Destination: San Francisco

The day is finally here! I have had this trip officially booked since June, but I have had the plan in my mind since January, when I broke my toe and couldn't participate in the Houston half marathon. I guess my parents felt sorry for me, because they quickly agreed to my idea to travel to San Francisco in the middle of the semester to run a half marathon. My mom even volunteered to come with me. It was just such a sacrifice on her part! Before we move on with the excitement of the weekend, let's go through the normal parts of the day.

Breakfast

This will probably be my last scrambled egg white breakfast for a few days, so I made sure to really enjoy this one alongside a delicious plumcot. I am so excited to see what delicious breakfast options San Francisco has in store for me this weekend. I have received numerous recommendations, and I have found a few places through my own Yelp perusing, so we'll see what ends up in my stomach. You can count on some good pictures, though!

Workout

In the half marathon training "plan" that I follow, no workout is scheduled for tomorrow, but today's workout is supposed to happen as planned. So, just like virtually almost any other Thursday, I took my workout to the pool for a refreshing swim. I went directly after my three-hour morning class ended, giving myself plenty of time to bike back to my house to shower and make sure I have everything that I need. In typical Kelli fashion, I have probably packed way too much, but I'm pretty unsure about the weather in San Francisco, so I feel like I had to pack multiple options. That's the excuse I'm sticking with, anyway!

Airport

I hurried home after class to get all of my last-minute things together, before my friend Hanna so kindly battled traffic in order to get me to the Austin airport, so that I wouldn't have to leave my car parked in the Airport parking garage all weekend. My flight to Denver takes off at 5:50pm, and arrives at approximately 7:10pm. I will meet up with my mom in Denver, and we will fly together to San Francisco, arriving at SFO at 10:35pm, though it will feel like 12:35am to our bodies. Let's cross our fingers that we can get some sleep on the plane! 

A little pleasure reading while I wait to board my flight

We are planning to sleep in a little bit tomorrow before getting up and hitting the race expotique to pick up all of my race materials (and probably a few other things, knowing us), before making our way through my very extensive to-do list. It is my goal to post a recap of each day at the end of the day, because if I don't do it as it happens, it will never get done. And something tells me that I am going to want to be able to look back on this trip, and that I'll have some fun pictures to share with you guys. And if you want a sneak peek of some of the pictures that are sure to appear on my blog, be sure to follow me on Instagram: @peanut_butter_and_kelli. 

And I'll see you guys from San Francisco! Have a great evening!

My Running Playlist

As promised, I have a half marathon playlist to share with you guys. Though I didn't make it especially for this half marathon, so I will call it my running playlist. I won't hear every song on every run, but I know that I can't go wrong with any of them. I must warn you that I am very much one of those people who listens to pop songs when I run, so please feel free to judge some of the songs on my playlist. I am judging myself for some of my choices, but I can't deny that they are fun songs to run to. So, without further ado, here is my most recent running playlist:

• Die Young - Ke$ha
• Best Love Song - T-Pain, Chris Brown
• What Makes You Beautiful - One Direction (before you laugh, just know that there are many more songs by One Direction on this list)
• All Star - Smash Mouth
• Live While We're Young - One Direction (told you)

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• Shake It - Metro Station
• We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Taylor Swift
• International Love - Pitbull, Chris Brown
• Halo - Beyonce
• 100 Years - Five For Fighting
• Mr. Brightside - The Killers
• 4 Minutes - Madonna (featuring Justin Timberlake)
• That's When I Love You - Phil Vassar
• Summer Girls - LFO
• Barefoot Blue Jean Night - Jake Owen
• Kiss You - One Direction
• I Cry - Flo Rida
• Bye-Bye - Jo Dee Messina
• All I Ever Wanted - Basshunter
• Wagon Wheel - Darius Rucker
• Here's To Never Growing Up - Avril Lavigne
• Faster - Matt Nathanson
• Real World '09 - Rob Thomas
• It's A Beautiful Day - Michael Buble
• Anywhere With You - Jake Owen
• 22 - Taylor Swift

