Let's Talk About Breakfast Cereal

OK so my current collection isn't the healthiest but breakfast cereals are actually one of my favorite breakfast and snack foods.  It's convenient and delicious although I know all the sugar, carbohydrates, and I'm sure chemicals makes it pretty unhealthy.  I think it's important to change up breakfast foods so it doesn't get boring and ensures one to not miss it as I sincerely believe it is the most important meal of the day.

My favorite breakfast cereals are (but not limited to):

• Cheerios/Honey Nut/Frosted/Apple Cheerios
• Frosted Flakes/Corn Flakes
• LIFE Cinnamon
• Cocoa Pebbles
• Golden Grahams
• Honey Bunches of Oates
• Raising Bran
• Apple Jacks
• Lucky Charms
• Reeses Puffs

I don't think it's a good idea to exclusively eat cereal for breakfast every day but it's a good enough alternative than not. How do you feel about breakfast cereals? Do you have a favorite brand?  Let me know by commenting below!

Passport Application Sent!

I haven't left the country since I was 5.  I have no plans to travel any time soon but if the opportunity wants to present itself I definitely want to be in the position to be ready.

I don't know if you guys know this but it could take 4-6 weeks from the time an application is submitted for your passport to arrive.  Assuming you'd want to pay the minimum cost that is.

Standard processing time cost me $165 for a Passport book and card.  I guess technically one does not need a passport card but I rather have both just in case. A passport book is good for travel by air, land, or sea whereas the passport card is only valid for seaports and land border crossings.

So... now I wait.  I'm glad I got it started any way. That is one less thing I'd have to worry about.

1 Million Steps in 3 Months!

That number sounds like a lot right? Well, it turns out that I've in fact taken more than 1 million steps since January.  Early January I purchased the UP24 which I use daily to track my sleep and steps.  I received a notification saying that I walked over 1,000,000 steps and counting which is equivalent to walking from San Francisco to Mexico!

Does owning a fitness tracker really help?  In my opinion, yes.  Back in Texas I walked a lot and it was mostly due to work.  However, now that I'm on this...extended vacation it's really easy just to stay in pajamas and Netflix binge. So when I'm looking my iPad and my UP24 app is practically yelling at me it's a real encouragement. I also have fitness pals who I know sees my updates and when I see their updates and when their numbers are significantly higher than mine that when I get to steppin'!  I use my iPad to read the app but if you have an Android or iPhone you can literally track your steps constantly.  I found that it drove me a little crazy so I decided to take it off my phone and just periodically check my progress when I'm at home.

Do you know how many steps you have to take in order to have traveled a mile? They say it's about 2,000 steps it just depends on the measurement of your strides.  My ultimate goal is to be able to walk 20,000 steps/day.  I haven't been able to break that number yet but I think I will get there soon.  I just need to put the time into it.

Do you own a fitness tracker? What kind do you have? How often do you use it? If you don't have one, are you considering getting one?

What Does Cinco De Mayo Celebrate?

Some say that Cinco De Mayo is more of an American celebration than a Mexican one.   It’s a time when a lot of people use it as an excuse to eat Mexican food and drink margarita.  Truth is, if you were to ask Americans what Cinco De Mayo is about or the history behind it they would be clueless.  If you’re one of these people don’t worry you don’t have to tell anyone but I will tell you the basics so you will no longer be ignorant and can confidently answer the question “What does Cinco De Mayo celebrate?”

Picture featured on phactual.com

According to History.com: On May 5, 1862, 2,000 Mexican soldiers were prepared to fight 6,000 French troops.  General Charles Latrille de Lorences led the French while General Zaragoza led the Mexicans.  The French had lost 500 soldiers and about 100 Mexican casualties.

I believe good leadership makes a huge difference in a group of people large or small that face an objective.  This can be applied in war, school, place of employment, etc.  

There is a quote that I absolutely loved by Dwight D. Eisenhower, "Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."   Anyone can be in a leadership position and tell people what needs to be done and some may follow.  However, I believe it’s the greatest leaders who find a way to make the people passionate about what they must do to get the job done.

Underwear/Sock Drawer

To start of this next blog post I am going to start of with a few questions for you:

• Do you have a separate drawer for your underwear and socks or do you keep them together?

• How often do you purchase socks and underwear?

• Do you have a favorite brand for different occasions?

I would love to hear your answers so please comment below when you have a chance.

As for myself, I keep my socks and underwear in the same drawer.  A year ago I organized my drawer but now it is in a state where they are all just thrown in together in one drawer.  I can hear a former co-worker’s voice in my head “Let’s see how long you can keep that up” when I proudly showed her the picture of my super organized underwear drawer!

I don't really have a pattern of when I buy socks and underwear.  I guess I used to buy them whenever I thought they were on sale or were a good deal at the time.  

It is currently still in a chaotic state but it is something that I plan on tackling tomorrow.  I will be one step closer to having the examples I need to post about my updated minimalist wardrobe post that I aim to complete this weekend.

