cactus and the wave

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cactus and the wave

// Champagne drinker, wanderlust leader, FEEL GOOD life preacher

// Sharing stories about adventure, wellness and the pursuit of a life that feels good. Hmm.

Where to begin....

The short version:

I'm Gina and I am actively pursuing a FEEL GOOD life. What is that exactly? Well, it's a life that FEELS GOOD to live. Sometimes that means practicing yoga, sometimes that means eating a tub of ice cream. Around here, I'll be sharing ways in which I practice balance to life a FEEL GOOD life. If you're down for some feel good vibes, stick around! The long ver

sion:

According to my grandmother, I’ve always had a wandering feet and a full belly. It was a challenge keeping me in one place. For that, I blame (and deeply thank) the women in my life who have come from all over the world, full of stories and dreams. They gave me the gift of imagination – imagining other places, other people, other worlds different than my own. They allowed to me explore the world and find the magic in my own backyard. That might’ve meant sending me off to the Philippines to see where my mom ate halo halo as a kid or letting me get properly dirty building rafts in overgrown, muddy muck in the yard. As an adult, I can say that I have seen a bit of the world and I most certainly have sipped the Kool-Aid. I have learned that there is plenty of room for me to make my own world out of all the experiences I’ve collected on the way. I’d like to use this blog as a vehicle to share my adventures in travel, lessons in self-love, and, well, stories, with anyone else who imagines like I do. In the process, I hope to inspire you to chase a life that feels good. xo.

10/05/2026

Reflecting on 39 years together, I can’t really think of any bad advice you’ve given me. I’m sure there was some, probably had to do with over waxing my eyebrows or encouraging me to use fancy skincare on my feet. But I can’t remember it. I’ve always trusted deeply that your guidance came from experience and from wanting nothing more than for me to be safe and happy. A true mothers love.

You have been vulnerable in a way that could scare a weaker soul, taken yourself off of the pedestal that most parents try to put themselves on and shown me what it means to be human. You’ve let me in on the big secret that no one really knows what they’re doing and that trusting your instinct is your greatest super power.

You have been my home, the first person I want to share something with and the only one who truly understands all sides of me. You get my references, you understand the silences and you can hear my cheeks smile through the phone. You are my mother and no one knows me like you do.

I don’t know how you’ve done it. Remembering the most obscure stories from that one girl in tenth grade or the birthday party of so and so in third. You make shopping with a toddler look easy and I’m reminded that you’ve been at this rodeo five times.

You are humble in the way you honor the village who helped raise me, instilled in me the virtues of a family hierarchy, respect and the bonds of our elders. You taught me to listen with my eyes and hear with my heart. I know I have picked you a thousand lifetimes and I will pick you a thousand more.

Happy Mother’s Day, mommy. I love you.

31/12/2025

2025.

It was the year I asked for ease…and was reminded that you don’t always get what you ask for.

But you do always get what you need. And as I scroll back through this year, I’m grateful to see that what I got was 365 days of doing things - big and small, important and mundane - with the people I’ve always asked for.

Turns out, they were exactly what I needed.

Here’s to 2026 ✨

20/09/2025

A year ago today, I was laying in bed pretending that this familiar feeling was just a false alarm. Cramping as practice for the work my body would soon do.

A year ago today, as I was singing out through the pain, mini told me “mama, inside voices, remember? People in apartments have to talk quietly.”

A year ago today, I felt a nervous calm. This time I knew what was coming, the journey I was in for. The fear of the pain, the confidence my body knew what to do.

A year ago today, you shot out so fast I didn’t have time for the tub, birthing ball, or anything other than letting out a loud yelp, “somebody catch her!” as I stood by the side of the hospital bed.

A year ago today, my heart grew even bigger than I knew it could. My fears calmed. There is no finite amount of love one person can feel. I can and do love you as big and as deep. Love, indeed, has no walls.

