Truffle Tuesday

Bite-size Delicious

A few weeks ago I eagerly clicked on this recipe on How Does She because the words "3 Ingredient" grab my attention like no other.  It scored double points in my book when I realized that no baking was required - I'm slightly terrified of our ancient oven!

So this afternoon, we skipped tennis and I made these instead.  They turned out great!  Makes enough for 3-4.

Directions: 

1.  Mix together 1/2 package of crushed Oreos (the 15 oz packages) and 1/2 tub of cream cheese.  I used the 1/3 Less Fat Philadelphia Cream Cheese and it for sure tasted enough like full fat. 

2.  Roll sticky black mess into 1 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet.

3.  Melt some chocolate in the microwave.  I used Hershey's Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips, 1/3 of the bag.

4.  Quickly dip balls in melted chocolate (or drizzle the chocolate on top).

5.  Sprinkle some crushed Oreos on top and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

6.  Try not to lick your chocolate covered hands completely clean.  

Step 7: Devour.

A Travel Anniversary

Hotel Lobby

On Friday afternoon we jolted out of the capital as quick as we could to get to Cofresi Palm Beach & Spa Resort in Puerto Plata.  The lush 3 hour drive to the northern part of the island is actually pretty painless - you're surrounded by endless rolling hills of green mountains and palm trees halfway submerged into the clouds.  Beautiful. 

Good memories I'll cherish from the weekend: 

Seeing Ildi and her kids.  Duh.

Spending some quality time with the plush white sun beds at the VIP beach, tropical cocktail in hand of course

Banana boating, even if I may or may not have fallen off three times

Late night hotel room chat with Ildiko

Witnessing how many Dominican men have a thing for her

Swinging with A while overlooking the ocean

American magazines on the beach

The pink "homemade" ice cream we had at dinner

Ildiko & I

 I titled this post A Travel Anniversary because on Saturday night, Ildiko realized that exactly one year ago on this same weekend she had visited me in Barcelona.  From here on out this will be my convincing point that she needs to come see me..  I wonder where it will be next year! 

Working in a Foreign Language

Source

I truly have a love/hate relationship with working in Spanish as a native English speaker.  There are still lots of times when I fumble, like when someone is walking out of my office and I blurt out the English word "Wait!" and they only wait because they have no idea what I just said, but then there are other times that I'm impressed because I've just spewed out some information or a random order at the speed of a Dominican girl with an attitude.

At some points, like this afternoon, I feel entirely overwhelmed.  Maybe it was the extra long hours I worked today, or maybe because I spent a lot of time on the phone, but when it was time to write a company Memo (in Spanish!) I nearly had a panic attack.  

"Failure to wear the proper uniform will result in a write-up that will be sent to the Secretary of Labor." 

Will "RESULT IN"?!?!  How on earth do I put these words in Spanish?!?!  

I think the look on my face must have cued my coworkers to help me ASAP.

But what I know deep down, past the daily frustrations, past all the grammatically incorrect questions I know I ask while giving interviews, and past all the times I say mid sentence "I don't know the word in Spanish but..", is that even though I don't notice my improvements on a day to day {or even month to month} basis, I know that I'm on my way to becoming perfectly bilingual.  And that makes it all worthwhile.

Source

Small Changes

Source

Source

Source

Ok, enough with the motivational quotes.  

I just wanted to mention that I updated my About page and added a DR favorites page full of links!  I also added a mile tracker a wee bit down on the right side; today it starts with the whopping number  of 3.  I've been wanting to do a complete blog makeover, but I can never decide when looking at new templates - it starts to feel as if its a life or death decision!  

And so, little by little, changes are happening..  Stay tuned. 

15k Training - Day 1

Source

I have always wanted to run a half marathon [and eventually a full one], but if you'd see me run these past few months, you would never guess that I'm that motivated.  As of late, 3 miles sprinkled with a few puny hills are enough to make me want to peel over and pass out. 

Its taken me months to find a webpage that lists running events in the Dominican Republic, but alas, I have it bookmarked!  The next run in Santo Domingo, a 15K, is on Saturday, May 26th.  So we're going to do it, I don't know how, but we will!  And since 15K (9.3 miles) is only 4 miles short of a half marathon, I'm confident that I'll be running the half marathon that takes place this June.  

I know the training will seem intense, but if boyfriend and I ran a 10K after only one month's training than surely this is possible!  When the going gets tough, I'll just think about how good it will feel when I'm crossing the marathon off my bucket list. 

We have 10 weeks - we'll run 3 days a week {4 days just sounds like torture}.

Today is Day 1.  Three miles.  Easy peasy, I hope. 

Source

Tips?  Recommendations?  Inspiration?  Gimme 'em!