Monthly Archives: July 2013

A Moment to Reflect

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We leave for Wales in just nine days and things have begun to get busy around here.

I do not know if we will have wifi while we are away for our Vow Renewal.

So I have been preparing posts and working on a surprise for my readers.

Which I will announce soon.

I love to plan to things.

I was planning my own 30th birthday party last year.

Due to unforeseen circumstances the party fell through

and I was just happy to make it back to England in time

to blow out my candle with my husband.

As I started planning our 10th Anniversary

which quickly became a Vow Renewal celebration

I went on Pinterest to plan out in full force.

Not sure if you have noticed

but I have twelve boards

designated to my ‘I Do Again‘ theme.

Even many of my pins from my 30th Birthday ideas

bled into my vision for a perfect Vow Renewal.

But now that my anniversary is just fifteen days away

I have been avoiding pinterest.

Do not get me wrong I love that site.

But there are just all these things I would have loved to

find

get

buy

make

that when all is said in done is just not practical at this time

I basically am looking around at what is in our house

to make do with for the ceremony.

Yes I still love planning.

Yes I would still love to host amazing stylized parties.

I’m much inspired by Tori Spelling.

She influenced how I did my son’s comic book party.

I would love to host a few parties a year

for friends that love to come to dinner parties

that had all these perfect details.

And play the perfect host.

But

It has made me refocus.

in regards to our vow renewal.

I am happy to just have my family here.

I am under the assumption my husband’s father is still coming.

But his mother has still decided to not come.

I know we cannot force her to be here.

It is still our time of celebration.

It just makes me realize how much I love my family.

And the way they love and accept Ryan unconditionally.

My mum and my sister are flying here to be with us.

My dad will be watching down from heaven.

Our friends from Uni are coming with their kids.

That is what is has become all about…the people.

The memories we will make.

The photographs that will capture the good times.

We are pretty excited to be counting down the days.

My sons wake me up to tell me how many days

until their Nonna gets here.

They bug me to do a google hangout with her

it seems like every other day.

Soon.

So if I seem a bit busy or slow to answer

on the social media front

it is because we are busy in preparation.

I just needed a day to reflect on everything in my head.

Thank you for listening to me today.

Stay tuned for the special surprise.

Also August Sponsorships have opened up!

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Become a Sponsor for August

Pompeii: The Lighter Side [Travel Tuesdays]

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If you caught last week’s Pompeii post, The Darker Side, today is the continuation post of Pompeii, the Lighter Side. If you have not heard my personal connection with Pompeii and the area around Naples, make sure to check out last week’s post for Travel Tuesdays. I really enjoyed Pompeii and took hundreds of photographs. So it has been hard to pick out the favourites to share with you on the blog. I just cannot wait to return again with my sons so that they can experience the history left behind.

Q: Have you ever been to Pompeii?

TRAVEL TUESDAY!

Together with my cohost Belinda from Found Love. Now What?

a Weekly Travel Linkup. Share your Travel stories and wanderlust addictions.

Grab button for A Compass Rose's Travel Tuesdays

Code below or Feel free to save this button to your computer and upload it in your post.

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So happy to introduce you to my Cohost for Travel Tuesday who is also my sponsor this month! Belinda of Found Love. Now What? is an expat blogger living in Wales. If you have not checked out her video logs yet, I highly recommend it when you visit her blog. Her first VLOG: A little Advice on Long Distance Relationships is great as she refers to herself as LDR Veteran.

Her blog: http://www.foundlovenowwhat.com/

Additional Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoundLoveNowWhat

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/FoundLove_Blog

Bloglovin: http://www.bloglovin.com/en/blog/3990633

Weekly Wishes #3

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Most European calendars start the week on Monday and it is why I love starting off my Mondays with Weekly Wishes. As an update on Weekly Wishes #1, I went on my first audition in nine years yesterday. I know my accent was not perfect, but I still had a lot of fun. In place of being nervous I realised I have a lot of work to do in getting used to cold readings again. There is nothing worse than holding a script in your hand and getting that moment of disconnect when trying to locate the next line. It has fueled the fire of my passion for theatre and I am not searching out for more auditions to attend. I already have one next month circled on my calendar. For Weekly Wishes#2 I have started to make a dent on the weeding out of clothes. Actually I have a great start on my kids’ clothing too! My kids mostly wear school uniforms, dressy casual (jeans and button up dress shirts), and pyjamas. Through outside family they have acquired all these clothes they never wear. I have stacks of brand new clothes that I am going to sell on ebay since the boys will not wear them. So we are getting closer to the finish line with the ‘Spring Cleaning’.

Weekly Wishes # 3

w i s h e s f o r t h i s w e e k

My wedding gown. If you have missed out on the story about my custom made gown I had talked about how the zipper had broken in my ‘Crushed’ Self Portrait post. While I know we could get the zipper fixed I am not going to be able to get a corset in time for our Vow Renewal in a couple of weeks. Since I wore a corset with this dress 10 years ago I have decided to go another route. Today I will be taking out the zipper and attempting to make it a lace back instead. So my weekly wish is that I can accomplish this successfully as we leave on Saturday of next week for Wales. My American expat friend is going to be helping me this week with her sewing machine and we seem pretty confident that we can pull this off. I am going to be wearing flats since we plan to be out in the countryside of Snowdonia and I want to be able to walk without falling down on uneven surfaces. This means I can take up the hem and use that extra fabric to accomplish the goal. Fingers crossed!

Q: What are your Weekly Wishes? Have you linked up?

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Today I would like to introduce you to my beautiful sponsor, Jessica.

