Blogilates Fit Journal: Week 1

"Train like a beast, look like a beauty." -Cassey Ho

(photo: property of ogorgeous.com)

Fitness is an important part of my life. I ran cross country for three years and for about 2 and a half years I swore off soda. Cassey Ho is a pilates instructor who has a YouTube channel called Blogilates. I discovered Blogilates about two years ago (around the time her Call Me Maybe workout came out) and I haven't looked back. Although I am not an avid POPster who does all her videos, I still stuck around because she is so positive and enthusiastic about living a clean, healthy lifestyle and that is the kind of motivation that I need in my life. People probably don't think I need to lose a lot of weight (I'm 5'6" and weigh around 110-115) but I have a pretty unhealthy diet and I don't really exercise that often. I want to be able to run long distance and do an entire pilates workout without stopping.  I want to say that I ate clean for a whole week. And I want to have fun doing it.

Enter, the Blogilates Fit Journal

I bought this at Cassey's online shop for $30 (http://www.ogorgeous.com/product/blogilates-fit-journal-1). It's is a 12 week journal that you use to record EVERYTHING about your diet and fitness routine. I started this on February 10th so I have finished my first week. 

I love everything about this fit journal. The color, design, art, layout, EVERYTHING!!! As you can see in the picture above (yes, it's my journal) I listed some weekly goals, none of which I had accomplished...but I have 11 more weeks to redeem myself. It lists all the days of the week to which I wrote the actual day and any holidays. I wasn't sure what else I could put in the space but I really want to utilize all the blank space (any ideas??). It has a place where you write your weight and cute smiley faces that you color in when you ate a healthy meal/worked out. 

Each week starts out with an introduction, the photos vary week by week but the overall layout is consistent. The colored pages are made of a cardstock-like material and these white pages are like computer paper. As you can tell, I am definitely the kind of person who uses and abuses colored pens. Be thankful they only came in 4 colors. But they came in a pack of 10 and so far none of them have run out. The last time I bought colored pens they lasted me all through high school and there were only four of them. Aside from that little story, this is what the inside of the journal looks like. As I said before, I absolutely love the layout. Cassey definitely thought of everything. I didn't even think about things like water consumption and sleep. She has outlined everything so well that I'm forced to write weird things in the notes sections like what the weather was like outside or maybe my moods and feelings (Internet-High-Five for cat calls, gotta love college life). Meals are a priority and writing out what I eat and when I eat it has definitely made me more aware of what I'm putting in my body. You can also tell when you overeat when you can't fit everything in the lines provided. I also love the workout section. There are different ways to get your daily fix. It's actually kind of perfect because I have 3 ways to workout: running, which is my cardio, yoga, helps my flexibility, and pilates, which gives me a strength workout. You can see that on Valentine's Day I did some strength workouts by doing some of her pilates videos and on February 15 I did a 30 minute run.

At the end of each week there is an evaluation page which I think is really important (another reason Cassey is a genius). It is almost like a school worksheet. I basically looked at my daily pages and decided what grade I should give myself based on my performance.  I think that is crucial. And after evaluating my week, I then list some pros and cons.  Week 1 acted as a baseline to see where I currently was and now that I have looked back and analyzed my habits, I can work on improving myself. Thanks Cassey! You have taken away the chore of healthy eating and exercise (well...some of it). You are so amazing. I don't know if you will ever see this post but on the off chance that you happen to stumble onto this blog, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I never thought I would have so much fun with this. I get to be a 13 year old and play with my colored pens and relish in the accomplishments of writing down my workouts. 

After I have gone though all 12 weeks, it won't stop there. I want to buy another fit journal and do it all over again. I can imagine it takes a lot of work to put these together and to get the art made, but if you could release another edition of the fit journal with new designs and colors that would be the cherry on top. Maybe a year or two from now I would have a collection of fit journals, like diaries. I probably wouldn't go back and see what I ate on my birthday, but I think I would use it as a symbol of the hard work I had done all those weeks. But I understand you are a busy busy person so I guess this one will do for now. 

Eleven more weeks to go.

A Month in Review: January 2014

This post will be sort of a hybrid of a monthly favorites post and a summary of how the month went for me.  One of my New Years Resolutions was to keep up with my blog more often. I'm still trying to update my daily entries for my 2 week vacation in Europe. Hopefully by the time this blog goes up, I will be all caught up.  I know my blog doesn't get a lot of hits. And honestly that doesn't matter to me. I don't care if 5 or 500 people read this. Though, 500 hits would be really cool.

