Sandcastles

I got this ticket in my hand

And I got a long, long day ahead 

And I got a hell of a lot of reasons to be sad

But I've got a hundred more that keep me coming back

I got these worn out red boots on

And I got a brand new favorite song

And I can name some people who'd say that I got it all wrong

But I know plenty more who've been there all along

I'd rather make sandcastles
Instead of these wide-world decisions
I knew, I knew it all was catching up to me

And I don't have a plan at all
But I got this six-string religion
And I do, I do believe a song can heal me
It's enough for me

I had this picture in my head
Of where I oughta be and when

But it's just like the good advice that John gave when he said,
"Life, it happens while we're busy making plans"

I'd rather make sandcastles
Instead of these wide-world decisions
I knew, I knew it all was catching up to me

And I don't have a plan at all
But I got this six-string religion
And I do, I do believe a song can heal me
It's enough for me

Where I'm laughing is where I'm home
But you know how fast it makes the time go

And there was nothing like the first time that I saw open road
And I wasn't terrified to ride it on my own

I got my heart in the right place
But that place is millions of miles away

And I suppose I never will know the perfect words to say
But I'll keep searching till they find me one fine day...

It's A Beautiful Life

It is not the easy or convenient life for which I search. It is life lived to the edge of all my possibilities.

Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.

Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard.
Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Continue to learn.
Do what you love.
Live as if this is all there is.

To embrace the wealth of the spirit, to revel in the wonders of life. To think, to remember, to dream - this is to know happiness.

There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination.

I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery - air, mountains, ocean, trees, people. I thought, "This is what it is to be happy."

When it's over, I want to say: All my life, I was a bride, married to amazement.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.

And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

It doesn’t matter where you are, you are nowhere compared to where you can go.

Life is really short, perhaps it's time to have the courage to recognize that how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.

Remember, life is not about the breaths that we take, but about the moments that take our breath away.

I realized today that I really kinda love my life...

Looking through these pictures and saying...wow, this is MY LIFE! I am truly so happy and living the life of my dreams.

So awesome.

Moon Dazzler

We never had a place we could call home.

We met on the streets, always dreaming of a place we could be together.

I never stopped dreaming of a place where she could find happiness.

She stayed in the city in order to find comfort in my closeness.

Torn apart by the city, she has moved to the forest in search for home.

She has found the moon and the sun and they dazzle her every day.

She has found beauty in her own cycle of living and her presence in this world.

She no longer needs others to compare and measure her happiness.

She wakes up when the moon is going down.

The crickets remind her that she is surrounded by the forest. The warmth of the rising sun filters through the leaves and warms the rough wood floors.

The sun is up and there is fresh bread on the table. She is planting an aloe vera plant in the dirt
floor of her living room. She somehow knows the perfect place for it to grow.

She opens all doors, all screens, all windows and the wind picks up all of her Hindu drapes.

She wants to take me to the beach, but I can see that she is worried about leaving the house alone. She hides some of her most valuable possessions: books, pictures, and the pot.

She places a tree branch in front of the entrance, leaves the radio on, and the door wide open. She then screams “Bye, we’ll see you later” as if there was someone still in the house.

To me it seems as if she is saying goodbye to her house, and the house mumbles through the forest as we walk farther and farther away from the radio.

We walk together through the forest to the dirt road that reaches the beach break. She goes for a swim in the ocean and after awhile sits right next to me to watch the sunset.

She is dazzled with the sight, even though she has seen it hundreds of times.

The sunlight is dimming and soon the forest will be illuminated by the bright moon. We make our way back, the last bits of sun light illuminating our path.

She prepares a quick meal. Candles provide a flickering light while she plays the guitar.

The moonlight enters the house, and soon she will go to sleep.

She has placed her bed in a corner of the house where there is a direct view of the moon.

She has told me that watching the moon reminds her of me. I know she believes this is a ways for us to always be together.

This bamboo beauty is located here in Playa Avellanas, Costa Rica. It is a personal project by Benjamin Garcia Saxe. The home was designed for the architect’s mother and it is intended to be a refuge in which to bring his family together.

A married man, it's what's for dinner!

I LOVE food. I believe food is one of the best pleasures in life, so today, I wanted to talk a little about typical food in Costa Rica.

Small family run restaurants in Costa Rica are called "sodas". As common as a McDonalds in America, these little restaurants offer the majority of food options when dining out. Typically, they will be very small places, with maybe 5 tables, sometimes attached or next to the owners home.


Dining out in Costa Rica is not at all like in the States. You will not have an hour wait or be given a pager for when your table is ready. Depending on what time of day you arrive, you may be the only patrons in the place or there might be a table or two of other diners. There is usually no menu. This can be frightening to first timers, so let me explain.

The "casado" is usually the only thing available at a soda. A casado, which means "married man" is a typical home cooked meal that a married man would eat with his family. It usually contains a choice of meat - carne (beef), pescado (fish) or pollo (chicken) and the meats are usually slow cooked in a delicious sauce. Along side the meat is usually frijoles and arroz (rice and beans) and a raw salad with a light dressing, and fried platanos (fried plantains). The meal is usually served with a fresh blended fruit juice, called a refresco, mixed with your choice of leche (milk) or water.

A casado typically runs about 2,000 colones which is about $4. The soda ambiance is very homey and it's a lot like having a home cooked meal from grandma, there's a lot of love in these dishes! Even though the meal is basically the same, the meals at various soda's all taste different, due to each family using their own traditional passed down recipes. They are muy delicioso!

