Evolve With Mary: July 2013

I've been talking about this trip so much, I'm finding it hard to wrap my head around the fact that is finally here!!

I'm in Maryland, tomorrow we are going to Baltimore, then we are heading to Toranto Canada.

Last year my boyfriend took my around the world, we spent 3 months traveling to 7 different countries.

Italy ➡ France ➡ Monaco ➡ Germany ➡ Austria ➡ Greece ➡ Japan

It was the best time of my life. Ever since last summer I've been dying to get another stamp on my passport. When my sister found this Caribana trip it felt like a sign from God. Can't wait to leave my home land, exchange money, experience new sights, sounds,and favor combinations.

Icing on the cake:

This will by my Mother and Sisters first time out of the Country, and my first time out of the country without the boyfriend.

In October my boyfriend and I are traveling to England ➡ Scottland ➡ Ireland.

I'm really considering starting a travel blog. Not only do I travel outside of the country numourous times a year, I also travel all over the United States during the winter .

Starting a travel blog feels like the next logical step in my blogging journey. There are a few questions I must tackle before becoming a travel blogger.

⛔ How often should I blog? Should I only blog when I travel?

⛔ Should I include food reviews? Letseatsf.blogspot.com is currently in the works

⛔ How do I grow my following? Where should I advertise

⛔ Should the blog be facts about the destination or should I share my everyday adventure

By looking at the top travel blogs I should be able to answer all of these questions

Going to work all those questions out over the vacation. Get ready for some travel blogging, it's time to get my feet wet and expand my horizons.

Hello friends

Today is a travel day, caught a red eye out of San Francisco at 12:50am, connecting in Philly my final destination is Baltimore.

Once in Baltimore I will be a salve to public transportation.

bus ➕ subway ride ➕ cab ride = home

It should take me about a few hours to get to my Dads house in Oxen Hill, Maryland. Visiting Maryland is like going home, lots of family, lots of things to catch up on, lots of people that want to spend tome with me. As much as I absolutely adore my family, after a 6 hour red eye flight I'm in no mood to make small talk, or go out to lunch. Public transportation isn't glamours but it will give me time to relax and not expelled extra energy.

The Plan was to on sleep on the pane, but it wasn't in the cards, ended up studying instead, which is always something to be proud of. Brought an informative book to keep my mind occupied, it did its job.

New Plan: get home ASAP and take a much needed nap. The bed is calling my name.

I finally made it, safe and sound.

Hearts my friends

Hello Everyone,

Today is going to be crazy!!!

I’m leaving for Maryland tonight, then to Toronto Canada, for Caribana. Excited doesn’t even come close to what I'm feeling right now. Time to pack, and get everything in order.

The Concert was epic. The best concert I’ve ever attended. After a quick shopping trip I settled on two outfits.

Since it was my boyfriend’s birthday I let him pick… and the winner is:

My surprise held up perfectly, my man was shocked, surprised, overwhelmed and so happy. He fell in love with me a little more that day.

Sorry to keep this posting so short, but I have to get everything together, and make sure I don’t forget anything.

Hearts!
Mary

Hello Everyone

Confession time. Stress, stress has been consuming me these past few weeks. Broke down yesterday, completely lost it, crying, whining, and just plain upset. Whenever it gets like this, its time to call my friend Beth in Ohio, she is an older woman, around my Mother’s age, and she always understands where I’m coming from. The conversation started well, then I lost it, snot bubbles, slurred speech, coughing, choking, all the good stuff. Beth calmed me down, and said exactly what I needed to hear. Today is a better day. On top of moving, buying a house, starting a new walk fit program in my neighborhood, planning a surprise 30^th birthday party for my boyfriend, going to Canada next week, and constantly seeking my boyfriends parents approval, my plate has is more than full, it's heaping.

Today is a better day. Breaking down is something you have to do sometimes, it reminds me that I’m human, strong, and just as lost as everyone else, that I don't have all the answers. It feels freeing to talked/type about this, and not hide my true emotions and act like I’m ashamed.

So happy that’s off my chest, it’s time to talk about other things. This blog has become one of my favorite things to do, writing about my day, and feelings, receiving emails and comments of support from my new found friends, just being myself and telling the truth is freeing and inspires me.

