Getting on the healthy track

Hiya internet land! It's been a while since my last blog post. I guess I haven't been feeling very inspired which also goes hand in hand with not feeling motivated to post as often as I should. I guess you could say I have been in a blogging rut. 

Today I am feeling under the weather and the only thing I can do is rest and try to stay relaxed. I feel as though I always get sick right before I'm about to become really busy or whenever I start becoming motivated to get back on track with healthy living. I weighed myself last week and noticed I am now the heaviest I've ever been. Since I am a thirty year old woman who hasn't had a growth spurt since my teen years it's safe to say that the weight I have gained is from my own over indulgent ways. I really wanted to go to the gym but since I am the sneeze queen today and feeling feverish I felt I might not want to push it. I'm going to try my best to get better so I can get back on track with my fitness tomorrow. So since I'm stuck at home resting I thought why not stay motivated by sharing with all of you some inspirational healthy living quotes that I found while exploring the world wide web (lol). Below are my five favorite quotes I found and I hope that these quotes may help you guys feel inspired to get or stay healthy. 

 

 

 

Best,

Mae  

Goodbye 20's hello 30's

Today is my birthday. I am beginning a new chapter in my life, the life of a thirty year old woman. It's bitter sweet for me because when you're in your twenties there's this carefree attitude about the choices you make in life. You are still young and learning about who you are as an adult and when things go eyry it feels more like a life lesson rather than being viewed as a consequence. 

In the last ten years I brained stormed what career path I would like and my reasons behind those choices. I went from wanting to go to culinary school to wanting to be a music producer/song writer. I never actually wanted to be a chef but my father had a background in cooking and he taught me a thing or two about it so I thought maybe I would like it. I never went to culinary school and I think that was a wise choice since I hardly ever cook unless you count heating up left overs in the microwave. I did however receive a bachelor's degree in Radio/Television which is when I discovered how much I love playing with sound. I loved all of the creative possibilities there are when you understand sound and how to manipulate it to become something unique and unexpected. I have written poetry/lyrics since I was thirteen. When I began my quest as a sound guru I turned my love for poetry into songs. In my 20's I graduated from two schools that focused on sound engineering/sound design and recording/mixing music. I also interned (for free), shadowed and assisted producers/sound engineers, worked on freelance projects (without receiving a dime) all in hopes that all my hard work would pay off.

Being so focused and dedicated to one craft for the majority of my twenties made me realize just how driven I can be... but it also lead to some heartache. I was so closed off to any possibilities that I might find positive experiences within other avenues besides sound production. My stubbornness allowed me to become a negative person and put me in an emotional and financial crisis. I was consumed with the fact that all I wanted was to work as a sound engineer in music and post production that every time a broken promise or a job opportunity didn't go my way I became angry and spiteful. Whenever someone would try and give me advice about maybe exploring other job opportunities while I'm waiting for my dream job to come my, I felt as if that person didn't believe in me and didn't think that I was good enough. This would cut deep because as a child in my primitive school years I wasn't really told how smart or clever I was. My Dad was always out to sea so my mother was the one in charge of my school work. My mother had no remorse when it came to "teaching" me how to become a good student. She had no patience and was quick to correct me in ways that I rather not discuss. Let's just say the way she treated me and the way she chose to discipline me is a memory I can't get out of my head even to this day and I wouldn't wish her approach on any child. I lacked a lot of self confidence in my childhood and teens because of my mothers approach. In some ways I can say that it has even crept into my early adult years as well.  During the majority of my twenties I wouldn't allow myself to become romantically involved with anyone especially not in a long term  relationship. I felt that without having the dream job I imagined for myself for such a long time that I wasn't whole. I didn't see how I could ever make someone else happy when I had so much anxiety and stress in my own life. I didn't think I had anything to offer someone.

I finally came to the realization that I was depressed and unhappy. I didn't like who I was becoming. So I decided to change my ways and to allow myself to explore other career paths and to try and see the more positive side of each experience. I have been very happy and in love with my boyfriend Brian for almost two years now. I know that if I allowed myself to hold on to the negativity I would just be torturing myself and would have never realized how happy I could be in a relationship. Although to this day I don't think that I have found the career path that is just the right fit for me I am hopeful that I will someday soon.

