The Three Falls of the Year... (and counting...)

Yup!!! I am back... and last night I fell walking on my high heels... and I needed to share with all of you guys the reflection behind my falls...

This year I have had the blessing of being traveling around US and the Caribbean... And in the whole year I have had three falls...

1. The first one was at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, CO. I was hiking a mountain and my sport shoes were so old that I slipped and went down the hill and broke my $350.00 Canon Camera since I landed on top of it. YUP!!!! GREAT MEMORIES!
2. The second one was in Vega Baja, PR (my home town) at my parents house... I was applying a roof treatment but there were a part of the avocado's tree that was falling on top of the roof... I wanted to cut it but my family didn't want me to.... soooooooooooo, I was holding a part of the tree and that part broke and I fell... YUP!!!!
3. The last one was last night when I was walking with some friends from 6th street to Colorado St and 4th St. I was wearing high heels, a nice dress and my cute coat when my feet didn't go where I wanted him to go and it took my down on the floor against my will...
   

Probably, I can keep falling, but from all those experiences I just learned a big deal from my behavior..... In Colorado Springs, I fell, I stayed in the floor for a minute, and then I got up and I walked a couple of trails after that for about 4 hours and I am not kidding... In Puerto Rico at the roof, I fell, it hurts, I stayed at the floor for a minute, but my niece extended her arms to help me get up and I finished putting that roof treatment and today, the drop that was falling on my mother's head while she was sleeping is gone... :) And yesterday.... I still feel embarrass about it, but it was the same... I fell, my friends extended their hands to help me, I got up, walked until my destination, danced with my friends... and they just acted like nothing has happened to me....

Soooooo, now I think about it and in life we have a couple of trails we need to walk.... and probably, we are going to fall, but there will be always someone on your side to extend their hands and help you get up.... BUT it is your choice of staying down there crying or getting back on your feet and finish it all...

Sooooo, what are you waiting for??? GET UP!!!! :)

Today, I went to a beach in Miami, and while walking at the side of the sea, we saw a bunch of little fishes jumping up and down in the water and birds trying to get them in their mouths to eat them.

It was so amazing that I wanted to share it with you guys! Like watching it on National Geographic but LIVE!

Nature is a wonderful thing that God shows us every single day, but we seem to be so busy that we ignored the message that God is trying to give us.

Through nature God shows us his mighty power; that He has all under control!

Thank you God because you love me no matter what and accept me the way I am.

Thank you for all your blessings!!!!

Like King David would say: "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread." Psalm 37:25

Training Camp Playbook: What the Best do Better than Everyone Else

The Best know:

1. What they want.
2. Want it more
3. Are always striving to get better.
4. Do ordinary things better than everyone else.
5. Zoom-focus
   
6. Are mentally stronger
7. overcome their fear
8. seize the moment
9. tap into a power greater than themselves.
10. leave a legacy.
11. make everyone around them better.

ZOOM-FOCUS

• ask one question: what are the three most important things I need to do today that will help me create the success I desire?
• say NO and yes.
• Tune out distractions
  

Training Camp: A Fable About Excellence

Hello you all:

I have been reading this great book called Training Camp by Jon Gordon, and I wanted to share with all of you guys Chapter 20.

