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…
Christmas Mantel – Peace
I brought my scrap wood dove out of storage for the Christmas season. He’s fragile, but resilient. He just needed a little time and some wood glue to pull himself back together. Before long he was flying high above our Christmas mantel again representing peace, hope and love. As Christmas approaches and world events unfold, peace has been on my mind lately. Having peace doesn’t mean that we never disagree. Having peace doesn’t mean that there are never endings. Peace stems from the ultimate realization – a belief at the very center of one’s core – that as human beings far more binds us together than tears us apart. That there must be…
Happy List #8
It feels like the first week of December flew by! This week I shared pictures of our foyer decked out for Christmas and some images of how retailers in Ireland are getting into the Christmas spirit. I’ve been busy over on Instagram too! Here’s what’s on my Happy List this week… GIRLFRIEND GETAWAYS IN EACH OF THE 50 STATES Personally, I think my girlfriends should schedule their getaways in Ireland. With me. But, if you insist on relaxing without me, here are some getaway ideas from Country Living. The one shown below is from my home state of Oregon. Not too shabby, right? (image via) FORGET FANCY ENTERTAINING Some of my best…
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…
