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Recap of the Highs and the Lows of 2018

January 1, 2019 by Meg 2 Comments

 It is because of all the shitty moments that the sweet moments were made even sweeter. If I hadn't gone through all that crap, I would never have savoured all the joy 2018 did bring. So here is my recap - the good, the bad and the out-right stressful life that was this past year.After all the best nine of 2018 have been posted, and the insta stories that showcase all the highs of 2018 are finally tapped through… I had planned to jump on both bandwagons and share all the highs that made my 2018 great – but then I thought of all the struggles, the tears, the lowest lows and thought that sharing the full picture is more accurate than only glazing over the stress that happened in 2018. It is because of all the shitty moments that the sweet moments were made even sweeter. If I hadn’t gone through all that crap, I would never have savoured all the joy 2018 did eventually bring. So here is my recap – the good, the bad and the out-right stressful life that was this past year.

At the end of 2017 we visited Edinburgh, as a way to end the year on a bit of high since 2017 was the year when literally all the wheels fell off most of our big plans. We went into 2018 hopeful that things would work out, and they did… spoiler alert – it just took 6 months for it to all work out.

In January we headed to Sligo for my birthday, and while it was a great weekend away, my birthday is always a difficult start of the year for me. Partly because I have in the past put heavy expectations on what birthdays should be like, and all the goals I wanted to achieve but didn’t get round to often leave me feeling a bit defeated. 2018’s birthday was no different for me. I was left wondering what I had achieved in 36 years of life, no matter how I look at it, it never feels as though its enough. So while instagram was showing all the exploring we did in Sligo, I was secretly battling with my own demons.

Sligo

If you live in a country that has winter in February, you know that what is the shortest month of the year, ends up feeling like the longest month – it felt like spring was never going to arrive. And for a while, it didn’t, in fact, the Beast from the East arrived instead and we were snowed in for 3 days. Our first snow day as a family, and Jack’s first experience of snow. It ended up being a great break, and we used the time for loads of walks in the snow together.

Snow in Dublin

In March we had our first visitors for the year, Jane and Nic arrived from SA and we spent time showing them around Dublin. We spent our second St Patrick’s day in Ireland in Dublin. Then after they left, I got a chance to head to Lisbon, Portugal for work – it was a busy 3 days in Lisbon but I still managed to fit so much in and I really was grateful for the trip, even if the stress of work was hard.

Lisbon Portugal

We ended the month visiting London and our dear friends, Kristy and Kirsten. They pulled out all the stops with a surprise birthday cake for Rob, tickets to watch an Arsenal match, street art hunting, gin and wine drinking, and just spending time with these two on their couch talking till the wee hours of the morning was so good for both our souls. Honestly, through all the uncertainty that we had going on in our life, their friendship has been there for us no matter what. The infinite voice notes from Kristy throughout the whole year was honestly one of the reasons I think I made it through the year.

London with friends

April started off well with an interview on a podcast about our life as expats in Ireland – it was kinda surreal that someone wanted to listen to our story. You can listen to it here. But with all the stress that followed us from 2017 still left uncertain, I hit breaking point and suffered my first of many panic attacks this year. Anxiety and stress all bubbled to the surface and I was left making some heavy decisions about who my friends were, and how I planned to recover and get back up. I am grateful that looking back, I can see that I did eventually get back up – but at the time, April was honestly one of the hardest months for me. At the end of this month we decided to make a few changes, and started looking at moving out of the city and somewhere closer for me to travel to work.

At the beginning of May we visited more friends in the UK, Derek and Candi and they showed us around their new home. We visited a lot of places with them including Manchester, Liverpool, Chester, York and even dipped into Wales for a day.

Wales

Even though we had no idea what was happening with our expat lives, we decided to take a huge risk and move to our dream home out of the city – it was a move that at the time seemed crazy to do, since we had no idea what the future had in store for us but it is one I am happy we made because in the end, things did work out and this new home has meant new friendships have blossomed and we have better life balance and a place that we can truly feel at home.

friends that become family

In fact things worked out just 2 weeks after we had moved in… Rob’s work permit came through and it meant that he could start his new job. We found this out the day we landed in Glasgow, and were about to start our road trip through Scottish Highlands to Inverness. It was the relief we needed to truly enjoy our second trip to Scotland. Scotland will always hold a special place in my heart because of this. Looking back we went to Edinburgh in December 2017 unsure if it would be our last trip abroad, and ended up opening the future for us and extending our stay indefinitely in June 2018. Life really does have a way of working out in the end.

