This Was Supposed To Be A Five Things Friday Post.

Hey everyone! Who’s stoked it’s Friday?

Workout – Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit.

So nice to be home for the weekend and able to do Insanity. I miss it when I’m at school! This morning’s workout was originally meant to be a run.. But I had to drive my mom to the train station and my brother to school and I wound up just not having enough time to get in the miles that I wanted to before having to get ready and leave for therapy.

This blog has officially become the most neglected thing in my life (ok, that may be a stretch). In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m not exactly a particularly interesting person, nor is my life all that exciting. I have a lot of thoughts that I would love to go on about and share with the world… But they don’t all exactly fit into a nice clean package. What I’m saying is that I am the very definition of a mess. I want to blog about health. I want to blog about eating disorder recovery. I want to blog about my life (who the heck would care about that?!). I want to blog about running. I want to blog about the environment. I want to blog about fashion. I want to blog about music. I just want to write. Basically, I am all over the place… And this results in my getting very overwhelmed (I get overwhelmed way too easily, it’s something that I am working on). Once I’m overwhelmed, I start spiraling down into an anxiety attack. After this begins, I begin to mentally tell myself off for my having no right to be overwhelmed when there are so many people (most people actually) who do so much more than me and get it all done and still have free time and social lives. This results in guilt. Which, you guessed it, results in more anxiety. And the kicker here? This all results in nothing getting done. Basically, I don’t know what I am doing with this blog. I think I put a lot of pressure on myself because I really would love for this blog to become something. It may sound pathetic, but the only type of job that I can see myself having any success in in the future is one that involves blogging or Youtube or anything of the like. Again, it sounds stupid. I know. I mean, I just sound like a spoiled little kid who doesn’t want to get a “real job” ever… Right? The thing is, just with the whole anxiety thing… Being trapped in an office all day or having a very strict schedule just seems like it would result in my having a meltdown. That all being said, hopefully if I keep working at it and meditating and going to therapy, I’ll be able to get over all of this depression and anxiety and then, who knows, maybe I will, somehow, have some actual success in something one day. I don’t really know. I just hope that it’s possible for me. I fee like such a dumb kid with a bad case of, “special snowflake,” syndrome. I know that so many people struggle with my exactly mental issues and I know that many people have it so much worse than me (I’m not saying I have a bad life by any means, just that I have a bad mental state)… And they have success in life and drive and they… They have lives. So who am I to think that I have the right to struggle? Who am I to keep screwing up? To haul myself up away from the world because it all just seems to big and scary and overwhelming? Who am I to think that I can maybe be someone one day instead of having to fall into the the routine of the endlessly getting up daily and going to work in a place that I hate so I can have money to support myself? Who am I to think that maybe I could be different? I just … I don’t know. Oh. As per usual, I sat down to write a light-hearted post about things I’ve been up to lately and instead wound up spewing out a whole bunch of nonsensical angst and musings. Welcome to Snapbacks And Racing Flats kids. But seriously… I apologize if you read my blog. Does anyone read this thing? Hellooooo? I’m currently sitting in a Starbucks with my coffee (blonde roast with soy milk is pretty delicious fyi) and am trying to somehow get my Youtube video that should already be up edited.

Yeah.. Um… this happened. I really wanted to do some sort of Halloween-themed video since I absolutely love Halloween but never get to celebrate it because, well, no friends. Unfortunately, I obviously have no idea why I am doing and my attempt at a Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride themed makeup look wound up looking like… well… this.

I also can’t even begin to explain to you what a mess I made of my dorm room while trying to maneuver all of the different face paints and things while filming.

I know that my Youtube channel isn’t exactly ground-breaking or entertaining or even quality… But I am really loving doing it. Aside from school, I feel that I don’t have menu things really driving me in life right now. Yes I have running and I want to train more and get my distance up and sign up for a half-marathon once I have the money… But other than that, I am really struggling to find a sense of purpose.

Now, I know that saying that my little Youtube channel with it’s couple of viewers gives me and my life meaning sounds pretty obscene… But, it does. My Youtube channel is an outlet for me to express myself and be creative and express myself.

It’s no secret that I struggle with self-esteem and body image and, well, human interaction. So this channel is really a way for me to challenge myself. I’m editing my video right now, and I can’t tell you how disgusted I am looking at this thing. Not only did I film this right after getting back from a run (probably not my best idea)… But I can see in in relation so some of my videos from the summer and it is so noticable in my face that I have put on weight.

