Bookshelf 2011

I saw this great post on Erin's blog about the books she'd read in 2011 and I wanted to share my books too!
I had a goal of reading 30 books by the end of the year, and I have the same goal again for 2012!

1. Life-changing Books about Faith:
- The Bible (God): I try to complete it every year. Maybe I can try to read it twice in 2013 :-)
- Sacred Romance (Bryan C. Curtis)
- Following God with all your Heart (Elizabeth George)

- A woman after God's own Heart (Elizabeth George) : I LOVE this book. I read this once a year because it always gives me something new to think about and it changes my life a bit more everytime I read it!


2. Marriage
- The Five Love Languages (Gary Chapman)
- Intended for pleasure (Ed & Gaye Wheat) 
- Love & Respect (Eggerichs)

3. Classics/Literature
- Macbeth (Shakespeare)
- The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne)
- Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brönte)
- L'ignorance (Kundera)

- Wuthering Heights (Emily Brönte)
- The Blush (Elizabeth Taylor): I am writing my bachelor's thesis on this collection of short stories! You should try some of her works, I really like her!

- The little Girl who was too fond of Matches (Gaétan Soucy) : Don't read this one. I had to read it for school and even watched a play on it. It really is not worth your time! Bizarre, weird, absurd. That's how I like to describe it. Or actually, I don't even like to describe it, I don't even want to talk about it! It made me feel sick... Yes, sick. 'nough said!

4. Novels
- Nights of Rain and Stars (Maeve Binchy)
- Tara Road (Maeve Binchy)
- Silver Wedding (Maeve Binchy)
- The Lilac Bus (Maeve Binchy)
- Circle of friends (Maeve Binchy)
- Evening Class (Maeve Binchy) 
 

5. Christian Novels
-The Atonement Child (Francine Rivers)
- Unspoken (Francine Rivers)
- The Last Sin Eater (Francine Rivers)
- Burn (Ted Dekker)
- The Lights of Tenth Street (Shaunti Feldhahn): So intense, so much suspense... I loved this book!
- And the Sjofar blew (Francine Rivers)
- House (Frank Peretti)
- Hangman's curse (Frank Peretti)
- This Present Darkness (Frank Peretti)

The ones that I recommend are underlined!

I guess I read mostly novels this year. When going through these titels I noticed a lot of the christian novels I've read were thrillers... When we got married this past summer I had almost 3 months of vacation and I just read all Jeff's books! I did like to read some thrillers but it definately isn't my favourite genre...
Maeve Binchy I really liked, very entertaining and more my kind of novel. Normally I wouldn't buy a book (waste of trees!), I only buy good books that encourage my faith. Mayve Binchy however, I could see myself collecting all of her books!
I read a lot of classics because it's required when you study literature :-)

For the moment I'm well on my way into my books of 2012, I'm at number 10!  I feel like I've been reading more books about faith and less novels. I guess I just have to read enough "entertaining stuff" for school so I want to read more

99 Things

I saw this over at Sarah's at 90% Blonde 
and I thought it would be fun to try it out for myself!

So funny to read through all these things and remember them good ol' days when I took a martial class (yep, I did...) or when I hitch hiked to heaven (well, we didn't get there but we had some great talks)!

 Hemel is Heaven in Dutch

Aaah, time flies!!

99 Things (those I've done in bold)
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightening storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort 

25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

I think I've done 32 of them! Not bad huh? That's about 1/3! 

Some I don't want to do though, like break a bone, get stung by a bee or get fired.

What about you? 

How many have you got? :)

Bummer, Bridal Shower Fun and my Little Sister!

Soooo...
I guess the house didn't work out last night. Well, it DID work out, we loved it! Maybe a tad too small for what we were expecting but we could make it work! The garden made up for every little negative thought we might have had about the old house!

But it was an open house night so there were lots of people! There were even people measuring everything, taking pictures and looking at us like it already was their house and we were just intruders! Haha :)

The sales girl told us they weren't supposed to go under the price (which was indeed pretty low for a house like that, they wanted to get it sold as soon as possible), especially since there was so much people that really seemed like they wanted to bid on the house! So we had to let our dreams go... (not the baby dream, ofcourse!!)
I may or may not have cried a little... (or a lot?)
If the house is still for sale next week we'll give them a call to see what we can do.

