Hi everyone and happy Tuesday! Somehow July is already over!!?!?!? I’m not sure how that is! I head back to school in 11 days and I’m so excited but also so shocked that it’s time already! In typical Alicia fashion, let’s check out how my month of July went for me, goals-wise.
Organize everything I own // Not nearly as far along with this as I’d like because of how overwhelming it is. But slow and steady wins the race!
Keep planning for CHAARG // I’ve planned every social, welcome party + end of semester party so I just have our retreat which is going not as planned because the camp has stopped responding to my emails and calls. So.. we’ll see.
Get everything for my apartment bought + ready // A few things have been bought but I do have everything I still need on a list ready to go!
Start DIYing // Yikes I haven’t done anything :(( I actually forgot I wanted to! I’ll have to start soon!
Work on training my dog // We’ve been working daily and I see improvements in her behavior on walks daily so let’s see!
Happy Monday everyone! Friday was the last day of CHAARG’s summer fitness plan “CHAARG Bootycamp” and I had the opportunity to be involved with it this summer. I wanted to reflect on my experience in this fitplan as I gear up for another in October (which I get to help lead as an exec member) so why not do it here for the whole world to see?
I am and have always been very black or white. I either love you or can’t stand you (if I know you that is… if I don’t I can be indifferent), all in or all out, I work out every single day or not at all, etc. and that can be good and bad. With fitness plans, however, it’s usually pretty bad.
I’m not sure why I’m like this // how I can change this about me, but the day I take a day off (that isn’t already listed in the actual plan) I just stop with it completely. I feel like a failure even if I’m not (it’s one day, not every day haha) and can’t bring myself to get back in the swing of things.
I was doing SOOO good the first 2 weeks of the plan… and then I went to Ohio to visit some friends. While I was there I didn’t workout, I drank a lot, ate a lot, etc. and when I got home the last thing I wanted to do was workout, let alone make up the workouts I missed. So, I didn’t workout for a week-ish (seems pretty backward I know). Then I made up a few workouts, got overwhelmed, + took another break. I did, however, get back on track for the last week + did all 3 strength workouts but I still didn’t feel that great about not really finishing the fitplan, especially because I spent money on it.
I think this is mainly due to my planning, or lack thereof. The fitplan started the day after I returned from Florida so I didn’t really have time or energy to plan the next 6 weeks of my life when I had been in a car for 10 ish hours. I had one thing on my mind, sleep, and the last thing I wanted to think about was planning the next 6 weeks.
Due to this, I was off on the wrong foot to begin with and I did persevere through my unplanned workout routine for a week and a half but I desperately needed to and should have planned out my workouts. Until I have written down a time or carved it into my planner, nothing is going to happen and that’s exactly what I didn’t do. I knew this would happen and it did, so I can’t really be mad about it now. This is definitely my major takeaway from this fitplan going into my next. I need to spend a few hours of my life the days before the fitplan starts planning my workouts, my foods, etc. if I want to get it done. It’s not that fitplans don’t work // it’s that you don’t make yourself work + I know that in order to build muscle (I have the upper body strength of a newborn baby) I need to plan and stick to that plan to see the results I want.
I do want to share a positive thing about this fitplan! There was a 10 day meal plan included and it was so useful! I didn’t follow the meal plan but I did love trying new recipes that I’m definitely going to incorporate into my faily life!!
So, while this may seem like a “wow Alicia you suck” sort of post, it definitely helped me realize my faults + how I can improve them for the fall! I also will say that this week I am sort of starting fresh with these workouts and doing the ones I like the most so that I can say I did not waste my money!
Are you as black + white like me? Or is there gray area for you?
Hi all and Happy Thursday! I leave for school in 2 weeks so I’m taking full advantage of all the higher quality kitchen appliances that I won’t have in my apartment! One of those is my food processor. I’ve been making protein balls (expect a recipe on these too because they are DELICIOUS), hummus, and this week nice cream!
I’ve been vegan for 2 and a half-ish years and I’ve never made quite possibly the easiest (and most delicious) vegan dessert to exist. I started googling nice cream + when I saw the bananas that I had planned on making banana bread with (overripe bananas are the best for nice cream), I chopped them up, froze them, and then made some tasty chocolate nice cream. I love making my non vegan family members try my creations because if they love them anyone will (my sister says my taste buds have definitely changed because I find weird vegan foods tasty that she claims she wants to vomit at merely the sight or smell of), however, I ate all of it (about 3 bananas worth) right after making it so I knew I had to make it again and soon.
