Life is Good

Hello, Hello! I am currently laying on a bed looking out the window and thinking about how crazy and wonderful and exciting life is. I am also currently 14 hours ahead of New York, the future is lookin' real good for you guys over there ;) - I am in Australia! Last week, again, Eric and I played the "how long can we put off packing" game (hint: until less than 24hrs before our flight took off) and packed up as much of our lives as we could fit into two suitcases each and hopped on a plane. Flying to Australia from New York is a long trip, but flying here by way of Taiwan is another story. 10/10 would not recommend. If any of you did that trip to come visit us, I am pretty certain you would not be returning! NY to Taiwan is 16 hrs, add in a layover (ours was 6) and then an overnight 9 hr flight to Australia and you have a recipe for the sorest butt/back/body in all the land. California to Brisbane is where it's at. 

Sunrise at Point Cartwright

 

We are so excited and happy to be back living on the Sunshine Coast! The amount of times Eric and I have looked at each other and said "this doesn't feel real" is crazy. We had talked about it for so long and after first coming here two years ago, it became a dream to get back. The way things work out is crazy and in the grand scheme of things, I hope everyone realizes you are exactly where you need to be; everything happens for a reason. Looking back, if you asked either of us why certain things played out the way they did over the past few years, we wouldn't have the slightest clue. But, I am so glad we "trusted the process" and ended up right where we did! That is all every bit as cheesy as it is true. 

100% candid, just happy to be here

The Sunshine Coast is total paradise. It is so colorful, tropical and laid back. It immediately feels like home and we have spent the past few days going to some of our favorite spots from when we were here last and exploring new ones. I am so excited to keep exploring and adventuring, the things to see and places to go are endless!

La Balsa Park Sunset 

Eric is playing basketball here with a new team, but with some teammates/friends from last time. He also accepted a position working with the club! It is so exciting and I am so, so proud of him. This job is a two year commitment and after that- who knows! The past few years have taught me to embrace uncertainty (super difficult for an obsessive planner) but I am so grateful to just be going with the flow and trusting everything is unfolding how it is meant to! So, in the meantime, I'll be touching base from the wonderful Sunshine Coast, missing everyone back home like crazy, and anxiously waiting for visitors!

The best kind of view

FAQ:
Are the spiders huge?
Some are! You'll be fine.. really. 

Do all of the animals want to kill me?
No, you're good. 

(statement) It's so far.
Yeah, it is. Don't knock it till you visit though ;) 

Is the long flight worth it?
110% yes.

Brightwater Lake

Lots of love + light from my corner of the world to yours~
xx 

January 2018 + Goals

Oh hey! So, I don't really do resolutions or anything like that but halfway through January I decided it might be nice to make an effort to bring my neglected blog back to life! So hi, friends~ I hope 2018 started out amazing for everyone and it turns into the best year, yet. I would (hopefully) like to (at least) recap every month.. it's such a fun thing to look back on and revisit times/thoughts/pictures. Maybe I'll even get to writing about living in Luxembourg?! Who knows~ 

Even though I am resolution-less I have 2018 goals + ideas, a big one for me is getting comfortable being uncomfortable. It's  sometimes  so hard to get out of your own way and be okay with doing hard things to grow. So, that's something I'm really working on this year! The other night I did my first Facebook live AND I survived! So I would say it's going good so far. Blogging/posting became uncomfortable for me for a bit, but it's something I do enjoy and it's time to get uncomfortable and get back to! 

first Facebook live with my friend, Laura!

January 2018 was good to me. I really feel like it was a great start to a year that's going to be exciting and big. Eric, Tito and I traveled, spent lots of time with family and friends and enjoyed every second. 

The beginning of the month started out with Tito recovering from emergency eye surgery (yikes)  PSA: Dog parents, look into pet insurance!!  When something you don't expect to happen, happens, youll be thanking yourself (and me). Still wishing I had gotten it when I looked into it when he was a puppy.. with no pre existing conditions.. but that's life and I should probably take my own advice and get it anyway. He's doing great now, and is the proud new owner of doggles (still waiting for him to love them as much as we do). 

                      

                       

The day his stitches came out we hopped on a plane and headed to spend some time with Eric's family in Colorado. It was so great to see and spend time with them. Colorado is so beautiful and such a huge change from what we are used to. We went to a rodeo, up to their cabin, toured Celestial Seasonings (SO interesting and fun) and saw his extended family. Tito went to "sleep away camp" aka we boarded him (for the first time) for two nights there and I cried when we left... his little face was so confused. crazydogmom.

