The whole world knows!

Yesterday we told the world we are married, we changed our Facebook status...
We waited this long because we wanted to tell people who don't do Facebook (yes, there are still people who don't have a Facebook account! Bless them!) and we didn't want them to find out through the grapevine. I would have hated that!
So after we returned from our honeymoon my husband and I (and yes, it still gives me a bit of a rush when I say or write 'husband'.. I am 12 years old apparently..) asked our family members who had made pictures if we could have some. After a lot of self-criticism (we have a tendency to close our eyes whenever a picture is taken.. Who knew!) we finally picked one.

The picture we finally went with!

Yes, I already posted it in my previous post but I posted it again to save you the trouble of having to go back. Aren't I nice ;-)?

After picking the picture we made a card (well, Joris did, I gave directions), had it printed and when it came we rounded the corners ourself. Let me tell you; it hurts rounding the corners of 100 cards with a corner punch!
But I do think it looks nice. Gives it a softer feel..

The most difficult part was gathering all the addresses! There are a lot of people who didn't even respond, or just told me they don't do Christmas-cards.. Very strange..
Anyway! We got most of the addresses and sent the cards! Then we waited for two days and now it's out! Everybody gets to know we are married!!!

It's still a bit surreal. And after 3 weeks I was finally getting used to being married and getting on with "normal" live, but now people who just heard we got married are congratulating us, and are asking about it. It's nice. Also a bit confusing (I was just getting in the swing of regular live), but definitely nice!


When we got married we got some gift cards (yay!). Last Saturday we went and spend some of those gift cards! We got a bird-feeder and a fire-basket (if that translation makes any sense?) :p!
I'll take a picture of it when it's light out, it's already completely dark..
And we bought some Christmas decoration.
I can't wait for Christmas to come!
I am sooo looking forward to it! (I'm sure I will be disappointed, that's how high my expectations are! I mean, with expectations this high, you really have to expect being disappointed, right :p?) I want this Christmas to be the best, ever! And the best thing is, Joris will be off for two whole weeks! How great is that!?

So I'm looking forward to Christmas, while Joris is looking forward to this weekend. He has been selected to test play the new Star Wars game. And he gets to start this Friday. I don't think I have seen him this excited, ever. He's like a little kid  on Christmas Day! We're even going to get up ridiculously early so he can get to work early (like 6 am early..) so he can go home early so he can start the game when it starts, and not a minute later! Right... I must either be crazy or really love him for getting up at 6 am so he can go play a game, for the entire weekend...

Sorry I haven't posted anything more substantial about the wedding or the honeymoon. I'm still hiding behind being a newlywed!

Here are two pictures my mother made, to tie you over!

An alllmost kiss!

I'm not sure, but apparently there was something in the tree..
I actually like this one, a lot!

Done and done!

Well now, time has flown by!

It's been two weeks that my love, Joris, and I tied the knot!
We're Mr and Mrs now!
It's hard to believe, it still feels surreal, but also wonderful, and it might sound cliché, but I feel proud to be his wife.

We had a lovely wedding, maybe a bit more sleep, or well, any sleep. the night before would have been nice, but we were so busy getting the house ready in time for the wedding reception we had to sacrifice sleep for the night.
I made it a point not to look at the weather report before the wedding, because I new it would stress me out if the weather report would predict bad weather, but the weather-gods were so good to us! We had the most beautiful weather we could have asked for! Sunny and incredibly warm!

The days leading up to the wedding were quite stressful, and if you would ask me I might just have to admit that I called off the wedding about three times in the days leading up to the wedding. Not something I'm proud of, but I'm very glad Joris did not agree, and just sat with me, listened to me, let me cry, and somehow managed to get me going again (and trust me, that is not an easy thing to do!)!
I did not expect to feel this way. I thought moving in together, buying a house together was a bigger step then getting married. I was wrong. Getting married was just as big a step. And emotionally it was even more significant then buying a house together!

It's been two weeks, to the day, and I'm still kind of floating on a cloud.
We got married on Monday October 31, at 9.30 AM.
After the very short, very intimate ceremony (only our immediate family was there) we went back to our Home for a home made brunch. A few close friends joined us there.
At 1 PM we left our house to walk to the train station, where our family and friends waved us goodby as we left, by train, on our honeymoon. It felt very symbolic, very loving, very good.
We went to Vlieland, a small island just off of the Dutch coast for our honeymoon. It was absolutely wonderful! And deserves a separate post!

