Nostalgia ~ The Scottish Highlands

I know, I KNOW!  We just came back from a trip!  Like literally just 2 weeks ago, but I'm totally already thinking where to next!?

Scotland last August was absolutely incredible!  I loved the Highlands.  I'd SO live there.  I'm a very social person, yet at the same time I love big open spaces with nothing but cows.  And the sky!  The sky there is HUGE.  It feels like you can "breathe" there.  We really had a hard time remembering that we were still in ''Europe".  Ireland is on our list, as well as Norway and Sweden.  But these lands would need our undivided attention for at least a week.  I need to start thinking weekend trip.  Hmm... where to!?

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Corner View: Morning, Noon, Night

Ahhhhh... is what you say while laying on a beach listening to the waves and feeling the breeze and the sunshine.  We had a perfect getaway for some sun in the winter in the beautiful Cape Verde Islands.  We were too lazy this time to do anything besides the strict schedule of beach, nap, pool.  But I can't wait to come back again and do some island hopping there.

morning

noon (2 hour nap - not pictured) 

night

 Like I said... ahhhhh.

Now back to snowy Holland :)

Hosted by Francesca
Invented by Jane

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Ahh the open road!

It seems like such a long time ago, just a few weeks ago we were driving around Argentina...

As you can note, blogging has been going very poorly for me. I really think I need a new angle. The whole "sunny all the time" is not really working. I'm thinking maybe to take mom and dad's advice and rename this blog. "Party all the time".... Or jet setting all the time, something that I actually DON'T do everyday but, lets say, strive to. Maybe I can just pretend I'm really really rich, and write all the stories with that twist to it??? A bit "fake it till you make it" type deal???

Maybe??

Any suggestions on a new 'angle' for the blog?

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Last weekend...

Clouds gathered and gathered... and gathered, but then sun told them to go play somewhere else! And it was sunny!!!

The clocks were changed to an hour early the weekend that we were in Valencia. I said, yey one more hour to party! Vito said, yey one more hour to sleeeeeeeep! But relationships are about making each other happy...so! we partied an hour more and sleept an hour more!!! :)

Well to be perfectly honest the next day we had to go to the airport in the morning to come back to Amsterdam. As we got into the metro all the clocks everywhere were showing one hour early. We just wrote the whole thing off to the "Spanish chaos" and thought nothing of it until we finally remembered that the clocks changed! It's ok, we spent the extra hour very productively - eating.

This weekend will be all about -relax- the girls are coming over on Saturday for a day of SPA and lots of Healthy fruity ....drinks! Can't wait!

hugs!

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My dad sent me an email saying that I should just update the website with just a 'few words' about what's going on and what I'm doing, and I shouldn't wait till I have enough time to sit down and write 'long stories'.

Ok, ok, you're right...

So let's do a brief run down:

Two weeks ago I went to ballet! Saw Romeo & Juliete. It WAS MAGICAL!!!! Ahhhhh No, Vito did NOT take me... he said something like, there would be only two circumstances in which hw would go to ballet, over his dead body OR if his mom would make him. I don't know seems a bit dramatic (but note taken about having his mom make him go next time!!!!)

I went with my work collegue Tina. She also has Eastern European back ground so I figured she would be into culture, art, and other such glamorous things. I was right!

This is the muziekteater, super gorgeous building on the Amstel river.

Then last week Vito and I went on a long weekend to Valencia, Spain! Ahhhhh.... what most wonderful few days ever! We were like real spaniards eating lunch at 2.30pm taking a siesta and heading out to dinner at 10pm!

More pictures will follow!

ok, there were my 2 words for the day :)

KISSES!

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No, REALLY, I'm SO blonde!

The lovely couple is sitting on a bench drinking some water from water bottles and resting from battling the winds in the dunes. Well, the young lady is resting, and big guy is just waiting... Oh lets call the young lady A and the big guy, big V. In front of them is drop with prickly dune grasses and beyond it a big expansive beach of Ameland...

A: waaaaw, super beautiful!

V: yep

... pauze.. enjoy comfortable silence together... her head on his shoulder... awww...

A: waaaw, gorgeous! (makes hand gesture)

V: careful, don't drop your bike lock key into the dunes, I'd hate to see you get scratched up trying to get it

A: HA! no, I'd hate to see YOU get scratched up while getting my key!!! ... wow... oops...

V: what was that!?

A: oh don't worry it was just the cap to my water bottle...

V: hmm now you have to finish it

A: yeah I will... (starts looking around for her water bottle)

V: what are you looking for?

A: um... where did I put my water bottle..??

V: are you kidding?

A: no are you kidding? did you hide it!???

V: sweetie... it's in your hand

A: ...what...OH! ah, right...

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Sunny in Brussels

Another fabulous weekend clocked! Hmm... this is becoming a pattern... YES! Ok, so since sightseeing was gotten out of the way this past winter when I was in Belgium for the very first time, this weekend was about quality time and relaxation (right, because I'm oh so very stressed...hahah).

Ok, so I arrived Friday morning. There was a bit of an adventure when for the very first time (in history probably) the Dutch train system hiccuped and delayed me! It threw me back an hour. I'm convinced it happened because when Aurelia suggested I should leave an hour earlier just in case the train is late, I laughed in her face (well, via the phone). Ugggh.. But it was ok. The regular train has a special weekend price of, R U READY? GRAND TOTAL of €40 for a return trip! How cool is that!? For trips during Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Love it.

I arrived a bit hungry. (STARVING) Not that I couldn't buy anything on the train because a nice but slightly unamused young men kept making rounds every half hour with a little cart selling all kinds of goodies. I however decided to be on a "health conscious kick" and felt guilty purchasing pre-made sandwiches that of course contained mayo and were not made with whole wheat bread...

