Internship Archives - Strength and Sunshine

Summer Bucket List Review

August 27, 2013 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 2 Comments

My day did not go so well yesterday. After I got back from work at the Library around 11:30am, I ate lunch and then sat down to type out another Common App supplement essay. All was well and I was breezing though getting closer and closer to the 500 word limit. I was writing about this here blog so I actually was enjoying it. And then I was at 430 words, decided to open up a new tab and check on Bloglovin’ for a sec. Well when I went back to my essay. BAM! I was logged out and on the home screen. I didn’t freak out right away since this happened once before and it just simply saved what I had written in the box for later. So I logged back in went to that essay and…nothing. That ugly white box was staring back at me blank. I freaked, screamed, cried. “How could this happen! I just wasted my Monday before school writing an essay for 2 hours to have it vanish in thin internet air!” Lesson learned I shouldn’t have been going the lazy way and typing the essay directly on the Common App. I should have written it in word then copy and pasted. Well it was to late for that. After I calmed down I rewrote it, but it came out completely different. I don;t know if it is better or worse…I guess we will see once I submit to that college.

Anyway, since I just mentioned this is my last half week of summer I decided to see how I did on my Summer ’13 Bucket List. Here are the results:

+ Make my own Nut Butter (I need a better blender for this…)

~~+ Successfully Enjoy and Complete my Internship~~ (I made some great connections through this. O I never recapped my Assemblyman lunch. Well I met the other 2 interns and finally the Assemblyman. Everyone was so nice and are willing to help in my future government endeavors. However the conversation at the lunch was mostly about high school gym class, water polo, dodge-ball, and Rutgers football…)

~~+ Go to the Beach~~ (My quick recap yesterday.)

~~+ Visit Washington DC~~ (Check it here, here, and here.)

+ Expand my Home Practice by taking a Yoga Class (I am really sad about this one…But I did really improve my home practice and abilities!)

+ Go on a Bike Ride (My mom and I scoped out a trail on Sunday that was just down the road form our house. We had never been on it even though we have lived here for 12 years. But the trail ended up being was to rocky so we decided it was better for walking. Which is actually really nice! A hidden trail or tranquility right outside our door.)

+ Go Tubing

+ Make better use of my DSLR and take more Pictures (Really bad. I have none for my AP photo class now…except for my DC shots and some food and yoga photo shots…)

~~+ Get my License~~ (Still can’t stop smiling about this. I love driving by myself. it is relaxing and makes me feel good!)

~~+ Start a Blog~~ (Best decision ever!)

~~+ Complete as much College Application stuff as possible~~ (Well we all know how that is going…but at least it is going…) (See above.)

+ Go to a Farmer’s Market (I plan to go this weekend…hopefully. This is a disgrace!)

+ Get my Mom to do a Group Fitness Class

+ Begin Running (I think this will have to wait till I am in college. There are no save places to run around here…that’s the same problem I have with outdoor biking.)

+ Cook Dinner for my Family and actually Sit Down and Eat the same thing Together

~~+ Try or Create 4 new Recipes~~ (Dal Tadka, Lentil Veggie Tacos, Indian Spiced Chickpeas, Pumpkin Pie Quinoa Flakes…just to name a few)

~~+ Hold an Unassisted Free Handstand for 5 to 10 Seconds~~ (Hell Yea!)

~~+ Simplify my Pinterest Recipes into better Categorized Boards~~ (I did, but then they got so full again I think this requires another day of organizing :P)

+ Go a at least 2 Day Trips to New Places

~~+ Continue Reading Copious amounts of Books~~ (Easy-peasy. Since June I have read 21 book and am about to finish another. Not a Summer record, but still good.)

+ Do my Annual Closet Purge (Well I did get ride of some more old clothes, but my huge closet (the size of my room but with a sloped ceiling) is still a mountain or books on one side and just stuff on the other.)

+ Meet Someone New, Learn their Story and Blog about It (I was excited about this one. But I never went anywhere that actually had approachable people…)

+ Do a DIY Project

Totals: 10/23 Completed…FAIL!

I am really disappointed in myself. So I am deciding to extent this time frame and make it a 2013 Bucket List. I am determined to finish all (well most) of this list by December 31st, 2013 @ the 23:59 hour!