We did not have a photographer, but there were several people taking pictures, and we're still getting them from our family members. Today I have a few pictures, of just the two of us. Taken by my dad and his girlfriend.

Maybe not the most flattering picture of us, but it's one of the few were I am wearing they faux-fur stole my mother made for me! It was so warm that day I didn't even need it! Here we just got to the Village Hall. My mother picked us up, and we cramped ourself (four people in total!) in a tiny car, because our car decided to not start any more! 

Here we are waiting for our number to come up, number 601!
Not sure what's going on with Joris beard!

Us getting married!

Back at our house. This is our view from our Home. I love this picture!

Married!

I'll probably sort out some other pictures and devote an other post to the wedding and honeymoon at some point. But there are sooo many pictures to go through! And so many unflattering angles! Hehehe, lol!

It was so much fun, and I'm so happy we did it this way, but boy, It felt like I was hit by a truck! And I need some time to let it all sink in. Get settled with my husband and to enjoy being a newly-wed!

Look at these!

No new wedding related news since yesterday (other then I forgot to bid on two veils I really liked on eBay, and only remembered about ten minutes after the action had ended, hehe, good one!).
Still waiting for my dress to come! (is it stupid that I don't wan to leave the house in case the postman comes?) However... I did finally find the right camera cable!! And the right CD-rom!!!
Sooo, I have pictures!!! Ok, there are still a lot of them to go through, and since it's a new-to-me camera I am still, uhm.., learning. But here are a few just for you!

Yes, this is a pineapple lamp.
My pineapple lamp. And yes, it does have a pink shade
I like it like that.

This is my cat, Luna. She looks all sweet and lovely, but I'm pretty sure she wants to kill me.
I'm only half kidding here, I'm pretty sure she does actually wants to kill me :p!

This is the Buddha I got from my mother right after her father had passed away. We had seen it together in the same village as my grandfathers care-home was (funny note: I live next to that home now, in that same village!) when we would visit him. I had always loved it, but it was too expensive for me. My mother bought it for me as a 'thank you' because I was there and tried to help those last weeks of her father live. It has great sentimental meaning to me and I will always love it! Whenever I move house, this fella sits on my lap during the car ride (I'm not the one driving!), to keep him save. Oh, and I should mention that Joris made this picture.

My rings!!!
LOVE these!!
The top one, in yellow gold, with the big(ger) stone is not my engagement ring. It's my 'we-are-buying-a-house-together-and-going-to-live-together' ring.
When we bought the house (before we were engaged) we singed a contract. A 'living-together' contract. I am not making this up. This really does exist! It's a legal document for people who live together. Not just for lovers, but also for room-mates or when you are an adult and are living with you siblings/parents. It states which things belong to whom, what happens to the house when one person would pass away, who gets the house if we were to separate, all those fun things! We kind of saw this as a promise ring (and call it that). By that time I knew Joris was going to ask me to marry him someday, and I knew I wanted to marry him, someday. Little did I know we would marry within the year!
I really like how we got this ring. It was something we really did together. We wanted something to symbolize the moment (we signed the contract 10 December 2010, signed for the house on 13 December 2010), and I wanted a ring :p!
We looked and looked, but our budget was too small to find anything. I had this ring, with a single diamond in it. I bought it when I was 19. because my grandmother always told me to put my money in jewellery, so I did. When I was 19 I had a little bit of money and bought this simple ring, with an old diamond (the diamond was old, the setting new and not pretty), as an investment (stupidest thing ever, by the way!) but also because I felt as if nobody would ever love me or would buy me a diamond ring. So I did! So we looked and found an old setting on eBay. It had belonged to the sellers grandmother and it was believed to be from the 1930's-'40. His grandmother died, they lost the diamond (or took it out) and the ring was sold as scrap-gold! But I loved the design and we figured we could have my stone put into this ring. So we set our alarm for 3 AM for the action, and we got it! It was a great moment we shared together! Unfortunately having the stone put in the ring was not something the jewellers around here wanted to do (never understood why..), in the end we found someone who wanted to do it, and they did a wonderful job! However, because it was November they were busy and the ring wasn't finished until my mothers birthday, 5 January :p!
But that doesn't matter, I still love that ring and it still symbolises how we worked together to get what we wanted.

