post vacation high - first trip overseas

Its been awhile since my last post but i figured i write a post vacation post. I'll start by saying I had a blast and I am already want to plan my next vacation. anyway let me start from the beginning...

so I've never been on a plane for more than three hours and i haven't been on a plane before this trip in 12 years. so it was kinda scary that i was now going to be on a plane for almost ten hours to get to Istanbul. so to calm the nervousness i had a beer before i left to go to the airport then when i met up with my friend i had another beer and she thought it would be a good idea to order us two double shots of jack. i can admit i was feeling a little tipsy and didn't know at the time the plane would be serving more free booze. The main sign I was a little fucked up was my analogy that I was like a fine wine that needed to be sipped to get the full effect. Don't even ask me to explain that because quite frankly I don't even remember what we were talking about for me to give that comment. So fast forward to us getting on the plane and the flight attendant yells at me for not turning off my phone lol which turned out to be a good thing since that's how we met the girls from Dallas who were sitting in front of us. i will say i can fly anyway if u give me enough beer and wine. by this point i was a lot more tipsy so i don't know exactly how but we started chatting with the girls from Dallas. and I'm pretty sure we were very loud but whatever. all that booze and i only slept for three hours.

welcome to Istanbul! Ive always wanted to go there since i took a art history class back in college and now it was finally happening. it was everything i thought it would be. first day there we went to the Hagia Sophia and the blue mosque both are absolutely breath taking. Day two we did the Bosphorus cruise which was another great day. Seeing all the sights along the Bosphorus strait was amazing. We got off the cruise at the last stop  (Anadolu Kavagi) to take in the sights and check out Yoros Castle and the sights. No one mentioned that it was a hike to get to this damn castle and of course we had no water. Walking up hill in the sun is no fucking picnic I will tell you that much. But it was worth it when you get up top and take in those amazing views. Walking down was nothing compared to that hellish walk to get up there. After getting back to Istanbul we decided to hit up the spice market. which is a very crowded place with people standing in front of their shops trying to get you to come in. The sales people are kind of aggressive but i guess you have to be given there's competition everywhere around you. More on this later. Day three was more sight seeing and probably the low point of the trip, so we decided to go to the Grand Bazaar, which is like the Spice Bazaar on steroids. We encountered this guy who was selling flavored tobacco so I stop to see how much it is, basically he started high and worked his price lower but i didn't like how pushy he was being so i was going to leave. That's when he proceeded to call us niggers! yup niggers. Shocked the shit out of me because I've never been called that to my face a day in my life, people may say it behind my back but never to my face. It kind of floored me but we were in a different country so the only to do was to leave well i guess since niggers didn't get a rise out of us he called us rednecks. I never knew you could be a redneck and a nigger and on that note all i can do is laugh because he obviously didn't even know which insult to call us. That kind of put a damper on my mood for the next hour or so but when we got back to the room we got a email from the Dallas girls and decided to meet up with them that night for drinks. Oh yeah I got the girls email on the plane but see above about how drunk I was...yeah I shouldn't take peoples email addresses when i am drunk because boy oh boy did I mess it up and the email was kicked back earlier that day. Thankfully I gave them my email and they wrote us. We had a great time in Takism with them and again somehow I got pretty tipsy but a good night in deed. Day four was more sight seeing with the girls from Dallas. I know there names but i guess they will always be the girls from Dallas lol. Day 5 it was time to say good bye to Istanbul and hello to ATHENS!! more on this later

