Somewhere in the Middle

ETSY on my mind...

Etsy has become my favorite place to shop. So many unique and interesting items! I absolutely love the one on one contact with the artist. It's like going to the ACC show except you can shop at home in your pj's if you want. When at all possible I'm trying to buy all my gifts hand-made. I think they're so much more special.

A few weeks ago my grandmother called me with some great news...she is completely cancer free. It's been six months after her radiation treatments and the doctor said she looks great. She was so happy! After her radiation treatments she even sent me her certificate for completing the treatment. She was so proud of her accomplishment. After she shared her news with me I remembered her mentioning in a previous conversation how she wanted to buy something with the Breast Cancer ribbon. So I logged onto Etsy and found several pink items related to breast cancer. One important deciding factor for me was that the seller donate a portion of the sales to the cancer foundation. And that's when I found Karen from Maravillosa Designs. and her lovely jewelry designs. I adore this bracelet and Karen was amazing to work with! We went back and forth with so many e-mails I felt like I had a personal connection with her. My grandmother was completely surprised and overwhelmed with emotions when she opened the gift. Here's to you Nana! Congratulations! I love you!!

Here are some of the other goodies I've purchased from Etsy. The little wooden houses are made from reclaimed wood in New Orleans. What a wonderful way to recycle and make beautiful art! And I just adore those porcelain pillows with the houses & dress. I'd love to start a little collection of these on one of my walls.

The soap on the left was actually mentioned in an Oprah magazine. I thought these soaps would make a great little gift along with the dish and super cute magnets. These are going to look great on my fridg. And if you need a camera case Hine makes these adorable cases. My camera is quite happy in its new home. So check out Etsy and make it a handmade gift this year. Support your local artists!

Part II: Tangled up in Kisses

The same sweet Belgian woman who wrote the note for my first car incident called Mr. & Mrs. Mercedes to set up a time we could meet to sign the official accident report. We initially thought we could resolve it without involving our insurance but looks like that teensy, tiny little screw imprint is going to cost over $500! So during S's work BBQ Christine & I leave to meet Mr. & Mrs. Mercedes. Once we got there everyone was chatting it up in French and getting acquainted. This time Mr. & Mrs. Mercedes are super sweet to me as I filled out my portion of the paperwork. They really do seem like a lovely couple. Even though Christine translated everything for me I still wrote under my signature..."I do not read, write, or understand French." I feel horrible writing this statement... I mean I have a Masters degree for gods sake... unfortunately it's not in French! lol!

As I finished my section of the accident, we started talking... and by talking I mean I said one or two words in French and did a lot of nodding and smiling. As we're talking I discovered Mr. & Mrs. Mercedes know my landlord and the builder Christine is using to renovate her house. It's a small town. Everyone knows everyone. As we're leaving Christine tells Mr. & Mrs. Mercedes to call if they have any problems with the insurance but they say no worries... they have more ways to get in touch with me since they know my landlord too. Before we get into our cars to go our separate ways we say "Au revoir" and give each other a kiss. That's right. We kissed each other on the cheeks. I tell you Europe is the only place you kiss someone after you've just filed an accident report. Love it! lol!

Part 1: Tangled up in kisses

It's already June 10th and this is my first blog entry for the month. I've been horrible about writing lately. I wish I could say I was off traveling but that wasn't the case. I've been busy doing all sorts of things to keep my mind off of more serious issues. By the end of the day I feel drained and prefer to surf the web or watch a movie than write. It doesn't help that I'm not sleeping much either. And did I mention we're in the process of selling our house; our renters move out at the end of this month. I'm concerned it's going to take several months to sell and with all the foreclosures in the area it makes the process so much more difficult. We've never sold a house before but I imagine living in the same area or the same state for that matter would make the process so much easier. Not fun. But I'd rather not bore you with the detail so onto other stuff...

