Thesis Progress and Mung Bean Hummus

Good news: I finished the first draft of my first chapter of my thesis, which was my goal for this week! I may try to take a quick look through it before bed, but at least I've achieved my goal for this week! My goals for next week are:

Talk to my advisor about my thesis (I haven't actually talked to him about the actual written thing I need to hand in yet)

Come up with an overview plan (chapter titles) with my advisor/get them approved by him

Run through my first draft of my first chapter and at least get something fully written (at the moment there are some blank spots that I need to fill in)

Write one more (compound) chapter

My day has been verrrrry boring - really just writing my thesis. The major highlight was: Mung Bean Hummus!

I have loads of mung beans (and I'm trying to use things up/clear up my room) and I wanted to see if I could make a healthier version of hummus.

I used:

Mung Beans

From http://www.alibaba.com/product-tp/116513357/Green_Mung_Bean_yellow_mung_bean/showimage.html

Lemon juice

Garlic

http://gardenofeaden.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-plant-garlic.html

Canola oil (we didn't have any olive oil)

From http://beforesixdiet.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html

I mixed everything up with our blender. It turned out like:

(My old camera is terrible! Everything keeps coming out blurry :( )

It was pretty good. A little "thick", I think next time I'm going to put in more lemon juice (and more garlic - I love garlic in my food!)

In other big news...next semester starts tomorrow!! I'm excited, sad (my last semester) and also nervous. I'll let you know how it goes!

A new challenge...

Well, I got back to school fine and all but forgot one very important thing: my camera! I must have left it at my grandmother's house and I'm so bummed that I won't be able to share the gazillion pictures I took over the last few days. Luckily I have my old one at school, so once that's charged up I'll use that until I next go to my grandmothers.

(I did see an ad I really liked on the train back to school though, and snapped a picture on my phone:

It's really hard to read it (I was at the other end of the carriage and my phone has terrible photo resolution anyway), but it says:

"The loudmouth next to you would sound better with a British accent")

When I was with my grandmother we went to Whole Foods and I bought a bunch of snack-y stuff for school with the intention of a) making trail mix and b) having some dessert-like-things-that-aren't-dessert for lent (ie dried fruit). I'm glad I got all the food, but I realised when I got back to school that I have so much...stuff. Everywhere. I'm on a meal plan at school but I still have a box practically big enough for me to fit in full of food (under my bed). I have enough tea to last for about 3 years (I have 3 boxes with 60 tea bags each plus about 16 boxes (I'm not kidding) each with 20 tea bags plus a bunch of loose tea). I have enough protein powder for 6ish months (I'll be back to see my grandmother in 6 weeks). I have about 12 pairs of trousers (okay, 14, I just counted). I must have at least 15 pairs of shoes. Urgh. SO MUCH STUFF!

Anyway, I've always been a bit of a hoarder and there's no where near my college where I can buy "proper" food (it's all fast food places) (and I'm paranoid about running out of snacks)...but I barely eat the snacks I have (I snack...a lot, but mostly on the junk food/sweets I end up buying). I found a bag of pecans that went off in 2009 (luckily they were still fine) and I have things I'm sure I've had since freshman/first year. I'm graduating at the end of this year and I'd really like to not have to cart all this food etc to law school (I'm also really really bad at throwing stuff that's still "good" away).

So...for this month I'm challenging myself not to buy anything/spend money (other than essentials...things I need for school (notebooks and textbooks), "medicine" (the NuvaRing and the things my dermatologist has prescribed) and social events that I really can't get out of (I already promised to go to a Superbowl party this weekend at someone's house and we're getting those parents a small gift which I obviously need to contribute to). Anyway, in a weird way I'm looking forward to it! (And I'm also looking forward to working my way through all the food and tea I have here, in healthy moderation of course!) I'll let you all know how I get on!

February Goals

Thesis - I stopped tracking how many pages I've read, but I must be at around 30. I'm still working on the background section, but should have it done by the end of tomorrow.

Food - I got what I needed to make up the trail mix and made it up. Hopefully I'll have some pictures tomorrow, but it contains: cereal, granola, pecans, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, yoghurt covered cranberries, crystalized ginger. I might also add some goldenberries or chocolate covered goji berries when the arrive!

Exercise - I didn't get a chance to hit the gym today, but I did go on my first run since my ankle injury yesterday, which was great! I'm a bit sore from it now though (which I can't believe).