Chapter 20: Twenty Ways to Get Mentally Though

1. When you face a setback, think of it as a defining moment that will led to a future accomplishment.
2. When you encounter adversity, remember, the best don't just face adversity, they embrace it, knowing is not a dead end but a detour to something greater and better.
3. When you face negative people, know that the key to life is to stay positive in the face of negativity, not in the absence of it. After all, everyone will have to overcome negativity to define themselves and create their success.
4. When you face the naysayers, remember the people who believed in you and spoke positive words to you.
5. When you face critics, remember to tune them out and focus only on being the best you can be.
6. When you wake up in the morning, take a morning walk of gratitude and prayer. It will create a fertile mind ready for success.
7. When you fear, trust. Let your faith be greater than your doubt.
8. When you fail, find the lesson in it, and then recall a time when you had succeeded.
9. When you head into battle, visualize success.
10. When you are thinking about the past or worrying about the future, instead focus your energy o the present moment. The now is where your power is the greatest.
11. When you want to complain, instead identify a solution.
12. When your own self-doubt crowds your mind, weed it and replace it with positive thoughts and positive self-talk.
13. When you feel distracted, focus on your breathing, observe your surroundings, clear your mind, and get into the Zone. The Zone is not a random event. It can be created.
14. When you feel all is impossible, know that with God everything is possible.
15. When you feel alone, think of all the people who have helped you along the way and who love and support you now.
16. When you feel lost, pray for guidance.
17. When you are tired and drained, remember to NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP. Finish STRONG in everything you do.
18. When you feel like you can't do it, know that you can do all things though Him who gives you strength.
19. When you feel like the situation is beyond your control, pray and surrender. Focus on what you can control and let go of what you can't.
20. When you are in a high pressure situation and the game is on the line, and everyone is watching you, remember to smile, have fun, and enjoy it. Life is short; you only live once. You have nothing to lose. Seize the moment.

CSS: The missing Manual Chapter 1, 2 and 3 Sumary

Advantages of CSS:

CSS - less size
HTML - more time consuming for the page to load.

You use:

HTML - to organize your content.
CSS - to make the content look great.

Some websites with good HTML and XHTML tutorials:

http://www.w3schools.com

Guidelines for webmasters:

http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html

podcast: http://webvisionsevent.com
http://digitalweb.com

To validate a web page code:

http://validator.W3.org
Plug in for Mozilla Firefox: http://users.skynet.be/mgueury/mozilla/
Plug in for Safari: http://zappatic.net/safaridity

Some CSS pages with tricks:

http://www.addedbytes.com/cheat-sheets/css-cheat-sheet/
http://lesliefranke.com/files/reference/csscheatsheet.html

Lived experiences in our way to Las Cruces, New Mexico

1. We started our journey at 9:15 AM.
2. Drove 3 hours none stop until a place called Junction, TX where we ate at the fabulous and nutritional McDonald and put some gas on the car...
3. Heading back on track, we saw a turned over truck (like a cockroach) in the middle of two lanes in I-10 West... (thank God it wasn't our fault)
4. After that, we stopped at a rest area in the middle of the nowhere...
5. There's nothing to see on the west but cross winds... West Texas sucks!
6. The little towns around just have one gas station and the usual: McDonald, Dairy Queen, Sonic...
7. According to Frank, there are flies in the restrooms...
8. We entered mountain time zone at 4:21 PM... So right now, it is 3:21 PM
9. Love that in I-10, cars can drive at 80 miles per hour and trucks just at 70 (take that truckers!)
10. A mustang got a flat tire just in front of us!
11. I fell asleep for 15 minutes...
12. The police stopped us because according to Frank, he was going down a hill and the car, by it self accelerates. Above 80 mph.... (note 4 the girls: the police man of last name Gonsalez was hot)
13. The officer gave Frank a warning after we both cry about being unemployed for several months! Yeay!
14. We got to the camping site like around 5:30 PM and we put the tent... The view is really beautiful there! You can see the city at the bottom of a huge mountain... Very relaxing! The camp has WiFi and overall is very nice!
15. We decided to swim for a while in the camping site's swimming pool...
16. We got into the swimming pool and 15 minutes later, Frank told me he was starving....
17. We took a quick shower and then we sat down in our chairs for 15 minutes to decide where we were going to eat.
18. We went to the Andele Restaurant to eat. I had there a steak with rice, salad and french fries... Frank had pork tacos...
19. Las Cruces is a very dark place over the night. There are not lamp post on the streets...
20. We got lost going to Walmart.
21. It took us over a half an hour to make a decision for buying an electrical extension and a light bulb to put in our tent and at the end was the wrong one and we had to go back to Walmart in Colorado Springs to return it...
22. We decided to go to Applebees for drinks and Frank got into the freeway... And we had to go all the way back because he wasn't suppose to get into the highway...
22. I had a mudslide and Frank a perfect margarita
23. and that was the first day.... Stay tuned!!!!!

