Who are we?

I’m a Buckeye-turned-Southerner who lived and worked in public relations/corporate communications for nine years in Atlanta. Matt is the love of my life and my amazing husband who I married in December 2014. Today, we’re traveling the world together with our two young children thanks to an opportunity he got through his company.

Are we a military family?

Nope! Though we get asked that question a lot. Matt was part of a program helping his company roll out a new product to customers around the globe. We spent three and a half years moving to new locations around the world every six months. We did most of that with our baby daughter (and I was pregnant for half of our moves). Once we had our son, we decided we needed to slow down. Matt took a long-term position in the Philippines, so we’ll be here the next three-to-five years.

What do you do while Matt works?

I’m a writer, so I can, fortunately, do my work anywhere in the world. I’m currently blogging about our experiences and recently published my first book, Emerald and the Elf King. I also do some freelance writing and, of course, I’m taking care of our two kids!

What’s the hardest part about expat life?

Well, even though we were expats, we probably didn’t have the typical expat experience while we were in the roving program. Moving around so much, we pretty much lived out of suitcases (three suitcases per person to be exact) and we constantly had to adjust to new cultures (and time zones) and try to learn new languages. We had no idea where we’re going to be from a month-to-month (sometimes even week-to-week) basis.

Now that we are long-term expats in the Philippines, we are adjusting to being settled in a new country long enough to call it home. We are learning how to build both an expat community and a group of local friends for us, our baby and our toddler. We are also soon going to be navigating school and extracurricular activities–the stuff any parent would do in their home country, but with the added complexities of operating in a new culture.

Is it worth it?

Absolutely. In almost four years, we’ve been fortunate to visit 20 countries and countless cities. Our daughter has a passport full of stamps and even our son was in three countries in the first two months of his life.

Do you work with companies, PR agencies or travel and tourism organizations?

Sure! I used to work in the industry, so I’m always happy to learn more about relevant products, companies or places to visit. The key word here, though, is relevant! Also, I don’t guarantee I’ll write about something just because you contacted me, but I’ll do my best for any company or product that I genuinely find helpful or just plain awesome.

Contact me here. Sorry about the form, but I hate spam. I’ll try to respond to all relevant inquiries as soon as I can.