hope looks good on everyone

hope looks good on everyone by callmecrackrjack featuring skinny pants

September is Here

As you all know [or at least I hope] today is the first day of September. People usually use the first of the month to start their new habits/diets/other things and I definitely see September as a time to kick it into high gear. Personally, August is always my roughest month, it's the last month of summer and a popular month for vacationing. I always find that I slack off in August, I usually go on vacation which stops my workouts [and when I get home I don't want to start going back to the gym] and I eat food that is not good for me. However, I'm never too hard on myself because I know September will put me back on the right track. My goals for this next month are to workout at the gym at least 5 times a week, go to yoga at least 4 times a week, start training for 5k and just eat healthier in general. Also study, study, study! Hopefully I can get a 4.0 this semester :]

With that said, I'd like to bid August a proper farewell with my favorite picture from vacation this year. This is me and my best friend, Emily, making our way back to the resort after a night at the best bar ever.

Let's Play College

Today marks the first day of my junior year. Wow. Where does the time go?! It feels like I graduated from high school just yesterday. Looking from the perspective of the girl pictured below, I definitely did not expect to be where I am today, I expected to be moving all my shit back to Pitt to start my junior year by drinking it up with all my friends. I also expected to be on the dean's list and getting close to completing classes for my major. I guess that's why they say the future is unknown; so many things have changed in my life and have gone not as expected. Sometimes I feel bitter that I left a real college to come back home, I miss it, I miss college life, I miss campus, I miss the frat, I miss my friends, I miss the parties, I miss sports. I just miss the connection. I know I'll always be "a Pitt panther" at heart but it just gets sad sometimes.

I'm trying to have a positive outlook though. I know everything that has lead me to this point in my life happened for a reason and is ultimately for the better. This semester I'm taking on five classes for a total of 16 credits: anatomy & physiology 1, abnormal psychology, developmental psychology, nutrition for nursing, and literature with a focus on women. It's gonna be a hefty course load but I'm more determined than ever to succeed at the highest level. Not to mention I'm cramming in a lot of courses so that hopefully by next fall I can get into the nursing program at Jefferson.

I rarely see any of you update anymore [sad face]. But if you're still on here I'd love to hear about your college and what you think about the experience you've had so far. Also where did you think you'd be today when you graduated high school?

Class of 2008!

Out of Control

As you can tell from the title of this post, or so I assume, I have been completely out of control for the past five days. I have been eating total crap, slacking on my yoga, skipping workouts, and not logging stuff in my spreadsheet. The result: almost a two pound gain in a matter of a week. Naturally I would do this to myself at the worst time, right before I am about to go on vacation. Not only do I need to be in a bikini by Saturday but I also won't have the same opportunity or time to work out on vacation and I sure as hell won't be as motivated to eat well. Tomorrow I need to get back on track and I have faith that I will.

Brazilian Bummer

I called the spa today to set up an appointment for my semi-monthly brazilian, low and behold my esthetician, Cathy, isn't there anymore! This is a complete disaster. Not only does this lady use hard wax [virtually painless ladies] but I freakin love her! No lie, I'll be sitting on the table bare assed after my waxing just talking to her about life, she's a riot. I know that they probably won't give me any of her contact information because they don't want to lose business but I need to get it somehow. My sister is going in for a wax at 4 so I'm going to tag along and make up some story to hopefully get at least her e-mail address.

My dad and I went to yoga this morning followed by a late lunch about an hour ago. I had grilled salmon on top of a heaping plate of mixed greens with orange vinaigrette. As per usual I'm flying solo this week [my dad goes away on business monday-friday almost every week which basically means I get to live in a house all by myself]. I'm gonna miss him but at least I can take my bananas out of their hiding spot haha. If I leave them out in the fruit bowl he'll eat them all before I even get to one!

This is me and the banana stealer at our favorite post-ski/boarding bar in Vail, Colorado

Death By Trainer

I just got back from the gym [read: getting my ass kicked]. Today I worked with my trainer on back and biceps, with abs too of course. Let me tell you, I will never slack off on my daily ab workouts ever again! For me it's one of those things where when you've been on track for a long time you love doing them but once you stop for a couple days you never want to even think about crunches or leg lifts again. In addition to this pain I also expect my biceps to fall off my arms some time between tonight and tomorrow morning haha.

