Almost Everything You Almost Missed (UPDATE)
Earlier this month, I celebrated my 1st anniversary as a Lisbon resident.
Here's a quick overview of a few professional and personal highlights that have kept me busy over the past year. Love. Life. And everything in between.
📸: Three decades of travel. Like most Americans, I didn’t file for my first passport until I traveled abroad. I’ve been living in & out of the EU since the 90s.
JANUARY 2022
Came back to the U.S. As many of you know, at the end of 2021, I filed for Portuguese residency. I spent holidays in Washington, D.C. Shortly after, just down the road from my home, the city changed.
Hiked and trekked 32.65 miles (83,194 steps). I love my DC hiking groups, but I don’t like cold weather.
Expanded my team. We hired another designer at my firm.
Bom dia! I gave Duolingo a try. Portuguese is the sixth language I’m tackling. Fluent in English and Dutch, I can read French. I have really basic conversational skills in both Italian and American Sign Language.
FEBRUARY 2022
Continued to live in D.C. The countdown began! I knew I was returning to Portugal in March, so I started saying goodbye to friends in D.C.
Hiked and trekked 40.15 miles (106,453 steps). Warmer weather. More time outside.
Wheels up. I left the U.S. on February 28th.
The view from my seat.
MARCH 2022
Wheels down. I landed in Portugal on March 1st.
Let the house tours begin. Because the initial apartment I arranged fell through, I spent much of the month searching for a new apartment in Lisbon. Some of y’all got a SHITTON of WhatsApp videos, home listings in Lisbon, and so on.
Hiked and trekked 109.69 miles (241,172 steps). Europe will do that to you.
I didn’t know Lisbon had a Changing of the Guard ceremony. I went and it was amazing!
APRIL 2022
Lived in Portugal. As I continued searching for more permanent housing, I found a new apartment to rent. Despite the landlord’s distaste for cats, Catsby’s charm inevitably swayed things in my favor. Catsby saved the day. Seriously, she has an EU Pet Passport now.
Hiked and trekked 90.31 miles (210,784). I like to move it, move it.
Attended the Carnation Revolution on April 25th 2022. I learned more about the revolution that ended the dictatorship in Portugal.
Wheels up. I traveled back to the U.S. to pick up Catsby.
MAY
Wheels down. Celebrated Catsby’s 8th birthday, and got her USDA-approved to travel to Portugal.
Hiked and trekked 68.55 miles (173,965 steps).
Wheels up. Goodbye for now, DC!
JUNE 2022:
Wheels down. I moved to Portugal. This time, with Catsby.
Became a Portuguese resident. I get a lot of questions about this, mostly from people in the U.S. Residency: where you live. Citizenship: your nationality. (I’m a Portuguese resident, and a U.S. citizen.)
Celebrated Santos Populares. Oooh, I’ll share more details about this in the private parts version of this love letter later this month.
Hiked and trekked 97.07 miles (255,083 steps). This included running the EDP Lisbon Women’s Run for Breast Cancer Awareness.
JULY 2022:
Appeared on Below Deck Med. Remember when I said: “Traveled to Malta. I’ll share more details in 2022.” Word’s out: I was on Below Deck Med. If you missed it, watch Season 7, both the season premiere and episode #2. Originally aired July 11th, 2022, and it’s currently streaming online.
Hiked and trekked 94.88 miles (257,968 steps).
Sex Talks with Twanna A. Hines. Throughout the month, I was pleased to launch the first two talks in a series called Sex Talks with Twanna A. Hines. This love letter would run forever if I included everything. I’ll share more specific details about this, too, in a future love letter. (Psst! I’m also planning to go live in IG on on July 8. I’ll talk about what we’ve all learned about sex and relationships on the other side of covid, and a few other things.)
AUGUST 2022:
More Sex. The third installment of Sex Talks with Twanna A. Hines, a talk called Your Guide to Fantastically Wonderful, Healthy Relationships, took place on August 11th. Orgasms! Orgasms! Orgasms!, the fourth installment, took place one week later on August 18th.
Hiked and trekked 74.76 miles (195,245 steps).
SEPTEMBER 2022:
Brazil! Let’s here it for number 5. The fifth installment of my Sex Talks was with the Brazilian version of Cosmo. Again, more details about this soon because I’ll do a full write up of the series — and, again, psst, an IG live.
Hiked and trekked 88.01 miles (233,876 steps).
Stopped writing Tiny Private Love Letters.
OCTOBER 2022:
Seeking shelter. As my fourth attempt to purchase a house fell through, it became difficult to find the motivation for continuing posting love letter updates. Not just about the house, like, at all. This is where I went silent on the writing front, as I always do when I’m working through something.
Spoke at Storytelling Lisboa. With the theme “Dates Gone Wrong,” how could your favorite sex columnist not speak?!
Sexy number 6. I lead a sex-positive cultural exploration of Lisbon! It was like a live, late-night TV show — if late-night shows only focused on sex-postive arts & culture.
Hiked and trekked 79.04 miles (204,893 steps).
NOVEMBER 2022:
Expanded my team. We hired another writer/editor to support our client-facing work.
Saw Angela Davis. As many of you already know, my parents named me after the American civil rights activist Angela Davis; hence, Twanna Angela Hines. So, I was delighted that the Lisboa Film Festival screened documentary Free Angela and All Political Prisoners by Shola Lynch. I had an opportunity to see Angela in conversation with Paula Cardoso, creator of the platform AfroLink.
More Cosmo. In addition to partnering up with what is in essence the Brazil version of the magazine in Lisbon, back in the U.S., the actual Cosmo interviewed me about, ahem, inclusive sexual health for all people and all orifices.
Hiked and trekked 88.39 miles (234,600 steps).
DECEMBER 2022:
Hiked and trekked 70.67 miles (188,766 steps).
Signed additional clients.
Moved. Again. Le sigh. This is where I should probably talk about why I went silent. Subscribers have access to the tea; I already emailed a copy of the “private parts” update, How Do You Say “RAW” Em Portugûes?, directly to inboxes. (Online, it’s still only available to paid subscribers.)
You’ll hear from me again, soon! Until then.
