BBFE

Well BBFE also known as Vince (Best BoyFriend Ever) didn't get that title for nothing. I'm truly blessed to have him in my life, he really is the BBFE! After taking some days off work for the move, I went back to work yesterday and it was not fun at all. I got home and Vince had my curtains up, some stuff put up and put the office desk together! Not that wasn't awesome already, he surprised me with a movie date to see Sex and the City 2. That's a very big deal because I know how much he really didn't care for it but I've wanted to see the movie since they announced that they're making a sequel! I know he didn't enjoy it as much as I did but I'm sure he got some laughs out of it. The movie wasn't the greatest but I still liked it, I'm biased, I love SATC. Although he said since I got SATC - he won't go to the movies with me to see Eclipse...we'll see about that :)

So anyhow, that's not the only reason why he's the BBFE. It's the little things he does and the things he appreciates about me and life in general. He opens doors for me (yes even the car door - going in and out of the car) all the time..well except when we're in the jeep and the doors are off then he unbuckles my seatbelt and sometimes depending on what I'm wearing he helps me get off it - it's a pretty high jeep, I get home to surprises sometimes (whether it's a cook book or a kitchen tool or a flower or a simple card). He ALWAYS tells me how beautiful I am. He's good to my family especially my mom. He totally adores my kiddos (someday he'll make a really great dad to our human kids but that won't be for a while). I love that he's so patriotic. I love that he's as driven as me and he's as ambitious. He works hard for the things he wants to see happen. I love that he loves what I cook even my experimental recipes! I love that he's honest with me when he doesn't really like what I cook but eats it anyways (his excuse is that it's better than what he ate on the boat during deployment). I love that he blames my "good home cooking" for his weight gain! :) I love that he thinks I'm so cute when I have my "blonde valley girl moments". He's my biggest supporter/fan when in whatever adventure I want to take and new things I want to try. These are only a few of the things I can put into words but most important of all, and he LOVES me for me, flaws and all.

Thank you baby and I love you!!! Muah!! :)

The Price of Success (**UPDATE**)

"I know the price of Success: dedication, hard work and unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen." - Frank Lloyd Wright

One of my favorite quotes of all time and it happens to be by a famous and very talented architect. This quote popped in my head when I was wondering what the heck am I doing up at 2:30 in the morning? Yup, I'm working on my website. This time I'm adding some of my Interior Design work. I want the website to showcase not only my photography but sort of an online portfolio as well (the reason why I didn't choose a domain name with "photography" attached to it). So back to the quote, that's exactly why I'm up so late again - I work hard and I'm dedicated to the things I need to do to what I believe leads to success. Success is very subjective. What others find successful might not be for me and vice versa. To me, success is not necessarily being wealthy or having such a high status; it's reaching an ultimate satisfaction, knowing that I've given it my all and did the best that I could have done. Sometimes this is a problem because I'm such a perfectionist and I sometimes can't get any satisfaction on things that I do. It doesn't matter what others say or think (not that their opinions doesn't mean anything or matter to me) about my work, I find that I'm very critical of my work. I believe there's always room for improvement, just gotta know where to say enough. I'm probably rambling on and on about something that doesn't make any sense, I apologize in advance, blame it on the lack of sleep! There aren't just enough hours in the day to get everything I want to do done. As you may already know from my past blogs I'm always busy and quite frankly I don't mind it at all. I've always been hard worker. I believe there's such a great deal and more meaningful satisfaction when you're rewarded for something that you worked hard for instead of something that was handed to you.

