Welcome March...

Happy March everyone!!! 

I know I say this frequently but- wasn't it just New Year's?

We're already on the 3rd month of the year.

At the start of every month, I realize I get very "fresh new start! Be more awesome!" and if it gets old for anyone... well... avoid my blog right around the first of every month.

I strongly believe in the idea of giving yourself a fresh start with not only every new month but also every new day!

My big thing right now is trying to lead a healthier lifestyle. Even if I attempt this time and time again, I'm thinking the repetition will help me stick to it at some point. That's the beauty of waking up to a new day. 

Even if I stuffed my face with cupcakes yesterday, I can still wake up today, go for a run, and grab a banana instead of a candy bar!

I'm planning to use my life planner this month to really track how I stick to my health plan...

Here's hoping!!

The first of the month is also the time I post my picture a day for the past month...

I failed miserably at this for the better part of this past month! I'd venture to say I missed about the first half. I had planned to follow along the photo a day challenge...whoops! I have the list for March and I'm planning to be much better about it.

For real.

I promise.

I still wanted to share some of the awesomeness that happened this month. Including, but not limited to, the person and my post Valentine's- Valentine's Day and my 25th Birthday/Quarter life crisis stay cation! 

Check it out!

So, now it's time to tackle March. As a 25 year old. Uff.
I'm feeling crazy blessed lately so I'm excited to see what I'll have to report this time next month...
How was everyone else's February? Did that extra day bring any fun and excitement to your life?
Hoping this post finds everyone happy, healthy, and hopeful for the month of March!

Wait... It's February?!?

Happy February, everyone!

How in the world is this possible? Every year goes by a little faster than the last and this is no exception.

It's my birthday month! I'm trying to make some plans, seeing as I'll be on a 10 day "staycation."

Any recommendations?

What would you do if you had 10 days off from work, and it can include anything from alone time to dates to girly stuff to day trips!

And- go!

Now, since it's the first of the month- it's time for my month in pics!

I actually thought this month would be nothing but 31 pictures of Bentley dog. The month is not lacking in that by any means but there is a surprising amount of other things in here!

Perhaps January wasn't as lame-o, boring as I thought...

Some of this month's highlights, in order of their appearance...

*Being surprised at work by my person...

*A visit from one of my besties!

*Kicking the half marathon training into high gear and new running shoes!

*My first green smoothies

*Using my stand mixer for the very first time

*Getting my organizer

*Having a fun day in Orlando with my parents

*Using my sewing machine again!

*Dying my hair back...

*Dusting off my chops to sing at an open mic night.

So there it is in a nut shell... The month of January. My last full month being 24. Not a bad start to the year but not exactly a great one. I fully intend to keep making an effort to make life more kick booty as the year continues. 

There's also a month in pics going around the blog world. I haven't seen the list of picture prompts but I'm on the look out for it! If any of you have that info, can you send me a link? As fun as I'm having doing this on my own, it would be interesting to play along and see how others do this!

Happy hump day! I hope everyone's Februarys are getting off on the right foot.

2012... Looking ahead...

Happy New Year!!!

3 days in isn't too late to be talking resolutions is it?

Perhaps I shouldn't call them resolutions... That never works out too well for me. Lets go with "Goals" this year. Maybe that will mean I have a better shot at accomplishing some of them!

Last year I had this great idea to only go for one resolution at a time. 

#1 was to make it through my first half marathon. And I did it!!

Yay me!

.

.

.

Yup, that was the end of my 2011 resolutions.

I will say though-

2011 was a year of great personal growth! I felt more me and spoke my mind more than any other year. I'm hoping to keep that up as we head into 2012. That and much, much more.

So, let's take a look at some of the things I want to keep in mind for this year, both personally and here in the blogosphere!

Personally-

*Go to more auditions

*Make it a point to keep in contact with my long distance friends

*Try more of the adventurous recipes I come across on Pinterest

*Get through a book a month

*Finish at least one of my seasonal quilts

*Don't dwell on silly little problems but don't beat myself up for harping on them!

*Iron my clothes...whoops.

*Be a present and available friend, girlfriend, and sister.

Blog-

*Get organized!

*Plan posts on a weekly basis to avoid lulls when I get busy

*Make time to blog hop more and share more blog love

*Make more blog friendships

*Launch my community for Central Florida Bloggers (more on that soon!!)

*Sponsor and get sponsored

I think that pretty much covers it... No doubt as time goes on I'll think of more and talk about them in thrilling epiphany style posts. Im sure you'll be looking forward to that.

And, of course, since it is the first post of the month, it's time for December's month in pictures! I'm just loving having this as a photo diary to look back on. I'm trying to think of some cool things I can do with all the months as I start successfully completing more or even at the end of the year if I manage to keep it up for 12 months! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I hope everyone's year is off to a great start! Did you all do the whole "resolution" thing this year? Anything more interesting than the run of the mill "lose weight/eat better"? Caribou Coffee tweeted recently "Instead of making New Year's resolutions allow yourself to be YOU and enjoy this year as the happy new you!" I loved that! I think its a perfect thing to keep in mind as we keep moving through this exciting new year. 

Here's to all the "happy new you"s out there!

My Thanksgiving/November Recap...

Happy December, loves!!

May I be the first to say- what the hell happened to this year?! Seriously people, it has flown by and its making me feel all philosophical. (Go with me on this...)

You know how when we're young, a year seems to last an eternity? But then the older we get, time just starts moving faster and faster until it's this unstoppable snowball? Does our mind legitimately register time differently as we get older and our thoughts are filled with an endless amount of concrete information, and worries, and memories? Are years so long when we're young because there seems to be an endless amount of possibilities and imagination? 

No? Just me?

...Very well then.

What with it being a week since Thanksgiving and officially the start of December, I figured today was my last chance to post my Thanksgiving recap!

For the new followers- Hi, welcome, I'm Cuban and my holiday meal included black beans and rice. 

:)

Feel free to be jealous because when Abuelita (Grandma in Spanish) hits the kitchen for holiday meals, the result is nothing short of DELICIOUSNESS. This year being no different. 

I thought you all might appreciate my family/ Thanksgiving warm fuzzies in a lovely little photo drop!

Enjoy!

My Pumpkin Pie cupcakes- literally just my vanilla cupcake recipe with the entirety of a pumpkin pie filling mixed in!
Came out so delicious and served with whipped cream on top!

Step 1 of my first homemade Pecan Pie! Used my Williams-Sonoma pie crust leaf shapes to jazz it up...

The ridiculously yummy finished product... In hindsight, I should've made two pecan pies.

My full addition to the meal- the desserts! A whole lot of pumpkin and pecan goodness.

Me, showing off my goodness once I set them out at my sister's house

The lovely ladies of my family- Me, My Mommy, and my gorgeous sister

And of course, all our generations so far, we added in my Abuelita on my Mom's side

So, I swear my dad was there too!! I didn't realize I hadn't gotten a picture of him on my camera... :( But he does exist and he is an awesomely handsome rockstar of a Daddy.

Sadly, my sister's husband and my person were missing from the festivities. Mickey Mouse had other plans for them and required they both make other families have awesome Thanksgivings. I promise we saved them leftovers!

So, you may remember my picture a month I did for October? Well I repeated it again this month! Check out how November looked in my life-

And finally- My giveaway winner!! I can't thank you all enough for your awesome participation in this giveaway! I wish I could send you all some delicious hot chocolate. Hopefully, as I keep coming across appropriately themed goodies, I'll do more fun things like this. But this time, the winner was-

Which was.....

Alyssa from Ten Feet Off Beale

Congrats lady!! Make sure you send me your info so I can hopefully get your goodies sent off to you ASAP! :) 

So... November wasn't too shabby in my world. But- I'm really looking forward to it being the Christmas season. 

