What? January is almost over and I'm only just updating? Bad me!

So here's what I've been up to...

This month has been quite hectic for us after all the December merriment and unexpected hospitalization. Thank you, by the way, for all the well and kind wishes. I did get to go home on the morning of December 31st just on time to celebrate New Year's eve with Mike as we watched fireworks through our window and toasted with pear juice. New Year's day was spent with his family as we gathered in his Grandpa's home as per tradition and had dinner with his parents and sister.

Then M&M and godson, Kevin, came back from their long vacation in the Philippines so we spent a day with them to catch up and semi-celebrated Kevin's 2nd birthday.

I think after that weekend, my body was telling me to slow down when I came down hard with the cold for a week so I stayed home and in bed to recuperate. It was an overwhelming couple of weeks. December is just the prelude to the crazy month that is January.



Then came Monique's birthday which we celebrated at her place, followed by a weekend getaway in Eindhoven, perhaps the last vacation we'll have before B comes, with the family.

The day after we got home from the said weekend, Mike and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. He left for work at 7 in the morning and came home at 10 in the evening with a dozen big white roses and large strawberry milkshakes. He had to go to a training for work that day when all he wanted was to take me out on a dinner date. He was rather bummed about it but I did give my consent for him to go so I didn't have room to complain though it sucked when the day came and I found myself entirely alone especially when it started getting dark and we were supposed to be celebrating our marriage of 7 years. I didn't let it deter me though so I welcomed him with a candlelight picnic in our living room while I played our wedding song on repeat in the background. We cuddled and reminisced. I may have shed a big happy tear or two. His bosses and colleagues surprised me with a bouquet of pink flowers to congratulate and thank me for letting them borrow Mike for the day. So it wasn't so bad. My dining table was happy for the new centerpiece. They compensated his not being home by allowing him to take a day off two days later on short notice, which brings us to his 28th birthday.



I treated him to a movie, Avatar, (finally saw it and loved it!) and a Mexican dinner in the same restaurant where I spent my 28th birthday last year. He's been raving on wanting to eat Mexican food for weeks so I thought it's the best choice. I did have a morning fail because I wanted to surprise him with breakfast in bed but I overslept so I took a raincheck for the weekend instead. I'm carrying his child in my belly so at least I have an excuse. Justify much? Haha. :D

After ALL that, we got a breather. No planned engagements or anything in the weekdays and weekend. We decided it's time to finish what's left to be done upstairs. Our bedroom walls are finally (!) painted. Goodbye sunshiny yellow and hello olive green! Hopefully by this weekend, everything that we CAN do will be done and we can focus on sanitizing the rooms and wait for B to come. One and a half month more to go!

And now, I'm dreaming about being in the tropical Philippines to be with my family. My brother, Ian, is there right now and will be celebrating his birthday together with my other brother, Gary, on Saturday. I'm so so jealous and could only wish we were there too. It would have been another great family reunion. Sigh. I miss my family.

By the way, here's a fact about me: Do you know that we (my siblings and I) were born in consecutive numbers? (29 - Ian, 30 - me, 31 - Gary). Cool, huh? However, I'm the only one born in a different month.

So after the wallet-draining December, the month of birthdays and celebrations in our family follows. Cue Alanis Morisette song: I'm broke but I'm happy!

I hope everyone is having a great start of their new year.

For the past weeks, I have been thinking about what to do with school since it's starting in less than two weeks and I have yet to come with a decision before things are official and papers are signed. My dilemma was; should I still do it knowing I will have to take months off in my third trimester and when the baby is born, and not knowing how I feel about going back shortly after the baby's here. I don't want to commit to something I might not be able to finish because that's something I am striving to really change. Granted that I'm not going to spend anything with the exception of the books and travel expenses as the government will pay for my tuition, I don't feel right taking advantage of that free money when someone else could take my spot and finish it on time.

