USA | THIS IS FANNY

Sleepy Hollow & Tarrytown

Fanny Sura30 September, 20191 October, 2019Leave a comment

September 30, 2019

We had the most awesome weekend! I feel recharged and motivated!
We arrived in Sleepy Hollow around 11:30 am yesterday. We had decided to go explore the Rockwood Hall State Park becuase it’s right by the Hudson River. So nice to go for a walk and enjoy a park where there isn’t a billion people. So beautiful out there. There is another bigger park somewhat nearby but this park was right by the water and gave us a nice view.

Yield to the Headless Horse

I would have liked to stop and visit the cemetery from the story but since we had a nervous little guy in the car we didn’t want to stop too many times and be tourists. We drove by though, so I did see it. So after the Rockwood Hall we parked in the city of Sleepy Hollow, walked through and to a bar but it didn’t seem too dog friendly, so we walked back to the car to drive to a place in Tarrytown that J had looked up before, Horsefeathers, where we could sit with Thor outside. We both ordered burgers cause the waitress said that’s what they are known for. It was really good! T behaved better than normal, only a few barks once the food came.
After lunch we drove down to walk on the Scenic Hudson River Walk. It was very windy there and lots of people. Nice to be by the water but I prefer the Rockwood park.
We decided to drive into town and go to a coffee shop, Coffee Labs Roasters Inc, that I knew would accept Thor inside(it’s very rare that places accept dogs, at least here in America). This place was not only dog friendly, they also seem to take coffee really seriously. I ordered a latte with extra espresso and I got a teddy bear:) I enjoy latte art, I never really had time to practice that when I worked as a barista (I have worked at two very busy cafes) so I always created hearts for my customers or tried to make leaves that always ended up looking more like blobs haha.

Back home, T fell asleep on the couch in two seconds and J was watching the Bears game next to him. I was playing computer games for awhile. In the evening I rolled out my yoga mat in the bedroom. A little bit of gentle yoga and meditation felt nice after a long and active day. I looked at my phone this morning, it says we walked 7 miles yesterday, I am really impressed by our little 8 lbs fluff, I wonder if his legs are sore today.

Thor was being silly while we waited for our coffees at the cafe 😀

In Stamford

Coffee by the water & a microchipped dog

Fanny Sura29 September, 201930 September, 2019Leave a comment

September 29, 2019

Good Morning and Happy weekend! How’s the weather where you live? We are having a really beautiful weekend so far! Yesterday we had 27 degrees and blue sky, I LOVE IT! We started the day by driving down to Harbor Point. We bought coffee at a little cafe, continued driving down, parked and walked to sit right by the water. What a beautiful morning! Thor was like a little toddler with ants in his pants, he didn’t really feel like sitting down too much, haha, but we still got a very relaxed time in the sun drinking coffee.

We only stayed for about an hour and then we had to head over to a new vet for Thor’s appointment to get him microchipped. T didn’t make a peep when the vet lady put the giant needle in his neck I am so proud of him! I was the one holding him so he wouldn’t move and I stared right at it to make sure it was done correctly, but Jim was standing a bit away looking the other direction. So now if T ever gets lost (oh I hope not!) and a rescue team finds him or if someone brings him in to a vet, they can reunite us. T can now also travel internationally. We aren’t really planning on bringing him anywhere (cause he doesn’t do well on planes) but in case we would like to he can now avoid quarantine.

Since we didn’t know if he was going to have any side effects (it’s rare that dogs get any but you’ll never know) we stayed with him most of the day. We went to the gym just for a little bit, then took T with us to a mexican place. After some chips and guac we continued to sit outside at Tigin. Such a hot day, it was nice to be outside. Back in the apartment we knew T was ok so we went to sit at the rooftop without him. So nice to just sit and do nothing. In the evening, J grilled us steaks, I then watched the Pearl Harbor movie and we went to bed somewhat early cause we have a full day planned today:)

Today is International Coffee Day, so this morning we went for a walk with Mr Fluff to get coffee. Jim is at the gym right now and once he is done we will bring some pellets, water and a travel dog bowl and drive to New York. We are going to explore Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown. We have talked about this since we moved here so I’m excited to go today.