Costa Ricans differ from Americans when it comes to food. They are not obsessed with labels like "diet", "low carb" and "fat free". Their portions are smaller and although the meals are not all low carb or low fat, they are very balanced nutritionally. Rice, beans, fruits and vegetables are the main component of most of the meals cooked at home. Costa Rica has a bounty of local exotic fruits, many that you can pick and eat right from the trees...for free. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and most families in Costa Rica eat very little meat and dairy products. Costa Ricans also tend to have a very active lifestyle, hard physical work and the love of being outdoors keeps everyone moving, so obesity is low here. Most American expats report losing 10 lbs effortlessly within the first few months of living here. The Pura Vida diet?

There are many other food options available throughout Costa Rica, depending on what area you live in. Larger towns, like nearby Tamarindo, offer Mexican, Sushi, Italian, and even American favorites like BBQ. The bigger cities, like Liberia and San Jose, do have some fast food places, like McDonalds, although I have yet to eat at one since living here. I will take a casado over fast food, anyday.

My favorite part about eating in Costa Rica is that meal time here is sacred. Meals are slow cooked and really enjoyed, a time for celebration, conversation and precious time spent with friends and loved ones. Meals here can last hours and hours. When dining out in a soda or any restaurant in Costa Rica...a check will never be brought to your table after the plates are cleared away. You will never be rushed out of a restaurant so the table can be "turned over". You will be given as much time as you'd like to linger after a meal and the bill will only be brought to you after saying the magic words

"La cuenta, por favor" (the check please)...


Comida, just another wonderful part of la pura vida!

Week in pictures

Why Costa Rica?

Long stretches of deserted beaches, jungles full of wildlife, majestic volcanoes, crystal clear waterfalls, breath taking sunsets and star filled evening skies...I have always felt as if the country of Costa Rica was calling my name.



When people had asked me why I was leaving, I had not really known what to say. I had just felt this need to leave, to do something different, to reconstruct my life. For years I had been able to see the road ahead of me and while it wasn't unpleasant, it had somehow become impossible for me to accept the life I was living as a vision of my future.

I longed for something more...




I have always loved change, the way it moves me, teaches me and forces me to grow and this move would be the biggest change, thus far, in my life. Although my reasons for moving were mostly personal - the more I read about Costa Rica, the more sure I became that this magical place just might be the perfect place for me.

Happiness - The Happy Planet Index says that Costa Rican's are the happiest people on the planet. I have found this to be true. "Tico's" are open and warm, their culture is centered around family and friendships.

Peace - Costa Rica has no army, it was abolished in 1948. It is one of the oldest democratic countries in the world. The former president won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts of bringing peaceful political solutions to surrounding countries in Central America.

Lifestyle - A very common misconception is that Costa Rica is a third world country. Costa Rica is a second world developing nation. It offers every modern convienence that the US has - internet, cable, cel phones, shopping malls, etc. My quality of life here didn't change at all in those ways, it just costs less.

In the US time equals money, but in Costa Rica, you need less money, which equals more time.

Education - Costa Rica has a 96% literacy rate. Even in the most remote corners of this country, public education is available. More US expats live in Costa then in any other country in the world, which means there are many options for high quality, low cost, US accredited private school education. Giving my children a good education as well as the opportunity to become bi-lingual and to experience a different culture was very appealing to me.

Pura Vida - "Pura Vida" is the law of the land in Costa Rica. The literal translation means pure life. It's an attitude, a mantra, encompassing a way of life. It can be used as an adjective to describe something "excellent" or someone who is "full of life" and is also used here as a greeting, a good-bye or even to mean thank you.

In December of 2010, after selling everything and quitting my job, I left everyone and everything I'd ever known behind - to begin a whole new chapter of life in Costa Rica.



I am so happy that I did. I wake up everyday, surrounded by beauty and full of anticipation and the joy of discovery. Costa Rica is everything I dreamed of and so much more.

Pura Vida!

Playa Avellanas

Tucked away on the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica is the sleepy little surf town of Playa Avellanas. The Guanacaste province, nick-named the Golden Coast, is renowned for its beaches and Playa Avellanas is one of the most gorgeous beaches, not just in the region, but in all of Costa Rica.

Miles of coastal wildnerness meet the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean, soothing it's residents and beckoning visitors here each year. The town is made up of a mix of young and old, long time locals as well as ex-pats from all around the world. Some live here year round, some for only part of the year and then there are those who came just to visit and never went home. Every day just before sunset, you will find surfers, local families and tourists, hanging out in the hammocks under the trees in front of Lola's Restaurant, relaxing with a cerveza and watching the children play in the waves alongside Lollita, the 400 pound mascot of Avellanas.


The roads leading to Avellanas are all unpaved and during the rainy season, a 4x4 vehicle is required to get here. Avellanas has no bank, no grocery store and no shops, but we don't mind - for most of us who live here, the main attraction lies just off shore.

Playa Avellanas is a surfers dream; offering point breaks, beach breaks and reef breaks. You can find both experienced and beginner surfers in these waters just about every hour of the day. Our beaches are full of life, but are never crowded.



A night stroll on the shore near Lagartillo will give you a breath taking view of the stars and you may even stumble upon one of the Eastern Pacific Green Turtles flipping up sand building a nest on the shore (totally amazing). You can read about local efforts to save these endangered giants here.

Little Hawaii, Avellenas' famous break (located just south of the river mouth) packs extraordinary offshore waves that can reach up to eighteen feet, making it not only a local favorite but a coveted destination for experienced surfers from around the world.

Playa Negra, Witch's Rock and Ollie's Point - which were made famous in the movie Endless Summer II - are all within 30 minutes of Playa Avellanas, giving endless options for those searching for that perfect ride.



For those of us who call Playa Avellanas home, pura vida is all about enjoying nature, family and friendship, majestic beaches and epic surf.

Pura vida!