Ah, Istanbul. A city where you're just as likely to get run over by a motorcycle on the sidewalk as you are crossing the street. It was my first trip to Turkey, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I had visions of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express mixed in with a smattering of Midnight Express. And fortunately for me, it was nothing like the latter. The city's soundtrack is a melody of street vendors barking their wares, a constant "lady, lady, lady", mingled in with the blasting of car horns, all punctuated with the haunting, melodic Call to Prayer five times a day. Istanbul is an exciting mix between ancient and modern. Opulent luxury pushed hard against the hustling assault of markets selling spices, handbags, kababs and rugs.
Read MoreLet’s face it, there’s a lot about the Brits that has taken me a while to understand. As a North American, they have left me, at times, scratching my noggin in honest befuddlement.
For instance, why do they love James Corden for Gavin and Stacey but pretty much can't stand him for anything else? Or, their national obsession for room temperature water, football (soccer), organ meats and baked beans. Or, how they’ve claimed curry as traditional British cuisine. Or, or… how their gentle overt politeness, decorum and centuries-old etiquette instantly vanishes as they go all American postal when someone jumps one of their orderly queues. And do not get me going on those horse hair wigs they are mandated to wear in court, even the vegans. But as I spend time hiding amongst them, I have adopted some of their language. No, I am not speaking in a British accent, I am not Madonna or Lindsey Lohan, but I have to give credit where credit is due. Some of the British words I didn't know existed (or barely) I now can't live without. They make up the healthy fabric of my daily conversation, and you know what???? They are bloody brilliant.
Read MoreWhat a year!
I cannot think of a single year in my life when living in London has been so historical. We have had a Prime Minister ousted, brought down by scandal. It was only a few months ago when decorated soldiers marched, gilded horses trotted, and trumpeters blew their horns as I, plus hundreds of thousands of others, surrounded Buckingham Palace to pay tribute to the Queen's 70-year reign. A milestone not reached by any other British monarch.
Read MoreLet's face it, there has been a lot going on recently to turn that occasional resting scowl face of yours into the only face your iPhone recognises to unlock your phone. Sure, there have been crappy days, weeks…even years, friends who overnight become frenemies, or a zit that magically appears the morning of a big date. But I've learned that even through the crappiest of times, there are always things that never fail to make me smile.
So, as a public service to y'all, I am sharing with you my list of things that instantly make me smile. Because we all can benefit from a few more reasons to smile.
15 Things That Should Make You Smile Instantly
Read MoreI was visiting Amsterdam a short time back. A girl's weekend, two friends and I. After a lovely dinner, they wisely decided to call it a night. I, however, ventured out to the city's famous Red Light District…alone.
The canals were electric, alive and glowing from the reflection of the bright neon marquess advertising live sex shows and private dances. The narrow cobblestone streets were lit by red lights casting a glow above the shop windows. That was where the girls were and my real purpose that night.
Some of the girls were more overt, obvious. You know, the ones you'd imagine dressed in black lingerie, heavily contoured cheeks and spiked, shiny boots. A couple had a Britney Spears Oops I've Did It Again feel, with super short pleated kilts and blouses tied high just below their heaving breasts. A few looked more academic, the sexy librarian type with messy up-dos and reading glasses teetering on the edge of their noses. There was even one woman who had to be in her sixties, looking so very, very tired and worn. She stood out from the rest.
Read MoreSex has always been the alleged road to love.
For generations, people have been hooking up at parties, nightclubs, smokey single bars, or discos (depending on just how old you are). A nostalgic, romantic era where poor judgement and too much alcohol made your relationship decisions for you (sigh).
So here we are today, deep in the throes of a new era, the online dating universe ruled by Tinder, Bumble and their near-distant relations. With immediate access to this colossal volume of singles seeking love, sex and relationships, you would think it would have triggered a new epic sexual revolution. One so explosive that we, like farrel rabbits, would be feasting on a 24/7 service of Tinderellas, super-swipers strangers that come delivered right to your door, with the reliability of UberEats.
Well, guess what? We are having less sex! A lot less.
Read MoreIt's a party the likes the world has never seen…and likely will never see again. And whether you are a royal lover or not, it makes absolutely no difference. Because no one can deny the incredible lifelong dedication Queen Elizabeth II has given to her country. Seventy years ago, Princess Elizabeth, at the age of 25, became Queen. For those of you that don't get this significance, let me help you out.
