Saying Thanks to our Virgencita

December 12th is La Virgen de Guadalupe's birthday. The hubby and I always make a date to go to the Placita Olvera here in Los Angeles to say "Happy Birthday" as well as thank her for watching over us.

This year was even more meaningful to us as we truly feel we've been blessed with a miracle. After 9 years of trying to have a baby... we just found out that in a few months a miracle baby will join our family. We're no longer going to be a couple. We're a family.

So we took the train to the Placita Olvera and made our way to the church.

And there she was in all her glory. We weren't the only ones there. The church was full of people wanted to give her thanks. Both my hubby and I got on our knees and thanked her for this blessing. I thanked her for giving me 2011. It has been an amazing year. I know 2012 will only bring me many more blessings. It was a truly spiritually moving experience for me. I couldn't contain my tears of joy. I was overwhelmed with it all.

After praying Manuel and I had a seat and remained inside the church quietly. I told him I was so happy. Of course he knew that and held me tight.

Overall, it was a beautiful day and experience. Here are some pictures of our day.

Weekly Weigh-In

This week was definitely a good one. For one, aunt flo came! Secondly, I started my Zumba class.... which I absolutely LOVE, and thirdly, I went back to work. No gym time, but a lot of walking. I'm still doing the 2-3 miles a day, but this time I am increasing my pace.... the faster I move the more calories are burnt AND that usually revs up my metabolism. :) Any who, the results are in:

Previous Weight: 192 lbs
Current Weight: 189.4 lbs
Loss/Gain: -2.6 lbs

I am very happy. My hard work and healthier food choices have certainly benefited me. I can't wait for fall so I can get my heart pumping even more by doing more hikes. Yeah Boy!!! Hahaha. . . I can be such a dork sometimes :)

My new goal for the week: 187.4 lbs.

I am so excited and proud of myself. I love seeing the scale go down. I know at some point I'll plateu again, but that's cool. It happens. I'm just happy to see improvements in the meantime. Oh, I'll probably update this post later with my new measurements... it's that time again :).

So here are the results:

                                

I began taking my measurements about two weeks ago to see how my body was changing. In just two weeks It appears that I lost 1.5" from my arms, my boobs got 1" bigger (Thank you Aunt Flo), I also lost .5" from my thighs, .75" from my calfs, and 1.25" from my abdomen. For a little less than two weeks that's pretty good :). I'll be measuring myself once a month from now on. By the way, the app I used for the measurements is BodyShot.

30 Day Challenge-Day 2

DAY 2-How Have You Changed in the Last Two Years?

• I've changed a whole lot from two years ago. I truly feel like I'm a completely different person.I no longer say yes to everyone's requests. For example, for a long time I stopped whatever I was doing or change my plans to accommodate my family or friends. I did it because I loved them or cared for them, but it became extremely exhausting.

• I took charge of my health. I was letting PCOS beat me. I was letting PCOS define who I would be. Now I'm much healthier and happier. I began working out and eating much healthier. Before it would be nearly impossible for me to lose a single pound, but now I can honestly say I've been able to figure out the trick to living with PCOS and lose weight. It's hard, but I've been quite successful. God has granted me the strength and willpower to succeed.

• I look different. I've lost 37 pounds and counting. Because of PCOS I lived for many years with dark blotches all over my skin. It was embarrassing! Now I only have a small patch on my chest that's slowly fading away. I am so happy to finally look normal. It really is the little things that make me happy :)

• I'm happier. Not that I wasn't before, because God had always blessed me with a loving family, but I'm HAPPIER. I'm certainly more confident and self-assured than ever before. As I type this I can't help, but feel good about my accomplishments. 

I'm glad I made these changes. (Excuse me while I pat myself on the back!...LOL)

The Power of a Tweet

Last week I had to tow my car into a Chrysler dealership because I couldn't change gears. Apparently a spring/latch right under the gears had broken causing my car to remain in parked position. That was no fun whatsoever! However, I researched online and found that my car had a recall on it for that same exact reason. It said for me to take my car in and get it repaired free of charge for labor and parts. As upset as I was about what had happened, I was somewhat happy that at least it would end up being cost free to me. So I called AAA and after a good two hours of trying to pull the car out of my drive way we were on our way. We arrived at Chrysler and was told that it would be an all day job. I was also informed there were two more recalls on my car. The guy told me they'd fix all three at no cost. I agreed and on I went. Later on I get a call that my car is ready. I'm excited and decide to walk to the dealership... lucky me it's about 1.5 miles away :) I get there and they show me what was done and how now it works perfectly... I hopped in my car and take off. Now remember I walked there... so by now I'm hot... and all I want is some fresh air. So I turn the A/C on and nada. I thought I was doing something wrong, but nope. No air came out. I couldn't even hear the fan spinning. I pulled back into the dealership and asked the guy to look at it. I, of course knew it had to be something simple like they forgot to plug something, but nope. The guy dared to tell me they took no responsibility for the A/C seeing as how they didn't "touch" it. I really felt mistreated and robbed. I asked for a manager and he said he was gone and to "try" and call him tomorrow. I was very upset. I never expected that kind of response.

Any how, to make a long story short... I decided to tweet @chrysler about it.

Within no more than five minutes I got a reply from @chrysler.

Then @Chrysler sent me the following message:

Now, I know mine wasn't "top priority", but I do appreciate that @chrysler took the time to reply and try to make me feel appreciated. I emailed him my statement and got a call on Saturday to take my car in to get fixed. I took it in today and it took no more than 30 minutes for a mechanic to figure out what was wrong. Apparently, they had left a cable disconnected behind the A/C dash which caused the vents not to spin. Duh! I knew it was something simple! Of course there were no costs incurred. I'm a very happy lady once again!

Thank you @Chrysler, and thank you Twitter. I know for a fact it would've been an uphill battle for the dealership to agree to fix it out of cost. Yay!