As a guide I will be following Love Raw Vegan’s video “How To Simplify & Organize Your Underwear Drawer” – I will link it below.  Perhaps it will help you out as well! ;)

Last month I put a poll asking "What was your favorite 2000s TV Show?"  Although I love Grey's Anatomy I would have to say I love Charmed even more.  According to the poll I'm not the only one.

Charmed is a supernatural-type show that feature three sisters who are witches.  Known as the most powerful witches of all time.

I loved the show and I still watch it on Netflix from time to time.  I was impressed how they changed up the story and brought in a new actress after Shannen Doherty left who played the oldest sister named Prue.  I must admit re-watching the show some of the oldest episodes from seasons 1, 2, and 3 was really corny I loved Prue Halliwell's character but I can tell the show got significantly better with the later seasons.

Do you like Charmed? Who was your favorite character? Do you still watch the re-runs?  Let me know by commenting below!

Path To A Minimalist Wardrobe

When I started this blog one of my earlier post was about organizing my drawer space. I want to take it a step further and organize my entire wardrobe and transform it to more of a minimalist one.

How often is it that we find ourselves frustrated that we can't figure out what to wear? I imagine the decision wouldn't be difficult if I do not have much of a choice. I've made several trips to the local thrift stores and donated a few boxes of clothes and other household items. I am definitely on the right track.

I've got three drawers and half a closet to work with (yes, I share my closet with my husband)!  I will actively work on it this week so hopefully by next weekend I will have a decent update on my progress.

May's Challenge: Daily Food Diary

In the month of April I successfully posted a single blog every day for the whole month! Yay!  Now I still plan on blogging once a day but on the side I've decided to take on a new challenge for the month of May.  Every day (all day) I will write down what I eat.

Why do I want to journal what I eat?  I want to do this because I know it will make me aware of what I am eating and how often I am eating.  It will make me consciously aware of what I'm consuming.  

I will not post it on this blog on the daily basis because I think the work would be redundant. Besides, why would anyone care what I ate every day?  However, I will include what I've eaten so far at the bottom of this post simply because I'm talking about it.  

Overall my aim is to eat healthier foods on the regular basis so I'm not going to drive myself crazy by counting my calories or anything like that.  I'm just going to watch my portions and opt out on high fat contents as much as possible. They say it's not healthy to lose more than 2-3 lbs a week so by March 31, hopefully I will lose 8-12 lbs.  Wish me luck! ;)

Friday, May 1, 2014 

7:32AM

1 cup of oatmeal (which is WAY too much I will cut it down to 1/2 half cup tomorrow)

8 pieces of pecan

2 tsp of brown sugar

2 tsp of peanut butter

1 cup of coffee

12:11PM

2 cups of mixed salad

1 tsp of feta cheese

2 pieces of artichoke

drizzle of fat free zesty italian dressing

1 glass of water

1:31PM

1 cup of brown rice

lentils

chicken

1 class of water

2:23PM

Snap peas

Floyd Mayweather VS Manny Pacquiao

Whether you follow boxing or not, chances are you have heard about these famous boxers.  The anticipated fight is FINALLY happening.  After years of negotiating the fight is finally happening. To catch the fight you have to do one of the follow:

• Pay HBO $90 for standard viewing or $100 for HD
• Team up with some friends/family and split the bill
• Go to a restaurant/bar that is playing it and pay a cover charge $10-$35

Apparently they are trying everything they can to prevent people from illegally streaming the fight.  The businesses that do decide to pay to view the fight are apparently being charged around $5000.  It's crazy!  Whoever wins or loses will walk away regardless millions of dollars but what is at stake: pride/bragging rights.

Me, personally I want Pacquiao to win because he represents those of us that prefer to be humble and grateful for what we have.  There are too many cocky and "entitled" minded people out there in the real world.  Yes, it's all about the skills in the ring not so much outside of the ring but they are both GREAT fighters and I believe it's going to be an awesome fight.  Mayweather has crazy good defensive skills which will be to his advantage.  I hope Pacquiao doesn't act too hastily and use his speed and accuracy to his advantage to get Mayweather out of his comfort zone.

The fight will be held in Las Vegas and it will start at local time 8PM.  Will you be tuning in?

Here is a clip presented to you by HBO - I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did! ;)

Advertising Opportunity For All!

Today I went through my office supplies and tried to downsize (still working on it)!  I came across some random pens and markers and decided to see which ones I can throw away.  While I was doing this, an advertising idea came into mind.  

People still advertise with flyers right?  So that’s what I did – I made a flyer.  I was going for random and colorful.  I think I succeeded.  Although it does look like a 5 year old made it.  I liked it.  It has character I think! ;)  I just hope it works.  I posted it in a local coffee shop so we shall see.  

Do you have a website, blog, or forum?  You can reply to this entry and take it as an advertising opportunity and I won’t flag you for it!

Seeking a beautiful place in California.

Our second anniversary is coming up in a couple of months and my husband and I are trying to plan for it.  Our schedule is not that free where we can take a whole week off like we did for our honeymoon so we have to stay close to the northern part of California.  We've already been to San Francisco so we're wanting to do something different (although I think that is our back up plan if we don't figure out something else).