Needless to say, I would rather not upload this thing.

But I’m going to. I am challenging myself to not care and to try and accept myself as I am and put myself out there. It’s terrifying… And exciting.

And now I am off to finish editing this video and go grocery shopping! Exciting times guys. Exciting times.

To end this post on a happy note, here’s a photo of an adorable puppy in a frog costume.

Oh, you are so welcome.

I don’t know.

New Video – Wide Awake Makeup Look

Hey everyone!

Workout: 

5 slow miles (legs are completely shot) + an easy 25 minutes on the elliptical to shake out my legs after sitting for a long period of time.

Today has been a whirlwind and I haven’t really done anything to write about, nor have I photographed my food for WIAW.

However, what I DID do was spend a bulk of my day filming, editing, and uploading my latest makeup tutorial for my Youtube channel.

So, naturally, I though I should share it with you!

I created this simple look with the hopes of using makeup to achieve a fresh faced and wide-awake appearance, even when you’re running on about negative 5 hours of sleep (which I know that many of us students do).

I also wanted the makeup to look natural enough to be appropriate for all ages.

I hope you enjoy!

Friday Favorites 7.25.2014 – So Much Link Love!

Hey everyone, happy Friday!

Workout: I got up bright and early to get my brother ready for junior life guarding and to get to the gym before heading out for an appointment.

I opted for the elliptical today since I did a long run yesterday and figured that it would be a good idea to go easy on my knee today.

I also tried out a new workout that I found on the POP Sugar fitness app! Did you know this thing existed? I just found it the other day and it’s great!

I did this workout at a level 20 elevation and those sprints were brutal. 

I also added an extra 10 minutes of intervals before my final cool down for a nice 40 minute workout.

 

 

 

I don’t know why there are tissues on the ground next to the elliptical.

So now let’s talk about some things that I have been loving this week.

This week’s favorites include more links to blog posts and recipes than anything else because it seems that while I was in a slump blogging wise this week… The rest of the world was on a roll with some quality posts and recipes!

Favorite Eat: 

My korean chili stir-fry from the other day! So so good. I’m actually considering making this again tonight!

Either that or some sushi… Mmm.

Favorite Workout:

 

Favorite Sip:

I could drink iced mochas all day, every day for the rest of forever.

I just add chocolate to my regular iced coffee and BOOM dessert in coffee form!

Favorite Watch:

I have been obsessed with this Youtube channel this week! Wengie is actually the cutest person ever and I love her style and her everything and I may or may not have spent a bulk of this week binge watching her videos.

Seriously, check her out.

Favorite Listen: 

I’ve actually been listening to a lot of K-Pop and J-Pop this week! Super fun to run to and so darn catchy.

I used to listen to J-Pop all the time (mostly Ayumi Hamasaki and anime soundtracks… yes I am one of those people), but I kind of fell out of it. I forgot how much I enjoy this music!

Favorite Internet Finds:

And here’s the fun part.

Fashion – 

1. This simple look from I Dress Myselff.

I promised myself that I was done shopping for the summer, but I may need to make an exception for that t-shirt dress.

2. This dress is almost as gorgeous as the woman wearing it. Can you believe that Amber only just had her baby a little bit over a month ago?

Also, I wish more than anything that that dress was within my broke college student budget.

3. I just bought a similar pair of overalls to these. Here’s hoping I can actually pull them off!

4. I can’t even with this entire look. It physically hurts my soul that this outfit isn’t in my life… And even if it was, it wouldn’t look anywhere near as amazing.

Blog Posts – 

1. I know that this only just went up yesterday, but it deserves a mention. Sam’s guest post on Angela’s blog on body image was just wonderful and inspiring. I keep seeing this whole, “all you need to get a bikini body is a bikini and a body,” idea pop up all across the internet and while it’s awesome, it’s nice to see a post that dives a bit deeper into that topic. Plus I just love Sam and her blog and am so inspired by her progress in recovery!

2. These cupcakes! I actually made a batch of them in mini form today for a graduation party that I am going to tomorrow! Now if only I could make them look as pretty as Sally did… Alas, while I consider myself a pretty good baker, I am probably the single worst froster on the planet. Cake always winds up everywhere.

It’s bad.

3. 

