Going up and down...

It's the end of the month... and this will count as blog entry #150.

WOW... I can't believe that I have written so much in such a small amount of time. 
I know... I know... it really isn't all that much because in reality, if I've been writing consistently for over a year, I should have over 300 entries. But I am hoping that I get to that number sometime this year. Only need 150 entries more in order to get to at least 300... and that's only 150 days. LOL!!

And that's another goal for myself... to be able to get to 300 blog entries by the end of the year. 

So okay... I didn't make it to the gym last night.

But after rescheduling the fertility appointment from Monday morning, I did make it to the appointment this morning.
As usual, I got my blood drawn and had an ultrasound done... and they advise me that they will call me later this afternoon to let me know my results.

I get that call... and it's not the information that I was expecting.
The nurse tells me that my FSH levels - FSH regulates the development, growth, pubertal maturation, and reproductive processes of the body - are WAY higher than the last time I was there.
OMG... I can't believe that I can't catch a break with these levels of mine.
So now I have an appointment with the fertility doctor on Friday morning... she wants to go over the results with me.
I am so distraught over this.... especially since I have changed my diet and exercise drastically so that I feel better about myself.

I am trying to keep positive about this... and I am so happy that the hubby is keeping me there.

Being conflicted with both my mind and heart... I just don't know how much more I can take of this but I don't want to give up either. I am just so emotionally raw... I have put myself on the line here and I don't know what to do anymore.

I don't know what to do or what to focus on anymore... but I am focusing on myself and my family. I know that I have so many other things that I need and want to accomplish for myself and for my family.

I guess after our appointment on Friday will allow me to figure things out... put things in perspective for me.

Good-bye April... I welcome May with open arms.
Mother's Day... my 5th wedding anniversary... another run... warmer weather. ☼
Bring it on!! 

Ending this entry here... thanks for reading! 
Love ♥... music ♫... and happiness ☺
Hasta la proxima!

Repairing yourself...

Well, after a wonderful and crazy weekend... it is now time to start repairing myself.

But allow me to update you on the days that I didn't post anything...

So after picking up the princess on Wednesday, my running partner Liz and I headed over to Humboldt Park and we decided to run the park since we were going to be running the park on Saturday morning. And I have to say that I was very proud of myself... 3 miles in 47 minutes! 

I would really like to get to the 35 minute mark in running these things! It seems so out of reach for me for some reason! I know that I can do it - well, at least that is what my mind is telling me - but my body is what holding me back from achieving that goal and I don't know why! UGH!!!

So the rest of the week, I relaxed since I didn't want to push myself at the gym or outside and hurt myself right before the race.

On Thursday, after picking up the princess... we went to pick up the running packets for everyone.

Our t-shirts

The race packets

Friday evening... the hubby was at the C2E2 Comic Convention with his gamers club and I was at home with the princess. It was nice to be at home relaxing before having to go to bed.

Here is the princess in her sleeping bag watching a movie

Saturday... WOW!! I can't tell you how I managed through the whole day! It was crazy!! Especially since the princess woke us up at 3:45am and I never got back to sleep until we got home at about 2am! LOL!

My cousin and his family came into the city to join us in this run... so we all walked over the park together since we don't live that far from it.

Here is the hubby and I on the bridge before getting to the boat house at the park:

And what a wonderful morning for a run... it wasn't too hot and it wasn't that cold.
But as you can tell from the picture above, I had a long sleeve shirt on under the t-shirt that we got for the run... which in the end, was a TERRIBLE idea for me. I'll explain in a little bit about that.

After we started the race... I started off with everyone. Then found myself all on my own trying to push myself forward. But I noticed that I was heating up and for some reason I couldn't run as much as I did on Wednesday night and I was starting to get discouraged. 
That was until I saw my hubby ahead of me running a little slower than what he usually does.
So my goal was to get to him... of course I was heating up from wearing the long sleeve shirt under my t-shirt but I continued to push myself forward towards the hubby.

I finally caught up to him and surprised him... he said that he had been running slower because he didn't know where I was at. He was very happy to see him and we continued pacing ourselves throughout the rest of the park. That's when I had it... I had to stop running and finally take off my long sleeve shirt!
So I stripped my two shirts and put the t-shirt back on and continued running with the hubby.

