Confronting change and adjusting to new routines, cityscapes, and other new experiences can be a daunting, albeit rewarding adventure for an introvert like me. 2019 was full of those stimulating moments! Ty and I are both working towards trying as many new things as we can to break out of our shells and experience the world around us. We want to keep evolving who we are in as many aspects we can attain for the better.

Continuing from the years before, we kept improving our dietary habits and we explored new cuisines along the way. 2019 brought us zalabia, schwarma, my first torta and churro, and we even had charred octopus— which is incredible! Ty’s cooking skills are expanding and he is currently mastering every Mexican dish imaginable. He’s added in Asian cuisine and explore new baking recipes in 2019. Ty has found us gluten-free ingredients we like and now our diet is almost 100% natural, organic, and now gluten-free. I still cannot believe how big of a difference it is making. I am hoping that 2020 will be the year Ty takes on sushi. I want fresh sushi!

We further explored our new home, San Diego. We scaled Cowles Mountain and enjoyed sunsets from the peaks of Mount Soledad and Mount Helix. We ate at new restaurants in town and took our families to our favorite spots. We went to the San Diego County Fair, saw a Cirque du Soleil performance in town, and explored every beach from Imperial Beach near Tijuana all the way up to Solana Beach in North County. San Diego has become us. It feels as if this is where we have always been. Here’s to many many more SoCal adventures in 2020 and beyond! *clink* We want to drive up Coast Highway and find more spectacular vantage points.

We both visited Mexico for the first time back in November. It was the first time either of us had been out of our home country. I was not sure what to expect and I was a little nervous because I do not speak the language. Ty is learning to be conversational with Spanish so it was a lot of fun watching him talk to people and become more confident as he spoke more and more throughout the day. It really made navigating and asking questions a lot easier. He made sure I understood what people were saying, which was my biggest concern about going to another country. We will definitely be going back in 2020 and I think Ty will practically be fluent.

I am so excited to keep this adventure rolling through 2020. I want to experience much more of the world with Ty; expand my bubble— learn more, grow more, and better our world.