Citrus, NEWSTART, and College

     Ever since my last (and my first) mini-Juice feast I've wanted to do it again. These past few months I have developed a real love of all things citrus - navels, clementines, tangerines, mandarins, valencias, grapefruit - you name the citrus and I've been eating them by the pound. So this Wednesday and Thursday I drank nothing freshly juiced Valencia Oranges, Mandarins, and Honey Tangerines. It was so sweet, so refreshing, and to top it off, the days were sunny with clear blue skies! :-)

     Yesterday, I was terribly tired physically and mentally. My energy levels were so low that I forwent any intense workout. At first I thought it was due to my being indoors for to long and I tried to remedy that by packing my studies into my backpack to walk to the library (2.6 mile walk round trip). It didn't work.

     By the time I got home I had a killer headache, my eyes were burning, I was ready to crash. I drank a big glass of water and skipped my evening juice to go to bed early. I slept from 6:50pm to 7:30am and felt much MUCH better. It was the next morning when I looked at the bags under my eyes thatI realized what had been wrong with me, I was sleep deprived! 

     For the past couple of months I have been living on 5 to 6 hours of sleep and I do believe it has finally caught up with me. I had twelve hours of sleep last night and I still feel like I need another twelve to completely recuperate. Sometimes we have to stop and revaluate what we are doing in our lives that could be harmful to our health. 

     You can eat tons of fresh raw fruits and greens, drink plenty of water, get lots of sunshine, but your health suffers because you short yourself sleep. Our bodies are strong. Our bodies can take a lot of stress so that we can get through our daily lives, but if you short yourself on something crucial to your health for to long, your body will begin to suffer the effects, and the quality of your life.

     Follow NEWSTART to the best of your ability and you your body will thank you.

• Nutrition
• Exercise
• Water
• Sleep
• Temperance
• Air
• Rest
• Trust in the Divine (in my case Yahweh)

     As for today, my mom and I took a drive to see where I will be going to college in the fall, Kennesaw State University (KSU).  We drove aroung the campus, visited the admissions office, and took a peak at the campus housing (nice!).

            

     I originally wanted to go to a University out of state (still do), but decided that since the economy is a little shaky at the moment, and my mother and brother have to stay in Georgia one more year before they can move, I decided to stay instate for now.

     My mom and I made good time getting up to KSU and had enough time to stop off at Whole Foods for lunch. I picked up a 16 oz. "Strawberry Punch" (freshly juiced strawberries, grapes, pineapple, and lemon) juice and 4 cups of chopped pineapple. 

     I also came across this little treasure and got so excited! I have been looking for something like this for ages and all of a sudden I just stumble upon it unintentionally. No longer will I have to use disposable silverware because I've got my own REUSABLE bamboo eating utensils. Woohoo!! :-D

 

I'm Back! Here's a Recap.

     Hello my wonderful readers! I am so sorry for not posting anything these past few weeks, life has been filled to the brim with exercising, studies, making plans for this summer, and deciding where to attend university in the fall. I am back now though and am loaded with things to write about. :-)


     For starters, I finally got the last of my half marathon phtotographs. I ordered the online download but there was some sort of mix up and I wasn't able to download them for a month (yikes!).

     I went with my family to climb Stone Mountain (It's 1.3 miles to get to the top). I beat all of them and made a new personal best of making it to the top in 19 minutes flat. I got to the top, had my brother take a picture when he met me up there, and then proceeded to run all the way back down! I could have done it again, but my family was tired and ready for lunch. Oh well, it was still great fun! 

     The weather in April has been gorgeous and it inspired me to do something different in my routine. With all the sun that we've been getting in my little spot of Georgia I started to really miss all the walking I used to do to get around when I was in Oxford, England last summer. Instead of getting all depressed about not being in Oxford still, instead suring these past couple of week I attempted to recreate the environment as best I could. I packed up my school books, drove into Downtown Covington, parked my car, and walked to the library to study. It's a 2.6 mile walk in total to and from the library and some days I would go twice (a 5.3 mile walk) with my 20lb. book filled back pack. What a way to exercise and get some work done, no? ;-) During my walk I took lot's of pictures of the beautiful historical neighborhood. Pure southern beauty folks!

This area is also a perfect area to go for a run in the early morning. The air is cool and crisp, the birds are singing, and the sun is just starting to brighten the dark skies.

     After much deliberation, and many sleepless nights tossing and turning, I finally decided that I will be attending Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, GA come this fall. My mom has to stay in Covington, GA one more school year to teach before we can move to a farm with an fruit orchard. With the economy the way it is I want to be close to my mom and my brother, seeing as they're the only real family I have. I figured that I can always transfer to another university in a year or so once I know that my family will be ok and the economy won't blow up in our faces. 