Today is the day

The Legends of summer!!! Sure, I’ve been talking about it almost everyday, for the last 2 weeks, or maybe it’s been the last 4 weeks. That’s how excited I am. Ready Ready Ready! Shopping was finally completed yesterday. Leather leggings are a go!!! Still working on a top, and shoes, but I have plenty of time to finish the outfit. No plans today, other then shopping, getting my nails done, and getting a much needed Thai Message.

Thank You Nicole! Nicole turned me on to Spotify, you can listen to music for free. Sign up with your facebook, and start listening to music within 2 minutes. HOLLLLLA!!!!

Rocking to Magna Carta... Holy Grail, Jay Z’s new album, me likie!!!

Knee deep in my walk fit club, finding different exercises, and trails around my neighborhood, makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something.

Time to talk about some of the benefits of walking

Walking Boosts endorphins, which eases stress, tension, anger, Fatigue, and confusion, all within 10 minutes!!!

Waling Reduces the risk of Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a term describing a group of ocular disorders with multi-factorial etiology united by a clinically characteristic intraocular pressure-associated optic neuropathy.This can permanently damage vision in the affected eye(s) and lead to blindness if left untreated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaucoma

Walking Limits Sickness, Taking a moderately-paced walk for between 30 and 45 minutes daily was found to increase the amount of immune system cells that were present in the body. The levels of immunity boosters remained elevated for several hours after exercise and appear to have a cumulative effect in protecting against illnesses over time. - See more at: http://www.jonbarron.org/article/walk-away-colds#sthash.IR0TztY0.dpuf

Walking improves balance Walking helps build lower-body strength, an important element of good balance.

Walking improves heart health by increasing heart rate and circulation

Walking improves blood pressure A U.S. study suggested that taking a stroll offers cardiovascular benefits for people who are morbidly obese.

There are many benefits gained from walking, by starting this walkfit club, it will help improve the level of fitness in my neighborhood.

Enjoy this weekend. I’m planning on it!

Hearts my friends.

Hello Everyone!

I’m truly feeling this quote today. It wasn’t that long ago that I was living check to check, just trying to stay afloat. Now I travel 3-4 months out of the a year, and I get to attend fairs, concerts, arts shows, etc. I still think about the old days, when I was a waitress, working for just tips, going home to my studio apartment, watching Top Model, eating whatever I cooked, and spending lots of time alone. It seemed like hell on earth when I was going through it. I realize now that was one of the best times of my life.

I made a healthier version on my egg rolls last night. Using the same recipe, I oven fried the egg rolls instead of deep-frying them. They turned out very good, crispy, crunchy, fresh, and ½ the calories.

Yesterday I mentioned my dreadlocks. It took me about 4 hours to re-twist my hair. Can you tell the difference?

I’ve been thinking about starting a food blog. We eat out more then the average person, sometimes 4-5 times a week. I’m always looking for new restaurants, to try, constantly look for an food adventure, looking at food, eating food, cooking food, and reviewing food. I’m going to start a new blog all about eating in San Francisco and beyond. What do you think?

Tomorrow is the concert, and I still have no idea what I’m going to wear. I’ve been super busy getting everything together for our move that I haven’t had a chance to shop. Today is finally the day. Since I’m going a lot classier then my previously mentioned outfits, I’m going to try to push the fashion envelope even more.

Corn is in season, and it seems like my boyfriend and I eat corn everyday. Its fresh, healthy, juicy, crispy, and sweet.

Am I the only person that loves Tupperware? There is something about matching Tupperware that truly gets me going. I think it’s a woman thing, but this picture really excites me.

That’s all today folks. I have to run to Comcast to get our new cable boxes, then I get to install them all by myself.

Yay!!! Sounds like a party.
Hearts my friends.

Hello friends

I had a very productive day yesterday. Today I'm going to scout out a few different walking trails for my new walking club.

This is me after my final workout yesterday. I will admit I'm not that cute in these pictures, but my life isn't always cute. Sometimes I look a hot mess. I was so proud of myself for finishing such a grueling workout, and completing my challenges.

