Eastern Europe is so good to me!  Every place I've been to so far in Eastern Europe (Prague, Krakow, and now Budapest) has been absolutely amazing.  Fabulous people, wonderful culture and architecture, and the food.  O.M.G....the food.  Delicious.  To die for!  Honestly, I go for the food, let's be honest.

We arrived into Budapest late Friday evening.  We had planned to have a full Saturday and Sunday to explore the city, before leaving very early Monday morning to go into work.  We rented an apartment, which is what we typically do whenever we travel, because we like having access to a kitchen while we're on vacation.  We usually don't eat out all that often, and love being able to cook local foods, so it's a good choice for us.

Saturday morning, we woke up early and headed to the large indoor market to meet up with our cooking instructor.  Our big Saturday plans was a Hungarian cooking class!!  I love to cook, so I was super excited.  The indoor market was absolutely AMAZING!

 
Indoor Market with tons of food stalls.

 
Fruit stall...and everything was so fresh and cheap!

 

While we were at the market, our guide took us to the pastry place for some breakfast.  Apparently most Hungarians have sweets for breakfast, which was fine by me!  We had apple struedel, a cottage cheese struedel, a sour cherry and ricotta struedel, and a ground poppy seed struedel!  All of them were delicious, but the apple was probably my favorite.  She also got us a traditional Hungarian salty breakfast...which was basically fried dough coated with sour cream and grated cheese.  Sounds gross, but it was so flipping amazing!  Needless to say, there were no leftovers after that. 

After the market, we walked over to the cooking school to start our lesson!  We were making a sour cherry soup for a starter, chicken paprikash for an entree, and cottage cheese balls for dessert.  They use a lot of cottage cheese in their cooking, but it isn't like our cottage cheese back home.  It's a very dry cottage cheese, similar to ricotta.  It's delicious though!

 
Me at the cooking school...ready to eat!

 
Our cottage cheese balls...NOM!

 
Chicken Paprikash, with homemade dumplings.

 

After the cooking class, we went back to the apartment and I took a nap!  It was super hot in Budapest that weekend (mid-90s), and that, combined with such a heavy lunch, meant that I needed more sleep.  After that, we woke up, walked to the grocery and got some stuff for a light dinner. 

Sunday was our day to be tourists.  We did a lot of walking, but that was good, since Hungarian food is ridiculously fatty and bad for you.  We walked up to a overlook spot, and managed to get a great view of the church across the river.

 
St. Stephen's Basilica in the distance.

Also, a lot of the roofing is super gorgeous there.  Here is an example of some of the old architecture, with hand painted tile roofing.  It was amazing to see!

 
Hand painted tiles...individually painted.  By hand.  Amazing.

 
Me being cheesy at the Fisherman's Bastion.  Gorgeous architecture, and I loved all the white stone!

 

After the lookout point and Fisherman's Bastion, we walked down to the Jewish Quarters to see the Great Synagogue located there.  We didn't go inside, but we did have a look around.  It was so beautiful.  I've always felt incredibly at peace in Temples throughout Europe, even though I'm not Jewish.  I've considered converting a handful of times, but never have. 

As we walked past the Synagogue, we came across a courtyard that had a memorial dedicated to those from Budapest who died in concentration camps during WWII.  Each of the branches has hundreds of tiny leaves, with each leaf bearing the name of a WWII victim.  It was incredibly beautiful, yet heartbreaking at the same time.

 
WWII memorial.

 

After that, we headed out for some more Hungarian food for dinner.  We happened to pop into a place in the Jewish quarter and ordered us some more fatty deliciousness!  Oh my...amazing.  I can't say enough about Hungarian food...other than it's fab.  I had Matzo Ball soup (my favorite), and some more chicken paprikash (I wanted to compare it to the one I had made myself...mine was better, but this was still pretty good).  After that, we headed back to the apartment, packed our stuff, and passed out.  The next morning, we woke up around 4am to head to the airport, catch our red-eye flight, and be back in the office by 8:30am on Monday.

