The weather was beautiful in Southern Arizona, and I was so happy to be rockin’ a sleeveless dress with no jacket! I wore this little handkerchief hem dress to the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson, and I even got a little suntan! This flowy little number was perfect for my prego belly and very comfortable in cotton. And I must mention that this dress is not a maternity dress! I have found that by buying dresses san zippers and in comfy material, I can find items that are much more fashion forward than the typical things I have been finding in the maternity sections (although there have been some good exceptions!)
Today is overcast, a little rainy, and a little chilly here in New York, making me miss that Arizona sun! This week I’ve been trying to play catch up at work, at the doctor’s, with my DVR, and on life in general. Hubby had to skip town for a quick business trip to Atlanta, so we are going to celebrate our two year anniversary (bc Arizona just wasn’t enough) with a date night when he returns on Friday.
You may recall, two years ago, when I met my pen pal, Angela, in person for the first time. Yes, that’s right…I said pen pal! I wonder if kids even know what those are these days? Crazy as it may be, we met on my wedding day after 18 years of writing and keeping in touch with each other. She lives in Tucson, Arizona, and I grew up in Maryland, eventually moving to New York City. While, it was absolutely amazing she flew all the way out to the East Coast for my wedding day, I wished that we had gotten more than 10 minutes to speak to each other. So now, two years after our first brief meeting, and 20 years after we first started writing, Zack and I headed out to Arizona for the first time to stay with Angela and her boyfriend, Leon, in their Tucson home.
Angela’s entire family blocked off their Friday night to welcome us with a wonderful homemade Mexican feast at her Nana’s home on their family ranch. Back in the day, they hosted roping competitions and rodeos here, and there are still many folks who keep their horses on their stable grounds. It was so awesome to finally hang out with Angela, meet her entire family (minus one sister who wasn’t in town…we missed you!) and see the place and land where she grew up and wrote from all these years.
Saturday, they gave us the grand tour of Tucson starting off with the Sonoran Desert Museum. I must have repeated a million times “I’ve never seen anything like this!” mostly in regard to the huge giant cactus, err saguaros, that littered the desert. In the museum, we also saw tons of other flora, fauna, and animals. My favorites were the coyotes and the prairie dogs…so cute! After the museum we stopped at The Mission, which is the first Catholic Church in Arizona, and also the oldest European structure in the state. It was extremely beautiful and special to see. For more info on the history of the Mission, click here. We grabbed lunch in South Tucson at El Torero, a yummy Mexican local hotspot, and then headed downtown to do some exploring. The city is extremely artsy and many of the shops displayed a “Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead” theme. Angela, actually had one of her paintings displayed in a gallery downtown which was really cool to see. I am so proud! We drove past Angela’s elementary school, St. John’s, where she wrote me my first letter. It was really interesting to see how different the architecture was from my grade school, St. Mary’s. Saturday night, we attended a Live Theatre Workshop, which turned out to be a hilarious performance, and we ended the night with a fab dinner.
Sunday, we were sad to leave, but also excited to continue on to Phoenix on our state-wide tour. We had such a blast in Tucson, and it was so much fun getting to know Angela in person. She is exactly how I thought she would be from her letters over the years, and we all got along wonderfully. I am so grateful to her and Leon (as well as her entire family) for being such amazing hosts, and I look forward to having them come out to visit us in Brooklyn sometime!
Angela and I on her Grandparent’s Ranch
From left to right: Me, the hubby Zack, Angela, Leon, Angela’s parents
The MissionAngela’s Painting
The sun shining down on Angela and Leon’s houseThe four of us at breakfast on our last day in Tucson
After our 10 day hiatus, Zack and I are now back in New York, and I am completely overwhelmed by the amount of photos I need to go through! I have so many updates for you regarding our trip to Arizona, and this is only the beginning. Stay tuned through this week and next for photos and stories of our travels, outfit posts, and more.
In other news, Happy 2nd Wedding Anniversary to my amazing husband! Can’t believe we were saying our “I do’s” two years ago. Tomorrow also marks 8.5 years that we have been together. I am so very lucky to have him in my life, and I am excited for what this upcoming year will bring for us. We have embarked on so many journeys together so far, and I can’t think of a more exciting and important one than parenthood.
Since moving from the Upper East Side to Brooklyn, we have acquired a ton of outdoor space. Last year, my husband and I decided to grow a little garden in our front yard. It was crazy plentiful with tons of basil and other fresh herbs, tomatoes, lettuce, green beans, peas, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and of course some pretty flowers as well. But as you can see from this photo, it was also quite a bit of a mess. This could possibly (ok definitely) have a lot to do with the fact that I think we only weeded once the entire growing season, but regardless, this year my husband was bound and determined to create a much more organized and clean structured looking garden. He even created raised beds…raised beds! I have to say, I have been very impressed with all the work he has put into it. He has been working his tail off, while I haven’t even lifted a finger this year. I’m using my pregnancy as an excuse, but frankly, I’m just not that into yard work. I would much rather be doing laundry. Luckily, our neighbors have been very helpful. Our one main problem is the stray cats in the area, which is the reason we fenced off portions of the garden last year. They like to dig up our fresh eats and relieve themselves in our flower beds. Darn cats. So anyway…here is the transformation from last year’s garden, to the new and improved 2013 Brooklyn Garden.
Last year…
This year…
This empty space here is waiting for a nice little outdoor table and chairs set
King of the GardenFresh spinach growing
Since I took these photos, those darn cats have returned, and they have started to dig into the spinach bed. Therefore, my husband was back out there last night putting up a little fence around the bed, and I’m sure he will have to do the same with the other beds as well. Hopefully that will do the trick as it did last year. I am dreaming about making fresh homemade tomato sauce and fresh pesto sauce this year…mmm…I can’t wait!
Tomorrow, Zack and I are leaving on a jet plane and heading west to Arizona! We are super excited for our 10 day adventure and state tour. I’m pretty sure I won’t really get around to posting or editing anything next week, since I will be too busy exploring, so follow along with my adventures on Instagram!
My Waveborn sunnies arrived in the mail, and I was super excited to rock them this past weekend! For each pair of Italian designed and handcrafted shades you purchase, Waveborn provides a new pair of prescription eyeglasses or funds a portion of vision-restoring cataract surgery for a person in need through their partners Unite for Sight and SEE International.
They are currently hosting a crowdfunding campaign so they can continue to bring you more styles and colors for 2013. They raised over $10,000 on the first day of their campaign, and the numbers are still increasing. There is still plenty of time to join the campaign, so check it out!
I was very excited to find this colorful maxi dress for such a bargain price at Target this past week! Typically, with my 5’0 stature, it’s very difficult for me to find a maxi dress that isn’t too long. I suppose since this dress was in the “juniors” section, maybe it was a bit shorter. Or could it be because I’m now sporting a little baby bump? Either way, I plan on rocking maxi dresses all summer long. Frankly, I have found the majority of maternity clothes I have come across to be old-looking, frumpy, and just plain ugly. Of course, there have been some good finds here and there, but I am beginning to think gorgeous maxis from the regular sections (sans ones with zippers) may be the way to go this spring/summer!
