Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Life Balance, Travel, Work, Writing, tagged adventures, ATCK, blogging, creativity, cross-cultural, culture, expat, extended holidays, family, formative years, friendship, global, gratitude, high school reunion, international, international high school, Italy, rejuvenation, repatriate, Rome, TCK, travel, wanderlust, writing on July 17, 2014 | 1 Comment »
When summertime beckons, many of us find ourselves pondering the annual question: home or away? Whether it’s a long-planned holiday far afield, camping in a field (aka caravaning), day trips in the general vicinity, a picnic in a bucolic setting, or simply a barbeque in the backyard, it’s the season we want to be doing something different. So […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Authors & Others, Expat Life, Life Balance, Repatriation, Work, tagged advice, aligned values and objectives, blogging, Career Choice and the Accompanying Partner, challenges, Evelyn Simpson, expat business partners, expats, family issues, lessons learned, Louise Wiles, opportunity, Repatriation, starting up a joint business, team, Thriving Abroad on May 21, 2014 | 2 Comments »
Welcome back to what I hope you’ll agree is a fascinating story of professional transition amid cross-cultural life. This is the second part in a three-part series of how two expat business women — Evelyn Simpson (previously The Smart Expat) and Louise Wiles (previously Success Abroad Coaching) — living in different countries met, collaborated on a joint survey project, […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Re-entry Reality, Repatriation, Writing, tagged articles, author readings, blogging, book signings, creativity, energy, expat, fiction, fiction workshop, inspiration, interviews, memoirs, Non-fiction, novelists, novels, poets, publishers, re-entry, Re-Entry Reality, reading, rejuvenation, repatriate, Repatriation, short stories, transitions, writers, writing, writing classes, writing forum on April 6, 2014 | 6 Comments »
As mentioned in Under Construction, I hope you’ll join me as I navigate the re-entry stage in our repatriation journey. Every three months I share a series of ‘snapshot’ blog posts about the particulars of building a new life from scratch, filed under the post category Re-entry Reality. I look at everything from making a home, engaging socially, staying healthy, […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Light Bulb Moments, Re-entry Reality, Repatriation, Work, Writing, tagged business plan, business start-up, career change, consultancy, emotional resilience, excitement, expat, fear, global students, job change, repat, Repatriation, what I'm meant to do, work, writing, writing a nonfiction book on March 14, 2014 | 3 Comments »
As mentioned in Under Construction, I hope you’ll join me as I navigate the re-entry stage in our repatriation journey. Every three months I’ll share a series of ‘snapshot’ blog posts about the particulars of building a new life from scratch, filed under the post category Re-entry Reality. I’ll look at everything from making a home, engaging socially, staying healthy, […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Creativity, Emotional Resilience, Expat Transitions & Change, Light Bulb Moments, tagged achieving goals, achieving results, big picture, bird's eye view, brave, Brene Brown, courageous, curious, daring greatly, dream big, effort, focus, inquisitive, life lessons, meeting challenges, minutest of details, peanut butter jar, personal growth, professional development, recycling, resilience, singleness of purpose, squirrel, Squirrel Apocalypse, stay the course, strength, tenacity, time, vampires, walking dead, work, zombies on February 6, 2014 | 3 Comments »
A couple weeks ago, I was walking past our dining room window when something caught my eye. In the front yard was a squirrel. No news flash there as we live surrounded on several sides by woods. Squirrels and deer are regular visitors, along with the occasional raccoon, spotted owl and annoying woodpecker. But this […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Holidays, Identity, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Repatriation, Writing, tagged 2013, 2014, being in the moment, bigger picture, blogging, building a life, change, creativity, cross-cultural, culture, daily resolutions, expat, global nomad, identity, larger view, mindfulness, New Year's Resolutions, reflection, reflective interlude, repat, Repatriation, resolution, TCK, transitions, writing on January 12, 2014 | 2 Comments »
In my latest blog post, Intermezzo, I wrote of taking stock of 2013, a year which for several reasons I’m glad to see in my rear view mirror. That’s not to say that many wonderful things didn’t happen last year, they did. But there were some unexpected challenges on top of some tough moments, and […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Holidays, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Repatriation, Travel, Writing, tagged 'in the moment', 2013, Adapt and Thrive Across Cultures, being present, change, Christmas, continuous intentional observation without judgment, deaths, emotional resilience, expats, expectations, family, grieving, holidays, illusion of perfection, intermezzo, Jane Dean, Jo Parfitt, Lisa Hall, loss, mindfulness, mourning, New Year's, reflection, Repatriation, solitude, Summertime Publishing, The Emotionally Resilient Expat: Engage, transitions, travel, turbulence, turmoil, wanderlust, writing on January 6, 2014 | 6 Comments »
Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been taking it easy. Really easy. As in not doing much of anything other than what absolutely, positively needed to get done. For example, that time spent pulling together receipts, filling out reimbursement claims for our international health care provider, making photocopies of the entire stack and then standing […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Transitions & Change, Family & Friends, Identity, Re-entry Reality, Repatriation, United States, tagged arts, Chapel Hill, concerts, creativity, cross-culturals, culture, Durham, expat, expatriate life, expats, forests, global wayfarers, haven, high-tech corridor, home, identity, international business, NC, Netherlands, oasis, Raleigh, re-entry stage, Repatriation, repats, research, the Triangle, theater, transition, United States, university, writing on October 11, 2013 | 4 Comments »
As mentioned recently in Under Construction, I hope you’ll join me as I navigate the re-entry stage in our repatriation journey. Every three months I’ll share a series of ‘snapshot’ blog posts about the particulars of building a new life from scratch, filed under the post category Re-entry Reality. I’ll look at everything from making a home, engaging […]
Posted in Blogging, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Authors & Others, Expat Life, Writing, tagged Adapt and Thrive Across Cultures, Amazon, Americans in Britain, blogging, book reviews, CCKs, cross-culturals, Expat Arrivals, Expat Authors & Others, expat book reviews, expat books, Expat Focus, expat genre, expat life, expat websites, Expatica, expatriate, expats, ExpatWoman, ExpatWomen, global living, global nomads, IAmExpat, Jo Parfitt, Julia Simens, living abroad, living overseas, magazines, memoirs, novels, repats, Riveting Expat Reads, short stories, Summertime Publishing, TCKs, Telegraph, The American Hour, The Emotionally Resilient Expat: Engage, writing, Xpat on October 1, 2013 | 13 Comments »
At the risk of sounding entirely self-serving, I am going to share with you a development I hope expats*, cross-culturals, current and adult TCKs/CCKs, global nomads and repatriates alike will find heartening: the rise of books chronicling all and sundry aspects of expatriate life. I know my mentor, Jo Parfitt, will find this gratifying as […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Authors (Other), Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Family & Friends, Identity, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Sandwich Generation, Work, Writing, tagged blogging, epiphany, family, Gretchen Rubin, life-changing, profound truth, refrain, The days are long but the years are short, The Happiness Project, writing on June 8, 2013 | 14 Comments »
Lately something’s been stuck in my head, like a snippet of a song’s refrain playing over and over again. It’s as if I have my own chorus – although it’s actually more like a soloist, with a deep, resonant voice – repeating the phrase in an ongoing loop. It’s to the point where it has taken […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Writing, tagged bloggers, blogging, book, connecting, design layout, editing, editor, manuscript, posting, publication, writing on May 17, 2013 | 20 Comments »
For the record, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. It only appears that way. You’re probably sick of reading a post in which I say I’m getting back to blogging on a regular basis, and then proceed to, well, blog on an irregular basis. I don’t blame you. I’m getting tired […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Authors & Others, Expat Life, Riveting Expat Reads, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Travel, Writing, tagged adult TCK, Antoni Gaudi, architect, ATCK, author, Barcelona, Catalan, Catalunya, crime, cultural values, desperation, economic downturn, England, From Barcelona: Stories Behind the City, frustration, Gaudi, Jeremy Holland, love, Native Spain, Netherlands, pickpockets, relationships, religion, Saudi Arabia, short stories, short story collection, social mores, Spain, Summertime Publishing, TCK, the Philippines, US, writer, writing on April 11, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Time for another review of a book written by, about or for expats. Not only does Jeremy Holland’s From Barcelona: Stories Behind the City happen to be all three, it’s also a collection of short stories. To non-literary types, they sound surprisingly simple: just rattle off a quick tale about someone who did something (or had […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Authors (Other), Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Authors & Others, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Global Issues, Identity, Repatriation, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Writing, tagged Ann Baker Cottrell, Anne Copeland, Apple Gidley, call to action, Colleen Reichrath-Smith, creative, cross-cultural, Cultural Integration and the Illusion of Closeness, cultural intelligence, culture, culture shock, doers, Duncan Westwood, Elizabeth Vennekens-Kelly, emotional intelligence, emotional resilience, expat life, expatriate life, expatriation, experiences, Families in Global Transitions, FIGT, FIGT 2013, ideas, innovative, insight, intercultural, international, Janet Bennett, Jo Parfitt, Judy Rickatson, Julia Simens, Kathleen Gamble, Katia Vachlos, Kilian Kroll, Laura J. Stephens, Leila Buck, living abroad, Maria Foley, networking, Norm Viss, perspective, Pico Iyer, projects, Rachel Yates, Rebecca Grappo, Repatriation, research, Ruth Van Reken, social intelligence, TCKs, topics, transition process, Trisha Carter on March 30, 2013 | 4 Comments »
Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend the annual Families in Global Transition conference (aka on Twitter as #FIGT2013). The theme this year was ‘Cultural Integration and the Illusion of Closeness.’ It was, in a word, exhilarating. Inspiring. Tremendous. Thought-provoking. Reassuring. Okay, it was many words, all those and more. Two thought-laden days dedicated to exchanging […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Authors (Other), Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Emotional Resilience, Expat Authors & Others, Expat Life, Writing, tagged Aerosmith, author, Back in the Saddle Again, blogging, book, books, business cards, cover design, cover mock-ups, crying, done, editing, emotional, emotional resilience, FIGT 2013, final, ISBN, Jane Dean, Jo Parfitt, layout, Lemonberry.com, Lisa Hall, nonfiction, printing, publishing process, recalcitrant, regular blogging schedule, Stephen Tyler, Summertime Publishing, testimonials, writing, writing routine on March 27, 2013 | 18 Comments »
I have been thinking about this post for days, weeks, even months. I’ve longed to be able to write it, but made myself wait. There were times I never thought this day would arrive. Now that it’s here, my thoughts are a (barely) coherent mess and the words are tumbling out on the page. Well alrighty […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Catarina Chronicles, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Our Animals, tagged Albert Heijn, capitalist, Catarina, creative, dog walking, enterprising, entrepreneur, lucrative, money-making scheme, neighborhood, Oli, one Euro, play hardball, strict instructions, trouble, walk the dog, young Dutch neighbor on March 13, 2013 | 12 Comments »
Some weeks back, I was upstairs working at my desk when the doorbell rang. I had a sense it would, given that Oli was already bounding down the stairs, barking his little fool head off. When he gets like it means he’s heard the minute squeak of the little wrought iron gate in front of […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Authors & Others, United States, Writers on Writing, Writing, tagged @Home in Dubai, Anne O'Connell, Anne The Writer, author, blogging, book launch, Canada, courtroom drama, crime thriller, debut novel, Dubai, expat novel, first novel, hot flashes, humor, Jo Parfitt, menopause, Mental Pause, murder mystery, nonfiction, novel, PR experience, public relations expert, Summertime Publishing, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United States, writer, writing, Writing Just Because! on March 7, 2013 | 7 Comments »
Today’s a special day for Anne O’Connell, one I’m excited to share with her and with you. Fourteen months ago I reviewed her nonfiction book Riveting Expat Reads: Celebrating @ Home in Dubai. Anne’s been busy since then, relocating from the United Arab Emirates to Thailand and writing up a storm. Not only is today […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Authors & Others, Expat Life, Riveting Expat Reads, Writers on Writing, Writing, tagged An Inconvenient Posting, Apple Gidley, blogging, depression, editor, expat author, Expat Life: Slice by Slice, expat memoir, Jane Dean, Jo Parfitt, Laura J. Stephens, publisher, stories, Summertime Publishing, The Telegraph, topics, writing, Writing a Book on February 23, 2013 | 15 Comments »
A few months ago I reviewed longtime expat Apple Gidley’s terrific memoir Expat Life Slice by Slice. I knew many readers would find it interesting to hear about how a newly published author goes about her writing. Our interview follows. * * * I asked Apple to start by sharing when she first realized she had a […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Light Bulb Moments, tagged 2013, blogging, centering, change, community, contemplation, creativity, emotional resilience, gratitude, Happy New Year, New Year's Eve, reflection, resolutions, writing on January 1, 2013 | 24 Comments »
I know that everyone is either partying hard, out and about and thus not reading blog posts, or already in bed. I’m not one to judge, so whatever floats your boat… Or you’ve been busy and only now are finding your way to reading this. So I’m going to keep it short and sweet. When you […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Travel, United States, tagged American football, away from home, bowl games, bowling, Christmas, Christmas Eve, circumstances, creativity, decorations, family, holiday season, holidays, innovation, ornaments, panache, stripped down version, togetherness, travel, US on December 31, 2012 | 8 Comments »
It’s been quite a holiday season this year, in oh so many ways. Nothing about it has been ‘normal’ or ‘same old, same old’ or even vaguely familiar. Given a whole range of circumstances, some of which will go unmentioned out of respect for others’ privacy and most well beyond our control, my family has found itself […]
Posted in Authors (Other), Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, United States, Writing, tagged Amazing Things Will Happen, anger, arguing, automatic weapons, blogging, CC Chapman, community, Connecticut, Content Rules, creativity, frailest citizens, frustration, Geoff Talbot, Grace and Creativity, grieving parents, gun control, gunman, heart, In Need of Grace, innocent children, media, mental illness, mind, Newton, outrage, pontificating, positioning, Sandy Hook Elementary School, school shooting, schoolchildren, screaming, Seven Sentences, shooter, shouting, slaughter, soul, stillness, weakest, writing, yelling on December 18, 2012 | 10 Comments »
It’s been a busy few weeks lately with more than the usual ups and downs, ins and outs, whethers or buts, what ifs and why nots. I’ve been dealing with an amalgam of diverse issues, activities, and events ranging from the mundane to the weighty, the tedious to the tentative, the banal to the seemingly […]
my read shelf:
