Wow, another incredible trip for me. I just feel so lucky to be doing all the things I am doing now. Kyle had a conference in Bologna, Italy, on the evening of Friday, Feb. 16, so we flew out of Brussels that morning. Even though the two plane rides made the day feel long, we actually arrived in Bologna by 1pm. We stayed in a very modern-feeling hotel. It was fun to stay in a place for a few nights that I would never want to live in. All of these modern features reminded me of how my mind does not work anything like a designer’s. I could barely open the closet doors because the knob was so small and didn’t have a groove for your fingers to hold on to. Kyle and I couldn’t figure out how to turn on or off any of the lights we actually wanted on or off, so we ended up just hitting all 12 buttons in the room and crossing our fingers. There was one switch that we kept thinking was the light switch for the bathroom, but instead it turned on the speakers in the bathroom, which were hooked up to the TV in the bedroom. So while you were hoping for light, instead you got Italian TV blaring in your ear.
On Friday we had a nice lunch before Kyle headed off to the conference. He spoke on a panel about economic freedom in Italy (his topic was how the EU affects Italy’s economic freedom) and then was lucky enough to be able to have dinner with a few others at a local Italian’s ‘in town’ apartment (versus his ‘outskirts of the city’ house). Kyle said he ate the best lasagna he has ever had in his life. The man had artwork everywhere, including three paintings from the 1500s.
While Kyle was dining on homemade lasagna and talking EU politics, I was doing what I do best -- wandering. One of my favorite buttons that my mom found for me says, “Not all who wander are lost.” I sometimes feel like I should have that saying tattooed on my forehead. I just love to wander around a city and feel like I am discovering so many new things. This situation works out perfectly for Kyle and me, because when we hit a new city (and he is working) I go scout out the cool things and then the next day I take him back to see the highlights. By then I have found the opening hours of places and a few cute restaurants to try, and am pretty familiar with the streets. So by having me tagging along on his business trips, he gets a personal tour guide!
Friday night I wandered down to the main plaza and saw a neat fire-baton display. I wandered the streets for awhile longer and happened onto the nicest mall I have ever seen. It wasn’t so much a mall as it was a row of incredible nice stores. I have never seen Bvlgari, Fendi, Yves Saint Laurent, Burberry, Cartier, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Dolce Gabanna, and Hermes stores all in the same place. Needless to say, I was in heaven window shopping!
God was really working in my life Friday night. Keep in mind that I was raised Catholic and even group prayer out loud makes me a little uncomfortable, so talking like this is not something I ever do. However, I was so moved that night that I feel the need to share. After touring the plaza I wandered down a quaint little side street. I happened upon a church, so I decided to go in. I don’t know what came over me, but as I was standing there looking at the beautiful church I just started thinking of how lucky I was. I thought of how much I love Kyle and how many family and friends we have who love us, and how we are having such incredible adventures while we are here and we are doing them all together. I just got so overwhelmed with how blessed I am that I started crying tears of happiness. I didn’t know what else to do with my thanksgiving except praise God for blessing my life so much, so I fell to my knees in the church and just starting praying. I had only been there for a minute or two and was just drying my eyes when the church bells started ringing and all of the sudden I realized that I was there at the beginning of the 6pm Friday mass. I thought about leaving because I knew I sure wasn’t going to understand a word, but then I realized that I had nowhere I needed to go and no one I needed to meet, and that I hadn’t been to mass in a long time. So there I was at mass on a Friday night in this little church in Bologna, Italy.
I went to Catholic school from kindergarten through twelfth grade, which meant that I attended mass on every first Friday of the month and every Holy Day for 13 years. That is a lot of masses. However, I fell away from the Catholic Church during college and, since Kyle is Methodist, we have been going to a variety of other churches instead. I figure that I hadn’t been to a mass in six years. But it was amazing that as I stood there in church and didn’t understand a word that was going on, I could still feel the rhythm of the words and pick up on what I should be saying. Sadly I didn’t remember every word or part of the mass, but every so often the words would come back to me and there I was, regardless of the language or country, celebrating mass with others.
The question has been raised before as to why I don’t convert to a different denomination if I haven’t gone to mass in so long. Although I don’t agree with everything the Catholic Church says, I do like many parts of it. I am still searching, and who knows where I will end up, but for right now I love the fact that I can travel the world and still know that there is a place where things won’t change and where, no matter what the language or location, I can still feel at home in the church.
