ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 611

Posted on May 7, 2015 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Desperate Housewife-y stuff

As I am writing this blog there is a chap outside cutting my grass and pruning my bushes. Our landlord sorts this out for us, and I am thinking of having serious words with this landlord because the chaps who come and do this are NOTHING like the gardener in the Desperate Housewives series, and I truly think I am being diddled with this whole experience 😉

This is what I signed up for 🙂

British chocolate from Chocolate Mailbox

Anyway, to keep me from my Desperate Housewife sorrows, I’ve been indulging in REAL chocolate on a daily basis, and by that I naturally mean Cadbury’s chocolate. I got a lovely little package (addressed to the UK Desperate Housewife USA!) through from delightfully-cheeky-in-a-British-way company Chocolate Mailbox.

Oooh this!

I got the ‘Cadbury’s Collection’ box, and let me tell you, there are some old delights in there! Double Decker! What? I haven’t had one of them since 1989 when I used to be allowed into town on a Wednesday afternoon from boarding school to get one of them and my Smash Hits magazine. Love it!

My son has not yet discovered these delights, which are being kept in the big ole American fridge way up top out of reach of him because it’s baking blimmin’ hot at the mo! So I scoffed his Crunchie yesterday and I might just have to do the Boost bar today (remember that advert from the 80s UK kids?!), but I’ll let him have the Twirl (his fave), Flake and Cadbury Buttons, cos I am kinda generous. 😉

That box wsa only 10.49GBP – what a Brucey bargain! I know a few Brits here in the USA who would go mad for the ‘Cadbury Crazy’ box! Delivery is swift and the chocs are in fine fettle so get ordering – we all need a treat now and then, don’t we?!

This UK Cadbury chocolate tasted so very different from the crap that is presented to us out here in the USA, so rock on Chocolate Mailbox, thank you for a little bit of creamy heaven!

Posted in American, British, Cadbury's, chocolate, expat, Travel | Tagged America, American, Americans, British expat, Cadbury's, chocolate, Chocolate Mailbox, desperate housewife, Double Decker, expat life, food, hocoblogs@@@, Travel, UK, USA | 5 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 610

Posted on May 5, 2015 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Brit gals in the Bahamas, part 4

Three Teeth Tony and Snorkelling

Lovely cheery chappy on the beach, Three Teeth Tony (not his actual name), was drumming up some business and us Brit gals looked like likely candidates for a bit of snorkelling. After all, you can’t do that in Croydon (not that either of us are from Croydon, but you know what I’m saying).

So, when he offered us a boat ride and the chance to see some fishes and turtles, we jumped at it. We needed cash, though, and the only way to access that was on a jet ski to the hotel with a cashpoint across the bay. Off my lovely chum George (aka ‘Boss Lady’) went, debit card stuck firmly in her bikini top.

Off they go to the cashpoint / ATM!

The snorkelling was amazing. Hoorah for turtles and fishies in the ocean.

Ah, that’s living the dream!

Cup of tea on the beach for Princess Charlotte

Back on dry land a British celebration was in order. A nice cup of tea to celebrate the royal baby! We managed to get a proper tea pot, but sadly only Styrofoam/polystyrene cups, and half and half cream/milk, not proper milk in a jug, but still we made an effort for Her Royal Littleness.

We managed to get the Union Flag in!

Blagging our way into the World Relay Athletic Championships

We British gals had really mastered the art of blagging our way into things in the Bahamas, and the International Association of Athletic’s Federation World Relays being held in Nassau were no exception.

We realised that when you ask one Bahamian something, you also have to ask another five Bahamaians the same question because you will get different answers every time. It’s like a quiz. You have to work out which is the right answer….. or are you going to just make a decision on your own?!

With the World Relays we got told 1) you can get in free with your hotel wristband; 2) you have to pay $12; 3) it’s sold out; 4) it’s $40.

With all this info in mind, we took a risk on a fine gentleman in our hotel lobby who was in a very dapper officials suit and asked him what the deal was. ‘Oh yes,’ he told us. ‘You can get in to the arena. Come along with me now, I’m on my way there.’