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• Shut Up and Kiss Me - Cover Cream
• 50 Ways to Say Goodbye - Train
• She's So Mean - Matchbox Twnety
• Love in America - JTX
• I Want Your Girlfriend To Be My Girlfriend - Reel Big Fish
• Best Song Ever - One Direction
• Roar - Katy Perry (this is my JAM!)
• Waking Up in Vegas - Katy Perry (this was my high school jam)
• Bruises - Train
• If I Can't Have You - Kelly Clarkson
• I'm A Believer - Smash Mouth
• Super Bass - Nicki Minaj
• I Want Crazy - Hunter Hayes
• Wannabe - Spice Girls
• What's My Age Again? - Blink 182
• First Date - Blink 182
• All The Small Things - Blink 182 (just revisiting my middle school days with all the Blink 182)

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• The Story Of Us - Taylor Swift
• Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus (I know she's crazy, but she does have some good music)
• Wake Me Up - Avicii
• Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke (I know, the video is horrible, but I really like the beat)
• Up! - Shania Twain
• Dirty Little Secret - All American Rejects
• He Could Be the One - Hannah Montana (I know, embarrassing)
• Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F) - Katy Perry
• La La - Ashlee Simpson

As you can probably tell, I very much like listening to old songs when I run. And yes, I do really like Katy Perry, One Direction, and Taylor Swift. Confessions. If you have any songs that you LOVE on your running playlist, please send them my way. I am always on the lookout for new running songs!

I got some new running shoes at Luke's Locker to break-in after the half 

Pumpkin spice and caramel apple cookies - the perfect way to relax

And I am sorry I have been so MIA these past few days - though they haven't been crazy busy with a lot of school stuff (I'm surprisingly on top of things this week, though next week will probably be the death of me), but I have been busy getting things ready for San Francisco - running some last minute errands and crossing things off of my most recent to-do list, and just relaxing, which I definitely needed. Plus, Dylan and I had to make up for our lack of a Thursday tradition this week since I won't be here. His mom actually just got to Austin so we went to dinner at one of my very favorites - Pappasito's. Not a bad Texas send-off meal! I hope your Wednesday has been a fabulous one!

Survey Sunday Comeback

For those of you who are long-time readers of this blog, you might recognize a little something I like to call "Survey Sunday." I only stopped it because I ran out of surveys that I hadn't already taken, but I found this fun, albeit very random, this-or-that survey to share with you guys. I am sure some of these questions have been answered in previous blog posts, but it's been a while since I've posted one, so hopefully you don't remember any of these answers. Enjoy! And enjoy this beautiful picture that was the result of a night bike ride through campus last night. Doesn't get much better than this. Hook 'em!

1. Waffles or pancakes?

Pancakes. My dad used to make them before we took the TAKS test, and I could easily put away ten of his chocolate chip pancakes. Though I can't eat the traditional "buttermilk" pancakes anymore, I love finding new dairy-free pancake recipes to try, such as this apple cinnamon pancake recipe,

and this 2-ingredient pancake recipe, and this delicious oatmeal chocolate chip pancake recipe.

2. Cake or pie?

Confession. I don't really like either one. I am much more of a cookie kind of girl. Though I do enjoy eating chocolate pie, as well as pecan pie.

3. Sneakers or heels?

This is a hard question, because I actually really like wearing heels, but I'm most comfortable after slipping on a pair of my favorite tennis shoes.

Wearing heels does make me feel like a real teacher, though

4. Coke or Pepsi?

I know I've answered this question multiple times before, and the answer is neither. I have never like soda of any kind, though I do like the fun Coke memorabilia.

5. Staples or paper clips?

Staples, for sure. Paper clips are no guarantee that a paper won't escape from the pile and be lost forever. I do like binder clips a lot, though.

