Looking Back: 2013

It's been some year, right? Right. I can't believe it's over already though. Overall it's been a great year. It had it's good moments, and it's bad moments, and a lot of in-between moments. I graduated, I interviewed, I traveled, and more. In some ways I'm glad it's over and in some ways I'm not ready for 2014. A year ago I rang in the new year with good friends in Connecticut. This year I really don't even feel like ringing in the new year. Guess I'm getting old.

Jar full of great moments of 2013. Time to crack this open and share some of the highlights.

Looking Back: 2013

• Presented at a conference! I enjoyed the experience and met some cool people! Learned a lot from that conference too. 
• Graduated with my master's! My family came down to celebrate my birthday and my graduation. It was great to show them Pensacola and to introduce them to crawfish at the Pensacola Crawfish Festival!
• Ran my first 5k. The Pensacola Sunset Run, 40:37.
• Got to travel to Vermont for a campus interview at a very unique college. Enjoyed the experience and the change in scenery.
• Interviewed at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Enjoyed traveling to Hawaii, enjoyed meeting great people at UH Manoa, and got to spend a day visiting Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona memorial. Amazing experience.
• Interviewed at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks (the very same week I interviewed in Hawaii). Incredible place and some awesome people too. I also got to reconnect with a FIT friend and have some wonderful boring adventures in Fairbanks.
• Went back to work at Panera and enjoyed it quite a bit. 
• Got to experience a wonderful wedding in St. Augustine Beach. Very happy for my friends and I was glad I got to share the day with them.
• Got a job with Housing and Residence Life at UWF. It was a journey going through my job search process. I wanted to get out of Florida, but in the end I'm happy to have stayed in Pensacola.
• Got to reconnect with a sister who was visiting Pensacola for work.
• Had a great FIT alumna moment when I met with the director of the new extended studies site. Enjoyed making a new connection.
• Adopted my adorable cat Bailey (who I think is plotting to take over the world).
• Started playing in a kickball league. Met some great people and had a blast! Can't wait for the next season.
• Ran my 2nd 5k. I was sick but still ran it in 38:04, a new PR for me.
• Learned how to curl with a couple of awesome FIT friends. Great times with great friends.
• Took some chances that didn't really work out, but the things I've learned made it worth it. 
• Started to bake a lot more and try some new baking adventures, and overall increased my love for baking.
• Met a lot of great people this year. Said goodbye to some friends. Made some new friends.

Cut 13 inches off my hair last December, and it's getting close to it's original length.

Looking Forward: 2014

I'm not one to make resolutions. I think last year I gave up on giving up things. Maybe? I don't know. I never was one to make realistic resolutions that I could stick to.  Well it's about to be a new year, so a new beginning, perhaps? Here's what I'm hoping to do this year.

• Spend less, save more. (Though now a lot of my spending goes to loans, so that may be tough...)
• Eat healthier. I'm toying with the idea of going vegan, but easing into it. So I'm cutting back the dairy. I want at least 3 dinners a week to be vegan.
• Cook more and bake more (but make it healthy)
• No more soda. I haven't been drinking much of it anyway, so it's time for it to go.
• More working out. More running, but also mixing up my workouts. Pilates, maybe some yoga, considering swimming. Just wanting to be more active and reach some fitness goals.
• More time for me. Sounds selfish, but I just want to focus on doing some things that I've been wanting to do for a while. This includes vacation and traveling. I'm hoping this year to make it to one of these places: Washington state, Salt Lake City, or Maine. 
• Unclutter (declutter? unclutter?) my life. 
• Blog more. [laughter]. See what I mean about unrealistic? Thought I'd throw that one in for kicks.

Some positive energy for the new year.

