-
Ten Days In: School, Appointments, & Hitting a Wall Abroad
My “Expat Mom” Honest Reality This is a long, unfiltered reflection recorded ten relentless days after my kids’ first day at their new school abroad. School started. Appointments followed. So did confusion, exhaustion, and the kind of mental load that doesn’t show up on a calendar. Nothing in this video is polished or resolved. It’s me talking through what the aftermath actually feels like, when progress is happening (or not), but rest isn’t. After re-watching and attempting to shorten it, I realized this is me in a full ADD spiral. If you know, you know. Watch in pieces if you need to. Side note: I planned to publish this after…
You May Also Like
This Is Not the Life I Planned (But Here We Are)
-
My Kids Finally Started School Abroad…
My kids finally started school abroad.What I thought their first day would be like. What it was actually like. And…a couple things in between. It’s been a long. Long road to get here. It’s basically felt like forever. One day, I’ll look back on this and forget how hard the last few months were. But right now it’s been difficult as all hell – still fresh, and still very real. Please enjoy this very raw version of my morning. There was lots of “ums,” “ok, yeahs,” and pauses – I tried to delete them because, well, I absolutely overuse the filler words. A lot of staring off into space. My…
You May Also Like
This Is Not the Life I Planned (But Here We Are)
-
Things I Didn’t Expect About Being an Expat Mom in Bologna
I expected the logistics to be hard.I expected the language barrier.I expected a learning curve that would demand patience I wasn’t sure I had (patience = work in progress for this mom). What I didn’t expect was how many small, quiet adjustments would stack up all at once. Not dramatic enough to be their own stories, but noticeable enough to change the texture of everyday life. My post, Expat Mom in Bologna, is the start to this journey. Things I Didn’t Expect About Being an Expat Mom Here are a few things I didn’t expect about being an expat mom (in Bologna). At least not yet. I didn’t expect how…
You May Also Like
This Is Not the Life I Planned (But Here We Are)
-
Expat Mom in Bologna: Motherhood, Bureaucracy, and Real Life
Motherhood, but make it Italian I didn’t move to Bologna to become an “expat mom.” That label arrived later, quietly, after I realized how often I was explaining myself, my kids, and my presence. I moved because life shifted. Plans unraveled. The idea of staying where I was felt heavier than leaving everything I knew. Now I’m parenting in a city I love. I’m still figuring out how I fit inside it. I am still learning the language, the rhythms, and the unspoken rules of daily life. This move was part of a larger shift I wrote about earlier in This Isn’t the Life I Planned… Motherhood doesn’t reset when…
You May Also Like
This Is Not the Life I Planned (But Here We Are)
-
This Is Not the Life I Planned (But Here We Are)
At some point, you realize the life you imagined quietly disappeared and something else took its place. I never believed life unfolded neatly. I didn’t grow up with certainty or fairytales; I grew up hoping I’d find something steady enough to build around. Some of my closest friends, the ones I grew up with, had family relationships I deeply longed for. I didn’t have a dream wedding in mind or a picture-perfect family story I expected to live into. I just wanted a happy, content, genuine family life. My expectations were simpler. In hindsight, they were smaller. I wanted to find love and build a family. I aimed to create…
-
Welcome to the Chaos: A Real-Life Single Mom Blog
Annnd, we’re off! Welcome to my circus – I’m a single mom blogging my way through the chaos. I didn’t ask to be the ringmaster, but life doesn’t hand out job applications. Instead, it throws you two wildly different kids — now old enough to debate every rule, young enough to lose their shoes daily — and expects you to keep the show running with caffeine, sarcasm, and the occasional bathroom cry session. If you came looking for picture-perfect parenting advice, bento-box lunch inspo, or a color-coordinated routine, you’re in the wrong damn place. This space is for real people in the real world—the one where kids ask philosophical questions…
You May Also Like
This Is Not the Life I Planned (But Here We Are)