6. Hot weather or cold weather?

If I could put the weather from last week in a box and release a little bit of it every day, you would never hear another weather-related complaint from me. My favorite weather would have to be where I could wear shorts and a short-sleeve shirt without sweating, and maybe even add a sweater to that combination when it turns to evening. I really don't like cold weather, mainly because I don't adequately dress for it, so that might be my own problem, but I also don't like wearing a bunch of bulky layers.

7. Grill or oven/stove?

I have nothing against using a grill, it's just that, other than a George Foreman grill, I have never used one. I do all of my cooking using either the stove or the oven, so I'm pretty partial to those two appliances.

8. Mac or PC?

This is another question I know I have already answered, and I am definitely on Team Mac.

9. Glasses or contacts?

Life is good when you have 20/20 vision. But I secretly wish I had to wear glasses, because I think there are so many cool frames out there that really add a lot to an outfit. Fun fact: I used to have some fake glasses that I recently rediscovered. One of my roommates and I contemplated ordering some fake glasses, so when I found my original pair of fake glasses, I couldn't help but snap and send her a picture.

Shameless selfie

10. Android or iOS?

I'm all about the iPhone life, even though the lack of storage space on my iPhone 4 has prevented me from updating to iOS7.

11. Facebook or Twitter?

I definitely prefer Twitter. People have such funny things to say, and I'm not sure if I should be ashamed to say that Twitter is where I find out about a lot of what is going on in the world.

12. Cats or dogs?

Dogs. I find some cats to be cute, but for the most part, I'm pretty allergic to them. I love the playful nature of dogs, and in my future life, I really want to have a beagle. Just please tell me how you could ever say no to this face?

Dylan's is slowly turning me into a tolerant cat person with his mom's sweet and cute cat, Tonks

13. Pen or pencil?

I very much prefer pens to pencils. I think my dislike of pencils comes from the fact that I tend to end up with pencil ink smeared alongside the entire side of my left hand. I almost never use pencils anymore, so when I had to take a scantron test a few weeks ago, I had to spend a significant amount of time searching for a pencil to use in taking the test.

14. Restaurant or cooking at home?

This is another tough question. I generally try to get my money's worth out of the groceries I buy each week, but there are so many good restaurants in both Houston and Austin. Dylan and I have implemented our Thursday Tradition in which we try a new-to-(one of)-us restaurant each week, so that's been fun to branch out from my usual Whole Foods, Central Market, Galaxy Cafe, Food Heads bubble. And whenever I go home to Houston, I usually have such a limited time to hit all of my favorite restaurants, that I generally eat most of my meals out. But I do try to cook a lot of my meals at home. I find myself to be a pretty good cook, after all!

34th Street Cafe

My most recent go-to

15. Digital or analog (clock)?

Digital. It's hard to find me without a digital watch on my right wrist, even if I'm headed to a fancy event. Okay, I might try and put on something that goes with the attire, but most likely not. The few hours that I thought I had lost my watch were a pretty excruciating few hours for me. 

16. Colored pencils or crayons?

Crayons, for sure. I used to hate having to use colored pencils when I was in school (I think because they dulled so quickly), and crayons offer so much more variety in the color department. I prefer markers and colored pens to both colored pencils and crayons, though.

I did use colored pencils to create this masterpiece, though

17. TV shows or movies?

I don't follow any TV shows, and I only have a few favorites that I could watch over and over again, so I'm going to have to go with movies. And that's a pretty limited category seeing as I really only like to watch chick-flicks and sports movies, but I do prefer watching movies to watching TV.

18. Typing or writing?

This is a tough one. I love writing in a journal, and I also like to take all of my class notes in an actual notebook, but typing allows you to get down so much more information in a much shorter amount of time, and it allows you to share it with others. Just like this blog!

19. Throwing a party or attending one?

I'm really weird (and introverted) in that I can be really excited about a party of event for weeks leading up to it, and then when the day comes, I want nothing more than to have a relaxing night at home. I generally always enjoy myself at said party or event, it's just motivating me to get there. That being said, I think hosting dinners and parties (every once in a while) is so much fun. I love having an excuse to make a lot of food and decorate my place accordingly. If I am going to host something, though, I want to be sure that I have plenty of time to plan it, because if I am going to do it, I want to do it right.

The baked goods for a Christmas party Emily and I hosted

20. Sweet or savory?

Sweet. I love fruit, and I really love chocolate, and those things fall under the sweet category. However, I also really love savory food, because I much prefer the entree to dessert. Maybe the real answer is that I just really like to enjoy good food.

Sweetango Apple

And there you have it. Here's to make this Sunday a productive one, although the steady rainfall is going to make that just a little bit difficult!

Red River Rivalry

I am a little embarrassed that yesterday I wrote about my lack of confidence in the Longhorn football team in the big Red River Rivalry game today. But to defend my words, our play so far this year hadn't given me much reason to be hopeful about this game. I don't know where it's been all season, but our team came ready to play today. And I am so proud to be a Longhorn, and I can't wait to see our beautiful tower lit up orange tonight.

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I am happy to say that with this win, I can officially continue on with my four-year graduation plan. If we had lost, I was contemplating taking a victory lap, solely to see if I could have one memorable football season (though our 2011 Thanksgiving victory against Texas A&M is certainly one to remember), but my parents will be relieved to hear that I can in fact graduate next May as planned. There are other reasons to celebrate our win, one of them being there will certainly be an increased morale on campus, and we just might have a bit more school spirit. I know that I'm already excited for when my parents to come to Austin in November so that we can all go to the OSU game. If we keep playing like this, I'm calling a Big 12 championship. You heard it here first! I'm also happy for the sake of Mack Brown. Though I think he should step down at the end of this year just as much as the next person, I think winning the Red River Rivalry is a good way to do that. He's done great things for this program, and it was so nice to see him smiling on the sidelines this afternoon.

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And this win was made all the better due to the fact that my little brother is currently a freshman at OU. I didn't know how I was going to live it down if we had lost this game. 

I'm a little bummed that I didn't make the trek to Dallas for my senior year Texas/OU game, but the best seat in the house is often the view from the couch, or from a treadmill, which is where I spent the majority of the first half.

I got up around 8:00 this morning, and opted to work on a little bit of homework instead of hitting the gym first thing. Around 11:30 I finally changed out of my pajamas and headed up to 24 Hour Fitness, and set up shop on a treadmill that was very close to the TV that was showing the game. I ended up running just over seven miles in an hour, and because I was watching the game, the time absolutely flew by. Plus, it was fun to see everyone reacting to the game. I am really feeling ready for my upcoming trip to San Francisco, and that feeling is heightened due to the fact that I just brought down my suitcase so that I can start packing. I always do this, in that I get started extremely early, but then I tend to leave most of the packing to the last minute. Let's see if I can break that trend this time!

After my time at the gym, a quick trip to Target, and a very refreshing shower, I heated up a bowl of my chicken and pineapple vegetable dish, and ate it while parked on the couch watching that beautiful, beautiful football game. 

I'm honestly so happy that nothing can bring me down, even the fact that my plans for the rest of the day include working on lots of school work. Hook 'Em Horns, and Texas Forever! Have a great rest of your Saturday!

Casual Friday

I have never before appreciated the beauty that is Casual Friday. Previously, all of the "jobs" that I've had have lent themselves to sporting pretty casual clothing. And while I love putting on my "teacher clothes" - slacks or a dress, a nice top, and heels, I quickly learned that I love even more to slip on my favorite pair of jeans, a t-shirt, a sweater, and comfy shoes. In today's case, my comfy shoes were my customized UT Toms. Though I'm not extremely confident about our chances at the Red River Rivalry this weekend, I still have to support my Horns!

