The Land of Kimberly

Where has the summer gone?

2007-08-21T14:18:00.000+02:00

Crap, August is almost over and I KNOW that summer did not visit in Belgium - crappy cold weather as usual! Oh well! Maybe next year!

Things have been giong godo for me. I am yet again in another temporary position - but still working in the old postiion part time as well. I could do with another set of hands and another brain as well, but alas, I fear that is impossible at this point in my life to grow extras! =)

Hope that all is going well, and as always, I have more recent posts on my other blog, http://cityofcrochet.blogspot.com

Checking in.....

2007-04-02T13:09:00.000+02:00

Is anyone still reading this blog?

Apologies if you've been wondering what has happened to me. I do update my other blog more often, so please check that one out: http://cityofcrochet.blogspot.com/

Otherwise, to give a quick summary.....still in Europe and working insane hours. I do enjoy my job though so I guess that is half the battle won!

I am planning a trip now to go visit Zori in China! Argentina was a wonderful trip - had an awesome time with both Zori and Vik! Hopefully China is just as fun!

Where to begin?

2006-10-16T01:14:00.000+02:00

I do not even know where to begin on updating all thats been going on!

With the promotion life has gotten even busier! I have been going a week or two at a time between updates on my other blog, and this one is even worse! If you have been missing your "Kimberly fix" my other blog is being posted on a little bit more often, and can be found here

I have been dating a guy from Kosovo since June. Things are going okay. I am not so sure he is Mister Right....more like he is Mister Now!

I was in Portugal for a few days for work and had a great time - a very pretty city & area around Lisbon! I also then spent the weekend in Dublin with my freind Kim where we had a good time shopping etc. I met up with my friend Andrew who I met with my friend Zori 2 years ago - it was good to see him again! As normal I went to the International Bar and my bartender there was happy to see me! He filled me in on all the happenings since my last visit - seems like everyone is getting married lately over there in Ireland....glad that I am not one of them!

I am going to Argentina!!!

Thats right, I am taking a week before going to Michigan for the holidays in December and going down to Argentina to visit my friend Zori and meet my on-line friend Vik for the first time! I am ery excited about this trip, including the fact that I have a nice long layover in New York so I will be able to do some shopping and site seeing there as well this trip! And of course I'll spend 3 days in Chicago visiting friends there! I am trying to convince my Mom to join me in Chicago for those three days for some Mother-Daughter bonding........and shopping! *grin*

Well, it is late and I am off to bed!

*hugs* to all of you! I hope that you hae not been too worried about me going AWOL!

Life Happens....

2006-07-24T08:28:00.000+02:00

I just realised looking back that until my reunion post, it has been since February that I las tposted on this blog.....and no, its not from over posting on my other blog, but merely that life happens.

When I took on the temp position in February, I never expected it to take over my life. Well, it did! From multiple trips back and forth to Zurich....at one stretch I was there every week for 5 weeks straight, to non-stop work, personal life time became a scarcity. I stopped blogging, stopped crocheting, stopped everything but sleeping, eating, breathing and working. Wake up, go to work, come home, pass out....wake up, go to work..... and so on and so forth!

Its been a crazy ride but at the end of it I finally have my promotion to manager, and I'll be staying in Brussels for just a smidgen longer!

Its class reunion time....

2006-07-21T12:33:00.000+02:00

Merde! I can not believe that it is 10 years already...yeah yeah I know i posted a while back that it had been 10 years, but getting the invite to the reunion takes a bit to handle!

What are the bloody odds? I was supposed to fly back to the US at the end of July for the annual Canoe trip, my birthday and my family reunion. Well, flights were un-godly expensive (okay, the one I bought is also, but these ones were 3-500 more greenbacks) so I decided to postpone the trip until mid- August. I booked the flight about a month ago now, and last week the reunion invite appears and low and behold, it is 1 of the 2 weekends that I am home and in Muskegon! Bonus! *grin* It is also on the same night as my Dad's 40th year class reunion......I wonder who is going to have the most fun?

I had resigned my self to the fact that I was going to miss the reunion, but now that I get to go I am getting excited. I can not wait to see what 10 years has done to everyone.

Sunshine here I come....

2006-02-27T15:54:00.000+01:00

I am counting down the days until my next vacation! I am heading not to some foreign locale, but back to the US to Florida! My parents own a week timeshare and then my sister and I own a week, so I will spend 2 weeks relaxing in the sun. Okay, I will try to relax in the sun.....with a 2 year old and a 5 year old demanding time and attention, it will be hit and miss on how much relaxing I can do!

My mornings......an un-godly wake up time before 8am to the feeling of little fingers poking my eyes and voices telling me "Aunt Kim. The sun is shining. Its a beeoootiful day outside....time to wake up!!!"

I leave on the 11th, and fly via Chicago to Orlando....just think about all of those lovely frequent flier miles that will be added to my account.....Australia is looking closer and closer (thats my next big trip with Kim).

I will be doing a fair amount of pool / sun time, along with a hefty dose of shopping! A potential trip to Sea World, or perhaps back to one of the Disney Parks. A ride over to the Gulf of Mexico and some sand time. I have several friends in Florida that I hope I can see - a friend from high school, Angie; a former friend from Belgium, Tom and his new fiance; and a few of my on-line crochet buddies.

Spending time in Florida with me right now is my parents, sister and brother-in-law, my neice and nephew and possibly my best friend, her mum & her mum's friend.

On Belgium, all is still going well here. I am busy as always which is a good thing. I fly tomorrow morning to Zurich for 2 days to find out the details on the new role - lets hope that everything turns out perfectly!

Life continues.....

2006-02-23T14:12:00.000+01:00

Come the good nad the bad, life continues day by day.

All has been going well here in Burssels. Aside from my being bored witless at work! I am in negotiations to potentially take on a new role. Not a lot can be said about it at this point in time, but it would be a challenge and would bring me back into contact with a former team.....not so sure I like that one, but I should have learned by this stage in the game to never say never about anything!! Well, okay, some things I am sure I can say never about....as in I will never try Crystal Meth or Heroin. Updates on the job situation once I know for sure what I can and can not say!

I find myself stupidly agreeing to a bet on running a 10 mile race in October. I'm blonde.....and an idiot! I don't run......ever! Hopefully 7.5 months is long enough to get in shape to not embarass myself and come in last place! So far there are 5 of us running that I am aware of, including my friend Kim.....we will be cheering each other on and who knows, potentially training together should I end up in Zurich at all!

Florida and vacation for 2 weeks is just around the corner! In between now and then I have to clean and organise my apartment, pack, finish some projects I've been working on, and a billion other miscellaneous tasks.

100 Things About Me

2006-02-08T13:21:00.000+01:00

When I started writing this list a few weeks ago, I did not think that it would be that hard to complete...boy was I wrong! Listing 100 things about yourself is a lot harder that I had imagined! But I persevered, and here is the finished list!

