I think this weekend would be great for a few things.
How about....
1. Starting a blog
I believe we all have a story to tell and a talent to share. I wish I had started mine before. I used to give it too much thought and I kept delaying the idea. I wanted to start out "right" and I wanted it to be perfect.
Well, guess what?
Perfect -most of the time- is an excuse.
Even if you think no one will read your blog you are wrong, there is at least one person who thinks you are courageous for putting yourself out there and that one person is so worth it.
Clicking the "publish" button can be liberating.
Having a blog nourishes your I'll-just-do-it attitude
2. Start saving money and buy yourself a camera.
I used to think that photography was not my thing until I discovered that I actually liked it. Maybe it has to do with how I perceived photography. I don't know.
The way I see it now is that photography just like running can teach you about perception, points of view and well, life itself.
It also implies becoming a sort of explorer. Looking out for beautiful light, spotting new places, new angles...think about it.
3. Stop drinking soda
Honestly just stop. That stuff is hideous.
You have the whole weekend to think this through. Come back on monday and let me know if made up your mind on any of these three things.
I hope you at least decide to cut back your soda consumption.
Have an amazing weekend and may your long runs be loooooooong.
I went to the doctor yesterday and after taking the prescribed medicines I am feeling better today. Not great but at least now feel I am on the road to recovery.
You know what I think will make us all feel better? If you thought fro-yo you guessed right and if you thought a list of 5 happy things, you also guessed right.
Here is this week's Happy Thursday list:
1. A caring hubby.
Even though Heinz has had a tough week at work he has managed to take me to the doctor, take me to get some tests done and bring me food.
All of these while being super cool about it. He doesn't stress out about having a million things to do and having a sick wife at home. I wonder how he does that...
2. Cable
Dear Lord if I didn't have cable I would be going crazy! I've watched Friends, Grey's and Gossip Girl reruns non-stop.
3. Christmas movies in september
These are the best type of movies to get you in a good mood! Home Alone & Love Actually are my two favorites and -lucky me- I just watched them on cable. Score.
4. Hot tea
I am currently on a french vanilla stage and loving it. Hot tea has been a sore throat reliever so I've been having as many cups as I need to make me feel better.
5. Home made granola -nutella version-
Recipe coming up :)
These are my 5 things. Now it's your turn. What are you 5 happy things for this week?
Last week I skipped the gym from wednesday on because I was lazy. You'll get no excuses from this lady.
I was -simply- too lazy to go to the gym.
Then Heinz brought the plague to this household. He was sick for most part of the week, he tried to be careful when it came to exposing me to the virus but I told him not to worry because -I assured him- I never get sick.
Well, it looks like this week I wont be hitting the gym either. I'm sick.
My bones are achy, my head feels like it's gonna explode and I feel my lungs are coming out of my body every time I cough.
I feel so bad...I'm not even hungry!
Hopefully this is just a regular cold and it will pass. Soon.
As you can imagine this past weekend pretty much sucked. Heinz was sick until saturday and I started to get my symptoms on sunday. Perfect timing.
We stayed home and only left the apartment to go to church and the drugstore which means I have nothing fun to say about my weekend.
Since nothing can be done about the past I decided to share with you today two things that I am really looking forward to.
1. This is the first year I will be decorating for Christmas.
Almost six years married and not once have we decorated anywhere we've lived. First it was because I couldn't bring myself to spend money on use-once-a-year stuff. We had a tight budget living abroad so we would rather spent the little money we had in -let's say- food.
Then it was the I'm-not-a-hoarder phase. I honestly don't have enough space in my apartment and I hate cluttered closets. Hate them. I hate cluttered kitchens, cluttered everything. So for me Christmas decoration meant having my apartment looking pretty for 1 month and then dealing with clutter for 11 months. It just didn't add up.
This year, however, we will be decorating. Excuse me, I will be decorating for christmas (although hubby says he wants to get involved I doubt that will happen) Our family is just us two but I talked to Heinz and we've decided to start our own family traditions. Isn't Christmas the perfect time to start this?
The tradition will include Christmas decoration, and advent calendar and I even think I will be making cookies for a few of my neighbors.
I am going all out fellows!
Check out my Pinterest board so far. You can follow it by clicking it.
I seriously think this is one of the coolest things ever.
Heinz and I don't have any pictures of us in the house. Shameful I know. But I really don't want the posed-then-framed picture at my house. I'm on the lookout for different more natural photos and Stikygram seems perfect!
It's certainly easier for us to take photos with our phones and they turn out more casual. Stickygram is also a great way to display them.
I am making a selection from both -Heinz and mine- Instagram accounts and having them shipped to my home.
I will show you the final result once I have them up on my fridge. Or somewhere else.
How about you? are you thinking about Christmas too? is it too early? Have you used Stickygram?
Today I am following up yesterday's post. Heinz keeps saying that I make my posts too long so this time I broke it into two parts and this is the "second installment" of The courage to be imperfect.
I can't tell you exactly how I feel about it yet. I am still going through the video in my mind thinking all this time I haven't allowed myself to be vulnerable. Being numb.
I want to make up for lost time but it's hard to figure out where to start.
