Tag: happy

Tidbits for the week

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, school/studying, training

Good Morning!!!!! Here are a few tibits that have been going on over here.

 

An old roommate cleaned out her closet and I got lots of goodies!!! Most are barely worn and some even still have the tags on them!!! I love having an ex roommate that works at Nike.

Fun times with the boyfriend, yep we are dorks

I have been enjoying some salads this week. I plan on hitting Costco in the next day or two and picking up their Chinese chicken salad mix so live on this week.

Medical terminology is in full swing!!! I have already been doing lots of studying!

I am sort of obsessed with Triscuits right now, they are pretty amazing, I finished this box and am currently eating rosemary and olive oil.

Saw this on a run this week……………

and in other news…………..this blonde…….has gone…………………

RED!!!!!!!!!!!! Well auburnish, The funny thing is, a lot of people haven’t really noticed because in certain lights my hair already had a bit of an auburn tint to it, so I just embraced it.

That’s it for me! Oh the bf and I have officially registered for a half marathon on August 5th. Better get my butt into gear!

Talk to you soon!

Question and answer

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, training

Howdy!!!

Yesterday morning I went to a Bikram Yoga class with my roommate for the first time in…..idk probably 3ish years. OMG was it brutal!!!!!!!!! I remember going when I was in good shape and loved it and thought it was not easy but I didn’t usually feel like I was going to die. I had to sit down several times and felt nauseous through the entire second half of the class, but I will get better!!!

I went home and ate everything in site, took a shower then laid down and ended up napping for about 20 minutes before getting ready for work.

I love the concept of taking a nap but I always wake up feeling groggy and with a slight headache and it takes me FOREVER to fully wake up. But other people swear by mid-day naps, this got me thinking about the things people swear by and thought I would do a little question and answer session. I am going to answer some question and ask that you comment your answers as well!

Here we go:

Naps: for or against?

I am for them but not sure they are for me

Coffee or tea?

Oddly both. I will generally take coffee over tea most days but as I get older my stomach doesn’t always handle coffee as well.

Starbucks or independent?

Both but I heavily favor Starbucks. Because they are corporate they are very consistent, I know what I am going to get every time. I like some independent coffee places but most of the time they are not strong enough for me and therefore not worth the calories of the frothy drinks I get.

Your favorite color?

Some people have their favorite color play a HUGE part in their life, mine plays a moderate part in my life, its is green, pretty much all shades found in nature.

Running: people tend to either love it or hate it

Of course I love it, I just hate having to get back in shape.

Books: take em or leave em?

TAKE EM! 100% take up for me, I am a total book lover. As I get older though I am now going to book binge periods, like I wont read for 4-5 months then I will devour 5 books in 3 days. Though I am trying to fix that by making a book club with my friends on Facebook. We are reading 1 book a month. I have 3 days to finish June’s book and I am on chapter 2. But I can do it! hahaha.

What is your phobia?

Arachnophobia for sure, I hate spiders, they skeeve me out, but I am much better than I used to be. If push comes to shove I am usually kill one if there is no one else to do it and if it is small enough and on the other side of the room I will generally just leave it alone.

I also have trypophobia, which is a fear of holes, sounds super weird but Google trypophobia and tell me some of those pictures don’t make your skin crawl, also this phobia is not recognized as a true phobia in the scientific community. This is one I am definitely working on because in the medical field I am going to see all kinds of gross things and I cannot run away from them.

Favorite food?

Pizza hands down,  very close second is Mexican food.

Hot or cold weather?

Generally I would take cold over hot because I can always put more layers on, you can only take so much off when it is hot. I do get to a point though where I have been in the cold too long and am sick of it.

Ideal vacation?

Truthfully my ideal vacation is a little cottage on the beach, like an East coast, Oregon/Washington coast kind of beach, sweater weather. Going for walks/runs in the misty morning air, and lounging in the house the rest of the day with books and movies and a fire going. Having pizza and floor picnics, afternoon naps. Just super relaxing. For a whole week.

Hilariously, though this is my ideal vacation, it is also the vacation I have never taken. My vacations tend to be go, go, go. The closest I got was 2 days at my bf’s family beach house last November.

I can’t wait to read your answers!!! And if you have any other questions feel free to ask!

