Wedding rings on a white rose

We’re engaged!

We’re engaged! It was not a big, romantic gesture. Neither of us got down on one knee, held a flash mob, or write it across the sky. We talked about it one day, nodded, smiled, and said, “Let’s do it.” Theo and I decided to to get engaged in mid-August. I wanted to tell everyone …

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Antique clock. More waiting for residency.

The road to residency part 7: more waiting

Sometime in May or June, I became eligible to apply for permanent residency. If you’re just joining me at this part of my story, I came to Australia in 2012 to be with my partner. I applied for a de facto partner visa subclass 820. It grants temporary residency. It lets me travel, study, work, and access …

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Emerging Writers' Festival 2016.

On writing: lessons from the Emerging Writers’ Festival 2016

The Emerging Writers’ Festival is a not-for-profit organisation aimed at supporting emerging writers. I attended this year’s 10-day writing festival for the first time. I didn’t go to every event, but here are some lessons I took away from the ones I went to. Industry Insiders: Pitch Perfect With: Jacinda Woodhead (Overland Journal), Cate Blake (Penguin/Random …

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Little toy wooden house. Ancestry.com DNA test.

My Ancestry.com DNA test results

I’m so excited to get the results of my Ancestry.com DNA test! In 2007, I started dabbling in genealogy. My family came to the United States as refugees from Cuba and I knew very little about my background. My spirituality led me to my ancestors and I wanted to know more about them and my ethnic ancestry. …

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Pyramids in Egypt. Daughter of the Sun book review.

Review: Daughter of the Sun

What did I just finish reading? Daughter of the Sun: A Devotional Anthology in Honor of Sekhmet. I don’t have a big interest in ancient Egypt and I would not have picked up Daughter of Sun: A Devotional Anthology in Honor of Sekhmet, but, in full disclosure, my friend Tina Georgitsis edited this new anthology …

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