2012 was an awesome year, full of life changes and exciting new adventures. The absolute best thing that happened was that I got to marry my love, Mika’il, or as some of you know him, MP. We had a perfect D.C. wedding, complete with courthouse ceremony, lunch at Ben’s Chili Bowl and bowling. It was us, matched our personalities perfectly and, although we weren’t able to have all of our family and friends there to witness this huge moment, we were blessed with the presence of parents, siblings, mentors and some of our closest friends. MP and I tied the knot on June 29th, 2012, in about 108 degrees, and we made it to our honeymoon weekend getaway bed and breakfast in Hume, Va., right as the derecho storm was getting ready to pummel the region. On our first night as a married couple we lost power and water, but, of course we didn’t care, we were married! We ate the cheese and drank the wine left for us by our gracious hosts by the light of our iPhones and enjoyed our newly married status. The next day, when we learned that our bed and breakfast was closing for the weekend because of the loss of electricity, we still didn’t have a care in the world. We ate a fabulous picnic, explored the area, toured caves, drove along skyline drive in Shenandoah National Park for hours and watched the sun set on the valley below us. Only later that evening, as we went from calling bed and breakfasts in the area in search of a vacant room, to calling nice hotels, less nice hotels, motels…you catch my drift…did we realize exactly how the derecho had affected the region and that our honeymoon getaway was going to be cut a little short. Well, as much as I love our wedding weekend story and don’t wish a single part of it was different, we were blessed again this past December when our family decided to send us on a second honeymoon to Puerto Rico. This blog post is a collection of travel photography from our amazing trip there and I am thrilled to share it. We spent time both in San Juan and on the Eastern side of the island in Ceiba. I was absolutely blown away by the natural beauty of Puerto Rico. We went from exploring old San Juan and the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, a 16th-century citadel designed to defend the Spanish colonial port city of San Juan, to hiking in the rainforest in El Yunque National Forest. We spent a day driving up terrifyingly narrow mountain roads to reach the Pomarrosa coffee hacienda in Ponce, and had the distinct pleasure of getting lost in its owner Kurt’s stories about the history of coffee in Puerto Rico as we drank cappuccino after cappuccino. We spent a few days at the Ceiba Country Inn, where the sounds of the Coqui`, the official frog of Puerto Rico, kept us company at all times, as well as the resident dogs and cats. We tried pastelillos everywhere we went, ate more dishes made from yucca than I ever thought existed, and wound up at a local bar somewhere near Ceiba celebrating the owner’s brother’s birthday with incredible music and birthday cake. Our great friend Alberto made our vacation perfect by welcoming us on our first day there and then later in the trip taking us to a few of his favorite places, where we discovered even more incredible landscapes just outside of San Juan, including the Cueva Ventana, or Window Cave. This trip was a wonderful coronation of an even more wonderful year. MP and I loved getting away, but we especially loved exploring a new place, spending time with quality people and continuing to add more memories to our tapestry as we enjoy married life together. Following are some favorites from the trip. Enjoy!