100 Things About Me

1. I am a Leo
2. I was born in the year of the Horse
3. I was born with a Cleft Lip and Palate
4. I have had my tonsils out
5. I have never broken any bones
6. I play the clarinet
7. I self taught myself the piano
8. I can crochet
9. I self taught myself to crochet
10. I was in Girl Scouts….the whole way
11. I own a timeshare in Florida
12. I dream of owning a Bernese Mountain dog
13. My first car was an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
14. My first brand new car was an Oldsmobile Alero
15. I sang in the Miss Michigan pagent (not as a contestant)
16. I’ve lived in 3 countries
17. I am right handed but use my left for many things
18. I can cross my eyes
19. It is impossible for me to roll my tongue
20. I can speak french
21. I am a Mayflower descendant
22. My first dog was an Alaskan Husky named Tasha
23. My second dog was a collie named Reggie
24. I am a middle child
25. I attended an all-female liberal arts college
26. I am an avid Notre Dame football fan
27. My favorite ice cream flavor is anything chocolate
28. My favorite hot drink is tea
29. I despise the smell and taste of coffee
30. I read Les Miserables in one day
31. My intended major in college was International Business with French and German minors
32. My actual major was Accounting with Computer Science and French minor studies
33. I have two sisters
34. I love Hormel Chili (no beans) and Velveeta Cheese dip
35. I learned to ski in France
36. I was a tour guide on Mackinac Island
37. I have a timeshare in Kissimmee Florida
38. I had never left the US beside Canada before I moved to Ireland
39. I have had a penpal in Ireland for over 14 years that I still write with
40. All four of my grandparents are still alive
41. I own over 100 pairs of shoes but wear about 10 on a regular basis
42. I can pat my head and rub my stomach (and vice versa) at the same time (even when intoxicated)
43. I love to drink Guinness
44. I do not own a car
45. I read extremely fast
46. I love to bake
47. I worked as a burger king manager for 6 years while in school
48. I was a Resident Advisor in college
49. I can swear like a sailor when really riled
50. My hair is darkening so I highlight it blonder
51. I can not sing in tune
52. I look good in red
53. I collect Department 56 houses
54. I collect trivets from places I’ve been to
55. My favorite movie is the Princess Bride
56. My dream vacation is an around the world cruise
57. I can ride my bicycle with no hands
58. I can do a cartwheel
59. I have issues walking in a straight line
60. I have lived in 11 different homes but moved 15 times
61. My high school tennis nickname was Stubby
62. I played tennis and soccer in high school
63. I have 1 nephew, 1 niece, 2 step-nieces and 1 unknown on the way
64. I can make my own hard candy
65. I have gone to Oktoberfest…twice
66. I love thunderstorms
67. I have a light dusting of freckles across my cheeks that seem to arrive and disappear at will
68. My knuckles and knees are scarred from flipping over the handle bars of my bike
69. I spent a summer as a Coffee Shop manager and to this day shudder when I smell coffee
70. I have a published poem
71. I love to watch sunsets
72. I am teaching myself to knit
73. I have cross-stitched since I was in 5th grade
74. My eyes are brown, but often people think they are green or gold
75. I went to Saint Mary’s College
76. I have traveled by train through the Chunnel connecting France and England
77. I walked across the Golden Gate bridge
78. I have gone deep-sea fishing off the Florida Keys
79. I love the thrill of a roller coaster
80. My hair is high-lighted with my natural sun tones
81. My favorite book is the Witch of Blackbird Pond
82. I delivered mail in college to the dorms
83. I was in several plays in school
84. I was a member of the Saint Marys – Notre Dame Wind Ensemble
85. My high school mascot was the Trojans
86. If I could study anything, it would be history
87. I dream of someday living on a ranch / farm in the western part of the US
88. My favorite cocktail is a strawberry margarita
89. I am a chocoholic
90. I have taken a cruise around Greece and Turkey
91. I prefer to write with a pencil if possible
92. I am planning a trip to Australia
93. I have seen an Opera (Turandot by Puccini in Prague)
94. I adore the musical theater (seen Cats, Phantom, Evita, Lion King, Mamma Mia, King and I……)
95. I do not like Asian food that much (will eat if I have to)
96. I can say the ABCs backwards
97. My toe nails are almost always painted red
98. I like most kinds of music – country, rock, jazz, blues, oldies, gospel, opera, classical, some rap (see #99) …..
99. I cannot stand gangster rap songs
100. My favorite quote: “Fate chooses our relatives, we choose our friends” (choose wrong and you can’t blame fate!)

Return to my blog:

Dan is coming to visit!!

2006-01-25T16:17:00.000+01:00

Yay!! I received good news today - my friend Dan from Chicago is coming to visit!! (Hi Dan!!)

Dan was my first visitor to come see me when I lived in Dublin! He was there during September 11th back in 2001.

The funny part of his coming to visit is that I really did not know Dan! I knew his family, but had only met him once yet when I offered my hospitality if he wanted to come to Dublin, I was shocked when he accepted! When he arrived I had made plans to meet him in the airport. As I had only met him once, and late at night when I was locked out of my apartment to boot, I could not remember what he looked like....I must have passed him 5 or 6 times in the airport before we finally realized who the other person was! LOL

Since that great visit, we have stayed friends and kept in touch, including when I lived back in Chicago only a few miles apart!

I was amazed to find an e-mail from Dan asking if May was good to visit....of course I said yes, and so the plans are in the works for him to jet on over for a week....yippee!!

Can not wait to see you in Brussels Dan! Oh the fun we will have!

I work with some characters!

2006-01-24T15:06:00.000+01:00

One reason that I've loved working in Europe is my colleagues here. They are awesome in their own ways! I have the English colleagues with their British humor (which I find highly amusing). There are the Germans and Austrians with their oh so strict and polite manners.....except when you (or someone else) do something wrong and then you are 'Stoopid, Stoopid, StOOOOOpid!' There are the Italians with their 'But we are Eeeeytaly. Wes do nots do it likka dat here in Eeeeytaly' The Spainish with their 'We will get back to you right away' which basically means never. Everyone is so different, but all for the most part are wonderful people!

Today giggle came one of my British colleagues. I was asking him for a file that he had prepared via our internal messaging system (similar to MSN, AIM or Yahoo but only for my company)

Kimberly Hello there! When you get a chance can you run and send over the new customer data for xxxxxxx? Please?
Ian already sent it to Mme Smith
Kimberly Any chance you could be super wonderful and forward it on to me?
Ian no probs
Kimberly Merci beaucoup!!
Ian murcky buttercups to you aussi

'Murcky buttercups' LOL

Tis a boring life....

2006-01-23T16:30:00.000+01:00

Yes folks, its a boring life that I lead. I am sure that you are all saying 'No way! You live in Europe! How cool is that?' But let me tell you, at the end of the day it is still a boring life! Or at least the day to day living is! Sure, I get the fun of being able to travel around Europe and see different places...but everyone back in the US has that same opportunity to travel around the US (which I might say is bigger than Europe) and see just as many places and things! Is it not funny how little travelling most people do in their own country / area?

Anyways, back to the boringness of my life. On my way back from Zurich a week ago, I sat next to and talked with a guy from Luxembourg who was living in Brussels for several years now. We talked about why we were both in Brussels, where we worked. Then he started in on the what did I like to do in Brussels...and that folks is when I realized that I have a boring life. Perhaps we all do, mine just struck home with a vengance when I realized that I did very little here outside of work and sleep!

Yes, until recently I had Zori here to go out to dinner with, and go out for drinks and dancing on the weekends. But you take Zori out of the equation, and life is very dull. I work, go home, surf the internet, do some reading or crocheting and thats about it. I don't go watch movies. I rarely turn on my television (it was out of order for 2+ months before I got around to getting the cable fixed). I don't go to museums and plays or the opera. I will occasionally meet up with some friends or colleagues for dinner or drinks after work and on the weekends. I do a little bit of shopping on the weekends on Saturdays.

There is no drama or fast living in my life. No excitement. No flare. Its boring.

My mission for the next 1.5 months until my vacation to Florida is to try to spice up my life a little bit. I am not exactly sure how I am going to do this....there has to be a way!

Computers and HR

2006-01-19T17:26:00.000+01:00

I really dislike computers somedays!! I spent the past 30 minutes writing out my quarterly update e-mail to all of my family and friends. I was literally adding in the addresses when bam! My work e-mail program crashes and I lose the whole entire e-mail. *sigh*

So if you are on my e-mail list, it will be coming, just not today! Although, if you read my blogs, you probably already know everything that I am going to write!

HR called me into their office today to inform me that my work contract expired back in March! Ummm...did they not know that when I asked them for the papers to re-register, which they gave to me? Sheesh! Loved the conversation!

HR:'So, how long will you be staying?'
Kimberly: 'I don't really know'
HR: 'You don't know? Can you guess?'
Kimberly: 'No, depends on the project and when I decide its time to go back'
HR: 'Hmmmm...well, how long will that be? 10 years? 20?'

Huh? Why on earth would I want to stay here for 20 years? What kind of a question is that one? I wonder what he would have done if I had said for the rest of my life? I like Belgium, but not for the long term! Way to transient with people constantly coming and going!

Final decision is that they would put down 2 years in my new contract, although I of course have the option to leave whenever I want the same as they have the option to terminate employment when they want!

Happy New year 2006!!

2006-01-09T16:06:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year to all of my friends and family! It was wonderful spending some time with some of you over the holidays back in Muskegon - I only wish that I could have spent more time with more people, especially the gang back in Chicago-land! I never did make it to that side of the lake!

