So, the advent calendar that I made is going to house chocolates when we have kids.  But, since Jamie and I are trying to be as healthy as possible (and frankly, we eat bad enough without the extra chocolate at night), we decided to write each other notes and put them in the advent envelopes to open each day leading up to Christmas.  Here are some of the notes I wrote for Jamie:

1.  I love how you push me out of my comfort zone.  Some of my best memories are of us doing things I never thought I'd do (live in Japan, etc.).  I love your sense of adventure.

2.  I love how you cuddle me at night when we're in bed.  Having your arms around me is the best feeling in the world.

3.  I love your dedication to your job.  You have a great work ethic and personal integrity.

4.  I love how you laugh at my jokes, even when they're dumb.

5.  I love how you love me, even when I'm grumpy because I haven't eaten (background: I have a tendency to be a biotch if I haven't eaten...poor Jamie).

6.  I love your hugs.  They always make me feel so safe and warm.  You give amazing hugs!

I can't wait for him to open these each day!  I had a great time writing them, and I know that he'll like them when he sees them.  We try to take the time to tell each other how much the other means to us, but it's nice to have it written down sometimes!

Hope all is well with you all!

XOXOXO,
K.

Last Sunday I spent the day putting up the tree and decorating the living room with our Christmas decorations!  I even managed to finish my advent calendar and get that hung up as well!  Here are two pictures of my progress...sorry they're not great quality, they were taken with my iPhone and not our DSLR.

Here is our Christmas tree...all ready for presents!

And here is the advent calendar that I have been sewing for the past few weeks!  I'm pretty proud of how it turned out!  Jamie and I are going to write little notes to each other and put them in the envelopes for us to open each day leading up to Christmas.  We figured it was a better "gift" than candy!

So there you have it...nearly ready for Christmas! I'm going to start wrapping gifts soon, since I'm all finished with shopping for everyone. I found some super cute wrapping ideas on Pinterest that I plan on trying, so hopefully they'll look nice under the tree!

Do any of you have your Christmas/Holiday decorations up yet?

XOXOXO,
K.

Thanksgiving has come and gone.  And, of course, it was not without it's own set of frustrations and disasters.  I made a few things the night before (prepared the cheesy potatoes without baking them, and made the homemade cranberry sauce), and then headed off to bed.  On Thanksgiving day, we had to run to IKEA to get a few things (extra silverware, and more place mats, etc.), and then to the grocery to pick up the final bits of ingredients for dinner that night.  We got home, got it all unpacked, and I started in.

Then, disaster struck.  I have two ovens here (both of them, together, probably equal the size of one American oven), and they're both combi-ovens.  Combi-ovens function as both microwaves and convection ovens, and are pretty popular here in the NL (and across Europe, it seems).  Normally, no issues whatsoever.  This time, not so much.  I was pre-heating one of the ovens to bake a portion of the cheesy potatoes, and the OVEN CAUGHT ON FIRE!!!  No joke...flames spitting from the heating unit inside the oven, rolling smoke, the whole nine-yards.  Thankfully, we were able to get the oven unplugged and outside without any damage and no smoke alarms going off.  Also, realized that we don't have a fire extinguisher in our apartment...should probably look into getting one of those.  So...after the excitement wore down, I realized that I was going to be feeding 16 people in the next 6 hours, and only ONE oven.  Umm...NOT GOOD!!!  So, Jamie and I started to scramble to see how we were going to cook the turkey (since the beef roast had to go in the oven).  Luckily, I found a recipe for grilled turkey that looked pretty good, so we settled on that one, and I calmed down enough to finish the food.

Overall, Thanksgiving was great!  The food turned out wonderfully, everyone had a great time, there was lots of laughter and talking...exactly what I wanted.  Jamie and I mingled with everyone as much as was possible, and we got to play with some of the kids that were there as well.  It was a lot of work (a LOT of work), but I really think it was 100% worth it to have all our friends and their families over for the holiday to spend time together. 