Okay I had so many good thoughts and ideas to blog about this topic but now they all just seem to be all over my head. I think I'm going to bed and maybe I can be a little clearer tomorrow. Moving everything tomorrow so it's going to be a very long and busy day but I'll find sometime to blog and other things. I always do :) Oh check out the website - I'm about 98% finished ... for now ... Good night! (actually Good Morning!)        http://www.ronnielascano.com/

UPDATE

Okay, so I read what I wrote with relatively clear head and it made some sense to me so I don't think there's any clarification needed. I think I got the message across. Gotta work hard for the things you want to see happen. :) And I wasn't able to blog the next day like I said because we don't have the internet hooked up in the place yet!  :)

Busy, Busier, Busiest

Seems like my days are getting busier by the minute. I'm so busy I haven't had the time to blog! Well I'm making time right now while waiting for the stuff to cool to inject the turkey with for tonight's dinner - we're having company. Oh did I mention we're moving? Yes! We are currently renting a house and it was supposed to be a lease to own but we've had so much problems with this house and not to mention the property management. We didn't think it was a wise decision to stay. So we decided to move back into an apartment to save some money, pay off as much stuff as we can and hopefully in a year we will be ready to purchase a home of our own. This will also give us plenty of time to look around and not be rushed in purchasing one. It's a big deal. It's not like once we purchased it and not satisfied, we'll be able to return it. So pretty excited about that. On the other hand we're moving from a 3 bedroom 2 bath house to 1 bedroom apartment with an attached garage (so that helps a lot), so we have a lot of storing and purging to do! Which is a good thing I think. Get rid of the clutter we don't really need (which drives me crazy half the time - my boyfriend is a big keeper of everything - he thinks we'll have a use for it someday...although I must admit there are a couple of occassions were we needed something and he had it! so I learned to compromise). The apartment we're moving into are brand new so I love that! I started painting some accent walls yesterday and plan on finishing today. Gotta make it look nice, it will be our home for the next year after all right? I've ordered prints of my photography and bought a bunch of frames to put up in the new place. I like the idea of the art up in our homes have stories behind them...places we've been to and places we love. I think seeing them will always bring a memory in mind and put a smile on your face! Don't get me wrong I love art and I'm going to have some of those up too! Okay, that's it for now, I gotta finish preparing this turkey, then pack some more things, finish painting, finish up the rest of the laundy, clean the house to make it look a bit presentable to our friends tonight and oh yeah I have a photo shoot today! Yikes!!!

Cecilia's Quinceanera

Saturday, like I mentioned before, Ceclia's Quinceanera was my first photography event. I had a lot of fun photographing Cecilia and her friends and family. I'm very honored to have been a part of this big milestone in her life! It was a good learning experience for me "photographer-wise" as well. Here are some of my favorites from the day! Enjoy!

Sometimes a Girl Just Needs a Break

I've been a very busy girl for as long as I can remember. I'm always on the go, always have something to do. Don't get me wrong, I have days where I totally ignore the things I have to do and just relax. Today is one of those days...well sorta...While relaxing in bed watching my favorite show to watch on Sundays (Dateline Investigation - don't judge me, there's something about those murder cases that keeps me interested) I am editing photos from yesterday's Quincenera. It was a very long day! Started left the house around noon and got home a little after midnight. I had fun though! I got some good shots. It was my first actual "event" to shoot so it was a great learning experience. I planned on packing some stuff today, cleaning the house and go to the gym. I was exhausted from yesterday and I know I work hard all the time so I decided to take a break today. I did clean the kitchen though :) but for the most part I enjoyed a very lazy day in bed with my two babies although I wish my boyfriend is with us but he has to work on weekends! I'm making a very simple and easy to fix dinner today, I'm taking it easy today so I can be better prepared to tackle the coming week.

I believe that it's very important to take some time off your busy schedule for your self. Just to relax, a "Me Day". I find that if I don't I feel like I work so hard all for nothing and I become overwhelmed when I have to do what I have to do. So today was a Me Day, maybe I'll even have a chocolate cake today! :)

Lunch Box - Save Money & Stay Healthy

Well the other day, I got tired of carrying my lunch in my big purse and hates bringing Vince's lunch cooler, I did not want to carry around those bulky ugly things so I searched and searched and finally bought me a stylish "lunch box"! www.wrapables.com

Isn't it awesome?! I love it! This way I don't have to put everything in my bag. :)

I started taking lunch to work for quite sometime now. This way I know what's in my food (since I made it) and it saves me money! Going out to eat for lunch adds up! Although I splurge every now and then.

