Refreshed!

So now that I'm over my tummy-aches and head-aches, I'm feeling really refreshed!!! And this week has been off to a great start; busy, but really great!
No workouts to log yet, but I'm hoping I can squeeze something in tomorrow morning or tomorrow night...Buddy had a bit of a tummy-ache again :( I'm starting to think that he really DOES get depressed when we leave my parent's place! hahaha

Anyway, not going to write a lot today, but my meeting with the Disney Internship Coordinator went EXTREMELY well!!! She was so nice and gave me a lot of really valuable advice! Sounds like I have a decent shot at getting the internship I want...so here's to fingers crossed for that! :)

Feeling good as new and ready to take on a new challenge!!!
I'm going to be following a diet from Self Magazine that's supposed to promote health against cancer; which I think healthy eating does anyway, but I don't think I have the self control to follow SBD anymore..I TOTALLY pigged out on Reese's and KitKats when I was home for the weekend...so bad! That's probably what upset my stomach so much...hahah
I'm hoping that I can at least do yoga, the Jillian Michael's DVD, running with Buddy, or my shoulder exercises in the mornings (gotta stop hitting the snooze button...let the "morning person project" BEGIN!)

I've been slacking a little...but motivation is back, and tomorrow morning I'll be waking up by 8:00am and ready to start another long, but productive day :)

If I knew then what I know now...

It's just one day out of the year, a date on the calendar...but when what happened on that day changed you forever, it's hard to just let it slide by. It gets easier every year, but some days are harder than others to deal with it.

"What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger."

It's been hard to realize that what had happened then, made me the person that I am today. Cautious. Determined. Shamed, maybe. But stronger; much stronger than I was 5 years ago.
If I knew then what I know now, I would have never lost control of my life. I wouldn't have let it get to that point, where I was scared. Too scared to stand up for myself. Not doing so taught me a valuable lesson though; don't let your judgement be clouded or gut instincts overlooked. LISTEN to friends and family when they bring up concerns.

Don't be a statistic; fight for yourself and your self respect. Don't EVER think because someone tells you that you can't do something that they're right about it. PROVE THEM WRONG.

Don't do it for approval, don't do it just to prove them wrong...do it because you want to. The rest is just a bonus that comes with achieving what they said you would never be able to.

Being able to go back in time, I don't think I would change what happened. Although it's difficult to deal with at times, I'm stronger for it. I'm more appreciative for the things in life that I have accomplished; more appreciative of the people that I have met and those who have helped me along the way.
The path to healing is not always an easy one, but it's one that shows you who cares about you most.

You can't change the past so there's no use dwelling on it; it's the future that matters the most right now. The things to come are what are worth working towards and using your strength to deal with.
There's no more pain, no more fear, no more weight to carry.
There's no more control that you have anymore.
And if somehow "you" are reading this right now, just know that what you did doesn't matter anymore. You don't matter anymore and you never will. You're just a bitter memory...and forgiveness?
That was the hardest part. "When you've forgiven but you can't forget..." What you did will always be wrong, but to forgive you for it takes away the last bit that you were trying to control over me.
And now you don't have that anymore.
I'll always remember what happened, but it doesn't define me and I'm not broken because of it.

I'm stronger for it.

Blarggggh...

Wow...I don't know WHAT happened...but this morning I woke up and was absolutely SICK to my stomach...it was so horrible and I was so scared that I wasn't going to be able to make it to my first CMA shift!

But after taking some Imodium (an absolute LIFESAVER!) I was on my way to my first shift as a marine mammal team volunteer!!! :) I shadowed a REALLY nice intern named Lydia and she started showing me the ropes! I got to watch Nicholas's pool before his presentation started, and it was so neat being able to answer the guest's questions on my first day! Lucky I've been there so much before so I know all of the dolphin's stories ;) I get to start off doing the little things like presentations, ethograms, resp rates, observations, crowd control, etc...but eventually I will get to the chance to work my way up as long as I stay in good standing as a volunteer!!! :)

Other than that, this week is my lock-down week...3 exams: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday...but I'm feeling better, and I'm completely motivated, and I KNOW I can do this!
Even with 17 credit hours, 2 part-time jobs (research and PetSmart), 2 research assistant positions, 2 papers and poster that I need to make for 2 upcoming conferences, 1 UCF organization to run, and 1 new volunteer position...I say...

BRING.
IT.
ON.

Week 1: Complete and Utter Success!!!

Quiche cup to go for breakfast with chicken breakfast sausage; Chick-fil-A Salad for lunch; turkey burger patty for dinner with grilled squash, zucchini, and mushrooms...TASTY!!! Still kicking booty on the SBD!

