Recognition - Good Morning

What I do know is that when pain is looked back on and reflected, it brings an emotion in which we can’t exactly put a finger on. When we reflect, we appreciate. When I say this, I do not say it requires pain of the past to enjoy something. Sure, those who live simple, more pain-free lives than most of us, enjoy things and appreciate, but pain beings deeper meaning. It allows enjoyment to reach a whole new level. In track and field standing at the start line, and during Christmas morning waiting to open presents, I take these priceless moments to reflect on my pain and enjoy and embrace the moment. I recognize that especially during track, I need to turn my fear and perhaps unconfidence into appreciation how how far I have come. Do not ale the small moments for granted, because they could turn into some of the greatest , most joyous moments of your life. That is a promise. I may not be very good at this, but it is something that I am aware of, and that I need to improve and embrace. Take these small moments, and reflect on your past. Look at all you have endured, whether its these past few days, months, or years. Reflect on the rough times, and embrace the moment you are in. Take advantage of the present--not the gifts, but the time you have. The pain you have gone through should only mean that you have more blessings to count at this very moment and you should now be more aware of the joy and the opportunities and excitement that the moment brings.
-Tara

A Modern Twist on Candy Craving

Today we checked out Sugarfina, I new shop at South Coast Plaza. It was a modern twist to the traditional See's. Sugarfina was very welcoming by offering samples and being very accommodating to all customers. Prices were a little higher than See's but the modern twist on the chocolate shop seem to be worth it. Sugarfina reminded me of a Kate Spade version of a candy shop. It was filled with bright colors and it is certainly a place to check out for gifts and personal cravings. They offer unique specialties such as champagne gummy bears and fun gift boxes that you wouldn't find at the traditional chocolatier. 

Easy Meal or Snack

This recipe has always been my go to when I have no idea what I am in the mood for. I like to make this easy and healthy banana bowl for breakfast, or even a late night snack. 

The recipe is simple. 

All you need is one frozen banana, cut into fourths, and 1 regular banana, cut into fourths as well.
You will also need vanilla almond milk, as well as cinnamon. Optional additions(but recommended) are granola, almond butter, chopped dark chocolate, and/or chia seeds as toppings.

Using a magic bullet, nutri-blend, or blender, simply put in the frozen banana and 3/4 of the regular banana. Also add about 1/2 a cup of almond milk. Blend all of these ingredients until it comes to the consistency of a thick smoothie. 
Next, pour the ingredients into a bowl and top off with 3/4 tablespoon chia seeds, a dash of cinnamon, and the remainder of your banana, sliced.

Enjoy!

Last Minute Gift Ideas

For your sister/mom:

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/momofuku-milk-bar-cookie-mix/?pkey=cfood-cookies&cm_src=food-cookies||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_--_-     $16.95

http://www1.bloomingdales.com/shop/product/kate-spade-new-york-eat-cake-for-breakfast-mug?ID=692116&CategoryID=1000232#fn%3Dspp%3D32    $20

http://www.shopkitson.com/index.php?page=product&id=27019 $14

http://shop.lululemon.com/products/clothes-accessories/women-water-bottles/Pure-Focus-Glass-Water-Bottle?cc=16360&skuId=3584920&catId=cat1350018 $28

http://www.target.com/p/sonia-kashuk-holiday-limited-edition-decadence-shimmering-body-souffle/-/A-16446070#prodSlot=medium_1_5&term=15761993+15761994+15858461+16202972+16202973+16446070+16452391+16452392 $10.99

http://www.target.com/p/sonia-kashuk-holiday-limited-edition-all-that-jazz-10-piece-brush-set/-/A-15761994#prodSlot=medium_1_7&term=15761993+15761994+15858461+16202972+16202973+16446070+16452391+16452392  $34.99

http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=34406231&parentid=W_TOPS#/ $59

http://www.forever21.com/Product/Product.aspx?BR=f21&Category=whatsnew_app&ProductID=2000119551&VariantID=  $29.80

http://www.forever21.com/Product/Product.aspx?BR=f21&Category=whatsnew_app&ProductID=2000055866&VariantID= $32.90

