Yesterdays Productivity...

I love days when you feel as though you got a lot done but did not feel overwhelmed or overworked.  Yesterday was that way for me and I am hoping today will be a continuation(it has been so far!).

630a - Woke up, showered and got ready

715a - Went to dining hall for breakfast and read my bible while eating

8a - Went to my Social Psychology class and filled my brain with new information

920a - Read a book for fun(I try and have a book I am reading personally along with my school books to have a break yet still feel as though I am accomplishing something) 

10a - Meeting with my nutritionist

1045a - Eat a snack and write blog post

1130a - First day of my new job!  We just went over the employee handbook, got my uniform and then set up chairs for an evening event they were having.  

1p - Went on a 4 mile run(I am running in Bloomsday this weekend which is 7.5 miles and am not sure if I will make it) in the sun(sort of)!

145p - Ate lunch in dining hall and read my book while eating

230p - Watched an episode of Desperate Housewives(my new tv obsession and all the seasons are on netflix watch instantly...not a good thing for me:))  This is it started pouring in Seattle(it is really annoying how much the weather changes in Seattle.  An hour before I was running and then it was pouring and cold.  I am just glad that I went on my run early in the day!)  All the rain made me want to cozy up with a blanket, a cup of hot tea and a good  ol episode of Desperate Housewives.

330p - Read my personal book(I am in the last 100 pages and when I get to that point in a book, it is hard to put it down!)

430p - Read a chapter in my nutrition book.  This chapter was about Carbs and I learned a lot of information I did not know before

545p - Met up with a few friends for dinner in the dining hall.  Had a big salad(my favorite food) and felt really good after.  After dinner I went to the coffee shop on campus and got a raspberry hot chocolate.

630p - Checked and answered emails which I was dreading answering them.  I am not a big fan of email...

730pm - Watched this weeks episode of the biggest loser

830p - Read another chapter in my book( the title is We Two, just fyi) while texting a friend from home.

10p - I went to bed.  Who knew there was a college student on the planet who is not on crew who goes to bed that early!!  I DO  :)

I know that I should have been more productive with school work but I am still getting back in the swing of things from coming off of break.  

I Heart Home

So some of you may know that I spent this past weekend(long weekend, Thursday morning till tuesday afternoon) at my home in Sacramento.  I originally decided to go because when I left from spring break I didn't think I could spend another 10 full weeks in Seattle with the risk of it raining every day again.  I thought I might have gone crazy!  So my mother booked me a flight home for Easter which was conveniently half way through the quarter.
My time spent at home way so wonderful.  It consisted of bike riding, going on walks with my dog, sitting on the patio drinking ice tea with my mother, spending time planting in the garden, spending time with my beautiful grandparents, and seeing family I don't see very often.  It was all in the SUN as well which I much needed.  Here are a few pictures of my yard which I love so much.  It is so much like a park.

There was a couple of days where I was able to cook dinner with my mom.  I am enjoying cooking dinner more and more every day.  The night we cooked we made homemade whole wheat biscuits which we pair with peas and roasted garlic ravioli.  It was a very good dinner!  The second night I did most of the cooking before my parents got home from work.  I made fresh whole wheat tortillas for tacos.  Of coarse everything turned out great!  With the tacos we have rice.  I only took a couple pictures of the tortillas but I hope they look good.

They are super easy to make.  They only took about 30 minutes to make the dough, roll them out and cook them on the griddle.  I am posting the recipe for these delish tortillas.  I am so happy to have a mom who cooked while we were growing up and has showed us to enjoy home cooking better than fast food or processed foods.  Home cooking with fresh ingredients is the best!!

I am back in Seattle now and back to the grind of school work.  I also begin my new job today(in about 20 minutes).  I am excited and nervous!  The sun is out though(with a few lingering clouds) but that can change any second though, in being Seattle.  I have 5 more weeks and then the feeling of missing home will soon pass because I will be there all of summer!

