Raising Global Nomads

I was panting away on an exercise bike the other day reading an article in Glamour with Victoria Beckham . No, I don't mean Vicky was pedaling away beside me, she was actually in Glamour talking about her kids.

She was like "Me and Becks are so proud of being British but the kids are American. They're always telling us 'oh you're so British.'"

And my jaw literally hit the floor!

I mean God, yes, of course this resonated with me. Vicky and I are both global nomads, raising our children in foreign lands and doing our best not to culturally confuse them. But the difference is I don't think my kids feel American, so that's where me and Vicks differ.

Not a lot of people know this and I don't like to brag, but Vicky and I go waaay back and even went to tap dancing classes together* before she became famous, moved to LA and basically wouldn't return my calls.

It's a shame that we lost touch as the parallels in our lives are simply staggering:

Vicky creates clothes for her fashion line, while I create crocheted rabbits

Vicky is a size 0 and I was once a size 0 (okay I was nine years old at the time)

Vicky has a blog and I have a blog

Vicky is married to a man with a high pitched Minnie Mouse voice, and ....my husband once sucked on helium and did a funny voice.

Sorry. Where was I?

I was going to talk about whether I think my kids (born in USA) are hopelessly confused about their cultural identity or not.

Well unlike Vicky I actually have relatives - or rather my husband does - in the USA so we celebrate all the holidays just like Americans. So that's that cultural box ticked off. Vicky probably has to have her Thanksgiving catered and that's just not the same.

One other thing - my kids don't see themselves as British, American or Irish (husband is Irish) they just see themselves as a 'bit of everything.' Also they only have a slight American accent which is somewhat odd but there you are.

The other thing to note is - and here's a tip for Vicky - maybe you need to employ a cultural translator for the family as I had problems initially in getting my kids to understand what I was on about.

For example when I first told my daughter to 'put a sock in it' she got a sock and said, 'okay mum where do I put it?'

It was hard for the kids to understand that when I said, 'stop farting around' or 'stop pricking about' I wasn't really talking about farting or pricking.

But as I explained the intricacies of English slang to my progeny I found they ultimately embraced many of my phrases while acknowledging that stuff like 'now you're as clean as a whistle' didn't make any logical sense.

So, there you have it. I feel that Vicky and I have now branched off into difference directions: her kids are American while mine are hybrids, but I still respect her and would gladly model something off her clothing line on this blog as long as it had an elasticated waist.

But enough about Posh. What about you? If you are bringing up kids abroad do you think they are culturally confused or do you think it is broadening their horizons?

*This is a bald faced lie

Linked to the My Global Life Link-Up at SmallPlanetStudio.com

My Best Book About Me

Damn those crafty Swedes! First they introduced us to the piquant pleasures of pickled herrings, then supergroup Abba made us pull on our flares and sing Fernando, and then budget furniture store IKEA got in on the action and soon a flat pack frenzy was spreading the globe. Now those fab Swedes have done it again with Swedish publishers Fill and Tell getting in on the action with a refreshingly modern take on the keepsake book of memories for your baby. This amazing book is filled with adorable illustrations that your child will love, and has plenty of pages for recording all those precious first memories.

Yes, My Best Book About Me is quite seriously the cutest baby book I have ever seen. The pages are thick and it has a lovely handcrafted feel about it. The book was originally written in Swedish but has now been translated into English. Hurrah! I'm sure if the rumours are true that Kate Middleton will already have snapped up one of these stylish books for her royal embryo.

The headings for bits to be filled in cracked me up too, such as “Mummy put on ___ pounds when expecting me and Daddy put on ___ pounds”, and “Music that made me dance…” as well as “When I reached the terrible twos we mostly argued about…”

Take it from me, this is a must have for all your pregnant friends. So pick up a copy today! And US customers can order the book from huset-shop.com too.

Spend a Night In With the Kids

It's a modern fact of life that working parents often find it hard to squish in quality time with their kids, even at weekends. For the kids themselves, the week is chock a block with classes, games and homework, while parents find themselves juggling long commutes and mundane tasks, both in and out of the office. Late evenings are the ideal time to catch up with our kids, by watching a fun movie together, playing a board game or even better, rustling up a yummy dinner together.

