April Celebrations

Oh my, so much food and wine the last couple of weeks… I’m on a diet for the coming month !!! It started with a busy birthday “week”… My friend Angie has her birthday the 18th and me 2 days later. She got a gift voucher for a fancy restaurant on Las Olas and invited me over to celebrate both our bdays. We had “aperitif” at my place first and by the time we had to leave, the sky was pitch dark. Only 10 minutes after we left, there was a storm like Dominique never experienced before… luckily no hurricane. Angie and I were just a few miles further north and we didn’t had one single drop the whole evening !!!!  When I got back home, Dominique told me the neighbors were closing the hurricane shutter doors (we all have them here just in case of emergency), that bad it looked. 

The next day Henry Diltz & Patti Boyd came to Fort Lauderdale. Henri is a famous photographer from the 60’s & 70’s. He was the official Woodstock photographer and did countless album covers (he made thousands of pictures of David Cassidy). Patti Boyd is best known as George Harrison‘s wife and Eric Clapton‘s muse, but she was also a famous model in the 60’s and had her own private photo collection from the Beatles. They both came here to present some of their shots, telling stories. It was a great evening and afterwards you could buy a signed picture and have a chat with the “masters” themselves.

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And on Sunday celebration time again… Angie organized a brunch with all of her “girl friends” @ “Beauty & the Beast”…  unlimited food and Mimosas (Prosecco + orange juice… VERY yummy!!)

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Finally my ‘real’ birthday arrived and I invited Céline & Jeff with little River, Elena & Gregory and Al & Fred to celebrate with us. I was soooooo spoiled… Dutch candies and cards arrived in the mail, a gorgeous fruit basket & balloon were delivered early in the morning, flowers and presents in the evening… and last but not least, a new iMac from my hubby ❤

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Unfortunately the celebrations were overshadowed with sad news… Dominique’s stepmom Elsy passed after being ill for a long time. At times like that it’s hard to live far away from Belgium, because you feel so helpless. Here’s a picture of Elsy as I want to remember her ❤ The first time she saw Charlie… in those days we lived in Barcelona and went to Belgium for the first time with him when he was 3 months old. 

Just 3 days after my birthday our UK friends Wendy & Steve arrived.. well no, they were supposed to arrive. Unfortunately their visit got delayed with a couple of days, because Wendy’s passport did not have a “chip”… new rules since April 1 and it was no April fools-day-joke… She had to go back to London to get a new passport before she was allowed on the plane. Couldn’t believe that British Airways didn’t inform the passengers who booked a flight to the US! Anyway, they finally arrived and we celebrated my birthday with my favorite dish, paëlla :-)Wendy and I did quite some traveling together… most of the time in order to see a David Cassidy concert… We were both “die hard fans” in the 70’s. I can’t believe how many nice friendships I have made through DC all over the world!!!! But Steve and Dominique became good friends over the years too… they both are of the kindest men I know… no wonder they get along just fine!   They went to the Keys for a couple of days and came back on Monday. Unfortunately Dominique had to leave to Belgium, so that left poor Steve with 2 “chatty” women. (I have absolutely NO clue what we were doing here, but we sure had a good laugh when we saw these pictures… it looks like we were dancing! By the way, Steve took these!

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In Miami Beach Wendy found David in the “Sales rack”… we put him back on the 1st row though, nice in front of the other Time magazines 🙂

We cracked up seeing these guys standing in line “pretending” to wait for the shower… yeah “RIGHT” 🙂  I showed my friends around the Art Deco district.  It contains 960 historic buildings… we didn’t had time to see them all 😦 But Steve took tons of wonderful pictures. You will have to do with mine though…

Again… only in America… A Louis Vuitton motorcycle!!!!! I prefer the bike or skates to be honest 🙂

Off to Little Havana to find Steve a hairdresser… hair grows faster when it’s humid 🙂  But I think he likes it here, because he’s considering taking over Dominique’s office 🙂

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One more last dinner together  

& one more last drive to “blinky” Las Olas (oh my we laughed so hard in the car… poor, poor Steve who had to bare with us!). It was  so much fun to have you guys here. Hope you will treasure Fort Lauderdale in your hearts… we treasure both of you in ours ❤

