Diana Elle Blog

Hey everyone, I hope you had a great Christmas! I spent yesterday (my birthday) out exploring a park in downtown Charlotte, where we bumped into another German family and I got to practice my German! haha.. who would have guessed!?  Anyways, today I''m introducing Ashley to you, I met her during this month's Solidarity Sisters since we got matched up together. Bloglovin  -  Instagram  -  Facebook  -  Twitter List the top 5 Cities You've Visited and Why. This is SO hard for me because every destination is so unique, but I will do my best. First I love the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland . This is a region, not a city, but it is one of the most beautiful areas I've been to in the world. Rolling hills, crisp air, and breathtaking landscapes. Next I would have to say Amsterdam , a city I just visited earlier this year for the first time. The canals are charming and I could eat waffles, Dutch comfort food, and drink their amazing beer ALL day...

These past two weeks have been cool. I've really enjoyed spending time with Pablo's family. Living in Fort Mill we haven't really visited Charlotte city center, but my mom arrives tomorrow evening and it will be her first time visiting so I will take advantage and take her sightseeing. I haven't been able to get on the computer much, which is always a good thing, no complaints, but I took time out of a lazy evening to write-up this post with five things I'm happy about even if three are from our Christmas eve. FAMILY OUTINGS We went twice to the movies, we watched Ted 2 the first time, and we left the house without telling the kids, Avi got so mad she locked herself in the room, when we got back she told me not to ever go to the movies without her ever again in my life. so the next time we went I made sure to let her know and asked her if she'd like to accompany us to see Star Wars.. she was super excited and had fun. . CONCORD MILLS OUTLETS ...

Today we have the last guest post in the Christmas Around the Globe series . I hope you guys enjoyed learning more about how Christmas is spent in different parts of the world. If you care to join in email me ! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello everyone, my name is Petra, I come from Slovakia and I currently live in Slovenia. I run a blog named Slovakia in Slovenia , where I write about my life in Slovenia, the similarities and differences between these two countries, about their languages, life and other funny stuff. Thanks to Diana, I now have the opportunity to tell you a bit more about how we celebrate Christmas in my home country of Slovakia. As there is a lot to tell and explain, I summarized the most important thing into 8 points. Slovak people usually decorate their Christmas tree no sooner than 1-3 days before Christmas Although heavy Christmas decorations can be seen ...

Hi I'm Courtney from Alkeks Abroad . I'm an expat in Australia hailing from the great state of Texas. Since the US is a pretty big place and in our neck of the woods we don't get the typical white Christmas that others farther north do, I figured I would be more specific in my comparison. While there have been Christmases in Houston that I could have easily worn shorts during, nothing really compares to the heat (and humidity) of an Australian summer. I still find it so odd to do my Christmas shopping in 90F (30C) weather. We do have the European style Christmas markets here that I love so much, as opposed to the typical mall shopping we do at home. You just won't be jonesing for a hot beverage to keep you warm as your stroll through the stalls. Starbucks still has their same festive drinks- only the iced versions are most appealing this time of year. Back home most activities are indoors and include keeping warm by the fire, although our cold is ...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Happy holidays from Down Under! My Traveling Joys is where I write about our expat and traveling adventures abroad since leaving the Washington D.C. area in 2010. Because of my husband's job, we’ve lived in Turkey, Poland and now Australia since then. I started out as a journalist so I love writing and photography; and then moved on to becoming a pastry chef. I’m currently taking a break as we enjoy our new life Down Under. Please hop on over and say g’day! Winter vs. Summer Living as expats in Australia means this is our first warm Christmas – a reality I find quite strange.  Decembers are supposed to mean wearing hats, gloves, heavy coats and snow boots, but not here. Instead, I’m wearing flip flops and sun dresses, getting a suntan on the beach and doing wine tastings in the countryside. I think it’s even stranger to hear Christmas carols lik...

Helllooo from Charlotte! Back in October I participated in Susannah's Solidarity Sisters program for the first time.. She mentioned the sign up's in one of the facebook groups i'm in and I thought it would be nice to join in. I was Paired up with Ashley from  New Mom in a New Era  and I decided to interview her so that you guys could get to know her a bit more. Pinterest   Facebook   Twitter   Instagram My name is Ashley, I am a young mother of one beautiful 5-month-old girl named Camila, engaged to a tall dark and handsome man named Jeffrey, and I'm taking you on my journey through motherhood. It hasn't been easy, but it sure has opened my eyes to a whole new world! I'm an amateur photographer, Independent Business Owner, part-time blogger, and a veteran. List the top 5 Cities You've Visited and Why. I don't get out of Texas much, but my #1 would be Miami, Florida only because I love tropical weather & don't get much of it he...

I am currently on my way to Charlotte, and as we say Goodbye to Hamburg (until next year) I decided I would join in with my Expat Bloggers group-we have a special treat for our readers. Today I am going to share a Christmas Card from Hamburg. We were able to go to a Christmas Market last weekend and I took some lovely pictures to create a cute postcard for you! There are a ton of Christmas markets in and around Hamburg if you happen to be here during this time of year make sure to go to at least three different ones, most won't disappoint.. I also recommend visiting the main one at city hall, as there is a Santa flying with his sleigh at a certain hour, pretty cool! Check out some of the awesome Christmas cards from my expat blogging group : Christmas card from Krakow, Poland - The Twisted Red LadyBug Christmas card from Wroclaw,  Poland - Kielbasa Stories Christmas card from Hamburg, Germany  - Diana Elle Blog Christmas Card from Melbourne Aus...

Hi! Here's part two of Anda from The Twisted Red Ladybug 's post, in the last one she talked about how she normally spends Christmas & what she does during this season. and she continues that in today's post but taking a twist on it! Part 2 of Christmas Traditions Abroad in Poland is all about her favorite things! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tell me about your experiences celebrating Christmas abroad. Oh, let's first of all get settled saying that  I love Christmas with all my heart ! My first Christmas in Poland was quite interesting as I did not have enough holidays to go home, so I ended up with half a dozen invites from dear friends to spend Christmas with their families. Oddly enough, I ended up going to my husbands family (back then we were just at the beginning of our dating period). Keep in mind that this happened less than half a year since I landed in Pol...

Thanks to Anda  from  The Twisted Red Ladybug  for helping my  Christmas traditions from around the globe  series continue.  I am currently at my last German class of the year! pretty exciting!  Her post will be a two part series, here's part one: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear friends of Diana, Here is yet another takeover of Diana's blog by foreigners ;)) Fear not as I do not come with hidden agenda, nor with secret weapons, well, unless you consider a LadyBug a weapon. :)  My name is Anda Alexandra Rosiek and I am a Romanian expat living in Krakow for over 4 years now. I am not afraid of garlic (not a vampire) and I fell in love with this magical city since the very beginning.  I "met" Diana online and I was intrigued by her lovely idea of doing a "Christmas around the globe" series. I have been  blogging for more than 2 year...

Hi! We continue our Christmas Around the Globe series with another guest post by the lovely Isabel from The Sunny Side of This .  As of this post I will no longer be available to comment, As I must focus on packing and getting the house ready for vacation mode. Honeymoon, frustration, adjustment, and mastery are the four phases you go through while living in a foreign country, I can go through all of them  in one same day.  .My main rule is t o build a large amount of empathy and understanding to help me  just keep going.   A while back I talked about how similar Slovenia and Mexico are , and today it’s time to talk about one of my  biggest cultural shocks I've encountered while living abroad, and it's in regards to... Gift giving in Slovenia In Slovenia you will get gifts for New Years, Easter, and St. Nicholas day (celebrated December 6th and it is usually for kids--it is like the Western equivalent of Christmas Day). What I find...

Saturday Our last full weekend in Hamburg and we needed to take advantage of it, forget going to Luneburg's weihnachtsmarkt, or to the one at the rathaus with some mommy friends. Instead, we go to the mall we usually frequent to look for sweets, something special for our nieces/nephews, and a movie for movie night. They have special events at the mall during the month of December and we got to see an all man's choir singing sailor (and Christmas) songs. We took a break during the shopping to go home and eat, I made us a delicious late lunch/early dinner.  Tortillas, shrimp, bacon, cream and chipotle is all you need, but I added a can of mushrooms to help stuff the tacos. Then we went back to the mall to continue shopping, When we came home we watched the movie we had just bought, avi had gone to bed right after since it was kind of late. I took advantage and took some pictures of the little layout she did for Nikolaus. She left him milk and cookies and a drawing sayi...