Whole Wheat Tortillas:

Ingredients -

2.5 Cups of Flour

.5 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour

1/3 Cup of Olive Oil

1 Cup of warm water

Dash of Salt

Directions - 

Mix together Flour, Whole wheat flour, and salt in a large glass bowl.  Slowing add oil while stirring at the same time.  Add water and finish stirring until the dough has the consistence of bread dough.  Roll out individual tortillas into whatever size you prefer.  Cook on griddle until each size has a brownish tint.  Enjoy!!!

Birthday Dinner!

Some friends and I went out to dinner this evening for my birthday.  It turned out to be a really fun evening full of laughter and smiles.  We tried a new restaurant called Pasta Bella.  If you are ever in Seattle, you should go!  Pictures are better than words...

Me, Lindsay and Evie

Jaime, Chelsea and Ali

Really good food! 

All of us together!

Our amazing FREE desert

Lindsay and I

We ate a lot of food

I am officially 20 years old!

No More Teenage Years?!

So tomorrow is my 20th birthday and I thought it would be fun to list out

21 things to do before I turn 21:

1.  Take a road trip

2.  Go out to breakfast with a friend

3.  Get a massage

4.  Go on a picnic

5.  Fly a kite

6.  Go to the Beach

7.  Run a Half Marathon

8.  Learn a new recipe for a healthy fruit smoothie

9.  Enjoy the body I have and do my best to take care of it

10.  Go to the zoo

11.  Bake more for me and other people

12.  Meet someone new and become good friends with them

13.  Send a message in a bottle

14.  Throw a dinner party

15.  Spend more time with family

16.   Go on more walks

17.  Be able to run at a 9 minute mile pace

18.  Be more patient

19.  Forgive people

20.  Take a cooking class

21.  Pray consistently for people

On top of these things which I am going to do, below is a list of things from my bucket list that I plan to complete by the end of this summer:

1.  Hike Half Dome in Yosemite

2.  Visit San Francisco using Citypass

3.  Become an early riser

4.  Make a quilt

5.  Stop biting my nails

6.  Take a spin class

7.  Become a runner

8.  Exercise regularly

9.  Have a bon fire on the beach

10.  Get a bikini wax

11.  Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge

12.  Make a gourmet homemade pizza

13.  Stay up all night

14.  Go to a professional baseball game

15.  Begin writing my life story

16.  Begin learning Sign Language

I am very excited about turning 20!

Looking at the things I have been through this past decade and how much I have changed and grown have been crazy.  I am so grateful for the things I have gone through.  I made amazing friends which are so great and I love so much.  I also went through hard times with my family which we are all healing and growing from.  Looking at what this next decade will bring is exciting.  I will hopefully graduate college and begin a career which I am so excited for(if you don't know, I want to be a marriage and family therapist).  Bring this decade on because I am ready for it!  What are the things you most remember from your last decade of life?

Early Bird

I am attempting to be an early bird these days.  I find that I have much more energy and am more productive during the day if I go to bed a little early and wake early.  I have been trying to wake up between 6:30 and 7 every morning.  This weekend threw me off from being sick but I am slowly but surely getting back in the routine.  Because on Monday, Wednesday and Friday I have an 8am, it is a bit easier because I have to get out of bed.  Tuesday and Thursday are more difficult.  The first thing I try and do is to workout on those days.  I enjoy working out so it helps me to get out of bed rather than hinder it.  My goal is to get up between 6 and 6:30 on a regular basis in my life.  I am slowly working on that during my college years.

This quarter has been really good so far.  I have a tendency to put studying and working out at the top of my priorities.  You may be thinking that this is a good thing and I totally agree.  I do sometimes, though, forget that I do need to be social.  I need to remind myself to go and hang out with friends rather than getting a week ahead on homework.  I try to balance it and perhaps go to a coffee shop with friends to study so you get the best of both worlds.
I am really enjoying my classes.  I am taking Social Psychology which is of coarse fun!  I love all my psychology classes(which is a very good sign because that is my major).  I am also taking a class called food and the consumer.  I really enjoy learning about nutrition and health and this class is just that.  It is a nutrition class that focuses on the basics which we all need to know.  There are some calculations but that is not the majority of it.  I am learning so much and the importance of a healthy and balanced diet.  I thought I was pretty good at eating healthy until I got into this class.  I learned that it is not all about fruits and veggies.  You also need whole grains, dairy and protein.  I have only had the class three times and I am learning so much.  It has been great.
Another class I am taking is called Relationship Development 2.  This class is about marriage and the importance to prepare for what is to come.  I enjoy this class because it is really self focused and what you need to do in order to be the best spouse rather than finding that person.  This class is taught by Les and Leslie Parrott.  The moto for this class is that "Your relationship can only be as healthy as the most healthy person in it."  So it focuses on getting you healthy.
This post is all over the place!  I hope you don't mind my rambling about some things in my life.  I hope you Enjoy your day  :)