After mass I headed off to dinner alone and really thought about my experience. I was really worried that because I had had such a strong experience that something bad must have happened at home. But I saw Kyle later that night and nothing bad had happened to him or any of my family. I guess God doesn’t always need to be speaking to you about some important topic to just give you a strong reminder that He is still in your life.
Saturday Kyle and I toured around Bologna a bit more. We had a wonderful dinner that night in true Italian style – a plate of antipasti, a pasta dish, then a meat dish and an espresso shot to finish it off. I honestly don’t know how they all stay so fit if they eat like that all the time!
All in all, it was a wonderful three-day weekend! Click here for photos of our trip.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Dealership Dude, Where's My Car?
I've edited a few more photo albums. My mom threw a baby shower for our good friend Christie Smith. We had such a great time catching up with people we have been friends with for 20 years. Click here for the photos. Next are a variety of photos I took during all of our Christmas celebrations from Atlanta to Dalton to Dallas, Georgia. Click here for those photos.
On Friday Kyle had an article published in both the US and European editions of the WSJ about our experience in buying a car in Belgium. I've copied and pasted it below.
BY KYLE WINGFIELD
Friday, February 23, 2007
BRUSSELS--Do you hate car shopping? Despise those pesky, aggressive salesmen who hound you the moment you set foot on the lot? Wish you could just browse through a selection of vehicles without being bothered? Well, has Brussels got a deal for you!
It's not uncommon for Americans in Europe to experience culture shock when they go shopping. Store hours tend to be much shorter. Salespeople are often so reserved that an innocent abroad could be forgiven for thinking that they would prefer not to make a sale. After two years here, I understood this all too well. But surely, I thought, those hardest of hard-sellers, the kings of cha-ching--car salesmen--would be different. Understand that I come from a family that loves to go car shopping. My father reads the colorful sale Sale SALE! automotive ads in the paper whether he needs a new ride or not. We're not really the sort of folks who will swing by a dealership just to test-drive some new model we're not going to buy. But if there's a free hot dog involved, we just might. Let me assure you, there are no free hot dogs awaiting potential car customers in Brussels. Nor waffles. There might be salesmen--if you're lucky.
My wife and I were not that fortunate when--having decided to give up our complete reliance on public transportation--we visited our local Volkswagen lot one Saturday. We overheard a man taking sandwich orders from some of the employees and then watched him leave just moments after we and another couple had walked in the door. One of the sandwich-orderers was helping another couple; the other spent the next half-hour chatting away with either a schmooze-thirsty client or his best friend. Another couple walked in the door shortly after us, and then a fourth. Apparently, we were all rendered invisible upon walking inside.
We chalked up that experience to bad timing and proceeded to a Toyota shop. A friend of ours had bought a minivan from this dealer before and assured us that we'd find a friendly salesman to help us. When we found him, Laurent was indeed friendly. He was also about to clock out. My suspicion that salesmen here didn't work on commission only grew. He passed us off to a co-worker who also seemed friendly--a little too friendly. Smarmy, even. He tried to up-sell us to a larger, more expensive model. This was more like it. I felt a shot of adrenaline as I warmed up for the negotiations. I wondered what sort of price I could throw out there and not be laughed out of the place.
The price on the sticker, it turns out. "You mean there's no room for negotiation?" I asked. He shrugged, giving me the kind of look you'd expect from a cashier at Wal-Mart if you tried to haggle over the price of chewing gum. "We have already taken off the standard discount," he responded flatly. (No sale there; though I asked him to fax me a quote on the cost of leasing a particular vehicle. I'm only mildly surprised that the quote never came.)
What was going on? According to Bernard Lycke, secretary-general of a Belgian automobile dealers' group called GDA, some Belgian car salesmen receive extra pay if they hit annual sales targets but others don't. Perhaps I simply ran into the unincentivized--or maybe these guys had already hit (or given up on hitting) their targets. Another possible complication: Because so many expats live in Brussels, about half of its cars are either rentals or company cars. That means dealers here depend on poor saps like me--who actually have to go look for, and pay for, their own wheels--for a relatively small portion of their business.
Still undeterred, we headed to a Citroën dealer. No one rushed to help us, but by this point we were used to that. After circling, scanning, opening, poking, crawling around and sitting in one particularly appealing car for about 20 minutes--without, apparently, attracting the attention of a salesperson--we decided this might be the one. The only way to know for sure was to test-drive it.
