Antique Love

See? See what happens when I finally get my wheels back? I hit the ground running and went straight to my favorite place...Slegers! Of course, I armed myself with my handy dandy iPad so I could take pictures of whatever caught my eye so I could run it past my oh so awesome husband...

The Eric. 

I know...I know... Eric had actually grounded me from Slegers a while ago, but I actually had his blessing for this trip because of 1) my serious withdrawls...and 2) I was on the hunt for a buffet. Over the last few months, I've been searching all over for a really pretty hutch or buffet since I *know* I'll need the extra storage space for my pottery. Lets be honest...whatever kitchen I end up with..it won't have enough room. 

Now that we're getting down to the wire, I NEED to find that piece and FAST. I actually found a gorgeous piece on Belgiums version of Craigslist, but that all fell through between location, transportation...and then the seller back peddling and tried to price gouge me. Na unh..don't do that to me because I'll just walk away from the entire deal, which is exactly what I did. 

After assaulting several Kringwinkels (their version of a second hand store), I migrated over to Slegers and strolled up & down their warehouse multiplel times to make sure I didn't miss a hidden treasure. I ended up finding several pieces I was really diggin'....

As much as I was liking this piece, I was thinking about how much work it was going to be in order to strip it down and stain it darker so it matches our dining table...mehhh..

I've been eyeballing these two buffets for a LONG time...like since the day we arrived in Belgium. They're absolutely gorgeous, but they weigh as much as my Xterra and would end up costing $1,300. Sure, it's a steal of a deal since they're beautifully carved and totally solid, but, there's no way I could ever sweet talk Eric into getting them. 

I came across a "pillow cabinet" which was pretty beefy looking. The thing is, it's almost too beefy if that makes any sense. It can hold a good amount of stuff inside of it, but it still didn't really match our dining table and I know it'd eventually REALLY bug me, lol. 

Just when I started to think that I was going to completely strike out... that's when I found it. The hutch of my dreams. The thing that happiness is made of. The cream in my coffee..

It's the perfect height, no gouges or wood rot, the key lock still works and the carvings on the front are absolutely gorgeous. Plus, it doesn't weigh as much as an elephant, so that's a major plus! I think I stood and checked it out for at least a half hour because I was so smitten with it. 

Don't you think it'll go quite well with the kitchen table? I think so! 

At this point, I'm very...VERY happy with the various furniture pieces I've managed to acquire since we've been in Belgium. Oh, and I'm not allowed to buy any more pieces (again) since we're pretty much out of room in the house. That's one of the things I'm looking forward to when it comes to moving back to the States...American sized homes with room! 

I'll be making the final arrangements for the cabinet tomorrow...and...I might bring this little guy home since I know it'd pair up well with my retro phone I picked up several months ago. Kill two birds with one stone...right? :) 

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FREEDOM!!

Alrighty..a few months, yes, months ago...Big Blue, my beloved Xterra went lame. 

By lame, I mean I couldn't use her at all. Ya see...when Eric and I were on our way back from Ramstein, I noticed when we were almost home (about thirty minutes away) that my truck was making some seriously strange noises. Eric even picked up on it, but we couldn't figure out what it was. Of course, we made it home safely and relaxed from all the driving. The next day, I hop into Big Blue to run some errands and....she's dead. Super dead..the locks wouldn't even lock..that's how dead it was, lol. Eric ended up coming home during his lunch to jump me so I could get on my merry way...it worked, but once I got back home, it died yet again. FRUSTRATING! 

Oh, and there was a new noise. It sounded like a jet landing every time I'd brake, so, of course that freaked me out. I told Eric about it and he thought it was just built up brake dust and not to worry about it.....annnnnd then he drove Big Blue and realized it wasn't something minor. In fact, it was pretty epic, lol. 