 I look at the failures and lows in my life as a way of molding me into a wiser and a more open minded person. I learned a lot about myself in my twenties and although I'm a little apprehensive of what is to come my way in my thirties I am a much more content and calmer person than I use to be. I am at a point in my life where I don't allow my childhood trauma to define who I am. I know my self worth and I know that there has been an immense amount of growth on my part. In my thirties I want to approve upon becoming a more confident, strong and rational thinker but to also allow myself to be emotional in matters of the heart. I basically would like to become a more well rounded woman who knows just how to stay balanced especially when life throws obstacles my way. 

Best,

Mae

Sticking to your diet

Happy Hump Day America! He, he, he that was fun. I do not discriminate, so anyone who is not living in the U.S. and reads my blog happy hump day to you as well. I hope everyone had an aMAEzing day. I spent half of my day at work and the other half at the doctors office... Yay! Why yes that was sarcasm.

Today's blog is about how to keep your weight loss goal aka majority of Americans New Years Resolutions. I have one advice that I think will come pretty handy. Keep a food journal. Like I mentioned in an earlier blog I was recently diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis. I have been struggling with this condition since late September and one thing that has helped me lessen my symptoms and feel like I'm on the fast track to feeling normal is by keeping a food journal.

These 3 items helped me stay on track and stick to my IC diet. The IC Survival Gudie, My food journal and a binder of the Interstitial Cystitis Network Diet.

The great thing about a food journal is that it can work for everyone. Whether you are trying to loose weight or if you are trying to stick to a challenging diet for health reasons a food journal works! I used the food journal to help me figure out what foods trigger my symptoms and what foods I was able to eat without feeling any pain. During this process I ended up loosing ten pounds without even really trying to loose weight. I would eat a lot of organic food and foods without artificial flavoring and foods that are listed as bladder friendly and food worth trying within the Interstitial Cystitis Network diet (this link will direct you to the interstitial cystitis network diet list)    

http://www.ic-network.com/diet/2012icnfoodlist.pdf. I would make two different categories for each day one category was called How I'm Feeling and the second was called the Foods I Ate. 

How I'm Feeling:

Every morning I would write down how I slept the night before and whether or not I had any symptoms that night. I would also write down how I felt that morning and I would jot down if I had any symptoms come up through out the day. I would also keep track of what medicine I took and if I had any urgency or frequency. I think that this category could also work for someone who wants to loose weight. Eating healthy and being more active can lesson stress and can help you get a better nights rest. You could keep track of how you slept what kind of mood your in that day and what food you might be craving and having difficulty staying away from. As the weeks go by you will notice that the amount of fattening foods you crave will lesson the longer you give the process time to work.

What I ate:

I would write down everything I ate and drank all day. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Having to jot everything I ate down helped me stay honest and stick to my diet. The last thing I would want to do is write down all the bladder friendly foods I ate and all of a sudden there's a dark chocolate chip cookie written in my journal staring back at me and making me feel so guilty. Writing down what I ate also helped me figure out what foods upset me even if they were on the food you should try list within the Interstitial Cystitis Network diet. I would write down the food that caused my symptoms and I would also write down how it made me feel. 

Hopefully this will help you guys stick to your weight loss goals. For those of you who are needing to stick to a strict diet for health reasons trust me if I can do it so can you. I was a chocolate, spicy food and coffee junky and I stuck to my diet. Best of luck and have a wonderful night.

New Years Resolution

Happy Monday Everyone! Or at least as happy of a Monday a Monday can be. I hope everyone had a funtastic weekend. I had a great weekend up to late yesterday afternoon. I ended up having a migraine and a tummy ache. I hope I'm not catching something!

Today's post is about New Years Resolutions more specifically my New Years Resolutions. I feel that my resolutions are pretty do able and I have a feeling that I will be able to stick to it. I don't believe in having a New Years Resolution that is completely on the other end of the spectrum like living your life in a complete 180. If you are someone who doesn't eat healthy your resolution shouldn't be to eat nothing but vegetables and lean meat 7 days a week. If you never exercise don't expect that just by opening a gym membership you are all of a sudden going to workout every day of the week. Goals like these just set people up for failure. If you want to eat healthier that's great but be realistic. How about starting with portion control and preparing healthy lunches for work to make sure you stay on track and allowing yourself to have a cheat day or two on the weekend. If you want to start exercising that's fantastic but how about starting with writing down on a calendar an exercise routine. Maybe start with exercising every other day. My suggestion would be to do cardio one day and light weights and toning on your next exercise day. Starting up with a realistic goal can help you stick to your over all goal of being a healthy more active person.

