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It's a new life

2010-12-21T14:50:00.003+01:00

Ok, time to almost tell everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Also time to let everyone know we have a little addition to our family.

Here's Vin at 15 weeks.

Vin was born on 28th August 2010 at 3:58 am.

The first half of my pregnancy was horrible. I have never been as sick in my life. The following 20 weeks went better. The 3 weeks before Vin was born were horrible... AGAIN!!! Meaning, on 6th August 2010 I stopped working, thinking Vin would arrive on 17th August. Nevertheless, at the end of every doctor appointment we heard the same news: "No, it's not going to be for today. You may come back next week." Argh! It was hot outside and Erwin had taken vacation as well and I was growing bigger by the minute! We were on vacation so to speak, but you can't go and do active things with someone about to deliver :-). So to say the least, those 3 weeks before Vin arrived seemed VERY LONG! We saw about every movie at the theater that we wanted to see. Finally, on 26th August 2010, I went to the hospital to be induced the very next morning at 5 am. "Only" 23 hours later our little precious was born! Looking at him now and seeing him smile and make funny noises makes me forget those long hours. Heck, I might even want to go through it all again (just once though!! ).

In a few day's time it's going to be his very first Christmas and New Year! Time sure does fly!

I am back at work since 13th December, THE busiest time of the year!! It's like I never was 4 months at home...

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

- Kimberley

Making plans...

2009-10-21T12:52:00.004+02:00

It's been a while since I wrote on here. In the meantime, only good things have happened. We have finished remodeling the downstairs area of our house with a new floor, new paint on the walls and since a few weeks, new furniture. (small update: I moved in with him at the end of June). Our next project is a new bathroom. We are planning on living there for 9 more years, so why not enjoy a new bathroom for this period? We've noticed this project is quite pricy, so we'll see if we can get some good deals.

I've picked up my dancing again. A colleague of mine who was in the same class, sent me an e-mail wondering why I wasn't coming anymore. Uhm, let me think, longer distance, busier at work, etc... But all in all, I had a blast last night during my first class of this year and I'm so happy to be back. In the end it turned out it's only a 30' drive anyway, which is perfectly doable. :-)

So life is good and making plans is even better. We are planning one more mini vacation at the end of November. We'll spend a long weekend in Germany. :-) Until next time on here.

Oh, and before I forget, here are some pictures from our trip in the USA in May this year (the remaining pictures are on a different computer).

Olé!!

2009-06-03T13:23:00.005+02:00

Ok, really need to update this blog of mine. Erwin and I returned on Sunday from our 3 week trip in the USA. It was perfect! I will post pictures of our trip soon and tell you a little bit more, but first, here are some pictures of the dansshow I participated in on May 1 and May 2 with the dance group I'm in. It was a ton of fun! Enjoy! (fyi: I'm supposed to look serious in these pictures as it's a furious spanish dance ;)).

Soccer and Holland

2009-04-08T12:31:00.006+02:00

Hello there, time for another quick update (with pictures of course!). Firstly life has been wonderful and Erwin and I are looking forward to build a future together. We'll go on a 3 week holiday in May, which we are very excited about. It will be great to get away for a while, just the two of us. This Summer will be busy with moving and interior (re)decorating, etc. Anyway, here are some pictures of some of the things we did this past month. First, we went to see a soccer match live in 1st division. I had never seen a match live before, so I thought it was an awesome experience. Although, standing for 2 hours straight in cold weather, kind of made my legs hurt... 2 weeks ago, we went to Holland for a quick get-a-way. We took the car on a Friday and drove to Zeeland, got some rest, ate great food, visited old towns (Middelburg & Goes) and just enjoyed being together. We returned on Sunday and wondered what we did that weekend... (it all passes by too quickly). Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Spring's just around the corner

2009-03-03T13:03:00.005+01:00

And the good life continues. I didn't make it to the next audition round as mentioned in my previous entry, which is ok. It was a fun experience and I wouldn't have had a clue on how to juggle this one anyway on top of everything else. My mom turned 50 on February 6th, 2009 of which I'm including some pictures. It was a fun get together with my family. Last weekend Erwin and I went to Oostende to see a National Basketball game. Oostende won, of course, with only 83-81. An exciting game! Before, we went to dinner and ate chicken with our hands...ah, the good ol' fashioned way! Life is good and everything just feels right. Love, Kim

Walking in the countryside where Erwin lives.