Thought of the day

Whenever you feel that your life does not have any purpose, just pay attention to the little details around you. There is a lot of people that depend on us and we depend on them. I can see that every single day.

For a long time, I have been wondering every single day what is the purpose of my life, and I am 100% sure you guys have asked yourselves the same question... and believe it or not, each of us has a special role here... something to play, to be the protagonist of, etc... Probably, you are still looking what is that thing that will make you different...

I have found one today, and I think that every person on earth share this same purpose.... We did not get here by accident... We got here with a purpose... and believe or not we all share this one...

Do you know that with the way we live our lives you can impact other person without even saying a word? And this is the purpose we all share...

I am amazed when I hear all my friends talking... It just surprise me how brilliant and strong they are... You guys inspire me to be someone better everyday... I love to hear your advice, jokes, moral support, ideas... I cannot describe how wonderful I think you guys are...

But at the same time, I think I am a good source of inspiration too... And that's why I try to push each of you everyday to get better in whatever it is that you want to do in life, and that's it because I know that you guys can do it and can do even more!

So remember, when you think you don't have any purpose, there is a couple of people around you watching you, even when they don't tell you... Let's try to focus our energy identifying the good things other people have instead of the negative ones... and don't stay quiet... tell him/her... sometimes, those people around you just need someone to remind them how good they are... :)

Today at the Gym

Yup!!! I bike at the Gym for an hour using the Hills Plus Program at Level 7 and ran for 30 minutes as part of my training for a half triathlon.

Biking today

http://www.trailguru.com/wiki/index.php/Track:7K92?units=imperial

Swimming today

25 m x 64 = 1600 m that is equivalent to

1600 meters = 0.994193908 miles

in 1 hour and nine minutes and 19 seconds!!!!!

So, today I feel very accomplished!!!!! now, to get my new bike!!!!! :D

I swam today 1 mile for the very first time!

Yes!!! I did it!!!!! and if can, you can do it too!!!!! :D

Running at Town Lake today

My workout today:

http://www.trailguru.com/wiki/index.php/Track:6Z67

by the way, I am exhausted!!!! But I did it!!!!!!!!! :D

Psalm 42

1	As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
2	My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?
3	My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
4	When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.
5	Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
6	O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Her'monites, from the hill Mizar.
7	Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
8	Yet the LORD will command his loving-kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.
9	I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
10	As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?
11	Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Top Six Burger Places here in Austin, TX

Hey you all... Finally, I completed my favorite top five burger places here in Austin, TX.

So let's do it different this time... and here is the count down:

6. Mighty Fine - The burgers are good here also!!!!
5. Trudy's - yep... It is Tex Mex but I love their burger... I also asked there the wheat bun and it taste good! I go there with everyone, soooooo! I am going to have one today! yeay!!!
4. Riata Bar and Grill - I love this burgers... They are I think the least greasy from all of them... I asked for the wheat bun and it taste so good! I would say that this place have my favorite burger bread and curly fries! Thanks Eric for letting me know about this place!
3. Casino El Camino - The burgers in this place are good good, but they are soooooo big!!!!! Thanks Carlos for letting me know about this place!
2. Ski Shore Waterloo Cafe - I went there for the very first time in 2005 with Jorge, Manuel, Luz, Yesy and Edwin... I love the environment of that place! The lake, the swams, the trees!!! ohh and the burgers??? really very nice!!!!! I love their fries also!
1. Torchy's Tacos - This place is really nice, very "keep Austin weird" style. Thanks to Margarita and Jose for taking me there!!! Burgers are awesome!

My workout this week!

OK, I want to share with you guys what I have been doing at the gym the last 5 days...