As I'm going on and on about setting realistic goals I realized that I haven't even expressed what my goals are. Oh geez, silly me! My two new years resolutions are (drum roll) to live a more balanced life and to have less road rage.

Live a more balanced life: 
 To dive more into this goal for me living a more balanced life is to change characteristic of myself for the better such as by the way I eat, my activities, taking care of myself, and by the way I carry myself, as well as challenging myself etc. I don't expect to become a perfect person who only eats organic, who exercises daily and all of the activities I take part in are meaningful and productive. Living a balanced life is to set out to choose to live a healthy life style but also to be realistic and to allow myself to enjoy the little things in life like a warm chocolate chip cookie and a glass of milk and not beat myself up about it. Of course enjoying the little things doesn't mean that my entire diet should exist of delicious fattening foods every hour of the day. My goal is to challenge myself to choose the right choices majority of the time and when I have a craving for something delicious and naughty I will go ahead and indulge myself because lets face it sometimes eating or drinking something that tastes so good it makes you smile as you're eating/drinking it is well worth it. A big part of me wanting to live a more balanced life is due to a health condition that I have called Interstitial Cystitis (IC). IC is a bladder disease that causes urinary urgency and frequency. It feels a lot like a Urinary Track Infection but the difference is that with IC there is no infection and IC can't be cured it's a chronic condition that I will have to deal with for my entire life. The good thing is that IC doesn't lead to anything life threatening. For some patients it changes their lives dramatically because the pain can be very intense at times. I am fortunate that I can control my symptoms by eating bladder friendly foods and when choosing to eat something that can harm my bladder like highly acidic foods I can take Prelief. Prelief helps my body break down acidic foods that normally cause me pain. So for me I not only aim to eat healthy but to also try and eat bladder friendly healthy foods. Another thing that helps lesson my symptoms is by living a stress free life. So I am going to try my hardest not to sweat the small stuff. Going on walks, hikes and doing the stretches my Physical Therapist taught me can help me manage my symptoms. Besides trying to control my IC symptoms other reasons for me to want to live a balanced life have to do with making sure I don't over indulge in things. For instance a few months ago I challenged myself not to spend any money on clothes, purses, jewelry, shoes and accessories for three months and I passed the test! But ever since then I have been a bit careless with my money I guess you can say I was making up for loss shopping time. So instead of going overboard with my spending and going to the other extreme of not shopping at all I will come to a healthy medium and allow myself to spend money on one or two things a month. 

Less Road Rage: 
Now this goal is a must and just as challenging as the one above. Not having road rage in Los Angeles is basically the equivalent of being a saint. St. Mae.... nah! I'm no saint! But seriously though I do need to control my little girl syndrome when behind the wheel. Two things tend to help me have less road rage. One trick is to listen to my learn Italian cd's while I drive. I'm so focused on trying to perfect the accent that I am no longer butt hurt about the guy who merged into my lane without using his turn signal. Listening to Bob Marley while driving also helps me chill out... for the most part. If someone does something really crazy on the road I quickly snap out of my Bob Marley trance and become a trucker mouth fool who is a little heavy on the horn. So my plan on having less road rage is to find more helpful aids in not distracting me from driving but to distract my little girl syndrome from popping up while I'm driving. 

Below are some pics from New Years of Brian and this girl! Enjoy ☺

Why yes I am tickling Brian. It's the only way to guarantee that we will smile for the camera.

Brian in mid chew and me as happy as can be.

 


So that's that! My New Years Resolutions for 2013. Realistic but at the same time still challenging. I hope that all of you are able to keep up with your resolutions. Have a happy and healthy 2013 everyone! 

KaRmA bahahahaha!

Happy Thursday everyone! I have to tell you all a funny story that happened to me yesterday. It was pretty hilarious.

This baby agrees with me.