It was a fantastic trip!  Fast, too short, and full of lots of fun.  I'd definitely recommend Budapest to anyone who has a chance to get over there...you won't regret it!

XOXOXO,
K.

This is going to be a photo post...our few days spent at the Olympics, and then in Canterbury/Dover.  Enjoy!

Day One:  Olympic Park and Athletics Events

Jamie and I, just outside Olympic Park

 
The torch!  We sat very close to it, and it was pretty warm!

Athletics Stadium...pretty empty, because we got there early. 

 
Men's event...though I can't remember which one.

 

Day Two:  London Calling and Women's Gold Medal Match in Football

 
Harrods.  My favorite place in the world.

Tower Bridge, with the Olympic Rings.

 

Jamie, in front of Wembley Stadium.  Women's Gold Medal Match in Football!

 

Waiting for the match to start!

  

USA wins!

 

Women's Football Medal Ceremony (unfortunately, we were on the wrong side)

 

 

Days Three and Four:  Canterbury and Dover

Canterbury Cathedral...stunning!

 

Stained glass window, from the inside.

 

White cliffs of Dover.

 

 

 

Hope you enjoyed!

 

XOXOXO,
K

Just a head's up...I'll probably be posting a few different posts today.  I wanted to get these out there before I totally forgot about them, so it's easier to just do separate posts on each topic, and post them all today before I turn lazy.  Feel free to read or skip...

This post is obviously about kids (well..."obviously" if you read the title).  Shamrock asked me about where we were with kids, so I thought I'd touch on that a bit.  I know I mentioned awhile ago that we were going to start trying for a baby in the near future.  And, we were.  And then, we weren't.  Life just sort of got in the way.

Basically, for awhile there, we were both pretty unhappy about a lot of things.  Work stress was majorly piling up, and Jamie was just really confused as to where he wanted to go after this.  We weren't sure if we were going to stay in Europe or move home after this assignment, and that was one of the stipulations that I put on us having to have decided before we started trying.  I did not want this hanging over our heads while I was pregnant.  So...the potential job in Germany came up, a potential job in the UK came up (both of these would have been jobs for both of us), and then there was always plenty of positions in the US that we could apply for (I would have had to work a little harder to get a job in the US, since I'm more established in Europe, but it wouldn't have been a problem).  So, lots of opportunities, and still no idea what we wanted...especially on Jamie's part. 

And then...my dad.  That phone call was probably the worst one I've received yet (God help me when one of my parents' passes).  After that, the decision on where to go seemed almost trivial.  We pretty much decided immediately that we'd move home after this assignment, settle back in Indiana, and spend as much time with our families as we could while we still had the time to spend. 

So then, of course, that took care of one of my requirements, but created another!  Did I want to get pregnant here, go through part of my pregnancy, and then deal with an overseas move and relocation while pregnant?  Did I really want to deal with all that stress while however-many-weeks pregnant and hormonal?  Yeah...absolutely not.  So...baby took a back seat.  Again. 

And while it seems like having a baby is always going  back on the back burner, and many of you are probably thinking, "oh, just have one!  There's NEVER a good time to have children" (because I haven't heard that a million times before), we're both completely at east with our decision.  I won't lie...it sucks sometimes because all my friends have having children and I'm not, but I recognize that, while no time is perfect, there are times that are better than others.  And frankly, the last thing I want to do is be halfway through a pregnancy, and sitting on an 8-hour flight back to the US where we don't have a house, cars, furniture, etc. 

So yeah...we're going to wait until we get home and settled, and then we'll try.  Plus...that will give me some time to be settled into a job (if I decide to work), and get health care/doctors/birthing centers/etc. sorted and ready to go.  Things were just too stressful here with our jobs and lives to even consider bringing a baby into the mix.  I know that once we're home and into a routine, life will settle down tremendously and it'll be much better for us as a family.

There you have it!  The baby post, and where we are. 

XOXOXO,
K.