I wanted to continually keep making posts because I want something that I can look back on when I'm older. I was never good at keeping a diary, unlike my brother who has somehow documented everyday of his life since middle school (he's 22 now!). I figured at the end of every month I could take a step back and see the progress I have made thus far. So without further ado, here is my review of January 2014.

I reigned in the New Year with my best friend.  We made New Years Resolution and cooking videos that I'm almost positive will never see the light of day.  I came back to visit my old high school and see some people I haven't seen in months.  I started my new life at my new college.  It's been a struggle but I know I just need to give it time.  The dining hall food is spectacular.  Let it be known, the freshman fifteen is real.  I find myself forcing to eat a salad for at least one of my meals every day.

So that was basically January 2014 for me. Now for some January favorites. Basically any tv shows, music, books, etc. that I discovered (or rediscovered) that I thought were worth mentioning.

Music
Happy - Pharrell Williams
Happily - One Direction
Afraid - The Neighborhoods
Take Me Home - Midnight Red

Gotta weird mix of music here. I'm pretty sure I heard half these songs in 2013 but they have been some of my favorite songs this momnth.

TV
Teen Wolf Season 3
Vampire Diaries Season 5
Law and Order: SVU Season 15

No new shows this month. Just a lot of midseason premieres. These are some that I have kept up with on my laptop since I don't have a tv to watch them on.

Books

I made a resolution to read at least one book every month. And I failed miserably. So I'm going to aim for 2 books in February. Wish me luck.

One month down, eleven more to go. And yes I do realize we are halfway through February.

Europe: An Overview of St. Andrews, Amsterdam, Rome, Madrid & Barcelona

"To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries." - Aldous Huxley

After traveling around Europe I think it is fair to assume that you can indicate how tourist-y a city is by a few things: the number of businesses on wheels, homeless people, international groups tours led by a person holding a flag, tourist shops on a given street, people who approach you and the overall vibe of the streets. These are my own personal opinions. Obviously every traveling experience is unique to each person.

With this criterion I would rank all the cities I visited in this order, from most touristy to least touristy:

Rome

Barcelona
Madrid

Amsterdam

St. Andrews

St. Andrews obviously has an asterisk because it was where I lived for a whole semester. But I figured since I lived there for four months that I would give my input on this town.  It's the birthplace of golf so it does that have that element of tourism.  It had a very homely feel. Everyone is nice. It is a small tightknit community.  There is the Old Course but other than that, very minimal tourism.

Amsterdam

A lively city both day and night. Amsterdam is one of the more chill and laidback cities you will come across.  I don’t even think I saw a homeless person in Amsterdam, at least not in the city center.  The pungent smell of weed was a turn off to me personally but there are definitely other PG-rated places to see.  The trams are an easy and efficient way to minimize the amount of walking you had to do.  I live in a city with no public transportation and even I was able to figure out the trams after a day of riding them. There are an abundance of museums to go visit by some of the greatest artists.  I read that it has one of the highest concentrations of museums per unit area. I would recommend going in December when the Amsterdam Light Festival is going on.  What is so great about Amsterdam is that it is a place I could actually imagine people living in. The tour guide told me that it is the 3^rd best non-native English speakers who speak English. Translation: they speak English amazingly well. Tourism levels are moderately high but not overwhelming at all. It’s a place where you can just lay low and go where you want to go. Overall, I loved this city and I would love to come back.

Rate: 8.5/10

Rome

I have very mixed feelings about Rome. It is a city with a rich history that has been tainted by excessive tourism.  I know it is just business and people need to make a living, but by the end of my first day, I simply ran out of patience for anyone who tried to stop and sell me things.  It’s not the easiest or cleanest city to navigate, ironic because they were the ones who built roads in the first place and the traffic is a nightmare.  Honestly, besides Vatican City, there wasn’t much to do in Rome. It was mostly you would walk to a site, look at it, take a photo and move on. Walking to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica and going to the Vatican Museum were the highlights of my time in Rome. The gelato and pizza were overhyped. That’s not to say that they were bad, it’s just that I could find something that resembled it back at home and for half the price.