Monday - ran my 5 K
Tuesday - Bicycle at Town Lake (8 miles)
Wednesday - a forced Rest (since I was at the hospital since 8:00 PM until Thursday at 3:00 PM)
Thursday - walked at Town Lake 7 miles ( after so many hours in the hospital I didn't even care weather was 94 degrees, I had to spent sometime outdoors!!!!)
Friday -

• abs with a weight ball of 12 lbs (4 *20 reps both legs up, 4 * 20 rep right leg, 4 * 20 reps left leg= 240 rep)
  
• core (2 * 30 sec rep, 2 * 40 sec)
• The Maria's combo with 2 12.5 lbs dumbbells- 3 sets of 20 reps: Thighs, curl biceps and shoulders
  
• 3 sets * 20 reps triceps
• swam 750 meters (I got to practice the breathing, I am getting better)
  

Saturday - Bicycle at Town Lake 13 miles. Swam at Barton Springs, Kayak.
Sunday - Rest

Plegaria

Today, I was cleaning my night stand tables and found a little notebook I used to write church songs and I found this lyric of this beautiful song called: "Plegaria". The song is in Spanish but it is so beautiful that I want to share it with you guys...

Plegaria

1

Penetra en los filtros de mi memoria;
y limpia la escoria que en ellos se acumuló.
Haz de mi una página en blanco donde a pesar del llanto
Escribas una nueva historia, una nueva canción.

Consume oh Señor con tu fuego
todaz y desasociego que germinan mi razón.
Y cubre oh Dios con tu manto mi dolor y mi quebranto
Y escribe en mi de nuevo las notas de tu amor.

Coro

Que el cansancio no agote mi esperanza
Cuando el dolor apague mi canción
Que no me rinda, Señor ante el fracaso
Sino que heche el resto amparada en tu amor.

Que tu perdón traspace mis fronteras
y me hagas a la vez yo perdonar.
Que los golpes que la vida me propine
No puedan mi conciencia acallar...

2

Penetra aún en lo que no te entrego
pues a mí misma me lo niego y no lo puedo aceptar.
Aquello que afecta mi vida con profundas heridas
Que sólo tu consuelo, puede Dios sanar.

(Se repite el Coro)

3

Penetra en los rincones de mi mente
Donde mi ser consciente no puede penetrar
Y rompe así todas mis barreras
para que en esta carrera, vayas tú alfrente
y yo vaya detrás.

Your mind

Do you know that your mind can be your very own enemy or the best of your strengths?

I found out that today... Today I had my last swimming lesson at Barton Springs before the first triathlon I am about to do this next Monday.

I just remember, last week when I actually got into the deep water for the very first time and started swimming in the 4 to 5 feet session... I was just thinking... "what am I going to do once my feet cannot reach the bottom?... I know! I am going to drown!"

That was the only thing stamped on my mind at that moment... so, when I saw under the water that the big fall was coming, I just panicked and suddenly stopped... For about 10 minutes, I was just there facing my fear... with my mind setup thinking about negative things... but after a while, I just saw so many people standing very relaxing in the water's surface that I just told myself... "today I want to be able to stay on my own on the surface in deep water..."

After those 10 minutes, I started swimming... and when I had to stop, I almost drown but my instructor was there for me.... and my dream of been stable on the surface was as far from as asking a simple question... "how can I stay on the surface without having to touch the bottom?"

And then I learned... It is just so amazing... The wonderful things you can learn about yourself!

Take the challenge! Face your worst fear, and you will see that is not that bad as you think it is! Trick your mind! Whenever you think that you cannot do something, just think about all this other people that are able to do it... Ask them how they do it! learn and try it! You will see that you can convert your mind from being your worst enemy, to your greatest strength!

A new year, a new opportunity...

Hey you all,

It's me again! And this time I would like to share some reflections I have been thinking about the whole morning (yeah, it seems that Sundays are my inspirational days)...