It's less hassle than you might think to invite your kids to help make a great evening meal by encouraging them to try their hand at a few essential but relatively harmless tasks. It may at first be quite tough to deal with their childish enthusiasm in trying to learn everything at once or their offers to help with the difficult tasks. If there are many kids in the family, then there could be real trouble on hand. Parents should work out an amicable schedule or delegate the tasks, so that each child gets to enjoy their time in the kitchen.

Encouraging children to help out with cooking and cleaning enables them to understand and appreciate the value and the goodness of homemade food, and to realise that home cooked food is as interesting and tasty as that from a restaurant. The experience also allows them to use kitchen tools safely and confidently, and learn how to prepare food for themselves and others.

Children can experiment with several simple recipes to cater to their tastes, while at the same time helping their parents to prepare a special dinner. Tempting meals usually contain a decent dose of butter and cream, making the meal really sumptuous. Dinners are no exception. Experimenting with a cheese and onion pie with a dash of Anchor butter, and Anchor dairy real cream or pepperoni pizza served with cream dips and a delicious dessert of Banana bread is a great way to spend an evening with the kids, getting them both to help prepare these recipes and relish them as well!

Right mommies, fancy a cuppa?

Time to bung that unending to-do list, diapers and crockery! Time for your exclusive day out! Let’s not get too chuffed to bits my love. We mommies can’t really have a wholesale day to ourselves now, can we? So let’s see how we can fit bits and bobs of your ‘me-time’ into our busy day without harbouring a slacker.

Cook up a storm with a power packed energizing brekkie which will keep you up and about geared for the day to come. A sprinkle of flaxseeds in your cereal blesses you with your share of essential Omega-3 acids. Wash out all negative thoughts and welcome everything that’s positive including words and thoughts! Banish words like stressful, knackered, and difficult from your personal dictionary. Make way for mentally stimulating time with the children by singing along with them, even if it’s just a ‘The grand old duke of York’ or ‘Peter Hammer,’ you’ll be surprised by how wonderful this experience can be. Stock the light flowery air conditioner to suit and relax you. Fragrance can refresh and relax you giving you that spa aromatherapy effect. Have a chin wag with a lady as you pick up the laundry. A little talk and bonding is extremely vital. Engage in a small mental escape with a little dreaming at midday. Make tea time an auspicious celebration. Out with your best Royal Doulton teapot with your double cream & jam scones with chocolate chip muffins on your flowery cake stand. A good old cuppa will relax you and help you rise high above the day. Get down and dirty playing and jumping like a kid with your kids in the garden. Do not leave any muscle uncorked.

And while the lovely day turns to dawn, have a butcher online at some fabulous Bingo games (Big Brother Bingo is a great place to start playing and getting free cash and gift certificates), for excitement, fun, friendship and strike gold with some big wins. It’s the Mutt’s Nuts I say!

So don’t wait for Christmas! Chivvy along and make hay while the sun still shines!

Why Publish Your Book via Kindle?

I have never really understood the attitude of unpublished authors who receive many rejections for their manuscripts and blame publishers for not wanting to take a risk by publishing their novel. I don't think publishers are evil, they simply have to put their money where their mouth is. If they publish your novel, they have to invest a certain amount to have it edited, produced, promoted and driven to various bookshops. That means they are very picky about what they publish, albeit not in a way that makes sense to the lay person. Sometimes their most hyped up book might sink, and sometimes it might swim, and sometimes it all goes pearshaped and the publisher goes bankrupt.

But don't blame the publisher for not wanting to take a risk on you. Get out there and do it yourself! Is there any more wonderful invention than the Kindle for the adventurous author who wants to get her book out there? Publish your book as a Kindle and it costs practically nothing, so you're not exactly plundering your retirement fund to get it into print.

Remember the dark days of self publishing, when you had to order several thousand copies of your book, which went moldy in your garage and no one bought off you, not even your gran? And if you ever saw them in a public place it was in the local dog pound lining the kennels? The other problem, apart from wasting your money, was you never got back any feedback on your book.

But now if you Kindle your book, you get readers without even really trying. Additionally, on the days you give it away free you will have about 10,000 people reading it. The down- or upside to all this is you will get a lot of feedback on your book because many people are reading it. For a fully paid up narcissist like myself, this kind of feedback is like manna from heaven.

