Hi guys! Wow it has been over a week since my last post…to say the very least, the past week has been INSANE!!! I swear that all professors collaborate their test and project schedules and just attack us with all the major assignments at the same time. I have had 2 tests, a ten page paper, and an Spanish oral presentation that have kept me absolutely crazy busy for the past several days. Thank God this weekend was very relaxing to make up for it!

First off, I need to fill you guys in on LAST weekend though, because it was a very special and fun weekend.

IT WAS MY 20TH BIRTHDAY!!!

What I had originally thought was going to be a very fun but chill weekend turned into an amazingly fun and surprise filled weekend. For starters, my amazing mom came into town to surprise me!!

I will never get too old to need my mom!

Ryan and I arrived at his parent’s house in Wheaton on Friday night to find that his mom had decorated the whole house with streamers and balloons in light of my birthday…she’s so sweet! When I took my bag up to the guest bedroom, I turned around to see my mom emerge from the closet. I immediately burst into tears. Ha, ha! I’m ridiculous. Being far from home has made me SO homesick and SO in need of my family. My mom and I have always been close, but spending a couple of years apart while I’ve been in school has only brought us closer.

The weekend was filled with amazing food, lots of shopping, and WAY to many birthday presents for me! I got far too spoiled!

Here are some glimpses of the weekend!

driving to go shopping on saturday

awesome new nike sweatshirt from ryan's parents!

opening my SWEET sperry's that ry got me

love them!!

before a date at the movies

Overall, the weekend could not have been more amazing. I got plenty of rest, lots of good food, and some much needed mom time!!

In other news…guess who ran their very first half marathon yesterday?! Not officially, but on a treadmill! Ha, ha. I was scheduled to run 9 miles as per my training, but I felt so good I decided to just go for it! 7 miles in, I had to reset my treadmill and I had a Hammer Gel to give me a little boost. It made me feel awesome and I completed the 13.1 miles in less than 2 hours…I think my official time was 1:53. I was SO stoked! I feel so much more confident about the race (which is in 2 weeks…what?!?) now that I have done the whole 13 miles. I can’t wait to run it!!

After my awesome run, Ryan and I went to Chipotle to celebrate (and no, I didn’t shower beforehand) where I proceeded to demolish a huge chicken salad with fajita veggies and a side of chips and guac. It was epic, to say the very least. Afterwards, I treated myself to my last piece of ice cream birthday cake and about 3 cups of coffee so that I could get through writing my 10 page international accounting paper. Holy hellish afternoon! My body and mind were SO exhausted.

Today’s workout was a little more chill. I complete 30 minutes of intervals on a bike and 20 minutes of cooldown on an eliptical while reading for one of my classes. Anyone else with me that training makes you absolutely STARVING?! Seriously I think I’ve had about 20 meals between yesterday and today. Nothing seems to fill me up. But that’s okay, because I’m justifying eating copious amounts of chocolate, pretzels and cereal with the fact that I burned over 1,000 calories yesterday.

This week shows the potential of being nearly as insane as the last, so I can’t promise a regular occurrence of posts :-/ Hopefully life will settle down a little so I have time to photograph the delicious foods I’ve been fueling my body with before inhaling them faster than a starving dog. Seriously. My eating habits are disgusting.

On that happy note…I am off to collapse in bed and watch a movie. Can’t even remember the last time I did that! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!!!

xoxo

Hi guys! I hope you all had a great week and an awesome Friday! Ryan and I are heading to his parent’s house in Wheaton later tonight when he is out of practice. My birthday is on Sunday so his mom suggested that we come celebrate with them for the weekend! We have to head back to campus on Sunday because Ryan has practice again, but we’re doing a big birthday dinner tomorrow night which will be very fun. Ryan’s mom promised an ice cream cake which I am EXTREMELY stoked about!

This week has been absolutely NUTS with school! I seriously haven’t seen Ryan for more than about an hour at a time all week long. Training is still going well, although my body has been seriously exhausted for the past couple of days. It was literally all I could do to finish the strength + 5 mile interval workout I had planned for yesterday. But I did and I actually felt much  better afterwards; I always do! Unfortunately I woke up with a cold this morning so I made today a rest day and didn’t work out at all. It felt great to give my legs/body a little break and I’m hoping it will help me recover from my cold quickly. I’m hoping the weather is slightly decent tomorrow morning so I can run outside! Hopefully my sniffles subside.