When we found an employee and asked to take the car for a spin, his eyes bugged and a gust of breath buzzed through his lips: "I do not think it is possible." What did he mean? It seems that the car did not have license plates on it, so we'd have to make an appointment to give the dealership time to rustle up a set before it would be street legal. You'd think that car dealerships might have gotten together with the Belgian government to find a solution to this problem in--oh, I don't know--the first 100 years that people have been driving (and, presumably, buying) automobiles. Mais non.
At this point, it seemed self-defeating to refuse to do business simply on the principle that one ought to be able to show up at a dealership and test-drive a car. We made the required appointment and, when the time came, were afforded a leisurely excursion to try it out. We decided to take it. (Maybe the Belgians know what they're doing after all.) Best of all, since we were buying a vehicle already in stock, rather than ordering one as most people have to do, we wouldn't need to wait months for the car to be built and shipped.
But even here came the unexpected: We could not drive off with the car until we had the license plates in hand, a process that would take about a week, according to the salesman. Who, with the deal completed, suddenly became the most friendly person we've ever met. Our business already won, he was all smiles, even willing to vouchsafe his cellphone number and offer his help should anything come up. Maybe I'll give him a call one day and ask if they're going to be giving away hot dogs anytime soon.
Mr. Wingfield is an editorial page writer at The Wall Street Journal Europe.
On Friday Kyle had an article published in both the US and European editions of the WSJ about our experience in buying a car in Belgium. I've copied and pasted it below.
BY KYLE WINGFIELD
Friday, February 23, 2007
BRUSSELS--Do you hate car shopping? Despise those pesky, aggressive salesmen who hound you the moment you set foot on the lot? Wish you could just browse through a selection of vehicles without being bothered? Well, has Brussels got a deal for you!
It's not uncommon for Americans in Europe to experience culture shock when they go shopping. Store hours tend to be much shorter. Salespeople are often so reserved that an innocent abroad could be forgiven for thinking that they would prefer not to make a sale. After two years here, I understood this all too well. But surely, I thought, those hardest of hard-sellers, the kings of cha-ching--car salesmen--would be different. Understand that I come from a family that loves to go car shopping. My father reads the colorful sale Sale SALE! automotive ads in the paper whether he needs a new ride or not. We're not really the sort of folks who will swing by a dealership just to test-drive some new model we're not going to buy. But if there's a free hot dog involved, we just might. Let me assure you, there are no free hot dogs awaiting potential car customers in Brussels. Nor waffles. There might be salesmen--if you're lucky.
My wife and I were not that fortunate when--having decided to give up our complete reliance on public transportation--we visited our local Volkswagen lot one Saturday. We overheard a man taking sandwich orders from some of the employees and then watched him leave just moments after we and another couple had walked in the door. One of the sandwich-orderers was helping another couple; the other spent the next half-hour chatting away with either a schmooze-thirsty client or his best friend. Another couple walked in the door shortly after us, and then a fourth. Apparently, we were all rendered invisible upon walking inside.
We chalked up that experience to bad timing and proceeded to a Toyota shop. A friend of ours had bought a minivan from this dealer before and assured us that we'd find a friendly salesman to help us. When we found him, Laurent was indeed friendly. He was also about to clock out. My suspicion that salesmen here didn't work on commission only grew. He passed us off to a co-worker who also seemed friendly--a little too friendly. Smarmy, even. He tried to up-sell us to a larger, more expensive model. This was more like it. I felt a shot of adrenaline as I warmed up for the negotiations. I wondered what sort of price I could throw out there and not be laughed out of the place.
The price on the sticker, it turns out. "You mean there's no room for negotiation?" I asked. He shrugged, giving me the kind of look you'd expect from a cashier at Wal-Mart if you tried to haggle over the price of chewing gum. "We have already taken off the standard discount," he responded flatly. (No sale there; though I asked him to fax me a quote on the cost of leasing a particular vehicle. I'm only mildly surprised that the quote never came.)