For your dad/brother: 

http://www.saturdaysnyc.com/item/grant-6  $75

http://www.saturdaysnyc.com/item/zinka $5.99

http://shop.lululemon.com/products/clothes-accessories/mens-tops-technical-tops/Metal-Vent-Tech-SS-31466?cc=17131&skuId=3574477&catId=mens-tops-technical-tops $64

http://www.kiehls.com/Ultimate-Man-Refueling-Set/516,default,pd.html?start=7&cgid=men-facial-fuel $59

http://www.swell.com/New-Arrivals-Mens/RVCA-JULIAN-LS-SHIRT-2?cs=LB $54

http://www.lushusa.com/Dirty-Solid-Perfume/05269,en_US,pd.html#start=14 $10.95

Acrylic Nails

Tara and I love to get our nails done. Since we both have fairly big hands/long fingers, long acrylics seem to go well. I think many women are scared to go down the acrylic path..not because of the expenses of about $16.00 per fill every 2-3 weeks (but if you're in Nashville it is about $30.00 per fill😣) but because they are afraid of how they might look or how to function in everyday life with them. Yes, longer nails are an adjustment the first few days; but I do every normal activity with my nails. Day to day activities are easy and I've had nails for over two years now. I've painfully broken a nail about 3 times, but each time I basically put it upon myself. Will longer nails look weird? NO!! I've never met a girl that looks bad with long nails. Yes, I constantly see girls with short stubby acrylics that look miserable., and are poorly shaped. As for acrylics, atleast make them fairly longer than a real nail would be. Another plus to acrylics is the durability. They also withstand 3D nail art really well. Many salons do poor work when it comes to nail art and shaping the nail properly. Two of my favorite nail salons are Laque Nail Bar in Encino and The Nail Shop in Carson. 

Winter Break

The week before Christmas is always hectic. All in all, winter break is a crazy time. Balance is VITAL. Working out seems to be the biggest chore, however, it has to happen. Make sure you plan out your winter break. Yes, breaks are meant to be a time to relax, but do not let it go to waste!

 Enjoy activities that you can look back on with high school friends. Make new memories. Yes this might sound cliche, but it is time to forgive, if you haven’t already. Forgive your old friends that you had stupid drama with. Forgive your sister that you haven’t talked to in 6 months. And remember to be thankful for the time you spend with your family, and people you know and love. College campuses are filled with mystery and undependable people. At home you can’t take the people you've known for a while, and have available, for granted. 

Let loved ones know how much you care about them. I saw an Instagram post the other day that read “no one has ever become poor by giving.” Whether it is giving to other people, or even small self-indulgences, take the time to give quality gifts. I often like to buy myself a bouquet of roses to remind myself how special I am. Might sound weird, but it is the best feeling. I took the time to make my Uncle a homemade cake for his 50th birthday. Sadly, it tasted terrible, but I could tell it was the sweetest thing someone has done for him in a while. It showed him that he is loved. As soon as you know it, you will be 46 celebrating Christmas with your family- or alone. So make these holidays count. Give what you can, because you will always be granted something special in return, whether it is a warm, fuzzy feeling or a material item. 

Regarding Health:

Last thing, remember to balance your meals during the holiday season. Stay focused on your goals. Kate Moss once said “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”. This may come across as promoting anorexia, but I am saying it in a sense that it is better off to feel full rather than stuffed. These past two days (yes, only 2), I have tried out the whole paleo thing. I noticed a big difference. I was feeling happier at the end of the day, and I was never hungry. When you eat healthy, it is far more satisfying than eating junk food. You are nourishing your body opposed to injecting fat. 

At school, I was eating late night at Jack in the Box. I ordered chili cheese fries, and I offered a teammate a bite. She said something to me that changed the way I think of a lot of food, especially fast food. She said something along the lines of “eating those is just like injecting loads of saturated fat directly into your body.” slightly, offended, I continued to eat my fat-filled-fries. However, I felt disgusting the next morning and those words stuck in my head.