Back to Istanbul I don't know if I would ever go back, not because of the one incident at the grand bazaar but more so that the people there are very pushy. At times that pushiness can become overwhelming especially when you are just trying to walk down the street. I get it, they have to be aggressive but that aggressiveness can turn folks off. I know that's what happened with me. I got sick of saying "No thank you, we are not hungry" or "No thank you, we don't want to buy anything", or No, Thank you we are just browsing". I will say these men are determined to get your business. Even if they see you shut down the guy at the restaurant right next door to them they will still ask you if you want to look at the menu. Best sales line we heard was "How can I get you to spend your money", got to love the guys honestly and that he was straight to the point, we didnt buy anything from him but i respect his hustle. It wasn't until day four that I just was over having to deal with people trying to get you into their shop. Like in the spice market I went and brought things from the guy who didn't come out of his shop to get us. I liked not feeling pressured. Besides the nigger/redneck comment we were called Michelle Obama (ALOT), The Spice Girls and one guy thought we were South Africans. I was also not impressed with the food. I think the biggest mistake we made was trying to go to nice looking restaurants because it ended up being the best meal we had was 5 lira ($2.82), new rule when overseas try the cheapest food you can find because that might be the gem.

The flight to Athens was over before it even began which was a change after flying for 10 hours to get to Istanbul. I will start off by saying that Athens is dirty, I don't mean that to be offensive its just I wasn't expecting it to look like that. It made the roughest neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Bronx look like gems. So you will understand my concerned look when the cab pulled over and said this is your hotel. All throughout the cab ride I thought we were just driving through the bad parts of Athens...WRONG!! Day 1 in athens was just chill, we basically just walked around the areas by the hotel but the best thing happened. I had the best gyro and beer (Amstel Light). I thought things in Istanbul was cheap but a gyro for 2 euro was great and 2 for a beer I was in heaven!. Day two we went to Acropolis which was great to see in person. And getting up that hill looked very intimidating and after the Yoros hike you would think we would have learned our lesson but we didn't. So the hike began with no damn water lol. But once at the top i realized it was no where as bad as the Yoros Castle hike. See the Parthenon in person was something I will never forget. This trip will always be special to me since it was my first. Day three we did a short bus tour to the temple of Poseidon which was also a cool sight to see.

The vibe in Athens is totally different than it is in Istanbul, I think we were only approached with a menu once and people were not pushy to get you to buy things from them. We were tourist but we weren't treated like tourist and that was a breath of fresh air. Overall, the trip was great and I had an amazing time. Now its time to plan the next vacation and I am thinking Paris or Spain but it depends on which place I can convince Brandon to go to...so until next time.

Back on my weight lost grind

I've been here before but I think this time will be different, maybe this time I'm different and I realize I need to get my shit together sooner rather than later. Almost a year and a half ago i was -20, I was on the right track losing weight at a decent pace and becoming more healthy. I can't even pinpoint what happened but instead of going to the gym 3x a week it slowly went down to 2x then 1x. Or going to the gym then right after going out to eat and drink, so the workout was a waste. I decided I needed to make an overall change, and a part of that was trying to incorporate more walking into my life. For the last month, I've been trying to wake up earlier on my workdays and taking Demo on a 15-30 minute walk. I've also have been trying to get off the train 2 stops earlier and walking home.  And on the working out front, On a whim I decided to buy Insanity DVD. My thinking was that it should be easier because I don't have to leave my house and since I spent all this money on the DVD's I'll actually use them.

So onto the DVD's themselves MAN I didn't think I was that out of shape considering I take spin classes very often but boy these Insanity DVD's are no joke. The workout plan calls for 6 workouts a week, and I set out for 6 days but right now I'm up to 3 days of working out. After today I will be up to 4 days. Next week I am aiming for 6 days. I'm hoping once my body becomes stronger that I don't need a day in between for my body to rest. The first day after doing the Fit Test, my body was in so much pain that on Wednesday there was no way I was going to work out. Another thing I am going to try is not drinking for this 60 day challenge (besides beer fest), I don't want to waste the calories. A friend suggested a app that tracks calories and it has been a good app for me, it helps me make decisions on certain foods based on the calories I have left. I decided to write this blog so I can track how well I am doing with these Insanity DVD's so I am going to try to update on a weekly basis to hold myself accountable.

Let the workouts begin!

