Miss Euro Blogger - Bursting the Bubble

I recently read an article about someone who 'repatriated' after six months of traveling. The writer talked about how difficult it was to reconnect with friends after she (or he - not sure) had been gone for so long. First, I think that if you lose your friends after you have been gone only for six month, they may not have been real friends anyway. So... good ridance. Second, try reconnecting with friends from school after you have been gone for over a decade! When I made it known on social media that I was about to move back to my home country, I had a lot of people from school reconnect with me and wanting to meet up as soon as I got there. I was excited that so many of them were interested in what I had been up to. The first friend I met up with is someone I went to kindergarden and school with. We had brunch and talked about the old days and the new days. Over the course of eating some scrambled eggs and drinking a cappuccino, it became pretty clear that this frie...

 On January 4th, I posted my New Year's resolutions for 2016: Here is a quick update on the status of those resolutions: 1) I plan on losing 6 pounds and about 1 inch around the waist by the time I have my first bridal gown fitting in the spring. STATUS : I lost 4 of those 6 pounds. The last 2 pounds just don't want to go away! Argh! I have less than a month until my fitting!!! 2) I want to hang on to the lost weight and inches until I acutally get married. :) STATUS : See 1) 3) I want to publish my first book before the summer! STATUS : I got my book prototype a few weeks ago and I am ready to give the go-ahead for the final print!!! The excitement is building!!! I hope my book will be on the bookstore shelves and online by the end of April! 4) I want to eat less chocolate. I can't get really specific about this goal. Anything less than the current amount is a success. STATUS : I think I can say I have been successful here. However, not due to my strong w...

As I get closer to the point of giving my 'go' to publish my book, I feel the fear getting more intense every day. Some excitement too of course but the fear is big. What am I so afraid of? The fears of publishing a book - and not just a book but a memoir! - are manyfold. I am afraid people will not like my book, which could be a rejection of my writing skills or they are telling me that my life is not nearly as interesting as I thought it was. I also suspect that there are some 'friends' out there who may want to see me crash and burn and feel validated in their superiority by my 'failure'. I am afraid people will not buy my book as making money from doing what you love to do is also a form of recognition. It's important that I like my book first - and I do - and validation from the outside should only be secondary. But let's be real, we like being validated by others. I am afraid people will give me poor reviews online. Reviews are permanent an...

While Los Angeles had lots to offer throughout the year, it was absolutely boring when it came to New Year's Eve celebrations. Sure, there were the usual parties in Hollywood but they were no different from any Saturday night or Halloween party. There were no big fireworks around town or in the city. There was also no outdoor area where people came together to ring in the New Year like they do in New York's Time Square. I did attend a New Year's eve party once at Paramount Studios that was a nice effort by the organizers. They tried to emulate Time Square in their studio lot and it was a lot of fun. And then came midnight. The famous band that was supposed to play was running late, so New Year's Eve was celebrated with a boring countdown over the mic by someone on stage that nobody knew and nobody could see because it was so crowded. All the excitement that was built up climaxed in boredom. And the party never recovered from that. In the years following, I decided t...

I experienced Thanksgiving in Los Angeles as being the most important holiday for Americans. It seemed even more important than Christmas. Friends booked flights to go home across the country months in advance in anticipation of the long weekend. Friends staying in town invited others over to make sure, no one is alone on this day. As someone who wasn't born in the US, I did not grow up with this holiday. People look forward and fear it all year at the same time. They are happy to go back home to see family although they know that they will also get into a fight with at least one person at the dinner table. As a vegetarian, Thanksgiving was not my kind of holiday. It was a 'eat meat stuffed with meat' kinda day. One year, I skipped Thanksgiving all together and went down to New Orleans for the long weekend with a friend. That was my favorite Thanksgiving of all time! Very relaxed! With Thanksgiving coming up this week, the question of 'What are you thankful for?...