Dunnotarr Castle, Scotland

As a way to start anew, in July we did a road trip just the three of us to explore West Cork and the Beara Peninsula. It’s a part of the country that is so wild and untamed, possibly one of my favourite trips of all time. I also started yoga twice a week, and it had life changing effects to my mental head space.

Beara Peninsula, West Cork

In August, we saw our family after nearly 2 years after leaving South Africa, Rob’s parents came to visit us. We spent just under two weeks doing an epic Irish road trip starting with a trip up to Northern Ireland visiting places like Belfast, Giant’s Causeway, Castlerock, Coleraine, Derry, and ending the North of Ireland adventure in my now favourite visited county, county Donegal.

We continued the Irish roadtrip with Rob’s parents into September, this time heading to Leitrim, then heading south to Cobh, Waterford, then Dungarvan, then along the copper coast, all the way down to Kinsale. September saw the final end to our immigration stress, with my work permit renewal being processed after 15 weeks of waiting.

Cobh, Cork

In October I decided to invest in myself, and I started the unselfishly me 8 week course.  It instilled some more good habits like listening to inspiring podcasts, journaling, and daily meditation. The course uncovered a lot of what I had failed to work through mentally in previous months and I learnt a lot about myself and the kind of life I want to live. Including letting go of toxic relationships and forgiving myself. I did a lot soul-searching and honestly can’t recommend meditation or this self love course enough. At the end of October we did a road trip as a family and explored Hook Peninsula, in Wexford. Another great part of the country, even though this trip was slightly less run around and see all the things – we perfected the art of slow travel and fully rested that long weekend. We came home feeling recharged and rested.

Hook Peninsula, Wexford

In November I had to travel to Killarney for a work event, Rob joined me and we had a great trip with my work friends. For the rest of the month I continued to practice yoga, journal, meditate and finally felt the anxiety and panic attacks ease a bit. I am learning that its best to take life day by day and to stop worrying about the future so much, rather focus on being present and mindful in the moment.

Torc Waterfall, Killarney

We ended 2018 with a trip of a lifetime visiting my whole family in Mauritius. My brother and his family live in Mauritius and my parents made the trip out from South Africa so that we could all spend Christmas together as a family. It was a lot of sun, sea, drinks, swimming with dolphins, running and screaming with my niece and nephew, simple moments with my family in their home, pushing my niece and nephew on the swing, playing hide and seek, cuddles, tears, laughter… it was indescribable all the joy and sadness I felt in that holiday. The joy of spending time with family and loved ones, and the sadness in not knowing when the next time will be.

Mauritius

So there you have it. The highs and the very lows of 2018. And when I look at it all set out in this blog post – I realise how much we have done; we visited 6 countries and explored 21 of 32 counties in Ireland. We did a lot of local travel and 2019 will be no different – we plan to see more of this beautiful country we are fortunate enough to live in. We plan to continue to face the struggles and admin that surrounds living away from home and in a foreign country – hopefully with a little more grace, and with a lot of deep breaths.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, WISHING YOU AND YOURS THE VERY BEST IN 2019!

Live Simply & Travel Slow,

~Meg~

p.s. If social media is your thing (snap! It’s my fave too!), you should totally follow me on Instagram.

p.p.s. I try post varied content once or twice a month, to be sure you don’t miss out on the new post you should sign up and get all the news straight in your inbox – Sign up now!

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 It is because of all the shitty moments that the sweet moments were made even sweeter. If I hadn't gone through all that crap, I would never have savoured all the joy 2018 did bring. So here is my recap - the good, the bad and the out-right stressful life that was this past year.

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Filed Under: A Happy Life Tagged With: Challenges, expat life, life, living abroad, simple life, simple living, Truth

How to live life simply and more intentionally

August 10, 2017 by Meg 3 Comments

In order to meet our goals we had to cut back on the frills, and through that, we found that life is great when we live life simply, and more intentionally.

