Two more weeks and one day, that is the countdown to my upcoming vacation.
On April 11, my dear ol' mom (don't tell her I called her that!) and I will leave for New York City (flying with British Airways over Heathrow). There we'll spend 3 full days + the afternoon on arrival day. We hope to visit Ellis Island, do a hop on/ hop off bus tour, a "cruise" in the harbor (you know, the 2-hour ones, lol) and some shopping (have to go to Macy's or Sax 5th avenue for Clinique products and their GWP).
I don't know too well what to expect from NYC. I haven't been there other than a layover at JFK (but do have a picture of the Twin Towers, took it when the plane took off). Other than that, I only know it from movies and TV series. I seriously hope not everyone looks like a fashion model, otherwise I'll stand out too much... :-s
On the 4th day, we will fly down to Miami (with a stop in Charlotte). There I plan to enjoy one full afternoon, evening and night the Japanese massage-bath-jacuzzi thing that apparently every room at the Mayfair hotel has on their balconies. Oh, and swim in the wonderful rooftop swimming pool too!
I am SO glad I dared to Hotwire it and get such a fancy hotel for a reasonable price. First idea was to rent a car and do some minor sightseeing, but after seeing the description of the hotel, forget that rental car, forget sightseeing, hello the good life!
You think they'll mind the fact that I don't have the perfect bikini-body??
Then, on the 16th, we will board the Celebrity Century, for a short cruise. Key West, Cozumel and a day at sea are on the program. I have prebooked a tour to visit the Tulum Maya ruins, and am looking forward to those!
Also, after spending some time on the Cruise Critic boards, I have virtually met some other cruisers, and we have already made plans for a sailaway drink. Looking forward to meet them irl.
Also, April 16 will be the last day of my trial period at work, woohoo, after that, I'll be a "fix" employee.
When we'll be back in Miami, we are going to rent a car, have a look at alligators (aka living purses on feet) and drive to Orlando (hope we won't get lost).
After checking in at the Disney's AS Sports resort and having a first night's sleep, followed by a day of shopping (Ann Taylor! Banana Republic! Tommy Hilfigger! Ralph Lauren! Apple! and so much more!!) (oh God, my stomach hurts already when I think about my VISA bill afterwards, waaahhh!!!) after having breakfast with Minnie Mouse at the Cape May Cafe at Walt Disney World (I SO love Minnie Mouse, I think she is the cutest. She has sexy underwear and not even one wrinkle at her blessed age of 80 years old!).
The next 4 days will be spent with Mickey and his friends at the theme parks. What can I say, I am a huge Disney fan!!
The one attraction I am looking most forward to?? Jungle Cruise!!! I am a Jungle Cruise groupie. Because I am. I really really am. ;-)
Other must dos are the Safari at Animal Kingdom (our favorite WDW-park), Expedition Everest and Dole Whips. Oh wait, those aren't attractions. But I'm attracted to it nevertheless.
Then, finally, we will have to come back home. :-( Which usually means figuring out ways to pack all the crap/ stuff we bought while on vacation. Which usually included a lot of Disney books, other Disney crap and lots and lots and lots of clothing. Oh, and iPods that we don't plan on registering with customs when entering Belgium, sssshhhhtttt.
And once home, I'll have to start planning my next vacation. Some days at London. A Disneyland Paris visit. And another Disneyland Paris visit. And a Disneyland Paris visit combined with a Champagne visit.
Ah, vacation... don't you just love it?
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The beginning of the remodeling
In November 2007, I decided to start looking for my own place to live at. I wanted to stay in or just out of (the North side) of Brussels; the area where I was born at, where I grew up and that has quite some Dutch-speaking people and not too many criminal minds. After a short while, it was clear that renting would be way too expensive, so I started looking into buying. After downsizing on my dream-home a bit, I found a nice 1-bedroom apartment, built about 9 years ago, just a few streets from where I grew up. I liked the idea of staying in that neighborhood because it meant I didn’t have to change doctors, pharmacy, stores and whatnot.
