Personal
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The Perfect Job for Me: A Travel Advisor
Over the last few months, I’ve jumped headfirst into a new job opportunity; one that allows me tons of flexibility, allowing me to continue staying home with my children. It is the perfect job for me and I’m so excited to share how this new job is helpful to YOU. But first, I’d like to provide a little backstory as to how I fell into this new venture as a travel advisor. My Experience as a Client In 2019, we had a month off for travel before we moved from Italy to Germany. We knew we wanted to go to Asia, but seeing as how I’d never been before, planning…
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We’ve Moved! A Tour of Our New Home in Germany
(March 2021 update: whew, I read back over this post and realize I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. I’m not going to delete things out of this post, because I think it’s important for me to remember what I liked about Kaltenbrunn at first. But, this place was terrible. The dog park backyard turned into nothing but piles of poop, the small playground was nothing but a spot for dogs to pee on, and the small rooms developed mold quickly. There was drama, baby mama drama, and even more drama! We were fortunate enough to move to a bigger government house in the neighborhood called Netzaberg,…
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Next Adventure: Asia
In 2017, we were planning our honeymoon to Phuket, Thailand. Flights, hotels, dinner reservations – everything was booked. We were headed to a swanky resort beachside and were going to explore Phuket for multiple days during our first month of marital bliss. It didn’t happen. The marital bliss part, yes, the going to Thailand part, no. A few days before I was set to leave, Stephen got a notice that he wouldn’t be able to enter the country because his passport expired in less than 6 months. No ifs and or buts. Trip canceled. All I wanted was to see elephants. I was distraught and knew we lost a ton…
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America, Here We Come
3 years ago we made the decision to stay in Europe and move from Italy to Germany. I never could have imagined that just a few years later we would be itching to leave and return to the U.S. Between a rough pregnancy, the COVID-19 pandemic, and some health issues with our daughter — it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows this past year. Thanks to the determination and sacrifices of my husband, Stephen, we are heading to Ft. Carson, Colorado in just a few months. We’re finally moving back to America, y’all! A Recap of Our Time in Germany Our time in Germany started off a little rocky. The…
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Lillie Belle’s Birth Story | Germany, 2020
The nurse looked up at me with wide eyes and said, “Call your husband now. You’re dilated to 7 centimeters.” I couldn’t dial fast enough to tell him to get to the hospital RIGHT NOW. We were about to have a baby! While I waited for my husband, Stephen, to arrive, the nurses wheeled me into the delivery room. Everything moved way too fast and the next thing I knew, two men in white coats tried, in their broken English, to talk me through the process of an epidural. I glanced over my shoulder in hopes that Stephen would walk through at any minute, but he wasn’t going to make…
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What No One Tells You About Mental Health and Pregnancy
Pregnancy comes with a range of emotions — highs and lows. While it’s a beautiful thing bringing life into this world, the toll it can take on a first-time mother isn’t something commonly discussed. I want to tell you about my personal experience — my first and second trimester of pregnancy and the mental, emotional, and physical difficulties I’ve felt. At 6 weeks pregnant, I laid on the couch in agony. Not only was I experiencing severe morning sickness, but I was going through prescription withdrawals. But, let’s start from the beginning… In April 2019, I went to my primary care provider on the military base and told him we’d…
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The Greatest Adventure Yet: Becoming Parents May 2020
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or just don’t follow me on social media, you’ve probably already seen the news that we’re expecting our first baby GIRL!! What felt like months and months of waiting was so worth it when I finally saw those two lines. I’ve been pretty quiet here on the blog, and really all of my Outside This Small Town social media accounts for a while. There’s plenty of reasons for that. Ever since finding out I was pregnant, Stephen and I have both been so elated and ecstatic for this huge change in our lives. So many emotions have transpired over the last 5 months.…
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A Tour of Our Italian Home
The time has come for us to say goodbye to our little home in (Costabissara) Vicenza, Italy after 1.5 years. Although our home will never be featured in a Southern Italian Living Magazine, I found peace and comfort inside these walls and we made some of our best memories here. From reunions and parties to new puppies and newlywed memories, we’ll always remember this place in Italy and our first home together. While the rooms in our home never had a “theme”, they somehow turned into a hodgepodge of souvenirs from our travels mixed with IKEA and government rental furniture. A unique style of decorating! We knew we wouldn’t be…
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Business Guide to Vicenza, Italy
Moving to a new place with unfamiliar faces, and especially to a new country, is overwhelming. Not knowing where to find certain goods and services can cause a lot of anxiety and frustration at first. The language barrier, transportation, opening hours – a lot of things are probably different from your previous location, at least they were for me. Luckily, as an army wife, there are a million and one Facebook groups where people can ask these questions – but for the rest of the American community living in our area, the method to find these products and/or services is basically a translated google search or trial and errors. My…
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Perks of Being a Teacher
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking…you don’t read many articles about the perks of being a teacher anymore. Everything is always so negative when it comes to this profession. But, in my experience and in this case, there are many perks. Teaching high school kids is far from a piece of cake. We’re less than 10 years apart in age so I have a very different style of teaching. Some days I think “holy mother father what have I gotten myself into”…other days I want to squeeze them and freeze time because I’m so proud of them, and some days I just laugh uncontrollably because of the crazy things they’ve said.…