Being vulnerable certainly doesn't mean going around telling everybody about your childhood issues or talking to strangers about your insecurities.
I don't see vulnerability as a way to be more open about yourself with others but as a way to fully embrace who you are. There is however an undeniable connection part but that, as Brené puts it, is a result of authenticity.
I am my own starting point and here is a rough list of where I've decided to start:
1. I should not be afraid to try something out. Specially out of fear of failure.
Now, I am not talking about skydiving or that kind of YOLO things. I am talking about those things I don't try out because I may be rejected, turned down, laughed at, questioned, judged...get the idea?
Putting myself in uncomfortable situations doesn't mean that the fear will go away. It means that I am aware it exists.
2. I don't have to lower my expectations. Specially out of fear of disappointment.
Let's say you are a runner, better yet, lets say you don't even run! and you want to run a marathon. It seems so distant and impossible that you simply disregard it as a personal goal and never say it out loud because you are aware others will laugh -just as you did- at you unrealistic goal.
Let's say you are an undercover writer (someone with a regular job by day but a words enthusiast at night) and you want to write a book, blog, article, children's novel, restaurant review, etc. But deep down you know it's just easier to keep yourself doing what you do best which is writing in your journal.
Let's say you have a boyfriend/girlfriend and you know you can't fully commit or be like "I want to be with you forever" because the other person is not where you are so why bother.
Let's say you are single and you want to find a special someone and get married. But then you think...we live in modern times and finding love is so unnecessary nowadays that you are like "forget it...maybe it's just a hormonal thing"
Low expectations mean low disappointments right?
I've been there...no...I am there! Thinking big then thinking medium size -translate to rational- and sometimes disregarding. If it is out of fear of disappointment I won't make myself lower my expectations anymore.
3. I can be proud of myself.
You know how you sometimes make something and think "this is so pretty" and then someone else comes and says "this is ugly" and you think well I am the maker therefore I am biased. This is ugly.
I think the same happens when you've achieved something. We let other people's opinion outweigh our point of view when it should be ours the one that we cherish the most.
My opinion should be enough. I should be enough.
My list may be short but I made it out of the things I feel keep me from being fully authentic. I've known about these issues before the difference now is that I can allow myself to be open about them and put myself in a vulnerable place instead of powering through them as if letting myself embrace them is a sign of weakness.
This is a major perception shift for me and I am predicting it will be a slow but core-changing process. You gotta love those!
Are you up to making your own list? Do you have a different starting point? If you do please share.
I want to share with you today a TED talk that has been an eyeopener but mostly a perception shifter.
Brené Brown studies human connection and she gave this TED Talk in Houston. She talks about vulnerability and this is how I would sum it up (You still HAVE to watch the talk)
- Connection is why we (us humans) are here.
- Shame is the fear of disconnection. To feel there is something about me that if somebody else knows or sees about me then I won't be worthy of connection. It's universal. Everybody has it. The less you talk about it the more you have it.
- Long story short -If you watch the video you get a longer version- she realized that the people from her research could be divided into two groups: the ones who had a sense of worthiness, a strong sense of love and belonging and people who struggle for it, people who were always wondering if they're good enough. The difference between the two groups: The ones who had a sense of love and belonging BELIEVED they were worthy of love and belonging. She calls this group The whole-hearted.
- She studied the whole-hearted group to determine what all these people had in common and she discovered three things:
They shared a sense of courage, courage to be imperfect.
They had compassion to be kind to themselves first and then to others (We can't practice compassion with other people if we can't treat ourselves kindly)
The last thing they shared was connection as a result of authenticity. They were willing to let go of who they thought they should be in order to be who they were.
- The other thing that they had in common was that they fully
embraced vulnerability. They believed that what made them vulnerable made them
beautiful.
- She found out that vulnerability is the core of shame and fear and our struggle for
worthiness, but it appears that it's also the birthplace of joy, of creativity,
of belonging, of love.
- We as humans numb vulnerability. The problem is we can't selectively numb emotion.
- You can't numb vulnerability, grief, shame, fear, disappointment without
numbing the other affects, our emotions. You cannot selectively numb. So when we numb
those, we numb joy, we numb gratitude, we numb happiness.
She takes her results and interpretations and applies them to our addictions as a society, religion, politics and even how kids are being raised.
Honestly, this is a must-watch talk. I hope you do watch it and then come back and share your thoughts with me.
Have a great monday and an awesome -more vulnerable- week.
List five things that have recently made you happy.
I'll go first and then you go.
1. I am happy I am happier.
It's been a tough couple of weeks -maybe a month?- whatever it was hard both mentally and emotionally but I think I am moving forward. I find myself being happier. Most important I find myself getting stuff done. Since I was feeling blah I had lost my motivation to do pretty much anything. The week before last I didn't even cook. Not one time in the whole week. Heinz and I had to eat out because I wasn't feeling up to it. I was forcing myself to do a lot of things but that is changing. This has been one of the most productive weeks in a lot of time. Running around, getting things done, coming up with new recipes, being excited, looking forward, etc.
