Thoughts of a forgotten mind

There are times in our lives when I believe it’s OK to stop, breathe for a while and enjoy the endeavors which surround us. There are other times when we get consumed by our day to day activities that we don’t give ourselves the chance of enjoying life happenings. It seems that it all comes down to having a balance; having the equilibrium of each aspect in our lives.

Too much work leads to living in a cycle that might lead to a stressed and not happy life, on the other hand too much fun leads to a life where in my opinion not much gets accomplished.

So what is the key for a life well balanced? Is there an ABC recipe I can follow? Will I ever be destined to work and not think about other stuff? Well, these past few weeks I started an experiment, and the first lesson I received was that having a balanced life takes a butt load of work. You need to plan and organize, especially if you have a lot of activities to accomplish in one day.

What I did was some kind of schedule, yes like the one I had as a kid so I could remember all the things I had to do, this includes everything, from waking up at 6:00 AM, through finishing a day perfectly at 10:00 PM. There are a lot of activities I included, but today I want to write about the ones that for me mean having a more balanced life:

Start with Breakfast and that is because throughout the years I started skipping it, but what I have learned is never skip breakfast, it really is the most important meal of the day, I started neglecting breakfast because I wanted to sleep more, but I wanted more sleep because the day before I stayed up late watching TV.

By the way don’t watch TV, I  know this sounds ugly, but really if you want to accomplish things in life don’t sit in your couch for 3 hours changing channels until you find something that amuses you, Is not that I don’t watch TV, but if I have a show I like, I make use of my DVR and tape it, then watch it over the weekends, plus I can skip the ads, which in my opinion are a waste of time and make me fat because I cannot control myself when I see that random Pizza advertisement.

Work Out, yes yes everybody tell us how exercise is great for our mind and body, and well it certainly is. Whenever I stop working out I feel tired, depressed and my mind doesn’t function as it should; you don’t have to join a gym if you don’t want to, there are tons of videos that can help you work out, or you can also walk outside, but do try moving your body at least 30 minutes every day.

Read before going to sleep, something you like and enjoy, it can be something funny, adventurous or spooky, try avoiding topics related to your work, because that time should help you relax and unwind from all the things you already did over the day.

Lastly find your passion, a couple of weeks ago I discovered that  mine is swimming, I used to swim while at college and discovered that was the only sport I did not suck at because a) I didn’t get hit with a ball in the head and b) I didn’t get hit with a ball in the head. The feeling that swimming and being underwater gives me, is nothing I can’t compare so I had added this activity to my Sunday’s it is part of my “me time”.

September is Time for Embracing Change

Hey everyone, so right now is Monday September 1st at 9:27 PM, it is amazing to see that I am here at home typing and had some time earlier to prepare lunch for the entire week while doing laundry and uploading YouTube videos. Let me explain why? I work in the finance world and going back to almost a year my 1st day of the month was always full of work and leaving the office very late (yes I did have to work today…Labor Day, but left the office at 5:00 pm).

Tonight, I wanted to write about how amazed I am that in a couple of days it will be a year since I decided to make a big change in my life. You see, a year ago I had a job in another city, I thought I had things figured out and I was comfortable, yet there was something bothering me inside, I knew it would take me a long long time to grow in the company I was and it was worth trying out something else, while being scared of change, I also decided to throw it to the universe and say I really want a change.

And the change came, scary as always, but this time I decided to jump in and embrace it with open arms. Tonight, I want to say that I am grateful, because that change brought amazing and spectacular things to my life. It  was hard, YES, I am not going to say it was easy, but I can say that it was WORTH IT.

And still change doesn’t stop to amaze me because it seems I will be receiving change again, which again it’s scary, but not as much as one year ago. I think that as humans we need change in our lives, we cannot be living under the same circumstances always, and I am a firm believer that change is always for good reasons it helps us grow and evolve.

So I believe that for a second time in a row September is the month of change for me, so I have nothing else to say than in this month I am again embracing change with my open arms letting new things into my life and knowing that things will be alright.

Wishing you all the best
Until Next Time,

xoxo

Snack Time

Hey everyone! Today is Snack Snack Time, I gotta be honest I love me some sweets, but when you are trying to take care of your health and what you eat you need to be smart so what I did today was something similar lol, I love chocolate, but I know that can be all sugary so what I do is I buy dark chocolate and mix it with almonds, this is a decadent desert, very delicious and a small piece of this can help you with those sweet cravings. Enjoy!

As you can see in the video this desert is very easy to make and if you have kids they can help too!!

Hope you enjoyed!

Until Next Time,

xoxo

 

Yummy Paleo Recipes

So I’ve been playing around with my kitchen skills (thanks to pinterest), a friend of mine went Paleo and suggested me a couple of yummy recipes that are super super easy and I thought it would be a great idea to share with all of you what I created. I believe these are great as lunch meals or when you feel the need of having a cheat meal without cheating.

