1 Year Behind Us, 1 to Go in Lima: The Top 30 Milestones from our 3rd year Overseas!

by Sarah Novak on May 16, 2013

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It’s hard to believe, but 1 year ago today, this was us, en route to the airport for our flight to Lima, Peru.  We were nervous, excited and quite unsure of what to expect.  It took longer to acclimate to Lima than the Philippines (the remainder of 2012, if I’m being honest) but we’ve found a nice groove at this one year mark and are eager to see what our final 365 days in Lima hold!

Just for fun, let’s review what we accomplished this last year:

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1.  4 Trips in Peru: Huaraz, Ica, Machu Picchu, Lunahuana

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2.  3 Trips Internationally: Easter Island Post 1, Post 2, Post 3; Galapagos Islands Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, Post 4, Video; Mexico

3.  Nick settled in to Embassy Lima

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4.  Lived (very briefly) in a house  in San Isidro and then switched to an oceanview apartment on Miraflores’ Malecon

5.  Learned to successfully select a safe cab in Lima and have remained crime-free to date (knock on wood)

6.  Hired AND Fired our help

7.  Enjoyed our 1st Peruvian Chicken – YUM!

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8.  Nia learned to Swing, Crawl, Bite, DO Lizard Tongue and Walk

9.  Nick got tenured!

10.  Survived a horrible bout of homesickness (for the Philippines, no less!)

11.  Became BFF’s with Lima’s cab drivers

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12.  Saw piles and piles of bones

13.  Enrolled at a Spanish Institute and successfully PASSED my first class!

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14.  Tried our first Gaston Acurio Restaurant

15.  Nick learned to paraglide and flew solo

16.  Became regulars at CityToys and Music Class

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17.  Bought our very own Peruvian art

18.  Attended Mistura, quite possibly the world’s greatest food festival

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19.  Watched Nia stuff cake in her mouth at her 1st Birthday

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20.  Took our little ladybug out on the town

21.  Watched Nia grow and change by the day

25.  Attended my 1st Lady Gaga Concert

26.  Met Santa

27.  Met the Easter Bunny

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28.  Played in the Fountains

29.  Went Volunteering at CIMA

30.  Got Nia’s 1st Haircut

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Tech Tuesday: Jing, My Favorite Screenshot Capture Tool

by Sarah Novak on May 14, 2013

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Well look at that, it’s Tuesday already… and you know what that means!  Iiiiittttt’s Tech Tuesday.  Today I’m sharing another one of my most-used web tools.  The tool is called Jing and it’s used to capture what’s on your screen.  I use it to take screen shots of what I’m working on or to turn a small section of my screen into an image file.  It’s my go-to tool when I can’t right click and save an image for some reason – Jing works in all situations and allows you to modify the size of the capture area as well.  Once captured, you can then save it to your hard drive or share it immediately on social media.

Jing also has a second useful function.  It can be used to create 5 minute videos of your screen activity.  This could come in handy if you’re creating a short instructional video about how to use a web program or want to teach a relative how to use Facebook, for example.  Just hit record, go through a series of action onscreen, hit stop and share your video.  Perhaps that’s what I love most – how SIMPLE this tool is to use.  And one other big bonus is that it’s FREE.  That’s all for today – hope you found this tool useful!

Click here to download JING for yourself

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Nia’s 1st Haircut

by Sarah Novak on May 13, 2013

972227_10151668415116663_369871229_nWell, we made it nearly 19 months before having to trim those beautiful blonde locks…. I delayed as long as I could, but her bangs were starting to cover her eyes and the stubborn kiddo refuses to wear clips for me (but she’s just fine doing it for the nanny).  So off we went to the Jockey Plaza Mall to the kiddy hair shop called Safari Kids.

943138_10151668412546663_171698181_nI should start by saying that I was expecting this to go horrendously.  My child doesn’t even like to be restrained long enough to receive a hug, let alone sit still in a chair and let someone touch her hair.  To combat this, we employed a multi-pronged distraction technique, complete with TV, books, toys, the car chair and our magic weapon: ICE CREAM (with a little bitty fun spoon).

Much to my surprise, our tactics worked.  She did try to pull off the cape a few times and she swatted at the guy while he was trying to cut her bangs, but I found that if I just shoved a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth she’d become distracted by the yummy-ness (Not too surprising honestly, since she is the daughter of an ice cream addict and all).

428395_10151668413706663_539615873_nSo folks, the motto of the story is: ice cream is the answer to all problems!

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Music Break: Gas Pump Karoake Viral Sensation

by Sarah Novak on May 13, 2013

Words cannot express how much I love this!  If only we all lived this freely and joyfully in our daily lives…

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TechTuesday: PicMonkey

by Sarah Novak on May 7, 2013

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OK, I’m about to let you in on one of my photo sharing secrets!  It’s called PicMonkey and it’s F-R-E-E.  It used to be called Picnik but then they did away with that one and brought about a new-and-improved version.  There are two aspects to PicMonkey – photo editing and collage-making.  I do my photo editing in other programs, so I can’t speak to that (although it does look pretty comprehensive and simple to use).  What I do love here is the Collage-making component.  You simply upload your photos, choose either a pre-made collage template (or design your own) and then drag and drop to create!  Here are some of the ways I’ve put it to use:

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Facebook Covers!

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Blogging Photo Collages

Tell me what you think!  Are you using this already?  Hope you enjoyed Tech Tuesday!

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Music Break: The Evolution of Music

by Sarah Novak on May 6, 2013

This is rockin’!  Happy Monday y’all…

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1 Weekend, 2 Very Different Food Experiences

by Sarah Novak on May 5, 2013

Photo Courtesty of www.thelatinkitchen.com

We had two great food-based experiences this weekend and they couldn’t have been more polar opposites.  The first was on our Friday night date.  We visited a new restaurant in town called Amaz (located next to the Hilton Miraflores).  This restaurant is the 2nd in a series from Pedro Miguel Schiaffino, who is known for sourcing his ingredients directly from the Amazon.  No seriously, how cool is that?  Someone went foraging in the Jungle for my meal!

Photo Courtesy of www.nytimes.com

Schiaffino is developing a name for himself because of his unique commitment to Amazonian-based ingredients and cooking techniques.  His other restaurant, Malabar, which we also plan to try, focuses on Amazonian-based dishes too – but with a more upscale feel.

Nick and I didn’t go too crazy with our choices, but we definitely got a flavor of the jungle.  Nick chose shrimp and scallops marinated with vegetables and cooked in a bamboo leaf (pictured below).  I had an Amazonian river fish with wild mushrooms and cashews.  For dessert we got a lava cake and mousse made with Amazonian Cacao.  Not a bad dish in the bunch.  I think this place is going to move up the ranks quite quickly in the next year or so.  Keep it on your radar Limeño friends.

Photo Courtesty of www.historiasdesobremesa.wordpress.com

Our second outing took place on Saturday to a country place called La Granja Azul (the blue farm).  It was reported to be kid-friendly, so we ventured there in the afternoon with Nia.  The ride was about 1 hour from Miraflores, in a part of Lima called Ate.

Photo Courtesy of: www.lagranjaazul.com

La Granja Azul occupies a large parcel of land, some of which is devoted to the restaurant and the remainder that is occupied by rides, playgrounds and go-kart tracks.  Each adult is required to purchase a $25 all-you-can-eat meal of salad, anticuchos (cow heart on a stick), rotisserie chicken, french fries, rolls and a beverage.  This restaurant is famous for it’s fire-roasted rotisserie chicken and hand-cut fries and I gotta say, they were pretty damn good.  Did I mention that the chicken just keeps a comin’?

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Nia was into the chicken, but she really dug the rides and playgrounds.  We did the classic merry-go-round (which she got bored of) and then tried her first pony ride (which she insisted upon quitting after 30 seconds).  Oh well, so much for that.  At least we got a picture before she bailed!

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I liked the concept of this place, but I’ve heard that there are similar ones in Cieneguilla that offer more for the money.  I thought $25 was a bit steep for the food, considering how far out we were and the fact that they made you pay for all the rides.  I think we’ll try some other ones and perhaps see if we can put together a group of families to all go together in the future.

*Top 4 images from (in order): www.thelatinkitchen.com, www.nytimes.com, www.historiasdesobremesa.wordpress.com and www.granja-azul.com.pe.

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Volunteering in Lima: My trip to CIMA

by Sarah Novak on April 30, 2013

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Last week I had the good fortune of visiting the non-profit CIMA with the Canadian International Society, an expat group here that has supported this organization since it’s inception 25 years ago.  CIMA provides assistance to 8-18 year old boys who live on the streets or find themselves in high-risk situations.  The boys choose to come to CIMA of their own free will and may leave at any time.

