Isla Mujeres, Mexico!

a family trip to Isla before a few days in Cancun!

so grateful for these moments with my people

I hope to make more videos soon

they take a lot of time

BUT THEY'RE SO FUN

adios!

an NYC anniversary

Seven Years

 It's a little surreal when you look at your spouse and realize, we've been married for 7 years babe.! How did that happen?! When did all this time pass?! You hear it all your life, that time just flies. But when you're living it, man is it fast.

Seven Years Married

We've been through the highs and the lows, the late night arguments and hard belly laughs; the answered prayers, miracles witnessed, and faith tested. We loved each other though the mistakes and hurt feelings, and choose each other when we couldn't keep our hands off the other, and also when the best we could do was look the other way and not talk for days. There were tears, many many tears, the good and the bad kind. And lot of celebrating! We love to celebrate, usually with donuts or tacos (quesadillas for G) or late night walks or beach days with friends. And we believed; we believed that what God put together, none can separate! We believed in the unconditional love of Christ for us, and that it's our call to love in the same way. We're doing the work and we're here, still hand in hand, on the same team, and that's definitely worth cheering about!

Seven Years Married + Celebrating

It was Gs turn to take over and plan something special this year. We're doing a new thing where we take turns surprising the other person, mostly so we don't go through the "you didn't plan anything for our anniversary?!" conversation which has happened more than once. (any other marrieds relate?! yes! great!) Last year it just so happened that I planned a weekend in Rosarito, Mexico for us and it was awesome and never blogged, oops! So, this year, G blew me away with a weekend in the city!

Seven Years Married + Celebrating in NYC

One of  our favorite places in the world, where we spent countless hours as friends, got engaged overlooking this skyline and shared so many more memories here. We love the city so much. I'll be honest, things weren't all roses and rainbows for me on that day though, if that's how the saying goes. I had a mix of emotions I was having a hard time sorting through, and felt bad for not being more excited in the moment. But, I'm so grateful for my husband. I never want to forget G's kindness and patience towards me. Because of it, we were able to have so much fun and enjoy what felt like living in New York City. Never underestimate the power of kindness.

And this is why I love photography: capturing the moments you never wanna forget, lest they slip away.

This was the little restaurant G took me on our first date as friends! He planned for us to have dinner here, but unlike what google said, it was closed last year! I guess our marriage outlasted this place. Haha! We made the best of it with a photo, and found another Spanish restaurant in the Village nearby for some seafood paella. YUM

Thanks to the lady who took this non selfie photo of us!

Day 2 in the city

Bryant Park - our hotel was a few blocks from here, one of my favorite places

savory dinner in the Village

and this play - so good! 

All a capella, only 10 actors, telling a real story about racism, courage and hope. 

If you want to learn about the Little Rock Nine, a group of African American high school students who challenged segregation in the south during the 1950's, click HERE

the sunshine state

Whoa!

Hello blog world! I feel the need to reintroduce myself because it's been so long since I've been here. It's hard to believe, but 5 whole months have past, and it's been a wild time. First things first, we moved! Said goodbye to California and hello to life on the road. Living in Cali was a dream come true for me, and we loved the beauty we got to live surrounded by every day. But we knew our time was coming to an end, and we wanted to make roots somewhere closer to home. So the nomad life began from May to August. In this time, we road tripped across the country, enjoyed much needed family time in NJ and traveled to Mexico for the wedding of one of my best childhood friends! AND, we celebrated seven (7!) years of marriage.

I am so grateful. It's been great to take a break and refresh. Sometimes stepping back from day to day life is so good for the soul, and there was a lot of soul searching the past few months. Some things I've learned: God sees you, even when it seems like He's not there; trusting doesn't mean feeling good about your decisions, faith and feelings don't always go hand in hand; and cherish, cherish the time you have with those you love. People matter most, and your team, the ones that cheer for you and love you no matter what, they are gifts to be cherished and loved.

I'm excited to be back! I'll be sharing some things from the past few months on lovetheolives, but for now - here's a glimpse of the past few weeks we've had here in South Florida.

We are very excited to call this place home.

Figuring out the metro mover downtown has been so much fun! I got on and went the completely wrong way, but it was awesome seeing how far it goes and exploring the city on there! Did I mention it's free? Yep - amazing.

thunderstorms at the beach

our first weekend here we picked mangoes from a tree! We had three bags full - probably about 80 mangoes, and we've been eating them in every form since!

the sunsets have been amazing, something I'm so grateful for

living by all the Brazilian food is so nostalgic and delicious!