I enjoy telling stories, encouraging others and spreading joy. My blog is a safe place to get away, have a laugh, have an occasional cry, get teaching tips and leave feeling inspired.
"The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." -Isaiah 58:11
Hello, everyone! It's that time again—giveaway time! I am teaming up with a dear friend, Leslie, who has an awesome blog, mykitchenisopen.com.
Go to her blog to triple your chances of winning! She has great recipes and has recently starting taking charge of her health. She is inspiring many around her, myself included! Because of her generosity, I am raffling off the Pioneer Woman's Flea Market 2-piece Ceramic Bakeware (see image)! Aren't they beautiful?
Leave a comment below, sharing your favorite storiesbytheseashore blog post, and why it is your favorite. Then click on the Rafflecopter to enter! Thank you!
My enchiladas suizas —with a side of rice and beans.
My husband is a pastor. I'm not sure if I mentioned that in previous posts. There are parts of his job that I really enjoy, like connecting with other people and opening up our home. There are harder parts, like accompanying him to wakes and funerals. Occasionally, there are welcome surprises. Our first meal at Rice & Beans was just that. Members of our church, Carlos and Cindy Elizondo, recently opened up their own restaurant, and they wanted one of the pastors from our church to pray a blessing over it. My husband was the chosen one, and the children and I got to accompany him.
Rice & Beans is not your typical Brownsville restaurant. Everything, from the chicken to the tortillas, is made from scratch and prepared on site as it is ordered. Open for only two weeks, the restaurant has already experienced incredible success. Their motto? "Be Happy: Eat more rice and beans."
When asked about the name, owner Carlos Elizondo shared, "The vision started with my family. I grew up poor. The only thing we always had at the table was rice and beans; that's where the name came from. We want everyone that comes in to feel like they are eating at home."
The Rice and Beans menu
I was very impressed by the service we received. We were treated like royalty and got to eat whatever we liked off the menu. I had the enchiladas suizas and they were amazing! The salsa verde they make is beyond compare! When I go back, I am going to order the same dish because I liked it so much.
Elizondo has a big vision for Rice & Beans. "I would like to see it in every city. More than anything, I want to make sure it is 100% great, especially for our people that come here on a daily basis," he added. "We want to provide good food, good prices and a great atmosphere. In the last two weeks that we've been open, everyone has come more than once."
The prices are quite reasonable, and there are high chairs and diaper changing stations in the restroom. In a city like ours, catering to families is of utmost importance if you want your business to succeed; we are a fruitful people.
Rice & Beans is open daily from 6 am–3pm, and also has a drive-thru. Their weekends are busiest because of their barbacoa sales. "We see a lot of people [in the drive-thru] in pajamas," Elizondo said.
The Elizondo Family (from L-R): Mario, Sophia, Briana, Carla, Mary Lou (Huerta), Cindy and Carlos.
"We would like everyone to give it a shot," added Cindy Elizondo,"we provide excellent customer service and the food is always fresh. It's a friendly family environment."
Popular hostess, Mary Lou Huerta, a retired BISD employee of 28 years, commented, "It's inviting and makes people want to come here and bring their children. We give God the glory." Because of their immediate progress, they have implemented a buffet specifically for BISD employees and other professionals that do not get long lunch breaks.
I hope you get the opportunity to check out Rice & Beans for yourself; you won't regret it! I know my family and I will be back. For more information, please visit their Facebook page.
"Voy a reír, voy a bailar, vivir mi vida...la, la, la, la, la...Voy a reír, voy a gozar, vivir mi vida, la, la, la, la, la..." Translation: "I'm gonna laugh, I'm gonna dance, live my life...la, la, la, la, la...I'm gonna laugh, I'm gonna enjoy, live my life...la, la, la, la, la."
I remember the first time I heard this song on the radio while driving in my car. It was just earlier this year, and I felt like my spirit was going to jump out of my body! I loved it from the beginning! The beat, the musicality and the lyrics made me want to get up and dance. But I'm getting ahead of myself...
My love of dancing started at the tender age of 14. Born and raised on the border of Mexico, it seemed like every other girl my age was preparing for or having a quinceañera (a big, 15th birthday party). It's the equivalent of an American Sweet 16 celebration. Only, where I come from, it's comparable to a mini-wedding. While I had the option of having one, I was not interested.
Thus, I became everyone's dama (English translation: lady—similar to a bridesmaid), which meant I got to dance in my fair share of quinceañeras. I was in so many that I did not feel like I missed out by not having my own. I was quite familiar with the whole process, and enjoyed it.
Being turned while dancing in my very first quinceañera. I was hooked!
Typically, an instructor from Matamoros would come and teach us adolescents how to dance. We learned traditional waltzes, cumbias, guapangos, and line dancing (to name a few). Usually, there were fourteen couples made up of 7 damas and 7 chambelanes (chamberlains, or gentlemen). The birthday girl's partner made it a total of 15 accompanying dancers. I absolutely loved performing at these traditional parties. And, it taught me how to dance with a partner.
While I did not do any salsa dancing during this time, it gave me the foundation I needed for it. Originating in Cuba, salsa is similar to the traditional Mexican cumbia. I learned how to dance this when I lived in Des Moines, Iowa, and instantly fell in love with it! It was lots of fun and great exercise, too! With a "one, two three...five, six, seven," beat, I quickly became familiar with artists like Celia Cruz and Marc Anthony—giants in the world of salsa, if you will.