For the holidays, I am trying to stick to eating simple meals. I have tried drinking a lot of kombucha in the mornings to fill me up and give me a healthy start. The probiotics in kombucha are said to help bloating, which is needed for the holiday season. Since I am trying the paleo thing, I can not have grains for breakfast, so I stick to eggs practically every day. Eggs can be made and paired with so many different things. Lately, eggs and avocados or eggs and sweet potatoes have been a favorite. Eggs, fried plantains and beans are a must if you want to get really into it. Lunch is typically boring, broccoli or carrots and chicken. Then comes time to train. 

Training for a college athlete is a 24/7 thing. Training in the kitchen, training your mind, and training your physical fitness. It takes a lot of work on and off of the track. I highly encourage everyone to get out of the gym, and to try running on a track. I find track workouts the most practical if you want to get in shape, stop feeling sluggish, and get the fastest, most efficient and rewarding workout in. If you don't have time to workout, I highly advise a day filled with shopping. However, shopping does not include eating auntie annes! Squeeze in little things, like calf raises while brushing our teeth, or yoga when you wake up. The little things make a big difference, and are better than nothing at all.

If you have any questions regarding health or workouts, let me know. I love to help people out and make people happy. :)

I hope this post was semi-worth your time. 

-Tara

NYC

This past weekend my sister and I were fortunate enough to take a quick trip to Manhattan. Sadly, we were not able to cover as much ground as we wanted to, but we did have a lot of fun, and hit up a lot of great spots. We ate at some of the coolest places, such as BG Bergdorf Goodman, Momofoku Milk Bar, and Magnolia's Bakery. We also went to a Flosstradamus concert and raged our butts off. This was interesting, and something that I probably won't do again! Overall, the trip was extremely luxe, and a great experience.

how to survive the last few weeks of class

Finals. Food. Failing.

These are just a few things that come to mind when thinking of the last two weeks of school before the grand ole CHRISTMAS BREAK!

Now the real question is, how the F*** am I supposed to get through these weeks without eating away all of my feelings and not failing country music class?

Take a deep breath, and make a trip to whole foods.

You might not know this, but Whole Foods is a big part of my life(well at least I like to think that it is).

Step one: purchase yourself a dozen roses. You know why? You are WORTH it. Roses will light up your disgusting, smelt dorm room. Roses will remind you how beautiful and special you are. They smell good. They make you feel classy and out together. Roses make wonders.

Step two: buy some chamomile tea and apple cider vinegar(2-3 tablespoons combined with 1 glass water). Apple cider vinegar for the mornings, and chamomile tea for the night time, before bed. The beverages will help you and guide you to a better day, and begin and end on a more full, balanced feeling. I honestly have no idea what apple cider vinegar does exactly for you, but I do know it is incredibly healthy and detoxifying.

Step three: leave whole foods before you are tempted to buy all of the nut butter, and play some MF CHRISTMAS MUSIC! Christmas music = pure joy. It is honestly the only thing I can say that brings me pure happiness.

However, remember to prioritize group projects and get homework out of the way soon. Everything at once especially during holiday season can be stressful, so make sure you complete work as soon as possible when it is assigned. Keep in mind how happy you will be on your way home, on a plane, and all of the relaxing you will do when you get home if you just get the work that is assigned, done.

Last but not least, shop for others. Buying gifts and/or MAKING gifts for people can be one of the best feelings. As Maya Angelou once said, it is better to give than to receive. So go ahead, head to sephora or H&M or Zara and buy your best friend, sister, mom, grandma, teacher, anyone a gift. Go on pinterest and look up easy DIYs such as bath scrub, cookies or candles. I promise this will bring joy to your day (maybe not your credit card), but it will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy inside.

happy holidays,
may these last few weeks of school not suck as bad as you think they might. :)
Tara xox

Saturdays

Every Saturday Tara and I strive to get off of campus atleast once because of a long week of sort of being stuck at school. Today we checked out Josephine and it was amazing! We had brunch there and ordered the most random array of food, their delicious Brussel sprouts, donut holes, squash soup, hot chocolate, and we tried a few bites of our friends sandwich.. It was all SO GOOD. I Highly recommend if you're ever in Nashville. ....

