Long Time No See

I know, I know....I haven't posted in quite some time. But I'm back and here's an update:

End of December, the hubs and I flew to Miami for a long awaited (year-long to be exact) vacay! We spent an amazing week and a half with my parents at their condo in the Keys...Islamorada to be exact. During that time David's parents flew in for 3 days from Kansas to spend some q time with their son...whom they hadn't seen in over 2 years.
Then, on Jan 4 we flew to Brazil for a 10 day visit.  We staying 2 nights in Rio, 5 nights in Buzios and then 3 nights in Sao Paulo.  David's from Brazil, and hadn't been back home in over 10 years.  Mainly because we keep planning out major trips for other amazing places. But FINALLY I was able to see where he was from. Let me tell you...Rio is an amazing city with a vibe that just can not be described.  In Rio we stayed in the area named Santa Teresa, and it was just perfect in every way.  Nice shops, restaurants and bars in the area, plus we felt super safe which is not the case in all of Rio. We did the touristy things like, visited Ipanema and Leblon beaches.
After that we were off to Buzios, which is where I fell in love. The people, the beaches, the weather...everything was just perfect.  It felt like the first time in many years, that I could really breathe.  I didn't have a care in the world, just relaxed and had a romantic getaway with David.
Our final stop in Brazil was Sao Paulo, David's birth place.  Here we stayed at a friends place, and David got to visit with all of his long lost buddies. The city of SP is just so big, and overwhelming we didn't really know what to do, but luckily we had David's friends to show us around. After being away for 10 years David didn't really know what to do, or where to go. The weather took a turn, and was much colder and rainier than I was expecting so we mainly went to the mall, and had coffee breaks...which was nice and gave us a chance to hang and chat with David's friends.
After SP, we flew back to Miami for our last few days to spend with my parents and relax a bit more.

Now that I'm back in Monaco I'm having a bit of a hard time adjusting.  I'm missing my friends and family, and the winter weather here has me kind of down. It's so bad that I just looked up flights to go back home.

To be perfectly honest, I think it's a combination of uncertainty at work, struggles getting pregnant and being all alone. I mean, obviously I have David...but sometimes you need more. I'm basically crying as I write this, and sometimes things are hard because then otherwise you wouldn't appreciate the good times but I'm majorly questioning this entire journey.
-Why am I here?
-What is God trying to teach me?
-How am I becoming a better person by going through these difficulties?

Its funny because Monaco and Monte Carlo sounds so glamorous, and I'm sure if I were to tell any stranger that I was unhappy with my move to Monaco they would probably laugh in my face.  People think that Monaco is this wonderland, full of fun and joy and beauty....but the truth is it's full of expats looking for the next best thing, crooks trying to hide money, or billionaires spending loads of money on pathetic material goods that make them even more lonely and more pathetic than they were to start off.

My goal for the day...stop being so negative, and know that everything happens for a reason. I hope I can maintain my sanity in the meantime and not buy this plane ticket home, admitting defeat. Wish me luck....

First Blog Post

Been living in Monaco since December, 2011 and here's what I've learned so far:

1. American friends who say they will keep in touch are liars.
2. French work ethic is different than the American work ethic.
3. I love to travel, it's what keeps me going.
4. I hate my current job.
5. I have an incredible relationship with my husband that can basically withstand anything.

Let me expand on these:

1. American friends who say they will keep in touch are liars.
With the invention of skype and facetime, keeping in touch with people abroad is BEYOND simple.  In fact, I speak more to my parents now that I live impossibly far than I did when I lived 1.5 hours away from them. That being said, of all my say 10 closest friends from Miami I have spoken / skyped with ZERO of them.  I even go out of my way to email friends asking to Skype and still nothing.  Lesson learned: I had shit friends to start with.
NOTE: I guaran-f*cking-tee what when it's comes time for one of their vacations and they are coming near the south of France one of them will FINALLY want to skype.  Guess what, I'll be busy...getting my tan in Italy. SO there bitches.....
Double NOTE: I like my new friends better anyways, SO there again bitches.....(read - yes, my feelings are hurt on a regular basis and I hide my feelings with mean comments)

2. French work ethic is different than the American work ethic.
Well DUH....didn't learn about "Laissez fair" in high school for nothing. This sh*t is still in full effect today.  The less work they have to do the better.  Even when you're constantly following up, they will still screw something up along the way.
NOTE:  I'm 100% sure there are many, many exceptions to this rule...BUTTTTT I have yet to meet or work with them.

3. I love to travel, it's what keeps me going.
Clearly I love to travel, or I wouldn't have been insane enough to move all the way to Monaco. But the more time I spend here, the more opportunities I have to travel within Europe.  At this rate (one trip per month)...I've already traveled nearly as much here as I have in the US. This summer we checked out:
-Italy
-Turkey
-France
-Switzerland
and by the end of this month will have checked off Germany as well.  Without a trip on the horizon I get pretty depressed. Which just means that I need to start checking airfares....and book our next trip.

4. I hate my current job.
Came here, pretty excited to work on taking this company from an events company to an ad agency.  AND ALL OF A SUDDEN my boss wants to change directions completely and now I'm stuck here, working on stuff I'm not passionate about and wasting a TON of time in the meantime.  UGH, I'm used to 12 hour days, pressure to succeed, quick and almost always last minute projects.  Who in the world ever thought I would miss that? Well, there I said it...I miss it.  Bring back the stressssssssss pretty please. And leave this new direction / no direction to the birds.

5. I have an incredible relationship with my husband that can basically withstand anything.
So it turns out moving abroad, not knowing the rules and having to figure out everything on your own will either make or break your relationship.  I mean, yea, there were times I thought I was going to claw his eyes out.  But now that we can see the light at the end of the paperwork, visa, carte de sejour tunnel....he is my GOD SEND!  I do not know what I would have done without him.

And there you have it: my first blog post.
I'm going to keep at this.  Telling you about my adventures in wonderland (aka Monaco)...some good, some bad and almost always ridiculously funny.  So enjoy :)