        

After the weekend, Tito and I hopped on another plane (flight #11 for him) and went to San Diego for some much needed bff time with Paisley and her cute puppy, Eleanor! I love love California. As sad as I am being so far from my best friend, I'm not too mad about visiting her there. We hiked, went to the dog beach, she showed me around their new area and we played board games with Brett once he was done adulting. Tito didn't eat Eleanor so I call that a win. Eric flew in a few days later and we got to get together with my Aunt Katie and Uncle Richie who we don't see nearly enough. It was the best time. 

      

          
                   
  
  

I'm so glad we booked the trip for when we did, it was the perfect way to start off a new year. 

The weekend after we got back I headed into NYC to spend way overdue time with some of my best friends from college. We don't get together nearly enough but when we do, it feels like no time has passed. The only thing that's changed is I feel hungover staying up way, way past my bedtime.. even without drinking. Yikes. 

  

January, thanks for bringing me so many dogs to pet and so many of my favorite people~ 

Things coming up in February:

· lots and lots of teaching (since I haven't posted anything in forever- this is new-ish, I'm an online ESL teacher! I teach the cutest Chinese students)

· a 30 day clean eating challenge- I'm so so excited for 

· enjoying every second of this Long Island winter ...lol 

· (hopefully) lots of beach walks

· more time with friends 

· more blogging (?!) 

· podcasts! listening to lots of really great ones (always open to recommendations- some favorites are Oprah's Super Soul Conversations, the Lively Show & What the Eff.) 

· new recipes + time spent in the kitchen (aka one of my happy places)

· reading, knitting and early bedtimes (just like the grandma I am at heart) 

January wrapped up with an unexpected snow + my feisty Gram unknowingly diva-ing around Walgreens, so here ya go~

  

hope you had the best January. love and light. xo 

Beach Glass World Map

Seeing this piece come to life was the coolest. After collecting beach glass for years and staring at it, eventually separating it by color and then staring at it again wondering what on earth you do with that much beach glass- the idea popped into my head and I'm so so happy it did.

Growing up on a beach on Long Island, I have such an appreciation for the water and the treasures that come from it. My grandma instilled an appreciation for everything beach related with her hundreds and hundreds of shells she turned into mirrors and won tons of awards for (did you know there is a competitive shell mirror/craft circuit? ...the more you know~) and her jars and jars of beach glass. At 93 she is still dreaming and creating different kind of beach related magic, she's spunky, creative and the ultimate DIY-er and I love her for it. This piece impressed her and for that, I'm real proud of myself.

For some reason in my mind I anticipated the process being simple and fast..lol. After putting together and taking apart every area/continent approx 15 times, I was able to go back and glue every single piece down. The gluing part gave me a lot of time to think not only about how unique and special every single piece of glass is, but also how cool to create the world out of so many individually unique pieces. Every piece of beach glass has a story, a story I hope is a happy one- a few beers with friends, a night spent around a beach fire celebrating something; I'm sure there are some sad stories, crazy stories and weird ones too. However the glass ended up down the beach turning into beach glass, I'm really happy it did!


Today I glued down the last few pieces and after a few attempts to stand it up and realizing there were pieces I missed, it was successful! After what happened in Manchester last night I feel like the world is hurting and scared, I know my heart breaks for the people affected by the violence. At the same time it is so important to not get stuck in the fear and miss living and enjoying the world. Easier said than done. I know personally, I sometimes get so scared by the violence and terror thats out there but at the same time I don't want to let that impact how I live my life. There is also so much kindness, love and compassion out there too. I am so incredibly grateful to have experienced traveling to and living in so many different places so far. For me, the beach will always be my home, but I've found you can find and create home anywhere in the world. I'm so happy that I was able to create this out of tiny pieces of glass from the place where I grew up to make up the world that I hope to never stop exploring.

So here is to the natural beauty thats always around us, to the tiny pieces of happiness you can find everyday and to the world as a whole. I hope everyone gets to explore, experience and fall in love with all of the places~

 Happy Tuesday, friends! xo

30 Day March-April: Results/Review

Heathy living is something I really try to focus on. I love and live on the Arbonne nutrition line but I never committed to doing the 30 healthy living plan before, I was always nervous because I do slip up here and there with my eating choices (carbs of any kind are my weakness). So in March I finally decided to just commit to the month and see how it goes, I planned it out so I ended the day before I left for Arbonne's Global Training Conference (GTC) in Vegas because I didn't want to feel like I couldn't indulged since I promised myself I would stick to it. (Wolfgang Puck's truffle chips with blue cheese sauce are a must for me any and every time I'm in Vegas). 

Luckily Arbonne has an amazing line of products and I never feel like I'm missing out on anything because it's all that good. You also get week by week recipe guides and grocery lists so it's easy to switch up healthy meals to avoid getting tired of anything. 