Vvv

The hot chocolate was unforgettable.  

mug cake review

I made my first mug cake today. It was pretty good considering it was significantly low in carbs and high in protein!

However it was extremely dry. But it still tasted somewhat like a bread substance and looked enough like a cake so I was able to trick my mind into thinking it was one.

I used:
1 scoop of Corfetti Cullucor Protein Powder (basically just vanilla protein powder)
1 teaspoon of baking powder
About 2 or 3 tablespoons unsweetened apple sauce
splash of water

mix together above ingredients in a mug

heat in microwave in 15 second increments and poke around until it looks fluffy like cake!!

However the finishing product was dry, and I don't have enough ingredient variations to play around with. Maybe greek yogurt would have made it more moist? or eggs whites? Im not too sure.

My solution to the problem was actually kind of odd... and I don't know if I recommend it because I didn't have any cold item in my fridge or a liquid besides Haagen Daz ice cream, water or apple sauce. I ended up fixing the dry cake by topping it with: MAPLE SYRUP! Ew, it does sound gross, I know. But it was a version low in sugar and calories, and although I wanted to use the ice-cream, I wanted this dessert to be semi low calorie.

Let me tell you, the syrup wasn't all that bad. I just had to imagine that it was a breakfast french toast dowsed in syrup and it was kind of good! But if you have some arctic zero ice cream, or some break yogurt topping with sprinkles, I bet it would be a lot more promising.
Sadly, I took pictures of my creation, but only on snapchat so I do not have them here today for you.
I highly recommend trying it though! But do not make the mistakes I did!. If you use the same ingredients as me, just pair it with a better something than syrup and it will be phenomenal!!!
I hope you try it!
-Tara

#dontstaythenight

Advice to women in college...
don't stay the night.

My high school track coach gave me very important advice my senior year. He said, "there is no reason to live with a man before marriage. If your excuse is that you want to get to know each other better, that is a lie. You know your best friend plenty well and you do not live with her."

So girls, don't make a fool of yourselves.
You are better than that. You deserve more than a night with a boy. You deserve a good nights sleep. You deserve a relaxing morning.  You deserve more than a foolish college boy who wants to simply 'have fun'. You deserve a respectful man.

tara

Campus Food

A lot of students tend to get sick around the first month or so of being in college. Guess who did not get sick? ME! How? Not eating chips, fries, and cookies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

To be honest, if I did not participate in sports my diet would probably be trash. I would either eat chocolate for all three meals or attend zumba classes in my free time. But who knows. I'm not going to lie, my diet has probably gone a little down hill. Dessert after dinner has become an almost everyday thing.. and that needs to stop if I don't want to be chugging around an extra 10 pounds on the track this year.

The first few weeks kind of disgusted me. Not only did I disgust myself with all of the cookies I was eating after dinner, but what disgusted me were some people's lunches. For lunch, students typically ate, and still do, eat fries, burgers, cookies, and soda for everyday meals. NO WONDER WHY YOU FEEL LIKE CRAP ALL OF THE TIME. If you are eating a burger, the least thing you can do is pair it with a salad. One of the most valuable lessons I have learned is how important it is to eat your fruits and veggies in college. 

A typical day of meals for me is pretty balanced. 

I start my day of with one of these many breakfast variations (each include a glass of water):

-3 hard boiled egg whites, 2 pieces of brown rice GF toast with fig jam, strawberries and a banana'

-Kashi cereal, a banana with almond butter, strawberries and coffee

-oatmeal with fruit, banana, almond butter, and coffee

-egg white omelette made with spinach, peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms. and banana with almond butter and or GF toast.

A very few important breakfast tips are: 

-It is important before you eat breakfast to have at least 2 cups of water. This is something I need to improve on, but it will help you from choosing an omlette over a stack of cinnamon roll pancakes. 