In the history of the British monarchy, and it goes back, well, forever, there has never been a King or Queen sitting on the throne for this extraordinary length of time. To put this into layman's terms, the Queen is still working at her job a whopping thirty years past the age when most people have retired. That, my friends, is service.
Read MoreI am a creature of habit. I tend to favour the same five restaurants in a city with a bazillion, the same brand of jeans with that tiny bit of stretch, even the same buttery Chardonnay. In the world of marketing, I believe they call that brand loyalty. But regardless of my faithfulness, I'm always up for new discoveries, finding new "must have" products that I love and never want to be without again.
And this is what this blog is about…a few of those new discoveries…
Read MoreYou only have to set your feet down on British soil for minutes before you can see it. The differences, the quirks, the idiosyncrasies, the orderly queues in the rain.
And let's face it, that’s what you’ve come for, right? You don’t want to hop on a sleepless, transatlantic flight to London and not to get the full British experience.
Of course, not all differences are understood. As a Canadian, I confuse Brits. I speak like an American, spell like a Brit, and know just enough French words to seriously confuse a nation of people.
So just like I might confuse the Brits, they too have elements of their British persona I have trouble understanding.
So, to save you all a heap load of time (and embarrassment) I have compiled a useful list to spare you my visiting tourist friends from making grave errors with the British vernacular.
Read MoreI like to believe that within each and every one of us we have unique traits that allow us to stand out in a crowd, or at the very least, stop us from blending into a sea of sameness with our Lulu Lemon daywear, Canada Goose jackets, Uggs and beige hair. I’ve often fancied myself to be somewhat of a unicorn, I’ve even got the official I Am A Unicorn T-shirt, for further authentication.
But recently I’ve come to learn (in the most interesting of ways) that I am no unicorn. I am a type— a blonde, light eye, slim(ish), fashion-forward, on the other side of fifty who could be most often seen posing with a cocktail —type.
Now in most circumstances in life, this means nothing. A type? Who cares? What possible interest could this have more than some random stranger mistaking me for Brenda from Bethesda?
But wait.
Here’s where it gets interesting.
Read MoreNow that I have your attention.
Since moving to England, there have been a few cultural adjustments, some societal compromises I needed to make. The most obvious was the weather. It didn't matter what the forecast, there was always, always a chance of rain.
Then, there was the desensitizing to that “C’ word that the Brits like to drop, as frequent as the chance of rain. To put that into some much-needed context, Brits have over a hundred different words or phrases to talk about rain. I’d further like to add 94% of British people admitted to having talked about the weather in the past six hours
And of course, the horror when it’s discovered that not only do I not have a football club (soccer for my North American friends) I support, I actually don't give a shit about the sport.
But the one thing I’ve been able to climb on board with is their quizzes. Now for all those who have never attended a Quiz Night with me, my contribution to the team (other than getting us all into the Soho House) could to summed up with only two categories; 1970’s US Television Theme Songs or Fun Facts about Colin Firth Movies. But somehow I’ve managed to park my humiliation and every month I look forward to it.
This is to say, that my interest in unless trivia (that you would never need to know unless you are at a Quiz Night) has peaked.
So here’s my list of Unusual Facts (or almost facts) I’d like to see on the next Quiz, And not surprisingly, there is not a single footballer mentioned anywhere
Read MoreI guess you could call this the Covid Trifecta, a perfect Covid storm. I am double vaccinated, I have had my booster, and now I have tested positive for Covid. And I, for one, am royally ticked off… not to mention surprised.
I was not one of these fearful people sprinting to get those new vaccines immediately jabbed into my arm. I am not old, vulnerable, or believe that my cause of death will read, rode the Central Line without a mask.
Nor am I an anti-vac conspiracy theorist with too much furloughed time on my hands. Convinced that the Chinese are looking to eradicate the world, the Russians are looking to control our minds, or the microchip tracking device swimming in our vaccinated veins is just waiting for a signal from the Mothership to call us all home.
The world is fearful and distrusting right now. And I, for one, get it.
Fear and distrust of the disease, and fear and distrust of the cure, and I possess neither. That doesn’t mean I am fearless. You only need to sit beside me on a plane to know that or drag me into dodgy-looking Curry House.