When I published my novel Confessions of a Cake Addict as a Kindle, I was soon inundated with people telling me what they thought of it.

Some of it good like this:

"The title of Confessions of a Cake Addict was the first thing that struck me about the book. It instantly made me smile as I completely empathised with Kate, the protagonist, as I am a self-confessed chocaholic. Kate is the quintessential geeky girl with a great big heart. There were so many times during the book that I just wanted to hug her. We've all been where Kate finds herself in life; single, chubby and just a little bit lonely."

or this:

"This such a riot of a read! Grab this book and cozy up on the couch in the sunroom and just read! I found myself just laughing like silly. It's funny, improbable, but it's not exactly the fluff I was expecting. There is something very smartalecky about this that I really enjoyed."

While others said the book was fluff, but not in a good way, like Laila454:

"This was just total fluff. I expected more from but all I got was a quick beach read."

Well, I'm sorry Laila454 if you thought a book with a pink cover and a cake on it was going to be an indepth exploration of alienation and loss, possibly told from the point of view of a Husky dog Tinker who climbed up Mount Everest with his trusty owner, octogenarian, Mable Smithers. In the course of which, Mable loses her toes to frostbite, Tinker loses his tail to a rabid wolf and they hobble to the bottom of the Mount only to be gunned down by an assasin with cataracts.

No seriously, Laila454, I don't mind what you think as long as you're saying it!

So, if you're thinking of Kindling your book, just go for it!! Fifty Shades of Grey may well owe part of its success to it being available via Kindle so that horny mums can read it on the sidelines of their daughter's soccer games without anyone being the wiser.

Also another book that's selling well in Kindle and paperback is The Life and Death of an Unknown Celebrity by Darren Cockle. It's a tale of how Darren coped with life after his wife died of breast cancer and it's raw, moving, honest, funny and uplifting. 

So if you're feeling brave, I urge you to put your book out on the Kindle. I guarantee you won't regret it!!

One Drop Uses Poker to Improve Lives

Poker on TV is a fad that I have never really gotten into to. I've tried to watch the programs on TV, but it is hard to relate to those who regularly put up $10,000 at a time in the hopes for winning big money. However, there is an event that will be coming up that I may take the time to watch called The Big One for One Drop.


The Big One for One Drop is a charity poker event that was held earlier this month at the World Series of Poker. It was the first event ever to cost players $1 Million to event. I know, some of you wonder why I would watch this after talking about live and online casino players putting up just $10,000 in an event, but this event was a bit different because it largely supported an important charity.


The Big One Drop is tournament that was the brainchild of Cirque De Soleil founder Guy Laliberte and the event supports One Drop, an organization that helps to provide clean water to developing nations. Water is our lifeblood and having clean water is key for proper growth and development.


The $1 Million tournament I mentioned was important in that out of every $1 Million, 11.11 percent was taken out for One Drop. A total of 48 players entered the event which meant that over $5.3 Million was raised for this wonderful organization. Several players also pledged a portion of their winnings to One Drop.


In addition, the company spent a lot of time and effort in educating players not just in the event but also at the WSOP about their cause. From what little research I have done since hearing about this event, I have discovered just how generous that poker players are and have learned that they are not as ego-driven and money-obsessed as I once thought.


When ESPN plays the final table for this event, I will be among those watching. It will not be to pick up any casino strategy or to obsess over the money being thrown around, but rather I will be watching to support a event that will ultimate impact countless lives.

Pig Tales - The Adventures of Two Talking Guinea Pigs

Part 1 - Adventures in Real Estate....in which darstardly guinea pigs Peanut and Marshmallow have a ding dong about which house they want to get their mitts on

They were rather less chuffed with the garden:




This post is part of the Digital Parents Blog Carnival:

Finding My Water Wings

I have recently become a water aerobics fanatic. I go to a gym that has a somewhat volatile air conditioning and heating system. So I was either freezing like a popsicle or burning up like a sausage on a barbie in the regular exercise classes ...or maybe those were just early hot flashes! Whatever. I knew something had to give. I had seen the water aerobics class and wanted a slice of styrofoam dumbell action. The time was right to discover my inner dolphin. So I just dived in.

