New city, new traditions

I have been in Austin for 3 years now (crazy to think it's been that long!) and I am not going to lie, it was a bit of a culture shock at first. In Miami I was surrounded by my Colombian traditions, friends and food, so coming to Texas was like going to a completely different world. At my job, most of the people, at the time, were Mexicans. There are not a whole lot of Mexicans in Miami and honestly my relationship with the Mexican culture was very limited, to pretty much the awesome tacos you can find in Calle Ocho in Miami.

Having my new coworkers opened up a whole new world for me, I was not only getting to meet Texas and it's traditions but also Mexico, it's people and it's traditions. I have always been a fan of trying new things and experiencing new cultures so I embraced the change.

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Heiffer International: A company for good

I am was lucky enough to partner up with Heifer International a couple of weeks back. Heifer International is an organization that is determined to end hunger and poverty. They also strive to preserve the heritage and history of rural farmers and artisans while also providing them with resources and training to help them improve their lives.

They sent me this gorgeous handmade scarf to spread the voice about the great mission they have and are committed to do. This scarf comes all the way from Marcapata, Perú and it is done by hand, using fiber from alpacas that they raise themselves.

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Pillow Talk

Doing my research (because that never stops with me) I stumbled upon this amazing kickstarter called Pillow Talk. Pillow Talk is a wristband that picks up your heartbeat and sends it via an app to your loved one. HOW GENIUS IS THIS?!

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The importance of spending time together

As we approach the holidays, I thought it would be a good time to talk about getaways and the importance of having them in a long distance relationship. As you all know, my fiancé and I have been doing this for three years, and we have found out that getaways truly bring us together and give us the special moments that we miss simply because we are not together every day.

We took on a nice tradition once we became long distance: to have our getaways on our birthdays (our birthdays are back-to-back  the same week in May) so we have a birthday week. If you can find a time in the year that is meaningful for you both to do this, I encourage you to do so. In my experience, it’s so much more meaningful (not that it’s not already). Also, go somewhere you both have never been. This will create new memories for both of you and own little space in time.

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Sesame Gifts

As I mentioned before, I will also do long-distance relationships apps reviews from time to time. We all have been targeted, whether is thru Facebook or Pinterest to use this apps but I’ve always wondered if it is even worth it. We have SMS/text and Facetime, so why download even more apps into our phones. Some of them costs some of them are free. I stumbled on Sesame Gifts thru a Buzzfeed post and really wanted to give it a try so I partner up with them to take the app and website out for a spin.

The app is designed to make gifting easier. For us, couples in long distance relationships, it can come in handy since they already have gift packages designed for different occasions or simply just because. They could also be considered care packages, and you can either choose from a pre-made themed gift box or create your own.

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A special gift to my Bridesmaids

As you all already know, I am engaged. We have been engaged for about a year and a half now. A lot of people have questioned why we have been engaged for so long; well for starters, we are not in the same state, so it is probably a good idea for us to close the distance before getting hitched, right? I cannot imagine myself leaving for a weekend to get married and then come back, I refuse! So yeah, it’s taking us a while but we are very much ok with it. It truly baffles me how everyone has to have an opinion and how you have to explain every single action you do if it is not done the “traditional” way.

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Finding Real Friends

Photo Credit: BlueSpark Photography 

The one thing that I’ve struggled to find since my late teens – probably  since I am a socially active person – are real friends. My fiancé has always been one of my best friends; he has known everything about me for the past 12 years we have been together. However,  as I mentioned in the previous post, I do firmly believe that each person in the relationship should have their own lives, their own friends and their own hobbies.

Truth be told, I have not always been this independent. I left my parents’ house when I was 18 to go to school in Miami, but I had a phase in my life where my life depended on my fiancé. Now I look back and I’m not sure what was I thinking. Yeah, I do love him down to my core, but why did I all of a sudden decided that his life and his friends were more important than mine? Eventually I snapped out of it around my mid-20s when I decided to put myself first and the rest would just fall into place. And it did!

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Let's talk about fights

While I’m absolutely no relationship expert, something  my fiancé and I have struggled with is learning how to fight. I can confidently say that the way we fight has improved, but we definitely have ways to go. If you are wondering, yes we recently had a fight --  what couple doesn’t?  The difference is that it’s just SO much harder to fight while being long distance, so, how should LDR couples manage this?

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A Broke Girls’ Guide to Cheap Flights

This week I have been scrambling between a very tough time at work, moving offices, wedding planning  and finding time to book my next flight to Miami, but here we are.  I finally found an inexpensive flight and in the process, I realized that I have a few tips to share!

When I started this long-distance-relationship journey a couple of years back I never really thought that I would spend SO MUCH money on travel, but voilà! Fast forward to present time and a couple thousand dollars later, I have learned a bit – or a lot. My credit coming out of Miami was awful, to say the least, so getting a rewards credit card was not an option.  Expensive flights weren’t an option either, so I sought out to find the best website to look for cheap flights.

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Our Story

So this is the part where you all will get to know us...

My fiancé, and I have been together for about 12 years – a lifetime, basically. The first seven were on and off. We were both growing up and as much as we wanted to be involved, a serious relationship so young just didn’t work. A lot of people ask me why I stayed, or why I’m still with him.

I come from a family of VERY loyal women. My grandma was married to my grandpa for 50+ years until she died a couple of years back. My mom is still with my dad after 32 years of marriage. We are women wired to be loyal and to stick to our man until the end. We don’t give up easily and we truly believe that when something is broken you fix it; you don’t just throw it away.

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Miles + Music

Among some of the things you will find on my blog are this playlist that I will make along the way, and they will have some Spanish songs sprinkled in them. I have found that music is one of my best friends (and worst) in this long distance thing. These are some of the songs that soothe my soul and help me get thru days when I really, really am missing him.

Hope you guys like it!

Dentro de las muchas cosas que van a encontrar en mi blog son estos playlists que voy a estar haciendo. La mayoria de las canciones van a ser en ingles pero con una que otra canción es español. Para mi la música se ha convertido en mi major y peor amigo en todo este cuento de larga distacia. Son canciones que me hacen sentir un poco mejor en dias en que lo extraño.

Espero que les guste!

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1351 miles later

Hello world!

Welcome to my blog and my first post. My name is Claudia Camargo and I currently live in Austin, TX. My fiancé and I have been on a long distance relationship for about 2 yrs and 8 mo and we have been engaged for 1 yr and almost 3 mo, God I cannot believe it's been this long! It has been tough - actually very tough, but it has been worth it, fights and all. He lives in Miami and I live in Austin (as I mentioned before), but I will tell you more about our 12 year relationship in another post.

I want to open up my story because I am sure a lot of you are going thru a similar situation or maybe you have had on the past and we can all share tips and tricks to make this... well, a bit "easier". Don't be fooled by the name of my blog, although this crazy experience has brought many smiles, it has also been difficult and it hasn't been easy.

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