Confession #7: It is all about Harmony

Recently I posted a quote from Sheryl Sandberg regarding work and life balance and how such a thing doesn’t really exist. I happen to agree with this 100%. We Millennial’s are multi-taskers, overachievers, ambitious and we want it all: a great career, our own business, volunteer for non-profits and a family. And we won’t settle for one or the other—and why should we?  Many times we are told, “You can’t have it all, you either have a great career and are very successful or you have a family, not both at the same time”. Granted I don’t have kids yet, but I have a husband, a house and a four legged fury creature that I have to tend to everyday. But I don’t feel like I have to give up my dreams and aspirations to take care of my little family—on the contrary, they are the reason I want to pursue my dreams.

Finding time to spend quality time together!

Recently the hubby told me something he heard and I agree with it 100%: what we need to achieve is work and life harmony. I am very blessed to have married a man who believes in me and encourages me to take on challenges. We both support each other on the pursuit of our dreams and we make sacrifices for each other when necessary.

For example, the other day I was stressing out with a test a had to take for my MBA, and the hubby took care of dinner—we ate take out—but still, he knew I was stressing so he made sure I didn’t have to worry about making food for us. He also took care of our dog and made sure she didn’t bother me while I was taking the test—she loves to jump on top of me and sit on my laptop when I am working which is cute but annoying. He tidy up the house a bit because he knows that I get even more stressed when the house is messy. All these small things tell me that he has my back and that he will make sure I achieve my goals. 

talking about support, these two fell asleep in my office while I was studying. they are there for me even if they are sleeping

I do the same for him.Last year, a great speaking opportunity popped up for the hubby but it was on the day of my birthday. His initial reaction was to decline because of my birthday, but I knew it was a great opportunity so I told him to accept it. I helped him prep for the presentation and on the day of, I was there helping with logistics and other things. After the keynote, we celebrated my birthday, and it was awesome. It’s all about compromise. We are both busy at work and most days, we have engagements after work.  But not one days goes by, without us talking to each other---even if it’s late and I am talking incoherently because I am sleepy—we make sure we communicate with each other constantly. 

Celebrating my birthday after the speaking engagement!

So we have found the work/life harmony that works for us. We are able to spend quality time with each other, take care of our family and still pursue our dreams. Yes, some days we are so exhausted and tired we ask ourselves “what are we doing?” but then we get some rest and we are ready to keep going. I can’t say that this will continue to be the same when kids come into the picture, but I am sure we will be able to adjust our work/life harmony as needed.

The day we promised to be teammates for the rest of our lives!

 

The way I say it, marriage is a team. And much like a sports team works, the parties have to be synchronized to win the game. Also, teammates got to have each other’s back and fill in for one another when necessary. A marriage is no different. Make sure you have the right teammate—I sure do!

@thewifey

Confession #6: 5Ks and cookies and steaks, Oh my!

So I haven’t posted anything in a week or so and I feel like there is a lot to tell!! First of all, am I the only one that gets depressed by the fact that the sun goes down at 5pm now? Darn daylight savings time! It’s like I get home from work and its dark so I just want to go to bed. I find that around this time of the year a need a little extra motivation to do certain things like working out and doing productive things after I get home from work. So here are a couple of things we have been doing to keep motivated.

This past weekend we completed our first “5K”. I say “5K” because while we were so excited about being able to run the whole thing, we were told at the end that it was really only 2.5 miles. So no wonder we felt like first class athletes. It was still super fun and it was super cold that day, so I feel a little extra proud of us!!

My hair was a total mess afterwards, but it was sooo worth it!

 

Another way I stay motivated is by reading empowering books that make me want to be better and more productive. I’ve read a couple of powerful books, mainly directed at women like “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg, “#Girlboss” by Sophia Amorouso, “Bossy Pants” by Tina Fey and “Is everyone hanging out without me” by Mindy Kaling. These books have had a very positive impact in both my professional and personal life. I highly recommend them! The hubby recently surprised me by getting me a “just because” gift: Arianna Huffington’s book, Thrive. We are always looking for ways to help each other grow, and buying these power-packed books for each other is a great way to do so!  Can’t wait to start reading!