There are so many positives. Firstly I am the youngest person in the group by twenty years. Secondly I am the fittest person in the class simply because I am young. So if I simply do the moves twice as fast as the seniors I feel insanely superfit like I'm Jillian Michaels or summat.

If you want to feel superfit it is quite simple. Use psychological tricks on yourself. Make sure you're the hottest looking chick in the exercise class. If this means signing up for yoga for seniors or water aerobics -just do it!

The other thing is that no one in the class is in a hurry to get anywhere. Sometimes I'm in the water for three hours getting as pickled as a prune while we all chat about holidays, grandchildren, or what kind of soil suits what kind of plant. In the case of the men there does seem to be some very vague flirting going on. One gent asked me if I was a university student. Bless him. Maybe he does have cataracts but he made my day.

Am I selling this to you yet?

One wierd thing has been puzzling me though. Yesterday I was doing my water moves to Chuck Berry when we all noticed this guy who was about thirty. He was sitting in a lounge chair tapping away on his laptop. He was wearing a blue outfit that could have been medical scrubs, or the uniform of god only knows what. No one knew how he had smuggled in the beach lounger.

Sorta like this but indoors wearing medical scrubs. WTF?

Okay so he could have been using the free Wifi that the gym offers. But why in the name of God was he relaxing in a pose like he was on the beach cheek by jowl beside an indoor pool full of gyrating seniors and one pseudo-senior (moi). The mind boggles. We found out from the lifeguards that this guy was not working for the gym. One of the more outgoing pensioners swam up to him and asked, "Are you a spy?" But he ignored her.

What do you think was going on? Several theories spring to mind but let's keep this clean.

I just hope to God he wasn't filming and I don't end up on youtube .....

When Good Brains Go Bad

I found it strangely endearing to hear that the megamillionairess, eater of wheatgrass and fashion designer Victoria Beckham drove her son to school this week without remembering to put him in the car. I reckon Posh was sleep-deprived when she started to drive her son Brooklyn to school and got halfway there before realizing he was, you know, actually in the car.

"I jumped in my Range Rover, put the car seat in, put my iPod on and drove to school. And then I realised I'd left Brooklyn in the kitchen! I was driving along, talking away, and all of a sudden, I looked down at the seat, and I was like: "Shit! Shit! I've forgot something,'" she said. "Harper was in the car, I was in the car, and we were on the way to school – but we did not have the child who needed to go to school. I got down the road, and literally had to turn and drive straight back."

It's not that big a deal because Brooklyn is 13, but I did feel better knowing Posh had her moments of weakness albeit not as a food fiend like moi - no doubt she would be able to withstand truffling down a raspberry pavlova if it were shoved under her nose, but still.

Now, I must say I never actually left a kid at home by accident and drove off into the wide blue yonder so I'll give myself a pat on the back for that. I did though have a moment of senility fairly recently at 3pm when I had a headache and decided to take a Tylenol but instead took a Tylenol PM by mistake. I told the kids "I'll be fine, I can still drive you to Brownies." Moments later I was asleep. Happens to everyone, right?

Indeed it is most unfortunate that I do seem to be suffering more and more from Mummy Jelly Brain and while Posh might be forgiven because she still has a baby that wakes her at night my suffering from Mummy Jelly Brain is a tad more worrying since it is nine years after I last pushed a metaphorical watermelon through the eye of a needle.

You know what I mean about going Jelly Brained? I sometimes find myself:

- using shampoo on my face and putting face lotion in my hair.

- putting conditioner on my hair, rinsing it out, then wondering whether I put conditioner on my hair in the first place and putting more on.

- waking up not knowing what day of the week or even month it is.

- walking into a room looking for something and then not remembering what the hell I went in for.

- Drawing blanks on the names of mums at the school gates who I have known as acquaintances for five years - or their kids' names WTF?

The list goes on. Do you suffer from Mummy Jelly Brain? What are your finest moments?

Spice Up Your Road Trip

You never forget where you were the first time you heard those immortal lyrics:

I really really really want to Zig a Zig Ahhhh....

Do you?

Admittedly I was a bit long in the tooth to be a Spice Girl as when they launched I was in my mid twenties and a little old to wear micro mini skirts, 7 inch platform boots and wear my hair in bunches, but I do remember being at a club and hearing that song for the first time and being blown away by the youthful infectious energy behind it.