Holy WOW! It's really the only way I can describe the mass of feelings associated with being at the Olympics. It was absolutely phenomenal. And awe-inspiring. And emotional. And exhausting. It was damn close to every good emotion possible, all wrapped up in one cute, little, 4-day package.

We flew into London later on Tuesday evening. Checked into our hotel (about a 15-minute walk from Hyde Park), and basically just settled in for the night. We had to be up early the next morning to get to Olympic Park for the Athletics competition that we had tickets for. The next morning, we woke early and headed out to grab some breakfast before jumping onto the Tube to get to the park. The Tube was (thankfully) pretty empty, which would not be the case later on during the trip. We got to Olympic Park and just toured around for an hour or so. It was pretty empty (we're the early ones that are always there before everyone else, which was nice in this instance), so we were able to see a lot of things without worrying about the crowds. Then, we headed off to our event, which was awesome. It wasn't a final or anything, so we saw a lot of different heats. We saw the women's hammer throw, men's pole vault, the first four events of the men's decathlon, and a few different sprint races (men's and women's). After those finished up, we grabbed some lunch and then toured the park a bit more. We then headed back to the hotel, got some dinner and passed out because we were absolutely exhausted.

Thursday morning was our day to play "tourist" in London. We woke early, grabbed breakfast, and headed back to the Underground. We went to Harrod's (the most amazing department store, ever), London bridge, Tower bridge, Hyde Park, and then to Wembley Stadium for our event that evening. We were so incredibly lucky to get tickets to a gold medal match where the US was competing! That night, we had tickets to the Gold Medal match for women's football, US versus Japan! It was so cool!! Over 80,000 spectators in the arena, and the match was a really good one! The US won, which was so awesome to see in person. We then stayed for the medal ceremony, and then began the very long journey back to the hotel (the Tube was absolutely packed and it took forever to get through the station).

Friday morning, we left London and headed to Canterbury for some sightseeing away from the crazy. Canterbury is pretty small, but absolutely adorable! We actually stayed on the grounds of the Cathedral, so we had access to the grounds all night, even after the gates were closed. We toured around the town, then passed out again early because we were so worn out from the games, the travel, and all the walking. Saturday, we took a local train to Dover to see the white cliffs. Absolutely stunning! We basically just hiked around on the cliffs and hung out in Dover before heading back to Canterbury,

This morning, we headed back to the airport to catch our flight back to the Netherlands. I'm completely exhausted, but it was so worth it! We've decided that we're going to make every effort to go to more Olympic games, so it looks like Sochi 2014 is going to be next (plus, we want to go to Russia...two birds, one stone). After that, its Rio in 2016! I really hope we're able to go to more games...it was such and incredible time!

So...there you have it! Our Olympic vacation! I'll post pictures tomorrow, because Jamie has the laptop right now with all the photos on it. Plus, I need to do a post on Budapest, which was also amazing!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

XOXOXO,
K

 I'm pretty sure I was offered a job today, back in the US with our company.  I was speaking with an old coworker, who is now a program lead for one of our programs back home, and he was asking me if I had something lined up for when we moved home.  I told him no, and joking asked if he knew of something out there.  He was like, "actually, yes..." and proceeded to tell me about a position that would be incorporating account management and program management.  I am super interested in hearing more, and we scheduled a meeting for when we get back from the Olympics to talk it over more.  He knows that I still have work here I need to do, and that we're not scheduled to head back to the US until at least January.

That said...if I'm offered the job, and the timeline is reasonable enough for me to transition from this position and get a new person up to speed on my job here, then I'll take it.  Jamie and I have already decided that I'll move back early on my own and work, if necessary.  It would only be for a few months...half a year at most.  It's not ideal, but we could definitely make it work.

So...keep your fingers crossed for me!  I would really like to have a job secured for when I go back, so that I'm not hunting!

XOXOXO,
K.

After a few months of seemingly no travel plans, we're finally going somewhere!  I've been feeling down in the dumps lately...work stress, family stress, moving home stress, etc.  So, Jamie decided it was time to really get a look at our bucket list of "must see" places before we leave, and make some reservations.  Super exciting...I love travel planning!