The other ring is my engagement ring. Again, our budget was tight (and I am speaking tight!) and I wanted something old. And, we wanted something I could wear with my other ring, the promise-ring Yes, I do like diamonds (and most other stones) but I want to be sure (as much as possible) that they are non-conflict diamond. And seeing I like old things (this goes for a lot of things, not all though :p) getting an affordable vintage ring was a good option! Since Joris asked me to marry him in an spontaneous (and emotional) proposal he did not have a ring (and I doubt he would have dared pick out a ring for me. Knowing how picky I can be.. But I'd like to think I would have love anything he would have picked out!).
So we went looking together, this time in real live stores. This was the first ring we saw! We didn't buy it right away. We wanted to 'look around' but it soon became apparent that this was a lovely ring at a very good price! I was getting all nervous because we did not have time to go back to this store and had to wait a few days before Joris could go back there! Do you know that feeling, where you get all nervous, not in a good way, because you are convinced someone else must have bought it by now?! I had that, a lot!
But we were lucky! Unfortunately we had some trouble with the jeweller so I had a bit of a bad taste in my mouth for a while, and Joris has even worn the ring when I didn't want to (yes.. he fits my rings.. he's even a halve size smaller then me.. Sigh.. one of those thing I don't like, but hey, what can you do about it?!?). I think that probably did the trick tough and now I miss it whenever I'm not wearing it!

This turned out to be quite a long post! And the pictures didn't turn out the way I had thought they would (not so much the pictures, more they way Blogger uploads them and their size on the blog..)
Remember, I'm new to this whole picture making thing, so be kind ;-)
I'm sure I'll be tinkering a bit and changing things and try some new stuff!

So far, no package today...
Maybe tomorrow..?

Count down has begun!

So the count down has begun. When Joris and I decided to push our wedding forward (from 16 June 1012 to 31 October 2011) we had 11 weeks to get everything sorted! So as of today, we have 48 days left! I can tell you: this is not a lot of time to organize a wedding, no matter how big or small. Official things seem to need their time. If you are familiar with Dutch culture; paperwork moves slow around here. Which is ok, because it gives us time to save for rings (I soo hope we can get the rings we want in time for our wedding! I want him to put that ring on, and I'll never take it off! (well, except for medical reasons..) and to take care of some things around the house. Our contractor (I still can't believe I own my own house! And that we have a contractor!! I know I'm "grown-up" but I still don't feel that way!) came by yesterday to talk about the last few things we want to have done. Compared to the double doors, or the stairs, they are just small, minor things, but these are things I can get really excited about! If everything works out he is going to install our dishwasher and oven for us (the kitchen needs some, uhm, prep-work! The poor things have been standing in our living room for almost nine months! I feel embarrassed now..) along with making a lock on our fence door and put up our sunscreen! They house is going to feel sooo much more like a Home after that! Especially the work in the kitchen! I love baking and I don't like washing-up, so I'm really going to enjoy using these thing so much! Oh, and he is going to put something underneath the counter-top so it's save for me to put my lovely Kitchen-aid on it! I can't wait! I promise to take some pictures! Once I figure out how to transfer pictures from the camera to my laptop (well and, find the box with the right cable..) you will be swamped with pictures!!! And, back on the wedding front.. I have found and bought a dress!!! The dresses from my earlier post were not suitable for remaking into a wedding dress. My mother took a look at the fabric and made that disapproving face (that I know all too well) shook her head and frowned. So that was it. I don't know how to sew (not really) so I needed my mother to be on board for this. And to trust her and her sewing knowledge. So I did, and the dresses went back. So on we went, looking for that "perfect" dress. And finding.. nothing... Joris and I have a very, v.e.r.y. limited budget. Which is ok. I mean, we decided to push the wedding forward, to change everything around. But it does make finding the right things in time a bit more challenging. And it makes you prioritize. For me, our wedding rings are more important that my dress. I know that the more money we spend on something like dresses or shoes the less chance we have of getting the rings we want. I have seen hundreds of dresses that I could have seen being a/mine wedding dress. But I wasn't looking for a wedding dress at that time. And now that I was those dresses where nowhere to be found! Doesn't that always seem the be the case? After three failed dress attempts (at first I bought a lovely dress for $35 on eBay, but then it turned out to be too damaged to even be send to me! (I still miss that dress! It was perfect! White, wrap-dress, tea length, could fit a petticoat, 3/4 length sleeves, with cuffs and a collar! Oh well.. ). Then I had the "brilliant" idea of earlier mentioned former post.. to turn three dresses into one.. After that I actually bought a dress (cheap-ish from eBay). It isn't a wedding dress (which is fine, I don't mind that at all!), and even though it's a lovely dress, it just didn't feel like a wedding dress. It's pretty, but nothing special. I am keeping the dress, sort of as a last minute back up (even if it was to have a "new" dress, nobody has seen me in for the wedding), but hopefully just as a beautiful dress I hope to wear to a nice party with my husband sometimes! So on we went, looking, and looking. I would love to have been able to go to a "real" bridal store, but knowing their "cheap"dresses are more then our entire budget, and being plus sized there would not be anything for me to try on... So my fear and insecurities got the better of me, and I decided that I would not go to a "real" bridal store. Having found a dress (in mint-green!) I really liked, I was happy to go with it. But than they did not want to ship to the Netherlands (argh! I hate when that happens!).. After finally finding a store that would ship that dress to the Netherlands.. the dress sold out! Literally when we were making an account to buy it! I could not believe it! (I had even made a post about that dress, saying how it reminded me of Ginger Rogers..) However, after looking and looking we found (and bought!) a dress! It's not a "wedding"dress, not officially, but for me it's the most weddingy-dress I've even looked at! It's ivory, has an empire waist and fluttery sleeves. It might be a tad short on me (apparently I am tall! I never knew!) but if it turns out to be too short I know I will be able to fix that. I'll make an under-or-overlay or attach some lovely lace trim to the bottom of the dress (this is actually an idea I like more and more.. I might even do that even when the dress is long enough).. whatever, I know I can fix that! So, they say it has been shipped.. but the tracking number is not working.. so as long as I don't have the dress in my hands I'm still skeptical! So, as to not jinxes it, I'm not going to show a picture of it. Sorry.. hope you understand! Alright, I must get back; struggling, to finally get my bookcase in one piece!

