Destination Potluck: Ireland

It's that time again! St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner, so we had to go to Ireland, if only at home. A few months ago a friend asked me at brunch when we were going to do another destination potluck and when I said I didn't think anyone really liked them, the whole table disagreed, so I picked a date and said we could do an Ireland/St. Patrick's Day potluck. 

Usually, I don't give people any guidelines, but we add food choices as people decide, so we don't end up having a ton of the same things. For some reason, I thought it would be fun to make everyone bring a potato dish, which my friends truly ran with. I love seeing creativity. We made corned beef and cabbage as a main dish for all those potatoes to go with. 

I wish I took more pictures of food, but somehow only ended up with this pic from the half full table. Here's what else we had: apple cake with custard, cottage pie (topped with potatoes), Colcannon and Irish soda bread, scalloped potatoes, sweet potato pie, green salad with potatoes. It was carbs upon carbs and I wasn't mad at it, because everything was delicious. 

You have to have drinks to go with all that food, so I picked up some Guinness and broke out my beer tasting glasses. I love these mini pints, because it enables people to try multiple brews and they're easy to hold. A friend brought some other beer and hard seltzer and I made a fun flavored water with cut up limes, cucumber, and mint. Very refreshing and hydrating.

Let's talk decor. I went fairly light on this one. I used green tablecloths I already had and a rainbow runner that I bought for a previous dining experience. I also used my favorite cauldron bowls that I use more than I thought I would - bought at an estate sale - to fill with both plastic gold coins and chocolate gold coins. If you want something with the same vibe that is food-safe, here's a cute cast iron cauldron. Otherwise, you can just reuse some Halloween cauldrons.

And no party or get together is complete without hats, so I picked up some of these adorable leprechaun hats for people to wear or take home, if they wanted. 

Don't sleep on cheap decor either, especially if you're using it to stretch your decoration budget. I purchased a few felt leprechauns from Dollar Tree and this neon stars sign from The Spot at Target. 

I created a little bouquet from some stems from Michaels with carnations in Irish flag colors, and added some shamrocks and baby's breath I had around. I love Guinness merch, so I picked up this tin sign. I'm also sure by now you've been wondering about these frames with letters and numbers on them. Each party I have at least one interactive element. My Bridgerton Birthday I did a modified murder mystery where people had to figure out which of the suspects was the secret author of the society papers. 

So, this time I did a mystery to find where the leprechaun hid his pot of gold. Folks had to read the clues and match them to facts about each of the 32 counties in Ireland, meaning you got to learn actual things about the country while playing a game. Once you found all the letters that matched the clues, you had to rearrange them to figure out which county the gold was hidden in.

As always, I had my Temple Bar backdrop, because you can't go to Ireland and not at least go see the historical bar. I lined the living room with Ireland flag pennants, giving it a fun pub feel. 

This hedge is the same one I used for Bridgerton, with a grassy backdrop over it instead of the leaves. This is literally, just 9 square boxes taped together and covered. Then I vamped it up with shamrock garland and green lights. The Happy St. Patrick's Day banners are not too expensive and take up a lot of space. Always a plus. I also put up a few print-outs I made in Canva of Irish proverbs, because they're fun and you get a bit of culture that way. I mostly picked ones about friendships.

I have a hallway where everyone comes in that's a little dark, but it made it perfect for a pub backdrop, so you feel like you've walked into a bar with a bunch of Irish beers, ales, and other booze. I put them up behind photos that are always there, and gave it wonky pub vibes. 

You can also do something similar, and you can easily pull it together by next week or this weekend if you want. Pick up some green plates and napkins and some gold silverware, or just use what you have, tell everyone to wear some green, and throw on an Irish pub songs playlist and you're good to go. 

Don't forget to take a bunch of pictures and enjoy all the food and being surrounded by amazing friends. Here are some other ideas from my first Ireland Destination Date Night.

Cheers, friends! 

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Are You Getting Your Best Vacation Sleep?

New destinations, new people, new food—travel holds some great benefits, but it can be hard to appreciate them if you’re struggling to stay awake. World Sleep Day is Friday and that seems like the perfect time to talk about how to sleep better on vacation.

Poor sleep can leave you irritable, moody, and stressed, not exactly how most of us like to travel. However, there are ways to sleep better while you’re away from home. Some are simple while others take some preparation, but they’re all worth it. 

Make It Feel Like Home

You may not have the comfort of your own bed at a hotel or vacation rental, but you can make it feel more like home. If you can, bring along items or stimuli you normally use at home. Travel with a favorite blanket or pillow, create a relaxing bedtime playlist, or bring along your favorite candle. Anything that looks, smells, and feels like home can be a huge help. 

Follow Your Regular Routine

Your body is trained to follow a regular routine so it makes sense to keep that same routine when you’re away from home. The predictability of a routine acts as a trigger for your brain to start your sleep cycle. Your routine doesn’t need to be complicated to be helpful. If you normally take a bath then read a book before going to bed, do the same thing and keep everything in the same order while you travel. 

