StaywellMA

A Trip That Gave Me More Than I Gave I have been watching my friend's youtube channel and podcast called: The Steady Road Home Her latest video,  The Seeds We Plant - Part 1  beautifully captures our Honduras Mission Trip in a way that words alone cannot do it justice. But first — some context on why this trip was so personal to me. The year before this Honduras trip, the plan was to travel with the same young adult ministry group on a different mission trip. The day before our departure, during our farewell barbeque at church, my dad had a stroke and was air-lifted to Mass General. I stayed behind to be with him in the hospital and did not travel for the mission trip. Shortly after that, he passed away. So when the opportunity came up again to travel with the same young adult ministry group the following year — to Honduras, to serve at the San Pedro Sula, Dream Center — I jumped at the opportunity. The goal was to serve. And that happened. But in the middle of it all, I was c...

Happy New Year 2020! Yes, me attempting to do blogmas  in December  2019 was a bust. What was I thinking? Props to all the bloggers and YouTubers who are committed to posting every single day and still have a full time job and life.  I spent the holidays and new year  in mexico and came back to Boston right in time for my birthday. To continue my birthday tradition, here are 35 things I am grateful for as we usher into this new decade. I wanted this gratitude list to be specific to 2019 and all the wonderful ways I was blessed in that year. 1. I am grateful for my health, without it, my current lifestyle of being on the go will be very limited 2. I am grateful for my church for being my spiritual leaders and mentors 3. I'm grateful for my imperfect family. Is there such a thing as a perfect family anyways? 4. I'm grateful for my mental health - A sound mind living in a sound body 5. I am grateful that all my NEEDS are met.  Career/Goals 6. Say...

After 7 years in Boston, this child of the African Sun has still not  acclimatized to the weather.  And quite frankly, I don't want to . I don't like cold weather but I LOVE sleeping in on a nice rainy/snowy day. How do people stay productive in this climate? All I ever want to do is cozy up with some cafe, endless desserts, and some good books to read.  I'm currently reading the genesis - part I ( In a pit with a Lion on a snowy Day ) of a book ( Chase the Lion ) I just finished reading. It fell into my hands as a happy surprise at a holiday party. You may call it a coincidence, I call it a divine manifestation of speaking out my desire to read this book after finishing it's sequel.

Sunday December 1st: Cheesecake factory, Burlington Mall. In true New England fashion we welcomed the beginning of the month with a Snow Storm.

For my friend's birthday celebration, we started the night with dinner at 730 Tavern, Kitchen and Patio on mass ave. Since I had already had an early dinner, I was there for the drinks, appetizers and dessert but when one of the guests was lovely enough to bring a cake for the celebrations, I settled for ordering just an appetizer, the calamari. It was a really nice space and I want to go back because apparently they have a Sunday buffet brunch for $17.... hello! And they'll be celebrating National Rum Day on Aug 16th...double hello! (frame of Mia Hamm soccer jersey at 730 Tavern) After dinner, we headed out to Sculler's Jazz Club to watch Elan Trotman's tribute to the late Marvin Gaye. Elan released a tribute cd based on his rendition of the acclaimed artist's work. I had never heard of this amazing saxophonist until the night of the concert and I am already trying to figure out how to attend his next show in Boston (New Year's Eve ). ...

Boston Night market was basically a foodie's paradise. I thought I was ready to conquer all the different food trucks but with the night still young I HAD to wave my little white flag of defeat. . If you love food. If you love food trucks. If you love Asian- inspired cuisine. If you love k-pop performances. then you need  to attend next year's night market. And oh yeah, tickets sold out. Some of my friends could not make it to the event because it was a sold out event. See you there next year!

I attended my first ever Boston Roller derby game this past Saturday  and here are my observations. #1. I was expecting more physical contact. Does that make me a barbarian? # 2.The game reminds me of american football. The difference is , instead of their "QB" running straight across a field, they were running in circles in a loop. # For the same reasons I do not like watching football, I could not watch a full half of this sport. The turnover rate for action was too large for me. I hate sports that have a lot of stop and go. What am I suppose to do during those transition time? I dislike having to be in a perpetual state of getting excited only to calm back down then get excited then calm back down....when I go high I like to stay high emotionally and when I come down, am done for the day. Full Disclosure : I watched this game sober and something tells me that perhaps some libation would have completely elevated my experience. But then again, if I need...

If there was ever a day that validates Boston/New England as one of the best sports fan cities in the US, that day was yesterday, Sunday February 4th , 2019. In Ice Hockey, the Boston Bruins won their game against Washington Capital 1-0 . Causing washington's 14 game winning strike to come to a complete halt. In football, the New England Patriots won the super bowl against the Los Angeles Rams And in Basketball, I watched the celtics defeat the Oklahoma City Thunders at TD Gardens.  It was an electrifying day here for fans of all the sports. I wish I could tell you that I was out in the streets jumping for joy with everyone but I wasn't. This is still Boston and the weather was cold , so I stayed home, cuddled up with a good cup of tea, living vicariously through everyone's social media highlights.

