Christmas!

We are so excited for Christmas!

Celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Christmas Markets(with photos to come), decorations, good food, and my new favorite....SNOW(but none yet)! 

Last year the bottom half of the tree had no decorations. Lucky ate them...this year we're keeping a close eye and hoping that he's done with that puppy faze. Right buddies?

baby shower cake

Another addition to my cake collection.

I have wonderful ideas for decorating and find myself very limited with the supplies I have(and can find in this small town). These challenges are good but one day, I hope to work in a real bakery and receive training in cake decorating....one day :)

What are you Thankful for?

Thanksgiving,

it's only a day away and my refrigerator and cupboards are full of food waiting to be prepared on a working oven. 

My home is warm, clean, well furnished and decorated...ready for company tomorrow.

I have a hard working and incredibly loving husband that dotes on me and provides for us. 

 Thank you!

My healthy and adorable lab, Lucky loves me unconditionally, is quite the snuggle bug and makes me smile and laugh at his crazy antics. 

My mother and father-in-law have graciously taken our other dog, Kermit for the past two years as we wait out our time overseas.

Thank you!

Being overseas we have had many opportunities to travel and experience parts of Europe.

Our car continues to run smoothly and our payments are made on time every month (as well as other bills).

I have the freedom to work only a part time job so I can be home.

I am thousands of miles from all of my family but their love is still felt in each message and phone call. 

Thank you!

I have dear friends only a hop away that I can talk to, swap dogs with, borrow babies from and goof around with. Many other friends that are miles away will sit on the phone with me for hours chatting about new pins on Pintrest.

Thank you!

The list goes on yet, many days I only see another 'something' to complain about.

Lord, forgive me for my selfishness. Thank you for your continued blessings, always providing us with what we need and more. Thank you for the strength to endure the hard times and for your eternal love.

Amen.

1 Chronicles 29:11-13

"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.

Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.

Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name."

Projects

These are some projects(that I found on Pintrest) I have been working on. 

Just trying out really.

These flowers are made with rolled crepe paper and are supposed to look like roses but I liked the tight rolled look. I will be doing the roses though :)

Didn't come out like I hoped but that's the best thing about Acrylic paints!

Frost

The still air, heavy fog and freezing temperatures leads to great pictures. 

View from my balcony at 12 in the afternoon.

My little plants even had some frost bite.

All the spiderwebs left from the summer are showing themselves now.

Ah, the beauty that surrounds us.

I can't wait for the first snow! :)

Eindhoven

For Veteran's Day weekend Isaac and I drove to Eindhoven Netherlands with our friends, the Warrens. What a BEAUTIFUL country! 

Our purpose for going was a Flogging Molly concert, and I believe it was totally worth it. :)

Street sign...weird huh?

Our hotel room. We really were blessed with a super nice hotel at an affordable cost.

Our view from our room...the Centrum of Eindhoven was having a light show that weekend.

We saw these in the sidewalk. So neat how a little bit of history is spread through an entire city.

I didn't get any pictures of the concert, unfortunately. I was afraid if I brought my camera they would take it away from us at the door. Better safe then sorry!

Below is the link to one of my favorite songs. I was so excited when they played it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Px1rfFz42I&feature=related 

Going to the concert was such a fantastic idea! 

Going to the concert in Holland/Netherlands where tall blonde people exist....not so fantastic. Don't get me wrong, they are amazingly kind and friendly people but I couldn't see the stage! lol!

In case you are wondering(and I know some of you are), yes pot/weed/marijuana is legal in the Netherlands and people were smoking it. I was very impressed by the rules and cleanliness of the city. 

Bars are for drinking and there, coffee shops are for smoking pot. You can't openly smoke it, the laws are the same as for drinking.

It's not a party city, it's really just a social thing for the locals there. Running into tourists and college kids that get out of hand is inevitable. 

I didn't feel uncomfortable being in that city because it wasn't all around you, and I was very grateful for that!

A little dull

Life has been fairly quiet these past few weeks. 

Isaac has been working hard and will be going to the promotion board soon!  He also is looking into joining a new boxing class at the gym which has been a passion of his.

Work has been picking up for me, and I'm really enjoying it! I get to use my creativity on a daily basis, building Hallmark displays and decorating them as well.

