A year ago today we got married!

How has a year gone by so quickly?  In some ways, it feels like just yesterday that we were in Colombia, surrounded by friends and family celebrating our love.  In other ways, that day feels like a lifetime ago.  Since June of 2014, our life has changed so very much.  I think that getting married was the least of those changes! In the past year, we have started life together in a new home, on another hemisphere, with an entirely different climate and local language.  We both now have new jobs with different responsibilities and income.  We have learned to pay bills together, run a wood burning stove like champs, and decipher the chilean dialect.  In the past 365 days, we have bought not one, but two new cars and we temporarily adopted a new kitty.  We have both figured out how to live in a new country together, a country that is both far from everyone we knew and distinct from both of our own cultures.  And despite all of this, we've made it happily through the first year of marriage without killing each other!

We both decided that this called for a little celebration.  So, last night we put on our Sunday finest (I really need to bring some of my dresses from the US) and went out for a nice dinner.  Pablo surprised me with the restaurant of choice, the Naguilan.  We were both very pleased with the service and the food... and the company was pretty nice too :)  We had a wonderful evening.  I can't wait for the many more years to come.  I love you Mamor!

And... in just a few weeks when the break in semesters arrives we will be heading off on a sunny adventure to fully celebrate year one.

Well, the count down is on.  We've got five months.  And just as the World Cup is starting, my life as a single person will be ending.  Chiseled guys will be running around chasing a piece of bleached cowhide, countless men will be huddled in bars the globe over yelling at television sets, and I my friends, will be saying I do.

But before all of that, some planning is needed.  And boy oh boy, if this gal is something, she is a planner.  Never once in my college days did I pull and all-nighter.  Most often, I was in bed well before the bewitching hour, for I had schedules and dates with the library months before any exam.  I am certainly spontaneous and erratic at times, but when I do something, I do it with thought.  

Though, now, it seems that with all things matrimony, I am a dandelion.  Happy to float any which way, wherever the wind is a-blowin'.  To me, the location is important and the people too.  Somewhere full of nature and belonging where we can spend time with the ones that we love, but napkins and tables, jewels and cloths, twinkle lights, photo booths, place cards and showers?  I think I'd be more than happy to let someone else decide.   Perhaps it is just that I have never before thought much about it, in years past I was more concerned with deciphering bus schedules in foreign languages.  Or maybe it is because I am an introvert by nature and the very thought of a party in my name scares the shit out of me.  But, I dunno, is all of that stuff really important?  Am I going to look back and wish that I had chosen satin over silk?  I doubt it. 

I am lucky that I have some really amazing women in my life.  Women that are far more comfortable shopping for dresses and planning parties than I.  Because when asked about the most basic of details, What color flowers, I am totally clueless.  They're all just so beautiful, how can you choose?  Pink tips with green, bright fuchsia and violet, white, blue, magenta, what would you say?

Have you ever thought that you were in love, everything seemed to fit just right, in the perfect place, and then you met another and you realized how very very wrong you were?  This new one was everything you couldn't describe that was missing with the first.  Maybe not fireworks and trumpets blaring, but just exactly what you could have ever hoped for.  

With love, there is always another.  One more handsome or tall, rich or successful, funny or generous.  There is always more out there.  But if you really know yourself, you should be able to determine when you've found the one that is really best for you.  The one with whom you are most comfortable, most yourself, most happy, and most in love.

I found this in Castelnou.  I will probably never live in this stone-covered village, I will never know it so well, but I will remember its beauty and the love that I felt there.

what are your plans for the weekend?

I am really looking forward to weekend pancakes!!!  It's not too bad to return from Hong Kong, work one day and then have the weekend.  Life is feeling pretty sweet...

Does anyone have any fun pancake recipes to try?  My ultimate favorite are buckwheat.

latinoamérica

With the camera on its last ounce of battery, we visited the Alumbrados, or the city's famous Christmas lights, and captured my last photo in Colombia.  We walked along the river bank and admired the billions of lights that are constructed into new scenes every year by the electric company.  This year's display illustrated all of the different neighborhoods, or barios, of the city.  It was a perfect recap of everything I had seen that day touring the city.

After a beer, my very first taste of Chunchurria (gross!!!), possibly the most romantic date of my life, salsa dancing in a Che filled bar, and too many shots of Aguardiente, we headed home with this song and mountain breezes streaming through the open windows.  With this, I ended the night and my trip to Latin America.  It was glorious.  One day, I will return.

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