This is Us...Living

unlock a simple life

Main navigation

journey

This is Us… Living

by 8 Comments

this is usFirst official post on the new blog! Can I get a woop woop! *waves hands in the air, like I just don’t care*

OK, but seriously, I am SO excited! I have been working on this blog re-brand with a new look for a few weeks. And, I haven’t shared it with ANYONE (not even hubby) until today!

You know when that light bulb flicks on and you are like, YES! YES! YES! That is what I want!! Well, we had that light bulb moment first when we were on honeymoon back in 2015. I think it was when we were both so relaxed and just in a space to really let our minds wonder. What did we want most out of life? Since then, its been building up, this niggle at the back of my mind, this deep concern that I needed to be true to myself, and that to be true to myself meant a lot of soul searching, and a lot of vulnerability. It is exciting, and terrifying to stand up and say “Ya, you know what, I actually don’t want to keep doing this. It’s not working out for me. I want something different”.

Friends can I be honest here? I am tired of the expectations, I am tired of the FOMO, I am tired of the thinking that to be happy you need to earn money to spend money. That you need to show only the best side of yourself, the one with that sparkling new something with the big giant label – you know, because only then everyone will know you have made it. Life is not about the stuff we collect. You can’t take that to the grave wit you (unless you want to be buried in a pyramid with all your worldly belongings – but who has the money to afford that long term rental?!). And be truthful, are you really happier having the best stuff, or could you just as easily be happier having the best life? Life is about building relationships, creating memories and going on adventures. Well, that’s my opinion at least. And I am happy to say, Rob is  on the same page too.

Here is a little back story for those of you new to the blog; which is taken from the about page.

In 2016 we made the big decision to move from South Africa to Ireland. The main objective of the move was so that we could travel more and explore more of the world. We absolutely love travelling and exploring new places. And, we intentionally try to see places from a unique outlook –often avoiding the obvious tourist hotspots. We especially love to find local gems, and hidden secrets in big cities.

Back in South Africa, we had a house filled with things we had collected over the years; things we loved and worked hard to get it. But even with all the things, we were not really happy with our life. You see, we wanted to travel more than anything. But frankly, we couldn’t afford to maintain the things we “had to” own, and still travel.

It was the reality check we needed. We needed to get our priorities straight. What did we want most out of life? Things or experiences? We decided to scale down; and in the process we sold most of our treasures, sold our cars and looked at the move to Ireland as the fresh start that it was. A new start, with a completely new outlook on life.

The biggest lesson we learnt, was that we had to get comfortable with saying NO to things that… Click To Tweet

Now that we have successfully moved over, we are more determined than ever to get it right. We have figured out what matters most to us; now we just need to work towards ensuring we get it.

It is our goal to further declutter our living space, look to experience real life – in real time, and inspire others to do the same. We have happily traded in a life filled with labels and must haves, to a life that is intentional, positive and filled with adventure. We don’t believe that to have less means that you are continually saving, and never doing anything. In fact, the opposite! We believe that money is better spent on living a life that is filled with memories and adventures, not possessions.

At the end of the day, we seek to unlock the simple life, where having less, means we are living more.

SO, THIS IS US… LIVING.

Here are some tips on how to navigate this blog:

  • How we do it: This is where you get real insight into our life; how we moved countries, simplified our home; cut down on expenses and started living a life filled with travel!
  • Challenges: Check out Challenges page if you are looking to commit to making some changes of your own.
  • Travel Inspiration: If you are looking to be inspired, and want to see where we have traveled to and what we suggest you do/see – then you definitely need to check out our Travel Inspiration.
  • Contact: Looking to get in touch with me? Sweet, I love getting mail. Email me.

Let me know in the comments below: What you think of this blog rebrand?

Unlock the simple life,

~Meg~

p.s. If social media is your thing (snap! It’s my fave too!), you should totally follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or join my exclusive Facebook Group. And because I seriously am an open book, if you ever want to bounce ideas off me, or just chat and connect send me an email (I really love chatting!).

p.p.s. I try post varied content 2-3 times a week; I am also setting up exclusive challenges; guides and templates that I will only share with my subscribers, so be sure to sign up and get all the news straight in your inbox! Sign up now!

