thing to receive once a month and it was only $10. For $10, I'm okay if I only love a few of the products. It's just fun to get a bunch of little samples in the mail, but a lot of the other subscription boxes are a bit too expensive for me, since I don't know if I'll love the things inside them.

Since I wasn't sure what I'd think, I was pleasantly surprised with what I got! My favorites were the Malin + Goetz peppermint shampoo (love peppermint and Malin + Goetz products are fabulous) and the Mighty Leaf tea, a favorite of mine but too expensive for me to drink on the regular.

I am also liking the eye cream for mornings, but I'm sticking with my heavier eye cream for nights. Haven't used the shaving cream or nail polish yet, but they seem fine. The nail polish changes color in the sun! I'll take pictures and share if that works well.

My Favorite Water Bottle
While we're on the topic of products, I realized I've never shared my favorite water bottle in the world! I own three of these -- one for the bedside table, one for gym and general drinking, and one for the office or school -- and have used them for almost four years.

Copco tumblers are fantastic and they are all under $10 each. They're not totally leak-proof, but if you knock it over and have the top screwed on, it's not going to go spilling everywhere. And I drink so much more water when I have these hanging around! I replace them once a year for hygiene reasons.


Do you subscribe to Birch Box? What's your favorite kind of water bottle?

FYI: Sugar-Free Gum with Xylitol is Poisonous for Dogs

Sourabh and I spent the hours from 10:45 PM to 1:00 AM at the emergency 24-hour pet hospital last night. Mason ate almost an entire pack of Orbit sugar-free gum, so we first called up our vet then took him to the hospital to be checked out after we couldn't get him to throw up. Thankfully he's fine now and sleeping like a baby in bed.

Classic Mason - cause trouble then curl up and be cute.

I wanted to write about the incident, though, because the only reason I knew xylitol -- an ingredient in most sugar-free gums -- was poisonous to dogs was because of a post Ashley wrote a few months ago.

Why is xylitol poisonous?

Ingestion of xylitol primarily affects insulin release throughout the body. Insulin causes an increase of glucose (blood sugar) uptake into the liver, muscle, and fat cells resulting in decreasing blood glucose levels.

Xylitol strongly promotes the release of insulin from the pancreas into circulation leading to a rapid decrease of blood glucose levels. Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) can occur within 30 to 60 minutes of xylitol ingestion with levels as low as 0.1g xylitol /kg body weight. (source)

"But it tastes good and makes my mouth smell minty fresh!"

I'm also posting because I want to catalogue this potential cat assassination attempt. Knowing that my cats get into my gum and that it was hazardous to Mason, who will eat anything that falls on the floor, I put the gum in a small basket on a side table.

Clearly responsible for the assassination attempt.

This did not stop the cats from scooping it out, dropping it on the floor, and apparently attempting to assassinate Mason. Yes, we're going to have to watch this brewing Cold War more closely.

Anyway, we realized Mason had gotten into the container and talked to our vet. He recommended we try to make Mason throw up with 1-2 tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide, which we had a hard time getting into him even when we mixed it with his favorite food, peanut butter (for future reference, a friend recommended melted ice cream).

"But I'm so cute? Why would you want to do that, kitties?"

Since we couldn't get him to throw up, we decided to take him to a 24/7 emergency hospital (Blue Pearl in Midtown, which was great). They had us call Animal Poison Control at (888) 426-4435. If the owner calls, it's a $65 consultation fee for the entire process, including all follow-up calls, but if the vet calls them it's $150, which is why they had us initiate the call.

The hotline took down the details, talked to their onsite vet, then told us that Orbit was the least poisonous for dogs of the sugar-free gums and that Mason should be ok if he threw up, but gave us a case number so the vet could call them and get more details.

After another hour or so, during which Mason finally threw up and his blood glucose and sugar levels looked ok, he was given some fluids and released to come home.

Moral of the story: KEEP SUGAR-FREE GUM AWAY FROM DOGS (and potentially murderous cats)

Random Bits and Pieces

Happy Friday! Yes, it's Friday, that happiest of (week)days.

