July musings

It's been awhile!  I haven't been out of town since Budapest and I'm itching to get out of here.  Luckily, I have 2 weeks in Sweden, Denmark and Norway starting tomorrow!  I'm taking a Rick Steves' official tour.  I'll try to blog each day - I'll have my iPad with me, so get ready for 2 straight weeks of blog updates!

Since Budapest.....

1. BIG fall on the bike.  Full speed and hit a smallish curb at the wrong angle and went down hard.  I bumped my head, but the worst was the bruises on my hips and legs.  I had trouble sitting for a few days -  the bruises were better than anything I used to get in cheerleading in high school.  I'm still black and blue and it was 3 weeks ago!

2. I found an Italian restaurant close to my house owned by an Italian family from Sicily.  It has really good food and it's decent priced, but almost always empty.  I've taken a book there the last 2 Fridays and had a proper chat with a waitress there who joins me with her own book.  They play a mixture of 20s/30s/40s music from Italy and the US....last Friday they must have mixed up the CD, because I was treated to "Jingle Bells" and "Frosty the Snowman" on the hottest day of the year here.

3.  The weather has been incredible.  Unfortunately, I had my hardest month at work to date so I haven't been able to enjoy it that much.  I did really enjoy a lot of good quality time with friends from across the channel as they were over quite a bit, but thankful that quarter is over.

4.  I've done a few weekends at the beach reading and a weekend park hopping to read.  I've been reading a lot, which leads to.....

5.  I went to an expat book club!  The first book was the Great Gatsby, which I had conveniently read for another book club.  Great discussion....I'm not inviting anyone over for tea yet, but there's potential that I could make a friend outside of work there.  Only took 11 months, but I'm moving in the right direction now.

6.  I learned how to ride my bike in a dress.  I've done it 5 times now....it makes you think about what underwear you pick in the morning.  I'm pretty sure I've shared my colors multiple times in the past few weeks with the good citizens of the Hague.

Other than that, it was a busy month at work with any free time spent outside to enjoy what few days are decent weather here.  Stay tuned for Scandinavia!