Breakfast

I woke up to some fairly gloomy weather this morning, which did not contribute to my wanting to get out of bed. I snoozed my alarm until about 7:30am, wen I finally got up, got dressed, prepared my lunch for the day, and made my usual breakfast of scrambled egg whites and spinach. I ate those alongside an especially delicious plumcot and some sliced watermelon. I headed off to class with a very happy stomach. 

Workout

I hurried home from campus and drove over to the gym, where I was stationed at my favorite treadmill by 10:10am. I covered a total of 4.25 miles in 36 minutes, and 4.15 of those miles were spent running. My treadmill workout looked like this:

After my quick time spent at the gym (I am so looking forward to a longer gym session tomorrow), I headed home to shower and get ready to go to Westwood. I wrote earlier this week that I was going to be teaching today, and though I planned and prepared for my lesson over rhetorical appeals, I received an email yesterday from my teacher saying she had met with her team and they decided to move that lesson to later in the semester, because today was going to be devoted to working on the rough drafts of their literary analysis papers. I will still get to teach the lesson that I planned, it will just be later in the semester. It would have been nice to get it out of the way today, especially because I won't be going to the school at all next week, but we are told over and over again in our UTeach class that flexibility is a big part of being a teacher, so I guess I am learning that skill fairly well. Plus, it will mean less work for me one week later in the semester. There's always a bright side!

After my time at Westwood, I drove over to Lakeline Mall for the first time, mainly because I was in a shopping mood, and because Lakeline Mall is located about two miles from Westwood. I was probably a little bit too successful in my shopping endeavor, though I still can't seem to find the perfect pair of nude heels. I've been on the lookout for some since August, and I think maybe I am just being a bit too picky in what I want. But then again, I have to like them if I expect to wear them (and stand in them for hours)!

This weekend is likely to be pretty low-key, as a lot of my roommates are out of town for the weekend, many of my friends are either in Dallas for the game, or attending weekend two of ACL, and Dylan is going home to Friendswood for the weekend. I was very tempted to take him up on his offer to drop me off at my house on the way to his, but I decided against it because I am leaving town next Thursday (six days!), and I should try to get as much done as I possibly can this weekend, so that I'm not feeling pressure to do a lot of school work when I am in San Francisco. Speaking of, be on the lookout for a half marathon playlist coming one day next week. Have a great rest of your Friday!

Manic Monday, Round 2

It's been another crazy Monday, and while I certainly don't have the time to go into a long update of my day, I do have a new treadmill workout that I want to share with you guys.

The reason for all of these new treadmill workouts appearing on the blog these days is because every other week I have to be at Westwood by 12:19pm, and this is one of those weeks. That means I have a very limited amount of time to bike home from campus, drive to the gym, workout, drive home, shower, get ready for Westwood, and drive over to Westwood. It can be done, though, and it just causes me to have to take advantage of every single minute. Anyway, I have been on the lookout for new treadmill workouts that get good mileage in a very short amount of time. This has led me to creating some of my own workouts, which then get shared with you guys. Generous, I know. Anyway, I created this 35-minute treadmill workout just last night, and it allowed me to get in and out of the gym with four more miles under my belt.

I think some of these speed-based treadmill workouts are really benefitting my race speed, because I was comfortable maintaining almost an 8:00/mile pace yesterday morning for the full six miles, when my usual pace falls between 8:20-8:40/mile.

After my workout, I spent almost four hours observing my sophomore class at Westwood, and then I spent the next three-ish hours at Barnes and Noble in the Arboretum planning the lesson that I am teaching on Friday. I am teaching over ethos, pathos, and logos, and my teacher pretty much gave me full reign to do whatever I please, and I am really excited about the direction that it is taking. I'll be sure to share with you guys how the two lessons go.