I'm contemplating yoga tonight but for now off to planet smoothie for a frozen goat...yum :]

For your entertainment: a funny picture I took of my cat a couple days ago

I've Reached a New Low...In a Good Way!

148.6!

It took me a week to get back down to my weight before Pittsburgh [149.8] but today I surpassed it! This is the lowest I've weighed since I've started college, I feel absolutely fantastic. Especially since I've been busting my butt ever since I've returned; My daily [well 5-6 days of the week] routine is yoga in the morning followed immediately by the gym and 30 minutes of cardio. It feels really good to be working out this much and I get to treat myself to things that I was previously afraid to consume when I wasn't working out nearly as much. Yesterday I had a chocolate elvis from planet smoothie [frozen probiotic yogurt, banana, chocolate, and peanut butter!].

While this is a great achievement, I can't slack off now. My goal is to stay between 125-130, so I still have some pounds to shed, especially before vacation. The photo below is a picture of my sister and I on vacation in 2008, I weighed 128 pounds then and felt amazing. I know that I won't have that kind of bikini body this year but hopefully next year [that's my second goal]. Either way, I like to look at this picture for motivation and relief when I'm feeling frustrated, it reminds me that I can get to goal because I did it before. Do you girls have anything that helps motivate you in moments of weakness?

Melanie [left] & I in Atlantis :]

Worst Day of My Life...

No, I am not being over-dramatic. I honestly think this could be one of the worst things that could ever happen to me, absolutely heartbreaking; Simon Gagne has been traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Ugh. I know this may sound ridiculous to most people thinking "he's just an athlete get over it", but he's so much more than just and athlete.

Drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in '98, Gagne is the player with the longest history playing for any Philadelphia sports team. Not to mention saving the flyers from defeat multiple times in this years playoffs. Also, Simon Gagne scored the game winning goal in legendary game 7 against the Boston Bruins after being down 3-0 in the beginning of the series. Only two other NHL teams have ever pulled of such a feat.

I have been a loving fan of his since I was nine and will continue to be. Gags you'll be missed :[

I'm In Miami, Bitch?

This afternoon my mom and my sister left for a little 5 day vacation to Miami. I didn't go because two years ago just my mom and I went to Atlantis for a week, leaving my sister behind since she was still in school. So this trip was supposed to be the "make up" for that. Anyway, they have probably been there for about 4 hours and are already telling me to find a ticket for tomorrow so I can fly down and join them haha! Of course I would love to, I mean really who wouldn't? However, it seems that the cheapest flight would be around 700 dollars, which I guess is kind of a blessing in disguise because I have so much stuff to do this week and if I went down there I would most likely end up partying way too hard and consuming way way wayyy too many calories.

Switching topics

Sunday is the day of the week where my dad and I go to yoga followed by croissants at this amazing little cheese shop down the block from the yoga studio. I usually get the raspberry and brie croissant but today the lady had made blueberry-lemon-coconut cream croissants! Obviously I had to try this and I must say it was phenomenal!

Lazy

Well, today was a total bust. After working out extremely hard yesterday [yoga, lifting, and 30 minutes of cardio...about 750 calories burned] I get on the scale and gained 2.2 pounds over night! Really?! I considered my intake yesterday and it wasn't too bad considering the amount of exercise I had done. I probably ate between 1,400 and 1,500 calories. Today I was way too sore to even think about going to the gym but tomorrow I'm going to yoga bright and early, followed by cardio and a back and bicep workout at the gym.

Today's intake was a little higher than what I would like on a no exercise day [about 1,250 calories], we'll see how the scale treats me tomorrow morning. Another thing that really pissed me off this week was the FOUR re-runs of chelsea lately. That's an entire week for that show, so disappointing.