The reason I mention the Spice Girls is that my girls (age 8 and 11) are obsessed with the film Spice World. They run around the house screaming in Cockney 'Spice up your Liiiiiifffffe!' and 'Girl Power!'

But they do have a few bones about the outfits. They say if they were the Spice Girl managers they would have dressed them all the same as Posh is the only one who always looks good and the rest sometimes look like a dog's dinner, especially poor Sporty who really gets the worst outfits, mostly swaddled in dayglo baggy shell suits.

My girls were all set to be the new Spice Girls but I'm afraid I burst their bubble by explaining that no, the Spice Girls were not all sexy schoolgirls who made up the song Wannabe in their lunchbreak before being head hunted by a major record label. That in fact they can't write lyrics for toffee and probably had to jump through more hoops than a circus monkey to audition to join the Spice Five.

I must admit I did watch a bit of the movie and was, well amazed at the amount of energy those young people expelled. It was like watching a bunch of kittens in a sack. They did not stop moving or yacking.



All aboard the Spice Bus


It reminded me of some painful road trips I have taken with my kids. Even if you take the DS, the laptop to play DVDs, the books on tape about wierd subjects etc etc. Sooner or later someone will spill juice on the laptop, the DS will run out of juice and someone will start crying that they are bored. So what better way to spice up your road trip this summer than with a free download - yes I said free - from those lovely people at Netflights who are offering a downloadable puzzle pack to keep the little scamps busy at the back of the car this summer.

I am pretty sure if the Spice Girls had had such a puzzle pack at their disposal they would not have leapt from the tour bus and hyjacked a boat and almost drowned!

So go on, grab a Kids Summer Holiday Puzzle Pack today! No need to thank me.

So....What are your PG rated memories of the Spice Girls? And where were you when you first heard Zigazig Ah?

Thankful Thursday: Candy Haiku

Today I will mostly be trying to compose a haiku:

Thanks to the Easter Bunny

Who made this week

So very scrummy



I bit the heads off a dozen peeps
Murdered six rabbits
Licked the life out of

Fourteen bubble gum
Flavored lollipops
And a licorice bear

Now I would like
For all the woodland
Animals

To creep through my window
And eat the rest of my candy
Stash

Before my stomach explodes
Showering shards of sugar
Over the neighborhood

So come on squirrels
And non-rabid raccoons
I need you to

Scoff the rest of
My stash before
I turn into a sugar mama

What do you think of my Candy Haiku? And what are you thankful for? Link Up!

This is a link up to:

Black Tag Diaries
Kate Says Stuff
Brown Eyed Bell

Confessions of a Cake Addict

Cakeaholic Kate Pickles is feeling the weight but when she falls hopelessly in love with a sexy Austrian she is caught in a Viennese Whirl

Hurrah! My novel Confessions of a Cake Addict is now available in paperback and Kindle! So do me a favor and buy it. And leave a review on Amazon if it tickles your Fondant Fancy!

STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH:

MORE BLURB:

Londoner Kate Pickles has hit rock bottom. She's funny, kind, and talented but totally unaware about all the great things she has going for her. Day in and day out, she sits back and whines to her sister Laurie in Sydney, Australia, as her boss walks all over her and her best friend Eva bags the hot guys while Kate ends up dating whack jobs and comfort eating cake. Pouring out her heart to Laurie in a series of letters and emails, Kate longs for her sister to confirm she really is the loser in love she fears she is. Abruptly, Kate's life is turned upside down when, on a trip to Vienna with her glamorous pal, Eva, Kate falls for a sexy Austrian and gets sucked into making a Bollywood film a bit like this one:

CHARACTERS:

The story unfolds in a series of letters and emails between overweight, insecure Gherkin (Kate) who lives in London, is tortured by her boss The Haddock at the advertising agency she works at and whose life has generally hit the skids since she split up with her long term boyfriend and has started dating a string of losers. Whenever things go wrong she muffles her feelings with cake. Her sister Egg (Laurie) lives a perfect life in Sydney, Australia, is happily married and has two perfect, high achieving kids. However, the kids do leave her frazzled so she enjoys dipping into Kate's messy life and living vicariously through her romantic disasters but can't resist giving her dollops of sisterly advice. Laurie pulls no punches when commenting on Kate's bad life choices and echoes the reader's sentiments that zany, kooky Kate really needs to get a life.

