Long overdue update

I can't believe how long it's been since I've last blogged. I'm ready to fix that and stay on top of it for the rest of this exciting month. First, let me get caught up.

I'm officially going to Virginia Tech this fall and working at Camp Roanoke June-Aug.

I'm graduating in three, count 'em THREE (3) days :) I'm not super nostalgic or sad about this, to be honest. Let me put it this way: I have loved my time at Roanoke, my friends, my major and the whole campus. I am so happy with my decision to go here and I feel that I have been successful in making the most of it. BUT there is a reason it is a 4 year plan. It's the right amount of time in a place like this and I am ready to move on to the next adventure. I have a fun and active summer planned and a spectacular next two years ahead of me at VT and I couldn't be more excited about my future. I'm ready to move on.
This week and weekend will be FULL of fun, family, friends and, of course, graduation activities. I'll be sure to share some pictures and notes about that when things settle down on Sunday.  For more frequent updates: follow me on Instagram @maggiemchrist and on Twitter @by_mags. I love posting pictures!

Last week I spent six days in High Point for Alex's birthday and we had a fantastic time. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of his sweet birthday present, but I'm hoping to get him to send me one soon. I gave him a hand-made wall art. Spray painted canvas with "Don't Stop Believing" painted in his favorite color, orange. He and I both love that song, and it's not a bad message to see each day.

On to my fitness update: April got kind of messy and I slacked off a bit the last week and a half due to exams, stress and lots of fun at High Point. However, I managed to run 28.3 miles (an improvement from each of the months before and keeps me well ahead of my 300 mile goal for 2012).  I ran 2 miles this morning and have started the Mad Muscle May challenge. This is what it is so you can join me!

Lastly, thanks to Instagram and inspiration from other blogs, I've really gotten into taking more photos of special and simple moments. I've started the May Photo a Day Challenge and post my pictures to Instagram and Twitter.  Wanna try it?

 

Stay tuned for more about my upcoming weekend and have a happy Wednesday!

Fish Art

I had a wonderful weekend! I hope you did, too. I celebrated Easter with my man and his fam and then he stayed until this morning. Talk about a long weekend! It was a very special treat. Now there are only two real weeks left of classes for me and then I'll travel down to see him and celebrate his birthday. (I'm quite worried about present ideas, but that's not important now.) 

In other news, I finally finished my fish art.  It's a combination cut&paste and painting.  I made the fish by constructing scales out of magazine clippings for a colorful, shiny look.  Then I painted a small canvas (who knew they were so cheap at Wal-Mart?)  and pasted the fish on top.  Ta-da!

I think there will be more to come.  I just love the simple, imperfect look.  I have a fun little reminder that life goes on and you've gotta "just keep swimming".  Anyone have a little Dori singing in their head? Me, too!

Happy Tuesday and have a great week!

PS I just got Instagram (Android has it now!) so expect more fun photos!

Sun-Inspired Crafting

Yesterday was awfully cold and rainy, so it was a pleasant surprise waking up in the sunlight.  I worked for a few hours at the library today, but I had big plans for my afternoon off.  Let me tell you, I never liked sunglasses...until about a year ago.  I hated them as a kid and I never wore them until I was 16 and needed them to drive.  However, I've gotten a little bit more infatuated with fun and stylish sunglasses, to the point that I don't have place to keep them all.  So today, as soon as I got home, an idea hit me. I took two pipe cleaners (though ribbon and yarn would work well, too) and four thumb tacks and Voilà!  Not the best picture, but you get the gist. I'm kind of in love with this idea :)
I also have this problem of never having my sunglasses when I need them. Not because I'm super forgetful, but because I hate just throwing them in my purse or bag. This is because they seem to get all scratched and even the paint chips off of them.  Yuck!  Thus, I was inspired to make something to protect my sunglasses while in my purse without buying a regular glasses case.  Since I don't spend much on sunglasses, I refuse to spend anything on protecting them.  Here's what I came up with:

