And I'm Back

Yes, I am back in the United States (Austin, Texas to be exact), but in addition to my being back, my blog is also back! I am going to post a few "reflections" regarding my study abroad experience, but my regular fitness, food and life in Austin blog posts will be returning for your reading pleasure! As sad as it makes me to say that I do not have any more European adventure blog posts coming your way (for now), I am excited to get back to blogging about something for which I have such a passion -- health and fitness (and of course, some fun thrown into the mix!). I might as well start with today as it contained both of those things!

This crazy blogger is back in action in Austin!

I arrived home from the airport around 10:30 last night, not tired, giddy with excitement over the fact that I was getting to spend time with my parents (I had missed them so much!) and awoke this morning at around 6:45am. Okay, what? I lost basically a whole night of sleep and I can't even manage to stay asleep until 7am? I was pretty hungry, so I made myself a large fruit breakfast (seeing as we had no yogurt, waffles, and our biscuits were hard rocks) and spent some time repacking for my move back to Austin later that afternoon. Around 10:45 I headed out to one of my favorite places in Houston - Memorial Athletic Club, aka my gym, to step on a treadmill for the first time in seven weeks. I wanted to challenge myself, but not kill myself with this first treadmill workout, so I found a good incline workout via PBFingers that was definitely tough -- it had me huffin' and puffin'! Normally when I do incline workouts, I walk them, but this one had me running all the way up to an incline of 15.0! Talk about tough!

After the treadmill, I headed over to the weights to put myself through an arm workout that I am sure will leave me sore tomorrow -- not because it was particularly difficult, but because I haven't targeted my arm muscles in so long, but I am excited for the sore feeling that is sure to come!

I completed an arm workout that was inspired by PBFingers, but I changed it up a bit and it ended up looking like this:

After a 20-minute cool-down on the elliptical while watching the Murray-Federer Wimbledon match (so intense!), I walked over to Walgreens to purchase a notebook and folders for my classes that begin tomorrow, and then I made my way over to another one of my Houston favorites: Berripop. I was starving and really feeling that Houston humidity, so a nice, cool frozen yogurt sounded like the perfect thing. Well, okay, when doesn't frozen yogurt sound good to me? Anyway, I ordered my usual parfait (they raised the price on me!) and took it go so that I could get home quickly to shower and finish packing before heading to Austin. The one time I actually want to get stuck at traffic lights is when I have Berripop in my hands, but of course, that is always the time I manage to hit all of the green lights! It was as delicious as it always is, well worth the extra $.50 in my opinion!

After a quick shower, it was time to begin the journey back to Austin. I act like it is a long journey, it only takes two-and-a-half hours to get to SRD from my house, and I have the best parents ever who took two cars so that I wouldn't have to make the drive, but so that I would still have my car with me in Austin. I am so thankful for them and I already miss them so much! Growing up sure is tough!

After some unpacking and a little bit of organizing (or not), I decided to go search for some dinner, and not wanting to venture too far away because I was pretty darn hungry and wanted food in my belly as quickly as possible, I walked on over to the newly renovated Kerbey Lane Cafe -- an Austin favorite, famous for their pancakes and their queso. Sound like an odd combination? It's not. Anyway, I opted for one of their summer specials -- Tacos Al Pastor, which were filled with some deliciously spicy pork loin, cilantro, pineapple, and black beans. Y'all, it was so good, my taste buds missed my Austin favorites, and they really missed all the spices and flavor! It was a wonderful first meal back in Austin and I am now working on a list of all of the Austin restaurants I have to be sure to visit during this summer session!

Look for my Barcelona reflection posts coming soon -- for now, a little Pinterest and a movie are going to make for a very relaxing night, I think my lack of sleep is finally starting to catch up with me! Good night!