On a brighter note: tomorrow is the bridal shower!!
I still have to find some things but the big things are all ok, thank God.
Tonight I'll do the decorations, tomorrow morning its the bridal shower brunch, yeeey.

AND also: my sister will be staying with us for the weekend!
She's very sweet but very different than me hah!My parents will be going on a weekend-trip and they didn't want her to be home alone because she's had such a hard time on school. She really needs her rest and she really doesn't know her limits haha :)
So I got the nice job of pampering her! And it's fun because now she can come to the bridal shower too!

I love this picture SO much!

It's so typical of each of the three people in it :)

Hannah, Jeff, my Daddy

Houses and Babies

Tonight we're going to look at a house that's for sale!
I'm so so so excited! It's one of the few houses Jeff and I both like from the pictures. It's only a bit over our budget but we can still try, yes?

 A house like this would be perfect! 

But sadly, not possible in Belgium haha!

(so no, this is not the house)

The house has a big garden, one of my MUSTS because I want my kids to be able to play outside in the garden all the time while I grow some vegetables and our (future) dog is running around like crazy! I think a garden is so important. But because of all this I've started to think about babies too! All those baby bumps or momma's with a stroller don't help either...
So if we would be able to buy this house, I'll be getting some baby fever, that's for sure!!!

I guess it's also a good motivation to work hard for my studies, I want to get this degree as fast as possible! Let's get it on with!

Count your blessings

I've been a bit down lately (hence the no-blogging), so I thought I should count my blessings to lift my mood a bit!
I'm really blessed but still depressive thoughts keep creeping in my mind...
So here we go!

* I have an AMAZING husband! He loves me and wants nothing more than to make me happy!

* I have this little bunny that is just the cutest thing ever!
When I'm having my quiet time he comes sitting next to me to snuggle and nap...

 

* I spent a lot of time doing my favourite hobby... Baking!

* We have a great place to live in, even though it's just for now.

* I have some amazing friends!

This was at a Goodbye Party in our basement (Church venue, not part of our home)!

* I believe in the greatest God and I know that I'm a saved Christian! This is the greatest blessing ever and a source of joy!

What are some of your blessings??
Am I the only one that sometimes forgets about them and starts to be all sad and sorry for myself? Haha!

One down!

I finished my first exam!!

It was an oral one about French Literature and I think it went well...
But it was the weirdest thing, all of a sudden I could speak french, pretty good!! What?! Haha :)
I gues I AM learning something!!

One down, three to go!
Next one is on friday and it's about Online Marketing. Read: Twitter, Facebook, E-mails, the Internet, BLOGS,... yeah... I'm hoping it's not too difficult hehe...

Bunnies!

It's almost my birthday (30 Jan) so I'm thinking about what Jeff can give me. The man is clueless when it comes to gifts so he really needs some help!

I'm thinking about maybe getting a bunny... I miss having a pet (my poor Tosca can't stay with us because we lack a garden!) so I asked around what a good pet would be.
A friend of mine has a bunny and she really loves it!

I'd like one like this:

Jeff's a bit afraid that it'll bite through the cables that are all over our place thanks to our wonderful beamer that we use as our own movie theatre, but I've heard you can learn them what they can and can't do!
And I'll be only going to school twice a week in the upcoming semester!

What do you think of keeping a bunny in your house?
Any experience?
What should I think of before buying one??

Bye Bye 2011

This past year has flown by!
One of my favourite bloggers, Jenifer at Sweet Blessings, did a '11 recap kinda post and I loved it so much that I'm going to give you my very own '11 recap!

Januari:
Januari is one of the 2 most hated months in the life of a student in Belgium: We have exams for the whole month!
My sweet fiancé (he was still a fiancé back then hehe) bought me this big bouquet of flowers and had them delivered to my door! I still think of it sometimes!

 

Febuari:

I went to London for the first time! This trip was also my first trip with friends... Weird isn't it? I'm just not that much of a travel person and I guess they just talked me into it :) 

I loved it very much though!! 

March:

I feel like March was such a boring month... I didn't blog and my agenda tells me that I only had a take-home-exam, so maybe that's why I didn't do anything exciting??

April:

In April I went with one of my friends to a Thai Massage salon. Not to get a massage but to talk to the women that work there. A lot of them don't work there because they want to but because they think they don't have another choice! Ofcourse we didn't get to talk about that but still, very weird to have been inside a brothel!

