Queens Day

I stayed over at my dearest friend Charlotte (photo) (my two followers, and friend of more than 27 years!) and had a lovely evening yesterday, catching up. The alarm was set at 6 in the morning and after talking for hours we finally fell asleep.

Suddenly I was woken by the most horrible loud noise! Normally I wake up to a beautiful serene tune but she had an awful alarm that she did not even kill straight away. AAAH!

Waking up so blissfully at 6 made me feel just peachy. With my head still buzzing I stepped under the shower, making me feel more awake and ready for our task ahead.

- We did not dress in orange but most people go all out* -

* The colors of the Dutch flag are red, white and blue -- there's no orange at all. So what's the Netherlands' relationship (make that borderline obsession) with the color orange?

The answer: Orange is the color of the Dutch Royal Family. The lineage of the current dynasty -- the House of Oranje-Nassau -- dates back to Willem van Oranje (William of Orange). But while the color orange has royal roots in the Netherlands, today it symbolizes a broader pride in the country and in being Dutch.  (Thank you, Shannon McAllister)

At quarter to 7 she biked and I sat on the back of the bike and cycled into town. It was cold and wet. A real disappointment for everyone because the days before were beautiful. But for us it was perfect as that meant it wouldn’t be crowed.

We planned we would shop till we drop. And so we did. We had to walk back to the house to get the car -  we could just not hold all the bags - as soon as we parked the car and dropped our first load of we started another round in town. 3 more times we had to walk back to the car. Arms full, bags fully loaded, we looked at every plaid with treasures.

Well.. an already long story short; we bought a lot of LOVELY; PRECIOUS, BEAUTIFUL, GORGEOUS, WONDERFUL: ATTIC JUNK BEAUTIES!

When we came back at 2 we went to bed with achy feet…no scrap that….PAINFUL feet!!!, hurting shoulders and sleepy eyes. We fell asleep again and this time no alarm disturbing me when I woke….

Just drool and a wet pillow...

Happy Queensday Trixie aka Koningin Beatrix!

Some of my finds and Queens day pictures:

Massage

Today I got a massage, sitting on a bench under a tree. A girl reckoned I needed to relax more and get some blinders so I couldn’t see the other children on the school yard. Now it is my task to pay attention off course and be alert about the things around me.

But today most children had gone home because of QUEENS DAY tomorrow. Parents picked them up early because tomorrow we start at 6 in the morning selling our attic junk.

So I could relax a little and that was perfect combined with a lovely massage. I settled myself on the bench and the girl started on my shoulders. Her friend decided she would organize the entertainment. Trying to climb in a tree….and that made me get up and rescue her….because she was stuck….end massage.

Old fart with pigtails

Yesterday was my first day back at work. Not only was I hugged by the children but also by my colleagues that thanked me for being back. I was missed and that feels great! I was also looking forward to go back to work. Giving me back some routine and the feeling of knowing what will come next. Turkey made me aware of the fact that I don’t have any spontaneous or adventures bone left in me. I don’t like surprises or the feeling I am not in control.

That makes me giggle a little because 7 years ago everything needed to be exciting and I would gag just thinking about routine. That was boring and uncalled for. I wanted to be an actress; I did wild things, moved to England and Denmark, everyday was a different day, every half year I had a different job and I loved going into town and party.

Nowadays I am married and I can act like an really old fart. Just the kind I would have despised when I was younger.

Now I just love to work from 9 to 5, come home, pay attention to my button fetish, blog, watch tv and just chill on the couch.

But don’t get me wrong because; I am 27 and yes most of the time an old fart, but an old fart with pigtails!

Because I love routine but the child in me hasn’t died yet. Instead of becoming an adult I relive my childhood very often. I still love pajama parties, singing along with Mama Mia – The sound of music – or the radio with a brush as microphone and some giddy friends, I love cuddling a blanket and my dolls and teddies, I like reading children’s books, and love to dance silly, talk silly, be silly……and sometimes be really unreasonable and childish.

So as long as I can do it in comfortable clothes at home or at my friends, and in my scheduled time I will act as childish, spontaneous and adventures as can be.

The clock is ticking...