Or the day I have the most class, but my morning class is canceled today so I am off to my first Refine Method class in quite a while! I'm excited. And scared. We'll see how the knee feels!

I've been taking it easy workout-wise this week to make sure that whatever was ailing my knee is officially a thing of the past by tomorrow's first run. Sourabh and I are going to run in Prospect Park! It'll be my first time running in Brooklyn. I'm so psyched!!

I had a bunch of scattered thoughts I wanted to share today!

Creature of breakfast habit
I am a creature of habit when it comes to my breakfasts. I think I've had the same thing now for at least 2-3 weeks, with only the occasional eggs to break it up. And the weird thing is I am totally happy that way!

My current breakfast: whole wheat toast, peanut or almond butter, chia seeds, drizzle of maple syrup, and a banana.
With a big mug of black tea and almond milk, of course!

I go to sleep oftentimes looking forward to my breakfasts. For some reason, I just start liking one thing, so I get into breakfast grooves for a few weeks where it's the same breakfast every day. Then after a few weeks, I find myself unable to finish my breakfast and not looking forward to it the night before. That's when I know it's time to switch it up!

Hardcore Workouts
I love workouts that feel hardcore. It's one reason I like Uplift Studios and Refine Method so much -- you leave a class feeling like you just got your ass kicked. In a good way. But they can be super hard to mimic in intensity at home.

My trainer, Amanda, gave me a terrific workout last Friday that focused on heavier weights for fewer repetitions. We didn't do our normal cardio intervals of burpees and mountain climbers since I had run the half-marathon less than a week before and my legs were still wonky.

I loved the switch-up! And I found it was much easier to make myself do this workout on my own. The cardio intervals are always the hardest thing for me to motivate myself through. Abby came over last Tuesday and we did this workout together at 9:30 PM. See? So hardcore.

The fact that we had a pile of weights at the end made me laugh, so I had to snap a pic. Don't worry, no one else was in the gym so we weren't being rude by hoarding the weights!

Posting Less
You may or may not have noticed I didn't post every day this week or last week. My feeling is that I don't want to post every single day unless I have something I'm excited to write about every day. That typically isn't an issue since I can be a wee bit chatty!


But especially this week and last week, where I've just been feeling exhausted and under the weather and my workouts have been a bit lackluster, I've had to wrack my brain a bit. And I never want to post something that's pointless! So in case you were wondering, that's why there haven't been posts each weekday over the past two weeks.

Illustrative of my exhaustion -- Betty, Bea, Mason, and Sourabh all crashed last Sunday afternoon. 

And yep, I'm still feeling sick. Going to the doctor on Monday I think, after a weekend full of copious amounts of rest and hot liquids, to see what's up. I'm not normally a "lingering sickness" kind of person, so this is really odd for me!

Mason knows the way home
This one is so odd to me, so I had to share and see if anyone else had experienced it as well. When we're in the park, at some point Mason just decides he's had enough walking. I'll try to coax him to walk more, but that's good for about 10 minutes, at which point he just will not budge. Well I can drag him because he's only 12 pounds, but you get the idea.

The funny thing is, once he knows we're going home, he can lead the way there. We'll be a mile away in the park and somehow he knows exactly how to go. Frequently I let the leash go totally slack just to see if he can figure it out, and he always gets us home quickly and efficiently. Weird, right??


Do you eat the same thing for breakfast every day? What kind of workouts are easiest for you to do at home? Does your dog know the way home?

Crushing on Running. Also, I need travel help!

Run Crush
I am loving running. Every run isn't great, and some runs hurt my face because of the whole being below freezing thing, but I'm just loving running and training right now.

I may have tweeted something along these lines yesterday after a brief two miles around Central Park to round out the 2.5 I'd run at Finish Line for my training plan's called-for 4.5 miles.

Lately, even when the runs are kind of hurting for some reason (cold, pushing the pace, etc.), I just feel good. I think this may have to do with increasing my mileage so running feels less difficult. Whatever it is, I'm really enjoying this training cycle so far.

also enjoying coming home and warming up by snuggling with Mason

I've been really open about my goals, telling everyone who asks (and some who don't...) that I'm training for a sub-2:00 half. So whenever my ass feels attached to the couch, I just think to myself -- will the couch get you a sub-2:00? That gets me off the couch and then once I start running, I feel great.

it also helps when I can come back from speed work and eat this. well, half of this.
stupid boyfriend wanting dinner. sheesh.

