First Cruise: Bermuda

Posted on by JC Rizk

Attention all! My babies are back! The house seems complete, although I have to admit that when I heard talking at 5:15 yesterday morning, my first thought was, ‘there’s someone in the house’. You know, because burglars would be having a high pitch conversation with themselves while pilfering through our items… 🤦🏽‍♀️

Other than that brief moment of confusion, we are back in full swing and the kids and I enjoyed the first day of autumn together — Bird and I enjoyed some art time while Lulu took his morning nap. We then all walked to the local park for some play time, which included playing in the dirt and with the crispy leaves {our only current taste of autumn — still feels like summer to me}, and then ended the day with some water play! Dinner tonight was delicious risotto with butternut squash and sausage; the kids loved the “hot dogs” and even though they usually love rice, were not a fan of the risotto. Hmm… one benefit of my alone time this last week was that I rebooted my ‘mama skills’ and I started meal prepping again, which helps me feel so much more on top of things. The babes did love my bacon, leek, and cheese frittata, so you win some, you lose some, I guess!

Back to happy thoughts though, when I didn’t have to stress about what my kids will and will not eat. I cannot believe that we were just getting back from our cruise about a week ago. This was the first cruise for Hubby and myself, but we went with another couple who have been on several, so it was nice to be there with people who knew the ropes!

The food was delicious, from the full meals, to the tacos, to the sweet, plentiful soft-serve ice cream — my guilty pleasure! There are a ton of activities for those who dislike sitting still {talking about you, Hubby} and also space for those who want a little more leisure. We went to one musical show, one comedy show, participated in Bingo and also the “hole-in-one” challenge {Hubby won a medal!}. Mostly, on our days at sea, I preferred to sit on the top deck in a lawn chair and read. I found that my motion sickness follows me to cruise ships and the Seabands and Dramamine didn’t quite hold it at bay; that being said, I really only suffered one night and we luckily had one really smooth day at sea, of which I was appreciative!

We spent one day in Bermuda, and it was absolutely stunning. The water was impeccable, the local art was beautiful, and the culture was fascinating! I wish we had more time in Bermuda, but we visited Hamilton, ate some local cuisine, and even saw a Gombey dance {dancers pictured to the right}! I love the vibrant colors on the island, from the Gombey costumes, to the houses, to the water. Hubby and I already agreed we would love to spend more time in Bermuda. In fact, that was my major qualm about the cruise; I am willing to try another one, but overall, I think I prefer arriving in the location of interest quicker and having a longer time to explore and enjoy rather than being cooped up on a cruise ship.

However, I really did love the views: it is extremely impressive to see only ocean surrounding you. I saw my first flying fish , and sights like the one on the left, leaving Bermuda, were stunning and will stay with me for a long time. I also was able to get a lot of reading done and it’s inspired a reading frenzy this past week, which I am loving! Now that I am refreshed from the self care this past week, I am feeling more prepared as a human, wife, and mama. Everyone needs time to take care of themselves and I am so grateful to my family for giving me this opportunity.

What are you going to do take care of yourself this week?! Stay tuned next week for my book review post for August and September.

Organization

Posted on by JC Rizk

Update to our Marie Kondo–inspired organization of our house; this post continues to allude me because every time I think about writing it, I am overwhelmed by what we completed so far and even more so by the amount of work yet to complete! Hubby and our awesome contractor completed my “Zen Room” and it’s starting to gain its identity. We moved our sleeper sofa in there, Salvation Army picked up the clothes and books today, so you can actually see most of the floor now! I have one corner with items to sell in a yard sale, otherwise it’s clear. My yoga mats live here, as well as my yoga block; my hope is to find a large basket for these items and a blanket, so that they aren’t just leaning up in the corner of the room. My last project for this room is to refinish/paint an old glider and replace its cushions. This project is sentimental for me, as my parents rocked me in the glider, then for a short time the glider lived with my Sito and Gido {grandmother and grandfather}, and now is back with me. I think with a little face lift, it will be a beautiful piece to continue to serve our family.

Meet Vaquita {“little cow”}

I was trying to take a picture of just how empty and simplistic the Zen Room is and our Bernese decided she would make an excellent addition — I admit, she’s not wrong! In fact, this is the coolest room in the house, so it’s often her favorite to lay in, especially with the tile floor!

While I was in Connecticut with the kids, Hubby organized most of the office and then upon my return, I organized the kids’ art supplies and my scrapbooking/art supplies as well, but there is still plenty of work to be done in the office, especially regarding my paperwork. I tend to hold onto paper items under the guise of ‘you never know when you’ll need them’. Hubby then responds ‘paper is dead’, which breaks my heart a bit, but I know he’s right in this case {don’t tell him that though}. In September, Hubby and I are going on a cruise {the kids will go to Florida — thank you Abuela and Abuelo!} and when we get back, just Hubby is going down to Florida to visit for longer and retrieve the babes. Do you realize what that means?! I have several days, at home, by MYSELF! I plan to go through items I have in the garage {home decorations, sports equipment, and kids’ items} and finish organization in the office while on my own. Then maybe fit in a massage and yoga class! I’m stoked!

The last, and most overwhelming to organize will be sentimental items, especially photographs, in my case. I am thinking about getting my childhood albums transferred to digital copies and then just keeping certain physical copies once completed. I also want to then update our photo collages that we have in our hallway. We made the decision to move forward with our home renovation, which is exciting and daunting! We are hoping to start this fall or next spring — either way, coming fast and that means that I need to start packing items for storage and work on design ideas for the rooms!

Along with the organization, we’ve kept up a lot of reading in the house; I borrowed some sweet books for the kids and one for me from the library recently. Girls Like Us was an amazing novel with some interesting twists! Looking forward to reading more from Cristina Alger — for the kids, I think my favorite from these picks was My Forest is Green by Darren Lebeuf — it was about the artistic rendering of a young boy after exploring the forest near him. Bird wanted to continuously read it — I think it encouraged the adventurer inside and we went on a few nature walks collecting acorns, nuts, and flowers in the neighborhood.

Currently, I am sitting in the zen room with a full breakfast, including tea and my book, while editing this post, which can only mean one thing…. Spoiler alert: I started this post several weeks ago and I am currently in the house while Hubby and the babes are visiting with los abuelos, so please forgive the “in September” reference! I’m also ready to post about Hubby’s and my first cruise vacation and my next book review, so stay tuned!