So we grabbed our stuff (straight from the beach!) and headed off in Alepheus A. Finlayson’s car, along with his wife Dawn, who must have wondered what the hell was going on. It turns out he’s like a Bahamas judge, official athletics person and wot not, who just this morning had taken brunch with Usain Bolt’s parents. Coolsome.

Having dropped us off, Alpheus went on his merry official’s way and we blagged some cut price tickets, getting some amazing seats right near the entrance onto the track.

At Thomas Robinson Stadium, Nassau

I can pretty much guarantee that we were the only Brits there in a sea of green and yellow Jamaican shirts and blue and yellow Bahamiam shirts. We had no flags and no t-shirts – just our British fishwife lungs! How we yelled for Team GB as our girls came home with Bronze, much to the amusement of the Caribbean crowd. In the end they helped us along a bit – as long as their teams weren’t running 😉

Team USA wooped everyone’s asses in the races, apart from in the 4×200 when Jamaica nailed it, although disappointingly Usain Bolt didn’t make an appearance, despite the hype that he would. I was v sad 😦 No matter, cos Team USA gave me a new hero in hippy runner from the ’70s, Ben Blankenship. He looks like he should be in an indie band, but he runs like the wind!

Yet again the roars and cheers and excitement of the crowd made this an awesomeballs event. I can’t begin to describe the atmosphere. Okay, I will: it rocked the flippin’ house!!!!

Lord Sebastian Coe was dishing out medals, and we cheered his British suited-ness at the ceremony. BUT – best of all, my knees nearly gave way when we spotted him behind us at the airport the next day. We went over and talked to him about what a great event it had been, how well Team GB did, and what a character Alpehus was. What a smashing chap that Seb Coe is!

With Lord Coe!

And then, blow me down, if we didn’t see hot Team USA chick Molly Beckwith-Ludlow who had a lovely natter and post-natter tweet-fest with us!

Hoorah for Team USA (our second faves!)

We were proper made up! It was the icing on our Bahamas cake!

And here ends the Brit gals in the Bahamas blog. 🙂 Didn’t we do well?!

It’s back to reality in the USA and it’s only three months till I go home to the UK. In that time you can expect blogs about trips to Nashville, Memphis, Canada and Jamaica, and I’ve been working on a complete blog post about a UK vs USA face-off! It’s all about everything I’ve encountered here in my three years and it will be super fun. I bet y’all will have a lot to say about it! 😉

Posted in American, Bahamas, blogging, Britain, British American differences, celebrations, culture, expat, Travel, UK, USA | Tagged Alpheus Finlayson, American, Americans, athletics, Bahamas, Ben Blankenship, Britain, British, British accent, cup of tea, English, expats, International Association of Athletics Federation, Jamaica, Lord Sebastian Coe, Molly Beckwith-Ludlow, Nassau, Princess Charlotte, Royal baby, Seb Coe, snorkelling, sport, Team GB, Team USA, Thomas Robinson Stadium Nassau, Travel, UK, USA, Usain Bolt, water sports | Leave a comment

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 609

Posted on May 5, 2015 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Blagging our way into Miss Teen Bahamas International 2015

Brit gals in the Bahamas, part 3

So one evening us inquisitive Brit gals (read as: nosey) watched a load of very glamourous, high-heeled young Bahamian girls and their colourful entourages take the stairs to a conference room above our hotel.

Having made a judgement on the hotel entertainment and agreeing that we were not nearly middle aged nor drunk enough to participate in the Macarena or the Conga, we decided to find out what was happening up the stairs.

‘Hello, what’s happening here?’ we ask fabulous woman with fabulous weave and nails.

‘It’s Miss Teen Bahamas International Talent and Couture evening,’ replies she.

‘Oh, that sounds lovely, could we peek in?’

‘Sure, take a seat.’ (Cost price of $30 a ticket we had been informed by someones’s mother earlier).