Last night I made vegetables egg rolls. They were excellent. I usually avoid anything fried, but I made an exception yesterday

Vegetable Egg Rolls

Ingredients:
1 package egg roll wrappers
Cabbage
Carrots
Scallions
2 tablespoons Low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon Rice vinegar
Peanut or vegetable oil

Preparation
Julienne cut carrots, cabbage and scallions
Sautée scallions for 3-4 minutes
Add carrots and cook for another 3-4 minutes
Add cabbage stirring constantly
Add soy sauce
Add rice vinegar
Do not over cook vegetables, make sure they are still crunchy and fresh
Once vegetable are done and seasoned to you liking remove from heat and let cool

Wrap your egg rolls
Take the bottom point of your wrap and fold it over top of the filling. Fold the sides in towards the middle and roll the filling towards the top point of the wrapper.

Seal the egg roll.
To prevent the egg roll from unwrapping in the deep fryer, you need to seal the seams; this also prevents oil from filling the inside of the egg roll. In a small dish or bowl, add cold water. Dip your finger into water and use this as glue to seal the top point of your wrap and any openings where you feel the wrap needs to be glued together

Cook your egg rolls.
Since the fryer temperatures will vary and size of the egg rolls will affect the cooking time, there is no set cooking time. Place 3-4 egg rolls in the deep fryer and allow to cook until golden brown. Roll the egg rolls in the oil to evenly brown the wrapper. Avoid overcooking the egg rolls.

Serve immediately
Egg rolls are best served as soon as they have finished cooking. Serve with a chilled bottle of sweet cherry sauce, plum sauce, sweet and sour sauce, or anything you enjoy on egg rolls.
http://www.wikihow.com/

I also had tofu and eggplant for dinner. It was delicious, and way to labor intensive for me to share with you today.

Today is an hair day. If you haven't notice I have dreadlocks. 2-3 times a month I have to re-twist my hair, to make sure my hair looks clean, manageable, and fresh. It takes me up to 3-4 hours to re-twist my dreadlocks, and that's what I get to do today.

I usually avoid pictures when it's time to retwist my hair, but because a lot of people will never see this process, I will share before and after pictures tomorrow.

That's all folks.
Hearts

Today is a good day.

I’m feeling great, didn’t sleep well last night, but that’s because I’m so excited. I’m going to pick up the concert tickets today, then I have to drop them off at my boyfriend friend house so he can help me distribute them to the correct people. The surprise is coming together and I’m thrilled.

I am nowhere close to having an outfit, but I have a feeling it will all work out.

This is one sexy bird.

Today will be my last workout day until Saturday or Sunday. For some reason my body needs 2-3 days of rest to see the real results from all of my hard work. My abdominals are tighter then ever, and my obliques look sick!! Finally! Finally! Finally! I’m getting closer and closer to my goal.

Here’s my workout for today:

I’m looking forward to busting it out and feeling strong. Can’t wait to start sweating. It's like I’m addicted to pushing myself as hard as I can. My man thinks I’m crazy, I think I’m smart.

I created this QR code to place on my marketing material at http://www.visualead.com/. I’m pretty excited about it. Can’t wait to see if it has any effect on my business.

I’m working on website, so future clients can see all of my services, instead of just popping into my blog. All is going well. I should be done with everything before I go to Canada next week.

I’m looking forward to blogging while I’m out of town. I might even break my rules and blog on the weekend. I feel like I’m going to have so much to share with all of you I won’t be able to hide it.

Have you ever seen “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” the Tina Turner life story. It’s a good movie, it came out when I was a teenager and the story had a lasting impression on me. It was the first time that I ever saw a man hit a woman, and the first time I ever heard of chanting. I was obsessed with the chanting part of the movie, and always promised myself that I would chant when I got older.

I’m older now, and there is no time like the present to start something new. I found this book and I can’t wait to dive in and see what it’s all about. I try to meditate on a daily bases, I have a feeling that once I get chanting down, I’ll enjoy chanting everyday. It just seems like me. I’m not good at being quiet for long periods of time. My mind never gets that quiet, so maybe if I can something to concentrate on everything will finally fall into place.

That’s all folks

I have to drive an hour away to grab those tickets, and I’m going to sing all the way.

Sending love your way

Ms. Mary

Hello Friends

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I was highly productive, which was a surprise. My boyfriend wanted to stay in and read all weekend. I love a man that reads, but I love a man that let’s me work on my projects, without bothering me, even more. I got to outline my next few projects, and create an Ad for myself, and my friend. It felt good to be creative during the weekend.

I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting for this Friday to come.