So, when my 2 bunches of bananas were 100% overripe 3 days after I bought them, my opportunity arose. I chopped up all 8 bananas, tossed them in a plastic bag, and plopped them into the freezer while I headed to Target to get ingredients for all my potential flavor combinations
One flavor I was DYING to make was mint chocolate chip. I am a mint chocolate chip lover from way back and have yet to find a vegan option. So with peppermint extract and chocolate chips in hand, I kept searching for other flavor ideas. I also wanted to make a strawberry flavor too, so I scooped up a bag of frozen strawberries (which were ridiculously overpriced in my opinion) and headed home since I already had mixed berries and cocoa powder for my very berry and chocolate flavors.
As I arrived back home, I set up my food processor and placed ¼ of my bananas in it, blended them up, and then added my first flavor ingredients, strawberries. I started by adding a half cup to the mixture, however, when it tasted like a frozen strawberry banana smoothie, I added another half cup of strawberries and I could not tell there were bananas in it at all.
I repeated the same process for each of my flavors, about ¼ of my bananas, and then adding cocoa powder, peppermint extract, berries, etc. to taste until I would be comfortable eating these and serving them to my family.
For those of you who want to make these yourselves
Strawberry Nice Cream
Place 2 frozen bananas + 1 cup of strawberries into a food processor and blend until creamy
Chocolate Nice Cream
Place 2 frozen bananas, 3-4 tbsp cocoa powder (to taste), 1 tsp vanilla, and a pinch of salt into a food processor and blend until creamy.
Very Berry Nice Cream
Place 2 frozen bananas + 1 cup of frozen mixed berries into a food processor and blend until creamy
Mint Chocolate Chip Nice Cream
Place 2 frozen bananas, ⅛ tsp peppermint extract (or more depending on taste preference), and a pinch of salt into a food processor and blend until creamy.To achieve the green color you can add a handful of spinach or some green food coloring ( I did both)
*If the fruit isn’t blending, add a splash of almond milk to help*
Have you made nice cream? If so, what flavors did you make?
Hi everyone and happy Friday! Yesterday I got a comment on my July intentions and realized that the year is now over halfway gone. Last year I made a 17 in 2017 update post because I wanted to hold myself accountable for my goals + resolutions so that’s just what I’m going to do today! Let’s see how disciplined I am at a list I almost never look at !!!!! ( sense the sarcasm haha?)
EVERY DAY
> 1 hour of journaling//meditation//reading /// this one is totally not happening. It has been the past 2 weeks and a bit at the beginning of the year but I always forget about reading (re: my last post) so I’ve been sucking at that. Hopefully, with my newfound reading love, I’ll be better at that.
> 64 oz of water /// I’ve been kicking booty at this one. I’ve upped my water intake to 128 oz every day and hit even that almost every day!!!
> Exercise /// With CHAARG’s Bootycamp and my morning walks I do this almost every day, however, some days (usually weekends) I don’t do much of anything
EVERY WEEK
> Coffee//Lunch//Workout with someone /// lol this hasn’t happened. I do love this idea so it looks like I’m off to text some friends of mine
> Write /// I write at least once a week… at least something. Whether it be an intro to a book I’ll never finish or I blog here… I get those creative juices flowing somehow.
EVERY MONTH
> Read one book /// HAHAHAHAHA I’ve read 3 books this year (working on my 4th) so maybe if I read enough books during July and August that will counteract my garbage self from the pasts 6 and a half months.
> Discover a new podcast series /// I have 4 podcasts that I’ve been listening to, but I WOULD LOVE SUGGESTIONS SO DROP ME A COMMENT OF YOUR FAVE(S)
THIS YEAR
> Go on a vacation /// My trip to Florida so check
> Take care of my physical and mental health /// This will always be a resolution of mine and some days I am better about it than others and that’s okay.
How are you all doing on your New Year’s Resolutions?
Hi everyone and happy July! The year is halfway over and it feels like just yesterday I was ringing in the new year and now we’re halfway done! Crazy how fast time goes by (even though time is an illusion but whatever). You all know the drill, here are my goals/ intentions for July!
Finish CHAARG Bootycamp // I’m doing this workout guide along with Insanity and Bootycamp ends at the end of July so I want to give it my all and finish strong!
