Category Archives: Personal

Trip to NYC

Posted on by
1

For our wedding anniversary we went to New York City. Even though it was early March, on the night of our arrival the temperature outside dropped to 12 degrees Fahrenheit. We went to dinner and after braving the cold  for 15 minutes I told my husband that I can’t stand it anymore and I want to go back to the hotel.

We stayed at Park Central, literally few blocks away from Times Square and a block away from Central Park. The rooms are very spacious for New York City, modern and comfortable. We liked that the room had a fairly large flat screen TV and my husband’s only complaint was that the room was not equipped with a coffee maker.

The weather gradually warmed up over the next couple of days of our stay in New York. On the morning of our departure it was supposed to get into the low 50s. I got to see the snow, which I haven’t seen for over 6 years, I got to feel the freezing temperature and high winds. One thing I wish is that I wore a warmer jacket. Otherwise it was perfect!

We did the tour of NBC, which I really liked. We were taken into an actual news broadcasting studio. Then we went inside of a fake studio, where we got to witness how the news are actually filmed. We got to see the set of the Saturday Night Live. Very cool, even though we weren’t allowed inside, we saw the sets of all of the three stages through the glass wall. Definitely recommend.

Tour of Rockefeller Center was part of the deal. We had a guide who walked us through the Rockefeller Center Plaza focusing on different buildings, telling us their stories and their significance in the history of the Center. Honestly, I could take it or leave it. As soon as it was over, I could hardly remember anything. I guess it’s just not my cup of tea.

On a following day we did a 3-hour cruise around Manhattan island. Very cool, you get to see Manhattan from a completely different perspective. Believe it or not, Manhattan actually has some areas that look completely untouched. Trees, grass, rocks, no people, pretty wild. I was also amazed at how hilly the island is. As we were cruising along Hudson and Harlem rivers, we got to check out other areas of the city, like Brooklyn and Bronx.

The New York experience is not complete without a Broadway show. We went to see Phantom Of The Opera. It was awesome, the best Broadway show I’ve ever seen! Highly recommend it! The best place to get tickets is TKTS, right in the middle of Times Square. If you don’t mind buying tickets on the day of the show, you get them half price. Also, at night the line is probably 8 times shorter than during the day. (As a side note, we went in early March, which is off season. During high season, like the summer, the story might be completely different.)

Central park is pretty uneventful in early March. Bare trees, yellow grass, dirt and snow. The key words are bare and empty.

And how can I not mention the newyorkers. What an interesting and intriguing group. They are on the constant run. They do everything fast, they appear to be in the hurry at all times. No time to rest, no time to take a breather, no time to smell the roses (or overpriced steak of the nearby restaurant in their case). I get tired just by looking at them. But I’m sure their impression of us is completely opposite. I’m sure it’s something like “Could they be any slower? Why does it take over 1 minute to make up your mind on what sandwich to get? C’mon man, it’s not Florida!” lol. Yea, yea, we’re from Florida and we’re slow!

But in any case, I really do enjoy getting out to New York City. I lived in a big city as a kid and a teenager. Part of me misses it. The crowds, the rush, the smell of the subway, the pastry stands.

On that note, I’ll be back!!

Happy Birth Day To Me

Posted on by
Reply

Well, starting this year, I am officially celebrating my 28th birth day forever! My chronological age is 32, but it sounds old. I don’t feel like I am this old. I think the perfect age to be is 28! That’s why I am going to be celebrating my 28th birth day every year forever! I feel 28, I really hope I look 28, so I’m 28 damn it!

I am getting used to my birth day being an afterthought. Ever since we got married on March 3 2007, my birth day is sort of inconveniently squeezing itself between the Valentine’s Day and the wedding anniversary. Since for our wedding anniversary this year we’re going to New York City for 3 days, my husband’s words were, you know it counts as your birth day present too. Oh goody!

Actually I’m not complaining. Even though I wrote this post with a bit of a sarcasm, I think I do have it pretty good. So now, how old am I??

That’s right, 28!!

Homemade Sushi – Is It Worth The Hassle?

Posted on by
2

Share photos on twitter with TwitpicI carried out my Valentine’s Day plan of making sushi for the first time. Both my husband and I love sushi, so that was one of my contributions to our Valentine’s Day’s date.

That afternoon I went online, checked out the key ingredients required for basic sushi preparation and left for my hunting, aka grocery store. To my luck, the sushi guy, from whom I was supposed to purchase the sushi-grade fish, was on the break and was due to be back in 20 minutes. So there I was waiting on the sushi guy and staring at already prepared and prepackaged perfectly good sushi.  A thought ran through my mind, maybe I should take a shortcut and buy the premade sushi? Certainly it would be easier, I wouldn’t have to mess with cooking the rice, buying seaweed, rice vinegar…, wrapping it all together. But then what fun would it be?

