For a year and a half we were blogging buddies.  And then last June it just stopped.  Things happen.  Life goes on.  But you always eventually get back to blogging, right?  Right?  I figured she'd pop up again.  Somewhere.  Some day.  But she hasn't.

How having a lacto-ovo-pescatarian child over for a play-date turned me into a wine-swilling, chain-smoking wreck of a mom.  This one's for all the moms who haven't yet figured out how to carve after-school treats with organic fruit or bake a nut-free, lactose-free, wheatless, yolk-free cake.  Hello?  Helloooooo?  Anyone out there?

Love knows no borders.  

Illness doesn't stop it; nor does race, religion, culture or even death.  

The fact is, when you decide to love, you just do.  

It might be a vow, it might be a picnic, it might be an arm slung casually around your shoulder.  It will likely end in a dance.

I haven't really succeeded at my 2015 resolutions, yet I've been so successful.  I definitely haven't failed.  They say promises are meant to be broken.  I would agree.  As long as you keep on aiming to make good on those promises.  Eventually you'll get there.  Don't give up.  Happy 2015!

Because there are so many sad and horrific tales told, often people like me are afraid to tell their own ''sometimes frustrating'', ''sometimes hilarious'', ''sometimes sad-but-for-the-right reasons'', ''sometimes uplifting'', ''sometimes unbelievable'' tales of what it's like to live as a Westerner in the Middle East with a full-time maid/household help/nanny.