hula hoop mastery

today was a nice mix of fitness classes and nutrition lectures. first fitness class was an hour of core, which when i first heard, i balked b/c even teaching 30 min of core at CP was brutal. but here, they did different stations w/ tons of different tools (i especially liked the hula hoop and the half foam roller) and then repeated each station twice for 2 minutes each. 


a short detour on how to hula hoop (taught to me today): stand w/ your dominant foot a bit forward and then hold the hula hoop on your dominant side and swing it towards the other side. then you just shift your feet a bit to keep it going. man, if only i had known this as a child...now maybe i can tackle learning how to whistle...


i was signed up to take a class i had never heard of, and was also apprehensive about when i heard it was about movement and dance (if anyone has seen me zumba you understand:D). but the class is called Nia and it's a mind body class, sort of organic movement. i kept my eyes closed pretty much the whole time and it was a pretty cool class b/c you get to let your body react based on the type of music and how it feels. the instructor gives some guidance on what to move or what to feel but then you modify it to your own flow. 


i got to learn about eating styles and recognizing your eating style and also about strategizing in a non "diet" thinking way, which i see as a really positive way to treat food and your own taste and desire.


today's lunch was self serve and since every meal since all other meals are pre-plated my roommate and i were really thrown off for a second b/c even we were having trouble figuring out how much food we should put on our plate. i'm so in awe of these women making these decisions when my pretty normal eating mind got a bit anxious about making serving size decisions.


other random facts i've learned today (take all w/ a grain of salt):

• when doing inner thigh leg lifts, don't cross the top leg (the one jane fonda did w/ the hand holding the ankle)
• cool ways to modify stretches, all of which i'm hoping to eventually remember
• fat free cream cheese will evaporate if you leave it out (i'm totally trying this out when i get home)
• in canada they have an "all-dressed" potato chip that has all the flavors (she said it starts off sweet and then becomes salty...bleh, all i can picture is the willy wonka bubble gum that was a whole meal- but instead it would be that sun chip cinnamon chip morphing into ketchup flavor then salt and vinegar. gag)
• i prefer JIF peanut butter over natural pb, but i am fine w/ natural almond and cashew butter (probably b/c i've never tried either almond or cashew butter in my life). so now i'm going to be sad when i go home and my taste buds are too high class for my good 'ol JIF

only 15 more minutes until dinner! 

snacks

still getting up at 5 am, but i'm getting used to it (it helps that i turn my light out at 10:30 at night and that i spend all day working out or in the sun so clonking out at night comes easily). 


today was the first full day for the internship. PA and i got to attend some lectures and fitness classes that new participants attend (water aquatics is probably the most sweat inducing workout to teach). 


the other challenging part is getting used to the food schedule. i'm so used to grabbing food whenever i'm hungry or between workouts or making myself food in the kitchen. here it's waiting for breakfast at 8 (daily cups of coffee in the hour before breakfast is a lifesaver). also, i'm big on large breakfasts and scaling it down as the day ends, but it goes the reverse here and i end up feeling too full (it might also be all this tempeh i get fed as a vegetarian that's messing with my stomach) at dinner and too hungry in the 1st half of the day. i'll have to start eating more at breakfast and not eating some of the stuff at dinner. 


but as the title says, this is about today's afternoon snack- apple truffle, which is probably my favorite thing so far (the VT cheddar cheese yesterday is a close 2nd, but since i could only eat 1/2 of my serving w/ the lactose intolerance problem, the truffle wins). the truffled was topped onto of half an apple and man, i am so happy i get my peanut butter fix everyday. 

walking okemo mt

it's sunday so that means a day off for participants and interns. i finally got a shot of the view from gm.

all the light lines are the ski slopes of okemo mountain. it's over 3,000 feet high and in the summer time you can either walk the ski slope trails or walk up the road (which is what i did b/c i couldn't find the trail...)

okemo mountain is about a 5 minute drive from gm. i started at 9 am (right after i finished up w/ breakfast)

and huffed and puffed my way up to the top in about an hour. i didn't find out until after that if i had ducked under this fence i could have climbed a water tower and seen views all around, but that will have to wait for another day. it was a serious leg work out w/ the incline and i was amazed that motorcycles and this guy on a bike were going up! but even the views i got were amazing. next time i'll also stick my thumb out and hitch a ride down to avoid having to go down the road (brutal on the knees and toes). 

