Food. Lifestyle. Reviews.
For our honeymoon, Ryan and I went to Oahu and decided to try out as many places as we could. I narrowed this list to five places that I really enjoyed. Check them out and let me know if you’ve tried any of the places mentioned.
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One of my earliest memories that I have of failing is when I was learning to ride my bike. I was so afraid of falling that I ended up not braking in time, slammed into a curb and fell on the grass face first.
Failing is such an ugly word.
The word itself has such a negative connotation.
I have slowly learned throughout the years that failing is just a part of life, it makes you the person that you are today.
In school, I remember my first time ever failing a test in Geometry and thinking that it was the end of the world. I even tried to hide my progress report from my parents
I think the worst I have ever felt about failing was my sophomore year of high school. My school had implemented a testing system in which you had to pass all history tests in the semester in order to graduate. If you failed one test, you were done.
I was very stressed out at the time and I ended up getting the answers to one of the tests from a friend. What I did not know, is that the same answers were being circulated to almost every other sophomore in class. I used the answers, as almost everyone else did, and got caught cheating.
I remember feeling the lowest of low, feeling as if I let everyone down. They called my parents and said that I would have to take the test over again in a room with just the teacher, I remember feeling like a criminal. I passed with an A the second time around, but I think the biggest accomplishment that year, I learned I would never cheat again.
Failing happens so many times, but here I am, my world has not ended.
Failing with purpose is when you know that you might fail at an objective but you go for it anyway. You do not let fear take you, you set a goal and attempt at achieving it and gain something in return.
Recently a new position opened up at work. I have only been with the company for a year and I knew that I was going to be up against people that had more experience. I was afraid to show my interest in the position because I knew that there was a big chance that I was not going to get it.
I decided then and there that even if I did fail, I was going to go through the experience and process of applying internally.
I submitted my resume, practiced my presentation, studied my equipment and awaited the day I had to present.
When I was done I thought I did amazing. I was so happy that I had practiced for so many days and I felt like all my efforts had paid off. I knew in my head that I had this position, I knew that I had done everything in my power to achieve this goal.
I didn’t.
I was up against 6 other people.
As I sat in the room with the managers telling me that they loved my presentation but they decided to go with other people all I could think of was, what did I do wrong? I thanked them for the opportunity to show them what I had to offer and asked them to consider me for other like positions in the future.
I failed.
As I sit here, almost 8 hours after I heard the news I now see that I failed for a reason. I failed in order to become better, in order to want it more, to need it more, and to appreciate it more once it is mine.
I will let this experience along with all my other experiences become the part of me that perseveres.
I will not give up, and I will continue to fail with purpose.
I survived #angienomeatweek!
Okay almost, but let me explain!
I first want to make sure to thank my best friend Marlene. Marlene has been vegan for a while now and as soon as I told her about being vegan for a week she sent me a ton of recipes.
Thanks Swigg!
Let’s start Day 1 (Monday)– It was awesome I went grocery store shopping and bought everything on my list. Let’s just say that my list was two columns long and looking back at it now it I bought way too many veggies.. I was ambitious.
Breakfast: I ate oatmeal with strawberries and kiwi. Lunch: I made fajitas for Ryan with chicken and for myself I just used bell pepper and onion. Dinner: I had Applebees, I looked through their menu and ordered the veggie burger no mayo or cheese with sweet potatoes fries.
Day 2 (Tuesday)- I had a great day! I meal prepped all my meals and snacks.
Breakfast:I attempted to make the banana pancake recipe that Marlene sent me but I went wrong somewhere, since I had to go to work right after I had to ditch trying to fix it and I ended up having toast with peanut butter instead. Lunch: I made cauliflower Ceviche from the recipe that Marlene gave me and it was so delicious! Dinner: I made myself some mushroom spinach tacos with salsa.
Day 3 (Wednesday): This is when I had a bit of trouble.
Breakfast: I had the simple, easy toast with peanut butter. Lunch: I made a sandwich, I had forgotten how much Daiya cheese melted so when I put two pieces of cheese and toasted it, I had gulps of cheese in my sandwich and once I added the avocado, faux-turkey and tomato it became super soggy. Totally a “my bad”. Nonetheless the flavors were there but the texture was a little off. Dinner: I had an Amy’s rice crust pizza dairy-free and gluten free. I ate the whole darn pizza.
