Somewhere in the Middle

Let's dance & eat paella

On Saturday the Spaniards held a celebration with flamenco dancers, live music, and traditional Spanish food. It was incredibly fun. It started at noon and ended at midnight! Those Spaniards definitely know how to party.

We arrived about 1:30 to see the flamenco dance performance but later discovered the dancers were going to perform all throughout the day. Lil' C & I always made a point to get close to the stage and watch them. It's a beautiful dance. And the costumes are just beautiful... so colorful and fun! If I get the opportunity to visit Spain again I'd love to buy a dress and those pretty shawls. I love how they tie them around their waist. One of my girlfriends had a friend in the Spanish dance group and she tried to teach us a few steps. So much fun!

The food was delicious too and we were treated to a sample of Orujo, an aperitif with on average a 40% alcohol content, which is a little strong for my taste but the Sangria that flowed all day was perfect. Outside there were several Paellera used to prepare the paella and grills cooking Spanish Chorizo and sausages. They also had jamon serrano, manchego cheese and these cute crackers shaped like little baseball bats. It was an all day feast. After eating at least 3 plates of paella, nibbling on tapas and drinking sangria all day we left about 8pm.

On Sunday, I went to the movies to see "The Other Boleyn Girl" with one of my girlfriends. It was so nice going to a real theater to see a movie. It's been about 2 years since I've gone to the cinema. The movie was in English except at the end when they let you know what happen to the characters the words were all in French! lol! Luckily, my friend was able to make out some of the words.

Monday I was back in celebration mode and attended the Spanish Luncheon. The tapas included tortilla (Spanish omelet), manchego cheese, and baguettes with red peppers and tuna. Our first course was a deliciously smooth gazpacho. I was a bit disappointed when they didn't serve paella as the main dish but I quickly recovered when I had my first bite of chicken which was cooked in a traditional Spanish style. I'm getting hungry just writing about it! lol! And of course there was more Orujo, Sangria, and a drink they called a Mojito (very different from the classic Cuban drink). The women in the community put on a fantastic dance show for us.

Especially love this woman's dress. The paisley print was so pretty.

After celebrating in true Spanish style, I'm all set to plan my own version of Eat, Pray, Love and fly to Sevilla to learn flamenco and Castellano and of course enjoy their way of life.

Once the luncheon ended, I went home and met my girlfriend K and we drove to Antwerp to see the ballet "Giselle". The first time I saw "Giselle" was at the Kennedy Center in DC and it left such an impression on me. Everything about the performance was outstanding from the choreography & music to the realistic theatre design. I remember being so emotionally involved especially at the end when the prince is weeping at Giselle's grave. You felt his despair and guilt. And when Giselle finds out the prince is already engaged she is so bewitched & distraught she pulls out her bun and wildly shakes her hair and dances in a crazy fashion but that emotion was missing this time around. There just wasn't that connection between Giselle and the prince. Perhaps if this was my first time seeing "Giselle" I wouldn't have been disappointed yet I wouldn't have left with that overwhelming feeling like I had to see this ballet again & again.

bride soup + colorful pottery = turkish luncheon

The Turkish women's community sponsored a wonderful luncheon today. Outside the reception area were several Turkish vendors selling pottery, leather, rugs, jewelry, artwork and gorgeous scarfs. I absolutely adore pottery so I bought a few pieces to add to my collection. Love those bright blues and green... so bright & cheerful.

The food at the luncheon was exceptional. It was nice to sample a few things I've never tasted before like the spicy Red Lentil "Bride" soup and Kadayif (pasty). The stuffed meatballs were absolutely delish!! In fact, when they brought them to our table I was hoping they sat me with a group of vegetarians. lol!! No such luck! The main course, Leg of Lamb with Seasoned Vegetables and Rice with Orzo didn't disappoint either.

Throughout the entire event a trio of musicians played traditional Turkish music. At the end of the luncheon an artist demonstrated marbling on paper. Very cool stuff. The Turkish community really went all out hosting this luncheon. They had an amazing selection of tombola prizes too with the final prize being a trip to Turkey all expenses paid.

Even though I sometimes feel a bit uncomfortable going to these luncheons by myself I still love meeting so many women from other countries and getting a taste of their cuisine & culture. I left the luncheon with a bag full of information about visiting Turkey. Hopefully, one day I'll have the opportunity to visit this amazing country.

