Tuesday 29 September 2015

The Series are Back!

What can I say, I´m an avid television watcher, especially for UK and US series.

I watch a lot, and I mean A LOT of TV series every week.  From The Big Bang Theory to The Blacklist going through Game of Thrones, True Detective, Castle, Scorpion, Da Vinci’s Demons, 12 Monkeys, The Middle, Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Sherlock and a lot more.

Yep, this describes me and the hubby

I love watching the stories unfold before my eyes and love or hate the characters that I see evolve through time… the down side: the waiting time between seasons.

Is the worst thing ever, if I had a wish, it would probably be that series wouldn’t have breaks and that they bring Firefly back (Browncoats unite!)

So yesterday was download day (I download just one day a week to wait for all the new episodes of all my series instead of downloading a bit one day and a bit another) and almost all my favourite ones are back!

I’m so happy for this; I love stories, whether they are written or audio-visual, it doesn’t matter to me, I devour them and I crave for more.

I guess one ideal job would be watching television for money, so if you are looking for someone that can watch episode after episode, or a mash of 10 different series, I’m the one you’re looking for.


Do you love television? Or what does your “me” time looks like?

Monday 28 September 2015

More Sugar and an Amazing Surprise!

Well, the birthday festivities carried on this Friday with my birthday party where my friends came to my house and we shared our time, a glass of wine and of course… cake.

Mi Neighbour Totoro Chocolate Cake
My friend Pato made me this beautiful cake and I wasn't able to tell her no.
The taste was amazing and I didn't crash as bad as I did on Thursday, but as soon as she left, I gave away the rest of it.

When the party was finally over (at 4:30 am, thank you very much) I was ready to go to bed and sleep, but I found out some surprising news: my birthday present was a trip for 2 over the weekend to the Beach!

I was completely taken aback.  Not only it was completely out of the blue and unexpected, but it was so out of my husband’s character that I thought I was dreaming.  But no, we packed our bags and the next morning we were flying towards a sandy beach.

The view from my plane window

We arrived quite fast and went directly to the hotel and left our bags there.  The whole trip we walked, explored and spent quality time together, being reminded of why we’ve been together almost 17 years (AKA, my husband is the best one ever).

We also made a new friend!

His name was Minino and we was adorable!

These are some photos we took and it was definitely one hell of a trip.

A weird rock thing in the middle of the beach

The pool area

This is a sope

Shrimp stuffed avocados
Sea rock climbing

Amazing views

Giant rock

I hope to repeat this again soon.

Friday 25 September 2015

Damn you sugar!

Well, here I was yesterday writing about being sugarless and how well I've been doing, and then... my birthday happened.

I thought that I was safe, I brought my own meal (as I've been doing all week) I ate it and it was almost time for me to leave the office, when some of my co-workers brought a white chocolate and raspberry tart from Starbucks, I think.  There was no way out of this without hurting some feelings, and as I'm new to the team and company, well, I had to take a bite.

Poisonous beauty
It was a small bite, nowhere near the amount of cake I would have eaten if I wasn't walking this road, but still, I broke the chain and ate sugar.

I thought that breaking my streak and adding one more day to the challenge was my worst problem. Alas! Little did I know what was in store for me.

Before all this, I never felt any changes in my body when I ate sugar,  not even when I ate the equivalent of my country's debt in desserts.

But today was different, even from the start I felt it too sweet (WTF!!! WT(actual)F??? Too sweet? That phrase has never EVER been in my vocabulary... really, never), the texture was pleasant, but the sweetness was too much.
A few minutes later I realized it had been a bad BAD idea to eat the tart: I felt my heart racing, a headache starting to rise and a lot of anxiety.  A half hour later I had terrible reflux and I felt like a bloody dragon!

From the moment I finished my slice of tart to when I reached my house, I was cursing the hell out of that sugary food.



I was cranky, hungry and with a massive headache.

As soon as I got home, I did my daily yoga (great sun salutations, thanks Erin Motts!) and then I had a protein rich dinner to fight the sugar spike and crash I was going through.

Who would have thought this is how I felt all the time and didn't even noticed it because I was jumping from one sugar high to the next.

This experience was eye opening and it will definitely be something I'll take in account the next time I'm offered something sugary and I don't think I'll be returning to the old ways.

Another silver lining? I stayed eating good and healthy after that, as well as working out.  This time my falling of the wagon wasn't as catastrophic as usual, and I was able to get right back in line.

Oh! Sugar, thou heartless b!tch mistress...

Thursday 24 September 2015

They say it's my Birthday

So... this time of the year... again.

Today is my birthday and I'm turning 34 years old. (WTF! When did this happened! I was 22 last I looked!)

OK, enough with the exclamation points and the craziness.

This year I'm actually excited to celebrate my birthday as the beginning of my new life and new points of view. I will learn to celebrate with food and choices that are good for me and with people that make me happy.

And even like this, it's too much sugar for me
Thanks to all my adoptive family (AKA friends) for always being there for me.
Thanks to my husband, best friend and partner in crime for these almost 17 years together, I love you and you are the reason my life is worth it.
Thanks to my in-laws for welcoming me to your amazing family and sharing with me the real mining of family love.
Thanks to my fur-babies Gaïa (AKA Fluffy), Frijol (AKA Chaï Wallah), Camillè (AKA Bombi) and Callie (AKA Piña) for giving me the purest of love and the best cuddles.

Cats are the best, indeed.

So, happy birthday to me, but specially happy rebirth to me.