After my time at Barnes and Noble, it was time for me to head over to the Hills area for YoungLife club. I was running a little bit late because I was in a groove with my lesson plan, but that allowed me to see this beautiful Austin, Texas sunset. Sunsets are one of the things that bring me the most joy, so it caused me to stop and appreciate the beauty in a very hectic day. Now I'm taking a lesson planning break to write this blog post, and I hope to crawl in bed before midnight. Fingers crossed!

Full Heart

I know that I have made a post with this title before, but I can't help the repeat. This weekend has not only featured some beautiful weather, but this has also been a very relaxing and productive weekend to kick off what will likely be a very busy week for me. Yesterday Dylan and I took a little road trip to San Antonio for the day, and because I hadn't been to San Antonio for a reason other than volleyball since I was a little girl, I was really excited for it. Plus, it allowed us to escape the ACL craziness happening in Austin.

We left Austin around 11am and went straight to Alamo Cafe for lunch. We met up with one of his friends from UTSA and I got to cross a famous San Antonio restaurant off my bucket list. 

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Everything on the menu sounded delicious, but I eventually settled on the chicken and veggie fajitas. They were excellent, but the star of the show was definitely the homemade tortillas. I probably could have made a meal out of tortillas and salsa, but I didn't want to ruin my appetite for my actual meal.

Tortilla Factory (Source)

After lunch, we drove over to the UTSA main campus and explored the campus a little bit. I have only been on a handful of college campuses, and each one has been such a different experience for me. I always wished I had visited more colleges, just so I could experience the uniqueness of different campuses. UTSA was a lot different than UT, in that it was much more relaxed and compact, but I had a lot of fun walking around.

After our time at UTSA, we drove the maybe one minute that it takes to get to La Cantera, an outdoor shopping mall, in San Antonio. I have heard multiple times about the wonder of La Cantera from Sarah, so I was excited to check it out. I am sure you will all be surprised to hear that I did not manage to walk away from Anthropologie without making a purchase. I don't know what it is about that store, but it's definitely my place. After Dylan so willingly went into Anthropologie, I was pretty willing to go anywhere he wanted to go. Since we are both big-time cookers (and I'm a pretty big baker), we spent quite a bit of time in both Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table. Again, those are two more places where I could blow quite a bit of money.

My feet were about ready to fall off by this point, as thin sandals are not the best way to go when you are planning on doing a lot of walking, so we drove around The Rim, another shopping area, just to check it out, before giving into our hungry stomachs and heading to the original Rudy's BBQ for an early dinner. We shared half a pound of the chopped, and half a pound of turkey, and we finished every last bite. The perfect fuel for a beautiful drive back to Austin, and a great way to end a fun day.

Once I got home, I worked on a little bit of homework before calling it an early night. I was pretty worn out from the day, and I had an early morning wake-up call for the 2013 IBM Uptown Classic taking place near the Domain in North Austin. I really could not have asked for better running weather, as the temperatures were in the 60's, and it was an absolutely beautiful fall morning. The race started just as the sun was fully rising, and though I was a little bit chilly to start to race, I warmed right up. I really enjoyed the course, and I was feeling extra speedy this morning, finishing the 6.2 miles in just under 50 minutes. Not too bad!

I finished the race just before 9am, so I decided to go straight to the 9am church service at Austin Stone. It might not have been my best decision in terms of appearance, but I was glad that I went, and that's all that matters, right? After church, I came home to make myself a second breakfast of scrambled egg whites and spinach. I don't know what it is about running, but it turns my stomach into a bottomless pit.

After an afternoon spent doing grocery shopping, running errands, and working on a little bit of homework, I headed back out to North Austin for our weekly campaigners with my ninth grade girls. A lot of them are more hipster than I will ever be, and are spending this beautiful sunday at day three of ACL, but it was good time with the ones who were there. Plus, you can't beat this incredible view. 

And now I'm going to work on some more homework before heading to team meeting. A pretty good weekend if I do say so myself. Now to prepare myself for what is sure to be another crazy week.