Friday, July 29, 2011

TGIF

That title says TGIF for anyone who's wondering...

Oh my my. It's Friday. Whereas I would normally take this time to pretend like I'm Katy Perry, Pepa has been sick with the flu for the past few days, so we're not doing anything too crazy tonight...

We have, however, been taking full advantage of this time at home to watch as many movies as we can and do fun things like order-in sushi. This morning after Pepa took a shower he actually got back into his pjs. We keep it classy around here.


I also finally got myself a bike and Pepa finally fixed his, so we're currently dreaming (because Pepa is sick...) of all the bike trips we're going to go on in the future.

One thing that does make me a little nervous about biking around these parts is that it isn't exactly bike-friendly. It's hilly (like San Francisco hilly) and it always seems like drivers actually veer towards you instead of away... Am I wrong? Perhaps, since I have actually only been on one bike ride here. I went with my med-school friend and we just happen to be very competitive (why? I don't know) so that bike ride was traumatizing. I'll let you know how it goes the second time around.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and a really happenin' friday because I will be in bed watching movies and eating spaghetti with my love.

I'm going to trick him into drinking a spinach smoothie that I saw on itsahuntlife awhile ago. Recipe here.

Anyone have any good movie recommendations?

Monday, July 25, 2011

Goodbye, July

Lately it seems as though there are not enough hours in the day.

Between finishing up schoolwork, work, and trying to maintain a social life, I am exhausted. Phew, July, you have been quite a month. Thanks for everything, but I'm ready for you to be over. I feel completely brain-dead.

Today and tomorrow are also my two best friends' birthdays, topping off the craziness that has been this month.

Anyway, here are a few photos of our July, starting with Pepa and my trip to our friend, Gino's, farm.


Gino's farm is way out in the country outside of La Serena. 
We ate delicious food, walked for miles, ate handfuls of passion fruit and talked until late into the night. 

sand





So here's to you, July. You've done us well.
I can't wait to see what August has in store for us...

Like my two and a half year anniversary with this guy.

exhaustion

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Fattin' It Up

Ay Caramba. Pepa and I have been fattin' it up this month, and folks, we have become chubs in the process. We're too young for this. Living with a man, however, can you make you do crazy things like eat 5 slices of pizza or lasagna with extra cheese. What were we thinking?

So today starts our new take on life. I actually got Mr. Pepa Whitebread to eat seed bread and he loved it.

Somewhere along the way, health got away from me. Pepa used to be a downhill bicycle champ. Then we started working and we got lazy.

Pepa, during his Abercrombie&Fitch days... not really


Anyway, we're starting anew. I really do think it's important to make time for exercise and to change those everyday unhealthy habits in healthy ones.


Some things we've starting to change are easy:
- I didn't like whole wheat bread all that much, so I tried seed bread and now I don't want anything else. Momma love her some seed bread
- We stopped drinking sodas and any other sugary drinks. Unfortunately, the water here is really not all that tasty, so we bought a filter that hooks right onto the spout.
- Pepa and I try to get at least 30 min of exercise a day. Now that we're working, it's a more manageable amount of time and we actually feel as if we're doing something. If we do more, great. If we do less, meh...
- We're also trying to use less sugar in our cooking. Now, when I'm baking, I usually use yogurt or applesauce so it's not overly packed with sugar.
- If we have someplace to go, we try to walk... if it's reasonable. Or we go on nighttime walks.

random picture from La Serena 
Anyway, I'm headed to lunch prepared by our French intern (yessssss). Day 1 of healthy new life: fail.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Greetings from La Serena!

Sorry I've been so absent recently. For the past three weeks (THREE weeks) we've been staying at Pedro's grandparents' house in La Serena. That makes 3 out of the 4 weeks that I've been here. Don't get me wrong, I really feel lucky that Pedro has such a wonderful family, but three weeks becomes a bit much. At times, this transition into Chilean life can seem less than peachy. Being a gringa, it's hard not to feel like an outsider. I've been told by other gringas (who are far past this first step) that it gets better -- and I'm positive that it will.

All complaints aside, I really do love Chile. While we've been here we went to see Tongoy, a little fishing village where people go to vacation during the summer months. It was a beautiful day, so we stripped off our winter coats and watched people surfing in the little bay. As we drove through the town we oohed and awwed at the houses that we dreamed about owning one day. 

We finally stopped when we got to the beach side, so that we could try their famous jaiba (crab) empananadas... but we got embarrassingly and inexplicably drunk after one pisco sour each, so the excitement for the empanadas melted into uncontrollable laughter at our sad state. After we parked on the beach a few meters down from the restaurant, we had to take naps in the car before we drove home. We are not normally so lush...

still sober

Fishing boats of Tongoy
Once we had sobered up, we decided to head out to Playa Blanca. We didn't go all the way down to the beach, but the views were amazing. 


Today we're heading home (and eating Huentelauquen empanadas on the way there! YEEEE!). We're leaving and I've realized that I'm going to miss this bustling orange home. The worries about the possibility that I have anemia because I only choose to drink tea puro (or tea without milk). Through the discussions about politics and the tears of homesickness, I'm starting to feel a little spot growing that's just for me, in my own little Chilean world with my little Chilean family. Well, it's actually a huge Chilean family, but it sounded better the other way.


Chile is crazy. It surprises me everyday. But the people are warm and the landscape is breathtaking and I couldn't be happier. In an out-of-my-mind kind of way.