And then there's that time of year when we especially remember why Britain isn't Europe

What can I say.. 8 years ago I was introduced to what is the shockingness of Eurovision. It is an annual mockery of a music competition that the Europeans totally take seriously whilst British announcers are dubbed over it in the UK to do one job: take the mickey out of the whole event (that would be mock or make fun of to you Americans)

My first Eurovision experience was to be invited to my British friends houses in Liverpool to dress up in "Pick A European Country " fancy dress (costumes for you Americans) and to participate in the mockery of this weird and quirky competition the Europeans love and the Brits just scratch their heads not quite getting/ are amused by the political judging. All the Balkan countries vote for each other and no one votes for the UK ever.. despite the reputable music industry in the UK for example.

And it makes me think: I have definitely gotten the cooler country to live in on this continent. And reminds me of one more reason why the UK is most definitely not Europe.

Cross racial marriage and adoption

What can I say? Totally for it. If God brought a man into my life who loved Jesus, was humble, was ongoing repenting of sin in his life and was growing in his faith, loved God, loved people and I was attracted to and we had similar visions for life.. would totally marry cross culturally or racially.


Adoption too. If we couldn't have children or maybe something came up where we found a child needed a home who was a different race, would totally consider it. I live cross culturally. I am not ignorant to those issues. I just think with wisdom and care and prayer and education, they could be worked through.


This was not the view of the world I was shocked into learning a few years ago with two very good friends (still good friends! Love you guys!) who had a throw down with me over cross cultural/ racial adoption. I was so confused and shocked how anyone could be against it. This conversation went on for ages in my living room, them baffled at my openness and me baffled at their staunch opposition. 


It then occurred to me that the make ups of our families may have something to do with our world views being so different on the subject (I have no idea what they think of cross cultural marriage I should clarify, it was only adoption we were arguing about). Their families were all white and English... mine is.. well.. the rainbow would be a better description!


I have several adopted cousins. I also have a family on both sides who have no problem with cross cultural marriage and it shows from our family pictures. White, black, various latin countries, various southeast Asian countries, you name it.. we have it. :) And I love it. :) My family being a melting pot of American immigrant ethnicities of various African American and white European backgrounds all mixed in with Mexican, Peruvian, Thai, Philipino, Bolivian, Cherokee, Lebanese and probably ten others.. well just makes me smile. :) If I brought home a white boy from Ohio my parents would probably by shocked. 


Equally so I'd love to have kids one day and if I couldn't... well there are a lot of places in the world where kids need good homes and parents. 


Family pictures in my family are awesome with our hair colours from red to blond to brown to black :) 

Shameless pickup lines

So I have had various amusements with pickup lines all over the world. The worst and funniest were by far in Italy. LA has had some good ones this week. Here's the roster:


Walking with my cousin out of Trader Joe's today had the late 20 something year old manager flirt with both of us, ask where I was from, eye gorgeous Jenny and then ask if he could show us around LA and invited us to come back to Trader Joe's to get him if we wanted to take him up on his offer to go party.

 ??? Interesting place to find a date! uh.. er... 

Salsa dancing would clearly have some winners as it usually does. The men in LA got points for quantity of lines. I had 3 hours of dancing at the pre-congress salsa party and didn't have to ask one person to dance and pretty much never stopped dancing except to hide on the balcony to cool off. During those three hours I heard :

"I had a spark about me and he had to come across the room to meet me because he was dancing with someone, saw me and said 'I have to meet that girl'" He had some other things to say but I can't remember. I laughed. 

"What ethnicity was I? Because my face was gorgeous." (and then the same guy) I commented "it was hot in the room" and he said "no you are." Lol. Oh wow. Oh dear. haha. I did laugh a lot I admit. 

Another ethnicity one and some compliments. I think my face confuses people. Welcome to my multi ethnic family 

The spark guy came BACK to find me and this time.. well you all know these lines don't work on me and I reject all the guys right? I think salsa records so far is Christy 300 guys 1 So his forwardness was getting a bit much so he said again.. "I just had this aura about me and it was amazing." I said: 

"Yeah. That's because I know Jesus and I'm a Christian." 

This did not have the "run away" affect I was hoping it would have on him. 

"WHAT?!?! Jesus!?!? You said the magic word!! Jesus and I's been tight since I was a little boy." He had a lot more to say which told me he didn't seem to know Jesus himself all that well.  

