Grand Place

This morning, Thomas and I were talking about the past decade and asked each other who we were 10 years ago.  In 2000, I was a Junior at UNC, living in a very cozy 12ft x7ft dorm room.  It was small (a single), but I loved it.  I had cut my hair very short and dyed it red.  My dream job then was to design interactive informational websites, like they do on news sites to show timelines or crash paths.  I had no idea I would ever live in Europe 10 years later.

Fireworks Reflected

Thomas said he was living in a house with 3 other people and a baby.  He was a sys admin, but working up from the bottom of the ladder – making less than teachers did.  He didn’t have a driver’s license or a car and all of his free time went to studying Unix. He spent the holidays with a coworker and her family because his was still in Sweden.  He had no idea he’d ever be working for a leading Search Engine.

Statue Silhouetted by Fireworks

So how about you? What were you doing 10 years ago?  Did you have any idea you’d be who you are today?  It’s been an amazing decade and I hope the next one is just as grand.

If you’d like to see more photos from last night, I’ve posted them on Picasaweb:

• New Year’s Eve in Brussels (25 photos)

January

We arrived in Belgium…to snow. We spent most of the month getting our bearings and figuring out what area we wanted to live in, while doing a couple day trips to Waterloo and Tervuren. I was very excited to see my first real protest.

February

We moved into our apartment and started getting settled.  We celebrated Valentine’s Day in Rome, and even saw the Pope (photos/post still to come). I went on some great day trips to Amsterdam, and Aalst and Binche for Carnivale.  I also discovered one of my favorite Brussels sites, the Basilica.

March

Our apartment was starting to feel like a home with a decorated bedroom and living room. We discovered the A-club and went on our first of many trips, hiking in Asse, with them. We also took the train to Germany and spent a wonderful weekend in Koln.

April

Georgy, our only house guest of the year, encouraged us to explore more of Belgium – Dinant (a fav), Brugge, and Knokke.  Thomas and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary at Het Zwin Bird Reserve.  Spring enchanted me with the beautiful bluebell forests in Hallerbos.

May

Again, more travel…while Thomas attended a company retreat in Spain, I pampered myself in Baden-Baden.  We also did a lot of exploring in The Netherlands - Queen’s Day in Amsterdam, windmills in Kinderdijk, and flowers at Keukenhof.

June

The blogging this month was seriously slacking.  We visited Geneva, Switzerland and Mont Blanc, France (photos/post coming). Then Thomas headed to the US for work, and I visited his family in Sweden.  I learned better quilting techniques and danced around the Maypole with Thomas’ mom (photos/post coming).

July

We started out with a quick camping trip in the north of France, and then headed out on a monumental 3-week motorcycle tour of Western Europe.  We stopped in Frankfurt, Berlin, Northern Bohemia, Prague, Central Bohemia, and Budapest.

August

We continued on our mototour – to Austria (a fav), Munich, Bavaria, the Romantic Road, and Ramstein where we visited my cousins.  Hmm, it looks like I never finished posting the photos for some of those.  I also had a great Girl’s Weekend in the cute little towns of Volendam and Markem.

September

Hurray!  I finally received my Belgian permanent resident card.  We celebrated by searching for storks.  After no luck on our trip to Champagne, we tried the easier route at Parc Paradisio, outside of Mons. We also went camping with the A-club in the ancient Roman city of Trier.

October

I celebrated my 31st birthday with a trip to Morocco – my first time in Africa.  We flew into Fez, drove through the Middle Atlas Mountains, through the desert and gorges, and on to Marrakesh where we flew back home.  It was a wonderful trip full of new cultures, beautiful scenery, and tasty food.

November

I finally got to return to the US to fill up on friends, family, food, Clover snuggles, and shopping.  We spent a couple days in Atlanta, Thanksgiving week in the NC mountains with my family, and then made a quick stop in Raleigh to see our niece and nephew.

December

We continued our US tour for a week each in Oregon and California.  We got to do some skiing, explore the Oregon coast, and visit San Francisco and Monteray Bay.  We headed back to a snowy Brussels for a quick change of clothes and then up to Sweden for Christmas.

It has been a wonderful and fun-packed year full of lots of travel and adventures.  I hope yours was too.  Happy New Year!

