by Anna Karsten

Anna in the House

Anna in the House is a Utah-based lifestyle blog. It's aimed to inspire, connect and educate about daily life projects of a working mom, with a special focus on the subjects of parenting, career-changing, fashion, health, and DIY projects.

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About

Hi! I'm Anna. After years of traveling the world non-stop, I’m now enjoying my life back in the US and changing career once more, while still pursuing my other passions and hobbies.

I still travel a lot though! You can inspire your wanderlust by checking out my other blog - Anna Everywhere.

It’s my mission to teach YOU how can also you turn YOUR dreams, whatever they are, into reality.

More About Me Read my blog
  • 7 Continents visited
  • 91 Countries visited
  • 9 Countries lived in
  • 6 Languages learned
  • 6 Years of blogging

Recent Posts

We traveled to North Carolina to see the family this week. Ironically, almost everywhere else in the US is hot and sunny, but here it’s cold and rainy, but we got a few hours of sun so the dude could remind himself what’s it like to be on the beach😅 P.S. Also, in case you’re thinking about going somewhere I must say that flying isn’t fun at the moment and won’t be fun for a long time - wearing a mask during the flight (it’s compulsory) with already low quality air sucks, you cannot really walk around so every kid was unhappy and screaming, and there’s no service (you get a ziplock with water and crackers). http://liketk.it/2PGxo #liketkit
Why we moved to Utah? So we can enjoy the outdoors during covid 😂 Why this wasn’t the reason, but access to spot like the one pictured - hot springs in the middle of nowhere is partially why. Everyone always asks if we have family here and nope, we don’t. I lived in big cities most of my life: Warsaw, London, NYC, LA, Mexico City and so on, I wouldn’t have moved to the middle of nowhere but I wanted to have facilities that a city would offer and that includes a good airport nearby. Salt Lake City area offers both - we can be in the mountains in a few minutes, but also go to a mall. Our neighbors have horses, but kids can walk to a store or school. It’s a mixture of both. People are very friendly here. To put this into perspective you can make friends with neighbors and people you meet quite fast which I like. Some ask if it’s a forever home. I don’t know, I don’t think I could definitely say I would live somewhere forever, but it’s a good home base for now 🙂
I shared on stories that I’ve been struggling with school work and I’m currently trying to defer for a semester. My school doesn’t allow breaks and requires studying 40h+ a week (yes, really, it’s impossible to do it another way). In fact when we went to Bryce I was trying to study on the drive and talking to toy suppliers while hiking :P This, combined with my business that it’s struggling because of covid and starting a new business - again because of covid, it’s just too much. But, that’s not all. I shared with you guys my story from March when I had an ectopic pregnancy and got so many messages from others dealing with the same issue, so here’s the continuance of the story. It’s now been a year since we’ve been trying for baby no.2. First it was thyroiditis, then ectopic, and now I’m officially diagnosed with unexplained secondary infertility - the unexplained part isn’t uncommon. That said, we’re trying different options, starting with intense fertility treatments like Clomyd, shots, IUI and if that doesn’t work 3 times then IVF. Plus some other procedures I’ll talk about when the time is right. It sucks, it’s stressful and time consuming. I know many of you are going through the same things, so I decided to keep sharing everything with you because it does require a lot of planning including insurance nuances as this stuff isn’t free and not all insurance providers cover everything. That said, feel free to message me with questions :) P.S. Yes, it’s not travel related (I guess the photo is), but my account has evolved to share different things, so while I will continue to travel I also continue to share home, life, or study-related things. Not everyone will like everything, I’m aware :)
Bryce Canyon National Park re-opened last week so we went to visit. We were supposed to go in the winter and even made it half way there, but Dylan got sick so had to turn back (charms of traveling with little ones 😛). *** I think local tourism and US national parks will be getting plenty of attention this summer when Europeans borders aren’t open for non-Schengen at the moment. *** Not all trails are opened, facilities are limited and camping is forbidden, but with the little dude we wouldn’t have been able to hike everywhere anyway 🙂
Yesterday on Stories I talked to you guys about the fact how annoyed I am with Instagram (not because of algorithm but content) and this is why I haven’t shared much recently. The truth is I have no time or will to do perfect instagrammable workout, cooking elaborate meals daily, or doing live every other day. From what you guys told me in PMs most of you don’t either, but online we it seems like we’re in the minority. The truth is, we might feel lazy, sad, unmotivated. We should be able to express ourselves without being called uninspirational or depressing. Instagram is a photo app, so naturally photos are going to be pretty and perfect. I like to see pretty photos as well, don’t get me wrong. But, a caption can go a long way. Since the pandemic started I see way too many perfect photoshoots that couldn’t be more meaningless. Many struggle right now whether it’s a job, health, kids, or simply being stuck at home - it’s fine to feel down. Personally I don’t mind being home, but my life has been all over the place and not carefree (I will share more over the next days). I don’t believe anyone’s life is always carefree, so when you see always happy-go-lucky influencers it doesn’t make you feel good, does it? Especially when if you think about it you know that most of it is bullshit. Way too many times I see people posting “life is great, I travel, my kid never cries, don’t give up dreams, blabla” but you know that their life isn’t perfect. I could give many examples but you get the point 😆 What are your thoughts about it? Do you feel more or less inspired by seeing just the highs of someone else’s life?
We took a mini roadtrip to hot springs and Bryce Canyon this weekend. National Parks in Utah are partially reopened (only some trails are open, but no camping and no facilities) with the bonus of barely anyone visiting was great! Did I mention we also stayed in a treehouse? 😉 http://liketk.it/2OCoO #liketkit @liketoknow.it
I don’t tend to post for Mother’s Day, simply because as a kid I celebrated it on a different date (every country has its own), then none at all after my mom died, so it’s all quite new to me. But, just discovered that my little dude loves to pet chickens as much I do so here it is 😆 That said, I wasn’t posting anything recently because things were all over the place in my life. People expect you to be inspirational and helpful when you’re “an influencer/blogger” but when literally nothing: health, school, business, etc. goes right I didn’t feel inspirational at all 🙃. I cannot share everything with you just yet, but one thing I can is that my Montessori inspired kids store is happening this summer - we will have pikler triangles and bunch of other cool stuff! The reason it’s taking so long (and there are many issues behind the scenes) is because first production was halted, now most shipment prices tripled and they’re still canceled or delayed, and I refuse to launch with mockups without actual samples. So please be patient 🙏 Kids store definitely isn’t something I ever imagined myself doing a few years ago, but neither is nursing school (I did want to be a doctor though), so never say never ⭐️
During this quarantine I hired Poofy to be my personal assistant and manage my new office.🐱 Matt tried to hire Dylan, but he wasn’t into it without any benefits 😛 (slide for video). Office design in also on the blog today - link in bio. http://liketk.it/2NmsP #liketkit @liketoknow.it @revolve #revolveme #revolveathome @superdown
We have a driver! 😅 There were so many drive thru birthday parties everywhere recently that Dylan decided he wanted to join on his own terms. He rolls around in his car blasting the radio and honking at every house 😅 Got so many questions from stories (it was his birthday gift) about this car and how does he drives it at this age. He thinks he drives it and can control the wheel, but we have a remote. When he grows up a bit he’ll drive it himself 😉 http://liketk.it/2Nx6p #liketkit @liketoknow.it #founditonamazon #amazondeals