My mom and Erwin at her 50th birthday party and then of course Erwin and I.

A quick kiss before the game starts...

Excitement all around

2009-02-11T12:50:00.003+01:00

This is going to be a short entry but I just wanted to share with you the following:

1) I'm going to audition for the part of "Maria" in "The Sound of Music" on February 18th, 2009 at the TV station VTM. My mom and a couple of friends said I should give it a try and so I did. I registered yesterday morning and the same day I got a phone call for an invitation to join the first audition round. This is only round one. Fingers crossed everyone! :-)

2) If all goes well, I'm going to be an aunt by the time this year is over! My brother's girlfriend rang me this morning to break the news that she is having a baby. I'm so excited!! :) My brother is going to be a dad! Unbelievable!!

3) I'm still happily in love with my guy :D (as if you had any doubt!)

Love, Kim

A wonderful season has begun.

2009-02-03T12:41:00.013+01:00

It has been a while since I wrote on this blog. Time to give you another inside look on what's been going on in my life. I have been the luckiest and happiest girl on this planet for nearly 10 weeks (NOT that I'm counting lol). Ever since I met Erwin life has taken a drastic turn. Not only am I amazed on how I can handle two agendas (his and mine to make it clear!!), but also am amazed on how full life can be with small and precious moments, happy moments, active moments, etc. I can't give you an update on what has happened these past 2 months. I hope the pictures will help a little with that. Ever since November every day has been special. Erwin makes every day a special one. Even if it's just by a short text message, a dessert he's brought home, a milkshake he made me in the morning, his countless hugs & kisses. I have never met anyone like this. Anyway, before we all go weepy here, let me give you a quick roundup anyway (of what I can remember). The Christmas holidays were crazy. We celebrated Christmas eve at my grandparents's house with my family. This was Erwin's big break. He was accepted right away. My grandpa and Erwin even made a walk outside at one point. Everyone slept over and the next morning (more towards 2PM), we headed over to his parents. That day we also visited his grandparents. They were great, and they liked me right away, which I was so relieved by! (You never know...)We had a fondue for dinner and exchanged little gifts. The next day we slept in a little and headed back to Erwin's place. I had to work in between Christmas and New Year's. Things were laid back at work, so it wasn't too bad. Erwin and I stayed at home for New Year's Eve. We made finger foods and had a great time together. The next day we headed over to his grandparents again where we had a bread lunch with the rest of the family. There I got to meet his nephews and uncle and aunt. Later that day we visited a lady called Jeannine. She's a great wine lover and we ended up staying until 3AM talking, dancing and enjoying the good things in life. The next day we were headed to Blankenberge. My Christmas gift from Erwin was a weekend at a hotel down by the sea. It was great being away from everyone and everything. Just the two of us enjoying eachother's company and having fun in the swimming pool and sauna. And since then every weekend has been a fun one. Or we go for a walk at castle grounds nearby, we go to the mall, we have dinners to go to, a birthday party, catching up with some old acquaintances, or just relaxing and watching a movie...you name it. Life has been awesome, crazy, filled with every good thing. Last weekend we went to the seaside where my brother lives. As he left today on a 4 month trip with the navy, it was good to see him before he hit the ocean. Well, that's all I have time for right now. I hope you enjoy this entry. Have a wonderful day.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

2008-12-29T13:08:00.002+01:00

Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year!!

Een prettige Kerst en een heel gelukkig Nieuwjaar gewenst!!

Erwin & Kimberley

Shocking!!!

2008-12-10T12:44:00.005+01:00

To anyone who wasn't aware yet: here's a sneek preview of my boyfriend Erwin and I.

Snowfight!!

2008-11-24T12:44:00.005+01:00

Here's a video of the first snow in Belgium on Sunday November 23, 2008.

Italy report

2008-10-20T15:29:00.013+02:00

Hey! My friend and I just spent 5 wonderful days in Southern Italy. I wish I was down there still... We had perfect weather, perfect food, gorgeous sceneries, ... I'm absolutely ready to go back!! Here's a short report of 5 days of Italy.

Day 1

I caught my flight to Naples at noon...probably THE noisest flight I've ever been on (with the majority being Italian passengers...what can you expect ha? ;) ). I met up with my friend Trina in Napoli at 2.30pm. First thing we did was having lunch at the train station. Our first encounter with a cute looking Italian was a fact!! After catching up (meaning endless chatter between the two of us) we took the train to Meta, a small town only 3 train stops away from touristy Sorrento. That same night we watched a beautiful sunset in Meta and had a horrible Polish or Czech granola bar.

