Bloggin' on Brugge

So, as my last post promised, I am proud to present some photos and a semi-review from our little 2-day trip over to Brugge, Belgium. It is such a beautiful city and we had an absolute blast. We sipped (okay, guzzled) plenty of good ol' Belgian brew and managed to see nearly every inch of the city's attractions that we had hoped to. So, without further ado, I to give you a small taste of our weekend debauchery, Belgian-style:

This would be the Belfry, or, Bell Tower. I took way too many pictures of this thing. This one wins.


The architechture here is freaking cool.


See. It's just cool. This is the Market Hall.

One of the first of many very cool ice sculptures.

So cute! I took this guy home with me (but the hedgehog had to stay)!


Ummm...I don't know. I just.... I don't know.

This little guy was, of course, my favorite. I have a strange obsession with penguins. I love them! :)

Ahh, yes, the ice bar. Definitely cool (no pun intended, really).

So, since this blogger thing is proving itself to be extremely finicky today, I'll have to share some more pics at a date TBD. (I like saying stuff like "TBD"; it makes me sound really so totally cool and grown up, doesn't it?) Until then (the date that has yet TBD), hope you enjoyed our mini-review of Brugge.

~Cheers!

Road Trip!

Yep, we're hopping in the car bright and early Saturday morning to check out the fabulous city of Bruges, Belgium.

What really sparked our interest was the Snow & Ice Sculpture Festival the city boasts every year around this time. Apparently, it's quite a sight and, from what we've heard, should be well worth the 4-hour drive. From there, we're definitely going to check out the oh-so-cool (no pun intended, really) Ice Bar that should be right up our alley. We'll be back on Sunday with plenty of pictures and stories to share, but in the meantime, here's what we have to look forward to:

The makings of the Ice Bar

Mmmm, I can just taste the Gluhwein!

After knocking back a few drinks, we plan to check out the city of Bruges (which is supposed to be spectacular), as well as, their Christmas Market. Here's what one might expect to see at a traditional Christmas Market, at least in Germany:

The Nurnberg Weihnachts Markt

We can't wait to see yet another part of Europe - this should be fascinating! Bis Sonntag!

*Disclaimer...

...In reference to the below blog. I'm obviously not the hoity-toity snob that the below post makes me out to be. For those of you who feel that I might be, really, it was all written in good humor. Are we going to need some new things for the new pad? Yep, we sure are. Are we going to go out and spend money that we don't have to appear to be something we're not? Absolutely. I mean, absolutely NOT. Really though, who doesn't need a $4,000 couch?

Hey, A Girl Can Dream...

And that's exactly what I've been doing. Since we'll be starting a brand spanking new life in lovely South Carolina in just over 4 short months, we've begun to scratch the surface of the new home search. Soooo, since we'll of course need some shiny new items to fill our lovely new abode, I've gone ahead and taken the headache of shopping around for hours on end and decided upon this fancy-schmancy wish list of some of the things that I think need to adorn our pad. Take, for instance, this fabulous sectional from Pottery Barn:

Ahhh, I can just see me sinking into that marvelous masterpiece sitting in front of this:Of course, that little booger's going to need a home. I managed to stumble upon this snazzy thang: (Love it!)I suppose I shouldn't lounge all evening on the couch. Shall I make dinner? Maybe my new cookware will get the creative juices flowing for a fabulous new recipe. Oh hell, who am I kidding? My cooking skills are not exactly skills. They're more like an adventure of sorts. Nonetheless, I wouldn't mind dumping a box of Kraft Mac 'n Cheese into one of these shiny, new contraptions:
Now, in order to make that complicated mac n cheese, we'll obviously need someplace to store the milk and butter. To keep with the sparkly stainless steel motif, I think we'll need a storage unit that resembles this:

And where oh where will we be chowing down on said meal, you ask? Right here at our lovely new dining room set:

Oh, but wait! Dishes! We need dishes! These will be mine. Oh yes, they will be mine. (And it's important to note here, that this set is now on sale at Crate & Barrel so yes, I see this filling our cupboards sometime in the very near future):
And oh by the way, I guess we'll need to invest in a washer and dryer. I think I'll give Jeff the honor of choosing these, as this just isn't fun for me. I'm not a huge fan of laundry. In fact, I absolutely despise it. If I had my way, I'd have someone come pick our laundry up, wash it, fold it and even put it away for us. But, since that will never happen, I think we're leaning toward the front-load option; something like these:Looks like I ought to get moving on this job search...

The ABC's of Jen...

