I'm dreaming of a white Easter

We had a nice Easter, but I think God got a little mixed up between the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus because it has been snowing on and off all weekend. Today we woke up to a beautiful white dusting everywhere, and it was just light enough that all the snow had melted by this afternoon.

The schools have off the next two weeks for their Easter break, so the Women's Club is closed during that time too. Between having a break from my French lessons, the club being closed and many of my friends out of town with their kids, I am a little bored. The problem with having lots of free time is that there is no excuse for not doing the things you have always put off. Every single day I have no reason not to be working out, studying French, cleaning the house and catching up on everything else, but I just don't want to! But I have set a goal for myself that by the end of these two weeks, there will be nothing left on my To-Do list, even the things I dread doing. I am using this as a mini-New Year's Resolution time, but man it is painful!

Analysis paralysis

I thought I had known Kyle pretty well, but in the past few years I have seen a new, highly organized and analytical side of him come out (now that there is so much internet data available). It mainly appears any time a (fantasy) sports draft or tournament ranking takes place. During that time, our computer desk is covered with sheets and sheets of paper that are filled with numbers, rankings, statistics, calculations, win-loss data, and who knows what else.

Last night was no different as Kyle prepared his basketball rankings for the upcoming tournament. This time he even typed up a little Word document so he could fill in his data for all of the teams!

I teased him that he should be using this skills for something worthwhile, rather than just sports. But no sooner had the words come out of my mouth then I realized that he does this exact same thing every day at work when he is researching for an article -- no wonder he is so well practiced!

I am only writing about all of this because I think it is so cute. I realized that the way his brain thinks so methodically about win-loss rankings and statistics is the exact reason he can always tell me to the day and hour (!) how long we have been married and why he notices (and remembers) the little things (like I always wear silver earrings). So until the day he forgets our anniversary but remembers the Braves' record in 1948, I'll be passing him pen and paper.

Between the 4th and 5th loads

It always makes me laugh when people say, "If I ever won the lottery, I would travel the world!" Obviously they have not traveled much, because if they had, they would know how tiring it can be. I am not being ungrateful about all of the opportunities we have had to see so many amazing places, I am just being realistic about the side effects of traveling.

A week in the south of France is great, but you return to a dirty house that is in disarray because you were throwing things everywhere in your rush to pack, you have a weeks worth of laundry to catch up on, the refrigerator is completely empty and the garbage smells (because you forgot to take it out as you were running to catch your flight), your plants are half dead because you haven't watered them, you have 100 e-mails to catch up on, 250 pictures to edit, and to top it all off, now your bank account is empty.

A view of our guest room and "laundry room" aka kitchen.

But what makes it all worthwhile are the memories...

Guten Tag

Hi from Germany! Kyle and I just finished up a wonderful trip with my sister Sarah Kathryn and her boyfriend Paul. After showing them Brussels, Brugge and Gent, we took the train down to Avignon and rented a car. From there we went to Chateauneuf du Pape and tried some wines. Next it was off to Arles for their weekly market and coliseum. I told Kyle that my version of heaven would be an open air market. On the way back we saw the quaint pedestrian town of Les Baux de Provence. Even though Kyle and I have lived in Europe for three years, we both seemed to have a brain short and forgot that everything would be closed on Sunday. So we can now say that we have walked through the empty streets of Avignon, but have not actually seen anything since it was all closed. However we did get to see the Pont du Gard and the great museum that goes with it. Next we drove through Cannes and along the coast of France to Monaco. Even though it was drizzling rain, it was just a beautiful town. I had actually been there 10 years ago when I back packed through Europe with some friends. It was weird to recognize so many things and think about what my life was like 10 years ago. I defintitely would not have guessed then that I would be living in Europe now!

We spent the night in Nice and this morning put Sarah Kathryn and Paul on a plane back to the States. Kyle and I weren´t flying out until the afternoon so we spent a wonderful morning in Nice wandering around and soaking up the bright sunshine. After a few hours together we went our separate ways -- Kyle back to Brussels and me to Cologne, Germany to do my note taking thing. So in a total of seven days I have been in four countries -- Belgium, France, Monaco, and Germany. No wonder I feel a little confused!

Tooties Take Brussels

For the life of us, my sister and I cannot remember when or why we started calling each other Tootie. No, it wasn't after The Facts of Life and it wasn't because we tooted a lot. Sarah Kathryn loves nicknames, so I think she just started calling me Tootie one day and it stuck. (She calls Kyle Ky-Ky and my dad Smitty).

Sarah Kathryn and her boyfriend Paul are touring through Europe and started off in Amsterdam and joined us for the weekend here in Brussels. We did all the touristy things and had a great time along the way. Luckily, after enough Belgian beer, Kyle and Paul were able to handle lots of giggling and silly sisters. Sarah Kathryn and Paul are in Paris right now, but on Friday we will all take a train down to Avignon to start our driving trip through Provence. Hopefully the French wine will help Kyle and Paul on that leg of the journey.