Day 2

Agenda of the day: visiting Pompeii!! Entrance was EUR 11, but boy...you can spend a whole day walking through the 2000 year old town...and so we did...almost. We did spend 4-5 hours walking around the ruins and taking TONS of pictures. It it HUGE!! Later that day, and with sore feet, we caught the train to Sorrento where we had a lovely 3 course dinner for only EUR 18!! We loved it and Italy so far. Something which could not be said of the 2 Australian ladies sitting at the table next to us at the restaurant. It seemed like Europe just didn't do it for them...Oh well, I was LOVING my little vacation!!

Day 3

Our third day consisted of a day trip to Capri and having dinner in our quiet little town of Meta. Our trip to Capri was AWESOME. I LOVE the ocean and being on the water. So first thing we did was catch a jet ferry to the exclusive island. The weather was gorgeous. I loved being able to walk around in shorts and a T-shirt in the middle of October!! We arrived in the little pictoresque harbour, were overwhelmed with invitations to go eat, to make boat rides...a little too touristy for me. Anyway, what we did do was do a 1.5 hours boat ride around the island, with a short stop to visit the "grotto azurro". Yes, you're in a small rowing boat and you ENTER the cave! (picture 3) A short but unforgettable experience :-). Back on the island, we decided to go to the centre ("centro") of this place. Not knowing that there was a direct bus connection, we climbed endless stairs ... until FINALLY we made it to the top. Of course, you could only see 2 people puffing and huffing for air...(picture 2). At least the view was breathtaking and we definitely earned our lunch. Later that day we caught our jet ferry back to Sorrento, and went for a traditional pizza in a small snack bar in Meta...where we were...until one point...the only 2 women.

Day 4

Our last full day in Italy took us to Positano. We had planned to take another boat around the peninsula and visit Amalfi instead, but alas...for once we didn't check the departure times and bluntly missed our boat in the morning to Amalfi. As the next boat only left at 1.30pm, we took a winding bus trip to the nearer town, Positano. It is a nice place, but not too much going on there. So after lunch, my friend and I split. I wanted to at least have sunbathed once on this short trip, and my friend explored a little more of the town on her own. This day was a quiet one actually, which was nice. It was a vacation in the end right? We spent our last night in Sorrento, where the streets were car free!!! We ate at the same restaurant of day 2 and had our dessert at a beautiful tea parlour. We ended up watching part of a soccer match..Napoli vs Juventus. In EVERY store and/or bar, you could follow the match. I had my American friend all excited for soccer!! Amazing ;-).

Day 5

Day 5 and our last morning in beautiful and quiet Meta. One last time Antonio made us breakfast: toast, with tomatoes, an omelet and juice. Eating breakfast under a clear blue sky and in the shadow of a mountain...what more can I say... Next we caught our bus to the airport and we arrived back in Brussels at 4.15pm...where temperature had dropped 10°C compared to where we were coming from!!!

In all, a wonderful, but too short vacation. Having seen Pompeii and Italy in general wants me to come back and visit Rome. I so want to see the Coloseum and Forum and what not! Thanks for having me join you on this little trip Trina. Hopefully see you soon!!!

Going Espagnol :-)

2008-09-12T10:24:00.004+02:00

I had my first dance lesson last night!! It was harder than I thought it would be, but A TON of fun!!! This year the teacher wants to go ESPAGNOL!! Oh yeah!! This is what it should look like at the end of the year...with LOTS of practice ;-).

London report

2008-08-23T23:01:00.011+02:00

Day 1 - Our airplane bathroom in our hotelroom - British museum - 2000 year old flip flops - a smelly telephone booth and "Wicked" show in the Westend

Day 2 - Sightseeing in London and going to our second show "Chicago" in the Westend

Day 3 - Bath, Lacock and having fun at Stonehenge

Day 4 - Tower of London, fish & chips and Hyde Park...and getting mugged

X-treme

2008-08-13T10:07:00.003+02:00

This past weekend was a blast! Friday night 8/8/8 did not only mean the opening ceremony of the Olympic games in Beijng, but also the night my stomach did not like a certain ride at the funfair "Foir du midi" in Brussels ...Yes, the X-treme was a little too extreme in my opinion. Luckily it was the last ride of the night and I did manage to have a few "oliebollen" before going home. All in all, it was a great night with lots of fun.

