Author: Cristina

EXTROVERTED ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER, ORGANIZATION ENTHUSIAST, EMPATH, AND LOVER OF TRAVEL THAT IS PASSIONATE ABOUT PEOPLE AND BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

2020 Update

Hello world!

It has been a hot minute since I have written, so I figured I’d share an annual life update. As you all know, 2020 has been an insane/unpredictable/endless year… But amid all the bad, there was plenty of good. We have both been extremely lucky in that we were deemed essential personnel, continuing to work throughout the pandemic and maintaining some sort of normalcy. We have our health, our sweet fur children, and endless love, which have all made this year more enjoyable.

A few highlights from the past year:

My parents came to visit in February before the madness started, and we spent some time in Clearwater, Florida. Nathaniel, my dad, and I went jet-skiing and I saw my first dolphins in the wild!

We bought kayaks in May and have been exploring Florida via water. We’ve seen a wide array of wildlife, including gators (duh), tons of different birds, and even manatees. Maya has enjoyed the kayaks as much as we have!

We bought a house! Granted it is still in the process of being built, but it’s exciting nonetheless. It’s been awesome to see the process of a plot of land becoming our dream home one step at a time. COVID has continually delayed the process, but we are still moving forward and we cannot wait to move in (estimated closing is February/March 2021)!

We took a quick trip to Colorado in July to be a part of my brother-in-law’s proposal in Grand Junction. It was so beautiful and absolutely wonderful to see both of our families amid the craziness.

I got a beautiful new tattoo (worth noting because I absolutely love it)! Keith is an extremely talented artist, and this incredible piece of art brings me so much joy every time I look down.

We went scuba diving in the Florida Keys for Nathaniel’s birthday in August, and it was magical. The water temperature was perfect, and we saw a huge variety of fish, sting rays, eels, and even sharks! Aside from a bit of sea sickness, it was a perfect mini-vacation.

Both Nathaniel and I started our MBA programs while working full time, him at UF and me at UCF. I’m excited to say that we both finished our first semesters with a 4.0!

Unfortunately we had to cancel our cruise to the Bahamas in May and our trip to Dubai/Thailand/Bali in November, but those places will be there next year (or whenever it’s safe to travel again). We are anxiously awaiting the return of international travel, but in the meantime we will continue to explore close to home. There has been a lot of adaptation this year, which has been stressful and exhausting, but I can’t help but be thankful for all the memories we’ve created in spite of this pandemic. As with everyone else, we are definitely looking forward to the new year!

Hope you all stay safe and well this holiday season.

Cheers,
Cristina

We Got Married!

I mean, technically we got married at the Seattle Municipal Courthouse in November of 2018, but we celebrated our marriage with the most incredible ceremony in Menorca, Spain this summer. July 31, 2019 will always be one of my favorite days because it is filled with my most cherished memories.

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Our Seattle Courthouse Nuptials – 11.2.18

We’ve never been a traditional couple, so we decided to do things our own way. We had nine guests and no officiant. Our ceremony took place on a cliffside. No reception. No bridesmaids or groomsmen. Just us, our immediate family, and a whole lot of love.

I’ve been hesitant to share the story of our wedding day because it is so personal and special, but I hope to inspire others to do exactly what they want on their special day. Planning a huge wedding sounded stressful and it didn’t feel like us. We wanted our day to represent who we are as a couple – what we love most about each other, our families, and the world around us.

Our love of travel and my Spanish heritage played a big part in choosing our ceremony location. We are both avid outdoor enthusiasts and world travelers, so getting married in a place so near and dear to my heart, my family’s home country, meant a great deal to me. We chose our cliffside location based on the beautiful yet rugged landscape, and the promise of a beautiful sunset over the Mediterranean Sea.

We started our day, however, on the opposite coast for a sunrise photoshoot. Since we had our photographer the whole day, but didn’t need photos of hair and makeup and bridesmaids and groomsmen, we decided to do a sunrise shoot, take a siesta midday, and then head out for our ceremony in the evening.

The sunrise photos turned out amazingly. Our photographer did an incredible job capturing the beautiful scenery around us while also capturing our love. It was the perfect way to start our special day.

sunrise
Sunrise in Menorca

We took our siesta, I got my hair and makeup done, we got dressed together, and then we were off! (Side note: I have had so many people tell me how insane it is that my husband saw me in my wedding dress before the actual wedding. News flash: his opinion is the most important to me, so of course I would show him the dress! Getting ready together was so special in it’s own way, and I know most couples don’t experience that.)

Once we arrived at our location, a popular cliffside spot called Pont d’en Gil, we were greeted by crowds of people who had come out to watch the sunset. Thankfully we had scoped out our site beforehand, so we had a quiet spot all to ourselves.

 

 

 

 

Since we were self-officiating, we decided to create a ceremony that spoke to our hearts and our lives together, while also including our family members in a special way. We chose to do a handfasting ceremony, which is a “Celtic tradition in which the couple has their hands tied together with a braid or something similar. Knots are often tied in the braid at the making of each vow.” Being untraditional, we decided to make our own version of handfasting, in which each of our family members would say something special while tying a handmade braid around our hands – basically their vows to us. It was beautiful and emotional (I don’t think I stopped crying the entire time).

handfasting
Handmade Braids with Special Charms

Of course, we prepared our own vows to each other. When we removed all the braids from our hands, feeling full of love from our families, we spoke words of dedication and growth. We exchanged rings and asked our families to pronounce us husband and wife. We kissed. There was cheering, applause, laughter. We popped the champagne and went to dinner, and that was that!

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Husband & Wife – 7.31.19

The next day we departed Menorca to go on our honeymoon in Slovenia (which was amazing by the way!). But more to come on that later. For now, I hope your hearts are as full as mine.

Sending love your way,

Cristina

P.S. If you want to see more gorgeous photos from our wedding day, you can see them here. All photos taken in Menorca by F2Studio.

Quick Life Update

It has been a hot minute since I have posted on this site. I promise I have not forgotten about this little blog, but holy cow have I been busy!

We spent two weeks in Europe for our wedding ceremony and honeymoon (there will be a travel post on this soon!) and as soon as we got back I started a new job as a staff engineer at Intertek-PSI. So far I am really enjoying it! It has only been two full weeks of working there, but I feel like I’m getting to know my coworkers and gaining experience quickly.

I’ve also been looking into professional organizations in the area, as work is big into business development. I’ve been enjoying networking luncheons with some of the brightest minds in my industry, but I haven’t quite found my niche yet. If you have any suggestions for associations that cater to women, engineers, and/or environmental professionals, please send them my way!

In addition to work, I also started volunteering at Orange County Animal Services. So far I have only been to a couple classes and I will be shadowing other volunteers, but I’m sure my volunteer hours will be increasing soon. I’m still getting accustomed to my work schedule – going from not working to working over 40 hours a week has been quite the change! But just like in college, I want to pack in as much as I can get.

More to come soon!

Cheers,
Cristina

Namaste at Home to do Yoga

I’ve always been interested in yoga, and this year I decided to commit to it. Technology makes everything so easy nowadays, so I can do yoga from the comfort of my home. Enter Yoga with Adriene.

Adriene encourages her followers to “Find What Feels Good,” which makes me feel at ease and focused during my practice. In January, I started using her monthly calendars which contain daily practices based on the month’s theme. I like that I can refer to something concrete like the calendar – it’s my checklist for yoga each day, holding me accountable but making it fun at the same time. I’m a stickler for organization and to-do lists, so the calendar is a huge benefit for me!

I’ve been getting really into lifting weights (see previous post), but yoga has been essential to keep me flexible and relaxed. I love that it’s about physical AND mental strength, as well as getting into a meditative state by focusing on your breath. A lot of people think yoga is just about balance and stretching, but let me tell you, I can get a killer workout in just by doing 20 minutes of Yoga with Adriene (depending on the practice, of course). So even on my days off from the gym, I’m still moving my body and finding what feels good.

Maya is my yoga buddy!

I’ve also ventured out into the world (gasp!) and tried different yoga classes, and so far my favorite has been a hot yoga vinyasa class, which I hope to get back to soon. I’ve just been so busy getting settled in my new home. Does anyone in the East Orlando area have recommendations for a hot yoga studio that they love?

For now, I’ll stick with my daily home yoga practice, because if I can do it at home at any time, there really are no excuses. On that note, I think I’ll head to my living room, roll out my mat, and find what feels good.

Namaste!

 

Location, Location, Location!

But more like relocation (WA), relocation (CA), relocation (FL).

After moving across the country again, we are finally getting settled into our new home in Orlando after living in a hotel for three weeks. It’s nice to feel settled with my own stuff, especially my pillows! Does anyone else hate hotel pillows? They are terrible. Other than that, I have been pleasantly surprised with Florida – I really didn’t think I would like it here, but so far so good.

I do think, however, that it’s going to take me a while to adjust to Florida’s climate – I have never lived in such a hot, humid place. Living in Colorado (dry and cold or dry and hot), Washington (perfect for two months of the year, then rainy and cold), and California (breezy and temperate) could not have prepared me for this heat. I have never felt more grateful to have air conditioning.

One thing I absolutely LOATH about Florida is the mosquitoes. I am covered in itchy little bumps from head to toe – it’s so bad that it keeps me up at night. Does anyone have any remedies to repel the little monsters or make the itch go away? Cortisone just isn’t cutting it. These bugs really are out for blood.

So far we haven’t done much – Nathaniel has been working crazy hours and I have been looking for a new job, as well as preparing for our trip to Menorca at the end of July. We’ve been looking into cruises and scuba diving in the area, and we’ve talked about going on a river boat cruise to see alligators. We also plan to visit all three national parks while we live here, but no plans have been made yet. We’ve just been so busy! But not too busy to watch the SpaceX Falcon Heavy STP2 launch on June 25 (granted I don’t think anyone is that busy at 2:30 AM). It was my first launch and it did not disappoint! I get why Nathaniel is so into this space stuff. ☺ There sure are a lot of things to do here that I’ve never been able to do in other places I’ve lived, and I plan to take full advantage of that!

SpaceX Falcon Heavy taking off from Kennedy Space Center

What are your favorite things to do in Florida? And if you live here, please reach out! I’m always open to making new friends!

Cheers!