Ya see..that *noise* we heard was actually the lid from the battery popping off and all the battery acid spilled all over my front brakes and rotors, which ate away lots of the metal. YEAH. Fun, right? Nope. I didn't feel safe what so ever driving it and I really didn't wanna be irresponsible and even attempt driving it, even around town. So, Big Blue had a nice vacation for two and a half months till all of her parts arrived from my awesome and oh so wonderful Dad. Since Belgium doesn't sell Xterras, the parts that were needed are considered "imports"..in simpler terms, it means my bank account was going to get mauled. After speaking to my Dad, he managed to score all the parts we needed and had them shipped over here. How fantastic is that?? We finally found time to take her in and have everything installed for the grand total of 65€. 

Needless to say, the guys at the auto shop got a laugh out of me because I was literally skipping and squealing with joy that my beloved Big Blue was all better! 

All the while, Eric groaned because he knew that I can now officially escape from the house and be reunited with my beloved Slegers... 

YIPPY!!!

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Letztes Jahr der Weihnachtsmarkt

Yes! It's that time of year again! The Christmas markets are starting to pop up again and my most favorite is the one in Aachen, Germany! I've invaded it every year since we first got stationed here...and it makes me very..very sad that this will be our last one. Of course, I'll invade this particular one a few more times within the next month, but still..2012 is the last year we'll be attending 'em. 

Le Sigh. 

All the stores were decked out with Christmas decor! Everything looked so pretty and magical, especially the bakeries. Then again, I think I'm rather partial to the pastries since I'm a little bit of a glutton...naahhhh....

I was actually pretty surprised that more people weren't there since today was the opening day for the market. But, the weather wasn't very favorable since it was rather chilly and raining throughout our entire visit. I'm sure most people preferred to stay all bundled up at home and snuggled up on the couch. I'm positive Eric would've preferred to do the same thing, but he was a trooper and opted to troll the market with me cause he's awesome like that. Actually, it's because he was bribed with Starbucks...

 Eric was completely smitten with the size of the long wieners that were being grilled throughout the market stalls. Nevermind the fact that we had just gorged ourselves on our favorite sushi joint, lol...he was still willing to inhale one of those bad boys!

The town hall was looking gorgeous as usual:

Eric got this crazy look in his eye and I couldn't figure out what was going on behind me...sure enough...

...one of the market vendors was selling cotton candy. All was lost. So...so very lost...

Once Eric's sugar gremlin was appeased, I went around to my favorite market vendor who sells the German glass ornaments - Inge's Christmas Heirlooms. I actually wrote out a list of the various ornaments I was looking for. Yes, seriously. Ya see, my Christmas tree is like my own little travel / life passport where I get ornaments to symbolize big things that have happened or things that are important to me. For example, I was looking for a passport ornament because of all the traveling I've done since we've been here...or a hot air balloon since we'll be moving to New Mexico. Here's some of the ornaments we were able to snag:

Since Aachen's market is our absolute favorite, it was definitely necessary to buy their official ornament:

Eric has an obsession with Chocopolis in Brussels. So much, in fact, that once we move to New Mexico and when it gets to a cooler time of the year there...he'll be ordering his favorite coffee chocolate from them and having it shipped to us. THAT, my friends, is dedication. 

Eric actually picked this one out for me. It's because I cook so much...and he loves my cooking. It's also because when he attempted to make something once and used a metal utensil in my very nice & very expensive Pampered Chef pans. I *informed* him in a rather panicked tone that you never use metal on metal...always use plastic or wood. So, I find it rather humorous that they actually have a wooden spoon glass ornament available..

The providence we live in is very known for its equestrian talents. There's always some sort of riding event going on somewhere around here , which is actually pretty cool to watch. Not only that, but the area around our house has five gorgeous horses (two of which have been born since we've been here)..and whenever we go for a walk, they run up to the fence line because they've gotten accustomed to the apples & carrots we toss their way. I'm honestly gonna miss those guys! Whenever I pull into the drive way and get out of my truck, two of 'em always rush up to the fence line and greet me with snorts & hoof stomps till I acknowledge them. 