When I first visited the apartment in December 2007, it was in the evening and there wasn’t too much light. Everything looked really nice, and I had the impression that only a bit of painting would be in order (+ adding a little sink in the powder room).
When the sale finally came through in the beginning of April 2008 (one must love the slow Belgian administration!) and I had a better look at it with lots of light, the list of things to do/ change just started growing.
Hallway
Nice big entrance hallway. Large space, but not useful because of the huge heating element in it. Oh, wait a minute, maybe we could take it out, so that I can use it as my home office? But then… the outlets are on the wrong wall, so maybe some outlets can be added on the other wall? Oh, the floor has to go out for that… ehm, is that really so much work to do? Pretty please daddy???
Kitchen
Nice spacious and sunny kitchen!!!! But oh my goodness, were those people midgets??? The counters are way too low for (tall) me! So, could we perhaps change that? And add a breakfast “bar” in front of the window because the view is wonderful?
Oh, and when the counters end up higher, the upper cabinets will be hanging too low, so can those also be hung higher? Oh, if we do that, we’ll need to change the tiles on the walls? That’s ok, I didn’t really liked the original ones to begin with.
And while we are at it, could we change the flooring? I don’t like wood in the kitchen and would prefer a tile floor…
Living room
Nice sunny living room. Not too big though, so will have to think well about what furniture I will buy to optimize the space.
Only thing that needs to be done is adding outlets. Lots of them! And repair the cracks in the wall.
And take out the door to the hallway, so that it wouldn’t be freezing cold in the hallway after taking out the heating unit there and so I wouldn’t be too claustrophobic in the living room.
Actually, I just want one big space.
Bedroom
Very large bedroom! Nothing needs to be done. Except maybe add the cable-thing for a TV?
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/sandravb79/appt/P1030693.jpg
Oh, and maybe we could take out that door to the bathroom and replace it with a sliding door so that I wouldn’t loose too much space and have more closet-space??
Bathroom
Looked very nice while it was dark. Didn’t look too nice when there was light.
The wall tiles are very very damaged, don’t know if they will ever turn out well. The shower head is not in a very handy spot if you actually want to take showers in there. The faucet, well… it’s so old-fashioned, I’m wondering where they still found that to buy 9 years ago, same with the sink faucets.
Mirrors above the sink: hate it, hate the mirror and the ugly light and I can never believe that power outlet is save. And where am I supposed to stock all my stuff?
And while we are at it, can the floor be renewed too??? Pretty please daddy?
Powder room
Not bad, I just would like a little sink in there so that I and visitors can wash hands in there.
Laundry room
Not bad, will turn that into laundry room/ pantry. Eventually, in the meanwhile my laundry is outsourced. And it will be used as junk room.
That is what I started with in the beginning of April 2008. The next posts will be about what it turned in to.
When I first visited the apartment in December 2007, it was in the evening and there wasn’t too much light. Everything looked really nice, and I had the impression that only a bit of painting would be in order (+ adding a little sink in the powder room).
When the sale finally came through in the beginning of April 2008 (one must love the slow Belgian administration!) and I had a better look at it with lots of light, the list of things to do/ change just started growing.
Hallway
Nice big entrance hallway. Large space, but not useful because of the huge heating element in it. Oh, wait a minute, maybe we could take it out, so that I can use it as my home office? But then… the outlets are on the wrong wall, so maybe some outlets can be added on the other wall? Oh, the floor has to go out for that… ehm, is that really so much work to do? Pretty please daddy???
Kitchen
Nice spacious and sunny kitchen!!!! But oh my goodness, were those people midgets??? The counters are way too low for (tall) me! So, could we perhaps change that? And add a breakfast “bar” in front of the window because the view is wonderful?
Oh, and when the counters end up higher, the upper cabinets will be hanging too low, so can those also be hung higher? Oh, if we do that, we’ll need to change the tiles on the walls? That’s ok, I didn’t really liked the original ones to begin with.