Yes I am putting my own video here… Because what better place is there for shameless self-promotion than on my own blog? =P

In all seriousness, I am loving doing Youtube videos. Like, really loving it. It’s such a great outlet for me and I really hope to continue to learn how to film and edit and how to not be awkward in front of the camera and that I can really grow my channel. I just love it.

 

Goal for the night is to go to bed at a normal time! I’m actually going to get off of my computer and read soon….

After I watch a few more Youtube videos ;).

Friday Favorites 7.11.2014

Hey everyone!

Somehow, another week has gone by. It’s actually terrifying how fast this summer is flying by… Is it really almost the middle of July already?

Anyway, let’s talk about the things I have been loving this week!

1. Favorite Workout: Thursday’s 6 miler.

 

Although having a bit of knee pain during my run was discouraging, it was great to get back out there again and to actually feel good on my run. I was happy (for the most part) with my pace, the weather was perfect, and it was one of those runs where it just flew by because I was able to really just get lost in my thoughts. I am so happy to be running again, even if it is only a handful of miles a week.

2. Favorite Sip

I’m a huge tea person, and one of my favorite ways to enjoy tea is to combine different types of tea together.

My current favorite tea combo is Yogi Ginger Tea and Trader Joe’s Pomegranate White Tea with lemon and stevia. So good. 10/10 do recommend.

Also, I have a ridiculous amount of stomach issues and recently they have been worse than usual… So I’m trying to drink as much ginger tea as possible!

3. Favorite Eats

The (embarrassingly large) snack plate obsession is going strong.

I attempted to make raw vegan sushi! A majority of it just fell apart (and were eaten) while I was attempting to cut it, but the pieces that actually resembled sushi were pretty darn good! I’m thinking that the issue may have been my needing a sharper knife. All of the knives in my house are in desperate need of some good sharpenings.

4. Favorite Look

I am absolutely obsessed with all of the outfits in this post on the fashion blog Feral Creature. Seriously… Can I just own every single article of clothing in these photos? And have her hair? …Please?

5. Favorite Internet Find

Just watch this video ok? So beautiful and powerful. Just watch it.

 

Now I really have to get some rest. Warped Tour (the greatest event of the year) is tomorrow!

Question(s):

What have you been loving this week?

Ever make sushi before? Did yours fall apart too? Or are you some sushi-making prodigy? 

Friday Favorites 6.20.14

Happy Friday! … Even though in like… 15 minutes it won’t be Friday anymore.

Whoops…

So, to make sure to get this post up on the day that it’s actually supposed to go up, I will spare you my usual rambling and get straight to what I have been absolutely loving this week!

Food:

 

Trader Joe’s Sesame Soy Ginger Vinaigrette (wow, that’s a mouthful) is probably one of the greatest things ever. I’m not really one to buy packaged salad dressings, but when I’m having a big salad as my meal it’s nice to have something other than my usual balsamic + lemon juice. This stuff is light yet concentrated enough that a little bit goes a long way. I’ve been enjoying this over salads and in cold “stir-fry” form with zucchini noodles!

I win all the awards for lowest-quality blog pictures.

Favorite Workout:

Swimming. Swimming. SWIMMING! As I mentioned yesterday, I used to swim all the time and then stopped. As much as being injured sucks (although, I really want to maybe try to do a run tomorrow and see how I feel), I’m so glad that it kind of forced me to get back into swimming! I went again this morning and it was absolutely lovely.

Yes, that is the same picture from yesterday’s post….

Don’t judge.

Favorite Makeup:

I’ve been absolutely loving my go-to summer look that I posted on my Youtube channel!

You may be thinking that putting this video into my Friday Favorites is shameless self-promotion.

You may be right.

But in complete seriousness, I have been loving this makeup look.

Favorite Read:

This article by Competitor on iron upkeep for runners. Like so many runners (especially female), I have low iron. In fact, I had low iron before I started running. Aside from pills and eating red meat (which I don’t really do) and a load of spinach, I didn’t know of any other ways to get my iron up.

Definitely a worthwhile read. Do recommend.

 

Favorite Blogger:

Liz over at Funky Forest Food! I found her instagram while looking through some tag (maybe #rawvegan ? I’m not really sure) and the vibrant colors of her drool-worthy looking foods got my attention. I then went to her blog and spent an embarrassing amount of time lurking. She’s got some great healthy recipes that also happen to all be quite aesthetically pleasing.

I need to make this now.

 

Tomorrow is Summer! Who’s excited?

Question(s):

What have you been loving this week?

Any fun weekend plans?

