Three Weeks

Hey blog-a-linis! Happy Friday!


Personally, I'm pretty excited (: I know I don't have like, real school anymore -- just my Senior Search -- but the weekend just gives me such a good feeling! Even if I do have an extra three and a half hours of work tomorrow. Oh weellll. Anyways, I hope you guys are having a good Friday!
For me, Friday afternoons have always translated to some pretttty good TV watching! Vampire Diaries & Community -- my two favorite shows -- are on at 8 on Thursday nights, so I usually don't get to watch them until Friday (: But it's all totally worth is to see Ian Somerhalder. God I'm obsessed. 


Anyways, onto the activities of the day! 
Working with the little kiddies this morning was a total blast! It was a fairly easy day, save for a few tears from a four year old. My physics teacher from last year came to do a presentation for the kids and it was hilarious because I totally failed at making the experiment work when she explained it to us like adults... but when she explained it to preschoolers, it totally clicked for me. Sorry college, I'm gonna go to preschool next year instead. They get nap time. (:


Actually, get this: graduation weekend is only three weeks away! WHHHAAATTT?! I'm so freaked+excited+ready-ish at the same time!! Alumni induction is on Friday and then graduation mass is Sunday. At my school, we graduate in floor length white dresses, but I don't wanna show you guys a picture until the actual day! HAHAHHAAA secrecy. 

I also managed to squeeze in a workout into my suuuuper-unbusy day (: I love having these now! I got to sit outside & read The Thrive Diet for like ever! I'm loving it, by the way! It's super interesting and totally clears up a lot of the questions that I've had about veganism+healthy eating. Anyways, I hit up the ellipticizzile (sup making up words) for a really easy thirty minutes while I watched some of an episode of House! Since it was so nice, I also took my puuuuppyy for a quick twenty minute walk! I love sunshiiine


Now for some eeeaaaats!
I didn't post yesterday, and I probs won't on Thursdays just cause they're so busy for me (work+other daily stuff), and I didn't snap a picturrre of any of my food. Maybs that can just be my like, chill-no-blog-worries day? We shall seeee.


This morning, howeva, I was a good blogger & had my little morning photoshoot! 

SUCH a tasty breakfast! The bowl was a variation of Wednesday's, with 1/3c oat bran, 1/4c wheat bran, 1T peanut butter, ~1/3c almond milk, + 1 scoop Amazing Grass Chocolate Drink Powder (I think I made that name up... I kinda forgot what it's called for real.) & I topped it with a fudgie a la Carrie! It was so good I had to tweet about it (: AND OH MY LORD that tea was the best one I've ever had. I picked it up at WF cause I ran out of my other stuff and it's a rooibos -- orange creme & VANILLA. Get at me. I was like... floored by how this good was! I craved it the rest of the day! 
After I left the preschoolers, I was jonesing for some salad bar action. And I caved because, what the hell, it's Friday (FRIIIday gettin' down on FRIIIday). Check out this monnnstaa:

So. Frickin. Tasty.!! And massive... spinach, romaine, roasted corn salad, quinoa, blackbeans, chick peas, red peppers, cukes, chipotle tofu (TOO spicy! had to pick it out!), carrots, & WF's Cucumber+Tomato salad (the best thing they have. Seriously.) And I topped it with the uuusual Annie's Light Honey Mustard. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! After I threw together the salad, I somehow ended up in the freezer section... How did that happen? (; I found this little gem...

How did these end up in my basket?! Oh right. I couldn't resist (: I seeecretly may have had one as my lunch dessert... and it was strawberrybananachocolate bliss, I tell you! So yummm! While I was checking out, I also snagged a KIND bar, which I've never tried before! 

Please ignore my horribly unpainted nails (: it's on my to-do list as soon as this post goes live... along with graduation announcements.... le sigh. Back to the KIND bar! It was super tasty! I ate it with a microwaved+mashed banana+about 1T peanut butter. I cant believe I've never tried any of these before! The coconut was so good in here! I was impressed to say the least (:


Around six, my tummy started grumblin' for dinnnn, so I got to cookin! 

Baked Tofu + Roasted Broccoli + Brown Rice

"Magic Toast" from Chef Katelyn

OH MY GOD. This toast was so. Damn. Good. Seriously I didn't want it to end! Hah it totally outshone my main dinner! I'm thinkin' I know what my dessert is gonna look liiiike!

Alright sweetie pies, I'm gonna peace out for the night. I've got a date with Brendan Brazier (: 

And graduation announcements. Sorry Brendan.

See yall tomorrow! 

Samantha

My questions of zeee daaaay! 

What was/is your graduation like?

I still need to get my dress hemmed... sup 5'2" frame.

Do you have a special 'personal day' of the week?

I just like my weekends! OH. And summer is just one lonnnnng ass weekend!

Have you tried KIND bars?! 
Do I need to try any other kinds?! I loved this one!

"The REALLY good part, with all the avocado!"

Good evening sweets!

