Having a vitamix at home is something I'm definitely going to miss when I go back to college. They effortlessly make smoothies and juices, turning them into a perfect liquid where other blenders can only purify.
I love making all types of smoothies, especially a post workout peanut butter and chocolate protein smoothie, but today I felt a little more adventurous.
I made a green smoothie from things I had around my kitchen...possibly a recipe for disaster, but I say my only downfall was that I made far too much for just two people. Try three or four...
That moment you have so many ingredients, you need to blend half of them together first to make room for the other half
Already half gone! Oops.
mmmmmmh....
Here's what I used for what ended up being 3-4 servings
4 c. spinach
2 medium/large pears
2 medium bananas
1 large apple
3/4 lemon, juiced (told you I took what I had laying around..)
1 c. cold water
It was originally just going to be bananas, pears, and spinach, but then I added too much spinach, which caused me to add another apple, which caused the quantity to go way over the intended two.
I confess, I'm after all the qualities a green smoothies can give - better skin, better energy, with a ton of nutrients added in, but it was absolutely delicious. Spinach flavor, gone. Hallelujah!
Sometimes, I wake in the morning and am eager to go running - I'm energetic, motivated, and the sun is usually enough to get me out of the house as soon as possible. Then there are those times where it's all I can do to make myself to even a quick 20 minute pilates workout or even some simple stretching to get the day started.
This morning was when of those days where despite having the warmest weather since I've been in Germany - 21C/70F - the sun was shining and there were no clouds in the sky. It was one of those morning where I hit snooze on my alarm a few times, and then after I proceeded to wake up, I decided to lay in bed and read some blogs instead of changing into my running clothes. It wasn't until nearly an hour after I had woken up that I could finally drag myself out of bed.
Even then, sometimes getting into the run will motivate me to push harder and get into it. That didn't happen today. Instead, all I could think about was how today was my last morning in Berlin, and how hot it felt, and how tired I felt. I have no doubts that the stress from finals week, trying to find an apartment for the summer in Berlin when I won't be able to meet anyone in person, trying to figure out how to get a new visa, and the sadness of ending the semester with some great people exhausted me and drained me of all motivation for the week. I took my run slowly, with many walking breaks and didn't even keep a record of my time.
Although it wasn't a record-breaking or hard run for me, sometimes I just need those days to take a break and use the run as a way to clear my thoughts rather than challenging and pushing myself. Sometimes I have to remind myself that breaks are okay, to let my mind and body recover a little bit to get my motivation back.
However this run was not all bad, I managed to snap a few last pictures of my last run in Berlin for the semester:
I will definitely miss running through Tiergarten in the mornings, no matter how grey and cold it was for 75% of those runs. I'm so glad that I got to see what it's like in the springtime, and even though I won't be living so close to it in the summer, I look forward to taking long walks in the park!
I'm sitting surrounded by suitcases as I type. My next stop: Paris. Expect lots of skincare, beauty, food, and typical tourist posts!