I'll admit it, I'm lazy.

I can describe apartment hunting in 3 words: I hate it! no seriously I really do. Maybe its because I am lazy and really don't want to put the effort of going to numerous places and having to pack and unpack. Went to see a place today that I hated but my bf liked, well he liked the area not so much the apartment. The apartment just wasn't for me, an apartment is suppose to sell u on immediate impact. My first impressions was HELL NO! so the apartment hunting continues. As the move out date gets closer, I'm starting to realize I am going to miss over here. I've lived in this apartment for 30 months and I've gotten use to certain things and places. Brandon can't wait to move and he is all excited, wish that was my mindset but its not so what can you do.

Even though we're in the early stages of planning I can't wait to go to Istanbul in a couple of months. Which brings me to my new dilemma. I need to stop wasting money on unnecessary things. I follow a set budget when it comes to my bills its the other stuff that's my problem. Two weeks ago I tried to only spend $125 for 2 weeks (already went food shopping), after one day I was down to about $60. But the Indian dinner I went to with a friend was slamming lol. I really need to get it together, for this upcoming trip I've set a stricter budget that I need to start following and hopefully I will be able to do such. Its hard to not spend money in a city where everything fun cost money. I need to either cut back on spending or get a job that pays more, since finding a job these days is hard I will be cutting back on spending. I already know one thing that will have to go: Fresh Direct :-(. I love that place because I'm lazy (see paragraph above) and that place is a lazy person's dream. Doing your food shopping online and having it delivered is so simple and easy but of course things are a bit more expensive than they would be if I went to the supermarket. I placed my last order today and then me and fresh direct will end our beautiful relationship. I'm going to have to find other things to cut, which wont be fun but will pay off in the end.

Murder, cops and lawyers. My book review

I'll start it off by saying I LOVE the Kindle app on my tablet. I am so happy a friend of mine gave me a website and it's really helped me save money since I love to read. Now since I am not paying for the books I can take a chance on certain books. I'm also reading way more than before. Since last week I have read 2 books and I just started another yesterday. I decided since I am reading like crazy I should write a review of what I thought of each so here it goes:

"Kill Alex Cross" by James Patterson - As soon as this book came out I was on Amazon to purchase it. In my opinion Patterson's Alex Cross series is his best series. Anyway let's get to the book, I felt that the title was a bit misleading, scratch that I thought the book should have been named something else entirely. The title suggests that someone would be out to kill Alex and that is barely the case. The section where someone is trying to kill Alex is less than 4 pages (maybe more or less but you get the idea). I read the book in two days but I didn't think this book kept me intrigued and on the edge of my seat like some of his other Alex Cross books have done in the past. The plot was interesting, the President's two kids are kidnapped and Alex is on the case to find out who took them. I also like that while this kidnapping is going on terrorist are plotting and killing political figures. I hope Patterson's next Alex Cross book is a lot better. On a scale from 1-10, I give this book a 7.

"Split Second" by Catherine Coulter - Thanks to my friend I was able to start this book right after finishing James Patterson's book. I don't go in with high hopes for her book because they pretty much following the same format. Guy meets girl and somehow they fall in love at the end of the book which is nice but um how many people can fall in love in less than 2 weeks, ALL THE TIME. I think I read her books because i love series books because I can get to know the characters and I like Sherlock and Savich (the main characters) but i hate the predictability of all the stories. I should also say that I have read every single book in this FBI series so maybe I like it more than I care to admit, who knows. I did like the manhunt for the serial killer and how the serial killer is connected to another infamous serial killer. The other story going on in the book is about Lucy Carlye and her family mess. This was a part of the book that I found boring and just not that interesting. I find that the author sometimes mixes in paranormal element that feels out of place with the rest of the story and just doesn't seem that thought out and takes the book away from being a suspense/mystery book. I didn't love the book but I also didnt hate it, so on a scale from 1-10, I give this a 5.