I love the first day of every month. It's such a refreshing new beginning... Whatever may have made you stumble the month before- screw it! This month has no idea what you did or didn't do last month! It's another shot to show the world you can be better than you've been. Like a mini New Year. 

Happy New Month, everyone.

Let's take December by storm and finish up 2011 on a high note.

:)

October is over?!...

So first of all- Once again I failed to link up with Ashley over at Me and My Boys for Motivate Me Monday... :( Whoops! Mondays have just been very hectic days these last couple of weeks. Next week (fingers crossed) will be better! But- I have managed to keep up my "bring snacks to work" goal and so far I've managed to get back to pre-cruise weight! So more on that to come next monday!

Second of all- I did it!! I took one picture every day for a month and so here it is. 

My October :)

(... Looks like the last week and a half has been very "Bentley on the couch" heavy. Truth is, I'm very consistent at taking pictures of him awkwardly sleeping and not so good at capturing the random outings and events of what really goes on in my day!)

October was an interesting month that without a doubt flew by in a single blink. 

Looking back at this conglomeration of "1 photo a day" for 31 days, I think I'll remember this month for-

*The start of gorgeous weather down here in Central Florida

*A Tiffany blue box marking 1 year of happiness with my person

*Food and Wine 2011 deliciousness at Epcot

*Howl o Scream and Halloween Horror Nights, both of not so epic proportions

*Hitting 100 followers

*Carving my very first pumpkin

*The person's big "CarnEvil" Halloween event

* Losing my voice for what felt like the entire month (I'm still coughing!)

*And Bentley starting to get WAY too huge! ... At a whopping 11 pounds so far lol ok, maybe not huge. Just bigger.

No doubt in my mind I'll be doing this again for November. It's such a blast! There's so many little fun things that happen in our day to day lives that we tend to glaze over in the excitement of going from one "main event" to the next. These little pictures help me acknowledge, appreciate, and remember! 

Can't wait to see what I'll have to post on November 1st... Feel free to join me on this! Just let me know if you do. The pictures don't need to be fancy! We at least have our phones with us most of the time and that's enough to snap a quick shot of a quick lunch with a friend or an impromptu Target visit! So have fun!! Excited to see what your months consist of! :)

**Also!!**

If you stop by, head over to my twitter and follow me there so I can let you know when I get a new post up! Seeing my instagrams as they go up might also remind you to keep up with the "Picture a Day" challenge. I'd love to have you all following here and over there to help keep you in the loop!

And don't forget to contact me if you want to do a little blog button swap action! I love seeing the buttons of blogs I love following on my side bar!

Here's to another month down and a hopefully even better November!

Welcome, October!

I cannot believe it's October. It's strange, but it's almost as though Central Florida knew today needed to start feeling more like fall. As luck would have it- it is a crisp 75 degrees out. That may sound crazy to some of you but around here it's grounds for windows open! It is absolutely delicious! All I want is to sit out on my balcony and take it all in... I guess singing and dancing for little ones aint so bad either. This is the only time of year I'm sad I work at an indoor stage. Oh Florida Fall- how you make me smile!

I decided, starting today I'm putting myself on a little bit of a picture challenge. I've been awful at keeping up with pictures in the past but lately I have improved immensely. Thanks to Pinterest, I found my way over to an adorable blog called Pink Suede Shoe. In August of this past year, she took a picture every day and then used Big Huge Labs to make a mosaic of her month. It was so adorable and I loved it so much that I decided to do the same for October! Actually- I would love to do it every day for the rest of this month and the last couple of  months this year as a practice round to do a picture every day for 2012. Ambitious as all crap which is why I'm starting out with just October. I figured- I always have my phone with me. How hard could it possibly be to just take 1 photograph a day... we'll see how it goes!

Here's the first one... The start of my Instagram month- October 1st.

I have a feeling October is going to be lovely... Anyone else want to try to document there month in a picture a day through instagram? Let me know! I'd love to follow you and see how your month looks!