This week the IG Husband and I said goodbye, cut all ties, and parted ways…with our mortgage lender! It’s the most responsible, liberating, adult thing we’ve ever done. After a long short four years we paid off our mortgage and became homeowners. To commemorate the best way I know how, I’m sharing the photos from our first-home photo-shoot and sharing my 5 secrets to buying a home in less than 5 years.
Long weekends are perfect for taking a road trip, so I have partnered with Blitzify[i] to bring you 7 hacks for the perfect road trip. Going on a road trip has its pros and cons. Pros, you’re going on an awesome adventure; cons, it can be costly. Here are some hacks you can try to balance those pros and cons to reach vacation bliss this long weekend.
When you were little and you were asked what you wanted to be when you grew up, what did you say? My answer varied by the day. Sometimes I’d say I wanted to be a missionary who would travel from island to island on a large sailboat. Sometimes I’d say I wanted to be a princess who had really long blonde hair. Nowadays, I just want to be a good teacher and a published writer. One day, my grandmother sat me down and said, “ay sí que bonito, but will you be a married missionary or not, a married princess or not? Because if so, you will have to learn how not to burn the rice”. And so, knowing I wanted to be a married anything, from then on I also began thinking of the kind of wife I’d be. I think for that long, I’ve been dreaming of being a cafecito wife. For equally as long, I think I have been battling perfectionism.
Most of the important things I learned in life, I learned from watching my big sister. From her, I learned how to apply lipstick, how to clean bathroom tile, and all the ways not to curl my hair. Now that I’m grown up, I must admit that I continue to learn valuable lessons from all the women who, although not related by blood, still carry the weight of an older sister. Have you ever thought of finding your own financial big sister?
When I was offered the opportunity to speak with femtrepreneurs Nely Galán and Nicole Enearu, I was thrilled by the prospect of learning from their entrepreneurial expertise (and hopefully a little bit of their glamour as well). The Adelante Movement, presented by Coca-Cola, aims to unite and empower Latinas economically and entrepreneurially. Adelante is part of The Coca-Cola Company’s global 5by20 initiative to enable 5 million women entrepreneurs by the year 2020.
When I was a little girl, the greater part of my Sundays were spent in a laundromat. It was my weekly torture session. Not only because of the fact that I wouldn’t be buying anything from the vending machines, despite having a pocket full of quarters, nor because of the heat radiating from the dryers, not even because I knew I’d be wasting a minimum of three hours of my life that I’d never get back. In reality, I think what bothered me the most was what the entire scene represented. It was emblematic of being an immigrant in the United States, being weird, being different. I was so afraid a classmate might see me through the windows and recognize me. I don’t even know why identifying myself generated such fear, but at that young age, I didn’t think it was possible to ever love my Hispanic heritage. At that time, the only thing I wanted was the unattainable… more than citizenship, I wanted acceptance.
Cuando era niña, gaste la mayor parte de mis domingos en una lavandería. Para mí era la tortura de la semana. No solo porque las monedas que llevaba en los bolsillos no eran para comprar refresco, ni por el calor insoportable de las secadoras, ni siquiera porque sabía que sería un desperdicio de mínimo de tres horas que jamás podría recuperar en mi vida. En realidad, creo que lo que más me torturaba era lo que representaba para mí esa escena. Era representativa de ser inmigrante en los estados unidos, ser los raros, los diferentes. A esa edad, pensaba que jamás fuera posible amar mi herencia hispana. No sé porque me daba tanta pena identificarme como tal. Temía que algún compañero de clase me fuera a ver a través de las ventanas y me reconociera. En esa época, lo único que quería era alcanzar lo inalcanzable, anhelaba más que una ciudadanía… la aceptación.
There is so much buzz surrounding Serena Williams this month, who, besides being a woman in her thirties, is now the No. 2 ranked woman tennis player in the world. Watching her, I realized that losing a game does not equate losing your boldness or your confidence. Lately, I’ve been so weighed down with anxiety, fearing future outcomes, and doubting every move that I make. But, I wanted that; to feel bold and confident, so that no matter what comes my way I can grunt at life the way Serena does on the court.
In our overly connected society, we may often confuse connectivity with connection, human connection that is. Commenting, texting, reposting, and retweeting have become substitutes for communication and we often erroneously use these to gauge the status of a relationship. That can be dangerous, because the truth is, so much gets overlooked when scrolling through our feeds. Sometimes it’s either way too apparent that a friend is suffering from depression or anxiety[i] and we are quick to catalogue them as “dark”. Other times, our friends become experts at curating their lives to showcase a surreal perfection, and the easiest thing is for us to believe that they are alright.
So, you notice your friend is feeling the blues, the reds, and every color in between. What can you do if you suspect a close friend may be experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety?
I have always felt that one of the truest forms of culture lies in its cuisine. Food is the universal language through which we are all connected. You can tell a lot about a country’s suffering, survival, and adaption from the dishes they prepare. And while I feel I may never master salsa dancing or speak Spanish any other way than the way I know how, I know I can eat. I can taste almost any meal with an open heart and an open mind. That is why I recommend that anytime you are trying to learn about a new culture in a new place, you take a culinary tour.
Chasing this very perspective, I went on Miami Culinary Tours’ Little Havana Tour which is a walking tour of historic Calle Ocho in the predominantly Cuban Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. I wasn’t wrong in my assessments of the unifying power of food. Tourists from Los Angeles, honeymooners from Belgium, and foodies from Denver, all converged with the same purpose: to glean as much perspective as possible from this vibrant and unique Miamian subculture.
