Boricua en la Lima

This is the time of year where I'm actually glad I live in Lima. Photo from my sister from this morning -- Branford, Connecticut. Photo from MY view last weekend. 1 hour drive south of Lima. Life is good this time of year... However, after being away from Europe for 2+ years my body is absolutely craving travel. Hopefully 2015 will bring lots of travel! And not the business kind. :)

While this summer has gone by way too fast (the kids already start school next Monday!), I have loved the opportunity to give the kids so many cultural and sports activities to enjoy.  Just to give you an idea Sebas has done soccer, general sports, swimming, and ceramics, while Gabi has done tennis, gymnastics, swimming and art.  This last Saturday at the beach Gabi had the opportunity to participate in a workshop by a famous local artist called Marcelo Wong .  I have always loved his work but it´s a bit pricey for me! But his style is just too cute for words. Whimsical is probably the best term I can come up with! I really wish I could put one of his pieces in each room in my new house. So when Gabi was invited to this workshop we were both super excited.  She didn´t even know why Marcelo Wong was so famous but when he came over to ask her what she wanted to do with her piece she was swooning! :) She worked on her piece all morning and then at night w...

Last weekend we got away for a mini vacation which was of course very stressful getting to but then was totally worth it given how crazy things have been here lately. We just basically hung out with friends the whole weekend, I haven´t seen all those folks in like 2 years so it was much needed for me. Here´s the girls and I singing a birthday song for our friend Graciela who brought us all together for her birthday and gave us a much needed excuse to get together! She planned a wedding-like fairy tale celebration and I think each one of us is feeling the withdrawals after spending so much time together. I am more exhausted than I was before I left but it was well worth it. Now back to reality and crunching away at work, trying to find my work-life balance and STILL (yes, STILL) waiting for our apartment to be ready. Soon, hopefully soon!  Oh, and please, the next time I complain about the Caribbean Sea smack me, it´s soooo much warmer and nicer than the Pacific Ocean!!! ...

I am hoping '13 is my lucky number.  I hope so for everyone out there too! We had a nice relaxing (and long) beach weekend for NYE and while the kids are almost saying "the sun is too much" at this point (and it's only the beginning of the summer!), they are definitely enjoying the water more and more this year.  Last year Sebas wouldn't even go in the water because it's so cold (he takes after me in that respect, preferring the warm waters of the Caribbean to the icy Pacific).  But this year they have found joy in beach toys, floaties and boogie boards!  Not to mention ice cream.  I hope this last weekend is a sign of how fun this summer will be for them.  And I hope sunblock makers really know what they're doing, especially with Sebas beacuse he's so pale! Gabi's already got the most enviable tan ever.

We've been taking advantage of the beach at the Regatas ever since we got in!  What's not to love? Some days have been nicer than others but I think we're on track to be super tanned by the end of the summer.  In fact, I'm not quite sure how we're supposed to be in the sun for the next 12 weekends or so! We also had a really nice Christmas at "home" (our temporary home) with the whole family.  Here's a couple of pictures of the kids and Dad around the Christmas tree at family's house. Now we're looking forward to 2013 with lots of changes, maybe even more than 2012!  New house, new job, new nanny for the kids, new school for Sebas, a very busy summer in the middle of trying to do all that.  I think I'm setting myself up for a slight nervous breakdown but everything just collided time-wise! I wish I could find the 2012 horoscope I read at the beginning of the year which turned out to be soooo right -- it predicted the m...

I can't write anything about the Newton school tragedy because it still hurts to even think about it. I've been trying to avoid the news and Facebook because every time I hear about one of the children or one of the teachers who died helping save children my heart breaks all over again.  I was literally sick to my stomach all day Friday and I cried at all hours of the day in the most inconvenient places.  I drank half a bottle of wine to numb the pain and cried myself to sleep.  And I'm just a spectator in this whole big mess, I can't even imagine the pain the parents are going through right now. So instead I'll just write about the last race we did which included Sebas and had a very festive Holiday feel to it so those were my two favorite things about it.  I did 8 Km (5 miles) in 45:54 which is a personal best for me but it was also hard because I was trying to keep up with my husband the whole time.  Then towards the end when we wanted me to go faster becau...