My lunch box contains a piece of wheat bread with almond butter as my breakfast or sometimes I'll have a small pack of instant oatmeal - Quaker's Simple Harvest Vanilla, Almond and Honey Flavor is my fave!. For lunch I usually have a small portion of last night's dinner or a turkey wrap or grilled chicken salad or tuna pasta salad I make ahead of time (recipes below). I also pack a granny smith apple with a few slices of Parmesan cheese for an afternoon snack and one hard boiled egg. I always have a raw almonds by my desk to snack on. Of course I drink plenty of water throughout the day. Before I leave the house in the morning I make Vince and I a smoothie. I premeasure all the ingredients (except for the milk and protein powder) on the weekends. So in the morning all I have to do is throw in everything in the blender and in less than a minute you'll have a delish smoothie!

Berries Blast Smoothie:
1/4 cup of frozen blueberries
1/4 cup of frozen strawberries
1/4 cup of frozen raspberries
2 tablespoons of chocolate or vanilla protein
1/2 cup of 1% milk
1 scoop of low fat no sugar vanilla ice cream (or frozen yogurt)
3 ice cubes

Blend everything in the blender and enjoy with a straw! :)

Marinated Grilled Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/2 cup of good balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary (dried can be used too)
3 sprigs of fresh thyme (dried can be used too)
1/4 cup of chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
4 cloves of garlic of minced garlic
1 tablespoon of onion powder
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

Put everything in ziploc bag, shake around to coat the chicken well. Let it marinate for at least an hour. I usually let it marinate overnight in the fridge to get all that yummy flavor in the chicken. Take the chicken out of the fridge and let it come close to room temperature before grilling. I usually just do it on our George Foreman Grill 5-6 minutes on each side (depending on the thickness of the breast). I let it rest before cutting to get all the juices back in the chicken. I cut it into strips - put it in a tupperware and it's ready to go during the week for lunch.

Tuna Pasta Salad
1/2 a box of Barilla Whole Wheat Pasta Shell
3 pouches of chunky white meat albacore tuna
1/2 of a small white onions small diced
finely chopped flat leaf parsley (you can add as much or as little as you want)
low fat mayo (add as little or as much as you want - just enough to coat everything lightly)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together and you're good to go!

Okay that's all for now - lunch break is over! :)

After Monday & Tuesday even the calendar says WTF?

It's been another long week and it's only Wednesday! I had a really busy weekend. I had a photo shoot with Rene. We did boudoir pics, family pics with her hubby and their cute puppy Max, then we went downtown to shoot some bridals! I had a lot of fun but it was a very long day! Started out at 10 in the morning and finished around 6:30 at night, went home and vowed not to do any editing til the following weekend but of course it's me! That's not going to happen, so while dinner was on the stove I thought I'll edited a few to share on my Facebook page - I ended up editing all of them! I was up late, AGAIN. I really need to start going to bed early so I'm not dragging all day...I just find it hard to go to bed before 10:30. I get up in the morning, go to work, then gym, by the time I get home it's 7:30 or 8, then I make dinner! I refuse to go to bed right after that - I feel like I need some time to do whatever to relax before going to bed. So I tend to stay up til about midnight, either on the computer or watching TV. Does that make me crazy? Anyhow, here are some of my favorites from the shoot.

Saturday was very busy and Sunday (Mother's Day) wasn't any different. I had a lot of housework to do and getting my portfolio together, updating my website and oh I had to make dinner for Mother's Day. Had dinner at the house and did a family photo shoot. By the end of the day I was wondering where the heck did the weekend go? I did not feel good Monday at all so I called in - got to rest and felt a bit better to go to work on Tuesday. I was in the office for a few hours and I was not feeling good at all so I decided to go home early. Got back in the office today and of course having missed Monday and part of Tuesday, I was behind on everything. Playing catch up is not fun! I'm just ready for this week to be over! I wish I can say at least I can relax this weekend but I have a Quinceneara to photograph on Saturday and senior portraits to do on Sunday. Maybe I'll stick to my plan and wait on the editing the following weekend so I'm not so drained! Here are some of my faves from our family portraits - let me tell you - it is not easy coordinating 7 people and be in the photograph as well! We need to do another session - I'm not happy with these. :*(

