I hate Mondays but LOVE…

Supporting a good cause!

This May 10^th is the Power Walk for Dress for Success. The event will take place in New York City at Manhattan’s Riverside Park at 10am and I’ll be walking to support Dress for Success alongside my lovely husband. This event will take place in five countries and over 30 cities and I want to invite all of you to support this important cause.

First, let me tell you why I love Dress for Success:

This wonderful not-for-profit organization empowers women by giving them the tools they need to succeed in their careers. In my case, I married right before I graduated from college and my new job as step-mom and wife distracted me from my career goals. I had a job that gave me money but it didn’t make me happy. When I heard about the Going Places Network, a six-week course by Dress for Success to prepare you to find a job, I expected just that, a class about resume writing and interview tips. I must say these ladies exceeded my expectations, they are caring and supportive while also tough and strict and they certainly gave me the push I needed. I haven’t reached my goal yet but I know I will because in my case I learned to balance life and career. I learned that I can adore my family but I have to take care of ME too and do what makes ME happy.

I want to clarify that although the organization’s goal is helping disadvantaged women, they help women from all walks of life. Whether you have an education or not, single or married, whether you have a job or not, or if you are just a little lost and need guidance, these ladies are there to help.

This organization helps a great deal of women by building their confidence and helping them succeed in work and life and I want to help them continue doing so by raising money for this event. So I’m asking all of you lovely people to go to their website to http://www.dfspowerwalk.org and donate (If you want to support my fundraising, I’m participant Claudia Sader, thanks!) or if you want to participate in the walk you can also sign up and get more people involved if you can.

Thanks in advance 🙂

 

 

 

 

I hate Mondays but I love…

Green Smothies!

Nutritious, delicious and easy to make. Green smoothies help you eat your veggies without noticing, give you tons of energy and are really cheap to make at home. 

Try this:

1 handful of spinach

1 handful of kale

3 celery sticks

1 granny smith apple

1 cup of water/coconut water

**Add some pineapples if you want to make it sweeter.

Happy Vegan meal, kitten included

Awesome story about two things I cannot do, cook a nice vegan meal and ride a bike 🙂

On Becoming Vegetarian

For a while now I’ve been thinking of becoming vegan or vegetarian. Not because I want to lose weight but because I often suffer from stomachaches, bloating and indigestion. But every time I told my family I wanted to become a vegetarian they would laugh and list all of the things I would have to give up and I’d quickly change my mind. Also, I’m a total failure when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle. For a year I’ve been paying for a gym subscription and I went only 7 days and spent the other 358 making excuses. Anyway, this time I decided that I was going to do it!

First, I needed to pick between vegan and vegetarian. I picked vegetarian since it’s not as strict and I believe veganism is reserved for those who are really compassionate and have an honest commitment to saving animals. I grew up a meat eater so I don’t think I have that in me. As I didn’t have any support from the meat eaters around me, I decided to find a book that would help convincing me. So as of lately, I’ve been reading “Skinny Bitch: Bun in the Oven” (FYI I’m NOT pregnant). I chose it because it focuses in eating right, not losing weight. I must say that this book has being incredibly informational, especially since I never paid attention to the harms of GMOs, pesticides, processed foods or sugar. When I read the reviews in Amazon, a lot of people were angry that the writers tried to push the vegan diet down their throats and that the language was horrible and disrespectful. Upon reading I agree, the writers do try to push a vegan lifestyle but in regards to the language, the book is called “Skinny Bitch”, what did you expect?

In my case the book served its purpose as it made me realize that “we are what we eat” and if I’m eating trash, that’s how I’m going to feel. So overall, I do recommend this book because it gives you the little push you need to start paying attention to what you put in your mouth but don’t take it like it’s the Bible. They’ll try to convince you of going vegan but in the end, you have to do what works for you, not for angry reviewers or skinny bitches.

So this is what I’ve done and you can make a few of these changes if you want to eat healthier:

–       I’m a cheating vegetarian (I mostly follow a vegetarian diet but eat chicken or beef every once in a while).

–       I’ve convinced Faid of cutting up his dairy consumption (I was never a big fan) because of its relation to cancer. We changed cow’s milk for almond milk, which is awesome since I can’t stand cow’s milk.

–       I have a green smoothie every morning. (Great way to get your veggies and gives you tons of energy).

–       I’m switching white rice for brown, white bread for whole grain and so on. Also, legumes and lots of veggies and fruits every day.

–       No sodas or sugary drinks.

–       Most importantly, I make sure everything I eat counts. If I feel like having a snack or if I want something sweet I eat trail mix or an apple.

I must add that it’s not easy being green when everyone around me is tempting me but when I need a little reminder, I read the section about slaughterhouses and I feel like I could never EVER eat meat or poultry again.

 

On Gatsby and writing

I finished reading The Great Gatsby a week ago and I think is kind of sad that F. Scott Fitzgerald died believing himself a failure. Besides being a well-known alcoholic, he was a terrific writer who often stole from his experiences to give us amazing stories. In The Great Gatsby, we can see the similarities between Fitzgerald and Nick Carraway not only in character but also in other details like they both went to Ivy League schools. There is an even greater connection between Fitzgerald and Jay Gatsby as they both met their beloved ladies while serving in the military. Also, the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy resembles Fitzgerald’s relationship with his wife Zelda.

A lot more has been drawn from Fitzgerald’s life making me wonder if I’ll ever be able to write something slightly appealing. I’ve been in this world more than half the time Fitzgerald spent here and I feel that I may never catch up with him. Modern life is boring and sheltered and the most tragic thing you can experience in a day is to walk out of your house with a phone with low battery and OMG! no charger.

Another thing to mention is, I read the Great Gatsby in a few days, during lunch breaks, while taking the train, while riding with Faid (who is a terribly reckless driver), etcetera and it was a captivating love story, a great depiction of the Jazz Age and overall a light read. My piece of advice is, if you want to read this, don’t rush through it like I did, take the time to enjoy it. And if you want to start writing something as good, start living or at least drinking.