I was visiting my boyfriend and like many areas in LA parking is scarce. I had to drop off a fan he was helping my build so I parked next to his apartment and left my hazard lights on. A lot of people who live in the apartment complex do this when they have to carry their grocery bags in or if they are just dropping by their place for a short period of time. It is all assigned parking and majority of the time people who live here are not able to buy a parking spot that is near there actual building. So I dropped off the fan and waited for my boyfriend to build it before I moved my car. I didn't want to park a couple blocks away while carrying a fan with me. I was probably parked next to his apartment for about 15 minutes when all of a sudden we hear someone honking outside. We assumed it was the people who lived a few buildings down, since they often have visitors who honk their horns upon arrival.... they partake in some sketchy extra curricular activities if you catch my drift. After a few minutes of endless honking a lady appears at my boyfriends door. She is somewhat polite and somewhat frustrated and is asking if he knew who was parked next to the building, my boyfriend told her that it was my car but we would be right out to move it and he apologized. As I'm gathering my belongings to load into my car before heading out the door she proceeds to discuss her frustration telling him that she has been honking for over five minutes and she can't pull into her parking space because my car is in the way. He lets her know that we are leaving now to move it. She finally walks back to her car and we follow shortly after she leaves...

This baby gives you some insight of how this woman was behaving. 

As we were walking towards my car she was waiting outside in between her car and mine giving us the dirtiest look ever. I had every intention in apologizing to her but since she felt obligated to go off on us as soon as we approached my car I decided that no apology would be good enough for this woman. I would also like to mention that the spot she was trying to pull into had more than enough room for her to do so and no one was even parked in the spot next to hers so there would be noway she would hit my car unless she was blind as a bat. She first started to go off on my boyfriend telling him that I shouldn't even be parked there and that since she was sitting outside honking her horn for five minutes that she deserves an apology. I do agree that she deserves and apology which is why my boyfriend gave her one when she was at his front door. He explained to her that many people park there for a short period of time and he has never had an issue before. She agreed that people park there but that when someone honks their horn they should know to move the car. He told her that he didn't know that was the rule so now he knows. She ended up calling him an ass and turned to me. I was right in the middle of opening my car door when she transferred her negative energy to me. She told me that I should be apologizing as well, right after that my mind went blank. When people attack me for petty reasons I completely block whatever it is they are saying and they become mutes. As I was driving off she was still yelling something at me I waved goodbye to her... with one finger (I'm pretty sure you can guess which one). 

The bird bird bird the birds the word.

After I parked my car a few blocks away and I arrived back to my boyfriends place he informed me that she was so frustrated that when she backed into her parking spot she ended up knocking off her driver side mirror. She stormed away but decided to head back to her car and bring her now ripped off mirror back with her to her apartment. Out of frustration she turned to my boyfriend and tried to insult him and told him that he only rents... Okay lady yes and he is also a lot younger than you are and when he's your age he's going to have a loving home to come home to instead of being a bitter Betty who takes her bitterness out on others. The moral of the story is don't cry over spilled milk. This obviously was a case of misunderstanding. Don't let your emotions get the best of you especially when the reason for your frustration is in the process of being resolved and you have already received an apology. Don't expect people to grovel at your feet that isn't reality and you're not the queen of anything. Well maybe the Queen of complaining but no one likes that queen. People want that queen exiled for being annoying.

Money Saving Challenge

Okay here we go! Starting today I am not going to buy any new clothes, shoes, accessories, jewelry or hang bags. I am going to be good and save, save, save! I have decided that I will not buy any items that I don't absolutely NEED until November. Oh man this is going to be hard.

This pup feels my pain. 