So I decided to wait. In the meantime I picked up a jar of short grain rice, which wasn’t cheap.  I payed over seven dollars for 2 pounds of it, it’s just rice for god’s sake! I got a tube of wasabi sauce, jar of pickled ginger, rice vinegar and seaweed.  To my surprise seaweed is quite cheap, I payed $1.89 for 20 sheets of it, which is good for 20 sushi rolls.

As for the sushi-grade fish, it ain’t cheap! Tuna goes for $29 per pound and salmon for $19. So I bought a third of a pound of each and it cost me roughly $16. My total for the sushi ingredients was around thirty dollars. On the bright side though next time I make sushi, I will only need to buy the fish. The rest will last me for a while.

As I got home, I realized that I didn’t have the sushi rolling mat. I got creative and used bamboo place mat with plastic wrap instead. I found the process of making sushi fairly easy. Though, I think it would have been easier to use the actual sushi rolling mat.

As you can see on the picture, visually it wasn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it tasted great! We could definitely taste the difference between the store-bought and the homemade sushi. Homemade tasted more plain and fresher. I got lot’s of compliments from my Valentine. By the way, what you see on the picture is about half of what I made. On the plate next to it, there were two more rolls and couple of pieces of sashimi.

In the end, was making our own sushi worth the hassle? Absolutely! I’m looking forward to the next time!

Eco-Friendly Valentine’s Day Date

Posted on by
1

This morning my husband and I decided on our tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day date. We’re hoping to tire out the kiddo by eight, so we can have the rest of the night to ourselves.

For dinner we decided to stay in and enjoy a healthy home-cooked meal. It’s nice that we don’t have to leave the house for our date, we don’t have to hire a baby sitter, deal with traffic and spend gas.

I’m going to make sushi. Sushi is basically raw fish wrapped in rice and sea weed. Fish and sea weed don’t require any hot cooking, so no electricity or gas is spent. Rice does require cooking, but it cooks fairly quickly, in about 15-20 minutes.

I love candles, so I’m planning on setting the mood by lighting some candles and turning off all the electric lights. Lastly some Michael Buble on the background should do the trick!

We decided not to get any cards, since they can be pricey and they will end up in the garbage eventually. I feel it’s more personal to voice the appreciation for one another, than to write it on a card. And a card is such a cliche. It’s better write a poem or a song and then recite or sing it to your loved one.

I’m not sure if my husband is going to get me flowers this Valentine’s day. I’ll leave it up to him. All I know is that most commercially grown flowers require fertilizer. Fertilizer is made out of chemicals like sulfate, phosphate, urea, ammonia and it requires energy to produce. Another thing is, if you do get the flowers, try to get as minimum of wrapping as possible. Potted flowers might be a nice alternative, since they last a heck of a lot longer.

I already know what my favorite Valentine’s day gift is going to be. My husband is going to help me redesign my blog to better reflect its theme. I’m so excited!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Our Cruise To Eastern Caribbean

Posted on by
Reply

For the first time in two years we managed to get away on vacation! Just the two of us.  We decided to take a cruise on Crown Princess down to the Eastern Caribbean.  We left from Fort Lauderdale on January 4 and came back on January 11. Our ports of call were Princess Kays, St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Grand Turk.

It was definitely a nice break from the housework, work, baby, etc.  On our way back we felt re-energized, rested, fat and happy.  We took lots of pictures to document the experience, so enjoy:

Water Island – Secluded Paradise Or Societal Isolation?

Posted on by
3


Virgin Islands – Water Island from Malika Risley on Vimeo.

My husband and I just came back from a cruise to Easter Caribbean.  One of the ports of call was Saint Thomas island.  Saint Thomas is part of US’ owned Virgin Islands.  My sister-in-law recommended to go on Bike ‘n Swim excursion on Water Island located a short ferry ride from St. Thomas.

We had a wonderful time and I was truly mesmerized by the island’s beauty and by the exotic lifestyle of its residents.

Water Island is about 2 1/2 miles long and 1 mile wide in its widest part.  Since It is in the shape of a mountain with the highest point of 300 ft, water is visible from almost any location.  The tropical imported landscaping fits perfectly into its idealistic scenery.  A beautiful, man-made Honeymoon Beach completes this secluded paradise.

