Goodbye, Margaret!

Just when you get completely settled in your house, form a great group of friends you feel completely comfortable with and start to feel at "home," the inevitable happens.... people start to leave. It's one aspect of military living I'm not ever sure I'll get used to, and though it's wonderful to have these many different experiences moving around, it's also so difficult to say good-bye to those wonderful friends you've made. 

In late June, we had a Farewell party for our dear friend, Margaret, who always brings so much life, hilarity, and a bit more volume to any gathering we have. As she is newly engaged, this party also doubled as a pseudo-bridal shower as well. She and Brandon got engaged in Spain, so it was a great excuse to use my Spanish decor, to include the Spanish colors, flamenco and bull-fighter pictures and of course, plenty of Spanish fans. As Margaret and Brandon are now in San Antonio, I know this isn't a forever good-bye, but just a "see ya later" until I visit Texas again. I can't wait 'til that day, and until then, I'll be making the most of my time left in Europe and attempting to travel to as many places as Margaret has.

A pic of Margaret and Brandon in their Carnaval Spanish-themed costumes. Carnaval won't be the same without them!

Our guest of honor, Margaret

Decor with fans and pics of bull fighters and flamenco dancers

Of this group of ladies, several of us will be leaving in the next year, moving on to our next adventure. Each assignment has proved to be a uniquely wonderful experience and I know I'll look back on this time no differently. I've met some of the most amazing people here and I will cherish these friendships and memories for a lifetime. Now, let's make this next year one of the best ever!

Cinque Terre con Amici

What better way to kick-start the summer than a weekend getaway to the Italian Riviera! The Cinque Terre is one of my favorite Italian destinations, complete with sun, sea, trails, delicious cuisine and unbeatable scenery. I've had the opportunity to visit this jewel of Italy twice previously, but really wanted Jon to experience this amazing destination. Our friends, Meghan and Dave, joined in on the adventure and we had a fantastic four days exploring the five villages known as Cinque Terre.

After arriving in the most resort-esque village of the five, Monterosso, we walked around town before watching the sunset from a beautiful lemon grove and garden on the rooftop of our hotel. In the garden, we discovered a vending machine that dispenses small bottles of local wine that were quite the hit with our group. The views above Monterosso and out to sea were absolutely breathtaking.

The following morning, we began our hike through the hillside along the sea to visit the five villages. The most difficult section, between Monterosso and Vernazza, has tons of stairs, but the views high above the sea are worth it. 

View of Monterosso from the start of the trail

Hiking the trail between Monterosso and Vernazza

Vernazza

In October 2011, the area experienced some heavy flooding and subsequent mudslides that caused mud to build up 5 feet tall in the villages. Vernazza was hit the worst and the town came together to clean it up and restore it before tourist season began in June. Although there was still lots of work being down on the buildings, it's amazing to think how much the town accomplished in the past 8 months. Looking down on Vernazza from the trail, this picture-perfect town doesn't seem real, and it's no wonder it's the jewel of the Cinque Terre.

Vernazza Harbour

From Vernazza, we were not able to continue the hiking path to the next two villages as the trail had not been restored yet from the mudslides. So, we visited Corniglia by train and enjoyed walking through this hilltop village. 

Next, we trained to Manarola where we re-connected with part of the open trail and found a great spot for deep-sea swimming. The turquoise water was so refreshing and though there are no beaches in this area, it's wonderful to be able to jump right off the rocks into clear deep water with no one else in sight.

Our swimming hole

Manarola

From the beautiful town of Manarola, we continued on the Via dell'Amore path to Riomaggiore. This path received the name, "Lover's Lane" from locals in both towns who were now able to visit more frequently, and make love connections, on the newly built path between towns. Today, the path is lined with lovers' names, and Jon and I decided to leave our mark as well.

