Last weekend

Last weekend turned out to be a very interesting one. On Friday we had a work event in which we did a libdup video of the song Don't Stop Me Now by Queen. A libdup video is a video in which you lip sync to the music and then dubbing it over the original song. We were around 40 of us and we all had a short part of the song to sing and act. We were outdoors in Rotterdam acting like fools with all kinds of props. Many random people kept asking us what show we were preparing! After a few trials we did the final trial from start to end and the video was filmed. The video is very funny but it looked very professional. The evening didn't stop there and we continued with dinner and some dancing till the early hours of the morning.

With some of my colleagues

Sunday was a lovely warm sunny day and we didn't have any plans. Until my fiancee decided that we should take a trip to Antwerp and buy our wedding rings. I liked the idea, firstly for a woman it's very hard to reject an offer of buying jewelry and secondly because I knew that I would enjoy spending a few hours basking in the sun at some Belgian cafe. The day turned out to be success. The rings were ordered (eek!) and the sun kept shining all day long.

Enjoying the typical mussels in Antwerp

The week continued on a good note - my sister in-law gave birth to a lovely baby boy. We now have a little one in the Dutch side of the family which will surely change the dynamics of the family.

Autumn colours

Looking forward to see if this weekend has the same amount of nice and fun activities, but I doubt I will be getting any more jewelry or additional family members!!

Wordless Wednesday

The Formosa are visiting

A trip to Malta

Every day I think that I should post something on this blog but somehow I never get around to actually doing it. I'm not much of a writer but I think I got an episode of writer's block. I will try and change that and will try to show some more regularity on this space.

On the day of my last post it took me 23 hours to make it on a flight that took me back home to the Netherlands. The flight itself was just 45 minutes and by the time I reached home it felt as if I had traveled around the world.

My luggage didn't remain unpacked for long though since the day after I had a week trip to Malta. Usually I look forward to such trips, to escape the cold up North and get to see my family but I actually didn't feel much like traveling. However when there I had enough time to relax and did enjoy the days amidst all the election chaos.

Late winter weather in Malta

A white Mediterranean girl!

With my parents

Once back in the Netherlands I was really happy not to have any more trips for a while.

In sickness and in health

A week ago, just before my cousin's wedding,  I started feeling uncomfortable. My apetetite dissapeared and my head started hurting. Seeing that I was the witness for the wedding I decide to take a nap and luckily I felt pretty good afterwards.

Little did I know that less than 8 hours later I would be very sick.  The next 2 days were spent sans food, fever and general exhaustion. My timing was perfect for the wedding, but horrible for the flight back home. In fact for the first time in my life I didn't make it for my flight and had to spend an extra couple of days in lovely Malta. 

That did mean I got to spent more time with my niece, who I don't get to see very often.

When back at work I discovered that 5 people had been sick with gastric flu. And I kind of managed to find patient zero.  Maybe I should direct my travel insurance to him!

Even though I was sick during my stay in Malta I still had a great time. Got to meet most of my family (from one side at least) and just had a blast of a time. Here's some pictures.

The beaches were lovely and not busy.

My family.

My niece was enjoying all the attention.

My baby cousin's day

Today is a big day for my baby* cousin.  She's the cousin that spent whole summers with us at the summer house. And also the cousin that worked with me years ago and also the cousin who found herself living in the Netherlands. So she's the person that got my family a bit closer. And today is the day she's getting hitched!

Good luck on your wedding day!

Us back in 2008

* Baby cousin -  she's not even really the youngest of my cousins however she was 4 years younger than me and the only other younger cousins were either abroad or born years later. The name baby cousin seems to fit well though.

The Holidays

In a bit over a month we'll be off to celebrate New Year in Malta. I'm looking forward to spending it there since I haven't been over for the holidays for a couple of years now. This year though there's also a cute addition to the traditional holiday celbrations. My niece will also be celebrating with us. Each time I meet her she's looks so much more grown up, blame that on all my close family living in a 3 different countries. I guess in a blink of an eye I will be giving her dating tips! And who would not want to date such a cute girl!

How are you going to spend your holidays this year? Will you be spending them with your family and those dearest to you?

Back to business

My vacation to Malta has been over for a couple of weeks already but my blog stayed on vacation for a little while longer. It was decided to spend my free time away from my laptop.

This is what I have been up to a month ago on my trip to Malta.

Quality time with family.

Mostly with my niece who was the spotlight of this trip

The weather wasn't always what we expected but we did manage some days at the beach.

On the days when the weather was not perfect we spent our time finding places which offered good Mediterranean food.

Sisters

Sisters are usually part of the few people who know your deepest darkest secrets. They're the ones that even if you have not talked with them in ages will still get you, knowing what to say to make you feel right.

My sister lives in the UK so I don't get to see her as often as I would like to. We use phones, emails and Skype to keep up to date but since she now has a little one I also get photo updates. Sometimes updates come less often, so I keep pushing for some. In the end I think it's my right to get regular pictures of my cute niece!

In the end it's worth the wait to get a bunch of photos, some of which make me aaaaw  

and others that won't be appreciated by my niece in 15 years time!

Out with the old and in with the new

 This week I'm enjoying my family who are over for the festive period. I'm also taking this week as time off the computer, although somehow I'm still managing to follow everything via my phone!

Wishing you all a great 2011 fullied with happiness and health!

Gelukkig Nieuw Jaar!!

[Image Source: Power Babes]

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all!

Wishing a day full of joy, food, friends and family.

I will be spending with my family and in-laws. The day will start by waking early to prepare a dinner for eight, followed by hours of eating and over stuffing ourselves. That's what's Christmas should be like. Wish my luck!!

My only wish would have been that my sister and her family were around as well!

Lyla's Baptism

This weekend we're off to Malta for the baptism for my cute baby niece.  I will be her god mother and I have the job to give her a middle name. It's a tradition that the god parents give middle names to babies on their baptism. These names won't be used anywhere official, apart from the baptism certificate. Many people have horrible middle (baptism names). I just hope that my choice won't make Lyla flinch when she's grown up!

It's a girl!

Yesterday at 7:40 BST my sister and my brother in law had a lovely baby girl. She's the first baby in the family in a long time (since me actually!) so I'm sure she will be receiving many cuddles. Baby Lyla Mae was born with a tuft of dark hair and has a big loud cry, showing her Mediterranean roots from day 1!

When I refer to family here I'm talking about direct family. My actual complete family is very fertile. This year we already got 2 new additions (excluding Lyla) and another 2 are on the way! So good luck E. and C. your turn is coming soon.

My cooking

My mum is a housewife, a proper old-style traditional Mediterranean mum. She loves to cook and spends endless hours in the kitchen. I seem to have inherited this cooking gene and each year passing I’m finding myself spending more time cooking new and different recipes. Nowadays it isn’t only clothes and shoe shops who make me stop when I’m shopping; household shops seem to magnetize me as well.

So here’s some shameless advertising to my food blog Cola’s Kitchen.

As a kid I used to help when my mum was preparing deserts. The help consisted mainly of licking all the extra cake batter that was left at the end! I think every chef has to make sure that the food he’s making tastes good!