Browsing Category: USA

The material stuff that matters

material stuff that matters

There are times when I’d love to be a minimalist. Have as little stuff as possible, eight items in my wardrobe, etc etc. And in a way, that’s how we moved from South Africa to the States, with almost nothing. I kept telling myself that it’s just stuff, and it doesn’t matter, but the reality is that sometimes it is the material stuff that matters.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and I kept meaning to write about it but hadn’t gotten around to it. Then Jonelle from Tyranny of Pink wrote about giving up her gorgeous dining room table, and the emotional struggle of it all. And Ella shared in her Insta-story how bad she felt about losing her phone, and that she hated feeling bad about it, but she did. So here’s my current take on the material stuff. Continue Reading

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Comment Rambling, South Africa, USA

4 Things I learned on the Arizona Farm Tour 2018

4 Things I learned on the Arizona Farm Tour 2018

Before we got ready to move to Arizona, I joined the local Arizona Blogger group. I was mostly lurking on there, but I figured it was a good place to sign up so that I could get a sense of what was going on in my local blogger scene. The South African blogging groups are usually filled with daily promo threads, which helped me find other bloggers when I was in Joburg, and I thought the same would be true with the AZ group. I was wrong.

The group is generally pretty quiet. People aren’t allowed to drop their blog links, so the only time anyone shares anything is if they have a giveaway, or if they’re looking for people who are interested in an event or some such. Which is how I found out that the Arizona Agricultural Board was looking for bloggers to join in on a farm tour. Of course, I said I wanted to be there! So here are the 4 things I learned about Arizona agriculture, bloggers and myself over the course of Arizona Farm Tour 2018. Continue Reading

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Comment Food, USA

2017 – How I achieved my goals

caught, not taught

At the beginning of the year, I set myself three main goals. I figured three was enough, that I didn’t need to strive for a million different things, and wow, three was more than enough. But seeing how I achieved my goals, I’m still pretty proud, especially considering how massive my main goal was. The three things I was striving for were:

  • Emigrate to the States
  • Feel like myself again
  • Reconnect and grow

Yeah, I was rather ambitious. But I think I was fairly successful. Continue Reading

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4 Comments Fitness, Rambling, South Africa, USA

Moving to the States – the first four months

four months

I know we all talk about how time moves so quickly, especially when we have kids. This is still totally true, but moving has just highlighted this for me. Four months ago, we got to the States. Four months ago, we left our life in South Africa behind. So much has happened since moving to the States, I thought I’d at least try to pause and look back.

On the one hand, I keep talking about all the things I want to do, to buy, the ways I still need to settle in. And yet, in just four months, we’ve gotten all our American admin sorted and set up our home. Sure, I still need certain things around the house and I’m still getting used to it all, but at the core, we are up and running here in the States. Continue Reading

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4 Comments Rambling, South Africa, USA

Starting over

starting over in new home

There’s this research that was done back in the 60s all about the amount of stress people go through with various life events. Holmes-Rahe is often mentioned, even by those who don’t know the details of it, to talk about how death, marriage, divorce, pregnancy, and birth can all be so stressful and life-altering that they put a serious toll on the person or people involved. I looked up the stress inventory, as it’s called, and moving or changing residence is towards the bottom of the list. Clearly, these researchers had no idea what they were talking about – starting over in a new country has been one of the most tumultuous things I’ve ever done.

It’s not just the physical moving that’s been difficult, although of course, that has as well. Moving day was a nightmare, one that was compounded by the fact that we were getting on a plane at the end of it. But it’s so, so much more than that. There was all the stress of leaving, the stress of getting things done when we arrived, and only now that we are slowly settling in am I finally unpacking it all – literally and figuratively. Continue Reading

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8 Comments Rambling, South Africa, USA