So tell me:

Did you make a Summer Bucket list? Did you get most of what you wanted done or was it a total fail like mine? But hey, just because school is starting Thursday doesn’t mean Summer is over…I actually still have until September 22ed the first day of Autumn. 😉

What was the best thing you did this summer? I have to say it was going to DC and starting Strength and Sunshine! 🙂

Friday Finisher 8/23/13

August 23, 2013 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 2 Comments

Happy Friday friends! Yesterday was the last day of my internship at the Assemblyman’s office. My last day consisted of sitting, adding addresses to data files, organizing old filing cabinets and making new tabs for them. Fun? Well I don’t know about fun. 😉 But later today I was invited to lunch with the assemblyman and two other interns there. This is great since I have never met the assemblyman yet…awkward. Hopefully it will be a good networking and connection making opportunity. It should be fun since I will be able to ask him questions about his rode to politics and the like. I will let you know how it goes!

I made a graphic for the Friday Finisher! I think these are my favorite posts, so they deserve some love. Thanks PicMonkey for you magic!

SS Posts from the week:

Monday: Power Monday #7 Sleek and Strong Arms

Tuesday: Group Power July Release Review

Wednesday: WIAW: Lentil Veggie Tacos and Pumpkin Pie Quinoa Flakes

Thursday: My Health Story Part 2: Good Riddance Gluten

Blog Posts I loved this week:

+ Going Back to Simple

Amanda decided to minimize the phone, get rid of cable, and actually eat dinner at the table. Are you living to high-tech?

+ 11 Facts about Smiling

I definitely don’t smile enough…

+ The Mayonnaise Jar

I love this story! Don’t focus on the small stuff first.

+ Consumer Reaction to FDA’s Gluten Labeling

Many are still outraged by the 20ppm requirement. 20ppm is the absolute max and many Celiacs can not even handle that high a number.

+ 10 Important Lessons They Don’t Teach you in School

The most learning you do is outside the classroom.

+ Form Follows Function

Claire says we need to focus on getting healthy and strong, not thin and toned.

+ Let Reality be Reality and Three Prong Fork

Two great though provoking posts this week from the lovely Cori.

+ Follow your own Food Rules

There is no one formula for the perfect diet equation.

+ #SILgivethanks A Thankfulness Project

Each day take a moment and share what you are thankful for!

+ More Than a 5k

When running becomes so much more.

+ What Ethiopia Taught Me

Jenna’s experience visiting a whole new world.

+ Stop Working out like its Your Job

Workout for the right reasons and remember to have fun with it!

Favorite Pins:

(Follow me on Pinterest – RebeccaGF666)

Gluten-Free Herb Crackers. I have never made my own crackers but these seem lovely if you want to cut out processed snacks!

Homemade Chickpea Flour. What is a Friday Finisher post without the obligatory chickpea pins?

Chickpea Pesto Sandwich. Yummy…mouthwatering…enough said.

(If you have never checked out Thug Kitchen, it’s a really funny recipe blog! Hence the curse words below.)

Functional Workout. Julie always comes up with such great workout ideas!

Chickpea Flax seed Homemade Pasta. I don’t eat pasta, but this looks awesome and isn’t really “pasta” so…plus its only 2 ingredients + water!

Summer Tabbouleh with Beets. Let’s savor summer produce while we still can! (However beets don’t end when the summer does…)

A few things I loved about my week or am grateful for:

+ Slowly making progress on those Common App supplements. So essays, yet so few words! 150 word limit to explain how an extra curricular activity developed my character? Crazy…but I am not backing down!

+ 75 days (and going strong) of being (eyebrow and eyelash) trich free.

+ I finally published my blog’s Facebook page! Like it if you are so inclined. It’s a great way to stay up to date!

+ I am also grateful for a pretty stress-free summer. Even though I didn’t end up doing much or a lot of what I had planned. I feel refreshed physically, but not mentally. I am not ready to go back to the school, busy, crazy life routine.

+ I ordered two new Buff Bands from Amazon yesterday (as well as the best sunflower seed butter). Can’t wait until they get here!

So Tell me:

Have you ever been to a 3rd World Country? Would you ever go some place like Ethiopia? I always thought I wanted to, but now I am not sure. But it would be such an amazing experience to visit a place like Ethiopia and see how vastly different, yet the same humans are.

What Summer produce will you miss the most? I will definitely miss all melons (watermelon, cantaloupe, honey dew) as well as cherries (which already seem to be gone) and blueberries!

Do you have anything fun planned this weekend, please share? I will be going back to school Thursday so this is my last stress-free weekend. I am thinking of hitting up the beach for the first time…better late then never!