In light of the weather warming up a bit, I’ve been totally craving yummy, icy protein shakes/smoothies lately. They’re the perfect post run fuel up, but recently I’ve even been enjoying them for dinner. Generally I get hungry again around 8 or 9 PM, but when I have a shake for dinner it keeps me full all night!

:) mmm cold deliciousness

green monster!!

sweaty gross makeupless post run Jordan

The mix usually remains about the same:

• 1 scoop Designer Whey chocolate protein
• 1 heaping spoonful of PB
• about 1/4 – 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 to 1 full banana
• lots of ice

Occasionally I’ll throw in a bit of coffee (since I’m an addict). Also, I tried my first green monster last week and have been making those a lot lately. It’s a great way to sneak some extra greens into my diet and it keeps me full for a long time.

I have to say though, the past two smoothies I’ve made have been a little different and absolutely phenomenal! Wednesday’s was the product of my decision to use up some strawberries that I had left in my fridge that needed to be eaten ASAP. It included

• 1 scoop protein
• 4 strawberries
• 2 big spoonfuls plain nonfat yogurt
• 1/2 banana
• little bit of frozen blueberries
• about 6 ice cubes

The product was HEAVEN.

perfect pink perfection

Yes, that is a Giordano’s cup that my roommates and I may or may not have taken from the restaurant…:)

But seriously. This smoothie combo was awesome! The strawberries were an amazing addition. They’re a little expensive to keep on hand, but I may have to make the splurge. I think they’re worth it.

close up

I think the addition of the plain yogurt was also what made it so great. It was thick and icy but smooth and creamy all at the same time.

I downed it in about a minute flat while stretching out after my run in my awesome Nike running tights

yummmy

Alright on to epic smoothie #2 of this week.

Last night, I had my very first smoothie in a bowl. Let me tell you. It was an experience I will never forget.

huge smoothie!

Putting it in a bowl made me realize how enormous it was!! I think the fact that this smoothie was so great was due to a little something I received in the mail yesterday…

peanut flour!!!

Yay for peanut flour!! I was so devastated to find out that TJ’s no longer carried this stuff, so I was forced to order some online from Local Harvest. It’s only a 1lb bag, but it should last me for a decent amount of time since I only really use it in protein shakes and smoothies. It’s so wonderful!

so good!

This guy contained:

• 1 scoop chocolate Designer Whey
• 2 tbs Peanut Flour
• about 1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt
• about 1/4 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 frozen banana
• about 6 ice cubes

I topped it with a handful of Kashi Go Lean Crunch for some change in texture and extra sweetness. It hit the spot and carried me through my 3 and 1/2 hour night class (kill me). I didn’t even get hungry like I normally do! It rocked. I’m definitely planning on making another one of these soon.

Tonight, my roomie and I made the trek to Potbelly in pursuit of a chickpea veggie salad. I completely forgot to photograph it (I’m really not a very good food blogger…oops!) But let me tell you…it was delicious. We are currently enjoying one of my favorite flicks…

Meryl Streep is seriously the bomb.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy your weekend! I can’t promise any posts this weekend since I will be celebrating with my man and his fam, but I will try to take lots of pictures and fill you in on Monday!

Talk to you soon! xoxo

Hi Friends!

I have to keep this post fairly short because I have to boogie to night class pretty soon (International Accounting. Sooo thrilling.) But I just wanted to keep you all updated on what I’ve been up to/eating!  First of all, I was surprised with two very exciting packages today. One from Ryan’s sweet mom and one from Jessica over at Tasty and Trim! Both were absolutely stuffed with AMAZING Valentine candy, which I got to work on demolishing ASAP.

whitman's, russel stover, reese's and hershey's

Jessica’s package included everything she promised. I made a definite dent on those dark chocolate kisses after demolishing a PB heart courtesy of Ryan’s mom, some m&m’s, a caramel from the Whitman’s sampler…I’m sure I’m forgetting something here. Needless to say, my apartment has been bombarded with treats! I poured some of the chocolates and m&m’s into bowls so my roommates can help get rid of this temptation

The dark chocolate kisses made my Business Law studying this afternoon much more pleasant…

I am in love...

The antioxidants in these babies definitely cancel out the calories/sugar. So don’t worry about eating the entire bag in one study session.

I will have you know that I did actually manage to eat some nutritious meals throughout the day in order to make up for my chocolate binge.