 

Tidbits for the week

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, school/studying, training

 

Its been a pretty boring week for me, still getting over being sick.

I managed a 2 mile walk Thursday morning

 


and got together with my friend from my last job Thursday evening.

Did a mountain of laundry on Friday, and still have more to do.

Today I am back and work and this evening is my BF’s sister’s wedding. I am meeting the family!

Wish me luck!!!!

Monday my new class starts, medical terminology, I am pretty stoked for it, I have cases to read and try and diagnose and everything!!!!! It is online which will be nice. No more rushing from class to work.

I am also excited to get back to a normal schedule in my life this coming week as well. The first weekend of June my BF was out of town for a bachelor party, then next weekend I was in Cali, then I got sick. Now I am finally recovering. I am excited to get back to running and hiking and seeing my BF for more than 12 hours lol.

What does your week look like?

My 30 days of no fast food

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, training

As you know I did 30 days of no fast food and it went great!……until day 30 hahahaha. I did really good the whole time, I felt great, I was working out more, making healthier choices. Then I went down to Southern California for my friends graduation and visited people. I did good and stayed away from fast food until 1:15am on day 30. We had gone to the awards banquet for my friends program and drank too much lol. Then we decided to go to a bar after the banquet ended any by 12:30am we were in desperate need for food and the nearest open thing was In ‘N’ Out.

I also made healthy food choices on this trip, even when eating in restaurants, for the first half of the trip, then the drinking started and the food starting getting worse and worse. When I got back I was past my 30 days so I had the fast food I had been craving during my 30 day abstinent stint. So I feel like a cow again, add in that I have been sick and eating gallons of soup sodium filled canned soup, I am bloated to high heaven.

I am meeting a friend for happy hour tomorrow to catch up, no I am not drinking, just a diet coke and a happy hour half priced burger for me haha. After that I am hoping back on the bandwagon and I am taking it a step further. I am not going out to eat unless someone has invited me for a social situation, in which case I am only allowed to order a salad, and/or a broth based soup (no chowders or creams!) Otherwise only homemade items are on the menu for me until I leave for the cruise mid-September. And no more soda! *Unless I am sick and its ginger ale.  (but knock on wood I wont be sick with all the healthy eating I am going to do!)

Special occasions are the exception, for example I am running a half marathon August 5th then heading to work and you can bet I am picking up a pizza on the way to work after that race hahahaha. My 1 year anniversary with the BF, I plan on us going out to dinner. Big things like that are the exceptions. (Mostly I am trying to turn this into a long term habit because I jump to the conclusion of eating out way to often).

I am going to try and do pics of my food again/still, but I am blonde and sometimes forget, also sometimes I am super hungry and just dive into my food and after I have finished go “oh yea I was supposed to take a pic of that…….would an empty plate work?” So bare with me. And as always keep me honest! If you see something that looks like a non-homemade meal and I didn’t explain it……CALL ME OUT!

Anybody want to join me on this or do their own challenge?   

Tidbits from the week

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, school/studying, training

WHEW! It is over! Finals for this quarter are done! Time to rest and relax!

And of course I am now sick. I don’t know if its a cold or what but my throat is on fire however my nose isn’t stuffed up so who knows. I spent the majority of Thursday and Friday laying in bed watching movies and sleeping and now I am back at work trying to talk as little as possible and taking lots of sips of water to sooth my throat. I need to pick up more throat lozenges but I can only have so many of those before they start to kill my mouth, too much menthol maybe, I don’t know.

That is pretty much what my week has been, work, study, finals, and sickness. Wish me luck that I recover quickly. I hope the rest of you have a great weekend!

I want to be a wino

by Ariana Peters, posted in food

Hi everyone!!!!!! 

Generally the only wine I have ever like was sweet wine, like the sweet stuff that males normal wine drinkers gag, total dessert wines. I probably get this from my mom because that is all she drinks. I’ve done a few wine tastings but without real guidance or good food pairings I’ve never found anything else I liked. 

A few weeks ago I saw a post by Monica on her blog RER about Weekly Tasting. I was intreged and I checked it out. I liked the premise of it and signed up. I really liked that I don’t have to slip anything or worry about forgetting to opt out, I have to deliberately go on the website or app and choose to buy that week. 

