Link Up

Link Up Here

Back when I used to blog on my old blog Atl Yankee Belle... not sure if any of my old readers have come over to this blog, but I love a good link up. I feel like its a good way to get some more people reading my blog as well as it gives me a subject to write about (aka I get stumped on topics or I have good topics but not sure they're worthy of a post). 

So this post is about getting to know little old me. Since my blog is still pretty new and I haven't gotten a fancy designer layout I don't have a "all about me" section. 

• I've recently started my own herb garden. Since we don't have any outdoor space, not even a balcony I've had to make do with a windowsill 

•  I'm 5'7, telling your height seems to be a thing for this link up so I figured I should include it 

•  I speak a tiny amount of french. After living in Belgium for 5 years this shouldn't surprise anyone yet Steve was shocked when I spoke french when we visited Belgium last weekend

•  I've recently started my own Easy shop featuring my photography. I'm very much a beginner so I'm not charging much for these pictures but I am hoping to make it a real business Spilled Milk Photography

•  I can't drive a manual car. I tried to learn a few years back in an ancient pick up truck in a field full of goats. Needless to say it was a failure of a lesson and I never went back

•  I am not much of a gamer, I don't play PS4 or Xbox or magic or geeky board games, what I do play is the Sims4. Ive been an avid Simmer since the original came out when I was in 8th grade... not so many years ago

•  I'm an excellent procrastinator aka the reason I started this blog post as opposed to running errands or unpacking or starting one of 3 loads of laundry I need to do today 

•  I hoard collect cook books. I had a huge collection at home, at least 50 or so. Yet I never use them when looking for a recipe, I'm all about google. I only packed about 10, but they're pretty so I can use them to decorate

•  Since I've been in the UK I've made 8 dishes I've never cooked before. I've had plenty to time to find new recipes and online shopping has helped too as I don't have to wonder around the supermarket for hours looking for something

Feel like your readers don't know much about you? Why not join this link up! Don't forget to add your post to the main website  

Air B&B

One of the most exciting parts of our trip to Belgium was getting to stay at our first Air B&B! If you've never heard of it, its a website/company which allows normal people to rent out part or all of their home to people. It sounds a little weird but its based on the concept of a bed & breakfast. This concept is very normal for me as my aunt & uncle run a B&B out of their beautiful home in upstate NY. So I was very gung-ho about trying this concept - Steve not so much. He's a fan of normal hotels but since budget is always a factor in our travel, renting an apartment for $75/night vs a hotel room for $150 I figured it might be worth a try.

After a pleasant Eurostar ride into Belgium & a terrible experience with Enterprise (this will be covered in another post) we were pretty exhausted. Mind you it was also HOT in Belgium - something I don't remember. It was in the high 80s, not that hot coming from Atlanta but when your packed and dressed for high 60s it felt like the Sahara.

Catherine, our Air B&B host was so sweet, we were running late because of the rental car fiasco & she was still there waiting on us with cold waters. We took a tiny elevator up to her 3rd floor flat and opened the door and wow! The photos on her posting don't do it justice. She gave us a quick tour of everything - kitchen was fully stocked with pots, pans, plates - everything you could ever ask for in an apartment. The views out of the kitchen window were amazing. She handed us they key and the place was ours for the weekend. Coming from our box filled flat this was just perfect. The bathroom was more like a spa then an apartment & the bed was very comfortable. If you are going to be visiting Belgium for 3+ days I highly recommend this listing! Its a great value, in a wonderful neighborhood & has everything you could ask for. Catherine is so sweet and speaks enough English to be a great host.

I'm sold on the concept, Steve is still weary but I think he would give it a go again. Sorry for the lack of photos - totally forgot to get them but you can see all the pictures as a part of her listing.

Under the Covers

Hello to all my readers... all 2 of you :) I'm sure you've been wondering where Ive been, I know you have both noticed my absence these past few days. Cue a tummy bug.

Yes - for the last 24-48 hours I have been fighting a most annoying and generally yucky tummy bug. Sleeping, drinking Schweppes & big mugs of chicken noodle soup have been my life - not fun. Also not much to talk about. Steve has been strong and supportive in my time of need but of course he woke up this morning with a queasy tummy so he's on the "clear liquids" diet for tonight.

Mind you - our chicken soup doesn't look like this. I wish it did!

On to more exciting things - we have finally received word that our things are going to be delivered.... the day before we leave for a three day weekend. Thank you Mr Murphy (family joke - google Murphy's Law)! On Friday Steve and I are headed on our first international trip since we arrived in the UK. We are going to Belgium for my school's 50th reunion. I'm over the moon since I haven't been back since 2001, my freshmen year of high school. Plus we're renting a car so we'll get to drive which is really exciting - except for the who's driving fight we will be having all week.

Back to our stuff - sometime on Thursday a moving company will be pulling up to our building and unloading our two pallets of stuff! As of right now the goal is to get the house as clean and organized as possible before we add all of our things to it. I've built our 4 new IKEA bookcases so we have places to put stuff. I will clear out our spare room tomorrow of all our our laundry racks so we can put boxes & storage in there while we unpack. I'm so excited to have our pots and plans as well as more clothes (I feel like I've been wearing the same 10 outfits for 7 weeks) & everything else we've simply been doing without for 7+ weeks.