Lessons From Maternity Leave

Kimmi Bowers3 Comments

The afternoon sun is pouring in through the window in Charlie’s nursery while I watch him twist, grab, and babble his little heart out on his play mat. It’s the eve of my return to work and a time to reflect on nearly four months of nurturing both my son and the new mother within me. I don’t yet have the words for the myriad of emotions that have been flooding my heart lately, but for now I’ll leave you with a few nuggets of hard-earned “wisdom” from a new mom. Here, in no particular order, are a few lessons from maternity leave.

Read More »

5 Tips For Traveling With a Baby

Kimmi BowersLeave a comment

Travel is something that’s always been important to my husband and I. Now that our baby boy is here, we have no plans to stop traveling, however, we know that vacations are going to look a bit different than they used to. We recently set out on our first vacation as a family of three—a long road trip down to Ocean City, MD and Washington, DC.

Whether learning from my mistakes or benefitting from things I thought of ahead of time, here are my tips for traveling with a 3-month old!

Read More »

More Than Skin Deep

Kimmi BowersLeave a comment

“I know you’re technically diverse, but you just don’t look like it.”

It’s nothing I haven’t heard before, but when you hear it from a friend you don’t really know what to say.

Just another variation of “But you’re too white—it doesn’t count.” An age old micro-aggression that I—and countless others who have latino heritage—have heard time and again. Like little pin pricks over and over and over as if you’re supposed to just get used to it.

And yes, I have green eyes and red hair and vampire-white skin. I love my Irish heritage, too. But one side of my family is Puerto Rican—and it counts.

It counts that I go to Zumba with my mama every week because when I was growing up she filled our home with latin music.

It counts that there are certain words and phrases I’ll only say in Spanish because my family did.

It counts that when you look in my freezer you’ll find a few tubs of butter that are actually tubs of sofrito.

It counts that my grandma taught me how to make sofrito from scratch when I was a little girl, and I still remember how my hands smelled like garlic for days after that first time.

It counts that one of my comfort meals is a dish that my Papi used to make for us.

It counts that I make arroz con pollo using my great-grandmother’s recipe, and I’ll never be able to make it taste exactly like hers because she was sneaky and left things off the recipe card.

It counts that certain smells take me right back to getting out of the car and running up to my great-grandparents’ apartment and how we could already smell what was cooking from the parking lot.

It counts that I love yellow gold because it reminds my of my great-grandma’s jewelry and also of that one time my Papi shimmied into the living room, singing and dancing in nothing but a pair of shiny gold boxers.

It counts that I was raised around music and singing and dancing and unbridled joy that loves out loud.

It counts that my grandpa, great-uncle, and great-grandparents left Puerto Rico and made their home in Rochester, NY.

It counts and it matters.

We’re expecting our first baby this spring, and the Puerto Rican slice in the pie chart of his DNA will be pretty small. But you can bet I will pass along the generations of traditions, culture, and stories that make us who we are—

Because it counts.

5 Days in Greece | Athens & Santorini

Kimmi BowersLeave a comment

My sister and I watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding approximately 742 times when we were growing up, so it might be fair to say that sparked my love of all things Greek. Add in a viewing or two of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and Greece was added to my travel bucket list. Mind you, this was in the early 2000’s, long before travel bloggers were a thing–I didn’t need the stunning Grecian views constantly popping up on my instagram feed to sell me on a trip, but believe me it only added to the drive that someday I would get there.

That someday finally, unbelievably, came on mine and my husband’s fifth anniversary European Holiday. I still find it hard to believe that trip even happened. The rainy NY weather has me daydreaming of bright blue skies, volcanic beaches, white-washed villages, and all the sweet, crunchy, gooey baklava I can fit in my face.

There is so much to do and see and experience in Greece; I know this measly blog post will barely scratch the surface. I only hope you’ll keep some of these nuggets in mind when planning your own trip.

Read More »

Our European Holiday

Kimmi BowersLeave a comment

Traveling to Europe has been a dream of mine since I was young, but I never dared to believe it would actually happen. Teenage Kimmi would be in awe of 20-something Kimmi who just got home from celebrating her fifth wedding anniversary with the love of her life from the beaches of Santorini to the Cliffs of Moher. To be honest, I still sort of feel like if someone pinches me it will have all been just a dream. 

But it wasn’t a dream, and I’m so excited to write all about it! An international trip is something Dan and I put on our “before we have babies” list pretty early on. A plane ride across the ocean is long and expensive, so we knew we wanted to make the most of it by spending three weeks in Europe. When the timing finally felt right, we finally pulled the trigger and booked a one-way ticket to Athens. And then we did nothing for about six months.

We were hesitant to book anything too far in advance in case covid or other circumstances forced us to cancel the trip. It wasn’t until two or three months before our trip that we started to hunker down and book hotels and the rest of our flights. We planned a three-week European vacation with no travel agent, just google and a notebook. 

