Some of our family friends in Istanbul have a house in Beylerbeyi right on the Bosphorus. After some shopping one day, we went back to their place for tea, and eventually dinner. The views from the outdoor patio, and living room window, are absolutely stunning. Talk ab...

My family and I decided to spend Christmas 2016 in Turkey. It was a trip we had been planning for a few years--as a celebration of me and my partners 40th birthdays (mine in December and his in January) and my mom's 75th birthday coming up in Summer 2017. Who needs an...

Today I wanted to talk a little about the inner journey. This is a picture of me performing flamenco at a recital in June, with the studio Esencia Flamenca Dance Company. I have been studying flamenco there for a little over two years. 

I love this photo because wh...

I spent today by the pool in Palm Springs, in 102 degree heat, reading the book: Blogging for Writers, by Robin Houghton. I figured it would be some mini-vacation light poolside reading. Instead I became overwhelmed by the amount of information there is to know about h...

Some days I feel ready for the truth, other days I do not. I am connected with my inner truths and desires more than ever, and I lie awake at night, imagining my future life. I have a hunch that this “spaced out” feeling I have had recently is the new experience of bei...

Four years ago I reconnected with a family member that I had not seen since I was a kid. My dad's first cousin, "Aunt Gina," lives in the New York City area; her apartment in Jersey City is a twenty minute train ride from Manhattan. For the past three years, my daughte...

While we were staying in San Miguel de Allende, we decided to take a day trip to the capital city in the region, Guanajuato City. Guanajuato City sits in a narrow valley at an altitude of 6,600 feet. It is about an 1 1/2 hour drive from SMA. There are no straight roads...

I recently returned from a two week trip with my family to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. We (my partner Andrew and I, and our daughter Elizabeth) chose San Miguel de Allende (SMA), because my friend Cari had mentioned six months earlier that she and her husband Eric a...

When I was in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico last week, I took a cooking class at Marilau Mexican Ancestry Cooking School. I was attracted to this particular school in general because 1) It had an easy to navigate website with lots of information 2) The website portraye...

Today we visited the Museo de las Momias in Guanajuato City, Mexico. My daughter and her friend (they are seven years old), had really been looking forward to the Mummy Museum. Their enthusiasm was infectious, and while I had not thought much about a mummy museum befor...