More about that here

May:

I had my bachelorette party in May!

I had a blast with my sweet girlfriends and enjoyed every moment of it :)

They dressed me up as my very favourite princess and made me clean streets... Because I'm a princess and I love to clean ofcourse. They know me too well I'm afraid...

June:

June was the month that I got to take my wedding dress home!!!

I was so excited! The lady from the store didn't want me to walk around in it, so I felt a bit bummed, but still, it's such a precious memory :)

July:

This one needs no more explanation I guess

August:

I cut my hair! I didn't like it at all so I'm happy that it's growing pretty fast :)

September:

We stayed at Jeff's parents' for two weeks as a little holiday while they went to Gran Canaria! We had so much fun together, still learning to live together but not in our own apartment. We love the region where they live, it's very calm and quiet there.

October:

In October we started our very first Marriage Course!

It's the one from Sila and Lee if you know them. We had so much fun together :)
We learned to talk about things we didn't talk about before... And we learned also that our marriage was (and is!) still pretty good!! I guess that's because we had only been married for three months at that point hehe!

November:

We went to Paris in November! Read about it here

December:

To prepare for Christmas, I gave Jeff every day a gift for the 10 days before Christmas! 

On day one he got one present, day 2 he got 2 presents etc... (Don't worry they were pretty cheap!)

Yups very crazy but I had fun with it! 

Come back tomorrow to read about my New year's Resolutions for 2012 and how I did with the ones for 2011!!

What are some of your highlights of 2011? Any expectations for 2012?

French week?!

I'm in the busiest week of the year! Presentation in French, writing a press message in French, a 'business' meeting in French, reading a book (yes, in French) in less than a week and answering weird questions... Oh how I love college!
They're trying to kill us! Haha :)

But luckily this weekend we'll have some time for just the two of us... IN PARIS!! (Don't they speak French there?! lol!)
Jeej it's coming closer :) Any more ideas on what we should go to or get as a souvenir?
I'm thinking a painting/sketch, some macarons, lots of pictures!

Oh and for those of you wondering: I'm still training on our crosstrainer!
It's the 16th day we've got this little baby and I've been on it for 9 days!! NINE! That's about every other day! 40 minutes a day!
Jeff jokes that maybe I'll become a sports chick now haha :) But I am VERY proud of myself! Me, the couch potato... I don't know if I lost any weight yet but I do feel better about myself... And that's what counts, isn't it?

What are you guys up to?

Random thoughts

* I've been gone for about two weeks! Wooow! I won't say "shame on me" because I had to work for school and spend some time with my husband, but still...

* The marriage class we're taking is so much fun :) We really enjoy going there every wednesday evening and learning some practical tools to make our marriage even better!
I did learn though that we have quite a good relationship. We're able to talk things over and to discuss things in a decent way! But I do realize this could change once we have little ones and that we'll have less time to talk things through.

The only sad thing is that when we tell people we're taking a marriage class, they look at us like we're aliens... I think anyone in a relationship would benefit from this kind of class!!
Next semester they will give a pre-marriage course and maybe I can help with the practical stuff :)

* Last week we went to a party with some friends! It was so much fun!
We didn't even know most of the people but we had a great time :)

As you can see, a bunch of crazy people :)

* I'm happy to inform you all that I've FINALLY managed to find some books I was looking for that I really really needed for my bachelor paper!
Hoorah! I was afraid I had chosen the wrong topic to write about, but now that I've found the books, I can start reading and stop worrying!

* I'm not going to school today and tomorrow, just because... I feel like staying home and the classes really aren't that important. I need some time at home :)

* And one last little update: We bought a crosstrainer!! Well, Jeff bought one for me. He knew I liked working out on it in the gym, but that I didn't want to go to the gym because it's a bit too expensive. We were able to buy a second hand cross trainer that had barely been used! And it cost the same as going to the gym for half a year with a student discount! I've worked out for 40 minutes yesterday and will try to keep it up for at least 3 times a week.

lazy day

I'm having a lazy day...
Jeff called to his office that he's taking a day off because he's not feeling so well, so we just enjoyed watching a movie and staying in our bed!

Tomorrow is his birthday, does anyone have a cute simple fun idea to surprise him? 

I'll be back soon when I'm not feeling this lazy :)

What are we up to on this lil' vacation?