My focus for 2017

by 6 Comments

2017 focus
2017 has officially started. I have taken a bit longer in writing this post because for a long time all my thoughts were just a muddle in my head. My goals for this new year are simple, yet overwhelming at the same time. I realised I needed to be more specific with my goals for this year. I still like the resolutions I had in 2016 but I decided to really break them down into manageable, quantifiable goals, so here goes:

  1. Run once a week for the year – 52 runs at least (regardless of time and distance)
  2. Run a 5km comfortably – get a training plan in place and start by 1 Feb
  3. 5 walks/hikes – I have a list that I will share with you soon
  4. Visit 3 counties in Ireland (not including Dublin!)
  5. Do 2 big holidays – I cannot wait to share what these are!
  6. Read daily – with a focus on mind and body
  7. Complete the 8 week Beach Body Program
  8. Start and complete a new challenge group
  9. Track my steps everyday with my Fitbit (the goal is set to walk 10k steps a day)
  10. Eat breakfast at least 5 days a week
  11. Run a race in Ireland (races here are kinda expensive, so it may just be one race this year)
  12. Blog consistently – stick to the plan and blog weekly (I still need to do that live FB video!)
  13. Pay my folks back 1/3 of what I owe them
  14. Get my credit card down to a more manageable figure
  15. Review my goals at the end of each month and celebrate my successes

Along with my goals for 2017, I tried to think of one word to encapsulate 2017 – one word to live by. I thought long and hard about it too. Every day I would tell Rob a different word: appreciate, enjoy, less, simplify, breathe, journey, relish, savour, cherish… the list never seemed to end, and I just never could get a word that I felt I could honestly stick with, and one that encompassed all that I was feeling.

My biggest challenge in 2017 will be to overcome this comparing phase I seem to have been stuck on all my life. In high school, I felt you needed to be cool to be popular. In varsity, I thought you needed to be popular to stand out. In work, to stand out, I thought you had to be earning big bucks to be successful. In marriage, to be successful, I often think society says you are not complete if you are not a mother, you need to have babies. But none of that is true.

I learnt too late that my quirkiness and weirdness makes me authentic. That the fact that I love my job makes me successful. That a marriage is only as strong as the two people who communicate to each other – and communicate every day. That if you work as a team you can achieve all your goals and dreams – and that your goals and dreams as a married couple might not be to have kids, and that doesn’t make you a bad person. I really need to stop worrying what I think other people think – because maybe not everyone thinks that way, and who cares if they do!

My hope for 2017 is that I continue to follow my own path, and to enjoy my own journey. I need to stop comparing myself to others. I compare my life to others all the time. I look at what some friends have or do, and I feel jealous, regardless of all the incredible things that have happened in my life, all my amazing achievements, I am still hungry to please others. I still want what others have. I often don’t stop to think that everyone has their own path, their own journey. That my path will lead me to all the things I want, with hard work and focus, I just need to trust myself and keep my focus on me, looking forward to my own future.

In 2017, I want to challenge myself to live with less. To focus on what truly matters, and trust me it is not stuff. I want to simplify how I live. I want to buy only what I need, and to stop trying to live up to the Jones’s. Material objects cannot bring you happiness – adventures, experiences, travel, meeting new people, trying new food, seeing new places – these are things I want to spend my hard-earned money on. Not on fancy shoes, or designer perfume.

I hope you will join me this year as I try to be kinder to myself. I aim to continue to love and support the ones around me that are having a fabulous life, and not to tarnish it with my jealousy. I plan to simplify, quantify, and be consistent – not just in January but throughout the year.

I think I have finally figured out what my word for 2017 will be: KINDNESS. To treat myself and others with kindness – that will be my focus this year.

kindness

What are your hopes/dreams/goals for 2017? Do you have one word you have chosen to live by for 2017? Share with me in the comments!

~ Meg ~

5 Things I am loving about Dublin

by 3 Comments

We have lived here for a few months, these are things that I love about Dublin, Ireland

lovin dublin

Having been living in Dublin, Ireland for a little over a month, I am well aware that I haven’t even scratched the surface in terms of what it has to offer! However, here are 5 things I am loving about Dublin right now (and in no particular order!):

1. All the Christmas Craic

Side note: Craic is a term the Irish use here for vibe/atmosphere/fun. For example, That pub was really good craic.