In Portugal, Travel, USA

10 years since I moved to Lisboa

Fanny Sura27 September, 201927 September, 2019Leave a comment

September 27, 2019

10 years ago, Sept 26 if I remember correctly, I arrived late at night at the airport in Lisbon after a 9 hour delay in Germany due to some strike. After getting my bag, a red headed Czech girl with a huge smile on her face came to meet me holding a sign with my name on it. Her flight had also been delayed. After having to sleep in the same bed (hahah so weird) at a hotel our very first night because our apartment wasn’t ready, we instantly became friends. Around lunchtime that first day, two Finish girls arrived and they too became our friends. School started and we met more awesome people we came to call friends. And through some new friends, I met other friends.
This was one of the best times of my life. Living abroad as an exchange student in Lisboa was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
If you get the chance to study abroad, take it!

And…8 years ago today Sept 27, I arrived in New York City after spending a summer in Sweden moving out and separating from a 10 year long relationship. My guts was telling me this was the right decision. With really high fever I asked the flight attendants as I was getting off the plane if I could have a painkiller so that I could get through security. Luckily I did even if I looked like shit. A couple of hours later I arrived in Brooklyn and was greeted by a person that I had met several times before but barely knew. This was the first day of our friendship. I love you Emma, thank you for letting me be your roommate (even if I was barely there) 🙂
The next day, I decided to put money on my $10 dollar crappy American phone and text a person I had met before I left nyc that summer. After a few texts we decided to meet that evening. With my high fever and all, I took the subway to Midtown to meet him for a late cup of coffee. That was the beginning of what’s now a happy marriage. Jimmy, thank you for being the person I want to spend the rest of my life with♥

In Stamford

baby snuggles and a chipmunk

Fanny Sura13 August, 201913 August, 2019Leave a comment

August 13, 2019

Hope you’re having a fantastic day! I woke up around 5 and couldn’t fall back to sleep so I’ve been a bit tired all day, but that’s ok. I had my blood test done in the morning, I really hope for some great answers tomorrow. For the past two tests I’ve been kinda more excited to hear what my doctor will tell me…or, excited might not be the right word, but now I have really tried something on my own that can help me get my level down so I’m of course curious if it helped. Didn’t see much better result last week so I’m really hoping for better news now.

So, what did we do this weekend? On Friday we took Thor to the vet for his annual checkup and to get some shots. He was such a brave boy, very proud of him. And he’s a healthy boy. He has gained some weight just like his momma but he’s still tiny. J and I went to have a quick dinner out and then spent the night at home with T and watched the movie There will be Blood. On Saturday we had our normal donut delight coffee, took T for a long walk and then we went to the gym for an hour. When we came back Thor looked like a completely different dog, he was all puffy. We called the vet immediately who told us to send a picture of him. Seems to have been an allergic reaction to the shots from Friday. He has had these shots before and never reacted. I thought at first he had got bitten by something outside cause he did scratch his face a bit when we were out. Jim gave him a tiny bit of benadryl (allergy pill) and then we kept an eye on him for a few hours. Aww, my baby, he looked like a chipmunk, or at least half his face did. But he didn’t seem bothered and was happy so not too much to worry about.

He doesn’t look as bad on picture like he did irl. He was very very swollen

Later in the evening he looked so much better. We gave him a tiny bit more benadryl. We decided he was fine to be left alone so we took a taxi over to our friends house. We ordered pizza and had a real good time. The boys sat on the balcony for some of the time while us ladies snuggled baby George. He’s two weeks old now and so small and cute.

J bought the Google Pixel3 phone last week so we tested some selfie option:)

On Sunday we took it pretty easy. Still kept an eye on T who’s face was back to normal. J and I went to this Mexican place with good rating for lunch and it was really good! We sat on our terrace for awhile and then we went for a walk over to Mill River Park for Paws & Pints. That was not really what we expected. Sometimes they have these events in the park with food trucks and drinks and usually it’s a nice setup. But this thing meant “bring your dog to the park, get charged to register your dog to be allowed to walk in the Stamford parks or get fined a much larger sum of money later, buy a drink and stand in the fenced in dog area and look at your sweaty pups”. Thor was actually being a really nice boy in the park, proud of him, he had a good time. You never know with him so we always have to watch him. Eventually we took our drinks and walked around in the rest of the park instead. Back home we were too tired to do anything so we just hung out and did basically nothing for the rest of the day.