Seven Down

With the end of a semester comes more time to blog. I officially turned in my final draft of my final essay of my college career (assuming I don't have any major essays during my student teaching semester), so I am hereby on Christmas break! I was not sure this day would ever come, but here we are at the end of my seventh semester of college. I am not going home to Houston until Saturday morning, so I have a few days to play in one of the greatest cities. I'm trying not to brag, because many of my roommates still have finals to take and/or papers to write, but it is so nice to be able to do things without the weight of school on my shoulders.

Dylan and I went to a little post-PPR celebratory dinner last night at Galaxy Cafe, which you will probably recognize as one of my go-to Austin restaurants. I originally planned on getting soup, as yesterday's weather was nasty all day and some soup would have been good for the soul, but then the turkey burger caught my eye, and I just couldn't resist it. And while I originally planned on getting a side of vegetables, the sweet potato fries were just calling my name. If you asked me what my true weakness is, I really think it is sweet potato fries. I just can't seem to resist them!

Breakfast + Workout

Today's breakfast looked identical to yesterday's, and though it tasted delicious, it didn't do too much to hold me over through the duration of my 20-minute treadmill warm-up and BodyPump class at the gym. 

My time on the treadmill was nothing new and exciting, but I always like to get a little cardio warm-up in before taking this strength-based exercise class. I alternated five minutes of running at a speed of 7.5mph with five minutes of walking at 4.2mph. It was quick and easy, and just what I needed before BodyPump. BodyPump, because I have been bad and haven't been attending the class regularly, was tough for me today, though it probably wouldn't have been so bad had I been doing those movements on a regular basis. The squat and bicep tracks always kill me, and though I don't necessarily enjoy doing lots of lunges, the lunge track always includes a little plyometric exercise that is always fun(?) to do. Today we did squat jumps, and I have to brag on myself for a minute and say that when the track was done, the instructor said I had the highest jump in the class. I guess all those years of volleyball were good for something, huh?

Anyway, I was feeling pretty ravenous by the time I left the gym, so I came home and immediately downed a couple of my banana-oatmeal-almond butter muffins before showering and heading north to the Domain to get a necklace repaired (and to do some shopping, of course). It was an absolutely beautiful day to shop outdoors, and I got a couple of items checked off of my list. So it was a total win-win.

Lunch

I was more than ready for a real lunch by the time I got home, so I immediately heated up some spaghetti squash and ground turkey with a little bit of spaghetti sauce on top.

Pre-mixing 

It may not be pretty, but it sure is tasty

It's just like my childhood favorite meal of spaghetti and meatballs, but I wasn't left with that overly full and sleepy feeling that I always get after eating pasta.

In addition to my turkey spaghetti squash, I also enjoyed an especially juicy Honeycrisp apple, with peanut butter, of course. A Honeycrisp apples and peanut butter is my all-time favorite snack, so I'm living the good life right now.

And as an added note, if you are interested in cooking spaghetti squash, here is how I have found is the best way to cook it:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
2. Pierce spaghetti squash all over with a fork to prevent it from bursting while cooking
3. Place spaghetti squash on foil-lined cookie sheet
4. Cook for 30 minutes on one side
5. After 30 minutes, turn it on the other side and cook for 30 more minutes
6. Let it cool for at least 10 minutes and cut spaghetti squash in half
7. Scoop the seeds from the center of the cooked spaghetti squash (I like to eat them, though!)
8. Use a fork to scrape the sides of the spaghetti squash and shred the pulp into strands

And that's all there is to it! It looks intimidating at first, but it really just requires quite a bit of time in the oven. And you'll have leftovers for days (which is always a huge plus for a busy college student)!

And now I'm off to do a little bit of packing. If I do a little bit each day, it won't overwhelm me, and maybe it will help me stay somewhat organized. Enjoy the rest of your day!