After my awesome 7 mile session on the treadmill this morning (7 miles in 60 minutes…average of 8 minute pace) I enjoyed the awesome breakfast that I was dreaming about all night…

Overnight OIAJ + a delicious latte! Look at the foam on that baby! My wonderful Nespresso is turning me into one heck of a barista. The OIAJ consisted of 1/3 cup (heaping) oats, about 1/3 cup plain nonfat yogurt, and 1/3 cup water/milk mixed. This morning I diced up a granny smith apple and topped it all with generous portions of cinnamon + nutmeg. It was AWESOME. The combo of the tart apple with the remainder of my PB and the spices…seriously. Wow. I can’t wait to finish my new jar of PB so I can have this again soon.

Lunch consisted a turkey sandwich on an Arnold’s sandwich thin with some sundried tomatoes, goat cheese and lettuce. I also had a salad on the side with the remaining lettuce, a mushroom, a slice of tomato and leftover dijon-balsamic dressing. This meal was not exciting enough to photograph (plus I was starving so I literally scarfed it in approximately 15 seconds.) Plus, I photographed the most important part. Dessert!

chocolate, chocolate, chocolate...

I hope my roommates hurry up and eat all of that before I am forced to do so myself.

While prepping my pretty wonderful dinner, I snacked on a bunch of baby carrots. They’re my new favorite. I think I eat about 50 a day.

Dinner was 2 egg whites + 1 egg scrambled with broccoli, a pinch of mozzarella cheese and some pepper. Toast on the side!

Well I think I better brew some green tea and head to class! Spin tomorrow morning…hopefully I can hit the sack right after class. Have a great night!

And the award for the the absentee blogger of the month goes to…

attractive, I know.

Me, me, me!!!

(P.S. This picture was from back in the days when I thought NOTHING of devouring a 1,000+ calorie Chipotle burrito in one sitting. The joys of having an insanely fast metabolism.)

I have not blogged since January 24th. Holy crap. I suck.

I definitely hit the ground running this semester (both literally and figuratively). School + half-marathon training + work + social life = one very crazy and stressed out and hungry Jordan. I’ve still been doing PLENTY of blog reading/commenting/entering giveaways in the past few weeks. I just haven’t had much time to keep up my own little blog. Speaking of giveaways, I’m sooo stoked that I won Jessica’s giveaway! Check out what I’ll be receiving in the mail in the next few days…

ummm....AMAZING!

Photo compliments of Tasty and Trim. Doesn’t this look like heaven?! I’m so excited to dig in! If you haven’t checked out her blog, be sure to do so!

Well like I said, I’m definitely up to my eye balls in school work and half-marathon training. I’m LOVING the training and feeling so excited and confident for the race on March 12th. My mom is also doing it with me which will be SO fun I completed my long run yesterday that consisted of 8 miles (7 on the treadmill in 60 minutes and 1 on the track in 8 minutes). I felt great and can’t wait to increase my mileage next weekend. I created a spin playlist today so I’m planning on heading to the gym around 2:00 to knock that out.

What are everyone’s plans for Valentine’s day?! Ry and I celebrated early last night since our weeknights are always so crazy. We did our annual dinner making night complete with a delicious BBQ chicken pizza and a goat cheese sundried tomato salad. It was BOMB. Sorry I have no pictures…we literally devoured it the second it was ready.

I DO however have pictures of the goodies my wonderful man brought me yesterday…

roses and dark chocolate. he knows me too well

STARBUCKS PEPPERMINT MOCHA ICE CREAM!!

Okay so over Christmas I wanted peppermint ice cream SO badly but I couldn’t ever find it in a small serving. I didn’t want an entire 1/2 gallon around tempting me, I just wanted to have a little bowl! Apparently Ryan has been on the pursuit to find me peppermint ice cream ever since Cue the “awwww!” He’s so sweet to me! And this is not only peppermint…it’s peppermint MOCHA which means COFFEE!!! Double awesome! I can’t wait to dig in! (The only reason I didn’t last night is because I ate my weight in pizza and salad and then oatmeal chocolate chip cookies + a latte )

Well I suppose I should get going to the gym and knock out my workout so I can hit up church tonight. I will try to post MUCH more often in the next few weeks, and hopefully soon have a post full of food photos so I can catch you up on tasty things that I’ve been fueling up with post runs!

Oh! One last fun fact! My GOLDEN BIRTHDAY is one week from today! 20 on the 20th! Can’t wait! I’ll keep you posted on the fun happenings of my birthday week.

Talk to you sooon!