To New Adventures

Welcome to my Adventure blog where I'll write about the travel, food and general adventures that my hubby and I go on.  So let me introduce myself.

My name is Alissa but you can call me Ali.

I'm an Italian American Jersey girl and I just re-married my love, Barbaros (call him Baros) last month. We got married in court this past November and then had the big white wedding down in one of the Monmouth County parks.  We became #happilyeverKaynak (because I'm cheesy like that).

The past six months have been a crazy whirlwind of planning and hectic multi-tasking while working a full time job.  We had a short engagement since we liked the idea of a spring wedding.  Plus, we were trying to stick to a budget, so we figured in just six months, it was less likely the cost would spiral.  We stayed within reason of our budget and it was wonderful. Happiness!

That being said, my DIY tendencies and laid back nature did get the best of me.  March and April, right until the day-of, were spent finishing wonderful, yet time consuming, DIY projects.

And now that it's all over and our beautiful day has passed by, I realize I miss the activity of planning and being creative.  I miss the creative outlet.

About 4 years ago, maybe 5 now, when I lived in Italy, I used to have a food blog (which is still up but inactive for 3 years mangiables.blogspot.com) .  It was great, I got to talk about all the food that I experienced that year abroad and all the food I had been making prior to that.

However, I moved back to the states and I lost my motivation.

That, and I got a full time job with a ridiculous schedule that kept me insanely busy. I was a teacher at an ESL school with a split schedule and a crazy amount of grading to deal with.

I stopped blogging. I was too tired to do much of anything creative.

Eventually I found some other temporary creative ideas.  Two years ago, I started making and selling Crowns and Wreaths, but it's an expensive habit to maintain when a good portion of your creations go to yourself and to family.  I'm still making things but now at direct request and, well, for our wedding.

It's time to get back to writing.

I'm very excited to start this blog in conjunction with a travel journal on paper.
I've always been a big fan of traveling, of exploring new places, foods and cultures. And my husband is the same.

We've decided to start with easy trips.  We're not going on a big Honey moon, so instead we're going to try to do a few Mini Moons in the USA.  In another year or so, we'll travel internationally to Turkey to see his family.  I've never met his mom and dad in person, so I'm so excited to meet them and to finally experience Turkish culture first hand.  We tried to go last year, but unfortunately our tickets coincided with Embassy problems for US citizens so I suddenly couldn't get a visa and our plans went up in smoke.



So this year, we'll start our stateside adventures on a budget while we save for bigger travel and life in  general.  And I'll document it all here.  I'm excited to write and share pictures about our crazy adventurous lives. I even got a new instax mini 8 camera to play with.

And on paper, I'll capture notes as we travel and slowly decorate it to my heart's content.

Yesterday, I even started the first page.  It felt so nice to start cutting paper and making messes.

And today, here I am, actually starting this blog.  I feel good about this. I feel motivated and happy to share.

To New Adventures!!!