Since it wasn't practical to fly across the ocean to be with family, Jay and I decided to spend the Christmas and New Year holidays with friends in Europe. On Christmas Eve, we arrived in Munich, Germany to visit our friends, Ken and Jenna. They are Americans (from Cincinnati and Cleveland) living the ex-pat life [...]

Happy New Year to all of our family and friends. We had such a blessed year in 2010 and are excited to see what 2011 has in store for us. We are most looking forward to being back in Cincinnati and spending time with those we love. Below is a 90-second New Year video I made frame by frame with post-it notes. [...]

Jay and I are moving back to our hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. We've made Split, Croatia and Madrid, Spain our homes for almost two years, but Cincinnati has always been our true home. Jay will be headed home January 2 and I will be home at the end of February. [...]

Before I came to Spain I made a goal to become fluent in four months. It was an arbitrary time period and the definition of fluent was pretty arbitrary too, but I wanted to have a goal. Fluent for me is being able to speak without fear of messing up (even though I will always make errors) and to be able to understand native speakers easily whether they are talking to me in person or on the phone [...]

Segovia is a historic town located 56 miles north of Madrid. Last weekend, Jay and I took a last-minute day trip there with our new friends, Gaelle and Thibaut, who are in my Spanish class. Segovia is only a 30-minute high-speed train ride from Madrid (though it really took us an hour and a half because it took us 30 minutes on [...]

After our cruise, my Mom and Dad made their way back to Madrid with us to see the city and what life was like for us living here. It was tight quarters in our small studio apartment for four of us, but we had lots of fun. It was hard for them to imagine how Jay and I could live together in one room for so long without getting in each [...]