Happy Wednesday

I haven't been running the past few days. It's a bit sad. The road where I usually run is in the process of being torn apart and repaved, so I haven't been out there recently. Hopefully it will be done by the end of this week. I should really go out to a park or somewhere to run, but haven't felt motivated enough lately. Ugh. I have been sort of making up for it with other cardio exercises. And burpees. . . I hate burpees haha. If it doesn't rain tomorrow I may go to the park. It was really rainy today, but I have taekwondo tonight to make up for it!

Yesterday Andrew and I went out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings. We finally made it after trying to get in for a few days and leaving since we didn't want to wait forever for a seat. I ordered the honey ginger kick wings and they were amazing! I loved them. Andrew got a buffalo sauce and a barbeque sauce. They were pretty good, but I like the honey ginger better. Unfortunately the flavor is only available for a limited time.

After eating all those wings we walked around the mall for a bit. It feels better to walk after eating, instead of collapsing in front of the tv. (We did that later.) The short walk was nice and we ended it by stopping at Target for a few groceries and odds and ends. It's funny how much less food/groceries you buy when you are stuffed from just eating dinner haha. I usually split up my grocery shopping between Target and the grocery store. Target is just so much cheaper for certain things.

When we got home we put the groceries away and watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. As I previously said, I love HP. :) It was on tv last night so I had to watch it. :)

One last thing. I made this smoothie yesterday and thought I would share. I love smoothies and there simply aren't enough places to buy them here so I come up with my own. (Plus, smoothies are incredibly simple and easy to make.) This is one of my favorites.

The ingredients are: V8 Splash Berry Blend, vanilla yogurt, a banana, frozen strawberries and banana, frozen peaches, and a tiny bit of vanilla extract. I don't usually measure the amounts, I just pour/dump some in. It tastes very good even if you don't add the vanilla, but I put it in sometimes. I also add spinach when I have it in the fridge. It makes it healthier and it doesn't change the taste but the color isn't so pretty. Enjoy.

Weekend Update and Belt Testing

I was feeling well enough to make it to tkd class a few times this week and tested for my new belt yesterday! Hooray! It was exciting. I always get nervous when I'm testing in anything--taekwondo, school, it doesn't matter. Even if I am confident that I know all the necessary information, I tend to get nervous and forget things. It drives me crazy because I know the material, I just over think things and forget. Not that that happened at my belt testing, I did fine, but I was nervous. I can't help it. :/ I was thinking about that because I am hopefully going to go back to school to finish my applied math degree in the fall. Totally off topic, yes. When I took Calc I-III I got all A's, but then I graduated with a marketing degree and worked for awhile. After that I went back to school for a semester. I took 3 upper level mathematics classes and a programming class while working multiple part-time jobs. Because of that, and because of my horrible test taking abilities, I did not do quite as well as before. Partly because of how busy I was, but I should definitely have made more time to study. I will do that for sure this coming fall.

Okay, back to my weekend. A Buffalo Wild Wings recently opened up near where I live, so my husband and I were planning on going yesterday. We were going there to celebrate his birthday last week, but due to the Red Sox game, the wait for a table was so long that we did not stay. Instead we decided to try again today (Saturday) but had the same problem. Oh well, we will try going sometime during the week when it will be less crowded. Neither of us are Boston fans, I know, we live in New England, but we aren't originally from here. Regarding his birthday though, I made him a german chocolate cake with chocolate fudge icing. It doesn't look very pretty, but it tastes good! I tried using a cookie icing to decorate the cake because it was on sale and I am cheap. It was much harder to write with than using a gel. I usually like to make a double layer cake, but since I don't have any cake pans anymore, I just made a 13x9. Double layers are more fun to decorate! (And I swear I am usually better at making them look nice! haha)

Now that my cold is practically gone, I need to get back to running. I hate that I missed about 2 weeks while sick. :( I am going to try to make up for it by running more than three times a week for a little while. I need to build up my endurance. I'll either go out tomorrow or Monday. I prefer running on weekdays to weekends. Less people are out running and I don't feel so bad that I suck at running. I know I shouldn't feel bad about it, I'm at least trying after all. But when I am running and have to keep stopping to walk and catch my breath and I see other people just keep running and running I feel like I suck. While I know it's not like that, and everyone has to start somewhere, I still prefer running when there are less people out.

That is my update for the weekend. I just finished watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It was on tv a few days ago and I recorded it. I love HP, especially the books. Fred and George are my favorites. I love them. :) Okay, enough of that. Now I'm off to do some pilates, got to get in a workout today.  :) 

Easter Weekend

It's been awhile since I've last posted. I did end up getting a cold, (over Easter and a family visit of course) but I am finally almost over it. It has taken long enough. I get the worst sinus pressure with colds, it is horrible.

We had a good family visit over Easter weekend and we took them to see some of the sights around New England. Luckily the weather was beautiful and I was able to get some good pictures. Here are a few of them.