With your weekly tasting purchase you get your 750ml bottles of wine, a recipe card for a food pairing for each wine as well as a 10 min video by the sommelier who picked the wine and their pairings. And of course you get the expertise of the sommelier who is picking the wines and their pairings. 

I will say there is no way I can or would order the wine pack every week. Firstly it is a little rich for my blood and secondly I could never drink 4 bottles of wine in a week. I am not doing this to get drunk, I want to get better at some pairing so I would have at most 1 glass with a meal. Therefore it will take me about 2 months to get through each 4 pack hahahaha. I will tell you guys about 1 wine at a time probably every other week. 

This is the 1st wine I tried:

Let me tell you I have never said yum about a red wine in my life. 

I listened to the part of the video about this wine while I did my initial tasting.

I poured 1-2 is for a taste test as well as made a piece of sourdough with a little bit of pasta sauce on it because this pairs well with red sauces . 

I smelled it and sniffed for what the video talked about

I could smell most of it, but not everything, need to refine my nose more. It was very fruity actually, not sweet fruity just pleasant. 

Next I looked at the wine and the color (I did these two out of order)

I have no idea what I’m looking for hahahaha, maybe I will figure this part out as I continue 

Then came the taste!

I could actually taste most of what they said in the video and…….i like it!!!! I was pretty surprised that i liked this red wine even to the point of enjoying just sipping on it. 

After tasting it by itself I tried it with the pasta sauce on bread and it was good. 

That is my initial tasting! Now for the pairings. 

I made a spaghetti Bolognese with beef and bell peppers 

Delicious!!!

Stone fires pizza and salad.

It had the red sauce and the char that the sommelier talked about. Once again super delicious! Totally had this for lunch on a Friday. Day drinking!!!!! Hahahaha

Tidbits from the week

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, school/studying, training

Hello from California!!!!! I love when I get to come down and visit my friends and family! My goal is generally to come down at least once a year.

Here is my food from the week:

Remember I am on vacation so cut me a little slack lol. 

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Frozen mashed potatoes, restaurant cheeseburger w/fries, Starbucks tall non-fat, no-whip extra shot caramel frappachino, and for dinner a shot of vodka and a buffalo chicken salad. 

Thursday

Turkey burger at TGIFridays with a side salad after my friends graduation. 

Friday

Starbucks tall non-fat, no-whip extra shot caramel frappachino and an egg white, cheese and turkey bacon breakfast sandwich. 

2 cheese enchiladas w/rice and beans, chips and salsa, and 2 mimosas!

1.5 strawberry margaritas, half a TGIFridays chicken quesadilla and half of their pretzel and cheese 

Today was bad day lol. 

In non-food news:

Went for a little 3 mile run walk with the roommate Sunday night.

 I finished my first ever bottle of red wine and LOVED it! I didn’t open the bottle on Sunday though lol I had a glass each night with dinner for a few nights. But more about wine later…….

Monday was my last full school day of this quarter!!!! So excited!!!!!

Tuesday I went for a short treadmill run

I wanted to run longer but my back was killing me. 

Wednesday we had a cleaner come which I am so happy about!!! And i flew to California!!!

Thursday was my best friend Nicole graduation! I am so proud of her!

After graduation we all went out to dinner. 

Friday morning I met my oldest friend for coffee before she had to go to work. We have known each other since we were 2!

After that I went to lunch and hung out with my friend Chanelle

This morning I slept in a bit and this afternoon/evening I have a banquet for my graduate friend!!

Spanish Lessons in Costa Rica

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, school/studying

I was going through old photos on my computer and realized I started this blog after my adventure in Costa Rica so I thought I would share some of the photos and stories. It will help me get pumped for my Europe trip!!! (as if I actually need help to get pumped to go to Europe hahahaha)

Back story:

If you have read the about me section you know my dad died when I was 20 and it rocked my world. When I was getting back on track and starting to do well in school again, I was in a class and someone came in and did a quick presentation about a student volunteer organization called ISV, International Student Volunteers. This presentation was enthusiastic and awesome and I said to myself, yep I am so doing that. I was 22. I went to their website and looked around and chose Costa Rica, mostly because their adventure tour sounded the best at the time.

