Thursday, January 19, 2012

Diet update

Hey everyone!

So I'm back on my original Four Hour Body diet with some slight modifications. For example, one of the rules of the diet is no fruit except on my dieters gone wild day once a week. Well I've modified that to having one serving of fruit a day. Also, I do have dairy in my coffee every day as well. So far I've been back on it for about 2 weeks and I haven't lost any weight!!!! WTF(What the Fat) is up with that??!! Well I'm staying optimistic and I will keep on going for at least a few months an then see where I am.

Love

Maureen

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

New Years Resolutions!

Hey everyone!

Ok firstly... Happy New Year!!!!! It's already 2012! Can you believe it? I always feel like every year seems to go by faster than the last.. I know I have not blogged in a long time but I guess that's just because I was extremely busy the last few months so I hope you all are doing well and are healthy. As for my health... well let's just say the Holidays agree with my lips but not really my hips lol Too much sweets and good food. However, with the start of the New Year comes another opportunity for redemption and a fresh start. I'm going to go back on my diet with a few slight amendments but in full force nonetheless. I honestly think the secret to successfully eating healthier is filling up on liquids. It makes you less hungry and gives the illusion that you are full, so here we go again and hopefully this time it will stick.

Thinking about New Years usually gives people hope. Many of us create new years resolutions for ourselves. It may be to lose weight, make more money, find true love, find yourself or become enlightened and knowledgeable. Whatever it is, I think there is one important thing to consider when coming up with your new years resolution:

1. Is this resolution for yourself or for someone else?

For this reason I think it's a good idea to create 2 New Years resolutions. One that is to benefit you and the other to benefit others. For example my 2 New Years resolutions are 1. To lose 20lbs and 2. To encourage one person a day... anyone but ideally a stranger or someone I'm not close to.

Think about what would be suitable resolutions for you and start to put practical measures in place to achieve them. You can do it! Surround yourself with encouragement and positive energy and people and you will be happy.

Well that's all for now folks.

If you like reading my posts please follow my blog!

Love

Maureen

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Sugar update...

Hey all!

So in terms of my battle with sugar I have unfortunately been loosing recently. I feel like my relationship with sugar is like an abusive relationship, I love it but I abuse it. Especially around this time of year with Halloween candy being on sale and Christmas treats and pastries everywhere it's particularly difficult for me to resist my cravings. I was doing so very well before my Europe trip but all went to hell when I returned. I need to get back into my previous state of mind. Also, a deterring factor is that I've been able to keep off the 15 or so pounds I managed to lose. That is a deterrent because I don't feel the urgency I felt before so it makes it harder to stay on track... I just have to remember my ultimate goal and somehow make it my number one focus for the next few months. Wish me luck!

Chocolate and cupcakes

Maureen

Happy Birth of Love

Hey guys!

Yes I know it's been ages since my last post but I've been sooooooooo... etc... busy in the last two months that I actually didn't have the brain power nor motivation to write anything. Today however, is a special day! It's the day the love of my life was born! I am a person who loves easily and forgives easily as well... it's a gift God has given me. I always talk about how I love my family and friends and God. It's true I feel deeply connected to people and, perhaps naively, I believe I AM connected to everyone. However, there is one person in my life that has been able to inspire me more than anyone else. He is my own personal gift sent from God. Today is the day he was born and I will always be grateful to God and his family for allowing me to be part of his life and for him to be part of mine. We've been in a relationship for almost 7 years and at times it has been rocky but every bump in the road has only become part of a stronger foundation. I'm so lucky that we connect so well and that our lives connect so well also. So here's to you my love, all the best in life and beyond.

Maureen

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Makeup and more

Hello followers of my blog!

To update you all, my Europe trip was fantastic!!! It's another world over there! Small old streets, history all around you, beaches, monuments, cathedrals and thousand year old artifacts! No words can really describe the feel of Rome, Venice, Paris, Nice or England. I also got to meet Dumo's brothers. I was really nervous at first, what if they didn't like me? What if they thought I was weird or boring or snobby or something? Well luckily they were great! They went above and beyond to make me feel welcome and at home, and they really didn't have to do that, I mean, shouldn't I be the one trying to make them happy? I am the stranger in the group, the one who wants to be part of their family, but I didn't feel out of place at all. I really appreciated that and how down to earth and easy to talk to they were. Their mom did a marvelous job with them, God rest her soul.

In other news, I can't help but feel like everyone around me is getting hitched! I guess we're just at that age where all my friends and relatives are transitioning to their next stage in life. It's a beautiful thing to see that two people love each other and I wish everyone all the best in their marriage and in life.