Au Revoir Savvy.

I scheduled my 2nd visit with my Belgian cleaning lady (BCL) today. Things got off to a great start when she arrived right on time. Our first appointment started out a bit shaky since she arrived before our scheduled time and because I wasn't expecting her to be early I wasn't home. So she went home & left me a message in French. I had no idea what she said so I had to get someone who spoke French to call her back. When there is a language barrier things can get so messy.

With a friends help, I had some key phrases prepared in French so she would know exactly what I wanted done today. Things were going really well until she started to vacuum. We have a 110 volt vacuum and the only way that baby is going to work (or at least that's what I thought) is to use a big bulky transformer. I'm not a science girl so I can't really explain how the volts are transformed to work with the 220 voltage system. All I know is that I learned my lesson when we lived in Germany & I burned my hair off using an adapter with my 110 volt curling iron. Believe me when I say U.S. appliances become incredibly hot without proper converters. Anyway... the first time BCL vacuumed my home I showed her how to use the transformer and well I thought she would remember. She took the vacuum upstairs without the transformer but I didn't think anything since carrying both items is almost impossible. The transformer easily weighs 20 lbs. No joke!

Lil' C was home with a cold so as I was fixing his lunch I see BCL take off this little plug from the transformer which you need if you want to plug the transformer into the 220 outlet. I thought it was a little odd so I approached her and motioned to the transformer like to say, "Aren't you going to take this with you?"

She said something in French and what I translated was, "No, I don't need it right now. I'll come back for it."

But the next thing I know I hear the vacuum go on. I'm thinking, "How the heck did she turn on the vacuum without the transformer?"

So I decide to go upstairs and investigate. Of course I don't want her to think I'm checking up on her so I decide to act like I'm looking for my phone which is upstairs. What I really want to know is does BCL have a special spell that can magically turn my vacuum on? A minute later I find the vacuum no longer working and BCL giving me this look as if to say, "I don't know what is wrong with your vacuum".

Of course the vacuum smells like it's on fire and about to blow up! Plus, there's a black powder on the floor. So I run downstairs and get the transformer to plug it in. Nothing. Not even a little rumble. It's totally dead.

I tell BCL, "The vacuum is kaput." I have no idea if she understands me. Kaput is a German word but when I get upset/nervous I start mixing up Spanish, German, and French words.

BCL hugs my vacuum and says, "No, no... kaput. Wait 5 minutes." So we wait 5 minutes and try it again and it starts up. We exchange a glance of relief.

About 20 minutes later, BCL shows me how the vacuum is no longer picking up dust but blowing it out plus shooting out the dust inside its compartment. argh. I'm a little upset now. My vacuum is just over 2 years old and I really really don't want to buy a European vacuum. Not knowing how to express myself I decide to grab my computer, find a French translation site and quickly type why I think the vacuum is no longer working. Remember that transformer you used the last time? The one I was pointing to right before you turned on the vacuum? Of course, I don't actually write that but I really really want to. She says something to me in French but I motion for her to type in her response so I know exactly what she is saying. I hit the translate button after BCL finishes typing... "I'll bring my vacuum next time."

I know BCL didn't mean to fry the insides of my poor Savvy vacuum but the end result is still the same. I'm a girl without a vacuum. And this girl needs to have a vacuum especially during the high spider season. Belgium has spiders like the size of my fist. I'm not kidding; it's quite scary really. So I'm sad to see my vacuum go. Au revoir Savvy. You will surely be missed. ;(

Celebrate Love

My Plan = Catching Up

So much has happened the past several months that I just didn't have the energy or time to write. I feel a bit guilty about it especially since you can't capture those "in the moment" feelings when you're writing about something that already happened. But I still want to document it. So my plan is to catch up. So here we go...

Curly Christmas Trees

I'm really loving these curly branches! Every time I'd go into an artsy decoration store or a craft show I'd see them hanging from the ceiling with glass balls or jewelry but I never knew where to buy them.

A few weeks ago I went to an International Christmas luncheon and every table had an interesting assortment of these branches as the table centerpiece along with greenery and candles. It looked beautiful. With over twenty tables I knew I had a good chance of going home with a branch and I did. I won these during a raffle. So they are my new addition to my holiday decor this year.

The past weeks have flown by! We had friends from the US visiting us on two different occasions and lots of other fun stuff that has kept me away. Things should begin to slow down so I hope to blog about it this week.

