Weekend Recap: Oakley 10K, Brunch, and everything in between

Good morning all!

Happy Monday <3.

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Hope everyone is doing and well had a great weekend. Work and life have both been busy so it feels like I haven't passed by here in a while. It was time to give my blog some love!

This past weekend was tons of fun. I was finally able to run the Oakley 10K in Central Park, a race I have been wanting to run for the past three years or so but it had never worked out. I don't know what happened in 2013 but last year I was in Washington, DC around this time. But anyways, the point is I finally ran jogged my way through, and it was awesome.

My beloved sister joined me in this adventure- and finished the race about 20 minutes before I did! I also got to meet some friends from her job whom participated as well, and are super awesome.

my sis and her friends

So happy to add another precious medal to my collection (it had been too long!)

After the race we all went for brunch at a local spot and it was delicious.

Mott Haven Bar & Grill in the Bronx.

I usually have eggs Benedict every time I do brunch but decided to switch it up. Opted for the Greek Omelet which came with a side salad, potatoes and whole wheat bread on the side. Thumbs up.

I spent most of Sunday running errands (hello Target), went to the gym, enjoyed the gorgeous sunny day and enjoyed some quality time with my parents.

This week should be a busy, yet productive one. Looking forward to getting a lot done. It is raining today in New York City and I cannot deny I am feeling kind of gloomy at the moment. Making a conscious effort to cheer myself up- 'the sun always returns'.

...and this is totally random but I've been making a yummy salad this week which I've been pairing up with whole wheat french bread. I got the idea from a Panera salad I tried a while ago and fell in love with. The only difference is that making this salad cost me about 1/3 of the price:

And that's all folks! Thanks for passing by. Wishing you a great week!

Love,
Mabelle

Fortunate Fridays { Pre-memorial day weekend edition}

Hello ladies and gents!

Hope everyone had a great week. We have a long weekend ahead of us! Any exciting plans? Mine include but are not limited to-- catching up on reading, Zumba with my best friend, dinner with another one of my very close friends and hanging out with family.

How about you? If you have any super exciting traveling plans let me know. I'll be living vicariously through you. ha!

Here is the recap of some of my fortunate moments for this past week:

1. Being able to run a 5K with my dad. If you missed that post, check it out here.

2. Spontaneous quality time with my sister on a random weekday- this was awesome. We shared a delicious treat while catching up on life. (post coming up later on today)

3. Two of my favorite magazines came in the mail (plus, my daily Wall Street Journal, always grateful for that).

4. Journaling- I had forgotten how cathartic writing can be and how healing it is to just write away about our fears, emotions, the good, the bad, and everything in between. I took some time this week to get back to some old school writing (journal and pen) and felt a gazillion times better after that "session". Thinking about incorporating more consistent journaling time in to my life going forward.

5. Change your thinking change your life- I've been a fan of Brian Tracy's books for the past 8-9 years, every since I graduated from undergrad. His motivational messages are a true gift. I recently came across one of his books which I haven't read yet and immediately picked it up. I just started reading it but so far I'm really enjoying it. In a nutshell, the book emphasizes the realization that no matter what happens, we always have the choice of training our minds to have a positive outlook on things (also, understanding the power of the mind in completely changing our lives).

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...And that's all folks. It was a good week. Although things are not necessarily "perfect" I cannot complain. I have a lot of things to look forward to and looking forward to a fun filled weekend, even if its simply in the company of family, friends, the gym, and books.

Tell me, what is your favorite Brian Tracy book or motivational book in general? (would love to add it to my reading list.)

Love,
Mabelle

Fortunate Friday {May first Edition}

Hello everyone!

How was your week? Mine was great and busy with zero complaints. Week came with its challenges because obviously that is life, however, nothing I couldn't handle.

I may not be very consistent with my daily posts (*embarrassed*) but at least I can keep up with these Fortunate Friday posts. I was thinking to myself "I don't even know what I am thankful for this week. nothing really exciting happened". And then, as I opened my mind to the question, it started shooting at me several things that definitely deserve a shout out in today's post. With that said, here what I feel fortunate for this week:

1. My health- This is more than a given. Health is wealth and such an incredible blessing that sometimes we take for granted or 'forget about'. No matter what may be going on in our lives-- personal issues, life drama, work drama, and the list goes on; we should be thankful that we are able to get out of bed each morning and tackle the day and whatever it may bring. We should be thankful that we are able to open our eyes, move, breathe, and care for ourselves. That's kind of a big deal.

2. The strong instinct/reassurance that everything will be more than okay- My life is not perfect but I do my best to remain optimistic in the face of challenges. One of my favorite mantras is "this too shall pass". Something inside of me tells me that whatever is not going "my way" at this point in my life is only meant for my good in the long term. If I can weather the storm I can look forward to the sun.

3. My sister and my best friend-- not much to say about this other than they are both such incredible support systems and people I can count on no matter what.

My sister and I (circa 2013- ish)

My bestie and I in New Orleans (circa ~2011 ish)

4. My home- also known as my sanctuary, my office, my space away from the hectic world. A true blessing.

5. My faith, which keeps me sane-- I cant tell you how many times a day my brain goes completely ballistic worrying about this or that or the other-- fear, uncertainty, regret, sadness-- things that try to attack me from time to time. Thankfully holding on to my faith keeps me away from that and reassures me I will be more than okay (see #2).

6. Bonus: a very consistent month when it comes to fitness-- Check this out:

I worked out pretty much every single scheduled day this month. A combination of the gym, Zumba classes and strengthen training with my dear Jillian Michaels. Looking forward to keeping this up in May. Shout out to my Ipad that keeps me entertained at the gym :).

