Moments of Musing

Traveling Tips

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These days I find myself dreaming I’m back in warm weather, namely in Brazil or on an island like Puerto Rico. I’ve decided if I can’t travel right now (Miami or Mexico may or may not be on my mind for the near-ish future) then I might as well share some travel tidbits. 



Book as early as possible. 

Everything is much cheaper. Believe me, it doesn’t feel good to have to buy the same exact flights you checked out a few weeks ago at a higher price. 

Keep some empty space in carry-ons. 
This comes in handy when your luggage is 9.5 pounds overweight and you don’t want to pay the overweight fee… Tim didn’t think it would be possible but you better believe I made 9.5 pounds of clothes squeeze into our carry-ons. 

Pack an extra outfit in a carry-on. 
I’ve, thankfully, never experienced the stress of having a luggage delayed or lost. But this would help, if, or when it unfortunately happens. 

Carry a neck pillow, especially for a long flight. 
Because…duh. No need for explanation here really. 

Have a flexible itinerary.
Emphasis on flexible. While having a plan can be a good thing, it can also be stressful if things fall through. If your itinerary is flexible, you’ll have more options. I’m a planner and Tim is not so we meet in the middle. So far, so good.

Vacation is supposed to be fun and stress-free. Take care of everything you must beforehand, plan accordingly …and be sure to wholeheartedly enjoy your time away!

On a Tuesday

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Goin’ back to work…on a Tuesday. (If the tune played in your head, more power to ya!) It’s the dreaded day back to work after a long weekend. I worked New Year’s Day and last Sunday so this weekend was much needed. Unfortunately, I woke up today feeling a bit under the weather and wanting to sleep in. Having medicine, a breakfast smoothie, and coffee waiting for me from T after my shower was a pleasant surprise. 


I love my job. I have a passion for what I do. I enjoy working with my co-workers. I like to think that I am making a difference each day. And yet there are days like today when I just want to stay home and relax all day… even though I just did so yesterday. I think it’s normal and perfectly okay to feel like this sometimes, though.


Something not as okay: how I looked in 2010. Being overweight and not exercising does not look good on me, that’s for sure! 

Friday faves

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1. MLK Jr. Weekend! I’m excited for a long weekend after working 6 days in a row this week. 

2. American Sniper is a must-see. I bawled at the end. I will admit I’m a crier but it really was sad. And for Tim and I, it provoked discussion about a few military-related topics. 
3. Thank goodness my commute is 20-25 minutes because homegirl has been sleeping in due to bad sinuses and cold temps outside. 
4. I need to hit the gym. I am almost ashamed to admit that I have not regularly worked out since our wedding in November. 
5. Speaking of wedding, today marks two months of marriage! Wednesday made four years together. These have been the best years of life. I am so grateful to be constantly loved by someone who is so much more than just a great husband. He is an even more amazing friend, companion and partner. Cheers to many more of everything together!

Married Monday

Filed Under: wedding //

I don’t think that’s a thing but I’m making it one because I can’t always wait until Wednesday to share wedding things. Let me preface this post by saying our 2015 has been off to an amazing start and for that I feel truly blessed. 


On New Year’s Day, we received our professional wedding photos. While I will surely share some of those soon, we also just received our wedding highlight video and I’m sharing it first. It’s amazing and really captured the exciting, loving mood of the entire day. Have yourselves a marry little Monday!


http://vimeo.com/116389254

Brides-to-Be… Just Breathe

Filed Under: wedding //


There were quite a few wedding things I thought would go wrong but in the end, everything worked out perfectly. So I say to you brides-to-be: relax, enjoy the time, keep everything in perspective and breathe because you’re marrying the love of your life!


Getting married in a Roman Catholic Church

I am Roman Catholic and Tim grew up Baptist. I thought it might be a problem getting married in a Roman Catholic Church since he was never baptized and didn’t covert/there was no time to. The church and priest who married us was so accommodating that this was not an issue. All we needed was a letter from my Chicago parish allowing me to marry elsewhere, my official catholic sacrament documents, and to meet with our priest. Instead of a mass, we had a 30-minute ceremony since Tim isn’t Catholic and that couldn’t have worked out better for us and for guests. It was short and sweet. 

Obtaining a marriage license from another state
It’s important to keep in mind the marriage laws of the state in which you are getting married. New Jersey has a 30-day time period during which the marriage license is valid–once it is signed by the county clerk. I was nervous that this 30-day period kicked off when we applied for the license (in person), from which our wedding was ~36 days away. Thankfully that was not the case. Just call and speak to the county clerk so you know when to meet and apply for the license. 

Visas for our honeymoon
The closer it got to our wedding, the more things we had to do. We flew home a bunch of times for planning and wedding festivities. Yet, we’d forgotten all about visas, which are required to visit Brazil. A bridesmaid of ours who works in human resources nonchalantly asked me one day if we’d gotten them because she’d just been to the NY Brazilian consulate and there was a wait. Thankfully, we live in a city with international consulates–some people have to drive or fly to other cities or states to go to one! So, that day Tim and I ran around like chickens without heads gathering all of our documents and getting photos taken only to be turned around for the next day. We returned the next day and eventually (thankfully) received our visas in time. 

Engagement ring debacle
There was a huge mess with my engagement ring. It was poorly resized by the original jeweler so the designer REMADE my ring using the same diamonds but the original jeweler would not reimburse us (that changed one Better Business Bureau Complaint later). The ring did not get back to Chicago until two weeks before the wedding (yep, I used a fake ring for my Bachelorette and our wedding shower…), and then it was time for my wedding band to be CUSTOM MADE, which would take close to two weeks. The jeweler here in Chicago was great to work with but needless to say, the whole situation and the waiting periods were stressful. Again, though, it all worked out. 

DJ vacationing right before our wedding 
Our DJ was a friend of my father’s. We got a GREAT deal and trusted everything would go well, which it did. A little over a week before the wedding, I got in touch with the DJ about the music and logistics. I also found out he’d be on a cruise up until the day before our wedding! Ensue the panic– what if flights were delayed? It really was not until he texted me Saturday evening when he got back into town that my nerves settled. 

Rain/snow
The weather forecast predicted rain for our wedding. Sure, some days it said no rain but most days there was rain–downpours– in the forecast. To prepare, I bought a big white umbrella, which we wound up not needing because the rain held off until the next day! There were brief flurries, which was cool because one of my bridesmaids who’d just returned from Asia said that in South Korea it means the person you are with on the first snow of the season is the person you are meant to be with for life… But no rain!

So basically, brides, just breathe. Prepare for some hiccups but have fun and enjoy the planning stage. I was pretty calm and nonchalant the whole time but it was because I had SO much help from family. If you don’t have that kind of help and if your venue doesn’t provide you with day-of decorating and assistance, then I would recommend a day-of wedding planner. 

Thankfully, for me nothing went wrong on our actual day, but people say something will. I think for us, there was enough to stress about pre-wedding so we were spared. What really matters anyway is that at the end of the day you are marrying your soul mate and best friend. Everything else is just extra.