Dallas and Thomas with Suzanne and family

Yesterday, I came across an old photo of me holding the now-four year old when she was just a week old.  She was very cute, but honestly, I was a bit scared of her.  I wasn’t really in child-mode at that time, and for a while after, I was more worried about making her cry, than I was with trying to engage with her. This time though, I finally felt like the kind of Aunt I want to be.  The four year old is now old enough that I can talk and play with her.  We had a great time together.

Dallas and Niece - 4-years ago

Since Thomas and I don’t get to see our niece very often, we try to send her a postcard from every country we visit, telling her about the places we go.  (Remember, Uncle Traveling Matt from Fraggle Rock?)  This trip, we gave her 3 pre-stamped, pre-addressed envelopes so she can send us “letters”, and even before we finished explaining it, she had filled it with something to mail us.  I can’t wait to see what she sent us.

Kiddie Bowling

While we were there, we went bowling with the family – our niece’s first time.  They had special ramps to help her aim, and bumpers popped up whenever it was her turn – she even got a couple strikes.  Her little brother seemed content just watching.  I can’t wait until they’re both old enough that we can take them hiking, camping, or on other little adventures.

Dallas and Nephew

We were just passing through Raleigh on our way to Oregon, and our time there seemed too short. We got a quick visit with Thomas’ friend Dave (Thomas is going to be his Best Man in a Dominican Republic wedding this Spring), and a quick visit with my friend Gorski. Thomas’ older brother, Mike was also in town and we got to play some tennis together.

If you’d like to see the rest of our photos from this part of our trip, they’re posted on Flickr:

• 24-hours with Thomas’ Sister and Family (24 photos)

Ask me a question!  Is there anything you want to know about living in Belgium, my recent travels, crafts, photography, or anything else I typically talked about in the chattier days of my blog?  Maybe it will spark some ideas for future blog posts…  In the meantime, I’m headed to Switzerland for a long weekend.  Be back Monday.

Toys - Little People, VW Bus MicroMachine, Troll, Doozers, R2D2, Dala Horse, Nom, Owl, Alien

These toys are going with me to Belgium. I call them my cheerleading squad. They sit on the shelf above my desk and cheer me on. I didn’t expect the reaction to the bus toys I posted yesterday. I wanted to clarify that those are not my entire VW bus stuff collection, nor even a small part of it. It’s just the cheap plastic buses that have broken doors, or crazy paint jobs. I even have duplicates of some of them. I’m absolutely keeping my special VW buses – ones that were a special gift, or are unique, or fancy, or just something I really like.

Do you have an icon?  You know that single thing that when people see it, they think of you? It’s VW buses for me. It’s frogs for Thomas. We both have a ton – more than we can display in our house without looking like obsessed freaks. :) And many of the things are great and I love them, because buses make me happy.  But some of these, like these plastic buses that don’t do anything, and I don’t remember where they came from, sit in a box in the back of the closet.  I don’t display them because then my really cool collection becomes a cluttered mess.  Anyway, I just wanted to explain that I’m not giving away my collection, I’m emphasizing the special.

Besides, my kids are probably going to hate VW buses.  Isn’t it the rule that your kids never think your taste is cool?

The other was from Thomas – a print out for an online auction he won (it was delivered today). I still don’t believe it, but he bought me a sewing/embroidery machine – a Pfaff Creative 2140. He did his research and got me a really cool machine that does all kinds of tricks. I’m actually a little intimidated by it – it just has a screen, no dials.

The day continued with lots of birthday wishes, Facebook messages, phone calls, and flowers from Thomas’ dad. That night, Thomas and I went to the Melting Pot for a delicious meal of cheese, bouillon, and chocolate fondue. Yum!!  This weekend, we got together with a few of our friends to celebrate with some beef ribs at Smokejacks. Yum again! Afterward, part of the crowd headed back to our house for a game of Apples to Apples.  Thomas will post the photos from that later this week.

I didn’t expect my 30th birthday to be so calm, but it was a lot of fun, especially going out with my friends. Thomas was so excited about getting me a new sewing machine.  He already had it set up when I got home from work tonight. We messed around with it until we figured out how to sew letters and a few basic stitches. I can’t wait to see what else it can do.

Friday night, we made our own pizza for dinner. Thomas decorated it with:

• tomatoes
• basil
• olives
• Italian sausage slices
• mozzarella cheese

It was delicious! I’m also a fan of mushrooms or pineapple, but they didn’t really go with the other ingredients on this pizza. What’s your topping of choice?