Tip: A visual calendar to keep track of daily workouts is an awesome motivational tool.

...and that's all folks! Thanks for reading. Have a phenomenal weekend.

Love,
Mabelle

My Best Friend's Wedding in Punta Cana (Part III) and last part.

Hi Loves,

Happy Tuesday! Today I want to share the last post on this wedding series.

Check out Part I and Part II if you missed them.

I did mention in my first post that I had tons of photos and I may have to split this up. Well, that's exactly what happened. This will be a great way for me to "record" the memories of that special vacation and have something to look back to years from now.

And here we go...

Pre-wedding photos (on our way to the ceremony):

Funny story (funny now): So, we forgot our invitation (with very detailed instructions) in our room (yes, all 3 of us did). And so, we walked around the resort for nearly 40 minutes trying to find the location of the actual wedding. Thankfully one of the workers of the resort knew where the wedding was but for some reason she made us walk the entire resort (in our heels!). It was crazy. What was even crazier is that once we finally made it, we thought we were in the wrong wedding. All I could do was laugh hysterically until we finally saw the groom for a distance and let out a sigh of relieve. 

The set up:

Maid of honor, groom, and best man:

The bride and her mom (who walked her down the aisle <3):

She said yes! - actually, she said "all right" when the priest asked whether she would "marry this man". Gotta love her:

Some post-wedding photos:

Anesia and I:

This was set up at the entrance of the reception:

Cake!! (so delicious):

Gorgeous arrangement:

Bride & Groom first dance:

Food time (my favorite time):

Delicious Avocado-shrimp salad:

Tortilla soup:

Dessert (this was one good pie. And yes, I still ate some birthday cake shortly thereafter):

Cake cutting time:

Some of the girls:

Picture with the love birds:

So, after the wedding some of us decided to go hit the dance floor at the resort's club. The bride and groom were supposed to join us but I am sure they had better things to do :)-

And that's all folks! Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed this 3 part series of my best friend's wedding. Until next time!

Love,

Mabelle

Fortunate Fridays: Just Keep Swimming edition

Hello my loves,

Welcome to another edition of Fortunate Fridays! I am exhausted today but working away. The grind wont stop cant stop. I went out last night with some friends and didn't get home until 4 in the morning (the horror!). Thankfully this only happens once in a blue moon and I did have a great time.

So anyways, as I do every Friday-- I am here to share the top five things that happened this week which I feel fortunate for.

1. Zumba with my best friend {and a new found love for the workout}: Last Saturday my friend Christina invited me to join her at her gym for a Zumba class. The dancing started off a little slow at first but then things got "serious" and I absolutely loved every second.

Last (and only) time I attended a Zumba class was a long, long time ago almost close to the time when I first started this blog. Come take a ride with me down memory lane and check out that post here.

Anyways, I enjoyed this last class so much that it even made me consider becoming an instructor. Is that crazy? If there are any Zumba instructors out there, please email me. Would love to learn more about it!

2. A busy week working in what I love: This week I was off from my part time job at the kids center so I worked full time in my consulting business and I loved every single second. I was busy (and still am) the entire week and it really made me realize that a life pursuing our passion is possible and doable. There are some initial rearrangement and 'sacrifices' that must be made but is totally worth it and I know is part of the process. Thanking the one above.

3. Reconnecting with friends and making plans: A friend of mine I haven't seen in a few month reached out to me to catch up on life and we made plans to hang out soon. Cheers to friendships!

4. Family visiting from Dominican Republic: One of my favorite cousins and his family is visiting from my mother land so I've been spending some time with them reminiscing about the old days and just doing the 'tourist' thing in New York City. Lets see what adventures we pursue this evening.

5. Dinner and frozen yogurt with co-workers: My co-workers and I decided to plan a sushi outing for yesterday and it went great. We met up at The Jintan in the city and had a good time enjoying some sushi and just talking away. The place was super crowded so our waiter was a little slow with bringing us the check at the end of dinner and with serving us water, etc. But it was totally understandable and he was really nice. Oh! one thing I didn't like was that, although delicious, my shrimp tempura rolls were huge! Please serve me something I can fit in to my mouth. No one wants to sit there cutting sushi in half. Thank you.

After dinner we all went and had some frozen yogurt at Sixteen Candles:

6. Bonus: free access to Dropbox This is a bonus because it was a life saver for me this week. After spending wasting about 1 hour at a Kodak picture kiosk, I was unable to upload any of the pictures from my DR trip because after I finished sorting my pictures the store manager and I realized the Kodak kiosk was broken. Anyways, I came home upset but one of my friends recommended I use dropbox and it worked out perfectly! I was then able to upload all the photos on Shutterfly with ease and shared the album with all the attendees of the wedding. So glad that's finally done!

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And that's all for today. One last thing I want to share- you may be wondering why is the theme for this post "keep swimming"? Well, there is something in the back of my mind, a situation with a certain person that has threatened (and succeeded) to make me miserable and upset in the past. However, I have grown up and learned enough to know that I control where my mind goes and where my mind wonders and I am no longer allowing negative thoughts to take over my life.

I have come to the realization that "whatever will be will be". So, I have made the choice to indulge fully in the things that I love, that make me happy, that keep me going and active and Ive decided to leave everything else to God's will. Sometimes in life we need to stop trying to control every aspect of a situation and just let the situation fly and take the course it is suppose to take. would you agree?

Anyways, that's all folks. thank you for reading and have a great weekend!

Tell me, have you ever used DropBox before? has it made your life easier?

Love,
Mabelle