My darling girl, my graceful warrior. You are the gift everyone needs. The light in the darkness. The smile that warms the coldest of days. If ever I doubted that I needed you, you proved me so so wrong.

My darling girl, my graceful warrior. Thank you. You have brought a softness, a calm to our big, bold, WILD trio. You help us even out the edges, make our family feel even more whole. How much you are loved.

To one year of you, one year of us. I love you, lulee girl.

01/09/2025

I often ask myself when I’ll get a break. When life will ease up just enough to let me catch my breath. Rest. Transition into the next, renewed. Recharged.

I’ve been waiting on that moment, banking on it. The promise of the sweet pause to power me through to the next big hump, the next big jump.

But life doesn’t work like that. There is no pause, no way to slow time. Life is happening. At its pace. Doing its thing.

All you can do is live it. Whatever IT is. However it is thrown at you. You just live it. You do the dance, you jump the jump and you hold on for dear life to the things that you want with you as life is flying on by.

The break is probably not coming. It just might not be in my cards. And if I can shift my mind to see it this way, I’ll be glad. Glad for living it. All of it. In love with the ride.

07/07/2025

The words come to me. They always do. Maybe now. Or maybe in the night. Between a toss and a turn. The thing I wish I had said. The perfect string of subject, verb, object, compliment.

They come when I don’t have a pen. Words so certain, so true, I’m sure I won’t forget them. I comfort myself that they’ll be there in the morning. That I can’t possibly lose them between now and the next series of lucid dreams. But morning comes with a kind of delirious amnesia. Something happened. But what. Who knows. The light has come and the day doesn’t give me a second more to spend reminiscing in the darkness of the night before. It’s go time.

At some point, a trickle will find its way back in. At a stop light. While brushing teeth that don’t belong to me. Jumbled up. Not as coherent as the first time. A paraphrased fallen soldier. No thanks. But maybe.

The words come to me. They always do. Just not on time, in the right time, or when I can remember what they were.

29/03/2025

The sight of it all is painfully familiar. Suitcases bulging at the seams, trying to fit in our favorite pieces of our life from one place to bring them into our life in another.

I’m a champion at this by now. A Master Packer. And while the motions are the same - wrap, wrap, fold, squish, weigh - the feeling of leaving something behind, the uncomfortable mix of excitement and sadness feels fresh and raw each time.

The big irony of it is that this is what I’ve always wanted. To feel free to move around as I please. To call home where I want. To be unbound, uncaged. But the funny thing about dreams is that they don’t always feel the way you imagined. And even when they are filled with goodness, you’re not always prepared for the other feelings that sit in the shadows.

This time around I feel unready. I started to grow roots in a place I never dreamt of but that grounding was exactly what this chapter of my life needed. I am not ready to unroot. Not ready to start again. My mind racing but my hands dwaddle. Shifting things from here to there but not really getting the job done. 
This time, I don’t have a choice. Dreams are calling. And they are not here. I know once I arrive, I will dive in. I will do the same motions in reverse - unzip, unfold, tidy, tidy, sigh - and slowly a new life will take shape. I will get there, as I always do. And I will do it with a smile because little faces are watching this time. Waiting for the cues. They need to know: It’s safe. It’s home. It’s just different. It’s wonderful.

And it will be wonderful. But for today, the sun is shining down and asking me to stay.

01/03/2025

Me + you + two = forever.

25/09/2024

Welcome to the world, Lula Grace! You are the piece we never knew we were missing 🌸

29/07/2024

What a difference 4 years makes…

Same beach, same swimsuit, same relentless morning sickness. Only this time, we’ve got a baby girl incoming!

Señorita Martí incoming September 2025 🌸✨

28/07/2024

Been so nauseous I almost forgot to mention…

24/06/2023

The road home.

Morning rides are filling my cup big time. No matter how short, I’m grateful for these uninterrupted minutes that allow me to look around and think, “Damn, Gina. You did it.”

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General Luna

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http://www.cactusandthewave.com/

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