Summer, 5k, and Adventures

Well it's summer! The last few weeks have been a bit crazy, but things have somewhat quieted down this week. I graduated on May 4, a day after I turned 24. I got to spend the weekend celebrating with my family. It was fantastic. I'm so glad that got to come celebrate and that I got to show them around this city that I call home. I am now a Master. Graduation was fun, minus the fact that we were sitting on ice (literally) and they forgot to hand me and three others our "diploma". Most confusing 30 seconds of my life... walking across the stage, getting hooded (by Dr. Ruth, yay!), and shaking the president's hand, but not being given a "diploma". Oh well. The actually diploma that should arrive in 5 weeks or so is more important.

My fantastic cap!

Brittany and me, pre-graduation

Dr. Hurd and me, pre-graduation

Heather and Me at the Crawfish Festival on my b-day. :)

Just before graduation I was down in Fort Myers for an interview at FGCU. Just after graduation I was up in Vermont for an interview at Marlboro College. Next week I'm off on another adventurous interview. Hopefully it won't be long after that when I can share some news about my next adventure.

Stayed at this super awesome art deco hotel in Vermont.

Last Saturday, May 11, I ran my first 5k. Well I ran most of it, and walked some of it. But I completed it, and that's what matters. It took me 40:37, which is about 4 minutes faster than I thought I could do it. It was a lot of fun. I ran the Pensacola Sunset Run. It rained all day, but stopped in time for the race. It was cloudy for most of it, but towards the end the sun peeked out to show off a little bit of the sunset. I had a great time and was proud of myself for doing it. Back to training, and I can't wait to beat my time in the next 5k.

My bib from my first 5k.

This week has been fun. I've spent a lot of time by the pool, working on my tan. I'm on duty this week so that's interesting at times. My job technically ended Wednesday, but I'm sticking around for part of the summer so I'm working still. Hopefully will start back at Panera after next week as well.

Now that it's summer I'm hoping for some posts more often, especially about all the adventures that will ensue. :)

College, Food, and Weight Loss

If you werent aware, I am in grad school. Almost finished though (28 days until graduation), and then I have no idea what will go on after that. Anyway, back to my point. I'm in grad school, and sometimes maintaining healthy eating habits can be tough. Especially when I live on campus and have a free meal plan. Campus food is good, but it's not always healthy and it's hard to figure out the nutritional value of the foods.

I am actively working towards getting back into shape and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I've been going to the gym most days of the week, usually taking one or two days off each week. That's a benefit of being a college student - free gym access. The hours are great at the gym too; I can go early in the morning to get energized for the day, late at night to burn off stress from the day, or somewhere in between if my schedule allows it. I'm on Week 3 of Couch to 5k which is going really well for me. It's getting easier and easier to run for longer. I've even signed up for my first 5k as motivation - the Pensacola Sunset Run on May 11. I won't quite be finished with the Couch to 5k program, but I'm okay with that. My goal is basically to finish, preferably in under an hour and with as much running as possible. I may be leaving Pensacola sometime not too long after that, so I figured it would be a nice farewell to Pensacola run.

More info on the Sunset Run HERE 

To help with the eating habits I started doing Weight Watchers. In two weeks I've lost four pounds so it's obviously helping. It's tough though, and I think being in college makes it tougher. I can't get nutritional information for the food served on campus (except for Papa John's and Quiznos) so that makes it especially tough. I have to guess a lot (or I just stick to salad so I only have to guess at the dressing). Then there are other times that make it difficult as well.

Take for example yesterday: Festival on the Green during the day and a Blue Wahoos game at night. For lunch yesterday some coworkers and I got some Festival food: I had delicious fried fish, fried pickles, and corn on the cob. Well there went the majority of the days points.

Knowing I'd be at a baseball game that night I opted to eat a quick dinner before heading out. It was a very quick dinner as I had about 20 minutes in between work and leaving for the game. That was a great plan as all I got at the stadium was a diet soda. It's okay to splurge every now and then, and that's one thing I like about weight watchers.

Sadly the Wahoos lost, but we had a great time at the game. Today has been a nice, relaxing day of babysitting. I will hit the gym later and then chill with some friends tonight.

My goal is to keep up with this blog; talking about college and weight watchers and probably some job search stuff. I'll include some recipes from time to time of the delicious things I cook up.