I only have ten minutes left to write a lovely post for Sunday.....ten minutes before the clock strikes twelve.
Tik tok tik tok.....It makes me nervous. My mother learned me never to be late. Screaming we had to hurry and resulting us to be somewhere way to early. Pretty annoying when we were invited for dinner but realised we still had 15 minutes to spare. Not wanting to arrive early, she made us all drive or walk an extra block around the neighbourhood.
Three minutes to go....I will just have to hit publish post .....So far my Sunday....lovely...post.

My husband

Introducing my husband:

  









Honest mistake....

Here really my husband:



Oeps!

I will try again:
Tadaaaaaa:



Isn't he gorgeous?

This is my way to tell you I support and love you. You can do it baby!

He stopt smoking today!!!!!

Vintage Postcards

I was looking for my button collection in the attic. I could not find them but I did find my box of old letters and postcards.
Resulting in me taking a trip down memory lane. Loving everything vintage and retro I thought of the moment my letters and cards would be considered vintage. I placed them back in their box, in the attic, maybe to be a real vintage attic find in the future...
As a tribute I made a vintage postcard slideshow....



Be patient while it loads...

Memorable moments from Turkey

(Day 0 was our flight there. We got to our resort at 6 in the morning!)

Day 1.

¨Fairy tales from Turkey¨ or tales from any country for that matter....

Because we have a wonderful time just lying at the swimming pool, reading books, sunbathing and off course swimming!

And we are planning to do so for 7 more days.....

¨Cheers on a wonderful holiday and old women wearing thongs.¨ (temporarily blinded)



Evening 1.

¨What bored Turks do¨

I was attacked by an apparently bored Turk that came and offered me a HOT coffee.
When I declined the coffee (I don't drink this very mature black caffeine syrup*)....he threw the cup at me!!!
I ducked out of the way and shielded my face. The cup was empty and it turned out to be a joke.
The funniest thing turning out to be was my reaction. It's a pity I couldn't see this. Maybe then I to would find it as hilarious as my husband and the bored Turk thought it was!

* Coca cola is more my favorable black syrup. Maybe due to the cold factor and fun bubbles. I love bubbles.

Day 2.

¨Real Turkish delights so far…?¨

• We saw Turkish people but we also saw an invasion of German people. They even somehow managed the local Turkish people to speak German constantly!
• We eat Turkish Kebab served with Italian pizza, French fries, vegetables like Brussels sprouts and we wash it down with American coca cola.
• We saw Turkish women....but they were not wearing their headscarves like in Holland....
• And we played with Henna

¨ Our wedding symbol¨



Evening 2.

¨They will do art for only 5 Euros... ¨

The maids work hard and long hours and the pay sucks enormously! So at the start of the week we left 5 Euros on the pillow. We do it for them but also a little for ourselves.
Because we just love the art they make from bed covers and my plane blankie.



- German invasion COMPLETE! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Our favorite sitcom is raped! They speak GERMAN TO! -

 Day 3.

¨2 hours of pampering in the Hammam¨

-Sauna
-Mud body mask
-Scrub
-Soap massage
-Relaxing with tea and facial mask
-Oil massage

We first had to open our pore doors in the very hot Sauna. Then we were taking in to the hammam, were we got a layer of green mud spread of our bodies.
After ten minutes we were dried up mummies and they removed the mud with buckets of warm water. When we were rinsed of we had to lie on a warm stone bed.
They scrubbed our dead skin away making way for fresh, soft skin making us feel reborn (without the blood and gore of really being reborn, that is). After we shed our skin like a snake it was time for some fun with bubbles!
While covered in soap and bubbles they massaged us. It was wonderful and very relaxing. We were clean and smelling nice. We had had to put on some bathrobes and we had to lie on a bed, wrapped up with some extra towels. Some tea was presented and a facial mask applied.

To finish this lovely adventure we got an oil massage that was ridiculously lovely!

When we left the hammam we seated ourselves by the swimming pool, in the sun where we fell asleep....

¨You look like a red lobster!!¨ - ¨ You have fried like a croquette.....your skin is all crispy!¨



So I had to cool off...

Evening 3.

