For Marion ;-)

I just got off the phone with my friend, Marion, who insisted I come and make a blog post the minute we got off the phone. I'm not the greatest at keeping up my blog even though I keep promising myself that I will blog on a regular basis. So far, those have been empty promises, but with a little help from Marion maybe I'll get better.

I can't believe I've been married for almost 4 months already. Time is just flying by. We've been home since October 15th and getting back to real life pretty much took over here. Arjan went back to work in the UK October 18th and we had the regular weekends home until December 23rd when he took a week's vacation between Christmas and New Year's. It was nice to have him home and not be traveling 8-10 hours everyday.

We had a nice, quiet Christmas at home and a very busy few days after that. On the 27th Arjan drove to Groningen to have lunch with his brother Ruud and on the 30th of December we drove to Tilburg and had a very nice dinner at Etenstijd with Marion, Jeroen and their kids, Floris and Marieke, to celebrate all of our birthdays. This is a tradition we started in 2009 and we all really enjoy it, especially since we haven't gotten to see them much over the past year and a half.

Then on New year's day we went to Arjan's parent's house to spend the day with them and Ruud and Barbara, Ruud's girlfriend. They tooks out for tapas for dinner that evening and we had a really nice time. It's so nice to be able to enjoy time with family especially since things were so tense between Ruud and Arjan for so many years. It looks like they have both moved beyond that now and I am so glad. I know it has to make things much easier on their parents, especially their mom.

January 3rd Arjan started a new assignment in Düsseldorf, Germany and now he is home every night. It's taken a bit of adjusting, but we are both glad he is home again. We finally starting to settle into a regular routine and for the most things are going very smoothly.

Last week the builders were here from Tuesday thru Thursday working on our attic. We now have strengthened floor beams, proper insulation, a new and proper ventilation pipe from the bathroom through the attic and out the roof, and new base flooring. Now we can finally move all of the stuff stored all over our house into the attic and begin working on Arjan's office. Thanks Mom and Dad!

On January 10th we headed to Eindhoven to the IND to turn in my application for a residency permit. I now have a pretty little 6 month visa sitting in passport. We have a few more papers to fill out and send in so our marriage can be properly registered here in Holland under my name. It already is registered under Arjan's name.

We ordered our new car the first weekend in November and we were supposed to go to the factory to pick it up sometime next month, but Arjan got a phone call from Nol Hermans, our salesman, yesterday telling him that someone made a mistake and our new Passat is already here in Heerlen. So it should be ready for pick-up sometime next week. Nol is making arrangements for us to still be able to go and take a tour of the factory and get the whole experience that we were so looking forward to.

I alos got an email from Donna letting us know that she and Brian will be visiting us from the US the week of May 9th. I can hardly wait! We enjoyed the two days we spent with them in Utah so much and now I can't wait to show them our home and do some sightseeing here in Holland with them.

During our wedding and honeymoon trip I sorry to say that I gained 5 kilos which I was really not happy about, but I am happy to report that as of this morning I have lost 10 kilos since we got home. I'm well on my way to my 5 year weightloss goal.

Ok Marion, is that enough blogging for you? Can I go finish cleaning my house now? ;-) Dikke knuffel mijn vrienden!