This Friday is the Legends of Summer Tour, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Its my boyfriends 30^th birthday, which he hates celebrating. Some people just don’t like their birthdays. Since it’s his 30^th I ignored his requests and invited some of his friends to the concert, and dinner the next day. It's thrilling to know that it's his birthday, and soon his friends will be around to help us celebrate, but it's torture not being able to tell him what’s going on. I yelled at him last night for looking at my phone. Not really my style. I felt horrible, but I can’t have my surprise ruined now. My man is starting to get suspicious. He’s noticing his friend’s names popping up on my phone, and he’s trying to get out of going to the concert. Just 4 more days and all of this will be over!! I can’t wait for this weekend.

Outfit of Concert

I had the great idea of shredding a shirt. It looked good, but not good enough to turn heads at the concert. I think I’m going another route, something like getting a shirt specially made. I still might cut the bottom into strips, I’m not 100% sure yet.

I'm almost done with the squat challenge II, I’m up to 380 squats a day. My legs look firm, juicy, and ready for shorts, a mini skirt, or spandex. Depending on the weather, I would like to finish this outfit with shorts and some wedges. I plan on going to forever 21, H&M, and a few random boutiques to piece together the rest of my outfit.

My body

Lately I’ve been getting a lot of complements on my arms, legs, butt, and abdominals. I’m not surprise, I’ve put in a lot of work to get my body where it is, but I’m always honored when anyone complements me on my body.

I put together a few of my favorite exercises.

Arms:

Plank Rotations – 20 reps

Shoulders, upper back, chest, triceps, biceps and abs

Begin in full push-up position (legs extended, abs engaged, wrists under shoulders).
Slowly rotate body to the right, lifting right arm toward ceiling and bringing right leg behind you.
Push your hips up high, away from floor, keeping both feet grounded.
Lower back to push-up position; then rotate to left.
Do 3 reps on each side.

Butt:

Curtsy Lunges – 20 reps each side

Works hips, butt, quadriceps, hamstrings, abs

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, hands on your hips.
Take a big step back with your left leg, crossing it behind your right.
Bend your knees and lower your hips until your right thigh is nearly parallel to the floor (shown).
Keep your torso upright and your hips and shoulders as square as possible.
Return to start.
Perform 20 reps and repeat, stepping back with your right leg.
Add dumbbells once you master the movement with perfect form.

Legs:

Squats – 20 reps

Works quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes,

Keep your feet shoulder-width apart and your back straight.
Bend your knees and lower your rear as if you were sitting down in a chair.
Keep your knees right over your ankles.

Abdominals:

Kayakers – 25 reps

Works abdominals and oblique

Seated, clasp your hands together and raise your feet out, 4-6 inches off the floor.
You may need to bend them to make this easier.
Twist your upper torso from side to side, touching your knuckles on each side.
Do these fast,

Cardio:

Blurpes

Full body cardio workout

Begin in a squatted position with your hands on the floor in front of you
Jump your feet back behind you as you lower your torso to the ground as if in the bottom phase of a push-up.
Jump your feet back up towards your hands as if in the starting position again
Jump straight up into the air extending your arms vertically to the sky, and repeat

These are some of my favorite exercises

I complete them at least 4-5 days a week, sometimes more.

Try them and enjoy the results.

Happy Friday my friends

So happy we made it

This weekend I'm keeping it pretty low. The next 2 weeks are going to be very busy for me. I'm looking forward to a few lazy days around the house, sleeping in, playing games, and just relaxing. That's my entire plan.

I finished shredding my shirt. It came out pretty good. Let me know what you think. It pretty hard to get a good picture of it, but I tried my best for you guys.

Last night we had Burmese food it was delicious. Check out the pictures

Mandalay, 4344 California St, San Francisco, CA 94118

www.mandalaysf.com

I'm going to shop for an concert outfit and some vacation clothes next week. I'm looking forward to spending money. I haven't been shopping in a while and it feels like I'm going through withdraws.

I've gotten a lot of positive responses to my body building idea. I'm surprised because most people seem to look down upon body building. I'm looking forward to trying something new. Maybe I'll start training in October or November. I'm already looking towards next summer.

That's all Folks.

Its time for me to get my day started. I have to clean today. :( We are moving soon, and I haven't cleaned the house in about 2 weeks. Clothes are everywhere, I can't even sit on the couch in my office, because of all the paper work spread about. Give me luck. I'm about to dive in.

Hearts My friends

Enjoy your weekend.

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