Wedding bells!!!

Right, so yes, uhmm...
To make a long story short, or at least to try to make it a little less long...
The Boy and I are getting married!!!!
Jeyyy!!
Well, of course you already knew we were engaged, but we actually decided to push the wedding (push, shove, drag, whatever) forward.
To... October 31 2011.
That is in ten weeks. As in 70 days.

Right.
I know...
It's okay, we still love each other.

Before I begin, let me warn anybody who does me rambling on about our wedding plans, or likes to hear (and look) about wedding dresses.
You are warned!
Okay, done now, read on.

We actually decided this a little over a week ago. Last Monday Joris checked with our Town Hall (where we will be getting married) if they had a spot left for that day, and they did! So now I've been into wedding planning-mode this last week!

When we first got engaged earlier this year we had planned on getting married on June 16 2012. The day we met. An in 2012 it falls on a Saturday. Perfect, right? Wrong. That meant everything was extra super-duper expensive! And well, we're not super-duper rich. And you know, with just having bought our Home, Joris' old house still not having been sold (any takers?), remodeling our Home (yes, we are still in the middle of painting walls, laying down floors, sanding floors...) me wanting to start a course to become a goldsmith next year (other story, other time)..

And to be honest over this past year I haven't been seeing most of my friends. And even when I try to make time for them, they don't seem to have time for me anymore. I know some are still shocked that Joris and I bought a house and moved in together (as am I). And others just had changing lives themselves. Moving house, moving in together, changing cities, changing lives (having babies. Not me, but some of my friends did) makes you loose friends I suppose...

My family, well, that's a whole story, chapter, novel, trilogy in itself. And Joris' family.. Lets just say, we both come from broken homes.

Anyway. I have been feeling left out, forgotten. With my friends and my family. And after my not-so-great-birthday this year I was left feeling really lonely and sad (and obviously sorry for myself). I just didn't see the point in having a big expensive party anymore.
I am just too scared no one will show up.
Adding to that some family-drama...

So... we are eloping!
Sort of.
Our immediate family will be there (parents, sisters). That is to say, they are invited, it's their choice whether or not they'll show up.
We are still planning on having a party on June 16 next year, but it will be without a ceremony. So a lot less expensive and not as emotional. I hope that will help me with the planning as well. I was getting so worried about, well everything and everybody. I was not having any fun anymore, at all.

The stress was really getting to me. So now we are celebrating twice!
At our Town Hall they marry people for free. Every Monday morning at 9 AM and 9.30 AM.
So we were very happy when we heard we could get married Monday, 31 October 2011, at 09.30 AM. (we chose October 31 more as a joke. Because we couldn't find a date that fell on a Monday this year/next year that had any special meaning to us. And I like Halloween, so there you have it!)
It's very sober, small, cheap and tiny (I prefer calling it, simple, minimalist, intimate).
But I think it's right for us. At this time and space.