However...note to self.  Next time when making dinner for 16 people, I do NOT need to make two turkey breasts, two beef roasts, two portions of cheesy potatoes, 1.5 portions of cranberry sauce, an enormous portion of macaroni and cheese, and two portions of dressing.  We had way too much food, and we ended up sending leftovers home to some of our friends!  I really need to learn to cut it down on the food!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!  Can't wait to read recaps from all of you!

XOXOXO,
K.

So, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I'm starting to stress.  I have the cranberry sauce made (not withstanding the burn on my eyelid from boiling cranberry sauce gone mad) and all the onions chopped for whatever I need them for (let me tell you, salty tears on a burnt eyelid?  NOT COOL), but otherwise I have to wait until I can run to the grocery to prep some more things.  I'm cooking for 16, which is by far the largest group I've ever cooked for, so we'll see how it goes!

In other news...still struggling to get below 160 pounds.  I'm at the 161, just hanging there, nothing doing.  I've been slacking on working out lately because Jamie pulled a leg muscle and I'm lazy.  Let's just be honest...I'm lazy.  Without my running partner, I have no desire to go running at the ass-crack of dawn when it's dark outside, by myself.  Then, by the time I finish working, it's dark again...I love winter, but I hate running outside in the winter.  If Jamie were with me, it wouldn't be a problem, but on my own it just seems like more effort than it's work.  Instead of running, I've been doing the "30 Day Shred" DVD a few nights a week, just to keep up with something.  I like the workout a lot because it incorporates abs, strength training, and cardio in a 30 minute workout, but it is starting to hurt my feet.  Thankfully, my knee seems to be holding up, which was my real concern after my orthopedic appointment when I went home.

I have officially finished Christmas shopping for everyone.  My dad was the last one I had to buy for, and I finished that up last night, so I'm all finished (except for a few stocking stuffers for Jamie, and the cat bed I'm buying for Lily).  Ok, so I'm not finished...shit.  Can't you guys just let me lie to myself, just a little?  Guess not.

Ummm...I think that's it for now.  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, Friday after work Jamie and I are driving up to a friend's house for poker night and Chicken Tikka Masala (OMG...YUM), and then Saturday/Sunday will be full of nauseatingly amazing Christmas carols, tree decoration, and the whole damn Yuletide celebration that starts immediately after Thanksgiving.  Don't worry, there will be pictures, if Jamie doesn't kill me.

Hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving and a wonderful weekend!

XOXOXO,
K.

When I was in law school, one of the best things I could have ever done was participate in a clinic.  Clinics in law school are way to get practical, real world experience while still being a student.  In addition, I was very lucky that my law school had a clinic in family law, which was one of my primary areas of study.  So, my second year of law school, I was admitted into the Family and Children Mediation Clinic at IU.

The clinic started out with a very intensive three week training course where you received your Indiana Mediator's certification.  Basically, every morning from 8am - 1pm was course work, where we would learn different mediation techniques, perform mock mediations, and hear about the types of cases that we would see once we started mediating on our own.

Caveat:  I will say, mediation isn't for everyone, but I am a firm believer in it.  When both parties actually have a say in the outcome, they're much more likely to follow and stick with it...much more than they would be if some judge just handed down a court order for them to follow.  However, there are a lot of situations in which I think mediation has an uphill battle...domestic violence being one of those situations.

So, after the three week training period, we were all certified/registered mediators with the state of Indiana and started taking on our own cases.  We worked in teams and handled mediations on a weekly basis, dealing with low income families that came through our county's court system. 

Mediation was super hard, but I really loved it, and I felt like I really made a difference in some of those people's lives.  It's hard when there's kids involved (we also did dissolutions of marriage with no children involved...a lot of times those were much easier), and it's even more hard when you have spousal/child abuse situations.  I held a few mediations at the county jail, because that's where one of the parties were located.  I held mediations at the jail because there were restraining orders in place and one of the parties had a history of violence/assault with deadly weapons.  Hell, I even held one mediation where I had two armed deputies standing behind me (that one was scary).