I'm sure there will be plenty of downs to come since there are still quite a few weeks left in this training cycle, but right now I'm just enjoying my runs and the increased mileage that I'd thought would be so tough. It's kind of a surprise, honestly, but I think it helps that I always feel so encouraged and inspired by the running community on Twitter and in real life.

Basically, I'm crushing on running. Real hard. We're close to Valentine's Day, and despite my feelings about that particular holiday, it's the perfect time for a crush. Right?

So about that credit card charge yesterday...
Thanks so much for the concern yesterday about that $4,000 charge! I was able to have it credited back to my card and then billed to my firm relatively quickly, so no harm no foul. It was just a lot of money to be worried about on a Wednesday morning! (Thursday mornings, of course, I could care less about $4,000. Obviously.)

In case you're curious, (you probably aren't but oh well) here's how law school works for those who have jobs lined up at NYC corporate law firms for post-graduation. I'll graduate in mid-May and have about 10 days before my bar review course starts.

Then, I'll spend June and July studying for the bar exams, and the bar review class and homework take up 8-10 hours a day.

this will be me from June through July.
I'd pretend I'd be better dressed , but let's be honest... no. I won't be.

The bar is a two-day exam, 6 hours each day, where you're tested on both New York State laws and multi-state laws. I'll be taking that the last week of July and then I'll have roughly 6 weeks off before I start working at my firm!

 And that, ladies and gents, is my next 8 months in a nutshell.

I need help! Have you been to Montreal or Quebec?

(source)

During that 10 day break after I graduate law school and before my bar review course starts, I'm going to be taking a road trip with my parents up to Montreal and Quebec. I've been to Montreal before (it was Sourabh and my first min vacation together), but never Quebec.

If you've been to either city, I would LOVE to get your recommendations! Where should we eat? Where can I run? What should we see?

If you're training for something, are you enjoying your training? Do you have travel tips for me? Help!

Weekly Goals and Workout Recap: Indian Cooking, Mountains, and Redeyes

Happy MLK Jr Day AND Inauguration Day! Four years ago on Inauguration Day, Sourabh and I were juniors in college on an off-term, living in a teeny basement apartment in D.C. and working as unpaid interns for two think tanks there. We'd only been dating a few months, but on a leap of faith (or rather, stupidity?) we decided to live together since it was the only way we could really afford to be unpaid interns. Not the brightest idea in retrospect since it could have ended badly, but hey, four years later and we're still together :)

Anyway, I have so much to write about from the past few days! Sourabh and my mini trip to Seattle, our last night with my family, traveling back to New York, and last week's training. I'm going to recap Seattle separately tomorrow so I can go into a bit more detail (and not overwhelm with mountain pictures in one post). Also, if you missed it on Friday, I posted a yoga flow for runners with lots of pictures illustrating each pose. Check it out!

Chef Sourabh

After getting home from Seattle on Thursday, Sourabh and I cooked some Indian food for my parents. We ended up cooking Friday night as well. Both times we made a very simple vegetable recipe -- it's basically sauteed vegetables with Indian spices. I'm going to post it on the blog soon! We also did a great fish recipe on Friday that I'd never had. It was delicious so I'll be figuring out the proportions (we were eyeballing) and posting that as well.

On Friday, we had lunch with my old piano teacher, Nancy. I was so happy that Sourabh got to meet her! I took piano lessons with Nancy for seven years, but more than being a piano teacher, she was always a surrogate grandparent to me. My mom's parents lived far away for most of my childhood and were never very grandkid-oriented, and my dad's parents sadly passed away before we could get too close. So I've always looked on Nancy as my grandma-fill-in, right down to the delicious cookies she always baked for piano recitals.