So, this weekend, we're going to Budapest, Hungary.  I'm super excited for it, because I'm pretty much enthralled with Eastern Europe and all it has to offer.  I've heard Budapest is fabulous, and it's only a short flight away!  We leave later Friday afternoon (after work) and get back at 8am Monday morning...just in time to drive to work and get started with our day.  We plan on going to a Turkish Bath, take a cooking class, and explore the city as much as we can.  Overall, it'll be busy, but it'll be a great time. 

Then, once we get back on Monday...we have two days of work until we leave Tuesday evening for the Olympics!!!  This is probably what I'm most excited for...I've been looking forward to this for the past year!  I've been watching on television as much as I can, but it'll be so exciting to be there in person!  Unfortunately, they don't allow any cameras with interchangeable lenses into the events, so we won't be taking our SLR with us (BOO!).  We'll have my little point and shoot, but I'm not too impressed with the photos it takes, so I'm not sure how our photos will turn out.  I'll be sure to post some if we have any good ones!

In other news...just making plans for the move home.  We're trying to decide housing...do we build, do we buy something that's in the top end of our price range that has most of what we're looking for, or do we buy an older, less expensive home, that we can really dig our teeth into and turn it into our own?  Big questions.  Last time we did this, the neighborhood wasn't that big of a deal, because we didn't have children, but now that we'll be starting a family soon, school districts are also something we need to take into account.  I'm not sure how much we really want to put into it, as I'm honestly not sure we'll ever "settle down" and stay in one place for any long amount of time.  This is the longest we've ever lived in any one place before, and we've been here less than 3 years!  So yeah...just not sure what exactly we want at this point...definitely something we're discussing.

I think that's about it for now!  I'm excited for our weekend away, and I've been absolutely worthless during work because I'm over it and need a vacation.  Hopefully I can come back and be a bit more refreshed after the Olympics. 

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

XOXOXO,
K.

I have finially finished the crochet aspect of my Mother-in-Law's afghan.  All I need to finish up now is weaving in some of the ends, and the steam blocking it to finish it out.  Then...done!  That's one Christmas present finished and ready to go (once I weave and block).  Definitely feel good about it...and it turned out really well!

My newest project is another afghan, also with the granny square pattern.  Only this afghan is made up of several, smaller granny squares (I think there will be around 48 squares once I'm finished with it).  I've been working on the squares for the past few hours, and have 3 finished up, so it'll go rather fast, I think.  I hope so, because it's for my good friend here who is pregnant, and due in October.  So, I need to finish it up before the baby (Elowyn) is born.  My friend already has two other daughters (the oldest is 13, and the youngest is 2), so the nursery is already finished.  The colors are white, pink, and black...which is the colors of the nursery that was done for Florence (Floor for short...a typical Dutch name). 

So, here's my newest project!  Forgive the photo...it was taken with my iPhone, so not the greatest quality.  Thoughts?

 

 

Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend! I fully intend on parking my tush on the couch and watching the Olympics for the rest of the weekend. I love the Olympics...T-10 days until we're there in person!

XOXOXO,
K.

But not happy either.  Over the past few months, I feel like I've just been stuck in such a rut.  I wake up, work out, go to work, finish up at work, go home (or leave my home office), make dinner, and go to bed.  Rinse and repeat.  EVERY.  DAMN.  DAY.

My job has a lot of monotony in it, which I know isn't good for my personality.  I've really enjoyed the side work I've been doing (one project was a major acquisition in Germany, which has me traveling back and forth from the NL to Germany each month), and the other project has been planning for our large truck show in September.  I enjoy those parts a lot...they're different and fast paced, and it keeps me engaged.  The rest of my job (the other 85%) is sort of mundane and very repetitive.  It's been hard to stick with it and keep myself going, which I'm sure is contributing to my feelings of being in a rut.

