Our Journey is the story of a family who sold everything, packed up two young children, and moved to Europe for what was supposed to be one year. Ten years later, we had lived in France and Hungary, built new lives abroad, and returned home forever changed. This collection of stories, journal entries, and memories preserves that journey and serves as the foundation for the books I am writing today.
Our first celebration in France! After weeks of assembling furniture, buying all the necessities for our place, and cleaning up the garden, we finally have something to celebrate. Happy 40th Birthday Alfonz! We invited a few of our friends to celebrate Alfonz’s special day! It is always the same recipe for a great party. 1…
What do you do after 4-5 hours of homework on a Wednesday? Go to ‘Musée du Jouet’, France’s biggest Lego display. Two hundred square metres of giant, animated and size models made of Lego and K’NEX. Reasonably priced at 3€/child under 12 and 4€ for everyone else, and a maximum 1 hour time frame….
Winter blues is a common thing, but in southern France? I wouldn’t have believed if I didn’t feel it for myself. I came from grey Vancouver Canada, where the winters are long and wet and I never felt sad when summer ended. Probably because it didn’t last long enough to get used to it… but…
Your guests are arriving in one hour, and you have no time to clean the entire house from top to bottom. What do you do? Here are 10 tips to cut down your cleaning time, and focus on the more important areas of your house. #1 Stick to the Kitchen Especially when you are serving…
Be thankful for what you have; you will end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough. Oprah Winfrey Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family in Canada! Sending you piles of hugs and kisses! I miss having the big turkey dinner, making the rounds…
When I have time, I’ll be a good girl and do my chores. Camilla Luddington My Daily Chores- What it’s like to run a B&B in southern France? Around 7:00am I hear the birds outside my window waking with the sun. I putter around my house before anyone wakes up, and eventually find my way…
We finally got the loan from the bank to upgrade the energy efficiency of our house and they did the work an entire month earlier than planned! We hired the company Colombeau Alu who did a fabulous job. The salesman came to our door with samples and his bottom line price; something I honestly appreciate when…
What do I miss most about Canada? Having an abundance of peanut butter! Friends bring me organic smooth peanut butter from North America when they come to visit and I end up rationing it until the next person brings me more. I have a crazy protective attitude towards anyone that wants to eat my peanut…
So why Budapest? Where I am from in Canada, most people haven’t been to Hungary, and usually they get the capital city wrong by saying Bucharest and not Budapest. They may have tried ‘Gulyas’, usually misspelled as Goulash, and most think it is a stew served over pasta, mixing up Hungarian ‘Paprikas’ with our country’s…
I haven’t been writing. It’s true. I have been taking photos though, watching the flowers grow and enjoying the good weather. I took some time to recover after re injuring my back. Two weeks spent flat on…