 My recent need to want to save and live more minimalist is due to the fact that I can not stand my upstairs neighbors. I recently was given the most thrilling news that my neighbors were moving out by the beginning of August. I was so happy I wanted to do my happy dance. I thought to myself Sweet Baby Jesus and Chubby Buddha must of worked together to make this possible. Unfortunately just this past weekend I was given the news that they changed their minds and they will be staying. Since the first week I moved in my roommate and I have both had to knock on their door extremely late at night to inform them that they are being way to loud and that they are preventing us from getting any sleep. We have discussed the noise issue with our landlords many times, we have written them several letters. Our landlords even discussed the matter with the Apartment Association. Nothing helped. I have called the cops and that didn't even scare some sense into them. The police dispatcher informed me that the only thing that the police can do is to ask them to keep it down but they can't force them to do anything. What needs to happen is that our landlord needs to be on our side and take action. Our landlords don't really care they keep telling us to write a letter explaining what it is that we hear and the time of day that the noise occurs. I feel that this method is insane! We have already done so several times! What is the point in doing the same thing over and over again! Here's a little clue landlords you're going to get the same result! Our landlords have given us the option to move out sooner without any consequences but the problem is that we wont receive our deposit until three weeks after we move out. Like many people now a days I live pay check to pay check and can't afford to fork out a thousand dollars for my share of the deposit and first month rent in a drop of a hat.

This kitty is impersonating my raw emotions of just how much I despise my neighbors. She's yelling "Hey you, yeah you! SHUT UP! 

So I have decided that if I make a budget for myself every month I should be able to continue paying off my student loans, credit card debt and utilities the same as usual but still have enough money left over to save up $200 - $300 a month towards the deposit of a new apartment. My biggest issue is that I have a slight shopping addiction. Although I tend to buy things that are on sale or shop around for items that wont break the bank I know that if I put that money towards a new apartment I would be much better off. I have clothes that I hardly ever wear and some items with tags still on them. Which I find to be nuts. I need to be more grounded and make do with what I have. 

  Smart Hipster Puppy agrees with my recent life choices.

So here goes nothing! Let the money saving challenge begin!

Liebster Blog

My friend Ashley from Any Lovely Thing sent me a Liebster award! Whoa Mama that's sweet! Wait.... what is that? Miss Ashley did her research and from her Yoda like brain she has informed me that Liebster is a German word for "favorite" and this award is meant to recognize your favorite blogs that have less than 200 followers.

I was pretty flattered especially since I have not spent much time on my blog until probably around a couple weeks ago. I am taking my time with my blog to make sure that it is going in the right direction and is depicting who I am in the best light.  So for one of my dearest friends to send me an award is like getting an unexpected hug from someone you weren't planning on seeing that day. Thanks Miss Ashley! I Lovett! :)

When you receive the Liebster award, you are supposed to do the following:

• Post the award on your blog
• Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award (by linking back to her/him)
• Choose five up-and-coming blogs, that have less than 200 followers
• List those five blogs you gave the award to, with links to their sites, and make sure they know that they were nominated (so that they can continue spreading the award), via commenting on their blog, Facebook or Twitter

My Liebster Blog award winners are...

Any Lovely Thing: http://www.anylovelything.com/

  

I didn't select Ashley for this award just because she selected me. I truly adore Ashley's blog and she is the one who got me into blogging in the first place. I love when Ashley posts about events that she hosts at her wonderful home even the ones that I am not able to attend. Ashley is becoming a pretty fantastic photographer and it shows from her post about her trip to London her and her boyfriend  recently took.  Ashley also posts a lot of great recipes and is a vision in front of the camera. Her posts about the outfits she picks out for work makes me want to stop sleeping in as much as I do every morning and actually put myself together!

deliciously yours: http://deliciouslyyourslo.blogspot.com/

 

I am a fan of Laura from deliciously yours. She has the cutest style. She wears a lot of vintage and vintage inspired pieces. I love how with every outfit she posts you just know that she feels comfortable in it and truly is something that she would rock in her day to day life. Kudos to you Laura you have funtastic style you vintage queen!

Draw me closer to Where you are: http://elliekyungran.blogspot.com/

Ellie is a student studying in London. She posts about projects she is working on. The way Ellie posts is unique. She will have an image or a video and below it she will describe the post in a form of a poem. She will also provide a quote from the bible to better depict the message she is trying to get across. She's very vague when describing who she is I imagine she lets the image and her writing be her voice. She's very intriguing and a bit of a wonder.

Well... that's it!

I know, I know that's not five blogs but here's the thing. I am still fairly new to blogging and a lot of the blogs I normally follow have more than 200 followers. Instead of being disingenuous and searching for blogs out of desperation and pretending that I follow them I figured I give a shot out to blogs that I do follow and enjoy. So that's my pick three winners for my Liebster blog award list!