Why We Sold The Happier House: Forward Momentum

By | 2021-05-05T16:57:19-04:00 May 5th, 2021|Categories: The Happier House|Tags: |

Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: Trawick COVID insurance to visit Costa Rica for 90 days—$40 to $60

I remember first moving to Costa Rica, coming off a stressful job and looking for a moment to exhale. It’s easy to assume that having a moment to breathe and the stillness it brought was a sign of laziness or boredom. I’ve heard that a lot over the years.

But stillness does the opposite. It gives clarity, and clarity feels like momentum. Not the speed of a racecar driving around a track, but more like a moving walkway at an airport, quietly standing next to your carry-on while looking down at the food court below.

Our fourteen years in Costa Rica have taught us how to live life. Simply. Honestly. Living abroad and adapting to a different culture is one of the biggest adventures anyone can have in their lifetime. You can no longer approach obstacles with the same rigidness you had before. Instead, you learn to be flexible and bend in the wind like a willow branch.

When COVID hit, I got extremely sick after a flight back from the States. Rob raced me to a hospital in Liberia, and true to my husband, we didn’t have enough gas in the tank. We barely coasted to a gas station where I whispered to Rob the location of all the passwords to our computer. It’s weird the stuff that goes through your mind when you think you’re dying and your husband barely knows how to open his email account.

After I recovered, I had problems with my lungs, especially during the rainy season. Each full breath felt like a struggle, and walking the mountain became a Herculean feat. Costa Rica was on lockdown, and we weren’t allowed to leave the country without risking losing our residency. We couldn’t get home to see our aging parents when they needed us the most. It’s all I thought about during those walks. Of all the things you try to plan for, this wasn’t in the Pisani’s Costa Rica Escape Manual.

Rincon Largo

But in the mess of that year, good things started happening. Our Pacific Heights lot which has been problematic for 14 years, finally got a water letter. Without it, you can’t get a building permit. We put it up for sale on Happier Facebook and it is now in escrow. We also own another property that has a view of the long-anticipated Flamingo Marina. It’s located in a struggling development called Rincon Largo where water letters are still not available. We ultimately want to build Happier House Dos there, or in another growing development. The future is wide open and I know something great is about to happen.

During this year, Rob and I felt forward momentum again. The same feeling we had when we quit our jobs and moved to Costa Rica. We started daydreaming about other adventures that were waiting for us. But the toughest thing about new adventures is letting go of the old ones. It’s always difficult leaving your comfort zone. Some days I wonder what it would have been like if I stopped moving and stayed in one place. But I’m an insufferable dreamer and refuse to believe that there is a cap to the people you’ll meet or the happiness that fills your heart.

Our plans have shifted but the goals remain the same, live freely, happily, and continue writing about all of it. I would love to spend time in Ireland. Or Switzerland. Split our time in Costa Rica with other places around the world. But most importantly, we need to be around for our parents.

Our goal is to become snowbirds, spend much of the year in Costa Rica and some of our time elsewhere. I’m not sure how this plan will work, but I’m flexible, bending each day, letting go of the old, and making room for the new. Holding onto The Happier House made this plan impossible. Selling it was the right choice. It gave us the freedom and finances to jump onto another rollercoaster ride.

So now we are on a quest to get this water letter for our Flamingo Marina lot. It will take many trips to the municipality, many more odd encounters with people who insist they can help us but can’t. It’s one piece of a puzzle that can have us building again. There was a time when I gave up on that dream and I felt this loss was just part of the story. But maybe getting a water letter to that lot will be the biggest surprise of all. Or maybe we will find a completely new community eager to work with those crazy Happier people.

I’m strapping into this rollercoaster and ready for the rickety ride it will take me on. We are back to owning only a handful of belongings. And a cat. We are taking Sabertooth with us wherever we go. She is hard to strap in but I couldn’t leave her behind. She’s as much a part of the story as anything else and a piece of Costa Rica that we’ll take with us.

The lesson I learned this year is that you can’t plan for everything, and letting go may be the only way to get your momentum back. I can feel the lightness and freedom to travel down another road. One that I’m sure will be dirt, on top of a mountain, surrounded by the things that inspire me the most.

And like Rob always says, “How bad can it be?” Only this time we made sure we will be traveling on a full tank of gas.

I Want to Move to Costa Rica

By | 2020-07-19T17:01:58-04:00 July 19th, 2020|Categories: The Happier House, Uncategorized|Tags: , , |

The Happier House

Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: Electric Bill (pool and multiple air conditioners during the rainy season) — $204

People are Googling about moving to Costa Rica. Inevitably my face pops up, holding a watermelon…

Watermelon

or smiling on a boat.

Sailboat

While scanning the images, I found one of Rob’s bloody hand from falling off his scooter. And another of me boogie boarding in ankle-deep water with the concentration of a North Korean Olympian.