As you guys know, yesterday was my birthday and there is no words to describe how grateful I am to all of you guys that went there and shared that time with me. Thank you to all of you guys! Now I want to reflect about all the blessing I have receive during the last year. As you might know, there have been big changes and challenges in my life, but this is what I have learned about them:

I learned to be thankful to God for:

1. Letting me wake up every day to enjoy a sunny, cloudy or rainy day.
2. For the gift of my sight because with it I can enjoy and contemplate the beauty of all the wonderful things He has created for me.
3. For the gift of my wonderful family that has been there for me no matter what unconditionally.
4. For teaching me how to be a grateful person.
5. For give me enough confidence to express myself with no fear of what others would think about my ideas...
6. For the bless of giving me an excellent roof to sleep under...
7. For helping me identify and recognize that I have a problem, that I need to solve it, and when I cannot do it by myself, He always gives me hints for me to get out of them...
8. For the wonderful gift of real friends, that are there for me unconditionally in bad and good times.
9. For teach me how to enjoy every single day of my life in his presence.
10. To give me the opportunity to inspire others to be the best they can be in life...
11. For give me the strength to start loving myself every single day more and more...
12. For putting in me the interest of becoming a better person everyday.
13. Because I can walk, run, swim, and learn new things everyday normally...
14. For his protection.
15. For all his unconditionally love.
16. For the joy of seen a child smile...
17. For the opportunity of feed someone that doesn't have anything to eat and lives on the street.
18. For teaching me how to stop feel sorry about and improve myself.
19. For letting me enjoy the view of a starred sky.
20. For letting me visit places I never thought I would visit.
21. For letting me know that never is too late to be the best I can be.
22. For the gift of a new bright morning...
23. For the gift of knowing wonderful people that have written their own story in life and have fight all in order to get what they want and reach their dreams.
24. For the bless of my car, because even when it is not a very expensive car, it takes me wherever I need to go...
25. For teaching me a new lesson every day.
26. For letting me enjoy all the blessings that He puts around me everyday.
27. For the bless of having a pillow to put my head every night...
28. For letting me notice all those tiny details I spent 28 years of my life ignoring.
29. For accept and love me, just the way I am...

Star Trek Review

Oh WOW! I think this is the very first time of my life that I watch a movie which producer was J. J. Abrams that I can actually understand! Don't misunderstand me, I love watching Lost, Alias and I think that his work is pretty good, but sometimes it gets a little bit complicated.

Yesterday, I went to the IMAX theater here in Austin to watch the movie and it was AWESOME! Let me tell you that I am not a big fan of the TV show, but the movie had all the elements on it to make it one of the best movies I have seen so far during the year.

Chris Pine was awesome, amazing, funny but definitely hot!!! I first saw this guy while watching the sequel of Princess Diaries: The Royal Engagement; and man, I got this crush on him! I also loved Zachary Quinto's role in the movie as Spock.

Overall I would definitely recommend you to go and watch it! and let me know what you think about it!

A letter to MOM

Dear mom:

There are no words on earth that can describe all the deep love I feel for you!

You are a wonderful, loving, dedicate, responsible and eloquent mom. I love you so much, that my pray to God in my lifetime is, that He allows me to see you smile everyday of your life, that He teaches you how to enjoy life... that you can have joy in all the blessings that surround you.

Many thanks for all your sleeplessness nights that you spent because of me, for all your prays to God, for taking excellent care of me while sick and in good health, for all the delicious and wonderful meals that you prepare for me (YOU ARE THE BEST COOK EVER!), for taking care of me with so much love, for loving me and accepting me just the way I am, for all your wisdom and advice, for giving birth to me, for tolerating my rebel years, for telling me "Mary, I am very proud of you" when I needed the most to hear it, and above all, THANKS MOM FOR BEING AN ESSENTIAL PART OF MY LIFE; THANKS SIMPLY FOR YOUR EXISTENCE!

With all my love,

Maria
I love you!

Reflecting today...

Finally I have sometime to write about this today...

This morning, I woke up with this feeling of being alone for a while. I checked my agenda to see what I had to do to train for the triathlon and it says running for 35 minutes... so I got ready and decided to go to Town Lake to do that.

On my way there, I took Cesar Chavez St, and it was open until Congress, so I made a left in Congress and a right at Barton Spring. While doing this, I was just thinking that life is just like that... You can be going on some direction and have some obstacles in your way... Some people just give up and think that they are failures and feel defeated, but others just take the risk and try to reroute their journey to get what they want.