I didn't have the heart to tell him I was pretty sure he wasn't THAT into Jesus if he didn't care if I knew Jesus before he started chatting me up. 

Best one of the night. Just a great dance and the guy handing me his number and asking me to call him if I came back the next day to the congress again. Subtle. Not too pushy. He was cute. I didn't call him but it was a nice effort. :) 

10 Things Americans Do that Drive Brits Crazy

My friend Brittney is an American married to a Brit living in Somerset. A very good friend of mine and a funny blogger who has lived in the UK a bit too long. Here is her take on how us yankees can drive Brits mad. Us more means "you Yankees" because people like Brit and I can agree with a significant amount of these after living here too long.. :)

http://lifeofanexpatparent.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/10-things-americans-do-that-drive-brits-crazy/

A bit of sunshine

As much as I travel for work I don't seem to fit in actual holidays very much which is why this week has been very nice. I came out to the other coast (my first and last view of this ocean was from South Korea) to see some cousins and good friends from university. It has been niiiice! 

A bit of sun with the cousin I call sister. :) She wouldn't get in the water. But after six months of swims and dips in the North Sea last year I was tough enough for the cool Pacific. 

 Love the colour of bright pink flowers on a bright blue sky! 

The amazing Kim. Good friend, musician, listener and we once rode Eastern European trains for a summer together. Lots of fun tales from that one.. 

Itty bity tea glass. :) I say yes to Korean medicinal tea with flowers in it. :) 

However I would not want to live here for this. I will take my British city and it's low traffic issues any day over this! 

More cousins time. It has been gooood! 

Be careful little eyes what you see...

Do you remember that little kids song? Be careful little eyes what you see.. with verses that say be careful little hands what you touch and little ears what you hear and be careful little feet where you go? 


I saw this article and it made me think of that song. My cousin is a lawyer and neither him nor his wife are on facebook because they want to safeguard their marriage from something he sees all the time at work.. the amount of divorces where the affair started on Facebook. But really, to probe deeper, affairs start earlier than that. They start in the heart and the thought life. It makes me think how do I be careful to guard peoples marriages in the world of the net and how do I guard my own someday?


What are you doing to learn to practice faithfulness or sow the seeds for infidelity? 

Does Facebook Wreck Marriages?

Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action; reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character reap a destiny"

The professional traveler

I have been on 13 planes in the last 5 months. Hence, I have learnt how to pack and how to travel in a fairly compact way. I can pack for weeks in a short amount of time. My holiday to see some family and friends this week left me thinking that I'd show you some of my packing tips. 

Every girl needs a pair of red heels. I love mine. They were cheap... maybe 15 pounds from Zara years ago :) But still look cool. I decided on this trip I'd wear mine through the airport just so I didn't feel like a scruff since I was traveling during the day. If it was an evening flight, I'd wear trainers. Shoes you can slip on and off quickly for the security checks are a must. Also wearing socks is a must since you need to walk through the security check shoeless. 

Heels may kill you though walking through three airports in a cross country series of flights, so packing flip flops just in case you need a comfy flat shoe halfway through the trip is a nice back up and fits into a rucksack easily and takes up little space. I like my reefs. Also mandatory is my yoga pants or some sorta sweats, and change of underwear in case your checked in suitcase doesn't show up and you need pjs or clothes to wear the next day or you just get sick of jeans and wanna be a bit more comfy in traveling later. I choose a rucksack/backpack to travel with because the even distribution of weight with the double straps instead of one hanging off a shoulder make for a less sore back at the end of all my travel. (though not by much cause the plane always kills it!) A book is a must, my read this trip is Finally Alive by John Piper. Lastly in this bag.. the macbook. Love my mac. Can't leave home without it. 

This is the bonus bag. You don't really wanna walk around your destination city with a backpack so switching to a smaller handbag when you get there is good. I shove this in my backpack and I actually traveled into the airport and went through security check in with it and all it's contents in my rucksack for simplicity and only one bags' worth of junk. But pull it out once I get on my first plane to pull out a few simple necessities I need on the plane so I can stow the rucksack in the bin on top and just have what I'll want for that flight. Usually I have my bible, journal, and the book, and above.. my plane tickets, water bottle (wait to fill it up at a water fountain once you are through security because they will never let you have water at the security and I have been made to drink the entire bottle in one go or have to give them the bottle at times when I have gone with liquid in it) and lastly.. my special travel secret.. my scruffy slippers! :) Getting on the plane and changing shoes to slippers makes travel all the nicer. :)