Monthly Archives: February 2013

Valentines Day Gift

I have been asked ‘What and why would be the best gift idea’ for Valentines Day?’

For me days such as these are another excuse for me to have my DSLR out and my iphone camera ready to take photographs of memories to share and cherish. The most important aspect of my life is my family and those precious moments we share together. The best gift I could give or receive would be a memory for us. One of my favourite things about living in England is being outside and taking country walks. A Valentines day themed picnic would be a perfect place to stage the day. They say ‘that the way to man’s heart is through to his stomach’ and bringing themed foods like bacon hearts and chocolate dipped bacon roses would definitely make my husband happy. To be fair though I would be just as happy. Definitely a pretty out doors location, good company, good food, good wine, and photographs to remember the moment forever.

With much thanks to Pinterest these images are not mine, and you can find out more about them by clicking: 1) Valentines Day Picnic with themed Stationary 2) Bacon Hearts 3) Lamb Rose Bouquet which is something I would love to give to my Valentine.

“For the meat lover in your life! “Beef Bouquet” by British butcher Antony Bowness of Quality Standard Beef and Lamb located in Tewkesbury, England”

Let me ask you now: What would be your best Valentines day gift idea and why?

Travel Thursday: Moving Abroad

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Travel Thursday. I love to travel. I also love to move. By ‘move’, I do not mean down the street or across town. I love moving to another country and better yet another continent. It is the norm for me and this nomadic lifestyle has been a major part of my life since I was born in England to my American parents. With the weekend right around the corner, I find Thursdays are the perfect day to start talking ‘travel’. I hope to share to you all my love and passion for being a Wanderlust Third Culture Kid.

“Honestly I feel more at home in an airport and on airplane.” – Bonnie Rose

My Childhood. I grew up on military bases up and down Europe until I was seventeen years old. Unfortunately that meant I would spend my senior year graduating in the USA as well as adopting to the (new to me) USA culture. Every cloud has a silver lining and for me it was getting to spend the summer after graduation in Italy to see my classmates get their diplomas. For the next decade I would spend my life living through out the mainland USA and on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. My nomadic needs were catered to with time spent in Australia, Thailand, and Cambodia between the years of 2002 and 2011. Though I carry an American passport and have an American accent, my goal had always been to use my UK passport and return ‘home’ to Europe.

My friends and I at the Naples American high school graduation – 2011 in Naples, Italy

Moving Abroad. Since Ryan and and I started dating 11 years ago, he has been aware that I would want to live in Europe. Straight out of University we went ahead to achieve that goal through following a path to be missionaries. When that door closed the door to the USAF opened and through it the next six years. While my husband worked as a linguist our dream of being stationed in Europe was not in the military’s goals for us. I will say that the 3ish years in Hawaii living an island wife was not half bad. 😉 In the Summer of 2011 with my husband fresh out of the military, we took the leap and moved to England.

If you have a goal to move to another country, make it a goal and do it! Take your dreams and your wishes and pair it with action. I have talked to a lot of people since the summer of 2011 about why we made such a big move. In response back I have heard frequently the statements of ‘oh I wish I could do that’ or ‘wow, I couldn’t imagine just moving to another country like that’. I will be straight with you. Moving abroad will not be easy, but if you want to do it then figure out a way so it does not become a future regret. I love the mantra that ‘Life is Short, Live every Moment’.

This was our last photograph taken with our sons before we left. They would join us once we were settled.

This was the last photograph taken of us together before our plane left for England.

How We Did It. Moving abroad is not an easy feat. While I thought we were both prepared for our move we did learn a lot along the way. We chose to move to England without either of us having a job lined up, nor a place to stay. That is not the whole story, so please do not go by that strategy to move abroad. You definitely need to do your research and figure out how you can get a visa. A simple tourist visa will not allow you to live and work inside a country and every place has its own rules. Know the restrictions and what you will need before you hop on a plane. The easiest way to move to another country would be with a job that you already have, that will send you to work there. While we tried that with the military, this way did not pan out for us.

Another way to get a visa to live and work is to look at getting a student Visa and attending school. My husband decided to use his GI Bill from the USAF and get his masters in England. We moved abroad with my husband accepted to University of Sussex in Brighton, England and I was traveling under my British passport. OOPS! That is right, we made mistakes along the way. So in a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ fashion, I will repeat that you know the guidelines for acquiring the correct Visa. You will want to confirm with several sources or you will end up like we did. Though we read online that Ryan could apply for his student visa in the country, that ended up being a misprint of bad information on the website. My husband had to leave the country, apply for his visa in the USA, pay to have it expedited and then return to join me. The paperwork and dealing with people can end up in costly mistakes if you are not careful.