Last week I finally broke down and made an appointment to have my haircut. Getting my hair cut is something I dread especially here in Belgium. I'm never quite sure if they really understand me when I explain how I want my hair cut. I see them nod & smile and I think they understand. But when I think about it...nodding & smiling is the same thing I do when someone talks to me in French and I have no idea what they're saying.

As I pulled into the parking space near the hair salon I managed to lightly tap the Mercedes parked in front of me. And the driver was still in the car! There was no chance of leaving a note like my last car incident. No such luck this time. Of course he didn't speak a word of English. Without saying anything, the older man got out of the car to inspect the damages and he did not look happy. Neither of us saw any damage... well at first anyway. I thought everything was ok so I left to pay for parking. When I came back to put my parking ticket inside my car I saw him still looking at the back of his car. I knew something wasn't right. So I said, "Ce va?" meaning "Is everything ok?" He said something about a voiture (car) and made a motion with his hand asking me to back up my car. So I did. That's when we both noticed a tiny indentation made from the screw that holds my license plates. As I'm apologizing to Mr. Mercedes his wife arrives at the scene and let me tell you she did not look friendly. I called S and he told me not to call the police but just to exchange information. So in my best french possible I asked them if we could exchange information. Once that's done I tell them in a mix of English, French, and Spanish words that my friend who speaks French will call them so we can resolve the issue.

If I could see into the future I would have known it was in my best interest to cancel my hair appointment and go straight home. But no. I decided to go through with the haircut. When I walk in I notice my guy, Mr. Miami Vice is waiting for a woman's perm to set and is ready for me. Double booking is something I really dislike. I want all the attention. Plus my hair takes a while to cut that is... if it's cut properly. As Mr. Miami Vice is combing my hair he's constantly going back & forth between me & Mrs. Perm and making sure her hair doesn't burn off. The alarm goes off on the dryer setting Mrs. Perm's hair and Mr. Miami Vice is still trying to comb my hair. When he didn't check her hair she became upset and said something to him. But he shot back something in French and let her wait a little longer. As Mr. Miami Vice is checking her curl development his next appointment arrives while my hair has completely dried into a huge afro. It's not a pretty scene. I'm so embarrassed. Next time I'm bringing my own water bottle so I can wet it myself. At this point I think Mr. MV is getting a little panicked about his triple booking so he finally begins to cut my hair. I'm no professional hair stylist but I would think it's easier to cut someone's hair while it's wet than a full blown afro but hey that's just me. I see him combing sections and struggling with the knots in my hair. So instead of I don't know... putting some detangler in my hair to make it easier to comb & cut he decides he's not going to fuss with my knots and just starts to cut. What's worst than walking out of the salon with a gigantic frizzy afro? Walking out with an uneven afro. Thank god I keep a baseball hat in my car! I can only imagine if I would have tapped the Mercedes after my appointment. But then again maybe my crazy afro would have left them speakless or even better hypnotized them into thinking there were no damages. lol! I'll never know.

Growing

Today Lil' C went on his first class field trip without me. This is a huge step for me. I mean this is my one and only little baby boy. Don't think I didn't at least try to go because I did. lol! But the teacher explained how they had plenty of staff going so the student to teacher ratio would be quite small. Plus they weren't going far which helped put my mind at ease. I don't know how the parents who's children are to France for a few days do it. I suppose it comes in baby steps.

It's still hard to accept though that my baby is growing up and beginning to have a life of his own in which I'm not a part of. It makes me sad really. I imagine there will always be those mixed feelings of wanting Lil' C to be independent but at the same time wanting him to still need me. When I step back and look at Lil' C I'm amazed at how much he's grown. So mature and independent. I love the boy he is becoming... caring, creative, funny, intelligent and so much more.

So this morning before I sent him off in the brightest shirt he owns I reminded him a million times to stay with his group and not to stray away. We went over some scenarios of things that parents dread to think about but have to. Made sure he knew my phone number by heart and just to be on the safe side I packed a contact information card in case he does stray. God forbid. I gave him a kiss & hug and watched my little boy run off and prepare for his exciting adventure.