-Another important thing to remember is that omelettes, when served with salsa contain a lot of salt. -Unless you want to feel bloated through out the day, the salt in the salsa will carry the water you just drank and not make you feel too good!

-Also, almond butter is good for you. Despite it's "healthy fat" calories, almond butter will keep you full because of the fiber and protein content. 

-One last tip is that all smoothies are not good for you. Some smoothies made in dining hall have sugary bases such as sorbet ice cream. Naked juices as well. Make sure you look at the fine print.

I hope you enjoyed this post or found it useful.

Thank you,

Tara :)

Trend Differences: West Coast VS The South

The first time on campus that I saw someone in knee high socks and TUKs I freaked out. I spoke to my sister(Emma) in a Steve Irwin voice as if we had just seen a rare creature. Sadly, this was something I missed. I realized that the style here in Nashville is entirely on a different page. 

Close your eyes and imagine a room full of girls that are 1: obsessed with baseball and greek life, 2: own more than three vineyard vines items. Yes this incudes phone stickers, lanyards, and mens logo tees (No actual Vineyard Vines women's golf wear), and 3: they sport either Sperry Topsiders and/or Jack Rogers (don't ask what Jack Rogers are because PROMISE me, they are not worth your time.) 

Now open your eyes. I hope you are happy now, because you just encountered a fashion nightmare. Now don't hear me wrong, I have worn some pretty bad outfits from time to time. As an athlete, owning over 7 pairs of black sweats, and over 15 pairs of Nikes, of course my style has deflated a little bit when I get pretty busy. However, I make it up when I have time and I am not busy with sports. When I go out to dinner, I look nice. I own some very quality staple pieces and my eyebrow game kills most. 

If you can't do your make up right, at least have a good personal style. That is all that I ask. Anyways, back to the beginning of my story. The girl in 'grunge' was refreshing. She was wearing something that meant more than a whale logo or social class. It was like a breath of fresh air.

Regarding brands... some brands are still very much in style here. COACH. COACH IS IN. And so is Lilly Pulitzer (prettttty tacky colors and overpriced). Sadly, Jeffery Campbell and Brandy Melville haven't even hit. To many southern Californians, Brandy Melville has been in style for a while now.. and its descending pretty hard. Well what I mean is that it became uncool when you saw a 7 year old buying the same shirt at the same time you were at Fashion Island. Because Brandy hasn't made a dent in style in the south quite yet, my sister thought it would be cool to purchase a choker from Brandy Melville and wear it after fall break back at school. 

People looked at here as if she was an ALIEN! Friends joked around that it was a 'hooker necklace', while others recalled wearing them as a kid and thought she was joking or something. HELLO GUYS this is almost a trend ready to be passed to the 7 year old on the west coast. I really really do not understand the logic of style here. And I am pretty sure I won't be hopping on any Nashville trends anytime soon.

I hope you enjoyed my (kind of negative) (actually very negative) (I'm sorry) rant.

Thank you,

Tara 

:)

Adapting to the South

Leaving the West Coast, California in particular, and moving elsewhere can be hard. Especially if its a relatively small city, smacked in the middle of the United States. No beach, no acai bowls, no palm trees: how do we survive? I seriously have no idea. 

However, life is not made to be something to constantly dwell about. Myself (Tara), and my twin sister (Emma) have arrived to FSU. Yes, you read that right. Maybe your thinking it means Florida State University, and if you are, take a short time-travel back 5 years or to eighth grade urban dictionary and you might get the hint. 

As athletes at a top University in the country, finding time to have fun can be pretty difficult. Our lives very well could consist of simply running, sleeping, moping around, and eating. Sadly, my life does consist of all of those at a very high level. But I like to make things difficult and throw in about 903205 other complicated activities.

My sister Emma and I want to feel the Los Angeles vibes here in Nashville. We want to have a laid back, yet active lifestyle and venture out into the fashion, music, health, and food out in the middle of the country. 

Please enjoy this blog and what it has in store. We promise to give great, honest advice, update with reviews on restraints, provide fun activities, and share trends. 

Thank you so much.
Enjoy!
xox
Tara