¨Thin walls¨

I do believe we all like to eavesdrop ones in a while as we are all curious by nature. But what if you can eavesdrop without you even wanting to??
Every night we have problems with our neighbors. Definitely British and we know they have a little toddler with them because she can't stop shouting at him!
They have fights and putting up with hearing every stupid, drunk and annoying argument they scream and shout to each other we feel awful.
I cried out the other night of desperation! There toddler is left alone in their room while they go out and drink. He was screaming and crying for its mum. I was helpless and wanted to hug the little one and tell him everything was going to be OK. But it won't be OK for him really, will it?

Luckily we sleep late so they haven't waked us up yet. But we can't concentrate on our reading so we just lie there...listening and praying they will soon stop. So after 1 hour of screaming we feel we should go over there. Agreeing that maybe wasn't a good idea as they already sounded unreasonable. 1.5 hours past and finally they fall asleep. (It went quiet so we figured they or went to sleep or they killed each other) Anyway it was quiet.

Now we could sleep to...

But I wasn't thinking of sleep. I was more thinking in the lines of poor toddler, stupid grownups, our stupid fights and promising myself we won't end up like that. At least we would not be so damn oblivious of our surroundings.

And on that note I also fell asleep on the rhythmic sound of the neighbors loudly snores....

Day 4.

¨Tangerina¨

I just LOVE the fruit naming of all the buildings especially TANGERINE. Somehow it makes me happy. I even asked my husband to consider it as a girl’s baby name.

He wouldn't.

Evening 4.

¨Volcanic ash cloud¨

Northern European airports are all closed and all flights are cancelled!! When will be able to fly back isn't sure.

Quote of today: ¨Your bla bla bla is my command¨

Day 5.

¨Dutch people complain a lot¨

So this last question of day 4 ruined the rest of our care free holiday! Luckily in these kind of situations the Dutch people always find each other!

When I lived in Denmark and for example was waiting for the bus I looked around as soon as it seemed clear the bus was delayed to see when other people would start to complain, notice or at least acknowledge the fact the bus was late...............NOTHING!

Now the complaining of the Dutch is sometimes really annoying but this time it was really comforting and I thanked the fact I was Dutch.

As we were lying at the pool we heard a Dutch young couple talk on the phone that were STILL stuck in Turkey. So we asked them when they would have had to fly.
It seemed they were stuck for already 3 days. From this day they on we teamed up together, speculated, wondered and discussed with them and 4 more older couples about when we would be able to fly.

But the most special thing was we made friends although we normally don't like to team up with other couples afraid we won’t be able to get rid of them. This couple was our age, lived in the same town!! She does the same work I do and the men had similar humor and loved to joke and fool around. It was lovely to see but me and her had loads of ¨rolling eyes¨ moments to. We played cards and had a lovely time together.

¨ Walla...hand gesture...playing cards with Turkish accent¨

Evening 5.

¨ Horrific night!¨

We had the most awful night! The neighbors kept us a awake. Fighting!

¨It was an horrible experience that still make me teary eyed.¨

Day 6.

¨Happy Nuts¨

We moved to a different room! Something we should have done sooner!!! But this will not happen us again!

Boat ride with the Happy Nuts we called them. (vrolijke noten) A Dutch couple that loved a drink and had a wicked sense of humor. Although we were really tired and grumpy at first because of the traumatizing night before, we had a lovely day together with them. We went to see a waterfall, had a lovely boat trip and visited a Bazaar.

Evening 6.

¨Lovely evening¨

We had a lovely but short night together with our young couple. We played cards, informed about knew information and laughed our heads off.
And told stories about our trip.

¨ My husband wanted to sell me for 6 camels and a goat¨

Day 7.

¨ Miracle¨

We should actually fly today. But we figured we would not fly because everything was still closed.
We went in to town with the other young couple and bought a suitcase (husbands suitcase broke on the way there) and lovely sunglasses.
Turns out my new girlfriend could knock off anything and we went back with really cheap things.

We had lunch and then decided we would play cards. There was no more news.

Suddenly we heard our room numbers from the DJ hut. We were asked to go to the reception. We figured they wanted us to pay for the extra night.