 I made a small sunglasses case out of felt! It was super easy and quick. Plus, it's something you can tweak and decorate to make completely your own.  This is what you need:

sunglasses (for figuring out the size), scissors,
felt, glue and I used a pipe cleaner to fasten (more about that soon) 

1) The first step is to use the sunglasses to measure out your case. I just laid them down and wrapped it up to measure out a front, back and a flap.  I cut off the excess.  To fasten the front and back pieces, I left short tabs to fold over front and back.  Mine were square but you can try triangular shapes too. This is envelope-ish in design, so play with that idea as you please.
2) Next, I glued those tabs to create the case.  I kept inserting my sunnies to make sure I had enough room, but be careful to remove them whenever you cut or glue.  

3) Next, make the flap. I cut mine rounded and put two holes in the front and the bottom to fasten.  (I had to use a knife to make the holes, but a good, strong hole-punch would be better).  4) Then I threaded a small piece of pipe-cleaner through the four holes to fasten.  I may try ribbon instead, so it threads and unthreads easier, but you could also try a snap or button to do this.
5) Now throw in your sunnies and be prepared for any sunshine coming your way!
I do have to say that this won't protect your sunglasses if you drop them or things fall on them as it is just felt.  My goal was to simply protect them from scratching against my keys or other things in my purse.  I advise you to still be conscious of them in your bag if you're worried about them breaking.

Happy crafting!

PS Here's a sneak peak at a craft/painting I've been working on.  I'm about to put on the second coat of paint now.  Details to come!

It's April?

How did that happen? What a great three months 2012 has brought. I'm so excited for April. It's one of my favorite months because it brings spring and flowers and baseball! Even though it's rainy today, it can't dampen the fact that it's Opening Day (go Yankees)! Even though, the real teams don't start until tomorrow. ;)

Besides that, April is bringing the end of my last semester of undergrad! It's much better this spring, since I have far less to do than most years.  Only two research papers and three tests to take before I am done! Woohoo!

Because of Easter weekend, a lot of people are heading home and I don't have class tomorrow. I plan on spending my free time working, working out and catching up on crafts. I'm going to finish a painting/craft I started, get supplies to stamp a dress I have like this and maybe dabble in some oil pastels.  At least until Alex comes to visit on Sunday!

I'll be back to share pictures and such from the weekend.  In the meantime, enjoy the iffy April weather and watch some baseball!

March Workout Plan

I know March is halfway over so this is a combination post of what I've accomplished and what I plan to accomplish the rest of the month.

So far I've run 15 miles this month (or actually in the last 11 days). My goal is about 25 miles a month to reach my goal of 300 miles a year. I hope I can get closer to 30 miles.

I've also worked out every SINGLE day this week, which is kind of crazy. I always make goals for the week and only do about 3/5 of whatever I plan.  That just means I plan bigger to get more done.  But now, I've decided I don't have to RUN or do a long work out every day for it to count as a workout. This makes it a lot less stressful and I know I have time for a short ab workout or interval training. It's also easy because I can do a lot of these things right in my room rather than depending on the weather or scheduling time to go to the gym.

I've made a schedule for the next 2 weeks that consists of a mix of running, interval training, and short ab or push up workouts.  I've also added a new health habit to the mix: not eating after 9pm on weekdays. So far, it's harder than I thought, but I figured I'd give it a try to see if it had any benefits. I don't really believe in dieting, but I do work to eat mostly healthy foods and no one ever eats anything healthy after 9pm anyway...

Today my short workout was 10 pike-plunge push ups, 15 tricep dips, 20 sec torso twists, cork screw x12, crisscross x20, 30 sec side planks, and 20 sec teasers.  I did it 2.5 times because the new push ups hurt a lot. My plan is to do more abs tomorrow before taking the rest of the weekend off.  But maybe I'll squeeze in hike on Sunday.

What are your fitness goals for this month?
Have a happy St. Patrick's Day!

5k Best

Friday, the day before we flew home from Florida, we discovered a 5k race on the island.  Of course, only my sister Rebecca and I would consider running a 5k while on vacation, just hours before we had to pack up and leave. But we did it! We were up before 7am on Saturday to register and run at 8.  