Woke up at 6.30am with some golden light peeking through my curtains… I just knew the sunrise was amazing and took this beautiful picture of our little paradise. My Dominique came back this morning, right in time to see the Air Show. It was the first time the F-35 Lightening II Joint Strike Fighter, which hasn’t been approved for combat, joined a U.S. civilian air show. They performed some fascinating maneuvers with a vintage World War II fighter bomber plane — the P-51 Mustang. So hard to take a decent picture of these jets!  That’s it folks… almost bedtime here and no more stories to tell. You are up-to-date with my Floridian life. See you next time 🙂

Bye, bye Belgium

It’s official now… after a year of ‘probation’ in Forida . I officially gave my resignition at the company where I worked for more than 2 decades: Cronos. I unsubscribed from Belgium and now officially live in the U.S. It felt kind of “shaky” and it had an emotional impact on me for a couple of hours, but I got over it when I opened my windows and saw this magical view first thing in the morning

Not a lot has happened since I last wrote…  there’s no need to “do” much because we are so busy during the week with working on our future here. But during the weekends we try to slow down and take some time for ourselves. And there’s still so much to discover! I used to walk after lunch with my colleagues… here I take my bike and go to the “New River”.  I have my regular tour and usually my ‘exercise’ takes about an hour 🙂

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The ocean is warming up and I had my first swim since December. The water was absolutely fabulous and there was a wonderful breeze. Little did I know when I filmed the Oasis of the Seas leaving Fort Lauderdale, an ex-colleague of mine was on board. (Inge Duyck, what a shame we missed each other!!).

Never seen these beautiful blue creatures in my life. They washed ashore and are called Velella Velella. They’re related to a jellyfish but don’t have a harmful sting. They float and sometimes wash up by the thousands — even millions. 

Easter weekend was fabulous! We drove to “Hollywood”, some kind of resort where merely “Snowbirds” stay during winter season… loads of +65 Canadians here. Cozy little village with a nice beach, but wouldn’t trade it for Fort Lauderdale in a zillion years! 

Look at this house and car parked on the lane… it could be a picture from the sixties!  Leaving Hollywood and heading to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino , which is only 15 minutes from our home. Not that we like to gamble, but I was curious to see it, just because they organize a lot of concerts there. Our first dollar kept us busy on this machine and we kept on winning… then the money was gone but we had 15 minutes of fun for just 1$ 🙂  That’s the way to do it!!!  5 Minutes later we lost 20 bucks in just 1 minute on the roulette (NOT the way to do it… then we stopped playing lol).

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Most of the casino’s in the U.S. & Canada are operated by Indian reservations. As of 2011, there were 460 gambling operations run by 240 tribes with a total annual revenue of $27 billion. I was merely fascinated by the costumes/dresses of Michael Jackson, Madonna, Shakira & shoes worn by John Lennon, Cindy Lauper, The Pointer Sisters,…

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We were getting thirsty but with this beautiful weather didn’t want to spend more time indoors. So off we went to our favorite terrace… it was happy hour so 2 Pinot Grigio’s for the price of 1… and guess who was a little drunk? Not this guy on the left, but the lady who took the picture lol !!!! I just had to take a shot of these 2 beautiful ladies… mother and daughter… they could be sisters 🙂

The weekend after Easter friends from Belgium came to visit us for the day. They just arrived from NY and were now enjoying some sun in Miami. We had such a lovely day with them. A beautiful family : David, Leila, Gaëtan & Alicia ❤

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Since a couple of days we have a new visitor… meet Mr. Crow… he’s VERY noisy ! Wonder what message he’s bringing us?

Since we work from “home” and while it’s not too hot to sit outside, this is our office. It might look like we’re on holiday most of the time, but this guy works at least 60 hours per week. Luckily he calls his work ‘FUN’… if not, we wouldn’t be this happy I guess 🙂

And last weekend we discovered a little antique market… here they call it : big yard sale. Love to browse around and “touch” all the goodies spread out on the table… ready for some great findings!!!

