Friday Five - Pushing Through

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Who's happy it's Friday?
:)

I'm more than excited for the weekend, one because that means my finals will be over! And two, because I have been a sick little girl lately! Bleh!

Luckily I'm starting to feel better, though thanks to a major rest day on Wednesday. Gotta love an excuse to be lazy right?

Annywayyys..

1) Shortly after heading home Wednesday, I made myself a delicious smoothie hoping that it would somehow boost my immune system.

Here's what went in: 1/2 banana, handful of frozen mango, almond milk, wheat germ, orange juice, some freeze dried berries. I topped it with some puffed redwheat cereal. Yum! It kept me full for hours.

2) I'll try not to rant for too long because I hate being a whiner and all, but I just have been in the crappiest funk lately. I think part of it is just being sick and sleepy and cold all the time..

But there's another part to this funk, and it is something I've been learning more and more about myself lately. Some of you may not be totally aware of this yet, but I am just plain wired for tension. I've discovered great ways to tame it, which have helped a ton, but when I am tense, I tend to look for relief in unhealthy outlets such as food, my eyelashes* (I'm planning to cover this in the near future, you can read about it here), snapping at others (family), getting quiet around others (friends), etc.


[*If you decide to look at the link, just know that I do not have this disorder, but a much milder form. Basically I like to pick the mascara off]

Exercise helps a ton. I cannot even begin to describe how much exercise alleviates my stress levels. Nothing even comes close (that I've discovered so far).

This is great, but on the days I don't get to exercise, it's not so great. I can feel the tension in my body. A lot. I'll try to explain...
It's like the stress level starts at 100 every morning. Starting the day off with exercise brings it down to 50 and then depending on my decisions, and events throughout the day, it lingers anywhere from 0 to 75.
On days when I do not exercise it tends to stay between 50 and 100 making it difficult for me to handle my stress in healthier ways and easier to revert back to those unhealthy habits.


Anyway, it's just something that I've been thinking about a lot lately. I feel like I'm in a constant battle with  myself sometimes.
It's the anxious, crabby, tense, frustrated, exhausted Abby vs. the happy, relaxed, optimistic Abby.

I just have to remember that everything passes, and crappy weeks hold so many lessons. I have no better way to sum that whole shpeel up... so there ya go.

Oh, and after writing two little unpublished blog rants, here's what I put together..

3) To continue on with the gloominess (I'll be done after this, I promise) today is my Grandma's birthday. She died in August after fighting a four year battle to breast cancer.  It's our first year without her and we still miss her like crazy. I imagine that today will be tough on my family -especially my mom.

But the thing is, her death made me so much more aware of the wonderful person she was. She was, as all her friends put it, a gem. She volunteered over 1000 hours to a local art museum, used her nursing degree to help women at a local Indian tribe get their degrees (without asking for anything in return).. Her friends go on and on about the wonderful person she was.

My mom read this verse at her funeral in the eulogy, and though it's typically used in weddings, it fits her perfectly, and it describes exactly the kind of person I strive to be.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
1 Corinthians 13

I love looking at that verse in a whole different light.




4) Alright, switching gears. On Wednesday after sitting around for hours and hours, I finally got up to whip a little something together. I knew that I didn't really want to bake (though banana bread sounded awesome), so I decided to make a dressing!
I found this recipe via Cooking Light. The peanut butter and honey combo is right up my alley!

It yields about 1 cup, and if my mental addition is right, it's about 50 cals per 2 tbsp (in case you're wondering) I modified it a little bit, so here's the final product!

Light Honey Peanut Thai Sauce

1/3 c. lime juice
1 1/2 tbsp ginger
3 tbsp water
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp creamy peanut butter
1.5 tbsp honey
3 garlic cloves

Mix together (this may take some time) and serve! It's great on salads, stir fries, and as a veggie dip. That's all I've tried so far, though!




5) Not to brag or anything, but I've been rocking it on the school front lately. I brought up all my grades to A's which leaves me (fingers crossed) graduating with highest distinction! Woohoooo. :)
Some things I did to get through finals:

Caribou. Enough said.

I realized what a high-maintenence coffee order I had.. small northern lite vanilla decaf cooler with the "fun (fat free) whip".
It's no skim latte, but boy was it awesome.

Downloaded the song "Battle Scars" thanks to some browsing on Melissa's blog. It's awesome and so perfect for running on those days where all you want to do is curl up in a warm blankie.


Repeated these words. Over and over and over.


Yogas/sweats. Erryday. Where would I be without you? :)

I've used this before, but it will never get old.

Some great videos, courtesy of Christopher..

The best is Torque.. no question.

That's all I got for ya! If you made it through this post you deserve an award. Rock on :)
Have a good day!!

Think about it: "Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat."