What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time?
I enjoy connecting with like-minded people.
Tag: blog
Goals for 2023: Implementing and Progress
Lately I’m so caught up with writing and life. Honestly, I enjoy writing and always eager to find time to update and tweak the drafts currently being released.
I’m also excited to discover anchor.fm through WordPress. Podcasts for blogs? So cool! I released my first episode as a test run. I’m debating whether to take the time to read it myself and mess with a voice changer to enhance the reading experience. It’s going to take time and might have to adjust myself to do so if it’s better for my readers.
The tarot readings have slowed thus far but I’m confident there’s a lot I want to sense and know from the universe. Peering into myself and being motivated is part of my self care. My weight loss journey has stalled but I do plan to update you all on how I plan to reset and continue my progress.
I recently mentioned to someone how sometimes my emotions are like the ocean. Some days the waters is clear and serene. But there’s days it’s dark and ruthless. Others, a storm that I do my best to weather. However, I am always hopeful that I’ll be alright.
I’ve been taking some time to also read and inspire myself into writing more of the story. Studying as much as I can to finish school. Already halfway through the term. I’m excited to graduate and see what life’s opportunities has in store. To take a break from school so I can find my love for gaming and socializing more again. Maybe get ahead in writing Taken into the Stars. In few months time we will see. My goal is to eventually publish it.
As always. Stay sweet everyone. May life ease your path. Check out the latest update in my series Taken into the Stars Return or if you haven’t started it. Give it a read here: Taken into tha Stars Intro and let me know what you think. Enjoy!
Tarot Tuesday: New Years
Been a while since I’ve done a tarot Tuesday. How about starting the new year with a spread?
I found this New Years spread here at: https://vanessairena.com/a-simple-new-year-tarot-spread/
In order from 1 to 4:
- Seven of Swords
- Pillar (AKA Empress)
- Seven of Wands
- Strength
What Am I Releasing:
Seven of Swords speaks to deception, enemies, manipulation. Personally speaking, that’s what I’ve been trying to let go for a long time. Having people who are willing to lie, disturb your peace, and cause you harm should have little to no space in your life. Easier said than done.
What I Learned
The Pillar (Empress) comes about when you’re nurturing. Whether it be an actual person or a project. It brings nurturing, love and pleasure into one. It also talks about self love and care, a time of growth. All of which I spend the last year learning and devoting myself to. This year is no different. I will continue to strive for what works for me.
What am I Cultivating
Seven of Wands says I’m cultivating protectiveness and boundaries. I’m clearing negativity that’s either been or is present. A new year brings about reflection. It’s okay to want to protect the energy you’ve built.
What Are My Tools
The tool in my arsenal: Strength with the meaning of resilience and determination. Challenges may come but if facing it with compassion and using internal will. I’ll combat these challenges and learn from the experience.
I’m satisfied with this spread’s revelation since it felt familiar and spoke to my truths in the past year and what’s to come. I’m determined to continue maintaining our peace, happiness and success through this year. And hope 2023 brings the same to my readers. I find that writing out plans, goals and organizing my time definitely helps. Whether this be a physical book or simply adding to your Google calendar. Even as an entrepreneur or worker, it’s essential to remember important dates or meetings. The cute planner above I’ve been using as of recently. You can start at any time since it’s a fill in planner, with completely blank sheets for you to use. I love the adorable Sakura design! You can find this planner here: Cherry Blossom Planner
But if you like something more simple, unique or professional here’s some popular ones:
- Weekly and Monthly Planner
- 18 Month planner with mystic sun Design
- Clever Fox Planner with Habit tracking
- Mystical mermaid Planner
**Disclaimer** As an Amazon associate this blog earns commission for purchases made with links on this post. Thank you for reading!
Time Management: Work in Progress
My schedule has become more hectic as I enter the last phases of college, meeting demands at work and demands in life. Between a teething toddler, kindergarten applications for our special needs child, holidays and all. It seems as though there’s no time to stop and think. I’m in a constant go state of mind and quite frankly I can tell I might come crashing down in any second.
Thankfully a two-week break is coming. But before then, I want self-care. I need a nap and some me time. It’s what’s keeping me sane for the moment. When it comes to time management it’s difficult overall. Life has a set of categories when it comes to what will be done for the day. In my case, work/school/home/social/self care. Of course there’s sub categories but for now let’s keep it simple.
Everyday, I make the decision of how much time to put into each category. Do I divide them evenly? Do I have time for each one? What do I do if one suffers? Well, that usually ends in a “save for tomorrow” mindset. I’ve found that looking at my week and based on everyone else’s schedule and preference I can set a time to spend for each thing. Pre planning can help me mentally prepare for what’s to come. And have less stress on myself than usual. But we all know plans can shift quickly thus I adapt or tend to have a back up plan.
It’s not perfect and I’m still working on it. There’s still so much more things that I enjoy that I wish I had more time for. Gaming, writing, shows, reading and the gym. During my breaks I like doing a bit of everything more. But slowly I’ve been shying away from socializing the way I used to since my focuses have shifted. Priorities change and a category will suffer whether we like it or not. Just know it’s human and it’ll pass eventually.
One Year with Baymax (Tesla Model Y 2022) EV Ownership Overview
Baymax is a year old!
I’m not a car person honestly. You can’t ask me much about a gas vehicle without me fumbling in my head to understand. However, I understand tech and for it to be on wheels only amplifies my interest in it.
So far things with ownership of an EV is a bit different than most. Going out of my way to charge and planning out errands when battery is a bit low. Below 20 percent sentry doesn’t work so I always try to keep it above 20 percent at all times. My charging situation hasn’t changed much. I still have mostly 60/40 on charging. 60 percent at home and 40 percent super charging. This changes when I go for long trips but I’m so grateful for Tesla’s charging network.
I do wish I could possible have level 2 charging at home. Level 1 charging is painfully slow and needs to be left over night and maybe even all weekend after a week of running errands and 2-3 times a week traveling to the office or picking up husband from work. Living in NYC everything is close by so charging happens maybe 1-2 times a week. We also try our best to charge from home cause it’s cheaper and with smart charge rewards we earn some of that back! Average we get about 10-15 dollars back on it so it pays for some of our super charging sessions. If you’re an EV owner living in NYC and you charge at home or even at work. Check out Smart Charge NY and earn points using my referral to sign up. It’s easy and tracks your charging usage to earn rewards. It pays you through PayPal and uses the email you sign up with to connect to your PayPal email and sent payment.
Now everyone hears about cost savings and fuel savings. It’s truly a mix when it comes to owning a Tesla since it’s price is hard to justify. Personally I see it as an investment. I do plan on keeping Baymax for a while which offsets the cost every year that I own it. On paper I’m still spending more than our CRV that I owned previous. But the cost savings for us adds up to almost 700 a year. Based on 11,710 miles that we’ve driven this year and the average payments from smart charge rewards.
Overall in the next 5 years the cost will be more. With car insurance which varies constantly. The difference would be 25-30k. So it’s more of a personal choice for us. I love that this is one of the safest and cleaner choices for our family. Autopilot has been a good partner for those long drives upstate. It’s fun to drive and the over the air updates are great. It all comes down to personal choice.
The white seats have held up great but it does get frustrating cleaning it since I dislike seeing dirty. With some warm water and mild soap it mostly comes off. Plus I use an interior cleaning spray. Overall it’s not too bad.
Hope you enjoyed this update! Feel free to follow Baymax on Instagram: @teslabaymax_nyc and Twitter: @teslabaymaxnyc
Six Months Post Op VSG: Stalls
Half a year down. One more year to go. I say this because that’s how long it may take to reach a goal weight with gastric sleeve. I’ve hit a stall recently. Mostly due to what I take in as food. Plus lack of exercise. I’m going to reset and start over. Back to strictly healthy foods and water. Along with upping my physical activity and holding myself responsible to go to the gym. The only cheat I’ll have is my weekly Starbucks that I love when studying. We will see how that goes.
Stalls are frustrating because you’re eating less and it feels like your body is refusing to lose weight. But sometimes taking a step back and assessing what you’re doing right or wrong then changing things a little can set you back on the right path. Mistakes are made along the way and habits don’t change in a day. I got lost along the way due to convenience and snacks. I let my cravings get the best of me when water should of been my best friend. I’ll get back there to that mindset of the gym and pushing past my limits.
Temptations are everywhere. Every outing. Every grocery shopping errand. People around you. Social parties. It’ll happen and you might fall off for a while. But it’s important to realize and get back up. Motivate yourself or find others to motivate you and support you. It’s okay to try again. It’s okay cause you’re learning and we are all learning. That’s the beauty of the journey (or struggle)
Journaling: A Decade of Life
When I was first introduced to the concept of a diary I was about maybe 7 years old. Putting my feelings and events onto paper as a way to recall moments in my life. The concept was sort of odd to me but I loved writing and took to it right away. At first I’d write about my day, video games I played, and books I liked. Eventually, once I had my first crush (who’s now my husband) I’d include him in there too. I even recall my last entry before it was lost or thrown once I moved away. “If there’s such thing as love. I hope it’ll be my crush.” An 8 year old manifesting her destiny. Now, twenty years later. Here we are.
I continued to journal after that. I started another journal at 11 and wrote in it until I was 13. I even kept a different journal that my best friends or friends in middle school would pass notes on. No secrets. Mostly asking about each others day and things people already knew about us. But my journaling at home came to a halt once I realized my parents and aunt were reading it. Which violated any trust I had left of them. I was devastated and felt exposed. Turmoil even set in since I didn’t have anywhere to put my thoughts, vent and write freely since I knew I was running the chance they’ll find it again.
I didn’t write in another journal til I was about 19 years old. After my husband and I began dating I was overwhelmed with emotions and kept falling deeper in a hole. I finally gave in and began writing again. This time I had my own room and more hiding places. Thus a decade of writing began. My life from 19 years old til now. My dreams, fears, moments in time that I had long forgotten, and snippets of moments whether it be good or bad. It’s weird looking back at 19 year old me. How much I’ve grown and how she, the past me, doesn’t know what’s to come and when it does gel she managed it. There’s happy, sad, success and despair at every turn. Times where I shook my head from how naive and lost I was.
Journaling gives me a release. Once I moved in with my husband. I wrote freely and whenever I wanted. It gives me a chance to relive moments again and compare to the person I was. The growth and experiences on paper shaping me to the present. This is probably why I took to blogging as well. A different approach of journaling to an audience about my experiences and share about my journey.
At times I feel alone in my journal journey. Quite frankly I’m yet to meet someone who has saved their journals/diaries through the years as I did. I’ve also bought new journals for future writing. Tried different pens for writing.
Thus far I enjoy the lined smaller journals like this journal on Amazon. It’s small, cute and sturdy. Easy to store in a drawer and a built in book mark so you don’t lose where you’re at. I also bought these cute Cat pens a couple of years ago that I still use for anything. If you like thin tip pens (.38mm) these are for you!
Don’t like thin pens or feel like you always can’t find a pen? I bought this 144 count Bic Pens and I do like them since it’s smooth and just the right size tip (1mm). I took it to work for office use and left a few at home for back up. Ones that I have on my wish list to try are these Cute pink pens and it has a pink highlighter as well! Definitely love the aesthetic and the clip designs. If you’re a planner like me or need to write things down to organize yourself better there’s this adorable Sakura planner that I love! It’s undated so you can get this and wait til 2023 if you want to date, add and customize it to your liking.
I hope you enjoyed this bit of insight into my life. Writing has always been a part of me. I hope to continue but in the form of fiction stories. Do you enjoy writing? Journaling? Kept a diary at some point? Comment below. As always, stay sweet, everyone.
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Falling in Place: Gratefulness
Another year is flying by with the Holidays approaching and the change in seasonal as the cold air greets me every morning that I go outside for air. I own more hoodies than a normal person should so it’s fun interchanging between them all.
Each year I feel melancholy wash over me. Whether it be from looking into the past and secretly wishing for something or being nervous for what’s ahead. But I’m also grateful for the year has brought me. That I get to watch the trees change in color and snuggle up with my favorite people day or night. How we get to have each others presence in that moment as I continue to do my best in being happy. I’m grateful to my husband who understands my chaotic brain that never stops. While also giving me the space I need to move forward with my goals.
I feel as though things are falling in place. I’m learning to let go of small things and not worry too much. Overthinking and being overwhelmed has always been an issue of mines so figuring how to navigate through it has been a challenge. But I can do this. I’ll continue day after day. Working on myself and taking life in steps instead of strides.