**UPDATED** Longest Week Ever! (Chicken Chili Recipe)

TGIF!!! This has been one of the longest week of my life! As I mentioned before, I've been in a funk all week and I can't figure out why. The work outs this week definitely helped lighten up the mood but didn't really help me focus at work. I was still distracted. I'm just glad this week is over! On a lighter note, I sent my mom flowers for Mother's Day and she received them yesterday. She called to say thank you and that she loved them but we ended up having a lenghty conversation about pretty much everything! I get to see her on the weekends again so that's good - I miss her and I think Maddie misses her too!

I have a busy weekend ahead of me but looking forward to it. I have a boudoir, bridal and family (with a 4 legged family member) photo shoot tomorrow. I have to put together a contract for a wedding I booked for July 30th! So excited about that! The venue is one of the buildings I actually got to work on - so that's exciting! I also have to put together a contract for a Quinceneara I'm photographing on the 15th, oh did I mention they invited 400 guests??!! Yikes but I'm excited about that as well! It's my first event!

Anyhow, dinner is ready so that's it for now. I'll post more later because I have so much more to say. Topic: Relationships. :) Oh I'll add pics of dinner tonight as well! If you can't tell I LOVE Food ! Tonight's dinner: Chicken Chilli (so yummy I'll post recipe later as well!)

**UPDATE**

Obviously, I didn't post more "later" - I decided to spend time with my loves instead followed by a very busy weekend. So anyhow, about the relationship thing, I just don't get how some people stay in the relationships they're in even though it's not a healthy relationship. They come to you for advice on what should they do... you give them your opinion, they agree and then contradict themselves by staying in the relationship. I've been happy for so long that I don't quite remember what it's like to be unhappy. When it comes to relationships, is something really better than nothing? I guess I'll never get it. I mean why settle for something when you clearly deserve better and doesn't have to stick around with the drama?

On a lighter note, here's the Chicken Chili Recipe!

• 3 chopped yellow onions
• 1/8 cup good olive oil, plus extra for chicken
• 4 cloves garlic (minced)
• 2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and large-diced
• 2 yellow bell peppers, cored, seeded, and large-diced
• 2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes, or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for chicken
• 2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled plum tomatoes in puree, undrained
• 1/4 cup minced fresh basil leaves
• 4 chicken breasts
• Freshly ground black pepper

Cook the onions in the oil over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the bell peppers, chili powder, cumin, red pepper flakes, cayenne, and salt. Cook for 1 minute. Crush the tomatoes by hand or in batches in a food processor fitted with a steel blade (pulse 6 to 8 times). Add to the pot with the basil. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Rub the chicken breasts with olive oil and place them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast the chicken for 35 to 40 minutes, until just cooked. Let cool slightly and cut it into 3/4-inch chunks. Add to the chili and simmer, uncovered, for another 20 minutes. You can serve with corn chips, sour cream and lime :) Enjoy! If you try it - let me know how you like it!

AutoFocus... I needed that!

Lately, I find it so hard to focus at work. My mind is always wandering and I want to do something else other than what I'm supposed to do. I've always been a hard worker and I know I've proven that time and time again. I've exceeded people's expectations at work especially when it comes to deadlines but I feel so guilty for taking me a bit longer to do my job. I just can't focus and distracted. I've been in this funk for over a week now. Is it because I haven't worked out in 2 weeks (not on purpose - I had a biopsy done on my foot and it was impossible to put any kind of pressure on it), or am I just worn out with all the work drama? or am I just not being challenged enough at work? I don't know but I needed to do something.  So after missing Monday and Tuesday's workout I was determined to get my butt in the gym today. I even invited my friend Sara (who's trying to get her sexy back to fit in her wedding dress) to the lift class. She did really good and so did her friend Susan! Although it was a bittersweet moment for me. I felt soooo good being at the gym again but so discouraged because I felt so weak! I knew I'm probably not going to be as strong as I was last time I lifted but I didn't think I was going to struggle that much! It was still an awesome workout and I needed that! Oh almost forgot - I had a meeting with someone today and was presented with a potential great opportunity - it went really really well - keeping my fingers crossed! That made the rest of my day awesome! Had a good chat on the phone with my best friend Brenda and it was great catching up! I miss her! Got home to my loves, who are always just so ecstatic to see me - gotta love dogs - made dinner (tonight's dinner was grilled salmon with grilled asparagus with simple sauce - see pic below). Today turned out to be a good day and got a much needed work out in! Let's see if it helps me focus a little better at work tomorrow. I wish there was an auto focus on humans because I certainly needed it the past week!