It's going to be short and sweet.
After the ten minute ceremony we'll be on our way Home to enjoy a brunch, made by yours truly. (at our Home, so that means we have A LOT to do!)
After about 3 hours our guests will (hopefully!) escort us to the train station http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif(about a ten minute walk) where Joris and I will go on our first trip together! Our honeymoon!!
We will go, by train and boat, to Vlieland (a small island just off the Dutch coast), for a three or four night stay.

Soooo, that is giving me 10 weeks (70 days!!!) to plan this whole wedding!
The first thing we want are rings.
I tend to get very emotionally attached to jewelry, so a wedding ring is a very big deal for me! We decided on a ring (I am saving the pictures). In fact, it's the only ring Joris really liked as well. But we are a bit short on, well, money. So the rings will have to wait for now. (I might sound all cool and calm right now, but trust me, on the inside I feel like a two year old having a tantrum!)
So, rings sorted. Kind of...

On to my dress!
I always loved tea length dresses, with petticoats, big and small! Just give me anything from Dolly Couture or Lena Hoschek and I would be in dress-heaven!
I really wanted to wear a dress like that on my wedding day. Maybe a bit more toned down, especially now we're eloping, but you get the idea.
Unfortunately, even though those dresses might not be the most expensive dresses you could find, they are wayyy out of my price range.
So I went on to the big 'oll internet to find myself a dress. A wedding dress.
And I found a dress!!!
In like, two days!!
It was perfect!!
Everything I wanted for my elopement wedding!
It was a white, tea length wrap dress, with 3/4 sleeves. And a collar!
And in my size! (I am a large girl, so finding something that fits is sometimes a challenge)
I could see it.
It was a pretty picture. It involved a petticoat, 1940's hair and red lips..
Oh, did I mention the dress was only $35? (and $15 for shipping, but still $50 in total!)
Yes, I know...
So I bought the dress (first waited for two days. Decided I was crazy for not buying it already so I just bought the thing!), payed for it. Waited for them to tell me they had shipped it to me...
Waited.. waited some more..
Then I got an email saying the dress was too damaged for them to send it to me. And that it was the last one they had.
They offered me to pick something else from their store. For $35 or lesser value.

Wait.... What....?!?

There is nothing else I want from their store. Or any other store. Not for $35 (okay $50)!
I am not too ashamed to admit that I cried.
Not then and there. No, after two days of looking at every sort-of-white-might-fit-could-work dress.
It was not a pretty picture. I was getting desperate I tell you!

So, after looking at thousands of pictures I found one. One, that might work. Might be okay. Might even be white-ish (even if they call it 'ecru' in the description).
It's not $35, but it's close.
Actually it's 25 Euro's, so I guess it is $35!
The only thing is... I need three of them.

Yes, that's right. Three.

So that's 3 x 25 + 5 for shipping = 80 Euro's.
That's $112.
(did I tell you I am on a budget???)

So, here's the thing.
It's a dress. But it's a very short, summery dress.
Wait, here's a picture:


(Bought here. Not really a "pretty" store, but uhm.. 70 days! So..)

Yeah, I know, it doesn't scream: fall/autumn, October 31, Town Hall, elegant, elopement wedding.
This I know.
That is why I bought three.
I want to cut them up and sew them together, to make a long (ankle/floor length) dress.
I'm also going to sew the halter-ties-things to the back, so it becomes a "normal" dress.
And out of the scraps of the two cut-up dresses I plan on making some sort of sleeve. I'm guessing short and fluttery.

Sort of like this:

(Image found here)

But very different, and with sleeves.
And maybe a bit more 1920's..
Like this:


(Image found here. They have some lovely other dresses!)

Hmm, still no sleeves..
How about this:


(Image found here)

Or something like this. This should be do-able, right?

(Image found here)

Now, keep in mind I don't know how to sew.
At all.

I'm sure everything will be alright.
At least that's the phrase I keep repeating to myself in my head, so no-one can hear me.

I am trying to envision myself in that dress. Standing next to Joris. On a beautiful fall/autumn day. With red and gold colored leaves on the trees and on the ground..
Maybe even snow.. Or sunshine.. Or rain.
Then we will have big umbrellas (make mental note: find and buy huge umbrellas!) and we will be standing under said umbrellas... just the two of us, and maybe some family members...

I might try to make the dress a bit more 1920's. With some pretty (embroidered?) ribbon round the neckline, maybe an Art Deco brooch...
Can you picture it?
No, me neither. Not yet.
Hopefully the dresses will arrive tomorrow evening. Then I can see them, feel the fabric, try one on.
I hope they fit!
I reallly hope it will work out! Because I don't have a plan B. Well, this is my plan B.

