strykerk2
- Feb 26, 2018
- 3 min read

It's Good to be Home

Hi friends!

Time sure flies doesn't it?! It's about that time where I fly south and escape the cold and sicknesses.

Here's a recap of what I've been up to at home. It's been so good to be home, my heart has been so happy.

I got to hang out with my sweet little niece Madi who is a lot bigger than last time. She is the best human I've ever met. She is much more active than last time and likes to talk gibberish. She gives the best kisses and even fist bumps! When you ask for a fist bump or high five, she has to fist bump every single person in the room.

I celebrated my birthday stateside! A few friends headed to NYC with me for the night. We stayed at my best friends' Lexie and Nick's apartment. We went to that trendy rooftop bar with the igloos on top and it was so much fun. We were right in front of The Empire State Building! But of course, upon leaving the place all 8 of us got trapped in an elevator for an hour -the firemen had to come and rescue us. It was quite an ordeal and many of my friends were anxious, however I was cool as a cucumber and thought it was funny.

I went back to NYC a different weekend because Lexie, bless her heart, bought me tickets to see Anastasia on Broadway!! When I was little, I was obsessed with the movie! The show was phenomenal and we were all so proud because originally the show was played at Hartford Stage, and they loved it so much they relocated the entire cast to broadway. CT represent! My wildest dreams were achieved when I got to meet Christy Altomare, the original Anastasia at the stage door. She was in a hurry but took the time to meet her fans and sign playbills. She was so genuine, she looked everyone in the eye and truly thanked them for coming. I admire her kindness and genuinity.

We had so many fun adventures that weekend. We even went to Ninja dinner. Leave it to me to find the quirkiest/ strangest places. At ninja dinner, literal ninjas served us our food with fire, dry ice and all sorts of surprises. We laughed the entire time.

Another highlight was going to "Paint your Pet Night". No, I didn't literally paint on León. Muse paintbar had a special pet night. It was their first night using the light boxes which illuminated your pet picture on top of the canvas. It was really cool! I think all of our portraits came out pretty good! It was nice to be in a room filled with pet-lovers.

Other pics from my time home:

It's been so nice to sleep in my own room, shop til I drop and eat all of that unhealthy American food. I'm going to miss drinking my Dunkin' iced coffee every morning. Of course just reuniting with everyone I haven't seen in a while has been and always will be the highlight of my trip. Right now I am a whole slew of emotions. I feel happy and sad all at the same time and I'm learning that that's okay.

By the way, León had the time of his life, as always. On the flight over, he slept on the lady next to me. He really enjoyed playing in the snow and running all over the house. The other dogs don't seem to mind him; he liked to annoy them until they'd play with him. We went all over the place, he even helped me pick out a new computer. Most of all, León loves loves loves Madi. I think I'm going to have to get him a baby.