On Saturday I picked up my final furniture pieces at the store. My agenda looked like this for Saturday: waking up, 8.45am pick up uncle to go to furniture store, get back by 2pm, assemble the bed, 4pm arrival of friend, 5pm leave with friend to "a musical night at Beloeil". In the end, it pretty much looked like that, only I hadn't taken into account the fact that I locked myself out of my apartment that very morning!! Not feeling 100% yet, I have no idea how that could have happened. Anyway, it made the day a little more exciting than initially anticipated. Beloeil was great. (Isn't my new place swell? ;-))

This coming weekend I'll spend 4 days in London with another friend. Can't wait. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the early morning departure... 6 am! ...

More kayaking pictures!

2008-07-31T12:31:00.001+02:00

Here are the last pictures of the kayaking on the 21st. Enjoy!

More pictures!!

2008-07-30T11:10:00.005+02:00

Here are some more pictures. First of all me and Simon (my friend's baby boy) on July 18th. Holding a baby is quite the exercise I found.

Next up are pictures of the activities after the kayaking on the 21st. My friend Gianina and her boyfriend and me.

The cookie commercial picture :).

July update

2008-07-28T09:42:00.008+02:00

Ok, no need to tell me, it has been way too long since I updated my blog. But here it is, with pictures!! July has been very exhausting but satisfactory. It has been a month with numerous furniture hunts, assembling the furniture (giving me nice bruises to never forget the sweat, blood and tears it took my friend and I), a trip to Holland to meet up with my good friend Melina. We spent an awesome weekend together. Upon my arrival on July 12 we visited another friend and spent the day in Utrecht - a town I fell in love with. We went out to dinner in a nice restaurant 'The Connaisseur' alongside the 'grachten' in Utrecht. Oh, before that Melina, the friend and I visited a book store, where I did buy 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus'. I'm onto chapter 3 or 4 I think. Very interesting I have to say. Later on that evening and dinner, we walked around town and spent the rest of the evening drinking a nice herbal tea on the town square. As it was Saturday night, there was a good atmosphere going. We ended the day with going to a nightclub 'Monza'. I hadn't been to a nightclub in AGES! Melina and I left the club at 2.30 am and finally got to bed at 4 am. As we had to go to church in Breda that morning, we only got 4 hours of sleep. You can imagine I did not like waking up when the alarm went off!! We ended this weekend with the Young Adult service in Gouda from 3pm until 6pm. I arrived in Brussels in my apartment at 10pm. I was SO ready for bed! :)
The following weekend, I had 4 days off due to our National Holiday. On Friday 18 July, I visited my friend - I have known her for 14 years I think. She had just had her first baby - a boy named Simon. It was nice to hold Simon. I passed by my grandparents. With my new TomTom, it was easy to find my way to my grandparents. Oh yes, I swear by TomTom. It's the best invention ever!! :) Saturday afternoon, my friend arrived and we spent the afternoon at IKEA, picking out my furniture and having a slice of lemon cake after a couple of hours walking around in the IKEA empire. My furniture and couch arrived that same day ... that's where the sweat, blood and tears come in...we spent 2 hours or so carrying up my couch up 2 narrow stairways. We left assembling my wardrobe and TV set for Sunday. Sunday night, I was so happy to be finally able to sit on my very own couch! I had never had a couch in my studio. Do you understand my joy? :) On Monday - our National Holiday - I joined a small group of our church to go kayaking that day. It was FREEZING and I walked out after 2 hours on the river Semois shivering, stiff hands, blue lips, etc. I had never been so cold! And of course, the person with the bucket with my coat in it was the last one to arive with his kayak! I have never enjoyed a hot shower that much in a long time! :) On to the last weekend of this month. On Saturday, 2 friends and I decided to spend the day together. Somehow our own lives made it so that we hadn't seen nor talked to each other for some weeks. We started off by visiting 'Fort van Breendonk', which is a prison camp run by the SS during World War II. I was prepared for a day of fun at the beach, not a prison camp which came pretty close to a concentration camp! We spent 2 hours in the camp. I don't think I will forget that visit quickly. We continued our day of 'fun' (we did actually turn around our moods from gloomy to happy) by driving out to my home town Wenduine. We walked on the beach, had dinner and watched the sunset. We rushed back to my old house, picked up my car and drove out to the movie theater in Bruges to catch the 10.30pm movie. We watched "Wanted". A true action movie which made me look away a couple of times. But still an awesome movie, which gets your adrenaline going right from the start! :) After taking my friends home - in Brussels - I finally fell knock out on my bed at 3am. :) This Sunday I basically did not do one thing. Yesterday, temperatures outside climbed up to 30°C. Too hot for me, especially with the humidity. It was as if nature closed the weekend with a bang, just like in a concert. A huge thunderstorm passed over our country, making it rain like crazy. I was relieved with this refreshing shower. This morning, it's once again grey and wet outside, but still warm. Ok, time for pictures!