I feel a bit sad, not having the dress I always wanted. To not be able to have the party I always wanted.
And it's okay to feel a bit sad about it.
But I have a wedding to plan! A fantastic man to marry!
So we can be husband and wife, together.

In a way I think it's so much better for me to have to plan this wedding in 11 weeks (10 weeks from today!). This way I won't be able to get to distracted from to main thing: Getting married.
Not the wedding. Not the dress. Our marriage.
It's about setting priorities. I want to be married to this man. He wants to be married to me.
After that I guess it's rings. Because we will wear them (hopefully!) the rest of our lives.
Everything else is just icing on the cake!

And since I am making our own (wedding)cake, I can put as much icing on it as I would like!
Right?

Got myself a new ride!

What a whirlwind of a move it has been!
So many things went wrong, that it sometime felt as if nothing would ever be right again.
The house is still a mess, and does not feel like a Home yet. But that will come, in time.

Everybody tells you it's going to be great, and I'm sure it will be (and it's coming now, it's getting better), but oh boy, did we have a struggle! Not just with the move, but with each other as well. I definitely have some issues! I did/do not feel comfortable living in a house that is not (completely) mine. That I can't pay for on my own. Joris and I fought, we cried, we laughed, we loved each other, and we know we want to be together. And so we are being nice to each other, even when things don't go as planned. Sure, I cry (but really, I always cry a lot) but we still love and like each other! In all honestly (and maybe I'm sharing too much here), I think that it was the hardest thing about the move. But we made it!

I want to show you this house/home/mess I keep talking about!
However.. I can't find the cables for the camera to hook up to the computer.. (that tells you a little bit about how big a mess it is!)
So you'll just have to take my word for it for now.

Oooh, I have some other news!!!
I bought a new (to me) bike!!!
I life in the Netherlands, and don't even have a drivers license (they are very, very, v e r y expensive to get here) so I use my bike to get around (trust me, this was NOT easy when moving! And I do not recommend it if you want to keep your sanity). But my old bike had had enough and it was broken beyond repair...
So this left me stranded. I could walk or take the bus, both limited me a lot when I wanted to get around town.
I looked for over two weeks! To find something half decent and that I could afford. We looked at three bikes, but no luck.. Until yesterday evening! It was a bit more expensive then I planned, but, oh so lovely!
It's a Batavus Florence. I have no idea how old she is (10, 15, 20 years old???), but she has seven gears and is in great shape!
Now, I'm no computer-wizz, but I'll try to show you the picture of her that was on Marktplaats (a Dutch version of Craigslist)



Isn't she lovely?
She looks almost blue/black in this pictures, but in real-life she's a very dark metallic green. In some light she might look black-ish, but in the sunlight she sparkles a lovely dark green!
I'm kind of smitten, can you tell?
She'll be getting a new (to-me) Brooks saddle (I'm so curious as to find out how that will ride!) and maybe some new grips.. Definitely a basket! I don't particularly like the extra weight in the front of the bike, but I always wear skirt, and therefor always have a (hand)bag.. And I need to keep an eye on it while I'm riding my bike.

My other love (Joris) just got home, so we're off! Going to ride our bikes and enjoy the sun while it's here!

First and last night, see you on the other side!

Yesterday we slept in our new home, for the very first time!
It was.., well, kind of weird. Nice, but it felt like we were camping, or staying in a hotel. And we kind of were. I mean, we have no lights yet, so if I wanted to go to the bathroom at night I had to use a flashlight. And because we don't have any curtains yet it felt as of the whole neighborhood was looking in (which I'm pretty sure they were, we've had so many comments!)
And it hit me, really hit me, for the first time. I am moving in with somebody else! I won't have a home of my own anymore! I won't be able to just spread out in bed (I love to take up the whole bed! I usually look like an X, with my arms and legs spread out!), or, you know, tell him to go home when we have a fight. It felt like a lot to take in. And it still feels kind of daunting. I'm sure it will be great, once we're settled, but for now it feels really quite strange..

Today we spend making room in our new home for all our (read: my) old stuff. Tomorrow (in 15 hours to be exact) a friend of mine, who has a van, is coming to help us move all the big stuff (sofa, wardrobe, fridge, washing-machine, you get the point) and we are no were near ready!
All the rooms are still so full of stuff that the sofa won't be able to get to the door! So right this minute, as I type, Joris (I love you so much, baby! I really do appreciate all that you do for me!) is packing a moving-box with some of my many, many books and dvd's.