What was going on? According to Bernard Lycke, secretary-general of a Belgian automobile dealers' group called GDA, some Belgian car salesmen receive extra pay if they hit annual sales targets but others don't. Perhaps I simply ran into the unincentivized--or maybe these guys had already hit (or given up on hitting) their targets. Another possible complication: Because so many expats live in Brussels, about half of its cars are either rentals or company cars. That means dealers here depend on poor saps like me--who actually have to go look for, and pay for, their own wheels--for a relatively small portion of their business.
Still undeterred, we headed to a Citroën dealer. No one rushed to help us, but by this point we were used to that. After circling, scanning, opening, poking, crawling around and sitting in one particularly appealing car for about 20 minutes--without, apparently, attracting the attention of a salesperson--we decided this might be the one. The only way to know for sure was to test-drive it.
When we found an employee and asked to take the car for a spin, his eyes bugged and a gust of breath buzzed through his lips: "I do not think it is possible." What did he mean? It seems that the car did not have license plates on it, so we'd have to make an appointment to give the dealership time to rustle up a set before it would be street legal. You'd think that car dealerships might have gotten together with the Belgian government to find a solution to this problem in--oh, I don't know--the first 100 years that people have been driving (and, presumably, buying) automobiles. Mais non.
At this point, it seemed self-defeating to refuse to do business simply on the principle that one ought to be able to show up at a dealership and test-drive a car. We made the required appointment and, when the time came, were afforded a leisurely excursion to try it out. We decided to take it. (Maybe the Belgians know what they're doing after all.) Best of all, since we were buying a vehicle already in stock, rather than ordering one as most people have to do, we wouldn't need to wait months for the car to be built and shipped.
But even here came the unexpected: We could not drive off with the car until we had the license plates in hand, a process that would take about a week, according to the salesman. Who, with the deal completed, suddenly became the most friendly person we've ever met. Our business already won, he was all smiles, even willing to vouchsafe his cellphone number and offer his help should anything come up. Maybe I'll give him a call one day and ask if they're going to be giving away hot dogs anytime soon.
Mr. Wingfield is an editorial page writer at The Wall Street Journal Europe.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Julie and Chuck's Wedding
My good friend Julie Allred got married while I was back in the States in January. We have a great group of 9 girlfriends from college and we were all able to make it in for the wedding. It was so wonderful to have a weekend filled with girl talk and lots of giggling. Some moments felt like we were right back in college, being footloose and fancy free all over again. What great times!
Click here to see the photos.
Click here to see the photos.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Eat, Pray, Love and Relax
I start a lot of blogs, but then think that I should work on them more, so I don't publish them immediately. Because I like to start things a whole lot more than I like to finish them, I have many, many beginnings of blogs. After such an outpouring of interest during the two months when I didn't blog, I figured people would rather read random ramblings then nothing at all (while I wait to be inspired with a succinct ending or perfect editing). I should just publish my thoughts as they are. The above reasons are why you might read something that doesn't fit with the current time in my life (such as how I wrote below that we just returned from Croatia).
Written on September 24, 2006
I am reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert right now and am really enjoying it. Basically, after a few rough years in the States, the author takes a year off and travels through Italy, India and Indonesia to learn about herself. I am currently reading where she is in Italy. She just brought up a great point :
Generally speaking, Americans have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure. Ours is an entertainment-seeking nation, but not necessarily a pleasure-seeking one. Americans spend billions to keep themselves amused with everything from porn to theme parks to wars, but that's not exactly the smae things as quiet enjoyment.
This same type of thought crossed my mind while we were in Croatia last week. Although Kyle and I did sit by the pool and read for an hour or two each day, we just couldn't all out relax. We sat and had drinks at the bar overlooking the ocean for awhile, but then got antsy and wanted to walk around. Just sitting for 8 hours a day can be a lot more challenging than you would think! We both commented that our favorite parts of the vacation were when we took a kayak trip for a half day and then later when we rented a car and drove through Bosnia and Montenegro for five hours. Throughout our vacation, it bothered me so much that I couldn't just sit.
We stayed on a quite sparsly populated island for the first four days of our trip. Being on the island got me thinking about "old fashioned" types of entertainment versus modern day entertainment. When the sun had set and all you could hear were the waves crashing, I could see why people used to tell stories, sing songs and dance to pass the time. What better ways of entertaining yourself, while interacting with your friends and neighbors, rather than sitting in front of a TV or computer to be entertained. I know you can't very well find a sing-along or square dance around the corner from you nowadays, but I do think that is a shame that those things rarely exist anymore.