I am off to Zurich on Friday for a meeting on the status of my project that I am working on. Who knows, by Monday I could have some more news on how long I am going to be over here for! I also have my year-end review coming up which should also give me some sort of time-line. After the meeting I am going to stay in Zurich and help my friend Kim apartment hunt over the weekend! It should be fun and interesting to see what apartments there look like...who knows, maybe I'll end up in Zurich for a little bit! *grin*

My mailbox was a bursting with postcards when I came back to Brussels. I had postcrossing cards from Finland, Germany, Switzerland and Texas back in the US! Many thanks to all for the wonderful postcards! I am moving offices this month, but once I am settled into the new office, I will take a picture of my wall of postcards to show all of the great cards that I have been receiving the past months!

Have a great day - its back to work I go!

Postcrossing updates

2005-12-14T22:56:00.000+01:00

It has been a busy few days here in my mailbox! I've been recieving postcards from all around the globe!

The most recent cards have come from Finland, Taiwan, China, Australia, Illinois and Texas! They have all been recorded and posted up on my wall of postcards at work - my office is becoming very colorful!

Just to show the recent activity, here are two maps from postcrossing that show my sent and received postcards on November 21st and again on December 14th!

Sent cards are in red and received cards are in blue! To date I have sent 34 cards out and received 32 cards back!

Many thanks to all who have sent me a card - I really enjoy finding them in my mailbox!

Sunday updates

2005-12-11T11:56:00.000+01:00

Ahhh, its Sunday...my last one to be spent here in Belgium in 2005.....sad, a little bit, happy of course! Happy because I will be seeing my family in just over 5 days, plus a few hours! Yippee!!!

I received another postcrossing card - this one from Taiwan. Also one from Australia came a few days back. One of the really cool aspects of Postcrossing.com is the ability to write a note to the person that you received the postcard from when you register that you have received the card! Today I received notice that a card I sent to the US had been received.....the recipient (name withheld for privacy) informed me that 6 more inches of snow had fallen in Chicago-land....hmmm - that means more snow in Michigan as well! Woohoo!! Let it SNOW, Let it SNOW, Let it SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am excited as a kid in the candy store about seeing all of that white cold stuff! I am slightly relived to be flying in and out of Atlanta and not Chicago....one less midwestern airport to not get delayed at this holiday season.....granted, that does mean that I need to be able to get in and out of Grand Rapids, but hey! What are the odds of my being snowed out / in again? *grin* (hopefully I just cursed myself and will be unable to fly out on the 4th...oh darn, must extend my holiday by a few days!)

Suzy and Zori are coming over this afternoon to bake cookies - it should be a fun time! I invited Kim as well but the poor thing is suffering major jet lag! Here is her schedule over the past 3 weeks: Brussels - Cork Ireland - Boston - Shannon Ireland - Chicago - Brussels and she leaves tomorrow for Munich for 2 days, then back to the US (I think I am missing a city or two in there!) How she does it I do not know!

Okay, I must go get my kitchen and dining room whipped into shape and all ready for some serious cookie making excitement! Have a great day!

17 days.......26 days......

2005-11-30T10:59:00.000+01:00

The count down has begun! In 17 days I will be back in the US for almost 3 weeks and then in 26 days I will be celebrating Christmas and eating, eating, eating.....I do beileve that I will be saying hello once again to the 10 lbs that I thought were history! *sigh* Its a never ending battle of the bulge!

Postcrossing - received a postcard yesterday from Charlotte from Hong Kongè Also received two cards last friday from Finland and Germany! I currently have 4 cards travelling to the US and one to India.....I hope that they arrive soon!

Life in Belgium continues to do good. No recent late night bar fights keeping my awake which is a good thing! The bar clientel have been rather quiet lately.....I guess that will end with the upcoming days - its holiday party time!

Spent 15 hours on trains this past weekend! Went over to London to visit with Russ and then we went to Manchester then Liverpool, watched the Everton vs Newcastle United game where my team (Newcastle) lost.....its all because I had to root for Everton.....I was sitting in their section, so rooting for Newcastle would have been a VERY bad idea! The win made Russ happy so that is all that matters! Will probably see him again in January or so. I'll need something to do on my lonely weekends here without Zori! I am going to be lost with Zori going back to Argentina and Kim getting moved to Zurich!

Thats all for now folks! Enjoy the rest of the week!

Tis the season......

2005-11-24T17:16:00.000+01:00

To be jolly....just keep thinking that and all will be A-Okay!

Whoooooooooosh! That was the past year flying by at lightning speed. Can you believe that Thanksgiving has all but passed and we are on the count down to Christmas?

I am slowly getting some present completed. Next comes the shopping which I will tackle in the week before Christmas once I am back in the good ole US of A. That should be a hectic week. I have appointments set up for my hair chopping off, teeth drilling, kindergarten viewing (my nephew told me I had to come see his class) and of course the normal assorted odds and ends with some shopping thrown in for good measure!

I learned some news today! My friend Paul has gotten married! You probably could have knocked me off my chair with a feather when he told me that one! Congratulations to him and his new wife Jody!!!!!

Postcrossing continues to fill my mail box! I have received post cards from Florida, Netherlands and Finland recently - yay! I know, I've been slacking on the pictures - one of these days I'll get them up and on here!

Well, I am off to go to dinner with my fellow Americans here in Brussels....heading to the Irish pub by my house for some eats and of course some drinks!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Its November already???

2005-11-02T11:52:00.000+01:00

What? Back up! November?? Already!!

Where has the year gone? Next thing it will be thanksgiving and then Christmas and before you know it 2007 will be here! Eeekkk!! I can still remember singing the song 1999 and thinking how looooooong it was until then, and that is now long past! What a crazy pace my life is setting these days!

Still don't know when I will be moving back to the US...one of these days hopefully! I am committed to stay until the financial reporting is set up for the project that I am working on...if my computer was working I would be able to get cracking on that, but since it is suffering from a little nasty corruption of its main processing file, I am unable to do so! Hopefully it will be back and working again by tomorow so I can get back to work!

Postcrossing continutes to be great! I have received several additional cards lately - Portugal, Germany and Finland! I've sent cards to Germany, Portugal and the US recently! What great fun this is!

Have a wonderful day!

Comment.....

2005-10-25T14:33:00.000+02:00

I have been slightly upset about a comment, and perhaps it was not meant to upset me, but it kinda has. I received an anonymous comment on my Freddies post....here it is:

You've had your hello to your Freddies Family up for how long now? 3 or 4 months? still on one replies back. must be a bunch of backward hicks. Probably have never seen or heard of a computer OR insufferable snobs who think they are too good for you kiddo and reality is, its you who should give them the old Freddies who??

Since you choose to remain anonymous, I can only reply back to your comment via a post......

Considering I hear from many of them via e-mail on a regular basis, I am not that upset about a lack of commentation to my hello post. Since I do hear from them, they obviously have a computer so they are not "backward hicks". Nor are they insufferable snobs since, once again, they often send e-mails and ask when I am moving back.

Time and Distance can often dim a friendship, but that does not make that friendship worth anything less. A friend is to be cherished, and not given the old heave ho when life makes that friendship difficult.

I will keep my Freddies friends, and keep them in my thoughts. I am not a fair weather friend who forgets her past friends when she moves on in life to new places, locations, experiences and friends.

Tee hee hee

2005-10-25T11:42:00.000+02:00

Take the quiz: "Which Random Irish Gaelic Phrase Are You? "

Pog mo thoin
Pog mo thoin - 'Kiss my ass.'You're one tough bastard, and if anyone doesn't like it, they can kiss your ass. You enjoy fighting and causing grievous bodily harm. Hey! What are you lookin' at, punk?

This was the first Irish phrase I learned, and about the only one that I really remember from my year of living there!

Neglect.....

2005-10-24T13:05:00.000+02:00

I freely admit it...I've been neglecting this blog a little bit lately! I hate to double post to both of my blogs because there are a few who read the two - why should they have to read everything twice??

To re-cap recent events! I spent a week in Lessines Belgium doing a condensed training course on several Cognos applications, including Upfront, Transformer and Power Point. Rather informative and very useful to learn about.

My friend Russ came to visit from London this past weekend. We had a great time catching up and exploring a little bit around Belgium and Cologne Germany! I was once again disappointed with my rental car and the speed cap of 180 kilometers per hour.....I was hoping to hit 200 this trip.....the cars passing me like I was driving slow sure were!

