Queen's Day Eve Outing

So what did we do with our Sunday?

After a very lazy day with the kitties in the garden...

... enjoying the sweet smells from one of our several lilac trees in the garden...

...we ventured through the tulip fields of North Holland...

...to enjoy a wonderful day together in Amsterdam...

...sitting on terraces and stroling past the canals, meeting friends for Mexican dinner...

...and enjoying the fact that we live in a country where the Riot Police are so prepared to deal with large crowds of stupid drunk people.

Seriously, though, it was a lovely day with Wilbert in the city (which despite its proximity, we don't often make it to), and a very enjoyable evening with Jeroen, Peter and his new beau, Alp. I came home early (midnight) and the boys stayed out for another few hours before coming home. Not sure what we'll do today, but relaxation on one of our few public holidays in the year sounds good enough to me. :-)

Queen's Day Weekend

Miscellaneous thoughts to share with you this Queen's Day weekend (3 days!):

* Wedding plans coming along OK... still a week left for Dutch RSVPs to come in and the numbers are a little bit low... please hurry and get your reply cards in ASAP! Thanks! Things are coming along a little bit better in the U.S. where people are more accustomed to RSVPing.
* Our garden is glorious. Wilbert and I gave it a good clean-up and planted some new clematis vines a few weeks ago, so it's looking snazzy. The lilacs (white, lavendar and dark purple) are in full bloom and looking fabulous, and we also put in a new fence with the neighbors during Easter weekend. We barbequed for the first time this season last night (hamburgers) and the weather has been unbelievably good for April in Holland.
* Can't say too much, but I am very satisfied with my annual performance appraisal and salary increase this year. I had been unhappy with this in the past (for the first time in my carreer - this is not usually my primary driver), so now I can leave it behind and move on.
* This is also the year that I lose a significant expatriate tax benefit, so I will as a result of my boss's generosity at least end the year even or slightly ahead of this year.
* We scored an amazing deal on our long stay in Washington D.C. during the wedding: Combining points and miles, we are getting a $45 per night rate at the hotel for 9 nights! If you are a Starwood Preferred Guest member, check into it at SPG.com.
* Only about five weeks until our (first) big day!

Mandatory Day of Rest

Angel and I enjoy some much-needed rest in our recently cleaned-up garden. I was exhausted to my core today and really needed some extra rest, as I feel I'm on the verge of coming down with something nasty, so I stayed at home all day and caught up a little bit. I think all the travel (Denver, Beijing, Denver, London, Las Vegas, London) has got to me.

Going to bed early tonight again in the hopes that I can work one more day before the 3-day weekend (Monday is Queen's Day). Plan to CHILL all weekend so I can stay strong in the final stretch up to the wedding in June!

Evidence of Mid-Life Crisis

Gave myself a 24-hour waiting period and then jumped in and did it. My first "ink". As I understand it, the triquestra, and ancient Celtic symbol of the elements and/or the three aspects of the Goddess, later co-opted by the Christians to represent the Trinity (with the addition of the circle). The number 3 is a very sacred and mystical number in Pagan belief: earth, water & sky; body, mind & spirit; me, you & us. It's Northern European in origin (as am I), so all of the above is attractive to me. I'm going to try this one out for a while, but anticipate later putting a matching Celtic armband around my arm at the same place (at about 1/3 the total height of this one). Should be cool.

Why now? I'm getting married, so it's a major milestone in my life. It sort of represents everything I've accomplished, everything I've suffered, and everything I'm giving up (willingly) to become co-responsible for another human beings happiness and well-being. It's also a reminder and a symbol of my inherent spirtual nature, which I sometimes neglect. And it's sort of masculine and cool.

:-)

The Simple Things In Life...

I've been chronically exhausted every since I got back from the U.S. about two weeks ago (although that seems like a lifetime!), so I needed a lot of rest this weekend. Wilbert left for Cologne on his annual trip to the Handwork & Crafts Exposition early on Sunday morning, so I had the whole day to myself. Had no idea it would turn out like it did.

After getting most of our Dutch wedding invitations addressed and ready for mailing, I took four of them out to deliver to our neighbors, and found 3/4ths of them camped out in front of our townhomes in the sandpit where our parking spaces used to be (the city is rearranging, updating and fixing the whole street because of an initiative I started last year). A spontaneous block party! And it was a blast... we stayed there all afternoon; chatting, drinking, eating, everybody contributed something (see my tea set left). The weather was gorgeous... the first really springy day to fall in a weekend, so everyone was in the mood to chill and enjoy the outdoors. The street was closed off, so it was nice and quiet. We did a tour of the neighborhood and talked about ways we might redo our front gardens together as a team.

We talked about everything and nothing, caught up on each other's lives (Daren and Annette had just gotten back from a 9-month assignment to Aruba), enjoyed each other's company, and just had a good, simple time together. Very good for the spirit, and helped put life a bit more into perspective after I had been far too wrapped up in Work & Wedding for the last few months. The kids built forts and castles in the sand using the wooden scaffolding and bricks the road builders had left behind. They found an enormous mess this morning when they arrived.

We're lucky to have such good neighbors. We all have pretty much nothing in common (well, besides two of them having young kids): we're businessmen, shopkeepers, military, heavy equipment repairmen, housewives, pre-school teachers and airline cargo workers, but none of that really seems to matter when you're just good people.