Dominican Republic Apartment Rentals

So my fiance is really moving things along to start his online business. It would be a site for rental apartments in the Dominican Republic, in the major cities of Santiago and Santo Domingo. This niche has not really been covered much online so I think there is a very good shot for success. These things take time to develop and grow, so I am supporting in any way I can. I will be the marketing/communications person who will create the brochures, business cards, and press releases to put the word out about this site. The site will be aimed at native Dominicans as well as Dominican-americans who wish to vacation in DR at a cheaper cost than staying in a hotel and with the privacy and freedom compared to staying with family members. You would be surprised that it is pretty affordable to stay in a fully furnished and equipped apartment than it is to stay in a hotel in DR. So anyone looking to visit the Dominican Republic for the first time or who frequents the country pretty regularly, be on the lookout for this new site coming soon!

Tags: apartment rental, Dominican Republic, online business, Travel

Christmas Already?!

So between work, wedding planning, doing part-time translating & proofreading on the side and traveling for work, I’ve been pretty busy these past few months. Summer FLEW by and suddenly it is December and everyone pulled out their Christmas decorations overnight it seems! I am slowly catching up with the month and managed to haul my tree out of my basement storage yesterday. For now it is just a bare tree with no decorations but with getting out of work late today and not having much time to do anything besides eat dinner, the decor will have to wait another day

Last week I happened to be passing through Macy’s in Herald Square and captured the flurry of shoppers, everyone seems to have started Christmas shopping too.

Tags: Christmas, holidays, Macy's, NYC

Getting Married!!

So one of those milestones in a girl’s life just happened to me, someone proposed to ME and actually wants to spend the rest of their life with me! Oh what are they in for! haha just kidding Well that someone is my boyfriend who I’ve been living with for about a year. Now he is my ‘fiance’ I love that word! so much fancier than boyfriend.

It was all so cute and he absolutely caught me by surprise. Well, not totally, I knew he had bought the ring since we picked it together, I just didn’t know when he would propose. He did on my sister’s deck while we were enjoying a nice BBQ on Memorial weekend . My parents were there as well as my nephews… I can still hear my sister screaming and running into the house right after to grab her Iphone  for pictures and to tell the Facebook world the news!!

So now that I am engaged (love to say that), I think a destination wedding would  be perfect. You can get away from the usual reception hall in Jersey (no offense to Jersey, they have some fabulous venues) and get married amongst palm trees and be just steps away from the beach. I’ve narrowed it down to Dominican Republic but there are sooo many resorts to choose from, and they all look so beautiful!

Tags: destination wedding, engagement, engagement ring, fiance

Impressed by DC

In early April, I took a road trip to DC, and didn’t really expect much besides the usual landmarks and suited up people. The city has such a cool, young, and busy vibe about it, but in a smaller sense, not as hectic and fast paced as NYC. the FOOD, ohh the variety of food, as a food lover, I was in heaven I tried this Mexican and Salvadoran restaurant, where else have I eaten pupusas with a tamal and sweet plantains. The restaurant is called Las Placitas and if you are ever in DC you should check it out. I also tried empanadas from an Argentinean spot, so large in size and delicious! Also, Ceviche Tapas Bar was a great Spanish restaurant with the next best paella I’ve had since visiting Valencia.  We drove around the Georgetown neighborhood on an especially warm and beautiful evening and so many people were out and about taking in the scene. Oh and the subway! Man, their subway puts NYC and NJ Path trains to shame… clean, efficient, roomy stations, with timelines of when each subway line is arriving, (and they are accurate!). The MTA needs to get a serious lesson on how to run a subway system from Washington, the end!

Tags: D.C., restaurants, Road trip, Washington

Lima’s Taste NYC

Last Friday the weather was a sunny and almost summery 70ish degrees, so I made my way to the city, I love walking in NYC in the spring and summer, everyone is out and having a drink outside people are just lounging around and people watching. Edward and I stopped at Lima’s Taste on Christopher St. This place never disappoints! I had the Ceviche Mixto. In case you don’t know what it is, ceviche is a dish of raw seafood marinated in lime juice, typically  a 
dish from Peru and Ecuador. This is a place I have been meaning to write about since I have tried ceviche in other places where they give you a larger portion, but this place has the location and the ambiance that make it quite popular. The restaurant is elegantly decorated. I suggest you try ceviche here and let me know what you think!

