Last year I was lucky enough to win Runner-up Best Dressed at York Races – you can read all about that experience in ‘Fashion at the Races – How I (almost) won best dressed‘. The prize was an overnight stay at Hotel du Vin, Harrogate and a ‘Distill your own Gin‘ experience at the Spirit of Harrogate. Given we are living the expat life, we booked in the experience and night away months in advance once we knew my parents were coming to stay and that we would have a reliable babysitter. Continue Reading
Easter Gift Guide: Non Chocolate Treats for Children
Easter is obviously a religious holiday and not one for traditionally giving gifts other than chocolate. However as the world becomes ever more commercialized and people look for an excuse to celebrate literally anything, I thought I would put together a gift guide for your little ones if you don’t want to buy chocolate, either because they are too young or you don’t want them on a sugar rush for days to come. If you are traveling over the Easter period then a few of these items might also be useful distractions for your plane, train or car journey – wrap them up and give them to your children whilst en-route.Continue Reading
9 Reasons I Love Living in York
York Minster
This week marks 2 years since we started this crazy adventure which is expat life in York, England. It is somewhat hard to believe and it has absolutely flown by. When we first landed in the UK we spent a couple of nights in London to catch up with friends and buy some winter woolies before making the 5 hour plus journey in our rental car to Scarborough, North Yorkshire. A quaint seaside town which was hugely popular in the 70s but is now filled with casinos, arcade games and rock lollies. A great place to visit on a sunny summer day for fish and chips and some ice-cream, but after about 3 days I had seen and done everything there was to do in Scarborough. We started researching online for places to live and we had been told good things about York. I found a couple of apartments which looked fabulous and booked viewings to check them out.Continue Reading
9 Books on my Reading List for 2019
I have always been a bit of a bookworm and love having books in our home. I only packed a few books to bring over to England and already our collection is piling up again (although I am doing my best to gift them on to friends and family to avoid too much clutter). And that’s why I am also considering signing up for Kindle Unlimited – you can get a 30 day free trial here if you are interested! I’m not a fast reader so I can easily take a month or two to read whatever is on my nightstand, but nonetheless I have a list of books waiting patiently in my Amazon cart for me to push the ‘buy now‘ button. These days I quite like reading books which will give me inspiration and ideas and then a bit of chick lit for good measure. My fave books of last year were Million Dollar Blog, Lean In and My Not So Perfect Life. This year the list has a similar-ish look and feel, so here are the Top 9 that I am attempting to read in 2019:Continue Reading
Pilates during Pregnancy and Post Partum – Your Questions Answered!
5 Minutes with Louise of York Pilates People
I have practiced Pilates for many years and I have to admit that I am pretty terrible at it, so much so that I have barely graduated beyond the beginners class. However, I know that practicing Pilates is excellent for my body and it helps to significantly reduce the amount of everyday pain I suffer from my scoliosis. So naturally when I fell pregnant I wanted to continue on with the specifically designed pregnancy Pilates classes – well that and because I was terrified of becoming a pregnant whale (see my previous article – ‘10 Steps to a Happy & Healthy Pregnancy‘). I took these classes until I left Australia at 20 weeks pregnant but unfortunately was unable to find any classes when I arrived in York. Now, thanks to the lovely Louise at York Pilates People this has all changed. Louise has opened a wonderful studio in York which caters for pregnancy Pilates and post natal Pilates (plus classes for everything in between). This week I spent 5 minutes with Louise to discuss the benefits of Pilates for expectant Mums.Continue Reading
My 5 Minute Mum Makeup
Okay, I call it my mum make-up but basically it is my go to make-up when I don’t have much time and still want to make half an effort. So this is my make-up basics when I’m travelling, going for brunch, hungover or going for a Pilates class – the possibilities are endless. I am by no means a make-up expert or connoisseur but I often turn to friends or shop attendants for recommendations on products before buying anything. If you are anything like me, I don’t mind spending money on quality products provided that they work. My pet hate is spending money on something that doesn’t live up to its promise. Therefore, I wanted to share my favorite products and the basics that I think everyone should have in their make-up bags.Continue Reading
How to Build your Mum Tribe
I moved to York 18 month ago and had ZERO friends. That’s right – I knew absolutely no one. Now that I look back at it, that is a pretty daunting prospect, especially at 20 weeks pregnant. But guess what, becoming a new mum is the absolute best time to make new friends and build a Mum Tribe. Whether you like it or not, you now have 101 things to talk and bond over, so you will naturally make wonderful friends with like minded mummies along the way. I know many people whom are still friends with their mum friends years down the track, including my own mum!Continue Reading
5 Tips to Becoming the Perfect Host
Photo by Benjamin Voros on Unsplash
Its no secret that we have had our fair share of visitors whilst living in England. Family and friends have traveled to the other side of the world (some of these multiple times) just to visit us – I definitely feel #blessed. Having said that, we also hosted plenty of visitors at our home in Perth too – I like to think we have always had an open door policy and we love the opportunity to spend quality time with family and friends.
Now I definitely don’t think I am excelling when it comes to being a perfect host. I almost think it is impossible to excel at anything with a one year old. However, I have learned a few things over the past 18 months which I will share with you below to help you on your journey to becoming the perfect host for your visitors.Continue Reading
The Pros and Cons of Being an Expat
In 2016 my husband and decided to become expats. Expat, the slang for expatriate, is a person temporarily or permanently residing in another country other than their native country (thanks Wikipedia). We packed up our home and our beloved beagles and moved from sunny Perth in Western Australia to the unknown York, England. We had been to England many times and I have family here, but we had never been to Yorkshire and took the word of a friend of friend (plus one online article) to decide the opportunity that had been presented to us was worth taking a punt on. Over a year down the road and so far, so good. So here is my perspective on the pros and cons of being an expat.Continue Reading
The Blogless Blogger
It’s true, I’m a fraud. For the past 2 years I have been claiming that I am a ‘travel and lifestyle’ blogger, but yet with less than a dozen posts, can one call themselves a blogger? Like everyone else in the 21st century I have the same excuse, I’m busy. Busy chasing my career goals, busy seeing the world, busy maintaining relationships, busy doing nothing. However I think I can possibly use this excuse with valid reason for the past 12 months. Over the past year I have seen myself accept a promotion, pack up my house, move country, buy a new house, furnish said house, have a baby, visit x countries and play hostess to all of our family members that visited the new baby. Well okay, I was an absolute rubbish hostess … but still!Continue Reading