Here's me crossing the finish line.  Many of
the runners liked to give out high-fives.

It was already getting hot but it was a fairly flat race through a small neighborhood on the island. I had made myself a goal of going sub-30 minutes.  I've run a few 5ks over the past few years but most of them have been trail races, putting my time between 35 and 45 minutes.  I thought this was a challenging enough, but fairly reasonable goal.  Well, I was certainly shocked and extremely happy to see that I finished in 27:22 and came in 27th out of the 70 or so runners there.  Rebecca completed in her own personal record of 39 minutes and some change.  It was a great feeling to beat my goal by so much and it gave me the motivation again to try for longer races. I'm aiming to do a 10k this summer and then train for a half marathon in November here in Roanoke.  

The last day of vacation was great too.  We joined the kids at the pool for one last swim then we packed up and headed home.  Starting with a good, strong run makes the day so much more optimistic.  Plus I felt energized and got to eat anything I wanted for the rest of the day. ;) 

"I love Florida" - Declan

My spring break so far...I'll be sharing more in-depth later, but I'm sleepy and wanted to share some pictures.  1) Our first site of the beach after a long morning of traveling. 2) Everyone having a blast in the pool. 3) The kids playing cars with Pop Pop. 4) A fun (and accurate) notice about the weather. 5) The sunset! 6) Declan's first Klondike bar. 7-9) Attempting to get a picture of Declan in his beach gear...first his eyes were closed, so I said "open your eyes" and so he did...After we giggled for a bit, I finally got a good picture.

New experience in New Orleans

Oh my, it has been too long since I've posted a blog and updated you on my life.  I have a good excuse though, I promise.

A pretty park on Decatur St.

Last Wednesday, I skipped out on class and flew to New Orleans for the 2012 Sigma Tau Delta Convention in New Orleans. What is Sigma Tau Delta? Well, it is the International English Honor Society. It's pretty elite and pretty cool. I happen to be the president of the chapter at Roanoke College and was accepted to read my paper at the convention this year.  I read a 13 minute, 7 page paper along with three other people at panel on vampires (my paper was about gender and reproduction in Dracula). This was a three-day long event in which many, many students-both undergrad and graduate-along with published and respected writers read their original work, participated in workshops and roundtable discussions and, of course, enjoyed the nightlife of downtown New Orleans.

 A pretty sidewalk art piece with
play-on words.

I stayed at hotel on Decatur St. around the corner from the conference on Canal Street at the Marriott. We were blocks from Bourbon St and Cafe Du Monde. I ate, drank and shopped my way through the week, presented my paper on Friday to an accepting and intrigued crowd and flew back home on Saturday.  The French Market was fun and interesting as were the characters on Bourbon St at all hours of the day. The beignets at Cafe Du Monde are as wonderful as everyone says and well-worth the line you find at any time of day (it's open 24/7).  The drunks on the street and the strippers taking their smoke-breaks are well-tattooed and quite a site to see.  In New Orleans, you can carry your drink up and down the street as you barhop, which is quite hard to get used to.

This is my first
(and only) hurricane!

Oh and my paper, well I had written it for a class last year, and my teacher (our chapter sponsor who joined us on the trip) helped me edit and rewrite to the point of acceptance and helped me practice.  I was nervous and shaky before (and during) my reading but the crowd was responsive and good, constructive conversation followed the four readings of that panel.  It was such a great experience, especially during my undergraduate career and I am so happy to have been able to learn so much and see New Orleans for the first time. I can't wait to go back!

Love letter from my future

Today I got one of the best phone calls I think I've received in years.  I was accepted into the Communications Graduate Program at Virginia Tech. Even better than that, I was offered the position of Graduate Teaching Assistant which means I'll be teaching Public Speaking courses in return for a tuition waiver and a monthly stipend! I can hardly contain my excitement when I type this. I'll have to double check for typos. Part of me hasn't even realized this is true!