Woke up around 7:15 (a little later than I had hoped, but I went to bed later than I had planned...) did 20 minutes of AM yoga, had breakfast, went to class and office hours...FOUND OUT THAT MY ABSTRACT WAS ACCEPTED TO THE CO3 CONFERENCE!!! YES! I'm so ecstatic/relieved/excited/nervous and so much more! http://www.comparativecognition.org/draft_CO3_2012_posters.pdf
There! There's the link! Click on  it! Scroll down to P51 and that's MY BABY!!! :)

Gosh, this has been such an amazing week! And I don't think it's going to stop there...first shift at CMA on Sunday!!! :)

Unfortunately...I have 3 exams next week...but with the motivation and amazingness that I'm feeling right now, I say BRING IT ON!!! Just finished my first History & Systems of Psychology assignment and am heading to bed now :)

Plan for tomorrow: Wake up at 8am, either jog with Buddy or do some Zumba/Belly Dancing, shower, work from 11a-2p, drive to Tampa (while listening to my lectures on the way!), dinner with the folks, homework and study it up, get to sleep early...then the plan for Sunday, you'll just have to wait and see! :)

LIFE.IS.GOOD.

"Whoa-oh, whoa-oh, you're a SUPERSTAR! Yeah what everybody's waiting for is what YOU are!!!" -Clooney (it's from the College Road Trip soundtrack with Raven haha!)

Still going!

Today's been good so far!

I got to sleep in a little bit today because Dr. Worthy said to take a break from the lab this morning, so I woke up around 8:07a, made breakfast (scrambled eggs with mushrooms, greens, and cheese...and Canadian bacon!), laid back in bed and took a little nap :) Then got up around 9:50 to get ready for class! Didn't squeeze in a morning workout because tonight was VOLLEYBALL NIGHT!!! We put up a good fight...it's hard playing against teams of mostly guys!!! We still held our own though :)

But for lunch I had a variation of SBD's Turkey Roll-ups...and I had imitation crab and pepperjack cheese rolled up in slices of turkey...ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!! :) Nice for an on-the-go snack! It's fun to think of different things to use instead of bread products! I like getting creative with my food...I'm just happy that it's good most of the time! ;) For dinner I decided to have taco salad (thanks to Amanda's delicious looking dish the other night!) And then for dessert I had two pieces of Amanda's homemade fudge :) She's THE baking queen!!!

Tomorrow the plan is: Wake up between 6:15-6:45a, do 20-40 minutes of yoga (I'm feeling tight in my lower back, shoulder, and calf...the calf tightness is from a charlie horse that I had the pleasure of waking up to this morning...) then homework from about 7:30-8:30a, get ready for school and then school from 9:30a-2:30p, home to do more homework, and then work from 6p-9p.

This has been one of the best weeks that I've had in a while! And it's all thanks to a wonderful weekend (compliments of Jesse Smith!) and I'm looking forward to another amazing weekend to come! First shift with CMA's marine mammal team! SO PUMPED!!!

Anyway, SBD is going great! :) Gotta get ready for the three exams that I have next week: Animal Physiology, Physics, and Molecular Cell Biology...BIG WEEK AHEAD!!! Gotta be at the top of my game :)

More success!

Another successful day today!

Woke up at 6:45a, had some quiche cups and milk, did 20 minutes of morning yoga, packed some snacks, headed to campus, after classes I went to work in the lab, then we had our first KMWC meeting of the semester!

Very, VERY busy day today...but now I can finally unwind a bit :) I didn't really follow the South Beach Diet (SBD) for dinner tonight because I really didn't have time to cook or felt like cooking...so instead I had a Healthy Choice Chicken Basil Pasta dish...and splurged on some moscato for dessert ;) I figure it's still within a majority of the guidelines!

Anyway, gonna take the pooch out for a walk and then do some homework and FINALLY get ready for bed! :)

Here's to another successful day of health!

Day 2!

So far so good! Day 2 of the South Beach Diet was just as good as the first!!! It's really funny how Phase 1 is supposed to be the most "restricting..." but it hasn't been bad so far! I think the hardest things for me to keep out have been cereal and fruit...but only 12 more days until I can splurge a little bit! ;)

Yoga last night made me sleep like a BABY! I went to sleep around 10:15 and didn't wake up until my alarm went off at 6:30am this morning! FABULOUS!!!

So I got up around 7:30am (my "sleep-in" days are Tuesdays) and then had breakfast (eggs and canadian bacon) then made my lunch (crab salad with tomatoes and avocado with string cheese, jello, and celery with a Laughing Cow cheese slice), ran 2.1 miles with Buddy today (with about an 11:00 pace!), then showered and went to class and work!

Feeling great and hoping that I'll sleep as good tonight as I did last night :)

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." -Kelly Clarkson!