Looking Inside with Magical Eyes

When I picked Lil' C up from school today he told me about an interesting conversation he had with his classmate. I'm always intrigued about what little kids talk about when they're together. The story was so funny I had Lil' C tell S about it during dinner tonight. It went something like this...

Lil' C: "H said that he was a policeman. But he's really a child not a policeman cause he's little. I told him he was lying."

S: "How did you know H was lying?"

Lil' C: "I looked inside his brain. If I see a different word than what they said I'll tell them they're lying."

S: "How did you look in his head?"

Lil' C: "Because I have magical eyes from when I was a fairy."

S: "So let me get this straight... H can't be a policeman but you can be a fairy?"

Lil' C: "Uh huh."

If only we really could look into someone's brain to see if they were being honest. Our world sure would be a different place.

Monet :: Giverny

Thursday a friend & I went to Giverny, France to visit Claude Monet's garden. I'd heard wonderful things about the trip so I was excited to go. Before visiting the gardens, we made a stop in Vernon which I welcomed. The roads were a bit windy and no matter how hard I tried not to get sick it didn't work. It's one thing to get sick in your own car but on a bus filled with mostly strangers it's just not fun. So I headed straight to the pharmacy & bought some medication. Vernon is a cute little French town to wander through with wonderful artisan bakeries, charcuterie, and of course lots of shops. My girlfriend & I bought some beautiful French ceramic cookware. I was like a kid in a candy shop! I came home with a much needed deep lasagna dish and two other baking dishes in warm autumn colours.

Once we arrived in Giverny, we had some free time to visit the Musee d' Art Americain. In the late afternoon we visited Monet's home & garden. As I imagined the gardens were lush & very soothing. The water garden was my favorite.

Loved, loved, loved the Asian inspired bridge with the wisteria. And the weeping willows made everything so peaceful and calm. There was only one water lily in bloom. I'm sure in July the pond must be an incredible sight with tons of water lilies blooming.

The Irises were in full bloom. So many colours I had never seen before. The gardens seem to be filled with various shades of purple.

This particular lilac was very unique with purple, white, and orange accents.

What I found most surprising about Monet's home were the colours of the rooms like sage, lilac, and yellow. Some of the rooms like the dining room were done in a tone on tone yellow. There is just no way a person could walk into that room and not feel cheerful. Even the dining table was yellow! One of the guides in the home told us the rooms were restored to the same colours Monet had painted them before he began to lose his eye sight & passed away. The house was decorated mainly with Asian artwork. Unfortunately, photos inside the home are prohibited except for the view from Monet's bedroom which were spectacular.

During the trip, I found myself chatting with a Russian acquaintance from my first French class and she told me, "If I woke up to this everyday, I'd have to become an artist. This view would inspire me to paint". I couldn't agree with her more.

Fete de l'Iris

Another long weekend for us here in Europe so on Mother's Day we took the train to Brussels for the Fete de l'Iris. There were a ton of things going on...concerts, activities for kids & adults, and the Red Bull Soap Box Races. I thought the races would be a great photo opportunity but we arrived right as the races were starting along with the other million people.

Needless to say I didn't get any close up shots of the soap box cars. I don't know why but we can never seem to get out of the house on the weekends before 11am unless we have a plane to catch or we're meeting friends. And sometimes even getting out of the house by 11am is a miracle. lol! Are we the only people who experience this. Anway... We had fun watching the cars race on the large screen monitor. It was pretty funny when the cars went out of control.

These funky wheels were pretty cool. Lil' C had a lot of fun playing with them.

Sections of Brussels were also closed to cars. Although I did see a few taxi cars here and there. Not sure how they snuck in. Lots of people riding their bikes and walking around. It was great.

