Café Con Monica

Mondays…

Hey there! I know I was kinda missing last week but I was on holiday and even though I had a few days at home where I did nothing I did just that…and couldn’t bring myself to blog. Besides I would have just been able to show you my couch and laptop. However I did manage to leave my apartment for a bit to travel to the next big town Guangzhou and go to the Safari Park(aka Zoo) with one of the other foreign teachers and then I headed to Hong Kong for three days. It was definitely a great week off and even though I wish I had been able to travel further I was also so grateful for the days off! 

I have so many pictures to share with you guys but I think I want to break them up into a couple different posts by location. So for today I will share some random pics from the past week or so: 

what happens when you feed kids dragonfruit! haha 

early morning skype with the family 

 I got a chance to Skype with my family late night for me early morning for them. It was seriously so amazing they just walked around with the ipad and put it in the kitchen while they got ready and had breakfast. I won’t lie I cried like a baby afterwards I miss my familly so much and seeing them doing normal things and how much my nephew is doing after only 3 months away is hard. 

almost died when I saw the sign 

Cheering my parents on for the Chicago marathon
Sangria! 
Another thing I was kind of having a hard time with. I know from previous posts you guys have seen how much I love supporting my family in their runs and doing them together. For the last 3 years I’ve gotten up at 5:30/6am so I can head downtown and show my support when my parents run the Chicago Marathon. I had to make a plan for the family so they could make it around the city without me. I was happy to do it but so sad because I wish I could have been there. 

Yikes…It sounds like I am whining today but really just being honest. I get an amazing experience living abroad but not without sacrifice. 

Ooh and a little update on the 90 day challenge front. It is VERY hard to keep a good meal plan when you are visiting a place that has some of your fave western foods. I tried my best to stay on track and I walked A TON so I hoping I made up for the slip ups I had. Its definitely much easier being back at my apartment where I can cook my meals and its very hard to find western food close enough. I couldnt have been more excited to find some goodies at the International market in HK. I know they weren’t all good for me but I believe in moderation and not denying myself everything. 


Thanks for bearing with me today! I promise to get some pics up from my holiday week! Can’t wait to see all your Monday posts! 

Day 1

Today marks the first day of a few things for me. 

First, I am on my first day of a week long holiday. Still unclear as to what I will do this week because traveling in China during a national holiday is extremely expensive and crowded(you since there are millions and millions of people in this country) for now I am planning to head to Hong Kong later in the week to see Disneyland and do some shopping and site seeing. Lets hope that still happens! 

Second, I am starting a 90 day better eating and workout challenge with one of my awesome friends K over at Lost to Gain! We were doing our usual whining about how were gaining weight and need to exercise and we decided that January was a big month for us both and so we need to get the ball rolling. 

Why January you ask? 

Well…let me tell you! 
I have a big 4 week holiday break in Jan/Feb and I plan to hit some beaches and do as much traveling as my bank book will allow me. So that means two big things: lots of pictures and a swimsuit! I Nothing terrifies me more thats a lie…bugs, sharks, ghosts…ok but you get the idea. Her birthday is in January and she is coming to visit me so that is incentive for her too! 

So the plan: 

No crazy diet nonsense. Just better eating, trying to stick to 1200-1400 calorie diet and exercising at least 3-4 times a week. Checking in with each other and just offering support! 

My Goal: 30 pounds…we actually have the same goal 30 pounds + 90 days= success

Challenges we are sure to face: 
It does fall during the holidays which I am sure will be harder for her than me since I am not at home and Thanksgiving & Christmas are not celebrated here like they would be back home. I have trouble getting enough calories w/out eating junk. I eat 3 meals a day but don’t have the time for snacks. and of course, the good old sweet tooth. So hard to resist junk food. 

Anyway, I wanted to share this for two reasons: 
1. Help us stay accountable 
2. Your welcome to join us! I will post once a week an update on how I am doing. I may post some photos occasionally of the progress too. 

This is one of my fave Pins from Pinterest: 




So this is my first post and the first day! I promise you my blog will in no way become all about fitness or an advertisement for my weight loss! wish me luck…I’m going to eventually come up with a fun link up button so if you want join in! 






Monday Monday…

I wish I had some great pictures from the weekend to share but I actually only left my apartment for about 2 hours the whole weekend. I had a very long week and I also was not feeling very well. It was nice to relax and get some lesson planning down. Plus I got to catch up on some HIMYM…I am sooooooo behind! So since I didn’t do much worth pictures I thought I would share some pics of my students. They really are super cute and you can get to see who I spend my days playing with! 

the baby of the class
the bad boy

My sweetheart 🙂 
I love her hairstyles everyday 

see…she is too cute! 

they love pictures!

Saturday I took the bus alone for the first time…not scary just not in English AT ALL….

I can’t believe I have been gone a little over 3 months already. Its crazy to imagine. Its going to be a very long week since we work Saturday this week and then were off next week. Its weird how that works but government makes the rules and we follow.

Anywho! I’m off to read your posts and live vicariously through your weekends 🙂

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