But when we came there we heard we had 15 min to pack and we had to check out because our plain would fly today!

We were extremely happy. All the Dutch couples were on the bus except of one. We were singing, cheering and really livid.

As we arrived at the airport our luggage was thrown out of the bus. While the bus driver was doing that we were informed that our flight was CANCELLED.

The bus drove away and we were stranded. Left alone.

We called our Travel agent. (the dog) We did not like him one bit as he made everyone pay and said if we wouldn't pay the hotel would through us on the street.

He kept saying: It's not MY problem, it's YOUR problem! He did not care about us one bit.

But HE needed to solve this. People starting crying, shouting and we all were disappointed! We decided we would just stay at the airport and other people wanted to get a taxi and drive the 2 hours back to our hotel. But in the end we heard from The Dog we had 2 choices:

1. He made sure the busses would come back. He would book a hotel (more expensive!!!) we would then be picked up by a bus at 3 in the morning and taken to the airport and hope we could fly back then...
2. Go back to our own hotel but he would not pick us up again and we would lose our flight ticket back!

So we chose 1....after the HELL really broke loose but we realized this was our only choice.

Our new hotel Miracle was more expensive but it was miraculously BEAUTIFUL! It was a pity we could not enjoy it much. We arrived at 7 and after checking in with in total a 150 Dutch stranded people we finally got a room next to our friends.

We drank SEX ON THE BEACH, Vodka Cola, Beer; we stole the content of the mini fridge and made sure we ate a lot worth the extra money we needed to pay!



Evening 7.

¨Sexy time¨

Husband asks the waiter: can I have a sex on the beach, please.

The waiter answers (for real): with me???

We danced and talked and made the best of it!

Day 8.

¨SKY Airline¨

We had 2 hours of sleep.

We were anxious....will we be able to go back today? Children were crying, people were on edge. Me and 149 others had to wait at the airport and then we heard what we wanted to hear.....planes were flying again!!

People did not want to jinx anything so they did not want to be to happy again....saying they would believe it when we would land in at least Europe!

BUT we were when we landed at SCHIPHOL AIRPORT at 10.10 in the morning local time!! We were happy we made it, we did not crash and we had our feet on Dutch soil!

Husband and I look back with mixed feelings. We had some really lovely moments, times with new friends, wonderful weather and scenery. But also some horrible moments caused by the neighbors and Mother Nature!

Today we are married for 7 months and still going strong, in all the whimsical moments and horrible moments. We are building memorable moments together and we LOVE them all!

Note: Don’t ever travel with DTI….ever!

Flying Bug

So today we are off to Turkey! That means that I will be missed by my millions of readers (and 2 followers…who happen to be the same person!) and have to disappoint them with this lousy post that will have to satisfy you until next Tuesday!

But wait! I will promise you that I will keep a notebook with all my ¨fantastic fairytales from Turkey¨ posting them all at once when I come back!

Until next week, we are leaving now….me and my husband with his airplane earplugs…that make him look like a bug.

Hungry

We don’t do hungry, very well. One of us always explodes under the pressure of wanting food. We both are fiery tempered people. We can argue about the teeniest things on earth.

Even on our Honeymoon we had a sprout argue…..(don’t get me started on this one.)

And today while getting ready, working hard and HUNGRY (we don’t have anything in the house, but we are planning to eat in town) we seem to not be able to do it without a scream. This time it’s was me that lost my temper. It even included a slamming door; a falling mattress and a scared cat…..(don’t get me started on this one either.)

Then we laugh because someone says something stupid. The we remember we were angry so we go back at being angry…me typing rigorously on my laptop and my husband folding the washing while slamming each clothing folded on the bed. (He is so sweet….ow, no I forgot, I am angry!)

When it’s time we sit silently in the car…we need to go in to town to buy stuff for our holiday (and to eat). Not an awkward silent per se just a ….precaution silence.

Finally we decide with a few words we will first eat something.

After a few bites we are laughing and talking totally forgetting we were mad and back to being the best of friends…..
Conclusion:

Food makes you forgetful.... 

Note:
(And do food - shopping always!)