Boogie Boarding

The only reason I’m Googling myself is to find out why so many people are contacting us. The email subject line is always, “I want to move to Costa Rica.” And I believe I found it.

An episode of EXPATS (a show we appeared in) has gone viral. It shows my husband pushing me on a swing and us walking hand in hand on the beach. Is that an accurate representation of our life? Absolutely, but so is him ripping his hand open after falling off his scooter, twice, once while delivering my stool sample to a doctor.

blooy hand

 

During the EXPATS show, I mentioned Rob’s friend questioning our search for a happier life. If you’re looking for a warm and fuzzy conversation, don’t expect a snarly guy from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, to deliver one.

“What’s different about you?” he said, “Why should you be happy? We’re all miserable.”

But that wasn’t good enough, and perhaps that’s how you’re feeling today. All this stress has you gripping the ropes, hoping the bell rings before the referee counts to ten. Maybe moving to Costa Rica was on your mind way before the events of this year. You want to set this plan in motion, and now you’re Googling “I want to move to Costa Rica.”

Take my hand… I got you on this.

My life hasn’t been the same since we started our adventure. This country sparks inspiration every day. Lately, the sunsets have a lavender hue and remind me of macarons with orchid buttercream. It feels like falling in love inside a French bakery.

lavender sunset

With Rob’s green thumb, our garden continues to expand. He’s bending bougainvillea over a backyard staircase, turning the passageway into a hobbit village. I went there to watch butterflies when I spotted a female coatimundi. It appears Walter (our resident coatimundi and papaya thief) has found a girlfriend, a little furry companion to snuggle with under the sunset.

Walter the Coati

Sometimes I wonder where I’d be if I didn’t go on this adventure. If we listened to Rob’s friend who told us that there was nothing special out there.

“Why should you be happy?” he said.

But even during the stressful times, I still believed there were swings under palm trees. And maybe that’s all you need to know. Believe when others don’t. Find the people who are doing what you want to do. Nothing is impossible, even if your timeline has changed. Even when the world has paused.

Rob said it best in the EXPATS episode, “Treat life like an adventure. Get that spirit back you had when you were a kid.”

I rediscovered mine in a place with butterflies and macaron sunsets. Yours may be on a rooftop deck in Manhattan, or a snowy ski chalet in Switzerland. All I know is it wasn’t where I was standing before this journey, in front of that friend, telling me that unhappiness was inevitable.

Fall back in love, go for the gold, and let this year be the one that made all the difference. Lean on the ropes while waiting for the bell to ring.

And when it does, come out swinging.

(My journey started with my first book, Happier Than A Billionaire. I’ve written more about moving to Costa Rica, and You can find them here. If you are looking for Rob and I talking about our life in Costa Rica, you can find the EXPATS episode here.)

 

Imperfect, Dusty Places

By | 2019-09-27T10:39:08-04:00 September 27th, 2019|Categories: The Happier House|Tags: , |

Writing in Costa Rica

Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: New GE washing machine, with five years extended warranty—$600

This picture was taken three years ago and brings back a lot of feelings. I was relieved when we finally bought that bed, even if positioned in front of thirty workers drilling, spackling, and tiling. That day they installed the front door. Previously, that gaping hole welcomed windy day cyclones, swirling the air with satellites of earth and construction dust. We all breathed a foggy constellation of debris those months. We were unable to afford to live elsewhere during the build, and we prayed we could make it to the end without going broke.

Rob and I were in the final leg of an ultra-marathon dream that started years before. There was no visible finish line, but it didn’t deter us. If everyone saw one, there would be a hundred thousand people entering a race. “Look how close the ribbon is,” they would say. No. It’s only the few who think, “Sure, I’ll train every day for years to qualify. I’ll step over that finish line, even if it means crossing it after everyone has gone home.”

What I mostly identify in this picture is me lost in my thoughts, writing to all of you about how my husband just tripped over a hornet’s nest, or fell off his scooter, or just brought home a pallet of broken tile from a project up the hill because we ran out of money to order more. There were times I hid in the shower stall and wrote while sitting on the cool floor, surprising workers when they came in to use the can.

Nadine On FloorI wrote in the car while my husband was in the hardware store buying a doodad which was inevitably the wrong doodad. I wrote on my phone while I walked the mountain, my only reprieve from the construction. I’d type how lavender weeds as high as wheat stalks swayed in the breeze. I must have looked peculiar standing on a mountain watching them. But sometimes that’s all you need at the moment, a field of bending weeds surrendering to the wind.

Since we rent the main level of the house, I now write in the bathroom in the upstairs Sunset Suite. I don’t sit on the floor anymore since my husband bought me a tiny desk that faces the wall. I don’t have any distractions now except for the toilet two feet away, which adds an extra dash of romance to our marriage.