Sleep - I slept through almost the whole of last night which is good for me! And no naps today so hopefully I'll sleep tonight.

Skin - yada yada, following her recommendations and not changing what I'm doing.

Resolutions - I wore my back support for the first time this month today! Yay!

Thursday

I'm still at my grandmother's house, which is super nice. It's so relaxing, which is great.

Things I've done today...

Sleep, a lot. I don't know why I've been so tired (maybe because I haven't been sleeping well at school), but I took two realllly long naps today. I hope I'm going to sleep well tonight :S. Hopefully I can get back on a more reasonable sleeping schedule. I'm also thinking that I might try to get on more of an early to sleep early to wake up kind of schedule when I get back to school. What is everyone else's preferred sleep schedule?

Went to the dermatologist. As I said yesterday, I'm still not delighted with how my skin's looking with all the hyperpigmentation but the dermatologist seemed confident that they'll fade in a few months. She wants me to keep doing what I've been doing (duac in the morning, atralin once a week at night) and come back in six months. Hopefully, things will start to clear up soon.

Thesis...I at least started on my goal for this week. I wrote about 2.5 pages of the introduction and I'm going to spend time tomorrow thinking about what else to put in the introduction. At least I'm getting going on it!

I didn't get a chance to go to the gym today, or really do any exercise, but my eating was generally pretty good. I had salmon with onions and tomatoes for dinner which was super yummy! I also had sweet potato, which was so good. I haven't had it in a while and I really missed it :(

PS I'm really bummed - I bought my camera to Connecticut with me, but I didn't bring the cord so I can't upload all the photos I've taken. I promise lots of photos on Saturday or Sunday when I get back to school though!

January Recap

January was an interesting month, with lots of highs and lows.

The Highs....

Exams and Grades

This was basically a month of exams, but at least I'm done now. I'm still waiting on one more grade (Econ), but my others were good, and I was really pleased with them. There's been a bit of stress because my boyfriends grades weren't as good as he was hoping they'd be (as always). He's a bit of a perfectionist and he's also not great at taking exams. Plus his writing style isn't...exactly the clearest. Anyway, it's been a bit stressful trying to make him feel better about that.

Thesis

I'm not sure if this should be a high or low. It's a low in that I'm miles way from finishing (so so far). But...it's a high in that I've at least started and I've come up with a plan to set weekly goals for myself.

And the Lows...

Food

My eating's been...so far from great this month. I seriously seriously need to work on eating less sugar. In a really weird way I'm looking forward to lent when I'm giving up dessert because then I'll have a big incentive not to eat sugar.

On the plus side the boyfriend and I got to cook a lot during the last week, and we made a bunch of really yummy dinners including shrimp, tomato sauce and pasta, chili con carne and rice and pork with apple sauce and pasta. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take pictures because my camera was out of battery :(.

Exercise

I haven't gotten in anywhere near as much exercise as I'd like over the last month. I did get in some great weights workouts at the end of the month because I went with my boyfriend.

Goals For Next Month

Thesis

Set weekly goals

Feb 1-5: Write the background section and read 30 pages

Feb 6-12: Talk to my advisor, come up with an overview plan, [other things...]

Get a new sub-project (a few new compounds in the series I've already been working on)

Spend 2 days/week working in lab (probably Tuesday and Thursday)

Food

Lent is starting during February, so I'll be giving up desserts when that starts.

Two of my closest female friends have a pact to only eat dessert once a week starting at the beginning of next semester, so I'm going to start off doing that with them.

Trail mix - I'm going to make up some "healthy" (as healthy as it can be) trail mix. I'm going to put in cereal, pumpkin seeds/sunflower seeds, golden berries, chocolate covered goji berries, yoghurt covered cranberries and some nuts. Does anyone have any other suggestions for what to put in?

Exercise

I'd like to get a regular exercise routine organized. I'm going to try to get one set up with my friends, because I'm far more likely to go when I'm going with others. I'd like to get a mix of cardio (~twice a week) and weights (~twice a week) and maybe pilates once a week.

Sleep

I'd like to try to sort out what's happened to my sleep schedule. I want to try to make whatever changes I need to make so that I'm not tired during the day and feeling like I could nod off at any moment.

