I'VE MOVED!

Hey there, gal pal! Thanks for coming to the blog!

I've actually moved to a new home and you can come visit me here - Cristinawashere.com

See you there!

X,

Cristina

What It's Like To Travel With a College Sports Team

In looking at my life lately, I was thinking of what story I could share. Considering I've been traveling every weekend to different cities/states, I thought it would be fun to share more about that. (And it would explain my crazy tweets about me sitting in sketchy IHOPs alone, ha!)

If ya'll didn't know, Cameron plays lacrosse for the school. He played all throughout high school and I absolutely love watching him play. If you haven't ever been to a lacrosse game, try to figure out a way to go! I don't know, stalk the guys on the team or something until they invite you. (Jk, you probably shouldn't do that.)

But yeah, if you like fast-paced sports (i.e. football, basketball, soccer), you'll love it. It's super easy to follow, too. Even after six years of watching, I couldn't name three rules to the game, but I understand enough to cheer when something good happens and throw up my hands at the ref when there's a bad call. 

We've had four away games so far, and I've gone with Cam to all of them. 

I love roadtripping with Cam. We play all the music we like, have long talks, and get to explore new places together. We have gotten to be really good roadtrip partners (compromising on music choices, knowing what roadside food each person likes/dislikes, etc.) since we travel 9 hours to college from our hometown. I feel blessed that we've been to many different states and cities in the past year and a half, and I know 20 years from now, I'll remember the songs we listened to in the car better than the concept of standard deviation or the Spanish-American War. 

The traveling is fun, but there's even more adventure.

Cam has to warm up with his team an hour before each game which leaves me to fend for myself. In Conway, Arkansas, I went out in search of a spot to sit and have some lunch and all I could find was a sad looking IHOP not too far away from where Cam was playing.

The hostess proceeded to sit me at a 6 PERSON TABLE. 

Have you ever been humiliated in the middle of a crowded commercial breakfast joint? It's not fun.

I had a book with me that I was reading for one of my classes, so not only did I look like I had no friends, but I looked like a total bookworm who's favorite hobby was to frequent IHOPs and sit and read with an egg white omelette.

I ate in 10 min, paid the check, and bolted out of there. 

Cam's team lost that game, but the weather was nice and I got 150 pages read out of my book.

For the next two games, we went to Dallas and had a wonderful weekend as we stayed with some family. Once again though, all was well until warm up time.

Let me preface this by saying that I am a huge baby/worry wart. When I go somewhere, whether it be the grocery store or a football game, I have to have all the necessary supplies that I might need: 

Advil in case my head hurts, Tums in case my stomach hurts, a water bottle for when I'm thirsty, a second water bottle in case there's no where to refill the first bottle, flashcards to study for school, books to read for school, a phone charger in case my phone dies, and various snacks for if I get hungry. 

By this game (the second of that weekend in Dallas) I was tired of studying, so my books didn't look all that enticing. Plus, it was a Sunday and everyone was relaxing and taking a day of rest, so I didn't have many blog posts to read or funny tweets to laugh at. Sitting in my car in a random parking lot of UT-Dallas, I was grade-A bored. The worst bit of it was, I had forgotten to fill up my water bottle prior to leaving the house.

The. Horror.

I downloaded the Postmates app and added a water bottle to my cart from a nearby CVS, but was too weirded out to have someone deliver it to me. I mean is it really safe? Doesn't that sound sketchy? Not to mention that while I knew the address of where I was, I had no idea how to let them know which intramural field I was at. So I dropped that idea.

I finally decided that I was just going to suck it up until the game was over, which I did. Luckily, one of the mom's had a big, beautiful cooler full of water bottles and let me have one.  

*Yes. I am super dramatic.*

For the last game, we traveled two hours away to Springfield, Missouri.

It. Was. So. Cold.

I always end up making friends with the other spectators in the stands just because we bond about how cold we are. I sat shivering with two other lacrosse girlfriends and we laughed at how red our noses got and how we couldn't feel our feet. Next time, I'm doubling up on fuzzy socks.

There are definitely a lot of great moments. When Cam scores, (or when anyone scores, really) it's so awesome to see how happy he gets and how pumped the team gets. It's so fun watching someone so in their element and getting to share in that with them.