Even though I finished a minute faster than I did on Wednesday, I really wanted to finish faster than that. I really want to do this... maybe I'll head out tonight and try to run a little longer. I need to really do this for myself.

So here are pictures of after the race:

Our group!

The hubby at the finish line

Liz and I at the finish line

And I was able to meet up with my running group for the first time and take a picture with them:

Latinas Run It

Liz, me and Janeida (group leader)

After walking back home, the Rodriguez family stayed for a bit and we ordered food and had a merry time. 

Then it was time for the hubby, princess and I to get out and have some fun before dropping her off with my mother-in-law for the night.

Running a little behind schedule, the hubby and I got home to get ready for dinner with the hubby, my cousin Juan and his wife, Lisa. We went to Coco's Restaurant. It is a Puerto Rican restaurant not far from our house and boy was it yummy!! We walked out of the restaurant feeling good...

Here are some pictures of my hubby and I...

After leaving the restaurant, we headed over to Mambo Cafe to see a salsa singer called Frankie Negron perform and to meet up with my other friend Lisa.

Here are some pictures from there too...

Me, Lisa and Frankie Negron

Frankie Negron performing 

Frankie Negron performing 

Sunday...

After dropping off my mom at church and picking up the princess, I headed back home with her to relax a bit. 
I made lunch for the princess when my mom called me that she was out of church and I headed out to go and pick her up so that I can buy something for my dad on his birthday.

FINALLY... time to relax...
The princess was taking a nap when I got home and I started preparing the food that the hubby was going to be cooking.

Surf (salmon) and turf (steak) with brussel sprouts and butternut squash
YUMMY!!!!

And that was the end of our night... a great meal, some homemade cake made by my mom and relaxing with the hubby and princess.

Now I am here at work...

Looking forward to the end of the work day and figure out which one to do... go to the gym or head outside to shave some time off my running. Decisions.... decisions.

Well... I will end this entry here as I did write a lot.

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment at the fertility clinic... let's see what they have to tell me.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful afternoon.
Hasta la proxima!

Looking up towards the sky

I was just on Facebook and noticed an old friends status... Started from the bottom,... made it to the top,... back at the bottom. :-(

A little background... I have known this now man, since he was 17 years old. He is a friend of my brother's that I have considered like a little brother. He went into the military and he would write to me while he was in basic training. He has been married once and had two kids with his wife then was in a relationship with another woman and had another child with her. Currently he is single. He is a DJ... and that's where I will start with his status.

I guess in life, we have to go back down to the bottom in order to see how blessed we really are. Life is a series of ups and downs... just like a roller coaster.

When I saw that status message, it made me think about all the ups and downs that I have had (and continue to have) in my life.

I then commented on his message telling him not to look down because the sky’s the limit, to look up and see that the light is calling his name.

And that's what we, as typical humans, forget to do... look up towards the sky so that we can see that the sun is shining towards us. ☼ The sun is never that far away... and we always have the next day to start over again.

We tend to focus on the negative things in our life because it's so much easier to do that, than to plan what's our next move to get to where we need to be. And I know that I am guilty of doing just that... focusing on the negative but I have made a promise to myself that I am not allowed to dwell in the negative aspects in life.

And I know that I am only human and I have fallen back into bad habits of dwelling on the things that try to bring me down but I turn around, look up and know that I have another day to make it all better - turn my misery into something positive in my life.

Just this weekend, I was told that my blog reads so differently than the way that I speak. 

I didn't take offense to what this person told me… but at the same time I didn't know how to react to what she told me. LOL! I was both flattered that she enjoyed my writings and confused on her comment. LOL!

I know that this person cares about me tremendously – as I do for her – so I know what she said wasn't done in any malicious way.  ☺

I guess we just need reminders in life to let us know that there are people out there that care... and no matter how much we think we are alone in our journey of life, we really aren't.

I am completely taken aback at times on the outpouring of positive reinforcement that I get when I am feeling at my lowest... so don't worry, Trey (my friend from how this blog entry started), things will get better - not just for you but for everyone involved in your life. 

But enough mushy stuff.. LOL!

So unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it to Karla's party on Friday night. I hadn't mentioned to anyone that I had been suffering through a migraine since Tuesday afternoon and it just didn't go away - even when taking medication for it - so I just went to bed and slept for 12 hours.

But that didn't help either... it finally let up on Saturday night.

Saturday was spent with my mom and the princess and then the hubby and our friend Lisa.

Lisa stayed over our house since it was late... and it was nice to have a "sleepover". LOL!!

Sunday morning was breakfast for everyone and then I was at home with the princess since she wasn't feeling well and the hubby went to the store to pick up some much needed fruit and veggies for us.

But then plans changed and we ended up spending the afternoon at Lisa's house as the hubby helped out her son with fixing up his bike.

Monday... back to the grind for everyone.

Work and work at home... 3 loads of laundry - washed, folded and put away! I accomplished a lot last night.

Tuesday... back to the grind again but hopefully I will be headed to the gym to work on strengthening my legs since we have our run on Saturday morning. I know that I have to work on my legs and core in order for the weight to finally get down.

I am not happy with my body... I've known this for quite some time now.

I can honestly say that I am over 200 pounds and I would really LOVE to be under that 200 mark sometime this year.

I finally broke down and told the hubby that I need help... and as wonderful that he is with me, he has told me that he is going to help me with this journey.

It's all about diet and the right exercises so that I finally achieve this goal of mine.

I am hoping that I can lose some 30 pounds for now so that I can run the half marathon in September. I am striving towards that goal of running this half marathon for the medal. Just need to get in better shape - both physically and mentally. 

So ending this entry here... thanking each and every one of you for reading my little blog. I have reached over 820 page views and I have written over 148 entries since July of 2011. It wasn't until last year that I decided to take my writing on the blog a little more seriously - I had been writing in a Word document since 2011 each month. But I am blessed to be able to share my journey with each and every one of you.

Have a wonderful evening... and thanks for reading.

End of the week... TGIF!

Run Or Dye - May 25th (already registered)

The Glo Run - June 15th (already registered)

Women Rock Chicago - September 22nd

Monster Dash Half, 10 Mile, 5K - October 21st (need to register)

Hot Chocolate 15K & 5K - November 3rd (already registered)

Santa Hustle Race Series - December 7th (need to register)

OMG... I can't believe that I have that many races between now and the end of the year! And that is not counting the race this month but I am excited about all of them.

The one that I am still debating about doing is the Women Rock Half Marathon in September. The most I have ran is a 7k and that one was a long and hard one. But I did it with my hubby... and this one in September is just a women's run, so I won't have him running with me but I will have my running partner with me at the race.

But damn... 13.1 miles is a lot of miles to run for someone that hasn't been running for a long time yet. I just started running in October and have completed 3 runs and about to complete my 4th one in about a week.

After completing the run next Saturday, I will have run over 13 miles (not counting all the miles I have done on the treadmill) but am I ready to take in the whole 13 miles in one race? YIKES!

How would I train for this? Is there an app for that? LOL!!

There was an app for the training on the 5k's... but I wonder if there is one for the half marathon. LOL!!

Okay... am I being greedy with wanting to do this race just to collect the wonder looking medal that is given away at the end of the race, along with a Women Rock flute filled with champagne?

Come on now? How cool would it be if I was able to finish the race and have that around my neck!?

And then how cool would it look, me walking around with this great looking sweater?

This is the second annual Women's Rock race in Chicago... so I don't know of a lot of women that have actually run this race. I could be included in the few (thousand) that ran it for the first time last year. And I can also cross this off my list of things to do this year... something BIG that I accomplished in my life, right? At least something of this magnitude in my life because I don't know if I would be able to ever run a full marathon... that my friends, sounds too scary for me. LOL! Power to those that are able to start and finish it.

So I guess I have a lot to think about for the next couple of weeks... cause if I decide to do it, I need to figure it out before the end of May. I want to be able to have at least three full months to train for this.

But onto another subject...

Earlier this week, a great tragedy hit the city of Boston, Massachusetts during the 117th annual Boston Marathon.