Hello February. You announced your entrance with sub zero temperatures for those of us in the east coast.  Now you have me wishing for good old regular snow because these current temperatures are even too cold for snow. But forge on we must. February for me is all about tunnel vision Focus.  Frigid focus .  Frozen Focus.  Fixed Focus. Stay bundled up and warm mes amies :) Click Here to help me with my wellness journey

I had the opportunity to volunteer for this amazing event for kids through one of our fellow BGR- Boston member. It's so important to introduce kids at an early age to athletics and the fitness lifestyle. Beyond it's health benefits, I find that being part of a team, learning to invest and work hard towards a goal builds great character.  But even with all that hard work,  you learn that you will not always win.  You learn to accept defeat with grace. To portray good sportsmanship. To respect the talent of others Running and working out in general has this unique ability to build your mental stamina. Sometimes, when am going through a rough time with life in general, I use my running mental states  as a barometer to gauge if this is something I can overcome or if it's time to quit. If the stress level doesn't measure up to be more than what I've experienced in a long distance workout, I don't quit, because I kn...

I plan to attend the  FREE  outdoor boot camp led by  Fit bit  on Sunday, July 24th.  Here is an old post I did about their local yoga event back in April Let me know if you'll be joining me on twitter  @mapetiteniche 

I heard about this "watch" because it was developed here in Boston. It's an electrical device that you use to SHOCK your bad habits away. From eating bad foods, to smoking and etc. As some one who has -100% pain tolerance, I will rather run a marathon for 3 - 4 hrs than shock myself out of eating another Boston dunkin doughnut.  What do you think? Check out this latest interesting innovative product at http://pavlok.com/

This year am taking part in the 4th edition of Marathon Sport's Winter Warrior Challenge. I'm running under our Black Girls Run Boston group for this January fitness challenge. My goal is to let it serve as a training platform for the 5 mile Super Sunday race I will be participating in alongside many Boston Brunch/ November Project members on February 1st.     Picture from http://www.marathonsports.com/ We are team   #28 and are currently ranked in the 31st position in this challenge of 125 teams. Am so proud of our girls!!!! I do  have to mention that one of the disadvantages of participating in this challenge is the inability to log in miles that are more than a day old. Therefor you have to consistently/daily log in your miles. However, am enjoying doing the challenge and leading run meetups with members of our BGR-Boston community. I know it sounds crazy to run outside in this extreme temperat...

I decided to start off my new year by doing the festival because I miss attending local community events.  2014 was very hectic; filled with travelling, classes and 7 different contract employments all clamoring for my attention.  Towards the end of the year I was physical drained and mentally exhausted. This led to  a challenge from my brother  to live a life with a minimal number of side gigs and to just enjoy having some free time off  Located at Lawn D adjacent to the convention center, the Fire and Ice festival was full of performances, food trucks and a maze made out of ice. Even though it was extremely cold, I had an amazing time. Armed with snow boots, cozy socks and a steamy Dunkin Doughnuts coffee, I questioned my sanity as I padded through the cold ice maze while snowflakes showered on my face from the skies.  What part of this was entertaining again? My favourite part of the night was the fire performances ...

I experienced my first NOVEMBER PROJECT Workouts last week Wednesday at the Harvard stadium. This meant doing an infinite (in my feeble mind at the time) number of stadium steps. I honestly don't know where I got the mental perseverance to finish it. My only evidence was the jello-like feeling in my legs and slight dizziness that occurred afterwards. Also I experienced 3 days of excruciating muscle soreness. Here is how I dealt with the muscle soreness after doing that many steps. #1. Post Workout Stretch I knew I had to do some intense stretching immediately to prevent stiffness #2 Hot Shower Stretch This can be substituted for having a "heat" pad which is usually a luxury reserved for athletics trainer rooms. Warm water relaxes your muscles and that's the best time to take advantage and stretch them some more. Reach down, with your legs straight, touch your toe and stretch those hamstrings & Calves #3 Roller Foam  This is the best thing for r...

Over the summer the Boston Harbor Islands National Parks, in collaboration with South Shore SHAPE - UP, organised a free all day fitness event at Peddocks Island. Even though I was on the Island for work, I still manged to have a good time and enjoy the activities The events included a 1 mile jogging guided tour of the island, Zumba, Yoga, and many other classes for visitors to the island to try out.   This is the perfect getaway for the nature and trails lovers.  Am all for taking a moment out of our hectic lives and  spending  some time in nature.   There;s something about being surrounded by nature, pausing to  admire and take in all the living things around you that is  mind   blowing. When you come to the understanding that, No matter WHO YOU  ARE and WHAT YOU DO, we will all come to pass and LIFE as  we knew it will CONTINUE without us. It makes you stop taking it for gr...