Being Nice To Myself And Some Food

Hey! I know I have said this before, but I really need to get into a better blogging routine. I’m such a morning person, yet I seem to only write up my posts at night… This leads to half-assed (sorry, I can’t think of a better term) post and then I get frustrated because I really want to put out quality (can writing about my life even be quality?) content and I can’t do that when I’m falling asleep.

So that’s my little spiel about why I decided not to write a blog post last night and am now writing about yesterday today instead.

Yesterday I woke up ready for a run, I was going to just do 4 miles because my knee has been acting up… Then, I realized that if my knee is hurting me, the smart thing to do would be to not run. I do this stupid thing where I guilt myself into exercising when I’m injured (or am heading towards injury) and then what does that do? It causes my getting injured!

I think also that I have been so obsessed with increasing my mileage that the idea of taking some time off of running makes me feel like a failure. I’ve said it before and I will say it again taking some time off or skipping a workout is not failing. The entire world isn’t automatically going to look at you like a lazy sloth just because you’re being kind to yourself.

Do any of you get like this towards yourself where you maybe workout a bit less than usual and all of a sudden feel like your failing your image as the designated, “health and fitness junkie,” of your family/group of friends? Or am I just really crazy?

ANYWAYS! I was kind to myself (and my hurting knee!) yesterday and hit the elliptical for 45 minutes of intervals in lieu of my planned run!

And of course, you can guess what followed for breakfast.

]I topped it off with some sprinkles because they just make my heart happy.

The bulk of the rest of the day was spent trying to register for classes (all of the ones I need are either full, late at night, or conflict with other classes I’m already taking… ugh), and filming my new Youtube video that’s going up today!

It’s going to be my go-to sumer makeup. I hope you enjoy it! It’ll be up later in the day! In fact, I’m going to edit and upload as soon as the post is done!

Yay for blurry makeup selfies!

Finally, we really need to talk about my dinner from last night because it was the best thing ever.

I spiralized some zucchini and served it over a bed of Trader Joes’ Cruciferous Crunch salad mix (shredded brussel sprouts, kale, and red cabbage), with chopped peppers and sugar snap peas. It was all topped off with this sesame ginger vinagarette that I found at TJ’s. I served everything raw for a cold noodle bowl and I think this may become a regular dinner for me!

I also had some roasted rosemary chicken that my mom made on the side for some protein. I’m really trying to add more protein into my diet. I think I’m eating like 80% carbs and like 10% protein lately… it’s bad…

You know… just a (blurry) girl and her larger-than-her-head salad. The usual.

Now I’m off to go edit this video and get it up! I have to go into work later and I’m pretty nervous …

Talk to you tomorrow!

New Video: BBC America’s Orphan Black Inspired Makeup

Hey! It’s Wednesday! You know what that meeaaaannnsssss….

New video! Today’s video is a makeup tutorial inspired by BBC America’s show Orphan Black. If you’re looking for something to watch, I would highly recommend it. The storyline is so unique and captivating, I promise that it won’t disappoint!

This look is inspired by the main character, Sarah Manning. She has a super grungy, “just rolled out of bed,” kind of look to her… So, of course, I’m obsessed.

Enjoy! And thank you so much if you watch (even more thanks if you like it and/or subscribe =P)!

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great long weekend!

Sunday was great! I met up with two of my girlfriends from my high school cross country team for some Sunday Funday action! It was so nice to see my friends after such a rough year away at school. It really does take meeting some really crummy people to be about to appreciate just how amazing the good people in your life are.

We only wound up running around a mile and then walking for the rest of the time while chatting and catching up on each other’s lives. It’s so funny and slightly strange to see how much a year of college changes people. It just seems like all of a sudden all of the people that I knew in high school are completely different than they used to be. I guess college does that to people!

And of course, no Sunday Funday/hangout with the girls would be complete without froyo!

MayZay had to point to hers because she was so proud that she managed to fit over a pound of frozen yogurt in her cup! In my mix, I have peanut butter and caramel pretzel flavored yogurt with my regular boring topics. I have missed this particular yogurt shop so much! Their flavors are da bomb dot com (did I really just say that?)!

My Memorial Day was pretty uneventful. My mom was working and my brother had friends over the entire day (watching 5 pre-teen boy is sooo much fun…).

I started the day off with a 5 mile run whilst listening to my audio book.