Writers Blo(ck)-(g)

An affliction that I suffer from today. To prevent this from happening everyday I've decided to force myself to write something — anything — And my husband came with this brilliant idea to write about writers block. I thought that was very good idea. So I started doing that thinking by myself what I could write about, writers block - in my blog and came up with: nothing!

So instead I will show you pictures…..Because they say more than a thousand words....

....Or do they?

Turkey

I can write you a, whole misleading that is, blog entry about how I love and hate turkey.

I need to do some shopping and turkey has indeed been written down. I can tell you that I especially love my mother’s turkey. We eat it every year with Christmas. Except from that year we ate chicken (and loved that as well) because Turkey was so expensive. Holland isn’t that big on turkey you see. One time my wisdom tooth needed to be removed just three days before Christmas. It did not stop me to eat this wonderfully delicious bird. I was sucking on a piece of meat for about an hour and still enjoyed myself.

And although I really love eating this bird I don’t like coming near a life one. It has to do with a childhood drama, including me, a turkey and a fence.

We lived nearby of what we would call a children’s farm. They have lots of animals and the farm is specially made to attract the smaller people. Now this particular farm had two areas, one area for the animals that walked free. So at the age of 4 I walked through those free walking animals like sheep, goats, ducks, peacocks, and also turkeys feeding them old bread.

Feeling already a little vulnerable as I realized I was even smaller than most animals there.

Suddenly one of the turkeys gained interest in me. He looked at me with his tiny head, beady eyes and red wobbly thing dangling from his nose. He started to gobble, gobble really load. Suddenly that feathery bastard started to walk towards me and I stood there frozen with wide scared eyes.

But then it screeched (that sound still haunts me) and started running. I screamed in terror, dropped the bread, and lit out toward safety, with the turkey in full pursuit. Those gobble, gobble things are huge, and they move like the goddamned wind; it was a pretty close foot race to the fence where my mother was standing in equal fear as soon as she noticed the bird was going to kill her baby girl. She grabbed me and saved me from the devil turkey.

I still have chills thinking about it.

Yes I can write about my love and hate relationship with turkeys. But I am not going to……

Because this blog entry is about the COUNTRY Turkey where we will be going to and stay in a Four Star Resort, all inclusive, 8 days from April 13th until April the 20th. YEAH!

Swimfish

I love my job. 

Don’t get me wrong I seriously have patience issues and some days I would just love to open a window and throw the children out, one by one. Swinging them by their arms, hair, legs just like the headmaster from ¨Mathilda¨ would do.

Or would just like to rub their little noses in the rough facts of life when they stubbornly tell me that the color red is blue and Miss Sarah is being foolish not to see that. Sometimes it makes me bonkers mad in resulting that toilet brakes are extended to just escape the tiny, penetrating, eager, demanding, exited ,shrill, voices.

But everybody has their ¨off¨ days, right?

Most of the time I really enjoy listening to their stories, playing with them and doing our day to day things.
Like today. The sun was shining. And we could play outside the entire afternoon. Sitting in the sun and watching the smaller children playing with sand and the older children running around playing tag is a blissfully thing to do.

The small things make this job worthwhile. First off we can enjoy the weather without being trapped in doors behind a screen while the sun is shining. The children say stuff like; ¨Miss Sarah when you where a little boy did you like going down the slide? ¨ Or when you ask about a drawing about fish they tell you; ¨Well Miss Sarah I have drawn a ¨swimfish¨

We get loads of hugs and kisses!!!!

They tell you that they love you and would love to be just like you when they grow up. (Off course they tell every teacher that!)

Miss you when you are not there. Thank you for when you dried their tears and helped their bleeding knee look wonderful again with a Winnie the poo bandage.

The ones that love to play with your hair. Or eavesdrop while I play with their hair and tell a colleague I would love to have a girl just to be able to play with her hair. Resulting in the ¨eavesdropper¨ turning around and saying: ¨Sarah, I can be your girl, when I am here.¨


It’s wonderful to see when they are proud as they achieved something after you encouraged them to try again. And so on really.

Maybe it doesn’t sound exciting. But I feel needed and loved every day. I can teach and make a difference in their lives. Especially for those who don’t have a loving household to go home to.