Written on September 24, 2006
I am reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert right now and am really enjoying it. Basically, after a few rough years in the States, the author takes a year off and travels through Italy, India and Indonesia to learn about herself. I am currently reading where she is in Italy. She just brought up a great point :
Generally speaking, Americans have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure. Ours is an entertainment-seeking nation, but not necessarily a pleasure-seeking one. Americans spend billions to keep themselves amused with everything from porn to theme parks to wars, but that's not exactly the smae things as quiet enjoyment.
This same type of thought crossed my mind while we were in Croatia last week. Although Kyle and I did sit by the pool and read for an hour or two each day, we just couldn't all out relax. We sat and had drinks at the bar overlooking the ocean for awhile, but then got antsy and wanted to walk around. Just sitting for 8 hours a day can be a lot more challenging than you would think! We both commented that our favorite parts of the vacation were when we took a kayak trip for a half day and then later when we rented a car and drove through Bosnia and Montenegro for five hours. Throughout our vacation, it bothered me so much that I couldn't just sit.
We stayed on a quite sparsly populated island for the first four days of our trip. Being on the island got me thinking about "old fashioned" types of entertainment versus modern day entertainment. When the sun had set and all you could hear were the waves crashing, I could see why people used to tell stories, sing songs and dance to pass the time. What better ways of entertaining yourself, while interacting with your friends and neighbors, rather than sitting in front of a TV or computer to be entertained. I know you can't very well find a sing-along or square dance around the corner from you nowadays, but I do think that is a shame that those things rarely exist anymore.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Just call me Betty Crocker
I wrote this at the end of our week of Thanksgiving celebrations, but have just gotten around to adding the pictures to it.
November 24, 2006
I have basically lived this past week either in the kitchen or in front of a plate of food, so that definitely means it has been a good one! Monday I did all the shopping for the festivites we have had this week. Tuesday I made brie in a pastry shell for an appetizer and an apple crumble for dessert. These were taken to our friends Tim and Lynn's apartment where they hosted 24 people for Thanksgiving! It was great because many of their co-workers are Belgian, so we had quite an array of traditional Thanksgiving food and some not-so-traditional food (stoemp and Belgian beer for example).
I came home Tuesday night and started cooking for the neighborhood coffee my friend Kelly and I were hosting Wednesday morning. Because we live in an apartment that doesn't have much room for entertaining large groups, I told Kelly that if she could host the coffee in her large living room, then I would bring the food. So Tuesday night I made a breakfast casserole and refrigerated it overnight. Wednesday morning I woke up bright and early to make a caramel sauce to dip apples in and a croissant custard from the Barefoot Contessa. I have learned that if you want your food to taste good, you make it as unhealthy as possible and then it will always taste great. For the croissant custard, it called for 3 whole eggs, 8 egg yolks, 5 1/2 cups of half-n-half, a cup of sugar and 6 croissants. No wonder it tasted so great!!!
Thursday evening our church hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless, so I made an apple crumble for 20 as I got ready to attend the Thanksgiving dinner the American Club was hosting. We were lucky enough to be invited as some friends' guests, so we got to eat lots of turkey, dressing and sweet potatoes without my having to cook a thing! They have hosted the dinner at this hotel for the past few years and have learned their lesson the hard way--the first year they did not provide the cooks with recipes of such American classics as stuffing, so when the food came out, they had pâté on their plates instead! I guess that is the Belgian idea of stuffing.
We took a day off to recover from eating so much because on Saturday we headed to our friends Kate and Ryan's house for another Thanksgiving dinner. Of all the dinners you get invited to, Kate's is not the one to pass up! She is an incredible cook and the food is always delicious there.
To finish off the festivities, we went to our friend's Maggie and Todd's house. Throughout the week we had a large dinner, a formal dinner, and an elegant dinner, but this one was the flat out fun dinner. The drinks were flowing and the converstion covered a wider variety of topics than most polite dinner conversations do, which always results in lots of jokes and laughter.
Tonight Kyle and I made another batch of caramel sauce to deliver as early holiday presents. We will be in the States starting December 9, and I have an overnight babysitting job next weekend, so I wanted to go on and get this checked off my list.
