Ketchup

OMG! I can believe the last time I posted was in July. That about tells you how long I've been crazy busy with our new house and new life.

Then I got this cute email from R who was detailing out her recent dream in which I made an appearance:

"Then Jenna Garland came in. She was lovely and smiling and happy. i asked her if she likes her new house, and she said it was wonderful and had really made her life excellent. and HELLO?!!, JG, I'd really like to hear if this part's true."

So, yes R, it's true AND here is my ketchup e-mail with loads of photos as well.

The house: still not completely finished. The last boxes are still in our office (which probably contains quite a few of the "where the hell does this go?" type of boxes that we'll have to deal with). I really hope we get to sorting out the office in the next couple of weekends. Because I'm collecting bags of paper that should be filed somewhere but have no home. Not looking forward to the filing day. I am, however, looking forward to unpacking my books. (Bookshelves are in the office). My god, I miss my books so much. I'm really looking forward to one whole Sunday devoted to slowly unpacking and reconnecting with each book and then organizing them all properly on the bookshelves. Yes, I know I'm weird.

We still have so much to buy and well, a dwindling bank account and very little time to shop. Still to come...dining room table, chairs for dining room table, throw rug, bathroom storage furniture & mirror, new closets for bedroom and guest bedroom, storage units for the office. Eventually, we'd like to get all new office furniture and a new couch, but we'll work with what we have for awhile...probably, a looong while.

My wish list is a piano and a cat. Those are the two things, in the opposite order, that I miss the most from my old life in America. Unfortunately growing up without pets has made P slightly allergic to cats, oddly more especially to kittens. Although he did 'ok' the times he stayed with me in California with the 4 cats we had in the house, as long as I kept the kitties out of the bedroom. So, I'm hoping if we stick to that, he'll be 'ok' here as well. We discussed having a dog, but even though we have a little yard (read patch 'o dirt here) s/he wouldn't have enough company as we work so much.

And my piano. I miss that so much. I played piano from the time I was 6 years old and I've always had one, no matter where I moved, until Holland. It's been over four years and I'm desperately worried I've forgotten how to play. I'll never be a concert pianist, or use it somehow in my work like my sister does, but it is something I did, just for me. Play piano. On a Sunday morning, sitting down at the piano and playing through old pieces I learned through the years, really gave me a good feeling. Now, finally, we have a spot for it. A designated 'piano wall' where someday I hope to actually have a piano. The downside is that the houses are all connected, so tinkling the ivories at 9 am on a Sunday morning might really annoy the neighbors. The plus side is they now have real (digital / silent) pianos with headphones, but of course, they cost as much as a used car. So, for now, it remains the 'piano wall', but someday!

I'm also being really picky about the dining room table. I found a table, finally, that I really love, but it's just too big for the space we'd determined would be the dining room area. I want a big table. Something thick and solid, with permanence, that seats 8-10 people. A real family table where people can gather and a whole lifetime happens there. A place to serve good meals and host friends...etc. So, I measured it out myself and the one I really love just wouldn't fit in the space we'd designated. And I decided to give it up and keep searching. Unfortunately, there's just been so little searching time...Then last night, my (incredibly intelligent) husband said (God love him), "I've been thinking, how about we have this wall be the 'piano wall' and shift the whole living room this way and put the big dining room table in front of the windows so they have a view of (future) garden?" Not only is this a really, good suggestion, but he acknowledged my 'piano wall' and 'big dining room table' as if they were an absolute and not just my dream. I nearly fell of the arm of the couch I was perched on. So, now whole new worlds of home design ideas are opening up.

