Travel: Copenhagen, Denmark With Kids
One of our goals when we moved to Ireland was to use our time here to explore as much of Europe as possible. We were able to visit two countries during the holidays: Denmark and Sweden. Since we spent the bulk of our time in the Copenhagen area, that will be the focus of this post. GETTING THERE Thus far, we’ve had good experiences finding relatively inexpensive airfare on the budget airline, Ryan Air. All 4 of us were able to fly round trip between Dublin and Copenhagen for less than what we have been used to paying for one roundtrip ticket on most any of our travels in the…
Friday Funnies #3
Well, we survived our first week back to school after the holidays. Just barely. Humor gets me through it all! Here, in this edition of Friday Funnies, are some moments, pictures and stories that made me laugh out loud recently. BUSINESS ADVICE FROM KIDS 6-year-old Son: How many subscribers do you have, mom? Me: On YouTube? I haven’t posted any videos, so zero. Son: What about on that other thing you do? Me: My blog? Probably 3? I don’t know. I don’t pay attention. Son: Wow. That’s bad. That’s really bad. You should work on that. Me: Thanks, kid. INTERVIEWING 101 If I ever go back to the corporate world… (source: @leahgay…
Books My Kids Are Reading Part 2
The other day my 6-year-old son was standing in front of his bookshelf and I hear him holler out, “Mom! You need to get me some history books!” I was so shocked to hear this come out of his mouth since he spends most of his time talking about farts, Legos and Minecraft that I didn’t even mind that he forgot to use the word please. I have no idea what prompted this declaration, but the next time we go to the library we’ll be sure to head straight for the history section. In the meantime, here are some books my kids and I have read together recently that they loved –…
The Easiest Way to Make a Pretty Home
I thought I’d go for a sensational headline to kick off my 2017 blog posting. I’m baaack! I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about after my Christmas blogging break. I didn’t do much that was project or craft-related. I tried to feed my kids cereal three times a day instead of cooking. I stayed off the computer more than normal. The days were lazy and unscheduled, which is needed from time to time. Well, except for that one day when we went hiking and Handy Husband swore this was a trail. That’s totally a trail, right? Needless to say, that wasn’t a lazy day. I did flip…
Living in Ireland: Merry Christmas 2016
Here we are. The eve of Christmas Eve. My kids are busting with excitement! Today, instead of my usual happy list, I thought I’d show you some of my recent Instagram snaps of Christmas lights around Dublin. Plus, a few more random gems for good measure. Seeing Christmas lights makes me so happy. I love how this building in Dublin’s City Centre is lit up in red and green. In the distance in the below picture is the Ha’penny Bridge – a famous pedestrian bridge that crosses over the River Liffey in Dublin. Here’s my girl at the ice skating rink that was set-up near us just for the holidays. She…
Christmas Tree 2016
It’s hard to wrap my mind around how fast time flies. We’ve been in Ireland almost 6 months. We’re getting ready to celebrate our first Christmas in this beautiful country. I’m convinced that the true beauty of Ireland is not its scenery, but in the spirit of the people who have welcomed us with open arms. Now, let me segue out of the mushy stuff into some practical matters. We downsized DRASTICALLY when we moved from the United States to Ireland. I cannot emphasize how drastically. Have-no-furniture-to-sit-on drastically. One of the things left behind in the downsizing was our fake Christmas tree. Haters can hate, but I am firmly in the fake…
My Christmas Decor Hacks
I’m not sure if hack is the right word. How about here are three of my favorite Christmas decor work-arounds? ALTERNATIVE TO GARLAND Don’t have the time, patience, space or money for a Christmas garland? No worries. Free greenery clippings from your yard, or the neighbor’s yard, or the park (can you do that??) placed in a shallow bowl can achieve a similar effect. DON’T HAVE STOCKING HANGERS? NO PROBLEM. I do have Christmas stocking hangers, but one of them is broken and I haven’t found anything else I like better for hanging our Christmas stockings. Last year we used hooks screwed into the bottom of the mantel. That won’t work this year and…
Happy List #9: Christmas Crackers – You Can’t Eat Them
Nine days until Christmas! Are you ready? Am I ready? *insert hysterical laughter here* Uh, let’s not talk about it. Instead, let’s talk about what’s on my Happy List this week. WORK-LIFE BALANCE? Work-life balance is the unicorn of the grown-up world. To my surprise and skepticism, apparently, this unicorn a work-life balance does exist in Denmark. We are planning a trip to this fascinating country soon, so I was curious to read all about why Denmark is a great place to live and work. It cracked me up that the author thought her husband lost his job because he was coming home so early each day! In fact, it was quite the opposite.…
Christmas in the Foyer Part 2: The Wall I Never Show You
It’s important to take pictures you see online or in magazines with a grain pound of salt. You only see certain angles at specific times of day. You don’t see what’s 2 inches outside of the cropped photo. In the case of my blog, there’s an entire wall I’m pretty certain I’ve never shown you. Or at least I haven’t shown it to you since we moved in. That’s because it’s not the star of the show. It does work hard though. It holds coats and shoes and sometimes mail. (Or “post” as people in Ireland call mail.) This wall is immediately to the right of the front door. It…
