Category Archives: bestweekever

Best Week Ever #5

It is really easy for me to say why

and I can sum it up with three points:

1. First week of Summer. This was the first official week of summer vacation for my sons. Which can be odd when I see social media posts from friends in the US who are preparing to send their children back to school. The Autumn school term in England starts back up again in September.

2. My mum flew in from the US to visit. She got in an hour earlier than we expected and so we jetted into town in a taxi to meet her at the train station. I caught a really cute video on Instagram of my boys who were beyond excited to see their Nonna. Ronan has not stopped hugging her since she has been here.

(Side note: For those of you whom have asked about the audio on my instagram videos. Yes it is lower than usual. I think when I dropped my iPhone 4 last, which shattered it on both sides, it damaged the microphone. Just think of it as a modern day take on silent films.)

3. A royal baby was born! I am a royalist. I have been enamored with the Royal family since I was a little girl living in England with frame photos of (the then titled) Prince William and his mum Lady Diana on my vanity. I got dressed up and wore a fascinator in my hair at 0 dark 30 in California to watch the Royal Wedding with my other dual citizen friends and family. So of course I delayed dinner for a few hours to watch and wait for the live review of the new royal baby to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. I was not surprised to find out the name and love how it sounds, George Alexander Louis.

Speaking of names. I have been obsessed with baby names since I was a teenager. I have always had a long list of girl names and though they have changed through out the years, my longing for a baby girl is still as strong as ever. As I was looking through a journal this week I was surprised to find a friend of mine had altered my baby name list when we were both at summer camp back in 2000.

So while Zoë (my sister’s name, meaning life) and Rose still frequent my current baby naming lists, I have to admit that my choices as a seventeen year old have changed quite a bit. The amended name next to the astrid is of my friend and blogger Lauren. So who knows Lauren, maybe when I get my baby girl I will indeed name her after you. 😉

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LOVE WEEK. Starting tomorrow I leave you in the loving arms of ten blogger friends of mine, living in eight different countries around the world. Each day one of them will be the guest blogger with a special post about Love. It is all in celebration for our 10th Wedding Anniversary (02.08.13) and Vow Renewal. I will be keeping everyone updated on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook with the hashtag: #RyanAndBonnie. Our friends and family will be sharing as well as we celebrate from Snowdonia, Wales. Look out for the button below on the Guest Blogger’s blogs and share some love and comments as they open up to you about Love.

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Have an amazing weekend and I look forward to catching up with you all

when we return with photographs and video from the Vow Renewal.

Best Week Ever #4

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Another week is wrapping up this summer and it has been quite warm. How hot has it been here in England? Well to give you an idea Betsy at Betsy Transatlantically wrote about it in Heat Wave! I honestly love having a summer in England and I know I will miss it once we go back to freezing in coats for the rest of the year and the beginning of next. I will say that not having AC is making me want to wear not much more than a bikini in the house. At night especially I feel like I am melting.

Wales is also experiencing the heat which means we potentially have a great week ahead of us for our Vow Renewal! I am more than excited about the possibility of not being rained out *knockonwood* and have been getting a nice tan this week in preparation for wearing my white wedding gown again. Overall despite the high heat it has been a really productive week and the last week of school for my boys. After school today my boys are officially on Summer Vacation and that makes this:

the Best Week Ever!

I have been featured on two different blogs this week. Here about The Craziest Thing I Have Ever Done for a Boy with Patricia at Kisses and Croissants and Painting Pictures: Passort to the World with Rachel Pieh Jones at Djibouti Jones. The later is about Third Culture Kids and how I view my past in relation to my future. It was a fun piece to write as I love sharing the insights of being a TCK.