A few private homes are scattered throughout the island.  That’s about all the civilization you will find.  The island has no public transportation (except for the ferry to and from the island), stores, gas stations, banks or anything else of such manner.  Forget about the fire station or the medical emergency room.  They do however have one operational fire truck parked on the side of the road for just-in-case situation.  Currently there are 105 full-time residents, 25 of which are children.  They rely on St. Thomas for groceries, supplies, banking, schooling and other businesses.

Ironically despite its name, Water Island has no fresh water supply.  Residents have to buy fresh water from the desalination plant located on Saint Thomas.  Fresh water is more costly for Water Island residents as it has to be transported by a barge from St. Thomas.  To save money residents collect rain water from the roofs of their houses and they don’t flush their toilet after number one.

So the paradise doesn’t come without a price.  Despite the fact, the property values are quite high.  A little over 1000 square-foot, two bedroom, two bath home with a great view will go for no less than $500K.

A smart advice from the resident: if you ever consider moving to such place, try it out for at least six months first.  If you survive and enjoy it, then the move might be right for you.

Personally, I think Water Island is a great vacation spot, but that’s where I draw a line for now!

Tampa Bay Bloggers Meetup

Posted on by
Reply

Last Saturday my husband and I went to check out Tampa Bloggers Meetup.  The meet up was happening at the Bunker. It’s a neat little cafe/bar in Ybor City.  I met (in person!) a lot of interesting people, virtual nerds as you’d say.   I had a blast!

Since I am just starting out with my own blog, I had a lot of questions about what other people do with their blogs, whether they are doing it full time, part time or if it’s just a hobby.  Got to talk with people from lots of different walks of life.  Social media is great, but nothing beats the personal interaction.   Took lots of pictures.
We even had our own live rapper Steve who put together some songs specifically for our meet up.  It was hilarious, he made us raize our i-phones, singing ‘put the phones in the air…”

You can join Tampa Bloggers at meetup.com or follow them on Twitter @TampaBloggers.
I will definitely try to get out for the next one!

What It’s Like To Be Entrepreneur’s Wife

Posted on by
5

I am currently a stay-at-home mom and a wife of an online entrepreneur, David Risley.  He really loves what he does and he is good at it.  I am happy that I can be home with my baby to take care of her and the household.  And I can’t complain right now, we do have enough money to support our lifestyle.  Though the thought about having financial security still crosses my mind, working for yourself is not the same as having a consistent paycheck, group insurance and 401k.

Even though entrepreneurship is becoming more and more accepted by our society, most folks still can’t let go of the fact that it’s not as secure as working for someone else.  Even banks are so much more likely to loan money to someone with a ‘stable job’ rather than (what??) self-employed.  And yea, I used to be part of the template too.  I did work for a big company, making pretty decent money, had great health insurance (not like I ever used it) and my company was matching 4.5% of my pay to my 401k plan.  When I went to apply for a mortgage, I had no problems at all getting a loan, even though it was a bit on a high side of what I could afford.  They didn’t care whether I worked for a company with a stable reputation, if it was large or small, if it was about to go under or prospering…  All they cared about for my loan approval is the last two stubs of my paycheck.

But when my husband told me what he had to go through to get his little house as a small business owner (that was before we met),  the process seemed to be much more involved.  O-o-oh, that’s right, he didn’t have the last two pay stubs of his paycheck.  No one gives him a paycheck, he owns the company!

So I guess part of me does feel somewhat insecure about having a blogger for a husband.  I do think about what it will be like when we get old and have no 401k or any other income to fall on, I think about the $2500 we have to shell out of our pocket before the health insurance kicks in if any of us gets sick.  I think about the economy and how it is going to affect our small business.

Sounds depressing?  It depends on how one looks at it.  I trust my husband enough to think that we will never get to the point of being in a financial hole, and if we ever did end up there, I am ready to jump right in to help.  Whether it’s getting a regular 9 to 5 job or helping out with the business.

It’s really not all that bad, there are definite upsides to having a self-employed hubby.  He is his own boss and he sets his own schedule.  Sometimes it’s nice to take a day off during the week and go to the amusement park.  They are definitely less crowded on the weekdays!  He is in control of his income, so if we need extra money, he can usually master it up.  Since he works from home, we get to see him during his lunch break, he gets to play with the baby and have a small chat with me.

I guess one of the downsides of having a spouse as an entrepreneur is that he works a lot.  Forget 9 to 5, it’s more like 8 to 10 with food breaks in between.

Enough of my opinions.  Want to hear from Dave himself?  Being his wife, I can get away with asking him some tough questions and getting some honest answers.  So watch my 7-minute interview with him where he honestly opens up about his lifestyle as an entrepreneur and a family man.