The Hungry Backpacker (travel videos)

It's no secret that my husband and I love travel... and food. When we were living in Cuenca, Ecuador, we came up with the idea of making a video of our favorite places to eat there. We posted it on Youtube and it was instantly a hit. In fact, right now, the video has almost 27,000 views! We weren't expecting that at all.

Since Cuenca, we've made a few other videos in places where we spent some time: South Korea, Philippines & Malaysia. And once we explore Nashville more and discover great restaurants, we plan on doing another episode here.




If you'd like to check them out, here are the links to all 4 episodes of The Hungry Backpacker:

Episode 1: Cuenca, Ecuador
Episode 2: South Korea
Episode 3: Legazpi, Philippines
Episode 4: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We hope you enjoy!

Ben & Jerry's, Steel Magnolias & Selfies

The weekend was quite lonely for me. My husband and our friend/housemate left Thursday afternoon and headed to Maryland for their high school reunion. I, unfortunately, had to work. I was super bummed, so J took me out to sushi Wednesday night after I got off work.

Can you tell how much he loves it when I take his picture?

He was gone the WHOLE weekend. I hate when we have to spend time apart. Luckily though, it doesn't happen very often.

Basically, my weekend consisted of:

- A pint of Ben & Jerry's.
- Movies my hubby rented for me from the library so I would have something to do.
- Receiving a package from my mom in which she put a little cute Dumbo sticker that said "I Miss You" in the corner & it made me miss HER that much more. She's too cute.
- Spending almost FOUR hours at Hobby Lobby & Michael's. I haven't been in a craft store in over a year, so I was a bit overwhelmed. I had forgotten how lost I can get in those things. But I am proud to say that I only bought 3 things & the total cost was less than $4. I practice self-control when I can. But I was inspired while being in those stores & now I want to get into a million new hobbies & make a million and one things.
- Baking the guys some way yummy chocolate chip cookies as a "welcome home" thang. I found an awesome recipe that I'll share next week!
- Attempting & failing at way too many selfies.
- ... and the boring stuff like cleaning the house & grocery shopping

How was YOUR weekend? Hope it wasn't as lonely as mine! ;)

Sunday Social: Food!

I've been missing out lately on Sunday Social, but I'm back at it again today-- especially because this week's questions are about food! Yummy.

1. If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
    Som tom! (Thai green papaya salad). Love that stuff, especially with sticky rice.

2. What’s your guilty pleasure/comfort food?
    Donuts. Mmmmm... donuts.....

3. What’s the weirdest/craziest thing you’ve ever eaten?
    Guinea pig in Ecuador (which was surprisingly delicious, to be honest). Oh, and live octopus in South Korea. That was definitely weird.

Munchin on some guniea pig in Ecuador.

4. What foods do you avoid at all costs?
    Anything that has ampalaya (bittermelon) or grapefruit. I hate bitter stuff- yuck! I have a very low tolerance for that stuff.

5. What meal reminds you of your childhood?
    Canned sardines & rice. I remember my mom cooking that a lot when I was a kid.

6. Share one of your favorite recipes and the story behind it.
    Here's a link to my calamansi brownies: Calamansi Brownies.
    When we were living in the Philippines, I had a lot of extra time on my hands. I ended up starting a little baking business. These calamansi brownies were a top seller of mine. (And if you don't know what a calamansi is, it's basically the Filipinos' version of lemon. It's actually more of a cross between an orange and a lemon. Really good.)

Kid Conversations

For my job, I work with kids all day, from 5 months old to 5 years old.

One of my favorite things about working with kids is hearing them have conversations, either with each other or with me. They really do say the darndest things. The other day, I had this conversation with a 4 year old and I posted it on Facebook:

Then my friend suggested I really should write a book about it-- or at least blog about it. I thought his suggestion was a good one. Throughout the week, I wrote down a few things a few kids had said to me that I thought were pretty cute/clever/etc. I changed their names and their age is in parentheses:

ONE:
Tyler (5): *Playing with my hair* "It looks beautiful"
Me: *smiling*
Tyler: "Wait, put it like this..."
          *throws my hair to one side*
          "Now it looks beautiful... Wait..."
          *tries to tie a knot in my hair, gives up after 3 seconds*
          "It looks beautiful whatever way."
Me: "Thanks, you're a sweetheart." *hugs*

TWO:
Jack (5): "I'm so focused on what I do than what I don't do."

THREE:
Gabby (4): "When my dad gets mad, he's the boss of everyone."

FOUR:
Rob (5): "Are you from China?"
Me: "Nope. Why?"
Rob: "Cuz you look like a China person."
Me: "Oh. Well, nope- not from China."