It makes me happy and enjoy and treasure those moments.

And today just before I left to go home one of the girls held my leg really tight. ¨Missy, she said, I will weally miss you.¨

Because after tomorrow I have two weeks of care free, no shouting, no demanding, no playing the same game over and over again, no yelling and giving warnings, HOLDIDAY!!!!!! And I so need that!

Paintings

My cough is limited to the mornings and evenings. My throat is back to its normal size and the claw, biting, stinging creatures have moved out. The bugger snot monster found another cave to hide in so my nose doesn’t drip liking a leaking tap anymore. My ears popped open and that was a special relieve making my head feel normal again. My voice is no longer a whisper….my husband misses my softer voice already. And last but not least my sick, frumpy sick outfits can be stored away. I am cured. Well nearly.

(I haven’t smoked a cigarette since Saturday….will I be able to keep it up? I will keep you posted about this one)

We had a busy day on wednesday, with lots of creative moments. Like when I tried to be artistic and made two ¨paintings¨.

Pages

I discovered pages. No I mean, I know books have pages but apparently you can add pages to your blog. So I did.

Will you check them out?.....AND COMMENT, please :D

Excepting things about me

I just love DIY. Really adore it. I love inspirational people with wonderful ideas.
But sad to say, I am not crafty, at all. I have some great ideas, (with help from those inspirational people) just not the patience or the grace to make some lovely pieces, or for that matter to come up with highly inventive and new ideas of my own.

I just love FASHION. Really adore it. I love inspirational people with cute and trendy ideas.
But sad to say, I am not cute or trendy, at all. I have some great pieces of clothing and accessories, I just don’t wear them because then I would stand out in the crowd. Ten years ago I would have loved that but 10 years later and 20 kilo’s heavier, I don’t.

I just love COOKING. Really adore it. I love food and cooking recipes.
But sad to say, I don’t cook that often. So experimenting and coming up with some lovely yummies, is out of the question. Due to my job I don’t have enough time and food is now something we cook quickly and hasty.

I just HATE writing this particular blog. It doesn’t make me feel good about myself at all. A few days in and I already feel threatened by those wonderful people, with there even more wonderful blogs.
Stop it! As so, with the perfect girl blog, it’s something about me I would like to change. It’s surely not anyone else’s fault but my own.

So tomorrow I am going to see a diet specialist and hopefully will start a gym anytime soon. I will find more time to cook healthier and look healthier. I will pay more effort on my looks and will make some lovely DIY treasures. Excepting that I will need DIY – blogs, fashion guru’s like Keiko Lynn and lots of COOKERY books.

Because, if I was good in one of those things, I would have dedicated my blog to that specific thing already, instead I am not and I have to come up with other things to write about. Ah, it keeps you on your toes.

Still lying here....so no exciting stuff to tell. I am now going to clean our house. That makes me think of the fact I love INTERIOR DESIGN but I am sad to say.....

http://keikolynn.blogspot.com/

Haha…yes Keiko Lynn you are perceived as a perfect girl as so I wrote about. But you seem a lovely, beautiful and inspirational kind that doesn’t deserve any hating. Love this Blog! Keiko Lynn

My silly ABC post(er)

A awful

B blubbering

C cough

D deranged

E exhausted

F faint

G groggy

H horrible

I ill

J jittery

K knackered

L lost

M moaning

N nasal

O Os-ci-llo-coc-cin-um

P pain

Q quiet

R ragged

S snot

T tired

U useless

V vague

W weak

X xxx

Y yawning

Z ziek (dutch for Ill)

Actually just wanted to show you this cool ABC poster I like.

I am going to bed now. Hoping for a better day tomorrow.

http://itwalkedonmypillow.blogspot.com/

Lying on the couch....with my pillow and blanket.
Reading an awesome blog I accidently found by going to the ¨next blog.¨
http://itwalkedonmypillow.blogspot.com/
I am going to find more…..blogging is fun. Reading a brilliant blog even more….

You make me laugh: elena (a.k.a. suzy), even though I feel horrible. Thanx.

