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!