We took our free seats for a ‘peek’ and spent the next two hours entranced by the event that took place not only on stage, but within the audience too. Let me tell you, our British reserve is certainly noticeable when in a room of hyped up, super charged, very excited Bahamian mothers and their families. I’ve never heard anything like it! It was amazeballs!

The contestants this year were Benielle Ferguson, Britney Wells, Cassidy Deveaux, Jamie-lee Hepburn, Jasmine Lundy, Kaniesha Davis, Laquisha Young, Madihah Lockhart, Arlenis Mota, Simone LaRoda, Tatianna Deveaux, Tiskeia Wright and Tyeisha Rodgers.

Love ’em – they sang (sort of), danced and recited meaningful rap lyrics to the appreciative audience. And then they came out in ‘couture’, which the compere said was the bit everyone got most excited about, and he wasn’t wrong! Much wooping and ‘yeah baby-girl’ stuff going on!

My version of couture is not the same as the Bahamian version of couture, but, you know what, theirs is much more interesting and reflective of their culture. Sarah Jessica Parker would be proud of these elaborate costumes made, we realised, by mother, auntie, her down the road, and Grandma, all of whom were high fiving each other for their efforts. And damn straight, there were no crappy Blue Peter efforts there (alright, there was one! 😉 ).

I can’t even tell you who won that round cos I got v v v confused at the end about who’d won what, but Gawd Bless ’em, those gals worked it for the crowd!

And at the end we scuttled our British bums away, having witnessed something far more entertaining and cultural than random drunk Americans and Brits making out to Lionel Ritchie on the dancefloor 😉

Next up: Three Teeth Tony, snorkelling, and we gatecrash the World Relays!

Posted in Bahamas, culture, expat, expats, Travel | Tagged American, Bahamas, Britain, British, dancing, expat life, expats, hocoblogs@@@, holidays, hotels, Miss Teen Bahamas International 2015, talent show, Travel | Leave a comment

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 608

Posted on May 5, 2015 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Grumpy Bahamas Brian vs Happy Palmrick and his Travelling Butler Boyfriend

Brit Gals in the Bahamas, part 2

Now, most Bahamians pride themselves on their chirpy, happy, chilled, helpful, smiley demeanour. Most of them. We met Brian. He is not most Bahamians. He had definitely not read the handbook on how to be the most Bahamianly cheery ever.

Brian, or Grumpy Bahamas Brian, as we decided to call him, was possibly the most miserable, unhelpful, sad chap we’d ever met. Brian was our waiter on our first evening in our hotel. Having been used to super lovely, friendly folks all over the place, Brian’s deadpan face, his heavy sighs and his overall glumness and unwillingness to be in any way helpful or amiable was mind-blowing. Poor Brian, thought us Brit gals. How could we cheer him up?

Well, we tried everything – smiling, giggling, extensive pleases and thank yous, lots of ooing and aahing over our five course dinner (which Brian seemed to resent more as each course was plonked down in front of us), lots of questions and eye contact. Our efforts to cheer him up went nowhere. He was having none of it. He stayed just very grumpy. We tried to guess what was wrong with sad, miserable Brian.

Did he hate his job? Had his wife left him? Did he have galls stones or an ingrowing toenail? We were at a loss. We had failed to raise a smile from Grumpy Bahamas Brian, and we went to bed defeated.

The next night we met Happy Palmrick, the polar opposite of Grumpy Bahamas Brian, who was based in another restaurant at our hotel. Happy Palmrick shared his fave menu choices, danced a little bit, poured more wine, told us stories of his Bahamian life, and was as happy and smiley as you could ever wish for. Ah, the antidote to Brian!

Not even Patsy and Eddie could cheer up Brian!

How did you come about your name, Palmrick? we asked.

Well, began Palmrick (keen to share the origin of his unusual name), my parents were extremely drunk one night – off their heads – and a while after that night I arrived and they couldn’t decide on a name, so it is a combination of their names – Pamela and Rickardo.