"People who live in glass houses (or bubbles) should not throw stones (or anything heavy) and should get dressed in the basement¨

So I still reaaaaally need to learn this one. I think it’s one of the hardest things NOT to do. Why? Because all the weird, bad, annoying, overall negative points you posses are easier to see in other people. Leaving you with radar abilities to detect those things and comment them. My husband recognizes those incidents far to well.

¨I am lazy. My husband is lazy. I say please clean that up. He says: WHAT ABOUT THE GLOBAL AMOUNT OF RUBBLE BEHIND YOU?¨

¨His appearance. I say, you need to shave. He just looks at me.¨

¨My husband on not liking mushrooms. Honey, really you should try to eat mushrooms. Maybe if you have a go at it you will really like them. Please, for me…..try a little mushroom. Don’t be like that. Look….helicopter sounds…..open your mouth. Come on then. My husband: would you like to try a piece of my fish. Me: NO, I told you that a million times. I don’t like fish! Right, back to the mushroom. Sweety, please try a piece…... ¨

¨HUSBAND!!! Yes, dear? YOU ARE ALWAYS LATE! ALWAYS! GET MOVING. Yes dear. WE ARE LATE! HURRY UP. Yes dear. HONEY! HURRY. Yes dear. TIK TOK TIK TOK. IT IS GOING TO BE YOUR FAULT THEY WON’T INVITE US AGAIN! Yes dear. Any time later: Love, I am ready…..why aren’t you dressed yet? Me: I don’t know what to wear. Husband: YOU WILL HAVE TO EXPLAIN THEM WHY WE ARE ALWAYS LATE!¨

Anyway. I am still Ill. Not getting better. Yesterday I even threw up the minute I entered the door. I need to see a doctor if I don’t get better soon. That reminds me of another "People who live in glass houses (or bubbles) should not throw stones or anything heavy and should get dressed in the basement¨ story.

Hubby has a headache. GO TO THE DOCTOR PLEASE. Hubby: you have been Ill for a week now…..I rest my case.

Antwerpen: Easter Confessions

Today we are going to teach you how to make a snow globe

First you start off with a center point. In this case a beautiful Jugendstil like house.Then you throw in a bunch of different kind of girls.

Last but not least: shake the snow globe up and down.                                                                       

                          

                       

          Our Easter Confessions

We had a wonderful Easter time in Antwerp with ten different girls in a house, some knowing each other better than others. My dear friend is the glue that keeps these girls from seeing each other at least yearly with her birthday.
But this year, in a different country, one house, two days and one night, you wonder beforehand how that will be.  Yes, we had horrible weather, and yes I was not feeling well the entire time. But it was really nice to talk to some of the girls again. The location (the house, not the neighborhood) was wonderful but I knew that from last time and Antwerp city is always very charming. Mix in some good music, lots of food, even more alcohol, fun games to play, and a huge amount of conversation time and you forget that you don’t even know each other that well. With some of the girls we really confessed our opinions, concerns, our troubles, our dreams, experiences, and adventures. We tackled sex talk, bowel talk, gave one another advice, reconfirmation that we all know what the other one means and goes through and tell comparable stories in return. We are completely different girls thrown together….all different but very much the same.
And that always feels very satisfying….knowing other people experience similar things.

But for now all confessions come to a rest. And the globe can be put away until next year. It was a very special experience and I think we all look forward in seeing each other next year again when we yet again shake the globe for continued talk and fun time.



                          Thank you for a wonderful Easter weekend.

Perfect girls

You all know them. Those perfect girls. The ones that make it seem so easy. The ones that no matter when, where or what they are doing they still look perfect. Act perfect, well actually are perfect.
So yesterday, all snotty and horrible looking, I had to pick up my husband from work. And without wearing a bra or actually any support whatsoever, wherever, I started driving.
Waiting for my husband I parked in between a row of cars. And off course there happened to be this perfect girl sitting in one of those cars. Crap. When people walk past us, my ugliness will even be more obvious. I was loathing her and thinking of all the horrible things I could to her to make her disappear. Suddenly she gets out of her car. Her long slim legs, her flat waist, her perky boobies walk towards my car. CRAP, CRAP enormous crap!
She yawned when she walked my way and her perfect face turned in to the face of someone being possessed. It was kind of ugly and it made me feel better. But then she looks right at me and she smiles! This perfect smile, a non judge mental smile while she walks past my car. And I feel guilty. Thinking of all those horrible things, I thought of.