I was so glad Sourabh could meet her since he never met my grandparents. After a nice lunch catching up, my parents, Sourabh and I drove up the Mount Baker Highway so that Sourabh could see the gorgeous views in the Mt. Baker recreational area. The top part of the road was closed due to snow.

I have no idea why. It's not like there was that much snow. (Mt Baker actually gets some of the deepest drifts in the country because every time it rains in WA, it's snowing in the mountains)

We got to see the sun set over the peaks of the mountains, creating gorgeous shadows in the valleys while the mountaintops were capped with golden sunlight. It was breathtaking.

Mt. Shuksan, elev. 9,131 ft.

Sourabh doesn't share my (unhealthy) obsession with mountains, but even he admitted the hour and a half drive was worth it to see the Cascades up close. Trust me, if you're ever in Washington, you must drive up the Mount Baker Scenic Highway. If you go in August or September, then Artist's Point should be open -- it's the highest point of the highway at 5,140 ft. and has many trails you can hike while staring at the Cascades and Mt. Baker, which is a 10,000 ft. active volcano!

Ok fine, enough mountain talk. I'll stop. Even if you don't like mountains, there's a wonderful Italian restaurant partway up the highway, Milano's, which is a destination all by itself.

I'm so happy because we're in the mountains!

Oh, we also brought Mason up to the mountains! At first he was totally fine trotting around exploring. But after about 10 minutes, he suddenly ran to the car and decided he was done. I think his paws had gotten cold on the snow! He's not exactly a hardcore dog; definitely more of the coddled city dog type.

I forgot Mason's leash and collar, so my dad bought him a pink harness and leash. no gender conformity for him.

Saturday afternoon, after a 30 minute Nike Training Club workout that left me very sore the next day and my dad's yoga class, Sourabh and I took my parents to lunch to thank them for putting up with us and our finicky dog for a month. Then it was a flurry of packing and a 2-hour drive to Seattle Airport for our redeye flight to JFK!

Good bye, Washington. Till next time.

Weekly Workout Recap
Several of the blogs I read do a weekly workout recap, which I love reading. Yes, I'm a dork who likes reading about other people's workouts. Oh well.

Anyway, instead of just doing bullet points on how I did on my goals for the previous week, I've decided to start recapping my workouts a bit more, going day by day, before detailing my goals for the coming week. Let me know what you think of the change!

Last week's goals
• 2 short runs, 3 miles each
• 1 long run, 7 miles
• 1 tempo run, 35 minutes
• 2 strength workouts
• 2 yoga classes

Monday: 
Short 3 mile run around local golf course. It was cold (like, sub-freezing), but I had surprisingly few breathing issues, despite keeping an average 9:01 pace. My breathing was labored, but nothing that made the run difficult.

Tuesday:
Rigorous vinyasa class taught by my dad. This was at a smaller gym than my dad's normal class, and there was only one other student -- a young guy in great shape. My dad led a very tough class, doing extra exercises with weights, so I felt like it doubled as a strength workout.

Wednesday: 
Rest day (Seattle).

Thursday: 
Got home from Seattle after dark, so completed a 3.5 mile short run on the treadmill with an average 9:20 pace. I could have gone a bit faster, but the goal of these runs is to get my body used to the mileage more than speed up, so I didn't push it. I was really proud I made it happen, since I hate running on a treadmill and had just driven two hours, so was tempted to skip a workout.

Friday:
Unplanned rest day. My parents wanted me to stay home and since I was leaving the next day, I decided to spend more time with them. Thankfully for my training, this distraction is gone now!

Saturday:
30 minute advanced toning strength workout using Nike Training Club app. The workout showed me how much strength I've lost over the past month since I wasn't prioritizing strength training. And I'm still feeling it! Lots of variations on deadlifts. I love the areas I'm feeling sore in -- hamstrings, calves, glutes, and quads. The areas that I need to strengthen to be a better runner.

Restorative flow yoga class. My last class with my dad for a while! Since he had a large class with quite a few new students, he made it quite easy, so it was more of a restorative class.

Sunday:
Unplanned rest day. Was supposed to do my long run, but after a redeye flight from 10pm-2am Pacific time where I got no sleep, I barely moved from bed except to buy groceries for our startlingly bare fridge. I am not capable of functioning on no sleep, despite my age. Luckily, today is a holiday and I am heading out for my long run shortly.