Laurie is a refreshing burst of reality, cutting through Kate's delusions and encouraging her to lose weight and go for it with Count Alex von Pappenberg when she's scared to be vulnerable. Alex von Pappenberg, is a handsome but sensitive Austrian Count who is similarly disillusioned with life and love as Kate and lying low in the Austrian sticks in his Schloss. Like Kate he is stuck in life - his once successful vineyard has gone bankrupt and he's too unmotivated to start it up again. When Kate arrives at his Schloss as part of the entourage making a Bollywood movie Alex is determined to win her love but scared to make a move himself. Readers will enjoy seeing two insecure people grow to the point where they can take a chance on finding love again and facing the challenges of the future together!

IDEAL READER:

If you enjoy stories about hot holiday romances you'll enjoy this. It's aimed at women aged about 20-40 who are adventurous and full of fun who are tired of romance 'bodice-rippers' with their formulaic plots and unrealistic heros. If you're looking to be entertained by a romantic comedy that's chock full of quirky characters and hilarious situations then you'll love Confessions of a Cake Addict! People who like authors like Marian Keyes, Sophie Kinsella, Jenny Colgan Lisa Jewell will find this 'just their cup of tea' and a cake to go with it.

Review by Alice Castle, Author of Hot Chocolate (4 Stars):

I've long been a fan of Emma Kaufmann's blog, Mommy Has a Headache, so was very much looking forward to reading her novel, Confessions of a Cake Addict. It didn't disappoint. I loved the immediacy of the epistolatory format between the accident-prone heroine, Kate Pickles, and her sensible, grown-up sister, always ready to shower Kate with advice which proves all too easy to ignore. Kate's relationship with her best friend and flatmate seemed very real, with occasional flashes of jealousy, envy and loneliness against a background of deep affection. The two, of course, are chalk and cheese. In many ways, Emma has followed the successful pattern of chicklit formula but has added her own characteristic dashes of quirky humour and atmosphere. I loved the sudden injection of Bollywood into the scenes in Vienna, for instance, and the faded glamour of the Austrian castle owned by our hero. The central love affair is nurtured like a delicate bloom and we are rooting for Kate at the end. A great fun read which will make you want to have your cake and eat it too.

Check out more juicy info about the book over at Shelfari!

If Guinea Pigs Could Tweet

This is a fab new idea for a meme from Slummy Single Mummy.

You can read all about it by clicking on the badge but the bottom line is we’re going to attempt to summarise our week in seven tweets. They can be tweets you actually sent or just a 140 character summary that you write in retrospect. Can’t be that hard, right?

Now, it's not often that something bites me in the bum and inspires me but this idea lit a flame under my tush. I have to say I don't want to give you my own week of tweets as nothing much happened apart from me having a blocked toilet, but what about tweeting as the Queen, Kate Middleton or Graham Norton? The sky is literally the limit! So whose weekly tweets to try? Obvious really. I have adored my kids' guinea pigs for six months now. So why not ask one of them - the Alpha Female Marshmallow - to give me her week in tweets?

Genius!

So here we go, I give you Marshmallow - superstar extrordinaire - putting paw to keyboard to give you her tweets. She is forced to share a cage with her brown colored pal Peanut. I hope this week in tweets will show, once and for all, that guinea pigs have a lot going on between their ears.

Hi, Marshmallow speaking

My nemesis - Peanut - don't be fooled by the innocent face

Marshmallow's Week in Tweets

Monday - Peanut has been farting uncontrollably all day. I told her she had a mung bean intolerance but she doesn't listen. Made her sleep in the other hut

Tuesday - We were let out of the cage today and Peanut chewed through some electric wires and then looked innocent & blamed it on me. I got shouted at!

Wednesday - Decided enough is enough. Buried Peanut in bedding and didn't answer when she wittered on about whether we'd be getting hay cookies today or just plain old guinea pig food

Thursday - No more Mr Nice Guy. I was having a nap while we were fed and Peanut ate all the strawberries and peed excessively on every surface. This is war.