Tags: Ceviche, Christopher st., Ecuador, New York City, Peru, Seafood

The quest for new jeans

Ohhhh man it gets harder each time! I know the road to finding a new pair of jeans is long and discouraging, trying on pair after pair of “skinny” and “flare” and “low/mid cut” jean out there, I almost gave up today as I was trying on a pair of jeans that made my behind look like a smushed and flattened pancake. I usually would go to the juniors section and pick up a pair of Angels jeans, Glo, or Paris Blues, and be good to go. However, none of those brands were anywhere to be found, I found one Paris Blues but not in my size. So as I let go of my faded and torn Paris Blues and my worn out Forever 21 jeans, (yes I think they have nice fitting jeans but don’t count on them to last more than a few months, you get what you pay for), say hello to my new CK and DKNY jeans. Neither one is low-waist, I think it was time to let go of low waist and get some jeans that actually fit on my waist so I don’t have to worry about flashing strangers everytime I sit down. welcome CK and DKNY to my spring wardrobe, I hope we make many memories together in the long jean years to come.

Tags: buying jeans, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Jeans

Hair Milk – Carol’s Daughter

Hair Milk – Carol’s Daughter. This doesn’t work for me. After reading the advertisement “Curls, Drink Up” I thought Yes, this looks like it might give me the curls I want, shiny, soft, defined. The first time I applied it I enjoyed the smell, but after a few more attempts, the smell gets me. It’s too perfumy and not in a good way, the smell is greasy and oily if that’s a way to describe a scent. If anyone wants the remainder of this product and it works for you, let me know and I can send it to ya.

Tags: Carol's Daughter, curls, Hair cream

Snow…here we go again

But the silver lining to getting all this snow is that work offices were closed Friday, here’s my view of the park on the Hudson River on Thursday as I was waiting for the announcement to go home early. We were let go around 2, yay!

Tags: blizzard, hoboken, Hudson River, NJ, snow

In Search of the Perfect Curls

I’ve been wearing my hair curly for…over 10 years now and I must say my search for perfect curls everyday is still going. Curly hair is sooo sensitive and temperamental (well at least mine is) that sometimes I do not want to be bothered with it and want to wake up and goooooo out the door! Well I’ve learned to tame my hair and have a good routine down, wash (watch the harsh sulfates), deep condition as much as possible, apply a curl cream, gel, and go. However, every so often I get the itch to search for a new curl cream to replace my Fekkai Luscious Curl Cream and came across Umberto Beverly Hills Curl Enchancing Lotion. After a shampoo and deep condition, I applied a quarter and a half size amount of this to my hair and 30 minutes later, my hair had dried to defined, springy, shiny curls… I hadn’t seen those in a while! Especially with all this indoor heat and dry winter air. Check it out curly haired gals and tell me what you think about Umberto Curl Enhancing Lotion.

Tags: Curl tamer, Curly hair, Hair

Yoga & Zumba

Yoga, I discovered yoga back in my senior year of college at Seton Hall University, I was looking for an elective to kill time and credits so I could graduate and get the heck out of college and become a hardworking adult career woman (what was I thinking?) Turns out that yoga course stayed with me and back in 2008 I signed up for classes at Devotion Yoga, a studio in Hoboken. I was going through a stressful time of job-hunting and roommate changes, and had good memories of blissing out in yoga meditation and poses while taking the course in college. After many Flow & Let Go classes and meditation workshops with an actual Buddhist, I was sold again on yoga’s benefits. How come I didn’t continue yoga after college? After a class, I feel limber, re-energized, soothed, like I can float a little through life, at least until the feeling wears off, the downside is you have to keep doing yoga in order to maintain that endorphin “high”. I went back to my favorite instructor, Jocelyn’s, class this past Wednesday and downward-dogged and warrior-posed my way through an hour and twenty minutes. I sit all day at work and after 8 hours of immobility my body is begging me for some kind of activity.

My body has told me, Roxy, you have hibernated and sat your way through most of winter, now’s the time to get moving again! I started my day today with some Zumba, yes! and I love it, not only ’cause it has a cool name, but because it combines all the things that would make me move my butt. Music (merengue and samba) and dancing. I also threw in some Nathan Blake cardio for the extra sweat! phew** Check out one of the Zumba videos I found, while they are not actually explaining the steps, I was able to keep up and get in a nice dance/workout

Tags: dancing, Working out, Yoga, Zumba