Reflecting on year one…

On the 19th August Bond and I had been married a YEAR!  We couldn’t believe it because it has gone so fast and we have done rather a lot!

1. Bond quit a job to focus on building our business.
2. We left Dubai.
3. We travelled to India, Jordan and across the states and the UK
   • Side note – we saw the Taj Mahal, Petra, Jaipur, The gateway to India and so much more.  We met wonderful people and fell in love with gorgeous places.
   • We finally got to visit my adopted American Family and Bond fell in love with my happy place there which was terrific.
   • I spent time with my friends and met my gorgeous new godson who is completely perfect!
4. We moved to Brussels to my parents place.
5. We launched a Business.
6. I got a job.
7. We did all this living out of two suitcases while EVERYTHING else we owned is still in a shipping container. (and yes I miss my shoes a LOT!!)

It has been a pretty exciting time full of adventures and new experiences!  We both consider ourselves very lucky that at 32 we were able to have a year to do a lot of stuff we really wanted and to learn huge amounts about ourselves as individuals and as a couple.  It was a great privilige afforded to us by the hard work Bond did in Dubai and the knowledge we had our families support.

The first thing I learned as we took off for three months of travel and living out of suitcases is that Bond is NOT a fan of airports or living out of suitcases or dealing with his wife’s mess.  Some travel rules were imposed and things massively improved, on a recent trip to Belfast I even told Bond he was quite a pleasure to travel with – a huge improvement from when I made him stand in a separate queue!! We both over pack for every trip, for some reason both of us remain convinced that at any moment we might need to be dressed for a gala dinner?!  Still despite luggage restrictions and having to repack at airports we managed to remain friends by the end, not dignified friends though, it’s impossible to be dignified when you open your suitcase and everything explodes out it turns out.

We both learned many new skills in setting up our business, turns out I can design a nifty web site, do brand design and create content if required.  Bond proved that all that hard work studying and being in business had paid off and managed to create business models and presentations that are tremendously impressive. He also seems to be a surprising whizz at social media! It also turns out we can work anywhere if we have noise cancelling headphones – the best business purchase we have made.

I learned that not all new jobs are forever and sadly will be leaving this position after a few months due to a rather challenging work environment and my desire to get back to our business!  Bond learned that working from home is EXCELLENT but that his wife will never have food for lunch in…apparently cup a soups don’t count?!

We also learned that as long as we have each other we don’t need that much ‘stuff’ which was a fantastic lesson for two hoarders.  I wish we had learned this BEFORE we packed 58 boxes with possessions!

The discovery of the joy of separate bathrooms – thank you again to my parents for the loan of their AMAZING Brussels flat – has been a game changer.   I don’t think we will ever be able to share a bathroom again!

Most lessons have been fun/easy to learn and others have been harder.  Blind support from friends didn’t come in the way we had expected and this has been a rather hard pill to swallow.  On the flipside the ones who have supported us have an even more special place in our hearts and the old adage my grandmother always said has been proven true ‘if you have five true friends you are truly blessed’ – thank you to my handful for being wonderful and making me smile whatever happens.

All in all, as I reflect on our first year of marriage, which we were fortunate enough to celebrate at a wonderful hotel at our friends gorgeous wedding in Belfast and again at home when Bond cooked for me while I was ill, I realise how lucky we are.  We have had a wild year but we came out of it with a stronger marriage, closer friendships, a greater respect for hard work and the value of money and a business we are both proud of.  Next week all of our things arrive in Brussels and the best lesson of all according to Bond…I don’t need ALL those shoes…but that’s a lesson only he learned, I can’t wait to have them back!

Fabulous Flower Carpet

Every two years in Belgium they have a fantastic flower carpet, I have heard about it for years and so I couldn’t wait to see it.

The idea of the flower carpet is to have Belgium collaborate with another country to come up with the concept and implementation.  Everyone looks forward to it and it takes place in the Grand Place in Brussels.  The Grand Place itself is stunning and is a unesco site.  If ever you come to Brussels this is an absolute MUST see!

This year is the 21^st edition of the Flower Carpet. Just like Brussels, Guanajuato is a colourful state in Central Mexico with a rich tradition in tapestry. The annual highlight is “La Octava Noche” in the southern city of Uriangato, where the locals decorate kilometres of streets with carpets of coloured sawdust. It is the most important event for ephemeral art in the centre of Mexico.  This collobaration between two countries that are so far apart was awesome to see as it was a sign of how globalisation can be so positive.