Sunday I am in charge of organizing the food for 150 people for our church. The goal is for 20 people to each bring 50 hor d'oeuvres--totaling 1,000 hor d'oeuvres. Right now we have about 15 people volunteering to bring food, so I think I might be making a lot of things on Sunday. We are also supposed to be going to another Thanksgiving dinner where I will be bringing the apple crumble that I could make blindfolded after this week! Bon Appétit!
Click here to see photos from our Thanksgiving marathon.
November 24, 2006
I have basically lived this past week either in the kitchen or in front of a plate of food, so that definitely means it has been a good one! Monday I did all the shopping for the festivites we have had this week. Tuesday I made brie in a pastry shell for an appetizer and an apple crumble for dessert. These were taken to our friends Tim and Lynn's apartment where they hosted 24 people for Thanksgiving! It was great because many of their co-workers are Belgian, so we had quite an array of traditional Thanksgiving food and some not-so-traditional food (stoemp and Belgian beer for example).
I came home Tuesday night and started cooking for the neighborhood coffee my friend Kelly and I were hosting Wednesday morning. Because we live in an apartment that doesn't have much room for entertaining large groups, I told Kelly that if she could host the coffee in her large living room, then I would bring the food. So Tuesday night I made a breakfast casserole and refrigerated it overnight. Wednesday morning I woke up bright and early to make a caramel sauce to dip apples in and a croissant custard from the Barefoot Contessa. I have learned that if you want your food to taste good, you make it as unhealthy as possible and then it will always taste great. For the croissant custard, it called for 3 whole eggs, 8 egg yolks, 5 1/2 cups of half-n-half, a cup of sugar and 6 croissants. No wonder it tasted so great!!!
Thursday evening our church hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless, so I made an apple crumble for 20 as I got ready to attend the Thanksgiving dinner the American Club was hosting. We were lucky enough to be invited as some friends' guests, so we got to eat lots of turkey, dressing and sweet potatoes without my having to cook a thing! They have hosted the dinner at this hotel for the past few years and have learned their lesson the hard way--the first year they did not provide the cooks with recipes of such American classics as stuffing, so when the food came out, they had pâté on their plates instead! I guess that is the Belgian idea of stuffing.
We took a day off to recover from eating so much because on Saturday we headed to our friends Kate and Ryan's house for another Thanksgiving dinner. Of all the dinners you get invited to, Kate's is not the one to pass up! She is an incredible cook and the food is always delicious there.
To finish off the festivities, we went to our friend's Maggie and Todd's house. Throughout the week we had a large dinner, a formal dinner, and an elegant dinner, but this one was the flat out fun dinner. The drinks were flowing and the converstion covered a wider variety of topics than most polite dinner conversations do, which always results in lots of jokes and laughter.
Tonight Kyle and I made another batch of caramel sauce to deliver as early holiday presents. We will be in the States starting December 9, and I have an overnight babysitting job next weekend, so I wanted to go on and get this checked off my list.
Sunday I am in charge of organizing the food for 150 people for our church. The goal is for 20 people to each bring 50 hor d'oeuvres--totaling 1,000 hor d'oeuvres. Right now we have about 15 people volunteering to bring food, so I think I might be making a lot of things on Sunday. We are also supposed to be going to another Thanksgiving dinner where I will be bringing the apple crumble that I could make blindfolded after this week! Bon Appétit!
Click here to see photos from our Thanksgiving marathon.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Lots of Photos!!!
If you want to click around to see just a bit of how we spent our time in the US, then
Click here for photos from our Smith Family Christmas.
Click here for photos from our time in New York City.
Click here for photos from Tom and Taylor Ludlam's wedding.
I still have six more albums to edit, so don't get tired of the pictures yet!!!
Click here for photos from our Smith Family Christmas.
Click here for photos from our time in New York City.
Click here for photos from Tom and Taylor Ludlam's wedding.
I still have six more albums to edit, so don't get tired of the pictures yet!!!
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Back in Brussels
Wow, if you ever want to know how many people read your blog, just take two months off and they all come out of the woodwork asking about it! Thanks to all of you who have so faithfully checked this site, even though I unintentionally took some time off. I didn't mean to stop blogging, life just got busy. At the end of August I started a babysitting job for an 11 month old little boy. It is two days a week from 8-4pm, so between babysitting two days and then being at the Women's Club two days, I never seemed to have much free time to write. It became more of a chore than a hobby. But Kyle gave me the sweetest Christmas present by printing off and binding ALL 240 pages (two and a half years worth of entries) of my blog. Re-reading it reminded me of how happy I am to have such a great journal of my thoughts and adventures while in Brussels. However, Kyle did point out that around the same time each year I tend to write about the same topics. Oops!