While I'm still waiting to hear from other schools, I'm so relieved to know that I have a great opportunity already for the fall and I don't need to worry too much over the next few weeks. Tech hadn't really been my top choice, but not because of the program. I had been really excited to move to a new, big city and do some exploring, but I think taking it one step at a time would do me some good, too. I can explore Blacksburg, make some money and find some awesome internships for the summers in between! Maybe in one of those big cities. :)

If you want to read about the program and what I *might* be doing (I haven't committed yet) here's a link to the site. While it's a general Communications program (compared to other PR & Advertising programs) there are some great classes pertaining to my career goals and many other interesting things I would love to take advantage of over the next few years.  Plus, teaching  (yes I said teaching!) public speaking will provide me with SO much extra experience and some skills that I wouldn't get in other programs around the country. I've taken that class here at Roanoke and know that it is one of those that has really taught me something. While it was hard and even scary at times, I am a much better speaker for it, and normal, everyday class presentations and speeches are no longer intimidating.  I hope I get the chance to make that impact on some young Hokies!

I'll keep you all posted on any news that comes about my future. Thank you all for your support and love as it has gotten me this close to graduation and what is sure to be an exciting future, no matter where I go.

Coming up next week is my trip to New Orleans to present my critical essay at the Sigma Tau International Convention. I will be blogging and snapping lots of pictures of the event and the city. I hope you have a great week!

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

This past weekend I traveled down to High Point, NC to see my boyfriend, Alex. He had a close track meet on Saturday so it was a great time to see him and see him run.  Sunday afternoon, we and two of his friends went to a natural science museum and zoo in Greensboro (only about a 25 minute drive).  I don't think four college students have ever had so much fun on a cold Sunday afternoon.

1-2. The weirdest monkeys ever. I think they're called gibbons. 3. An angry, pacing tiger. He never stood still. 4. A giant snake (reminded me of the one in Harry Potter 1!) 5. A loose turkey in the middle of mating season. He kept puffing himself up and I found it quite intimidating. 5. My silly boyfriend pretending to be a turtle...

After the zoo/museum, we found a nice diner and filled ourselves with eggs and pancakes (I'm always in the mood for breakfast, even at 5:30pm).

I hope you all had a relaxing weekend. Mine was just delightful :D

hearts or elephants

I'm not a big Valentine's Day person. I feel that's been said a lot today and I've decided you're usually one extreme or the other. You embrace and adore the day or you ignore it altogether. I just feel that we shouldn't have to be told one day a year to be nice to the people we love.

my new favorite piece of jewelry
from my new favorite online boutique
FrockStock

This is the only heart I wore today. I prefer my tiny elephant necklace and my purple elephant earrings that show not only who I am and what I love, but how amazing the man in my life is.  He knows not to waste time on flowers that die, or chocolate that I can buy myself. Instead, he finds those perfect, one-of-a-kind pieces that make me smile (okay, squeal) when I open it.

Moving on from this lovey-dovey day, I wanted to brag a little bit.  So far, I'm still right on track with my running goal and have missed only one day of my February fitness program. It's hard but so rewarding and I can already feel myself progressing.  I love having a regular workout and a way to out-do myself everyday.  As the Fab Ab Feb program ups the work out each day, it's always a challenge and it shows how easy it is to plateau and not push yourself.

Last week I found a new chocolate chip cookie recipe which I believe (with assurance from my roommates and my boyfriend) is much better than the Nestle Toll House recipe. (Sorry Nestle!)  It makes a lot of cookies, but I promise they'll go quickly. I used about half the chocolate chips and threw in a cup of Heath chips instead. Do you have other suggestions on how to mix up the regular chocolate chip cookie craze? Along with my continued baking obsession, my crafting as continued.  I am in the process of making a leather owl purse (inspired by this blog) and I made some fun reusable wine stoppers from wooden spools and yarn. They're super cute and quick to make. I think they would make good gifts for any wine-lovers.

That's all for today, but keep checking in. For fun daily updates and pictures follow me on Twitter!

Happy Tuesday! Oh fine, happy Valentine's Day!