I believe that is all for now....will try to post a little bit more often. I've received several new postcards from PostCrossing which I need to show off!

Visitors from America!

2005-09-27T14:50:00.000+02:00

It has been great fun having my parents here! I have shown them some around Brussels and then around Paris. We leave tomorrow morning for Rome....should be a good time! I can not wait to see everything that we can see! Rome has been on my list of places for 5 years now!! It was one the places that I wanted to go see while I lived in Ireland but never got the chance....I do now!

I am once again on a mad travelling schedule - it was to Paris on Sunday, now to Rome tomorrow (Wed) until Sat night. I am in Brussels for a few days and then it is off to Castlebar Ireland with Zori next Thursday until the Monday morning! We are renting a car which should be interesting! A stick shifter on the wrong side of the road..Ahhhh the memories! Hopefully my abilities of manual driving have improved over the past 5 years and there will not be any repeats of getting stuck on a hill in the middle of some little tiny town in the countryside of Ireland! Vroom vroom here I come! :)

Have a great week!

I Wish......

2005-09-15T23:52:00.000+02:00

Ever hear a song and think "Thats my life exactly" or feel that a song fits a certain time in your life? I have been listening to country music via Radio Free Virgin's on-line radio. I recently heard a song by Jo Dee Messina that I had not heard in a long time and realized that I could have used this song at a point in my distant past....

Here are the Lyrics to "I Wish" by Jo Dee Messina:

It's not easy saying this to you
It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do
But boy before you go
I want you to know

Chorus:
I wish you strength
When times are hard
Oh I wish with all my heart you find just what
You're looking for
I wish you joy
I wish you peace
And that every star you see's within your reach
And I wish you still loved me

I wish things were different you know that
But I'm still happy for the times we had
You mean the world to me
Oh Baby please believe

Repeat Chorus

Losing you is tearing me apart
But a part of me will be with you
No matter where you are

Repeat Chorus

Time changes, people come and go in your life. Someone who once meant the world to you is now a distant memory. Someone who once meant nothing is now your everything. Is it not funny how life throws you curve balls and what you once assumed would happen, is now the worst thing that could happen? I once said that I had met the person that I wanted to marry....now, I could not see myself passing a conversation with that person, let alone marrying him! I've known some great people, known some really horrible people. I think that everyone who has come into my life has changed it in some way, big or small!

My thanks to everyone for being in my life! I love y'all!

Hello to my Freddies Family!

2005-09-15T10:47:00.000+02:00

*waving hello* from across the sea to my friends and family back there at Famous Freddies in Mt. Prospect! Hi guys! I really miss you all!

waiting in my in-box this morning was a link from the wonderful and lovely Jan to this blogger site: http://bears1.blogspot.com/ which shows the fun that they are having without me back in Illinois. I can not believe that I am missing another football season....my third one! To think that I was really worried about being away from home for a year, and it ends up being 3!!!!

I really hope to be back for next years season.....not really sure what would tempt me to stay here though....perhaps a promotion to manager, the nice raise that goes along with it, and of course the BMW that I would get to drive...yeah, that might make me stick around here for a little bit longer....did I also mention that said BMW comes with a gasoline card? Translate that into, not having to pay the 6 bucks a gallon for gas - that's the price here - to think you are complaining in the US about 3....wimps!

Talk to you all soon! Miss you tons!

Postcrossing Photos v2

2005-09-15T09:03:00.000+02:00

More postcards have arrived this week from Postcrossing! Including one from my friend Swapna in India...rather ironic that out of all of the members of postcrossing 3,500+ she would get my name! The odds against that happening have to be fairly high I would say!

The first is from Swapna in India, and the second is from Linca in Norway with a picture of Trollveggen! Many thanks to both of you for the wonderful postcards....this is such great fun!

Postcrossing Photos

2005-08-30T23:04:00.000+02:00

Here is a snap of the cards I have received from Postcrossing Members

Today I received a postcard from Genek in Copenhagen of Amalienborg Castle - Frederik's Church:

Yesterday I received a postcard from Annie in the south west of Great Britain in Weston-Super-Mare:

I have also received photos from Brazil and the Netherlands:

Thanks everyone for the great postcards!!

Postcards and more

2005-08-30T15:46:00.000+02:00

Well, life has been unexpectedly chaotic here in Belgium. One nice upside is the great postcards I've been getting from folks via PostCrossing! Its such a great feeling to look in your mail box and have a card waiting in there! You jump up and down and go "woo hoo - I got real mail!!"

Was supposedto go to Zurich on Thursday, but its been postponed now for a few weeks thankfully! It gives me more time to prepare and check all of my reports and data. I really dislike being the only finance type person on the team and the only person who knows how to do data extractions from the systems! I will be happy to be done with this current role! I like the cnocept of the position, but the reality stinks and the expectations are set too high even for me! And thats saying something!

I will be searching for a new job the next few months and will wait and see what comes up!

Okay, its time for me to get some things done and then get my bootie out the door for home at a decent time for the first day in weeks!

Ciao!

Latino Festival

2005-08-21T14:26:00.000+02:00

The sound of bongo drums and bells going off...all day long...what could it be??? Why simply a Latino Festival taking place right outside my window! They do seem to be a bit enamored of Gwen Stefani's Hollerback Girl as that has played about 15 times yesterday and today!

We went to the festival yesterday - we being Margaret, Zori, Elena, Oscar and myself! It was raining so the decision was made to go eat dinner at an actual restaurant so Oscar, Margaret and I went to Lucas - an italian restaurant on Avenue Lousie. Had a great time talking and eating - I once again was unable to finish my meal....not sure what is going on lately but its impossible for me to ever clean my plate! We went back to the festival and listened to the music, ate some empanadas, talked with other friends we saw there - Laura and Gil and then made it home about 1 this morning....it was nice to only have to walk one block for a change to get home! I had an interesting evening for text messages - not sure what is going through the minds of some of my friends....although the likelihood was that they were all drunk texting me which would explain some of the comments!

Funny thing happened just now! Normally when my friend Zori calls me her phone number comes up as "Private Caller" hers is about the only phone that does! So normally when she calls I answer the phone in my little bit of Spanish - "Hola! Que tal?" So I was sitting on my bed typing out this post when my cell phone rings. I look, it say private caller so I grab the phone, and say "Hola! Que tal?" only to here dead silence and then a guy going "Umm....hello?" It was a friend of mine, Ben from Croatia that I had not talked to in months! He was very confused and of course I could not help laughing as I tried to explain that I thought that he was Zori calling (he knows Zori - I met Ben last year about this time while out with Zori - we spent the night dancing with him and his friend Brian). I thought that it was amusing - just goes to show that caller id is not always fool-proof and that its a great idea to know who is calling before you start into a conversation on the phone!

Back from the Land of the Little People!

2005-08-17T20:26:00.000+02:00

Well, I am back to work from my long weekend away! Both myself and Zori had an awesome time in Ireland. We always seem to get into too much trouble while we are away together! I am not sure even where to being on describing our trip!

We arrived on Saturday and checked into out hotel, which had only been open for 2 days!! We were the first to stay in the room we were assigned! So I took Zori to the Italian restaurant that me and Richie always ate at (for those who are new in my life, Richie is the guy I dated while in Dublin) and while it was still good, it does not compare in the least to my favorite Italian place in Brussels - La Piccola Mammas! I then took Zori to the one bar in Temple Bar that I like - The Quays Bar. We bumped into a group of Spanish and Italian guys who were over studying English. My friend Elena showed up an we decided to go to the club where her friends were at, so off we went along with the guys following behind us!

We danced the night away at the club and at closing time realized that the queue for the taxi was insane! One of the guys (Bruno from Italy - nice guy but too old for me,as was pointed out to me by another guy I met that night!) suggested waiting for a cab and waiting in his hotel lobby since my sweater had been stolen at the club. While in the lobby I talked a bit with the guy working in the lobby - Andrew. Very nice guy with a nice smile...hmmm.... Finally the cab showed up and away we went...With Zori getting the number for Oscar...the Spanish guy she was talking to!

