Workout Schedule

Last semester, my workouts were sparse, but since returning back to college this time I've been kicking my activity level into high gear. I've got a variety of different workouts that target different fitness aspects like cardio, balance, flexability, or strength. My typical workout week looks like this: 

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Zumba	Yoga	Gym	MMA	Run	Run	Run
Gym	MMA	Turbokick	Volleyball	Gym	or Rest	or Rest
	Volleyball

 Yesterday I skipped yoga (because Lenka and I were much too tired to go), but I wound up sending 5 hours in the gym so it wasn't a great loss. Danny and I hit the gym at 4 to begin with 2 miles on the treadmill followed by some crazy goblet squats on the upside down half yoga balls. Some remixed Lana Del Ray song came on and I made it a party while finishing up other strength exercises I could barely do before heading to dinner.

Then came Mixed Martial Arts or MMA where Lenka, Will, Adam, Hjordis and I worked on striking, conditioning, and jiu jitsu. I can now sort of do a kimora hold, but just like dancing it takes me several attempts to figure out the actual moves.

Right after MMA ended, I headed up to the gym to meet with my intramural volleyball team, Internationals. We peppered between the 12 of us and then scrimmaged one another to see what sort of a level we were on. Turns out we're pretty good. In fact, we wound up beating Cal Coursey's Email, but I'd wager they won best team name.

To celebrate Katri, Kristine, and I relaxed in the sauna before calling it a night. I'm liking how active my lifestyle is right now and even happier I'm able to workout with all my friends.

Birthday Ball: Harry Potter

Birthday Ball, the dance that celebrates the birthday of the immaculate Jorge Washington. A dance with an $80,000 budget and a pension for drunk students milling about. A dance I am generally blown away by. This year the theme was Harry Potter! While walking around campus I found loads of muggles in costume or dressed up in their house colors.

Great outfits turned up this dance and since I'm a Hufflepuff I went with a White House Black Market black and gold polkadot dress. One might argue that I was just a boozy housewife or a secretary from the 50s but I'm pretty sure those two are prime Hufflepuff values so I'll accept them. Another skill that Hufflepuff's are great at is finding people and out of the many times I got lost on the dance floor I seemed to find my people, mainly because Ben is 6'4".

The Harry Potter dance was a great way to cap off the tradition of Birthday Ball for me, making this the best dance to date.

I'm Back

Hello, everyone, I'm back from a long blogging hiatus.

First off, why did I go on a hiatus? Blogging became a chore for me overtime instead of an outlet I enjoyed. But I've taken time to rethink what blogging means to me and I came to the conclusion that it is not about making silly posts I think I'm supposed to make because that's what "bloggers" do, but about living my life and sharing experiences with my readers. So what's happened in the 8 months I've been away? A lot.

Over the summer, I worked two jobs, a clumsy forgetful waitress at a rundown Irish restaurant and a chauffeur for a 15 year-old equestrian enthusiast. I now realize that I am never working in the restaurant industry again because of how many times I spilled beer on people. When I wasn't driving or waitressing, I was (kind of) working on my thesis. Actually, I spent most of my time lacing up my shoes and deciding I am a runner. And it paid off. I lost a lot of weight before coming back to school.

When I returned to school, I worked international orientation and have to say that was a wonderful decision. I gained a wonderful group of friends and it changed my view of Washington College entirely. I became more confident and outgoing and I'm proud of that. My senior year became exactly what I wanted college to be. With my friends I travelled to New York, Philadelphia, and explored as much of Maryland as possible.

Even though I was having fun with new friends, I was battling with the loss of a loved one and still am. My grandfather, Jesse Maness, was diagnosed with Melanoma in February 2013. I was home almost every weekend after coming back from Ireland because of the reverse culture shock and my need to spend time with my grandfather. I felt closer than I ever had to him. I listened to his stories and recorded his voice. I took photos and I enjoyed his presence. And on September 12, 2013 I was there with him when he passed. Not a day goes by where I don't think about this amazing, hard-working, caring man. He is truly loved and missed.

I brought my grades up my last semester, but had to drop my thesis due to the 5 course work load I thought would help me graduate early. Now I'm done with classes, but working on my thesis when I can in between Interning at the Global Education Office and working at the MPC. With the free time I have, I'm working on planning my wedding and focusing on my fitness (like I neglected last semester.)

That's where I've been and here I am now. I'm ready to share my honest life here any way I can.

Fitness Progress

It was right after coming back from the Dominican Republic for my brother's wedding that I began to work out. I saw photos of my pale self in a bikini, belly hanging out, playing chicken and I thought, hmmm better fix that. So from as soon as I landed back in the good ol' USA (and had conquered my bout of food poisoning) I hit the gym.