CRAP.

I should make more effort when I leave the house.

Antwerpen

So my dear friend is celebrating her 27th birthday this weekend in Antwerp, Belgium. We were there together two days after my birthday and discovered a lovely, cheap Bed and Breakfast. Now my dear, dear friend LOVES interior design! Apparently,this Bed and Breakfast, was everything she dreamt of, deciding she would come back and celebrate her own birthday there, whilst renting the entire house. And so she did, and so this weekend Antwerp will be the time and place to be.

But….I still feel sick. Bugger.

Mad lady behind the wheel!!!!!

There I am at not even 1.57m long (like 5.5 feet long) uuuh short, I just make it over the steering wheel. Riding in our
old, grey, but reliable VOLVO. Far to big for me to ever see the back properly (When I feel a bump, I know I went too far back), actually that applies to the front to, I always feel like trailer trash while driving it (maybe do to the fact I look the part on my days off), and the inside is our personal dumpsite. But even under those circumstances I still drive at my best. People feel save while driving with me in the car. They say that I look (so maybe, over) confident and I actually drive like a bloke. And THAT is the only time I actually tolerate a comparison between me and a bloke.

But alas, the police think otherwise. There on the lookout for people like me. The menaces of the streets we want to feel save on.
Yes. I got a letter in the post. A speeding ticket! I had the nerve to drive.....yes wait for it.... I dared to drive:

4KM (2.4miles) over the speed limit!

I know. I feel ashamed. There goes my good reputation. Sigh.
Hopefully soon people will feel save again, whilst this mad lady drives their streets.

A thing about me

I just LOVE Synthpop (synthesizer music)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHHv4u8Vomw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAN9sKlOZxE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXEu1odjKZM&feature=related

The Easter Bunny Lie

Yes. We all know the lies about Santa Claus. Here in Holland the parents are even requested to lie twice in the same month as we also celebrate Sinterklaas. Apparently two different old, friendly, gandalf like men who happen to love giving presents to small children. One has elves and the other one black men that bring presents through the chimney hence being black like soot.
But I think the most unappreciated lie would be the Easter Bunny. Children don't believe in this dressed up Bunny and even parents neglect to bother to lie about him anymore.

But as long as I can remember my mother told me a story that tells her encounter with the Easter Bunny.

¨As a small child she woke up in the middle of the night hearing noises coming from the kitchen. When she popped her little head around the kitchen door to see who was there she saw him. Hopping around in her parent's kitchen, the Easter Bunny. Hop, Hop, hop, it did.¨

Now, I was already, as a child, highly skeptic and always thought, silly old mummy, thinking she saw the real Easter Bunny. ( It would have  been a whole different story if she would have said she had seen Santa.)

But I think about a year ago, I told the story with perhaps a little, mocking smile around my lips, to a friend while visiting my mother.
After repeatedly stating that my mother really reckons she saw the bunny my mother suddenly said to me:

Sarah, you do know it had to be a dream, right? I mean I really thought I saw it but we both know the Easter Bunny doesn't exist.

Astonished I looked at her. I could NOT believe she just said that!
And then I had a tantrum. Yelling, why she had told the story in the first place if she believed it wasn't true. Yelling that, although I knew he did not exist, I really believed my mother, really did believe, she saw the freaking Easter Bunny.

In the end I figured out I was disappointed. I needed my mother to keep up this incredible lie.
I actually was proud my mother saw the real Easter Bunny. Yes, I always thought it must have been a dream.
But even after realizing the two friendly men were lies, I still remain doubtful about the Easter Bunny. Not so much if he excited
or not, but whether my mother really believed she saw it.
It was the best lie she ever told because it made me doubt. But even though, I still believe, deep down, my mother, still believes she saw the REAL Easter Bunny. And that makes me happy!

Already wishing you a Happy Easter!