Jersioca - Page 2 of 7 - One part Jersey. One part Rio.

Reading Latin America: The House of Spirits

For something a little bit different than the norm, I just finished reading my first Isabel Allende book: The House of the Spirits.

I love Gabriel Garcia Márquez and, subsequently, quite like magical realism. Over the past year or so, I noticed a dearth of both fiction books and female authors in my roster of books to read. I picked up The House of the Spirits in paperback form in LA, at some point, and then purged it on one of my cleaning frenzies after never having read it. Continue reading Reading Latin America: The House of Spirits

Come Closer: Family Life in Brazil

As I start nearly every blog post on here, “I always thought…” my family was close and affectionate. Until I went to Brazil. Continue reading Come Closer: Family Life in Brazil

Back to Long-Distance

Well, last Saturday, we packed Gustavo’s bags into an Uber and watched him take off towards the Lincoln Tunnel. (We love each other enough to accept that I’m never driving him to JFK again.) Continue reading Back to Long-Distance

Happy new year!

We did it. We spent our first New Year’s Eve in the US! Continue reading Happy new year!

Differences: Hope and Community

I’ve been on a Bob Dylan kick lately. Two weeks ago, I took a meditation teacher training down the shore and on the hour-long ride, I was listening to some old rock/folk music when “Positively 4th Street” came on. Since then, I’ve been obsessed with Dylan’s snark. Talk about salty! Continue reading Differences: Hope and Community

A Series of Firsts

Earlier this week, Gustavo came to visit for the holidays this year. I’ve never much liked the winter holidays. I’m not one for “Christmas cheer” and I hate New Jersey winters with a passion. Continue reading A Series of Firsts

Crossfit Olympic Weightlifting Level 1

When you start at Crossfit, there are a few movements that are super challenging to wrap your head around. When it comes to the bar and weights, none compare to the snatch.

For me, in Crossfit, I always found the Olympic Weightlifting movements a lot easier to understand and improve than any others.

Finally, when I joined Koutí and had classes with Rodrigo on the subject, I saw how much I had to learn to understand the why’s and how’s of the clean & jerk and snatch.

Continue reading Crossfit Olympic Weightlifting Level 1

Our First Trip to Europe Together

The first time I visited Europe, I was 16 and desperate to see Paris. I’d been studying French for years and I was beyond thrilled to be able to use it in the wild. Plus, I was enamored with so many French artists and writers – I wanted to see this romantic city that seemed to have inspired all of them. Continue reading Our First Trip to Europe Together

To Make-Up or Not to Make-Up

Make-up has always seemed like a functional endeavor to me. I was never very interested in raising my own make-up skills to that of an artistic level. It always did a nice job of making me look more awake – and my skin less greasy – on a daily basis. Besides that, I couldn’t much be bothered. Continue reading To Make-Up or Not to Make-Up

Crossfit Gymnastics Level 1

When I initially joined my first Crossfit class, it included a few Pull-ups and of course there were a few members doing what I at the time felt like was a very unsafe variation of the movement, in my head I felt like I would never try those because it seemed super risky for your shoulders and spine.

Continue reading Crossfit Gymnastics Level 1

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