Christmas in the Foyer
Last weekend we pulled the Christmas boxes down from the attic. All three of them and a wreath box. Even after culling out over half of my Christmas decorations in preparation for our overseas move, it still feels like Christmas vomited all over my house. Why is it that decorating a tree and putting up a few festive touches means that the entire house is destroyed in the process? After I took the kids to school on Monday, I returned and tidied up one area. The foyer. Don’t foyers look so much better without the stuff that actually goes in a foyer? Backpacks, jackets, shoes…so many shoes. I even dusted the Christmas glitter off…
Living in Ireland: Christmas in Retail
For my friends and family living in the United States, I thought it would be fun to show you how Irish retailers are getting into the Christmas spirit this season. These are photos I’ve snapped with my phone while I’m out and about – sometimes in the store, sometimes just window shopping. Please excuse the glare, the awkward angles and the occasional appearance of my reflection. Meadows and Byrne is a Pottery Barn-like store. I will take one of everything. Meadows and Byrne is an Irish company with 12 stores around the country. This is a store window in a men’s suit shop that I walk past quite regularly, but…
Happy List #7: Let’s Not Stress Out
How are you? It’s December! Or, as my kids put it, time to start the chocolate advent calendar! They’ve been counting down the days until they can start counting down the days until Christmas, so this has been an exciting week. Here’s what’s on my Happy List today: POSITIVE FASHION FOR KIDS Free To Be Kids is a Seattle-based company and I love what they stand for. From their site: “We celebrate intelligence and grit in our girls because their worth is based on so much more than just their cuteness. We celebrate kindness in our boys because they’re more than just troublemakers and athletes…At Free to Be Kids, we believe passionately that both…
How to Reshape a Flexible Woven Plastic Basket
This is a story about Target…which I just found out ships to Ireland. And my world is complete. Do you hear angels singing? I’m pretty sure the angels are singing. Anyway, this isn’t a story about Target. It is a story about a basket I purchased at Target though. A basket that the movers CRUSHED in a box along with my hopes and dreams. Kidding. Hopes and dreams were intact. I just needed to add that for dramatic effect. I stalked this basket for a good long while at Target. When your daughter’s room is decorated in lavender, gray and navy, you need this basket. However, I’m too cheap to pay $12…
Cheesy Sweet Potato Sausage Bread Knots
Cheese. Italian Sausage. Bread. Seriously. What’s not to love about this scenario? Besides. We’re in the holiday season…I think we can all use a little comfort food right now. These bread knots are like having a sandwich all wrapped up in a nice, convenient, easy-to-devour bundle. If you wanted to be really healthy you could serve these bread knots with a salad. You know, to make it a well-rounded meal or something crazy like that. That’s actually what I did, but my judgment is a little questionable. I recently asked my hair stylist to cut my hair in such a way that when it was whipped by the wind, pelted by rain and…
The Happy List #6: Int’l Black Friday and Other Randoms
How are you? TGIF! For all my American friends, how was your Thanksgiving? Are you joining the throngs of Black Friday shoppers today? I admit I thought Black Friday was an American thing. Imagine my surprise when I saw Black Friday advertisements here in Ireland. Hello, globalization. I’m not a journalist, but I did a quick Wikipedia search…so thorough over here. I learned that while the shopping form of Black Friday does seem to have its roots in the U.S., Black Friday is indeed more widespread than I thought. Canadian retailers have adopted Black Friday in response to Canadians driving across the U.S./Canada border in search of holiday deals. Romania, India,…
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. A holiday ubiquitous with turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie. While Americans in the U.S. are on pumpkin-everything overload, Americans in Ireland are googling “where to buy canned pumpkin.” I’ll give you a hint. One store carries it. And it’s sold out. Fresh pumpkins left the store shelves October 31, so that’s out as an option too. It’s a good thing pumpkin pie isn’t really my thing. I’ve been told Thanksgiving is the loneliest day of the year for expats living in Ireland. Way to sugarcoat it, people. My goodness. Why is it the loneliest day of the year? I suppose it’s because you’re separated from extended family…
Morning Affirmations for Kids
Have you ever muttered under your breath “you can do this, you’ve got this, you can figure it out, let’s get this done” before a big interview, or the first day at a new job, or when you have to take your kids for shots, or when you have to roll out of bed and you know there’s no coffee in the house? It’s a mini pep talk! Saying it out loud somehow makes it real and helps us commit to the endeavor. At the very least is helps us kick our behinds into gear. Or the coffee does… Image source) Have you seen those videos floating around the Internet…
The Happy List #6
Here’s what been swirling around in my brain this week. The Crown on Netflix People. I devoured this show. As in give my children cereal for dinner and let them skip baths so I could eek out a few more minutes to watch this show. Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth was mesmerizing. By her facial expressions alone you were sucked into her world and I could feel how conflicting and burdensome it must have been for her to assume the duty of Queen. Then don’t even get me started on John Lithgow as Winston Churchill. They both should be winning awards for this series. The only thing I didn’t like was that there were only 10…
Mom, Do We Hate Donald Trump?
Last Friday after school we played at the park with friends until it was no longer a question of if it would rain, but could we beat the rain home? We made it to the train station 8 minutes prior to our train arriving with scooters and backpacks in tow. This particular train station has one covered shelter, so we made a beeline for that area to protect ourselves from the wind. An elderly woman, bundled from head to toe in winter gear, had already claimed one corner of the shelter. My children (ages 6 and 9) are used to waiting for trains. We sometimes play I-spy, but since my daughter always “spies” one…
