Dear Gabriela (a.k.a. Chucky/ Changa-licious), In lieu of a traditional gift, I decided to pen this post for you – not only because you recently demanded to know why I haven’t written a birthday shout-out for you, but because I’m ready to make it “blog official.” It’s * (inside joke) advice I heard from some crazy girl raving how “nothing is official until it’s FB official!” Since today’s your special day, I’ll save the major eye-roll for tomorrow (Countdown: 16…
Over the years, I have experienced a lot of personal growth as I slowly (painfully so, at times) discovered my inner-voice (both on the blog & ‘in real life’), pursued my dreams, and trekked around the states. As a result, this blog has undergone many changes. After all, it is just an extension of myself – the good, the bad, and the downright messy. If you’ve been following for a while (Hi, mom!) you’ll notice that we’re under construction around…
This past weekend Jay, Gabriela, Olga and I went to the Chesapeake Crab & Beer Festival at National Harbor in Maryland. Finding parking was easy and inexpensive ($9 without a time limit; no in/out privileges). Purchasing tickets at the tent was a debacle. The website indicated that no ticket was necessary to enter & instead of purchasing a $59 ticket for unlimited crab or 6 crabs + unlimited beer, there was a $35 a la carte option, which included 1/2…
Even grown-ups need a timeout sometimes. A few weeks ago I was feeling extremely overwhelmed. You know the kind of overwhelmed where your head hurts and it’s difficult to breath? Yeah. That kind of overwhelmed. My emotions were on overdrive and my thoughts were on an endless loop. When I’m feeling like that, which isn’t often, driving helps to calm me down. I wish I could blame my natural instinct to flee on my gypsy soul, but there’s a greater…
Last weekend Jay & I headed back to Philly for the wedding of our friends, Roberta & Eric. The ceremony took place at the church where the couple regularly attends, which was very sweet since their priest had a very intimate knowledge of them, both as a couple & as individuals. I really loved that Ro & Eric chose non-traditional music that meant something to them. It was a special touch to an already beautiful ceremony. After the ceremony, there…
For lovers, indeed! It’s official, the Cruz family is now living in the Washington D.C. suburbs of Virginia! This will be our home for the foreseeable future until the time is right for us to move back West. For now, we plan on enjoying what’s left of our East coast adventures & our time in Virginia. Jay & I made a “Virginia Bucketlist” of places to visit, things to do and restaurants we want to try, so without further ado:…
We have arrived at our new home in Virginia! All we had with us when we moved in was what we could fit into our car (his name is Dexter), so the first night we slept on a foam mattress topper & pillows. The next day, Jay rented a U-Haul truck and cleaned out both of our storage units – one in Philly and the other here in Alexandria – with the help of several movers. What you don’t see…
We spent our last weekend as Illinois residents cruising down the Chicago river and having dinner at Sunda. To save money, we bought tickets on Groupon, but as it turned out the cruise company oversold seats & the next available cruise was not until June. In the end, it cost more because we weren’t able to get a refund on Groupon. (Don’t get me started on that.). We couldn’t allow a $40 hiccup to ruin our last weekend in Chicago,…
My dad often jokes about how I’ve made a career out of being a student. Much to my chagrin, some of the greatest truths are told in jest. There’s no denying that I’ve spent the better half of my life either in school, working or both. Despite the jokes, sleepless nights, stress, and (a lot) of tears, I truly have no regrets. My “career” as a student has finally come to an end, but the learning does not stop here.…
At the risk of being a braggart, I’d like to say, I am great at buying gifts for people. Throughout the year I try to make mental notes of gifts that my family & friends would like based on conversations we’ve had or things I’ve seen in the stores. Occasionally, my A-game is strong and I squirrel gifts or cards for Christmas or birthdays. (Toot, toot.) Admittedly, I’m terrible at the actual gift-giving part of the process. There have been…