Today Is My Birthday! :)

I had a wonderful birthday weekend with Allan. Saturday, we went to the museum, had lunch, went to see Inglourious Basterds (which I thoroughly enjoyed, btw), then had a wonderful Thai dinner with quite a few sips of sake. It was great. :) This morning Allan went for a 12 mile run, and yes, I BIKED along with him. Hahaa! The rest of my day was very chill and consisted of going to the grocery store (and buying myself some frozen yogurt), since Allan had to leave for work. :(
I am looking forward to our trip to Maine which is right around the corner. Road trips are so much fun to me!
All in all, it was a fabulous weekend, and I am pooped. I have a looong week ahead of me. Lots to do! More manana...I'm sleeepy...

This Made Me Laugh Today! :)

After being at the hospital ALL DAY just to get some x-rays and a scanogram on my hip, I needed a little giggle. This is what did it for me. :) I heart Jason Mraz.

Spring is here, and so are my allergies!

It is GORGEOUS out, but I am dying a slow death of snot and phloem. Yup, I said it. Gross, ew.
I will soon post pics of Allan and I on our first bike ride out this Spring! Pink cherry blossoms are blooming, yellow daffodils are everywhere and it sure does make Philadelphia beautiful! I haven't had allergy or sinus issues this bad since we've lived in Houston. Puerto Rico spoiled me...for real. But enough of that...I have 4 full, beautiful seasons now! How cool is that? I've never had that. :)

Yoga + Tea Ceremony = Ahh..Sunday

Today was a very mellow day. I slept in, had a banana blueberry smoothie, and did some school work online. I went to the studio for a yoga/tea ceremony workshop that was held by Pamela. It was fabulous! We did a very soothing yoga vinyasa with an extra long savasana (it was better than sleep), then followed with the tea ceremony. Today's delight: Oolong. Mmm...I had no clue that teas were so fascinating. It was so delicately prepared and sipped like a fine wine, savoring every last drop slowly so that you could let all of your senses absorb its goodness. Pamela made us a little sweet treat that she referred to as a "sunflower butter blondie" (like a brownie, but a blondie, w/out peanut butter--instead, sunflower butter). It was a nice little tea cake. There is a fine art to a tea ceremony, and I will no longer look at tea the same. Hey, coming from Texas, I think I've come a long way from Lipton and Luzianne! I had many teas in Thailand, mainly green and jasmine, which are very popular there. Now, I wish I would have brought more home with me! I guess I will have to go back...this time with Allan, and minus all of the "baggage". I am now jonesing for a cute little tea pot so that I can experiment at home.
Pamela read a verse from a poem by Lu Tung, each time we had a cup of tea, which I thought was really beautiful.

"The first cup moistens my lips and throat. The second cup breaks my loneliness. The third cup searches my barren entrails only to find therein some thousand volumes of odd ideographs. The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration - all the wrongs of life pass out through my pores. At the fifth cup I am purified. The sixth cup calls me to the realms of the immortals. The seventh cup - ah, but I could take no more! I only feel the breath of the cool wind that raises in my sleeves. Where is Elysium? Let me ride on this sweet breeze and waft away thither."Lu Tung

All of this just reminds me to take pleasure in all of the small things in life, take everything in, and savor it, little by little. Each small cup of tea I had today, reminded me to slow down, breathe deep, and take pride and joy in all that surrounds me.

I'm in PHILLY now y'all!

We have relocated to "The City of Brotherly Love". Which totally cracks me up because ironically, my brothers' both lived only a few blocks away from where I live now. They both went to college here and played soccer for Philly U. It really amazes me how small this world can be at times. It makes me real happy to know that I am now living in my brothers old stomping grounds.
Okay, so I have lots of catching up to do...so far, we have moved to Philadelphia, lived in a 2 bedroom apartment in the city, went to a Madonna concert, I got a part-time job, while doing a work exchange at a nearby yoga studio, I've had my 30th birthday, had multiple girlfriends from Houston come visit (along with Allan's parents), moved to a large 3 bedroom apartment (in the same building), still taking online classes, and have since quit my part-time job to focus on school whilst working only at the yoga studio. Whew...yea, 8 months in a nutshell. ;)
Hahaha! Hope you were able to take that in, because I still don't think I have. Moving from Puerto Rico, where its sunny all-day everyday, to now living where its STILL winter and I have to wear socks--is just plain weird. I called my trainer the other week asking her if I still had to go in because it was snowing...yea, she laughed at me. I had no clue!? I don't know what to do with all of this white stuff?! I'm just a Texan living out of her element in a crazy, cold city, that at first, was reminiscent to Gotham City. Now, I have fallen in love with this ancient city, truly. I have so many incredible projects coming up and I am sooo excited for the adventures to come. None of which I will bore you with now. You will get reports from time to time now that this blog is back up and running. Woooo-hoooo!!! My online therapy sessions are back!

Adios PR!

So here I am, staring at all of these Puerto Rican, Daddy Yankee-looking dudes packing away my things. I'm wondering if they are like, "Wow, this chick sure does have a lot of crap." Today they are packing our things into boxes, and tomorrow they will packing those boxes into crates. They will then go to the shipyard to be shipped far, far, away...and I won't see any of it for about a month. This week has been stressful, and hectic to say the least. Allan and I are "trying" to make the best of our last moments here without making it all about moving. Yesterday morning we went to "our beach". We nicknamed the little secret spot 'Kudda Beach' because it has lots of little baby barracudas in the water, and that name has funny high school reference that some of you readers may know. ;) Hakuna Matata! Ha,ha... I hate making inside jokes on this thing, but I had to... It was a lovely morning full of fun in the sun, then we had to come back only to realize we had SO much to do. We are at least trying to balance it all out. Its a tad overwhelming.
AN-Y-WAYS, once again, like in Thailand, I am figuring out that I am really good at charades. I think it might be the actor in me, who knows? Either that, or the fact that I enjoy running around like an ape trying to get my point across to people who don't speak Ingles. Its loads of fun. Yay. These dudes could care less about what they are doing. You can tell they are hungover, and they are wrapping my stuff up in brown paper like its a race to see who can finish first so they don't have to buy the first round. There is no motivation...I just want them to take care of my things as if they bought it themselves with their $5.25/hr paychecks....Geez, that's all I'm asking for! My back aches, and I am a fancy Vegas-style buffet to the mosquitoes. Sorry, I am crabby. Guess I need to get to the grind and contribute my energy to something useful. I can't wait until this is over with. Buh.


P.S. I think one of the guys is super hungover and puked in my backyard.

Update from the PR

- I am back from Thailand, and I made it alive! No malaria.
- I FINALLY reunited with Allan, so you will no longer have to hear me whine and bitch.
- I have permagrin.
- Allan graduated from OCS, and looks incredibly handsome in his whites.
- We are back in PR getting ready for our move to PA.
- Its taking longer than we thought.
- I got a tattoo while in Houston
- I miss my dogs like crazy (seems that I am always missing someone these days)
- I will post pics of everything soon, promise.

Sorry So Short...Longer Letter Later! xoxo