I just read this book called Wanderess, which is about female travelling (solo and group). I picked it up because I am a female traveler, and have travelled abroad to 10 countries solo. It’s an invigorating experience, and I have managed to learn a lot throughout the years, but was curious if I could learn anything new. I did. So I present to you, the 5 takeaways from this book.

Coming back from a trip means getting back into the flow of everyday life, which looks different for everyone. My most recent return to Austin felt like a whirlwind because of all of the things that I felt like I had to do immediately upon my arrival. That resulted in a disaster of a room which induces stress. What to do…

I finally decided, almost a year after having crashed my drone into a tree, that I am ready to study and take the FAA’s drone license exam. It’s expensive to take, and more expensive if failed, because payment is due each and every time it’s taken. Will a license granted by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) help my confidence after the traumatic experience?

There are items all around us all of the time, usually dismissed because of repeated use. And then there are other items that almost seem to blindside you with the impact that they have made in years past. This is about the latter.

Duolingo Stories is one of the features within the platform, but starting on a language track in Duolingo can be intimidating. I don’t know how many times I’ve started and stopped after having ruined a long streak, causing me to get discouraged. But Duolingo Stories is another issue entirely, in my humble opinion.

I joined a book club in 2012. I’ve made a lot of friends throughout the years, and we’ve read a lot of books. Every year we have an annual meeting. I believe once it was a “regular” meeting. It grew with every year, larger and grander than the preceding year, until it reached its ultimate evolution. For now.

Who doesn't love bloopers? And what's better than a blooper than a compilation of bloopers?! Anyway, this is the second video of compilations.

Selling a car is difficult, but buying a car? Also difficult. It’s just a stressful time, especially as an introvert where I might prefer to just do my car shopping online and not call or talk to a single person. But that’s not really an option when buying a used car because it is best-practice to get a feel for the car before you make such a large purchase.

Try as I might, it takes a Herculean effort to get myself to cook which is part of the reason I was gifted 1 month of Fresh N Lean meals, so I bring you… my review. Fresh N Lean is a meal delivery service with a variety of meal type options, and it’s great because you just heat the meal up and eat it.

There are a ton of different language learning strategies, and reading is one of them. I had the bright idea to read my favourite book in English (actually translated from Portuguese), but in Spanish. It would be my first Spanish book (not including children’s books). Here’s how it went…

I had a 2012 Ford Focus, and it is the third vehicle that I have sold. With the practice of video editing, I thought it would be fun to create a short car commercial of my car, and then post it on Craigslist. I managed to sell it in 4 days.

I'm taking a day off from work in an attempt to try coping with the burnout I've been feeling. Usually I try and save up all of my vacation days to travel, but even when I travel, it seems like I have to be “on” all of the time. I spend my travel time trying to make sure that I don’t miss anything on my list which I’ve spent hours and hours researching already. Today, though, I decided I needed a little rest and relaxation for myself.

My partner, Austin, doesn’t ask for a lot. In fact, it’s quite difficult to find out what he wants for his birthday, or anytime I want to get him a gift, so when he showed interest in doing the Hot Ones challenge, I didn’t blink twice. Let’s go! We invited a few friends because the more the merrier, and so we wouldn’t struggle all on our lonesome. LOL 

Leo’s birthday just passed in February, which makes him now twelve (human) years old. I have a difficult time dealing with mortality, in general, but seeing my aging best friend who will always be that little puppy I picked up at the adoption center has been especially difficult. Aging is SO natural. It’s a part of life, but that doesn’t stop it from being an incredibly challenging time when I think about our future together. Time is a limited gift, and so we must enjoy it now.

After seeing several push up challenge videos, and learning NOT to do them every single day, it was time to put myself to the test. At the beginning, I could do a whopping seven pushups. You don’t have to tell me… I already know it’s super impressive.

If you’re learning a language, this free tool might be right up your alley. I don’t have money for private classes all the time, or even bigger classes, so I’ve downloaded this app called Anki. If you’ve heard of it you know that it’s a tool that uses spaced repetition, and here’s a quick, simple way to get started using it.

FYI This is not a sponsored video. I just really enjoy using the app for a simple flashcard review. I’m still learning about new apps that I can use to continue learning languages, and recently heard of Quizlet so I definitely need to check that one out too!

As a Mexican-American, I struggle with my identity because I didn’t grow up with what I thought was the traditional “Mexican-American” lifestyle, in a Spanish-speaking household and didn’t know my grandparents for very long. In the past few years, I have realized that that part of me is important enough that I want to learn more about it, from Spanish to making tres leches cake.

One of the most interesting/intriguing games at a baby shower (to me) is the diaper candy game, at least in my opinion. As a DINK (Dual Income No Kids), I don’t plan on having a baby shower, nor do I go to any. But I want to play this game without the candy being in a diaper! And I’m an adult now. I can have ice cream for breakfast, if I want. So we’re going to play the candy game because we can.

One of my goals this year is to increase my culinary knowledge, and what better way to do that than to learn from the best. Definitely also part of this is sharing that not everything is going to look “restaurant perfect”, no matter how hard I try.

After having bought the Ergatta earlier this year, and not having been consistent using it, I created a 30 day challenge of rowing at least 30 minutes a day in one of the busiest months of the year, with zero experience rowing. Can she do it?