'Jon and Cat' on the Via dell'Amore

Riomaggiore

At the Monterosso train station - our main form of transportation between the villages

From Riomaggiore, we trained back to Monterosso after a splendid day of exploring the Cinque Terre. The next day, we headed back to Vernazza for sun-bathing, swimming and boating around the coastline. 

Swimming in the Vernazza harbour

Swimming in the Vernazza Harbour

Vernazza Harbour

Boating around the Cinque Terre coastline

Our final night in Monterosso, we enjoyed a delicious dinner of Ligurian seafood before visiting our favorite pub. Although it is a small village, the amount of tourists here by day is incredible, though not too many make it out after dinner. We enjoyed meeting those that did and watching the locals. Two of the locals I met with my friend, Allison, nine years ago are still here. It seems some things really do never change. I guess that's part of the appeal of Cinque Terre, where time really does stand still.

Our last day, we walked around town to find the locals assembling a carpet of flowers for a procession taking place later that day. Unfortunately, we would miss that, but it was incredible to see the team- work talking place from the very young to the very old, all lending a hand to create this beautiful carpet that would wind through town.

Before our flight out of Pisa, we planned a little bit of time to visit Pisa's Field of Miracles, to include the Leaning Tower and Duomo. Of course, we had to take the obligatory silly photos in front of the tower. 

It was an incredible four days in one of my favorite region's of Europe and I'm so glad I was able to share it with Jon and our amici, Meghan and Dave. Grazie mille, Cinque Terre!

Memorial Day - A Weekend to Remember

Well, in classic summer fashion, I am once again behind on updating the blog with all the exciting happenings that have taken place the past couple months. But before I can delve into my trips around Europe, to the States and even Mexico, I have to begin with the end of May and our fantastic Memorial Day weekend.

The weekend began with a Fisherman's Friend Strongman Race in Belgium; Jon's second time to participate in one of these insane obstacle-laden running courses. He had a remarkable finish in the top 10 and enjoyed having a buddy there to take part in the fun. It was great for me to have a buddy as well (his wife) to run around the various spectator spots at the different obstacles.

His classic pose

Loving the obstacles

Celebrating the Finish

That Sunday, we once again visited the American Cemetery in the Netherlands for their Memorial Day Ceremony. It was an absolute gorgeous day and it was an incredibly moving event. I feel so honored to be able to attend these ceremonies where Memorial Day holds so much true meaning as we remember all those who sacrificed their lives for our country.

The Jons looking quite dapper

On Memorial Day Monday, Jon and I had a small Memorial Ceremony of our own remembering an American serviceman, Captain Donald Emerson, whose plane crashed down on December 25, 1944 on the outskirts of Sittard. We run by his memorial marker on one of our favorite running routes, now named "the Captain." We salute his picture every time we run past this spot, as an act of remembrance for his sacrifice and life that was ended so far away from his home.

Placing flowers and a small flag at Captain Emerson's memorial marker

Captain Emerson's memorial marker

Later that afternoon, we had a patriotic BBQ at the house, in lieu of the July 4th party we normally have. I was able to bust out my many patriotic decorations one last time as we enjoyed the company of all our wonderful friends and gorgeous weather. Like previous years, the festivities included a small speech by Jon, a kids pinata, and some games for the adults. We will miss hosting these patriotic fests that mean so much living abroad, but are so thankful we've had such wonderful friends and such a party-worthy house to continue this tradition for three years. 

The grill master at work

The festive inside - everyone contributed with such delicious food!

Jon's Memorial Day speech

The lovely ladies

And some men

Kids picking up the goods from the pinata

Couples water balloon toss

Beth and Jeff - the winners of the water balloon toss and their awesome prize - drinking glasses!