But...I loved it.  I believe/believed in it.  And I honestly felt like I was helping change people's lives (hopefully for the better).  Unfortunately, when I moved here to the NL, I let my certification lapse because I was unable to keep up with the CMEs (Continuing Mediation Education).  So, now that we're talking about moving home, I'm in the process of figuring out how to be recertified.  I really want to either a) start my own mediation practice, b) join up with a family law firm that has a mediation sector, or c) do mediations pro-bono for the court where I live.  I'd honestly be happy with any of those options, but I'm keeping an open mind until it's time to move home. 

So, I feel like I have finally figured out a part of what I want to do with myself when we move back.  It's been plaguing me for awhile now that I didn't have a well thought-out career plan for our journey back, and putting myself back on the mediation circuit has really helped me solidify what I'd like to be doing.

So yeah...there you have it!  If any of you have questions about mediation or whatever, feel free to ask!  Hope you all are having a great day!

XOXOXO,
K. 

I love the weekend, but I always feel like it's far too short to really get any rest and relaxation. This weekend was no different, but at least I got to spend some time with great friends!

Saturday started off with us sleeping in later than we had planned. Jamie needed to get a haircut, but since we slept in, he got there late and had to wait nearly 2 hours to get his hair cut (the place doesn't take appointments, but if you get there when it first opens, you're in and out super fast). Meanwhile, I tooled around the house for a bit, picked up some, and then went over to meet him at the barbershop. By the time we got home and he got showered, it was too late for us to drive to Germany to go hiking, so instead we just hung out at home, took naps...basically a lazy Saturday! We went to the grocery store later that evening, and that was our excitement for the day.

Sunday was a ton of fun, however!  A few weeks ago, I had made plans for my friend and her family to come down for lunch (they live about an hour and a half away).  So, they arrived around 11:30am, which gave the beef stew I made a few minutes to simmer on the stove while we caught up on life.  We had lunch...super good...and then Tupp and I started crafting!  She was showing me a stitch to use on my advent calendar that I was making for Christmas.  That woman is magical with a needle!  She makes 80% of her youngest daughter's clothing (Floor is a little over one year old), and used to make a lot of clothes for her oldest daughter, including a ball gown/gala dress (Bri is twelve, going on thirteen).  She has her own etsy shop with baby clothes, if any of you are interested.  Anyways...we sat around the kitchen table crafting, while the husbands played football on the Wii, the baby played, and Bri sat showing us cute things on Pinterest.  Basically, it was a perfect afternoon!  I really love spending time with her and her family, and being able to sit around, crafting and talking, was just way too much fun!

After they left, I continued with my advent calendar.  I now have 10 envelopes completed, only 14 more to go!  I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out so far...obviously they're handmade, but I like it!  Here's a photo of what I've finished.

 
Please forgive the fact that I can't count from 1-10 in order...sigh. 

I'll try to finish cutting out the felt and sewing the envelopes over the next week or so...I'd like to be finished by Thanksgiving, since we're hosting it here and it'll be a lot of work on my end.  The weekend after Thanksgiving is when we always put up our tree, so I want it finished by the "Day of Decoration."  What do you all think?  Does it look "too homemade" or is it ok?  I'd like to keep it for our kids.  I still have to attach the buttons (which is what the dangling string is for, to wrap around the button and "seal" the envelope), but I'm waiting for my mom to send me the buttons from the US.  Buttons are RIDICULOUSLY expensive here!  Anyways...what are your thoughts?  Is it worthy of keeping??

Hope you all had a great weekend!

XOXOXO,
K.

I've found that I've hit a rut in posting.  I'll be out doing something or other, think of a great blog topic to write about, promptly forget it, and then come back to you all with nothing more than a pile of poo.  Sorry about that...no one likes poo.