#Womenlead #powerfulwomen

 

And talking about reading, I have been trying to find ways to study for my two MBA classes, and honestly, there is no easy way to do this. Being back in school with a full time job is definitely NOT as fun as being a full time college student. For starters, as a full time student, an all-nighter for me meant never going to sleep. Now, an all-nighter for me means studying until 11pm, maybe 12pm…how sad! I did find a nice spot in my office with a nice view of the sunset, so now I pretend to study while enjoying the nice view.

pretending to study

 

And finally, staying motivated to eat healthy is still a big task—but we are doing it! On one hand, we have completely banned certain foods from our lives like fast foods, and on the other hand we have reduced the intake of certain foods like rice and bread. So far so good! The hubby is done with his 3 month program and he did great! He lost a total of 33 pounds, and adopted healthier eating habits. We will continue to work out and eat healthy long term—at least that’s the plan! Salads have become my specialty; I try to make them as delicious as possible. And I found a recipe for whole wheat oatmeal cookies that is out of this world! I altered the recipe and instead of adding oats I added raisin/pumpkin granola and brown sugar instead of granulated white. Needless to say, they were delicious and almost guilt-free.

yummy!

The key is not being too prohibitive with food. Like for example, our good friend Rodney celebrated his birthday at a steakhouse yesterday and that was the perfect excuse to splurge a little. Because if you go to a steakhouse and order a garden salad, not only is that a waste of time, it is a slap in the face for the restaurant and the people at the table—seriously. So, being the good friends that we are, we honored our friend by eating delicious juicy steaks—you will see me at spinning class tomorrow burning it all off! Also, I learned that a medium well fillet mignon looks very different from a medium fillet mignon. I learned this after arguing with the waiter and complaining about how much smaller and flat my fillet mignon looked— yep the dieter/healthier me was complaining that her steak was small, such is life! It was delicious and I enjoyed every single bite.

 

So what keeps you motivated during the winter time??


@thewifey

Confession #5: We push each others limits!

Although sometimes we do push each other to our limits in  a “omg you are driving me crazy” kind of way, most of the time it has more to do with stretching ourselves to achieve more.  I always say that the hubby really helped me awaken the leader within me. We both challenge each other on a regular basis and we make sure we are both growing constantly. Yes, we get on each others nerves a lot because we both have strong characters and we both want to be right all the time, but we use these discussions in a positive way. Last week I hosted and emceed an event for the Hispanic association that I co-chair, and the hubby was super supportive helping with stuff and being my motivation—being married to a speaker does have its perks!

#womenlead!

The hubby also had an event recently where he trained executives at a National conference—more of that to come on a post from the hubby! Although I was not there with him since it was at New Orleans, I still provided virtual moral support :)

Just as we push each other to achieve more professionally, we also push each other to achieve more physically. Let me tell you about one of our very interesting exercise sessions we had recently. So we were doing interval training in our basement and the hubby gets all military on me and starts yelling things like, “lower, lower! Give me 20 more, come on you can do it!” So I try to keep up but my least favorite exercise of all times is the plank, I just hate it! But the hubby seemed to like it and I couldn’t understand why. And he could stay in the plank position for a very long time. In one of the intervals that we were doing the planks, I decided to stop and look at the way the hubby was doing it.  I don’t know how to explain what I saw, so just look at the picture below. 

No wonder it was so easy for him, he had been cheating! And he was making me feel like such as slacker. 

The important thing is that we push each other to be better, and if we have to, we carry each other to the finish line. Because that is what we do as a couple and team, we push our limits to be better.

Tip of the day: Challenge yourself, stretch your abilities and push your limits, you might surprise yourself with what you are capable of doing.

@the wifey

Confession #4: We wait until the last minute to do everything! Yikes!

So I have been posting every Monday for the last 3 weeks....so what happened this week? Just re-read the title of this blog :)

It's been a crazy week at work, and I also volunteer in a Hispanic organization AND my in laws are in town! Sooo let me start by saying that last week we were also super busy and on Thursday night--the night before the in laws arrived-we were running around like crazy stalkers on a U-Haul truck looking for a sofa bed and a recliner for the in laws. We stalked several people on craigslist---I’m pretty sure one of ladies we called thought we were psychos because she stopped answering our calls after call #10.

Psychos in a U-Haul Truck!! Get out of the way!

So after miraculously finding a sofa bed and recliner, we ran back home to finish cleaning the house and preparing everything for their arrival. It was 9pm on the night of the arrival and we were still running around like chickens without heads. It was crazy! But we work great as team and under pressure! The hubby's family is visiting us for the first time since we moved to DC, so he had to be extra special.