February Photo Challenge

I've been tweeting this February Photo Challenge but I decided to post the first ones here, too. Take a look at my month so far!

1. My View Today (A gloomy day) 2. Words (on my kindle!) 3. Hands (Painted green and silver stripped. It just hit me right now that it's very Slytherin-esque.) 4. 10am (my adorable wake-up call on Sunday morning) 5. Dinner (mushroom and orzo) 6. Button (on my cute purple hair pin!)

I love Fridays

Cinnamon scone and hazelnut iced
coffee...yum!

I had a rough start this morning; waking up with a headache (especially one that isn't alcohol-induced) is never a good start. But after my morning coffee, I headed to work at the library and things got better. Friday mornings are a short shift for me and don't begin until 9:30, so that's always nice. I got to shelve periodicals today, which is insignificant to most people but it's my favorite task at work. There's not really a reason for it, but I just love it more than anything else. Then I went for a great run and completed day 3 of my Fab Ab February workout.  My two roommates and I have all started this and so far we love it. (Found on my Fitness Board on Pinterest).

After Pilates (best class ever!) I went to Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea to do some reading.  It's so good to have some cash again (today is payday) so I can treat myself to a quite infrequent trip to Mill Mountain.  I usually go a few times a month but haven't been since before Christmas!

Now I'm meal-planning and craft-planning for the weekend! I will have some great things to share as I'll be busy doing whatever I want! I have a pretty laid-back few days coming up and I plan to share lots with you.  I know I promised a blog about my vintage winning this past weekend.  It is long overdue but is on its way, I promise. In the meantime, here is the other great glass I painted that I had mentioned in my last blog.

Happy weekend!

PS: I got a Twitter account so you can follow me! I'll be posting pictures and fun things there, too!

cooking, baking and crafting, oh my!

This past week and weekend, I was able to do some more of my favorite things!  I tried out a new meal of mushroom and orzo which turned out wonderfully!  I also made chocolate banana muffins in a mini muffin pan. They're great for popping them in your mouth for a quick treat.  Alex loved them...He and I also made a great meal of raspberry baked chicken (we used raspberry vinaigrette dressing as a marinade) and sauteed some veggies to go with it.  He does all the chopping for me because, as I'm sure I have mentioned before, I HATE chopping vegetables.  

On that note...I also got to do some crafting! Sarah and I hit up Goodwill and found some neat jars and glasses. we poured some paint inside them to spread around the edges to make the colorful from in the inside with minimal work.  Note: these are not for drinking or storing food; we're using them for storing pencils, makeup brushes and for pretty decoration.  It takes awhile to dry but it turns out pretty cool and they are all different in the end.  I got the idea here but have since seen alternatives with glitter and such.  It's a fun way to jazz up some old mason jars or funky glasses. This jar I'm using for my makeup brushes and I added some ribbon to another one that looks like a lighthouse.  Right now, it's sitting in our living room and we might add some fake flowers to it for some more color!

Update so far on my running plan: 24 miles this month! My new February workout plan starts tomorrow, of course. So I'll have updates on that, too.

Teaser: This weekend I attended a vintage store benefit and fashion show.  Not only did I get to dress up in my favorite 20s attire, but I won a great vintage prize.  I'll tell you more about that soon!

Spring Break Preparation!

Besides wasting lots of time and giving women false fantasies about their weddings and future homes, Pinterest can be somewhat useful for sharing motivating words as well as health and fitness suggestions.  I found some great short workouts specific to legs and abs (I'm on the lookout for arms and shoulders next!) and I plan to put these into action Feb 1st.

Before you start thinking this sounds like an "I'll start tomorrow" thing, I already did the leg workout today to tweak it and I'm doing abs tonight to see if I do like it.  Currently, I am writing up a 'Health & Fitness Calendar' for the month to keep me checking things off.  I've also added a goal of having one meal each day (or more) that is made/eaten specifically because of its health benefits.  I have found and made so many new recipes lately that this won't be hard at all.  The hardest part is keeping the right foods in stock and keeping myself accountable.