I'm getting into the holiday spirit.  Thanksgiving is just around the corner, which will be loads of fun, and then Christmas!  Since I already traveled back to the US this year, and Jamie had plans to go back in December for work (which were then cancelled due to travel restrictions within the company), we decided not to go home to family for Christmas.  Personally, Jamie and I much prefer it that way.  Holidays at home with both families are just hectic all around, and it's usually just a lot of arguing and putting up with crap that we'd rather not deal with.  Not that there aren't some nice moments...there definitely are...but overall, it's more trouble than it's worth.

So, instead, we're going to do the holidays here, like we did last year!  I've already sent out the evite to co-workers on Jamie's team, as well as to a few local friends.  Looks to have around 10 for dinner, including us, which is a good number of people.  A few have children, a few are single...all around a good mix of people!  We've already ordered the wine, so that's taken care of, and I've put together the menu, but I still need to put my shopping list together.  Then, the weekend before Thanksgiving, Jamie and I will drive to Belgium to go to the Carrefour so that we can get the turkey, and other things needed that we can't find here. 

Christmas will just be us.  We have a tradition of exchanging one gift on Sinterklaas Nacht (Dutch tradition) which is on December 5th, and then on Christmas Eve, we make pizzas and watch Christmas movies (the last one being Polar Express).  Meanwhile, I'll have made a breakfast dish that stays in the fridge overnight, so we can bake it in the morning (Pioneer Woman's Baked Cinnamon French Toast...DIVINE!).  Then, we'll open presents and hang out on Christmas Day, just our little family.

This year, Jamie wants to get away during shutdown (our company shuts down between Christmas and New Year's...free holiday for everyone).  So, we've rented an apartment in Switzerland, right on lake Interlochen.  I am SO excited!  I love Switzerland and the mountains in the winter should be stunning!  We'll have plenty of opportunities to do tons out outdoor activities, like snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and just spending time in the towns around the lake.  Also, the place let's you have a pet, so we might take Lily with us!  Still not sure on bringing the cat...but we'll see, and it's nice to have the option if we choose to.

I'm already finished with most of my Christmas shopping.  I did a lot of it when I was back home in the States, because it was so much cheaper.  I got the vast majority of Jamie's presents back home when I was there, and so he's completely finished.  I also bought my mom's gift, and already gave it to her, so she's done.  I have a list of movies that my dad wants, so that will be easy as well.  Otherwise...we just need to get something for Jamie's parents, and a few things for the cat's stocking (lord...I'm such a sucker), and we'll be done with Christmas shopping...which is a huge relief.

I'm currently working on an advent calendar that I'm making for our holiday decorations.  A friend of my found the pattern online, and it's a no-sew, which was necessary since I don't have a sewing machine here. 

I've inverted the colors as well.  The pockets will be a cranberry/bordeaux red, and the stitching and buttons will be white.  In addition, I'm not using that checked fabric to tie them all together...it's a tad to "country" for my taste and our styles.  I'm hoping to find some nice white linen or something to use...or maybe some twine, not sure.  Basically, it won't be red gingham, I can say that for sure.  This will definitely be something that I keep for when we have kids (well...if it turns out and doesn't look like crap), but for Jamie and I, we've decided to write notes to each other and put them in the pockets, so we can open one each day!  Should be sweet and something that is inexpensive and nice to do for each other.

Ummm...otherwise?  Just work, basically.  We're planning a trip to Poland next month, but I'll leave that for another post (since God knows I can't think of stuff to write about).  Hope you all are doing well and having a great autumn!

XOXOXO,
K.

Obviously, when we agreed to our move overseas, we knew there'd be an end date.  Jamie's contract was a three-year deal, but there was always the potential to extend, should we want to, and should Jamie be needed.  We were both sort of blase about it from the get-go...take it day by day and see where we were when the time came to make a decision.  Since our stint in Japan, there had been the mention of several overseas possibilities for us, and I had gotten myself worked up over each and every one of them, so by the time this opportunity came along, I just didn't get bothered about it anymore.  Same for Jamie...we were just sort of over the stress and worry, and it really helped our mental attitudes regarding the move.