In other news, and on a brighter note, I have doing a lot of online shopping in the past few days. I'm most excited to get my yoga towel from manduka. I sweat a lot when I practice and my hands and feet tend to slip on my mat. A couple months ago a woman in my class had this cool looking hot pink towel over her mat. I asked her about it after class and she said that she also slipped on her mat and that the manduka towel was the solution. They come in all sorts of colors too, I ordered mine in lilac. Can't wait to try it out :]

On the Books

First day back at the gym yesterday = death! I worked on chest and triceps with my trainer and once I was done I felt like my breast bone was going to snap in half. I've never experienced that kind of pain before, it was a good pain though. Today was a bit easier, I worked on legs and put in 35 minutes of cardio.

I realized that I usually do better when I track my intake and plan out my exercise, so I made this handy spreadsheet [pictured below]. It has a few tabs; one for writing down my exercise/workouts daily, another to track everything I ate in a day and count calories, and a third to track my measurements every month. The front page is a basic schedule for my workouts and also tracks my weight loss and intake/output every day. I usually avoid excel at all costs but I actually enjoyed doing this and I'm pretty proud of myself :]

Fact of the Day: [yes it's back!] My favorite color is purple, and has been since I was in preschool. I have a purple striped room [lavender and dark purple] and I love it!

Bitter Sweet

So today was the day. The day I've been dreading since I first arrived in Pittsburgh. The day I had to leave my boyfriend to go home. Now don't get me wrong, I love where I live, I love my friends where I live, I love my family that I live with, and I love being at home. However, I wish that Mike could be a part of that life too. Unfortunately we are currently separated by about 320 miles of Pennsylvania, something that will hopefully change by the end of next year. Spending 11 days and nights with him was so amazing, we did so much; dinner with his family, baseball games, water parks, lotssss of eating at a variety of different places, concerts, fireworks, and plenty of chill time. All of this adding up to the hardest goodbye ever. Did I mention the drive sucked too? Pretty much rained, correction, monsooned for over half the drive [the full drive takes about 5 hours].

But now that I'm back I have some serious shit to focus on. I am afraid to get on the scale for fear of how much weight I gained. I haven't worked out in over a week [ughhh] and I've been eating crap for about a week. I need to get back on track, now that summer class is over I'll be able to put in double sessions at the gym and attend yoga a couple times a week. I also plan on drastically healthifying [yeah I made that up haha] my intake until I leave for vacation on August 7th. Gotta get bikini ready!

miss him already...

Crunch Time

Wow, so I got on the scale this morning and realized that I have reallllly let myself go over the past week in Pittsburgh. Three pounds worth of letting myself go. Ugh. I leave for my annual vacation to St. Marten on August 7th, clearly not leaving me a lot of time to get to my original goal of 130. However, I'm not giving up, I'm just making a more realistic goal for this time frame. I would at least like to be IN the 130's by the time I leave. I'll probably start planning meals and things when I get back home in a few days, but any advice or awesome diet recipes you girls have would be extremely helpful :]

My sister and I in Turks and Caicos for spring break [around 168]

Western Bound

Hope everyone had a wonderful fourth of July! I know I did, some starbucks for breakfast, movies, then back home to cook dinner [extra lean turkey tacos and my signature avocado, lime, mango salsa], then into the city for fireworks over the river :]

Last night was awesome, got to spend 4 hours in the emergency room [note the sarcasm haha]. But everything's good now, leaving for West Virginia in a couple hours to see my best guy friend, Steve. He's basically the older brother I never had. He graduated from Pitt 2 years ago, and now he goes to WVU for grad. Funny thing is he used to be my ex-boyfriends best friend, ha. Either way, I'm expecting a great time as always!

the fireworks in pittsburgh

our dinner & beautiful roses from Mike :]

Light Up the Sky

Happy fourth of July everyone! I hope you guys all have something fun planned for tonight, including fireworks. I love this time of year mostly for that reason. I got to see a fireworks show last night at the baseball game, and again tonight. I don't know if any of you know that Pittsburgh is called the city of bridges [also the steel city], but they have a millllllion bridges. Apparently they close them for the fourth of July so people can watch fireworks over the river on them :]

About to kick off my fourth of July by getting breakfast at a crepe place on campus [I know, not very American], then forcing my boyfriend to see eclipse haha, followed by the regatta and fireworks!

