On Camera

As promised here is a little look at today’s Karate photo-shoot. 

The pictures are a bit blurry, but they’ll have to work for now.  I promise to post the professional ones once they are available.

Yup, that’s me in the blue sparring gear.  And yes, I was totally roundhouse kicking that guy in the head.

Now you are probably wondering why there was a photo-shoot in the first place.  Let me explain…

My Sensei (Karate teacher) is writing/publishing a book about Sport Karate/Sparring and realized that he needed some of his students to pose in the pictures and demonstrate the techniques.  I was asked because of my killer head-level roundhouse kick. Oh yeah I’m going to be published in a book!

Here’s the set:

Getting ready:

Punch-Kick Combo: (I’m punching)

Backfist:

Line Sparring:  (I’m second on the right)

5 hours and 420398 photos later, I was tired, sweaty, and ready to go home.  But right when I was walking out I noticed this. ↓

Black Belt Hall of Fame?! How exciting!

Now I feel legit.

* * * * * *

Questions of the Day:

1. Have you ever been in a photo-shoot or published in a book/magazine?
2. Are you flexible?  I consider myself pretty flexible, but I can’t do a split for my life!

Eggy Protein Pizza

Hello Wonderful Bloggies! How is your weekend so far?

Mine has been awesome!  Yesterday, I hung at school with my friends for 4 hours talking, watching basketball games, eating, and just goofing off.  I feel like I was laughing the entire time.  So much fun!

I also have a Karate photo-shoot later today, but more about that in a later post.

* * * * * *

Remember Thursday night when I posted this?  Well, it seems like a bunch of you wanted the recipe for my Eggy Protein Pizza.  Ask and you shall receive…here you goooooooooo! :-D

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup EggBeaters (or 3 eggs, or 6 egg whites)
• 1/3 cup marinara sauce
• 1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• garlic powder, pepper, oregano, Parmesan, and salt (to taste)

Toppings:

• onions
• olives
• tomatoes
• mushrooms
• bell peppers
• broccoli
• pepperoni
• grilled chicken

Directions:

1. Spray a medium pan with nonstick spray, heat over medium heat.  Pour eggs in the pan, cover, and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the egg is cooked.
2. Top cooked egg “crust” with marinara sauce, cheese, and desired toppings.  Cover again for 1 minute.  Cut into 4 slices, transfer to a plate, and enjoy!

Yield:  1 serving

* * * * * *

Just a caution, the pizza is a little messy if you eat it with your hands (like a regular pizza) but the taste is worth it. I’ll definitely be making this again.

* * * * * *

Sorry for the lame-ish post today, now I have to get dressed and ready for the photo-shoot.  I promise a post later though!

Questions of the Day:

1. How has your weekend been so far?  Any fun plans?
2. What are your favorite pizza toppings?  Mine are onions, mushrooms, and olives.

Happy Saturday!

Pain In The Back

Even though its only been 3 days since my last post it seems like it has been forever since I have last blogged!  I’ve just been really busy and then when I did have a bit of free time I had no blogging motivation whatsoever!  What have I been doing with the time not spent blogging, you ask?  Let’s find out…

Black Belt

As you may know, yesterday was my 4-hour physical Black Belt test.  I’m not going to divulge too much information until I receive my belt in early January but I can tell you that it was long, it was tough, and it was definitely something to remember.

 

Running

This past Monday was the start of Winter Track at my school.  Originally I was planning on running 100 meter sprints, but my coach [who was also my Cross Country coach] recommended that I try running 400 meters [1 time around the track - quarter-mile.]  As of right now I am thinking of sticking with running 400′s instead of sprinting, but only time will tell.  Also the workouts for the 400′s are pretty similar to Cross Country length runs, so it will be a great way to keep up with the distance thang.  The only downside is that my left lower back [like really low - right above my butt] has been acting up lately.  Today I had to go to the school’s Athletic Trainer and she told me that it was probably due to the pressure my body puts on my left side when I am running around the track. 

 

Her advice to me was to ice down my back, stretch and to see her again on Monday.  I really hope it works!

FFF Housekeeping

Even though I haven’t been writing formal posts for the past few days I was still doing some blog-related work.  I made a new header via Picnik because I didn’t like the black lettering on my old one. 

I also made it snow…on my blog! If you are a WordPress user, you can make it snow on your blog too by going to your “Extras” tab and selecting “Make it snow.”  How cool?!  I also decided to hide the number of posts next to the months because I started obsessing over them a little.

Salad Challenge

I decided to take the Salad Challenge that Lisa mentioned earlier this week.  The challenge is to eat 20 salads in the month of December.  So far I’ve already eaten 2 so I’m 1/10th of the way there!

Salad #1:

Romaine lettuce, onion, olives, grilled chicken, shredded cheddar, carrots, and Italian dressing

 

Salad #2:

Chickpeas, peas, corn, carrots, olives, tomato, edamame, turkey, and Italian dressing

I’m looking forward to the new and exciting salads I will make soon!

*****

There you have it!  That’s what the last few days in the life of Erika have been like.  I already finished all of my homework so I can spend the rest of the weekend with my friends and family.  Tonight I am celebrating Christmas with my Girl Scout troop [going out to dinner at Olive Garden and exchanging gifts] and tomorrow I am decorating the house for Christmas with the family.

Question of the Day:

1. Have you decorated for the holidays yet?

I hope you all have an amazing weekend! ♥

What Black Belt Means To Me

Hi friends! 

Yesterday was the due date for my Black Belt Essay.  For the essay I was given 5 topics to choose from and after lots of careful consideration I chose the one that seemed to be the easiest:  What does Black Belt Mean To Me?