Rate 5/10

Barcelona

Everyone sees the city in a different way depending on how they go about travelling through the city.  I don’t know if I could give as accurate an impression of Barcelona as I have done with Amsterdam and Rome seeing as how we took a safer approach.  Barcelona is notorious for pickpockets, so be wary of purses and pockets.  I never came across a pickpocket but you never know what could happen in Barcelona.  I never went out to walk the streets at night but from what I could see, it is a pretty walkable city, some places will require a taxi but most places are easily accessible.  Don’t expect them to be well versed in the English language. You should know some basic Spanish/Catalan phrases or take a guidebook.  There are many interesting exhibits to see.  I will say that a lot of our money went into admission fees to different exhibits so if you are short on cash or want to save money, I would recommend visiting La Sagrada Familia and Casa Batllo.  We came in December but I’m sure the beaches get very busy when it warms up.  It’s a great shopping city as well, everything from quirky street markets to high-fashion boutiques. I didn’t do enough research to consider getting the Barcelona Tourist Pass but if it benefits, I would say take it.

Rate: 7/10

Madrid
We sandwiched Barcelona between two trips to Madrid so we got to experience it twice, and in two very different ways. The first time around we visited Retiro Park which is a very nice place to relax.  In the afternoon all the street vendors and miscellaneous street performers started to pop up.  There are a lot of tourist hotspots like Palacio Real but also a lot of high traffic areas like Puerta Del Sol. That was a major one.  The streets were full of people.  Between Barcelona and Madrid, I would say that I personally liked Barcelona more. There were more entertaining things to do there but Madrid is also a very vibrant city full of history that you shouldn't miss.
Rate: 6.5/10

December 28, 2013: There's No Place Like Home

"Maybe you had to leave in order to miss a place; maybe you had to travel to figure out how beloved your starting place was." -Jodi Picoult

          Getting to go abroad for the semester was one the greatest and scariest things I have ever done.  I loved that I got to go study in the UK at such a internationally flavoured university. You could walk up the stairwells of the library and hear phone conversations in 3 different languages. As interesting as it was to study abroad, the experience of being on my own for the first time, magnified by living in a different country has given me a greater appreciation for the stability and familiarity of home. For the first 18 years of your life, you take for granted the house you live in, the parents who feed and love you, the friends you've known for years and the routine you've crafted for yourself.  When you leave for the first time, it feels as if the world is suddenly upside down.  The things in your life that have been constants for your entire life are suddenly not there. 
   
          The reality starts to settle in when you have your first fever and suddenly you have to set reminders on your phone to self-medicate with Advil because your mother isn't there. You don't realize how much she means to you until you are thousands of miles away because before you were a college student, she was always there for you. And now, she is replaced by words from an email and pixels from a webcam.

          After staying in Boston for a night, I was ready to head home.  After a total of about 4 hours and one final boarding pass printout, one final security checkpoint and one final plane boarding, I was off to DFW.  I saw my mom and my brother greeting me at the airport. I hadn't seen their faces in nearly four months! It was so glad to be back home and get reoriented with my home. Was my bathroom sink always that low? Were the lights always that bright? Anyways, that was the conclusion of my semester abroad and subsequent two weeks around Europe. There were highs and lows to this trip but everything is a learning experience and I definitely became a wiser person after this.  To end it with a cliche: there's no place like home.

P.S. If you have read my entire travel diary, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to listen to my story. Whether you know me personally or not, whether you clicked on a link that I advertised for found this my mistake, thank you. I know these are not uploaded in real time and these last posts are six weeks overdue but I really do appreciate everyone reading. I don't care if there's two or two hundred of you all. As long as there is an audience, there is a blogger.

December 27, 2013: Farewell Europe/Travel Pains Part 2

"Experience, travel - these are as education in themselves." -Euripides

Last day in Spain. Last Day in Europe. Last Day in Another Country. Who knows when the next time is that I will go international.  The past two weeks have been an absolute whirlwind for me.  And today was going to be no different.

I had a morning flight and after what happened last time, I was determined to be there early. I am implementing a three-hour rule for every plane trip I take hereon out. I booked my flight to DFW through Aer Lingus which made two stops; one at Dublin and one at Boston.  I checked in and went through security for the last time for hopefully a long time. The wait began. Time comes to board and no one lets us in. Apparently Dublin had some bad weather and our flight had been delayed for two hours. In my mind I was irritated about waiting more especially after I arrived at the airport early but even more worried about making my connecting flight which was I had a three hour layover to cushion any mishaps (later I would realize that this wouldn't be an issue).  We finally boarded and flew to Dublin in bad weather condition.  Turbulence was awful and I have to say that this was the one time where applauding after the pilot landed the aircraft was socially acceptable.