On Monday, April 15th, during the 2013 Boston Marathon, approximately two hours after the winners crossed the finish line, at 2:50pm EST, with the race clock time of 4:09:43, two explosions occurred near Copley Square, causing the race to be halted. At the time of this entry, there has been three deaths and about 183 people injured because of the explosions.

Thankfully, authorizes have identified the people that caused this terrible tragedy - two brothers from Russia... and one of them was killed earlier this morning in a shoot out with police in Massachusetts, after killing yet another person: an MIT officer, trying to rob a 7-Eleven and even carjacking a person.

But I hope and pray that they are able to find the second brother, alive, so that the whole nation - nay, the whole world - could hear from at least one of them on why they decided to do this. 

As a beginner runner... my heart goes out to all those affected by this... I feel that this has affected all my running brothers and sisters. And I hope that this tragedy brings us closer in the running community.

I am continuing my mission on getting my lifetime body - not a summer body - because this is the only body that I was blessed to have and I need to take care of it.

So I will end this week on a high note by going to the gym tonight, since I've been going to the gym all week.

Last night was Zumba night for me... and OMG, I was dying because not only was the class super intense, my thighs were on FIRE!

Just as Alicia Keys sang... THIS GIRL IS ON FIRE!!!

It has been totally worth the pain and suffering that I have endured this whole week of going to the gym.

I made a promise to myself and this is one promise that I will NOT break for myself.

I want to be around for a long time for my two loves and for all my family and friends.

So with that, I am really looking forward to getting out of work today so that I can get to the gym and then get ready for a birthday party tonight for one of my ya-ya sisters, Karla.

Have a wonderful afternoon and weekend!

Hasta la proxima and thanks for reading!

Enduring the pain of the gym this week

Gosh, I'm so exhausted!
I made it to the gym and took my Zumba class.... thankfully my legs gave me the strength to get through the class.

It's now day four of going to the gym.
I'm really hoping that I make it to the gym again tomorrow so I can end the week on a high note.

I want to continue my 5-day a week going to the gym streak. It's been giving me a great sense of accomplishment by doing this. So why wouldn't I want to continue?

And with my next race on April 27th, I need to make sure that I am getting stronger.  Not just for this upcoming race, but for every race and everyday life.

I know that I posted something earlier but I wanted to post something to how I was feeling this evening.

Have a great night! ♥ Good night!
Thanks for reading! :-)

Need to write...

With all the work that I have to do, I have to reflect on something that I have been wanting to do for such a long time... write a book!

I feel guilty that I haven't put pen to paper and started it... but I have no clue on what subject to write about. I feel dumb for saying that I want to become a writer when for the first time in my life, my imagination has completely failed me.

I made a promise to myself last year that I was going to start writing my manuscript but without any ideas on what to write about, I am at a stand-still about it.  

I see all these other writers come up with ideas of what to write about... but here I am wondering who my main character will be, what will he/she go through. Will I write a romance novel or will be a romantic-comedy? Will it be a scary story or a fictional true story?

I push others to make their dreams come true and help them along the way but this is something that I can't be helped with... no one can push me along the way.

To be honest, I have sat down and put down ideas to paper but then that's all... they are just ideas and I don't know if they are any good.

• The girl rebelling against her parents wishes about having a traditional 15th birthday party.
• The girl from a rich family that wants to find herself with the help of her families money.

And so many other ideas that I have come up throughout the years... but unsure whether or not they are even remotely good ideas for a book.

Also, if I do go with any of these ideas, I don't know how to continue working with...

• What's the character's name?
• Where does the plot happen?

And so many other questions that come up when I start to think about it... and I just stare at the page blankly. 

I don't want to do that anymore... I want to be able to put pen to paper and just write my little heart out and finally accomplish my goal of writing my book before turning 40 years old.

On another note...

As much as in pain I was yesterday, I headed to the gym to do my second day of my week 6 of running. And I can't believe that I actually accomplished running with my thighs feeling like were rocks.

But I did it... and I will be headed to the gym again tonight for a Zumba class.

And end my week with another run tomorrow night after work at the gym.

I made a promise to myself at the beginning of the year that I was going to make changes to my health and I need to accomplish that... I've done so much already this year and this is a priority for me to do also.

So no less than 4 to 5 times a week at the gym... I need to better myself and my health.

Okay... onto a funny story...