This was a fun ladies' weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
We went salsa dancing and spent a day at the spa...sigh.
Marc Anthony has always been my number one salsa artist! I am inspired to dance a little harder and sing a little louder whenever any of his songs are played. Now that I am married with two children, I don't get to do dancing of any sort very often. Sure, we have dance parties in our home, but it's not quite the same.
Beau, me and Beau's beard at the Marc Anthony concert
—it was an amazing show!
You can imagine my surprise, when just two weeks ago, I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed and saw that my cousin, Susan, was selling a pair of Marc Anthony tickets she and her husband had purchased. "Marc Anthony is going to be at the State Farm Arena (our local concert venue)?!" I could scarce believe my eyes. I immediately commented and asked if she, in fact, was selling these tickets. We corresponded through text and she confirmed that she would sell the tickets to Beau and me at an even greater discounted price! We couldn't say no!
And we are so glad we got to experience this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The show was phenomenal. Marc Anthony is not a big man, but he is a big performer. His voice is amazing, and his passion permeates every lyric that comes out of his mouth. The horn section, pianist and violinist in his band are all world-class musicians as well. We have been to other concerts in the past, but this one blew them all out of the water! Go ahead and see for yourself:
Having access to social media sites like Pinterest and Facebook makes it incredibly easy to look up exercise and food plans. It can also lead to us (especially as women) playing the comparison game. After months of doing Zumba a couple of times a week, my body craved a change in routine. I was seeing no results. My daughter was 18 months old and I was still carrying around 8 pounds of her! The whole, "I just had a baby!" excuse had expired long before. When I stepped on the scale every couple of weeks, I usually saw no change in the number—or worse, an increase! I couldn't figure out what was going on and became incredibly frustrated! When I would casually mention this to others, there was a few times that I was met with eye rolls. "Yeah, Giana, you really struggle with weight issues," they seemed to say. At just under 5 feet tall, I am petite. However, since the tender age of 11, I have also been curvy. And since then, like the average woman, my weight has fluctuated. I knew something needed to change because I wasn't feeling good about myself and lacked energy. My eating habits are never perfect, but my family and I do strive to eat and snack on healthy food (most of the time). I decided towards the beginning of September that I would make up my own 30 Day Challenge. My goal was to do something active for at least 30 minutes each day. Using the notes app on my phone, I diligently recorded my exercise (see below). 30 Day Challenge
Day 1- 3.7 mile walk with small group
Day 2- 2.4 mile walk
Day 3- 6.3 mile bike ride
Day 4- 1 hour Zumba class with mother
Day 5- 2.4 mile walk with Laura
Day 6- 30 minutes of yard work
Day 7- no exercise
Day 8- walked 2 miles with small group
Day 9- no exercise
Day 10- no exercise- still sick
Day 11- walked 1.38 miles pushing Ceci in stroller
Day 12- 15 minutes of arm exercises
Day 13- no exercise
Day 14- 1 hour of Zumba
Day 15- walked 3.39 miles with small group
Day 16- 15 minutes of arm exercises
Day 17- 1 hour of Zumba
Day 18- no exercise
Day 19- no exercise/ still sore from Zumba
Day 20- nothin/super busy week
Day 21- walked one mile with small group
Day 22- no exercise/ day 3 of tummy trouble
Day 23- biked 5.91 miles
Day 24-no exercise/ are you kidding me?! Crazy week!
Day 25- 15 minutes of arm exercises
Day 26- nothing
Day 27-walked 1.4 miles
Day 28- nothing
Day 29- walked 4.08 miles with small group
Day 30- nothing
Exercised 18/30 days
The first 6 days, as you can see, I was highly motivated! My mistake: I had no real accountability. Sure, I told my husband about what I was doing, but I didn't share with anyone else. At least, not in the beginning. Later in the month, I found out that a dear friend was wanting to get in shape and needed accountability. Texting one another helped me tremendously.
I read an article, years ago, on the success of dieting programs like Weight Watchers. The number one factor researchers said contributed to participants losing weight was simply writing down what they ate. I wasn't ready for that kind of commitment! Instead, I wrote down what I did each day. This helped to encourage me and see, at the end of the 30 days, that I spent more time being active than not.
Time. This is often the deciding factor in whether or not something happens in my life. While being healthy is a priority of mine, I'm not willing to sacrifice quality family time for exercise. On average, my family and I do something active together once a week (usually a bike ride). Thus, most of the activities I participate in happen before the children wake up, or are done with them (ex: going on walks). The exception to this rule is Zumba; that's my time. My exercise routine may not always look like this, but it does during this particular season of life.
It wasn't until I got rid of our scale and quit concerning myself so much with that number that I began to see true change. After about 3 weeks, a few people began commenting on differences they saw in me. "You look really good," they would say, or, "Wow, you've lost weight!" To which I would simply reply, "Thank you, I'm trying." While losing inches (and receiving compliments) has certainly been a plus, I was reminded that it is not where I find my worth.
Whether you are a size 00, 4, 18 or anything in between, the most attractive thing you can wear is confidence. Knowing your beauty and your worth, regardless of what the current societal standard is. So how do we get and maintain this positive self-image in a world that is constantly telling us we fall short? That, my friends, is another post.