1. Self Portrait Saturday. This Saturday my portrait was entitled ‘In the Wings‘. Which was pretty perfect for the weekend given that I went to my first audition in about nine years. I would have gone sooner but have let my accent hold me back. I’ve finally decided to start really working on softening it and start going to auditions. I grew up in the theatre as a girl and acting became the one constant in my highly nomadic upbringing. I majored in Theatre in Uni and it was how I met my husband. However after having kids and being a military wife I knew I would have to put my passions on hold for a while. Its been really nice to come out of the shadows and start pursing an interest that has been hidden inside for a while.

2. A Perfect Sunday. I love my weekends the best because it is family time. Last sunday we went for a lovely stroll along the canal into town and I posted about it on Sunday. This weekend we spent a perfect Sunday by taking a taxi into town of Lansdown. It is the location of a battle from the English Civil War and we went for a total 8 hour country walk in Lansdown and then walking back to our home.

3. Weekly Wishes. Another entry for the link up with Melyssa from the Nectar Collective. I talked about my situation with the wedding dress I wore ten years ago this August and what I’m attempting to do to wear it again for our vow renewal in Wales.

4. Travel Tuesday. Our Second #TravelTuesday with my beautiful cohost Belinda of Found Love. Now What? was my second part of the Pompeii series. Last week I shared the Darker side of Pompeii and this week I shared the Lighter side of Pompeii. Did you link up?

5. A Moment to Reflect. It is okay to not completely plan out posts. While I tend to have a structure going with my daily posts on ACR, I used this Wednesday to just reflect on life. I talked about how Pinterest was making me rethink my wedding plans and what I am most excited about for the Vow Renewal.

6. Throwback Thursday. My photography post on Thursday was a throwback to my Model of the Month project in 2010 with a LookBook shoot in Hawaii. In the digital age where photos can just be forgotten on hard drives it is nice to bring them out again.

Thinking of Sponsoring for August?

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GOOD READS

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

Kayleigh (The Way I Wanderlust): 30 before 30 List

Luchessa (Beauty Expression): Essence Peel off Base Coat

Mrs. B (World Traveling Military Family): Homecoming Photos by a Yellow Ribbon Photographer

Jessica (Jessica Lynn Writes): Loving My Tiger Stripes

Lisa (Expandng): Tips on Photographing Butterflies

Belinda (Found Love. Now What?) Five Lessons I Learned in Paris

Jade (An Invisible Crown) My Top Five London Attractions

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Q: How has this been your Best Week Ever?

Link up for BEST WEEK EVER!

Join the Weekly link up. How has this week been your best week ever?

Share your weekly recaps and add this button to your blog.

RULES:

1. Add this button to your post

2. Join the Linkup

3. Hop around to other participants and share with them your BWE.

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also I am linking up with Casey from We Took the Road Less Traveled:

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!

Best Week Ever/2

Best Week Ever/1

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As we come to the end of the week and the end of another month

I would like to start a new series ‘Best Week Ever’.

I like to live positively and think that every week could be our best week ever.

It will be my end of the week posts about everything we have been up to here in England. I realise with so many social networking sites bits about my expat life is a little all over the place. Or with my blogging schedule there are things I would love to share with you but run out of days in the week to devote a post to another subject or story. Without further adieu here is the first installment of Best Week Ever on A Compass Rose. Let me know what you think!

1. Bieber Fever. It has hit my house. I asked both my boys how they wanted their hair cut and they answered ‘Justin Bieber’. After doing a google search to confirm what kind of a look they wanted with their hair I got out my hairdressing bag and got to work. My eldest chose Bieber prior to 2011 and my youngest chose Bieber circa 2013. The result? Two happy clients.

2. Book Club. I finished Sense & Sensibility for the #JaneAustenBookClub. It was my first time to read this novel. Due to seeing the film so often it was hard not to picture Alan Rickman as Col. Brandon. It was also a little harder to get into for some reason. Minus a completed blog post for the book club, I am all set to reread Pride and Prejudice for July. Anyone else in?