The princess decided to come out of her room wearing my new heels... and she rocked those suckers like she was a diva! LOL! She looked so cute doing it too!

I am so mad that I didn't find my camera or have my phone near me to take a shot, but I am hoping that she does it again soon and I am hoping that I will be ready to take that cute picture of her strutting her stuff around the house. LOL!

And with that, I am going to end this entry here.

Have a wonderful evening... stay dry (it's been crazy raining here today!)... and hasta la proxima! :)

Time for updates...

Well, I have had this tab open since Monday to update my blog from the last 6 days and I am finally getting around to it now. LOL!

So on Wednesday after work, Liz and I headed to the gym to get our workout on! It was GREAT!!! My goal of the night was to run for 8 minutes straight and I was able to do that. What! What! I am so proud of myself for doing this.

Then I get home to get ready for the beginning of the celebration of princess' birthday... so the hubby, princess and I headed over to Logan Theater to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. What a great night and movie! The princess and hubby really enjoyed the movie.
And when all was said and done, while heading home, we sang "happy birthday" to the little princess in the back seat.

The hubby and I put her to sleep and we spent some time in the living room watching some television then it was time to go to sleep.

Thursday... my princess' birthday! :-)

Happy 3rd Birthday, Princess!

She had a full day! Breakfast made by her daddy, shopping with mommy and daddy, visiting both sets of grandparents and getting showered with gifts, balloons and cakes.

Friday... was also a full day for her.
The little diva didn't want to have breakfast so she had some cereal instead. LOL!
We went to run some errands with the two loves and went to Red Robin for her post-birthday lunch. It was so cute watching her eat her lunch with such enthusiasm. I loved it!

Then it was time for this chick to get ready for her girls night with her friends.
It was a good night to celebrate Karla's birthday with some Guatemalan food and a movie (Temptation) afterwards.
But I did come to one conclusion.. wine gives me migraines. :-( So I guess I won't be drinking any more wine for a while.  

Saturday...
Ran some errands with my mom and the princess. Picked up a couple of nice shirts for the princess.

My princess and I... love this little girl!

Then it was at home with my princess to wait for the hubby to come home.
We had a nice simple dinner with the hubby and I finally got my fru-fru drink that I had been craving since Thursday night! LOL!! Simply made by the hubby!

Cheers!

Sunday...
After making breakfast for the hubby and princess (who didn't want to eat ANY of it! UGH!), I cleaned up and got the princess ready for her little birthday gathering with her cousins at the movies.

We took her and her cousins' to see "The Croods" which was a very cute movie.

All the kids waiting for the movie to start.

After we were done there, we went to the store to pick up some food to cook at my cousin's house - who invited us to come over for a BBQ. And that was where we spent the rest of the night.

Monday...
Back to reality after a wonderful long weekend with my two loves.
Work all day...
Then it was to the gym with Liz and my princess.
And the goal of the night, run for 20 minutes straight without stopping.

Go Meli! Go Meli!

And here I am... busting right through that goal... and not only did I do it, I added another 4 minutes to it.

Tuesday...
Another day at work... UGH!
And another night at the gym... but this time the hubby came along with Liz and I.
Boy oh boy... it was a great night at the gym.
We took a class with two personal trainers that is currently being offered for free at the gym and OMG... I can't wait to take the class again.
It was a circuit training class that is being offered for the members that can't afford to pay for personal training.
So once they start charging, we have decided to purchase the 4-days a month pass so that we can at least take the class once a week.
This will be able to help us all lose the weight that we are all desperately wanting to lose.

And now we are here... Wednesday.
I am deciding on whether or not to go to the gym to run or stay at home to do Zumba.
Decisions, decisions!
But I am hoping that today that I get some much needed rest.
I was woken up with a massive migraine at about 3am this morning.... and I've been awake ever since.

Okay... leaving this post here...
Need to get back on track here with my writing... Maybe I'll jot down some ideas tonight so that I can have some ideas on what to write.

Hasta la proxima!

Time for me...

Well, I didn't make it to the gym last night but I did get a lot of rest.

I am on a mission tonight to do a lot of things... get to the gym with my partner-in-crime, Liz and then head over to the movies with her, the hubby and princess to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at 10pm.