So, the point to this story? Hmm.. there really isn't one. I just felt like sharing my awkward away-game stories. More to come ya'll, more to come.

X,

Cristina

Recipes for the Busy Girl on a Budget

I just want to make a healthy meal, but I don't want it to take forever. I have to study/go to meetings/sleep/be social and making ahi tuna tacos with a side of quinoa and roasted asparagus just isn't going to fit my schedule. Know what I mean?

Like I mentioned earlier this week, if you buy the cleaner foods at the grocery store, it will cost a lot less than buying anything pre-made or pre-packaged. By "cleaner" I mean stuff straight from the ground, vine, dirt, whatever.

So here's a look at a typical grocery list for me. This isn't everything I get, but these are most of those clean/simple/cheap foods I'm talking about:

Each of these costs me under or around $2. I do get canned beans despite the fact that their sodium level is higher because, well - I'm a college girl on a college girl budget. So I'll buy my 70 cent can of beans, run it under cold water before cooking to get rid of excess salt, and be good to go.

Before we begin, let me preface by saying I stink at remember to take pictures of my food for the blog/my kitchen has *horrible* lighting. If you want to see what some of these look like, add me on snapchat (cristina.snaps). I usually post a lot of pictures of my meals! 

So, I like to put the word "recipes" in quotations because these aren't anything you'll see on Food Network and they don't require any skill whatsoever. Maybe one day I'll write and sell the "College Girl Cookbook" and you'll see me beaming on the cover in an apron. 

So for now, some easy "meals" (there I go with the quotes again) that are cheap, simple, and healthy!

Sweet potato with veggies

Bake your sweet potato at 350 for 40-45 minutes. (Or until soft on the inside.) 

**If you are really in a rush, you can pop it in the microwave for 8 minutes! 

I find that a whole sweet potato is super filling, so I'll just add a side of veggies. You can pick and choose your favorite kind, but I normally go with zucchini. 

Sautéed Zucchini 

I cut my zucchini into disks about a couple centimeters thick. After adding some olive oil to my pan and letting it get warm, I toss them in and just kind of flop them around until they brown. Then I sprinkle the disks with salt and pepper, but any seasoning you like (i.e. lemon pepper, himalayan pink salt) will do.

**Note, if you want to let your meal cook while you study or do some homework, you can put the zucchini on the same pan as the potato that you pop in the oven. Take the zucchini out after 15 min and let the potato cook the full time.

Sweet potato + refried beans quesadillas

Ok, they sound gross, but I promise - if you like sweet potatoes and refried beans, you're gonna like this. I bake my sweet potato and make my beans on the stove and then I put them on a corn tortilla and fold it up just like a quesadilla! You could use any type of tortilla you like, corn tortillas have fewer calories and carbs, but flour or wheat tortillas have more iron and calcium!

Baked potatoes with hummus

I buy hummus every now and then (the Sabra Roasted Red Pepper is my favorite) and it makes a great dip for the baked potato. It may sound a little odd, but since I don't dress my potato up with sour cream, bacon, and all that good stuff, it really adds the flavor I'm craving. 

Homemade Chipotle burrito bowl

So, you could really go all out with this and recreate your burrito bowl at home, but chances are you'll end up spending so much on meat and other toppings that you're better off just going to Chipotle and spending the money. I do a really simple at-home burrito bowl with brown rice, pinto or black beans, and store-bought pico! 

Low-cal Tuna salad Sandwich/Wrap

Not everyone likes tuna, but if you are a mermaid like me, here's my my mom's tuna salad recipe!

3 tuna packets in water

1 in oil

a little bit of mayo just to make it stick 

Pickle or celery for crunch

little bit of pepper

I whip this up and put it on a whole wheat tortilla to make a wrap! I'll eat it with more veggies or some organic blue corn tortilla chips.

Veggie Pasta

I do veggie noodles with organic pasta sauce several times a week. It's nothing fancy either; I get everything at Walmart. When I'm running low on noodles or just feel like being fancy, I follow the steps for the sautéed zucchini recipe, and toss those in as well. 

If you try out any of these recipes, tag me in your pictures (@cristina96x) or snap me at cristina.snaps!

X,

Cristina