When I first decided to go back to school early this year, it was a turning point in my life where I consciously took action to better myself. It was a promise I made to myself that I will take charge and stop moping around because opportunities don't come knocking on my door and for me to get somewhere, I have to take the steps. Language school was an alternative and a preparation until I can apply for university next year and study Psychology because by the time I decided to study, the program I wanted to apply for was already closed. Of course, like most good things, they come when you least expect them. Getting pregnant wasn't something I expected to experience at this point in my life when I had finally made choices to do something for myself. So now I have to reevaluate my priorities and weigh my options because I'm not only thinking for myself anymore. My top priority is getting through this pregnancy without any complications and devote my attention to the baby when s/he gets here.

I promise this blog isn't going to turn into a pregnancy one. I do have other things to share, it's just that this is going to be the highlight of my life for now and I don't have much energy to write as I'm tired and sleepy most of the time. Thank you for all your kind wishes, by the way. I intend to write my progress but, at the same time, write about everything else.

Speaking of, we went to Brussels 2 weekends ago for some much needed alone time away from home and it was great fun. I picked up my camera again and took lots of photos. I can't believe I barely touched it for a year! Shame on me. But yeah, that too will change. I'm inspired again and, since that well has been dry for a while, it feels great to get back into that mood. I really miss it. If you wish to see the photos, you can view them here. They speak for themselves and you'll see how we spent most of our time there.

Here are a few:

The parents-in-law spend their weekends in Bergen op Zoom, North Brabant, and we decided to join them this weekend. It was great and very relaxing. The weather's been in our favor, too. Sunny during the day and cold-ish during the evening. Waking up in the morning to the sounds of nature was very refreshing. I spent a few minutes every morning listening to all the sounds with my eyes closed. It made me feel so one with nature; like we were all singing the same song of praise.

I enjoyed having breakfasts amidst the trees in the warm morning sun with the gentle serenade of the birds. While I chewed on my buttered bread, I saw, from a short distance, a bird feasting on bread that we laid on the roof of the birdhouse and the bees pollinating a nearby flower. The spectacle on the trees was entertaining, too. The squirrels and woodpecker were hopping from one branch to another. It was my first time to see and hear a woodpecker pecking the tree trunk. It was funny. I wish to have breakfasts like that every day.

There was a fair in the city yesterday, so we went and walked around the whole afternoon; checked out stores and stalls amidst the throngs of people who were there for the same reasons as us - to enjoy the warm sunny weather, experience the fair and hopefully leave with a discounted bags of goodies. I only bought a couple of postcards (from a bookshop!) because most of the stalls sold clothes and I wasn't really into buying any. Was on the lookout for home accessories and anything cute, but we didn't find anything we like. The store we wanted to visit was, unfortunately, closed. So we went on a fair food trip instead. I ate cotton candy again after so many years and drowned the sugar with another sugar-booster cup of flavored shaved ice. Hyper much? :)

And, then, we barbequed for dinner and ate to our hearts' content. We constantly ate and drank and talked about good things and our hopes for the future. This weekend was exactly what I needed. I feel rejuvenated and I came home, renewed.

I like sending postcards, and, of course, receiving them! I look forward to it at the end of the day. These are the recent three I'm dropping in the mailbox later.

Do you want to exchange postcards? Let me know! I'm up for it. :)

Anyway, we'll be off to the camping with the parents tonight until Sunday. I'm looking forward to relax, enjoy the sun, bike around town, crochet and just be out of the house.

What are you doing this weekend?

Yesterday, we went around downtown since the weather wasn't good enough for us to go somewhere else like Amsterdam or Antwerp. I hope the weather improves in the coming weeks. It's still dull with rain and hovering gray clouds accompanied by a chilly breeze in summer!



But, I got to buy the Hello Kitty Pear, which now completes my HK fruity cuteness family, and some candy. That made me really happy!

Also bought a new dress, dvds and some things I'm using for craft projects. I have many things to show you!!

Right now, we're going to celebrate a friend's birthday.

It was a really good weekend of pure relaxation, shopping, dining out and family time. I believe it was the first time we all went out together for that long, and I'm pretty sure that everyone had a great time. At least, I did. :)

Culture

One thing that struck me about the city was, it felt like I was in a different country. The hotel we stayed in was situated on a hill. A hill! Who would have thought there actually is a place like it in the FLAT Netherlands. Add to that the forest-like surrounding that we don't get to enjoy in Rotterdam. There were lots of green and birds were twittering outside our hotel room. It was a haven.