Friday - Peanut is molting all over the place. At this rate I will be able to spin wool out of her fur and knit a hat with ear flaps out of it

Saturday - Peanut taken out to have her nails clipped. She came back looking depressed but I told her one has to suffer for beauty. She farted in reply

Sunday - Peed on Peanut's food dish to show her once and for all that I'm King Pig around here.

Now, next step, Marshmallow would really love it if you joined in. If you do fancy taking part, grab the badge and start writing.
What have you been doing this week? Give me your week in tweets (or your daughter's, pet's or famous pal's) Please leave your link below! Marshmallow and I promise to read them all.

I'm not a tourist, I live here

It is a funny old life, being an expat. I suppose when you tell people you are an expat it gives the impression that you have chosen a life of fun, excitement and adventure by choosing to wear the expat hat, when in some (namely my own) cases you were simply offered an opportunity to leave your country of birth and hopefully ended up somewhere better. I came to Baltimore, USA eleven years ago without much of a clue as to where I was moving to. The locals told me 'Baltimore grows on you' which sounded much like an unwanted wart on the sole of my foot! But I have to say I did grow to love Baltimore more with every passing year. It has a real community feel to it and pretentious people are thankfully few and far between. In fact, I was reading through the The Expat Explorer survey (The largest survey of its kind. In 2011 over 3000 expats answered questions relating to their finances, quality of life and even what it's like to raise children abroad) and must say it's a really fascinating read.

It has a neat little function where you can compare and contrast two countries to see which one is the better deal. I typed in the UK and the US and you can see the results here. It did feel great to find out that in most ways I was doing better in the USA. I also have still not gotten over the fact that people here say 'has anyone ever told you you look like Kate Winslet?' The answer is 'No, well no one outside the USA.' The Americans here hold the Brits in high esteem are always gushing about my 'cute British accent.' I don't want to burst their bubble by saying, 'Yeah I am pretty unique, there are only about 60 million of us back home!' What I'm saying is if you become an expat you become a somewhat unique person in your host country especially in a smaller place like Baltimore where I have only met maybe 30 other Brits.

But what about the rest of the expat world? If you are an expat check out the survey and see how your new country compares to your old and if it is doing better then give yourself  a slap on the back.

And remember, if you are a bored expat sitting by the pool idly fiddling with your iPad that our fabulous book Cocktails at Naptime - A Woefully Inadequate Guide To Early Motherhood by Gillian Martin and Emma Kaufmann is now available for download worldwide. It can be downloaded to an Apple device such as an iPad or iPhone at the ibookstore here.

The book is a laugh out loud guide to the first year after birth and is the funniest book about childbirth since the New Testament. So what are you waiting for? Download it now! And if you want to know how two authors wrote a book in cyberspace go here.

The Geography of Style

The divine Bourbon and Pearls has got me thinking about the connection between geography and style. If like me, you are an expat, do you find that when you moved to your new country you took on the fashion mantle of your new home? I must say I did!

I do feel a bit like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz since getting to sun drenched Baltimore many a moon ago. I have stepped from black and white into technicolour although thankfully I have yet to encounter any flying monkies.

My UK look except less Maria Rinaldi more M&S (posed by model obviously)!!

When I lived in London I dressed in dreary black, grey, off-white, eggshell, navy, sludge, taupe, with a touch of dark red. I also covered my body up a lot with layers of wool and thermal undergarments. That is mainly because it is freezing in England for much of the time.

Emma's US signature look: Hot Pink and bare to dare skirts

Eleven years on my wardrobe screams with clashing shades of hot pink, black, white, light blue, light green, and is peppered with short skirts, shorts, barely there t-shirts and flimsy linen blouses. That is because it is mostly very hot here.

I don't really emulate Baltimore style because I don't think much of it. It is preppy and boring and when taken to extremes can look just plain hideous:

I think New Yorkers are more stylish but there is not much individuality there alas. On a trip to Manhattan in February every single woman was wearing black leggings, knee length boots and a black long anorak coat. It looked hot though and I snapped up a dozen pairs of black leggings and some flat boots!

The New York look that is somehow insanely hot

What about you? How has your signature style changed since you moved to hotter or colder climes? And do add pics if you have them!

Also do check out my fabulous new interview over at Blog Expat where I dish about ex-pat life warts and all: