Her Musings: College Christmas List

With black Friday closed it is time for a girl to focus on more important things, like what she is going to ask Santa Claus to bring her from the North Pole. Sadly the days of crashing old Chris Kringle's lap and begging for a choo choo train or a deluxe Barbie sports car are long gone. As college girls on a strict ramen noodle budget we usually find ourselves asking for what we need instead of what we want. But that doesn't have to be the case necessarily. This is my personal Christmas list and it has a lot of good trendy ideas for 2012 that combine everything a college girl wants and what is practical.

Fashion
Red Pants: They are very hot this season.

Express Zelda Jeans

Nude pumps: Great for work and going out

Steve Madden Unityy Pump

Make-up Bag: Mine is gross and too small and I think this is adorable

Nordstrom's

Clipless Curling Iron: I have very hard hair to curl with its natural wave. I have heard these things are amazing for getting natural looking curl. I am just afraid I will burn myself a lot.

Sedu Revolution Clipless Curling Iron

Bare Essentials Make-up: I love it. I need more. It's really a great product for people who don't like the feeling of cover-up. The only thing I will say is it is VERY messy. I have a stained counter to prove so.

Bare Essentials Make-up Kit

Fitness

Lululemon Sports Bra: My mom bought me one at a sale and I fell in love with it, most comfortable bra ever.

50 Rep Bra

Running Watch: All the bloggers I read wear the watches. Since I can lose track of my distance a lot, I really want one to know exactly how far I am going.

Garmin Forerunner

Food

New Blender: With all of my delicious smoothie making, my blender is getting a bit tired. And this is blender is named after a ninja, so it has to be awesome!

NinjaKitchen Pro Blender

Career

Vera Bradley Planner: Its hard as a college girl to keep everything in check. I love the Vera Bradley planner, it's a great way to keep everything organized.

Vera Bradley 2012 Agenda

So now I can do is hopefully stay on the nice list and leave out some delicious cookies and hope that Ol' Saint Nick is feeling generous to this college senior.

Her Fitness:Best Workout Youtube Can Provide

Attention all! My friend Reily has shown me the light! 12 minutes of sweat equals a lifetime of a nice booty. In my previous post about things you can when you can't work out. Part of that post talked about youtube workout videos. When I was driving home for Thanksgiving Reily kept complaining about how much her legs and abs hurt saying that the glorious pain had been inflicted by a 12-minute no nonsense workout. Body Rock is a health website that posts articles and videos with killer workouts that tone every part of your body. These workouts are perfect for a girl with little time to get to the gym, say a girl who still has the leg of the turkey that she wolfed down and Thanksgiving and is coming up on finals hell. I have posted the videos below enjoy the pain... the good kind!

Good luck with finals and with working off all the pumpkin pie!

Her Guest Post: Running through College

So tonight I decided to try something new. I asked my amazing friend Erika to write a guest post for me. You may remember her from the Oktoberfest 5k. She is a senior at Tufts studying Community Health and American Studies. Erika and I have been friends since we were 17 -years-old and as long as I have known her, she has been an incredible runner with amazing discipline.

Just a couple of kids

When we met at a summer program at BU in high school I would just be waking to go to class and she would be coming back from a 5 mile run.  She has kept up with her running all throughout college. Even with her intense course load and responsibilities, she never misses a run. And recently she finished another half  marathon in 1 hr 38 minutes! I always wondered how she did it. And then I decided to do a crazy thing; I asked her.

 So enjoy the post from Erika on how she stays motivated to keep running even through the stress of college!
__________________________________________________________________________________

Around 8:30 am every morning I trudge up the stairs of my classless college residence covered in sweat, dust, and whatever leaves, twigs or small creatures I accidentally kicked off the sidewalk and onto my sticky, post run legs. I feel great - my endorphins are pumping, I have about five minutes left of warmth in my body before it remembers that it’s in New England, and I know that I spent the past 45 minutes doing something great for my physical and mental wellbeing. Not even my housemates’ looks of disgust or the fact that I still have 16 hours left in my day can bring me down. Until I emerge from the shower and have scrubbed off (most of) Somerville’s street grime from my body, I am invincible.

After half marathon!

To me, that feeling alone makes everything worth it. Waking up at 7 am every morning to strap on a pair of running shoes and hit the pavement is certainly no picnic on its own, let me tell you. I’m not on the track team, I don’t have a running buddy, and none of my friends are exceptionally sporty. In fact, most of them think I’m crazy for even attempting to greet the pavement before my first cup of coffee. But I make sure to dig up motivation from somewhere inside my sleep deprived brain to do it anyway, because no matter how many excuses I will make to NOT run, the biggest reason TO run is always there: I really, truly, love it. And no amount of sleep drool on my chin or alcohol from the night before should keep me from doing what I love.

…Which is why I make sure to find a way to include a run in my daily routine. My classes start early and my daily responsibilities start earlier, which is why it’s so important to begin my day with a run so that I don’t have the “too busy” excuse to deter me from doing it later on in the day. “BUT I GO TO BED SO LATE! There’s no way I could do that!” You might say. So go to bed earlier. I can’t remember the last thing I did anything productive after 12 am. You’re going to have to be doing the same thing after you graduate anyway, so you might as well get a head start on it now and attempt to start your evolution of becoming a real person. Go for an early morning run, I promise it will feel good.* 

Erika and I at the 5k

Time also seems to be a big issue with the would-be runners of the college world. Between classes, homework, and real work (not to mention attempting to have a social life) it’s incredibly difficult to find enough “me time” to dedicate to exercise. But honestly? You can find the time if you try hard enough. If you’re 100% convinced that mornings are not your thing, (you’re fooling yourself, but also) squeeze a quick run in between studying/classes. We all take 10-minute study breaks here and there; use yours for sprint intervals rather than watching small chunks of Glee. Save time and go to class sweaty - some people may look at you and treat you like you’re an uruk-hai, but the others will respect you for your physical activity bad assery. Before I learned the wonders of 7 am, I used to go to class in my exercise clothes so that I would feel obligated to go running afterwards. It worked, too - changing out of clean running gear just feels wrong.