120 oz of water daily // you already know
Organize everything I own // This is an ongoing process. A month ago I cleared out a lot of stuff I own and now I need to organize it!
Keep planning for CHAARG // I am SO excited for fall and getting back to school and in order for me to be prepared… I need to get planning!
Get everything for my apartment bought + ready // I move into my apartment August 11th, so naturally, I want everything ready to go by August 1st.
Start DIYing // I keep watching DIY videos + I’m so obsessed! I want to start DIYing things for my apartment and back home
Work on training my dog // She is such an angel in the house, but she’s crazy on walks. I need to get her to keep her cool around bunnies, squirrels, and other dogs!
How in the heck is June already over? How the heck is 2018 already halfway over? This year has flown by more than any other in my opinion and once school starts 2018 will be over before I know it. Let’s see how well I achieved my goals in June
Plan for CHAARG // I’ve been doing a bit of planning here and there, working on retreat, socials, etc. It’s hard planning things in 1 day when people don’t email you back but I’m working on it
Start CHAARG Booty Camp or Insanity // I’m almost done with week 2 of them both, and I will be taking a mini-break in a week or so because I’ll be out of town but I’ve already planned it so I won’t be missing a workout!
Eat better // I’m eating much better, eating out much less, and making almost all of my own food
1 gallon of water daily // Doing so well on this!
Figure my whole major thing out // I’m in every single class I need for the fall which is all I needed!
Read // I haven’t finished a single book. I’ve been in a weird funk and the last thing I’ve wanted to do was read… I started one and I just haven’t had the motivation to finish
Go to bed earlier // Most nights I’ve been in bed by 9 and sleeping by 10 but other nights (weekends) I haven’t been asleep until 1 or 2… Balance I guess?
Less screen time // This hasn’t been happening but I’m working on it I guess haha.
Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your week so far. If you read my last post, you may have noticed that I completely ignored my entire trip to Universal. I did this so I could make an entire post dedicated to Universal Studios and all of its glory!
My family and I arrived in Orlando Sunday night (after driving from St. Augustine), checked into our hotel room, went for a dip in the pool, and then hit the sack to save our energy for our 3 days at the parks.
View from our floor
One of our hotel’s pools
My Monday morning wake up call was about 5:30 (thanks dad) so that we all could shower, eat, and chug some coffee and still get to the park at 8am when it opened (we got early entrance because we stayed on a Universal resort… highly recommend!!)
First and best view
The first thing we did was head to Diagon Alley to ride Escape from Gringotts. Another thing I would totally recommend doing first thing in the morning (honestly just do both Harry Potter Worlds first because it gets SO crowded later in the day) because the line was a breeze so early but we went back later and the line was much MUCH longer.
Entrance at Escape from Gringotts
Since we were running to the roller coaster, I wasn’t fully able to appreciate Diagon Alley in its glory, however, when we emerged from the ride (as a changed woman I might add because it was INCREDIBLE) I was completely in awe of Harry Potter world (and was still in awe each time we came back after). The attention to detail, how interactive the whole park was, and how I actually felt like I was getting ready to go to Hogwarts; after I bought my books, wand, and robes of course.
After we had thoroughly explored Diagon alley (don’t you worry we come back 2 more times), we took the Hogwarts express to Universal’s Island of Adventure, which held Hogsmeade. Just as Diagon Alley had done, I felt submerged in Hogsmeade. They captured everything, from the snow and icicles adorned by each building, to the various characters, to Moaning Myrtle in the bathroom, everything felt, looked, and smelled real.
There were 2 rides in Hogsmeade, The Forbidden Journey and the Flight of the Hippogriff (nothing special… just your typical kiddie ride). We rode the Forbidden Journey first. This ride navigates you through Hogwarts, where you can see Dumbledore in his office, moving pictures, the Gryffindor common room, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione sharing a bit of information about what the ride will entail. Once aboard the ride, you begin soaring through Hogwarts (you’re told that you’ll be watching a Quidditch match), battling dementors, seeing dragons, dodging the Whomping Willow, and getting an earful from Draco Malfoy. This ride is pretty much stationary, tilting you up, down, and every which way, moving when scenes change to shake it up with real-life figures (dementors, trees, etc.). Finally, you make it through the ride where Dumbledore and the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team thank you for helping them with the game. This ride was my personal favorite across the 2 parks because of the tilts, turns, movie screens along with actual moving parts.
The sorting hat in Hogwarts
The photos in the paper moved!
