Fortunate Fridays! {tales of a pretty awesome week, plus tons of pictures}

Good day my loves.

We have made it to the weekend! I've had quite the busy week (what's new?!) and wasn't able to post most but I made a decision to at least make it in here for my Fortunate Friday series. How was your week?

Here are some of the things that happened to me this week which I feel fortunate for:

1. Awesome book finds. So, I listen to a few really good podcasts (i'm writing a post on that very soon) and I've been getting some pretty cool book recommendations. Needless to say, I have been spending some time ordering and picking up books from my local library (one of my favorite places in the world). Here is my "books in queue" stack:

The One Thing (reading now)

The Four Pillars of Investing (pending)

21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires (read)

The Women's Guide to Successful Investing (pending)

The Confidence Code (pending)

The Best Investment Advice I Ever Received (read)

And here is what I am currently reading (I am hooked on this book):

2. Jillian Michael's DVD 6-Week 6-Pack: I started the week with a made-up mind to incorporate this DVD in to my life for the next 6 weeks. Monday was day one. I almost felt like throwing up during the first workout but is getting easier. Has anyone used this one?

3. Work I am passionate about and the ability to make it work: I say this a lot but I am thankful that things are falling in to place slowly but surely. Things had been scary at first but lately I have been feeling so full of life an excited to get to work as I wake up every morning. I feel like I am dreaming sometimes. For anyone out there hesitant to follow their passion, please reach out to me and I can share my personal perspective on this topic. 

Source

4. Spending time with my dad on his birthday: It was my dad's birthday yesterday so we went out for a birthday dinner. He is a fan of seafood so he choose the infamous Red Lobster. As usual, he had his seafood platter and I opted for some chicken tacos as I was not really in the mood for seafood. The tacos were pretty good. Spending time with family, and my dad whom I love so much, was truly priceless.

Don't these look good:

We HAD to embarrass him as the staff sang him happy birthday.
...that chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream was pretty delicious (whats a bday without cake?!)

 Some of the family (grandma joined us!):

5. Last but not least -- An amazing fourth of July weekend with amazing friends: I have to admit that towards the end of last week I was feeling a little down on myself as I had no set plans for the "big and exciting" 4th of July weekend. Thankfully, some 'serendipitous' and 'spontaneous' plans appeared in my life and I had one of the best weekends I've had in a very long time. I kept telling myself "live a little" and it just made me realize that I work so much that sometimes I forget to live and have fun with people I care about and that care about me. I am now working on "living a little" more often.

...It all started with a trip to PinkBerry with one of my best friends (Hi! Yosi!)

What she had:

What I had:

...we then wondered the streets of NYC, people watching and such. We ended up at 42nd street which is the capital of CRAZY (so many people around. I had forgotten how insane busy that area is).

Decided to play along and become a tourist during my time downtown. Lets not even go in to the fact that I've lived about a 40 minute train ride away from the city for 20 years and counting. I should really take advantage of the City Life more often:

We got hungry so we arrived at one of my favorite restaurants -- Havana Central:

..We weren't very hungry so opted for some appetizers (shrimp, feta & spinach, and cheese empanadas- highly recommend) PLUS some delicious sangria made to order right at our table (also highly recommended):

...amazed at the waiter's skills as he made our drink (he was also handsome, friendly, and hitting on my friend):

...we then ran in to some friends and of course had to take a picture and then proceeded to chat for hours on end.

By the time we headed home it was past midnight so we got to welcome the 4th of July right in the middle of times square. Cool stuff.

[that was my Friday-going into-Saturday last week]

On Saturday during the day I met up with another good friend of mine. We went for a walk, talked a whole lot catching up on life and then ended up at a pretty delicious restaurant in Harlem (full review coming soon):

Hi Jess! 

On Sunday I kept it low key. Went to the gym with my bestie:

...and then spent some quality time with my niece whom I love so much:

And that's all folks. That was my week in a nutshell. What are your plans for the weekend? what are YOU feeling particularly thankful for lately?

Love,
Mabelle

Fortunate Friday {Broadway Edition}

Good day sunshine!