The first dish, is my interpretation of pasta with shrimp, who doesn’t love this combination, so what I did was go to my supermarket and bought spaghetti squash, believe me that after I tried this “pasta substitute” I ain’t looking back, it’s super easy to make and it is so versatile you can prepare it with everything, so for this dish I just put in a pan a dash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the shrimp and zucchini,  a little bit of kosher salt and pepper, and that was it. I also added half avocado just because I had some left. It was so yummy that I am literally craving it right now.

The second dish is our interpretation of rice with veggies, as we cannot eat rice we used cauliflower, I just put the cauliflower in the blender until it looked like rice (hehe), then in a pan I put a little bit of sausage (no oil this time), then I added mushrooms and red bell peppers, last I added the cauliflower. The flavor of this dish is so delicious that I would eat this every day if I could, I believe you can mix and match maybe you can add more veggies or instead of sausage you can add chicken, but that’s what I had on hand.

I hope you enjoyed I believe these dishes are great! Especially if you are having a busy week.

Until Next Time,

xoxo

The 100 and forgetting everything I knew

I am very excited today to start this week by talking about a breakthrough I had last week, It was as if it was there all the time but I was not ready to see or grasp it. The breakthrough was that I am turning 30 this year and I know is just a number so I don’t get overwhelmed by saying I am getting older, but hey I am not getting any younger either. Also, I am getting married soon (finally!! Lol). And still I haven’t been able to achieve that healthy state where I’ve been wanting to be for the longest time.

So I started working out again, this started 2 weeks ago, I’ve been going to the gym doing Zumba, Cycling, Swimming, Abs, and all that you could think of to keep my mind sane and mostly stress free. I have been working out because I feel more alive, which is something that happens when you move your body.

My next step was food (uhh the tamed subject that has haunted me all my existence!!), and I said to myself why does it have to be so hard? Why do I let food be an important part of my life to the point it controls me?, Why nothing that I’ve done works out? Basically because deeply I know that I am kind of weak with food especially bad food. I am in a cycle of eating healthy on weekdays and then the weekends “my cheat day” I go and break every single good habit I could have.

Last week, I knew that definitely I needed to break that cycle once and for all, and I needed to forget about everything I knew about diets and eating healthy, because basically I knew nothing and because nothing has been working out for me. Plus I needed to be open minded because if I don’t open my mind to new things I won’t be able to succeed.

While thinking about this and trying to see what to do a friend introduced me to The 100 from Jorge Cruise, and yes I admit I had to investigate if it worked, people testimonials and all that stuff to be 100% in. So I gotta say it doesn’t sound bad, it actually made sense and I decided to put everything and do it. So today I am in my day one and what better way to document my experiment that in my blog.

So if you are interested stay tuned in the next following weeks I will be updating you in my new lifestyle and what I’ve been feeling about this diet, I am also thinking in recording my experiment to see what happens. But, we shall see.

 

Until Next Time,

xoxo

My Zumba Experience

Hey everyone, I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend I know I am full of work thanks to month end…but still I have a small break and decided to write a bit, and wanted to talk about my new hobby. Well is no news to everyone that since I returned from Ecuador and moving to Houston I’ve been gaining some pounds (ok a lot!!). These past few months have been a bit stressful and I have not been taking care of my eating habits that much, until a couple of weeks ago when I said enough!…

So I decided to eat healthier and join the gym once again, now that I am more “stable”. They offer tons of classes, but my first option was cycling since I used to do that in my previous gym and helped me a lot! But, a friend of mine (who joined as well) went to the Zumba class and told me how great it was. Honestly I was a bit skeptical because I never thought it would work, but I decided to give it a try, little did I know that I was going to LOVE IT.

IT IS AMAZING, you burn a lot of calories, while dancing (even if you don’t know the steps) and you work out ALL YOUR BODY. I ended up burning almost 500 Calories in a 60 minutes class which is way more of what I’ve burned in cycling in the past. So yes! I recommend Zumba if you want to exercise while having fun and learning a few new steps.

Have you practiced zumba?

Until Next Time

xoxo

New Year…New Everything

Happy New Year to all of my dearest reader’s hoping that this year is great for all of you and all your goals be accomplished. For me well, it’s been a heck of a time I got back from my 3 months in Ecuador on December, finally moved to Houston and I’m mostly installed and ready to keep on my blogging and video filming…because we all know I was kind of slacking on those.

So today I started making a list of posts I want to write (cuz I am organized like that) and thought about what I got for Christmas…IKEA furniture… ok that post is done lol.

And while trying to mumble year end close at work I did manage to visit a couple of places to enjoy a bit of Christmas, which was great with my baby here..But we did miss the family for the holidays..I have to say this was my first holidays away from them.

Yes, this is me working the 24th lol…

Now to keep with the rambling, I know this year will bring more amazing things, I mean last year my life dramatically changed…so I am quite sure this will be great and I wish you all the best as well.