So a typical day for me was a protein shake for breakfast which I loaded up with tons of great things: (usually) vanilla protein, almond milk, greens balance, fiber, bluebs or mixed berries (sometimes no berries), a spoonful of almond butter and lots of ice and it is so good. 

Lunch would either be a chocolate shake that I made that morning with almond milk, almond butter, and ice OR leftovers from dinner the night before. Dinner was so fun and to be honest once I fall into a habit or really like something, I stick with it for awhile- I got really into seasoning up some chicken (Chile lime is my current jam), roasting sweet potatoes and making guac. So. Good. 

     A quick thrown together dinner after   working late

 About once a week I switched it up with grass fed beef burgers and salmon.To be honest though, we were working late a lot so by the time I got home I was always looking forward to my usual chicken & sweets. At night instead of having an occasional glass of wine I switched it up to a detox tea every night, maybe I missed wine once or twice but I really love winding down with the tea! Sometimes I make it early in the day, let it cool and add ice and a fizz stick. 

Oh! I do have a huge sweet tooth, chocolate anything is good with me, so I made almond butter cups with the chocolate protein a bunch of times because they're delish and also filling. And the lava cakes with chocolate protein, for real it doesn't taste like it should be "allowed" 😍 

Also, I'm a snacker.. I rarely, if ever leave the house without a snack in my bag lol. Usually I'll have a bar of some sort and some raw almonds or cashews and Arbonne's fit chews that taste like candy but fill you/suppress your appetite. And now in my next 30 days, I'll be able to have the option of the two new amazing bars they released at GTC! YAY! 

So, I dropped the ball on my before pictures.. I really meant to take them but I didn't and I'm so bummed BUT I can say, there was a huge difference in beginning, middle and end. In the beginning I was feeling pretty bloated, tired and just not great. A few days in I noticed a ton more energy and didn't feel bloated or so sluggish. By the end I was feeling GREAT. I'm not big into weighing myself because I prefer to go by how I feel, I did weigh myself halfway through and I was down ~4 pounds so that's exciting! I considered climbing ladders/scaffolding all day/everyday my workout and probably should have done more than that but for now, I'm happy with my results and am so looking forward to starting another 30 days in May and incorporating working out consistently. 

Halfway through, super cute outfit, I know 😏

Two days after I finished~ 

A few days ago, I definitely noticed my legs feeling slimmer~ yay! 

My favorite part of the program is its doable, I never felt like I was missing out on anything. You have choices everyday and it just teaches you to make better ones, once you know how you feel eating clean as opposed to "normal" it's hard to go back. And if you have a cheat day or two, so be it, you know your body and how you feel and it's no big deal~ ultimately you want to just feel good and be happy so whatever that looks like for you is great! For me it's an 80/20 ratio of eating clean and as best I can/relaxing and enjoying myself- balance is a great thing! And I don't know any other program that you can eat chocolate and lava cakes with, but I'm just sayin 😉. 

If any of this sounds good to you, let me know!! I'm starting another 30 days in May, it's always fun to have a buddy to help you be accountable/give advice and talk you off the edge when you really want a freaking piece of pizza lol 

*as an extra note- all of Arbonne's products are vegan, gluten free, kosher certified, free of artificial colors and sweeteners and really delish! 

XO 

Ice swimming + sauna-ing

Yesterday I did something that I never, ever saw myself doing. But lately, I've been trying to embrace more of a "yeah, why not?" mentality. So, when my friend Henrika asked if I would be into trying ice swimming, it was really hard to fight my first response of "hahaha no" and go for it. 

I was nervous about not being mentally tough enough to do it, the water at home in the summer is sometimes not warm enough for me.. and I'd be lying if I said I didn't pour myself a big glass of wine before going BUT I did it! And I was so freaking proud of myself and actually really, really enjoyed it. 

I had no idea what to expect and it was my first Finnish sauna experience too. I 100% anticipated it to be completely different than it was. What I imagined was more like a polar plunge (which I've also never done) where you run into the water, run out and then go hang out in the sauna for a little bit. Luckily, It was so much more relaxing than that. So basically, there are a ton of different locations, we went to one about 20mins away. The sauna was brand new and it was a quiet, pretty area. Once you get there, you change into your bathing suit and then you head into the sauna. When we first got in there it was so crowded, I'd say about 20-25 people were there. After a few minutes we were ready to get to the swimming part. 