When Rob and I decided to move to Ireland we were adamant to make the move to really getting comfortable with our budget, what our focus in life should be and how we were going to get out of debt to be able to live the way we wanted to live. It sounds super hippy, but we wanted to really know ourselves and really follow our own path. Too often in life we focus on things that appear to be a big deal, we focus on showing off our success by the cars we drive, the money we spend and the life that appears to be just perfect. But life is’t perfect, and trying to compare your life to that of others is setting you up to fail before you even start. You cannot compare your journey to anyone else. But you can figure out what you want and what makes you happy, and then steer yourself towards that goal. For us the huge focus has been on getting out of debt completely, to save, and to travel. In order to meet those goals we cut back on a lot of the frills, and really through that decluttering process we realised that life can be pretty sweet if we live it more simply, and more intentionally. Less is often more. I know I sound like I am just listing off a bunch of motivational quotes but this is truly what we believe.

To meet our goals we had to cut back, and found that life is great when we live life simply. Click To Tweet

Like with anything, learning to live with less is often first about becoming aware of our own internal dialogue. Sometimes I catch myself saying we need this, we should buy that, but upon further inspection – these are often fears of not fitting in, fears of not measuring up, and this feeling like we need instant gratification of buying something we actually don’t really need, and in some cases, don’t even want.

The big thing that we have learnt is to think through a big purchase. Sometimes it is due to the fact that we simply could not afford to buy it right then, but choosing to delay the purchase till the end of the month often makes you much more aware if you really needed it in the first place.

Using less means there is less wastage. Because we are so conscious of how much we have, and where our money goes. We have stopped buying food in bulk. We now stick to a weekly shop, and really work out what we plan to eat, and buy just what we need. It means that we don’t waste as much. We try eat up the food we have before we go and buy any more. What I have learnt is that if we keep to a meal plan, and allow pizza on Friday, we actually don’t ever feel like we are restricted, it is a bit like a flexible diet – although, not all together super healthy!

We don’t hold on to things just in case, it means that everything we have in our house, we use and love. I use to save beauty masks, and keep candles for special occasions. Now that we have cleared all the extra clutter, we now take time to light the candles, have spa days, and actually enjoy the simple things we have in our home. We don’t keep it stored in a cupboard, we don’t hide the things we love – we use them, or we let them go.

We have also learnt to say no when we really don’t want to do something. Not only if we don’t have the cash to afford an expensive meal out – if it doesn’t spark joy for us, we try not to waste money and time on it. So we have really learnt to un-busy ourselves. I like to keep at least one day a weekend completely free and unplanned. It leaves room in our diary, time to breathe, reset and focus on self care. I find having a day a week that is calm and uncluttered, helps improve my mood and clears my head.

Be aware how you spend your time and money. I did an exercise on my Facebook group a few weeks ago where I asked my community to share the last 5 purchases they made. When you start listing off coffees, and take out, and gifts, and impulse buy of a magazine, a cheeky top you got for half price. You can see quite quickly where your money is going, but also it gives you chance to evaluate that if given the chance – would you make the same purchase again? You should have no regrets when you spend your money. When you learn to live life more simply you will find that you will be a lot more cautious on your priorities and how you spend your money, but also how you spend your energy and time.

HOW DO YOU LIVE LIFE SIMPLY?

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.

p.p.s. I try post varied content once or twice a month, to be sure you don’t miss out on the new post you should sign up and get all the news straight in your inbox – Sign up now!

PIN THIS AND READ LATER:

In order to meet our goals we had to cut back on the frills, and through that, we found that life is great when we live life simply, and more intentionally.

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Filed Under: A Happy Life Tagged With: Challenges, declutter, Happiness, irishlife, journey, life, simple life, simple living, Truth

This is Us… Living

March 23, 2017 by Meg 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 did not help us live a life we wanted. 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.

p.p.s. I try post varied content once or twice a month, to be sure you don’t miss out on the new post you should sign up and get all the news straight in your inbox – Sign up now!

