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About Frances M Thompson
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Blog postWell, it's not even the end of the second week of 2021 and here I am writing a post all about how hard things have already felt this year, and with that in mind, the lockdown self-care I am doing to help me and my family weather the ups and downs of this latest lockdown.
While I stand by many of the things I included in this post all about what helped me survive 2020 (and nearly four months of lockdown with kids at home), and I am doing as many of them as I possibly can, there are very -
Blog postI thought about writing this guide on how to staycation Amsterdam style at least a year ago, if not longer, but as with 50% of my blog post ideas, I didn't get around to it in 2020 because... well, you know. Back then, I also didn't think it would interest many people. Fast forward to the beginning of 2021 and I know for certain that many people living in Amsterdam or in other cities in the Netherlands are wanting to know some great ideas for an Amsterdam staycation.
Of course this is -
Blog postTen years ago I was a big believer in new year's resolutions and on setting myself goals both personally and professionally for growth, development and "success". And many positive changes have come thanks to some of those resolutions like reading more books and writing regularly. But it's true that in the last five or six years, and especially coming out of 2020, I feel like making new year's resolutions brings about more unsettling and uncertain feelings than hopeful energy and mo
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Blog postThe Things That Helped Me Get Through 2020 (That May Help You in 2021) Well, that was a bit full on, wasn't it?
Yes, I'm talking about the WHOLE ENTIRE YEAR that is now nearly, nearly over. 2020, you are one for the history books, and you are one that I am equal parts amazed and grateful to have survived.
I hope you, dear reader, are feeling something similar too. In fact, let's all take a moment to breathe together and appreciate that here we are, in whatever form we are in, an -
Blog postSooooo today's blog post is a little bit different, but when it comes to things I wear, the watch I wear every single day - and have done for nearly two years now - is easily the thing I get the most questions about or asked for a review of. Whether it's in real life, or on a photo I share on Instagram, I get asked for a review of my Withing Steel HR watch, so I figured it would be a good time to do one.
The reason I mention how long I've had this watch is so that you know I have been -
Blog postConsider this list of amazing books my favourite books of the year, but also note that there are many more books I read and loved this year that aren't on this list. I've been a bit slack at keeping up with the books I've read and loved on Goodreads, but some of them are there. I'd love to go back to writing book reviews one day on this blog, but for now let's just stick to the very best of the best books of my 2020.
When I say that these books changed my life I'm not over-exaggerating -
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Blog postMy latest book, Lover Mother Other has now been out in the world for one whole week. To acknowledge that and to give you a bit more insight into the book's journey and what it's about, here's a quick collection of five facts about Lover Mother Other: Poems about Love, Motherhood, and Everything Else Womxn Transcend.
Five Facts About Lover Mother OtherNope, there are no commas in the title. This was intentional for a few reasons. I didn't want to make the distinction between the three names -
Blog postThis not your typical blog post from me - and indeed it's a guest post, written by the lovely Camille from Crafty Explorer - but it's the kind of travel blog post I REALLY enjoy reading. Facts about countries help you quickly get to know them quickly and they often prompt me to do a little further research into specific things about a place. So that's why I'm really proud to present you with 50 interesting facts about New Zealand Aotearoa.
The destination is especially important to me -
Blog postIt's the first day of December in the year 2020. Today I think we should all celebrate us all being oh so close to finishing this year - WHAT A YEAR!
I'd also love it if you could join me in celebrating the publication of my latest book, and my first book of poetry: Lover Mother Other. Yay!
Lover Mother Other Poetry Collection - Out Now!Lover Mother Other: Poems About Love, Motherhood & Everything Else Womxn Transcend is now live and available to buy as an ebook or paperback. -
Blog postI'm a little nervous announcing this, which is strange and a little annoying as the big announcement (and work!) of publishing my new book Lover Mother Other has now been done.
But I decided to do something a little different with this book launch and that is to create Lover Mother Other merchandise to accompany the book.
Announcing Lover Mother Other Merchandise! After receiving lots of feedback from people saying how much they loved the name of the book, and after falling in lo -
Blog postBest Poetry Collections You Should Read Today I'd like to share five poetry collections I think you should read. If you didn't already know, I'm quite new to poetry (both reading and writing it) and discovering new-to-me poems, poets and collections of poetry has been one of the greatest journeys I've enjoyed in recent years.
Below are five books I have loved discovering and I recommend these books to anybody who shows half an inch interest in poetry. Poetry collections have many benef -
Blog postContinuing this season of blog posts sharing some of our favourite things (and basically my version of a gift guide or two!), following on from the best timeless toys my kids play with all the time, today I have five happy kids books we all love (yes, children and parents alike!).
To be clear, we have MANY favourite kids books in our house, and I will hopefully one day share more in-depth lists of our best books for children, but not all of them leave us feeling with an instant glow of -
Blog postAs with most things in parenting, it's taken me a long time to get to a place where I feel like I know what I'm doing with unisex, timeless toys for children. It may sound like I'm over-complicating things, and yes, I do have a bad habit of over-complicating many things, but actually when you think about how much time kids spend playing with toys - and ideally, for many reasons, the same toys over and over again - then making sure they have toys that are gender-neutral, ageless and timeless i
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Blog postThis is one of the most important Amsterdam travel blog posts on this site, and is almost certainly the most important Amsterdam travel guide you will find on this site as it's aimed at reaching and helping travellers to Amsterdam with different accessibility needs than what the majority of other travel guides cover.