This is why I made the calendar.  I can see every day whether or not I have eaten a healthy meal, taken my vitamins and completed my workout.  I can cross it off when I have, and continue the countdown to two consecutive trips to New Orleans and Marco Island! More on this soon.

I hung it up, with some other
workouts in a place I'll see it every day.

In addition to this highly optimistic plan, I have started keeping track of ideas for blogs.  I want to use this place as a way to share great things I find, make, and do.  I want to start adding my fitness and health goals (as seen above) but also my cooking adventures, lifestyle dos (and don'ts) and my fashion finds.  I'd love feedback, suggestions and your own stories! Comment here, email me or find me on Facebook and Pinterest if you haven't already!  For my workouts and progress on my running goal, add me on dailymile.

Creative in the Kitchen

A lot less 'red velvet' and much more chocolate,
but tastes just as amazing.

I had been looking forward to this weekend all week, planning to try some new recipes and enjoy some time in the kitchen.  Friday, I made m'n'm cookies with my friends (just used the normal chocolate chip cookie recipe and swapped out the chips for m'n'ms) before making this Red Velvet Cake Donut dough from my favorite blog.  The dough had to refrigerate overnight, so Sarah and I continued Saturday morning to make the donuts.  We had a slight mishap getting the dough fried because it is important to use vegetable shortening (crisco, etc) NOT vegetable oil...(who knew?). We ran out to get the right stuff and then fried up some delicious donuts.  The shortening starts to overheat and burn so we could only do a few donuts at a time before the donuts would cook too quickly on the outside before they're finished on the inside. Nevertheless, we finished with a plateful of yummy, chocolaty donuts for the weekend. :)

Later in the day, I made caramel and vanilla flavor coffee syrup, again from A Beautiful Mess.  I found two syrup dispensers from Wal-Mart and decorated each with its corresponding letter for fun.  They're not as strong as I had thought they'd be, so I'll have to experiment with how much to put into my coffee...oh darn!

For Sunday's dinner, I had bought some asparagus as it might just be my new favorite vegetable.  I found a recipe for garlic sesame asparagus here.  Oh my was it great! On the blog, Carrie (the chef and writer) said she paired it with a fried egg for a simple meal.  I don't like fried eggs but I do love scrambled eggs.  I had some summer sausage in the fridge (thanks Mom!) and a little onion never hurts so I mixed that all in with an egg and I must say, it was the perfect meal.  I have some asparagus left over for dinner tomorrow.  I think I'm going to try to play with a simple spaghetti and meat sauce dinner to vamp it up a bit.  If it goes well, you'll probably see it here.

Happy cooking!

Recipe Journal

If you're like me at all, you probably have had many kinds of notebooks, journals, diaries, etc. for as long as you can remember. I love to write, but I've never been a great journaler (yes, I made up a word). But I still love cute, colorful journals and the optimism and excitement that goes with them. I always tried to keep journals or find something to put in each, but have never successfully kept one going. I have many pretty, partially-filled journals on my shelves at home (sorry Mom).  But over the summer, I won a very shinny and colorful journal from a book club blogger Suzanne Beecher. She's great, check her out.

I love this journal and it is ever signed with a little note from Suzanne, but did I really need yet another journal to sit mostly empty on my shelf? No, I was determined to put this one to use and I found a great way to do it.

This is a recipe for Red Velvet Donuts found on
A Beautiful Mess.

After I started finding great recipes from blogs and friends, I decided I needed to keep them all in one, convenient place. Now I don't have a recipe box like my grandma did, and this was before I discovered Pinterest.  (Plus, I hate having my laptop sit on the counter while I'm mixing and measuring.)  So I started copying down the successful and yummy recipes into this pretty journal! Now I have them all, clearly written without all the fluff. And I don't mind bringing it into the kitchen.  I have left plenty of space for pictures, comments and tweaks, too!

How do you organize your recipes? I hope some day to have this completely full of all my favorite things to make and eat. I think it will be a great way to pass down recipes to future generations! (My sisters' kids, I mean...)