Read More »

I’m doing the 75 Soft Challenge

Kimmi Bowers1 Comment

Yes, I’m making a lifestyle change based on a TikTok video I saw. This is like peak 2021, but I’m okay with it.

What is the 75 Soft Challenge?

It developed as a response to the viral 75 Hard Challenge that is, in my opinion, unsustainable and unhealthy. Some of the rules include following a diet like Keto or Whole30, working out for an hour and a half every day, and no alcohol or cheat meals or you start over at Day One.

75 Soft is a gentler approach that encourages attainable lifestyle change while still setting guidelines for that change. I don’t know who started it, and I take no credit for it, but here are MY 75 Soft Challenge rules.

Do these four things every day for 75 days:

  1. Eat mindfully, whatever that means to you
  2. Work out for 45 minutes
  3. Drink 1 gallon of water
  4. Read 10 pages of any book (audiobooks or podcasts count, too)

The 75 Soft Challenge is NOT a weight-loss program. To me, it’s about living with intention and making choices that are good for my mind and body. So let’s unpack these “rules” a bit.

Read More »

Not to be dramatic, but working from home changed my life

Kimmi Bowers1 Comment

I will remember March 17th, 2020 for the rest of my life. It’s one of those rare memories that sticks in your brain in such vivid detail. I can see the florescent lights and glittery green St. Patrick’s Day decorations throughout our corner of the office building, I can hear the click-clacking of 20 or so keyboards from around the room, and I can smell the cold cup of coffee with hazelnut creamer sitting at my desk.

On March 17th, 2020 my supervisors walked through our department and had us all shut our phones off to go into a meeting. As we all ended our calls and ceased our furious typing, the office fell silent for the first time in weeks. We gathered in the cafeteria where we were told to space out six feet apart from each other. I looked left and right at my gal pals, and thought how weird it is to be standing, far apart from each other, and in the cafeteria of all places when meetings used to be held in the small conference room where we would huddle together around the table and whisper snide comments to each other and try not to laugh.

“We have made the decision that our department will work from home for the time being,” my manager said. “IT will be coming around tomorrow to help box up your monitors and all of your equipment.”

That week we said “goodbye” and “see you soon” to our co-workers, to our office family. We weren’t supposed to, but we hugged each other. We thought we may be gone only a few weeks or a few months.

Ten months later my company had a new standup desk and chair delivered to my home. We aren’t going back. In just a few days it will be one year since I started working from home full time.

There was definitely an adjustment period at first, and I still have bittersweet moments, but it has been a blessing. Like I said– not to be dramatic, but working from home has changed my life. Here’s how.

Read More »

Valentine’s Day Weekend in Niagara Falls

Kimmi Bowers1 Comment

Last week, my boss built a rare three-day weekend into my schedule that just so happened to coincide with Valentine’s Day. When the schedule was posted, I texted Dan and said “Let’s go somewhere!” So we did a little brainstorming and decided to spend a night in Niagara Falls, NY. We stayed on the American side because we don’t have our passports just yet.

We found a beautiful hotel, The Giacomo, that’s located right by the Falls and the casino. We booked the Sweetheart Package, which comes with a bottle of champagne and two champagne flutes that you can bring home, gourmet chocolate truffles, and rose petals displayed throughout the room. We don’t usually do anything major like this for Valentine’s Day, so I was pretty excited. When we checked into the hotel on Friday night and opened the door to our room, I thought I had walked right into a movie scene.

We unpacked our suitcase, had a glass of champagne, and then walked to the Seneca Niagara Casino for our dinner reservations. It was only about a five minute walk from The Giacomo to the casino. We had a fancy dinner, did a little gambling, and then grabbed some Cold Stone ice cream to bring back to the hotel with us. We got back to the hotel around 12:30, and we relaxed and had our ice cream in the Skyview Lounge on the top floor of The Giacomo.

On Saturday morning we had breakfast and then checked out of the hotel to go exploring. The American side of the Falls is a lot less touristy than the Canadian side. There is definitely an emphasis on appreciating the Falls as a natural wonder of the world without all of the flashy lights and tourists attractions. There are still a few things you can do at the Falls, like Cave of the Winds or Maid of the Mist, but not during the off-season.

We walked around Goat Island and Three Sisters Island to get different views of the Falls and the rapids. It was freezing, I think it was about 25 degrees outside, but it was so worth it. The Falls in all of their natural wintertime beauty were breathtaking. It was Dan’s first time seeing Niagara Falls, so it was fun to watch him see it all up close for the first time.

After we were done marveling at the Falls, we took a quick drive to Historic Lewiston. We walked through a few antique shops, and then stopped at the Orange Cat Coffee Co to warm our bones with some tea before heading back home.

It was a fun, spontaneous little getaway for us. It was short and nothing too extravagant, but it was so refreshing to take some time away from everyday life.