Sunday involved a trip to the center for lunch at O'Neills carvery and then a stop for live music at the International. Zori asked Oscar to join us, which he did. While talking, an Irishman joined us and started talking to us. Turns out he spoke Spanish so away he went talking to Zori and Oscar. Not a problem....I understand only a little Spanish and I was busy texting away to my friend Russ in London. So, the guy, Liam insists on talking to me in Spanish.....lets think for a minute here! Its been said that I did not speak Spanish. I constantly repeated that I did not understand him. You think he would have stopped it and talked to me in English...but noooooo! He invited us to join him for dinner at a Spanish restaurant which was so-so food. On the way to the taxi rank, I stopped in to the hotel again and said hello to Andrew. He let me know that he was working again the next night after 11 and to stop by again to chat.

Next day - switched hotels to be closer to my work for Tuesday, and proceeded to do some major damage to the credit card that I just paid the balance off on! Both myself and Zori went a bit...ummm...wild with the shopping - oops! We then continued into the center where we met up with Oscar and one his class mates at the Brazen Head Pub. Had a gorgeous plate of Beef and Guinness Stew. I left Zo and Oscar at the pub and went back to the hotel (I felt like a stalker at this point - three visits in that many days, but since I was leaving the next day, it had to be done!!) Had a nice visit, Zori picked me up, back to the hotel we went. And Zori flew out that morning and I flew out after a day in the office. I was wrecked! I got home, changed and stumbled into bed at 9:45 until just after 9 - a weekend of sleep deprivation is not good! But I had such a great weekend with Zori and we both met some really great people so it was well worth it!

A few pics coming up...first from the plane, second the hotel on the last night - the SAS Radisson St. Helens and third me and Zori on the Liffey with the Ha'penny Bridge behind us:

To the land of the little people!

2005-08-13T09:03:00.000+02:00

Well, here I go again! Another airport, and plane and yet its back to a place I know too well! I am leaving folks to go to Dublin! Okay, its not one of the unvisited cities from my places to go list but it is a place that means so much to me!

For years while growing up I wanted to visit Ireland and even had a dream about going to study there in University. That did not work out for me, so I graduated college and took a job thinking that perhaps I would be able at some point in time to go to Ireland for vacation. Well, a year after starting work, I was on a plane to live in Ireland for 10 months for work!!!

I had an amazing experience in Ireland that I do not regret in the least! I was able to meet my pen-pal from high school Adele up in Northern Ireland and all of her friends and family. I learned to love to drink Guinness! Yummmm! I made numerous friends. I had some great people come visit and tour around Ireland with me....I have kissed the Blarney Stone three times now! LOL I dated a really great guy while I was there - things did not work out between us after I moved back to America, but he is a great guy and some gal will be really lucky one day and find him!

So this weekend I am taking what seems to be my last trip back to Ireland before I move to back to America at the end of the year! I am going with my partner in crime, Zori, and it should be a ton of fun! 3 days of shopping, drinking, laughing, exploring...who knows maybe even some tears!

See you when I get back!!

Pictures from home....

2005-07-23T20:21:00.000+02:00

Well, its that time of year when I start to get homesick and miss my family. In the past 14 years, I have spent exactly 4 of my birthdays with my family. The misses includes all of my birthdays in high school including my sweet sixteenth. The three that I spent were during my college years, and I vaguely remember them as being filled with long hours working. My 23rd was celebrated in Ireland, my 25th in Brussels. Due to my sisters wedding, I celebrated last years birthday surrounded by 100+ members of my family at a family reunion on the day (talk about family overkill!). So here we are at number 27, and I am still away from home, family and friends. Being the long weekend, the town is empty - all of my Brussels friends are out and about - Gil and Laura are in Austria, Zori and Vanessa are at the coast in France, Suzy and Vic are down in Alsace-Lorraine, and Tommy has gone MIA - perhaps hes already shipped back to the US...not really sure since he never called to say what was up. Bummer of a weekend! No going out to celebrate my last nights as a young Miss of Twenty Six! I will go to dinner on the day (Monday) with Zori, and probably out for drinks afterwards...I hope that they do not expect me to be in bright and early on Tuesday!!

Okay, in an effort to cheer myself, here are some pics from when I was home:

Miss Megan playing with some abandoned yarn...is my addiction catching?? & Teaching Miss Bekky to knit as she 'helps' me with the scarf I was making for her!

Me & my parents - love the farmers tan on my arm!!

First a picture of Master Andrew and his "haul" from Burger King....what kid really needs the whole collection of Star War toys?? Second - grab a straw and join the fun of drinking Coke...the more the merrier!

Heres a picture of a truely special lady - my wonderful Grandmother!

I'm american....really....I am!!

2005-07-14T11:05:00.000+02:00

Not that you could really tell by this quiz...it was a set-up I tell ya! I guarantee its all because I take public transportation!! Well that and the dark beer...brie cheese....

You Are 53% American

Most times you are proud to be an American.
Though sometimes the good ole US of A makes you cringe
Still, you know there's no place better suited to be your home.
You love your freedom and no one's going to take it away from you!

How American Are You?

The mini update

2005-07-12T11:42:00.000+02:00

Oh my goodness! I am getting as bad at keeping this blog up to date as I am at sending e-mails.....I promise to try to update this more than my once a quarter mass e-mail out to everyone!

I had an awesome time back in the US. My trip there went very well. It involved everything from multiple drives to and from Chicago, camping in my sisters backyard with my nephew - as he said "Aunt Kim...we can sleep in the tent, and watch movies, and Mom will bring us popcorn...." My kind of camping....blow up air mattress, electricity pulled in from the house to run a DVD player, room service...only downside was the 6 am wakeup call from a little rug rat...whom I absolutely adore! I went camping and canoeing with my cousins and their friends on the Pere Marquette River - had a wonderful time, and managed not to get lost while driving there from Chicago - woo hoo! My Dads face was a site to behold when he saw me come walking back into the house....he believed that I was already back in Belgium...I am a sneaky daughter no?

Plans for Turkey fell through - we reserved our spots and then the agency comes back and tells us that the price had doubled!! Not a chance in you know what freezing over were we going to pay double for the trip...so we passed and will look into going to Madrid in August to visit friends.

My bedroom ceiling is leaking....not a lot of fun! I've been sleeping with a bucket on my bed everytime that it rains! Not the most exciting of bed partners! Too bad its not someone tall and handsome instead of something short, squatty and blue!

I think that about covers the most pressing items. I am cat sitting for two weeks - Mils will be coming to my place this time around! I am excited to have some company at my place - I miss having Paisley Cat around...wonder how shes doing! Rob - you had best be a good Daddy to Paisley....or else I will cat-nap her once I move back to the States! :-)

Ta-ta for now my friends!

Another Day......Another Plane

2005-06-07T22:57:00.000+02:00

Today was a long day - I found out yesterday afternoon that I had to fly to the UK today for a meeting....okay, not a problem except that I had to be up at 5 to get the taxi at 5:40 for my 7:20 flight. Waited in the airport for my co-worker to arrive. Amelia arrives, driver is stuck in traffic due to an accident on the M4, wait for backup driver. Drive an hour fifteen to Compton (very pretty area of the world) and have meetings all day, at four drove back to Heathrow, catch 6:40 plane back to Brussels and arrive home at 9:40! A fairly long day - result was three more stamps in my passport, leaving only 14 open spots....seems like a lot, but consider that in the past week my tally is 6! I am assured 3 more on my trip back to the US, plus 3 more for my trip to Turkey.....yup, going to Istanbul in July with my wonderful friend Zori...crap gotta go get a visa!

Just back from another trip away!

2005-06-05T22:43:00.000+02:00

I just got home from yet another trip off into the sunset. This time it was a flight to Dublin, a wee bit of shopping and visiting old haunts, then a very familiar train ride to the north where I spent the weekend visiting with my pen pal Adele! As some know, I received Adele's name during my first year of french class in high school, and have continued to write to her for many years now. The old Air Mail letters have gone by the wayside (it was always so much fun to see one in the mail!) and has been replaced by e-mails and the like.

We had a great time together catching up once again, and I even was able to cross another city off my list of cities to see since we went up to Belfast to do some shopping, dinner and drinking on Saturday. Came back via Dublin and arrived all in one peice although I did have a huge worry over not having my Residence Card with me (it was in my suitcase) but the immigration guy let me through without a question - yay!