2. Almond Milk
I think I can use the word LOVE to perfectly describe my feeling towards almond milk. I lay at night in my bed thinking it will soon be tomorrow morning and just the thought of knowing I will start my day with a nice iced-almond-milk-coffee puts a smile on my face. I don't think I can go ahead and live a life without almond milk anymore.
3. My salt & pepper dogs.
They are salt and pepper shaker but I don't actually use them for that purpose. Their goal is to sit in the kitchen just waiting for me to walk by and make very very happy. Don't worry I don't talk to them.
4. My trainer.
Have I mentioned that I am extremely happy with my gym trainer. He is amazing. He understands my goals and my anxiety levels. Next week we will be adding a little bit of weight to my strength training routine. I am predicting a lot of delightful soreness.
5. The announcement.
I received an acceptance email this week. I am in.
I will be getting my yoga teacher certification in november and that my friends is beyond exciting.
When? What? Where? I will be sharing more details as the date approaches and of course everything will be shared and discussed here.
I hope you will stick around because it will be f-u-n.
I didn't add any more sweetener because 1. I don't like over sweet stuff and 2. I thought the chocolate would give it a soft sweet touch enough to skip the honey.
I mixed everything together and placed it on a baking sheet. I tossed every 10 minutes until it was brown.
You will see the chocolate wont melt, it will only soften so with a spoon you can break it into almost powder. If you don't want to break it that's fine but it distributes better if it is broken into smaller bits.
Chocolate granola being put to good use!
I think it turned out sweet enough. Heinz on the other hand thinks it could have been sweeter. He solves this problem by adding a little bit of honey to his dish when he has some for breakfast...along with my home made yogurt I might add :)
I've recently found pleasure in making home made everything. If you want to start doing it you can begin by making this easy recipe. Home made granola is really easy and worth all the way.
How about you? Is there anything special that even though you can buy it at the store you like to make it home made? Let me know.
I can say a lot about chia seeds specially to those who haven't tried them. Let me tell you my story with these little ones.
I used to read in other blogs about chia seeds. Chia here, chia there...chia everywhere, Just like quinoa! Hasn't it happened to you? Quinoa is everywhere! Breakfast, salads, bread, recovery runs, fuel food for long runs...you name it, it's got quinoa...or chia seeds.
The problem is here in El Salvador we don't get a lot of things like quinoa. Almond milk just recently made its way to one supermarket and you can only get one kind. There is nowhere to get almond flour or chickpeas flour or agave nectar among other things.
You get the idea right? To get these kind of things you either have to be very resourceful and make your own, be constantly on the lookout at certain stores or have people coming from other countries bring it to you.
But that's ok. I mean El Salvador can live without chickpeas flour it's not a bare necessity.
hehe sorry had to to this!
When it came to chia seeds I assumed they were impossible to get and that having them shipped just to try them out was simply a dumb idea so I continued my life thinking that someday, somewhere, someone would let me try them out.
I was going around living my chialess life when I read this post.
And then my world was turned upside down - or up if I look at it from the bright side.
While I read Gia's post on chia seeds I saw a picture she posted. Never before had I seen a picture of the chia seeds being soaked in water. It looked...familiar.
And it clicked! My mom makes this disgusting looking drink she leaves sitting in the fridge over night that looks EXACTLY like the picture I was looking at.
I picked up the phone and called her immediately. This is how the conversation went:
- Hi mom, I was just calling to ask you about that weird water you leave in the fridge every night.
- Oh yes, I drink it every morning it gives you tons of energy. It's CHAN you know and they are called chia seeds in english.
- What? Mom how do you know this?
- Everybody knows chan gives you energy.
- No, I mean that chan is called chia in english.
- Oh, your aunt looked it up on-line.
- Mom but chan is red I've seen the fresco (a traditional drink here in El Salvador) and it's red.
- (Insert laugh) that is added color to make it look pretty.
It turns out we do get chia seeds and we get tons! We even have a traditional drink here in El Salvador made out of chia.
I went ahead, got some chia seeds and I have been giving them a try since then. I still had not found one recipe that would make me fall completely in love with them until I found this recipe for Blueberry Cardamom Chia Seed Pudding from my newly discovered blog Choosing Raw. As a side note I love Gena's blog! When I found it I spent so much time going through her recipes, opinions, advices. I love how outspoken she is about what she believes in. Passionate people inspire to live a passionate life.
Back to the chia seed pudding. The recipe clearly calls for blueberries but I didn't have any so I just skipped it.
I used:
1/2 cup of chia seeds
2 1/2 cups of almond milk
1 1/2 tsp of cardamom
1 tsp of cinnamon
I mixed the milk with the cardamon and cinnamon then poured it into the chia seeds. I let it rest for five minutes, gave it a whisk with a fork, let it rest for ten more minutes and then gave it a final whisk before covering it and placing it in the fridge over night.
Next morning I was in heaven. This pudding is simply delicious.
The tastes is like a chai tea with thicker texture. I even went ahead and heated some up in the microwave to have as a warm breakfast. It worked great as I topped it with sliced bananas. Yumm.
How about you? have you tried chia seeds? what do you call it chan or chia? Have you tried the fresco de chan?