How was everyone's day? Today was the first day of my senior project, and I had so much fun! I'm shadowing one of my best friends' mom's classroom (she's a preschool teacher) and the kids are so great. They're not exactly the best listeners but they were so precious! Hopefully I'll be able to help control them a little more when I actually know what I'm doing (: The kids were so funny during worktime, it's so strange how important they think these little things are. It's actually so refreshing to be around people with perspectives like that... even if they are 3-5 years old!

My stomach was feeling a little out of sorts this morning and so I decided a simple bowl of cereal would do the trick. I had Fiber One original with unsweetened rice milk + banana. This was my first try with rice milk, and OHMMYYGOSH it was so good! Just a little bit sweet from the rice but nothing overwhelming, the only thing that freaked me out a little was the color... it was white, but almost cloudy? Like if you mixed water and milk together. Weird. BUT get this! In a cup of this rice milk, there's six grams of fiber! Sure, I had fiber cereal for breakfast as is, but SERIOUSLY that's the most impressive number I've seen on a milk-type beverage! 

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I was done in the classroom at like noon, and then it was time for my fun errand of the day! You might have noticed the, uhm, quality-deficient pictures from yesterday's post. Well, no more of those eye sores! Today I went to Target (love love love!) and bought myself a camera! I ended up getting some sort of Nikon Cool Pix, but get this! It's got a touch screen! Whaaaat! Like I said on my Twitter, I was taking (several) pictures of ev-er-y-thiiin. My sweet puppy got to deal with my obsessive picture snapping for about twenty minutes (:

Thanks for sleeping on my pillows, Duke.

My eats were fairly unmemorable from today. Lunch & dinner were both super casual -- as in lunch consisted of Kashi Go Lean (obsession of the last year), rice milk (more?! Seriously?!), and orange segments (tasty, but super super suuuuper awk to eat on top of cereal). Dinner was a wrap with avocado, orange bell pepper (thank you Daddy!), & taco-seasoning-covered tofu. Best part? I ate intuitively!! As you (may not) know, part of my philosophy stresses the goal to eat intuitively, and it's honestly my biggest problem with healthy eating! I had like, a bite and a half left -- with TONS of avocado on it, aka my favorite part -- and I realized that I was full. I wanted it (BAAAD.) but I didn't eat it!

The burrito, pre-wrapping!

I then proceeded to tell my dad & brother how weird this was for me. Aaand they looked at me like I had three heads. #getonmylevel

I experimented a little bit with food photography today, and it's sooo clear I've got like, miles to go (unlike, oh, say... Kath, Ashley, or Jenny. So pretty!) But hey, it's a learning curve, right? ...Right?

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The other thing I wanted to talk about today are my goals for the month of May! I've seen so many bloggers doing this and I love the idea! I feel like it's much more measurable & realistic than New Year's Resolutions, ya know? Anyways, here we go!

Goals for May!
1. Work up to a five mile run -- this might seem small to some people, but I've taken a big(!) break from running over the winter. Now that spring/summer is rolling around, I can't wait to get back out there and hit the pavement! (Oddly enough, today was a scheduled rest day. Who knew?) The game plan is to get going with four days of cardio a week, if not more!
2. Yoga/stretching two times a week -- as an ex-gymnast, this one hits me hard! I've lost so much flexibility, plus I always forget how much I adore yoga until I actually do it again! 
3. Read three recommended books -- I adore reading, but it totally took a backseat during senior year. I honestly missed it! I know I want to read What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, and the book by Brendan Braizer (?) about Thriving or something? (Look at me, sounding all educated and whatnot! Fail.) But, my third book is still open! Anybody got any good recommendations?! Lemme hear em!
4. Buy three new outfits -- this one is pathetic. I work in yoga pants. I exercise in Nike Tempo shorts. And for the last fifteen years, I've worn a uniform to school. My wardrobe is sadly and completely lacking. Before Clemson, this needs to change! I want the outfits to be things I'll love wearing, not just stuff to fill my goals!
5. Give away 15 pieces of clothing -- this is just the bare minimum. Last night I slept on mountains of clothes that were stacked on my bed, because they won't fit in my closet & drawers. Hi, I'm Samantha, and I'm potentially a hoarder. Not sure yet. 
6. Try one new recipe every week -- this is really just a fun one (: I love experimenting, so I wanna see where I can branch out to!
7. Post at least five times a week -- So far, so good! I'm at two already (including this one...) so hopefully I can keep it up! I just don't wanna get boring! (: 

Well... that should do it, I think! I'm up and at 'em early again tomorrow -- preschool has a FIELD TRIPPP. WHATUPPP.    

Have you tried rice milk?
I actually can't believe that I haven't before. It's always on the shelves at Whole Paycheck Foods...
What's your favorite cereal?
KASHI GO LEAN KASHI GO LEAN KASHI GO LEAN. With a side of Peanut Butter Puffins. 
Do you make monthly goals for yourself?
 Let's hope I can keep remembering when the month changes so I can keep making them! (: 

Hope yall have a great night!
Samantha