Me? I do help, really, I do! It's just, right now I'm all worn out. I can't seem to find the trees through the forest anymore. It feels like, no matter how much stuff we take out, the rooms just don't seem to get any emptier... How does THAT work?!
But we're tired, and we need to get some sleep.

Tonight is going to be our last night in my old home (we're sleeping here tonight, because it's easier when we start moving stuff in the morning. And we still have a mattress on the floor here). It feels like I'm closing a chapter, and I won't ever be able to go back to it. I always get this way when I move, and I'm sure I'll be sobbing on the floor before I hand in the keys.

So, goodbye for now. I'm not sure if my internet connection here will continue for long. But Thursday (IEK!!! It's almost Thursday!!! Please, no! I just need a little more time, just give me two more days!) we will be done, that's when we hand in the keys of my old, single, home. at least, I hope so...

See you on the other side!

Final days..

Just a quick post because we have been very busy (and still are!).
We've been hard at work, and the new Home is getting there, slowly, but surely.
I have to leave my old house on Thursday July 7, and there is still sooo much tot do!
We hope to be moving next week, Friday or Saturday, if we can find someone with a van to help us that is!

But, before I go on, first some more pictures of our Home as it is/was in the 'Before'!
First up, is the bathroom! Well, what to say about it.. It's small. It has a shower, and no, the grout is not just dirty, it's been painted green by the previous occupants! Not to bad, but they, ahum, didn't actually do it very well. We tried to paint over it, using special grout paint, but, uhm.. it's mainly sticking to the tiles, and not really to the grout.. Yeah.. kind of sucks (more because it took up a lot of time and effort), but we'll deal with that once we live there!
I present to you: THE BATHROOM!



The washer and dryer are going to be in there as well, to the left of the sink. It's going to be a squeeze, but that's fine. Bathrooms can be changed, altered and remodelled. Right?

Next up.. The livingroom!!!
As these are the 'before' pictures, I can tell you, the living room does not look like this anymore..
For the moment it's being used as storage for the oven, dryer, dishwasher, paint, floors (that still need to go down in the other rooms that need to be painted first), etc..
But.. the biggest change are the garden doors! We now have double-doors!!! I promise I'll get some good pictures of the new doors, they are really quite lovely..

THE LIVINGROOM!


This side hasn't changed that much.. Love that view, if there isn't a van parked in front of our house (it's the neighbours van..) we have a lovely view of a pond with ducks! Love that!


This side looks very different now! It wasn't bad like this, but I/we wanted two doors we could open in summertime! It's going to be lovely!

Now, this post isn't over, but I am feeling a bit sorry for myself today, so be warned if you read on.. I guess it's because I'm tiered from working at the house for over six (6!) months, and it that time of year..

Tomorrow is my birthday, and (as usual) I have a bit of the Birthday-Blues.. It's not unusual for me to feel this way around my birthday (and I seem to get it around New years as well), but with all the work that has to be done it's not very helpful!
Because we are not nearly as far with all the work as we should be, my birthday will be spent painting. And maybe that's a good thing. I wouldn't be able to sit and enjoy "birthday-stuff" knowing that we still have so much work to do! And painting is definitely one of the more "fun" things to do! Well.., I actually do not enjoy the painting itself (it's ok for small stuff, but after a while everything just starts hurting, and we still have a lot of rooms to paint!), but it can be so gratifying to see the result! All the hours, days, weeks, months of hard work, and then to, finally, put on a beautiful coat of paint! After de paint come the floors, and then the room is ready! Then it can be filled with treasures and can be used to create beautiful memories!

To be honest I am both dreading July 7 and really looking forward to it.
I am somewhat worried that we won't make it in time, that we won't get the work done.
But if (and when) we do, it will be great! Then we can finally start living in this lovely Home! Love it the way it's supposed to be! Be able to actually see my friends again (I've missed you!!)!! To take some time off from working on the house, even if it's just for the night! I can't wait for fall, hopefully by that time we're settled in our new Home, and we might have even unpacked one or two things!

I can't wait!

Almost there!

So after a lot of interviews we found ourselfs a builder!
It wasn't an easy task, because we have a tight budget en limited time, but we finally found someone who could make us a staircase, new patiodoors, do some electricalwork and some plumming for us!
And so far, we are really happy about it!
He is making recordtime! We thought it might take somewhere between 3 to 6 weeks for him to be ready, but as it looks now, he will be done next week!!!
The stairs went in THIS week!!!!

This is great news!
This also means that my fiance and I will have to go back to work ourselfs!

