Comfy Hosts

03/17/2022

We’re celebrating our first ☘️St. Patrick’s Day ☘️here in Abuja 😆!! For years, couldn’t figure out why he indulged in sounds from Africa, the Caribbean, and Ireland 🇮🇪 !! It wasn’t until the months leading up to our departure for Abuja, that he discovered a few surprises tucked into his DNA estimate - quite a bit of Nigerian ethnicity, with flavor profiles of Irish & Italian ☺️!
In all of our transitions to life in different countries, Culture Shock has never looked like this before! Especially since he doesn’t know of any relative with direct ties to Nigeria or Ireland for that matter!

Where are we on the Culture Shock curve!? 🤔 Hmmm, at the moment it seems like it is all happening at once 😂, but give it take a few more months, we hope to pinpoint it better!

We do know that laughter is therapy…and a January 10, 2022 a letter by .habit PERFECTLY depicts the joys of settling in. Please give it a read! We instantly connected with him and his experience. And we’re certain many of you will, too 🙂!We’ll drop the link in the comments section!









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02/15/2022

One of the themes we’re learning about here is called UBUNTU - “I am because we are” in the kid bit form of understanding 😅.

One of the gems of not only traveling but also living abroad, is to learn how a culture or community cares for each other! We adopt those into our style of hospitality along the way 😊!

On this past Valentine’s Day, as a class project, we learned about “UBUNTU” and collected items for donation to our community.

We have to give 🌻 credit here. It only took her 3 weeks to finally part with the items in this vid, where it’s been 15 years for to let go a couple of aloha shirts 😆! Sigh, where is when you need her! “Chotto Taskute Kudasaiii” 😃


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02/10/2022

We were handsomely rewarded by this unbelievable sunset 🌅 today after spending some time prepping our flower pots! If only we could press pause ⏯ on these moments…

It’s been a journey trying to figure out where to find a good nursery! We’re so used to popping into or a brick and mortar to buy things, but apparently, roadside service it is! We drove around and pulled over whenever we saw pots and plants being sold. ☺️

I really wish I had captured the 👀 on the vendors faces when 🛠️ asked for 45 flower pots 🤣! Little did they know, that was just to “get started”…🥲!! As you can see, we purchased far fewer. 😅


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01/01/2022

At long last, 2021 is in the rear view mirror, and our hearts are full of expectation for what 2022 will bring!!

We spent New Years Eve with .lancelot.art admiring the progress from Day 2 all while being reminded of a Japanese concept 🛠️ and learned years ago - Wabi-Sabi - finding beauty within the imperfections of life and remaining at peace through the cycles of life. There is so much more to this concept, and we certainly hope to learn more as the course progresses ☺️.

We’ve greatly admired .lancelot.art approach to workshops, knowing full well that some, such as ourselves, struggle with those inner critics and voices that tell us we’re not good enough or that we shouldn’t start something because it won’t be perfect from the start, etc. If we give toddlers the grace to fall and get back up again as they navigate their new terrain, it really shouldn’t stop when we reach adulthood. Especially when extending ourselves beyond our comfort zone!

Thankfully, we were also rewarded with a beautiful foggy morning, part of which served as the subject of my inspiration for my silk overlay project, and we purchased a few 👒🎩 “work” hats 🎩👒from a popular shop in Chalon-Sur-Saone to up our silk painting game this year 🥳!





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12/30/2021

To ALL the ARTISTS out there who make our world beautiful, THANK Y🥰U! In the midst of all that was 2021…it has been uplifting to take a quick peek on and to share life through one’s culinary 🍝 arts (off & on the grill 😲), interior decorating skills, knitting 🧶 or silk painting 🖼 projects, to name a few 🙂!

Shortly after the worlds of many were thrown into unknown, we were fortunate to host a few families who were not able to join their loved ones who were stationed abroad. began offering silk painting classes to our guests as a form of therapy. This not only gave weary mothers or fathers a chance to relax, but also to provide a creative outlet for which children could express the various feelings they were experiencing.

As we continue to figure out next steps in 2022, will continue to explore providing Art Therapy as an experience for our guests! And since there’s no time like the present, we figured it best to ring in the new year taking lessons with .lancelot.art 😊!!

Nadja, thank YOU so much for giving these weary heads some much needed TLC! We certainly look forward to many more lessons at your lovely studio! Your hospitality has been so restorative 💜!!







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01/05/2021

At long last, here’s our first post in #2021, unveiling our brand logo done by a very talented heart 💜 and person - thank you Rachel 😀!!

