Whoops! Back Once More.

Whoopsie daisies! I guess my whole "let's blog all summer long" idea hasn't exactly gone as planned. Oh well. Life happens.

This summer has been a summer of firsts. I got my first ever summer job as a nanny for a family about thirty minutes away; I joined my first official ultimate frisbee team; received my very own pair of rock climbing shoes (they'll be great for my university's rock climbing club outings!); went to Michigan for the first time; and I played my very first game of sand volleyball. Basically, I've been trying a bunch of new things this summer and have found a few activities, places and, of course, foods that I absolutely love! I've developed a strong liking for Ultimate Frisbee, a sport I never thought I could ever be interested in, and decided that I quite like sand volleyball, although I'm an absolutely horrendous player.  I've even gave tennis a shot, and while I can't exactly say that I'm an amazing tennis player (hand-eye coordination = not my thing) I can say that I do enjoy hitting the courts.

I think it's safe to say that this summer may just be one of my most active summers yet. I managed to squeak in a few runs a week for most of the summer while also playing soccer at least twice a week and being on an ultimate frisbee team that plays twice a week. And of course watching three pre-teen kids keeps me pretty active as well. It's turned out to be a pretty health happy summer for me. I've even managed to eat pretty healthfully despite the busyness. I'm feeling better than ever and I can't wait to see how much more progress I can make. Side note: I've also been rocking the TOMS tan lines all summer. That's different than your typical flip-flop tan, eh? ;)

Have you tried anything new this summer?

Fresh Mango-Strawberry Salad

Today was a very busy day. My grandparents came over this morning to spend the day with my family and support my sister, who graduated from the 8th grade this afternoon. I'm so proud of her and I'm really excited to see how she enjoys high school but at the same time, it's so weird to think that my cute little sis' is going to be a high-school kid next year. She can't possibly be growing up that quickly, right? Anyways, after her graduation, everyone came back to our house for lunch and socialization before heading to my mom's and my soccer game. Needless to say, it was a pretty busy day.

As I have said plenty of times already, this summer is my "get-your-butt-in-gear" summer. So far I'm doing a pretty good job eating healthy and getting in at least a little bit of exercise everyday. I hope to post a new workout soon. Today for lunch I decided I was sick of my usual cup of non-fat greek yogurt and wasn't feeling much like eating greasy cook-out food, so I experimented a little bit and came up with this amazingly light and tasty salad that left me full until dinner.

Ingredients:

Handful fresh spinach (no stems)
Handful green leaf lettuce
1/2 mango cubed
4-6 strawberries sliced
1/4 tomato chopped
1 tbsp. Craisins
2 tbsp. Walden's Non-fat Raspberry Vinaigrette
*Optional: sliced raw almond or other nut

Directions:

I think it's pretty self explanatory but basically you just chop up all the fruit, add all the ingredients into a bowl and toss until you have tasty, summery salad!

This salad tasted like summer and instantly made me feel happier and more energetic. I still have a lot of fruit and greens left over so I'll be having plenty of salads for quite a while! Yum!