Sickling

Hi Everyone!
I don't have much of an update except that I was sick this weekend  : /
It was not fun and all I did was lay around.  On the upside, I was able to check a few things off of my to do list for homework.  In between those times, I watched the first season of Glee which I have never seen.  I began watching it during the start of the second season so it was nice being able to see the backstory of it all.  After watching too much Glee, I was interested in watching something else.  I am lucky to have a family who has netflix so I get to enjoy the online benefits.  I enjoy watching tv shows more than movies.  So when it came to the evening and I planned on watching a movie, I decided to watch Desperate Housewives instead.  Now I have never seen Desperate Housewives before and really didn't know much about it other than I have a few friends who have seen it and liked it.  Netflix has all the seasons on watch instantly and so I decided to watch it from the beginning.  I am really enjoying it!!  So I like the feminine aspect of it but I also love that there is a mysterious turn which keeps the questions rolling.  If girly and mystery are things you enjoy, this may be a show you would enjoy!
Other than that, my weekend was extremely uneventful.

Balanced - Social, Study, Sleep

This weekend was a great balance between work and fun!
I only have an 8am class on Fridays which means I am done with classes by 920 on Fridays.  It is great!  I also have a meeting on fridays too but it is really easy and sort of fun.  After my meeting I decided to get a drink at the coffee shop which I haven't done for a while.  I love hot chocolate but wanted something different.  I got Raspberry Hot Chocolate and have been obsessed ever since.  I then worked on homework until about 8pm.  Friday was a catch up on sleep day even though I didn't have sleep to catch up on.  I have been sick with a cold and I felt it was time for it to be gone.  I thought that if I go to bed early then I would be able to sleep the sickness away!  I watched my favorite movie, The Young Victoria, with one of my friends.  After the movie I went to bed which was at 10pm.  I must say that it helped because I am almost over my sickness and what is left is a stuffy nose and that is usual to last longer.

Saturday morning I got up at 8 and read for a little bit.  At 930 my friends and I went to our first yoga class from our living social deal we got.  20 classes for 20 dollars!  It was really fun and the perfect beginning to a weekend.  After we got back and went to lunch, showered and so on, I went down and got some Raspberry Hot Chocolate(I found a drink that I love).    I then spent time in my room working on homework.  My friend and I went to subway for dinner and then drove over to Barnes and Noble just to look around(Books are the best!).  I wasn't tempted to buy anything because I am in the middle of reading a book right now.  When we got back from B&N, a couple of friends came over and we just spent the night talking about random things but boy was it enjoyable.

Sundays are just great because church and Jesus are great and that is what my Sundays consist of.  Mar Hill is the church I attend in Seattle and it is so great.  Yesterday's sermon was about being thankful because God has blessed us so much; focusing on our response to the blessings.  We also had a chance to go up and share stories of things God has done in our lives and the people who spoke were so great!  After church I read my own personal book and took a short nap.  Then I FINISHED my homework and reading for the weekend.  I talked to my mom and after that I spontaneously decided to watch Up.  Overall it was a great weekend because it was productive yet social!  :)

NEW DRINK OBSESSION.......
Raspberry Hot Chocolate!  Try it and love it  :)

This Raspberry Hot Chocolate is from
Starbucks but you can get it anywhere!

Back to it

Oh Studying!

I am back to the grind of studying!  It is spring quarter which means we hopefully get more sun than the last quarter.  I am taking Nutrition, Social Psychology, Community Bible Study:  Romans, Intro to Family and Consumer Sciences, Relationship Development 2, and I am also working with a professor doing research.  I am also hopefully going to get a job.

Wish me Luck!