I was stressing out about missing my flight to Boston. This was the big transcontinental one. Who knows if they would have another flight?  It turns out that I wouldn't have to worry since that flight had also been delayed.  What was even more excruciating about the wait is that they didn't have a definitive time of when they would leave. The screen would always say "More info at 4:30, 5:30 etc." They finally opened up a gate to board three hours after it was initially scheduled. Then factoring time to board and takeoff, tack on another half hour.  The bright side was that my seat was at the front of economy (movin' on up) so I got extra legroom just like my previous transcontinental trip to Scotland. I can't tell you how good it feel to have that extra bit of space.

The six hours flew by faster that I thought it would. They didn't have any tv shows or movies that I wanted to watch (first world problems) so I just listened to music and started reading Divergent.  I figured my flight to Dallas was a definite no-go so I prepared for the worst. And my fears were reassured. But fortunately I got a complimentary night's stay at the Boston Hilton. I had never been "put up" at a hotel before so I was pretty shocked that I didn't have to spend a dime on the room.

After a combined 6.5 hours of flight delays and a total of 10 hours in the air, I would be completely fine if I didn't get to go on a plane trip for the next couple years.

December 26, 2013: Madrid Round 2

"Travel teaches toleration." -Benjamin Disraeli
If I had not already said it before, I will say it now.  Travel is a true test of a relationship, whether it be with family, friends or a significant other.  Tensions can run high or you can experience travel euphoria.  Usually, it is a mix of the two.  I definitely think my friendship with my best friend has grown stronger through this journey.  We learned a lot about each other. We learned what makes the other one tick, makes the other one uncomfortable, and of course makes the other one laugh.

We started off with a walking tour of Madrid hosted my Sandemans New Madrid Free Walking Tour. I had gone to one in Amsterdam and thought it was such a priceless (get it?) experience and I really learned a lot about the city.  This one was not as great as the one in Amsterdam but still a quality tour regardless. After all, Madrid is not exactly the city of vice, but they do have a complicated story of succession of kings, one that I could not recall even if I tried.

After the tour we walked to the Templo De Debod which was a great FREE thing to see.  It's a very scenic attraction (one of my favorites pictures from the entire trip) and has an interesting backstory.  Look it up if you have the time.

We walked around the two squares Plaza Mayor and Puerta Del Sol again.  Eager to eat, we stopped at a little shop (and I mean little) and ordered two calamari sandwiches which I didn't know at the time was actually a very popular food item in Madrid.  They were pretty inexpensive too (flashback to all the times I payed a large sum to eat calamari in America).

That pretty much ended our last full day in Europe.  Susan, if you are reading this, thank you for everything.  I couldn't imagine doing this with anyone else but you. Sidenote: How freaky is that dark cloud behind the Palacio Real?

December 25, 2013: Merry Christmas from Barcelona

"Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling." -Edna Ferber

If I were to rank all the Christmases that I have had, this would easily be in the top 3 if not #1.  We didn't do anything too special in the morning since we had to get on a train to go back to Madrid.  Another two and a half hours later, we arrived and took a taxi to our hotel.  I don't remember too much about the hotel except that the floor in the bar area had glass and you could see the basement which was decorated in a very unique way (see below) and we stayed in a bright pink room.

We went out to walk the streets and the two main busy areas, Plaza Mayor and Puerta Del Sol (Puerta Del Sol is much better).  Be warned, these are high traffic areas.  We ate at a McDonald's there (classy right?).  We walked around a little more, waiting for the big Christmas tree to light up, which it eventually did and we awkwardly asked a Chinese tourist to take our photo.

We went back to the hotel and decided to indulge ourselves at the bar.  I saw that they had fresh sangria which I didn't know until after that day that sangria actually originated from Spain (that explains the pronunciation).  Susan and I had both ordered sangria.  She took a one-and-done sip and then proceeded to order champagne, oranges and molten chocolate cake.  So guess who got to drink two glasses of sangria?  Needless to say, I was a little buzzed and giggly that night.