Day 4 (Thursday): This is the part where I am going to be honest. I did not make it through the whole day as a Vegan. I lasted until 9pm, so let’s take a look at my day.
Breakfast: I decided to try the cheesy avocado toast again and it was soooo much better. Lunch: I went to the nearest pho place and got some tofu stir-fry… totes delish. Dinner: I had cake. This was Ryans birthday and I bought him a little chocolate cake. I was trying to be good and make it through the whole week, but that tiny little chocolate cake was calling me. I had some and it was worth it.
Day 5 (Friday): I apparently gave up. This morning I gave Ryan a ride back home from dropping his car off at the audio store. We were running short on time and so we ended up eating crappy food. Also, this was the day I got hit on my way to work. All around it was a crappy day
Breakfast: McDonald’s. I’m so sad that my week ended with McDonald’s, I had the breakfast deluxe plate. Lunch: I said fuck it and I had Taco Bell, the cravings box. Dinner: I thought I had already done bad the whole day and ended it with Denny’s, I had the turkey sandwich with clam chowder soup.
So there is my week. I failed. Even my MacDonald’s breakfast looks disappointed.
Honestly, I feel awesome being honest about it. Like my previous post about binge eating I tend to hide things. Bringing my failures out into the open makes me feel like next time I could do better.
I will attempt to do this challenge one week out of the month for the rest of the year, my goal is to make it to the end of at least one week.
Adios my friends.
Thank you to Daiya for sending me samples to try out their products. Full Daiya recipe video coming soon!
Took a photo field trip to Salton Sea with some friends from my Chaffey College days.
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As I am laying in bed sipping some cold water out of my bottle I’m reflecting on a weekend that i wish could have lasted longer. Ya feel me? Have you ever had a weekend, or even just a day that you wished never ended? Let me back up a little bit and explain my week.
My weeks always start the same, on a Monday morning laying in bed waiting for my alarm to go off.
Nobody loves Mondays, you might like them, but no one loves them. I prepare my lunch, prepare my outfit and I head out the door. Same routine every day, every day except Friday. This Friday was special, I had breakfast with Ryan, he made me French Toast… oh so yummy…but I’ll get to that.
Last Tuesday I started Weight Watchers for the 4th time. This time I feel different, I feel like I actually want to give a shit. My sister is getting married next April and that is one of the major reasons why I joined. Last Saturday we went out dress shopping. I absolutely hated the way I looked in every single dress. I knew I had it in me to try Weight Watchers one more time, but this time I was not going to allow myself to fail. I did perfect all week, and by perfect I mean I kept within my points all week. I even have a few weeklies left.
Wednesday and Thursday were a blur, all but the fact that I stayed over at Ryan’s house. I was not going to be able to have our usual hangout on Friday night since I was going to go out with the girlies, so we decided on breakfast Friday morning.
On Friday morning I woke up to the smell of French Toast. The night before I let him know that my new eating plan required me to log everything, one by one he read me a list of ingredients and I proceeded to figure out the points. They weren’t too heavy on points, I promise! They were delicious, so sweet and flavourful. I had to leave to work unfortunately so I kissed my love goodbye and drove to work.
Night time came quickly, I got ready to meet with my sister and her lady friends at a new local club. My co-worker let me know about this place and it ended up being such a fun night. I drank 4 beers! Because of my weekly points I was able to drink those and still be within my points. Had a blast!
Saturday, I cleaned, cooked and did laundry. I cooked a really amazing dinner for Ryan. I bought some spare ribs, chicken, potatoes, and baked beans. I made the ultimate BBQ dinner. Still with all that food, I did not go over my points. WOOHOO! Anyway, after dinner we went to the 99 cent store nearby to grab some snacks and supplies for our next day trip to Disneyland! We prepped our bags and had a good nights rest.
So, as some of you may know I absolutely love Disneyland. It is more of a love of the memories that one makes at that place. I am an annual passholder and for the first time in a while Ryan and I were blocked most of the summer, almost three months! We ended up going today although it was hot and crowded we had a really good time. We tried a new place to eat which was the Cove Bar in California Adventures. We shared lobster nachos, a trio slider plate (which I only had one slider), and a Wild Cherry drink (so yummy). It was really good as a lunch, the nachos were gigantic and spicy! After we ate, we ended up meeting up with Ryan’s niece Rilley which works at the park. She had a few hours to kill because she was waiting for her beau to arrive to have dinner with him . We tried to stay indoors since it felt really warm outside. We walked and talked and finally we each parted ways.