I absolutely love this picture. The combination of the yellow daffodils and blue sky and ocean is gorgeous.

Well, that's it for today, I'll write more later.

An Uneventful Few Days

Well, these past few days have been pretty uneventful. Nothing new is going on and I haven't gone anywhere of interest. So boring, I know.

 I finished the first day of week two in the couch-2-5K program. :) I really wish my endurance was better, but that's what I'm working on. Apparently, in the app it is a 9 week program, so if I keep up with it I'll be done by the beginning of June. I can't wait! After that comes a 10K. For me, my favorite time to run is in the morning. The sun is coming up, the birds are singing and it just makes me feel good for the rest of the day. Most morning workouts do that, but being outside especially helps.

Also, I found out I'm testing for my next taekwondo belt at the end of this month! Hooray! :) I've been working hard for this. Unfortunately I feel like I may be getting a cold, and I won't be going if I'm sick. I've been taking lots of vitamin C recently--anything to avoid a cold. I don't know about you, but I would rather have a 24-48 hour flu instead of a cold. After that, it is over, it does not drag for a week or two like a cold does. That is the worst part! And the not being able to breathe...

Hopefully I will have something more interesting to write about next time, but this is all for now.

A Lazy Saturday Afternoon

Today was a lazy day. The weather was nice, but as I am still a bit sore from taekwondo, I did not get a run in this afternoon. I'm going to try to make sure that happens tomorrow morning. My husband and I did go for a walk and stop at the library though. Tonight I'll probably do some pilates videos and maybe play some Mass Effect 3 with my brothers and dad. We don't live near each other anymore so it's nice to be able to play games online with them.

This coming week I'll be busy cleaning the apartment, shopping and getting ready for my in-laws Easter visit. Hopefully the weather will be nice and we can show them some of the New England sights. :) They haven't come to visit us since we moved here, so it will be an interesting time.

I was feeling like breakfast food for dinner, so I made an omelet. It turned out very well-usually my omelets burn or turn into scrambled eggs haha. I used egg whites because for some odd reason, I can't stand the taste of the yolk. It has been that way for as long as I can remember. There was a period where I did not eat eggs at all for the longest time because of it. But anyhow, I put in ham, red, yellow and green pepper, tomatoes, and some cheese. The taste was fantastic. And of course, I had some iced coffee to go with it!

Well, that's all for today. Hopefully I'll have something of more interest to post next time!

Found a New Book

Today was nice and warm out. Not very sunny, but warm nonetheless. It felt so good after the cold New England winter we had this year. I'm certainly ready for summer-it is my favorite season. I really feel that I should live in Florida or North/South Carolina for the winters! Haha. One day maybe.

Since the weather was so enjoyable, I found a new book and read at the park.

I only made it about 1/7 of the way through today, but so far it is an interesting read. I'm looking forward to reading some more later this weekend.


On an entirely different topic, I may be going back to school to finish my math degree this coming fall. That is exciting!  I do miss math. Maybe I am strange for that, haha, but I really enjoy it. :)

A Morning At The Park

Today was a little chilly, but sunny so I decided to get some coffee and a book and go to the park. It is a nice place to sit and read, and a great place to go in the summer.

I sat on a bench facing the water and enjoyed the sunshine. I only had a few chapters of the book left so it did not take long to finish it. Ican’t wait for the next one to come out. It is the second book before the Ender’s Game series. I enjoyed Ender’s Game and the other books in the series about Bean, but I have yet to see the movie. I heard it was not nearly as good as the book. One night I will get it from Redbox to watch. For now though, I need to find a new book to read.

There were a lot of people at the park today with dogs. It made me happy to see the dogs but sad—I want one soooo badly! It would be so nice just to walk the dog along the beach until it’s tired, then sit down and read next to it. With a coffee for me and water for the dog. :) Happiness! Oh well. One day. 

About Me

Hi, I’m Melika. This is my first time blogging, so bear with me while I figure everything out! This blog is going to be about my life, what I enjoy doing, where I travel etc. I’ll write random thoughts, post pictures of places I visit, that type of thing. 

First off, I love coffee! I can’t live without it. Also, I really want a dog. Specifically a Goldendoodle (They are so adorable and they don’t shed!) or German Shepard. Unfortunately, my current apartment does not allow pets, but I really want to get a dog within the year. Fingers crossed!

I do taekwondo and pilates. Currently I am doing the couch-to-5k program. I suck at running. Most other cardio activities I am fine at, but when I comes to running I am horrible. I would love to be able to do a 10K by the end of the year, but every time I decide to start running I seem to get an injury. (Not from running though-sometimes from taekwondo, or other random things.) This time I’m hoping to make it. :)

I finished week 1 of the couch to 5k program today!! I know it’s not really that much, but I’m excited about it anyway haha. I went running early this morning after physical therapy. It was beautiful and so sunny out! It made me happy and made the running easier. 

I have a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing, and am only a few classes away from having a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics. One day I want to finish my math degree and get a math or programming job.