The difficult part, back at the end of July (around the time of my last post) - we had 1 week off to get the old house packed up and everything moved in and after 1 week, we'd accomplished that, but just and still had boxes upon boxes piled around us. And we both started our new sojourn as commuters. This means we work a full, very busy week and have little or no energy left in the evenings. We both arrive home late or attend to other things in the evening (read here: gym, driving lessons...etc.) and fall into bed very tired. Then comes the weekends where we try to pack in household tasks (shopping, installing blinds, lights, baseboards, building furniture, unpacking...etc), regular chores, groceries, commitments to family and friends (although we've been unable to keep this up well) and the whirlwind weekends totally exhaust us and we've had no personal recovery time before launching back into a completely busy week of work.

So, the key word of the end of this year and going into the New Year will be: BALANCE. How do we find the time to finish the house and enjoy our life in the new house without falling over backwards from exhaustion and stress. Any solutions out there on how to build an extra 10 hours into the day that no one else gets, except for us, oh and all the stores stay open?

We're getting there. It's a slow process and hopefully I'll get the 'change of address' cards mailed out in a couple of weeks (three months later).

The big positives: we're healthy, we're together again, we sleep in the same bed, we have a beautiful house, we live in a nice neighborhood and a cool town, we're close to the big city.

So, here are some photos.

This is back in April 2008 when we signed for the house and got the keys. You can see how unfinished it was. No floors, no "prepared walls", no kitchen, nothing...I'm amazed at how far we've come (even if the neighbors are much faster) in making a home out of cement.

2008-04 Our New Home

In May 2008, Paul spoke at conference in Ischia, Italy (island off the coast of Naples) and I joined him. It was really lovely there.

2008-05 Ischia, Italy

On June 1, 2008 we celebrated our second wedding anniversary! We went back to a little restaurant (rather posh) which we went to years ago in Amsterdam when I first came to visit the Netherlands, before relocating. I had the fish and Paul, the dove. Note, the crispy bird claw sticking out of his dish. Blech. On the Sunday, we went to the local Amersfoort Zoo. I'm always on the fence about zoos. But, this was a really nice one. It was a beautiful day. The animals were fun & entertaining. And there were so many babies. I loved the tiger cub best. Pic of me with the elephants is specially for M.

2008-06 Anniversary dinner
2008-06 Amersfoort dierenpark

Last month, I threw the first 'event' in my unfinished house. A baby shower for a close friend, whose due date was last Wednesday and she's still holed up waiting for baby K to come inhabit the world. We're on countdown watch. I don't have a ton of pictures as another friend was the official photographer, but you can see a bit of the house, including my favorite pink wall. I couldn't resist grabbing my camera for the 'guess that baby food tasting game'. Hehe.

2008-09 Angela's baby shower

Also, last month (again Paul had a work meeting) in Brussels and I joined him for a 3-day weekend. We had a really good time, free of all the work & house stress just bummin' around enjoying the city architecture, shops and frivolities. Special pic in there for my pops & sistah, C.

2008-09 Weekend in Brussels

Right after Brussels, I flew to Lisbon for a press event (we just opened our first store in Portugal). I didn't have much free time, but took some pics of the buildings to capture the feeling of the city. For me it was a cross between Puerto Rico and San Francisco; the colors, the architecture and hills. It's a really lovely city and culture and I hope to go back someday with P.

2008-09 Lisbon

Update pics on P's family. They came and helped babysit the handyman while he put in the baseboards (can I just say - the absolute WORST home improvement project to take on yourself). We took them out to dinner at a local Indian restaurant. Mmmm. The elephant pics I also took for M. The restaurant owner collects them wherever he travels.

2008-09 Indian dinner

Hope all is well with our peeps out there and sorry for the down-lo disappearance. We've just been working hard and collapsing and going at it again. Thought I'd pop up for a bit of air and how do.

And yes, most absolutely, I've mailed my ballot in for Obama should there be any doubts. I only wish P could cast his vote across the ocean as well. We'll be anxiously awaiting the results this month.

Best Cantaloupe Ever

Lunch with two colleagues from my team: very pregnant, french girl and british guy

Me, with my sandwich and cup of soup, glance over at my colleague's dish. Being french and the food manager of EMEA, she almost always brings these super delicious, home cooked dinners for lunch. Today she has a tupperware full of the most appetizing looking...cantaloupe?