Eric was VERY relieved that those were the only ornaments I picked up, although, none of those were on my original shopping list...so of course I'm still on the hunt for those particular items. As we walked around some more, we came across a vendor whose stall was full of gorgeous little cottages, cathedrals, little churches and all sorts of various things you'd use to make mini towns for a Christmas setting. One piece IMMEDIATELY caught my eye because it looks SO much like the church in the town we live in. After humming and haaing about it, we finally decided to snag it because knowing our luck, if we were to come back at another time to get it, it'd be gone. 

Oh, and lets not forget about Lush. During the winter time, they come out with "Snow Fairy", which I completely fell inlove with last year and have been itching to get a hold of again. Sure enough, we popped in there and they had a bunch of it on the shelf. I stocked up on a few bottles and looked a little too giddy about it...I think the staffed picked up on it cause they were giggling about how excited I was when showing Eric "LOOK! LOOK! THEY GOT IT! EEEEE!!!"

No date day is complete without Starbucks....since I was still very stuffed from the sushi, Eric opted to get himself his usual. In the process of getting his drink, he inquired about them selling their large "in house" mugs because we KNOW they used to sell 'em, but always came at a bad time, or they just didn't have enough in stock. Well, this time, they had 'em. So of course, he bought 'em and went on his merry way to meet up with me since I was off taking pictures of stuffs. I got a chance to check 'em out once we got home and I was surprised that they changed the mugs! They used to have the green siren logo on the front...and now it's just a recessed image in the mug (which shape has also been changed). Either way, I was happy with 'em!

Sounds dorky, but I thought it was pretty cool that they have a "V" on the handle to represent "Venti"..it's the little things, right? :)

So, there ya have it. That was our day...pillaging the Christmas market, did some people watching, did some shopping and ended up coming home to defrost since it was rather chilly / soggy over in beautiful Germany. On that note, off to enjoy some nice hot tea that Eric made :) 

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Happy Glutton Day!

'Tis that time of year again!

It's Thanksgiving! 

Or as well like to call it, "Gluttony Day". 

This years Thanksgiving is definitely low key since it's just Eric, John and myself. Last year, I actually decorated and set the dinner table since we had some close friends over in which I made a lot of grub. I think the only thing in "bulk" that was made this time around was bacon, lol

Every year, I make a different sort of "rub" for the bird since it's nice to always try something new. This time around, I made a thyme concoction in garlic infused olive oil, pureed it and did injections throughout the bird in addition to slathering it all over the skin. Of course, I let it sit over night so it'd soak in a little more. The bird itself weighs 25lbs. Yes..25lbs of turkey for three people. Just take a guess as to who picked it out... At least it'll give me a lot to work with when I make my awesome turkey chili. 

Bacon. 

Everything is better with bacon. Therefor, Thomas the turkey got wrapped up with all sorts of delicious bacon strips. I actually did a "basket weave" with all the piggy pieces ad secured them with toothpicks so they wouldn't fall off during the 6+ hours of baking. 

Eric did his part and packed the turkey silly with garlic infused stuffing:

Here's how it turned out:

We ended up removing the bacon and cooked the turkey for an additional hour and a half (for a total of 7 and a half hours) since the grease from the bacon basically basted the turkey AND the stuffing. By leaving the grease, it allowed the turkey to get nicely browned and kept it extremely moist. 

It came out SO nice! The meat was basically falling off the bird. When Eric grabbed one of the drum sticks, it fell right off without any resistance. Needless to say, I was pretty proud of myself, lol.

In addition to the turkey, I made bacon & scallion mashed potatoes and a tray of some biscuits. Oh, and some cans of jellied cranberries. LOL. I wasn't motivated to make an entire spread of food like I normally do because we just don't have the room in the fridge for tons & tons of leftovers. Plus, between my back and knee, I wasn't feeling up to cookin' my ass off all day. All Eric & John care about is the turkey, stuffing and cranberry jelly, so why over exert myself?

For dessert?
Hot chocolate! Yes, I'm sure that just warped your minds because the norm is to have pumpkin or pecan pie. Again, No room for it and it's not a high priority for us, lol. They're happy campers with toffee hot chocolate smothered in whipped cream.

So, I hope everyone has a fabulous Gluttony Day with their loved ones and cheers to the next!

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"It's like a hoarders house, but organized"

I know I said on the last Poland trip that it was my last one, but I swear...this time WAS our last one. I couldn't help myself, especially since we officially know that we won't be staying overseas.. Not to mention, Eric still hadn't had the chance to do a pottery dash. So of course he needed to join us on the insanity to really get a true understanding of what a "dash" consisted of.

Like usual, I picked up our official Poland van from Schinnen since I had arranged for it many months ago...and got an interesting surprise. Ya see, I normally got a "transporter" van which allows for a good amount of space for not only the passengers, but for pottery as well. This time, that's not what I was given. Not in the slightest. I was given a VW 9-pack van that barely had any sort of trunk space for luggage, nevermind the notion of tons of pottery. I was informed that their fleet no longer consisted of the "transporters" because customers complained that they were "too big" to fit in parking garages around Europe. Well...I've never had that problem, especially since I don't even have to deal with garages where we'll be! Needless to say, I was extremely displeased and made them very aware of it. 

The next day, we all loaded up and made it to Poland in WONDERFUL time. 

It was so chilly during the drive that ice formed up on the side mirrors!

So wonderful in fact that it allowed us to shop for three hours before any of the stores closed for the day, lol. Eric surprised me because he ended up finding all sorts of stuff he was wanting to get! Who am I to stop him?

Our original plan was to just go for the food. Obviously, that plan went out the window!

As you know, shopping burns lots of calories and worked up everyones appetite..so, we found one our favorite haunts, called Elric's, and gorged ourselves silly.  

We headed to our fabulous hotel, which is the Palac Brunow. It's the second time I've stayed there and it's a truly awesome place! In all seriousness, if you find yourself shopping in Boleswaleic for pottery, just do yourself a favor and stay at the Brunow even though it's twenty minutes outside of the town. It's worth it! Since we opted to stay with them for three nights, they actually upgraded our rooms without an additional charge, AND, they threw in free breakfasts & dinners during our stay. How awesome is that? It was definitely a pleasant surprise since *I* wasn't expecting that..so the rest of the gals were definitely stoked on the notion! Eric and I ended up getting a really nice premium room which happened to have its own glass encased balcony...it was really cool! Plus the view overlooked almost the entire property, so we totally scored with an awesome room for our last trip. Here's what ours looked like:

I gotta say, the estate itself is so pretty in general, but it was gorgeous with the morning haze! 

We all stumbled downstairs, fueled up on the breakfast buffet then took the town by storm. 
Oh man...that city didnt know what it was in for! If you've done this sort of shopping before, you'll understand when I say it sort of feels like a "frenzy"...like there's blood in the water. Once one person finds something really cool, then it's like a personal mission to find something equally cool for your collection. Now remember, there were seven of us shopping...so consider how many frenzies were going on. LOTS. Everything started to blur together because there's just SO much stuff in each store..and I believe we attacked almost fifteen stores..most of 'em we repeated multiple times:

 I don't even remember half the stuff I bought...neither did Eric. Well..neither did most of the ladies. Some of em wanted to open up their boxes throughout the day to figure out what they've bought so far, lol. The mind set was basically "GO! GO! GO!" till we couldn't go anymore. I think we ended up throwing in the towel by 5:30 ( we had been shopping since 9am) and retired back to the Brunow. 

Once we got back, the hotel made our dinner reservations for six o'clock in which we had an awesome goulash sort of soup as an appetizer, then something that sort of reminded me of my grandmas roulladen. It was pork that was wrapped around carrots and a variety of other things and were braised, served with mashed potatoes and a mixed pickle salad (THAT was weird for me!) 

Notice the....um...decor for the dining room..

Eric was not a happy camper because he said he could "feel" the dolls looking over his shoulder..lol

Since he was such a trooper, he earned himself some ice cream :)

I think we all hung out in the dining room for almost 3 hours since we were swapping stories amongst other entertaining factors that were in the room. Everyone retired for the evening since we had a busy day planning

The next day, we had the same routine with chowing down on some breakfast and I was plotting out the plans for what other stores we were going to invade. Also, some of the ladies in addition to myself are Starbucks mugs collectors. The last time we were in Poland, we debated on making a dash to Wroclaw, which is an hour and a half from where we were staying. Sadly, we didn't make it there since the gals were just having too much fun hunting for super sweet patterns. This time around, I made sure to have us stay an extra day so we could attempt the dash. I REFUSED to leave Poland without my mug! 

To our surprise, it randomly snowed in the town we were shopping in, yet, not the place we were staying at. Weird, right? lol

After smashing and grabbing at some stores, we wanted to get some lunch before hitting the road to Wroclaw. We were originally gonna go back to Elric's, but they weren't available so we randomly hit up a place called Opałkowa Chata, which looked....intriguing. Yeah...intriguing would be the word for it. Sure, it looks funky and what not, but we gave it a shot. 

OH MY GOSH. How have I not been to this place before?! It was AWESOME! They actually use MASSIVE portions when it comes to the stuff you order! For a starter, they gave us a basket of freshly baked bread with a side of bacon butter. Yes, you read that right...BACON BUTTER. It was heavenly! Ahh!

Of course, I ordered myself some perogies because, hey, I'm in Poland. These things were MASSIVE. As in, each one was about the size of the palm of my hand. The filling was like a cottage cheese consistency with onion, and the outside was briefly sauteed in bacon. They were out of this world! I would've stuffed myself stupid on those things, but they were so filling that I could only finish off half the plate!

Eric ended up ordering a potato pancake that was "stuffed" with Goulash. I know it doesn't seem very large in the picture, but when the plate was put infront of him, even Eric looked a little concerned.

Eric really really wanted to acquire the pot and spoon, but it wouldn't fit in Bill, and we certainly weren't going to strap it to the roof. His was very displeased with my answer..

We rolled out to Wroclaw and made it in a decent amount of time despite the fact that there was seriously thick fog. It wasn't concerning me too much since I was used to driving in that sort of thickness back in California, but at night time, it was a nightmare. Anyway, I managed to do fairly well driving around the city till the traffic and narrow streets started setting off my anxiety. And I mean it got BAD. So bad that I had to hop out and have Eric take over cause I started getting that panicked "shaking" feeling. I forgot to take my meds that day (of all the days to do that!) and everything was setting me off, especially the traffic. Luckily, Eric was a trooper and managed to find us a parking spot fairly quick and not too far from the Starbucks. Since my anxiety made me so jittery, I ended up staying in the van to watch after all of the pottery while the gang got their drinks and beloved mugs. 

Here's my official handy dandy Starbucks Poland mug :)

The return drive home was a little nerve wracking for me since the fog had gotten worse..I mean..A LOT worse. Eric handled driving all of us back since I was still out of whack. We managed to make it back to the hotel in one piece, enjoyed some dinner and conversation, then I had to punch out a little early since my stomach was being difficult. Ultimately, we ended up deciding that we'd check out at a decent time in the morning to hit up a few more shops on our way out of town to head back to Belgium. Yippy! 
You know how compromise is a huge thing in a marriage? Well...these little "pots" were definitely a "compromise". Eric really..REALLY wanted them as a "man cave" sort of accessory. All the while, I think they're hideous and I don't want them in my kitchen. Throughout our shopping adventure, he kept telling me "I just want a couple"...after several hours, he finally wore me down and got 'em. Thing is, when I hear "a couple", I think along the lines of two..not four. Ya know? When I saw that he had four of 'em, it was on like Donkey Kong.



How'd I get even? Let me introduce you to Lola:

Ya see...Leroy, my snail that I picked up a year or so ago, has been lonely and needed some company. I had talked to Eric about it a couple of times and he'd always say no since I know he wasn't fond of Leroy to begin with..so why get another snail? Well, once he bought those bowls, he knew he was screwed. 

Now, Leroy looks pretty happy with Lola :) 

Well all ran around finishing up whatever stores we were wanting to invade and got ready to make our long adventure home. Here's how the van looked at the end of all the pillaging:

Eric was literally boxed in and surrounded by pottery in the front seat..

Yes, we stuffed pottery in the door pockets...

Since there was a seat available in the van, the ladies filled it up with their luggage in order to make room for all the pottery...

Annnnnd here's how the back of it looked with all the boxes. I'm pretty sure our van was saggin' like a low rider by the time we departed Poland.

So, here's all my official pictures of alllllll the pottery we picked up. It's a little sickening that we got so much, especially when we really had no intention on getting anymore. Oh well, at least we have enough stuff to last us a while :) 

Square chile pepper baker -207.10zł = $63.42

Square chile pepper bowl - 172.40zł = $52.79

Covered chile pepper baker - 211.90zł = $64.89

Chile pepper soup cups -39.90zł (each) = $12.21

Chile pepper coffee mugs - 24.70zł (each) = $7.37

Chile pepper gravy boat -57.50zł = $17.60

Chile pepper rounded rectangle tray- 45.80zł = $14.02

Chile pepper tea bag tray -13.70zł (each) = $4.19

Chile pepper napkin holder - 7.70zł (each) = $2.35

Chile pepper spoon rest - 20.50zł (each) = $6.27

Chile pepper rimmed cereal bowl - 42.40zł (each) = $12.98

Chile pepper bowl plates - 44.30zł (each) = $13.56

Mini tulip rectangle baker - 159.72zł = $48.91

Mini tulip pitcher - 115.20zł = $35.27

Red soccer ball bowl - 25zł = $7.65

Mosaic dog bowl - 60zł = $18.37

Peacock wine bottle (holds honey wine) - 49zł = $15.00

Huge Christmas ornament - 47.20zł = $14.45

Rectangle butterfly tray - 119.70zł = $36.65

Rounded rectangle flower tray - 63zł = $19.29

Butterfly tea bag tray - 17.10zł (each) = $5.23

Brown garlic / onion keeper jar - 77zł = $23.58

Huge peacock turkey baker - 243.10zł  = $74.44

Mini tulip ladle - 56.30zł = $17.24

Peacock cookbook holder - 101.95zł = $31.22

Mini tulip candle holder - 37.88zł (each) = $11.60

Christmas tea light holder - 77.46zł = $23.72

Cherry mug - 10zł = $3.06

Blue & white tulip mug - 27zł = $8.26

Red tulip mug - 23.12zł = $7.08

Mini tulip mug - 32.59zł = $9.98

Cup stand-17zł = $5.20

Pottery key chain - 7zł = $2.14

Lola the snail - 124.90zł = $38.25 

Fugly bowl - 16.90zł (each) = $5.17

Starbucks mug - 45zł (each) = $13.78

This trip went SO well...I'm sad that it was my last one. Eric was saying that once he retires, we should come back over and do some sort of travel business where we take small groups to Poland in order to do pottery shopping. Of course, we'd never make any money cause I'd buy everything. But still..I think I'd do a pretty good job in the travel industry since I like finding fabulous deals and sharing them with folks. Who knows! 

Anyway, hope ya'll enjoyed the bloggy post :)

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