Writing about accessible travel in Amsterdam has been on my list of posts to write for a long time but for many important reasons I realised the reason I hadn't yet writte -
Blog postDuring my recent visit to Rotterdam with my five-year-old son, I was lucky enough to stay in one of the most iconic hotels in Rotterdam, and indeed in the whole of the Netherlands: Hotel New York.
Below you will find out the fascinating history of the building the hotel is in, and I will also write up an in-depth, honest review of Hotel New York, Rotterdam so that you can think about if this would be a great place to stay during your visit to Rotterdam with kids, or also without kids! -
Blog postIt's no secret that I think Amsterdam with kids is a great idea (I mean, I've chosen to raise my two boys in this city) but what about other cities in the Netherlands? Well, spoiler alert, the whole country has a lot to offer for family travel, and it makes sense that I should start with the country's second city and today share with you why visiting Rotterdam with kids is also a fantastic idea.
And if you're not planning on visiting Rotterdam with children, good news! The city is stil -
Blog postWhile the world and travel - luxury travel or otherwise - is not what it needs to be for us all to be packing our suitcases and heading off to one of these luxury accommodation in Scotland, I am so very delighted to share this round-up of the best 5-star hotels in Scotland with you. Not least because it's written by, Graham Grieve, a Scotland travel expert and so you can trust that his choices of Scotland's best luxury hotels really is a list worth keeping in your back pocket for when we can
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Blog postWhy NaNoWriMo Is NOT About 50,000 Words
I'm about to start my eighth NaNoWriMo adventure in nine years (I took November 2018 off as my second baby was born that month). I'm deep in Preptober and other NaNoWriMo preparation (like fulling my freezer with ready meals and warning all my loved ones I'm going to be hiding away writing whenever I can!), sharing NaNoWriMo tips on Instagram, and I am getting very, very, very excited.
As with every year, it's going to be a challenge, a revelat -
Blog postThe Best Travel-Themed Games to Play at HomeAs I was working on this post sharing the best ways to teach travel at home or armchair travel for children with these travel activities for kids at home, I was researching travel-themed board games and was amazed at just how many there are out there. I also noticed there were a lot of travel-themed card games, and travel trivia games to play too.
While we only have a few board games we dig out regularly - thanks mostly to my kids not yet being o -
Blog postThe Best Travel-Themed Activities for ChildrenHow do we make travel with kids a part of our life, when we actually can't travel with our kids? Hmm. Good question! And the answer is that we do some armchair travel with kids, aka we keep travel as a theme in the play, learning and conversations our kids have. While it feels like a good way to keep travel in our children's mind - and hey, could double up as a homeschool geography lesson - doing some of these home travel activities for children will
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Blog postArmchair Travel for Kids: How to Travel to Kids (When You Can't Travel!) So, family travel lovers, or heck, any kind of travel lover, it looks like we're not going anywhere anytime soon, right? While this is absolutely something to feel sad and low about, I want to take a moment to encourage you to think about how to travel with kids at home.
I know the very basis of travel is leaving home and going somewhere else, but actually and honestly, for most of us travellers and specifically -
Blog postBelow you will find a list of 50 positive affirmations for depression, written by someone who has been managing depression in their life, on-and-off, for 20 years.
As with all affirmation, you do not need to say all of these. You only need to pick a few that really speak to you. You'll know which ones are going to be the most effective because as you read them you'll feel something in your brain kind of click, even if just softly. What does matter is that you read these affirmations fo -
Blog postHouseplants for Beginners: What I Wish I'd Known in the Beginning Writing this post about how houseplants became my favourite self-care activity this year, I realised how much there actually is to learn for beginners to houseplants. It's not too much that you should be put off being new to houseplants, but there's definitely a few things that I wish I had known earlier and that's basically what I'm sharing with you today.
It can be hard and even overwhelming when you're new to somethin -
Blog postHouseplants, Self-Care and Me My name is Frankie and I am a quarantine cliche. Why? Because of houseplants. And specifically, how I made houseplants the ultimate self-care act, because truth be told, I think houseplants may have saved my mental health this year.
My love affair with house plants didn't start during this strange time, but it definitely did intensify. I've long had a houseplant or two in my home but I'm (now very!) ashamed to say that they never lasted very long. After ev -
Blog postTips for When You're Feeling Overwhelmed, Anxiety or Stressed OutI originally shared the following advice for when you're feeling overwhelmed with.... well, life or anything in my newsletter, but I realised it could do with a home of its own on the Internet so here it is. I'd be lying if I said I didn't write it for myself because I did. I have been experiencing varying levels of overwhelm this year (for obvious reasons!) and it's the kind of overwhelm that brings with it a lot of stress and oth
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