1 Year Later...

Wow! Ok! It's been a little over a year since I last made a post here!
There's so much to catch up on!!

Job:
I'm still doing the photography gig- very boring, but stable and almost zero stress. I was working as a coffee barista for about 10 months while doing the photo thing! This was actually a lot of fun and one of my favorite jobs ever, but it didn't pay nearly enough and the coffee was actually pretty bad. Blegh! But I learned a lot and I'm hoping to do this kind of work again one day!

Business:
I started my jewelry business in early December but only managed to make about 3 sales in 3 months! Boo! Things were starting to pick up but I had an unexpected hiccup in my living arrangements and had to put my business on hold until further notice...

Living:
My boyfriend and I moved out of our crummy apartment in Harlem to move to a pretty decent place in Brooklyn! We really liked the place, even though our commute was kinda long, but our roommate didn't love us so much and we were asked to leave after a year of living there!
Now, we are living with my boyfriend's mother and little sister in Queens (rent-free!) for the next 3-7 months so we can save money and find a great place of our very own! It's been a little tough adjusting but it will be worth it to get a jump start paying off my debt! I'm looking at this as a blessing in disguise!

Debt:
It's been a little disappointing this year, as most of my money ended up going into my jewelry business, which is now on hold, and not my debt. Also, instead of getting a much needed tax refund, I ended up owing the state almost $500!! I wanted to cry let me tell ya! But now that we are living rent-free, I'm going to get another weekend job at the end of July and by the time we move out of my bf's mom's place this December, I'm hoping to have almost 60% of my debt paid off!! In fact, I'm paying off my EVIL CHASE credit card this very month! Woo-hoo! And since I started this blog, I have brought my total debt down to $26,620 from $33K!

Running:
I started the Couch25K program last May and now I usually end up running an average of 3 miles in 33 minutes! And I run 3-5 times a week!! Can you believe it?! I actually achieved my goal of running 1 mile and exceeded it! More than that, I ENJOY running!

Weight-Loss:
This has been a topsy-turvy year for my weight loss journey. I joined a FREE and completely awesome website called SparkPeople.com and, combined with my running program, managed to loose almost 20 pounds in 6 months! Of course, in November, I stopped going to the gym so I could focus on starting my business and ended up gaining back about 8 pounds. However, I started working out again in February and I've lost about 6 of those 8 pounds! All said and done, I've lost 16 pounds and I'm about half-way to my goal weight!

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg folks! There's so much more to tell you, so many new goals (and setbacks)! I can't wait to share it all with you and to start blogging again!

Major Hiccup & Picnic

Well, it’s been a very eventful month! I haven’t written in a while because of some major changes in my life!

For one thing, the owners of the restaurant where I work decided to let my current chef go. Leaving me in charge of the pastry department, by myself! Meaning that, until they found a replacement, I was working 13 hrs a day, 7 days a week!

At the same time, I got a phone call out-of-the-blue from a fashion company who had seen my old design portfolio posted online (thank you StyleSight.com!) and was interested in hiring me for a full-time photography gig! After three interviews, they decided to offer me the job. And even though they were offering it to me for the same money I was making at the restaurant, I decided to take it because I would be working a normal 9-6 schedule, Monday through Friday, with two days off, paid vacations, and health insurance!

When I told my employers I was leaving, they were very surprised and even offered me more money. But I still said no. At that point it wasn’t just about the money. I hadn’t seen my family in a year and a half, I hadn’t seen my friends in months, and the only reason I even saw my boyfriend at all was because we were living together! Also, if I’m going to open my own business in 5 years I need to do a lot of work to come up with a business plan, a product, market research, and… oh yeah, learn how to run a business! Which I would not be able to do with my current schedule. Basically, I needed time even more than I needed money. I was burnt-out and exhausted after only one and a half years in the kitchen!

So, for the sake of the bigger picture (and my sanity), I took the job. It was a tough decision though because, despite the long hours, hard work and almost daily panic attacks, I really did love my work. I’m hoping that after a few months of ‘normal’ work hours and some R&R, I can get a weekend job at a bakery or coffee shop, to keep my hand in and to learn about my other passion:  COFFEE! Not to mention, I’ll be making a little extra money! Yay!

Due to the extreme hours, I’m afraid my diet and exercise went out the window and those 5 pounds I lost in my month of hard work, came back with a vengeance! But all is not lost, we have to accept the hiccups that happen in life and start again! So, I’m working out again and even though I haven’t been running in a month or more, I didn’t experience the same aches and pains I had when I first started! (I’m very happy about that.) It may have to do with my new schedule since I’m running in the evening now, instead of the morning. I feel like I'm more limber and I have more energy, like I could run forever! (Could it be? I’m actually starting to like running?!) Although I strongly recommend not running on a full stomach- it’s a horrible feeling. My only complaint is that if I run too late and then eat, I end up eating right before bed and that’s not good for loosing weight. I’ll have to figure out a better schedule...

So, we win some, we lose some. And now I have more time to write to you, my lovely readers! I intend to start a new series in my blog, writing reviews of coffee shops here in New York! I will start with the most popular shops known for their coffee and then I will explore and broaden my criteria in search of the ideal experience and food. (And coffee of course!)

(This is not my photo, but it's def. my preferred coffee method. The Cuban Coffee Maker)