Busy Weekend

Hello everyone!!

I had such a busy weekend. This weekend, one of my best friend had a Bachelorette Party on Friday and Saturday so I wasn't able to get to a computer. It was super fun and I didn't eat super crazy, as I assumed I would have. I only had one alcoholic beverage ( Sangria Swirl ) it was delicious!! I am not saying or trying to be portrayed as, "oh drinking is against God la la la la". I personally do not like the way I feel when I drink. For instance, my heart starts racing like crazy, I feel super hot, nauseous, and just weak. I can usually have one drink or glass of wine and I feel fine but more than that I just don't like it. I do think that drinking can lead to BIG mistakes and can lead to getting yourself in situations you wish didn't happen.

As the imperfect person I am, I have had many mistakes happen from drinking and I just think, drinking is overrated and it should just be a couple drinks, to maybe relax and that is it. Drinking to get drunk is super dangerous and if you do that, whoever you are, please please please be careful. I am not judging anyway because as a college student, drinking to get drunk, partying, and just feeling your immortal is what majority of college students go through, I did! But as being married and getting closer to God, I realized for myself that it just isn't as important to me or fun anymore. I would rather workout, read, watch movies, paint, hangout with family and friends! I definitely went through that phase of partying and I will not and do not judge anyone who does things "their" way of having fun or relaxing. I just want to say a couple things, which you all probably have heard these. 1. Do not sit your drink down and then drink it later. 2. Do not drink and drive. 3. Do not hesitate to call the police if you need a ride home, your life may have just been saved. 4. Be responsible and think before doing anything. 5. Never be embarrassed to ask for help, that is why certain professions exist.

Okay! Enough about my opinion on drinking. I honestly didn't even expect to get into my opinion on drinking, but oh well. Here is my buggy at Walmart with all of my husband and I groceries are Walmart yesterday.......

With healthy food being super expensive, 'well food in general', I have found ways to feed my husband and I on a budget of 65-75$ per week on food.
1. Buy a bulk of chicken; use freezer bags to store the chicken. I put 2 per freezer bag and sit them out the day I want to cook them. This typically lasts a week and maybe one meal we won't have a meat.
2. My go to snack when I want something spicy and salty (Chips and salsa). The salsa is gluten free as is the corn chips. These chips are $2.00 and salsa is about $3.20.
3. I love making baggies of trail mix. These are my cheats (mwhhhahaha). I use unsalted sunflower seeds, natural almonds, dark chocolate, and uncooked oatmeal. Super yummy and I portion control this to make sure I am not eating to many "healthy fats". Almonds are good for you but you only need about 12 almonds per day. Also, soaking your almonds in a bowl of water overnight helps plump them and makes them taste super yummy! Try it!! 
4. Salads are always a must! I like cutting up strawberries in mine.
5. Yes that is 2% milk you see. Not mine, my picky husbands. I personally drink skim milk! I think it tastes much better!
6. Muscle Milk! For those hot afternoon runs, I need something to help me recover.


Tutorial of makeup will be coming very VERY soon. Work has been super hectic and busy but when I get a chance to sit down and do my make up I will post a video for you guys. I also will be posting ways to save money at the grocery store, that my husband and I do all the time!

Scripture of the day:


But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the safe of Christ, then, I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

- 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Mmmhmmm

So today was such an interesting day. Last night in the middle of my sleep I decided to change the password to my phone. Since I was practically 'sleep texting/locking myself out of my phone' I woke up this morning to a blaring alarm that would not shut off. I jumped up being super confused on why my password was not correct. It finally hit me that in my sleep, I thought it would be cool to change my password and then clearly forgetting it during my sleep. So lets just say, all the photos I wanted to post of my food = gone, contacts = gone, text messages = gone, my singing recordings = gone, and my bible and devotional apps = gone.

Luckily, God is great and he gives people amazing gifts, such as fixing things that not so high-tech savvy individuals, like myself do like locking myself out of my phone. Needless to say, never sleep text, sleep change codes, and/or sleep walking, I would advise to just stay in bed and sleep.

Well last night I went to a bible study with my friend called "The Table". It was absolutely mind-blowing. I was just so moved by what God was doing in that room. The longing questions I have had about the Bible are answered, at last. One thing I want to share with you is this following sentence, which was spoken during prayer. "God Matters First and All Else Flows Through." I know it sounds simplistic, but those 8 words mean so much to me. Basically I take it as, you must love God over everything and anything earthly and non-earthly. You need to give him all the honor and glory because he is the one who has given you breath, given you your families and friends, given you talents, gifts, passions, and personality. He has given you life! It is super important as believers and lovers of God to love him more than anything you can ever imagine.

So today, I am taking this new challenge. I bought today this meal replacement formula from GNC. It is called Lean Shake 25 by "Total Lean". I am going to drink 2 shakes a day; for breakfast and lunch. Yes, I know you are like OMG that is so unhealthy. The way I think about it is, majority of you probably don't even get the recommended daily allowance of nutrients. This shake contains what my body will need to perform at its greatest. I will probably place a salad or something of that sort with the shake for lunch. I am honestly excited about it, because I've noticed during my morning/evening runs that I just am exhausted and fatigue so I decided to try this shake 'meal replacement' in hopes of giving me a little bit more energy. By the way, I am training for a marathon in April 2014. I also bought multivitamin packets from GNC by the same brand, "Total Lean". I will post pictures of them so you know exactly what I bought. I will definitely let you guys know if I like it and see any results from it, allow time though, this will not happen overnight unfortunately.