At Heathrow airport my husband looks for wifi as we wait for our train.

Navigating our way to Victoria Station with the Underground.

First Arriving into England
Though we did not have any personal contacts in Brighton, we did plan out our journey down to Brighton and reserve a place at a hostel. We did not know at this point how long it would take to find jobs, so living in a hotel would be far out of our means. Hostels however are perfect if you are traveling sans kids and was one of the reasons we chose to leave our kids with family while we figure everything out. Staying in a hostel for us was smart. However traveling with the amount of luggage we brought proved to be a bit challenging and did result in a little heart ache. Anything I knew we needed needed to be in our suitcases I packed. On vacations we pack like pros, but moving to another country changes the game plan a bit. If you do come to Europe, know that there may not be lifts (elevators) like there are back in the USA. We had to take several trips many times up and down different flights of stairs across the train stations all the way to Brighton. Which was not as terrible, as it was that I broke my camera lens trying to shuffle bags.

Another tip of advice. There will be plenty of time for photos. When maneuvering your luggage, keep your camera where it will be safe. 😉

I was so excited to be home in Europe after so many years.
Everyone we met was so polite and helpful and we were smiling the whole way to Brighton.

Outside the Brighton rail station on the coast of England.

Ryan eventually got his marriage visa, went to school, and worked part time. I began work for the next year at a salon and our kids joined us in September to start the school year in England. After all was said and done I am so glad that we decided to just do it. Our family has only come closer together living here and being married to my expat in England is everything for which I had hoped. We have since moved to Bath, as of the end of December 2012 and we currently have no further plans of moving.

Where would you move to if you could go anywhere in the world? Have you or do you currently live abroad from your ‘home’ country? I love to meet other expats and future expats!

* Photographs belong to Bonnie Rose and cannot be used without written consent.

25 Weeks and Counting Down

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Looking for date night outfits, I was inspired by the dress I wore at a wedding five years ago.
Keeping with the blush and pinks with the fascinator for the English in me.

Sweetheart Floral Dress | Nude Heels | Swarovski necklace | Rouge Coco Shine | Fascinator

On the second of August, 2013 my husband and I will have been married for ten years. This weekend will be eleven years since we had our first date. A third of my lifetime has been married to Ryan. So much can happen in ten years. We have been through more than I would wish on anyone to have to experience. So much thrown at us that it almost tore us apart irrevocably. Sadly in our military community we witnessed so many divorcing and calling it quits. Yet having come through it all it has made us closer and stronger than ever before. So in twenty five weeks time my husband and I will be reaffirming our love as we renew our vows. Every week I will be blogging a ‘Wedding Wednesday’ post as we count down to the big day.

My husband and I in Paris last summer for our 9th Anniversary in the city of Love.

Though not taken on the day, we had been married 5 years at this wedding we attended.
This was my ‘Sex and the City’ Carrie inspired ensemble.
The fascinator was a DIY that I made myself out of a broach and feathers.

‘He wore black and I wore white’ – Nancy Sinatra ‘Bang Bang’

I have set a new years resolution for myself and though it be February, I do not see it too late to start one. I aim to take so many more photographs where Ryan and I are both in the frame together. Looking back through old photographs to post for this blog I realized that we have so many of just one of us, while the other person took the photograph. My goal is to better document our love for us to cherish and look back on when we are truly ‘old and gray’.

The lack of couple photographs aside there have been many anniversaries and huge chunks of time where we have not been together due to the military and other circumstances out of our control. I do not like missing important dates or being apart for long time, let alone an evening. I really do cherish every moment we have together for life is uncertain and far too short.

One thing that I have definitely learned in the last ten years is you cannot let the words and actions of others come into your marriage and break you apart. You have to be team. If you let other people, be they acquaintances or family, speak ill of your partner or do things that could cause friction and stress you have to block them out. What I love so much about Ryan in this moment in time where we are today is that he blocks out the toxicity of others and holds me close with so much love.

* Photographs belong to Bonnie Rose and cannot be used without written consent.

** Wedding photography by Angela Alexander.

*** Fashion & Beauty images from polyvore.com

I broke up with my facial cleanser

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Tuesdays Tips & Tricks
“Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?” – Monty Python and the Holy Grail

In the last several years as a Beauty Therapist and Hairstylist, my bathrooms in all the places I have lived have been littered with a vast array of beauty products. Though some have come and gone, others made reappearances through out the years.