When we got home, Steve fired up the grill and made his famous burgers. And I made some home-made lemonade to whip up these yummy Pom-Ade drinks. They make great summer drinks! Here's the recipe...

1 cup lemonade
1/2 cup club soda
1/4 cup pomegranate juice
Ice cubes
2 Tbls Vodka (optional)

Mix lemonade, soda, and pomegranate juice in a small pitcher. Fill 2 tall glasses with ice. Pour lemonade mixture over. Makes 2 servings. Courtesy of Epicurious. com

The rest of the weekend we just played outside and tried to get a little sun. And take a look what's blooming in my garden right now. I bought these in Keukenhof last year.

Budding Photographer at the Royal Gardens

A few weeks ago a fellow expat sent me an e-mail reminding me about the gardens at the Royal Palace.  The gardens are only open for a few short weeks in the Spring. Since we missed them last year we took advantage of the weather and drove out to Brussels.

It was the perfect outing for Lil' C considering how much he adores flowers. Before we left the house, I gave him my old camera so he was free to take his own photos. Lil' C found several flowers to photograph. I loved watching him click away. What made it so cute was how very serious he was about capturing the image and how much care & thought he put into the photo composition. Lil' C received lots of warm, friendly glances as he made his way through the crowds. Here's my little budding photographer.

These are a few of the images he captured that day. Enjoy!

And here is his self portrait. ;) I love it!

Not those kind of Bubbles

Right now the weather in Belgium is absolutely beautiful. So much so that I've tried to be outside every possible chance. When you go without the sun for days you truly begin to appreciate blue skies and sunshine. Let me catch up on the past two weekends...

The first weekend in May was a 4 day holiday here in Europe so we tried to book a last minute trip but had no luck. Everything was booked! So we did the next best thing... spent the day in Reims & Epernay. I'll admit it. I love France. It's a beautiful country. There is just so much to see.

Since we only had a day to explore the area we decided to visit the Cathedral Notre Dame de Reims. The church is renowned for its classical Gothic style and for being part of the coronation ceremony for the Kings of France. During World War I the church experienced extensive damage. I found it interesting that the restoration was largely funded by contributions from John D. Rockefeller. They even named the street in front of the church after Rockefeller.

This stain glass by Marc Chagall was just stunning to look at. The colors were so rich and vivid. Absolutely beautiful.

Reims is also the center of a major wine-growing region, specializing in champagne production. There was the cutest champagne cafe right in front of the Cathedral Notre Dame de Reims too. Silly us we actually walked by the cafe to see what they served for lunch.. and well.. food wasn't on the menu. Only champagne. See why I love Europe! lol!

Touring the Moet et Chandon house in Epernay was high on S's list which was fine with me. I found Epernay much more charming than Reims. Many of the large champagne houses are all within walking distance.

We had some time before our tour began so we relaxed and played for a while.

The Moet & Chandon tour was insightful considering I don't know much about the production of champagne. The caves were interesting to see. It was amazing how you could just feel the moisture just by touching the cave walls. It was like the walls were wet. Afterwards, we enjoyed tasting 2 different varieties of champagnes. S & I both had different champagnes so we were able to sample 4 total. Out of the 4, one champagne in particular was just amazing.  After I had way too much champagne the tour ended in the showroom. Very dangerous. lol! Needless to say we came home with a few bottles. ;)

We spent the rest of the day walking around the city, having a great picnic with our friends while our kids played at a local park, eating a light dinner, and ending the day with some delicious gelato... fleur de lait & cannelle. Yumm!

My sister is coming to visit this summer so we'll definitely be planning an overnight to the area. The big champagne houses are great but what I really want to see are the small family owned houses. I like the idea of being able to sample champagne that aren't available to us in the US. Plus, it'll be a wonderful opportunity to pick up a few bottles for my sister's wedding next year.

Sending Love

Happy Mother's Day to Mommies, Aunties, Grandmothers, and all the women around the world who play a special part in a little ones life. Enjoy your day!