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We didn’t eat McDonald in ages!  I know it’s “crap” and the bread was sticking on my teeth… but the fishburgers tasted like heaven 🙂

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Only in America !!!!! One moment we pass this car that looks like a wreck (one could hardly see his wheels and no, it’s not “brown” but “rusty”)…  and hardly 2 minutes later we see this beauty ❤ 

What a location to get married… next to the New River… a perfect place to say : YES, I DO ❤

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One happy man with a Stella and a dog… Life is good ❤

Flamingo’s, Angel cards, Toruk, music festival & new friendships

Since my the last visit of my Cronos Family, life has been busy here in Fort Lauderdale.  No time to get bored… quite the contrary 🙂 Last Friday, exactly a year ago, we emptied our house in Belgium & handed over the keys to the new owner. We closed a very happy period in our lives (16 years we lived there), to trade Belgium for Florida and we never looked back for one single moment. One thing I’ve learned from those last months we’ve spend there, is not to try to control things which you can’t change anyway and live in the moment.  NOW you’ve got, you can’t change what was… So that’s exactly what I did since 21st March 2015 and 21st March 2016. It’s been one of the happiest and most interesting years of my life!

After this very long intro, time to post some pictures of our life the last few weeks, because it’s been a while since I last wrote.  I like this picture because it’s rather “new” for a Belgian “girl” to see mounted police … especially one on the beach!            Sammy left us, but a new bird came on a regular base to say hello 🙂 Isn’t he/she a beauty?  Since we live here, we come to appreciate birds so much.After my very nice experience at the Miami Zoo with Peggy and Stephen, we went to visit Flamingo Gardens, about half an hour drive from our home. It happened to be Valentine’s day and this young man with a charming  & happy smile was selling his roses with a smile at the stoplights.  The Gardens were originally the property of Floyd L. and Jane Wray, who in 1933 built a home and citrus grove on what was then the edge of the Everglades.

The beauty of this Everglades wildlife sanctuary lies in the fact that nowadays it’s merely a home for injured animals.  In the wild, they would never be able to survive… here they are being taken care off. Most of the people working here, are volunteers. Look at the beauty of the plants & animals.           We ended this beautiful day at the Greek food & wine festival, organized by the Greek community of Fort Lauderdale.

 And look at the golden light & rainbow… what a beautiful Valentine’s day it was ❤

A week later we decided to discover a part of Miami we never went to. Charlie told us it was such a nice place and a MUST to visit: Coral Gables, the home of the University of Miami. The city’s architecture is almost entirely Mediterranean Revival style.             A lovely place to stroll on a lazy Saturday afternoon & have lunch or a drink on a cozy terrace & have fun window shopping (lot’s of bridal shops Susan!).  

Last year we got rid from most of our books (the ones with my heart in them, are divided amongst some friend’s.. I know they are in good hands), so since we live here, only ebooks for us. The temptation was big not to buy anything in this lovely bookshop.

             You can discover Coral Gables with a trolley… we just took our car and enjoyed a scenic drive.

               We skipped lunch because we had a late breakfast, but in the late afternoon we were getting hungry. Coral Gables is not that far from Little Havana where we know a nice bar which serves “comida casera” (home style food)… So off we went. In a split second you find yourself in a totally different “vibe”… from the stylish “Old America” to the Latin one.

One of my first “spiritual teachers” introduced me to “tarot” card reading… I was 21. I always kept an interest in cards, but never went to readings really. I never really “allowed” anybody to predict my “future”.  I got introduced to a lady here who is very good at it and in no way is “pretending to know what is going to happen”. So I went to one of her workshops. It’s so necessary for me to stay in touch with think-alike people… I LOVED it and bought me a beautiful deck of Angel Cards ❤

This post is getting awful long, but I’m having fun with it…

End of February we were invited by Rafael, our new friend whom we met at the Law of Attraction group. We went to Bahia Cabana and talked for hours and hours… he’s very tiny and small and always reminds of a jockey 🙂 He’s a very happy guy and great, positive company !          Dominique was almost about to leave to Belgium, but he didn’t want to miss an evening out with my friend Angie to celebrate a Canadian who just got his American citizenship… so off we went to an Irish Pub, with great live music and where they serve delicious Shepherd’s Pie.  Who knows, maybe one day we’re about to celebrate ours!!!!!