Until Next Time

xoxo

What’s in my Gym Bag

You are in the gym after working out, getting ready for work and uh oh! You forgot your shoes!! Yes this happened to me once and it is not a nice feeling especially when you need to run to work!

So today I have for all of you What’s in my Gym Bag, let me tell you I have come to this from Trial and Error, Enjoy!

Until Next Time,

xoxo

The Benefits of Morning Exercise

I’ve been working out for 3 weeks straight and today I thought that I was ready to write about it. Basically I’ve joined a gym since last December and I was going after work (a couple of days a week). While this “routine” worked for a couple of months I got to a point where I just could not handle it. I just remember feeling tired and not wanting to go anymore.

One night after a hefty dinner I could not sleep, it was 3 in the morning I believe, that guilty feeling for eating a lot and the fact that my birthday was a month away made me say to myself I cannot do this anymore (it was like my AHA moment!) 2 hours later I jump up off bed, got my stuff ready and hit the gym.

What started as an abrupt decision of me going to the gym at that Insane hour became a habit, I only was planning on doing this for a straight month, only to see what it felt (after all I’ve never did this in my life), but honestly I think that this has become my new way of living. I wake up every day at 5:00 am and get ready for my 6:00 am gym time, after that I get ready there and go to work.

Today I want to share with you all of the great things that have happened since I have been doing this:

I feel more awake. Yes people often say that morning exercise really helps you feel more awake during the day. And it really does, my work requires my brain to be awake so since I started working out I completely forgot about “needing a coffee to wake up and start my day”

I think faster and give more accurate solutions. Sometimes there are situations that need to be fixed fast and correctly, before working out early I felt tired all the time and lazy, now I find an easy way out when I have to solve a problem at work or take better decisions.

My breathing has improved. Before this I would say I breathed normally, but believe me when I tell you that every day I leave the gym ready to start my day my breathing is different and feels good, I feel that I can really expand my lungs, which makes me feel pretty alive.

I don’t stress anymore. I used to be a person who could get stressed pretty easily, when I went to the gym after work I went and got out all the “stress of the day” but REALLY, now that I think about it, working out in the morning helps me not to have stress during the day.

I smile more. It is easy to smile when you are awake, have good natural energy and feel awake.

I sleep better. Incredibly I do, I don’t have any more problems with my sleeping habits plus I sleep early because I wake up at a bloody early hour every day.

I eat better (ok I try). I am still lacking a bit on this side, but I believe I become more selective because I do think more before putting stuff in my mouth and if it is a snack and it doesn’t taste good why bother I just won’t eat it.

And basically that is it, I know I have more to go, but today when my alarm rang and I woke up with no hassle and started getting ready without nagging I realized that it already became a habit for me and nothing can beat that.

Have you had an AHA moment lately?

Exercise, Money and Am I a Student?

Hey everyone, so if you are a current assiduous follower of this blog of mine, you might have noticed that I have not been posting a lot. Well basically I’ve been running up and down here and there with a lot of “interesting” things, and today I wanted to share them with you.

Well, first of all you know I’ve been working out in my fitness/health side for some time now, and somehow the past months I got stuck in my weight and was not feeling good. I just knew I needed a change, so one day at 4:00 AM I decided to give a big turnaround to my routine. I started working out early in the morning!! Now this is a big challenge, because my working hours are from 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM, so I started getting up at 5:00 AM and going to the gym.

This has been a BIG challenge and I’ve been trying to get USED TO my new schedule, which I won’t deny is a bit harsh, BUT the feeling I get every day after I leave the gym ready to start a new day is PRICELESS. No wonder I heard that working out in the mornings is the best thing. On my weight I have not seen big changes, but my clothes are loose now and I feel great, which is the most important thing.

On the other side, well I think I am going back to school (wait, I am going back to school)…I still cannot believe it. Two years ago I finished my Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and I felt that was time to go for my Masters, it all happened very sudden and I’ve actually been given a great opportunity that I cannot reject. So yes, I will be a student again. Not a full time because with a master is very different and this one is great because classes are only on Saturday’s so this will not mess with my weekly goals.

So where does this leave my blog and my YouTube channel? Well I’ve been giving it some thought and I will definitely not be leaving it because I love it, this is my hobby my escape and something I truly love doing, and I know school and work are first (after all they pay my bills and the stuff I review for all of you guys! ?) but I have to be realistic and I know that I will not be posting every day as I used to. Hang in there posts will be juicier!!. Plus thanks to these new activities I have now tons of new Post Ideas for all of you, so it is a win win situation.

On my No spending month let’s say that I’ve been a little overboard with my expenses (just see my YouTube Hauls) but now that my birthday is coming well let’s say that It will be over for some time, maybe until winter comes. But I have managed to keep my savings in good condition still and keep moving forward!!

Wishing you all a happy Weekend!!

Until Next Time,

xoxo