I was rewarded however by Aurelia who immediately proceeded to stuff my face with SUPER healthy whole wheat sandwich with hummus and fresh cucumbers! AND she made me a wonderful juice cocktail with carrot and tomato juice not forgetting to add some pepper and Tabasco!!! (Oh and a sprig of greens) YUMMMMMMY!!!!!!!!

She then jetted off to work and I was left to my own devise with a hand drawn map of the fastest way to the shops. Hehe. I didn't have to use it because I decided to choke the pillow for a bit in preparation for a late night that would surely ensue for her birthday.

Plus Aurelia's place is just SO so sweet and peaceful that it is very conducive to lazying around. (Though I'm pretty talented in that area and can accommodate myself to that activity in a variety of environments.)

Ok, my view from the bed as I took a nap (before I closed my eyes of course).

And good thing I did because the birthday celebrations that evening lasted very well into the morning hours. I really do not remember the last time I came back with morning light.

Saturday was spent leisurely checking out the shops and boutiques. I'd like to report that shoes are more to my liking in Belgium, and I figured out why. Belgium seems to import a lot more Italian shoes and you can find more variety in styles. (Not to mention variety in prices rather then just SUPER HIGH as it is in Holland.)

Speaking of Italian stuff, we had the absolute greatest ice cream at this little corner shop.... that's all I have to say, I think you can all come up on your own with praise words for a blissful ice cream experience.

For dinner on Saturday we went to this little but super cute Thai place where the owner herself (Sally) was making rounds in the room. The food was delicious, the presentation was authentic and came in beautiful green jade plates with elephant families walking across their borders. Our curries came in matching sets of heated pots! How fun! Anyway the dinner for two came out to €33 WOW. (I guess that's how it is when you don't order bottles of wine ;) And we had a starter too of cellophane noddles with giant pawns. After dinner we were supposed to go to a free outdoor concert but we are too above going to crowded public activities and decided to go snooping around the richest neighborhood in Brussels.

This is simply us driving by and ogling at the HUGE mansions sometimes offering useful advice in the area of cosmetic home improvements... The richy-rich neighborhood is up on a hill surrounded by green lushness (of course) and the houses are huge. Just like in the old fashioned movies like Pride and Prejudice and such. Some looked like real castles, some like chateaus with gates and all the works. There were also mixed in a bunch of super lux condo complexes that were also gated and you can just imagine they put California's Melrose Place like places to shame with the drama and intrigue... We also came across some smaller houses in the area at the sight of which we both took out our cellphones to call our real estate brokers to order them to place a bid... then we woke up. Ahhhh... but girls can dream can't they!? It's very good for the skin I hear... ;)

Anyway, I personally believe that it's not about how BIG your house is, but how well you capture the ESSENSE of living comfortably and enjoyably.... again going back to Aurelia's place, I say her one bedroom apartment channels the best and biggest mansion in St. Tropes...! Oh, you are not convinced.. Look at this picture and tell me what it makes you feel!

Anyway they did a study on home space usage and concluded that no matter how big your home is, most people use only one or two rooms to the max.

Oh this is getting really loooooong! So I will summarize. Sunday we had a gorgeous breakfast at the neighborhood patisserie...

And then stopped by her mom's house to pick up Vodka (the dog) and take her for a walk in the park...

Ahhh....

Then I got on a train, came home to Holland (I like the sound of that) where Vito dear was definitely a sight for sore eyes... and then we watched Bourne Supremacy during which I did not shut up even for a second... PERFECT WEEKEND!

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On a bike through Weerribben...

Vito: "SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"

No it's not the way Vito speaks to me, it was just an honest advice in response to my: "ALL the bugs are going into my mouth...!!! Ptewww!!!"

We were speeding along on our bikes past the cows chewing grass on one side and past the evergreens and big bushes of flowers on the other.

What a lovely getaway we had. Thursday was a holiday so we decided to take advantage and booked two days over in the North East of Holland. Sounds far? Well it's just about 2 hours drive! (Oh, look on the picture, me making love to the camera and there is Vito trying his hardest not to laugh at me...) Btw, do you see the big orange sun on my t-shirt?? hehehe sunny all the time!

Thurday at noon we headed out and were there by 2pm. Within 30 minutes we were already on our rented bikes that were waiting for us outside the hotel. The area is known for neverending bike paths. The first day we decided to take it super easy and only biked 20 kms... And I realized I made a pretty big goof up and took my camera leaving the battery in the charger... No problem I still have my phone camera! BUT! That picture you see up there is basically one of the very few that I took before the battery on my phone died! Uffffffaaaaa! However, I remained reasonably calm since I knew I could click over to good ol' flickr.com and find pictures of the very things that I wished to take, taken by others! Hey, better then nothing, but good enough to tell the story...

The next day we headed out on a 50 km bike ride through about 4 towns and the Weerribben National Park area. In the park itself we rode by two gorgeous little towns: Kalenberg and Ossenzijl. The houses in those towns are straight out of story book! The towns itself are on tiny little islands conected by bridges. (What fun riding over them especially when some lady with two kids on her bike are riding right at you...)

Here is a great pick I found on flickr from some Japanese guy that was apparently in the area just 2 weeks before us... :)

More houses and more canals...

And look, how perfect! Someone was good enough to take a nice close up of one of the many COWS!!! Saved me the trouble of stopping and getting of my bike. Oh, and check out the house with the roof make of these stick thingis. Apparently very traditional, most houses had such roofs.

Super tired... and I still didn't finish telling about next day's visit to Giethoorn...! It'll have to wait, because my GRANDPARENTS are in AMSTERDAM! T'hat's right! I'll be hanging out with them tomorrow and we are going on a canal boat ride! I know, very toursity, but it's ok because I have my very OWN tourists to entertain!!! Wheeee!!!

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