I am still remembered in my local bar in Dublin! I realize that its almost exactly one year since I was last there, but the barman John still remembers me and unfortnately some of the events that occured while I was a regular Sunday patron.....long story which involves a steady session of Guinness and a not so brillant idea to exchange tops with the lads (it was a group of about 10 of us)....how he remembers that day I do not know since it took place almost 4 years ago! My lord - it is almost exactly 4 years since I boarded the plane in Chicago and set off to live in Ireland for 10 months.....never thought that I would be living in Belgium four years later!

I'm a legal alien!!

2005-05-27T00:37:00.000+02:00

So if you read both of my blogs, apologies for a double posting....smightly different since I am too lazy to copy and paste from the other blog....ummm, okay.

I realized this week that I had not renewed my residency card which allows me to live in brussels (no work visa - we are in the process of working on it since a law changed which now requires me to have one). I went to the commune this morning full of dread and fear of what was going to happen...would they update it, yell at me, make me go sit in the city center commune in 3 hour + lines or even...gasp....deport me????? The thoughts that went through my head on the way there were not very pretty happy thoughts! Thats what happens though when I wake up before 8 am!! Make a long story short, I went, wrong line, changed lines, waited in line, guy called 3 other people over to stare at his computer and my residence card & file, guy called his whole office to the window to see me when I complaigned that he was speaking english and not french to me (they thought that I was an oddity since no other American in Blegium has ever said that one!!) finally got the stamp; paid my money and said au revoir! In a nut shell, under 200 words! :-)

Ian's last day is tomorrow....very sad!! I think that I shall cry....no one to call me anymore and say "hey babe - hows it going" *sniff sniff* I'll try my best not to break down tomorrow in my meeting the the VP of Supply Chain, head of the Nike project; ny Nike supervisor and whoever else is there....probably would not be a good thing!!

Time to go to bed - going to Germany sat rather early in the morning so I need to get all of my beauty sleep tonight - the girls are coming over tomorrow night for mexican and drinks!

Never again on a Wednesday

2005-05-12T17:38:00.000+02:00

I mean it this time! I will never ever ever drink again on a wednesday! I swear it! Today has been utterly brutal beyond belief! Last night was Ian's (my now former Boss) leaving party. We went out to a really nice french restaurant here in Brussels, where we had a great meal, great food and great company!

It will be really sad without Ian around - he has become a great part of the office social group, and will be sorely missed when he is no longer coming over from the UK! I will miss the weekly questions on Monday from my office mates "Is Ian coming here this week" and then seeing Ian walking down the hall, dumping his bag in my office and saying "Right. Lets go Eat" His humor and tap dancing will be missed, his British sense of sarcasm, his overall "joie de vivre" and his ability to put up with my moodiness and sheer grumpiness that I have been going through the past 6 months here!

So, back to the dinner - we figured it out this morning that we all had a champagne apertif to start, then a bottle of wine (white for me this time) each! Then we got the great idea at 12:30 to go down to the center, where we had champagne at Mappa Mundos, a Guiness at Nua's and then I had several Amaretto and Cokes while dancing at Celtica!! Finally stumbled out the door at a little past 4 this morning! Not a good thing for those of us whe had to work, but it was such a smashing good time that I can not really complaign aside from the moaning about the lack of sleep and my inability to concentrate at work today!

To summarize, even though it was for a great cause, I swear that I will never again go out on a session on a Wednesday! Unless of course its for another leaving do....special event....work social occasion.....team tipple...... LOL

Work overload, amazon books and general bs

2005-05-11T14:55:00.001+02:00

Kay all, its been a while, but such is the norm when you are working two full time jobs simultaneously plus trying to find time for everything else in ones life! My laundry has piled up since I've only found time to do the bare necessities (for one load to wash and dry it takes a minimum of 2.5 hours per load - who has that kind of time to donate to sitting by a lundry machine in a basement because you have psychotic neighbors who steal your mail and laundry??? Not me!

Ahh, the mail - my second shipment of Amazon books finally appeared.....back at Amazon! seems like someone in the building was there when the postman was delivering packages and said that I did not live there and to send the books back - nice neighbors I have eh? Please discount the fact that my name is on the door buzzer AND on my mail box (which is big enough to hold the book box since my other shipment fit in there nicely). Must be the same neighbors that find it hilarious to keep their finger on the door buzzer for 10 minutes while people are trying to sleep.....their buzzer is on the wall of their kitchen which is the opposite side of my bedroom wall - rather loud and annoying!! I went off on the voice box, I first told them nicely to stop becuase it was waking me up, second time when they continued to press the buzzer I had a nasty tone in my voice (yes, sweet little ole me can get a nasty tone) and when they refused to stop, I told whoever it was off in the nicest sugary tones using words that only a sailor (or prison inmate) should know! I am sure some of what I suggested that they could do with their finger and the door buzzer is anatomically impossible, but its still felt nice to say! Aren't I priceless??

I am going to Valencia Spain next week! What a hard life I lead eh? I've also figured out that even taking a week to go skiing in January and two weeks to go to Florida in March that I still have 28 1/2 days of vacation left for 2005...I love my life here somedays! Okay, some of it is set - 5 days are christmas holidays, and 6 days are other public holidays, but still!!! I am going to have to find somewhere great to go for another long holiday....Australia perhaps??

Weekend ramblings

2005-05-01T13:27:00.000+02:00

Today starts my first day of Cat sitting for my co-workers cat while she and her husband are back in the US. It will be nice to spend some time with an animal again - it does get lonely here without anyone to talk to! I'll probably spend most of the next week over at their house for kitty-time! Mils is a great cat - very friendly!

Hmm...did not do much this weekend - spent some time fooing around the internet as always! I am helping a lady with her web blog on getting a better format than the pink crap :-) I frankly don't care for myself - it does the job, so why spend a lot of time on presentation when it is content that counts? If you read the blog, you are doing it becaue you want to know whats going on in my life, not from some deep-seeded need to visit a cool layout! I might decide to combine my blogs and websites into one format, but until then, WYSIWYG! :-)

Yesterday consisted of shopping and then an early night! Went to the hardware store where I tried to ask where the twine was so i could tie up my plants - I think that my french was way off since he had no clue what I was saying! LOL Managed to find it though, along with a hammer (you never know when you might need one) and some storage tubs! also stopped at the pottery store down the street that is going out of business and managed to pick up some good deals ! Waited a bit too long to go though as the selection was a little bit picked over, but managed to find some that I could use and like! Will see about getting some pics up!

Thats it for now folks - TTYL

My Inner European Is.....

2005-04-23T00:25:00.000+02:00

Hey! Its been a good week....not! Very busy at work - still getting stuck with the old job and then trying to do the new job on top - its like juggling with 27 different balls knowing that I am going to drop several of them....lets just hope the dropped ones relate to the old job - transitioning for 10 weeks is sooooo wrong I don't even know where to start complaigning about it!

Took a quiz tonight - it is so very much me that it is scary, espcially considering where in Europe I have lived besides Brussels! :-)

Your Inner European is Irish!

Sprited and boisterous!

You drink everyone under the table.

Who's Your Inner European?

Places to visit before I die…

2005-04-18T00:14:00.009+02:00

Places to visit before I die…Okay, a bit morbid to think about death, but its going to happen – it is one of the two things you can not avoid in life!) Yes, my list is a bit biased towards, europe, but since I am living here currently that is to be expected! The list will continue to be modified and adapted......