My Kind of “Candy”

July 18, 2013 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 4 Comments

So today was my second day at my “Internship” at my assemblyman’s office. When I got there, the girl who would be my “mentor” was there, thankfully, so I thought I would get more work to do, not like last time. Well I was wrong again. She told me “O, I think it will be slow today.” Well what does that mean! It’s an office not a store! So all I was given to do today was look on NJ.com for any new local event and things of interest. Then after an hour She told me to Edit an Excel sheet of the local municipality council members, their phone numbers, and emails. The sheet was all over the place and a lot was outdated. But fixing it was difficult since the computers they have are old, slow, and lock up….not user friendly. But I got that done then had an hour and a half left to just read the book I brought. Good Times…

I hope you had a more exciting day then I. It is so hot here in Jersey. It is at least 95°F right now, crazy! I wish I could go outside and soak up the sun, but it’s just to hot. Okay I am done complaining today. So on to the title of my post. I don’t eat candy. I just have no sweet tooth and just really don’t like junk. But you know what is a super healthy delicious alternative? BEETS! I haven’t made them in awhile but thought I would pick some up when I went grocery shopping for the week. All I do is roast them in the oven and bam! So good! They are subtly sweet, soft, colorful, and wonderful. I love making them in advance so they have time to get cold in the fridge. I love eating all my veggies cold so much more then warm or hot, ugh!

Simple Roasted Beets

Ingredients:

– 1 Bunch of Beets (Try to get a bunch that are mostly uniform in size, for even cooking.)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 475°F.
First off if you are not making them the day you buy them, cut off the stalks right away so they last longer. Otherwise you can do this when you make them.
After you cut the stalks off, wash the beets, then peel the outer “skin” with a veggie peeler.

Then this might happen, so wash your hands. Haha, be careful not to wear light clothing if you messy with peeling. You can also put on gloves if you don’t want to stain you hands but the stain doesn’t last long, it washes off!

Now wrap the each beet in a square of tin foil like so.

And put them in the oven for about an hour or so. You can pull one out and see if a knife cuts through easily. If not leave them in longer.

Once they are done let them stay wrapped and cool them on the counter for 20 minutes. Then you can open them up over a plate or cutting board (make sure you do this over something since there will be red beet juice in the foil that will most likely spill all over). Then just cut them up in to pieces the size you want.

And done! This is where I like to cool them in the fridge for a few hours before eating. But that’s just me. You can dig in right here, right now!

Do you have no sweet tooth like me or do you have to get you fix of candy/ dessert/ sugar? My mom has a MAJOR sweet tooth. She has tons of bags of Skittles, MnM’s and various candy in the house at all times.

Do you like to eat your veggies cold or hot?

Chocolate Protein Overnight Oats

July 11, 2013 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 48 Comments

The classic easy prep-ahead breakfast! Chocolate Protein Overnight Oats are a healthy, gluten-free, vegan recipe for those busy mornings when you’re rushing out the door but still need some sustaining food to fuel your day!

***This post has been updated in August 2016. Original writing stands***

Today was the first day of my Summer “internship” at my New Jersey district’s assemblyman’s office. I say “internship” because it is more of a volunteer position since I’ll only be going once a week for 4 and a half hours. But that’s okay, they are calling it an internship so I will play along. As you know I am hoping to go to college in DC and major in government or international relations. This internship is a great way to show colleges that I’m interested in that general field. Even though this is not the exact area of government I’d like to get into to; you have to start somewhere, so here I am!

I woke-up today at 4:20am, did my morning warm-up and some Platies leg work, push-ups, and calves. Then I fueled with some Chocolate Protein Overnight Oats! The classic and easy breakfast to prep the night before so you can grab-and-go on a busy morning! I’m amping mine up with extra protein for more staying power and of course, there must be chocolate!

Chocolate Protein Overnight Oats

Chocolate Protein Overnight Oats

Author: Rebecca Pytell
Yield: 1 1x
Category: Breakfast
Cuisine: American

Scale

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Gluten-Free Rolled Oats
1 Cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
1 TB Chocolate Protein Powder
1 TB Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 TB Chia Seeds
Dash of Cinnamon (optional)
Liquid Stevia (to taste, optional)

Instructions

Combine all your ingredients in a mason jar, glass, or bowl.
Mix and set in the fridge overnight.
Enjoy cold the next morning, or you can even heat it up (just add some more liquid)!

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1

I got dressed up in my favorite orange dress from Express, a black blazer from Victoria’s Secret, and my Franco Sarto black wedges! When I got to the office I learned that the girl I was supposed to be working with was out! So, the Chief of staff started me out at a desk and told me to read through the NJ legislature site and get familiar the whole political process of a state government, bills NJ has passed, members of the congress, etc. After, I made up an Excel sheet of local events coming up in the next couple of months for possible appearances for the Assemblymen.

Here’s to hoping next week will be a bit more interesting! I hope your day was more fulfilling and you had a fabulous breakfast (that always makes any day worth it, right?) See you tomorrow with some end of the week links!