So...we've been here full time since January 2010 (not including the three month stint we were here for in 2008, after we got married).  Things have been ok since we got here.  The travel has been amazing, and if it weren't for those opportunities, I think we would have been a lot less happy here.  It's nothing against the country or the people (though I do think a lot of Dutch people can come across as rude...but whatever), our problems mainly stemmed from Jamie's job and the Dutch company he was working with.  Things were really bad when I worked on the project Jamie now works on, back when we lived in the States.  The tension between the US company and the Dutch company was absolutely horrible, and a lot of our people had a really hard time with it.  When Jamie signed on to this program, I knew it would either make or break his career...there was no middle ground.

Luckily, from the very beginning, Jamie has been very well valued within his company, and even the Dutch company has a lot of respect for him and the work he does...no complaints about Jamie whatsoever.  The same cannot be true about our company as a whole, at least according to the Dutch company.  Jamie's job involves him being at the customer site every day...sitting with the Dutch co-workers, the Dutch company's upper management, the whole shebang.  While they all really like Jamie, the majority of them really hate the company we work for.  Which, understandably, makes for some really uncomfortable positions. 

Jamie has a team he supervises of four, and in all there are 11 positions within our company that would all be stationed in the Dutch office.  Right now, there are only 6 filled positions.  Of those 6...every person except one has been to the doctor several times for stress related health issues, mostly stomach problems.  The tension inside that office can be cut with a knife!  It's ridiculous!  Jamie is on stomach medicines for acid reflux and heartburn, all stress induced, and was on anti-depressents because of anxiety for awhile (he has since gone off of them and is fine).  While not a direct comparison to war (since no one will die at this job, at least, not from getting shot or an IED), I feel like they're constantly in the direct line of fire, every day.  The Dutch company's upper management is rude every day, makes rude comments to the US workers on Jamie's team (including Jamie), and even goes so far as to disparage their character (one of them told Jamie that he felt Jamie was directly responsible for "sabotaging" this program, and would make sure that Jamie looked like an incompetent fool in front of whoever he could).  Now, the incident with Jamie was a one-time thing, this sort of stuff has never been directed at him, until now.  Sadly, this type of thing has been going on for years, even before Jamie took the job, and now he's getting some of it too.

So...with all of that, we have decided that once Jamie's contract is up, we will not be renewing.  At least, not for this position with this particular company.  The contract isn't finished until December 2012/January 2013 time-frame, but we're starting to put our ducks in a row.  Obviously, moving back home is always an option.  Jamie's hometown, and where we lived before, is the world headquarters of the company, and where all the upper management work, so Jamie has tons of career mobility there (much more than he has here, actually...very "out of sight, out of mind" mentality).  Plus, while we're working on gaining international customers, we still very much cater to the US market...so being in the US would make lots of sense.  We are also open to another expat assignment, just not in the Netherlands.  We have offices all over the world, and I'd be interested in entertaining the idea of another international move, but we'll just have to see what's on the table when the time comes.

So yeah...it's been a hard decision.  Hard to decide what leaving will do for Jamie's career, hard to decide if we were ready to give up living in Europe for less stress, just over all hard all around.  We're not exactly keen on moving home, especially because it's a smaller town with not a lot to offer, and hardly any good travel opportunities nearby, but I think that would probably be true anywhere after what we've been fortunate enough to experience.  We've been looking at property to get an idea of what we want back home...which is such a pain. 