Sometimes I dream of a magical space with a large mahogany desk. A scattered surface with postmarked letters, and bookshelves lining the walls, filled with leather-bound novels. It’s always cozy in this imaginary space. A little dusty. A little imperfect.

The truth is, I will write anywhere because it’s the only thing that I ever wanted to do. When I’m not, I get fidgety. Words build up behind a cerebral dam, cracking its concrete, threatening to flood a town downriver.

I imagine this is what it’s like for an artist. I’ve watched people at restaurants doodle on paper napkins and others sketch while talking on the phone. I see them on the beach, drawing waves splashing against the shoreline. Their serene faces lost in a mystical world full of shadow and light.

SunsetThere is a saying, “Artists like to draw, musicians like to play, and writers like to have written.” Words are like wild stallions. It takes a while to gain their confidence, and even when you do, there is no guarantee they won’t buck. Sometimes right in the middle of your best sentence. These are the moments that can make you crazy. But the words that have been written, the ones you kept? Oh, my. It feels like you’re galloping full speed across a clover filled meadow.

Over the years, I have learned that those elusive “best sentences” never came to me while sitting at a desk or while comfortable in a leather-backed chair. They arrived while sitting on the floor, in the jungle, or even in a bed surrounded by construction workers. All I know to do is to show up and confront the wild stallion. Heaven knows I’ve got the bruises to prove it.

Thank you to all who have followed my journey, whether through the move to Costa Rica or now the ramblings from The Happier House. I feel good that I wrote this to you today. I got the words out. They’re a little dusty and imperfect, but I stopped the dam from breaking, and the town downstream is safe for now.

Read more about our adventures on our Facebook page: Facebook.com/HappierThanAbillionaire

 

 

One Gardener’s Holy Grail

By | 2018-06-08T16:16:15-04:00 June 8th, 2018|Categories: Garden, The Happier House|Tags: , , , |

Bougainvillea

Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: Beef Casado at a local Soda (rice, plantains, salad, beef, and beans) — Six Dollars

“This is gross,” I say while opening a Zip Loc bag.

“Why are you messing with that? It’s a germinating mango seed. Did you touch it?” my husband asks.

“No,” I reply, while clearly holding the evidence in my hand. It would seem I have the same half-witted mind of a thief who falls asleep at the crime scene.

“Give me that. It likes carbon dioxide for development!” Rob proceeds to blow into the pouch. I hope that if I’m ever in need of resuscitation, he’s as ambitious with me as he is with this freezer grade sandwich bag.

“Please, leave this alone,” he scolds.

“What about this one?” I ask, holding up another bag filled with gooey mush.

Rob glances before sadly turning away. “That one didn’t make it.”

There is no resuscitation.

I used to think gardening was an amicable hobby, with responsible folks wearing knee pads and suede gloves planting petunias around their mailboxes. They look happy and well adjusted. They take their families to Disneyworld on vacation. They may even buy two boxes of Thin Mint cookies from the Girl Scout troop stationed in front of the Jiffy Lube.

But not Rob. He is not a well-adjusted gardener. He doesn’t plant anything around our mailbox. Okay, we don’t have a mailbox, so instead, he decides to recreate the gardens of Versailles using banana peels and a leaky hose. (more…)

Letters from Guests

By | 2018-04-15T18:19:06-04:00 April 13th, 2018|Categories: The Happier House|Tags: , , |

Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: Flowers for our guests—Free from Rob’s Garden

Running The Happier House has definitely been a rewarding experience. I think I may have found the perfect job for two reasons…

One: Everyone who stays with us is looking to have a great time. They have zip lining on their mind instead of taxes, corporate meetings, or deadlines. This surely beats working at The Department of Motor Vehicles where no one is ever there to book a sunset cruise. Although a cabana serving fruity drinks would certainly lighten the mood while renewing my expired registration. Someone get on that.

Two: Most of our guests have already read my books, so they know I blabber a lot and Rob will be duct taping something, possibly himself, but hopefully not one of you, in the near future. It’s like we’ve been friends for years.

We’ve met people from all over the world and are honored when they share their Costa Rican experiences with us. I hope one day we will get the chance to host you too at The Happier House.

Here are just a few quotes from our guests:

“What can we say? This really has been the trip of a lifetime! You two are amazing, and we appreciate so much all the advice, maps, recommendations, reservations, and on and on! Not to mention Rob’s comedy show.”

“This house is so beautiful, the view, the pool! You two were so welcoming and truly did make us feel right at home. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“The views the views!” This note came with a Canadian flag and maple syrup!

I love that Canadians always have authentic maple syrup on hand. I want to believe they always have some in their purse for waffle emergencies.

If you’d like to see our accommodations, check out our website: www.happierthanabilionaire.com/happier-house.

If you would like to read all about our adventures in creating The Happier House, here is a link to my latest book Happier Than A Billionaire: An Acre in Paradise.

Or just say hello and drop me an email! puravida@happierthanabillionaire.

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