This carpet was STUNNING and the light show that we also got to enjoy was incredible.  It felt like the flowers were moving!  So impressive and amazing to watch and experience.

We were lucky enough to be invited to the VIP party and so we watched the show and were able to have margheritas and enjoy a mariachi band.  Just a fantastic evening all in all!

If you ever get the chance to come to go to the flower carpet take it with both hands!!

Bond’s Birthday week!

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When Bond and I met I was a major birthday diva and he found this a comical thing that he didn’t really understand.  My family go HUGE for birthdays, they love to celebrate and make a big fuss.  His family are more laid back about the whole thing.  6 years on and I have been usurped, the birthday diva of the family now is most certainly BOND!

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This year he announced he would have a birthday week, this was so important we had to stay up till midnight to say ‘Happy Birthday week’. The morning of his big day he had a croissant in bed with candles and icing, in the afternoon he had another cake and then in the evening I cooked lamb chops at his request.  Then he made the foolish mistake of travelling which robbed him of two days of his birthday ‘week’.  On his return we had more cake and candles and yet more of my culinary prowess – again at his request…since he discovered that I can cook even though I hate it he has been finding ways to get me back at the oven!!

For the real celebration I booked dinner out at a great restaurant with a fab view so we could enjoy sunset while we ate.  KWINT has a fabulous view over Mont des Arts which is meant to be the site of the best sunsets in Brussels. On arriving at the restaurant they told us they had no gas and thus no food!!  Anyway we rallied, had a cocktail and watched sunset and then headed to another spot for dinner which worked out really well in the end. I am lucky that Bond is a good sport and didn’t get upset that the original plan didn’t work!

Au Vieux Saint Martin was fantastic, great and well made proper Belgian food with fabulous service and in a great location.  We had a lovely time and enjoyed eating good hearty food before walking home.  I would thoroughly recommend it, their Flamant stew was especially good!

For the rest of the weekend every meal had candles and then on Sunday negotiations were attempted for an extra two days to make up for the one he missed out on!  These failed I am sorry to say…we were out of cake and candles!

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Oh my Ommegang!

The historical re-enactment of the gala fête on 2 June 1549, organised by the Magistrate of Brussels, and given in honour of the Emperor Charles V “Quint”, his son Phillipe, Infant of Spain and Duke of Brabant, and his sisters, Maria, Queen of Hungary and Eleanore, Queen Dowager of France (widow of Francis I) at the Grand Place of Brussels. Departure of the procession of the Guilds and Serments of the Sablon.

I am sorry I am long overdue an update, work has been really hectic so by the weekend I can’t find it inside myself to sit in front of a laptop.  However I am braving the machine because it is time for a post.

A few weeks ago we went to see a spectacular show, something that even a few weeks later I still remember vividly because it was so special.  Ommegang celebrates the visit of Emperor Charles V and his family to Brussels in 1549.

This visit was marked by a parade through the streets of Brussels which culminated in a show in The Grand Place.  The Ommegang recreates the whole parade and show and we were lucky enough to witness this spectacle.

The Grand Place itself is stunning and is a Unesco site, all the buildings are beautiful with perfect gold gilt detailing.  We were lucky enough to be invited to watch the festival from the balcony of The Town Hall.  The view we had was amazing as we could really see everything and be comfortable. We were also fortunate to be seated with people who were kind enough to explain everything that was happening.

There were stilt walkers who fought each other which I had never seen before and which was an incredible display.  HUGE floats and all sorts of people in the costumes that were worn at the original parade.  The flag display was also incredible, a group of people who were walking with flags and then were able to throw them around and catch them and pass them to each other, these flags were a metre long at least and were on heavy poles.  I was mightily impressed!

Ommegang is so popular and renowned in Belgium they even have their own beer.  This is VITAL of course, since we moved to Belgium I have really learned the importance of beer as part of the cultural identity.  They have matching glasses for each beer and I have even discovered my favourite fruit beers, a new find for sure.

 

The same evening as Ommegang Belgium won the football, the crowd went wild and we had fireworks to celebrate.

Truly it was a magical evening that we loved!

