Regroup, recap and on our way

So folks, it had been a while since I last wrote...we were busy organizing our lives. Is it ever really organized..honestly? None the less, I have been lax but now I am back. Here is a recap of our regroup.

1. Juliano and I were married June 27, 2010 at the Commander's Mansion in Watertown, MA, almost one year now.

2. We decided to completely revamp our lives, quit our jobs, move to California and spend 9 months traveling for our honeymoon - first across country and then through Central America and on to South America.  You can become a fan of our travel page on Facebook: From Boston to Brazil, Our Vagabond Honeymoon Roadtrip.

3. At the end of our honeymoon, we are getting married again in Laguna, SC, Brazil in Juliano's family church, where his parents were also married. Ironic I know, going on a honeymoon to get married.

4. In February of 2010, we purchased a white 1989 Toyota Land Cruiser and named her Elsie. She needed a lot of work and she was at the mechanics' shop for a long time. She is awesome.

5. As of May 1, 2011, we had both quit our jobs and spent the next month packing our house to move and packing our backpacks for a 9 month road trip: 3-4 weeks across country to California and then 3.5 months driving down to Panama, flying to Brazil and spending another 2 months hanging out on the beach.

5a. We also flew our two kitties to CA to stay with my step-mother. Agony for me.

6. As of June 2, 2011 we moved out of our home in Cambridge, MA. We sold the majority of our belongings, the furniture and home decor, and stored everything else in my mom's attic. We packed up Elsie and the Gray Goose (the gray Honda), bid goodbye to friends and off we went....TP and all.

7. And as of today, we are at my mother's house in Western Mass waiting for the last check up of Elsie and final trip prep. We also have to build a platform bed to put in the back of the car. Until then, we are enjoying time with our family until we have to shove off.

8. Our cross country trip begins in Washington DC and from there, it is up to the wind.

So there you have it...we are ready to go, scared to go, need to go. It would be really easy to stay and make good excuses as to why we could and should...but truth is we have run out of excuses to keep us here and we no longer have a house of our own other than our Elsie. So I guess that is a good enough reason. Today is Thursday, we plan to be out of here by Monday at the latest.

More on our retrofitting projects in the next few days. Be well. Be Epic.

Planning planning and more planning!

So we are in the stages of planning hell for the greatest day of our lives....ok not hell but similar. I am one who goes at something hard and quick and so I want all this done now. Why? So I can sit and wait and think about all the things that might go wrong. Its all true. Plus we want to do it all ourselves and have a hand it all the little pieces.

We have decided that our wedding gift registry will primarily include things for our honeymoon/trip. I am SO HAPPY Juliano asked me to marry him and I am very excited to be his wife. BUT the wedding planning puts a slight kaibash on the trip planning, so why not use one for the other? Between the two of us we have tons of things already. Plus, since we are planning a long trip and probably getting rid of much of our stuff, not sure how much sense it makes to get lots of new stuff. So by deduction, we will register for stuff we will really use.

I found a few things that we will definitely need and will post more soon:

Tent - Something like this maybe, want room but also wants efficiency

Two mammoth mummy sleeping bags or autumn lighter sleeping bags

I am making a list of more things....stay tuned and I'll keep you posted.