This Week's Goals
I mentioned on last week's run chat that this time around, I wasn't going to make excuses. So no excuses: last week was not good. It's hard to prioritize workouts when you're on vacation and not in your groove, but it was not a good start to NYC Half training. I'm not letting excuses get in the way of my workouts this week. So here are my goals!

• 1 spin session
• 2 strength workouts
• 2 yoga practices
• 2 short runs (3 miles each, 1 at 8:30 pace)
• 1 speed work session (7x400)
• 1 medium run (4 miles)
• 1 long run (8 miles)
• foam roll!!

What are your goals for this week? Can you work out if you're sleep deprived? Would you like to see some easy Indian recipes on the blog?

Giving up on TV shows and a Green Smoothie Recipe

Giving up TV shows
I have a very full DVR waiting for me when I get back to New York. Sourabh and I watch quite a few shows, but rarely when they air because we hate commercials. Instead, we typically wait until later in the evening or the next day to watch our shows.

But this year, since I want to disconnect more, I'm going to try to purge some of those shows from our viewing list. Being here in Washington and not being automatically able to pick up shows again has made me realize how much I don't need to watch TV. It might mean that Sourabh watches without me, since we have different tastes and he still likes some shows that I don't.

Bea is so bored by TV. Also, she does not like Kanye's leather skirt (pic taken during the 12-12-12 concert) 

For example, I used to like Big Bang Theory, The Office, The Good Wife, and How I Met Your Mother, but at this point I'm bored with all of those series. I'll probably stick with The Office since it's ending this year, but otherwise I just don't want to waste my time anymore on a show that leaves me cold. Besides, I have Revenge, Parks and Recreation, New Girl, Community (finally returning), and Modern Family to keep me warm (if we're keeping the hot/cold metaphor going...). I just don't want to waste any more time on shows that I feel frustrated by!

Mini Vacation!
In other news, we're off to Seattle today! Sourabh and I are spending two days in Seattle. We're leaving Mason with his doting grandparents (aka my parents since he's their grandpuppy).

see? doting on the grandpuppy

I am super excited to spend two days exploring Seattle since I haven't spent that much time there. While I grew up two hours away from the city and have been there plenty of times, I've never really done more than a few touristy things there. Besides the obvious Pike Place Market and Space Needle, Sourabh and I want to explore a few of the cool neighborhoods like Ballard and Queen Anne's Hill. It's sort of a belated anniversary trip since we didn't go anywhere for our four year anniversary in October so it should be really fun.


Mean Green Breakfast Smoothie Recipe

Mmmmm this smoothie is SO good. I've made it while I've been home when I'm craving some greens. And since I've been home for the holidays, I've craved greens several times. I love to indulge, but at a certain point, my body basically yells at me until I eat a green.

The best part about this smoothie, though, is that it tricks your brain. You can't actually taste the spinach at all! Just the pear, banana, almond milk, and the sweetness of the maple syrup. I would love to say that I was a spinach junkie who did whatever it took for my next spinach hit, but sadly, I don't really like spinach.

Ingredients
1 pear, chopped
1 banana
1 c. almond milk (more for more liquid smoothie)
1 c. spinach
1 tsp. maple syrup (optional)

1 tsp. chia seeds (optional)

Directions

Add all ingredients to blender and mix!

Do you give up on TV shows or do you see them through to the end? 

Lacking Motivation + Fast 'n' Sweaty Strength Circuit

I've been having a hard time motivating myself to work out the past few days. While I normally love to sweat (despite being lazy), I have a few theories about why it's been tougher to get myself moving. The weather has been rainy on and off every day since my Friday run. I have to drive somewhere if I don't want to run down my road, which has no sidewalks. I often have trouble motivating myself when I'm doing a gym workout and not taking a class. I hate the treadmill for anything but speed work. And Sourabh arrived on Sunday evening, so I've wanted to spend some time relaxing with him, since technically this time in Washington State is my "vacation."

what can I say? I just want to curl up like this guy 

However. I tapered before my New Year's Eve half-marathon and then had a week off after it, resting to rehab my left IT band and right hamstring, only taking a yoga class and doing a 2 mile run. At this point, that's 2.5 weeks of minimal activity and I have a solid goal for the NYC Half in March.

