Erin's Life Bites
3 Ways Being An Expat Is Like Being 15 Again

3 Ways Being An Expat Is Like Being 15 Again

It’s been almost four years since I moved over to Glasgow from America, which is cah-ray-zee.  Living in a new country is exciting and terrifying at the same time.  Being an expat has its ups and downs as well.  I moved to Scotland for love, and there’s plenty of that in my life, but I still have many days when I wonder if I’ll ever really feel at home over here. It’s the little things that make being an expat so tough.  Like, you know, everyday things that you learn to take for granted as part of your life that are missed once you are without them.  The other day I got to thinking after having to add 90 minutes to my travels  — because I had missed the train I needed by one fucking minute — that being an expat is pretty much like being 15 years old again. I don’t know how being 15 worked out for you, but I’d have to say, without ANY hesitation, that my version of 15 sucked pretty hard. Am I dramatic?  Of course, I am.  That’s what I sometimes do, though.  It’s how I cope.  So, you might be wondering specifically in… View Post
Try This At-home CrossFit ‘WOD’ Workout

Try This At-home CrossFit ‘WOD’ Workout

There is no denying that one of the most popular fitness trends these days is CrossFit. CrossFit is a workout designed to use functional movements (real-world situational biomechanics) that encompass principals from sports such as rowing, running, gymnastics and more. Just a little background on the CrossFit brand; It was created by Founder and CEO Greg Glassman over several decades and is explicitly designed to improve fitness and health. The workouts are designed to challenge different parts of your strength and condition level to improve your overall level of physical fitness. Traditional CrossFit workouts have names like Cindy, Barbara, and Nancy also referred to as “benchmark workouts.” What I love the most about CF-style workouts is that they are varied and scalable to help anybody get into the best shape of their life. I never get bored of finding out what the WOD (workout of the day) challenge will be! But, not everybody has the luxury of getting into a CrossFit centre or gym to get in a workout, and that’s okay, you can still challenge yourself and fit in this style of fitness right in the comfort of your home (or backyard if you’re so lucky to have one!).… View Post
Three Things I Learned About Myself After I Quit Drinking

Three Things I Learned About Myself After I Quit Drinking

Strength of mind rests in sobriety;  for this keeps your reason unclouded by passion. -Pythagoras I love that quote.  The reason I love it so much is the bit about reasoning clouded by passion. I believe that passion and passionate people can struggle with logic and reasoning; I put my hands up entirely and say I am a super emotional person and this is why I believe in the struggle. I know that passion clouded the way that I thought and made sense of the world around me and I attribute a lot of this to the fact that I used to drink at times when I needed to be clear-headed the most. For the majority of my adult life, having a drink was synonymous with relaxation, de-stressing, celebrating, mourning, fighting, socialising and the list goes on. If you see a theme in that laundry list of things I associated the reasons to drink with you can probably gather that I drank for a number of reasons and most of them were the for the wrong ones. And to be clear, I have known my entire life the perils of drinking as my mother continuously reminded me that my grandfather… View Post