Turn Down the Heat

Your body needs certain conditions to successfully fall and stay asleep. At the start of the sleep cycle, the body temperature drops. It stays slightly lower throughout the night until it’s time to start waking up, at which point it slowly rises again. 

Cool room temperatures help maintain that lower body temperature. It keeps you from overheating and prevents a premature wake-up. Typically, temperatures between 60 to 68 degrees work best, but that will depend on whether you sleep cool or warm. You might have to make some adjustments and experiment to find a temperature that works best for you. 

Keep It Dark and Embrace the Morning

Light has a powerful impact on the timing of your sleep cycle. Sunlight and other forms of blue spectrum light suppress sleep hormones. At bedtime, block out as much light as possible. This is especially important if you’re fighting jet lag. Your body bases the timing of your sleep cycle on the Earth’s day-night pattern. When you hop time zones, it needs all the help it can get to catch up with the changes to that pattern. Bring along a sleep mask and/or some binder clips to keep the curtains closed and the room dark.

Once morning rolls around at your destination, get out of bed and get some early morning sunshine. Exposure to light early in the day helps set sleep patterns for the next 24 hours.  

Time Your Meals and Eat Smart

Light isn’t the only way the body times the sleep cycle. It also uses other predictable patterns like meal timing to determine when to release sleep hormones. Try to eat your meals at approximately the same times each day to give your brain some kind of schedule to follow. 

You can also help by avoiding heavy, high-fat meals close to bedtime. Also watch out for acidic, spicy, and caffeine-laden foods that could cause indigestion or heartburn. 

Use a Sleep Aid

While I don't usually have issues sleeping, the first day or two away from home can be difficult for me to drop off. I have a pillow spray that chills you out, I've also used Dream Water (both the liquid and the powder), and also CBD gummies. Whatever you find works for you at home should work when you are traveling, so take those things along.

Start On The Plane

Sleeping on the plane can not only help your body combat germs, but it helps you avoid jet lag, too. If you need tips on how to sleep better or just on the plane in general, here are the tips I use. It helps to figure out what normally will help you, like I said above, so do some research before you travel if you don't usually use anything to go to sleep, or it's something simple, like a chill podcast or certain music that you can download before you leave home.

Sleep is the foundation of your health. You need it to be alert, happy, and ready to go. As you develop a travel plan, include ways to enhance your sleep. The changes you make in favor of better sleep may be small but the payoff can be well worth it. 

Have you ever lost valuable travel time because of poor sleep? 

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5 Tips for Your Best Solo Travels

Some people don't like to be alone, but others do. I'm happy to just be in my own company, even when I travel. You don't have to answer to anyone, you can sleep in late every day, you can eat in for dinner in your pajamas if you want. 

The majority of solo travelers are women, so Women's History Month is a great time to talk about how to get out of your house and go somewhere new. Solo travel is liberating and you should do it at least once in your life. If you're on the fence, here are a few ways to make it easier:

Know the language

If you don't know a language other than English, that's okay. There are plenty of places you can travel and still feel at ease if you aren't adventurous enough to learn on the fly. England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Belize and the Bahamas are all fantastic destinations, but France and Amsterdam also have tons of English speakers if you want to branch out.

Plan your trip 

While you will probably want to make some decisions when you arrive, don't leave the big things to chance. Plan the skeleton of your vacation - accommodations, transportation to/from airport, transportation around town, tours, etc. - before you leave home, so there aren't any big surprises. Do your homework and put a list of important addresses and phone numbers either in your phone or on a cloud-based service like Evernote or Dropbox, that way you always have a way to access them.

Talk to locals 

Your trip might be really boring if you never talk to anyone. Hit up friends on social media who live where you're going to see if you can get together. Use MeetUp.com to find other travelers or locals that meet to do things, like dining and hiking. And if you just want to talk to people without hanging out with them, hit up a local farmers' market. I also ping friends in the area before I go to see if they'd like to meet up and have coffee/lunch or do something fun. You can also always use an app like NomadHer to find other solo ladies.

Stay safe

Don't scare your mom by becoming a missing person. Book your accommodations and group tours in advance, arrive during the daytime, have a plan for getting around, don't get drunk in the bar with strangers, share your itinerary with your friends/family (solo travel is best when it is planned out as much as possible), check in every few days, and keep your itinerary online - TripIt is a good app - along with a copy of your ID and passport if you're going out of the country and need it in case of robbery.

Have fun! 

Eat at that food cart that catches your eye, go to that museum nobody else would like, take a cooking class, sit at a sidewalk café drinking coffee and people watching.

The world is your oyster, and you can see as much as you want when you don't have a travel partner that you have to compromise with and make happy. Maybe you'll find you love traveling alone, or maybe it'll show how much you take your usual travel companion for granted, but it's nice to connect with yourself while exploring a new destination.

What are your favorite places to travel solo to?