Another contributing factor is my weight.  I've put on about 10 pounds since I lost all the weight before...which really sucks.  Traveling and a high stress job definitely contribute to my weight gain, and I feel really defeated about it.  Plus, we got out of the working out routine while Jamie was hurt, so that definitely didn't help being inactive for a few months.  Basically, just really not happy with my body, but we're slowly getting back into the groove and I'm slowly losing the wight I gained...again.

Lastly, I'm feeling a lot of pressure from family lately.  Pressure to be home ASAP, pressure to take care of people, pressure to financially support siblings...crap like that.  Jamie and I are the only ones in my family that are even remotely financially stable (other than my parents...but they're retired and on fixed income), and all the other kids alway come to us if they need something or whatever. 

A few days ago, my sister called me asking me to buy her son a computer for Christmas.  A computer!  Even though those things are cheaper now than they were when they first come out, they are in no way shape or form "cheap."  They're struggling financially...her husband's job isn't the most secure (he works at a factory, on the line), and she's a stay-at-home mom to her son, who is turning 8.  They ask my mom regularly for money to buy things they need (groceries are a big one), and I definitely don't have a problem giving them money for something like that...a necessity.  The problem I have is, I know they buy alcohol and cigarettes with the money that my mom gives them (as well as food, for sure), and I don't consider those necessities at all.  Plus...really...I don't consider a computer a necessity either!  Chase (her son) has access to the computers at the school and at the public library, so it's not like he can't use them other places.  

I think what really cheesed me off the most is the way it was done.  I had told my parents that if we made the decision to stay in Europe, I would get them a computer so that we could Skype video chat once we had kids.  I want my parents to be a part of our children's lives, so it was important to me...and if getting them a computer would help that along, then I was willing to do it.  My mom told me not to worry about it, to save my money, and that we would work it out.  She must have made mention of it to my sister, which is where she got the idea to ask me.  My mom called her up to ask her about it after I talked to her (I asked my mom if she wanted to go in on the computer for Christmas...sort of a family gift), and my sister told my mom that "since she (my mom) turned down the computer, maybe I could get it for them instead."  No mention at all of Chase needing it for school or anything (which is what she told me)...just more like, "well...if you're not going to take the freebie, I sure as hell will."  Which, honestly, makes me feel like I'm taken advantage of.  (And, for those of you that know my life, you'll know that when I refer to my sister, I am talking about my biological mother who put me up for adoption and my maternal grandparents adopted me).  So, in reality, I feel like my own mother is taking advantage of me!  Her own flesh and blood (god, could I BE any more melodramatic...but I really do feel this way).

So yeah...I'm sort of struggling right now.  I'm feeling like I'm in this giant rut in life, and it's wearing me down.  It's also taken a toll on our marriage (not a  big one, but it's still an issue) because Jamie feels like I'm not happy with anything, including him (which isn't the case, but that's emotions for you).  So...I really need to get my head out of my ass and find out how to make myself happy again.  I have very few friends here, and non live within an hour and a half, so I feel like I rely on Jamie all the time for my social interaction.  That's really not fair to him at all, and not to me either. 

Ugh...I hate being like this!  I need to get my shit sorted.

 

XOXOXO,
K.

So, Jamie and I have been doing some more thinking about our lives once we move back to the States.  One of the major things we've talked about is whether I'll stay home full time with our child(ren).  Personally, I can go either way.  I think I'd be fine with both jobs...I don't have an overwhelming desire to stay home above all else, but I also don't have that desire to work above all else either.

So...for those of you who are SAH, or for those of you who work...what were your reasonings for your decision?

 

XOXOXO,
K.

I've been trying to write this post for a few days now, but it has always been so hard to write.  To put it all down in words just makes it all seem so real and definite.  Jamie and I have finally made a decision regarding our next move, and it will be back to the US.  As much as we want to stay in Europe (and lord knows, we really want to stay), it just isn't really feasible right now at this point in our lives.