Months ago I bought tickets to (finally) see Cirque du Soleil. They were in town for 3 days with their amazing spectacle “Toruk“.  I soooo loved that movie ❤  Unfortunately Dominique left that day to Belgium, so I invited Angie to join me. We had a lovely “girls” day out… lunch, some shopping, lots of talking, the show…

   On Facebook I see several posts from friends, that spring is arriving and people are happy rain & cold will be replaced by warmer weather. I always loved the smell of spring flowers in my house when it was that time of the year. I couldn’t find any hyacinths over here, but finally they started selling them in supermarkets. My house smells like spring… although it’s 80°F (27°C) already over here… it starts to get humid again ! 

This weekend it’s not really beach weather so yesterday we decided to return to Miami… still so many things to discover there!  Little did we know it was not the best day to do that… it’s Miami’s yearly Music Week. About 60.000 people come from all over the world to listen & dance to worlds most famous dj’s. No need to tell you the energy was ELECTRICAL 🙂 Police everywhere…

Parties on the water…. and stages all over town with VERY LOUD music and VERY colorful people 

Some try to “save some lost Souls”, 

..some feel young(er) amongst the Young …and others enjoy slowly waking up from last night party and enjoy the spectacle for free from their balconies 🙂   Time to leave the craziness and return to a more “laid-back” Fort Lauderdale… I always enjoy the buildings and bill-boards on the drive back. 

That’s it folks… you’re all up-to-date again… I will try to make it shorter next time 🙂 In the meanwhile, hope life is treating you more than good!

 

Sammy, my new friend & a new visit from my Cronos Family

And so 2016 has started and I can just feel it’s going to be another exciting, wonderful year!!!  On the 3rd day of this new year, we got a visitor. He didn’t “flew in with iron wings” like most of our visitors do… no, this one had his own pair of wings. It’s a beautiful osprey, looking for fresh fish to catch in the canal in our backyard. He sat for 3 days and 3 nights on top of a mast of a sailboat and hardly moved.

I was fascinated by him, or maybe it was a she? There were 2 of them… both sitting on a sailing boat, but quite far apart from each other.  So I guess it was a pair, but most of the time we only saw Sammy… That’s how we called him.  I started to do some research on ospreys (some call it fish eagle or river hawk) and discovered they do live in pairs and usually mate for life. His diet consists almost exclusively of fish. It was fascinating to see how he catches them. Because of his excellent vision, he detects the fish at a height  of 10 to 40m  (33-131 ft) above the water!  It’s beautiful to see how he dives into the river with his wings swept back, thrusting his talons forward at the last minute to grab the fish from below the surface. Then he takes of with a struggling fish in his claws. Unfortunately I couldn’t take pictures of his “dinners”, but I do have a nice headshot of him… he looked straight into my lens! 

It won’t be me if I didn’t look up the spiritual meaning of this bird… of course it is no coincidence he chose to sit so close to our “nest”. I had a feeling he was watching over us and at the same time bringing a message. This is what I found and what speaks to me :

‘If Osprey has flown into your life, stay alert because important information or message is coming to you. When you see the Osprey, it is a good time to listen and to take heed to any advice that the animal spirit gives you. The Osprey is most associated with solar forces. Indeed it has no fear of the sun and can hunt and see unhindered by it. It may be viewed as a messenger of the gods, with its swift wings and mastery over air, sea and land. It can fly anywhere as well as get anything it wants.”

When Dominique was off to Belgium, I got another visitor… this time not as pleasant as the beautiful bird. During the night I found a cockroach in my bathroom!!! I almost stepped on it ugh!!! I haven’t seen one in our apartment since September (still grateful Pieter caught Oscar… he had a name!!!). So it was such a nightmare to kill this one at midnight… I just HAD to because he escaped to my bedroom and I can think of more pleasant company than him in my bed 😦 But believe it or not, this is the spiritual explanation of his visit :  “This may mean a message of gratitude. There must be something coming in your life that is worth to be thankful of”.

The weather has been weird as well the last couple of weeks. We had a bit of everything… it was really nice and warm the 2 first weeks and we had beautiful pink skies in the evenings. One day it was a bit foggy, something we hardly ever see here.         And the next day I woke up with yellow light, a sign a storm was coming up.          