Tonight I have a goal... running for 8 minutes straight. 
I am so hoping that I am able to make it... I was able to do the 5 minutes on Monday night so I am hoping that I will be able to push myself a little more this evening.

This week, weekend and the next couple of weekends are going to be full of fun... but I have to make sure that I still get my workout in.
I am my own role model... I am my own inspiration... I need to make sure that nothing stands in my way so that I can achieve everything that I have set my eyes upon for this year.

I know that this sounds mean, but I cannot wait to be validated by those that love me because if I can't validate myself, what is the point in getting the accolades of those that love me when I still don't see the greatness that others see in me.
But I am getting there... I have been been told that I have been the inspiration for two person to continue to work out. They see my posts on Facebook and draw inspiration from me to take them to the next level. 
WOW... I never thought that I would be inspiration for ANYONE to continue working out!

I guess I have to step up my game for myself and so that I can give out the positive inspiration that they might need to get to their goals also.

So with that... I will leave this entry here. I have been keeping the entries short - just in case I might need to write about anything important to myself.

Have a wonderful evening - I sure plan to!

Hasta la proxima!

A goal has been broken!

Yahoo!!! I can't believe that I was able to break one of my goals last night while at the gym.

The couch-to-5k application that I have on my phone, that is currently helping me train, has me on week 5 day 1... so according to the app, I am to walk for 3 minutes and run for 5 minutes. So of course I was nervous about the whole running for 5 whole minutes.

And I am proud to report that I was able to run the whole 5 minutes! OMG!! I started at the 5 minute mark to start running and didn't stop until it was time to walk again.

I did it again two more times... even though I really wanted to stop... but I muscled through it and finished it off! :-)
I do it again on Wednesday when the app has me running for 8 minutes straight! OMG... I am happy to start this on Wednesday and hope that I am able to do it.

My game face... :-)

Now tonight, I will be doing some Zumba at home... and cleaning up a little more - since I started last night.


Just one more work day for me... looking forward to the long weekend ahead of me with the hubby, the princess, friends and family.
Some time to relax, workout and put the priorities back in order for me. :)

Well, it's almost time for me to get out of work... I even was able to change out my chair for another to see if this one is more comfortable than my last one.

So looking forward to this evening... Zumba, run at the park or maybe get to the gym for yoga? Decisions, decisions... let's see what the evening has in store for me.

Hasta la proxima!

And happy golden 9th birthday to my nephew... I miss him - he's on vacation with his parents - and can't wait to see him this weekend!

What a fabulous weekend!

It was a great weekend!

And it all started on Friday, when the hubby and princess picked me up from the train.

That night the hubby and I went to a piano bar to see a show that our friend, Lisa, told us about.

It was such a wonderful show by Ms Cara Dawn... her voice was so soothing. It was so nice to start off a weekend like this - a grown-up show.

After the show, we went to get something to eat at Lazo's Restaurant.

Yummy ceviche! :)

Once we were done with the our dinner, we headed up going to a bar to meet up with some friends that were DJing at.

We danced, we laughed and we had a good time. Lisa dropped us off at home after we closed down the bar.

Saturday morning, I headed off to the gym by my self to get in some much needed running done.

I was exhausted when I finally left the gym but feeling great!

After getting ready at home, went to pick up the princess at my mother-in-law's house and we headed off to the mall to run some errands.

The hubby picked up the princess and I and we went to the grocery store to pick up some much needed stuff.
And that was the end of our night... at home relaxing with the princess.

Sunday...

Woke up to the wonderful smells of the hubby making breakfast...

The hubby changed the oil on my car and then we were on our way to get the much needed fruits and vegetables for the house. Then it was Target to pick some more things and then it was home. 

The hubby cooked a wonderful dinner for us while I was playing "tetris" on how to put the fruits and vegetables away in the fridge. LOL!

Cornish hen, roasted potatoes and asparagus. Yummy!

And now I am here at work... finishing up this entry so that I can just get home and head over to the gym for a run and some weight training.

It was a wonderful weekend... even though not a lot was done but a ton was accomplished.

A lot going on this week... a short work week, the princesses birthday and so many other things that are going on.

Hasta la proxima!