Lol. Kids are too fun.

Wedding Wednesday: The Cake & Food

10. The Cake & Food

(To read numbers 1 - 9, click here)

Like I've mentioned before in post number 6 - The Colors - we had two events for our wedding celebration: a pre-wedding open house in California and the actual wedding in Costa Rica.

Our pre-wedding event was held at a Thai restaurant-- so you know we had some bomb foodage going on there! Yellow curry, pad thai, chicken satay, pineapple fried rice.... I can't even remember it all! I don't have a picture of the food- but I'm sure you get the gist!

Our very talented friend Amanda made us an AMAZING cake that really showed what J & I are about-- traveling! She did such an incredible job. The whole cake was shaped like a suitcase. Inside was a beach scene with little Lego figurines of J & I. She even had edible flags of every country J & I had traveled together. There were so many details, it was just really a great cake-- I wish I could have froze the whole thing to keep it forever. But it was red velvet, which is a big weakness of mine, so we had to eat it. And not only did it look awesome, it was delicious, too! The whole thing was almost gone in minutes.

Then in Costa Rica, we wanted the food to be comida tipica-- typical Costa Rican food. We had a choice of beef, pork or chicken, prepared Costa Rican style and the sides-- beans and rice, patacones (fried plantains) and a salad. Again, I forgot to have someone take a picture of the food-- but I assure you, it was delicious! I love the food in Costa Rica- it's some of my favorite.

We ordered a small cake from a local bakery in town. We sat down with the owner, talked to him about what we wanted and he really worked with our budget. They did a great job and the cake was absolutely delicious- people even said it was the best cake they had ever tasted! Since our reception was outside, so was the cake, so yes- the cake looks like it was sweating (which it probably was), but that did not affect its deliciousness. And we had to bring our Lego figurines from the California cake to add to it for the finishing touch.

If you'd like to participate in Wedding Wednesday, here are the prompts:
1.how it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long didyou date? first picture together.....etc.
2.when you knew he was the one: self explanatory.. but how and when didyou know?
3.proposal: how it happened, how long were you engaged for? was it atotal surprise? pictures of that... etc.
4.the ring: tell us about it! did you pick it out? did he? pictures!tell us about his ring too!
5.engagement/bridal pictures: let's see em!
6.the colors: show some of the flower and colors you used
7. the dress: was it what you always imagined? did you have it made for you? white or ivory?
8. the little accessories: you know, veil? shoes? jewelry? what did your bridesmaids wear?
9. the reception: where was it at? show us some pictures! what day did you get married?
10. the cake/food: i love food. so tell me about what you had at your wedding!
11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding: share a music video or lyrics if you can!
12. favorite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.
13. honeymoon: where did you go? was it good? ;) haha...jk.
14. thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? if you could change anything, what would it be?
15. first place that you lived together: pics if you have them!
16. kids: do you have any yet? if not, when do you plan on it? how many do you want? any tips on good/bad birth control?
17. most recent picture of you and your significant other and what you love most about them :) and any other thoughts.

Lists of Five

I saw this at Kiss My List & wanted to do it, too. I mean hey, who doesn't like lists, especially ones where you get to talk about yourself?? =)

Five Things I Have a Passion For
1. My husband
2. My fam
3. Traveling
4. Fun
5. Life

Five Things I Would Like to do Before I Die
1. See the Northern Lights.
2. Visit all South American countries.
3. Run my own hostel.
4. Go to Amsterdam.
5. Eat pizza in Italy.

Five Things I Say A Lot
1. “Awesome”
2. "Yeah"
3. "Love you"
4. “Amazing"
5. “What the heck...”

Five Books and/or Magazines I Have Read Lately
1. See Through
2. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
3. The Emperor's Children
4. Jay-Z: Decoded
5. The Ultimate Man's Survival Guide (hey- there's some useful info in there!)

Five Favorite Movies (maybe you’ve seen them Five times…)
1. Closer
2. The Motorcycle Diaries
3. The Science of Sleep (yes, Gael Garcia Bernal is my favorite!)
4. Leon: The Professional
5. City of God

Five Places I Would Love to Travel
1. Samoa
2. Cambodia
3. Istanbul
4. All of the national parks
5. New Zealand

Five People I Tag to do this
I tag anyone & everyone who wants to participate! 

A new look- finally!

Yes indeed- I've finally decided to change it up a bit here at Latitude Adjustment. It had been basically the same layout since I started this blog in early 2012. The other day I decided it was time for some changes. I was getting a bit tired of all the purple (but it's still my fave color!).

Thanks to my husband for doing the header. And to Amy over at Not Your Average Amy  for helping me with the page tabs at the top. And I've been playing with stuff here and there. I'm still working on it, but I'm satisfied with it so far!

Hope you all like the new look, too!

The Boy Behind the Blog

My husband loves and supports me in everything I do, including my blogging. He smiles and gives me a look whenever I geek out over something that's happened to me and this blog. Sometimes he makes fun of me, but I know it's all love (or at least I like to think that).

I saw this "The Boys Behind The Blog" link-up and thought "Jason's not going to want to do this... it's way too silly for him..." but when I saw that it's only 5 questions, I thought it might be do-able. So I asked him, in my cute way that I do to convince him to do something for me, to just answer these 5 simple questions. He gave me the look, said I was silly, etc. etc.... but after a little more pleading, he obliged.

Here are his answers to this month's "The Boys Behind The Blog" questions. I told him he could write what he wanted- I wouldn't change a thing. So these are his answers, unaltered:

1. What celebrity would play you in a movie about your life?
    Steve Buscemi

2. What is your dream car?
    A converted, fully electric, 1988 Ford Bronco II with a body kit and a built in recording studio.

3. Do you have any tattoos? What, where, why?
    2 on my arm.  Filipino stuff.

4. Boxers or briefs?
    Hybrids.

5. List 3 random facts about yourself.
    a) I only wear deodorant for job interviews. b) Sometimes when I'm alone, I sing at the top of my lungs to Miley Cyrus songs. c) I'm 5'6" tall with big shoes on.

I love him because he always makes me laugh (even though the answers to these questions are true! Haha...)

Come join the fun here:

Roadtrip Across America: recap (parts 1 - 4)

If you've been keeping up you know that J & I made a move across the country in late May/early June. {And if you haven't, well- now you know}. On the way, we made some awesome stops and it turned into one pretty incredible roadtrip. 

From California to Tennessee-- it was a fun roadtrip, even with the boring parts of being on the road and seeing unchanging landscape. We took 6 days to get across the country, with planned stops where we stayed a couple of nights here and a couple of nights there.

Check out the full posts here:

Part 1: Grand Canyon

Part 2: New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas & Arkansas

Part 3: The Ozarks

Part 4: Tennessee

Throwback Thursday: Happy Birthday To My BFF!

Today is my beautiful BFF, Erika's, birthday, so this Throwback Thursday is dedicated to her. Perfect. Timing.

Seriously though, this chick is pretty much amazing & she's an awesome, beautiful person-- inside & out. Word is bond.

Happy birthday, Erika! You the bestest & I miss you so, so much (& you know 'dis!). Hope your day is filled with lots of love... and of course food! Rep that FKC! You know I wish I was there to help you celebrate! You're the best chocolate that this vanilla could ask for. Love you, boo! Cheers to our everlasting friendship-- always & forever, no matter where we are in the world.  


Here are some TBT pics in celebration.

Wedding Wednesday: The Reception

9. The Reception

{to read numbers 1 - 8, click here.}

Our wedding reception was fun. Like, super fun. You'll be able to tell from all the crazy pictures I'm about to post. Don't worry, I'll only be posting the rated PG ones... maybe a few questionable-maybe-PG-13 ones.

We had rented out a whole bungalow for everyone that came to the wedding so that we could all be together the night before & day of the wedding. There was a larger patio area and that's where the reception was held. We had about 50 people there, so we didn't need tons of space.

We had our first dance, ate amazing comida tipica (typical Costa Rican food), listened to speeches from the best man, MOH & others, the garter and bouquet toss, father-daughter dance... you know, typical wedding reception stuff. When that was all done, it was party time! Since we basically had the whole place to ourselves, we could be as loud as we wanted for as long as we wanted. I don't even remember what time we went to bed...

But it was so fun and I really wished the night could have never ended.

Here are some pictures-- some 'normal', but mostly crazy. And yes-- we were hot & sweaty & most people were half naked by the end of the night. Gotta love Costa Rica. Pura Vida!

It was surprisingly easy to plan a destination wedding-- especially in Costa Rica in the little town we had fallen in love with 5 years before (Puerto Viejo). We got in contact with some great people there who were a major help and really worked with us and our very tight budget. Everything turned out so well, despite some minor problems here and there (like, the water running out the DAY OF the wedding... that was pretty terrible) but you know, everything worked itself out and we got through it.

Our close friends and family who were able to make it really enjoyed themselves. They still talk about it to this day. I don't mean to brag, but it's definitely a wedding to go down in the books & people will talk about for a long, long time. =)

Wedding Wednesday is a series I've been participating in for a while now. To read numbers 1 through 8, you can click here. You'll also find the prompts there, so feel free to participate, too!