Tunnel Traumas!

Before I tell this tale I must first say that I really love Brussels and that it is a great city for the most part.  That being said it is not perfect and it’s biggest pitfall in my eyes is the Metro…

When I first started to take it I heaped praises on it compared to the Tube in London; less crowded, plenty of seats, polite staff and cheaper too!  However this was all before our heat wave…the trains are HOT…ridiculously hot, stick to the chair you’re in hot.  Punctuality is somewhat hit or miss AND on occassion they decide to kick you off the train!  This has all contributed to rubbing the shine off my commute.  The one remaining saving grace is my lovely colleague who I at least travel back with.

However the love is officially lost for the Brussels Metro after an incident a couple of days ago…I got on the metro as normal where it was already a sauna.  Then off we went until three stops along where we stopped indefinitely.  There were no announcements and people were getting increasingly anxious.  Eventually people started to force open the doors to let air in but we were in a tunnel and so we couldn’t leave the train.  Near us was a baby getting more and more distressed.  The whole thing was horrendous and at no point did ANYONE say what was happening.

An HOUR later they eventually allowed us to walk through the tunnel which was a surreal experience.  The staff were rude and off hand and almost seemed put out by having to help us – which was a bit much given they were literally standing around.  The whole thing was utterly weird and at no point did anyone apologise for any of it!  It transpired that it was an electrical fault that caused all this…a fault that happened two hours before we even went to the station so it could all have been avoided with some better communication!

Suffice to say I won’t be getting on a metro without water and a fan ever again!!

Brilliant Birthday Bonanza!

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Last week I celebrated my 32nd Birthday in quite some style!  I felt completely spoiled rotten by everyone and had the best time!

The first day of the week my colleagues and I had a lunch together to celebrate both mine and my bosses birthday.  It was lovely to spend time all together as we are still all quite new and getting to know each other more and more.  They spoiled me with a lovely box of goodies from Yves Rocher which was a wonderful surprise as I didn’t expect anything, least of all something so generous!  A great kick off to my birthday week for sure!

My dad flew in from Berlin as he had some meetings here in Brussels and so he planned a dinner the first night of his visit (my birthday eve) which was FAB.  We went to a brilliant place called JB’s which serves Belgian Food but with great style.  Haute Belgian Cuisine is fantastic and I heartily recommend it.  The restaurant is also beautiful and the people who own it are fanatical about what they do so the food is to die for!  To mark my birthday they had a firework sparkler thing which was great fun and made me really happy.  I love a firework!

The next morning I woke up and got ready for work and Bond and Dad had cake and tea and presents waiting for me.  I was thoroughly spoiled by them!  I got a fabulous jumper from my favourite store and a great new book from Bond – one to add to my ever expanding reading list!  He had also iced my cake which was most impressive!  He got it from the same place that we had our wedding cake made so that was really special.  Mummy and Daddy got me a load of make up, face masks, bath salts, a new frock and a cardigan as well as an expandable handbag which is very clever indeed.  All in all a perfect birthday morning!

I had a nice day at work and lunch with some colleagues which was a nice way to spend some time before a hectic afternoon trying to get things done.  In the evening Bond had booked dinner at La Quincaillerie which was awesome.  It’s a converted ironmongers store and it has a lot of the original fittings and fixtures which for a design nut like me is great.  I also loved the giant clock that they have on their stair way.  The whole look of the place is very well done.   The food also proved to be fantastic, Brussels is really spoiled with wonderful restaurants!

All in all it was a completely perfect Birthday and I felt very lucky!

Books brilliant books!!

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Now that we live in Brussels in my parents place I have access to my dads library which is amazing.  He has a great range of books and I am trying a few things I might otherwise never have read which is great.

I have started with ‘Londoners’ from my dads shelf.  As a born and raised Londoner who left home a few years back and still can’t face the idea of going back I was intrigued by this book.  The cover says it all really

‘The Days and Nights of London as Told by Those Who Love It, Hate It, Live It, Long for It, Have Left It and Everything Inbetween.

