Foodie Penpals <3

Best thing in the world? Receiving a foodie penpals gift from someone who you got to know and is completely freaking awesome.

This month for FPP, the amazing and fabulous Kath sent me some deliciousness.

In the package:

• Plantain chips
• Peanut butter with flaxseeds
• Tomato and roasted red pepper soup
• Almond butter packet
• Chile Spiced Mangos
• Candied Pecans
• And some fruit strips

She also sent the cutest note saying how she picked her favorite things, in pure Oprah fashion.

I have practically devoured everything in the box.  The flax PB is perfect in oatmeal, the fruit wraps are perfect to tie me over when I am hungry, and the mangos are the best combo of sweet and salty.

If you are not already a part of the foodie penpals program, you should definitely join! Check out Lindsay’s blog for more information! It’s a great way to meet bloggers and get exposed to foods you have never even heard of before!

I sent my package over to Anna! Check her out when you get a chance

Happy last day of April! Check out how I spent my awesome weekend…segway, food, movies, and more!

Tuesday Shakedown

Why, hello there!

Did anyone else feel the EARTHQUAKE that rolled on through the eastern US today? How neat was that?! At first, I had absolutely no idea what was going on! My entire house (mind you, this house is from the early 1900s) was completely shaking! Last summer, I was in an earthquake in DC and it was nothing like this! The only one was really loud but this one was just a lot of trembling. Well, that’s definitely one way to shake up the day!

Today is my third day of being vegan, and I have to say, it’s going really well.  Today, I started off with a cinnamon baked oatmeal (thanks to CCK).  I love that her recipes are all vegan, and boatmeals are my favorite easy-peasy breakfast!

For lunch, I made some brown rice pasta with corn, cucumber, green pepper, and some red wine vinegar.  While it may be an odd combo, I adored it.

I also had some Trader Joes Flaxseed and Veggie Tortilla Chips…which are delishhhhh.

I am so excited to continue on this journey.  Overall thus far, my mood is high, energy is high, body feels good.  No more weird feeling in my stomach from eating things I shouldn’t.  I kinda like it 🙂

The rest of my day has been great, too! I woke up and did my doggie duties.  I love those pups.  Then, I came home and just chilled out.  I was even productive and got my bills all paid! YAY! Now if only I could pay off that bike I still have lingering on my credit card… Good thing for no interest for a year! 🙂

One of my roommates came back to school today! I am so excited to have people starting to return to Shippensburg.  It was a fairly lonely town for the summer, and now it is starting to come back to life! With my roommate came her two amazing Corgi dogs! I am PUMPED to have some more cuddly friends this school year.  Animals make everything better. I am sure you will be seeing tons of pictures of them soon enough!  My house is a regular old zoo, and I love everything about it!

Well, as I promised you yesterday, here are the lifts I did at the gym yesterday! I thought I would do a killer total body, but it ended up being more arm focused than leg! I started with a 30 minute easy ride on the stationary bike followed by this:

• Super set of tricep kickbacks and incline dumbbell press (3 times each activity, 12 reps each)
• Super set of shoulder press with dumbbells and bicep curls (3 times each activity, 12 reps each)
• Super set of standing, bent over rows and chest flies (3 times each activity, 12 reps each)
• Backside routine x 2:
• Squat with weights: set weights on the floor, squat down and grab the weights, squat down and return weights for 1 rep; 10 reps total
• Booty jumps: squat back, pull arms back, jump upward and throw hands above head for 1 rep, 10 reps total
• Lunge jumps: lunge with one leg, leap up, switch leg into lunge with other foot leading for 1 rep, 10 reps total
• Abs

Ok, so I know I can be confusing, so if you’d like to do any of these exercises and don’t know what they are, feel free to ask! 🙂 I am off to do a 20 mile bike ride!

What are you favorite lifts?

Anyone have any good earthquake stories?

Oh, and you can now like Life After Swimming on facebook using the widget on the left!!! Though,  I am still working on my page! Any help is appreciated!

Canada Bound

Happy Wednesday!

As I mentioned in my post about August, I am heading to Canada tomorrow morning until Sunday! My whole family + the BF are heading to Niagara Falls to camp/sight-see. The BF has never been there before, and I am so excited to go with him! 🙂 Maybe we will run into Robin Scherbatsky (any How I Met Your Mother fans??)!

We are staying at a Jellystone Yogi Bear campground! 🙂

One of the only downfalls of the trip is not having a way to get a good workout in.  I know I can always run, but not knowing anything about where I will be is not the best conditions for a run.  I know we will be walking a lot to sights around the area, but hopefully the weekend won’t put a bigger wrench in my bike training.  About that… the weather/traveling has been making it fairly challenging to ride lately.  Hopefully next week will allow for more time to train!