     With that being said, I am looking into things I can do this summer. One thing I have decided to do for sure,  is to sew my own summer and school clothes out of organic hemp, cotton, bamboo, and linen fabrics. Last weekend I went to Barnes & Noble and picked up a couple of books on how to design and sew clothes. My mom already knows how to sew and we have a sewing machine so I'm not doing this totally blind. LOL. Once school gets out is when we get to sewing and I can't wait! :-D

     Today I decided to borrow my brother's bike and take it to Downtown Conyers for some serious bike riding. Now, Dowtown Conyers is different than Downtown Covington because it has more side walks stretching greater distances, so this morning I was able to go far 10 mile bike ride without having to worry about running out of side walk. 

     The ride was precisely what I needed to feel energized, rejuvinated, and motivated for the rest of the day. I have to tell you, that ever since I have started to regularly exercise for long periods of time with high intesity activity I have noticed a better quality of life due to the better fitness of my body and my never ending positive/good/happy mood. I notice that whenever I don't exercise, and I mean really exercise for to long, I start to feel depressed, sluggish, and just . . . bluh!

Pictured below is me using the Nancy Gwinn Library in Dowtown Conyers restroom to get all the sweat of my face after my 10 mile bike ride (and to show off my fit body.  I worked hard for it and sometimes a girl likes to admire the fruits of her labor! LOL) I was fueled by a delicious Pineapple-Banana-Spinach smoothie (which I had another one of once I got home) as my post workout meal (also pictured below). People who think/say fruit makes you fat really need to look at the people who live off fruit, then maybe they would see that fruit is good for you, and it's the refined/processed sugar filled junk food that maked you fat! 

Athletic Recovery, Fruit Shopping, and Alice in Wonderland

     Since the Georgia ING Half-Marathon almost two weeks ago thing have been pretty uneventful at the moment around the house. However, things are looking to be more lively soon as I am starting the up the spring garden, making plans for starting my own business, writing a book with my mom, and eventually moving to southern Florida.
     
     I've signed up for the Georgia ING Half-Marathon next year and I plan on signing up for another half-marathon scheduled for this fall, so i'm going to be training through this summer. Hopefully that training can begin this weekend as I have finally been able to take off my ankle brace. Yes, for the past few days I have been stuck with an ankle brace. I was stupid and went running to hard, to long, and to fast, to soon after the half-marathon and the lower part of my ankle (which was sore after the half marathon) began to ache and swell up. Word of advice, no matter how antsy you are to get back out onto the pavement after a big race, give your legs the rest they deserve, otherwise you will end up doing more harm then good.

     Yesterday, Wednesday, was "Market Day" and it was most probably the best one I have had in quite a while. The weather was sunny and unusually warm, my mom and I decided to take the day without any sort of rush, and just enjoy eachothers company. We visited Whole Foods to have lunch and to pick up some yummy Ataulfo Mango.

My lunch: 4.37lbs. Cantolope Melon

                                        

     Afterwards we made a quick side stop to visit the Apple Store so that I could get myself some new headphones (mine broke AGAIN!) before heading over to Rainbow and the Farmer's Market for our routine grocery shopping. This time around my mom and I decided to pull our budgets together so that we could buy more melon and bananas than we could usually afford by buying in bulk for a discounted price. All in all we bought:

• 6 Honeydew Melon
• 9 Cantolope Melon
• A 40 lb. box of Organic Bananas
• 30 Atalfo Mangoes
• 10 llbs. Organic Valencia Oranges (for juicing)
• 15 lbs. Organic Navel Oranges (for eating)
• 1 pint of Organic Strawberries
• 170g packet of Organic Rasperries
• 170g packet of Organic Blueberries
• 7 pkg. of Medjool Dates
• 2 lbs, Muscadine Grapes
• 20 oz. fresh pressed Sugar Cane Juice
• 3 20 oz. bottles of fresh Coconut Water

     Today was the first day I was able to take my ankle brace off and walk comforatbly. The sun was out again and it got up to 88 degrees! I walked for 70 minutes around my neighborhood in the early cooler morning air without my iPod for once. It was refreshing to just think and take in the morning in semi-silence.

     Later this afternoon my mom surprised me by treating me to a movie at the Carmike Cinema. My family and I rarely go to the theatre due to finding most of the movies uninteresting or to the price of theatre tickets. I brought my big purse with me which I used to sneak in a bottle of water and 10 Navel oranges that I had peeled and bagged before hand. We ended up attending the final showing of "Alice in Wonderland" in 3D. The storyline wasn't very original with the usual good vs. evil and good eventually triumphing plotline, but the graphics, colors, costumes, and characters were beautiful! All in all it was a fun fairytale to allow my mind a break from the burdens of reality.