There is something to be said about winter and Christmas, they just go together. Growing up my mum used to always tell us that Christmas wasn’t Christmas without snow. I guess it wasn’t Christmas for her when we were lounging in a pool and having a braai outside. Granted I grew up in Durban, and most Christmases were overcast and grey back home. But, it was never cold!

37 dawson street

Since I have arrived in Dublin, the atmosphere around this holiday is just electric. Christmas music playing, homes heavily decorated, families going out and picking fresh, live Christmas trees. It really feels like Christmas should be, and I am loving it. Best of all, I think it has turned Rob from a proper grinch to someone who wears matching Christmas sweaters and wears his Rudolph beanie out in public on any random day.

2. The Sunsets

If you follow me on Instagram you will know that I post a lot of pics of my view on our walks and travels around Dublin so far. The sunsets here can definitely compete to the ones in Joburg. I used to think nothing could beat a Jozi sunset, but I am starting to feel like maybe, just maybe, Dublin can.

A photo posted by Meg (@getfithappy) on


Note: this is unedited, #nofilter, pure Dublin sunset (perhaps the only downside is that this was taken at 4pm).

3. Recycling

Recycling is a BIG thing over here. Our street is too narrow to have big wheelie bins, so we have to leave our garbage out in colour-coded bags. The bags have very clear instructions on what can and cannot be put inside them (for example – no glass in the recycling bag, you have to take it to a glass depot, located in your town. The closest one to us is about 1 km away near the stadium). The one big shock to both of us was you have to buy these special branded garbage bags – you have to use them – or they won’t take our rubbish away. Not sure if that is because we don’t have the wheelie bins, but I think this is standard practice regardless. The yellow bags cost about €3 a bag (that’s R 50!). The clear bags with green writing are for recycling (paper, plastic, tins etc – just not glass). The recycling bags are a bit cheaper, around R 30 a bag.

It is so great that we can recycle quite easily – back home our specific neighbourhood didn’t have an option for recycling pick up, so it made it hard to do. Although having said that, now I walk to recycle. I am beginning to think I was actually quite lazy back in SA. Anyways, we are getting use to recycling now and it is really one of the things I most enjoy about being here.

4. Public Transport

Ok, so I am sure you knew I was going to say this. But let me surprise you – the buses here are not great. In fact, they do not always run on time. The app is super frustrating and unless you know exactly where you want to go, its difficult to navigate. The train is wonderful, but two swans can delay the trains (seriously, that happened a few weeks ago). The tram is great – it has two lines – problem is, the two do not connect, so you have to walk in between.

luas dublin

Image source: www.joe.ie

The one thing Dublin has gotten right is their bike system. It is AMAZING. And that is why it is on my list on things I am loving about Dublin lately. You pay €20 a year to subscribe to the use the bikes (you need a thing card a leap card – which is like a Gautrain card expect you can use it on trains, buses, trams and bikes). There are bike stations all over the city, and one thankfully very close to us. You swipe your card at the bike station, select your bike, and viola! The best part is that if you return the bike to any one of the bike stations around town within 30 minutes – its FREE! Thereafter its like 50c for an additional half hour. Its super cheap for commuting to places and Rob uses this as his main mode of transport to and from work.

dublin bike

5. Tesco’s

I am my mother’s daughter and Dublin has certainly unleashed this bargain queen! I love a good bargain. Since we are on a bit of a tight-ish budget with my salary coming in as Rands, it works out to be about 10 euros (ha! slight exaggeration for effect). So I am always watching the specials and finding bargains. Our firm Friday fave is to buy 99c Tesco double pepperoni pizza – seriously that is under R 16 for a full pizza – ridicoulous!

tesco

must. buy. all. the. pizza. (now you know the reason why I NEED to run!)

One of the things Rob and I promised we would NEVER do was compare or make SA sound worse than Dublin. It is not. It never will be. The two just can’t compare. South Africa is where our hearts will always be, but we have big hearts, and I think there may be a little space in there for Dublin too.

What is the best thing you love about your city?

~ Meg ~

Take a look at what a home in Dublin looks like

by 7 Comments

Take a look at what a home in Dublin looks like - expat life - living abroad - living in Ireland

Take a look at what a home in Dublin looks like - expat life - living abroad - living in Ireland
Dia dhaoibh*, friends from a chilly Dublin, Ireland!