I am also hoping that next weekend will let me complete the Body By Bethenny yoga DVD that I won from Jess’s blog!!! My roommate told me yesterday that it came in the mail, and I cannot wait to get home and try it out! I am still so excited that I won the DVD, and just wanted to thank Jess again! Go check out her blog!

Last night, I made my obligatory “I am at my sister’s and close to a Trader Joe’s” trip and came back with so many goodies! Some of the things I bought were from suggestions from all of you! 🙂 The sad part is that I couldn’t get any fresh produce or anything frozen or refrigerated because I won’t be back to my house for about a week. I made sure to pick up lots of cereals (Puffins, Strawberry Yogurt-Os, and Fruit and Nut Medley), baking mixes (Triple Berry Bran Muffins, Guilt-Free Brownies), rice cakes, dried mango, multi-grain pretzels, rice pasta, flax-seed, and a Clif MOJO bar (peanut butter and pretzels! my two favorites!). I got other stuff, too, but that’s an overview! I just love that place, and I could spend forever there.

A phone picture featuring about half of my TJ's groceries!

On the agenda for today:

• Walk to the post office to drop off my job application: I told you that I would have more news about this soon, but I want to wait until I find out more information before telling everyone. I don’t want to jinx myself! 🙂
• Go to the pool: I want to go to the pool both to work out and to relax.  I am using a common workout from high school and college, modifying it, and attempting to finish it today!
• Head to my parent’s house in Pittsburgh: We are leaving from Pittsburgh in the morning for Canada!

Here’s my swim workout.  It is based off of the twister workout my teams did in the past.  I rearranged it and made it my own, and now I am going to swim it this afternoon! I think the pool at my sister’s housing complex is in meters, so I don’t know what my intervals will be yet!

Warm-up: 400 swim

Reverse Twister set: 3750

Round 1: Swim

5 x 100

5 x 75

5 x 50

5 x 25

Round 2: Pull

4 x 100

4 x 75

4 x 50

4 x 25

Round 3: Kick

3 x 100

3 x 75

3 x 50

3 x 25

Round 4: Drill

2 x 100

2 x 75

2 x 50

2 x 25

Round 5: Swim

1 x 100

1 x 75

1 x 50

1 x 25

Cool-down: 250 swim

Total: 4400

If I would have thought ahead, I would have scheduled for guest posts until Sunday, but I wasn’t on the ball with this one.  Therefore, this will most likely be my next post until Sunday.  I doubt we will have internet connection at a campground in a foreign country! Don’t miss me too much! 🙂

Any suggestions for ways to get a workout in while I am away?

Any more must-have suggestions for future Trader Joe’s trips?

Anything exciting that you’ll be doing while I am away?

A Look into August

Today, I woke up on the right side of the bed.

Even though I got a good attack from Geno this morning, I was still in a good mood all day, and I was even mildly productive!

My battle wounds from Mr. Kitten

I finished the book I was reading, went to the store, put together my tutoring lesson for this week, watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1, cleaned my room, went for an 11.8 mile bike ride, and made some chocolate chip boatmeal for my breakfasts this week. Wahoo! Go me!

Today got me thinking about the rest of the month.  I have a lot to look forward to this month, and I thought I would let you all in on what I have planned!

First up: Now that I have finally read all of the Harry Potter books and watched the first seven movies, this weekend I am going to see the final movie in IMAX! 🙂

Also this weekend, I am going to see the man that I love.  Andrew McMahon and Jack’s Mannequin are playing in Baltimore on August 7th, and I am going! If you don’t know who he is, check out my love for him here.

I just love him...

Following the concert, I am heading back to my sister’s house for a few days.  I interned at the Library of Congress last summer, and I am going to go back to visit my boss and coworkers.  While I am there, I feel another trip to Trader Joe’s is necessary! From DC, my sister and I are heading to my parent’s house for my next adventure!

My family and I as well as Travis are heading to Canada for a few days.  I haven’t been there in a few years, and Travis has never been there at all.  We are spending the weekend around Niagara Falls, and I cannot wait!

American side of the falls with my college swim team a few years back!

The month doesn’t end there, though! After Canada, I will be back in Shippensburg for a few days before heading back to my parent’s house.  First, I am getting my hair chopped for Locks of Love (assuming it is finally long enough).  The next day, my cousin and his fiance are getting married! 🙂 Yay! I love weddings and I am so excited for them!

I think that may be all I have planned. Working a few days here and there and classes starting up should also be included, though neither of them are nearly as fun as the rest of my month.  Throughout the month, I will still be training for my bike ride which is coming up in September! 🙂

Now, I want to hear what you have in store for your month of August.

Do you have any things you are packing into the last month of summer?

What do you have planned for this month? 

A parting picture:

I pledge allegiance, to the flag...