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Filed Under: General Update Tagged With: declutter, Happiness, irishlife, journey, life, Love, positivity, simple life, simple living, Truth

{Travel}: A trip to Dun Laoghaire

January 17, 2017 by Meg 7 Comments

Visit Dun Laoghaire, just a 15 minute train trip from Dublin!

dun laoghaire

Rob and I are really enjoying taking time each weekend to explore our new city. Everything is new. How we get around, what we do, even our daily routine has changed. But we are fully acclimatizing to our new way of life and really jumping feet first and seeing all we can. We are making the most of our time here, and not taking anything for granted. So I thought what a great series for the blog! A series all about our #Irishlife. As part of this new series I will share places we visit, and the things we get up to, stuff that shows you what our life here in Ireland is really like. I hope you like it, and if you do like it, I hope you will share this far and wide so that others can like it too (read: small punt to grow my blog).

Before I get stuck in on all the things you can do in this little seaside town south of Dublin, I have one question to ask you all: How would you pronounce Dun Laoghaire?

You actually pronounce it as “Dun Leary”. Ha! Trust me, it is not how I thought it was pronounced. The same goes for a lot of the towns and suburbs here in Ireland. The spelling and how they are pronounced are really quite foreign to us (hehe, my jokes can be so lame).

Anyway, we have been to Dun Laoghaire twice now and I know we have not explored it entirely – but I had to share what we have done so far – there is so much you can do in this small town!

dun laoghaire promenade

Random facts about Dun Laoghaire:

  • The town in about 9km away from our house. Rob is keen to run there and then take the train back – or run there and back for a really good training run!
  • You can catch the Dart (Irish train) and it takes 15 minutes to get there – much quicker than running it!
  • The South African Ambassador lives here – crazy but true!

Things to do in Dun Laoghaire:

  • Walk along the east or west pier. Dun Laoghaire has a harbour with two piers that enclose around it. They have a board at the start of these two piers that tells you how far each pier is and average time it will take to walk it. It is a great way to get those Fitbit steps up!

dun laoghaire pier

  • The infamous Teddy’s ice cream – apparently the home of the 99 cone – established in 1950! I am mean can you even imagine how many ice creams that is?! We have had two cones so far: one with crushed oreo’s and the second one was with colored sprinkles. For me, sprinkles was the best! I suggest trying one of each just to be sure.

dun laoghaire teddy ice cream

  • James Joyce Tower and museum. Just a little walk down the promenade, it is in a Martello tower that has been converted into a museum. (Full disclosure, I didn’t know who James Joyce was! But he is a pretty big deal around these parts. He was a writer who wrote the play called Ulysses.) The museum is free to visit, and as museum’s go – its small. I mostly enjoyed getting to see what the inside of a Martello tower looks like. The British built 50 Martello towers along the Irish coastline as part of their defense against Napoleon. It is about as tall as two floors and has a tiny staircase inside that winds it’s way to the top. The view at the top of the tower is a real treat. On a clear day you can see Howth.

dun laoghaire james joyce

 

  • People’s Park Food Market which takes place every Sunday. When we first visited Dun Laoghaire, Rob was convinced he smelt a boerie roll being cooked – alas, we could not find one! But it is still a great food market, and one we regularly go to. They have a nice mix of affordable eats, and it is a great place to meet up with friends, plus we bring Jack along (he loves the nibbles on the ground!).

Things we still need to do in Dun Laoghaire:

  • The Purty Kitchen is one of the oldest pubs in Ireland. They have a Sunday menu of 2 courses for €20!
  • Take the ferry from Dun Laoghaire to Howth. A friend told me about this, and it sounds like such a great way to explore both places in one day!
  • Lastly,  for the brave (or the reckless), you can go for a swim at Forty Foot. People swim here all year long, it is a popular thing to do on Christmas Day (mid winter!). The day we walked along the promenade we saw a few people going for a dip. I was wearing hat, scarf and coat – and I was freezing just watching them!

Have you been to Dun Laoghaire? Is there anything else you can recommend we see or do there?  And seriously, trust me on the sprinkles:

dun laoghaire teddys

~ Meg ~

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Filed Under: Travels Tagged With: dublin, happy, irishlife, life, travels, Truth, vacation ideas

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Hey! My name is Meg. I blog about the life I share with my hubby, Rob; our furbaby, Jack and the newest family member, our daughter Riley. In 2016, we moved to a new country, cut down on clutter, and started focusing on unlocking a simple life, filled with travel and adventure. Read my story here

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