Austria
     ~~Bergenz~~ June 2008 with Mom
     Vienna
     Salzburg
Belgium
     ~~Brussels~~ – lived here April 03 - current
     ~~Bruges~~ – July 2003 & April 2005
     ~~Gent~~ – stopped for dinner April 2005
     ~~Dinant~~ – May 2005 with Zori
     ~~Antwerp~~ – stopped for dinner April 2003
     ~~Mons~~ – visited Oct 2005 with Russ
China
     ~~Beijing~~ - visited May 2007 with Zori
     ~~Shanghai~~ - visited May 2007 with Zori
     ~~Su Zhou~~ – visited May 2007 with Zori
     ~~Sanya~~ – visited May 2007 with Zori
Czech Republic - ~~Prague~~ – Dec. 3-5 2004
Germany
     Berlin
     ~~Cologne~~ - visited Oct 2005 with Russ
     ~~Munich~~ - visited Sept 2003 & Sept 2004 for Oktoberfest
     ~~Hamburg~~ – visited May 2005 with Anna from Crochetville
     ~~Fussen~~ June 2008 with Mom
France
     ~~Paris~~ - visited April 2002, May 2004 & March 2005
     Alençon France
     Normandy Region
     ~~French Alps~~ – visited Jan 2005 on a ski trip with Erin, Jessica & Adam
     ~~Nice~~ – visited March 2009
Greece
     ~~Athens~~ – May 2004 with Debbie on cruise
     ~~Islands~~ (Rhodos, Santorini, Mykonos, Crete) May 2004
Italy
     ~~Venice~~ – July 2004 for a weekend break
     ~~Milan~~ - Work Sept 2005
     Florence
~~Rome~~ - Sept 2005 with my parents
     Sicily
Ireland – lived in Dublin & toured majority of the cities in 2001-2002
Luxembourg - Luxembourg City
Monacco
     ~~Monte Carlo~~ – visited March 2009
Netherlands
     ~~Amsterdam~~ – visited August 2003 & November 2004
     The Hague
Spain
     ~~Madrid~~ – Nov. 2003 – Daniel Maidana’s wedding
     ~~Seville~~ – Feb 2004 for Sales meeting
     ~~Valencia~~ – May 2005 for Work Meeting
     ~~Barcelona~~ - Oct 2008 with work friends
     Canary Islands – Grand Canaria, Mallorca & Tenerife
Swizerland
     ~~Zurich~~ – Sept 2003 for 2 weeks with work
     Geneva
     ~~Lucern~~ June 2008 with Mom
Portugal
     ~~Lisbon~~ - Oct 2006 MD Marketing Meeting
Turkey
     Istanbul
     ~~Kusadasi~~ - May 2004 while on cruise with Debbie
United Kingdom
     ~~Belfast~~ - June 2005 while visiting my PenPal Adele
     Edinburgh
     Glasgow
     ~~London~~ – multiple visits in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 & 2005
     ~~Manchester~~ - with Russ Nov 2005
     ~~Liverpool~~ - with Russ for Everton vs Newcastle match
     ~~Stonehedge~~ - with Zori April 2006

Other Places to visit:
     Dubai
     Egypt
     Morocco ~~Marrakesh~~ With Zori Dec 2010
     Russia - Moscow & St. Petersberg
     ~~Argentina – B.A.~~ Visited Zori 12/2006, 12/2008
     Japan - Tokyo
     Canada - Montreal / ~~Toronto~~ / Quebec City /      Vancouver
     Australia – Sydeny / Perth / Melb.
     New Zealand
     Poland - Warsaw
     Hungary - Budapest
     Nordics - Capital Cities
          Denmark
          Norway
          Sweden ~~Stockholm~~ Sept 2005 with Zori
          Finland
     Kosovo
     Montenegro
     Albania
     French Polynesian Islands
     Peru
     Carribean
          ~~Jamacia~~ With Mike Feb 2011
          Bahamas
          Puerto Rico
          Cuba
          Virgin Islands
          Trinidad & Tobago
          Bermuda
          Aruba
United States (only Cities / States that I want to go to, does not include already visited cities as of the date this list was first created)
     ~~McAllen~~Visited Grandpa Dec 2008
     Dallas
     ~~Boston~~ Visted Oct 2008 to see Kim
     ~~New York City~~ Visited Dec 06 & 08 during flight layovers
     New Orleans
     Seattle
     Wyoming
     Denver
     Aspen
     Salt Lake City
     Hawaii – Maui & the Big Island
     Alaska
     Iowa (I've been told its a US Midwest Hotspot...gotta check it out!)

Here is where I have been in the US (I sure am missing a lot of states!!)

Visited 23 states (45%)

Here is where I have been in the World! (I have a lot of travelling left to do!)

Visited 26 countries (11%)

Return to my blog:

Why a Places to Visit entry

2005-04-18T00:09:00.000+02:00

Everyone knows that I like to travel (its a good thing since I am living in Europe currently) I was surfing the blogs of friends from a site that will remain unnamed since I said that I would not talk about that subject on this blog :-) So anywho, on Jinglelady's blog I noticed she had a section devoted to places to visit. I like this idea since it gives people a chance to see where I've been and where I would like to go to...hey, since I am always looking for travel partners, it just might result in someone saying "hey! I want to go there too, lets see if Kimberly wants to go with me!"

So, on my next post I will make my list, and then add a permanent link to that post on my page and update as I travel more during the future!

Blogging...A full time job

2005-04-17T00:00:00.000+02:00

Wow - I have been scrambling to find time to update both blogs, and sadly this one has been the blog to let slide....will do better in the future...promise! Life has been basically the same old routine. Did move to a new office...For a week or two and then they will move me to another office that they are in the process of constructing the walls for....don't ask!

New FDP arrived today! Being the nice person that I am (yes, I can be nice from time to time) I took her down to the grocery store, showed her the building (i.e. where the washing machine is and how to use it) and then took her to dinner at Mammas! Yussein is getting a cold :-( but he was happy to see me! :-) Look out Zori....I'm moving in for the steal of affection...well, he did ask if you were still in Argentina, so he did think of you to! He seems to think that we are joined at the hip when it comes to eating there!

The bells at the church next to me started ringing like crazy today, and I thought that perhaps we had a new Pope, not so yet.....one of these days! (p.s. see Pope post for my thoughts - I've been on a soap box once, thats enough)

Okay, time for bed! Chow, ciao, chao!

Greek God Quiz Result

2005-04-12T22:35:00.000+02:00

So its 10:30 and I am actually feeling tired for the first time in 4 weeks at an hour earlier than 2 am....must be the 2 Duvel's I had after work with Laura and Margaret! Anyways, I decided to do some blog surfing from fellow members at Crochetville.com I stumbled upon some really cool quizes - you basically answer the questions and they tell you what type of person, sheep, object, historical figure etc you are. One I found was about Greek Gods.....I took it and here is the answer...tee hee hee - watch out!

Nemesis

?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla

Saturday....

2005-04-10T04:55:00.000+02:00

Well today was eventful....nope, not at all! Day consisted of some shopping, a sub from subway and washing my curtains in the living room & dining room.....found out that they are not really gray, but a nice white color - who woulda thunk? tee hee - I realized the other day that I've lived here for over a year, and there were two people from work in there for 9 month periods before that. Considering that, I calculated that the curtains had not been washed in at least 3 years! Major ugh! I managed to pull them down using a rickety ladder I found in the basement....major safety concern using it! I still have the curtains in the bedroom to do - will see if i can get some before and after pictures!

Thoughts from today

2005-04-08T21:23:00.000+02:00

I was able to watch some of the Pope's funeral today on television. It was very moving, and sentimental - also a lot of symbolism. Saw the part where the Eastern Orthodox said their prayers over the Pope....that is one thing that I can say for Pope John Paul - he did do a lot to bring some peace between the religions. I can only hope that the next Pope, while being more liberal and able to adjust to what has changed in the world, is able to continue with the momentum that Pope John Paul 2 was able to start.

That said, I have been working some on my new blog which is set up for my newest hobby - Crocheting! Since this blog has the theme "The Land of Kimberly" I thought that my sub-blog should have more of the same, so I have named it "City of Crochet" with the thought that I could add more "Cities" as I progress and things change in my life! So follow the link on the sid ebar and check it out! This being created, aside from momentous events (i.e. finishing my first afghan) I will not discuss crochet further on this blog - I am sure that you are greatly relieved to hear that one!

Okay, I have laundry to finish, hair to wash, and dancing to do!

God Bless the Pope

2005-04-03T11:09:00.000+02:00

For my whole entire life there has been one pope. One man as the figurehead of one of the largest religions in the word. He has now passed into immortality, joining all the others who have gone before him, and all of those who will come after him. May God Bless him (I'm sure he has already been blessed, but one never knows) and grant him eternal peace.