She is dear to my heart because she is a fellow USAF wife and is currently stationed in Italy.

You have heard me talk about military moves before, check out her post: 1000 Pounds, What Would You Pack

Her blog: http://www.jessicalynnwrites.com/

Additional Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessicaLynnWrites

Instagram: https://www.facebook.com/JessicaLynnWrites

Bloglovin: http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/3943401/jessica-lynn-writes

A Perfect Sunday in England

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Today has been quite a different Sunday for us. Ryan had to go into work for several hours today and I am preparing to go into town and do something I have not done in ten years. Amongst all the feelings of anxiousness I am looking back at how last Sunday went down. We went to church and then decided to walk into town. On our way we stopped into Bathhampton for lunch at the George. It is situated perfectly against the Canal and the beautiful river boats. Being Sunday we ordered the roast for four and accompanied it with a jug of Pims for the grownups. With all the lovely sun we have been having lately, it made for a perfect end to our weekend. I love when our weekends are about relaxation. Since we went on an eight hour country walk yesterday, my legs and feet are definitely feeling it this morning. It makes me hope I can get in a little of this relaxing luxury from last weekend sometime later today.

Q: What did you do this weekend to relax?

Self Portrait: ‘From the Wings’

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Another weekend has begun and with it another Self Portrait Saturday. For today’s Self Portrait I share with you the self portrait entitled ‘From the Wings’. Often times it is easy to feel like I am waiting for something else or something new to begin. Being a Third Culture Kid and living in a highly nomadic world, I am use to a cycle of things ending and new things constantly on the horizon. I believe as a mum too it is easy to feel a bit lost in the shadows taking care of everyone else. It can also be a place of reflection where we seek answers from someone greater and ask for direction towards the brighter future. I love playing with different lighting situations and took this portrait looking out the window of our front door.

DO YOU LOVE SELF PORTRAITS?

I try to do one every week and post on a Saturday.

If you would like to link up with me, add this button to your blog. I would love to see your photography!

Best Week Ever/3

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If you are new to my Best Week Ever series this is my way of looking back on each week positively. Every week should be our best week and even when times are tough find something that makes life beautiful to be living. This week I have to say I am happy for the warm weather. It is the first real summer that I have experienced in England. Last year we got two weeks of great weather right at the time Ryan and I were on vacation in Italy. It has been really lovely to see the beautiful blue skies and spend so much time outdoors with my family. This past weekend we went to a local fete and spent time walking along the canal and the parks in Bath, England. Anytime we can be outside as a family is a great day for us. This week has gone by so fast and I am glad to welcome this weekend and all it has to offer.

1. Summer Fete. I learned that it is pronounced like ‘fate’ in American and not pronounced like it rhymes with ‘set’. Have been to three now saying it the wrong way. Luckily I have an awesome friend who is also an American expat that was able correct this blunder this week.

2. Wedding dvds. I have a really good friend named Sally. She was my husband’s neighbour growing up back in Illinois. She has always been really nice since I met her and probably one of my biggest supports. I am almost always getting online to find a sweet comment that Sally left for me on one of my photographs. She sent us a care package this week with a wedding dvd her husband made at our wedding in 2003 and a dvd of her daughter singing at her wedding this summer. It was so thoughtful and I just wish Sally and Arlie could be here this summer for our vow renewal.

3. Scars. The portrait for this self portrait saturday was focused on one of the scars on my neck. It is a memento from after I was born with being a premie and surgeries for a disease. Read more about it on Self Portrait Saturday. Remember there will be another post tomorrow and you can link up with us!

INSTAGRAM: Therese were a few of my favourite Instagram photos from the weekend. We walked into town on Sunday along the canal, which is one of my favouite ways to get there. We also got to enjoy the view from the Pulteney Bridge where we stopped for ice cream. This bridge is like the one in Florence where it has shops all the way across it. The weather is really ~~warm~~ hot out here and there has been lots more drinking of Pims. You can follow me on Instagram here.

Weekly Wishes: I discussed my weekly wish, my plan to get rid of my wardrobe and the reasons behind it.
Travel Tuesday: A new link up with my cohost Belinda. This week I take you to the Darker Side of Pompeii.
Life in England: A Sports Day recap with a special VLOG on Third Culture Kids by my son, a TCK.
Photography: This week’s photography post was an instruction on how to take your family portraits.

This has been my first week using the Disqus app for my comments. You might remember I had tried using it before for a day but went back to the blogger comment format since I like being able to email back and forth with my readers. I will say having not been able to respond with everyone do to the ‘no reply blogger’ issue I finally decided to give Disqus another try. Right now I really love it. I am still able to have a continual conversation with you as we get email notifications to reply back to each other and I have found more people are leaving comments now than with the old system.

So I wanted to ask how do you like it?

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WHAT I HAVE BEEN

r e a d i n g i n b l o g l a n d :

The Way I Wanderlust – Magnetic Island, Australia by Kaylie

Expandng – Tips on Photographing Butterflies by Lisa

With Love, Rachel – The Right Way to Make a Mojito by Rachel

World Traveling Military Family – Local Tourist Pt. II Montgomery AL by Mrs B

Starletta Designs – Handmade Jewelry Designs by Tara

Jessica Lynn Writes – 1000 Pounds What Would You Pack by Jessica Lynn

Found Love. Now What? – 4 Things I Did to Grow & Change my Blog by Belinda

An Invisible Crown – Weekly Wishes by Jade

Beauty Expresssion – Tops & Flops by Luchessa

Q: How has this been your Best Week Ever?

I am also linking up with Casey:

Tweet this Blog Hop!