I got a tornado alert on my phone and wind started to blow hard, but it only lasted for an hour or so and nothing spectacular happened… for the good 🙂 There were a lot of birds visiting our neighborhood though, attracted by the Acai berries growing in the palm trees… if you believe the hype, well these birds must be VERY healthy 🙂

I’ve mainly lived in the city, so being able to observe all these birds from my balcony, I feel like I’m in heaven sometimes! Such a rich life we are living here ❤

And then it was time for my Dominique to come home again. He was in good company because my dear colleague Peggy and her son Stephen were on the same plane coming to visit me. Peggy started working at Cronos when she left college in 1993 and I’ve seen her getting engaged, getting married, getting her 2 (beautiful) kids and suddenly one of those kids is 19 and coming over to visit us in Fort Lauderdale !!!! We had a couple of great days together… enjoying each other’s company and catching up 🙂

Stephen is a walking encyclopedia what concerns animals and loves going to the Zoo. Miami has one of the most beautiful Zoo’s in the world, so they invited me to come with them. If there’s one thing I don’t like, it’s caged animals, so I was a bit reluctant. But I gave in and didn’t regret one single minute of it. Must admit it’s the most beautiful Zoo I’ve ever seen with all the animals enjoying enough space to feel happy. I even made a short clip to give you guys an impression. Enjoy !

After our Zoo visit we rushed to the airport where 2 other colleagues of us were about to arrive : Anneke en Veerle 🙂  Anneke re-enforced the team in 1995… Peggy, Anneke and myself have built some “Cronos-history” together. In all these years there hasn’t been one single argument or even a moment of annoyance in between us (well not from my part anyway… maybe I annoyed them at some point lol !). No need to tell we are BFF ❤ 

After dinner and a good night sleep, the 4 of them left for the Everglades and the Keys.

but were back “home” 3 days later to tell all about their adventures with the alligators 🙂 (Peggy, I used this great picture of yours!)

The weather spoiled our plans to take them to Pier 66 to have a waterfront dinner, so we had some old fashioned real American Burgers at Briny’s.  But first apéro-time with some Margarita’s… Cheers!!!Last group picture, because Peggy and Stephen were going back home 😦 

Key Lime Pie for breakfast (delicious, here’s a good recipe) and off to the beach before I brought my friends to the station where they caught the train to Miami International Airport.

 

I kept strong (had my sentimental moment the night before already) and enjoyed our last chat. No “Farewell” (inside joke), but “see you soon” 🙂 Grateful you walked into my life 23 years ago Peggy! We’ve always been a great team!!!

 

The next day Anneke & Veerle took off to visit Veerle’s sister who lives in Puerto Rico (only a 2 hours flight from Fort Lauderdale) and we had a couple of days to catch up with work. Luckily we still had Sammy who became a regular visitor 🙂

In the meanwhile San Francisco Bay area was preparing itself for the Super Bowl 50, an American football game to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for 2015. Anneke & Veerle returned just in time from Puerto Rico to come with us to the Irish Pub and watch it live on TV.  CBS broadcast it and charged an average of $5 million for a 30-second commercial during the game. The halftime show was headlined by Coldplay, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars. You can watch their outstanding performance here if you want.  It was the most watched U.S. broadcast ever, with 167.0 million viewers.

Luckily the next day the sun was shining and my friends were able to enjoy a beautiful day on the water, beach and… mall ! Coming to Fort Lauderdale, you really MUST go to Sawgrass Mills, the largest outlet mall in the US (350 shops). We were just there last Saturday to buy some new shoes for Dominique… I love Victoria Secret… their shops are just a marvel to visit ! 

Anneke & Veerle came back with shoes & tshirts… I was happy they supported the American economy lol.

As always I hate so say goodbye, but I’m getting used to it now! Before taking off in their Cadillac (they had an upgrade for free !), I wanted to have a  last picture with my CRONOS sunglasses… my colleagues back home will have a good laugh with this. It was one of their “goodbye presents” ❤

All good things must come to an end… both Dominique and myself TREMENDOUSLY enjoyed the visit of my Cronos Family… so grateful they came all the way to Florida to visit us. Love you guys, but you know that… needless to say.