I tend to do things to the extreme, remember when I walked into the wilderness by myself after quitting my job to try and thru-hike the PCT? LOL. In keeping with that I signed up for 1 week of Spanish lessons, 2 weeks of volunteer work, a 2 week adventure tour, and 1 week hiking the Andes to Machu Picchu. Here is what happened:

I had never traveled internationally alone, or even really nationally alone. I had driven from Nevada to California a few times by myself but that was it, so while I was with a group, they were all strangers to me and ISV had made it very clear that we were adults, if we did anything wrong we were on our own.

The adventure:

I got to LAX about 5+ hours before my flight took off, this was before everyone could check in 24 hours ahead on their phones and the internet. Some of the other people who were traveling from other places said they would get to the airport early so I thought I could join them and get to talk to some of them ahead of time. Checking it that early meant I got bumped up to first class!!! To date that is my first and only time in first class hahaha!

When we landed there was no guide to meet us we just headed to the front to look for our host families. I got into a car by myself with a complete stranger in a foreign country…..she knew my name so it had to be her right? Thankfully all turned out well.

I had my own little room and was given a key.


My host family said I was free to come and go as I please. Thankfully I was only a few blocks from the school where I would be studying because I walked to and fro each day by myself.

I had no Spanish knowledge so I was in the very basic class……it was so boring hahahahaha! We had Spanish lessons in the morning then were free to do as we pleased in the afternoon and evenings. They had dance classes everyday that I went to and thoroughly enjoyed. I remember that my dance partner was there learning Spanish because he wanted to be a doctor with doctors without boarders.


One day we also had a cooking lesson, or more a cooking demonstration. Best part was that we got samples!!!

 

Here was my beginners class with out teacher


We were a bunch of misfits hahahaha!!!

We went on a few outings that were guided by the school. Usually lunch around town or to look at something historical.

 

One night I also went out with a bunch of people from the school to a local bar/dance club. It was fun but part of picking myself back up after my dad died meant that I had completely stopped drinking until I could get myself under control so going to a bar with people who just wanted to get drunk was not the best idea, I was bored and miserable the whole night. I wasn’t ready to be able to have sober fun in a setting like that.

When we graduated we all got little certificates saying we had learned for a week hahahaha


This week was my first time ever staying with a non-family member or friend by myself, first time using an international phone card, first time using an internet café, first time using my passport to get into a bar, first time navigating a foreign city by myself, first time trying to really communicate with people who spoke a language I didn’t, first great adventure as an adult.

I had had one big international trip before this, I went to South Korea with my family when I was in the 5th grade, it was wonderful but this was 100% different, doing something on your own as an adult is very liberating and you learn so much about yourself. I am so excited for Europe!!!!

I’ll tell you more next month!!

Monday Motivation**June 5, 2017

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, school/studying, training

Good morning!!!!!!!!

 

(Image from google)

Holy cow it is already the last week of classes in my spring quarter!! That went fast, probably because I was super busy but I was happy so that is all that matters.

Workout goals-3-4 workouts. I am going to have to work to fit it all in. I have my last day of classes and need to start cramming for finals as well as a trip this week so its going to be busy, busy, busy. But if I am smart about it and keep the amount of crap I eat on the trip to a minimum I should be able to pull it all off. Wish me luck and I’ll keep you posted!

What are your plans this week?

Tidbits from the week

by Ariana Peters, posted in food, healthy lifestyle, school/studying, training

Last week!!! Let the finals cramming begin!!!!!

Food for the week

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

What’s been going on this week:

Sunday was the BF’s birthday. My roommate gave me gift cards to take him out so we went to claim jumpers. It was nice to go out and really nice to not have to let him pay. I got to treat him and that was awesome so big shout out to my roommate who made that happen.

Since I’m low on money I made the BF coupons he can use in the relationship for his gift hahahaha.

We ended May,

22 miles, that is nothing in the running world but I’m happy my mileage is slowly increasing.

Tuesday I got a nice run in on the treadmill

Thursday the BF came over after work and we got in a little evening run together

It was super fun. Then I made us a super simple Bolognese sauce over fettuchini with some wine.

And we watched Bridget Jones Baby. It was a really fun and relaxed night.

The BF is out of town this weekend on a bachelor party camping trip so I gloriously did nothing on Friday. I went to my last lab, picked up the puppy, we ran some errands and picked up lunch then I sat on the couch with them and binge watched TV. It was pretty great hahaha.