[* This is a gaelic term for hello to more than one person; the direct translation is ‘God be with you’]

It has been one week since I arrived and I am really feeling like I am home. I thought that once I got here it would feel like a bit of a holiday – not permanent, and just for fun. In true Rob and Meg fashion we have jumped in head first and we are loving every minute of it. Last week alone I walked over 67 540 steps; a total of 49,4KM. I am super chuffed I bought a fitbit. It drives everyone around me crazy because I sync and update them regularly but I love seeing how active I am and I am really hoping that once I start running again too, I can finally lose all this weight I have gained over the last few months. Yes, I am in fat mode. Yes, its because I got injured, and I got stressed and moving countries is hard work. But it kills me looking at pictures of how fat I have actually gotten. But I have a plan – watch this space.

I thought today I would share a few pictures of our new home, and what I love/don’t love about it.

For starters, this is our little house:

dublin house

We live on a small but busy street, within walking distance of two parks, and even the beach! We are also walking distance from the Lansdown stadium (where all the rugby happens); this also means we have some pretty great pubs close by (but that’s a given for any true Irish town).

We live in a suburb called Irishtown. It is right on all the main bus routes, so travelling into the city and out is pretty easy. Rob works in the city, he leaves for work at 8:20am (starts at 9am!) which means we get to get up early and walk Jack together, have breakfast together. I am the good wife who packs his bag for him and sends him on his way before I settle down to work myself.

Here is a pic of my little home office:

dublin home office

I work in the lounge/dining room area of our house. The house has two fireplaces: one in the lounge and one in our bedroom. It is an old house, like very old. Rob has termed it the rusty bucket. I like to think of it as a quaint elf cottage. It is not suited for tall people.

dublin lounge

Our house has the lounge area, kitchen and courtyard on the ground floor, then a staircase as you come into the front door that takes you up to the bathroom and two bedrooms.

dublin kitchen

The kitchen has a low ceiling, and its small. The appliances are very old – atleast 50 years old but they work, so we can’t complain.

dublin bathroomThe bathroom has a gas shower in the bathtub. Thankfully the water is always hot and the pressure is pretty good. But we have to bend our heads while showering, as the skylight and ceiling are pretty low (hence my thinking it’s better suited for elves).

The bedrooms are full of natural light, which is actually beautiful. Here is a pic of our bedroom (Jack’s fave place is on the bed with the sun coming in):

dublin bedroom

The house also comes with a lot of storage space and plenty of cupboards – this is unlike most places here, so we are pretty thankful for the extra space. Our bedroom is my fave place, it is so airy and light.

The house came with all the furniture, it is not the best stuff, but it has saved us a lot of money not having to buy anything just yet. It even came with cutlery and plates etc – so we have all the basics and can get by while we wait for our 3 boxes to arrive. I am told the boxes could be anytime in December… but I am not holding my breath. We decided against buying a TV. We are currently watched series off the computer, because the one thing I love about our house is the uncapped wifi – how we did life before high speed internet is beyond me.

Most people in Ireland don’t really have that homely vibe like people in SA. Here, you generally try to get out of the house and visit people at pubs or parks – not like in SA where you are always going over to a friend’s place for a braai. I think Rob and I will be the same in that the house is small, and we will go crazy if we don’t get out when we can.

Another great plus to having a small house is that this is less of it to clean! So you would think it wouldn’t take too long to clean – you would be wrong. We learnt quite quickly that our view on cleanliness is VERY different to here. I am not sure if it is how Rob and I were raised, but our mother’s would have heart failure at the thick layer of grime and dirt that has just built up all over this house over lack of cleaning. We got stuck in and literally cleaned the house all of Sunday, and I still feel as though its not clean enough. It will take a lot of days of deep cleaning to get it looking and feeling the way I want it to look. I feel like I may be classified as an extreme cleaner – but I would rather be called that then live in filth.

So that is our little Irish house, and the start of many great adventures to come.

What do you love about your house? Are you a neat freak or a secret slob at home?

Unlock the simple life,

~Meg~

p.s. If social media is your thing (snap! It’s my fave too!), you should totally follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or join my exclusive Facebook Group. And because I seriously am an open book, if you ever want to bounce ideas off me, or just chat and connect send me an email (I really love chatting!).

p.p.s. I try post varied content 2-3 times a week; I am also setting up exclusive challenges; guides and templates that I will only share with my subscribers, so be sure to sign up and get all the news straight in your inbox! Sign up now!

 

css.php