Skin

My skin is looking at bit better, but still not anywhere near as good as I want it to be. The main problem now is the darkened pigmentation on my chin, which kinda looks like scars. I'm going to the dermatologist tomorrow, so one of my goals for this month is to follow whatever advice she gives me to reduce the pigmentation.

Resolutions

I've looked back at my resolutions for this month and I've haven't done too much on them. I'd like to continue working on my posture (with my back support - 30 minutes/day, working up to an hour or so/day), improving my clothes choices (I'm going to try to take photographs of my outfits twice a week) and epilating (more than I've been doing).

Tuesday

Good news! I think I might have finally worked out why I'm so tired! This morning the boyfriend told me that I'd woken him up numerous times during the night trying to get him to scoot over in bed. I realised at the beginning of this semester that I sleep much much better when I'm sleeping with him. But...for some unknown reason recently the bed keeps sliding away from the wall, so I've basically ended up sleeping in a crack, not super comfy! Anyway, we're going to see what we can do to keep the bed next to the wall/me not sleeping in a crack.

I also spent a bunch of time in lab today, which was somewhat productive. I'm getting nervous about getting my thesis done on time, so I'm going to set a goal of getting a first draft of my "Background and Significance" section done by the end of this week (Sunday). According to the guide we've been given, the background and significance section needs to include:

"Why is your work important? Briefly sketch the background to your thesis work; critically evaluate relevant existing knowledge; explain the problems and challenges in the field; and identify gaps in our present understanding that can be addressed by the thesis work. Conclude with a statement of what the thesis is about and why you believe it represents an advancement of the field. This exposition is intended to place your work into a broader scientific context, and to provide clear and logical motivation for both the general approach and the specific aims (below) of the thesis. This section may need to occupy as much as 5-6 pages, but not significantly more. "

It's going to be super general and I'm going to discuss some of the basics of magnetism.

My second goal for this week is to read at least 30 pages on the topic from the textbooks I've borrowed.

In other (food) news I found a place in town that sells bitter lemon! It's a lemonade-like drink but more bitter. I love it and they sell it at home, but I haven't managed to find any in the US.

Tonight for dinner the boyfriend and I made prawns sauteed in white wine and garlic on pasta.

It was delicious (I tried to take pictures but my camera was out of battery)!

I'm headed off to Connecticut tomorrow to visit my grandmother which I can't wait for. I should have lots of great food when I'm visiting her!

(Also, I have no idea what's happening to the font here).

Food

Given that everyone is doing WIAW, I thought I'd do my own version of it. I never end up taking pictures of my food, because I eat in a dining hall and it's weird/awkward to take pictures of food.

Over Thanksgiving I had a bit of a tough time with food - I ate so much Thanksgiving-y and Birthday-y food and I ended up gaining 2 lbs :(.

Anyway, I've been trying to be good today which feels great! I also go to the gym which felt really good! I also recorded all my food today which is below:

(yeah, I really need to watch my sugar. I have can never seem to stay under it :( ).

For the rest of the week my food plan is:

Thursday:

Lunch: Cheese ravioli with tomato sauce

Dinner: chickpea stew with rice

Friday:

Lunch: Chef's Surprise?! (I never like these things). Nutella and banana crepe

Dinner: Burger with french fries

Saturday:

Brunch: Fruit, caramel swirled french toast (how good does that sound?!)

Dinner: pasta, carrots

Sunday:

Brunch: Cheese blinzes and fruit

Dinner: Leftovers/chef's surprise

Fingers crossed that I can keep to that! I've been finding it much harder to make good choices when I don't have the menu and I haven't made a decision about what I'm going to eat.

Thanksgiving! (Properly!)

As I said before, I spent Thanksgiving with my family which was wonderful! There were a few tensions between my sister and me (more on that at some other point), but otherwise it was great.

I took the train down late Wednesday night and got picked up a the station by my Mum and Grandmother. The journey was fine, but obviously the trains were all super crowded and I was running late etc etc. I'm also a nervous traveller (not normally with trains though), but the presence of lots of armed police and police dogs on the trains didn't exactly make me feel super relaxed.

On Thursday we headed into NY to go to the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, which is a *huge* parade through NY with giant balloons and floats with people dancing/singing/ice skating/all sorts of other crazy things.





This was the first photo I took all day and it's my favourite one! I just find random floating pumpkins hilarious!



I really really really HATE McDonalds (it's pretty much evil incarnate in my eyes), but I like the picture!