It was amazing to take an alternate route to get to Town Lake today, a route I almost never use. While I was on the road, I was contemplating the view, the trees, the people, the lake... and I thought that sometimes we just miss so much in life... We focus all ourselves to get the fastest way anywhere and give up if we cannot do it the first time as we planned. I challenge you next time that an obstacle comes on the way of you and your dream to reroute your path and keep going there until you can reach it... You will be amazed of all the good things you are going to find in your new way! Never give up on your dreams!

While running, I was thinking about a hill that I hate to run on. I was so tired that I didn't want to run it. In the meanwhile I just start thinking about getting into my car as soon as possible. I kept running and when I look where I was on the trail, I just found out that I passed the hill and I didn't remember that I actually run it! WOW!

So with this, I just want to tell you guys, that no matter the circumstances of life, we can get through them if we just focus on our goal. Maybe your hill is to get a new job, a house, a person, to get healthier or any other stuff... Just visualize yourself getting there and ignore the obstacles on your way that stops you to get where you want to be.... I challenge you to run that hill that might slow you down for a while but will take you everyday a little bit closer to your dream!

Remember, behind a cloudy sky there is a brilliant sun of hope ready to illuminate your life. Just try to see it!

Eating Dessert in Austin, TX

Hey you all:

Yup is me back again and this time I am going to talk about desserts. Austin has so many places with great desserts. Here are my favorite ones in no particular order (I really can't decide which one is better than the other one, seriously!)

Favorite Cookies:
1. Alamo's Drafthouse Hot Chocolate Chip Cookies - I have no words to described how it feels to eat one of these cookies. I just know that I love them! They are serve in a plate directly from the oven, they are very crunchy on the sides and soft and warm in the center. It is a total experience to eat these cookies. Not all the Alamo's have these cookies, but I have been at the Alamo at Anderson Lane and they have them there as well as at the one in South Lamar. Next time you go and watch a movie, don't forget to have those cookies... You will be sorry only if you don't try them... :)
2. Jack Daniels Pie from Texas Land and Cattle Restaurant - Look at the description: "Baked with bits of chocolate chips and pecans, topped with vanilla ice cream." and tell me that it doesn't sound magical! I have go there with several people and let me tell you something, even my friend Frank that is bullimic (hahahahaha, I love you Frank) told me that he could not stop eating it! That thing is one of the most delicious thing I have ever tried in my life!!! Thank God I go to the gym every day!!! Try it!
3. 1/4 Pound Chocolate Chip Cookie from Waterloo Ice House - the name says it all... Served hot and add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and you will feel that you are in heaven! Good Good!!!
4. Tiff's Treats - All of them are so delicious!!!
5. Maria's Chocolate Chips Cookies - If you are a close friend, you will know that I did cookies from scratch and they are almost like the Alamo's. I used to tell my friend Coraly that I wanted to try to do cookies and for my last year birthday, she gave me all the neccesary equipment for me to make that dream come truth. They are good if you cook them in any oven except Jorge's one (hahaha, according to Jorge, his oven is three times more hot than others... that's why, last satuday, he got burn some Pizza bites, right Jorge??? I LOVE YOU!!!)

Ok, enough cookies for now, let's talk about brownies:

1. Fudge Brownie Pie & Ice Cream from Daily Grill - Fresh Baked Fudge Brownie, Topped with a Scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream, Warm Caramel and Hot Fudge Sauce, Candied Pecans, Dusted with Powdered Sugar. This thing is undescribable!
2. Brownie a la mode from Trudys - Delicious brownie with mexican vanilla ice cream on the top!!! nice, nice, very nice!

Tres Leches

1. Tres Leches from Cafe Mangu - This one is a very good Tres Leches!! You have to try it!

Flan

1. Flan at Fogo de Chao - Very good flan there!
2. Jorge's Coconut and Vanilla Flan - I have some wonderful friends that knows how to do great desserts... Jorge your flans are exquisite. :)
3. Coraly's Flan de Queso - and Coraly, wow, this girl knows how to prepare a great flan de queso and I also love her cakes!!!!! The best cakes in Austin!!!