Hogwarts!
Once we mustered up the courage to leave Harry Potter World (you wouldn’t want to either… trust me) we explored the rest of the Islands of Adventure park, riding the Jurassic Park water ride (kinda cool kinda scary and I didn’t even really get wet), seeing lines quickly getting longer before we decided to just ride the rest of the rides in this park early the next day, grabbed lunch, and then heading back over to Universal Studios.
Once back at Universal Studios, we explored LA, New York, London, and San Francisco (the park is divided up into cities) before going on the Race Through New York ride (hosted by Jimmy Fallon), a 3-D ride where you literally do not move but it 100% feels like you’re bouncing around New York streets, rocketing to the moon, and falling from 75 story buildings. To finish off this day at the park, we went on the Shrek 4-D ride where Lord Farquad somehow comes back to life ????? and we have to kill him again ???? before retiring to our hotel, grabbing dinner, waited for the pool to reopen post lightning scare, and then hitting the sack early for a long day ahead of us.
Tuesday was definitely the longest day of activities for us (I walked more Monday though because of all of the exploring we were doing). Our day started out once again at 5:30-6:00 with our assembly line of showers, teeth brushing, getting dressed, coffee drinking, getting HYPED for my birthday, etc.
For my birthday, I requested that we eat at Harry Potter World (because if you’re going to have your birthday at Universal, you might as well have it at the best part) so we ate at the Three Broomsticks at Hogsmeade. We had a cute little bird join us for a few minutes, who finally left after she figured out we weren’t going to feed her. I tried pumpkin juice for the first time (very good BUT SO SUGARY) and enjoyed a nice first meal of my day.
Well what did you expect? Pumpkin juice?!
Right after breakfast, we hurried around the park trying to get in all of the rides we wanted to ride but didn’t want to wait long for. These included the Kong, Fast and the Furious, and Hulk rides. The Kong and Fast and the Furious rides were basically the same just different plots. You’re on a bus, there’s a conflict, and the driver and you have to save the day. Neither were that great to me. Had we waited 85 minutes for the Kong ride the day before, I would have been highly disappointed. The Hulk coaster was definitely very cool. Your standard roller coaster: first drop, upside down, corkscrews, a photo taken at the WORST second, etc. It was nice to ride a real roller coaster in the midst of all of the CGI and 3-D features.
We were then taken back to our childhood days as we visited Dr. Seuss’ world. We rode all 3 rides (carousel included), visited all of the shops, and reminisced about the good old days. We were the only group there without a kid under the age of 10 but we didn’t care.
By this time today, our feet had begun hurting again so we took the Hogwarts express (the only way to get from park to park without leaving) to head back to Universal Studios.
There, I had my first legal drink in San Fransisco at a wharf-style restaurant, before returning to our hotel for some more drinking and a dip in the pool.
Once we were feeling up to it we headed back to Universal’s city walk for dinner. We ate at the Cowfish (contradictory since I’m vegan I know), a restaurant with the most amazing black bean burger and veggie sushi I’d ever had! My mom then proceeded to tell the wait staff (without my knowledge) that it was my birthday so I was sung to in front of the whole patio of people. Was I embarrassed? Yes. Will I remember it forever? Also, yes. Happy 21st birthday to me!
With much chagrin, my time in Universal had to come to an end. That morning, after packing up our car and checking out of the hotel, we got into the park early so we could ride Escape from Gringotts again only for it to break while we were on it (we got to ride it again). We took the Hogwarts express one final time to Islands of Adventure where we ate at the Three Broomsticks again (my mom bought us a meal plan for the trip and we’d only used half of it so we had to spend it all today and that restaurant accepted it), rode The Forbidden Journey again, explored the rest of what we hadn’t seen, including a SpongeBob store and an E.T. ride (which was actually super adorable). We completed one final lap of the park, grabbed some Ben and Jerry’s and a few trinkets before making our way out of the park.
Have you ever been to Orlando? What parks did you visit?
Happy Monday everyone! As most of you know, I spent 2 weeks ago in Florida. What some of you may not know is that my family and I road tripped there, making a couple stops along the way to Universal and one on the way back! I’d never been to the three cities we visited so I wanted to share my road trip experience and the places we visited.