...and I like this picture too




Another picture that I find ridiculously amusing. I have no idea who these kids are but it's a) health and safety gone mad and b) something that my parents would've done if they'd thought of it when we were younger!

We also, of course, had traditional Thanksgiving food which was delicious! (And I ate wayyy too much!) (I thought I had a picture of my Thanksgiving dinner somewhere but I can't find it. Maybe it was on Dad's camera).

On Friday we headed into NY again, but this time to see the Rockettes. It was the first time I'd ever seen them and they were so incredible!

The Rockettes were incredible! If anyone ever gets the opportunity to see them definitely go!

I really liked this chandelier in Radio City Music Hall (the theater)!

Plus: there was lots of Christmassy stuff in NY. The Rockettes are also a Christmas show so those two things put me into the Christmas mood! (I'm listening to Christmas music now...it's almost December!)

Christmas Trees in NY!

There was also the most beautiful sunset when we got back to my grandmother's home, so I took a bunch of pictures of that!

Saturday was my sister's birthday. (She's turning 20). I also had a terrible skin allergic reaction to something (I think putting my facewash on dry instead of wet?!), so that put me in a bit of a bad mood. (TMI but the skin on my face all started peeling off).

I also had a super yummy/intense salad for lunch:

I travelled back to college on Sunday. The journey was much better than it could've been and I got to meet up with my boyfriend in NY, which always makes things easier (someone to carry my bags. Hehe.).

So now...just back to the grind of school for another three weeks. I've been finding it a bit difficult to settle back in/motivate myself, but today's been a good (better) day with work and a less bad day for food :).

Eating Plan for Next week!

On the whole, I made good food choices last week. I'm finding that Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday are the hardest day for me to make good choices on. Thursday is my lazy chill evening, so I tend to watch TV. It's a terrible habit, but I always want to eat junky food when I'm doing that. Friday is a weird day because I don't have class. Because I'm not on such a regimented schedule (and don't have to get up a reasonable time in the morning) my meals tend to get messed up. On weekend days we have brunch instead of breakfast/lunch. I love breakfast food (much more than lunch food), so that means that I tend to eat breakfast in my room (oatmeal) plus a second breakfast which is usually something like pancakes or french toast - not the healthiest. Anyway, it's not ideal but I know that totally depriving myself of the foods I want to eat doesn't work well either, so I'm trying not to stress too much about it. (And I'm still losing a little weight eating that diet, so I guess it's not too terrible. To anyone who doesn't know the history of why I'm trying to lose a bit of weight: I put on weight when I was working on my law school applications (~14 lbs). I'd like to shed most of it by Christmas, just because I feel better when I'm a little lighter.)



Anyway, onto the important things: my eating plan for this week! (I know these are boring for everyone else, but they keep me feeling accountable).

(This week for some reason they still haven't posted the menu. I'm just going to make good choices and I'll update this post as soon as I have a menu!)
Sunday
Brunch: Fruit, belgian waffle with cherry topping (yes, not the best I know) or a broccoli cheddar bacon omelet (I generally don't go for the lunch-y things, but this sounds good!)
Dinner: No idea, it's always leftovers :S
Monday
Lunch:
Dinner: Pasta
Tuesday
Lunch:
Dinner:
Wednesday
Lunch:
Dinner onwards: Thanksgiving with my family!

Gratitude, Day 1: Food

My gratitude picture challenge for today is a picture of my favourite food. (Thanks again to Haley for the idea!)

When I was little, my two favourite foods were macaroni cheese and flapjacks (and I only ever had them together at one meal!). Now I'm not entirely sure what my favourite food is, but if I had to go with a "class" of foods it would definitely have to be fruits and berries (and carrots. I just really love carrots for some reason!).

Pictures:

Apples still on our apple tree at home

Mango. I miss these kinds of tropic fruits at school (this is an old picture from this summer, the marks around the side of the plate are from blackberries or some other kind of berry!)

Cherries! Yummy!

Raspberries! (Again, an old picture. These are from my birthday celebration at home over the summer!)

Recently, I've also gotten really into frozen fruit. The shop near me appears to have temporarily run out of the one I like (grr!) (strawberries, pineapple, mango, peaches), so I can't take a picture. Hopefully they'll get more soon though!

Gratitude part: I am incredibly grateful about two things related to food. Firstly, I am grateful that I have never gone hungry because we haven't had enough money to buy food. I am also incredibly grateful that my parents value good food and that I grew up eating lots of fruit, vegetables, lean meats and good carbs.