Bridal Bunco

I absolutely adore planning parties. From picking out a theme to decorating and planning the menu, I have so much fun dedicating my free time (and I have a lot of it) to hosting a unique event. May was my month to host Bunco and I was finally going to follow-through with my Bridal-themed Bunco idea. I was initially inspired by my friend, Kelly, who also hosted an amazing Bridesmaid Bunco, to re-create this theme and have been talking about it for the past two years. Like Kelly, I also thought it would be a great opportunity for us ladies to re-wear a former Bridesmaid dress. Although we all have them, we usually don't have too many opportunities to re-wear them. Unfortunately, being in Europe, a lot of people didn't move with these dresses, so they were requested to wear a garden party dress. 

I decorated the house with tacky wedding decor I found at the cheap Euro store and no wedding would be complete without lots of flowers (roses and peonies to be exact). I even made a wedding cake and though it wasn't my best creation, every wedding event must have a cake!

Clearly I am not a baker - the bride and groom even took a tumble in the icing!

Although it doesn't have anything to do with a wedding, I wanted to use my very girlie tea set that I received for  my birthday last year as decoration. My mom bought me the colorful Love Bird tea set from Pip Studio that I'd been raving since moving to the Netherlands and discovering this fabulous Dutch company. The vibrant colors and design make me so happy and I can't wait to add to the collection. 

Main table setting

The menu consisted of bridal brunch food, to include chicken salad sandwiches, spinach salad with baked parmesan, a fruit assortment, avocado ranch dip with pita chips and migas. For beverages, I served Prosecco with strawberries as a welcome drink and wine and raspberry mojitos throughout the evening.

Buffet with beverage choices

Mojito drink toppers

Eventually, it was time to get down to business and play Bunco, though these days we usually only get through about two rounds. Clearly our priorities are about chatting and enjoying each other's company. I absolutely love our Bunco group, and the best part about it is that it's always a new combination of ladies. Due to our hectic schedules, rarely can everyone be there each month, which allows for new people to join in the fun. 

Bridal themed Bunco Toppers

The weather turned out to be beautiful and though I had thought for a half second about playing Bunco in the orchard, I knew we would want to be close to the food and drinks so ultimately decided to keep it indoors. We did however, get some photos of all the lovely ladies in the orchard while Jon was still around. Five of us wore former bridesmaid dresses.... some we really loved and others not so much. It was such a great evening and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful ladies and friends to surround myself with. Until my next Bunco month.....

Cinco on Cinco

On Cinco de Mayo, Jon and I celebrated Cinco years of marriage. In some ways my life before marriage seems a distant memory, and in others, the past five years have absolutely flown by in a whirlwind of unforgettable trips and experiences no newly married couple should be lucky enough to live. After spending last year's anniversary apart, I was so thrilled that we could spend our 5th anniversary together. With our month-long rotation of visitors in April, the 5th of May completely snuck up on me. I assumed we would spend a relaxing weekend at home, relishing the opportunity to simply spend time one-on-one. To my complete surprise, Jon had planned a weekend getaway for us in the midst of his TDY to Slovakia and our non-stop company. On Friday May 4th, he came home from work saying we would be going somewhere the following day and night, but would be within two hours from home. It didn't take me long to guess where we were going, as Jon had been talking about visiting the town of Amersfoort since we moved to the NL, and we hadn't managed to get there yet. He confirmed my guess, but made no mention of the plans he had in store. 

Our wedding day, May 5, 2007

Later that evening, we kicked off our anniversary weekend with a blanket and our favorite wine in the orchard. Jon has become quite the bird-watcher and had noticed we have several Great Tits (that's an actual name) in our backyard.  We soon realized that the tree directly in front of where we were hanging in the orchard had a hole where some Great Tits lived. They had a nest down below (where we could hear the baby birds) and the mama and papa went back and forth bringing insects to the babies. We managed to get a pic of one of the proud parents entering the hole below. 