Is Friday! Had to wake up at the crack of dawn this morning joined by a lingering cold and allergies; definitely not a great way to start my day but thankfully I am starting to feel A LOT better.

I've been drinking a whole lot of this:

Green tea simmered with a cinnamon stick, lemon, & spices: my god sent salvation!

This week was busy and productive and everything in between. Although I do work a bit on weekends I am just happy Friday is finally here. And without further ado' here is my list of fortunate happenings this week:

1. My friend is healthy again: One of my best friends sent me a random text on Monday night letting me know she was in the hospital due to some kidney issues. The message freaked me out as I have never see this girl hospitalized in the twenty years that I have known her. Thankfully she is finally out of the hospital. I plan to go see her today after work. Health is our most precious gift.

2. My Computer: So, this week I almost had a heart attack because my beloved laptop was having some issues. The screen went crazy and I seriously didn't know what to do. I booked an appointment at 'geek squad' almost immediately and then, like a miracle, it fixed itself!!! Praise the lord. The brief minutes of panic reminded me how much I rely on this tool for work and everything else. Something apparently I didn't realize until this week. Taking better care of it. Grateful for it.

3. The ability to sign up for upcoming races: Its been a while since I've ran my 5Ks or 10Ks consistently. There was a time in my life not too long ago when I used to participate in fun races all the time. Well, my efforts to bring that back are in full swing and just this week I signed up for my 3rd race of the year-- first one is next week! (stay tuned for fun race review posts).

4. My dad's new found enthusiasm for health and fitness: After a health scare at the beginning of the year my dad finally got his 'act together' and started working out consistently and eating healthy. He's actually taking it a bit overboard as apparently he's cut out a lot of stuff from his diet (insights from my mom) so I am excited to help him in this area and am actually working on a list of foods that he can feel good about eating (he avoided Gluten like the plague for a couple of months, it was pretty funny). Love my dad. So proud of him.

5. Work that keeps me busy, focused, and helps me provide for myself: Receiving tons of positive signs from the universe, Thank you Jesus. I keep telling myself to just keep on swimming.

BONUS: My first Broadway show date with my mom: This was so incredibly awesome! So, a few weeks ago I won tickets to go watch GiGi on Broadway, starring Vanessa Hudgens. It turned out to be so perfect because I was able to take my mom on a pre-mother's day date. Plus, it was the first Broadway show we ever saw together (and the very first one for her, not counting The Rockettes which we saw about 6 years ago). Can you believe we have been living in NYC for over 21 years and it took us that long to go see a show together? next goal is to get the entire family to a show. Will share a full review regarding my GiGi experience on tomorrow's post.

Other fun things that happened this week:

Finally got a manicure and two rings I found on sale at Old Navy's accessory section:

Wanted that 'white-ish' color that's trending now. I am not sure if it was the manicurist or the nail polish (Essie's baby breath) but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. But it'll do.

My friend mailed every person that attended the wedding a thank you card. I loved this so much I am framing it:

*This week I also took some steps towards something it was time for me to tackle-- Having the strength to detach myself from something that was not bringing my life much joy (more on this to come).  Still not completely on the other side of things but well on my way. Work in progress.

And that is all my friends. How was your week? any exciting plans for this weekend?

Happy early mother's day to all my readers that are mothers. Looking forward to 'joining the club' in the near future :-)

Love,
Mabelle

Fortunate Fridays {Consistency Edition}

Hello ladies (and gents?)!

How was everyone's week? hope you all had a successful and productive one. If not, there is no reason to feel down about it. Tomorrow is another day.

You may have noticed I've been a bit quiet on the blog this past week. Work has been super busy (in a good way) so I'd like to apologize. Thankfully I've been able to keep up with the Fortunate Fridays posts. I feel gratitude is so important and taking the time to acknowledge the good things in our lives is always worthwhile.

Without further 'ado, here is what I felt fortunate for this past week:

1. Tickets to a super fun comedy show in the city this past Saturday. Felix and I were able to attend a show at StandUpNY for the first time and absolutely loved it. Had a great time there and had a super fun conversation with a very talented comedian (Hi Tom!)

2. Attending The Chew with my sister and being part of the "live studio audience". I was surprised with some free tickets and so I made my way to the show. Yes, I was on TV and no I am not ashamed. Super fun crew.

3. Work and staying busy! This may sound weird but I am actually so incredibly grateful for all the work I have been getting and for the blessing to pursue my passion. Slow and steady wins the race. Thank.you.God.

4. Being able to keep up with the gym: consistency is the key my friends-- My eating may not necessarily have been perfect lately to say the least (i.e: A bit too much junk food, specially in the evenings a few times this week). However, I've been committed and faithful with hitting the gym and completing my Jillian Michaels strength training workouts. Something that motivates me to hit the gym is my Ipad (i.e: reading magazines and/or the paper while I am working out). I feel like time just flies by. Highly recommend!

5. Having people that love me and care for me and whom I can reach out to--- because of the nature of my work I spend too much time on my own. I work from home now so I don't have the "luxury" of having people around and chit chatting throughout the day. As much as I love it, it can get lonely sometimes! I have to remind myself that I am blessed with a circle of amazing friends and family and a special someone that I can reach out to when necessary. That in itself is a blessing and I am so grateful for it. Whats the benefit of having everything you want in life if you have no one to share it with? :)

Here is another inspiring meme I came across this week, thought I'd share:

And that's all folks!

Shameless Selfie 

What do you have planned for the weekend? It's supposed to be "semi-nice" here in NYC (meaning sunny but a bit cold). So I plan to make my way to Brooklyn to visit one of my friends that moved there recently and just spend quality time with people I love in general.

Tell me, have you ever been a member of a studio audience? How was it? If not, what show would u love to attend?

Love,

Mabelle

Fortunate Fridays {enjoying the present, edition}

Hello ladies and gents,

Welcome to another edition of Fortunate Fridays. Today is a special day as it is Good Friday, something I do observe. I take it as a time to reflect, and to thank my higher power for always protecting me and guiding me even in times when I feel I may not deserve it. True definition of unconditional love. If you don't observe good Friday, hope you enjoy a fun and exciting Easter weekend nonetheless.

I have a few things to do today (including some work) but wanted to pass by and share a recap of some of this week's fortunate "moments". And here we go:

1. New clients: If you are a business owner, you know building a business is not easy feat, however, you may also be familiar with the exhilarating feeling of signing on new clients. This week was a good week. I am so incredibly thankful.

2. Dinner and a movie: Last weekend Felix and I went out and watched "Get Hard" (with Kevin Hart), we also enjoyed a Japanese dinner. He opted for a chicken dish and I had my usual sushi. Everything was also delicious. As crazy as he can be, outings with this man are always mostly so fun.\ :)

3. Barnes and Noble + Starbucks: I have been taking some time to work outside of home some days during this past week and is something I plan to continue doing going forward (it just feels a whole lot better to be out of the house!). I absolutely love the Barnes & nobles Starbucks combination. Whomever came up with the idea for said partnership should be declared a genius. I get so much work done there!

4. My friend organized a fitness challenge: So, a couple of years ago, a group of friends and I had a virtual running team going. We'd wake each other up each morning prior to beginning the workday and we'd each go complete our perspective workouts. We'd then report back via group chat to confirm our workout was done (and we'd send photos of the app tracking our walks/runs as proof). The peer motivation was such a huge success and I am very happy that we started this again. It just started this past Tuesday and I must admit I've been slacking but I cant wait to start full on this coming week.

5. Promising opportunities, learning to enjoy my present: As the saying goes- "I may not yet be where I want to be, but I am nowhere near where I used to be" and I am so excited for the progress in my life and career. Every little thing about entrepreneurship makes me excited. As someone used to working 9-5s for nearly a decade, sometimes I find myself in a "weird" place and a little disoriented with life in general. However, I remind myself that I am living my dream and as I continue making progress it will only get better. Need to remember that.

6. Bonus: Impromptu outings with my best friend and meeting new people: So, last night I met my friend in downtown Manhattan for some drinks. I had a blast and also got to meet some of her co-workers. I also ate a grilled chicken sandwich with a salad on the side that was pretty dang amazing (not pictured). We drank wine, cosmos, chatted, and danced a bit. I came back home feeling good about the random outing (not so much about drinking the cosmos but filling up on water today). Sometimes you just need to loosen up and remember that we only live once!

And thats all folks! Hope you all have a phenomenal weekend ahead of you. Is a little cloudy here in New York City but that's okay. Looking forward to the weekend.

Tell me, What excites you the most about your life as it is right now?

Love,
Mabel

My Friend's Destination Wedding (pre-wedding post)

Hello my dear friends,

Good morning! And happy Monday. I am actually publishing this post from the airport as I am on my way to my best friend's destination wedding in the Dominican Republic.

Lejla and I met in 2001 when we got hired for the same exact company after we graduated college.

Us in 2008 during a trip to the Bahamas with a group of friends.

Although our lives and careers eventually took separate paths, we remain extremely good friends with an incredible bond. We live miles and miles away from each other but we've been lucky enough to see each other once a year during the past few years (trust me, that's a lot considering the distance).

Selfie during an outing when I went to visit her in Albany years ago!

However, regardless of the distance and the lack of ongoing communication, I still consider her one of my best friends and I know she feels exactly the same.

During a visit to her gorgeous lake house in Syracuse, NY last summer. 

During our 'single days' we did so much stuff together from visiting each other's apartments (in completely different cities) and spending weekends with each other wherever we lived at the time, to going shopping, to trips to New Orleans, The Bahamas, Miami, and the list goes on. We've experienced so much together and I am just glad our bond simply gets stronger over the years.

I am so happy that she found love in a person whom I see as her perfect partner. Dave is a wonderful guy who I know makes her very happy and I am so excited to be present as they unite their lives forever.

With that said, I will be away from the blog for the next 3 days as I plan to take a bit of a break from blogging to fully enjoy the trip and all the activities that are planned for the guest. Plus, not sure how good free the internet connection will be from the resort :)......I cant wait to tell you all about it upon my return.

Have a wonderful week.

Tell me, have you ever attended a destination wedding? where? how was it?

Love,
Mabel

Fortunate Fridays {friends, wine, gym and natural beauty, edition}

Good Morning! 

{or afternoon/evening, depending on where you are ;)}

Random though of the day: How awesome would it be wake up in Paris :). One day for sure we will meet again. source

Yet another Friday has arrived. I hope you all had a phenomenal week. As it is the norm each Friday on the blog, I am here to share the top five things that happened this past week which I feel fortunate for.

1. Friday night girl talk {and back to back gym date} with one of my best friends last weekend: 
I've been hanging out with my friend Christina more often the past few months (we went to high school together and pretty much have known each other for over 15 years). Last Friday after work she came over to my apartment and we hung out drinking wine, having some grapes and dark chocolate,  while watching shows off my Roku. We caught up on the week and life events. Always nice to have good friends visiting me.

She ended up sleeping over and the next morning we hit the gym for some cardio (we wanted to make it to a Zumba class but got there too late). On Sunday morning we texted each other and agreed to go work out again. It was pretty awesome. I've been going to the gym by myself for so long that I forgot how truly great it can be to have a gym buddy to keep us accountable and even more motivated than going solo.

2. A spare of the moment 3 mile walk on Monday night (minus getting sick the next day):
I like being open and honest on the blog so I wont lie that on Monday night I was feeling pretty down on myself. As I've mentioned in past posts, I've been going through a phase involving some roller-coaster of emotions. I am well aware that this too shall pass. However, Monday was one of those not so great down evenings (I was okay during the day).

After a good cry I somehow had the motivation to take myself for a nice walk. I made sure a few of my favorite podcast were on my phone and off I went. I have to tell you my mood changed drastically after that walk! I felt so much better and so much more optimistic. I was so incredibly proud of myself that instead of eating everything in sight inside my apartment and going deeper in to the deeps of sadness; I turned it around and did something positive for myself. So incredibly grateful for this. (oh yeah, I ended up catching a bit of a cold, or allergies?, the next day. thankfully I have a kick ass immune system and Im almost back to normal. Definitely learned my lesson.)

3. Getting 90% of my packing completed a week before my trip:
I have news regarding next week which I plan to share with you guys on Sunday. However, something I feel so relieved about is taking the initiative to sort my stuff, find my luggage, purchase things I needed, and run a few related errands way before my trip. Leaving things for the last minute always makes me so anxious and upset. I am so incredibly glad I took it upon myself to do things differently this time around!

4. Finally getting my eyebrows done!
Nothing much to say about this other than the fact that it was wayyyyy over-due! I barely ever wear makeup. I love the natural look. However, I was feeling really unattractive lately with my [overly-overdue for a threading-eyebrows] so glad I finally took care of that. I feel and look so much better! Thank god for low-maintenance beauty :)

5. Being able to keep up my healthy living habits and reaching new 'personally-set' milestones
Sometimes when I am not feeling so great about certain thing(s) in my life I use food to numb my emotions and right after that working out also takes a backseat. However, I am not sure why but for some reason my habits are changing drastically (for the better).

Instead of wanting to eat my life away as a recovering emotional eater, I find joy and solace in physical activity and healthy eating. To be fair, I think it also has to do with the fact that for the past several months I have been able to keep up a healthier lifestyle and I have been able to keep those habits going in good and not so good times. I've come a long way.

...I'll leave you with an awesome quote I came across while reading my digital edition of Oprah Magazine as I worked out at the gym this week:

I take my Ipad to the gym and its such a great motivator! I usually do mostly cardio at the gym-- a combination of speed walking and running on the treadmill plus the elliptical. I like to read stuff off my ipad during my speed walks. Makes me want to keep going and going. I like to do my strength training work at home. 

..And that's all folks. Thank you for reading. 

Any plans for this Friday evening or the weekend?

Love,

Mabelle

Chocolate and Cofee at Leonidas {and the power of TRUE friendships}

I had quite the intense Monday yesterday.

I attended an all-day conference in downtown Manhattan by the Wall Street area. I live about 1 hour 20 mins away from there by subway so that meant I had to wake up at the crack of dawn to make it there on time. Thankfully, the subway system was in its best behavior, at least on my way there (thank goodness!) and everything worked out perfectly.

Being downtown was the perfect opportunity to reach out to a very good friend of mine. A former co-worker who still works in the area. I let her know I was around and we met up for coffee after the work day was over.

We arrived at this awesome place:

Sorry I don't have a better picture. Had to 'borrow' this one from Google since I forgot to take one yesterday.

{ Fun fact: I visited one of their original stores during my trip to Brussels back in 2011. I always get such a nice fuzzy feeling when I run in to places in the U.S that I've visited in other countries. }

I got myself the cappuccino and my friend grabbed the hot chocolate and coffee cake. I'm on my "healthy foods only" mindset and so I skipped dessert although everything looked absolutely delicious.

Complementary piece of chocolate with all beverages. I went with the piece of Dark & Caramel:

So anyways, I met Anam back in 2012 when she was a new employee at the company where I used to work. I didn't know what to think of her at first but I think we hit it off from our very first real conversation. Although my prior jobs haven't been the "most fun ever" or "my passion", I still value the experiences I had and I am incredibly thankful for them. One of the things I am the most greateful for are the friendships I was able to develop. Most of my very close friends (the ones I consider true friends) I have met through prior employers. These are people I keep in touch with, hang out with, and would go visit them hours away or go to their destination weddings if I had to, and vice-versa.

We all have acquaintances or one thousand Facebook friends. people we only say hello to at random get togethers with mutual friends or only talk to once in a blue moon. However, we also have those people we consider our true friends. Yesterday was a good day because I was able to spend quality time with one of them.

We stood at the spot for nearly two hours (pretty much until they kicked us out because the place was closing). We talked about work, careers, vacations, our love life, future trips, future plans, problems, solutions, and everything in between. It was awesome catching up.

I got some great advise from her (as usual) in regards to certain thing(s) in my life and I did the same for her. I left that conversation and downtown Manhattan feeling refreshed and excited. That's how I knew it was time well spent. There's a lot of awesome things going on in her life as well and I was so happy to hear them and see her glowing with optimism. What a great way to end a hectic day!

Tell me, have you ever visited a Leonidas?

On friendships-- what are your thoughts on acquaintances V. real friendships?

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Mabelle

This is NOT a sponsored post. I simply enjoyed my time at Leonidas and felt like sharing.

Dinner at MamaJuana Cafe (and other weekend happenings)

I had a nice and relaxing weekend--- a combination of family and friends quality time. Cant go wrong with that. Despite a overly-exaggerated snow warning for Saturday morning, I was pleasantly surprise when my Wall Street Journal paper still showed up at my front door. I received a gift card for Christmas from one of my aunts and I used part of it to get me a subscription to the WSJ (*nerd alert*).

I gotta' tell you, this newspaper makes my mornings just  a little brighter everyday. I am a fanatic of business and investing news (as you may or may not already be aware of from reading the blog) so, this paper definitely falls in to the list of "things that make me happy".

I spent half of Saturday doing massive amounts of laundry. I say massive because I pretty much washed everything I could find in my apartment, including clothes (obviously), heavy blankets and kitchen towels-- everything! I actually woke up pretty early so decided to take advantage of the semi-empty laundry room in my building. I also cleaned my entire apartment in the process. There is something very refreshing about a clean apartment and clean clothes.

As of a week ago, I declared Saturdays my "work-out video" day where instead of going to the gym, I work out to one of my DVDs. I bought this Jillian DVD about a year ago but just gave it a try for the first time on Saturday:

I loved it. As always, she is hard core. She ain't playing any games. Is do or die with this woman, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Both of my leg calfs are in pain today. I think is fair to assume she's responsible.

One of my very good friends was in town for the weekend. She recently moved to Staten Island but comes to the city to visit family from time to time. We decided on an impromptu dinner at MamaJuana cafe. Ive been to a couple of MamaJuana's in the past-- in Washington heights and the Upper West Side. This particular new location is in Bronx, NY (a brand new location). And here is my honest, no chaser opinion on this place. This review is specific for the Bronx location. 

Drinks were pretty affordable for a Saturday night dinner, my friend had a white-wine sangria which she loved for $7. I had a glass of Pinot Grigio (decent taste) for $8. 

We skipped appetizers and went straight for the main course.

I had the "Salmon con Salsa Latina" (salmon with Latin Salsa) over grilled veggies. The salmon was one of the best I've had in a long time. Price tag for this meal was $22.

My friend has the "Red Snapper with Mofongo" a delicious-looking fish stuffed with mofongo which is a Latin dish made up of mashed plantains. She raved about her meal as well. Price tag for this "masterpiece", however, was kind of steep at $28.

I have been on this "health kick" lately so I skipped dessert. I did watch my friend enjoy this Tres-leches, for which two thumbs up were given. Price: $7.

I have to be honest that we were a little disappointed with the menu options. The locations i've visited in the past have a lot to choose from, including a section for "lighter meals" and things of the sort. This particular location only provided us with one single page listing what was available. I dont know if its because the location is new and they are still getting things together but I would have liked to have seen more choices. I felt like they just narrowed down the main dish section to the most expensive dishes they could find. The branch is not yet online so I had to rely on the menu from other locations only to find out that I wouldn't find any of those dishes in the menu handed to me that night.

Our bill was over $72 not including tax and tip which I feel is a little high for two people. I ended up paying $38 and my friend $45. This place is amazing for someone not in a budget or for a hot date. I do have to admit that the food was delicious. All in all a great dinner and great conversation with a great friend. 

The rest of my weekend was spent running a few errands and visiting my parents where I ran in to this gem, perfect for a "throw back Thursday" on instagram:

I remember I used to love this movie! Sadly I have no VHS where to play it. I know I may be aging myself with this but I am an 80s baby, what can I say ;)

That's all folks. Stay warm and thank you for reading <3

TELL ME: Do you have a favorite Latin dish? Have you ever seen Pollyanna?