the afternoon was spent lazing about and then after dinner us interns and one of the staff participants went out to scoops, which is a local ice cream shop. even after eating a whole meal and fruit i managed to finish off most of this denali moosetracks cup, which was delicioussss. note to self, just get the cone w/ one scoop b/c it's less ice cream, haha.

i'm finding lots of stuff in oversized portions here in town, which is always tons of fun. if you look at the bottom left there are ice cream cookie sandwiches that were what i thought normal, good serving size. on the top shelf at the top of the picture are the enormous ice cream cookie sandwiches they have! they look colossal, but they look pretty tasty. i may end up gaining weight this summer :D after ice cream we drove out a ways to try to spot some moose. unsuccessful, but it would probably be unfair for PA and i to see a moose on our first moose-sighting venture while the other two have apparently spent many hours sitting in the car waiting for a moose.


first day of internship tmrw! i'll mostly be shadowing this week w/ PA for fitness and on my own for nutrition classes but we got new participants today so it should be fun learning w/ them. happy memorial day to everyone who has off tmrw.

day 1

i made it! i'm settled in my room w/ another intern (i'll call her GA) (another one arrives today- PA). i didn't try dinner last night b/c i had been snacking on the drive up, but breakfast this morning was a selection of yogurt, cereal (gluten free), this flaxseed thing and nut butters w/ fruit (can i tell you how excited i was when i found out that there was always fruit available! i'm saved! haha). 


this morning started w/ an early start (the sun rises right through my window at 5 am so i went through a short jog through town (and by a short jog, i mean i hit the end of town in about 20 min and then turned back around). our building faces okemo mountains (i'll get a pic soon! and hopefully hike it soon too)

mt view! the mountains here are so pretty! i can't wait to go hiking. 

grocery shopping at shaw's. jumbo marshmallows! 100 calories each

these would be amazinggggg for s'mores. and yes, i know i have small hands, but i'm telling you, these things are enormous!

first day and already exploring town:D they sell 8 oz coffee cups here which are perfectttt for me since i drink so slow and by the time i get to the 2nd part of a typical small it's cold and gross. i think w/ these 5 am starts caffeine will be a must.


had lunch today at gm, i was warned that all the greens and food would make my gassy, haha, much appreciated warning. so now it won't be quite as awk in the room.


headed into rutland with GA to see a matinee (rutland is the closest city w/ a movie theatre) of the avengers (awesome movie! i'm so excited for some summer movies this year- spiderman, batman, snow white and the huntsman just to name the ones i can remember so far). i forgot my camera but parts of rutland look like they are getting spiffy (although GA says going through the walmart will be worse than people of walmart, but i guess i'll find out sometime this summer).


PA goes to UMD and it took us coming all the way up to VT to meet each other, funny how the world works. 

first day of kindergarten

heading up to ludlow, VT tomorrow! according to wikipedia VT is the 2nd least populous state of the country and the only NE state to not touch the atlantic ocean (there goes a day at the beach...i need to work on my geography, haha)


i'm having jitters about starting this internship, wondering if i know enough or retained enough from school to actually sound like i know what i'm talking about and help people with their fitness and nutrition goals. i'm also really excited to be off on an adventure again. i haven't left home for an extended period since my trip to india (which was 3 years ago!) and packing for this trip made me wonder how i ever packed for another country including a sleeping bag w/ only my traveling backpack. 


the directions say it takes about 8.5 hours so w/ a couple of rest stops i should be at Green Mountain in around 9 hours. hopefully, or maybe i'll get distracted by something weird along the way. i'm trying to decide between taking 95 or taking 87 up. i'm clearly not fully prepared for this trip, but a little spontaneity never killed anyone.


the goals for the summer: learn a lot, explore my little town (ludlow- population < 3,000. i'm not sure if i'm close to the town or village but since they are both so tiny i'm guessing i can get to both pretty easily), explore vt in general, go to king arthur flour (KAF from here on out), and ben & jerry's (b&js), and of course have fun!


i'll miss you md! but i'll take my cue from pinky and the brain and "try to take over the world!"