Chatanooga Tennessee
While I’ve driven through Tennessee many times (on trips to Florida) + I’ve visited Graceland in Memphis but I’d never been to Chatanooga. My parents always remarked on the “Come visit Ruby Falls” signs when approaching Tennessee but we never decided to pay it a visit. However, on this road trip, we wanted to see what Ruby Falls was and if it was worth the extreme advertising.
So, after 9 is hours of driving ( and lots of bathroom breaks) we made it to Chatanooga and headed over to Ruby Falls.
Ruby Falls is a 145-foot high underground waterfall inside of Lookout Mountain. It was discovered by Leo Lambert in 1928 while drilling.
After taking an elevator down 100 or so feet, we walked through this cave (guided by our very southern tour guide Doug) for about a mile seeing various cave structures before reaching Ruby Falls, which was definitely worth the extensive advertising. Once at the falls, we watched a light show which lit up the waterfall which played along with some music!
Sadly, we had to walk back to the elevator an head back up into the heat. However, despite having to re-enter the 90-degree weather, we were able to see lookout mountain which is basically just a deck that looks out to all of Chatanooga.
We only had one night in Chatanooga, so after leaving Ruby Falls, we ate dinner at the Waffle House, swam in the hotel pool, and hit the sack for another long day of driving Saturday.
St. Augustine, Florida
Driving to Florida from Chicago is honestly one of the worst things ever. You start driving at 4 am, don’t stop until it’s dark, and then finish however much more the next day. Not this time though!
We drove about 9 hours day one, and about 7 hours from Chatanooga until we reached St. Augustine, the oldest (colonized) city in the United States.
We arrived in St. Augustine at about 5 or 6 in the evening on Saturday, so we opted to relax in our hotel and just swam and ate dinner to gather up our energy for another long day on Sunday.
Sunday morning, we packed up our stuff and headed to the heart of St. Augustine. Initially, we thought we would be visiting the Spanish Fort, but found SO much more.
The Spanish fort was incredible, made of coquina (Spanish for small shells), and aged wonderfully. I loved learning about how so many tried to take down the Spanish, yet the coquina held up and no one succeeded in entering the fort.
Once I’d had my history lesson for the year, my family and I all wanted to see more of what St. Augustine had to offer so we decided to take a trolley tour of the city. The trolley tour is something I would 100% recommend to anyone who visits. On this tour, you’re carted around St. Augustine for about an hour, seeing historic buildings, museums, Flagler College, plantations, restaurants, specialty (chocolate factories, wineries, boutiques) shops and so much more! I wished we had more time to hop off at every stop to see everything St. Augustine had to offer. If I ever go back, I’m definitely going to make sure I spend at least 2 whole days to see everything (and eat everything!). Sadly, our time in St. Augustine had to come to an end. Onto Universal!
Sarasota, Florida
Something I never wanted to do was leave Orlando. Universal was all I could have hoped for and more (in my opinion better than Disney World) but eventually, we had to part ways. On the way back (well sort of out of the way) we visited Sarasota for a few days to visit some friends of ours. They retired to Florida a few years back and they are loving the laid-back atmosphere of Florida, and so did I. Their house was cute and cozy with a lovely lanai off the back. To top it off, they have 2 Shih Tzus and they’re both vegan (for health reasons) so needless to say I was in heaven! We spent the first full day there just relaxing, swimming in their community pool, and eating good food.
We were exhausted and had hurt feet so doing nothing was the only thing on our agenda for the day. However, we ended up going to the beach to see the sunset, shelling, and taking really cute pictures!
Day 2 of our visit we woke up bright and early, hit the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru, and drove about an hour to Myakka River State Park see some alligators! At the State Park, we took an hour-long airboat ride around the river and got to see so many birds, fish, and alligators.
Spot the Alligator!
Spot the Alligator Part 2!
My sister and I agreed that we hadn’t picked enough shells the night before so we wanted to go to another beach to find some. This next beach we visited, however, had a rather pathetic selection of shells and it was excruciatingly hot so we decide to head home, pack up our stuff, and hop in the pool to prepare for the 20-hour drive that would happen over the next 2 days.
Have you guys taken a road trip lately?
❤ Alicia ❤
Happy Summer (again) everyone! These past few days haven’t felt very summery (it’s been raining nonstop) so to get myself in the ‘summer spirit’ I wanted to make a bucket list for summer of some things I want to do!!! Some of these I know I’ll get done and some are there for days when I don’t have anything to and want some inspiration for something to do.