<RANT>Seriously...why can't I find anything UNDER 2500 sq. ft.?!?!  I'm amazed that there's hardly anything out there for someone wanting something smaller than a house fit for a family of 10!  It's just us...and 1-2 kids, when we're ready to have them.  We don't NEED anything large!  We don't WANT anything large!  Sigh...so, we're also discussing building again...which will be a hassle, but might be our best option to get exactly what we want.</RANT> 

And, there you have it!  What's going on in our lives right now.  We've been keeping mum on the topic, so please nothing on FB or anything.  I basically just wanted to put it out there to get my thoughts in order and to sort of back-up why we've been feeling the need to get out of this situation.  We're doing our best to make a list of our "must sees" for the next year, and starting to plan travel to make sure we can get in as much as possible before going back.  It'll be hard to live away from some of the amazing places we've been, and the fabulous friends we've made, but our happiness and health is far more important to us than living in Europe.  And who knows...maybe something else in Europe will come up and we can stay!  We'll see.

Hope you all are doing well!  Sorry for being so lazy in posting, but it's been sort of crazy!  Feel free to leave me some ideas or suggestions for moving home, I could use them!

Wow, I feel like I've been away forever!  Let's see...the last time I posted, I was complaining about taxes, which we finally got sorted out (thank God).  Then, on the 11th, I traveled back to the US for a holiday and came back on the 21st.  It was absolutely exhausting, and full of me running around seeing everyone, but it was well worth it.  I'm glad I had a chance to go home, but I definitely had to deal with some shit from my mom, like usual.  She lives her life to guilt and manipulate everyone around her, so of course the fact that I was seeing friends AND family...and not just family, was a huge problem in her eyes.  So, of course, towards the end of the trip, she had to have a huge explosion and yell at me about it, which makes me not want to go home.  Oh well, it's the last time I'll be making that trip home until we move back, so I just sort of suffered through it and moved on.

So...I got back into the NL on Friday, early afternoon.  Jamie surprised me and came to meet me at the airport, which was super nice!  We basically came home, took a nap together (he'd had a super long work week, so he took Friday off), and just spent time together all day Friday.  Then, I slept late on Saturday due to jet lag, so we barely had a few hours to run some errands before I had to pack up and jump in the car to drive to Lille, France.  I had to be at a bus show for work from Sunday through Wednesday, and it was located in Korkrijk, Belgium, but everyone was staying in Lille.  Not entirely sure why, but I think it was probably because there was a EuroStar train station in Lille, for people who would take the train.

Anyways...get into Lille around 8pm, and head off to dinner with the team.  Then, came back, went to bed, and woke up at 2am...wide awake!  Jet lag is a giant bitch!  I couldn't go back to sleep after that, so I just read a few books and hung out in bed until it was time to get ready for the show.  Let me tell you...jet lagged and being on your feel from 10am until 7pm is exhausting...especially when you're in heels!  By the end of that day, I would have killed for a pair of flats!

Monday rolled around, and I felt like crap, warmed over!  The day was long, very exhausting, and the whole 10-7pm day just put me over the edge.  I started feeling better towards the end of the day, but still just went back to my hotel room instead of going out with the team for dinner. And really, I'm glad I did. I woke up this morning and feel absolutely HORRIBLE! Couldn't talk hardly, my chest hurt when I coughed, and I basically just felt like passing out whenever I moved (dizzy and light headed). I called the stand manager, and he pretty much told me to just go home. So...I went back to bed, slept for anouther 3 hours or so, packed my crap, and drove home from France. Thankfully the traffic was light, but it rained the entire way. Still...managed to get home safe and sound. I read some work emails, answered all the important crap, and then went back to bed.

So...here I am! I've been up for a little over an hour, and I'm ready to go back to sleep again. I really hope that this goes away quickly, because I'm super behind on work due to vacation back home and the bus show. Basically, I just want to feel well rested, no longer jet lagged, and I'd like to be able to talk without croaking. But...I'm not greedy...I'll just take being able to keep my eyes open for longer than an hour.

PS - I'm pretty sure that we're not going to be abroad in a year or so, but there will be more on that later.

Every day, I need to remind myself of this.