(You bet I untagged myself from these)

When I first walked into the new redesigned Johnson Fitness Center on campus I was afraid there would be troves of sorority girls on treadmills and lax bros lifting, but they weren't all there at 10 am on a tuesday. So I popped in some headphones and brought my baggy t-shirted self over to the stair master. That's when I noticed my friend Nina there. I confessed I didn't go to the gym often (the only time I went was freshman year with my roommate. It was the only time we hung out and she was crazy athletic) and if she wouldn't mind showing me the ropes. I tagged along watching as she showed me the machines, how to use the free weights, kettle bells, crunches. We then made a pact to meet every tuesday and thursday morning that semester. And you know what, we stuck to it. My friends Sam and Karyn also slowly became my other gym buddies and I was so motivated that I was practically going everyday to the gym. By the end of the semester we were noticing that exercises that were once difficult, we were pushing even harder for and we were starting to get muscle tone.

Then school let out and I headed out to Texas to visit Gerred for two weeks. I decided I would keep the exercise and the healthy eating up while I was there and he supported me. We would head to gym on base and he like Nina would show me new moves to work different muscle groups. The next day Gerred said, "let's go for a run on the beach." I took on the challenge and turned on my Strava app and we ran from his house, across the street, and to the beach. We ran the stretch as I listened to Backstreet boys and Spice Girls. He kept me motivated when I was ready to pass out from the Texas heat, telling me to run and slap his hand. When we finished the race I saw the achievements I unlocked and how faster I raced.

When I got back home on June 1st I noticed that Strava had updated the app with challenges. The challenges all had different specifications to help motivate you and see how you stack up against competitors. Essentially this is my lonely person's gym buddy. I can run with friends anywhere they were, see the work we did and give kudos and motivation. Naturally I signed up for three challenges: The June Doogle Run, The June Doogle Bike and The Any Way 10k.

The June Doogle is essentially challenging you to run (or bike depending on the challenge) as many kilometers as you can during the month of June. So far I'm at 33km for the June Doggle run and an improperly logged 10km (it reads 0km for now) from the bike ride I did with my dad on the Piney Orchard Nature Trail.

The Any Way 10k challenges you to run a 10k as fast as you can between June 15th and June 16th. I completed this today and I'm really surprised with myself since I've never run a 10k before and I all of a sudden up and ran it. Basically I owe my completion to the entire fitness journey I've gone through since February. I got myself to the gym, on a bike, and running as fast as I can. I'm proud of myself and ready to continue on. I have lost 10 pounds since January and would love to see where I'll be by next year.

P.S. Do you guys have Strava? If you do follow me here.

Maryland Country Adventures

My dad races bikes. He recently did a 60 mile in the backroads of the Maryland countryside. When he got back from the race he told me he saw lots of interesting barns and sights and that the next day he would take me out to see them. So we did and we had a photo adventure together. I got to try out my new camera and he practiced using my old one as we poked around little farms.

Honestly, I am in love with my Canon Rebel T3i and I really enjoyed spending the day exploring with my dad.

College Art

I mentioned I took a Creative Process class this past semester where I mixed stories, watercolors, and portraiture. It wasn't my first art class in college I took for fun. During my first semester at Washington College I took a beginning drawing class and produced some of these pictures. I happened upon them when I was organizing iPhoto and I thought I'd reflect on them. Caution: Nude pictures up ahead. Calm yourself, it's art.

This was a picture that I was allowed to do whatever I wanted with. I used chalk to draw and had a fun time with all the colors. I don't even know what the meaning of this is. I think I just drew what was a dream turning into a nightmare.

Ah, nude models. There was a creepy man that came in and posed in a million different ways. I then was assigned to do a large scale drawing of five different poses. I wound up with this. I remember not wanting to draw the penises at all so there are mostly blue shadow ken doll areas.

The assignment for this one was to take a photo from a magazine, cut it up and come up with what the rest of the photo would look like using oil pastels. I used an Annie Leibovitz photo from Vogue of Lady Gaga and Lily Cole and Andrew Garfield from the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.

DIY Laundry Board

For the longest time my mom would and I would put the laundry out to dry on top of couches, chairs, tables. They would wind up with plenty of orange cat hair on them and no one would be able to sit. I decided one day that this whole issue could be avoided if we jut had a designated clothes line or laundry rack. I began to look them up with my parents and found a beautiful one, but it cost way way too much. So we thought back to the DIY headboard project we did and thought "hey, why don't we just make our own laundry board?"

Materials

2 chains

1 beat board

4 wooden planks

1 clasp

2 hinges

12 dowel rods

First assemble it...yes I came into the game too late for this one. Basically, you need to build a frame that measures exactly to the beat board. Then space out the dowel rods throughout and secure them in place.  Attach hinges at the base to connect the wooden frame and the beat board so that they open like a book.  Once done, paint the wood.

The second task is to attach the chains so that when extended the board can stay up to dry the clothes. Lastly attache a clasp on the side so that you can keep the board lying against the wall when you're laundry isn't being dried. I'm not sure when that time would be though. It seems that laundry is a constant.

Then pull out that laundry board and hang your clothes on it!