Welcome to Unexpected Realities!

I’m so glad you’re here!

Unexpected Realities was created in 2003 and was relaunched in April 2016 as a platform to share about our infertility struggles and encourage others who are in the same wait. If you have been looking a place to feel understood and that you are not alone, you have found the right corner of the internet. If you have been bitten by the travel bug like us, you will also find musings about all of the amazing places we have been to as a family as we seek to guide and inspire fellow travel addicts! My husband and I have both discovered a passion for cooking and learning about the typography and craft of winemaking. So if you like traveling, cooking, and wine, this is also a place for you! Our daughter was unexpectedly born with Down Syndrome, so you can find some insight into life with a special needs child as well! I think it’s safe to say there’s a little bit of something for everyone here.

For more information on what you can expect to find on the blog, read below! Want to know why I chose “Unexpected Realities” and the history of the site? Head over to the Domain section.  

Infertility journey

My husband and I began TTC (trying to conceive, for you non-infertility-lingo folks) in the spring of 2013. We did multiple diagnostic tests between the end of 2014 and 2015 and were diagnosed with unexplained infertility. In November of 2015, we did our first IUI cycle, which ended in an early miscarriage. The next four cycles in December 2015, January, October, and November 2016 were negative. In June 2017 I was diagnosed with endometriosis and underwent surgery to remove it. On September 4, 2017, we received an answer to our prayers with a positive pregnancy test! Our miracle daughter was born in May 2018. We would like to have more children, but will have to wait and see what God has planned.

Traveling

Our travel-bug was first sparked when we went to the Costa del Sol in southern Spain and Gibraltar for our honeymoon in October 2009. After that, we knew that traveling would be a priority for us. In November 2011 we went to Cancun, Mexico; in August 2012 we traveled to Budapest and Vienna; in August 2013 we went to northern Italy, including Verona, Vicenza, Venice, Milan, Florence, and Montepulciano; in July 2014 we went to Thessaloniki and Sarti, Greece; in August 2015 we traveled to Portugal with friends to Porto, Nazare, and Lisbon; in May of 2016 we celebrated my husband graduating from his master’s by going to the Mosel Valley in Germany, Reims and Paris in France, and a stopover in Reykjavik, Iceland; in December 2016 we went to Avignon and the Provence region in France for Christmas; in August 2017 we went to Bled and Ljubljana, Slovenia, Rovinj, Croatia, and Fruili-Venezia Guilia, Italy; in January of 2018 we went to Barcelona and Catalonia in Spain for our babymoon; and in October of 2018 we traveled back to Ljubljana, Slovenia and some of our favorite spots from our previous trip. This doesn’t include our domestic travel that we have done together, including Sonoma County, San Francisco, Sacramento, and San Diego, CA, Denver, Boulder, and Colorado Springs, CO area, Nashville, TN, and Naples, FL and southern FL/Miami, and the travel that we have done separately. You can check out the Travel section to see the destinations I have already written about!

We are open to all types of destinations, but our travel philosophy is generally 1) finding the best deal, and 2) locations known for great food and wine. We absolutely love Rick Steves and follow his guidebooks for most of our European destinations.

Have suggestions for where we should go next? Message me on Facebook or Instagram!

Food and Wine

One of our passions that we share together is good food and wine. Our traveling has given us an appreciation for international food, which has translated into our cooking done at home. It has also led to discovering new grape varietals and wanting to learn more about how grapes are used and grown. Locally, the Virginia wine scene has become progressively better over the last five years, and we love to visit new establishments and discover what winemakers are accomplishing as the wine industry grows.

Vaison-la-Romaine, Provence, France – December 2016

More About Us

I’m a 30-something who lives in Northern Virginia with my husband and our miracle daughter. We met in college and were married in October 2009. My passions are cooking, traveling and discovering new places, food and wine, Washington Nationals baseball, and sanctity of life issues. More than anything, we have desired to blessed with a family. But that process hasn’t been easy for us or gone the way we planned, and we have learned to trust God during a difficult time of waiting. God has given me a heart for other couples who have to walk this same road, and is helping us to praise Him even in this unexpected reality.