About Me

My name is Melissa and I’m a mother of 2 living in The Netherlands. I moved here from Texas 10 years ago and I love the life I am building here.

A lot changed when I had my fist child (a son who will be 6 very soon). I had the opportunity to decide how I wanted to parent. That probably seems like an odd thing to say. You are probably reading this thinking “well, duh. Every parent does.” But I don’t think that many actually do. I think many people do roughly the same thing their parents did. Of course there are updates with every generation (spanking was perfectly acceptable when I was growing up) but by and large I think we carry the same traditions and cultural norms. When I moved halfway across the world I didn’t have kids, I got to travel and sleep till 12:00 and knit all day if I wanted. I led a pretty charmed life actually. And then I decided to try and get pregnant and everything changed. I had the very unique opportunity to get to decide who I wanted to be as a mom. I got to decide to show my future child (fingers crossed) what my priorities in life are. Then I got to really sit down and think about them.

What do I want for my kids? What type of person do I want them to grow in to. I asked myself if I was showing them those behaviors so emulate.
I wasn’t.

I led a sedentary lifestyle. I ate horribly and I didn’t exercise. I didn’t cook. I wasn’t active in the community. That’s totally cool, but not what I wanted. So I started running. I started cooking. And surprise, I really loved it. 5 years on and I work out, I cook, I knit, I’m full on healthy mom. Things changed a bit with my second. I’m a bit more calm. A bit more boozy. A bit more “bugger off and play so I can have some grown up talk” but I love it. I try to be accepting of the fact that I am imperfect and that makes me a good mom. I embrace the fact that although my kids are the light of my life I need some time away as well. I embrace the fact that sometimes we need to order pizza and watch a movie on a Sunday afternoon. I embrace real life.

So that’s my life now. I’m a bit of a gym rat, I love to cook healthy mostly vegan food, I’m full on Pinterest crazy. But I also drink martinis and red wine.

Life is awesome.