I did the nice above - all of the right things as the devout Catholic that I am. Now for things to say as the young person that I am. The Catholic church now has the task of choosing the next Pope. I read Angels and Demons, I know the process that the Cardinals will follow. But I wonder - is it right that a group of geriatric gentleman should decide the fate of the future Catholic Church? Is it right that we grant someone the power to be the head of one of the largest religious bodies for life? J.P. was Pope for all 26 years of my life....one man, often sick and ill leading the faith of the masses. It is time in my opinion for reform in the Church. It is time that we evolve with the times, changing in order to allow us to survive.

Todays youth (myself included) are moving away faster and faster from the church. Mass attendance is going down, parishoners are being driven away at speeds faster than light by judgemental priests and rules that are not in synch with the needs of the people. The Catholic Church preaches against birth control - the pill and condoms, against per-marital relations. Could not the Church easily start helping to prevent the spread of AIDS and disease in the third world countries? Help prevent starvation and malnutrition in children by controlling their population? Lower the number of divorces and separations by allowing couples to know each other before marriage?

There is so much that I could change about the Church. In the Land of Kimberly the Catholic Church would have new policies. Condoms and the Pill are in......the Rythym method and family planning are out.....way out. Relations before marriage are no longer forbidden, but with the usage of the first (extremely essential) couples are encouraged to ensure that both parties of the couple can get along and co-habitate in the same area. Living together is not to be seen as a sin, if the end goal is to get married.

This is enough talk about the Church. Will comment again once the next Pope has been elected.

The weekend fun....

2005-04-03T00:56:00.000+02:00

Hello! I have returned from my Saturday outing. After getting home last night rather late (or should I say early this morning??) I passed out on my couch. Woke up to a text message from Zori asking me to go to Bruges with her and Adam...okay, why not? So off we went, toodling down the highway.

Of course we missed the turn off and ended up going to Zeebruges, walked around the port town a little bit, and then headed back to Bruges. Made it there, walked around, had tea and waffles (this is Belgium after all) at a café and then decided that dinner in Gent sounded like a plan! So back on the highway we go, and found a nice restaurant off the Grand Place in Gent! The up side to the travel today was that I was sitting in the back seat merrily crocheting along - finished two more wedges in my quilt - 3 more to go in total - yay!

Made plans for tomorrow to go to the forest for a picnic if the weather is nice...I should probably check it..........awwww partly cloudy with a high of 60 - not sure on the picnic idea - will wait now and see what the others think!

Wasting Time

2005-03-31T01:10:00.000+02:00

So I managed to waste my whole evening by getting sucked into surfing the web....Figures! I did come across some really cool blogs and sites though...thats an upside....right?

One neat thing that I saw was a list of states etc that I've been to - here goes my try at it:

Bold the states you've visited; underline the states you've lived in; and italicize where you are living now.

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa/ Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

And to add to the above - countries in Europe!

Andorra / Austria / Belgium / Cyprus / Czech Republic / Denmark / Finland / France / Germany / Greece / Hungary / Iceland / Ireland / Italy / Liechtenstein / Luxembourg / Malta / Monaco / Netherlands / Norway / Poland / Portugal / Romania / San Marino / Spain / Sweden / Switzerland / Turkey / United Kingdom /

So the grand total is: 21 States (incld D.C.) and 13 countries (total 15 with US & Canada)

Yet another new goal: 2010 Goal (gives me a few years): 40 States and 20 countries

So it is off to bed I go - night night!
~~Kimberly ~~

My newest hobby...

2005-03-29T03:37:00.000+02:00

You know that your life is getting dire when finding a forum dedicated to crocheting makes you happy! Yup, for those who don't know it, I've been bitten by the crochet bug! I bet you are sitting there thinking "Crochet??? Isn't that what my Grandma did?" No, I am not suffering from a mid-life crisis at 26. I basically think that it is really cool to be making those funky scarfs that are all the rage right now, and have even started my own afghan (will post a picture of it once its done)

Thats all for now....sleep is calling to me!

Living on a Ranch Goal revisited

2005-03-25T20:26:00.000+01:00

So, its Friday night and I am sitting in my apartment. No, not a normal event but one that does happen from time to time (can not go out every weekend - the bank account would not like that one too much). I've been thinking (scary concept, I know) about what I really want out of life. On one of my web sites I believe that I commented that I wanted to live on a ranch someday. Okay, nice concept Kimberly, but several things that might be against that goal.

First off - I'm an accountant - not exactly a viable job to have when you live in the middle of several thousand acres of land. Unless I do the books for the ranch, but again, not exactly a full time job there.
So, I could always help out around the ranch...ummm - what do I know about ranch life? I have absolutely no realistic idea of what it involves. Sure, I've read a lot - but what do I know about cattle and crops, horses and machinery, misc farm animals and weather reports - not a heck of a lot, thats for sure!
Ranches are an expensive venture - definitely not exactly cash rich right now.
I do not even know anyone that owns a ranch, so marrying into one probably will not work - and what honest, down to earth rancher would want to marry a globe-trotting city girl? If you know any, send him my way :-)
I've never even been to a rodeo!! That is another black mark against me - I just keep thinking of them don't I?

I could probably fill a book with all that I don't know about ranching, and have enough left over for at least one sequel! So, I've now decided that I will cross this goal off my list, and replace it with a future vacation to Montana or Wyoming on one of those working Dude Ranches (City Slickers - Women in the West episode). Good enough exchange - I'll be able to say that I lived on a ranch for a week :-) One goal eliminated, another added!

Back From Vacation

2005-03-20T18:49:00.000+01:00

Well I survived the last few work days and had an excellent time on vacation. The weather was not the best, but it was still great to have 2 weeks without thinking about work! I am definently not looking forward to going back tomorrow! Should be a lot of fun......not! Well, I know that this was short, but I must unpack, grab a quick bite to eat and then pass out from exhaustion - going on 30 hours awake with only a 30 minute cat nap on the plane!

Found out my job title

2005-02-28T23:31:00.000+01:00

I got an e-mail this morning from my new group announcing that I will be joining as "Finance Coordinator European Program Office" - pretty nifty eh? Now my main question is - How in the world am I going to fit it on a business card? Okay, its really nice to have a long, important sounding title - looks good on the CV right? But a business card is only so big! I had my last cards made up with my being in "European Finance" as a "Senior Financial Analyst" - I thought that would be generic enough to last me at least 2 years...now a year later its time to buy new cards....does my fancy new title also come with a raise in salary I ask? Probably not, but one could always hope that it did! Keep the fingers crossed - I really want to go to Egypt and a raise would finance that one nicely!

A bad omen...

2005-02-27T21:33:00.000+01:00

Do you ever get that feeling that its just not going to be your week? Here it is, Sunday night, I am surfing the net, cleaning the apartment and doing some laundry. Put in my first two loads, check. Took them out and put in the next loads, again check. Just went back downstairs to put in the two loads of my work clothes and I see flashing lights on a machine....not a good sign. Look closer, its still filled with water. Managed to take everything out, getting myself and the floor nice and wet. Load it all into the second washer. Go to grab my first load out of the dryer, and notice another flashing light - resevoir filled - okay, I take it out, empty and and while walking back to the dryer manage to slip in the puddle of water I got on the floor earlier...not exactly a bright promise for the upcoming week! I'll think positive.....Friday starts two weeks of vacation....I can make it until then......maybe

Why a blog???

2005-02-27T20:08:00.000+01:00

Well, I've been playing around in my own mind the idea of having some sort of a blog (for my parents - a blog is basically a place where I can write what it on my mind on a fairly regular basis). Being a Sunday night in rainy Brussels, sheer boredom had me surfing the web as I do so often it seems and avoiding packing for my trip to the US and finishing up laundry and cleaning. So here is goes......my first blog :-) Those of you who know me well and have received some of my famous "Kimberly Update" e-mails you know that I can ramble on and on for hours on end - yippee :-)

I am still feeling uncertain about my decision to stay in Europe - its a scary thought! Okay, so its only for 6 more months, but what if I really like the new job (which it sounds so far like I will) - will I be able to leave after 6 months?? Or will I once again fall into the routine of signing up for just another 6 months and then another and then...... Time will tell in the end I guess what will happen. Whatever it is, it should be the best for me and the best for my career. The career is important, but my family / home / social life should be just as important! Why be happy with the job but miserable outside of it?

Okay, this is all for now - I will close and post my first blog on my site....Stay tuned for more to come!

Cheers!
Kimberly