Here are some of our ideas but feel free to get in touch if you can think of anything else!

• Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
• Lake Tahoe
• Lassen Volcanic National Park
• Point Reyes National Seashore

Shawie's Feeling Blah....

I'm going to be turning in a little earlier tonight.  I am feeling sick.  Not so much like I want to throw up, it's not a headache... just that blah feeling.   Drank water, now some hot tea, and I'm going to go sleep early and see if that fixes me.  The hubby says that it might be the lentils we ate yesterday.  He says that he thinks he read somewhere that if lentils aren't cooked all the way it makes it really difficult for our digestive system to process.  I don't really feel like looking it up right now.  I am writing this entry because I am DEDICATED to this blog.  ...and I have a valid excuse to why this entry doesn't really contain anything useful or interesting. lol  Tomorrow I will research lentils and update this so it's not too useless. Goodnight!

Update:
So I feel much better today. I don't know maybe I was just really tired last night.  It may or may not have been due to lentils.  Lentils have a lot of beneficial nutrients e.g. fiber, protein, iron, etc... I read though that one can consume too much.  Lentil have phytic acids which isn't as dangerous as it sounds...it just means that lentils naturally keeps its nutrients in so your body tends to not absorb the nutrients in its entirety.  Just like nuts in moderations they have good fats but one should not eat a whole lot in one sitting as it is more beneficial when consumed in small amounts.

Sir Percy - The Majestic Cat

I remember I was at work when I got the text from my husband asking me if he could bring a cat home from visiting his dad.  Apparently his aunt had been leaving food for him but never let him in the house.  Also, at the time they believed he was a girl.  It wasn't until we took him to the vet where it was determined that he was actually male but had been neutered already.  At the time while we thought he was a girl, I wanted to call her Persephone after the queen of the underworld in Greek mythology.  Jared thought that name was too long anyway.  To my delight when I found out he was in fact a boy I insisted we call him Percy and the name stuck especially when called him Sir Percy when I first met him.  The name sounds like the name of a gallant knight or something!


I had a pretty strong feeling that we were going to adopt a cat anyway because my husband has always been more of a cat person.  Percy is the sweetest cat I have ever met even sweeter than my former cat from when I was a child named Oreo.  Most of the time Percy is really good, minds his own business, and keeps to himself most times however when he is hungry or his litter box isn't clean you will know about it.  There is no ignoring Percy.  He also has this tendency to go completely limp once you hold him. It never fails he looks totally at ease when you carry him. We absolutely love this cat no doubt about it.

Beautiful Monterey, California

Monterey is such a beautiful city.  There was a gray overcast all day today however I couldn't help but still admire the surroundings.  I've lived here for for almost two months now and I can't help but still feel like a tourist.  There is definitely a lot of history in this city I'm taking my time with learning them all. John Steinbeck - famous American writer known for his works such as Of Mice and Men, Cannery Row, and many other titles lived in this area including Pacific Grove, Salinas, and Monterey.

I still have yet to master the art of parallel parking.  It amazes me how fearless some people can when parallel parking.  There can be literally be three cars behind them but they have no issues with pressing on the breaks and reversing into the empty spot.   In downtown Monterey you'd be lucky if you can secure one of the 1 hour parking spaces sometimes even luckier if you can score a 90 minute one!  I still find myself aiming for one of the 2 hour parking spots because:
a) They usually don't require me to reverse into a parking spot.
b) If I do want to parallel park there usually aren't any traffic on those sides of the streets so I can do and take my time.
c) The extra walk allows me to see more of the city!

My husband and I parked our car near the Art Museum decorated with large sculptures in its vicinity.  We walked down to Fisherman's Wharf and ate breakfast at a small but busy establishment called Crêpes of Brittany. We shared a fabulous savory crêpe which featured brie, salmon, and mushrooms.  Unfortunately we devoured the dish alongside our coffee before I could even take a picture of the dish! It was delicious!  The way I see Monterey... it's like a mini San Francisco.  It's not as crowded yet the feel of it is very close to San Francisco particularly in the Fisherman's Wharf area. 

New Osio Cinemas - Small town movie theater-like experience

My husband and I went to a small movie theater called "New Osio Cinemas."  It was a great experience.  Older audience surrounded us, however, I think I like that better than sharing a theater with noisy teenagers or children!

The movie we saw was Danny Collins.  It was a very enjoyable film.  I recommend it if you're looking for a feel-good type movie.  It stars Al Pacino and I would definitely consider it more of a comedy/drama.  He plays a musician named Danny Collins who end up turning his life around from being a destructive rockstar and hoping for a more meaningful lifestyle after reading a letter he received from legendary John Lennon.

I really enjoyed our experience this evening.  The movie theatre seems to only have 5 screens.  It was small and intimate feeling.  I look forward to having more movie outings like this in the future.  For only $6.50 per ticket, I thought it was worth it.