dear weekend,

dear week: you've been a pretty good one. half days at school. a day date and a date night before the weekend even started. i'm kind of sad to see you end! dear weekend: we are finally headed to the beach again and i'm pretty excited. please be kind with the weather this weekend, i just want to spend some time outside. dear online class: you start next week and i'm pretty nervous. it has been three years since i was a student and i think it is going to be pretty hard to get back into it! it will be a good way to get ready for next year though. dear pumpkin spiced lattes: this is hopefully the last season that I will ever be without you! i miss sunday afternoon drives along the north shore with my roommates and a PSL in my hand. everyone go have one for me. dear chelsea: thank you again for the new blog design!! i'm super in love with it and it would not have been possible without your help. you are the best!

happy weekend.

trying something new

last week paris and i did something a little different. we went to a restaurant that is not on our go-to weekend eating list of places to eat! i was feeling adventurous and forced paris to be adventurous with me. so we thought about it and asked around and decided on a caribbean restaurant called maxi's that we constantly drive by but just have never gone in.

the restaurant itself is pretty big compared to other places around here and everything is painted with the colors of the jamaican flag. there was also some reggae music low in the background and of course soccer playing on every tv. we sat in one of the porch sections outside so it was really dark (hence the bad photo quality!).

i couldn't decide if i wanted to try the caribbean chicken or the shrimp in coconut sauce over pasta. i figured since i was being adventurous enough with trying the new restaurant i would stick with the chicken and maybe next time go for the shrimp. i think i made the right choice! my chicken was amazing. it was bathed in a sort of coconut curry sauce and came with a ton of rice and beans, plantains, and salad. it seriously hit the spot. paris had rice with seafood and could not get over how good it was/how much food they gave us. they also started us off with an appetizer of little plantain bowls filled with guacamole, refried beans, and some kind of meat. that little while bowl next to the appetizers is filled with hot chili that i actually tried. my mouth stayed pretty hot for the rest of the meal but it was worth.

the food was great, the service was extremely helpful, and i think not only will we come back here but we may try another new restaurant in the near future. i'm thinking indian food!

what do you think??

via

it's here! my new blog design by the very talented chelsea.

she offered to redesign my blog a few months ago and this is what we came up with! chelsea was able to incorporate all of my ideas into the new design and was super helpful and patient throughout the whole process. there are still a few little things to add and fix but i couldn't wait to get it up and going!

thanks again, chelsea!

my picks - hazel and olive

i think i've mentioned before how much i adore the online boutique hazel and olive.

when i was home for the summer i bought one of their maxi dresses that i had my eye on forever and fell in love with it. well now i can't stop looking at all of their fall/winter clothes coming in stock. i am constantly texting my friends telling them which items i just have to have! these are my most recent picks. isn't that hat something you just need in your fall wardrobe? well since i won't be home quite in time for fall i might have to pass on it .. this year. but the elbow patch cardigan is a must have and as soon as it comes back in stock (they sold out this week in just a few minutes!), i will be waiting to press the check-out button.

have you been to the hazel and olive site? what are your favorites??

 

thank you, promodoro

this little corner has been my home this week. it's the end of the trimester at school so i have been making exams and grading projects in all of my spare time. exams are one of my least favorite parts about teaching. in my opinion exams have too much information for students to really understand what they are studying. and at my school we are required to tell students exactly which topics are going to be on the exam so they know exactly what to study for. sounds a little counterproductive to me but what can i do.

 i am grateful to nicole for her post last week on productivity. she introduced me to the pomodoro technique which is working for 25 minutes and then taking a 5 minute break. i downloaded one of the apps from an article she linked to called promodoro and i have been hooked all week! it basically just times your intervals for you and gives you a little message when your work time is up and it is time  for a break and vice versa. of course this can also be done with a regular timers but for some reason when i use the app i am in the zone! and thank goodness for that because when i feel productive i am one happy girl.

how do you manage your time to get all your work done??

what i'm currently listening to

i am currently in love with the new civil wars song dust to dust

i was and have been really into the civil wars since their first album came out in 2011. i remember listening to it over and over again while i was walking around the streets of spain. i stumbled upon them because i was rewatching (all of) grey's anatomy and their single poison and wine was featured at the end of one of the episodes.

i was really saddened last year when i heard that the group had cancelled the last of their tour and said they were going in different direction. it seems silly to most of us because their voices just sound perfect together. they have just released their new album entitles the civil wars and although i havent had a chance to give a really good listen yet, this one song has stuck out and i just love it. i hope you do too!

who knew mangoes were so dangerous?

last thursday was mother's day here in costa rica so the whole family spent the day at the finca.

someone came up with the idea of picking some mangoes to eat so i volunteered myself. little did i know what i was getting myself into.

as soon as i walked under the tree, two magoes came flying down toward the ground out of nowhere. apparently falling mangoes happens when they get too ripe in case you are ever standing under a mango tree. if one had hit my head i would have been out. cold.

so i get up in the tree, i'm reaching out to grab a mango and i hear "DON'T LET THE JUICE GET ON YOUR SKIN!!" uhm, what?? i thought this was going to be a piece of cake and then i wold get to eat some mango. apparently the juice or sap from where the stem of a mango breaks from a branch will actually burn your skin. i opted for the method of shaking the tree branch to get the magoes to fall down rather than pick them with my hands.

seriously, who knew mangoes were so dangerous??

blogging is hard

blogging is hard.

 it's hard to be consistent with posts and always have something interesting to write about. 

sometimes i feel so much pressure to write a post every single day that my readers are going to love and i get too overwhelmed. so i took a break! a little blog-cation.

but i think i am ready to come back now. so here i am.

you'll hopefully be seeing a few more posts around these parts.

some things that have been going on while i have been away...

1. paris got his visa!! this is a really big deal and probably deserves its own post. paris is finally allowed to visit the united states and we are both so so happy and relieved. this will make our time apart much easier to handle now that we are both able to travel to one an other.

2. i will have two visitors in october! my dear friend katie is coming to visit me for about 6 days in october when i have a few days off from work and i could not be more excited! another of my friends is coming to CR with her boyfriend for about three weeks in october and we are making plans to meet up. i am so excited to have people from home see my life here.

 i hope everyone enjoys their sunday.