Things don't always go as planned...

Well, this week hasn't been going my way at all and it's only Tuesday! Yesterday I planned on going to the gym after work then off grocery shopping and make a red velvet cake! Well, I stayed at work later than planned, got stuck in traffic due to the rain and ended up missing my lift class. Got to the gym and realized I didn't have my gym clothes with me so I decided to just go home so my baby and I could go to the store and buy food for the week. I was still determined to make the red velvet cake I've been craving for weeks now. Got home, put all the groceries up, started dinner (I made chicken adobo last night! yummo!) and while that's simmering on the stove I started sifting the flour and baking powder and then I realized I forgot to buy buttermilk! So I ended up not making the cake. Sure I could have or my boyfriend could have gone to the store but it's such an inconvenience and it's starting to get late. So for today I planned on going to the gym after work and stopping by at the store and pick up the buttermilk. My cousin JP was in town and invited him for dinner tonight so that means I don't have time to go to the gym after work. So I ended up not going AGAIN - (I'll make it up somehow). Well I made chicken cacciatore for dinner and of course the red velvet cake for dessert! The chicken cacciatore came out really good and my guest and my bf loved it!

Just waiting for dessert. After dinner, while the cakes were cooling, I started making the frosting. I used fat free cream cheese instead of regular - cut the sugar content by a third and upped the vanilla. I noticed that the frosting was not as stiff as it's supposed to be but it still tasted good so I thought it will be okay. I started frosting the cake and as the title of this blog says - things don't always go as planned - the frosting was not stiff enough to hold the cake together. Oh well - it still tasted good and still had a delicious red velvet cake for dessert!

Things don't always go as planned but they somehow work out for the better and that doens't just apply to my red velvet cake! I took some photos!

Blogger's Block on My First Blog?

I've set up this blog weeks ago but somehow for a person who has so much to say didn't know what to say on my first blog! How could that be? So I did what any "normal" person would do - I Googled! I skimmed through the article "Your First Blog Post – What to Write". According to this there are 4 Key Elements you should include in your first blog.
1) Introduce Yourself - my thoughts on that? mmm... Isn't that what the "About Me" Section is for?
2) What is Your Reason for Blogging - I'm not quite sure exactly. I'm a "facebooker" and I find myself wanting to elaborate on "what's on my mind." So I thought maybe if I blogged, I could eleborate on all (well almost all) of my thoughts at once without having word count limits and everyone of my "friends" who really doesn't care to know what I have to say doesn't have to read about it.
3) What you Will be Blogging About - I'm not really quite sure. If I knew what I would be blogging about, I wouldn't have Googled! Kidding! :) What could I possibly have to say? I'm not a writer by any means (so don't judge me if something is not grammatically correct or spelled right or just flat out doesn't make any sense!) but I thought blogging would be a good way to clear my head so I don't have to go to bed with mindful of thoughts. I also thought that I could share some recipes, health tips, photography and whatever else that I think worth sharing! So there goes my Blog Title - Ronnie's Ramblings!
4) Encourage Comments - Of course I encourage comments! I would love to hear what you have to say about something that I had to say!

Well I think I just did my first blog! Planning on baking a Red Velvet Cake tonight after my lift class! Can't wait! Photo below: "Many Sides of Me" photographed by yours truly. Background music: Single Ladies by Beyonce - making me miss my soul sista!