My eating plan for this week is as follows:

Sunday

Brunch: Fruit, 1 Banana chocolate chip pancake

Dinner: No idea, it's always leftovers :S

Monday

Lunch: Chicken fingers (whatever they are)

Dinner: Pasta with alfredo sauce

Tuesday

Lunch: Spinach salad, chips

Dinner: Vegetable risotto

Wednesday

Lunch: "Chef's Surprise" (whatever that is. Or salad)

Dinner: sweet potato, summer squash, some kind of protein?

Thursday

Lunch: Grilled cheese sandwich

Dinner: Veggie and cheese stuffed manacotti, dessert?

Friday

Lunch: Salad, some kind of crepe (cinnamon apple)

Dinner: Pizza

Saturday

Brunch: French toast with banana

Dinner: chicken, potatoes, carrots

This looks slightly healthier than last week, but not by all that much!

5K

I noticed a flyer in the gym for a 5K race next Friday (November 18). I took the plunge and signed up for it! I've never run a proper 5K race before, and I'm pretty nervous. I figured that it would give me a good incentive to run and work hard for the next week.

Previously, I've run based on time, not distance. I'm not really sure how far I've been running in the past. On Wednesday I ran my first ever "deliberate" 5K in the gym. It took me 28.31 (I got close to the end and decided that I wanted to do it in 28.30, so I was close!). Anyway, over the next week I'm going to keep working and seeing how I do with running (and if I don't feel that I'm ready on the day I won't do it).

Foodwise, I've done well. I've stuck to my eating plan so far this week, and I've also managed to stay in my calorie goal each day. I'm still using "MyFitnessPal" to track my food choices, and also to track my weight each day. I know that weighing every day isn't ideal, but it makes it easier for me to keep track of things.

My first weight (130) was from ages ago, so that doesn't really count. At least it's going down, even though I'm pretty sure a lot of that is water weight (no way did I lose 4.4 lbs in 4 days!).

November Goals

This month I really need to focus on losing a couple pounds and making healthier food choices.

To that end:

1. I will do at least 2 cardio workouts and 1 strength workout per week. I will also do one pilates class per week (starting next week for the pilates).

2. I will post my lunch (hopefully) and dinner choices each day - the weekly menus are posted so hopefully I'll be able to make healthy choices in advance.

3. I will have no more than 2 snacks per day.

4. I will eat breakfast everyday (I used to do this without fail, and for some reason I've got bad at this recently).

5. I will take all my vitamins plus the "green pills" and cocoa beans every day.

Fingers crossed for this all working out! I'll try to post every day or every other day with an update on how I do!

PS I just weighed myself and I'm 135.6 lbs, so fingers crossed for getting below 130 by Christmas!

Resolutions and Review of Resolutions from Last Month

I’m a bit late with my resolutions post for this month, but here it is….

Resolutions from Last Month

Exercise – Swimming

This did not go well. I did definitely swim more than I otherwise would have, but not nearly enough. Swimming just takes so much time and I never feel like I get as good a workout as when I’m running or on the cross trainer. Also, with my new skincare regime I was reluctant to start mixing things up by getting my face covered in chlorine a few days a week. I am going to keep trying to swim more…

Food – Eating Beans

I did well on this one – I have beans almost every day for lunch and I really like them. (To me) They taste good and keep me full. I’m definitely going to keep having them for lunch

Other – ACT

This was good, I guess. “I guess” because I don’t think I’m far enough into the ACT book to see any big changes yet, but I am certainly getting through the book which is good. I’m going to keep working on this one.

Resolutions for This Month

Exercise – Heart Rate Monitor

I have my heart rate monitor, so for this month my resolution is going to be to complete my target exercise program on that every week.

Food – Eat Mindfully

I want to try to eat mindfully. I’m getting stuck in a really terrible rut with my food – I keep binging and eating crappy food, even though I know it’s not good for me, that it doesn’t make me feel good, and that I don’t even particularly enjoy it when I’m eating it. To me, mindfully is going to mean focusing on my eating – the tastes and textures of my food. It’s also going to mean no eating and snacking while I’m doing other things. If I want a snack, fine, but I’m not going to eat it while I’m on my computer or reading.

