All good in the hood

So remember how I said (yesterday) that step totally kicked my tush? Wellllllll, not only did it kick that, but this morning I woke up with a special greeting from my calves...As if they were saying, "Yeah, we're still here and bc you don't strengthen us enough, now you'll pay betch". (That was odd.) I got out of bed and WHOOMPH! I basically fell back onto my bed as my calves were SO tight they wouldn't even fully expand enough for me to straighten my legs! That's so weeeiiirrrdd and I'm not too happy

SO I think I am going to take today off of exercise. It seems like the perfect day to do it! I don't ever plan to do this, only because I rarely have to. I always listen to my body and exercise accordingly (havn't always been able to, but I've worked very hard to get to this point, and I think it's fabu)

(PS) Did I obnoxiously mention (yet) that my professors canceled classes for today? Yessm, thaaaaaat's right! I'm a free woman. And for some reason I feel like a badass, despite the fact that I havn't done anything that would make me one. That being said, I think I'm going to go downtown today!

This is so embarrassing: I just found the receipts for my holiday season gift returns...they were in my car, UGH. Isn't that lame? I neeeed to return these clothes today! Hopefully I'll be able to get lots of walking in when I do that. I need to warm up my legs! PLUS I have to call Buddha's fancy pet salon (they're in the city, too) and see if they can get him in today. He's SO cute but being 9.5 months old, his hair is transitioning from puppy to (sniffle, sniffle) adult, so the upkeep requires more attention. But don't get me wrong, I am in NO way a "froofy" poodle person. He will be a fluffernutter for sure! And all they do is shave his snout/eye region because if not, the Boo can't see! Speaking of which, the little scraps just came over to say hi! Gosh I love him!

I took this picture of the Buddha just the other day

Quite the little hottie, no?

And here we have a video! Buddha LOVES to play outside! We have a huge backyard (about 3.5 acres) so he can run and play like it's his job. He plays with the soccer ball for hours and it's adorable. HOWEVER, when it's time for the little man to come inside, it's a whole nother story. Cute? Yes, of course. BUT he comes to the side door, paws/knocks on it, and then when I go to let him in? Well you take a look and see...

(Please note: He's SUCH a Ham and goes even further with his little act whenever I have my camera out! DIVA!)

I'm off to do a little studying before going downtown... Now that I think of it, I may just go shop at Suburban Square. It has all the shops that are downtown (that I'm in the mood to go to today, plus the most gorgeous little gourmet farmer's market, Ardmore Farmers Market in the square. And even BETTER, my mom's medical spa is right by there so I can go visit her

I hope everyone has a great day! My first store stop is Best Buy to get that charger! (Just wanted you to know haha)

My returning post will have lots of food pics, I promise!!

Back to School!

We got home at 2AM from Cancun (our flight was delayed three hours!!!), and I passed out as soon as I greeted my puppy Buddha, my cat Mylo, my dad, and Jimbo. I woke up the next day at 12! I can NEVER get enough of my bed! For the holidays this year one of Jimmy and my big presents were new beds for both of us! But no, they weren't just any old beds...Ritz Carlton Beds!!!! AKA BEYOND HEAVEN. I need to sleep really well in order to function. I wake up around 7/7:30 every morning, but require a solid 7-8 hours each night, or I really feel like shapoops! Anyways, I woke up and was SUPER excited to get into the kitchen!

While still in Cancun, Mom and I had emailed Jimmy a grocery list with specific instructions :) Haha, poor kid. He emailed me back and was like, "Is grocery shopping honestly this thought out???" I guess since I ADORE the experience, I never think of it as a hassle, but for my brother, it was like being on a different planet. I do most, if not all of the food prep and cooking for my family (in between classes) and have been since I was about 15. I LOVE IT and so do my parents (naturally...they come home to dinner made, the dishes cleaned and a house stocked full of fresh groceries every day). Fortunately, I still live with them so I can buy groceries, but they pay for them...SO LUCKY I KNOW!!! Their market of choice? Whole Foods! That morning I woke up and cut up TONS of fruit for the week! Cantaloup, Honeydew, Papaya, Mango, Kiwis, and Strawberries! Mmmmmmm! Jimbo you did a GREAT job!) Okay, no lie, this papaya was HUGE! Over the summer we lived in Kailua Kona, HI (our cousins live there and went away for the whole summer! They asked us to dog sit. It was SO nice!) and we had 2 papaya trees (2 good ones, that is) and 3 mango trees (we also had banana trees!). Everyday, 10-15 mangos were perfectly ripe! We had to slice and freeze them because we couldn't eat them fast enough! They were magically delicious, seriously, those things put you in a trance! We had papayas in EXCESS...I mean, OVERKILL! I couldn't stand them when we were there, isn't that awful! But now I loooove them :) Kind of ironic, no? Anyways, Jim bought us two papayas from WF that were beyond ginormous. Here's one:

Mmmmm!

Mixed Fruit!

Strawberries and Kiwis!

Strawberries...I couldn't choose which photo!

Boy am I tired! Tomorrow is my LOOONG day of classes! Tomorrow morning I have Advanced Step which I LOVE! The instructor, Seasun, is incredible! She totally makes the class SUCH a blast...It's a killer, but it's so much fun and I look forward to it every Tuesday and Thursday! I like to mix up my exercise throughout the week! Monday I swam, Yesterday was step for an hour and 15, today I did 6.4 miles in the gym, tomorrow's step, Friday's swim, Saturday is step, Sunday is swim etc etc. It makes me look forward to each day, ESPECIALLY because I workout in ways that I truly enjoy, so I never feel like, "ugh, I have to workout". I wake up excited for them! Anyway, after step tomorrow I have to shower and get ready for my day of classes that go until 9PM! How gross! I bring my stuff to the gym and shower there because it makes so much more sense that way. My mom has off tomorrow, but I'll barely get to see her because of all my classes! Boo. Oh well, Night Everyone! Sleep Sweet :)