(...because I love you...)

Tall ’n skinny, with big eyes and slender  hips,
those were the things I first saw in you.
Intelligence, wit, a tiny heart and sweet lips,
made the first spark follow through.

Though through to what nobody could predict,
but I was so willing to take the chance…
That way we had so easily clicked
continued to a full-blown romance.

Now it has been 1001 days and nights
Since that day at the beach we said I do
After many kisses and very few fights
Today i just wanted to tell you

That since then every morning
I have woken up proud:
Because you don’t know loving
until you have been Van Lieshoudt.

Happy 1001th wedding night anniversary, Soeks!

He cleans up rather well!

the posture I recognize from millions....

Anything you can do, I can do better...

While my sister and I were growing up, we used to go to the video store almost every weekend. The store was a standard shop, with the VHS cassettes (all illegal copies of course) arranged by genre. Actually the only exceptional thing about the store, were the amazingly sour-faced ladies working the counter. 

The reason we kept going there, was because they had a pretty large collection of G-rated movies. My mom, being strict, insisted that we could only watch videos by ourselves if they were not PG-13 or worse. A PG could squeak by after a screening. A large part of the G-rated selection consisted of old school musicals. So we watched Brigadoon, Summer Stock, Kismet, basically any MGM-ish grand production over and over (and over) again. We actually knew that Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers danced on air, even before Vogue became a hit. (And now I am in school with kids who don't even know the lyrics to that song, how old am I.......)

But to get to the point of my story, I am thankful for that part of my upbringing, because the music and pop-culture references I took with me still enrich my life to this day.

For example today: I finished another big project in the house, with the whole time in my head the song playing: 'Anything you can do, I can do better..., I can do anything better than you...'. I don't know who I was singing it to, but as I was tacking along, i was having a lot of fun: yes I can, yes I can.

This was the project. We had bought a Manstad sleeping couch from Ikea. After consulting several fabulous websites, I quickly realized that to change the color we did not like, I was going to have to do it Ikeahacker style.

This is the before:

What I used was 10 meters of fabric, a sewing machine, 3 rolls of thread and a tacking gun. Oh yeah, and one rainy afternoon. And I must admit, I had a lot of help from Looup...

 And this is the end result! (Domi, you would be proud)

A thousand beautiful things

May was a month of new things. Even though this house was bought in May of last year, I moved in in June, after being away for school for the best part of it. So for the first time I could see the rebirth of our garden, after a harsh winter. It is very reassuring to see, how a tree that looks as if there is absolutely no life left in it, starts to form tiny bulbs, that grow into leaves, finally flowers and a month later we have apples in our lush tree!
As before, I have claimed a corner of the garden to cultivate and this month this are looking up. Most of the plants I had put in the ground got frozen in a late cold spell, but if at first you don’t succeed….
At the beginning of May I went to Istanbul for a few days, with friends. That was an experience to remember and to repeat. The food, aah, the food…..;oD 
Being there with a local was awesome to explore the non-touristic venues. Having any meal sitting on a plastic chair on bare ground under a tree has been a favorite of ours for years and once again it proved to have some of the best food I have had during my whole vacation. Or was it Changa? Or the other place with the lavas? Or the köfte? Hmmm……I should go have breakfast and stop thinking about food on a empty stomach….

But not outdone by the food was the company I kept, my gracious host and lovely tour guide provided all the comforts of home, and some pretty awesome quality time. I saw some magnificent views, the camera is just not capable of capturing the magnitude of it, but still here some pictures. 

But the newest thing in May is also the most special. We all got a new title on the 30th: I am now an aunt, as is Lisa. My parents are grandparents to little baby Elisabeth. Even after seeing her with my own eyes, it is hard to believe a new generation is begun, but we love her already.