Genius.

Happy Palmrick also told us about his travelling butler boyfriend who travels for six months of the year with a celebrity, whose name he could not reveal to us. He told us that he and his boyfriend couldn’t get married in the Bahamas, but he hoped the law would change soon. I’m pretty certain we’ll be on the invite list for that party. 😉

Of course were totally taken with Happy Palmrick and his keenness to engage, and so we asked him about Brian and why he was so sad.

‘Oooh,’ Palmrick pursed his lips and raised a camp eyebrow. ‘Yes, Brian’s not very happy most of the time, and then some days he just changes and stops being miserable. I steer clear of Brian.’

Fab food in the Bahamas

We told him of our Brian encounter and how we could do nothing to make him smile. Palmrick agreed there wasn’t much that would get him reducing those frown lines.

And after our meal was complete we thanked Happy Palmrick with the Travelling Butler Boyfriend, sadly acknowledging that we couldn’t make Grumpy Bahamas Brian smile, no matter what we did, because he just wasn’t that way inclined.

And that is our short and sweet, and slightly sad, holibobs story of Brian and Palmrick. 🙂

Next up: Gatecrashing Miss International Teen Bahamas! WTF?!

Posted in Bahamas, blogging, British, British customs, Travel | Tagged America, Bahamas, Bahamian, British, expat life, expats, Grumpy Bahamas Brian, hocoblogs@@@, holibobs, Palmrick | Leave a comment

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 607

Posted on May 4, 2015 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Brit gals in the Bahamas, part 1

This is a brief travel blog of two Brit gals living in the USA who headed to the Bahamas for a long weekend. You don’t want the long version, cos we nattered non stop on our holibobs!

1. We get all excited about British road signs! Yes, the signs for speed limits, ‘Give Way’ (not ‘Yield’) and roundabouts are all done in a British fashion! How we squealed!

2. We got disorientated about driving! The Bahamians drive on the left handside of the road, but mostly have left-hand drive cars. This is very disconcerting. But, as our Bahamian taxi driver, Leo, told us ‘Driving on the left is the right side, driving on the right is suicide.’ 🙂

3. We totally loved the colours of the buildings in the Bahamas. They are not allowed to paint their houses the same colour as their neighbours, which is very cool, so they are always different. I don’t think that in my current home of Columbia, MD, the residents’ association could cope with this. There YOU MUST CONFORM WITH CREAM! Oddly, the Bahamas house colours did remind me of a colonial, Caribbean Torquay in this way!

Now that’s a house!

4. The Bahamas kind of reminded us of Gibraltar in someway with its British history, the Queen’s steps and the buses. They are super proud of their Commonwealth heritage. And the local bus experience is some kind of journey. Yes, as Brit gals we did that thing where we ran after a bus shouting, ‘Stop please!’ and then got a big smiling reaction from all the locals on board. We had no clue what to do, how to pay, or where we were going, but that’s the adventure we wanted!

5. Bahamians love the Brits, and right back at ya! With the community fish fries on the beach, the ramshackle beach bars and reggae music, the very friendly and smiley attitude, the Sky Juice (a highly recommended a Bahamian beverage combining coconut water or milk, condensed milk or evaporated milk, and alcohol – gin or rum), the acres of golden sands, the busy markets, the carnival atmosphere, and the eclectic mix of cultures (think Queen Victoria looking disdainfully down on the colourful town square of Nassau!), what’s not to love?!

6. We saw both sides of the Bahamas. We experienced the local neighbourhoods and some of the ‘low income areas’. We also experienced Atlantis and all the decadence that is tourism. Two very, very different Bahamas.

Next up: Grumpy Bahamas Brian, Happy Palmrick and his Travelling Butler Boyfriend, we gatecrash Miss Bahamas Teen International, rum tours, snorkelling and then we blag our way in to the World Relay Athletics in the Bahamas stadium!