The Family!! At the White House! Went through 5 security check points for a 5 min tour!

We have been doing very well with our diet and exercise! Last Sunday we woke up at 6:50 AM before the family woke up—I know!—and went for a run in45 degree weather. I am so proud! Never in a million years I thought I would be one of those people! It felt do great! We have been eating very well too. Like instead of eating regular burgers we go for turkey with no mayo, no fries and with water instead of coke. It's possible!

Morning run! Bella was clearly not happy about the early run in 45 degree weather, just look at the nasty look she's shooting the hubby!

 We have truly enjoyed the family time and we have certainly kept them busy! There is nothing like family and we are blessed to have them here. Bella has also enjoyed the family time, they got her this adorable costume!

Bumble bella! Adorable!

As we learn to cope with this new healthy lifestyle, we have learned to appreciate the small things in life like spending quality time bonding and working on projects together. We have learned new ways to enjoy life and it's been a great journey so far! I no longer have dreams about donuts or demand cake in my dreams :)

Tip of the day: Enjoy family! And if you can do things today, don't wait till tomorrow--we are still trying to apply this principle! Gotta go, family movie time!

@ the wifey

Confession #3: We celebrate EVERYTHING!

It is probably no surprise that the hubby and I love to celebrate—just look at our timeline in Facebook. We celebrate anything from the traditional birthdays and anniversaries, to the not so traditional like simply having a good day at work. Once we had a good Monday, and that was reason enough to pop open a bottle of bubbly. I have to say that some occasions merit a good bottle of champagne and others where an $8 bottle will do just fine—we mostly do $8 bottles, I honestly can’t tell the difference most of the time anyway.

Monday Evening Bubbly. Sometimes I like to pretend Im a photographer and take pictures of the sunset with focused objects.

The hubby had his 28^th birthday last Thursday and of course we celebrated like there is no tomorrow. This time around, we held back a bit on the cake and sweets--you know we are trying to be healthier--but we still had a lot of fun! The hubby is like a little kid when it comes to birthdays…balloons, birthday hats, cake and wrapped gifts. I learned early on that no matter what the gift is, it needs to be wrapped. The first gift I ever gave him was in gift bag—I never quite mastered the art of gift wrapping—and after he opened it, he looked disappointed. I thought he didn’t like the gift. It turns out it was not the gift, it was the stupid bag. He hates those gift bags with tissue paper; he says there is no excitement in opening a bag. So I learned my lesson and from then on, the hubby gets the most ridiculously wrapped gifts you have ever seen. They look like a 3 year old wrapped them.

Another thing I learned is that it is almost virtually impossible to plan a surprise party for the hubby. So this time, I planned an entire day but only told him that we were going to be out all day. He didn’t know where we going until we arrived at the places. We had breakfast at one of his favorite restaurants Tabard Inn, AMAZING food! Then we went to a spa to do a couples massage—I know it was HIS birthday but what was I supposed to do? Just sit there and wait for him? Nope! So this was actually a first experience for both of us. I noticed he was a little nervous when he realized it was going to be a full body massage—meaning we had to get pretty much naked--so we did and got under the covers as instructed. Have you ever seen a scared cat? That’s what the hubby looked like during the entire 60 minutes. I was quiet during the entire time, and the room was dead silent, when all of a sudden the hubby started giggling and the masseuse kept saying “just relax”.  So what I thought would be a relaxing experience, turned out to be a sort of tense situation—yay me!  A facial would’ve been a much wiser and safe choice—lesson learned!

After the not so relaxing massage, we went shopping to Georgetown-- which the hubby loved—so I was able to redeem myself! Then we grabbed a quick bite at Fiola Mare—another successful choice—phew. This place was just breath-taking. I called ahead of time and asked the bartender to prepare a special drink for the birthday boy. We were seated and within 5 minutes they brought us the special drink which was delicious! The service at this place was just impeccable.  We are definitely going back!

Delish coffee at Baked & Wired, Georgetown!

On Sunday we had a second birthday celebration—last year he had about 4—at Paradise Springs. We had great company, good wine, cake and perfect weather!

Wine, Friends and cake, can you ask for more?

Tip of the day: Celebrating is important! Make sure you make time to celebrate achievements, big or small! It’s our way of rewarding ourselves for the hard work, or for just getting through a though day. Cheers!

the wifey