4th of July in Washington DC!

Three summers ago after a nightmare of an experience in the Nation's Capital on July 4th, my boyfriend made me promise him that we would never do that ever again. Fast forward to this summer  and we were going to be in Washington, DC on Independence Day, AGAIN! This time my parents and sister were going to be here, so I thought it would be a great idea to go again. James cringed on the idea of being in the city with hundreds of thousands of people, AGAIN! I overlooked it because where else would you want to be than in the Nation's Capital for an event like this? So James reflected on it and agreed . We thought about what would the best idea would be and decided to get rooms at the Army and Navy Club in which James is a member.

So the 4th arrived and so did we around 3 in the city with no plan other than setting up camp on The Ellipse (where we had The White House behind us and the Washington Monument in front of us). We decided to go walk around, but ended back in the hotel. About two hours later we left to see the fireworks. We lucked out because there was a lot of space on The Ellipse. We brought the essentials: snacks, towels to seat on and best of all Sangriiia!

                                     

 

After the best fireworks, we packed and followed the sea of people to our hotel. It only took us 20 minutes... so it was a success.

To say that it has been the best 4th so far is an understatement. The only word that describes it is Magical. My entire family loved it, even James enjoyed it. Having my family and boyfriend there, great seats, and fireworks was great. The only thing that was missing was my brother.


Until next time... Nadia

From Zero to Hero: What Running Means to Me, Now!

Last summer I really indulged on food. I ate out almost everyday and did not watch what I was eating at all. One day I tried on a dress that I had worn before to wear it for an upcoming  wedding. To my surprise the dress did not fit! That was when I realized that I was approaching the 30's and my metabolism wasn't the same as before and I needed to loose the weight, not only to be able to wear the dress, but to feel better about myself. 

I told my neighbor about my problem and she asked me that if I wanted to walk around the neighborhood with her.I agreed, but I knew that wasn't the only thing I needed to do. From there a couple of things developed:

1. A great friendship
2. A passion for exercising, becoming fit and healthy.

I decided to get back into shape, but I refused to diet because I do not believe in them. We started to walk around our neighborhood, but soon it started to get cold and we decided to join a gym because we were seeing the progress out of our walks. So we traded the streets (jajajajajaja) to the dreaded treadmill ( believe me I had never been a fan of them). 

When the new year approached I started thinking of a New Year's resolution. That is when I decide to start running. I seeked help from different people because I knew I wanted to do it right. The first person I asked was my boyfriend, since he is a runner. Then I asked one of my co-workers that is a runner as well. I took both of their advise, and decided to get  more advise from other sources as well. I bought 3 books online that were recommended for non-runners like me. I inhaled all 3 books in a weekend and decided to follow the running plan that fit the best.

So each week I followed the running plan to a T. This is the plan I used from "The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer book:

To say that this plan worked is an understatement. I went from a Non-runner to a runner... Me a runner, a runner! The timeline of this also worked perfectly because soon after me jogging for 30 minutes it started to get nicer outside. We decided to split time between running outside and running at the gym. This was a big eye opener for me because I still had to acclimatized to running outside and in the cold. I have had a positive attitude towards running until I had to run outside. No book, no person who I had talked to about running prepared me for this. The first day I ran outside I probably ran for .50 mile and thought I was going to die. I couldn't understand how was it that I was able to run 3.10 at the gym without stopping and here I wanted to stop every 10 seconds. Needless to say, the cold got the better of me and got me sick. Did I quit? No, quit was not a word in my new vocabulary. So instead of running outside half the time, we decided to run once a week outside and the other 2 or 3 at the gym. Something similar happened when I got used to running outside and noticed that it was too hot to run outside and went back to the gym. 


Another thing I did was that I started to log in my run/walks to see how I was doing. I was lucky that at the gym the treadmills were linked to nike+ and all I had to do was plug-in my iPhone in  the treadmill, then all I had to do was plug-in my phone and sync it in my computer and voila, all my data was collected. When we started running outside a problem arise, I wanted to record my runs/walks too. So I did my research and bought the Nike+ GSP app for iPhone so all of my data was still in one place. Then after getting tired of carrying my iPhone while running, I broke and bought the nike+ watch. So as of today these are my stats:
                       
                         workouts            hours ran/walked   miles              pace                calories burned

It has been a big change for me but one for the better. I've had to overcome pain every where in my body, negative thoughts, sickness, exhaustion, among other things. It has been a hard road, but it has been worth it. 


Until next time and happy running,
Nats

Making Empanadillas "Empanadas"

As of right now it is no secret that I like to cook and eat. For almost a year I've tried to eat as healthy as I can, but from time to time I miss some of the yummy, greasy Puertorican food. In this case I wanted empanadillas or how they are called here in the states, empanadas. Living in Northern Virginia it is hard finding good Puertorican food. So when my mom asked me what I wanted her to bring me, I didn't think twice and said: Tortillas to make home made empanadillas like my grandma Matona use to make, among other things...

So one morning while my parents were here visiting, my mom woke me up and surprised me with wanting to make empanadillas. I set up all the ingredients and embarked on another one of grandma Matona's adventures. We decided we needed to make two different kinds of empanadillas: cheese and ground beef. For that we needed:

1. cheese (only ingredient for cheese empanadillas)
2. ground beef
3. red sauce
4. potatoes
5. tortillas (main ingredient)

I always thought that making empanadillas was hard, but then again I always think that preparing some foods is hard, but it was easier than I thought.

The frist thing we did was make the ground beef. We added into a sauce pan:
1. ground beef (make sure you adobo the beef or turkey first)
2. potatoes (sliced into small cubes)
3. red sauce (just enough to coat the beef)
4. green olives (you can add them if you like)

Then... We waited for the beef to be done. (It will probably take about 20 minutes for the beef to be done...)

So when it was all done:


We:

1. Get a tortilla

2. Filled it with ground beef or cheese

3. Folded it in half and used a fork to seal it in both sides and voila... the finished product before frying or baking them.

 In this case we ended up frying them because of time; but I am looking forward to making more so I am able to bake them, that way I do not feel bad about eating them because they will be "healthier".

Until next time,
Nadia

Life as I Know It... Now

About a year and change ago I overcame a grieving depression that was literally eating me alive. With some help, I decided to start life again with a different perspective. I took all my negative thoughts out of my head and replaced them with healthy, positive ones and decided to turn my life around. I packed my car, moved to Northern Virginia with my boyfriend, got a new job and basically started from scratch again.

This blog will attempt to show how turning my life around for the better has made me become a better person, friend, daughter, sister to others but specially to me and my boyfriend and how to see things when you approach them differently. In no way I'm perfect; there are things that I still need to work on, but for now I'll work on just four on my list. Each entry will discuss this four goals in hopes to expand to others later on.

Goals for a better life:

1. be happy and positive...
How do I accomplish this one? Traveling (hence, MyTraveling feet name)

2. make new friends...
This one was a little bit hard at first, but I've been able to make tons of great friends already.

3. get a hobby...
easy: take pictures, running and cooking.

4. eat healthier...
I'm trying, but still working on it.

See you next time... Nadia