I thought it was going to be a lake but it was actually the sea and it was also completely frozen, expect for the area where people swim, they had a pump keeping the water moving so it wouldn't freeze there. Walking up to the frozen water in a bathing suit + socks (super cute look) is so intimidating. Regulars who were going back in shocked me because they just casually walked in, dipped and stayed under the water up to their necks. Meanwhile, I was internally panicking and trying to not be that obnoxious, wimpy American girl who's scared of the water (I think a few of them got a good laugh at me going in). I went in, lowered myself in and immediately felt like the wind was knocked out of me and headed right back for the sauna. Going from the sauna that was about 170°f to the cold water was shocking and I completely understand why they don't suggest it if you have a heart condition. 

So we ended up doing it five times and every time got easier and less painful.. except for the fourth time, that almost felt like the first all over again. It was so much fun though! Henrika also interviewed me a bit during it for a radio program she does that airs in Australia (very cool) so hopefully I didn't sound too crazy! 

It was such a fun experience and I felt so relaxed during and after (the complete opposite of what I expected). I would 100% do it again and hopefully Eric can come next time! Also, as crazy as it sounds there are a bunch of benefits of doing it: boosts your immune system, releases a ton of endorphins, increases circulation, burns calories, etc.. so many positives that make the pain and numbness totally worth it! 

Oh! Yesterday was also Runeberg's day in Finland, everyone eats a certain kind of cake. Henrika brought some over and it turns out, I'm a big fan of Runeberg, his cake was delicious! I was curious about how this special cake eating day came about so, Runeberg was a poet in the 1800's, he's the national poet of Finland and also wrote what would become the Finnish national anthem & yesterday was his birthday (thanks Wikipedia). 

Hope everyone's weekend was just as fun and way warmer than mine~ xx 

Life in Finland

I've been in Finland for awhile now so I guess it's about time I blogged. I've wrote this post a few times/have had this written for bit so I guess it's about time to hit "publish". According to Joycie, I have to blog because "the people want to know!!", not sure who the people are but hi, mom! 

Finland is different. I feel like living in Australia, especially the Sunshine Coast, makes every place after it look bad (miss it too much). BUT Finland is pretty and has its own positives too! It's cold and dark here, a lot. Like sun rises around 10am sets at 3:30pm kind of dark (since I've written this it's gotten a bit better). That's been throwing me off, I feel like I'm always so tired because anytime before sunrise feels like 3am and after feels like midnight. Super guilty of using it as an excuse to lounge in bed extra long. But I've definitely started appreciating the sunlight a lot more than usual, even though it's always so cold our room gets awesome natural light that I love. It's also insanely icy here, always. Our apartment is in an old school that was converted (very cool) but since it was an old school there's a ton of space out front, which is now the driveway. It's constantly a sheet of solid ice so you take your life in your hands going to the car/mailbox/anywhere. I haven't worn anything but snow boots in over a month. I feel like Finnish people must be born with extra balance or something, everyone walks everywhere! I love how people get out and walk, regardless of the weather, you'll see mostly older people which is great. Granted they have usually have ski poles, bikes and threewheeled scooters (love those) but I really think there's extra balance in their genes too. 

For the most part, most people speak English.. even if it's just a little bit, it makes life easier. Finnish is 100% impossible and all sorts of confusing. I've mastered "thank you" and that's about it. I just hope no one tries to talk to me in Finnish and when they do I apologetically/uncomfortably smile and say "English?" while hoping for the best (so far so good). 

Food shopping is a little challenging here, for the most part you know what you're getting but I usually translate what I want beforehand if I'm getting anything out of the ordinary to make it a little easier. 

Everyone has been really friendly and welcoming! At the first game I went to, I was presented with flowers which was such a nice gesture, even if I had no idea what they said and kind of wanted to crawl under my seat (I don't love being the center of attention like that), regardless so so nice! There are four other Americans on the team who are all great, so it's been fun to hang out with them and spend the holidays all together! 

Uusikaupunki is a small town, super quiet and to be honest there's not much going on, especially because it's so cold. I've heard it's amazing in the summer! But there a bunch of cute shops and places to take walks. There's a really pretty trail by our house we've hiked and on a lucky day you'll see people with their horses and ponies around there! I got to visit the stables the other day, the horses are beautiful! 

We've been to Helsinki and Turku, I'll probably post on those separately, I loved the cities! It's a nice change of pace and I have a love for pretty European streets and character. Even here in Uusikaupunki there is a ton of character and every place I've been has such a warm, cozy feel to it. I love it. 

Other than all that, life is good! A friend taught me how to knit, the Finnish way, and I'm loving it. I'm currently learning how to drive a stick, that's interesting lol. And I think I'm going "ice swimming" this weekend. Send warm vibes my way~ 

Ps- anyone with good book suggestions, send those my way too!  

xx