I’m Back!! With Some BIG News!!

Hello friends!!! I’m back in the US and I’ve missed you guys/blogging a whole lot!!

Of course I want to tell you a bit about my Spain trip, but I won’t go on for too long 😉 . I’ll start by telling you the #1 part of my trip…

I’M ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!

Frankie proposed to me on September 3rd on the balcony of our Airbnb in Ronda, Spain. Here was the view.

I am beyond happy to be engaged to the love of my life! Let the wedding planning commence 😮 .

Back to the start of our trip… We began in Seville for my friend’s wedding. I met up with a group of my best college friends and we all stayed at an Airbnb together. Seville was beautiful but SO HOT. We had lots of amazing food…

And my friend’s wedding was the most beautiful wedding/event I have ever been to. The ceremony was in a church and then we took a shuttle to this incredible, remote venue.

We ate more delicious food and danced until 3:00 am! It was such a great time.

Then Frankie and I parted with the group and took a bus to Ronda (where he proposed)! Ronda was the cutest little town I’ve ever been to, centered around a beautiful bridge (pictured above) and lots of cute tapas places.

We got the best vegetarian paella.

And had some good setups on our balcony 🙂 .

Our next stop was Malaga. Frankie studied abroad there in college, so it was easy to get around and feel less like tourists. Lots of shopping, hundreds of tapas restaurants, gelato shops, and the shiniest, cleanest streets (they clean them every morning at 6 am!). This was our Airbnb’s nightly deck setup 😉 .

Here are some more food highlights…

And we stopped by the market in the center of town. SO YUMMY! I was in heaven. I’ve never eaten so many olives in my life.

And we flew back on Saturday! By the time we got back I was really missing home and was ready to get back into my routine. I indulged more than ever on this trip, but didn’t regret a second of it. It was seriously the most amazing food and wine and I had the best time with my friends and now-fiance 🙂 .

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Now let’s chat a bit about my Sunday back in Boston! I woke up super early because of jet lag (which I’m not complaining about) so I unpacked a bit and then headed to my sister’s spin class with Frankie. It felt sooo good to push myself and sweat a ton – I feel like I hadn’t done that in forever (we did some hikes and lots of walking in Spain, but nothing crazy).

After spin we showered and got ready to see one of our potential wedding venues! We want to pick a place as soon as possible so we can get one of our preferred dates next year. We picked up some Starbucks on our way. I sure missed American coffee with almond milk.

And I snacked on a Dark Raspberry Truffle No Cow Bar in the car for breakfast.

We loved the venue! But we can’t fall in love with it too much yet because we have many more to see 🙂 . We stopped by Trader Joe’s for LOTS of grocery shopping on our way home. Of course I had to crack open a Cayennade booch before we even left the store (this flavor is soo good and has quite the kick).

And when we got home I made a big, simple salad: baby spinach, the ripest tomatoes, carrots, and light Italian dressing. In a mixing bowl because it was too big for a regular one 😉 .

And then I went to a waterfront yoga class with my sis! It was so nice to do some yoga after such a long break from it. And it was nice and chilly in Boston, so the class was refreshing and the perfect way to kick off a new week!

When I got home I cooked up a big stir fry with peppers, onions, mushrooms, carrots, bok choy, broccoli, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, snow peas, sugar snap peas, baby corn, and sriracha tofu. It truly hit the spot.

And I spent the rest of the night sipping on peppermint tea and watching “Shark Tank” with Frankie. I still need to unpack… oops.

SO it’s been quite the past couple of weeks, but I am so happy to be back home and back into my routine. As I said, I had the most indulgent vacation and I need to get back into being healthy! My fiance and I are planning on eating super healthily and plant-based this week, and may challenge ourselves to a three-day juice cleanse this weekend (not to lose weight, but for more of a mental reset). My friend in Seville convinced us 😉 .

Here’s to having the healthiest week ever! Hope you guys have a great Monday.

What are one or two of your goals for this week?

If you’ve had a wedding – how did you plan it?! Did you get super stressed?

❤ Marina