Cheesecakes

This list is a long one, but I will just mention the one I love the most: The Dulce de Leche Cheesecake from cheesecake factory. I will add also, the ones from Mozzart's Cafe...

Eating Pancakes in Austin, TX

As you might know, I am a big fan of having breakfast around the city just looking to discover the best pancakes in Austin. So far, I have found a couple of them that are irresistible delicious. Here are my suggestions and recommendations:

My TOP Five:

1. Mimi's Cafe - so far, my favorite pancakes in Austin! I can't even describe how delicious those things are. I also love the breakfast potatoes from this place, and the scrambled eggs, and the ham. Thanks Vero for taking me to this place!
2. Chez-zee - This place is a little bit expensive but, Oh my God, they served a lot of wonderful things over there. I have tried the pancakes and the waffles and they are so freaking good!!! I can't wait to go back there. Thanks Coraly for introduced me to this place.
3. Z-Tejas - The pancakes here are very good also. They also have a banana-nut muffin that I like a lot.
4. Serranos - Very good pancakes served with warm nut-syrup. I love the breakfast potatoes from this place.
5. Cypress Grill - Very homemade pancakes. I added nuts to mines and they were good good!!! Thank you Edwin for finding this place!!!

So, if you just thought that Austin just had Kerbey Lane or IHOP then, think again and give it a try to my top five pancakes in Austin and let me know what you think. I have to say that I love the Harvest nut Pancakes from IHOP more than the ones from Kerbey lane... But hey, this is just my humble opinion... :)

Codependent No more: My personal opinion about the book

If you are a person that loves to make everyone else around you happy except yourself... This book is for you...

I used to be like that a few months ago. Even when I was unhappy I loved to be around people to make them very happy but I was forgetting about my own happiness. I was so busy trying to solve everybody else problems, that I did not have enough time to focus in my own needs.

Codependent no more helped me understand the kind of quality life I was living and helped me to correct it. This is a very nice book to read if you just want to stop feeling like a victim all the time and start living a healthy emotional life. I highly recommend this book to people that are willing to take the challenge of building their own happiness and become inspirational human beings in other people life.

Some of the key points of the book that I learned are:

1. Detachment - If something or someone makes you feel sad, alone, uncomfortable and you just have the idea in your mind that you don't want to let that thing/someone let go because you are afraid of being alone or so attached to that person/thing that you can't imaging your life without it, take the challenge... just detach yourself from it.
You will be very surprise of the results. I used to attached myself to friends, things, jobs, and it was very hard for me to face changes in life. But the experience that everyday brought to my life made me just stronger to decide what things I just should keep in my life and which ones I needed to let them go. At the beginning is very difficult for us to let go someone/something we are very attached to, but there has to be inside ourselves the motivation and the eager of being happy no matter at what cost.
So my advice: identify those things that makes you feel awful and painful. Plan how to get rid of them. Spend some quality time discovering what are your passions in life and pursue them. Start just one at the time. This is a very difficult exercise but if you have just that desire of start being a happy person, you have to go through it.
Just remember that all we have with us is God and ourselves. We are the only person in the world that can make us happy. so, what are you waiting for? Start being happy today!

2. Be around people that inspire you to be a different person - I used to have people around me that were a significant part of my life even when I felt bad around them... but not anymore... Now I just want to read inspirational stories of people that came to earth with a purpose and were looking for that objective and confront every single obstacle in life to get what motivated them every single day to wake up to a new day... I can tell today, I have that group of people around me... First, I have God, he is my all... My family that I love very much... My friends... wow, who are every single day at my side giving me advice and just watching over me... Thanks to all of them!!! you guys know you are! Manu, Edwin, Margarita, Frank, Vero, Coraly, Jorge, Luz, LPJC, Right Management office in Austin... and every single person that I have the privilege to meet every single day... that without knowing me and just talk to me for a while, have something nice to say about myself. Thank you all for being part of my life during the difficult moments and don't give up on myself... You have no idea how grateful I am to each one of you...

So, what are you waiting for? Go to amazon and get the book!!! I also got the audio book and it helped me a lot to listen to the audio book and read it at the same time... Start today taking control of your life and be a happy person!