* I'm reading "Love and Respect" by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. I've heard so many good things about it but couldn't get a hold of it because they didn't really sell outside of the US for quite some time. But now they've translated it and I found it in the christian bookshop, jeej!

So far I like his message but I thinks he repeats himself a lot - though his message is really good... I'm not over the first 100 pages yet, so I'll let you know how I think of it later.

* Jeff is trying to improve my blog! He's looking at what I could change in the lay-out and he's actually reading some of the blogs I daily read! It's so funny to hear his thoughts... He has told me he wants to support me with this hobby... Isn't he the cutest?!


* We've been lounging, reading, cooking and just enjoying each other's presence these past days. It's so much fun to get to know each other more and to spend some time together befor my classes start again in about 1,5 week!

Remember we went from Ghent to Oudenaarde on our bikes?

 This picture was taken a couple of minutes before it started to rain really bad...

I have to mention he kept smiling, though! Even when he had to push me because I wanted to stop and just lie down and die in the gutter... Yeah...

 Jeff cooking his favourite meal: spaghetti! 

He could (and would, if I let him!) eat it as dinner, breakfast, lunch and as a snack...  

* Today we went to the park with our nieces (they cut their hair themselves, that's why one might think the youngest is a boy!). We had so much fun but Jeff was exhausted when they left :)
He had to carry them almost all the time. Poor guy!

Maybe you're thinking: soooo much of Jeff today?!
Well, that's my life right now, I can just sit back and watch him all day long :)

Next weekend we'll be going on a leaderships training weekend from Prepare International, I'm so much looking forward to that!

See you soon!!

Comfort food

Lately I've been feelin' a bit down...
Since I got married, I've moved to the other side of the country, I haven't seen so many of my friends because of vacation (july until september) and Jeff has to work (du-uh, most people do, you know!) while I'm home alone.

I feel kinda trapped in this small flat in this big, unknown, gray, unfriendly city... It's not easy to find a balance between inviting friends/family and taking enough time for the two of us to learn to handle this new life of ours.

We have to learn how to deal with friends making decisions that we don't agree with or people acting plain rude because they feel like they can...

I'm a little prone to having depressive thoughts, the kind of thoughts that come swirling in your head and make you wanna crawl right back into your bed and just watch girl movies all.the.time!

But I know I have to fight against this, so what do I do?
I make my favorite comfort food :)

Chilli Con Carne, mmmm...
I prefer to eat it with wraps and some cheese on it! 
Makes my day, any day!!
(oh, and so does French bread with butter and cheese... mmmmm...)


So what are your comfort foods?

Prepare International - Cat weekend

Last weekend we went to a Prepare International weekend! PI is an organisation that wants to train leaders for churches etc, and Jeff and I decided it would be good for our spiritual lives!
We both want to give our lives completely to God so this course is wonderful to get some great tools and teachings on how to handle situations and so on.

The course is spread over 5 weekends per year, during 3 years. This was our third weekend, and it handled "the personal life of a leader". VERY interesting!

But my highlight was a little less "spiritual" and actually a little bit dangerous for me:

These two cats just made my day! And yes, that is a kitten of 3 weeks old!

Excuse the no make-up face, air-dried hair, morning eyes... It was very early and I hadn't had any coffee yet!

I wanted to take them home with me 'cause they were really nobody's, but I'm highly allergic to cats... I may or may not have cried a little and I may or may not have made a scene about going to die when we get married because I won't have an animal to care for...

But it's for the best because cats could kill me too. Yes, I'm that allergic!

Anyways, I thought you guys would like to see that little baby cat too :)
(But I loved the momma cat better... that's what I called her: momma cat!)

Update: bachelorette party, dress fitting, give aways!

I couldn't sleep last night...
Couldn't sleep as in: I called Jeff to tell him I was SO excited and that it was IMPOSSIBLE for me to sleep.

Why, you ask?
I called the woman from my wedding dress' shop and we made an appointment for my first fitting!!
Whaaa! I'm so so so overly excited :) My heart started to beat really loud when she picked up the phone haha!