No Sugar, Baby

One of my favourite catchphrases from Ash in the film "Bruce Campbell Vs the Army of Darkness" is "Give me some sugar, baby" (only topped by "Groovy" and "This is my boomstick!").  It's cheesy, it's funny and it's a fantastic one-liner to have as a post-apocalyptic demon-fighting anti-hero. 

This is his boomstick.
But for now, no more sugar for me. 

Since last Sunday (Sep 13th), I've been sugar free.  And what do I mean by sugar free? Well, no fructose, AKA the sugar that makes things sweet. This means no white/brown sugar, agave, fruit juices, honey, high fructose corn syrup, etc.  And no artificial sweeteners like Splenda or Stevia.  Fruit, only in its original form and it will be the only sweet thing in my diet; this means no juices, jams, preserves or the likes. 


Do I miss the sweetness, uff yes I do.  Last Tuesday someone brought Krispy Kreme doughnuts (my favourite food ever) to the office and I didn't eat a single one.  

I´ve been reading labels to make sure that there’s no hidden sugars in my food, sticking to the must natural state of food and I try to eat organic as much as I can.

Beware, 4 g equals 1 tbs of sugar
I will try to detox from my sugar addiction (more about that on future posts) and stay sugar free for at least 30 days.

The first few days were kind of horrible… I had a headache, cravings, hunger, the whole enchilada.  But after 12 days I feel better, more alert, less hungry between meals and I don’t crave sweet flavours any more.

Between the organic foods, start working out and stick to small workouts twice a day routine, my 30 day yoga and meditation challenges, quit smoking, stop drinking fizzy beverages, and loosing 17 lbs, I feel so much better.  This was definitely, the best birthday present I could have given to myself.

I started a few months back, on May 11th and I've been having a slow but constant progress of 1 lb lost in average.  Sometimes I lose more than a lb, but then I don’t lose any weight. If I keep this average of 1 lb per week, I’ll reach my goal for next year.  For September 24th 2016 (exactly on my birthday) I’ll be at my goal weight and I would have lost the baffling amount of 62 lbs (more or less).   So for my next birthday, I’ll be fit, strong and healthy because I'm walking that road today. I started a few months back and now that I started I will not stop loving myself, so I know I’ll keep being healthy, eating clean and right (must of the time), working out, not smoking, and no poisons in my body. 

I don’t want to go back to bad habits, because that means my self-loathing is back.

A few months ago, all I could think about was dying, killing myself to be precise.  I wrote something resembling a goodbye note to my beloved husband and every day I would think about the best way to do it, preferably like an accident so he could file the insurance report and at least have something.  The only thing that kept me from doing it was that I couldn't find a proper way to do it, with no survival chance and that looked like an accident.  So one day, I was surfing the web and  thought, how much would it take me to lose all this extra weight? And I thought it could take at least 4 or 5 years… but when I entered the numbers on some webpage it said that if I lost 2 lbs a week, I would be on my target weight by January 2016… wait… what? Mmm… maybe I should give it a try.

So I did, and started eating better and healthier and something happened I didn't expect: my depression, my 3 year old depression started to fade away.  Just by eating better and stop eating bad food.  I also think it helped the feeling of doing something for myself.

After a few weeks, I decided I needed to work out in order to achieve my goals, but how can I do that if I've been sedentary for more than 10 years and I smoke around a pack a day (more if there is a party or friends).  So first step, quit smoking! Cold turkey, as they say.  One day I smoked my last cigarette, enjoyed it as if it was the last one on earth (for me it was) and after I put it out, I hadn't had a smoke since.

I also started working out.  I found a beginner’s program that had what to do and when to rest, so I put on some yoga pants I had that were a bit very tight on me and I started moving every morning before starting my day.

25 days ago, I decided on adding up more workouts and started a 30 day yoga challenge at Do You Yoga.  The teacher is Erin Mots and I LOVE HER so much. She reminded me why I loved yoga so much and after the challenge is over, I want to start my yoga practice every day, at least 1 hour.

On the same day, I started a 30 day meditation challenge also at Do You Yoga, but the teacher is Faith Hunter and she is marvellous for easing into different kinds of breathing and guided meditations.

And finally, in this quest for a better health I started my 30 days without sugar after watching That Sugar Film.

All in all I feel fantastic, I'm in a good mood must of the time and I'm finding it easier and easier every day to make the right choices.  For the first time, I think I'm heading for a lifestyle change and not a diet you start and finish only to gain everything back, plus a bit more.


I hope I reach my weight goal, but mostly I want a health and fitness goal.  I want to be healthy, eating natural foods, no chemicals, and smoke free and able to do any physical activity I want without injury or being out of breath or too week. And I want to look good, toned and fit.  

Perhaps like her (minus the tan and the underwear!):

I wish I could do that... and look like that!

Sunday 6 September 2015

Oooommmmm....

I like yoga, is the only exercise I can do without looking stupid.  I'm quite flexible for a sedentary person and I love the calm pace but the big challenge of the poses and moves.

Still, it's been a while since I practised yoga.

So I decided to take back my yoga practice and find again my balance, strength and flexibility, and not only within my body, but also in my mind and my everyday life.

To start slow and with a nice pace I joined Do You Yoga and it's 30 Day Yoga Challenge.  Today will be day #3 and I'm loving it.

I get up at 5 am to do my regular workout (body weight targeting different areas of my body) and now I added the yoga as soon as I return home from work and before bed, I'm also taking the 30 Day Meditation Challenge.

It's been amazing, hadn't miss a day and I'm loving it.