Of course, nothing is ever what it seems and I actually had a pretty hard time thinking about this the first few weeks of Black Belt Training but once I went through a few weeks of training I knew exactly what Black Belt meant to me.

Below is my actual Black Belt essay that I submitted to my Sensei. [Korean for Martial Arts teacher]

Also keep in mind that I am not the best formal writer…

What Does Black Belt Mean To Me?

In July when I started Black Belt Training I looked at this question and had no idea what Black Belt meant to me.  Now, after six months of training, I can answer this question without hesitation.  Hard work.  To me, Black Belt means a lot of hard work both physical and mental.  It’s the end of one journey and the beginning of another.  Throughout this journey I have learned all of my katas, all of my step sparring, and all of my self-defense techniques, in addition to brushing up on all of my kicks, blocks, and hand strikes.  I have conditioned my body so that I am able to do multiple rounds of sparring, bag work, and 500 jumping jacks. I have learned the history of Tae Kwon Do and how it translates into daily life.  I have prepared myself in such a way that I can look back on this a few years from now and think, “Wow. I really worked hard and earned that Black Belt.” A Black Belt is not something you can just receive, it has to be earned. Anyone can buy one, but few can really earn and wear them proudly. 

In addition to hard work, to me Black Belt also means determination.  It takes a lot of determination to earn the coveted Black Belt.  A determined individual will constantly practice and perfect their techniques while an unmotivated individual will get frustrated or bored with them and give up.  Lately, I’ve been practicing my forms and techniques for almost a half an hour everyday!  Throughout my journey I have realized that only an individual with lots of determination can achieve maturity and proficiency in the art of Tae Kwon Do.

In conclusion, there is no definite meaning for Black Belt.  It varies from person to person, or from Black Belt to Black Belt.  I believe someone cannot fully understand what earning a Black Belt means to them until they go through months of training and preparation.  I have realized that first hand.  Only now can I say that to me Black Belt means hard work and determination.  In the beginning I though earning a Black Belt would be easy, but now I know better.  I’ve realized that Black Belt is something you have to work hard for and has to be something you really want and keeps you motivated for the rewarding end result.  If not anything else, it will certainly be something to I will always remember and be proud of achieving.

                                                                               *****

Now I am getting ready to get dressed and go to…Karate! 

I have to put as time into my training as I possibly can the next few days because the infamous 4-hour long physical test is this Friday!

Eeeeek!

Nut Butter Love + Lunchtime Excitement

Hey Bloggies!

Today I decided to have overnight oats for breakfast because I can’t wait until next summer to have them again.  Who cares if they aren’t typical autumn food?  I love them! 

Breakfast:

1/2 cup oatmeal, 2/3 cup fat-free vanilla yogurt, 1 tbsp chia seeds [soaked in 1/4 cup water], topped with raspberries and White Chocolate Wonderful

 

It was delicious.  I obviously don’t care that my raspberries are out of season.  Berries are too good for me to worry about seasons.

Speaking of yummy things…clearly I am still enjoying my precious White Chocolate Wonderful. ♥ ↓

Confession:  That is not the same spoonful of PB from the other picture.

White Chocolate Wonderful is just that good!

*****

Lunch was delicious as well, although it was completely void of all things peanut buttery.

Lunch:

Turkey and Tabasco Sandwich with NSA peaches and a Dannon Light & Fit Pineapple Coconut yogurt

 

I demonstrated my inner rebel again by choosing a tropical flavored yogurt.  Hello, Piña Colada!

Now there is a quite a story surrounding today’s lunch.  Not my lunch, but the lunch hour in general. 

Today my friends and I walked into lunch and started eating our lunches as usual.  Less than 10 minutes into lunch the fire alarm rings and we all have to go outside and wait for the “fire drill” to end.  So we wait…and wait…and wait some more.  By the time we are allowed back inside we were standing outside for over 45 minutes and are informed that it was not a fire drill and there was an actual fire in one of the science labs[!!!!]  Talk about exciting!  The fire was nothing much [only about a foot high] and no one got hurt so it was pretty cool that we got out of class for 45 minutes. 

If only we could have gotten out of History instead of lunch.

*****

All of the waiting must have made me hungry because I was starving when I got home!  I refueled with…

Snack:

1 Clif Peanut Butter Pretzel Mojo bar

A little while later [like right before dinner] I had a little plate of carrots and hummus [Not pictured].

I washed it all down with a new tea that my Aunt Rachel gave me to try.  This one was actually seasonal.

Pumpkin Spiced Tea.

Enjoyed in a mug with my [baby] face on it!

Now before we start talking about my baby picture, I am going to change the subject…

…to homework.

*****

Today I didn’t have much school homework. [I only had to write a fake journal entry about his little guy... ↓]

[Yeah, that's supposed to be Cyclopes.]

But when there is a lack of homework there is always something else to take the place of what would have been free time.  Today it was Black Belt stuff!

You see, my Black Belt test in coming up in less than a month and I still have [quite] a few kinks to work out.  Like my katas or taegouks: [They are basically a ninja's dance routine - Haha!]

Taejouk 1-8

Taegouk 4

Taegouk 5

Taegouk 6

Feel free to check out the videos!  I have a feeling they are going to be very helpful to me in the upcoming weeks.

*****

Enough Karate talk.  Onto dinner!

Dinner:

Good ol’ [whole wheat] spaghetti and [turkey] meatballs – Made by Mom

Sometimes simple is the best!  [Gotta love comfort food!]

*****

Now I am off to get ready for bed! 

Goodnight!