Kicking off the Anniversary Weekend in the Orchard

Our Great Tit

On Saturday morning, Jon treated me to a delicious anniversary breakfast of eggs, bacon and pancakes before we hopped in the car and drove to the medieval town of Amersfoort. Unfortunately, the spring-like weather had taken a turn and it was unusually cold and rainy. He warned me that I needed to dress warmly for our evening activity, which meant we would be outside doing something. As Amersfoort is surrounded by canals, my initial thought was that we would be taking a private boat ride. Boy was I off base!

After arriving at the adorable hotel Jon had booked, I found an enormous bouquet of flowers waiting for me in our room. They were absolutely gorgeous and it was so thoughtful for him to arrange that beforehand. One of many thoughtful gestures he was so sweet to plan. And just when I thought he had forgotten how to plan a trip on his own.

My beautiful anniversary flowers

We spent the afternoon walking around the town and admiring the beautiful city gates, towers and alleyways through this delightful town. Although listed in guidebooks, Amersfoort is not one of the most popular quaint Dutch towns, but that's what's so appealing about it. Unlike Delft, it wasn't oozing with tourists yet still had plenty of charm, beauty, great shopping and was authentically Dutch.

Amersfoort medieval gate

A pit stop in the Drie Ringen Brewery

That evening, I bundled up for my vague outdoor excursion and our taxi picked us up to drive us to our destination. All the while the anticipation was killing me. As we left Amersfoort and drove into the countryside, I quickly realized we would not be doing a canal cruise and soon began to see signs for hot air balloon rides. Before I knew it, we came upon a field where I saw this....

Yep, that was it, a hot air balloon ride! I was soooo excited as I'd never done this before and what a unique way to celebrate 5 years of marriage. We hopped in the basket with our pilot and up up and away we went. Soon, we were floating over Amersfoort, sailing where the wind took us. Although the pilot could take us up or down, he had no influence over which direction we went, which made it an adventure for us all. From our incredible viewpoint, we could see Utrecht, the reclaimed land area to the north and the edge of the Amsterdam harbor. We flew over wooded areas, beautiful mansions and plenty of farm fields with cows, sheep, and horses. 

An unforgettable 5th Anniversary from high above Amersfoort

Flying over fields of cows

The horses got excited as we floated by

Eventually, we were flying directly over Utrecht where we got great views of the church and old town. We noticed we were not the only aircraft in the sky and saw a Chinook helicopter coming towards us to participate in the Dutch Liberation Day festivities (also on the 5th). 

Utrecht

Chinook Helicopter

Utrecht Canal

Utrecht canal leading to Amsterdam

After 2.5 hours in the air, our pilot looked for a place to land and decided to use a small spit of land between a lake and clump of trees. I wasn't sure of his skill as it seemed we were headed straight for the water, but he was obviously quite experienced as we landed on dry land. We were instructed to hold on to the side of the basket facing up. Though it was a pretty tough, bumpy landing and we got a bit jostled, it was SO MUCH FUN! It's crazy to think that one minute you're suspended high in the air by mere fabric and hot air in nothing more than a wicker basket, and the next you're on the ground again. After the "flight" we toasted with bubbles and made our way back to Amersfoort for a night out on the town.

About to land, floating dangerously close to this lake

Our landing site

The following morning, we drove home and straight to church where we heard a sermon about the roles of husbands and wives. It couldn't have been a more appropriate message to hear on a weekend all about celebrating our marriage. The message was about submission and specifically how we should "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" - Ephesians 5:21. Paul writes that this is not a one-sided submission, but a reciprocal relationship. In reflecting upon my own marriage during church, I felt so blessed to have a husband who devotes himself to my well-being and that couldn't have been more apparent than his wonderful gestures to celebrate our marriage that weekend. But, it's not only in his gallant surprises, but also his everyday actions and love he shows in the smallest details. I joke about how we've had a five-year honeymoon living in Europe. Although I do feel we've lived in a fairy-tale bubble over here, I pray that no matter where we live, our marriage will continue to be a reciprocal relationship, striving to always put the Lord first. Feliz Cinco, mi amor!