In terms of my sugar battle... I was doing amazingly before I left for Europe, no sugar, no carbs not even fruit (except once a week) then when i returned I guess my way of thinking was altered because while in Europe, on the beaches, I realized that my size was actually average. I was shocked to say the least. Most people were more or less the same size as me. However, I still do want to lose some weight, I have been able to lose about 15 lbs so far but I'm not yet at my target so I'm gonna keep on it! When I feel like something is too hard or out of reach I like to surround myself with positivity and positive voices. One of my favorite songs for that purpose is "Almost There" from the Princess and the Frog. Check it out here:



Also for those of you who know me and my personality I'm all about diversity, I love to surround myself with it. I love to learn! I also love the arts and creativity so I like to try and dabble in several things. One of those things is makeup and I really appreciate the art of makeup artistry, it's really cool and unique. So sometimes I have fun with my own makeup and the most recent result is:
which was inspired by:

obviously I'm not as pale as the second model and my take is not as flawless but I'm still proud of my attempt. Also I used more pink on the cheeks as opposed to purple because I like pink better :)

Ok well that's all for now folks! Till next time...

Tata n toodles

Maureen

Thursday, August 11, 2011

One more day... I'm so excited

So tomorrow at exactly 10:45pm I will be off on my European adventure. Woo hoo!!! Time has felt like it was moving at a snail's pace so far but now, on the eve of my flight I wish it would move even slower.... I must admit, I have a fear that the whole trip will go by in one big blurr and feel like it all never happened. I'm going to make a point of soaking in every single moment. I'll be like one of those nerdy tourists carrying their video camera and digital camera around everywhere they go. I still can't even believe this is going to happen, this was one of my bucket list items and soon I'll be able to cross it off.

I even made a new dress for the occasion (I learned how to make it by watching GiannyL on youtube). This was my second attempt at the dress and it turned out great!! Check it out.




In addition to seeing the beautiful and historical countries in Europe I'm super excited to meet my boyfriend's brothers. Those of you who know me, know that I am a super duper family oriented person. My cousins are my best friends in the world and I've been blessed with the most loving and fun family. Therefore, I'm so curious and excited to meet my other half's family since I already consider them a part of my own.

Also, to update everyone on my sugar addiction, I have started the Slow Carb Diet, from the book The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferris. I've been on it for about 5 weeks and so far I lost about 8 lbs in total so I consider that a success but I'm not at my goal yet. In terms of sugar I do still eat it but the diet only allows me to have it one day a week so I eat all the sugar I want every Saturday and the rest of the week my sugar cravings are assuaged with gum (which happens to work quite well). I will try very hard to stick to my diet as much as possible while in Europe, we'll see how it goes.

It's so funny how life works, how much life can change from one day to the next. One day I'm down the next I'm up. I'm just thankful to God for all my blessings and I sincerely pray for all you who are reading this who are going through any kind of hard time that God may lighten your load and that you may come out of your dark time with a better understanding and appreciation for God and life.

Well that's all for now...

Lots of love

Maureen

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Family ties and summer skies

Hey Everyone!!!!

So I know I've totally been slacking with my blog. So sorry y'all, but I just wanted to give you all an update regarding my cousins visit and my summer in general. So.... as I previously mentioned my cousins Sasha and Lara came to visit from the US. We had THE MOST AMAZING TIME OF OUR LIVES!!! That is totally not an exaggeration either, at least not for me. It was amazing seeing them after 6 long years!!! We got along like we saw each other everyday. My family is such a blast to hang out with. Every single one of them is incredibly beautiful on the inside and gorgeous on the outside! We did so much fun stuff from visiting Harbourfront, to the distillery district to Unionville to Port Perry to Canada's Wonderland (not to mention the clubs we hit up at night mostly thanks to Georgie... we love you lil brother... who is now bigger than us and taking care of all his sisters... who could ask for any better?) I could go on and on about how awesome my family members are, how loving, caring and funny but I think most people would think I'm exaggerating or being insincere but my cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings, friends, boyfriend and grandma are honestly the light of my life, they make me who I am today and all the good things about me come from them. Thank God Almighty for such a rich blessing! I'm so fortunate.



Now the other good news... less than a month away from my first Euro trip!!! I can't believe it. I think I won't really believe it till I'm on the plane or even in Italy. This is so amazing.

More news... I recently got accepted to two Universities in the US to do my graduate studies in Forensic Psychology. Firstly I was accepted to the Chicago School of Professional Psychology (LA campus) to their PsyD program in Clinical Forensic Psychology. I was super excited about this until.... I saw how much tuition would cost.... 30k a year!!! for 4 years!!! who has that kind of money??? Honestly! Well I tried to look at my options but even so it was still waaay too steep for me :( The second school I was accepted to was John Jay College of Criminal Justice (part of the City University of New York) for their MA in Forensic Psychology. Now this one is much more to my liking! Tuition is about $10600 a year and it's only 2 years since it's an MA program. So I decided to defer my start and use this year to save like mad lol. I'm even scheduled to take some courses to get my bar tending license so I can get a job bar tending part time to make some extra cash. I'm really excited about the prospect of doing my MA and especially doing it in NEW YORK CITY!!! sooo close to Broadway!!! woo hoo... maybe I'll do some auditions while I'm there as well lol why not?


Well that's all for now my lovelies...

Maureen