Pittsburgh Sound

After five hours of driving yesterday I finally made it to Pitt. For once it is not grey or freezing here, I brought multiple hoodies just in case. I'm sure I will be needing them. This morning I watched Julie & Julia for the first time, it was fantastic! Maybe i'll try something like that [but on a smaller scale and with a diet cookbook instead haha].

Mike is at class until 1 o'clock but afterwards we're hitting up the gym then going out to dinner with his parents and brother :]

the cathedral of learning on campus, oh how I missed it

First Day of July

149.8!

So not only did I make my goal, but I also just took my final for summer class and I think it went pretty well. I needed to get a 60% to pass the class with a C but I definitely feel that it's going to be an A or B :] Now to the gym then driving to pittsburgh for a longgg visit with my snugglepuss [haha]. I'll probably update later tonight once I get there. Hope you girls have a wonderful day!

Eye of the Tiger

As you all know it is the last day of June, where has half my summer gone?! Oh yeah, school. Blahhh. It is also the last day I have to kick it into high gear and ensure seeing 149 on the scale tomorrow. So this is what my schedule is looking like today:

Class 9:15-12:30, Gym [back, biceps, and legs + cardio] 1:00-3:00, Mani-Pedi [gotta treat yourself to something right?] 4:00-5:30, Dinner, Ashtanga [yoga] 7:00-8:30

In other news, Sarah [@ creatingsarah] gave me a wonderful award yesterday :]

Facts of the Day:

1. My name is Amanda, and I was born on December 23^rd…because of this I commonly get the “oh here’s your birthday slash Christmas present”

2. I attended the University of Pittsburgh [Pitt] for two years before I transferred back home, I loved Pitt but I was having some serious issues that needed to be taken care of and I also missed my family a lot.

3. Speaking of family, I have one sister, Melanie, who is two years younger than me. I call her lemlem because she wrote melmel on a fogged car window when we were little and it read lemlem once we were actually inside the car [it stuck].

4. I played field hockey and lacrosse for my highschool until I broke my talus at the end of junior year rendering me incapable of running :[

5. I am currently finishing up my pre-requisites to apply to Thomas Jefferson University’s two year nursing program for my BSN. I would like to go to law school afterwards and become a malpractice/medical lawyer.

6. One of my favorite bands is the Fall of Troy, sadly they recently decided to end the band [on a mutual/good note]. One of their songs “Laces out, Dan!” inspired my blog name.

7. I scrapbook basically my entire life, just so I don’t forget anything [especially when I’m older] haha

It’s been a slow start for me on blogger, but I’d like to thank the four fabulous girls who follow my blog [even though most if not all have already gotten this award], thanks for the support you guys!

Sarah @ Creating the me I've always wanted to be

Taylor @ Tay’s Life

Amber @ The Shrinking Girl

and Steph

Tip the Scale Tuesday

151.2

I was 150.8 yesterday. My goal was to be in the forties by July first, so if I bust my ass for the next few days I think I can make it. I have to be in a bathing suit this weekend, which makes me nervous but I guess is also pretty motivating. I'm hoping July fourth weekend doesn't completely derail my healthy eating, which I have a feeling it might seeing as I will [a] be away and [b] attending various cookouts and parties.

Fact of the Day: I watch Chelsea Lately every night during the week at 11 on E!, and have been for two years. Along with being down right hilarious it is also, sadly, one of my main sources of news. If you're looking for a good read and/or laugh I highly recommend all three of her books, they're a riot.

Let's Talk About Sex, Baby

Today marks the 3rd month of my new relationship. While this number may seem insignificant to most, to me it is basically a milestone. In order to understand why there’s about 5 years of information you need to know.

I am a “sex addict”. Not a “oh I cheated on my famous wife so I’m gonna pretend I have a sex problem” addict, or a “I love sex so much I’m going to sleep with a million random strangers” addict. More of a serial sex addict; I sleep with the same men frequently for lengthy periods of time. I didn’t practice this kind of sex because I felt bad about myself and needed confirmation that I was attractive from guys. I did it because I craved sex and I felt powerful using guys as objects [a role reversal if you will]. My ability to have sexual relations with men while remaining completely unattached is something unparalleled by most women, and is not necessarily something that I am proud of.