Coconuts. I grew up thinking they were funny. I also grew up with monty python and if you did too you can connect the dots. On my honeymoon in Cozumel, Mexico I realized just how yummy coconuts can be. A few years later my husband and I had the pleasure of living in Hawaii, on the island of Oahu, for four years. My youngest was born there and my kids grew up with the sweet pleasures of island life. Though we no longer live on the island, you cannot take the island out of this girl.

Coconuts for cooking? Yes, please!

I love to try new things and a couple of years ago we tried coconut oil in our coffee for health benefits. This went on to be used in replace of other oils in a lot of our cooking. Thanks to sites like Pinterest the many uses of coconut oil has been revealed to so many. To be fair since we began buying it by the jar fulls, I feel like I am a constantly finding new uses for this miracle oil.

When it comes to facial cleansers I am a hopper. I will try this one for a while and then try something else. Maybe perhaps because my skin is never normal. It may be beautiful and perfect for a few days then the next week its broken out and then the next its really dry.

What is a girl to do when she is unhappy?

Break up.

Since 2003 I have been using a little bit of bicarbonate soda (baking soda) mixed in my facial cleanser of choice a few times a month to exfoliate the skin. So when I heard I could mix it in with coconut oil in lieu of my facial cleanser it made perfect sense.

Here are my tips for breaking up with your facial cleanser with a DIY option:

What you need:
Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Bicarbonate Soda/Baking Soda
Baby hair brush
Water
Facial towel

Steps:
1. Flush your face with warm water to open up your pores.
2. Mix a small amount of bicarbonate soda in with the same amount of coconut oil. My oil tends to be in a solid state. Make sure to warm it up in your hands to cause it to liquify.
3. Once the two ingredients are mixed together well you can apply it to your face.
4. Rub gently in circular motions with the pads of your fingers.
5. Using your baby hair brush which you have warmed up under hot water, continue to rub your skin in soft circular motions. Only do this step once a week for extra exfoliation.
6. With your hands rinse your face with water.
7. Use really cold water at the very end, flushing your face a few times.
8. Pat, do not rub, your face with a clean facial towel.

Advice:

It is advisable to try using the bicarbonate soda every other day and use just coconut oil for washing your face the days in between.
Your face will appear oily as soon as you are finished but the coconut oil will absorb into your skin within minutes.
Use extra coconut oil (small amount works wonders) on any spots as an acne treatment.
Consult your doctor if you are unsure about any sensitivities you may have as I speak just from my personal experiences from using this on my skin. It works GREAT!

My final thoughts after breaking up with my facial cleanser: Why didn’t I do this sooner?!

My skin has been clearer and I have not had any new breakouts since trying this out. My skin is also getting moisturized so well by the coconut oil that my makeup goes on a lot smoother. Since the coconut oil cleanses, tones, and moisturizes I have a lot of extra space in my bathroom cabinets that is much needed! But the best part…

…I smell like coconuts and cookies all day and night long. 😉 Yummy.

* Photographs belong to Bonnie Rose and cannot be used without written consent.

Food Shopping in the UK made Simple

I am a TCK and an Expat

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TCK (Third Culture Kid): A Third Culture Kid (TCK) is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents’ culture. The TCK frequently builds relationships to all of the cultures, while not having full ownership in any. Although elements from each culture may be assimilated into the TCK’s life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of similar background. (read more…)

Ex-Pat: An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person’s upbringing. The word comes from the Latin terms ex (“out of”) and patria (“country, fatherland”). (read more…)

I was born and raised in Oxford, England from 1982-1984.
I went to primary school in Norfolk, England in the early nineties.
Moved back to England with my husband and sons in Brighton from 2011 – 2012.

I lived in Stuttgart, Germany in 1995 – 1998 and attend 7th & 8th grade at Patch American HS.
This photo was taken on my birthday with my friends before we went on a shopping trip.

I lived in Naples, Italy in the 90’s for 4th-6th grade and again for 9th-11th grade.
This group photo was taken at our house with our church family.

In 2002 I spent the entire summer in Australia for a church campaign group from my University
and on a lone backpacking trip up the coast from Sydney to Port Douglas.

The summer of 2004 my husband and I spent in Bangkok, Thailand for a ‘Let’s Start Talking’ campaign to teach english.
I returned to Thailand and Cambodia in 2006 for the Asian Mission Conference.

We lived on Oahu, Hawaii from 2007 – 2010
I worked as a fashion photographer, hairstylist, and airbrush makeup artist.

In December 2012 we moved to Bath, England and currently live here.
Took this photo on a timer during our first snowfall of 2013.