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Raising a Teen Abroad: A Birthday Retrospective of Life in Spain🎉
This year marked Alyssa’s fourth birthday since moving to Spain—and her Sweet 16, no less! I’ve always been big on creating meaningful moments over material things. While gifts come and go, it’s the shared experiences—the laughter, the surprises, the snapshots of joy—that stay with us and become part of our family story. In parenting, there’s the daily rhythm of care: cheering from the sidelines, comforting during tough moments, cooking favorite meals, and the simple joy of just being there. But birthdays have always been our way of pausing time—creating a little magic, celebrating the people we’ve become, and inviting the people we love into that moment with us. So as…
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Musical Homes: Our Never-Ending Game of Moving in Spain
Guess what we’re doing this weekend? Moving—again. That makes this our fifth move since arriving in Spain in 2021. Sixth, if you count the temporary summer rental upon our arrival in August 2021. At this point, I should add “professional mover” to my resume. The Grand Plan… or So We Thought Our journey started with a dream and a villa in progress. We had worked with a local realtor and attorney to purchase an off-plan home in Benahavís, a picturesque mountain village known for its gourmet dining and stunning valley views. The villa was set to be completed by summer 2022. But since it was still in the early stages…
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The Most Frequently Asked Questions About Our Move To Spain from California
Answering Your Top Questions! Since we made the leap from California to Spain, one of the most common things people ask is: How did you do it? From visas to finances to how our daughter adjusted, these are the questions we get the most—and today, I’m answering them all. Are We Residents? Are We Interested in Citizenship? Yes, we are legal residents of Spain, but not citizens. We moved here under the Golden Visa, which grants residency in exchange for a real estate investment of at least €500,000. Since we were already planning to buy a home here, this visa was the best fit for us. It offers more…
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How We Did It: Our Journey to Spain
One of the most common questions we get from fellow Americans is, How did you do it? How did we uproot our entire lives, leave everything behind, and move across the world to Spain? It wasn’t completely a spontaneous leap—it was a carefully orchestrated plan and executed with relentless determination. Back in early 2020, we had planned a trip to Marbella during spring break. We had spent countless hours researching Spain, searching for the perfect location that met our needs. We were ready for a change—a fresh start outside the U.S. But then, the world shut down. By mid-March, we were canceling our trip, closing the doors to our business…
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Beyond the American Dream: Choosing a Life of Presence & Purpose
In August 2021, my family and I—my husband, Steven, and our now 15, almost 16-year-old daughter—packed up our lives in sunny Southern California and moved across the globe to Marbella, Spain without ever having stepped foot in the country. It was a place we had researched and envisioned for retirement, but I hadn’t expected to call it home so soon. And yet, somehow, it was exactly where I was meant to be. Now, after 3 ½ years of living here, I find myself reflecting on this journey on my birthday—or at least, sort of my birthday, given my leap year birth. Stepping into this new year, I do so with…
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From California to Spain: A Family’s Bold Adventure Unfolds.
Dive Into My Expat Chronicles: Tales of Discovery, Living Abroad and Travel. Join me on my family’s extraordinary journey as we transition from the sunny shores of Southern California to the vibrant southern coast of Spain. Through my blog, “A Broader Perspective,” I’ll share our experiences of adapting to a new culture, exploring breathtaking destinations, and embracing the expat lifestyle.