You're probably wondering what prompted this decision...since I was totally up in the air about everything a week or so ago.  Last week, I got the phone call everyone dreads...the one where you're told something is wrong with a loved one, and you realize there's nothing you can do, and you're a 9 hour flight away, and all you're left with is telephone calls and your own worst enemy, your thoughts (and Dr. Google.  That bastard.).  I called my mom on Thursday, like any other time I call her.  First thing out of her mouth was, "I'm so glad you called, I was getting ready to call you."  For my mom, that's pretty odd...she usually just sits back and lets me do the actual labor intensive work of dialing a phone.  "It's about your dad."  And...my heart sank.  All the way to the pit of my stomach, somewhere behind my spine...hiding underneath my spleen (or somewhere in there).

My first thought was cancer.  Dad and I are no strangers to cancer...he's had all three types of skin cancer, and a few serious rounds with melanoma...so that's what I thought it was.  Melanoma that had spread.  Scary, definitely, but still treatable.  We'd both beaten cancer NUMEROUS times...we could do it again.  Cancer is scary, but you can win against it.  But nope...not cancer. 

"The doctors think your dad has dementia, and the beginning stages of Alzheimer's."  And with that...my hopes of cancer (how sick is that...that you HOPE something is cancer), were dashed.  Because...there's no beating Alzheimer's...there's no cutting it out, pumping you full of chemo and radiation, and living another day to tell another story.  Nope...there's mood swings and depression...there's forgetting treasured memories and where you live.  There's forgetting your family.  There's forgetting me.  My daddy is probably going to eventually forget who I am...and there's not a goddamn thing I can do about it.

So...for now, there's talk of neurology appointments, and cat scans, and all sorts of tests to rule out all sorts of things.  Mom is making appointments with the lawyer to see what can be done regarding their assets.  And Jamie and I are here for another year, but planning a move back to the States as soon as the contract finishes up.  There's still a chance that it's not dementia, and that Alzheimer's isn't on the table...but I'm terrified to let myself hope.  Because if I let that little seed of doubt start to grow into a tree of "the doctor's are wrong and Dad's fine"...when those tests come back and the diagnosis is more definitive, I'm just going to fall off my cliff that much farther.  My dad is my hero, he's the first man I ever loved.  And the idea that he might eventually not even recognize me is killing me beyond belief.  I know it's worst case scenario, and that it might never get to that (because, theoretically, he could be hit by a bus tomorrow...even though there are no buses in our town, except school buses...and those drivers are nuts), but I can't help but worry that it'll get there...and sooner rather than later.  He's been going downhill these past few years so rapidly...sometimes we talk on the phone and he forgets that I live in Europe.  Other times, we talk and he starts talking about something completely different, mid-sentence, but he doesn't make any sense. 

So...Jamie and I talked after that phone call.  Actually, we got into an argument where I told him I was sick of living in this perpetual state of not knowing what we're doing next, and how I need a decision made because our whole lives are hinging on this decision (starting a family being one of those things).  Then, mid-yell from me, I just looked at him and said "and I want my daddy to remember me," and started bawling.  Not the best argument, I won't lie.  But, it was real, and it was the truth, and it was probably the closest we've come to the real, honest reasons for making a decision than we have in a long while.  And after that, the decision was easy, really.  It's not ideal, and we'd love to stay (hell...I'd like to go home under ANY other situation than this one), but it's life and life's not always pretty.  Sometimes you have to give up one thing to have another.  And I'd give up a million days touring Europe just to spend that time with my family while I can.

And now...the decision's made.  We've both informed work about our plans.  I've started the process of letting my boss and upper management know they'll need to find a backfill for me eventually so we can start training.  It's a year away, but that year will go fast, and I'd rather let then know too early than too late. We've started making lists, and planning the last bits of travel here that we'll have, and figuring out mundane things like down payments and what all we'll need to buy once we get home. 

I've told my parents.  I haven't said why, because I don't want them to feel guilty.  And really, there's nothing to feel guilty over.  I'm happy to be going home.  I'm thrilled beyond belief to be able to see my family whenever I want, rather than have to spend months planning a trip and sorting out vacation.  They may drive me insane at times, but they're family and I love them dearly.

It's final...we're going home.  I only hope everything works out.

 

XOXOXO,
K.