Wonky House Block

  • April 17, 2009 5:48 AM

AQB1 - April

This has been my favorite virtual quilting bee block so far.  This is the April block for Another Quilting Bee 1.  The fabrics were bright and cheerful, the instructions were clear, and I still had plenty of freedom to be creative.

Sarah asked us to make her a wonky house. It could be any size and shape, and we could use the fabrics she sent, or add in some of our own. The only requirement was that the sky and ground fabrics couldn’t change.

My wonky house reminds me of our house in Georgia – with a big yard and trees. It was a little tricky to make the grass go to the middle of the house’s height, but I like the depth it gave the block.

Photo Ketchup

  • April 16, 2009 4:09 PM

If I’m getting sick of my photos, then you’ve got to already be sick of my recent posts.  I am still behind is posting all these, so here goes a big photo link dump.  Sorry.

P1020918

These are the last of the Georgy trip photos. I really had a great time with her, and she couldn’t have had better weather while she was here. This photo shows the park that is just two blocks from my house. We went there one afternoon to soak in the sun, people-watch, and play frisbee.

We went on a hiking day trip with the A-Club to the Vallee du Ninglinspo in the Ardennes. The forest and hills were gorgeous and very different from what I’ve seen in the US. I’d like to find some good places to camp in that area so Thomas and I can go back there.

DSC_0393

On St. Patrick’s Day, we went to the downtown celebrations. It was a gorgeous day and my classmate from Gent joined us. We sat around and ate brauts, drank Guinness, and watched some weird sport played with wooden sticks and really hard balls.

P1010164

These photos were from way back when we first moved here.  Can you believe that we’ve been here for over 100 days now?  Crazy!  Anyway, we were touring some of the towns near Thomas’ office, Mons, Braine le Comte, and Ghlin to see if we wanted to live there.  There were some cute towns, but we’re both glad that we settled in Brussels.

I still have more photos to post, but they were places we visited that deserved full posts.  I’ll try to get them on here in the next week.  In the meantime, I have some crafty-goodness coming soon.

Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary

  • April 15, 2009 9:03 AM

Yesterday was our second wedding anniversary. I celebrated by giving Thomas a haircut.

Transition

No, not really, the haircut was Monday. We celebrated by going out to dinner, and we spent some quality time together this last weekend in the Hallerbos Forest and at the Het Zwin Birding Reserve – pictures coming soon.

I thought these images went well with our 2nd year of marriage though.  I asked Thomas what single word he would assign to our 2nd year together…and he chose Transition.  I agree, we have gone through a huge transition together.

On the otherhand, Georgy asked me last week how our relationship had changed from moving, and I said that I don’t think it really has.  I think that we both have changed a lot individually – even flipflopping on spectrums in some things – but I don’t think our relationship has changed a lot.

Before we moved here, we both read a book about moving your marriage overseas.  The book seemed to be a horror story of lost, trapped wives who were miserable that their husbands dragged them to this foreign land.  We took the books warnings and prepared ourselves, but fortunately, that’s not the kind of experience we’ve had.  We’ve had a great time getting to know people, exploring new places, and learning to live a different kind of life together.

There was a hard time where Thomas was commuting 2-3 hours each way, to and from work. And this put a strain both on him with his work, and with our quality time together.  But last week, he got a motorcycle and his commute has dropped to 50-minutes each way – much better.

So, anyway, the 2nd year…I think it’s been great.  Here’s to many more fantastic years together.

A Day in Dinant

  • April 14, 2009 6:32 PM

Dinant has been my favorite place to visit in Belgium so far.  It’s an adorable, little town along the Meuse River.  Just look at it…a peaceful river, charming little shops and restaurants, a gorgeous cathedral, and an impressive Citadel high up on the hill.

DSC_1312

Georgy and I arrived just about lunch time, so we settled in at a cafe overlooking the river for a bite to eat. Afterward, we rode the cable cars up to the Citadel. There were also stairs that you could take up – about 400 of them – but stairs and me don’t play nicely together.

DSC_1458

The citadel dates back to the 11th century but was used through World War I. Inside were exhibits of how the rooms (bakery, forge, and bunks) looked, and some old war outfits.

DSC_1345

My favorite room was a passage way that had been hit by a shell causing it to tilt at a 30-degree angle. Even though I knew I was perfectly safe, I felt like I was going to fall over. There were no visual clues to tell you which way was really up.

DSC_1423

Other than all that, the views were gorgeous. The Citadel is 100 meters up and you can see way down the river and all above the rooftops. We were even higher than the steeples on the Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame.

DSC_1400

Overall, I give Dinant two thumbs up. More photos are posted on Flickr:

Daytrip to Knokke and Brugge

  • April 14, 2009 1:38 PM

On with the Georgy adventures…this time we visited Knokke and Brugge.

Knokke is a ritsy-glitsy city on the coast.  You’ll find your highrise condos, your fancy stores, and your expensive restaurants.  We found the North Sea and whoa it was cold. Georgy and I decided to dip our feet in and just a quick moment was long enough.  Then we wandered the boardwalk looking for some seafoody lunch.  It was a pleasant morning and a fun place to visit.  I think next time I might rent a bike to get around.

P1020969

Knokke Boardwalk

P1020956

Thomas and Georgy pose album cover-style

P1020948

Freezing our Toesies!

After lunch, we headed to Brugge. We had a waffle and some beer in the square, and then just wandered around the town. Honestly, Brugge is not my favorite place – it’s a little touristy and I haven’t found why it outshines other towns yet.  Still, we had fun – it’s hard not to when you’re traveling with goofballs like these in the photos below.  :)

P1020999

Canal and Cathedral in Brugge

P1030005

Goofballs

P1020995

Can you find Thomas? Hint: He's upside down.

I was a little disappointed with my photos from this trip. I only took my point and shoot and it doesn’t do as well with overcast skies.  The rest of the photos from this trip are on Flickr:

P.S.  If you’re looking at my actual site, rather than in a feed reader, you’ll see that something is different.  I think all the sunshine and flowers this week have inspired me to try a brighter and cleaner look.  I think I still need to add in some photos for a little color in the sidebar or header, but what do you think?