As someone who left but falls bang slap in the middle of love and hate with my home city this book was a great read.   I think if I had never left I would have been annoyed by some of the views people hold on my fellow Londoners.  There are a great deal of stereotypes that I previously resented but now have had to accept are true.  Why don’t we speak to each other?  What’s the fear of smiling at a stranger?  Also must we speak so fast?  My poor colleagues for whom English is a second language said ‘luckily you annunciate which helps’.  Five years away and still I speak like I just drank a litre of coffee, ironic as I don’t touch the stuff!  It’s also true that we think we come from the best place in the UK and are a tad dismissive of the rest of the country.  The parts I loved most of these books were the hidden parts of London that showed the good of the city, especailly the tale of the lost and found at the train station – it will restore your faith in humanity.

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For me I love London for the people, nothing will ever take the place of those old friendships that I slip back into like a favourite pair of shoes.  The city itself may be the footwear equivalent of having to run a marathon in stilettos but the friends make it feel like there will always be a sofa and slippers ready to recover with.  For those friends who have always dropped everything to see me – you’re my London and I love you far more than I could ever love a place.

My move to Brussels pushed me to read ‘Merde in Europe’ by Stephen Clarke.  Hilariously written and easy to read I finished it in two days (the commute on the metro has massively increased my ability to finish books!)  It was great realising how many of the places I know and recognise – my local metro station even gets a mention.  Having only been here a few weeks it’s great to realise how at home I feel here.  I even felt defensive when one of the characters was rude about the food…Belgian cuisine is in fact brilliant and the produce in their supermarkets is unbelievable.  Our little local carrefour is full of great stuff that doesn’t cost the earth!  Straciatella yoghurt is a game changer btw!  I now want to read the rest of his books as I find his style amusing and engaging.

Having finished that I just started ‘Back Story’ by David Mitchell (the comedian, not the author of Cloud Atlas as he is quick to point out!)  It’s very funny so far and enjoyable to read (the chapters are the perfect length for my commute which shouldn’t be a criteria but does mean I can really enjoy it without having to stop mid paragraph.  There is something charmingly endearing about David Mitchell, and as Bond will tell you – being endearing is a huge character plus in my book.  That endearing and charming self deprecating way he has comes across brilliantly in this memoir.  I am only a couple of chapters in and already I can’t wait to eat some more…and on that note, back to my book  I go.

 

 

Brilliant Berlin part 5!

On Tuesday we made our second assault on the shops! This time with far more success!  We decided to park at KaDeWe and then head to the surrounding shops, mainly uniqlo as I desperately wanted some stuff from there and we don’t have it in Dubai sadly. One day hopefully it will come as it really does great basics.

Annoyingly I decided to start feeling a bit faint and hungry and so we had to go and get me some lunch.  This was of course my mother’s fault for giving me chocolate muesli for breakfast, it is AMAZING but clearly not the best start to the day for me!  We decided to go to Block House which is a steak house that has been around since 1968. There are a few of them dotted around Berlin so I was happy to try one out.  My mother was all healthy and had a steak stir fry and I went for a burger which was EPIC.  They put so much cheese on which is just the way I like it.  After we had eaten and I felt better we headed back to the shops.

I had a great foray in Uniqlo and got a lovely dress, a skirt and some t-shirts as well as a white linen shirt which will no doubt be invaluable out here. I was very lucky that it was sale season so I managed to save a lot of money. Actually as I type this I realise I managed to save ALL my money because I forgot my credit cards and my mother had to step in and pay (if you are reading this mummy please invoice me!!)  such is the peril of changing handbags and forgetting to check the zip compartment…

We suddenly realised that we had to hustle home as we both had hair appointments to get to.  The salon my mother goes to is very nice, although the girl who did my hair was a tad viscious in her desire to give me volume…!  Still at the end of it we both looked good and we were happy.  We went home and changed for our soiree in the evening.

In my dad’s absence we were attending a work function of his to ‘represent’ him.  The party took place at the Italian Embassy and was great fun.  They had yummy food and a lot of sponsored stands too.  My favourite bit was the tiramisu stand where they made you a mini tiramisu while you waited.  It was such a fun idea!  Apparently they can do a lot of different flavours so I hope to see them again and try more!  Mummy and I had a great time mingling around and meeting people and trying all the delicacies, we both got a taste for Aperol which they were also serving.  All in all a great evening.  Dad got back from his Brussels trip quite late due to the planes messing him around so we stayed up and saw him which made him happy – though only Tuxedo ran down the stairs!