The Golden Tulip hotel is modern with a rustic appeal. They don't have swipe cards for keys, to start with. And, is it a European thing to not have an air conditioner in hotel rooms or am I just used to them in my tropical homeland where air conditioner (at the very least a fan) is a necessity as a heater in the west? It's not very comfortable to sleep in a closed room in a 28-degree room temperature and no ventilation because opening a window welcomes an army of mosquitoes and insects that I, in no circumstance, have no intention to welcome. So I do miss the luxury of an air conditioner as I think all hotels should have, but I guess that's a European thing.



I learned that Nijmegen is the oldest city in the Netherlands. It might have been mentioned by my teacher in my Dutch integration course three years ago but I don't remember if he did. So it's good to learn/re-learn some things once in a while.

We walked through...


de Waalkade..


het Valkhof..


de Grotemarkt ..

and many terrasen where a majority of young people hang. It was fun watching them "kids" being all preppy with their popped up designer PINK shirt collars, curly hair and huge sunnies which was a preferred fashion style by the guys. The girls who looked like they just started high school were typical in their skimpy skirts and tight-hugging tops, and a couple of them wore the same clothes and hairdos. Do they really do that nowadays? Similar outfits from head to toe? I realized later that it's a city of students. No wonder!

Shopping



Something I like about going to another city is checking out stores that are not in Rotterdam. They're mostly the quaint shops in small streets that I'm always eager to discover. They seem like they're hidden in purpose and only the real seeker finds them. The parents gave us freedom to roam around the city on our own for a few hours so we went to home & gift shops, children's store, and bead shops. (I could really get lost in those shops and stay there for hours. Mike was ever so patient.) I got a couple of beads and some little thingies for my future swaps.

We drove to Arnhem for a two-hour shopping on Friday morning and I was so happy we decided to go there. We walked aimlessly around the city and were lucky to find shops that I love and been looking for. Mike saw this side street with an antique store sign that I didn't want to go to at first because I wasn't in the mood for antique window shopping, but the store across it proved to be a star. It got me all wide-eyed and open-mouthed with matching palpitations and serious blushing. I almost screamed when I looked at Mike while mouthing THEY HAVE GREEN GATE!!!!! I tugged at his arms, hugging it would be more appropriate, because I couldn't contain the joy that he pointed me to that direction. It may sound silly but it was a really happy moment. We love that city and we're planning to go back there sometime in the summer.

Drinking & Dining

I would be lying if I say that I didn't enjoy the whole weekend of not worrying about what meals to cook. But we kind of had enough, you know. We miss home-cooked meals and choosing food not on the menu. Mike, who LOVES meat, swore off steak after eating it twice in a row for dinner. It seems like all we did was eat and drink, but I'm not complaining! We were celebrating the good life. 35 years of marriage is a milestone!



We ate our first dinner at the cafe on the corner of the Grotemarkt across from H&M. Forgot the name, well actually, I didn't pay much attention because I was starving but their food was heerlijk and we sat outside in the sun. It was gezellig. The calamares we had for starters was quite good. The only downside is the fries they served in one medium bowl. That serving is good for two but not for four hungry adults. Jammer.



Cafe-Brasserie Vlaams Arsenal - Good food, affordable price, great service, cool and modern ambiance. Their Belgian fries were so good, we ordered a second cone.



Gallische Eetcafe - Good food, okay price, not so much with the ambience and though the service was fast, the waitresses were not so friendly. Their Obelix steak was really good! The chocolatix was also yum.

To DO

We watched Cassandra's Dream in this small theater near the Belgian resto we dined at. First time I stepped into a theater with a capacity of only 25. The movie was okay, not something I'm used to but it was quite entertaining. I'm not so sure if I really like it or not but it was an experience.

There are a couple of museums in the area. Ma and Monique went to the African Museum 20 minutes walk away from the hotel on Sunday. We didn't really feel like going so Mike and I spent the whole afternoon playing table tennis that wiped us out that evening. Mike said I was a fanatic after I won 9 sets out of 10. But he beat me in Chinese poker afterwards. To each his own!

Photos can be found here.