We’ve had fun revealing bits of our logo in last year’s posts, either through pieces we’ve commissioned through and the unboxing of wonderful products 🎁 ordered through and 😁

And we couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate other than in the kitchen, with the help of the gifted snapping some lovely lifestyle photos of us making bow tie pasta using our logo colors!! We have to thank for the inspiration of using vegetables to naturally color the 🍝!

And of course, we couldn’t leave out our favorite bakery here in Stafford County, Virginia - - for providing what literally reminded us of our wedding cake with each bite! We so wish we could’ve shared it with others! But perhaps, we can happily do another order in the future for those visitors who are interested in the sheer delight that hit our palate😉! Trust us, we LOVE 💕 excuses to make a run to the bakery!!

Through hospitality, our goal is to provide a welcome respite and to love people where they are in life regardless of whether they have all the pieces together. 😌

12/31/2020

We are deeply humbled by the love we received from all of you in the and community!

🎉Over the past 2️⃣ days 🗓, we’ve received over 3️⃣0️⃣ followers that brought us over the 3️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ mark! 😁 Thank you so much for embracing us, our stories, and our gift 🎁 of hospitality!!

We hope to continue on this journey with you all in 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣1️⃣ whether through laughter or tears!



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12/29/2020

Sooo at some point during the weekly photo challenge, there was this wonderful chance to 'Meet Your Host(s)'! And thankfully, since hosts can jump in at any time...well, here we are - J.E.M. - Jerrold, Eliana, and Melissa! 👋

You've seen our posts referring mostly to our nicknames:

1️⃣ for Jerrold because he enjoys working in all things pertaining to business administration and he's not your stereotypical Mr. Fixit (we have previous posts as proof 🤣 ), but set him loose in a kitchen or to nurture a relationship, he's on 🔥!

2️⃣ 🌻 for our dearest daughter, Eliana, because her personality simply put, 🤩 sparks joy 🥰 , and she encourages us to see the bright spot in just about every chaotic situation 🆘 we've found ourselves since hosting over the past 3 years!

3️⃣ 🛠️ for Melissa, the brains and beauty behind the creation of the Comfy Suite, does not shy away from DIY home repairs! Her artistic eye is behind the beautiful custom-designed decor in the Comfy Suite. And somehow this manages to run 2 home businesses while homeschooling! 🤯

Our travels before and after we married, have had us visit or live in 30+ countries and 20+ States. And that's the secret to our warm hospitality - along our work, travels and studies at home in the United States and abroad, we've taken our favorite aspects of hospitality and share it with our guests, which makes it easy for one to feel comfortable engaging with us, or to have that 'right-at-home' feeling!

For our 'This-is-Us' photo, we chose a set of pics that reflects just how eclectic even our taste in music is! 😅 While doing a lifestyle photo shoot to promote the release of our new logo, Jenny saw the instruments, and said out loud - I have a wild idea - and we (and our instruments went with it - ALL THE WAY TO - without regrets!

12/06/2020

We were blessed to host a family on our platform as they transitioned from Syria to America!

We’ve long missed the days where we could invite guests up to partake a sip from our stash, but we were surprised by the welcome tray from being returned to us with Turkish coffee and muffins!

Talk about a heart-melting, Awww, moment, to know that their first memory of America 🇺🇸 is a warm, welcoming stay!

We chatted about the number of spices that were readily available for guests to use, and how happy they were to see such a mixture of people from different ethnicities in our neighborhood, chatting with each other, exchanging lawn care and Christmas 🎄 lighting tips, etc. Even the children were content. And we could not have had a more endearing start to our day in spite of all the {fun} we’ve had with reno projects gone awry!

11/29/2020

Quite a number of 🗓weeks 🗓have passed (since we had worked quietly worked with ) to burn one of our new brand logos from the onto wood!

🤩Who knew that pyrography could be so much fun to observe 😆?!

Sue masterfully (and patiently) worked with us to incorporate not only the coloring and dimensions, but also found a piece that incorporates some of the Asian themes in our suite - giving us fond memories of where 🛠 and I met, oh so many moons ago 🥰!!

What particularly struck us about professionalism was that she worked on this earlier in the year when the pandemic became official, thus making it exceptionally challenging to get supplies, all while being protective of her newborn grandchild and other family members! Each time we fill this welcome tray with goodies for our guests we are reminded of the same dedication and warmth we are committed to providing all who stay at the Comfy Suite! 😌

✅out additional photos of the tray from different angles from ‘s IG post at the following link👉 https://www.instagram.com/p/CACOfdkFX7e/?igshid=ver9ls75m2sl. She has way better lighting!! 😅

07/29/2020

07/09/2020