Double the pleasure, Double the fun 

I want all oranges to be prepared for consumption in this manner from now on.

Cue mouth-watering...

We went back to our room and listed to some Pete Holmes comedy bits.  If you don't know who he is, you are missing out on a good laugh. He's even got his own talk show on TBS. It was a great end to a great day. I loved being able to share this day with my best friend. Bon Nadal Barcelona. Feliz Navidad Madrid.
(Susan asked me to take a photo of her doing this, so I thought it was only appropriate for me to share it with the world wide web. You're Welcome Susan.)

December 24, 2013: Christmas Eve in Barcelona

 A new day in Barcelona.  We started our day with another 15 Euro breakfast. I should say that it is 15 for each of us. These hotels man. Anyways, after filling up, we took a taxi down to the Sagrada Familia.  The line wasn't too long. We arrived around opening time and waited for only 15 minutes to get our tickets.  The attraction itself wasn't too entertaining, but keep in mind, it is a religious building, not a carnival.  The stained glass and architecture of the Sagrada Familia really create the beauty of this structure. There is a reason that this is one of the most visited attractions in Europe.

Look at the stained glass.

The outside of the Sagrada Familia.

We hopped on the bus tour again. Not really to go anywhere but just to see the city.  I learned a lot about the city and about how they hosted the Summer Olympics back in 1992.  We passed by Bernabeu Stadium where FC Barcelona plays.  I am not a big fan of soccer (ahem, football) but I knew the magnitude of importance that this stadium holds for Barca fans.  If I ever come back to Barcelona, it will definitely be one of the places I go visit.

Another stop on the bus tour was Maremagnum, a nice shopping center. Not as big as the malls back home, but much bigger and more urban than the shops we had seen on the streets.  I bought a nice black sequin dress that I wore to dinner that night for around 20 euros. After that we went to an aquarium next to Maremagnum. It was a nice little aquarium. Not the best 25 euros I ever spent, but certainly not the worst.

For Christmas Eve, Susan treated me to a fancy dinner at a restaurant in the Maremagnum.  We were originally going to go to a different dinner but we messed up the directions (oops haha).  Regardless, it was a great meal and a great way to spend Christmas Eve. She spent I think 80 euros on dinner. I know money doesn't buy friendship, but I don't know how many non-friends would drop 80 euros on a dinner for two. Love ya girl! 

December 23, 2013: Day of Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona

Today was a busy day for me and Susan in Barcelona.  We started off with a pricey 15 Euro breakfast. Gotta love those swanky hotels. Then we set off for Casa Battlo, which we were idiotically pronouncing incorrectly for the longest time.  It was one of the things that Susan really wanted to see.  It was a very intricately designed house with an amazing roof.  Definitely a must-see in Barcelona.

After that, we walked down a couple of blocks to Casa Mila aka La Pedrera, another one of Antoni Gaudi's creations.  It also had a nice roof. Seeing a trend here?

Park Guell was the next stop on our Day of Gaudi.  It's far from the area of Barcelona we were at but thanks to a hop-on hop-off bus tour I convinced Susan to take, we were able to get there easily.  I would highly recommend looking into these types of bus tours at any city you travel to, they will save you a lot of taxis.  Park Guell was very nice.  I got a nice picture of Susan with this lizard thing.

December 22, 2013: Day Two in Madrid/Barcelona

Today was the day we were to take the train from Madrid to Barcelona.  It was a very easy process and the train took about 3 hours.  We arrived in Barcelona and checked into our hotel.

We walked down La Rambla and to Palau Guell, one of Antoni Gaudi's creations.  The ticket came with an audio tour, which was a great way to learn about the building.  The highlight of this exhibit was the rooftop, decorated with interesting ceramic covered chimneys, a perfect photo op!

For dinner, we wanted a nice traditional Spanish meal.  There were a lot of restaurants on the same street as our hotel so we decided to go in and have paella.  We ordered a combination paella with seafood, chicken and vegetables to split between the two of us.  The person who was running the small restaurant was very generous and gave us a larger paella free of charge.  He gave us a free bottle of water and even offered us free shots, which we politely declined as we rushed out.  There is a fine line between being generous and creepy.  But it's a nice anecdote to tell our friends, especially because of the fact that my friend misinterpreted the word "shot" for "shirt" and didn't understand why I was adamant on declining his offer.