Read MoreIt has been called the most wonderful time of the year. Where everything shines, sparkles, and twinkles in anticipation of the jolly old man with his sack full of gifts. But nowhere is that more evident than in London’s most prestigious neighbourhood of Mayfair. Home to Cartier, Louis Vuitton, and countless other luxury brands, galleries, and private clubs, each place seems to try and outdo the others with its lights, decor, and Christmas-inspired imagination. Tourists and locals alike take an evening stroll enjoying some of London’s most Instagram-worthy Christmas displays. So even if we can’t afford what twinkles inside, we can certainly bask in what twinkles outside.
Read MoreI have learned a few things about relationships in my collective rotations around the sun—indicators of what can contribute to crazy-making, incompatible coupling.
As example;
Morning person versus night person
Atheist versus God-fearing
iPhone versus Android
Or even the silent but deadly relationship crusher, boxers versus briefs. Ok, maybe this last one isn't high on the list and can be altered with some well thought out Christmas stocking stuffers. But this, for me, is right up there with swimming trunks versus banana hammocks. And as a North American girl, I do not have to tell you what side of the non-European ledger I fall on that one.
With that, I want to address the elephant in the airport.
Perhaps even save a few of you some unnecessary time sticking it out with the wrong person. This is more than the difference between those who travel with just a carry-on and those who check baggage. Although let's not underestimate that dilemma. I'm talking about those who want, need, require, must have at least a two-hour window at the airport before their flight, and those adrenaline junkies who like sliding into the gate as the pilot turns on the fasten seatbelt sign.
Read MoreI want to share with you my best first date story EVER! As a sexy, (I’m trying to own it) single woman over fifty, this date didn’t end with white picket fences, a Golden Retriever puppy and happily ever after. Hell, there wasn’t even a second date. The reason it was my best first date ever was it gave me an important answer to the question I frequently asked at my mirror, “how the fuck did I get here, and more importantly, who can I blame”?
It changed, in part, how I felt about myself, my age and the silent struggles adhered to the stigma of being a woman over fifty. Or in other words, it reflected a new mature stage in my female existence.
As a woman who came of age in the '80s, I nostalgically pined for the days when copious amounts of alcohol in smokey bars decided my man future.
Thus, I was not immediately lured into this modern online dating thing. Nope, this was not for me, I thought with heavy conviction laced with middle-aged judgement.
Read MoreIt’s been said, once you get past a certain age, and for me, that was fifty, life becomes a little same:same. I had been chugging away at my career for eons, entrenched in a predictable relationship, and booked the same annual holidays spots with the kids in the name of “easy”.
An inevitable boredom seeped in that I just accepted as “age appropriate.”
Truth was, I had stopped growing. I had stopped learning about me…about life… about everything.
But it wasn’t until after a colossal, unpredictable breakup that something extraordinary happened. Not unlike Dorothy’s cyclone, my house, my life…my entire world was lifted up and dropped down hard. I was catapulted out of my comfortable, predictable life and jettisoned into a new, unexplored world.
I was suddenly single…again.
Read MoreI am not a paranoid person by nature. I don’t think everyone is out to get me. I don’t cross the road when I see a gaggle of young men in hoodies and baggy jeans walking towards me. And I don’t stroll with my keys laced between my fingers as I walk through a parking lot.
I am an aware, smart, keen observer of life, or so I believed.
After a fun night of singing and dancing away to Sister Sledge at the Soho House and still humming We Are Family, I arrive back at my flat around midnight to discover I had been burgled. A sick, thick feeling rose from the pit of my stomach that buckled my knees and sucked the oxygen from my lungs. My clothes were scattered across the room, jewellery boxes emptied and lying broken, and drawers were open and overturned.
I stood there breathlessly in this twilight moment, the numb space between reality and disbelief. I had been robbed.
Read MoreWhether you are dining out or baking scones at home, the results are in, and I’m sharing them with you.
World’s best! How many times have we heard this? World’s best coffee, world’s best pizza, and if you live in England…
World’s Best Afternoon Tea.
Few things are more British than a cuppa tea with freshly baked scones with cream and jam.
Read MoreIs there anything more British than a cuppa tea? Henry James said, there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as "afternoon tea". What is it about this magic elixir that seems to make the problems of the day dissolve into the bottom of a teacup...at least temporarily. 165 million cups of tea are drunk everyday in the U.K, so the Brits might be onto something.
Read MoreHow well do you think you know London? Take the quiz. You are 25 questions away from impressing me.
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