3. My husband loves to cook. He was not really encouraged to do so growing up but as an adult it has become one of his top passions. Somewhere in Hawaii with our mainly vegetarian diet he found a love for all these new vegetables and tastes he had not had before and I believe it is what unlocked the flood gate to his culinary interests. Having not grown up eating canned vegetables I honestly get weak in the knees every time my husband cooks with something new for the first time. Do not let me fool you I can cook. It is just I look in the fridge and think ‘omg what am I going to fix for dinner??!’ and he looks in the fridge and comes up with some combination I would never have dreamed up. This week we had garlic chicken wrapped in bacon and covered with chile spices. Yes please.

4. Recipes. I finally blogged about Pims after having been asked so many times by readers and friends in America about it. It really is a staple of all get togethers in the ‘summer’ (if you can call it that) in the UK. At a fete it will have the longest que and will be the first thing to run out before the ice cream.

5. I Challenge You! To keep myself accountable and to be inspired by all of you, I have started my first link up for the #SelfPortraitSaturday challenge. This is a project I started last year and decided to continue this year. However I need you to help encourage me to do it every week. Share your selfies whether you use a camera or a phone and make sure to link up before the end of Friday GMT.

6. Suits! I blogged this week about getting a Suit Tailored in Bangkok. Also my husband now has his suit, tie, and pocket square for the Vow Renewal in August. I just cannot wait to see him all dressed up. Honestly there is nothing sexier to me than a man in a well fitted suit who knows how to put the look together. For a split second I thought I might forgo my wedding gown and wear my white suit (inspired by Angelina Jolie) that I wore to leave my reception. However I do not feel super beautiful in it for whatever reason this week. So I do not know. We will leave it at that.

7. Photography. We learn from our mistakes. Sometimes false truths that we are led to believe before realising that we were misinformed. Since I love photography and want to share with you my passion for it, I want to dispel with the lies. You can read more about it in the post this week: Photography and the Lies I Believed.

8. To my Winos. I am still doing the #FMSPhotoADay challenge on Instagram. For the prompt ’empty’ I decided to do a shout out to all my blogger friends who are always sharing their photos with wine to share with you the sadness in my house that is the empty decanter. What can I say? It has been a tight month. I am looking forward to going on vacation later next month with my sister so she can talk my ear off about wine and give me a wine tasting. She is a level II Sommelier and I could not be more proud of her. So as empty as my decanter is when the budget is tight, so is a piece of my heart when my sister is not near.

9. My Day Out. Yesterday I had to run into town to return a whole bunch of library books as well as pick up Pride & Prejudice for next months reading. It was so lovely out while I was in town. It was warm enough to get away without a jacket and the sun brought everyone outside. Which was good since as soon as my kids got home from school it rained through to the evening. Want to see some videos of life here in Bath, England? Those are up on Instagram too.

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A L i t t l e B l u r b a b o u t B l o g g i n g o n A C o m p a s s R o s e :

I am constantly over analyzing every aspect of blogging and of my blog. Which you might notice is why the design has undergone a evolving face lift over the last week.

After coming off the Blog Every Day In May challenge I have been trying to streamline my posts so that they are all relevant to ACR. I really want to join in every link up and think the giveaways are lovely. However, I want you to know that I will try my best not to bombard you with things that are not related.

I feel as a blogger over the last few months I have felt pressured to ‘fit in’ and to do what everyone else is doing. If I give into that mentality I will lose myself, my voice, and my love for blogging. So here is me just saying that I will continue to strive towards the best I can be for you my readers.

Lastly if there is anything you like, love, or do not like let me know. Blogging is a learning curve.

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Google Reader is shutting down on Monday. However there is a wonderful solution: Bloglovin’. Do you follow ACR on Bloglovin’ yet? I would love to keep you as a reader, if you have an problems let me know.

Follow A Compass Rose: http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/3188086/a-compass-rose

Q: Would you link up to this If I made it an option for next week? A ‘Best Week Ever’ link up?