With the cold returning it’s easy to have our lips chapped and splitting. As of now I’ve been using a lip mask that helps keep them supple and protected: Laneige Lip Mask <——Amazing thus far I can’t recommend it enough. Even for those times where you lick your lips too much or maybe not you but your child. This has worked on my son who used to lick his lips too much and peel the skin off his lips too. I noticed a difference within one night.
Also, I did mention I have a collection of hoodies? Yup I had to do it. I bought this rack with the sole purpose to carry my hoodies. It’s been great to have it all in once place and gave my closet more space to put away clothing. Theres even a second rack in the bottom in case you want to have hold jeans or anything that’s fits. Also if you need extra hangers to store more clothing, these hangers come in different colors and are pretty sturdy. I hope this helps!
Hope you all been well. I’m still working on my story intros and plan to release them soon. School has been taking up a lot of my time along with tiredness. There’s been many times I fall asleep with my laptop open and I laugh to myself.
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Playing Catch Up: Give Yourself Grace
It’s surprising how behind you can get when you have a week off.
Recently we went on a family cruise and we had a lot of fun. Granted that traveling with kids can be stressful in itself. Especially with a 4 and 1 year old who still don’t understand waiting in line. However, we all enjoyed the uninterrupted family time. So much so that I hardly could focus on school assignments. Thus, I was a week behind and struggling to keep up.
Sometimes I find myself in a limbo of how to study at home. But the distractions and sounds of my boys plus husband talking to them keeps me from actually focusing. Being home is where I’m comfortable and easily distracted. Eventually, I decided to go back to sitting at Starbucks for a coffee and 2-3 hour sessions of studying and catching up. I did this about 4 times in the last 2 weeks of the term before completing and catching up with about 90 percent of what was left for me to submit.
I’m always thankful for my husband in these times where I need him most. He understands that for me to succeed as a student I might need to put distance between the house and me. Once I’m seated with a a drink in my reach, do not disturb on, and music in my ears. I’m able to hyper focus and complete what I can. Hours will pass before I realize it’s already time to go home. I breathed a sigh of relief and the stress melts away. Everyday being closer to graduation makes me more and more excited.
So if you’re a student or someone in need of getting away. Whether it be to study or simply reading a good book. I understand completely. Sometimes home can be distracting and it’s okay to leave to get away to focus on yourself. It’s part of self care and it’s okay to want a break even if it’s for a moment. An hour or more a week. Give yourself grace. Cause you’re important too.
Drink above is Starbucks Iced Apple Crisp Oatmilk Macchiato
Five Months Post Op Gastric Sleeve/VSG
It’s interesting how much your relationship with food changes when you have this surgery. Of course you don’t really lose the cravings or magically begin to eat healthy right away. But the surgery is a tool to keep you full and hopefully eating right.
I still struggle with serving myself more than I can handle. Measuring my portions have helped with this and I use this Food scale to get me by. With different foods it becomes hard to simple serve myself and wing it since I find some days I eat more than I thought. While others I take a couple of bites and I’m done for the moment.
I’m still drinking protein ready drinks. Mainly Premier Protein in the chocolate flavor. It helps keep my protein intake up and does keep me going for a while. I ended up buying a bit more than I can handle and I plan to switch over to my original protein drink GNC Lean Shake Mocha Expresso. This was my absolute favorite when I started working out in the beginning of my wellness journey. Hopefully I can tolerate it and it continues to help me with my weight loss journey.
Now, what do I mean by tolerate? Well there’s some foods that might not sit well with my new stomach pouch. Dairy can be a little heavy if I try to eat it all at once. Milk feels a bit heavier unless I sip slowly (I add milk to my coffee, a bit with Oreos, whole milk yogurt or mixed into my protein powder). It’s important to be cautious about certain foods as sometimes it can be overwhelming and make you nauseous at first or may as well not to get to enjoy foods the way you did previously. For some this is the rough part. I will admit it can be off putting. But I’ve accepted this as the new me. I can do this and will continue to strive for my wellness! I’ve currently lost 44 pounds and counting! Still need about 33 more to reach my goal weight. Wishing myself luck at this point. Hope everyone has a wonderful week. I’ll continue to post as much as I can!
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Sirua's Serenity 