Fin del Mundial

Well the World Cup may be over for Chile (and the US), but I am still going to post the pictures of our celebrations for the games!

First we have Dulcinea in her awesome sweater that Gaby & José gave her for her bday:

Here is what it looks like up-close:

The family pic I promised on the first day that Chile played:

Now, onto the work celebration pictures from the 2nd game celebration:




This would be the 42" flat screen my work is giving away to the person who guesses the winner of the the World Cup. If more than 1 person guesses right, they are doing a drawing. I picked Argentina....so let's hope they win!

Walking home after the third game last Friday afternoon:

And that is how Chile does it when it comes to the World Cup. Even though I am not a true soccer fan, I sure had a good time participating in all the fun!

Viva Chile!!!!!!

Chile has won again, this time 1-0 against Switzerland!!!!!!  Now we have to at have to tie against Spain to go on to the second round. 

Pictures of the crazy celebration at work to come later!
~Tyffanie

Happy Father's Day

Our family wants to wish all the Dads in our life a very Happy Father's Day!!!!

Me with my Daddy in Viña, Dec. 2009

Chris with my Dad in Viña, Dec. 2009

Us with my father-in-law, Papi Lucho, in April 2009

Dulcinea with her Granpy on Christmas Day 2009

And Dulcinea and I want to wish her Daddy a Happy 1st Father's Day too :)

Processed Food Experiment

I mentioned a while back that I wanted to start reducing the amount of processed food that I eat.  Mostly when I say processed food, I am referring to unhealthy and fake foods.  Obviously there are processed foods sold in health stores, etc. and in some cases, processed foods are necessary just as mentioned in this article.  However, not a lot of Whole Foods-type processed foods exist in Chile and normally when they do, they are super expensive.  Thus, my change has been trying to eat more fresh foods.  I have pretty good success in the past two months and the difference in how I feel and how much energy I have is amazing.  Although it requires planning and foresight as to what we will eat, as well as actually cooking the meals, I am happy to have made the change.  

I came across this article which shows an experiment of what happens to fake foods over time via Summer Tomato.  You have got to check out this experiment.  I once complained about having to actually make whipped cream the old-fashioned way here in Chile....and never again will I complain about it, but instead be happy to whip that cream into perfection for whatever dessert I happen to be making.

~Tyffanie

Mundial Madness

Chile just won their first game in the World Cup 2010!!!!! Whaaahooo!!!  

I am normally not a big sports fan, and even less a soccer fan....but I definitely have the World Cup bug this year :)  It's hard for it not to be contagious.  

Christian had a bunch of coworkers over this morning--at 7am for breakfast and to watch the game.  I stayed for the first half and then came to work where we were also celebrating and watching the game on the 42" flat screens that my company bought just for the game.  We all send in our bets on who will win 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place and at the end of the World Cup, they will be giving the TVs away in a raffle of those who guessed the winning teams right!

I'll be posting a picture later of our Mundial outfits!

~Tyffanie

Green Monster Me!!!

I made a decision this weekend: I was ready to try a Green Monster and thus I needed to by spinach. When I was cleaning it on Sunday night in preparation for Monday evening, my husband and mother-in-law innocently asked me if I was going to make a salad with it. Little did they know the answer that was coming to them: "No, I am going to make a smoothie!" Everyone in the room was baffled...

I was waiting for the work day on Monday to end just so I could get home and try this new concoction out. In went the flax seed, spinach, small banana, 1/2 a pear, 1 kiwi, some blueberries, some pomegranate, 1/2 scoop of vanilla protein powder, 1 container natural yogurt and some fat-free milk.

The blender had a hard time at first trying to blend the spinach. I read somewhere online that it was better to put the spinach at the bottom so that the heavier ingredients weighted it down when blending. But my machine needed some milk and heavier items to get it going before it could suck down all that spinach.

But alas, it finally finished and the Chilean Green Monster was ready. I took Angela's advice and served it in the fanciest glasses we have (newly acquired wine glasses from the Cousiño Macul vineyard since the old ones broke in the earthquake). At first, I just served one glass for me, but then Christian said he wanted to try it too. So two wine glasses filled with the Green Monster. I made him try it first and lo and behold, he liked it! Holy cow....is he trying to give me a heart attack before I even get to try mine?!?!!??!

Bottoms up......

Delicious!

Thanks Angela for the inspiration to make a Green Monster. When I came across your blog a few months ago, I thought the GMs were strange and they did not sound appetizing at all. But now, now I understand. Can't wait until my next GM!!!!

Bummed Out

So I joined the gym two weeks ago and I have been super excited about going, trying new classes and getting to lift weights again.  I even started pretty relaxed because I knew that if I didn't start slowly, I could end up injured since I haven't hit the gym for months now.  I started taking a yoga/pilates class that is very low impact, but still a challenge.  It feels so good to stretch out in that class.  The teacher also has us meditate for about 10 minutes at the end and it is glorious.  I have been wanting to start mediating at home but I just haven't gotten started for several "reasons" which should be read as excuses.  In any case, going to this class 2 times a week is definitely helping get started and I enjoy the guided meditation.  I also started going to Baile Entretenido ("Fun Dancing" as it translates literally) which is a cardio class of popular dancing.  In the US that might mean line dancing and the like, but in Chile, it means salsa and reggeaton.  You definitely get your heart rate up and it is a fun way to burn off stress.  Especially compared to the treadmill or elliptical....both of which bore me to death.  

Anyway, after the first week at the gym, my knee started hurting a bit.  I decided to go easy on it and not do a lot of cardio.  But it still hasn't gotten better in the week of practically all rest.  I did lift weights and do abs, but no impact and the darn thing is hurting more and causing my hip to hurt too.  It is so frustrating because I don't want to stop going or give up the routine that I have just gotten into, but it looks like this week I am going to have not do any lower body or abs and see if my hip and knee recover.  So ya, even though I can do upper body weights, I am still bummed out.

~Tyffanie

Happy Birthday Dulcinea!!!

Today is our little munchkin's 1st birthday!!!!

Feliz Cumpleaños Nena Linda!!!!

~Tyffanie

Memorable Memorial Day

I hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day and thanks to those of you who have and currently serve our country!

Yesterday was a memorable day for us even though it wasn't a holiday for us here in Chile.  But the exciting events of the day were:

1. I signed up for the gym.  This will help with my goal of working out 3 times per week.  It is a pretty awesome gym in the same building as my work which makes it much easier for me to actually do my workouts.  
2. We got a new car!!!!!  Well, not new new, but new to us.  It is a 2001 Chrysler Stratus in bomb condition thanks to a good friend who took really good care of it and invested a lot back into it during the 2 years he had it.  And as of last night, it is ours!  Next thing on my agenda is getting my driver's license :) And of course, you know the first thing Christian wanted to do this morning was to take pictures of it.

~Tyffanie