Posted in Bahamas, blogging, British, culture, expat life, expats, Travel | Tagged America, American, Americans, Bahamas, beaches, Blog, Britain, British, British accent, Brits, Caribbean, Columbia, Culture, driving, expats, Gibraltar, history, hocoblogs@@@, holidays, Nassau, Queen Victoria, reggae, residents association, rum, Sky Juice, Torquay, tourism, Travel, UK | 2 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 606

Posted on April 29, 2015 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

British taps and lights. Sigh!

Americans call them faucets, we call them taps. That we know. There are also, dear friends, differences in the way these things function in the USA from the way they do in back home and this is a dinner party conversation of much amusement with my American friends, so it appears.

Most bathroom sinks in Britain still have separate hot and cold taps today, even after Winston Churchill marvelled at the single tap function he found in Russia back in the day! (From the Wall Street Journal: ‘The plumbing in the villa where he [Churchill] stayed as a guest of Stalin was unlike the primitive British standard of separate taps for hot and cold. Rather than having to fill up the sink to achieve the right blend, the British leader could wash his hands under gushing water “mingled to exactly the temperature one desired,” as he put it in his memoirs. From then on, he resolved to use this method whenever possible.’)

Many Britons don’t understand why foreigners raise a fuss over this issue. “The British are quite happy to wash their hands with cold water. Maybe it’s character-building,” says one chap. Maybe so!

The two tap thing gets my America friend’s knickers in a right twist, because that is what we have in our downstairs too. Not sure why, but we do. And I suppose it does seem old fashioned in a way now!

The other thing that my American chums get all doolalley about is the fact that our British-owned house has to comply with British electrical regulations, and that means we can’t have light switches or sockets in the bathroom here in our USA house.

Apparently this is because of regulations aimed at preventing shocks which in turn forbid the installation in bathrooms of electrical outlets, except those designed for shavers. We also have to have lights that are controlled by pull cords hanging from the ceiling. Oh how I love to watch my American friends grapple with trying to find the light switch inside our loo, when it’s located outside.

Argh, electric stuff in bathrooms in the USA! 😉

I have a fascination when I visit American hotels that the hairdryer is in the bathroom, right by the sink. My British sensibilities cry out at this in horror! Electricity and water = certain death! 😉 So far, though, I have not been electrocuted and I’ve used a lot of dryers in hotel bathrooms over here!

But, each to their own. Differences: ah, how we enjoy them!

Lifestyle TV slot

My very British tones resonated across Baltimore this morning on WBFF Fox 45 News, as I discussed National Stress Awareness Month in my ‘lifestyle expert’ guise.

Someone who needs to heed much of this advice is ME, cos I am stressing my little Desperate Housewife head somewhat about the return to the UK and all there is to do for it. How on earth will I fit in all the pool time I require before I leave with so many jobs?

I’m sure I’ll find a way. Oh it appears I have….did I mention I’m off to the Bahamas this week with my British chum?!

We won’t let the British side down, promise!

Watch out, Nassau, it’s a British PR girlies-wot-is-on-their-holibobs invasion!

Posted in American, American customs, British, British American differences, cross culture, expat, expat British, Travel | Tagged Ab Fab, accents, America, American, Bahamas, Baltimore, bathrooms, British accent, British American differences, desperate housewife, electricity, English, expat, faucets, hocoblogs@@@, hotels, lifestyle expert, lights, Nassau, Patsy and Edina, PR girls, Stress Awareness MOnth, taps, Travel, UK, USA, WBFF Fox 45, Winston Churchill | Leave a comment

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 605

Posted on April 27, 2015 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

USA prom etiquette

It’s a good job I am not out here in the USA as a 17 or 18 year old, cos, quite frankly, I would most likely be ejected from the Senior Prom. Fact.

Take a look at these rules and regulations that my friend’s daughter and her buddies will have to abide by for the upcoming high school dance (click on it to enlarge!)….

Keep both feet on the floor at the same time (so no jumping then? God forbid, anyone JUMPS cos that’s outrageous!)

It really is a far cry from the Grease movie dances that I grew up on and loved and wished would happen in my life. I guess I’m not missing out of anything then. Don’t they know, we’re all BORN TO HAND JIVE BABY!

https://youtu.be/odmEUl4nGCY

Plus, this was when John Travolta was sexy and cool, and not slightly creepy like he is now 😉

Chocolate Mailbox

I’ve got some British chocolate on the way to me, cos I just can’t get on with Hershey’s at all, and I cannot blimmin’ wait! It’s from the Chocolate Mailbox company, and I’ll be getting my chops round a Curly Wurly, which I haven’t had in a long, long time. Bring it on!

Twirls! Double Deckers!

When this box arrives it will actually be the first time Harry will have tried a few of these. He’d better get used to them!

British crisps

I miss me some British crisps too. But this weekend me and my Brit chum George stuffed our faces and made crisp sandwiches with Skips and Walkers Prawn Cocktail at a cricket match picnic.

Long live the British crisp!

Blimey, a crisp sandwich and we didn’t even have the excuse of hangovers! 😉

Posted in American customs, British American differences, British customs, expats, food, Travel | Tagged America, American, Americans, British, Cadbury's, Chocolate Mailbox, cricket, crisps, expats, Grease, high school dances, hocoblogs@@@, John Travolta, prawn cocktail, proms, UK, UK chocolate, USA, Walkers Crisps | 8 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 604

Posted on April 26, 2015 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Explaining my blog title

This weekend a local chap approached me at a festival. He’d seen me at some blog parties in Howard County and a few political events. He found the title of my blog confusing. ‘So you’re a desperate housewife? And you’re proud of that?’

‘Er no, I’m being kind of ironic with the title. A desperate housewife is basically everything I don’t want to be and the blog is a quirky account of how I decided to free myself from the desperate housewife chains that can capture an expat trailing spouse and how I chose to get out there in the community and do all sorts of things and have all sorts of adventures. And I try to do that on a daily basis. And then I blog about it. Maybe it’s not ironic, but that’s what it’s about, anyway.’

‘But you call yourself the UK Desperate Housewife USA…..’

Sigh. I’m not sure what else there is to explain about that. 😉

Love this irony!

You that gal off the telly?

Same festival and another comment from another guy….

‘I saw you on the front of the Howard Magazine.’

‘Yes, you did.’

‘And you were on TV on Sunday, right?’

‘Yes, promoting Earth Day.’

‘Hmmm, you look better in person. The TV makes everyone look so much bigger.’

How kind! 😉

When I was on the Howard County Magazine 🙂

Fish Fridays vs Pizza Fridays

I’ve been checking out the British school curriculum, uniforms, bags, shoes, timetables, and critically, the school menus, for Harry’s UK return. The British school system will be a whole new ball game for him.

As we looked through the school lunch menu of one school I noted that every Friday there was fish on offer. Harry was confused.

‘Why fish?’ queried the small one.

‘Cos it’s tradition in the UK, I guess,’ I replied, remembering fish suppers at home on a Friday.

‘In America it’s tradition to have pizza on a Friday,’ stated Harry.

And I have no more to say about that!

Fish, chips and peas!

Cricket in the USA

It was the annual British/American cricket match this weekend, and as I drove my American friend to his virgin game, he queried how one caught the ball.

‘In your hands,’ I replied. ‘Without a mitt,’ I added, smiling.

‘Gosh,’ said he, slightly worried. ‘So there’s a chance of injury…’

Hey, we’re tough cookies us Brits! But, wouldn’t you know it, for the last ball of the last over my friend made a stunning catch. No mitts required!

Anyone for cricket?!

A glorious spring day for it.

Happy spring!

Posted in American, American customs, bloggers, blogging, blogs, British, British American differences, British customs, Travel, UK, USA | Tagged America, American, Americans, baseball, blogging, blogs, British, cricket, Desperate Housewives, English, fish and chips, fish on Friday, hocoblogs@@@, Howard County, Howard County magazine, ironic, irony, mitts, pizza, school lunches, spring, UK, USA | 7 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 603

Posted on April 26, 2015 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Baltimore

I’m a big fan and advocate of the city of Baltimore, so it’s sad to see all the stuff going on there at the moment in light of the Freddie Gray incident.

I’ve grown very, very fond of Baltimore and see it as an eclectic, diverse, cultural, gritty place that of course has many, many problems, but which had come through the worst of them. Maybe not so, sadly.

This happened at the Oriole’s baseball game last night:

Stay safe in Baltimore

Meeting people in the USA

I’ve met so many amazing Americans during my time here. They truly are a friendly, welcoming bunch. It makes my job as a networking expat much easier!

I recently met with an author and publisher called Kathi, whose book I am currently reading.

She wrote up about our meeting on her blog, saying: ‘Yesterday I sat and talked with a beautiful young woman, a British expatriate (you have probably seen her blog mentioned on my page), and we talked about creative vision. It was … a very enriching experience for me and I felt as though my life had been changed during a grande Caramel Machiatto.’

That’s funny, because I felt the same about that meeting – it was an enriching experience meeting her 🙂 Some people say to me ‘how do you meet all these people?’ and I say ‘put yourself out there, invite them for coffee or say yes to their invite because you never know’. That’s the expat challenge and how I’ve managed to develop a fully enriching experience.

How to be an expat!

What do you do?

Someone asked me the other day what I did in the USA, and I actually found this hard to answer, but when I saw this write up from the PR company in NYC that I work with to promote event and related products on the TV, I realised it captured the extent of my time here in the USA and how much I’d accomplished.

“Claire Bolden McGill is a lifestyle expert who is originally from the UK, now living in the US. Calling herself a ‘UK Desperate Housewife‘, Claire is an ‘expat’ who is pretty much seizing every opportunity she can in this strange and wonderful country (whilst also being a mother, wife and rather rubbish housewife.) A prolific writer and blogger, she has appeared on The Dr. Oz Show as well as local TV. Claire is also a model, fitness instructor and actress – having appeared in popular series including VEEP, House of Cards, and more.”

Not the best pic ever! (It was 640am!!)

There is more still to do tho! Volunteering, more travel, more writing and more events! And only three months to do it in!

My repat blog

My husband made an observation yesterday and it went like this: ‘It’s May next month; we’re running out of time!’ No shit!!!!!

Back to the UK soon!

I wrote about how manic the repatriation process is via my other blog, ‘From America to England’ this week. Check it out if you haven’t already and sign up to get email updates!

Posted in American, British, British American differences, culture, expat, expat life, Travel | Tagged America, American, Americans, author, Baltimore, blogger, British, Culture, Dr Oz, English, expat, expat life, expats, Freddie Gray, hocoblogs@@@, House of Cards, lifestyle, lifestyle expert, maryland, Orioles, repatriation, Veep, White Night, writer | Leave a comment

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 602

Posted on April 19, 2015 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Promoting Earth Day

So, I got asked by a fancy PR company in NYC to do some promotion of Earth Day and making the home more green and sustainable for Earth Day on 22 April. Of course, I said ‘yes’!

Thus, today I got up at 430am for the 640am slot at WBAL-TV to promote some super smashing items that you can buy to be more eco-friendly. I’m hot on all this, and loved all the items muchly! The ladies at the TV studio totally dug my British accent and naturally had many questions about my thoughts on the impending royal baby. (FYI, my thoughts are: girl, Charlotte or Alice, on Tuesday. 😉 )

This is the video of the early morning show, bags under the eyes, and all!

I am so tired now, I can’t tell you! Back to bed for me, and then a shower to make use of those lovely organic cotton towels!

Fearless expat women

I’ve also been busy putting my thoughts down on camera for a website that asked me to share my ‘fearless women’ story. They liked my expat story about trying to live a life that is passionate and slightly off beat. I wanted to share my story about how I have gained freedom and an ability to say yes to life and how that has changed my attitude as an expat Brit in the USA. Enjoy.