CIMA does its best to meet the boys’ needs for housing, food, education, affection and healthcare with the hope of  re-integrating them back into their homes and society at age 18.  The staff diligently models teamwork, discipline, commitment and respect and channels the boys’ energy into a multitude of activities including music, sports, farming, art, woodworking and much, much more.

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The picture at the top is the art studio, where the boys produce products that are sold to the public. This is one of many examples of how CIMA teaches them to contribute to their community, whether it be through producing the food they eat, preparing the meals or creating goods to sell.  Not only do these endeavors increase their confidence, but the boys also leave CIMA with a wide variety of skills to use for employment in their adult life.

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When our group arrived, we were greeted by the director Jean-Louis, a Canadian who founded this organization 25 years ago after seeing an abundance of homeless children hanging out near the Plaza de Armas in downtown Lima.  He began by acquainting us with the facilities and then we were treated to a musical performance by the boys.

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The entire group sang a song for us and then a smaller band performed.

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The band was something created by the music department, which is run by two Alums of CIMA.  I expected something akin to my 6th grade concert band, but what we got instead was a professional-quality performance.  This kid pictured above with the windpipe was absolutely PHENOMENAL.

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Watch them rock it out in this amazing video!
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I was fortunate enough to get asked to dance by this cute little guy.  He was brave enough to ask, but lost his courage once he got to the dance floor.  This prompted one of the older boys to jump in and carry on with me.  Such a fun experience!  I can’t wait to return with Nick and Nia.

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I leave you with a picture of the guinea pig (or cuy) pens.  There were roughly 250 guinea pigs at the moment, all of which will be food for the boys in the coming weeks.  Just in case you were wondering, they will participate in killing, butchering and cooking the cuy.  I’m all about self-sufficiency and learning new skills, but I draw the line at killing my own food…

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Tech Tuesday: Workflowy

by Sarah Novak on April 30, 2013

Hello!  Welcome to Tech Tuesday, the day when I feature a fun new product, app or online tool that has the potential to simplify (or perhaps even radically improve) your life.  I wanted to start with a bang, so I’m kicking things off with the online tool that has revolutionized my life in the last year.  Introducing . . . . .

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At it’s core, Workflowy is a outlining tool.  But that classification does it no justice, because it is SOOOO much more fluid than your standard outlining tool.  Essentially, it is a single giant list that can be broken into many sub-items and each of those sub-items can have it’s own nested list.  The breakdowns are ENDLESS people!  Can you tell I’m an organizational junkie?  This thing made me drool the first time I saw it…

What I love most is that it allows you to quickly navigate large amounts of data and zoom in on the sub-lists that you want to work with at that moment.  It’s hard to explain in words, so how about a visual example:

The applications for this tool are many.  I personally use it as a to-do list to organize both my business and personal life.  It could also be used for writing purposes to generate outlines.  Mind-mapping is another use that comes to mind.  I’m curious, how might you put this to use in your life?  Do tell me what you think of it!

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Father/Daughter Shenanigans

by Sarah Novak on April 28, 2013

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We’ve been out enjoying the final days of summer while we’ve still got sun.  For those who don’t know, Lima loses it’s sunshine for roughly 7 months a year thanks to the Humboldt Current, a jet stream that pushes the clouds eastward.  Those clouds run smack into the Andes and just like that we’ve got perma-cloud-cover.  And one other bizarre thing – Lima is a desert, so it never actually rains hard enough here that you’d use an umbrella.  However, during the winter months we get this cold mist called garua nearly every day.  Granted, it doesn’t get below 50 degrees F, but you’d be surprised what constant rain and no sun can do to one’s mood.

So back to where I started – we’ve been sucking up all the sun we can because it’s going to disappear very, very soon.  Today we went out for a romp in the park – here’s a short video of Nick and Nia enjoying each other:


Nick’s other passion as of late has been rock climbing.  We have a climbing wall near our house and he tries to get there 2-3 times a week.

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It’s been great strength training for him, as well as a wonderful stress release after a long day of work.

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Nick has a dream that Nia will join him on the wall within 6 to 12 months.  Crazy perhaps, but I think it’d be a great way to help her channel her abundance of energy (and stop climbing all our furniture).  We are going to start bringing her to the climbing wall to play around so that within a couple months she’ll be comfortable trying to climb on her own.

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As you can tell by the picture, Nia took to it immediately and Daddy couldn’t have been happier!

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