Snow Weekend Recap!
Hello and Happy Valentine's day!
This post was super spontaneous and I'll admit mostly for my close friends and fam to give them a quick update on our snowed in weekend. This is not a Valentine's day post. It just so happened to coincide so sorry =)
Anywho, here is a mini weekend recap since I pretty much had a 5 day weekend YIKES! Most of the time we were in our home keeping cozy because the snow outside was coming down hard. But we did manage to enjoy our last snow day yesterday and adventured to the park with Bella for some fun. The snow went up and over my knees! Even poor Bella was sinking. Luckily she has a little deer sprint in her (if you saw her Instagram story you know what I'm talking about ;p ) She LOVED every second of it. Greg wanted to take charge of the camera which is why he's not in here so I said sure honey and he documented a glimpse of our snow day in the park.
Our new Home! Well, some of it =)
Greetings from Maine!
I haven't been blogging as much as I want to since we've been moving and settling into our new little apartment. But I thought that I would post something today since we just made ONE month in Portland! A lot of our friends and family have been asking to see the new apt so...In honor of this first milestone I am sharing an apartment preview! Not all our room are here because not all our room are clean =p Although we've come a long way with getting the place together we still have much to go. So here is a sneak peak.
The walls are bare and the furniture is minimum but I really wanted to take my time with decorating this home to our liking. One lesson we learned from our first place in Queens is that you can't rush it. Cliche I know, but it's sooooo true. It's hard to stop yourself from wanting to buy absolutely everything all at once and have everything set right away but you have to take your time. Trust me!
Our living room!
We kept our furniture for this room because well...if it ain't broke right! Also, this couch is soooo comfy. My mom was kind enough to give us this living room set 7 years ago and we still love it so there's no way we could get rid of it.
Bedroom!
Although 99.9% of everything in here we needed to purchase this time around (we HAD to graduate from a full to a queen), there are things we kept from our last place. Like our TV of course and this wonderful jewelry armoire Greg's mom gave me a few years ago. It might not match perfectly but I believe in keeping things that mean something.
I'm pretty sure Bella thinks this her HER new bed...
First ALMOST full week in Maine
Our movers came to pick up our furniture on Monday and well, they are still not here (grr) so we have no furniture, no TV, no internet... pretty much just our bed and a tiny monitor with an antenna to watch local channels. I am NOT complaining - I swear! Just wanted to paint a picture here. We are starting the adjustment process here. So far we have found a coffee shop with WI-FI which I am sitting in right now writing this post, a few pretty awesome grocery stores, an awesome breakfast spot and a nearby hiking trail!
We got here Monday night to a nice cool 8 degrees and we thought - well great. However, yesterday surprised us when we woke up to a beautiful sunny day. At around noon the temperature rose to a wonderful 55 degrees. Greg and I looked at each other and said...hike?... Hike! Yup people, we went for a hike. Now I am kicking myself because my camera is still packed up somewhere so I wasn't able to document this beautiful hike with anything other than my iPhone camera. So the quality isn't wonderful but anyone that knows me knows I just can't help myself. I needed to take the photos no matter what I had. It was just so beautiful. Of course my iPhone camera does not do this hike justice but I still wanted to share with you guys.
Greg made me a walking stick 😛
Oh hey!
An Ode to Queens
Welp, now that the news of Greg and I moving is out, I thought I would dedicate a post to the place we have called home for the past six and a half years.
Queens, New York
In 2010 Greg and I went on a hunt for a place to live in together. Boy did we luck out. We found this awesome one bedroom apartment on the fifth floor of a walk up right in between LIC and Astoria. When we moved in, we were excited to explore our new neighborhood. Walking all over it checking out the restaurants, bars, pubs and of course, the beer gardens. We found out very quickly that Queens is awesome! The culture and diversity in this borough is none like I’ve ever experienced before; there is a little bit of EVERYTHING. Needless to say we have very much cherished and enjoyed our life here. We’ve had countless laughs, have had even more brunches. We adopted our first dog together, got engaged and then married; met some amazing people and brought people into the neighborhood.
We love Queens and are forever grateful for everything it has been to us.
Here's to Queens!
New Year New EVERYTHING!
How many times have you heard "New Year, New me". Or maybe even said it yourself. Well, I am here to say :
"New Year - New Everything!"
2017 is going to be a year of a lot of firsts for us because Greg, Bella and I are moving! After 15 and a half years of living in New York City (for me - 11 for Greg) we have decided to pack up our life and head north. The Gabriels are re-locating to Portland, Maine! I know what you're thinking - It's so cold up there! Who cares! Portland is such a cool little city (even though it's the biggest city in Maine) with so much art, culture and yes, food to offer. If we don't try it now - will we ever?
Why?
Greg and I have been searching for years for a place to re-locate to. Nothing seemed right enough to commit to - until we went back to Maine in September for a quick anniversary trip. We visited Maine about 5 years ago but stayed in Old Orchard beach, hung out at Kennebunk Port and shopped at Freeport. In fact, I very clearly remember on our drive from Old Orchard beach to Freeport Greg mentioning Portland and how it's such a cool city and me thinking .... eh, let skip it this time. So when we went back up there in September I bit my tongue alright. Portland is AWESOME!
The food scene for one - Are you kidding me? Sea food is not the only game in town. Their restaurants are up to par with any of the ones I've been to in NYC. Greg is in the restaurant business and well it was sort of a no brainer for him.
But what would I do?
Well, it took me all of a couple of weeks to find a job up there. Can you believe it?! I couldn't.
We have been incredibly lucky in New York. Let's face it I grew up here.I lived and went to high school in Washington Heights, dormed in college in the Bronx and our first home together has been in Queens. We have always been surrounded by friends and family. Our life here is not bad and NYC will always - always be a huge chunk of my heart. But it's time to move on. Search for a different way of life. Don't get me wrong I will be coming back to feel that hustle and bustle rush of the city but I think that for now - we will explore something different and see what other places may have in store for us.
We are so excited and so terrified but we are ready for this new adventure together.
I was looking through archives of my photos last night and came across some pictures of our very first visit to Maine in 2011.
If you want to take a look at our most recent trip to Maine as well click here!
And a very healthy and Happy New Years to all!
