Empty Nest Expat

One of my rules of life is that each day must include discovery. I recently moved into a new flat in Istanbul and decided the morning after ...

Good morning from Sofia, Bulgaria! What a fantastic, comfortable, and easy bus trip that was. There was so much to look at.  It was the firs...

I have to admit that if an American immigrant told me their hardship story about how awful it is to deal with American immigration, my react...

I've safely arrived in Madison and am up early because I can't sleep. Maybe because it's high noon in Prague. Luckily, there...

My dream of living in the Czech Republic came true. It just didn't last. As of Friday, I will no longer have legal status to remain in ...

One year ago I started this blog to help me go through the emotional journey of graduating my youngest child from high school, downsizing a...

I've arrived in Colorado where my mom and sister live. My timing couldn't be better. The aspens are at their peak - it's as if...

I moved out of my home in Illinois before absentee ballots for the presidential election were scheduled to be mailed out. I called to see...

There was this lady in Chicago named Bernadette. Bernadette was a single mum and had her own set of children. She then took in her sister...

Craigslist rocks. Here’s why: the old way of eliminating possessions when one is moving is to select a date for a garage sale, be organized ...

“Once again, I have taken on something impossible: water with grasses undulating on the bottom…. It is wonderful to look at, but maddening t...

This weekend I realized I've already experienced SHEDDING in the work world. I once led a three-year effort to SHED all sorts of practi...

I once took a week-long jazz appreciation class with an older gentleman who celebrated out loud at the start of our class how exciting it wa...

Wow, that got your attention. It’s not what you might think. SHED is Julie Morgenstern’s acronym from her book “When Organizing Isn’t Enou...

When it came to purchasing music, the good ole days weren't better. In my tweens, we purchased "45s", records that contained ...

The number one search term that brings people to my blog are labels on Julie Morgenstern and her book “When Organizing Isn’t Enough.” A lot...

I have fourteen days from today to pack up my home, have a garage sale, and hand it over. I'm told that Europeans don't hold garage...

I need to revise my arrival date for Prague. I had originally planned to leave seven days from today and that is not going to happen becaus...

So what possibly could keep me from my romantic notion of Prague? What stands in the way of me moving and taking up residence in one of the ...