Read 10 books
Try new foods (I’m getting a super cool vegan cookbook soon and I can’t wait to make some recipes from it)
Journal
Unplug at 8pm for a week (and hope it continues)
DIY something
Have a picnic
Go hiking
Go to a farmers market
See a movie
Have a bonfire
Train my dog
Tie-Dye
Do a day without technology
Minigolf
Watch the sunrise
Write a letter to a future me
Make a vision board
Make nice cream
Reorganize my room
Get settled into my apartment and ready myself for school
Happy Friday everyone! I’m currently en route to Florida! I’m visiting Universal in Orlando and Sarasota as well and I’m super duper excited to be there, especially because I’ll be turning 21 while I’m there!
To keep spreading all of this love going during the month of June, I wanted to share some of my favorite blogs to share them with you guys!!! I love reading SO many blogs (so these are just a few of my faves) but I wanted to share some of the blogs I’ve been loving currently!
I’ve followed Jamie for a while now (I think she was one of the first people I followed when I started blogging) and I absolutely adore her blog! From her vlogs, her Netflix reviews, and monthly favorite posts she always gives me ideas on what to buy/watch!
Emily (whom I don’t think I’ve ever met) and I came into contact sometime during or before freshman year at SDSU. There was probably a follow train of nervous freshmen and we ended up following each other on Instagram. We are both from the Chicago suburbs and she makes me want to get more into fashion because of all of her ‘how to style’ posts. Maybe one day a post of hers will spark me to make a wardrobe change instead of sporting leggings and t-shirts 24/7
Although I’m pretty sure Alys has only been blogging for half a year or so I feel as though I’ve followed her for much longer. She posts about mental health, traveling, college, and bullet journaling to name a few. Her bullet journal is SO AMAZING! I have tried to get into bullet journaling for a while and whenever I see one of her posts about it, I always try to restart mine because of how aesthetically pleasing it is.
Something I love about Rachel’s blog are all of her traveling tips. As a gal who definitely wants to get some more traveling done sooner rather than later, I love seeing what frequent travelers do that makes traveling a breeze. Not to mention the photos she adds to posts are unbelievable and make me want to visit every nook of this beautiful Earth!
And last (but certainly not least) is Hope! While she doesn’t post too often, the posts Hope shares are always well thought out and have great photos to boot. I love reading about her life and various DIYs and recipes she shares!!
Make sure you give all of these lovely ladies a follow!!
Happy Wednesday everyone! If any of you are on twitter (I know some of you are because we follow each other), you may have seen the “Unpopular Opinions” trend going around. I have related to SO MANY of them and I wanted to share some of my unpopular opinions with you all!
Circuses are bad
Every year when I was a kid, my friends and family would go see the circus and as I got older I began to see how terrible circuses are. Animal abuse and poorly treated employees make “The Greatest Show on Earth” not that great
Vegans aren’t protein deficient
I mean they can be but so can nonvegans. If you eat a balanced diet of carbs, fats, and proteins there is no reason a vegan should or would be protein deficient
We need to stop idealizing certain body types
I saw a tweet today idealizing the ‘dad bod.’ that’s great and all but in the process totally bashed on guys with abs and nice pecks. We need to love all bodies without simultaneously calling other bodies bad.
I hate the Kardashians
I don’t hate many people but I really can’t stand the Kardashians/Jenners. They advertise appetite suppressant lollipops, skinny teas, waist trainers, and other useless products that literally don’t work. I get that they want to make an extra buck but people are spending money on things that don’t work because their idols do ??????
13 reasons why glorifies suicide and depression and is garbage
I feel like this is becoming more of a popular opinion for anyone with a mental illness but I barely even finished the first season and didn’t start the 2nd season. Suicide and depression (and literally all other mental illnesses) need to not be glorified but shows like 13RW make it seem like that’s an okay thing that society does.
What unpopular opinions do you all have? Do we share any?
I figured I’d start June off on a positive note with my self love post of the month AKA sharing 10 things I love about being me! I have a feeling this is going to be a tough one for me to muster up 10 things… but here goes nothing!
1. I love that I love learning- I heard a while ago that no one can take away your right to an education and that really stuck with me, After my gap year, coming back to school reignited my passion for learning and I’ve been striving to better myself ever since.
2. I love that I’m curious- Going off of me loving learning, I’m curious about other things nonschool related and if they really spark my interest I’ll delve deeper into that subject. As the old saying goes, ‘curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back.’