The other reason I haven't written in so long is that I was in the States for six weeks. Kyle and I flew to NYC on Dec. 9 and stayed for a week. Kyle had to work, and my sister came
up and kept me company. We had a great time shopping and being girly together. Next we flew to Chapel Hill, NC, for our friends Tom and Taylor's wedding. It was great seeing lots of old college friends. We drove to Atlanta after the wedding to spend a few days with my family and then on to Dalton, GA, to see Kyle's family. Kyle was in the States a total of two weeks, and then he had to fly back to Brussels on Christmas Day. It was really painful to be away from Kyle for so long but I think it helped us to realize even more how much we love each other and depend on each other for so many different things.
My good friend Julie Allred got married on Jan. 20, which is why I decided to stay for longer. It was wonderful having an extended amount of time to visit with so many people. I counted up and figured that I shared coffee or a meal with 125 friends and family during my time at home -- that averages out to visiting with three different people a day for six weeks straight! No wonder I felt so busy there! I took lots and lots of photos while in the States and have been trying to slowly edit all of them into some online albums that I will share soon.
I flew back on Jan. 23 and my weeks were immediately full with babysitting and the Hints for Living in Brussels class that took place for the last three weeks. The adjustment back to Brussels was much easier than I expected. I think part of the reason is because I had such a nice long visit in the States. I had time to realize that I have a great life there, but I also have a great life here. And my life here will defintely come to a close at some point, so I need to enjoy it as much as possible while I can. To keep along the lines of that thought, I have resumed my knitting group, recently went to an art museum, am being a model in the Women's Club upcoming fashion show, am going to an Art Deco tour soon, attended three parties last weekend, and Kyle and I are going to Bologna, Italy, later in the month.
I probably won't be blogging as much as I used to, but I think that is a good thing. When I used to blog three and four times a week, it was because I had so much free time (or idle time as I once sadly wrote about). Now my life moves at a steady, nice pace. I have lots of activities going on, but still enough time to have a coffee here and there with friends. My goal for the new year is to work out twice a week and write once a week....we'll see how it goes!
The other reason I haven't written in so long is that I was in the States for six weeks. Kyle and I flew to NYC on Dec. 9 and stayed for a week. Kyle had to work, and my sister came
up and kept me company. We had a great time shopping and being girly together. Next we flew to Chapel Hill, NC, for our friends Tom and Taylor's wedding. It was great seeing lots of old college friends. We drove to Atlanta after the wedding to spend a few days with my family and then on to Dalton, GA, to see Kyle's family. Kyle was in the States a total of two weeks, and then he had to fly back to Brussels on Christmas Day. It was really painful to be away from Kyle for so long but I think it helped us to realize even more how much we love each other and depend on each other for so many different things.My good friend Julie Allred got married on Jan. 20, which is why I decided to stay for longer. It was wonderful having an extended amount of time to visit with so many people. I counted up and figured that I shared coffee or a meal with 125 friends and family during my time at home -- that averages out to visiting with three different people a day for six weeks straight! No wonder I felt so busy there! I took lots and lots of photos while in the States and have been trying to slowly edit all of them into some online albums that I will share soon.
I flew back on Jan. 23 and my weeks were immediately full with babysitting and the Hints for Living in Brussels class that took place for the last three weeks. The adjustment back to Brussels was much easier than I expected. I think part of the reason is because I had such a nice long visit in the States. I had time to realize that I have a great life there, but I also have a great life here. And my life here will defintely come to a close at some point, so I need to enjoy it as much as possible while I can. To keep along the lines of that thought, I have resumed my knitting group, recently went to an art museum, am being a model in the Women's Club upcoming fashion show, am going to an Art Deco tour soon, attended three parties last weekend, and Kyle and I are going to Bologna, Italy, later in the month.
I probably won't be blogging as much as I used to, but I think that is a good thing. When I used to blog three and four times a week, it was because I had so much free time (or idle time as I once sadly wrote about). Now my life moves at a steady, nice pace. I have lots of activities going on, but still enough time to have a coffee here and there with friends. My goal for the new year is to work out twice a week and write once a week....we'll see how it goes!
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