Event: Free financial fitness workshops Apr 20-26

Financial Fitness Greater Austin (FFGA) is a public education and awareness campaign designed to help consumers better manage their personal finances. There will be more than 90 free and low cost personal finance workshops during the week of April 20-26. Find the complete schedule and more details at http://financialfitnessaustin.org/.

How to Create screenshots on a Mac

I am new to Mac OS so I am learning this whole cool new world and today a good friend of mine (thanks a lot Vero for sharing your wisdom) showed me how to do screen shots on my Mac.

It is very easy: just press the command + shift + 4 keys on your keyboard and an small arrow will appear on your monitor that you can use to select the portion of the screen you want. When you released the mouse, the screen shot will be saved automatically as a picture on your Desktop.

How to Win Friends and Influence Others: My personal review about the book.

I just read this book and think that every person on earth should read it at least once in life. It is about ways to make people likes you. In every chapter, the author, Dale Carnegie, presents a new rule or advise that every people that wants to be a very successful person in life should practice.

Here is my summary of what I read and try to read every single day in order to put them on practice on a daily basis:

From Part 1:

1. Don't criticize, condemn or complain.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

From Part 2: Six ways to make people like you

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile!
3. Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person's interest.
6. Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely.

From Part 3: How to win people to your way of thinking

1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
2. Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say, "You are wrong".
3. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
4. Begin in a friendly way.
5. Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.
6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
7. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
8. Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
9. Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
10. Appeal to the nobler motives.
11. Dramatize your ideas.
12. Throw down a challenge.

From Part 4: Be a Leader: How to Change People without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment
1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2. Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5. Let the other person save face.
6. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise."
7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
9. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

Run Tex

For those of you who live in Austin, TX, you might walk at least once at town lake. So let me share a short story...

Last Monday I decided to go to Town Lake to run/walk for seven miles. I wore my one and a half years old sport shoes to do that.

After running the first four miles, I can feel a tremendous pain in my feet that was killing me, but I didn't give up. I continued and finished my seven miles with only one objective in mind: stop at Run Tex on my way back home and get new Running shoes.

When I got to the store located at Lake Austin Boulevard, a very kindly gentleman asked me: "Do you need help with anything?" and my answer was "I need new running shoes." I explained to him that I was just running and walking with my old shoes and that those shoes were killing my feet. He asked me to take my shoes off and measured my feet from long and width. He also asked me to walk for him and found out that I needed arch support on my running shoes. After discovering all that, He brought to me like six or seven running shoes that could be of great benefit to enhance my runs. I fell in love with the first pair of shoes! I tried all of them but the most wonderful running shoes were the first one I tried on. The sale person asked me to try them out outside to make sure they were the right running shoes for me and while I was doing it, it just felt very comfortable.

Here are my new running shoes:


I just love them!

So, if you like to run, I highly recommend you to stop by at any Run Tex store to get new comfortable running shoes. :)

Padded Pants

For those of you that likes cycling but it hurts so much on your tushy after a long ride, there are the padded pants!!!!

I love to go to the gym to do the Cycle24 class, but let me tell you that after taking the class, it is literally a pain in the ass what I feel. So, since I decided to train for my first triathlon no matter what, I stopped by a Bicycle store and got the magical PADDED PANTS!

This pants are amazing! I ran today bicycle at the gym and felt no pain at all. Check them out!

The ones I bought are Pearl iZUMi. They are designed for Enthusiast - Intermediate Riders. This pants are good for women who 2 to 5 times per week. The pad thickness is 13 mm (2 layers) and have a sensor surface fabric and breathable open cell foam to keep you dry and cool. How AWESOME!

I just love them!

Great Tool to get Calories Count in a diet.

Hi everyone:

Here is a very interesting website that I personally use to count the calories I consume on a daily basis.

The URL is:

http://caloriecount.about.com.

This website has a very good database of food that you consume. You just have to put the portion that you ate of that product and you can see how much ft, protein and carbs you are consuming on your daily diet. Check it out!