Utrecht - Night Club Monza

Fort van Breendonk

The beach in Wenduine this Saturday

Summer 2008 - my new town

2008-07-03T12:50:00.001+02:00

2008-06-20T08:07:00.003+02:00

Finally the weekend has arrived once again! :) Tomorrow, the first step in getting the new place together, is picking up a washer and dryer and get it up to my bathroom on the first floor. That'll be interesting...

On Wednesday night, I had my singing exam - yep, my 2nd year over and done with already. I have started on new pieces for my 3rd year...my lovely teacher is very ambitious let's say. ;)

Anyway, I scored 88/100 on my exam...which is 2nd of all. This little boy with a voice from heaven beat me to the first spot. He absolutely deserves it. His singing pretty much blew me away.

Let's see, anything else to update you on? Nope, that'll be it.

'Till next time!

The New...

2008-06-10T11:26:00.006+02:00

Pictures of my new place...as you can very well see, I'm still camping out and desparately need some furniture. :)

Where art thou?

2008-06-02T13:14:00.008+02:00

It's done...I moved into my new apartment this past weekend. I'm so tired! Moving is very exhausting, but special too. It's starting a new life. I think so anyway. Thanks to my mom and my friend for helping me out this weekend!!! I really appreciate all you've done for me these 2 days.

Friday night I had my REAL birthday party. 7 of us went out to dinner for ribs, a place called "Amadeo - the best ribs in town", or something like that. I thought the night would be just dinner. I had no idea they would bring me presents! I was overwhelmed by the surprises they had in store for me. I got a green Prince Charming (see picture) and just fun stuff.

I had a REAL birthday cake! Good thing I didn't take on the color of the food coloring! :) Bright red cake with delicious frosting! Agh, thinking back on it makes me hungry lol. After dinner we made an impromptu visit to the movie theater where we caught the last Indiana Jones movie. As you can imagine, it was a late night. But awesome! Turning 26 and being surrounded with good friends and gifts and a real birthday cake - what more can one ask for? :)

You guys rock!!

One final question, how many times do you need to kiss a Prince Charming frog before he turns into a real Prince!?...Just wondering...

The Package

2008-05-29T09:17:00.009+02:00

I can look back at a great birthday. Of course I had to work yesterday, but after work, my 2 best friends came by. I had a real birthday cake (see picture) with candles. My friends sang "Happy Birthday" to me, after which I blew every single candle in one go and made a wish... It was fun to hang out with my two friends and have a good old fashioned birthday. You girls rock!!! Thanks for spending last night with me. I won't quickly forget that hour we talked and laughed our heads off in my car!!! ;)

Happy Birthday to me! :) 26 and counting...

2008-05-28T09:03:00.004+02:00

The Old...

2008-05-20T11:41:00.004+02:00

Here it is - pictures of my studio I'm about to leave. 4 wonderful years in this tiny space...*tear*...

Fire!

2008-05-15T10:51:00.007+02:00

We just had a fire exercise at work ... lovely! No injuries :-)

At the end of this month I will be moving out of my furnished studio in Brussels to a newly-built duplex apartment. I'm excited!! Once the move is final, I'll post some pictures of the "old" and the "new".

Have a good one!

High heeled shoes...

2008-05-07T15:09:00.007+02:00

My 7 year old niece did her first communion last Thursday May 1, 2008. It was a wonderful day, but as you can see, a painful one too...high heeled shoes are just not my thing!!

G'day mate!

2008-05-07T13:00:00.006+02:00

I got back from my vacation in Australia a few weeks ago. I loved it! Here's a sneek peek of some pics from down under. Enjoy!!

3...2...1...GO!

2008-05-07T11:45:00.004+02:00

OK, unbelievable. Never thought I would do this, but yes, this is my first message EVER on my very own blogspot. Hope you enjoy the pics and messages. Share your thoughts and drop me a message whenever you like!!

Cheers, Kim