3. I love that I am determined- I can be told no 1000 times (as seen this past school year) but I’m still going to keep trying until I succeed
4. I love that I’m *usually* okay with change- I’m very much behind the saying ‘don’t fix it if it isn’t broken,’ however when something does need changing, I’m quick to adapt and move on.
5. I love that I’m not going to settle for less than I deserve- This one is pretty self-explanatory but when I know I deserve something, I’m not going to settle for anything but what I know I should be getting.
6. I love that I’m confident- Over the past few years, my confidence has been gradually increasing and I love the confidence I currently have and can’t wait to see what the future of my confidence holds.
7. I love that I’m unapologetically myself- I’ve spent years trying to be less of this and more of that and I’m proud to say I no longer care what others think of me or what they want me to change. I am who I am and that’s not going to change.
8. I love that I’m vegan!- Saving animals, saving the environment, and doing something great for my health… why would I not love that?
9. I love that I’m always trying to better myself- I’m constantly working on myself in all aspects of my life and doing whatever I cant be a better person inside and out.
10. I love that I’m caring- Whether it’s for my friends, peers, colleagues, kids I’m working with, etc. I do my best to be the most caring and compassionate I can be.
Hi everyone! Can you believe that May is already over? I am so excited for June BECAUSE… It’s Gemini season aka my birthday is in 12 days, I’ll be heading down to Florida in less than 10 days, and summer is officially beginning!! Since I was garbage at posting during the end of April + beginning of May so I’ll be wrapping up my April goals instead, which is fine because most of them I was still working on in May.
128 oz of water daily- I don’t get it every day but I’m doing really well with this!
Get my body moving every day- Most morning I wake up and walk 3-4 miles and those days (and days I’m not I’m working out) so I’ve been very active this summer
Finish this semester with straight As- 5 solid As and one A-
Figure out my whole switch major/graduate early situation- Still ugh but I’ll update on this later
Go through my laptop files- I did this and soon I’ll be putting all my photos on an external hard drive because I have over 13000 and I need to stop them from slowing down my computer
Finish CHAARG exec transition- I did and I had my first summer team meeting Sunday and I can’t wait for the fall!
Don’t stress about presentations- I didn’t and I got 100% on both!
Figure out my living/working situation for the fall- A few sublease opportunities fell through but I ended up signing a lease by myself so I don’t know my roommates but at least I have somewhere to live!
Happy Sunday everyone! I hope everyone is having/had a great weekend and that you’re all ready for Monday!! Something I really want to do this summer is read… A LOT! I have sooo many books that I’ve accumulated and I have yet to read. My goal for this summer is to read 10 of them but there are more than 10 books on my TBR (to be read) list.
Here is my current TBR list and while I would love to read all of them this summer, I’m definitely going to read at least 10.
Hi everyone and Happy Saturday! I hope you all are enjoying the start of your 3-day weekend (if you’re in the States that is). Something I love about being home (and will enjoy this fall in my apartment) is a kitchen! I’ve been cooking so much since I’ve been home and trying SO many new recipes and I wanted to share them, with you guys (especially my vegan followers because I know I love learning about new vegan recipes) since I’ve been loving some of these things so much! Here are a few of my current favorite things to make!
I’ve been really loving mushrooms lately but I wanted to learn to cook them myself. I had stuffed mushrooms once in Peru and they were one of the best things I’d ever eaten so, I took to the minimalist baker’s website to find a simple and quick recipe for them. These were sooo good and my non-vegan family members thought they were great too!
I am a pancake fan like no other and since I’ve been trying to track my macros, I’m trying to eat more protein. These pancakes are SO simple and SO tasty (my sister doesn’t think so) and I could literally eat them for breakfast Every. Single. Day.
If you couldn’t tell by now I LOVE THE MINIMALIST BAKER! She has recipes on the foods I really want to make with ingredients I already have in my house. This vegan mac & cheese recipe has made my life! I haven’t had it in so long and this recipe made my heart (and stomach) so happy.
Tofu
Tofu is awesome to cook because it is SO versatile! Whatever flavor combinations you are feeling, you can season it with tofu or add tofu your recipe and the tofu will compliment the dish perfectly!
2 types of ways I like to cook tofu is asian style- with sesame and soy sauces with sesame seeds, stir-fryed with broccoli and placed over rice. I also like to eat it (stir fried again) with garlic, salt, pepper, and various veggies. YUM
Living off Leesh 