Thanks to my dear friend Anna, I have recently stumbled upon Pintrest....oh my! 

I'm hooked! 

 There are so many DIY(do it yourself) projects pinned and delicious new recipes and so many fun party ideas and pictures. A list has been made for future projects and I will have one done by next week. Yay pictures(hopefully not an epic fail).

The best part of these projects is the hunt. I search for needed items in the house and at thrift stores and clearance racks which really pushes me to be creative!

Lucky and I have been attending dog training and have done almost five classes, but unfortunately we missed the last session due to an EVIL migraine. I won...eventually. 

The next class will be down town in the shopping center. Oh boy!

There are tons of out door restaurants and people with dogs while they shop. One thing I absolutely LOVE about Europe but many, many MANY distractions to a Lab always on the hunt for whatever he can play with, eat and chase.

Lucky is going to go nuts and I'm going to have to take a paper bag(for breathing) and happy pills(for sanity) with me to get through it. 

This weekend is Veterans Day(Friday!) so Isaac and I are heading up to the Netherlands for a Flogging Molly concert. I'm so excited!

A most sincere Thank You to all the veterans out there that have and are currently serving our country, risking life and limb to ensure our freedom.

God Bless.

Fall leaves

With all these beautiful colors, I've started carrying my camera with me when walking Lucky. He's very photogenic too!

More pictures to come.....

Cruise May '11

Isaac and I were so amazingly blessed with the opportunity to take a 7 day cruise with friends who had invited us(the very first time for both of us)!

Before you get to deep into this blog, there are MANY pictures. I believe there are 48 to be exact.

Anyways, we left port from Venice Italy making 5 stops and spending one day at sea.  Since we were leaving from Venice, we arrived a day early and spent that time exploring every part of that amazing city.

Then it was time to board the ship. I was so excited I couldn't stand still! 

Here we are with our friends, waiting for the ship to leave port as the sun begins to set. It was so AMAZING!

 The next morning we arrived at Ancona Italy. It was a port city that really didn't have much to keep us interested. It was a Sunday as well so the town was very quiet until about 11 and we left port at 1pm.

The next day we spent at sea. To be honest, that was one difficult day for me. Sea sickness was setting in and the Cruise line had so many fun activities and a pool and free food all day long, but all I could do was sleep from all the dramamine.

I was pretty bummed but later that day I discovered that a Long Island Iced tea managed to balance me out. hehehehehehe

Our next stop was the Greek Island of Mykonos. I have decided that this Island will be my future summer home and where I will retire. 

Boy, I wish!

Right after we arrived at the port, Isaac and I hopped on another boat to head to Delos, a nearby Island. The Island is covered in ruins built hundreds...thousands of years ago. Cleopatra had a palace there and palaces were also built for the Greek gods, Apollo and Diana.

After a neat tour and lots of hiking we headed back to Mykonos and had the rest of they day to spend exploring, eating good food and buying things we didn't need.

Baklava! There were SO many kinds to choose from! I started with some baklava ice cream then later had an enormous piece of traditional baklava. YUM!

Our next destination: the Acropolis in Athens Greece. 

Acropolis: the citadel of Athens on which the Parthenon and the Erechtheum stand.

This flag had been flying since WWII. A Nazi flag was placed there by Hitler's command and a few boys snuck out one night, risking their lives, and replaced the flag with their country's flag. 

This massive dog is one of many stray dogs wandering Athens. They are very docile animals that know exactly where to be for some food. This one is laying outside of a McDonalds.

Leaving Port. What a day!

 The next day was another Greek Island, Corfu, with more shopping, delicious food and amazing views of the Mediterranean Sea.

That night we had a formal dinner and Isaac looked so handsome!

The next day was our last stop before heading back to Venice. 

Dubrovnik Croatia. 

Our ship was too big and had to port in the middle of the bay, so it was lifeboats to get to the town. I was able to take some good shots of the ship, Victoria while boating to shore.

The city was so beautiful! It was also our last day and Isaac and I went full tourist! We paid random guys on the street for goofy pictures, to hold birds and for a cheap necklace made of clay and ribbon that said 'Dubrovnik'. Oh and we bought a candle because that is what Croatia was known for. Candle making.

The next day we pulled into port at Venice Italy. Then it was back in the car to head home.

What a trip! I will definitely do a cruise again!