While I'm not pushing myself to get intense workouts in this week, I really need to remember that a few minutes of working out makes me feel much, much better, and I don't want to lose any more fitness than I already have from 2.5 weeks off. Spoiler alert: as I learned last night after completing the below circuit, I've lost a lot of strength.

I mean c'mon, don't you want to snuggle with Fritz rather than drive somewhere in the rain? 

Right before dinner last night, realizing I didn't want to go another day without getting a strength workout in, I put together a quick circuit that would hit the main muscle groups. I didn't want to find my parents' weights, so I just used body weight exercises that can be done anywhere.


This circuit can be done in 15 minutes if you do it two times and 30 minutes if you do it four times. Doing it twice and pairing it with 30 minutes of cardio (perhaps a spinning or treadmill speed workout?) gets you a complete 45 minute workout.

Try to complete as many reps of each exercise as you can in the 1 minute. For extra motivation, have a piece of paper and pen with you and keep track of how many reps you complete during each minute, then try to beat that number the next time through the circuit!

Take a 10-30 second break in between exercises if necessary, but try not to rest until you finish the circuit. That will keep your heart rate up meaning you'll burn more calories!

Unsure of what any of these exercises are? I found some great YouTube videos to help!

Sumo Squats (hits different muscles than a regular squat!)
Moving Plank
Lunges
Tricep Dips
Squats
Push-Ups (demonstrates both modified knee push-ups and regular push-ups)
Plank

By the way, I love moving planks. The exercise is like push-ups and planks got married and had a beautiful, evil child who's here to tighten your core AND give you killer arms. If you do nothing else, watch that YouTube video and add it to your next strength workout!

Do you go through periods of feeling unmotivated to work out? Do you have any favorite strength exercises?

Thankful Thursday

I am so thankful to be here in Washington after yesterday's epic day of travel. A bumpy hour-long cab ride followed by a six and a half hour flight with a dog and then a two and a half hour drive to my family's home meant that I crashed immediately after getting here.

I thought I'd do a quick Thankful Thursday post because I always feel very thankful after getting to my destination safely. Then I'm going to drive (!!!) to Starbucks where they have fresh-pressed green juices (!!!). If the exclamation marks didn't alert you, I love driving and green juices.

I am thankful for...

right before boarding. he looks...bored.

... my dog. It's a huge pain to travel with a pet, and yet having him with me makes any place happier. He was so incredibly well-behaved during the entire process. I felt like a parent because I was so proud as he received compliment after compliment. "Why yes, he is a perfect pooch. Thank you." I left out the part about him being bossy...

... my family. Well, obviously. How could I not be thankful for them after they drove 2.5 hours to pick me up and another 2.5 hours to get me back? My mom even went to work early so she could get out in time to drive down with my dad. And my sister cleaned my old room so it would be nice and cozy for me to settle into. So much love to arrive to... and I am so thankful for them.

(source)

... good customer service. I was honestly amazed when the DryBar said my blowout was being comped because it was their first day in their Upper East Side location. That, in addition to the great blowout, the friendly women manning the front desk, and the delicious biscotti, are why I will certainly be back. I hadn't had a great evening and this perked me up so much.

... healthy fast food. I know, so superficial... blowouts and food. Sorry, but I was extremely thankful for this yesterday. On our drive back, we stopped at a chain called Taco del Mar where I could get black beans, rice, fish, salsa, and guacamole in a bowl. It was 10 PM my time and I was famished. Being able to eat something filling and quick was amazing. I love that more and more places are offering healthy fast food.

... beautiful sunrises. I got to see this on my last Central Park run of 2012 as I rounded the Reservoir. I'm often up fairly early, but rarely up early enough to see the sun rise. I was actually so awed that I turned off my music so I could just enjoy the calm, quiet beauty of morning in Central Park.

What are you thankful for today?