Ibyang Sanchez, Author at Ibyang

Back to Exercising Again

26 January 2011 Ibyang Sanchez 15 Comments Category: Health and Well-being, Projects of the Mrs

At the start of the year, I mentioned that one of my immediate goals for 2011 is to get back into exercising once again. And that’s what I’ve been doing lately. I’ve gone back to exercising, slowly but surely. While I think that my body is ready for more strenuous workouts, I pace myself to make sure that I’m not doing damage to my body.

I’m not aiming to be reed thin. My goal is basically to get rid of unwanted fats I gained from the past year that I wasn’t able to regularly exercise. I mainly want to go back to my old and normal lifestyle when my food intake is proportional to my physical activities.

Other than going back to my usual lifestyle, getting fit would be futile without some goals and here are mine:

(1) lose 3 kilos

(2) go back to having a waistline of at least 27 inches

(3) get used to exercising regularly

And I hope to achieve all those in three months.

There are so many exercise programs to choose from but since I know my body well, I’ll share with you some of my ways of getting fit.

Exercise Gadgets. an Elliptical Strider, a skipping rope (not in photo), light hand weights and a hula hoop. Everyday I get on our Elliptical Strider and lift hand weights everyday for a 10-15 minutes. The hula hoop and skipping rope I do them once or twice a week only.

Brisk Walking. Monday to Friday, I average about 30-40 minutes of brisk walking. I love walking! Other than a source of physical activity, walking is also a spiritual thing for me.

Dance Workouts. I have a copy of the Crunch Cardio Dance Blast and I do this at least once or twice a week, usually on days when I don’t have work. I love this DVD because the steps are easy to follow.

Wii Fit and Wii Just Dance. I use Wii Fit for my Yoga, Boxing, and Running exercises. For Wii Just Dance, obviously for dance exercises. These may just be simulated games via a console but I swear, they give me a good sweat after a few minutes.

So those are my basic physical activities in a week, my very own exercise programs! I vary my routine every time I exercise because I tend to get bored easily so I find it handy that I have exercise equipments, video games and dance videos that I choose from.

What about you? What are your exercise routines these days?

She Just Wants Cake

22 January 2011 Ibyang Sanchez 12 Comments Category: Charmed Life of a Mrs, Cherished Memories, The Married Life

I asked her what she wanted for her birthday. She said, “I just want cake…a cute, yummy cake.”

So I decided to bring her to Adriano Zumbo’s Patisserie, which she has been longing to experience. Since she wanted something so simple, I knew I had to give her the best.

When I told her where we would go for her birthday, her face lit up and literally jumped for joy. She reminded me of a child, excited and can’t wait for a promise to unfold.

This morning, she woke up early even if she slept late. She said she can’t wait to have her cake. Her birthday cake.

And so we went out early. I took her to one of her favorite beaches and made her ride the ferry (which she loved). She enjoyed the sun, the blue waters, the crowd, her birthday lunch and most of all she enjoyed her birthday cake. She couldn’t stop smiling when she saw it.

According to her, she had a perfect fun day. Even if she only spent the day with me, she felt very loved by people that matter to her because she received lots of birthday greetings. For her that was enough.

I’m amazed at how she craves for the simplest of things even on her special day when she deserves all the best the world can offer. I feel blessed knowing I have someone like her who always choose the things that matter most rather than the superficial. And the greatest thing about her is that however small a gesture may be, she will make you feel how she truly appreciate you.

Happy birthday, dearest Wife. xoxo *C

Some Things Are Certain

20 January 2011 Ibyang Sanchez 12 Comments Category: Charmed Life of a Mrs, Deep Thoughts, Milestones, The Married Life

We didn’t know we would end up here.

We didn’t know that we’d complement each other.

We didn’t know that we would make a good team.

We didn’t know that we would have enormous mutual respect towards each other.

We didn’t know we’d have this much fun!

We didn’t know that we would share each other’s passion and be other’s champion.

We didn’t know that we would become the best of friends.

We didn’t know that we would end up being together. For the rest of our lives.

Ten years ago, we met and our lives changed. Four years ago, we took that biggest leap of faith and said “We do”. Today, we still know not a lot of things. Most times, we still take each other by surprise!

But some things are certain….
that we will always make each other laugh
that we are each other’s confidante no matter what
that I’ve got his back and he’s got mine
that we will never get tired of holding hands
that we never like complications
that we find joy in the simplest of things
that we love each other…truly, madly, deeply.

To my dear Husband, thank you for four wonderful years of good-sweet-lovin’. I love being married to you!

Pretty Window Box Planters For The Home

19 January 2011 Ibyang Sanchez 1 Comments Category: Everyday Life, Great Finds for the Home

If you want to beautify the windows of your home, one suggestion is getting window flower boxes or garden window boxes. Once I was surfing online the other day, I saw this dainty window box and led me to WindowboxPlanters. They have different kinds of window boxes to choose from but these two photos are my favorite.

These window plant boxes can turn a boring window look charming and stylish. You can also place them in the rails of your balcony. Other than make your house lovely, it gives more character to the look of your house.

Wouldn’t it be lovely to look outside your window or balcony and see beautiful flowers? If it were me, I’d always sip my tea looking out the window if only to see the flowers by the window or maybe hang out by the balcony more often. Seeing flowers outside my window or balcony will surely help me relax.

Cafe: Beach and Bush Gallery Cafe (Kiama, NSW Australia)

18 January 2011 Ibyang Sanchez 2 Comments Category: Food, Photography, Travel

Part of our Grand Pacific Drive trip last year was a visit to Kiama, a place for water lovers as it offers surfing, diving, fishing, canoeing and windsurfing. Kiama is also known for the “Kiama Blowhole“, the town’s major tourist attraction. Under certain sea conditions, the blowhole can spray water up to 25 metres (82 ft) in the air, in quantities that thoroughly drench any bystanders.

We arrived an hour before lunch so we took lots of photos by the lighthouse.

And lots of photos of blue, blue seas!!!!

Lunch was at the Beach and Bush Gallery Cafe. This cafe is a feast to the senses as they serve good food and has photography gallery. The photographs were by internationally-known Australian fine image photographer, Gary Barnes. His work is amazing and breathtaking.

You can find his photographs posted all over the cafe.

I vaguely remember what we ate that day. We had a bowl of Caesar Salad and (based from the photo we took) Grilled Chicken (not sure!). The name of the dishes we ordered escapes me right now but I assure you that they served us a delicious meal.

I love this reminder they have by the counter. Not only do they guarantee that they will serve quality food but they also encourage everyone to appreciate the gallery and views of Kiama–it’s like encouraging us to live in the moment and enjoy being!