One Year

Yesterday marked a very special day on fitnessandfroyo: my one year anniversary! I started this blog on September 4th, 2011, and here I am, one year later, still blogging away. I must admit, I hit a period of uncertainty in December when I put blogging on the back burner for a few weeks, but I made a New Year's resolution to write at least ten posts a month, and so far, I have stuck to it! I love writing this blog, and it means so much me to that y'all follow my adventure (though some of you like to make fun of the name!) as I grow, learn, play, make plenty of mistakes, and have a lot of fun. I meant to make a special post yesterday, but yesterday was a busy one, so I wasn't able to cross a blog post off of my to-do list. I have been pretty productive today, though, so a blogging break is perfect!

I'll do a recap of yesterday and today, just because yesterday was a pretty fun day, once I recovered from my annual "I have too much on my plate, I am not going to make it through the semester" panic attack. Seriously, it happens every semester, and I have lived to tell the tale, so though this semester is going to be a crazy one, I feel pretty confident that I am going to make it through the other side - just maybe not all in one piece. Kidding!

Anyway, after class, and a failed attempt at homework, I got in my car and headed to one of my favorite spots in Austin for a mid-afternoon run: Town Lake. I am not sure what was going through my head because it was 3:00 in the afternoon when I embarked on this endeavor, but I was in the mood for a run and I was not in the treadmill mood. As I predicted it would be, it was definitely a struggle, and I probably only ran about three miles in total, but I was afforded a great view that made this challenge worth it.

After battling traffic, I arrived home to immediately start working in the kitchen. My Young Life small group was having a progressive dessert night so that we could spend some time together and see one another's cute houses along the way. The night was a lot of fun, and everyone's houses are so cute! It was so much fun to walk through all of them and to, of course, eat the many delectable desserts.

Tuxedo Cake

I elected to try a mini banana split recipe that I found on Pinterest, that of course looked precious and totally do-able, until I actually got started and realized that it is indeed very difficult to scoop out the middle of a banana while keeping the sides intact. I abandoned my original plan of putting ice cream inside the banana, and decided I would put a mini scoop of ice cream on top of the frozen banana. My small group as well as my roommates informed me that they were a hit (who doesn't love frozen bananas?), so I definitely recommend you to check out the recipe that I got from Baker's Royale and give them a shot. They are the perfect, bite-size little dessert, that you can maybe even pass for healthy. Maybe.

(Source)

Mine don't quite look the same, but they were still tasty!

It was a wonderful night with some pretty special girls, and the perfect remedy for my self-induced stress.

I stayed up pretty late working on homework last night, but I woke up around 7:15 this morning and headed out the door to tackle a 5-mile run on the treadmill at the gym. I loosely followed this workout from Carrots 'n' Cake, and it was great. It had me moving, but not so fast that I was worn out after three miles. I am slowly trying to get back into distance shape, especially because one of my friends is trying to get me to run a half-marathon in December, so I figure some slower paces are just what I need, at least until I start building my endurance back up.

How can you not be motivated to pick up the pace when this song comes on? Call me crazy, but I still love this song!

After breakfast and a shower, I sat down at the kitchen table vowing to make today a productive day. I just need to get into a routine, and I think I am on my way to doing just that. I worked on my first paper of the semester, went to the bank, the grocery store, and Office Max, did laundry, and completed an assignment for one of my English classes, all before I had to leave for class at 1:30pm. I'd call that pretty darn productive. Plus, I got a pick-me-up this morning at the grocery store when I walked in on a mission to find some good apples and I saw this lovely sight:

If you cant' read it, it is a sign announcing the start of honeycrisp season. It's the little things, I tell you. I knew from that moment on that it was going to be a great day. I spent $13 on apples this morning and I have absolutely no regrets about it. Honeycrisp apples are the best apples in the world, and I enjoyed one after class today with a little bit of peanut butter. Perfection.

Now I am off to do a bit more homework before working on dinner. The transition from dorm to house is definitely a difficult one, but I absolutely love it, and I wouldn't trade the clubhouse for anything! Enjoy the rest of your evening, and thanks for making this blog so much fun to write! I love y'all!