Belgium April 2009…

I completely forgot about this trip – we went to Brussels in April for a short weekend get away.

The drive is about 3 or 4 hours and the weather was really nice when we went. This trip was of course AJ's idea, but as always, i'm up for whatever.

We stayed at the Renaissance Brussels Hotel and got a pretty good deal that included free parking and free breakfast. They even had an indoor pool and jacuzzi, which we took full advantage of when we first got there. The walk to city center was about 15-20 minutes, but it was much needed after all the beer and food.

Brussels is famous for their beer, and they have a whole lot.

AJ being the beer connoisseur that he is, loves this place. I'm not a big fan of beer, but Brusells has fruit flavored beers that taste similar to a wine coolers. I can deal with these, my favorite flavors are peach and apple, cherry is very pospualy but it's really bitter to me.

Belgium is also famous for their chocolate which is so good. I spent a lot of time going in and out of the cholatier's "sampling" what they had to offer. We left with about 10lbs. of chocalate for us to share between the both of us (and I wonder why i've gained so much weight). You only live once and this chocolate is so good - like melt in your mouth, give you shivers good.

We were actually here around the same time last year so some of these pictures may be from 2008, they're a little mixed up in my folder.

Let the beer drinking begin...

Beer Heaven!

My baby - checking them all out

Fruity Beer sction - Apple Beer in my hand

Manneken Pis (Dutch for "little man pissng") Seriosuly! There are a lot of stories about this little guy and people flock to see him, if interested you can Google him and read up on his history. He doesn't do anything, so seeing it once is plenty.

99 Luftballons

Total randomness, but I heart this song. I know, i'm such a dork!

Road Trip 2009!

In May AJ and I took a road trip to Spain for some sun and fun. Well, I just wanted to relax and SLEEP – but I went along with the fun.

It’s about a 10 hour drive from where we live to Spain, so we decided to break the drive up on our way there. We departed Germany at about 5P.M and stopped in Givors, France for the night.

Givors is kind of dull, but we were pretty exhausted when we got there – so we searched for food and went straight back to the room for some sleep.

We found the best little hidden Italian restaurant and had some great food – I can’t tell you the name of it or where exactly it was, but it was delicious.

Here is a picture of the Hotel – I think it was called the Kyriad

A picture of the view from our room

The town – Givors, France

The next morning we took off for Spain! The drive to Spain seemed pretty quick – I think that was just because we were excited.

Our time in Spain consisted of mostly relaxing in the room, sightseeing, relaxing on the beach, shopping, relaxing at the bars/pubs/clubs, eating and drinking (not in that particular order).

Anyway, Spain was AWESOME! We actually extended our vacation one day because we just couldn’t bring ourselves to leave. I really miss the beach and sunshine :(


Here are a few pictures…

On the balcony of our hotel room...

AJ trying to take a nap and me wanting a picture... AJ taking it all in... On the balcony... Sightseeing...

The drinks were 2 for 1...

Maybe I had one to many?

On the beach at night...

Sangria - some good stuff!

The spanish version of a Corona... The best Coffee ice cream i've ever had!

It’s our Anniversary!

One year ago today, I married my best friend and my life has been nothing but joy ever since.

I feel so honored and lucky to have my husband in my life!

Happy Anniversary!

Greatest Gift - Tamika Scott

Venice April 2009

AJ and I took a romantic trip to Venice in April and had a great time.

Venice is absolutely beautiful, but extremely expensive. Being the budget savvy people that we are, we stayed outside of Venice in a town called Mestre and just took the 5 minute, €1 train ride into Venice each day.

If you’re interested we stayed at Hotel Plaza, which wasn’t to glamorous, but it served its purpose.

I won’t be posting to many photos of me because I think I look so fat lately. I’m working on it though, it’s a slow process because I absolutely LOOOOVVVEEEE food.

Anyway, here a few pictures from our trip:

Waiting to board the flight... (We love RyanAir)

Checking out the sites

My little Italian bird friend...Venice is really beautiful and rustic- i'm still amazed at how these buildings are still standing with all of this water everywhere. Some of the vendors... It was crazy crowded...
This place had the best food and at a great price! On the train heading back to the hotel after a long wet day...

Inspiring Poem!

I’ve heard this poem several times, but I have never actually taken the time to really listen to it. I browse quite a few blogs and I saw that one of my favorite bloggers (Glamzini) had this posted on her site and it really hit me.

How true and inspiring!

I feel as though President Obama’s light has allowed and motivated America the to let their light shine.

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear
is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness,
that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?
Actually who are we not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people
won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine as children do.
We were born to make manifest
the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us;
it's in everyone.
And when we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
~ Marianne Williamson

Trying to Shed Some Pounds

I don’t consider myself fat, but I can stand to lose a few pounds and get in shape. I own a bazillion workout DVD’s and tons of exercise stuff, hell, we even have a sauna in our house. I never use any of these things. So sad, I know.

I’ve decided to seriously get myself together. Summer is just around the corner and I also have my 10 year high school reunion coming up this year.

I’m starting the Master Cleanse on Monday (2 Mar 09) and I’m going to try and last a full 5-7 days. I’ve attempted this before but I have never made it past day 2.

I’m also doing CHALEAN Extreme, which is a DVD series by Chalene that is supposed to help you to build muscle and burn fat and basically get a hot smoking body!

I won’t be posting any before pictures, well not yet at least. Let’s just see how my after pictures turn out.

My goal is for this to be more of a lifestyle change rather than just a quick weight loss thing and fall back into my habit of never working out and being a couch potato.

Some of my body inspirations: