Fortunate Fridays!

Hello my dear followers!

Where did the week go? My apologies that I am just posting this at this time. Post should have been up this morning but life took over.

Anyways, here I am to share the highlights of my week and blend that with the things that I felt fortunate for during the past 7 days. And here we go:

1. A belated father's day celebration with family last Saturday --- tons of food, dancing, and a whole lot of family talk. My sister also invited one of her best friends (whom I love) and we were able to have a pretty awesome conversation. Is always nice seeing family together under one same roof. We had quite the fiesta (as typical Dominicans).

2. Having the courage to pursue the things that I am passionate about and making a living from them (as oppose to settling) -- God knows this takes courage but as the saying goes, "jump and the net will appear". This may sound cliche and I didn't quite believe it for some time but is true.

3. Learning to absolutely LOVE my own company again -- after my last relationship came to a close, I struggled to get myself "back together" (I still want to write the post about this. Feel it can help some of my readers). I thought the day would never come but I am finally learning to love myself and my life again to the fullest. As the saying goes "it is better to be alone than be with someone that makes you feel alone". I don't know what the future brings or whom I will end up with. All I know is that I believe in love and I welcome it with open arms. Until the love of my life shows up I am learning to make myself myself happy and love the life I am creating. 

4. Being laser focused on my career and business -- I've been spending a good amount of time lately not only working on being the best employee I can be and making my clients happy but also in developing the skills that will make me excel at what I do. This is super exciting to me and I feel quite blessed to have the available resources to make myself professionally better each and every day.

5. Last but not least: Free Kayaking in Manhattan --- one of my besties (Hi Jessica!) signed us up for some kayaking and although I almost cancelled (instructions said you "must" know how to swim) I went for it after reading there were life jackets involved. We had an awesome time despite getting yelled at by the guards for going too far a couple of times. It was a pretty fun day (sorry about the quality of the photos. I forgot my real camera so had to rely on our regular phones).

....after our Kayaking experience we decided to walk by trader joes but on the way there we passed by a Japanese place my friend loves so we decided to stop for some Japanese Dumplings:

...Firs time having these, and hopefully not the last. So delicious.

And finally, other Yummy foods ate this week:

Grilled salmon, Shrimp, Veggies

Chicken Fajitas (homemade)

Have you guys tried these? They're amazing

...and that was my week in a nutshell + the awesome things I feel grateful for and don't take for granted.

What was the highlight of your week? Have you ever tried Kayaking?

Thanks for reading.

Love,

Mabelle

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 Fridays! {Highlights of the week}

Hey, hey!

How was everyone's week?! Its been some time since I've wrote a fortunate Friday's post- not bueno. Pretty much the purpose of these post is to show gratitude for the good things that happen to me during the course of a week and simply for life in general. I am a huge believer in gratitude and the idea that the more you appreciate what you get, the more positive things you attract.

So, my apologies for the Fortunate Friday hiatus. Here is what I've felt thankful for this week:

1. The opportunity to attend my first blogger event and the ability to meet so many wonderful bloggers. I feel like the blogging world can be a bit lonely sometimes. These events are such a great opportunity to meet fellow blogueras (bloggers) and simply have a blast. I don't think I've ever felt more comfortable in a so called "networking environment" of sorts. Everything flew naturally. Not a dull moment.

The Colectiva Latina Crew (some of us):

Me, very focused:

A whole lot of note taking:

...a lot of eating was involved (thanks to Dania for organizing a really nice outing for the Latina Bloggers):

2. My sister and dad returning safe and sound back to the U.S: So, my dad left the country on business and my sister was in Panama with her boyfriend (lucky girl!). They all made it back safe and sound and bearing gifts. What more can I possibly ask for?!

3. A one on one meeting with a blogger-mentor. So, one of my networked blogger companies I am part of paired me up with an experienced blogger. Hope she doesn't mind I tag her here :)- Serena from Thrift Diving (Hi Serena!). Ladies, let me tell you- she was phenomenal! We spoke for quite some time and she gave me sooo many amazing tips for my blog, my business, and how to make everything better. She was a God sent. I'll never forget how much value she provided during that conversation. I thanked her like a million time, and meant it! :)

4, Having my dad in my life: so, as we all know, last Sunday was fathers day and I took to Facebook to express my gratitude for this man. My dad has taught me so much and continues to do so every single day. He was rough with my sister and I growing up but it was all worth it. One of the things I love the most about him is that he never panics-- whenever we share something negative with him. Ie: getting in to a car accident, loosing the phone he bough me when I was a teenager, etc. He always keeps calm and collected. "things happen, is okay' is his signature phrase. I also love the fact that, even though he doesn't tell me directly, I know that he believes in me, my dreams, and my passions and shows me that with actions rather than words. \

5. Strengthening and growing my brand: I cant say much about this as things are still in development but I am just grateful that slowing but surely hard work is paying of. As the saying goes, no one said this would be easy- but they did say it would be worth it.

And that's all folks. Thank you for reading and have a phenomenal weekend <3

What do YOU feel fortunate for this week?

Love,
Mabelle

Fortunate Fridays {peace of mind edition}

Hey loves,

breakfast this morning <3

Welcome to another edition of Fortunate Fridays. Hope everyone had quite the phenomenal week. Nothing too exciting on my end other than work and working on self-love and personal development. I know I sound like a weirdo. But that's whats going on in my life and I'm not afraid to say it :).

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

1. Meeting new people. My best friend invited me to a get-together with her co-workers last weekend and I had an amazing time. I have to be honest, I didn't feel like doing absolutely anything at all but best friends push us out of our comfort zone when we don't want to be pushed and that's exactly what she did. We drank, danced, socialized, and everything in between. No pictures but I do have great memories. Cant wait to hang out with them again.

random selfie

2. The new addition to my mug collection. I am a sucker for cute mugs and this is one I had been keeping my eye on at Marshall's for about 5 months. I didn't want to buy it because it was a bit pricey for a mug (around $8). To my surprise, I found it on clearance for $3.50.  I was so excited. It was the only one left. I immediately grabbed it and off I went. The crazy thing is that Marshall rarely has the cute things on clearance. When they are gone, they are gone. However, it was my lucky day.

Isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen?!

3. The resources to buy ingredients and the ability to prep some yummy meals. I love cooking at home. Here are some of the foods I was able to enjoy this week.

4. My sister is okay. I found out recently that she was involved in a car accident the other night. I am so glad she is completely fine! Material things come and go but a life and health are priceless.

5. Running outside. I ran outside twice this week. The first time was crazy hard but yesterday I went for a smooth run and I loved it. Getting easier for sure. Still working on my pace/mph (have a long way to go! my goal is to get back to 9 mph) and prepping for my 10k coming up in June.

6. Bonus: Peace of mind. The other day I had an aha! moment after a sudden scare I had while hanging out with one of my friends. I realized that I have nothing to complain about. Sure, my life is not perfect but I feel like all my "so called issues" are things that I have the power to fix and improve on a personal level. I've gotten to a point where I have realized that my advancement in life is in fact primarily dependent on my faith and then me, myself and I with a bit of help from people that also want to see me succeed. I have no "outside issues" that I cannot control, and for that, I am thankful.

And that's all for now! Thanks for passing by. How was your week? Did you do anything fun last weekend for memorial day?

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).

Amazon affiliate link

...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