We came home showered and relaxed. I was exhausted, the sun and the people really made me tired, but I was also very hungry. Ryan and I decided on Subway for dinner, he had his Italian Trio and I had my Double Chicken Salad with no dressing just oil and vinegar. We hit the grocery store and as soon as we got home we fell into bed to watch some Netflix.
This is why my weekend was terrific, this is why I did not want it to end. As soon as I lay in bed my head rested on his chest, his arm went around to my shoulder and he kissed my forehead. This is where I always want to be, in the arms of the man that I am crazy for, in the arms of the man that makes me forget everything that causes me pain, stress, or grief.
I hate saying goodbye to him on Sundays. Soon we won’t have to, until then, Sunday nights will always be the worst day of the week.
Last Saturday Ryan and I decided to go to The Getty and it was such a perfect day. We invited my best friend Marlene.
I think my favorite part about being at The Getty is the sights that I get to see when I am way at the top of the buildings. The city view is phenomenal, another one of my favorite things to do there is visit the Cafe, they have great vegan options.
Below I have a gallery of pictures that are some of my favorite sight to see inside the museum.
This weekend Ryan and I went to Disneyland after a 2 week hiatus. We wanted to do the whole day and I was worried about the food intake. Luckily I was able to stay on track and actually had a good amount of calories left.
As I mentioned before I am a part-time vegan. On weekends I tend to splurge a little more which is why every meal contained an animal product. I do try to stay away from dairy so not much dairy is in my meal. So here we go I will go over my food intake for the day.
Breakfast:
Ryan and I always hit up Danny’s before our Disney trips, it has become our Sunday ritual. There are only two things that I order for breakfast and this skillet is one of them. I absolutely love this breakfast, it is very filling and very delicious. I add an extra egg white and a side of toast. I do not use the salsa that comes with it because I prefer to add Cholula to it. 500cals
Snack:
Ryan and I usually take snacks in our bag to make sure we don’t have to spend a lot of money at the parks. One thing that we do get is Starbucks because we usually run out of energy mid day. This time around I had a Venti Soy Cappuccino with two pumps of Sugar-free Vanilla. It came out to 120 cals. It was delicious. 120cals
Lunch/Dinner:
I completely forgot to take a picture of my meal 😦 but we always get the fried chicken from Plaza Inn. In the past we would have a plate each but this time around we tried something different. We ordered one plate and added an extra chicken breast. I got one of those side house salads with the fat free Ken’s Italian and it was not too bad in calories. 502 cals
Overall it was a good day. I had a few cinnamon Pringles for dessert and we walked about 4 miles so I had about 500 cals left over for the day. We had a great time and I didn’t feel so stressed out about what I was eating. Below I will post a few pictures about our trip!
Thank you for reading!
Halloween is almost here and although I love the creepy, scary aspect of it, I also love all the great traditions that come along with it. Every year I go trick o’ treating with my Godson and my best friend Krystal but this year we decided to do a pumpkin patch the day before instead. I had not been to a pumpkin patch in so long and it was such a great time
On another note, I’m very sad that my godson is growing up so fast, soon he won’t want to spend time with me and his momma and he’ll be having his own Halloween fun. For now, we enjoy all the little things. Check out our day below:
It’s always a good time when I get to hang out with the people from the women’s resource center. Lucy threw together a gt together and we pretty much just drank, talked, and hung out. Good times. 
Today I spent the day at Seal Beach with Ryan, his mom, sister and brother-in-law. It was so nice, the weather was perfect and the vibes were awesome. We started off our trip going to torts sinaloa where I had a huge horchata and a sinaloa especial, it was so much food but I finished it.
On our way to Seal Beach we saw a very bad accident involving a semi-truck in the freeway which backed it up pretty bad. We finally arrived and we ate some donuts that mama Rivas bought us. We decided to go to the movies to watch Dispicable Me 2 (which was not that good) and after that we went to Angelo’s for some delicious Torpedo sandwhiches. So good and authentic.
Finally, we wanted something sweet so we went to a little bakery that was so good. You could smell the cinnamon rolls from a mmile away. We took some sweets to go and we dropped his sister and bro in law and the we headed out. Overall good day 🙂
