Monday, February 8, 2010

Life Post-Midterms

Last week was just as exhausting as I ever imagined.  By Thursday night, I was definitely ready to let loose, and accomplished this by the usual night at Maloney's.  I'm not gonna lie:  I'm totally over Maloney's, but there really isn't much else to do in Westwood as far as going out is concerned.  Also, I'm not looking forward to getting my midterm grades back... don't think I did very well in biochem or cardiovascular physiology, but at least I aced my nutrition one.

Speaking of nutrition, for our class, we have to go in and get our body compositions measured.  I got mine done this morning, and let's just say it was definitely NOT the way to start out my week.  Turns out, I have a high enough body fat percentage to put me in the obese category.  Yikes, I was expecting it to be bad, but not THAT bad.  J, S and I have been dieting and exercising since the beginning of this quarter in order to slim down for our spring break cabo trip and I have already lost about 9 pounds.  I can't even imagine what my body composition would have said if I hadn't been losing weight for five weeks.  Well, at least the three of us are doing really well, and I am actually really proud of myself for being so disciplined.  I originally wanted to lose about 20 pounds overall, but the nutrition center put my target weight much lower than my original goal, so now I am shooting for about a 30 pound overall loss.  Sounds daunting, but I am already 30% there, right?

And don't worry, we are doing this all the healthy way.  I'm not starving myself by any means.  I'm just eating healthier, cutting the crap out of my diet, and exercising as much as I should have been all along.  I am really excited for our final results and our trip!  And at least I don't have to worry about it falling through since everything is already booked!  This week, the group that is going to Cabo (J and I don't know S's friends yet) is going out to a gay bar in Weho, which I am very excited about. I have always wanted to go to one and it sounds like we will have a fun little group.  Another thing I can check off my "To Do Before I Graduate" list!

This upcoming weekend, some girls and I were planning on going to the Grand Canyon on a road trip, but unfortunately that fell through.  So looks like I am going to have to find something else to keep me busy.  Maybe I can check off a few things on my "To Do Before I Graduate" list! What does this list consist of?  Well, it might be a good idea for me to come up with a solid one haha.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Midterm Season

      It's about that time of the quarter: midterm season, my favorite...  I now have full blown senioritis, which is making it very hard for me to buckle down.  But now that I have so much to lose if I don't do well in my classes, I'm using that as motivation to keep on keepin' on! Had my lab practical for biochem lab last week... wasn't TOO bad.  This week I have all three of my midterms.  I think I'll be okay - I am just gonna have to buckle down.  I'm definitely counting down the weeks until biochem lab is over.  While studying in the dungeon (basement of the sorority I live in) I got distracted by the many books left behind by past Gamma Phi's.  There are so many random things that I want to read down there, but I am forcing myself to focus on my midterms.  They will just have to wait for me!  (I doubt they are going anywhere.)

      Since I last blogged, one of my best friends, J from my pledge class, came to town - which was really exciting because she is studying abroad in China for the whole year.  We decided to spend our limited time together doing something we have always wanted to do: go on a spicy marathon.  Unfortunately, we were pressed for time, so it was more of a spicy sprint, but still fun nonetheless.  Our first stop was at Chichen Itza, a little mexican place by U$C, to try their infamously spicy hot sauce.  It was absolutely delicious, and we both decided to buy a bottle for ourselves.  Next, we went to the Thai restaurant Jitlada, where we ordered the "Chef's Spicy Challenge" to-go.  If you know me, then you know that I love spicy food and I am very accustomed to burning my tastebuds off on a regular basis... but this dish was spicier than anything I have ever laid tongue on!  After the first bite, my entire mouth caught fire and drooled excessively, my eyes cried involuntarily, while my nose ran all over the place.  We split the dish between us, but I wasn't even able to finish my half.  My first defeat by spicy food, but it hurt so good!  I needed two glasses of milk to tolerate the small portion I ate.  Then, for several hours after, my stomach felt like it was burning from the inside out from the acidity.  It was amazing... mission accomplished!

     So anyway, Valentine's day weekend is coming up, and a few sorority friends and I have decided to go on a little adventure to explore a place none of us have been: the Grand Canyon!  I love road trips!  We are still working out the logistics, so more to come on that.

     Oh yeah... normally my mom sends me something on V-day, but since she is going to be overseas at war, I took the liberty upon myself to send myself a box of chocolates!  I mean, who says you can't love yourself on V-day?  Don't worry, I'm not THAT into myself... more of an excuse to buy truffles.  I'll definitely be sending something to my sister and dad, since we always celebrate family love on V-day.  Speaking of family love, I really miss my little sister.  And I'm not gonna lie, I am a little excited about living close to my family again.  Especially when my little sis will get her driver's license this summer and be able to come visit my new apartment!