I also wanted you guys to know that I love doing Yoga. I will also post my favorite yoga pose and list the amazing benefits it has for your mind, body, and soul. If you don't have local yoga instructors, the DVDs have great ways to get your Yoga on, try Walmart and/or Target.

Have a wonderful weekend!! Remember trust God with all your heart, he will never leave your nor forsake you. Such a wonderful God huh? :)

My Lovely Fur Babe Kali

In love!!!! <3

Beauty + Prayer Video :)

God Gives Me The Reason To Smile :)

Favorite Dinner Recipe

Sweet Potato Stir-Fry (serves 2.5)

My Special Creation 

What you'll need: 

2 large sweet potatoes 

Sunflower Oil (at walmart, actually cheaper than the other oils and slightly healthier)

Bell Peppers (1 Yellow, 1 Orange, 1 Red)

1 Zucchini 

1 Squash 

Jalepanos 

1 Chicken Breast 

Cooking the Chicken: 

-Clean and Trim the chicken. 

-Use kitchen scissors and cut the chicken into small cubes 

-Pour enough sunflower oil into small skillet to cover the bottom

-Add chicken (you can add season, but I typically don't because it has so much flavor when mixed with other ingredients) 

-Cook chicken on medium until chicken turns white. Set aside. 

*Don't worry about the chicken getting cold, it'll be warmed up with the stir-fry.

Remaining Ingredients: 

-Cut sweet potatoes into small cubes as well. ( I usually cut the potato in half and cut long strips and half those strips). The size does not matter at all. 

-Cut bell peppers into long strips (just mimic the cutting process as potatoes)

-Cut zucchini and squash (when I cut mine they look like cucumber circles and then I half them)

-Cut jalepanos. ( I leave seeds in because I LOVE spice, deseeding is recommending if you don't want your mouth on fire). 

-Use a deep-skillet 

-Add enough sunflower oil to cover the bottom and place all cut ingredients into pan. 

-Cover and let cook for about (20 minutes) on medium

-Stir occasionally 

-After 25 minutes, uncover and place chicken in with the sweet potato batch

-Leave uncovered and cook for another 10-15 minutes. 

Enjoy!! It is super filling and delicious 

Calories: approx. 380 calories per serving ( I did actually calculate when I made it) 

Hello everyone!!

Well sorry for no posts on saturday or sunday. I usually don't workout on the weekends. I am a firm believer in working out monday thru friday and on saturday and sunday; enjoy the weather, read a book, do something for yourself. Well this is what my weekend looked like. On saturday, we had a crazy intense storm so I spent the majority of the day inside. With being inside practically all day I practiced my vocals. Yes, I love singing and I do practice to make myself a better singer. I also read a great book which I recommend to anyone who is married, or even considering marriage. It is a memoir and is christian based. I would elaborate more but I am not quite finished with it yet so I'll let you, whoever you are, pick up the book yourself. It is called, "Beyond Ordinary" by Justin & Trisha Davis. After some reading, I went to get my nails done (much needed) and had a small dinner with my husband and we watched Identity Theft. It was absolutely hilarious ... another recommendation. Oh and thank you all for your prayers, my husband is feeling much better.

On Sunday, I serve at my local church and after I serve I attend the morning service with my husband. It was such a great sermon. It was basically to respect your older and younger generation. Because we (younger generation) need the older generations wisdom and guidance. Older generation needs us because we (younger generation) have such a passion within us to help and serve to others. It was just a good realization to respect others. After church, I went to our apartments pool and laid out all day. Phew! It was hot, but it was super relaxing and I got a lot of reading done there as well.

Okay! Today is Monday! Whoohooo :) Here is my daily intake and my workout for the day...


Breakfast:

8oz of coffee

Lunch:

Panda Express (eek I know): Chow Mein and Sweetfire chicken breast and orange chicken

Dinner:

Nothing! ( Okay I know this is horrible, I just don't have much of an appetite, probably from the huge meal at lunch).

Workout:

Ran 3.05 miles with run time at 28:04
Arm/Back Day
Crunches

Okay so I know that I wasn't detailed on the workout. I will be posting either tonight or tomorrow what exactly is my "arm/back day" and "crunches". For the record, I think I may be getting my husbands sickness, so I really think that is why I am just not hungry and didn't push myself today.

I just want to give a huge thank you to God. I know that he is working wonderful things in my life and I just love that I can finally see all the beautiful blessings. I just want you, whoever you are, to know that God loves you. He really does! Even if you are going through something that seems unbearable or scary, God hasn't left you, he is right with you at all times. It really helps if you pray. Pray to him, cry out to him, let him know that even though you are going through a hard time or situation, you still love him and trust him. If you don't like who you are such as: your attitude, your thoughts, your actions. Pray to God. Say; God, Change Me. He will do that for you, and when you feel, see, or hear of good, praise him. If something goes wrong, praise God anyways. He has great intentions for you. He wants you! He is jealous for you! Don't give in to evil ways, be positive, be hopeful, be gracious, and most of all give all the honor and glory to God.

Scriptures that reassures me:

But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:3

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 4:7

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

- Proverbs 3:5-6