We hope to get the last changes done ourself and then it's time for cleaning, filling holes, painting and putting in floors! Then: the move!

I love the idea of living there, but I am dredding The Move... I have a lot of stuff, and always start to panic a bit when I realise all that STUFF has to be packed, caried down 6 (six!) flights of stairs, put in a van and be placed and unpacked at the new house.
The fact that we don't own a car (I don't even have my licence!) makes me a bit scared. And totaly dependend on other people.
I don't like that.

But, I'll deal with it, I'll have to!
And it will be fine, so far it has always worked out.

Every now and then I get a bit house-tired. Then all I see are the things we have to do, have to sort, clean, pack, think about... To relax I sometimes take a day (or half a day) "off". I go to see someone (and beg then not to ask about the house!) or I go and look a wedding stuff!
Because, I am going to be a bride next year!

But, for now, I'll show you some more of our lovely home!



This is a picture of our bedroom (it even has a balcony!!!!).
It's no longer orange (I really do not like the colour orange).
People kept calling it the 'parents-bedroom' and I kept thinking: "Hu? this is not my parents bedroom! It's my bedro... ooh!"
It's not the biggest bedroom, so not officially the 'master-bedroom'.

The biggest bedroom is The Blue Room



You can get why we call it the blue room!

It is also no longer blue.. but we still call it 'the blue room', kind of confusing for people who haven't seen it in it's blue state!
This is going to be our guest room. And (maybe someday) a childs bedroom.
For now it's going to be my fiance's study, until we can finish the attic.

Still have to take pictures with my new camera!
I have taken it out of the house now!
I just bought a Banana Hammock for it, so now I can put it in my bag and go!
I just haven't dared to take any pictures af the house in it's current state.. Probably because I was scared to even walk around there... :p!

It's been a while...

Sooo. Yea, it's been a while...
Sorry about that.
I'll be better, really, I promise!

A lot has happened these days, weeks, months.
My boyfriend and I got the house! Jey!
And it's in a lot worse shape then I thought.. It was dirty (like really, really DIRTY... Not nice..) the day we bought the house the heating gave out.. So it was cold, like freezing cold...
But we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and then we cleaned some more!
We got the heating fixed so we were no longer freezing while doing al this cleaning and we could just grab hot water from the tab (let me tell you, how spoiled I have been to always have heat and warm running water! And how much I missed it when I didn't have it.. And how exited I was when we got it fixed!!)

The boyfriend is also no longer my boyfriend...
He is now my fiance!!!
Oh my! I knew he was planning on "someday" asking me to marry him, but I never thought it would be this soon!
He gave me a promise ring on my mother's birthday (5th January) and we had talked about getting married before, but I never thought that on Saturday 29th January he would ask me to marry him!
He said he had planned to ask me this Valentines, but he couldn't hold it in any longer.
Aaaah, it was so sweet!
Oh, yeah, I said 'yes'!
So after remodeling, fixing up the home and moving we have a wedding to plan!
We plan to marry on Saturday June 16, 2012.
It seems like a long time away, but I already had a panic attack about the plates for dinner.. Yea.. I'm like that...

My brain is trying to come to grips with all this exiting news! And sometimes it's a bit overwhelming. But all in all really good!
My poor brain is also trying to come to terms with all the new STUFF I got!! Seriously, I don't want to come across as showing off, but I bought myself a new camera! (really, I love it so!! But the amount of money is a bit ridiculous! I'm still scared of taking it out of the house and breaking it..) and I got an actual KitchenAid Mixer! Seriously! This has been something I wanted, coveted, loved-from-a-far since I was like 14 years old! (I know, I was a strange kid, and I still am!)
It's even in my favorite colour, Ice blue!!!
This might sound really bad, but I'm still staring at it, after weeks... I only stared at my engagement ring for about a week! Almost in disbelieve...
I haven't used it, yet. I have no room in my current kitchen (it's so tiny) and it was a gift for our new home, so I have to be patient.. It's going to be difficult, but I have to be patient...

This is the part where I have to hang my head in shame.. I don't know (yet!) how to get pictures from my new camera on to my laptop... I know, I know... I'm really bad!!! But I promise I'll read the instructions and get some real pictures on here!

So for now I will leave you with some more pictures, not taken by me, of our new house, soon, our home...
I promise I'll be better and write more!


The kitchen!!!! Ooh, I how I love kitchens!

P.S. This is the "before" of the kitchen! We have worked/cleaned hard, and more, better pictures are coming soon!
Right, now I will go and try to take my new camera outside... Oh my...