DIY Taco Seasonings

I make my own taco seasoning instead of buying those convenient packets. I don't want to have all the other "stuff" in my food.

1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Mix it up.

I usually double this when I do 1 pound of ground beef or in my chicken tortilla soup because we like flavor.
So, for a milder taste, just stick to one recipe.
For more punch, double it. :)

Enjoy!!

Stoked.

This is the busy time of the year for me. As a speech-language pathologist who works around schools, this is the time where a lot of testings are due, reports to type, IEPs to write, and conferences are held.  I turn into a sugar AND salt fiend during this period of time. I alternate between sugar and salt when I am stressed.

Back in November 2015 (which happens to be another big crazy busy time of the year for me too), I came across some birthday money. Great!! I was going to buy a pair of jeans to accommodate the mom pooch I was still sporting.

Completion of 60-day program Masters Hammer and Chisel

Honestly, it wasn't just baby weight I didn't get rid of. It was baby weight + 3 years of holiday and stress eating + 3 years of infrequent, unsustained fitness routine. At about 150 lbs + some change, I was miserable. I wasn't happy. I was lethargic. I was grumpy. I was conscious of myself. I spent time in the morning trying to find clothes that hide the pooch and the folds or rolls and the muffin top. I was pulling up my pants a lot -- not because they were loose, but because my fat rolls were pushing those pants down. I was not happy.

I was shopping for the MIRACLE jeans to suck it all in, to flatten the belly, to hold down the muffin top. And guess what, that miracle jeans was not in the market that is within my budget. I found this program 21 Day Fix on a few of the working moms groups I was in on Facebook and decided to try it. I mean, what do I have to lose? I have already tried paleo diet, and Whole30, and exercise videos on Youtube. If I just buy another fat jeans, I will have to buy FATTER jeans next year. And I am going to have to buy fatter tops and fatter dresses. I guess, to me, at that time, spending my birthday money on a 21 Day Fix challenge pack gave me more bang for my buck.

Before and after: 1 round of Hammer and Chisel  

I started December 2015, and lost 10 inches off my waist alone when I did my first round. Weight stayed the same.
My second round started in January, and I lost some pounds.
MIRACLE!! Because I didn't put on weight during my first stressful period of the school year.
I did a third round and lost a little more.

Then, I got another program, The Masters Hammer and Chisel and committed to it for 60 days.
Now, I am leaner, and weigh a lot less than before I was pregnant.



I am a believer. I never believe in fad diets. I believe that you have to work hard and reap rewards. You reap what you sow. That's why I decided to be a coach and share this with people.

Message me at runchristinarun@gmail.com if you want to chat. Follow me on Facebook at Traditionally Untraditional.

Reinvention

I pondered over this for a while and decided to change my blog name. I feel weird blogging under a blog name that implies running. I sound like a phony --- like I advertise myself to be a baker but I am in fact a cobbler mending shoes.

So here I am, from Lace it Up and Run to Traditionally Untraditional.

This is me. Always have been untraditional.
After junior college, most of us kids were supposed to go to college. I took a year off to travel. This was not the safe regular good kids' path.

Traveling without parents at 17 years old, to another country, was not common. I mean, I was still a kid.

I spent a good bit of that year living in England with friends. Traveling. Live without parental supervision, and yet, in a weird sense of way, was very responsible because I knew I have to have control and discipline.

In my adult years, I went to college in the United States. One day, I just decided I needed to move to another state and got stuff lined up, classes dropped, bags packed, and moved. I moved from party place to a calm, quiet, homey, small-town Southern town.

My age to start college put me in the "untraditional student" category. And add on to being an international student, and with none from my country but myself.  I believe I was a rarity.

While people took off in the summer to go home, I took the full-load and then some. I graduated college with a journalism degree, went to work, and after a year later, decided to go back to school.
I worked at the newspaper, so my work hours were untraditional. I believe my work day starts around 3 pm and ends about 1 a.m. I also went to school in the mornings.

Again, I was back to being the untraditional student again. Old. Asian. In a field where most people are English-speakers. Again. Someone who has been out in the real world.

I graduated. Life is good. Move to yet another smaller town in the South with my then-boyfriend.
Then, I thought it's time for me to have a baby. Yep. Not married. Not buy a house. I wanted a baby.
And so goes my life in a seemingly random, haphazard manner. In my mind, it was all right. It was exactly the way it ought to be.

And here. Me. Traditionally Untraditional.
My life. To you.