Author: areliscintron

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#NoUnnecessarySpendingFebruary 208 being healthy Getting To Healthy Health Money New Years Resolutions Spending Wake Up Wednesdays weight loss Weight Watchers

Have you been sticking to your New Year’s Resolutions?

Its already the third month of the year!  How time flies, right?  On Midnight of 12-31-11, there was a list of things that I wanted to tackle this year.  But it never fails, only two things on the list stand out.  Money and Health.  Last month I made it No Unnecessary Spending February; I could only spend money on food.   If you follow me on twitter, @djrelat7; you saw all the  #NoUnnecessarySpendingFebruary tweets.  I resisted temptation when all the end of season sales were going on and I made it through the month.   Honestly, (puts head down) I broke down one day.  It was the first week, the new Jason Wu line was hitting Target stores and Breaking Dawn Part 1 was available for Pre-Sale.  I shopped that day on target.com, adding stuff to my cart.  I even went as far as checking out.  It hit me a few seconds after that this was part of my problem.  I’ve become so accustomed to buying whatever I want whenever I want it that its not helping me pay off my debt.  Fortunate for me and my wallet, I canceled the order a few minutes later.  After returning a pair of boots that I found out were defective, my total for last month’s spending on wants was a whopping -$59.63.  Now if only I could figure out how to return all this unwanted weight.  Sigh! Sigh! Sigh!

July 2009
Last March I committed myself to becoming healthier, it was on the list of resolutions.  I had taken a long snooze from going to the gym and I had let my eating habits go out the window.  All the progress I had made a few years earlier had gone down the tubes.  I avoided mirrors to hold onto the thinner me in my mind.  In 2010 I took very few pictures of myself.  Its all a mind set, that is what I kept telling myself.  However the only person I was kidding was myself.  In 2011, I took pictures for Valentine’s Day to have something to look back on and I saw it staring me in the face.  A friend of mine had started Weight Watchers Online and she made it very appealing.  I still hesitated though, until I weighed myself.  208.  I could not believe my eyes.  You never know how bad it is until you face it.  This changed my mind quickly.   Last March I made a choice.   How hard could it be to try it out.  What had I to lose?

February 2011
What I value most about their online system is recognizing portion control.  It took my body a bit to get used to eating the amount of food that I was supposed to eat.  It also took a while for me to mentally change my programming; Finish EVERYTHING on your plate.  I had been raised with a certain way of eating that it made me uneasy to leave anything on my plate.  When I am at home I take a smaller portion and add to it if I’m still hungry.  When I go out to eat at restaurants, I ask for a to go container the minute the food comes out, I put half of it away before I even begin to eat.  I realized that some things were not worth eating and the foods I could not image letting go of in my life, got shrunk to the right portion size.  The Points Plus program is so flexible its hard not to win!
Since I began Weight Watchers Online, I have said good bye to 19.9 pounds.  I have also said adios to 3.5 inches on my waist, 2.5 inches on my hips, 4 inches around the bust line, .5 inches on my arms, and 1.5 inches on my thighs.  I went from a size 16 plus (at size 16 I switched from jeans to leggings) to being between a 14 and 12.  I started taking more pictures of myself.  I was feeling like me again.
February 2012
I have been on and off from the gym these last four months due to sickness and an injured foot.  I’m very pleased to know that with the knowledge I’ve taken away from the program about what to eat and what to stay away from, has allowed me to keep the weight off.  Today was my first day back since my foot has been out of whack and it felt good.   Twenty minutes a day can make such a difference!  I’m no where near my weight goal but its comforting to know that I’m still on track!
Have you looked over your New Year’s Resolutions?  Are you still on track?  If not, tomorrow is a day to start anew.  How awesome is that?  Giddy Up!
Until then,
Feel free to check out the program for yourself at Weight Watchers.  The site is for both men and women YAY!
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dining out eating out Facebook Page groupon livingsocial Money Mondays opentable restaurant.com restaurants Twitter Page

Eating out doesn’t have to be $$$!

Taco Loco Receipt after Groupon Voucher

It makes sense, to cut back on spending unnecessarily, if you’re feeling the crunch of the times.  Raises for most people are on pause, jobs continue to come or go, and prices on our basic necessities keep climbing to ridiculous highs.  Ten years ago I can honestly remember eating out almost every night and not worrying about the cost (my body suffered more than my wallet :/ ).  Today I think about eating out differently.  As I do with everything I spend money on these days, my first thought goes to how can I pay less.  With so many different programs out there it is hard NOT to save money on your favorite dining out experiences.  The photo on the left depicts my Groupon deal at a local Mexican Restaurant.  The deal was $12.00 for a $25.00 voucher good for Lunch.  I just cut my bill in half without even ordering anything!  My niece and I enjoyed a yummy meal and after tip I spent $5.33.  A total of $17.33.  I could have spent an additional $3.00 but we were running short on time.

Here are a few of the sites I have found to get deals:
groupon, restaurant.com*, living social, spotlight deals on OpenTable, the facebook page of your favorite restaurant and of course the twitter page of your favorite restaurant

Finding and using deals gives local businesses, well, business.  It gives you a break from the kitchen.  You can try out new locales you might not have thought of going to OR where you’ve always wanted to go to.  You might hear additional specials along the way that do not require a coupon or voucher.  You might find that most restaurants now feature a Pre-Fixe menu on certain days of the week to strum up hungry tummies. 

My only tip is that you read the fine print, ALWAYS before purchasing.  While you can find a CRAZY deal on you favorite restaurants, there is ALWAYS the fine print.  Some restaurants restrict what night it can be used, what time of day it can be used, specials and location restrictions, number of minimum guests, minimum amount to be used, and gratuity automatically added.  The point is you can go out for a night on the town without breaking the bank, with some planning before hand.

Where do you look for deals on eating out?

Until then,

*I find that restaurant.com saves the most once you catch their discount code deals (acquired from their facebook page) overall.

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#lent credit cards debt debt-free Lent Season paying debt off faster sacrifice Soulful Sundays St George Catholic Church The Lord works in mysterious ways

The Lord works in Mysterious ways…

Image borrowed from http://www.infobarrel.com

We hear that all the time, right?  The Lord works in mysterious ways.  While we believe this in blind faith, on occasion we are pleasantly surprised when we’re reminded of that by getting a letter in the mail.  These past months I’ve been focusing hard on paying down my debt and trying to find creative ways to do it faster.  I always ask the Lord to guide me, to keep my on the right path.  This past week I’ve been trying to find online, the dates and ending dates of balance transfers I put a while back on my credit cards.  Interestingly enough, I could not find this information anywhere. I looked back to the initial statement issued when the balance transfer began, but no information on when it would end.  I delayed starting any new balance transfers until I knew for sure the promotional period was over.  I even tried to search my inbox hoping the promotional email had been saved.  Nothing.  So Wednesday, I decided to just make the balance transfer when I got home.  Of course when I got home I was exhausted so I decided to put it off for Thursday.

On Thursday morning I opened my mail and I received a letter from one of my credit card companies.  I read it twice because I could not believe what I was reading.  It said:

We have extended the length of your promotional Annual Percent Rate (APR) on your balance transfer that took place on 08/10/11.  We also want to inform you why we made this change and how it affects your account.

Information about your balance transfer.

When you transferred a balance to your &*$%# credit card, you were given a choice between two promotional offers.  These offers were for two different promotional APRs, which would last for different lengths of time.  Since the date of your balance transfer, the lower of those two APRs ~ 0% ~ has been applied to your transferred balance.

A change has been made to your account.

In reviewing your account, we could not determine with certainty which promotional offer terms you originally selected.  We are now providing you with better terms than we gave you in our promotional offers.  We have applied the lower of the two APRs for the longest length of time that was offered in the original promotion.  For you, that means we have extended your promotional APR of 0% through your billing cycle that ends in 1/2013…..

We are continually working to improve the service we provide to our customers.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you…..
I knew for a fact that I had selected the 0% option but I knew that it was not for a long period of time.  I figured that it would motivate me to pay it off faster.  Now I do not have to worry about trying to get yet another balance transfer offer.  If you have ever done this, you might recall how difficult it is to get done sometimes.  I won’t bore you with that today.
Since I had been given a sign, I felt it only right to share the news I learned on Friday.  Friday nights I help run a Youth Group Meeting at my Church.  Most often than not I feel that I am a participant, a catechist learning something new.  This week we learned about Lent, since we are in the Lent Season.
Lent is the penitential season of approximately 40 days aside from the Church in order for the faithful to prepare for the celebration of the Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection, by works of penance, that is, prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which is actually forty-six days before Easter.  We say that Lent is forty days in number because the six Sundays are excluded from the rigors of Lent in order to afford the faithful a time to pause and rejuvenate.  The number of forty is found frequently in scripture to signify either a time of penitential preparation….