Other – Pull in Tummy When Standing

I posted on this earlier. This is both a vanity thing and I’ve also been told I should tuck my tummy in when I’m standing to support my back. My best friend is also trying to do this – so we’re going to be keeping an eye out for each other on this front

I’ve realized that I’m getting bad at some of my previous resolutions – I’m flossing my teeth less and taking my vitamins less. So, to that end, every week I’m going to pick a resolution that I liked and “bring it back” ie make sure I do that thing for one week. I am also going to be checking in on my resolutions weekly, to try to help keep myself motivated, and to update everyone on which resolution I’m “bringing back”. Haven’t decided which day I’m going to do that on, but probably sometime over the weekend.

This week I’m “bringing back” taking my vitamins every day.

My Breakfast!

I realised that I've never really done a post just on food.

My Ideas About Food

I try to eat as "well" as I can. That means eating a lot of vegetables (especially the green leafy kind, still not really my favourite!) and some fruits (I'm trying to cut down a bit on fruits...diabetes seems like it runs in my family, and a lot of fruits are very high in sugar). I also try to eat a lot of fiber and a fair amount of protein. I'm generally not so keen on animal protein (apart from fish), so I've been trying to eat a lot of beans and tofu. During the school year, I eat in a dining hall, so I don't have many choices with food, which means that I can't go entirely vegetarian.

I think that my biggest food "issue" a the moment is that I have an awful habit of thinking "chocolate/cookies/candy/whatever is bad for me, so it must taste really good, so I should eat it because I'll enjoy it because it's bad for me" (and normally I don't enjoy it all that much, at least not compared to how much I'd enjoy a peach or a piece of watermelon or something else "clean" like that).

My Breakfast!

Today I had one of my favourite breakfasts, which is pretty much what I eat every day at school. I had oatmeal with blueberries, maple sugar and protein powder and I had some of my wheatgrass powder in water with lemon. (The wheatgrass is still not my favourite thing to drink!!). Today I cooked my breakfast in my rice cooker (which technically I'm not meant to have in my room), which means that it was a bit more "oatmeal-y" than normal.

It looks a bit yuck. It boiled over though :(

I got 2 lbs of blueberries at the supermarket last time I was there, so I've

been eating lots and lots of blueberries recently!

And, of course, the wonderful green juice. It's really not all that

wonderful, and it took me a long time to even stomach it, but it's

definitely grown on me and I do think it makes me feel better!

So, that was my breakfast! Yum!

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to prepare green leafy vegetables (kale, cabbage, spring greens)?

Things I love

I decided I wanted to do a post on ten of my favourite things (in no particular order, and by no means a complete list), with (some) pictures!

1. My family: my mum, dad, sister, brother, grandmother

2. My gorgeous boyfriend

3. My dogs

(The two above are of my wonderful puppy. (He's really not a puppy any more). He's 11 (almost 11 and a half) and he's a border collie).

(This is a silly picture of our other dog, which is appropriate given what a ridiculous creature she is! She's almost 11, but still acts like a puppy and everyone thinks she's one! She's also a border collie. Our two dogs are cousins!)

4. Nature/The Outdoors/Flowers!

I mentioned this earlier, but when I was younger I loved gardening. I recently got back into taking pictures so I have lots of flowers (they're easy to photograph)!

(These are from a set of gardens near my home)

(Lots of pictures of flowers!)

5. College, and my particular University! We have such an awesome environment here, and so many people work to make that possible. (There is someone in particular whose made such a difference to me. He works in our "academic support center", which holds a bunch of seminars on various seminars on procrastination, better note taking, exam prep etc. In the first seminar I went to, he talked a little about peoples emotions blocking their ability to work, which really run a bell with me because I did used to get really upset and feel useless if I didn't get a good grade on it. He was the person that recommended ACT to me to deal with that issue, and that's been one of the things thats changed my life).

6. The gym! And a supermarket near school that has tonnes of organic, natural produce. (Both the gym and the supermarket help me on my journey to become happier and healthier).

7. Certain parts of me! I've always hated my legs, but after my recent trips to the gym they're actually looking ok!

8. Thunder and lightning and storms and rain.

(not my picture - from free-extras.com!)

9. Autumn (my favourite season. I don't like the summer so much - it's too hot for me! We also have really really gorgeous autumns here in New England)

10. My phone. It's bad, but I couldn't live without it!

(picture from oriongadgets.com)