If it’s still an issue, you can try turning running into a social outlet. Instead of coffee dates, go for runs around campus or in your local neighborhood. True story: when my ex-boyfriend and I tried “resolving our issues” last year, we would do so on runs so that when we inevitably started fighting, we’d at least be doing something productive at the same time. While I don’t necessarily recommend that (yelling is tricky when you’re out of breath), it goes to show that conversations can easily be transferred from couches to the streets… or even side-by-side treadmills if that better suits your fancy. Running dates are the perfect pre-drinking, cash-free weekend activity - they leave you feeling great and as an extra bonus also motivate you to wash your hair should you choose to make yourself look presentable later that evening. 

So go. Off with you now. Weekday or weekend. Find whatever it is that makes you want to run, and cling to that motivation as best as you can. It could be a friend, a food you want to feel less guilty about eating, a dress size you want to achieve, a race you want to run, the simple knowledge that you can haul ass, or whatever you please… let it move you. Once that warm fuzzy rush of endorphins spreads throughout your body, it will all be worth it. 

*By the time you’re done

Her Fitness: When you can't work out

 Ever have one of those days where you're exhausted before you even get up because you have so much on that day's "To-do" list? I know I do. Sometime these days mean you should try to get in a good workout to ease some of the stress. Other days you can't even spare a minute to match your socks as well as jump on an elliptical for 45 minutes. Whenever I am faced with one of these days I know I can incorporate a few things into my routine to help ease the guilt of missing a workout:

 287 steps to the gates of the castle in prague

Stairway to Nice Legs Heaven
The main day of the week I can't workout is Wednesday. I work 9 to 5 and have class from 6 to 9. So I know at the end of that day, I am most likely not going to feel like hitting the gym. So I try to take as many stairs as possible that day.
I park on the 5th floor so I have to walk back up at the end of the day (5 flights)
I work on the 5th floor in the other tower and I usually go down and back up from the lobby twice a day (10 flights)
And the Doozy, I live on the 13th floor of my apartment building. That'll make your calves burn. (13 flights)
You burn about 10 calories per minute of ascending stairs and 7 calories per minute of descending stairs. Imagine that calories you could burn by the end of the day!




Youtube Fitness
Who wants to spend 20 bucks on a fitness DVD for a long spandex filled workout when you have Youtube filled with short home workouts you can do in your dorm. Below are a few of my personal favorites:

8- Minute Abs

 

Home Workout

 

Arm Workout

 

Leg Lift While You Work
Sometimes it's easier to kill two birds with one stone. What I like to do if I need to catch up on some major reading but need to do a good workout is I tone my legs while reading a textbook:






       
        +  

Equals Good Buns!

-A good leg lift routine I like to do is start my doing a straight leg lift for 60 seconds. Trust me you will feel the burn. 

-Then I do 30 seconds of bending your knee then lifting the leg all the way up. 

-After That I do 30 reps of lifting the leg half up-- 30 with toe pointed then 30 with foot flexed. 

-Then you take your leg up half way up and swing it to you touch your toe right in front of you and then swing it over and touch your heel behind you. Do 25 on each side for a total of fifty. You will feel it in the booty!

-Switch to the next side and do the same for  the other leg all while finishing a chapter in your textbook!

So imagine if you did these in one day... you basically just worked out without ever seeing the inside of the gym or taking time away from things you  have to do. And now that I am looking at my schedule for the week (two midterms, a research paper and prepping for a sorority event) I will most likely be doing a lot of these myself!

Question:

If you can't work out are there other things you like to try and do?

Her Fitness: Fun n' Fit

Happy Sunday!

This weekend was a testament to my biggest college workout mantra: Workouts are more effective when you're having fun!

Don't get me wrong, I love being a hot sweaty mess gasping for air on the treadmill as much as the next person, but with a stressful schedule your workout should be a break from the chaos, not a contributing factor. So this weekend I walked the talk I have talked before (say that 5 times fast.)

 First on Friday I hit the grid iron for some fun sorority football...

Sorry! Only picture I have.

The game was for a charity event, but running back and fourth on the field, I really worked up a sweat. But it was such a great time. Even though half the game included the guy explaining to the girls which direction to run, we all had a great time and had some friendly competition.

Then this morning I ran a 5k race. But this 5k had a bit of a fun twist. It was sponsored by the Cambridge Brewery Company and it was in celebration of Oktoberfest. At 10:00 I met with my friend Erika and we were ready to run!

Notice the "999" number.. my running joke for the day was that I had the most German number ;) NINE NINE NINE. 

Erika is currently training for her second half marathon so she blew past me and actually finished 1st for her age! And as for me, my goal was to get under 35 minutes and I finished at 34:44, not exactly ready for the Boston marathon but I am happy with it.

And the special twist for the end of the 5k in true German style...

FREE BEER. (only if you're 21)

Since the whole 5k was very light hearted people came dressed with great costumes which made the run that much more fun. Every time I was focusing on how much my legs hurt, someone ran by in full lederhosen and all my troubles melted away...

I rest my case

I came from the run feeling rejuvenated and excited to keep training for more races! So moral of the story, if you plan a fun workout, you'll be less likely to blow it off. Especially if you do it with friends-- lederhosen or no lederhosen.

Alright football is on and books have to be read... trying to figure out the best way to work those two things together, I am thinking commercial break chapter highlights..?

Goodnight!