For the Lent Season, we are challenged to make individual sacrifices appropriate to our own spiritual condition.  Before we choose something to give up for Lent, it’s important to assess our current spiritual state:  What habits do I engage in that are destructive to my spiritual health?  To what material things am I too attached?  What areas in my life are unbalanced?  To what do I devote too much or not enough time?
My niece picked out what I was giving up for Lent.  Shopping.  I admit freely that I do find myself attached to wanting to buy material things.  If you saw my bedroom right now you’d agree.  I was reluctant to do so, but only mainly because I had given up the month of February to not by anything that was unnecessary ( #NoUnnecessarySpendingFebruary).  I had done so well.  Even returned an item bring my total a -$59.03.  The end of February was coming so close and I could see myself buying something as my reward for going a whole 29 days without shopping.  To what material things am I too attached?  Shopping.  Another 40 days of not shopping.  I am ok with that, Jesus went through so much for us.  Died for us.  As much as I want to buy every single thing that comes out this spring, it’ll wait.  He DIED for us.  It can all wait!  I hope that I have the willpower to go the whole 46 days.  I like the fact though, that the six Sundays are excluded….in order to afford the faithful a time to pause and rejuvenate…to have a min easter.
I hope we are all well today, on this Soulful Sunday!  May we all stay strong in our faith, reflect on our spiritual lives this Lent Season and to continue to walk in His path.
Until then,
PS: To my niece, Ariana, who so willingly gave up soda (which she loves) as her sacrifice for Lent, Sunday’s are excluded 🙂
Resources: The above bold italic was taken from slides and pamphlets given by:  St George Catholic Church, 443 Park Avenue, Bridgeport, CT www.iveamerica.org; and Sisters Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matara of 153 Linden Ave.  Bridgeport, Ct www.ssvmusa.org.
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Bloody Mary gift ideas gifts Kohls love memories relationships Simply Vera Platform Heels Soulful Sundays St. Valentine Sundays In New York Valentine's Day Vera Wang

Happy Valentine’s Day Week!

It’s that time of year again, where we embrace the commercialized holiday of St. Valentine.  While February 14th is no longer recognized as the day to remember Saint Valentine, the martyred saint; his name is kept alive year after year.  We fall in love with the idea of love.  We hope that on this day, the love we give away is returned.  We look forward to the gifts, the dinner, the cards and the sudden decrease of money in our wallets. We do this all with smiles on our faces! This year let’s give this ‘Valentine’s Day Industry’ a message and not buy the flowers, chocolate, jewelry and fancy dinners.  Let’s make cards out of construction paper, and bake cookies instead!  Let’s celebrate in March and tell this money-making industry ‘WE ARE NOT GOING TO LET THIS RIDICULOUS PRICE GOUGING FIASCO CONTINUE!’

Who am I kidding?  I sent my boyfriend an email with my wishlist of potential gifts on Friday; to which he laughed.  I think that gifts should come from the heart.  However, this month I have been trying to stick to not spending any cash towards items that are not absolute needs (#NoUnnecessarySpendingFebruary).  Of course, the best sales are going on, now that the winter months are almost over, so I see so many cute things and I’m like adding things to shopping carts and then abandoning them last minute.  It really is hard.  Anyways, my whole point was to give an idea on this Soulful Sunday.  Normally I would post sales going on and places to find awesome deals despite the price hikes that Valentine’s Day brings.  However I thought back to Christmas time, and the things I got or gave and I have to say that giving the gift of making memories was at the top of my list of favorites.  Last month, my boyfriend and I used one of the Christmas gift’s I got him, A Two-Hour Photography Workshop at Grand Central (NYC) with Judith from Sundays in New York.  
                               We took the train into the city and had brunch at Michael Jordan’s Restaurant in Grand Central Station.  I tried my first Bloody Mary (didn’t like it). 
We got to visit the nooks and crannies of Grand Central.  We laughed with the rest of the class as people tried to avoid the cameras.  We learned things, together.  It was an experience, a memory made to last in our book of memories.  Isn’t that what we really want anyways?  Memories to keep us warm when we’re bored in the nursing home at 93?
Simply Vera Platform Heels, Vera Wang for Kohls
Maybe I’m wrong, though 🙂  Comment below and let me know what you’re looking to get for Valentine’s Day, what your favorite Valentine’s gift has been thus far OR let my boyfriend know how great I look in these shoes!  
Until then,
djRelat7

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Brian Tracy Eat That Frog Finding Happyville Giddy Up Take Charge Tuesdays Thought of the Day

From Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog…Light, Camera, ACTION!!!


“The key to success is action.  These principles work to bring about fast, predictable improvements in performance and results.  The faster you learn and apply them, the faster you will move ahead in your career- guaranteed!
There will be no limit to what you can accomplish when you learn how to Eat That Frog!” ~Brian Tracy, Eat That Frog, xiv

Its true, the words you just read, action is key.  You can plan the most elaborate idea out to the very last detail, but if it just stays on paper, then that is all that it is;  A plan on paper.  Deciding to take action, while it is great, and awesome if you’ve gotten to the point to decide; it is merely a decision if you never actually act.  So stop thinking, planning and deciding, just act.  Whatever you have been running your thoughts over, act.  Want to take a class? Then sign up for the spring semester.  If you want to pursue baking, bake a cake, decorate it like you’re in a competition and take a picture.  If the goal is so large you’re not sure where to act first, go back to your plan and start at step 1.  The point is START NOW.  Like the saying goes, Do not put off tomorrow what can be done today!  With that said, take the action to find your way to Happyville! Take Charge! Giddy Up!

Until then,

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2012 resolutions a wellness life being healthy Getting To Healthy New Years Resolutions Positive Experiences Tammy Gruber Wake Up Wednesdays working out

Shout out to a wellness life!

This morning I was thinking about my goals for this year and what I had contributed to them last year if they had been on my list as well.  Today I wanted to share a recent positive experience.  
In September, my boyfriend won in my name, a silent auction which gave me three training sessions at a wellness life .  It wasn’t until November that I was able to begin my sessions.  I found out that a wellness life is more than just a place to get fit, its a mindset, its a way of life; its about getting right inside and out.
After each training session I was happy to know that it was a good thing to not feel like you’re about to fall apart after working out.  I learned that you should push yourself, yes; but not to an extreme.  I think that everyone is accustomed to hearing ‘No Pain, No Gain’, so we push ourselves past the point of pain, and we shudder at doing it again.  
I completed my third training session with Tammy right before Thanksgiving and I must say that I didn’t expect to connect to a personal trainer the way I did with her.  Not only did she make sure my mind set was in the right place before we began but I also got a taste of reformer pilates, strength training without using the bulky machines and TRX.  I found them all to be equally challenging.  After the three sessions I felt stronger and revved up to become the healthiest me I can be, inside and out.   I HIGHLY recommend a wellness life!

Is being healthy on this year’s list of resolutions?  It’s on mine. Next week I’ll start sharing my story on my Getting to Healthy journey, so stay tuned.  I hope that your year is off to a great start and everything is starting to fall into place.

Until then,
To set up a session with Tammy, her contact info is:
a wellness life

Tammy Gruber

203-470-9909

[email protected]

 (Studio is located inside Club NewFit, 32 Commerce Road, Newtown, CT)

http://awellnesslife.com/Contact.aspx

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#hownottokillyourcoworker cpigrun Fun Fridays How NOT to Kill Your Co-Worker SURVIVED

I welcome the NEW Fun Friday Series, How NOT to Kill Your Co-Worker

Its Friday night and I feel alright…The party’s here on the west side  ….well I’m not at a party on any side of town but that was a really good song back in the day.  The weekend has officially begun.  Its 6 pm and I know where my children are!  It was a short work week, productive and now done!  Today is a special nod to Friday.  Blogs that post today are a part of the FUN FRIDAYS topics.  There hasn’t been nearly enough fun as there should be.  I have remedied that this evening.  
While today is a nod to Friday; it is also a day to recognize all the people who have co-workers they would like to kill but didn’t! YAY! I am fortunate to not have that issue at the moment.  A little later today we hear from a blogger who accomplished just that this week and we’re lucky to hear all the ways that helps her prevent killing her co-worker and how she keeps sane from 9-5 on Monday through Friday.
Feel free to share if you have ways to cope at work and successfully NOT kill your co-worker by weeks end, OR what they do that drives you bananas.  Lets face it, your co-worker is not worth going to jail for, at least you can have a little fun!  The most clever ways to cope may appear in a special post! 

Want to be ANONYMOUS, I completely understand!  Send your story to me at [email protected] with a clever pen name!  Or leave it as an anonymous comment below!

If you’re on twitter, feel free to say ‘SURVIVED @djrelat7 @cpigrun #hownottokillyourcoworker’ if you have survived this week!  Don’t forget to share on My Pocketful Of Thoughts Facebook page and LIKE it!  We’ll LIKE you back if you have your own FB Page 🙂  YAY!

Until then,

PS. Here’s the link to How Not To Kill Your Co-Worker .