And then one other thing: in 2 weeks I'll have my bachelorette party!! I can't wait! My friends keep saying these little things that I just don't understand... And then they start laughing really loud. Yeah. Fun.
But I'm sure they've planned some great things because everybody I ask about it starts giggling and saying: oh, we'll have a blast!
And yes, the party is pretty early because in june I'll have exams until approx. a week before the wedding. And I don't wanna be dead/tired/stressed out at my wedding :)

I even bought a skirt. For my bachelorette party. You wanna call me insane? Go ahead, I'm fine with that!
It's just such an exciting time for me!!!
Pictures will follow :)

Oh and another last thing: friday I'll go to the give-away gifts store to try to find something I like. Last time we were there, J. couldn't be less interested in all the... "stuff"... It's just all the same to him so I didn't even bother to look any further and said I'd do it myself.

So, that's it for the mini-update :)
Love,
Evelien

Bridal bouquet

What do you think about these pretty bouquets?

 This one is my favourite until now:

But I also like this one

And this one!

So I think it is safe to say I want a red/dark pink/maybe some whites - bouquet with roses :)

What did your bouquet look like??

Wedding idea: yes or no?

I had this great idea but I need some feedback! Well, because... I'm not so sure if it is really "great"...

So...
At the wedding (at least here in Belgium, I don't know about you guys!), when you go to your tables where you're going to eat, the people have to know where they sit, right? Usually the couple tells you where to sit. We'll have about 150 people to direct to their place so we have to have some kind of "system" that tells them which table is theirs.
Usually the guests get a color that matches their table or some sort of candy or whatever. But I was thinking about searching for wedding movies!

Wait, I'll explain it...
For example:

This one for my family

Our friends? Or just the male friends hehe :)

 Or this one!

If we had greek family, we could take this one for them!

What do you think? Like it? Or is it going to be too funny and too not "wedding-y" and classy and all that...

Sigh, I need some help!

Love,

Evelien

master lists

I love to read Brittany's blog "The High-Heeled Housewife"! Today she wrote a post about making a "master list" of all the things you have to do every day. I always make lists and it does really help me to get everything done. It also gives me a sense of accomplishment when I can cross something off the list :)

She said that she added something special: writing the things your husband asks on top of your list as a priority! I love the idea and will make sure to do this!

But my sweetheart is one easy man. He doesn't need me to do things, most of the time... Maybe that'll change when we get married and I see him every day? only 88 days to go! - but who's counting?
So I try to think of what he would like me to do. Does he want me to do something for the wedding? Or just do the dishes he left it piling up all week? Yep, he's living like a real man! no laundry, no dishes, no cleaning at all! I don't mind doing it for him so I don't think he'll ever learn it :)

I don't think he even notices everything I do because I think he would like it, hah! But it doesn't matter, it's the thought that counts, right?

Thai New Year

I'm going home tonight because I'll be helping in a project of Oasis. Oasis is an organisation that tries to put an end to human trafficking! It's all very exciting but I won't be doing anything dangerous (I think!).

A friend of mine works at Oasis and she's asked me to help give a present to Thai girls/women that were "bought" and are now forced to work in so-called massage-houses. They're not only giving massages, obviously...
Why a present? They do this every year around Thai New Year, to tell the women that there's someone who cares and knows they're here. Most people don't even know that these things still happen, or they think it's just not in our civilized country! Think again... Even in my home-town there are salons with "trafficked" girls!

What will I be doing? Nothing spectacular :)
I've done a course to become a make-up artist (nothing too complicated, it's mostly bridal make-up or party make-up!) and now we're going to give these women a little treatment to make them feel special.

My friend told me that it's possible that the "boss" will blow the whole thing off if he thinks we're going to be dangerous for their massage-houses, but we'll take the risk!

Books - The Atonement Child

When I was younger, I used to read ALL.THE.TIME.
I would read in our couch during the day and when I went to sleep I would just read on in my bed until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

It's a hobby that had to at least slow down because I became a college student, but the day before yesterday I borrowed a book from one of my best friends. It's called "The Atonement Child".

I started reading and I just couldn't stop, so it was a long night yesterday :)

The story is about a young, christian girl who has a great life, great parents, a handsome fiancé etc. But one evening on her way home, she get's raped. That is very hard for all the characters, but it gets even worse: she soon realizes she's pregnant.

It's a great story and I loved it! Everything was so catching except for one long conversation... In my opinion it was a bit too descriptive of the situation in America and why everything is wrong.... It was just a bit too long and too pedentic. I just couldn't imagine the conversation happening in real life.
But all in all I would really recommend the book! I've cried at sad parts, I've laughed, felt excited when something romantic happened. I just loved it :)

Love,
Evelien