I'm baaack!!

It’s been a long time since I have posted anything but I was really trying to take a brake from the online world and ‘disconnect.’ I felt like I was becoming too interested in what others were doing that I almost stopped doing anything myself. I was checking Facebook way too much and spent hours online when I could have been out doing ‘real’ things. Am I making sense? I hope so.

Either way, I feel like I’m in a better place. Yes, I still have a Facebook account but I don’t sign on often and when I do I’m a bit more reserved. I’m more thoughtful of what I post or how I comment on other peoples’ statuses. I have started to delete people that, quite honestly, I don’t really care about – not trying to sound cruel here. I felt like a lot of people were becoming too nasty or were just complaining all the time. I know it’s healthy to vent every once in a while, but it was just too much that I was becoming annoyed with those persons.

I heard that Facebook can ruin your perceptions on people and turn you against people you once liked, and now I get it. To prevent myself from disliking certain persons even more I either have to delete them all together, or just hide their posts so I only check in on them because I want to know how they are doing and not because they are overtaking my newsfeed.   

I’m just saying.

Harry Potter? Yes, please!

"Gryffindor! Gryffindor!"

I was introduced to Harry Potter by a classmate my freshman year of high school, which was 11-12 years ago now, so I've had a really long relationship with Harry and the gang. To be honest, I don't recall really enjoying reading before getting my hands on this series, so like many other people, Harry is what ignited my passion for reading. Every time I finished a new book I was always in search of something else to read. I found it exciting to escape my world for a while and explore new places, meet new characters, and experience new emotions which were brought on through works of writing. 

So when people tease me (cough* Jabi* cough* ) because they see my excitement for what may seem like a 'child's fantasy novel' portrayed by witches and wizards who fly around on brooms (Firebolt's to be more exact), I don’t become offended because I know that the story is more than just that. Like others, I have a special bond to this series and to these characters, and I find that the themes found throughout the books are universal to anyone at any age. Then when I get the "Harry Potter is the devil" comments - I say, as a Christian, that they’re wrong - if anyone is the devil it's not Harry, it’s Voldemort! (LOL) 

I'm just annoyed that these aren't available on Kindle... :/ 

The premier for the final installment of the Harry Potter films is about five weeks away and as my way of getting "pumped" I've decided to reread the entire series, which comes out to a whopping 4,100 pages.  I know it seems like a lot but I can read it so fast that I'll be done before I know it. Piece o'Cake! 

The big TWO-SIX!

I love birthdays! First off, I get a lovely thing called a “Birthday Holiday” at work so I get paid to be off! Sweet! Not only that but I asked for Friday off so I could have a four day weekend. I spent Friday shopping all the birthday money away and today I got up before the crack of dawn to spend the morning horseback riding in Half Moon Bay (Jabi’s gift to me)! I had a great and fun ride, altho there were a few moments were I thought my horse would throw me off! It’s all good tho!

Group Shot - We're in the very back!

Howdee!

I was on a "beginner" horse named Hamburger and Jabi, a more experienced rider, was riding Larry.
The  guide confided in me that they give Larry to people who claim to be "experienced" to test them out and was impressed with how well Jabi handled him :)

That's my cowboy! He left his Stetson at home :(

Vision is Here!

Hi Everyone!

Here is a video of my iLasik procedure done earlier today. I tried to edit, but the procedure was less than 10 minutes! Enjoy Jabi's commentary :)

Where are the vultures at?

SO I have been on a quest to buy a new vehicle! The little bucket I have now was bought at an auction about seven years ago. My dad got it for me so I could use it to commute to Sac State from home which was about 80 miles one way. I have definitely put it to use, it has about 175,000 miles on it! I’m surprised it has even lasted me this long. The only thing is that recently it has been starting to show signs of death - it doesn’t want to turn on or it turns off while driving! I honestly don’t feel super safe in it anymore and I don’t want to make long drives so I feel a bit stuck in my area. 

After doing extensive research I have picked my new car which is the Hyundai Tucson - I love it. I like that its compact, has some great features and looks very stylish! I got my finances in order and all I need to do is get one for the right price. 

I put in offers at a few dealerships and two took the bait and where willing to negotiate around my offer.

So last Saturday I go to the dealer in San Francisco and to be brief - they totally blew me off! I was really upset because they countered my offer by four more grand. Then - the manager didn’t even want to budge saying people that usually walk into their dealership can afford to pay what they wanted because they were in the city (the cost of living is much higher in SF) and eventually some bozo would walk in and pay a ridiculous price for the car!

They said, “This car is very popular right now.” IS that right? Then why is that every time I tell someone that this is the car I want to buy they look at me like they have no idea what the car looks like. Zero out of 10 people knew zip about the car - sorry to tell you but your stats are wrong.

WTF! If I was a salesperson at a dealership and if I knew that if “I don’t sell then I don’t eat” - I would sell damn it! 

It wasn’t like my offer was way off - it was really aggressive and I’m surprised they didn’t even want to come close.

Well, I figured I would go to the second dealer - no, sorry, it turns out that dealer is under the same management as SF! 