Some of you might be reading this thinking that I am a slut or something along those lines, but in my defense I have never had a one night stand, nor slept with anyone less than 5 times. In fact I spent five years sleeping with the same guy, again not something I am exactly bragging about. But I do feel it holds me to a higher degree of self-respect than most of the girls I know who sleep around. In fact, my boyfriend was one of these guys; I slept with him for over a year before we started dating. Naturally, I shut down any feelings I started to feel for him knowing one of my rules: once a guy sleeps with you he will not date you. Another one of my rules is if he cheats with you, he’ll cheat on you, along with the standard “once a cheater always a cheater”. I’ve only had three boyfriends [all lasted less than 5 months] due to unwillingness to commit. I cheated on all of them.

My boyfriend, Mike, was the exception to my first rule and I want to be the exception to number three. After coming home from school and being treated for depression [months before we started dating] I began discussing some of these issues with my therapist. I realized that I couldn’t continue living that way and maybe I was just doing this because I was afraid to get hurt? This is where the story brightens up, apparently my moving back to Philly from Pittsburgh made Mike realize how he felt about me, needless to say I felt the same way. A few months after my return home I got a love confession and the rest is history.

Michael is the best boyfriend I could ever imagine; romantic without being overly cheesy, hilarious, down to earth. He compliments me constantly and makes me feel like the prettiest girl that ever existed. Did I mention I am 120% comfortable around him? [And yes that means in every aspect you can imagine if you know what I’m saying haha]. Oh and the sex is phenomenal of course! I never thought I would be able to feel this way about someone, but it’s better than I could ever imagine. I love him and I know that if I were to lose him I would never find anyone who would treat me better. So for his sake and my own I have made a complete 180 and my [love] life is on a whole new path :]

[Okay, romantic and overly divulging blog is over. Kinda can’t believe I spilled all of that stuff, I hope you guys don’t think of me any differently.]

Fact of the Day: Today is my three month anniversary with my wonderful boyfriend, Mike. I like to refer to him as my snugglepuss [my favorite out of a long list of nauseatingly hilarious pet names]. So yeah, this is us down below!

Finals in July?!

that's right, I have a final this thursday [July first]. On the bright side that means I only have four days left of summer class! I can't wait to finally start enjoying my summer and be done with chemistry. Today is gonna be filled with studying, homework, and lab reports. woohoo.

Fact of the Day: I have two cats, both adopted after the death of my 13 year old cat 2 years ago. At first I didn't want another cat, it felt like I was trying to replace Fluffy [creative name right? I was 6 when I got her haha] which would be an impossible task since she was one of a kind. However, I finally decided that it would be great to adopt a cat that otherwise would have no home. When I went to the cat rescue I immediately fell in love with a little tuxedo kitten, but then I saw an older cat in a bottom crate that was just as cute. I was torn, I knew that someone would adopt a kitten but who would want a five year old cat? The solution, adopt both!

Fluffy, what a cute fatty :]

Sampson [left] and Jasper

Lets Get the Facts

today was pretty boring so i'll just throw out a fast review:

home at 3 a.m., woke up at 12, gym [chest & tri's], world cup loss, dinner, laundry

like i said, nothing exciting.

anyway, i decided to do a daily "fact" about myself to spice up my blog a little bit and let you guys get to know me better :]

Fact of the Day: I am obsessed with hockey, specifically Flyers hockey [since i am from philadelphia]. I've had season tickets ever since i've been born and to me it is the best sport there is. with that said....only 104 days til the start of the 2010-2011 season!

my dad and I at playoff game 5 of the legendary Flyers-Bruins series

There's a First Time For Everything!

so this is my first post on blogger and i'm not quite sure how this all works.

my name is Amanda, I'm currently a college student about to start my junior year in a few months. the past few years have been crazy for me and i'm basically blogging to put my haps and mishaps into words. this we'll probably also be somewhat of a weightloss blog [but not obsessive], more so just a tracking of my weight week to week.

looking for some new friends and probably some site advice :]