Now, I already like cantaloupe, but this just looked so perfect, fresh and juicy. We are pretty good friends, otherwise I wouldn't have said:

"That looks delicious. Can I have one?"

"Of course"

Gasp in gastronomic delight, "OMIGOD - that is the best damn cantaloupe I have ever tasted"

"Well, actually I did splash a bit of cognac over it last night" (said with sly smile)

To which British guy and I bust a gut laughing.

Could she be more french? Well yes, she could. On her last day before maternity leave, she brought a bottle of chilled, sweet white wine and a pot of foie gras (the real kind) to celebrate at lunch.

And no, we do not technically drink anything other than coffee at work. But somehow, the weather was good and we got away with a small sip or two of her fabulous french wine, sitting outside at lunchtime.

Tonight

On my bike road home, the sun set like a fat, fluorescent grapefruit, turning the surrounding sky flamingo pink.

One of my absolute, all time favorite repeated moments in life was driving in the car with M on the weekends in California. Seems ridiculous now in the current gas price climate. But we'd take to the road in her SUV and drive the long and twisty highways through the mountains and forest, out to the ocean and back again.

One particular road we sometimes took, covered a narrow path through a deeply wooded area with large, expensive homes tucked away out of sight. Near the end of this, before we curved onto a wider road, was a house with, I shit you not (who even came up with that term and what does it mean?), hundreds of plastic pink flamingos in their expansive front yard. It always tickled us (....wait for it....) pink.

'Here kitty, kitty, kitty' and the very spoiled parakeet

I always make fun of my friend A because she cannot see a kitty go by on the street without chasing after it, hand outstretched, calling 'here kitty, kitty, kitty'. I have several random odd pics of her petting strange animals on the streets of A'dam.

Somehow, I've caught her bug. I've moved into the middle of pet central. Everyone has a pet and there are a ton of big dogs, little dogs and neighborhood cats. Some quite bold, ready to walk in your door and others a bit more shy.

Yesterday, I came home early to make my physical therapy appt. and there was the most adorable gray and white kitten trying to climb the brick wall next door. Too young to be wary of strange humans, she came right up to me and starting purring, meowing and stretching to be picked up. I was so in love. I wanted to kidnap the kitten. However, I'm sure my neighbor would have noticed if her kitty went missing and I suddenly had a suspiciously identical cat. I considered switching the color of her collar, but I don't think that would fly.

I've converted P's family into pet lovers. In fact, it's gone a little overboard. When Opa died, Oma was babysitting my pet parakeet, Kaya. She was so torn apart over her loss and comforted by the bird, I asked her to keep Kaya. Since then, that darn bird has become a member of the family. I'll be damned if that bird doesn't run the roost. It travels wherever Oma goes on visits, flies free all day in the house, walks across the floor, throws antiques chatchkies over that it doesn't like, kisses the mirror 3 times when Oma requests, roosts on P's father's bald spot while he reads the paper, sits on Oma's arm while she does the dishes, and yes, it even eats at the dinner table...off the plate. Knowing there would be sceptics out there, I captured this on film when we took a break from packing last week for a snack.

Gotta respect a family that loves its pet as much as their own kin.

O Fickle Fate

Bloody Long Monday - late leaving work - forced to wait 15 minutes for a train connection - arrive at my destination station at 7:51 p.m. - just in time for the cats and dogs to come tumbling from the heavens. And not the passing by, just wait 5 minutes kind of rain - the full on, it's going to rain big, fat heavy drops steadily for more than an hour kind of rain.

As luck would have it, I remembered to bring my super big umbrella home today. (See, there is always a silver lining). Picture me, loaded down with 2 work bags balancing a large black umbrella overhead, buffeted by the wind, as I cycle home.

No laughing.

O lovely, warm and sunny summer, why hast thou forsaken us?