Please take good care of them...

So I am still having problems with ONE STRAP on both of my Latin dancing shoes. The shoes are breaking in quite nicely otherwise. However, one strap is rubbing my pinky toe the wrong way. I talked to my husband, otherwise known as that hot dance instructor I married, who recommended I ask one of the female instructors where she takes her shoes to be altered. Apparently, she's had to have one strap repositioned on her dancing shoes and he thought she would know where to take them.

She recommended a place that has previously done a good job for her. I dropped them off today like I was leaving my child at daycare..."So you guys have lengthened that strap before? That's something you do often?"

I am hoping they are able to lengthen that strap so that I have no more complications with this pair of shoes. The rest of the shoe is absolutely wonderful! If they are able to fix this strap on both shoes...I am set.

New Pasta Salad Recipe

J and I got invited to a picnic birthday party last week. I decided I wanted to try a different pasta salad. A friend recommended that I try this recipe from Food Network.

The pasta salad was VERY tasty! Before we left for the picnic, J tried a bite of it and LOVED it! We've already made it one more time since the picnic and served it alongside grilled pork chops.

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Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients:
1/2 pound fusilli (spirals) pasta
Kosher salt
Olive oil
1 pound ripe tomatoes, medium-diced
3/4 cup good black olives, such as kalamata, pitted and diced
1 pound fresh mozzarella, medium-diced
6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped

For the dressing:
5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons good olive oil
1 garlic clove, diced
1 teaspoon capers, drained
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 cup packed basil leaves, julienned

Directions
Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water with a splash of oil to keep it from sticking together. Boil for 12 minutes, or according to the directions on the package. Drain well and allow to cool. Place the pasta in a bowl and add the tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.
For the dressing, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, capers, salt, and pepper in a food processor until almost smooth.
Pour the dressing over the pasta, sprinkle with the Parmesan and basil, and toss well.

These Shoes Were Made for Dancing...

So, I needed new Latin shoes that would allow my feet to spread out more to not only help me move better, but help my balance.

After searching and consulting with other Latin dancers, I was introduced to the Ray Rose brand of Latin dancing shoes. Here's why:

* The Ray Rose brand has a special system for balancing the heel. They also offer a square toe (instead of a round shape like most shoes have). This square toe shape helps me with the way my toes are shaped. My toes are shaped different than most with my third toe being longer than the second. The square toe shape of the shoe helps my unique feet feel better on the floor.

* Ray Rose is the only brand that offers a special fit called "Medium +." This Medium + fit allows more room in the toe area for those who have a wider forefoot. I have always needed more room for my toes. In the past, I used to buy wider fitting shoes. The only problem was that not only did the wider fitting shoes give me more room in the toe area, it also gave me more room in the HEEL area. When you have too much room in the heel area, your feet slip around when you dance. By buying the Ray Rose shoes in a Medium + fit, I have more room in the toe area with the same width in the heel. Perfect!

BUT the story isn't done yet.....I have to properly break them in which can be a somewhat painful process. I'm getting there though! I'm much more pleased with the process of breaking these in than I have with other brands of Latin dance shoes.

Here they are:

Controlling those Cravings!

Happy Monday!

Recently, I began using this new product to help control my cravings. If you're like me and like, LIKE food (sometimes to the point of excess) this may be a product you may be interested in. I'm not looking specifically to lose a ton of weight. However, this has been a good product to keep me eating healthy amounts of food verses overeating. Take a look at it and let me know what you think. I highly recommend it. After using it for just a few weeks, I can really tell a difference.

http://www.trueessentials.net/index.asp?repid=6559818 - Look for their Crave Control product by clicking on products on the upper left side of the page then click on "Weight Control" in the drop down menu.



America is one of the fattest nations in the world. One of the main reasons for that is our lack of portion control. We eat much larger portions of certain types of food than we need to. I hear people all the time ranking local restaurants in terms of the ones who give them the largest amounts of food.

Understand, I'm not an advocate of scary dieting practices. However, I am an advocate of eating healthy portion sizes of food and making sure one gets their recommended amount of exercise in every week.

Here's a good link for information regarding healthy food portion sizes:

http://www.mealsmatter.org/EatingForHealth/Topics/Healthy-Living-Articles/Portion-Sizes.aspx