"The Litigators" by John Grisham - This is a book I would not normally read, and I only say that because I prefer to stick to series and this is a legal thriller so its not really in my genre. I went on Amazon.com to try to find more books for me to read and stumbled upon this. My tablet tells me I'm 13% done with the book and so far its been really slow. I tend to like books that get into the drama fairly quick, so far nothing. I've heard Grisham books are really good but I've already told myself if I get to 20% and still nothing I'm going to stop reading it and come back to it later. Since I am still reading it my score is pending.

That's it for now, I have about 13 more books in my kindle that I haven't read yet so I'll maybe make this my thing now to write my opinions on the books I am reading. I am really looking forward to Vince Flynn new book, Love the Mitch Rapp series. Until next time...

Is life all about the money grab...

Someone once told me " money isn't everything". For some that statement is true but when it comes to me that is far from the truth. At the end of the day, money drives me. I just got promoted a couple of months ago and although the raise was a nice increase, the joy of that has faded and I'm already on to saying you know what I need to make more money. Maybe I'm crazy or just not grateful, all those things I can admit but at the end of the day money drives me career wise. At the same time I wanted to find a job i enjoy but one that pays well, instead of just a job I loved. I know there are people that have jobs that its not about the money. For instance, the other day I saw someone I use to work with at a non-for-profit, she was just as happy as can be at 8 a clock in the morning. Which made me remember a lot of them were so happy coming into work and I always thought that the majority of them were on drugs because I didnt understand how anyone could be that happy coming to work for the shitty wages they paid. But maybe money isnt everything for them and helping out the community held more value. A part of me wishes I was one of those people but sadly I am not. My bf always tells me I am one of those people that no matter how much money I make I will always want more. It's a double edge sword because I am never satisfied but I am always motivated to better myself.

When I was growing up I always told myself that I didn't want to be my mother. She busted her ass working jobs that she didn't like or enjoy to make sure me and my sister had what we needed. I watched her struggle and told myself that will never be me. I know I am not struggling but I'm not where I think I need to be and that is why I always strive for more. I hope sometime in the future I will be content, but until then its all about striving to do better.

2011...a new year

Another year in the bank now time to see what 2011 has in store for me.

Starting next Sunday I will be training with a personal trainer once a week. Last year I said I was going to be focused on my weight lost and I was for 8 months and I fell off. At my lowest I lost 20 lbs but after falling off the wagon the end total for the year was 10 lbs. I could be down on myself for not losing more but I think it was still an accomplishment for me to lose anything. I feel that I have made diet decisions that I was able to keep the whole year, one being no soda and no fast food (unless you consider Chinese fast food lol). I think by having a personal trainer on my ass I will be able to really reach my goals of being more healthy and more fit. I need to get back into my habit of going to the gym 3x a week like I was doing before. Hopefully this can keep me truly focused and by next year I can lose more than 10 lbs when its all said and done.

My 3 year anniversary is coming up this month and it's truly crazy how time flies. We have our days when we really can't stand each other but we work. I never been one of those people that romanticize my relationship. We are far from perfect and we go through the normal ups and downs as every relationship. I really couldn't think of my life without him in it, I'm use to waking up in the morning and seeing him and I'm even use to arguing with him. I love that man to death. Cheesy sappy moment is over lol.

Now that I got this job with the city I've been thinking about where I want my life to be in the next 5 years career wise. I think I need to keep striving to achieve and do better. I have my career goals all sorted out now it's a matter of actually achieving those goals. I think I can do it but its going to take hard work and dedication.

Well, that's all I have for the moment. Hope 2011 is a great year for you and yours :-)

Roosevelt Ave Food Crawl

We went to the Roosevelt Ave food Crawl today, it started in Jackson Heights and ended in Corona Queens. Great food and a very fun day, we walked 30 blocks we didn't make it till the end but we made it 90% of the way. We had 10 more blocks to go but we were dead tired. Pictures sum up the day better so here you go: