Day 24 - Where I Live (in detail) What Makes It Special?

I actually have the pleasure of living overseas in the lovely country of Belgium. The majority of people I've talked to don't seen to realize that Belgium is actually a tiny country...half the time they think it's a city within Germany. I guess that's understandable cause when you look at world map, you can't really see the country (unless you're specifically looking for it) cause it's so tiny. 

To be a little more specific but while being vague, I live over in the Limburg area.. about an hour away from Brussels. I've talked about the different towns I live near, but I guess you can say I don't specifically wanna say where I am considering, we'll, I don't want to disclose too much :)

I LOVE living over here because we're very centralized in Europe, so we're not very far from venturing over to other countries like France, Germany, The Netherlands.. it's awesome! Not to many people can say that!

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Day 23 - A Youtube Video

I know this will seem rather odd that I like a whimpering puppy as my video...but, whenever I play it, it drives Izzy nuts. Since she's actually a mommy, she has this instant need to attend to anything that sounds like  a puppy needing it's momma.  The funny thing is..whenever I watch the animal channel and there's puppies on there, Izzy will plop right in front of the TV and watches it! It's actually quite cute:

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Day 22 - A Website

If you asked my husband what kind of stuff I like, he'd instantly say "the expensive kind". It's not like I intentionally find things that cost a lot of money, I just like things that look cool / unique, which usually end up being somewhat pricey. * sigh *

I was doing some window shopping online cause I'm interested in getting some art pieces for our house that reflects "us", as in our family. I like things to look older / renaissance-like.. ornate... pretty much anything within that guideline. Well... I found an artist that has just the type of stuff I'm looking for. His name is Sid Dickens.  He makes "memory tiles" of all various designs and you can get different ones to suit your style, then hang them up in groups:

When you look around the site, you can actually use an interactive part to figure out which ones you might like with your wall color behind the tiles. VERY cool and oh so dangerous for me! After doing some picking, moving around and changing colors of the wall.. I figured out which ones I'd want for us. Thing is, these tiles run, roughly, $90-$100 a piece. Sooooo if I'm wanting to start picking these pieces up, I'll have to do it once in a blue moon and possibly ask Eric for one as an anniversary / birthday / Christmas present, lol.

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Day 21 - A Recipe

Really? I post recipes all the time! LOL. This one is sourced from Foodnetwork.com ...I've made it before and it's out of this world. Word to the wise; if you make it then stick it in the fridge over night, the garlic, bell pepper and oil REALLY bring out the taste. Like most things, this is one of those recipes were it's better the next day :) 

Ingredients

• Kosher salt
• 12 ounces mezzi rigatoni or other short tube-shaped pasta
• 2 bell peppers (red and/or yellow), halved, stemmed and seeded
• 6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• 1/4 cup almonds
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 lemon
• 8 ounces bocconcini (small mozzarella balls)
• 1 bunch fresh basil, leaves torn
• Freshly ground pepper

Directions

Preheat the broiler. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook as the label directs. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Shake off the excess water. 

Meanwhile, place the bell peppers cut-side down on a foil-lined broiler pan, add the garlic and broil until charred, 7 to 8 minutes. Transfer the peppers to a bowl, cover and set aside about 5 minutes.

Heat a dry skillet over medium-high heat. Add the almonds and toast, shaking the pan, 4 to 5 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop. 

Squeeze the garlic from its skin onto a cutting board. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt; mince and mash the garlic into a paste with a large knife. Peel the roasted peppers and slice into strips; transfer to a large bowl. Add the garlic paste and drizzle with the olive oil. Finely grate about 1 teaspoon lemon zest into the bowl and squeeze in all of the lemon juice. Add the bocconcini, basil, almonds, pasta, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste; toss. 

Per serving: Calories 731; Fat 37 g (Saturated 11 g); Cholesterol 41 mg; Sodium 845 mg; Carbohydrate 73 g; Fiber 6 g; Protein 26 g

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Day 20 - A Hobby of Yours

Since my last post was about my talent, I guess it wouldn't be surprising that my hobby falls within the same category, right?

I like to scrapbook. Yup. I'm one of THOSE people. Although I will say, I'm not obsessed with it like some people.. I just like to make cards and such the majority of the time. I'm ...ehh...a perfectionist when it comes to making things, so if I attempt something other than a card (frames, pages, etc), I tend to take forever to actually complete the project.

 Thanksgiving cards 2009

Christmas cards 2009

Personal cork board for my office:

Christmas cards 2010: I think these are my favorite so far since you can record a personal message in them :) 

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Fa Rah Rah Rah Rah, Rah Rah Rah Rah!

Ok, so Eric and I went to this ugly sweater party...and it was hilarious! Prior to us attending, we adorned our fugly, and I mean FUGLY... Christmas fueled tops to get a good laugh at ourselves. Eric's top is actually a woman's sweatshirt that looks (and smells) like it's from the 80's...and the smell wouldn't go away despite washing it extensively. Mine makes me feel like I'm 10x fatter than I already am, so it's NOT flattering at all! Perfect attire for the party.

Took some cute pictures together..awwww...

I kept playing around on Picnik, lol

Oh..and it's also a White Elephant party....  *snicker* ...being that I used to work for a sex toy company back in California, I had the hook up with free goodies / samples. There's tons of stuff we never used which we happened to have brought over here with us, so we figured some of 'em would be useful as White Elephant gifts :)

The gift that Eric submitted :

The gift I submitted (I bundled them together):

(A Pocket Rocket)

Our innocent presents wrapped up nicely: 

Here's some pictures from throughout the night. In all honesty, that's the most fun I've had in a VERY long time :) 

 The Josie & The Rudy

Their dog, Sammy! She's such a lovey!

 

Myself, Dana, Shay and Josie

Josie testing out the jello shots to make sure they were safe for everyone

The following pics are from a game that Josie had us do. The point was to put 8 filled balloons (4 in each leg) in a stocking and put it on your head...it's supposed to look like reindeer antlers, lol.

Eric's team actually won! 

My team was strugglin! We blew up our balloons too big :(

Dana laughing at Leahs "big" red balls:

Still strugglin!

Antler love!

Looks like tumors!

 

Our completed antlers! 

Josies face is priceless while it looks like Kisker is admiring Bobbys handywork:

Shannon wanted in on the antler love!

All the guys and all the gals:

Shay showing her Christmas thugnificense:

I don't even know what to tell you...LOL....

Dana and Getfa were tied for "ugliest sweater" for the gals, so they were required to do a dance off! Getfa won..hahaaa

The two guys that were tied for mens "ugliest sweater".

Oh, and of course the White Elephant exchange happened. There were some HILARIOUS gifts...I think this guy got the worst, if not second worst gift.

Porcelain cats...the kind you'd see in an old lady's house.

The other bad gift for the night was a clown puppet with the strings on it...it was CREEPY!Luckily, we didn't end up with any thing bad (hahaa!):

Josie had the gals search for hidden gifts in the Christmas tree she had in the living room; I ended up finding lemon scented lotion:

Some pink bubbly (I think) from when Eric's team won the reindeer antler game:

The gift I picked from the exchange: German Christmas Tea with reindeer mug

The gift Eric picked from the exchange..he actually ended up stealing this from someone, so they had to go pick out another gift from the tree:  A goodie basket from our favorite store in Aachen ( Oil & Vinegar ). It's got a bruschetta mix, snack crackers and an old fashioned oil bottle that has the basket weave on the bottom of it.

All in all, we had a BLAST! Now I gotta resell the ugly sweaters on eBay and hope someone will want 'em cause we're sure not keepin' them!

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Day 19 - A Talent of Yours

Truth be told, I'm pretty artistic. I wish I had pictures of the stuff I've done, but all my stuff is in storage back in California... :( Before we moved, I used to do paintings professionally for hire (usually by word of mouth) and I'd dabble with reconstructing / repainting figurines..not in a "crazy cat lady" kinda way, either. Actually, here's an example of one of my projects I did before we moved and all my stuff got stored : Project Weenie

Here's a quick look if you don't wanna click on the link:

Back in high school during my Senior year, I was voted as "Most Artistic" by my classmates..so that has to say something, right? lol Plus, I've won a handful of awards and competitions up and down the state of California for various different media types. I haven't kept up on the artistic stuff much over here (aside from scrap booking) because paint is VERY expensive! VERY VERY! Back at home, I can get a tube of pain for $6 while, here, it costs 20 euro (roughly $25)...yeaaaahhhh...no thanks. I'll stick with fast sketches and personal paintings for my house :)

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