Welcome Home

After being deployed for over a year, my friend E's husband Alex came back safely from Iraq today. Just in time for the holidays. I'm so happy to see them together as a family again! Welcome home Alex!

You can read their story here...

Maroon 5

Pumpkins & Halloween

We have had so much fun this Halloween! It started with Lil' C's birthday party which was a bit stressful for me since I had never hosted a party with so many children. There were 15 kids plus their parents. But I have to say everyone was wonderful and the kids had a blast. I was really happy everyone had a great time.  Lil'C  was so excited about his party that at the last minute he didn't want to put on his costume. We couldn't pull him away from bouncing around the bouncy castles with his friends. So... he basically ran around the entire time with a black shirt and black tights. lol!

This is a photo of the cake I decorated. I was so happy with how the spider came out!  I had planned to bake Lil' C a cake but after my second cake collapsed out of the pan I thought it might be better if I just bought a cake. This cake originally had roses on top which I scraped off and added my own Halloween spider. The purple sprinkles are by William and Sonoma. I just love how their sparkles have a shimmer to them. The spider is a cupcake I had baked earlier in the week. Did you know you can freeze cupcakes? Who knew. My girlfriend gave me some tips on freezing  cupcakes so I could bake ahead of schedule. I couldn't believe how easy the cupcakes were to handle and they tasted delicious. After I frosted the cupcake I covered it in dyed coconut. For the spider's hat I cut up another cupcake into the shape of a rectangle and triangle. At the end of the spider's legs I added some tiny M&M's. I piped the rest of the design with my handy little cake decorating kit which I bought about 15 years ago. It's really come in handy.

Last Friday we attended a friends party and it was so much fun getting together with other adults while the kids played. My girlfriend made this awesome drink they were calling the "blood drink". It was made with blood orange juice and gin. Very good!

Yesterday, I co-hosted a Halloween party with another girlfriend of mine. It was so much fun! There were about 45 Moms/kids at this event. Totally crazy but lots and lots of fun! Thank goodness the party was held at my friends house because if it were at my place I'm sure we would have violated some kind of fire code! lol!! My house is much too small for that many people. Now my girlfriends house on the other hand is a mix of a small church and a castle. Her family just moved in so I'd never seen the place before but it was absolutely beautiful. Very European with so much detail work. The stain glass throughout the house was gorgeous. We ate, talked, and watched the kids run around in their costumes playing. I got to my friends house around 10am and didn't leave until after 6:30pm. It was so much fun!

And today Lil' C and I carved our pumpkins. I should say he did the designing and I did the carving! lol! Lil' C wasn't too thrilled with taking the insides of the pumpkin out but I tried showing him how getting your hands wet and gooey can be fun.   He was very excited to put candles inside the pumpkins and light them up.

Our Halloween adventures ended tonight with a twist on Trick or Treating provided my our community. Lil' C and his buddy loved it!

Hope everyone had a spooktacular & safe Halloween!

Joining the Hug Movement

Several months ago I read about the Hug Campaign on V-Grrrl's blog. I just love the simple concept behind this movement... giving people hope and love, connecting with your community and making people happy. Every time I watch the video it brings up all kinds of happy emotions.

Well..today I had the opportunity to give out some hugs in Brussels with V-Grrrl and about a dozen other people. While the experience was awesome I have to admit I was a bit nervous. Hugging complete strangers is definitely out of my comfort zone. As V-grrrl and I took the metro downtown we laughed a lot about the experience that awaited us. We joked about how her sign said "Free Hugs" while mine said "Free Hug". Then all of a sudden I started to look at the people on the metro and I got really nervous. These were potentially the people I would be hugging! Of course, V-Grrrl made me laugh some more when we joked about creating a Hugging application process. lol!!

Giving people hugs felt good. Watching people walk away with big smiles and making them feel happy completely made my day. I hugged a variety of people of all ages. I even met a friendly couple from Philly and I can't leave out the flirt who thought hugging below the waist was ok. I guess there's always one in the crowd. A few people  thanked me for the hug and told me how happy they felt (at least that's the french translation V-grrrl gave me). lol!

One couple asked me why I was giving out free hugs. My answer... to make people happy, show them there is love in the world and that people really do care even if we are strangers. Aren't these basic needs we all desire.