And while we are at it, could we change the flooring? I don’t like wood in the kitchen and would prefer a tile floor…
Living room
Nice sunny living room. Not too big though, so will have to think well about what furniture I will buy to optimize the space.
Only thing that needs to be done is adding outlets. Lots of them! And repair the cracks in the wall.
And take out the door to the hallway, so that it wouldn’t be freezing cold in the hallway after taking out the heating unit there and so I wouldn’t be too claustrophobic in the living room.
Actually, I just want one big space.
Bedroom
Very large bedroom! Nothing needs to be done. Except maybe add the cable-thing for a TV?
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36/sandravb79/appt/P1030693.jpg
Oh, and maybe we could take out that door to the bathroom and replace it with a sliding door so that I wouldn’t loose too much space and have more closet-space??
Bathroom
Looked very nice while it was dark. Didn’t look too nice when there was light.
The wall tiles are very very damaged, don’t know if they will ever turn out well. The shower head is not in a very handy spot if you actually want to take showers in there. The faucet, well… it’s so old-fashioned, I’m wondering where they still found that to buy 9 years ago, same with the sink faucets.
Mirrors above the sink: hate it, hate the mirror and the ugly light and I can never believe that power outlet is save. And where am I supposed to stock all my stuff?
And while we are at it, can the floor be renewed too??? Pretty please daddy?
Powder room
Not bad, I just would like a little sink in there so that I and visitors can wash hands in there.
Laundry room
Not bad, will turn that into laundry room/ pantry. Eventually, in the meanwhile my laundry is outsourced. And it will be used as junk room.
That is what I started with in the beginning of April 2008. The next posts will be about what it turned in to.
Monday, March 23, 2009
It's Monday
5 more days and it is weekend again! And the weekend will be there soon, the days fly by so fast, it's amazing.
I think it's because I can already see my vacation on the horizon. I have so many things to do, and there is just not enough time. Going to all different kind of stores, all in another part of town/ the country of course, to buy those couple of essentials I can't live without on vacation.
Making sure I made hotel reservations in each city, make sure I have arranged transport everywhere, check and double-check the dates, apply online for that new Visa-thing one needs when visiting the US, have the spending limit of my VISA-card temporarily increased (hello there, I have some serious shopping to do while in the US!!!). While it is fun, it is also exhausting me.
I think it's because I can already see my vacation on the horizon. I have so many things to do, and there is just not enough time. Going to all different kind of stores, all in another part of town/ the country of course, to buy those couple of essentials I can't live without on vacation.
Making sure I made hotel reservations in each city, make sure I have arranged transport everywhere, check and double-check the dates, apply online for that new Visa-thing one needs when visiting the US, have the spending limit of my VISA-card temporarily increased (hello there, I have some serious shopping to do while in the US!!!). While it is fun, it is also exhausting me.
Friday, March 20, 2009
A new start
Hello everyone.
After not blogging for quite a while now, I decided todat to pick it up again. Why? Well, some weeks ago, I got banned from the ***boards. I registered again, got banned again, got registered again, posted a bit and now got banned again for no reason at all (that's the way it seems to me anyway). Not too big a drama, too bad for those people on the DLP-boards I could give advice to.
But just today someone messaged me that people were wondering about my remodelling thread and wanted to see pictures.
That's what made me decide to blog again.
It will start out with the remodelling, and I don't know where it will end.
Exciting, isn't it? ;-)
After not blogging for quite a while now, I decided todat to pick it up again. Why? Well, some weeks ago, I got banned from the ***boards. I registered again, got banned again, got registered again, posted a bit and now got banned again for no reason at all (that's the way it seems to me anyway). Not too big a drama, too bad for those people on the DLP-boards I could give advice to.
But just today someone messaged me that people were wondering about my remodelling thread and wanted to see pictures.
That's what made me decide to blog again.
It will start out with the remodelling, and I don't know where it will end.
Exciting, isn't it? ;-)
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