Being a huge John Green fan, I have been wanting to read this book for forever, and I have to say that I am loving it so far. John Green really is a master at character development and at creating characters that seem so real. You can’t help but fall in love with the characters.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning, catching up on school things, and filming this week’s video for my Youtube channel. It will be up tomorrow!

And since I had no where to go… Obviously, I did my hair and makeup even though I spent most of the day completely alone.

 

The day ended with my grandparent’s coming over after my mom got out of work. I can’t think of a better way to end a day than sitting outside on the deck with my grandparent’s. I am so lucky to have such amazing people in my life.

On a more random note, I really need to get better about writing out blog posts in the mornings instead of at midnight so maybe they will actually be coherent.

Until tomorrow!

Questions:

How was your weekend? Do anything fun?

What’s your idea of the perfect end to a day?

Relocation and Smokey Brown Eyes

Hey everyone!

So I have some exciting, albeit totally terrifying (for me), news…

Next year, I will be moving to New York City.

This is unbelievable to me… It’s so funny how much my life has changed from what I had thought it was going to be like.

I thought I would spend four years going to university in Tampa.

nope.

I thought that I would be pursuing a career in exercise science.

nope.

I thought my life would be so much better than it was in high school and that I would have lots of friends.

haha.

I feel like I wasted a year of my life going to the wrong college and having a completely horrific experience, but I know that if I hadn’t taken the jump out of my comfort zone and gone to school in Florida, I would have spent the entire rest of my life wondering, “What if?”

Now, I am so excited and so terrified. I will be going to school in the greatest city on earth, and I will also be living there!

I was notified last night that I was accepted into housing (bviously the limited housing offered by the college goes fast… cheap housing in NYC? That’s hard to come by).

If I’m honest, part of me was kind of hoping that I wouldn’t be accepted into housing. It sounds pathetic, but I had such a horrible horrible HORRIBLE experience with housing this past year and I am so scared that something like that will happen again.

But it won’t.

It can’t.

The more I think about it, the more hope-filled and excited I become. A journalism major living in New York City? What could be better? Plus, this is where I was supposed to be… I am sure of it.

When I was a little girl, I had this silly little pipe dream. I was going to go to Columbia University, live in the city during my college years, and become a writer.

Someone tell me why I ever shoved that dream aside.

The college that I will be attending wasn’t even on my radar when I was looking at schools, no school in New York City was. Why is that? It’s funny how often we shove our dreams and ambitions aside because that are deemed childish or impossible.

I am confident that this school, this major, this career path. This is where I need to be.

Speaking of chasing those dreams that everyone else believes to be ridiculous…

I have started up my Youtube channel again!
I’m unsure if I actually have any blog posts on here (that haven’t been deleted) that mention my Youtube channel … but yeah, I have one!

Youtube has been something that I have wanted to do since 9th grade when I began to really get into makeup and fashion. In fact, my friends all encouraged me to make a channel back in 9th grade (I didn’t) because of my love of doing different makeup looks.

The main problem was, besides the fear of people from school finding my videos, was a lack of self confidence. The idea of putting myself on the internet for the world to see was unthinkable to me. I couldn’t do fashion videos because I believed that I was too large to look good in the clothing that I wanted to wear. I couldn’t do makeup tutorials because I felt that my face was too ugly to be able to be taken seriously for a, “beauty,” video.

Well… Here I am, years later, finally pursuing this whole Youtube thing. I love the idea of making videos and connecting and networking with people all over the world (Hey! That’s something that drew me to blogging as well!). I love the idea of not feeling so alone when you have someone comment on your video or blog post. It’s just one of those thing that I, lamely enough, feel like I am supposed to be doing.

Now, my confidence is still no where near high… Right after posting a video I have to force myself to not delete it right away. I am taking a risk and challenging myself, and I am proud of myself.

So, long story short, I made a makeup tutorial!

I’m going to shamelessly self-promote my video and stick a link to it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykERPWofFcU

While I know that is no where near the super professional level of what seems to be most Youtuber these days, I am pretty darn proud of how it came out! It would really mean a lot to me if you guys would watch it and maybe even give it a thumbs up!

Okay, I promise I’m done being annoying and self-promoting now!

In all seriousness, I am so thankful to the few of you that read my little, non-cohesive, rambley, and non-interesting blog. I apologize that all of my posts have been so heavy recently… Just have a whole lot of feeling you know?

Thank you for taking time out of your day/night and reading this post and I will talk to you all tomorrow!