DELILAH DIOR DOMINICA

At the end of March, I took a step outside my comfort-zone.  A 7,849 mile step, to be exact. I, friends, spent fifteen days in Abuja, Nigeria I absolutely love to travel, and traveling to a brand new place to experience something I have never encountered before is always the most exhilarating. Something, however, that trumps my adoration of travel is my exclusive and all consuming love of comfort. I have known about this trip to Nigeria for a year now, and since meeting my husbands parents three years ago I have heard countless stories of their home in the village. I had so much time to prepare myself for the trip, but chose to keep it very vague and hypothetical until February rolled around. Although my husband hadn't visited his family there in 14 years, I asked question after question hoping it would provide a perfect visual of this coming vacation. I checked the weather and found out it would be a lovely 106 degree average during our stay. I couldn't wrap my head aroun...

Hello from Canada!  This trip has been a much needed break from reality. The hubs and I have spent days watching episode after episode of Mad Men curled up on the couch. Spending afternoons and evenings with nieces, nephews, brothers and sisters, parents, aunts and uncles, and great friends has been the lotion to our ashy knees- the Buckley's to our sinus infection, the chocolate to our pms...in other words, it has been the perfect solution. We are so thankful to have a place where everyone can come together and truly cherish the time we get to spend with his side of the family.  Mornings with nothing on the agenda have led to wonderful quiet times and studies. I have been able to catch up on some church services led by one of my favorite pastors, Miles Macphereson. Miles is the pastor at The Rock Church in San Diego, but I have known him since I was a little girl running around my family's Chicago home. My parents are very fond of Miles and his wife and Miles often tells me...

This week was absolutely fantastic. Time has passed so quickly already, and I am almost sad to know that this season will be over before we know it. For the past month I have been praying every day with my family and husband that he will be able to play in the first game. Praying for the full healing of his hamstring and praising God for playing through him this season. After the first game, and first win (!) of the season when we were all laying on the couch watching Entourage, it hit me that the moment had passed. God had answered our prayers and blessed my love and now that is in the past. I think too much, and think far into things, but that has been on my mind. Through this time of back and forth and newness of our marriage and rookie-season as Redskins I want to be sure to soak up every single day. I am sitting on the plane on my ride back to San Francisco for class tomorrow. Which means I survived my first full week of the back-and-forth semester. I was initially concerned abo...

Everybody take a big deep breath....hold it....hold it....okay, breathe out.  That feeling you have right now is how I will feel for two weeks, self imposed relaxation. Why? Because after nearly two months of living out of a suitcases, eating way too expensive room service, and not being in the same city for more than a week at a time, this two weeks (or more) in St. Louis is a dream come true.  As designated hotel and flight booker, I have become designated travel money-saver. I have noticed that usually, the 7am flights are 100 dollars cheaper than the charismatic, approachable, and very sexy 9am flights. My husband and I don't discriminate- we tend to snatch up the leftovers with a smile. Whenever 4am rolls around on departure day, and we have usually had an hour and a half of sleep, I promise myself I will sooner cut off my fingers than let them confirm another 7am online booking. Yet I continue to do it. This 7am flight, however, led to the beauty th...

After spending one night in a very interesting hotel in Tahiti, we were off to Sydney, Australia. I remind you, that this honeymoon was a complete surprise. I had no idea where we were going, and had even less than no idea that we'd be going to more than one place. I just got two pieces of information: 1. 12 days, 2. Hot. So I packed accordingly. Plenty of sundresses, mini dresses, lots of crochet, floppy beach hats, wedges and strappy heels, inappropriate bikinis, way too much white, even more black, and the other fun stuff.  Imagine my surprise when we landed in the tundra. (Dramatic, it was around 50 degrees with a little mist and light wind.) I draped my cardigan over my denim cutoffs and asked our cab driver if the weather would be like this all week. He looked in the rear view and was happy to tell us "Well, two days from now is the official first day of winter!!" We laughed. That is my responsibility of trip planning, to worry about the small details in all my l...

Incase you do not know my husband, I will fill you in on a few of his favorite things. Sitting in the massage chair in the comic book room with a stack of The Age of the Apocalypse series at his side, Warm apple pie with a heaping pile of vanilla bean ice cream, learning something new in the word, and successfully surprising me. Our honeymoon was a complete surprise, which was both incredible and faith-testing all in one.            I am a bit of a control freak, just throwing that out there to be honest. Those who know me best will let you know how many lists I write in one day (In fact, last night while Oj and I were at a boxing match, I was scrounging through my purse nervously looking for a blank sheet of paper so I could make a grocery list for next week. It may be a little bit out of hand.) When I find out I am going on a trip, I begin making lists of things to pack and outfits I must wear and places I must go from that moment on. Usually it's a...