Maybe it wasn’t my money...maybe it was because I’m a woman and they wanted to see if they could sucker me into a ridiculous ‘deal.' Oh well, I’ll just keep looking for the same car elsewhere. 

Eat shit San Francisco Hyundai, I’m going inland. 

I’m just saying.

One More Pound!

I would say I’m an emotional eater or I was an emotional eater or I’m somewhere in between. 

I’ll get back to that.

As many of you know I have been working out with a personal trainer in Hercules for six months now. I would say I’m sooo close to me my goal weight that I can taste it! Literally just one more pound and I’m there!

You know how they say when you go to college you gain the “Freshman 15” - well luckily I didn’t gain it all in my freshman year but gradually over the whole college experience. Then when I graduated I gained another 5 pounds. So in the last seven years I have gained 20 pounds! 

It was bad... I kept outgrowing my clothes, I got a muffin top and worst of all I started to get a double chin!

I tried working out at home - I failed at that. I tried working out at the popular 24hr Fitness - I failed at that (more because I was so annoyed that it felt like a nightclub that I got discouraged). I tried an all women gym - I failed at that. I agreed to let Jabi train me - that was a disaster (still love you babe)! I tried dieting - FAILED! 

Don’t get me wrong I would loose a few pounds here and there but it would always come back.

Then FINALLY, Jabi referred me to his eastbay personal trainer and it was literally one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

This is a short list of some of the ways my life has changed by working out with a trainer at Aloha Fitness:

1. I was taught how to eat for my body type, not diet.
2. I was able to loose the 20 pounds and then some.
3. I not only lost body fat, I gained lean muscle. 
4. I can run now!
5. I fit under the athletic body type and I’ve never been athletic before.

Overall I’m a healthy and fit person and I thank not just my trainer but also the people who work out there. Everyone has the same goals so you don’t feel like people are judging you. My trainer always pushed me and challenged me in my workouts - every-single-time! All I had to do was eat right and go hard at the gym. If I did anything else different, I would have just been wasting my time and money. 

Back to the emotional eating. One of the reasons I felt like I had gained so much weight was because I considered myself to be an emotional eater. 

Since admitting to my ‘problem’ I have learned to restrain from retreating to food for comfort. BUT - Jabi has been gone for a couple of days now visiting family in Mexico and I find myself craving food as comfort because I miss him :(

Jabi come back already! If I don’t get down to me goal weight by the time you get back I’m blaming it on you! :P

I’ll post before and after pics once I see the official weight on the scale in the gym ;)

(If you are interested more in Aloha Health and Fitness, check out their website www.eastbaytrainer.com)

El Huarache Azteca

Jabi and I had dinner in El Huarache Azteca, a Mexican restaurant in Oakland, its a chill environment that serves delicious City of Mexico style food! I'll say more on the food later. 

Anyway - we're having dinner and a lady approaches our table holding a bucket of single long stemmed red roses and she asks, "A flower for your girlfriend?"  The pressure is automatically on Jabi, I wonder what he'll say and right away he responds with, "No, thanks."  The lady walks away and he looks at me, totally nonchalant, and says, "You're dad's a florist babe." 

Then within the next fifteen minutes a mariachi band comes in asking the guests if they would like to request a song. It's like Jabi has been granted a second opportunity, but when they come around to our table - Jabi turns them down! Then he looks at me and says, "I only have my card tonight." (In this case, mariachi bands are paid in cash and there is a fee for each song.) 

I couldn't help but chuckle because lets say he had bought me the rose, at first I would have been all like "awww" but then later I would have just felt like he wasted his money because my dad IS a florist and my home is always filled with roses, so flowers don't have the same effect on me as they would to other people. Lets also say he would have paid for a song, I would have turned beet red from the attention towards our table, especially since I wasn't liquored up the experience wouldn't have been as enjoyable. Entertaining regardless, but definitely not much fun. 

He knows me too well.

But who says guys always have to get their ladies flowers and dedicate songs to them? I'm just saying - occasionally its cool but if you don't do it at all then you need to change it up. Besides Jabi has gotten me plenty of flowers over the years ;) 

Back to the food - I have been craving this place for months and we finally got a chance to go. This place has an extensive menu but I wanted to go mainly for the Torta Cubana! A torta is a Mexican style hot pressed sandwich, this one was filled with beans, egg, cheese, sausage, chorizo, breaded steak, ham, lettuce, tomato, avocado. IT. WAS. SUBLIME! It doesn't come with any side dish so we decided to order appetizer #20, which came with two mini sopes (thick corn tortilla cup filled with refried beans, lettuce, cheese and sour cream), two mini huaraches, and two mini pambazos (grilled white bread filled with chorizo, potatoes, lettuce, cheese and sour cream). Let me just say - the huaraches - were exploding with Mexican flavors. The huaraches are handmade tortillas filled with beans in the center and on top was a layer of sour cream, cotija cheese, pickeled nopales (cactus), and a green sauce. Muah! (Kissing the tips of my fingers)   

Mmmm! 

Torta Cubana - I had to take this half home it was so big!

If you are ever on International Boulevard and 38th Street in Oakland - stop by and enjoy some delicious food :) or check ‘em out at elhuaracheaztec.com

Me likez the foodz!

Arriba! 

-Melda