A - Attached or Single: Attached - very ;)
B - Best Friend(s): Chass & Angie
C - Cake or Pie: Any of Oma's cakes and pecan pie
D - Drink of Choice: Corona baby!
E - Essential Item: laptop
F - Favorite Color: pink
G - Gummi Bears or Worms: Gummi bears - Haribos of course!
H - Hometown: Union Springs, NY
I - Indulgence(s): Shoes, shoes and more shoes (see ridiculous obsession mentioned above)
J - January or July: FREAKING JULY ALREADY
K - Kids: We've got Jeff's little peanuts!! We'll see about more down the road...
L - Life is incomplete without: Family, friends & shoes
M - Marriage Date: 13 Oct 07
N - Number of Siblings: Younger brother who passed away in 1991 & an older half-brother
O - Oranges or Apples: Oranges; I've developed a randomly weird allergy to apples
P - Phobias/Fears: FIRE. I am absoltely terrified of fire.
Q - Favorite Quote: "Light travels faster than sound; that's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak" - Uknown
R - Reason to smile: See 'K' & 'L'
S - Season: DEFINITELY summer!
T- Tag Three: Huh?
U - Unknown Fact About Me: I have an irrational fear of fire. And bugs.
V - Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals: Mmmmm, gimme a big ol' steak anyday!
W - Worst Habit: Procrastinating
X - X-rays or Ultrasounds: Ummm, I'm supposed to have a preference?
Y - Your Favorite Foods: Currywurst!
Z - Zodiac: Leo

One Inquisitive 5-Year Old

We all know that kids' imaginations are generally fascinating and sometimes even downright hilarious. Take last night for example. Here's a quick blurb from Jeff's conversation with his 5-year old son, Mikey:

Jeff: Hey, Mikey, how are you? How have you been doing in school? Are you feeling better?

Mikey: Hi, Daddy. Ummm, Daddy....

Jeff: Yes, buddy...

Mikey: Um, Daddy, are you guys gonna have a baby?

Jeff: (trying to process the conversation at this point) Uhh, no, hahaha, no buddy, we're not planning on it anytime soon.... (and Mommy is in the background cracking up as well)

Mikey: Oh. Okay, Daddy. Well, daddy, guess what: I'm going to decorate our Christmas tree and I'm going to hang my transformers and my spidermen on it and on the top, I'm going to put my yellow bear.

Jeff: Ooooh, well okay, buddy.... that sounds great! I'm sure everyone will love your Christmas tree...

Mikey: Okay, bye, Daddy....

So, we're really not sure where the baby fascination came from - especially in a 5-year old's mind. He's a smart kid so we can only imagine... Anyway, funny stuff. Let's hope the little guy doesn't have some weird sixth sense about these things... (!)

Let the Countdown Begin...

...Until we're back on U.S. soil, that is! We officially got word yesterday that we'll be PCS'ing (relocating, in human terms) to sunny South Carolina this coming April. We're extremely, extremely happy, as that is where Jeff's little ones are. We can finally be a bigger (and more regular) part of their lives and poor Jeff will finally get some sleep. With the time difference, his weekly Wednesday night phone calls usually put him in bed well past his bedtime. ;) We're really very excited to finally be reunited with them and settle down for the next few years in one spot. We love and miss those little guys so, so much and just can't wait to be there for so many of the things you look forward to in a child's life - the first day of school, school plays, report cards, helping with their math homework (although, I'd be a hopeless disaster in this arena), and the all-important PTA meetings. Even though I'm "just the step-mommy", I love those kids more than I could have ever imagined and truly look forward to having them reunited with their daddy, whom they miss dearly.

I, on the other hand, as excited as I am to be moving forward in our lives (and in a positive light no less), have been furiously scouring web page after web page for potential job prospects. Ugh. I'm finding this is definitely not one of my strong points - dealing with potential employers, that is. Since I used to don the ol' cammo suit myself, I never really needed to find employment. So, this should be interesting. On top of that, I'm taking this next year to really prepare myself for applying to grad school - I'm applying next year (for the fall '09 semester) to USC-Columbia for their Speech Pathology program. I think I've finally pulled my head out of my ass, maybe even grown up a bit (I said "a bit"), and found what I really want to do with my life. So, we'll see how that pans out. Wish me luck!

Along with finding me a job in the sleepy town of Sumter, we're going to work our arses off to get Jeff back up in the airplane - where he belongs! If all goes as it should (since he's healthy as a horse), he'll be back up flying the friendly skies in one of these pupppies:

We'll see. He's got way too much time and heart invested in his passion for flying to let some doctor tell him that he can't fly. It's pure crap. And we're going to do what we can to fix that.

Needless to say, however, we won't be making the trek across the big, blue pond to SC in one of those contraptions - Cool? Yes. Fun to fly in? Yes. Fun to fly in for 4,000+ miles with the jet fuel stench permeating your clothes, hair and burning the insides of your nose? No. I'm thinking the Air Force needs to send us off in style...like this, perhaps?

Hey, a girl can dream, right?

...."I'm flyin' first class, up in the sky...a bottle o' champagne, livin' the life...."

(Yep, you'll be singing that one all day now - you can thank me later.)