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

Confession #2:Reformed Gym Dropouts

I always wondered if I was simply born without the “I love working out” gene. To me, going to the gym and spending an hour amongst sweaty strangers, was never appealing. And the actual workout has always felt like torture to me. My friends always assumed that because I am Puerto Rican I would be great at dance aerobics. Not my case! I was uncoordinated, lost, clueless and miserable in every single dance aerobics class that I tried. So I always gave up half way through and decided that walking from my room to the kitchen counted as a workout since I did this at least 15 times a day!
Every time I saw people running outside, I rolled my eyes and shook my head.  It just wasn't something  I wanted to do!

The hubby on the other hand, enjoys working out a bit more than I do –or at least that’s what he tells me. I do have to tell you that his cardio has been put to shame once or twice by 60+ year old ladies at the gym! 

One of the ladies that put the hubby's cardio to shame!

So after much protest and several tantrums, I agreed to give the gym a second try. I decided to do Zumba on my first day back to the gym after a whole year. Before I tell you how that went, let me tell you that a lot of people underestimate Zumba – it is tough! That said, 15 minutes into the class, I got nauseous and almost puked. I refused to stop because the class was full of middle-aged ladies that were shaking their booty like JLo. So I shook it off and continued for what felt like an eternity – btw, the class was only 45 minutes. So after the class I felt better, aside from the fact that I was seeing spots and felt dizzy. I finished the class! Zumba is actually the only workout that I enjoy and that I don’t suck at –well not too much anyway. 

Girls Zumba workout. This is a before pic since after the workout my hair looked like I had been attacked by angry birds (Me, Cassie, and Heather)

If you thought I was not going to make fun of the hubby on his first day back to the gym you are wrong! So on his first day he did weight lifting, well he tried. He picked up the fifteens, and as he was lifting them up his arms started shaking and his face turned hot red. The guy next to him, one of those taken from Men’s Health Magazine, was lifting very heavy weight so the hubby tried to keep up with the torture because, well he is a man and ego plus competition equals hernia—just kidding it wasn’t that bad :)

It’s been a little bit over a month since we started working out, and I’ll let you know that I no longer get nauseous at Zumba and the hubby is lifting heavier weights with steady arms :) We workout together whenever we can, but when we don’t, we make sure we both put pressure on each other to workout individually. We have an accountability system going on—well it’s more of an interrogation session like those you see in CSI – but it works really well!  Since we can no longer use food as a bribe, we relay on accountability...and guilt!  If I sense the hubby cheated on his diet—I can always tell—I start taking him on a guilt trip. He rather not cheat on his diet! All jokes aside, accountability is so important when you are trying to achieve your goals—any kind of goals! So find your interrogation partner and start an accountability system.

The hubby and I enjoying waterfront kick boxing class. That’s his best “I am tired” face.

Today’s Tip: Accountability is everything! Share your goals with someone and ask them to ask you about your progress. I guarantee you will think twice before cheating on your goals if you know someone you care about will ask about your progress. It really works! Gotta go, interrogation session starts in 5 minutes :S!

the wifey