10 Fantasy Gifts I’ll Never Receive

A few days ago, my brother asked me what I want for Channukah. I like the idea of living a simple life without so much stuff, so I don't really have much I want or need. I'm in my 40s, so over the years I've managed to collect most everything I need. And I'm not one...

Thanksgiving is about Being Thankful and Giving

When most of us think about Thanksgiving, we think of turkey and overeating and spending time with family. Others get excited about spending the day watching football or Black Friday shopping deals. But if we stop and take a moment to reflect, Thanksgiving is about...

My Dog Milo Went Kayaking and Rafting

Every summer, I try to go on at least one float trip. I adopted my dog Milo last December, so this was his first time joining me on the river. The first float of the summer was rained out. We were planning on kayaking on Friday and rafting on Saturday, but the river...

A Hate Group Linked to My Website

I was looking at my website analytics just a few minutes ago and saw that I had received some incoming traffic to my real estate website from a website I'd never heard of before. I'm always thrilled when this happens. I click the link to find out who has been nice...

Blogging as a Travel Diary

Me at my room at Ramon's Village Resort in San Pedro, Belize When I first started this blog, its sole purpose was to give me a place to blog about all of my vacations. I wanted to create a blog travel diary, but my vacations didn't really belong on any of my current...

Take a Risk…Get a New Haircut

Last month, I headed to my haircut appointment with no plans to make any changes. I've been getting the same cut for a while, though the color has changed a few times. For years I wore it blond. Then in 2005 I decided to go auburn, but it really came out dark brown...

St. Louis Real Estate FIVE STAR Award Winner

For those of you have haven't popped over to my Meet Karen page, you might not realize that I'm a real estate agent. I started as a buyer's agent working with people moving to St. Louis due to a job. After 6 years, I changed companies and began working with more local...

Why Future Expat?

I'm not sure exactly when I started thinking about becoming an expat. Maybe it was when a client told me about how he planned to take an international assignment in South America once his kids were out of high school. Maybe it was when someone gave me the book Tales...

Life Goals

  Photo Credit: Bryan Wintersteen Yesterday morning I was thinking about the difference between a bucket list and life goals. I have a bucket list which includes tons of things I would like to do before I die. But life goals are different. To me, life goals are the...

Making Time for Friends

One of the things I included in my Lifestyle Goals for 2012 was to make sure I made time for friends. I sometimes get really busy and go for months without talking to my friends...let alone scheduling time to see them. It's easier with my social media friends. I can...

Future Expat is Evolving

Over the last week, I've been making some pretty major changes to this website and I thought it was time to take a minute to share with you where this is headed. I've wanted a travel related website ever since I blogged my England trip last year. I finally pulled the...

10 Lifestyle Goals for 2012

Photo Credit: Bryan Wintersteen As much as I resist the idea of New Year's resolutions, I do think there is value in taking a hard look at what is going well and what could make your life better. Rather than vowing to stop bad habits, I prefer to focus on what I want...