Hello, old friends.

I've moved....
9 months ago...
back home to Chicago.

Everything feels right for me now. I quit that miserable job and I've realized that New York is not my vibe. I love NY for what it is, but I couldn't enjoy it without my family and friends. It took a toll on my health and I knew I had to make a change. So here I am. And that's the gist. Since I'm starting from scratch again I figure I should start a different blog. I've started using tumblr again, because these days I haven't much words to write. A lot of words will be left unwritten and kept spoken between close friends. I miss writing though. So I hope I can start that up again so I can share with a new perspective. But for now, I may just sporadically post pictures from this past year.

Please do keep in touch if you can: http://ellebanathecat.tumblr.com/

Love & Light,
Anabella

the last couple months

sorry for being quiet around here. i've been preoccupied with a personal quest to achieve health. and i've been doing a lot of research for detoxing and transitioning into raw foods and vegan lifestyle. with that said, i may do an update on that real soon so stay tuned if your interested. i'll try and not make this blog about that. but i figured, since it is a personal blog for documenting my life, health is definitely a huge part of it. as some of you may remember, i've gotten sick really bad last winter, and i realize my immune system is degenerating. so that's the gist of the reason why i've decided to do this. so i'll probably just share my progress and some recipes i've found rather delicious along the way.



~*~

here are some pictures from september

across the bridge from where we live is staten island. i found out that they have this awesome park there and they opened up a chinese garden. in september, they had an Autumn Moon Festival so we checked it out.

apple picking!

yay, it's september and fall is practically here! on wednesday, we were supposed to go to sesame place, but as it turns out, the park is only open on the weekends. so we decided to trek back up to northern new jersey to alstede farms and we ended up picking our own produce. i used to go apple picking every year with my own family but I haven't since I gave birth, so this is Sofia's first time. i forgot how much fun it is. i miss going with my family though, but with just us three it was the beginning of our own family tradition.

we got apples, peaches, eggplants & raspberries.



fuji apples




the animals there were so friendly.




picking raspberries



you could also cut your own flowers there

there was us and a few other people there, but the farm is so big that it felt like we were the only ones there. it was nice to be surrounded by all that greenery and it was so peaceful and beautiful, it was truly a perfect day.

old friends, new friends.

i met my friend Qawi in 5th grade. we did a lot of things together for the rest of our grammar school years. we signed up for after school programs, hung out at the roller rink, chased after boys at the park (and got chased by some weird ones too), we slept over each others houses, joined gymnastics, played basketball, we even did cheerleading. i wouldn't have done any of those things if it wasn't for her. after 8th grade she moved to the suburbs and saw her once during high school. after that we lost touch. it wasn't until the day that i was moving to new jersey that we got reunited. 15 years since we last hung out and her presence still feels as if it were only just the other day since we last saw each other. i love that we can still hang out and still feel comfortable telling each other secrets. and i am even more grateful that she also has a daughter who is the same age as mine! it was such a wonderful thing to see Sofia and Chloe get along so well. they took upon each other like old friends. it was like seeing ourselves in the two of them. childhood buddies. there is nothing like it.

\\at the children's museum of manhattan//









\\at fao schwartz//









\\at central park//









"new friends put a smile on my face, i'm so very happy that you're visiting my place."

- yo gabba gabba

it is summer, still

yes, it is still summer. and i am still posting pictures from july. even though i caught myself daydreaming about the winter holidays. blankets and warm drinks. Christmas lights on all night... and all day. wearing layers of clothes. tights and cardigans. hats. can you tell i am over summer? i am hoping we can finally see autumn in boston. and i'd like to find the perfect camping ground, without bears. as i don't want to be eaten alive by the mother and it's cubs.

my friend qawi and her daughter chloe just visited us this past week. i'll be posting about their visit soon.