In my ❤ 4 ever xxx

 

 

Our one and only ❤️

Christmas presents are bought and suitcase is packed! We are soooooo ready to travel to our beloved one and only son who lives in our (also) beloved California. That’s where I started this blog a couple of years ago & where we were spending wintertime with Charlie. It’s the place where we our US dream was born and deep down inside we just KNEW we would make it one day.

We were amazed by the beautiful house and view where Charlie is living…                     the Hollywood Hills.

A cozy bedroom was prepared for us.

Charlie is renting and sharing a house with his business partner Adam and besides hard work, they enjoy their young lives at their fullest. But now it’s “parents time” and off we were to a place which we treasure in our hearts: Santa Monica. We know her quite well and she still is as beautiful as ever.

The beach with it’s legendary Pier

We took a nap on the beach Driving back to LA on a very busy highway, but with a clear blue sky, a full moon in the distance and the Hollywood signs in the hills… a perfect combination for a magic spell.Driving through LA always fascinated me… such a diversity of people, so many impressions to absorb, so inspiring to see and feel the vibe of this unique city.

We made it just in time to watch the beautiful sunset from the patio.

 

 

The boys love to climb on top of the roof to watch the spectacle of this Golden Light. And so Christmas Eve arrived and “mom” prepared a real Belgian meal for the Hollywood boys 🙂 It makes me feel so young to be among them and it reminded me of the days that Charlie’s friends came over after school or during the holidays. Nobody had to work on Christmas day, so we took off to visit another of our favorite places: Newport Beach. It was very cold, so unfortunately no long walks along the board walk like we used to do. Instead we had pizza for breakfast in a place with a good old fashioned jukebox 🙂

 

 

 

We took the ferry to Balboa Island where we were sheltered from the cold wind and where it felt like summertime.Flowers in bloom everywhere!

The (million dollar) houses were beautifully decorated for Christmas time. This is one of the most exclusive parts of Orange County.

In the evening a cozy house with another spectacular sunset was waiting for us.

This time the sky was colored in a deep, dark orange/red. Breath taking !!!!

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We visited all of our favorite places, like Farmers market with the enormous, beautiful decorated Christmas tree.

We kept the best for the last full day… Malibu. The cold wind from the previous days was gone and we had a nice warm, long walk on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It feels sooooo good to be back here… we’ve spend so many wonderful, happy days in this place.

In the evening Charlie invited us and his business partner Adam over for dinner in one of his favorite restaurants, Laurel Hardware…. I’ve been dreaming of a real American hamburger all day long and that’s what I ordered. We had the cutest & most friendly waitress ever… Most of them are real beauties here… if they don’t make it as a model or as an actress, then working in restaurants is another great way to make a decent living. Remember this is a “tip” society… the better the service, the more you make.And so the last day has arrived… off to Trader Joe’s to buy ingredients for a last Belgian meal. Even the grocery store in LA has a artistic touch. The elevator is decorated with LP’s from the 70’s and the walls are decorated in the same groovy style.

People here have a love for old-timers… they always catch me in surprise on a parking lot and I almost never can resist taking a picture.My boys are working, so before starting dinner, I take the car to drive down the hills to take a last stroll on Sunset Blv.

On my way back home I’m suddenly overflowed by a deep gratitude for the life I’m living… I’m driving in the Hollywood Hills to the 2 men I absolutely adore. What a lucky woman I am !!!!! 

We’ve spend a week with the person we love the most in the whole world. Like every parent we are so proud of our son. We must have done something good to have created this beautiful being ❤️   With a heavy heart we leave LA, but we are convinced he’s happy here and that’s all that counts. This is his home ❤️And before I realize it, we’re on our way to LAX airport where we have to catch a connecting flight to Dallas.

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I was hoping to see some “cowboys” but the only thing I saw was a shop where they sold the “boots”.

 

It was a long day to travel from the West to the East coast, but we’re back home where the next day friends from Belgium arrived to celebrate the New Year with us. More about that next time !

In the meanwhile, Happy New Year from me and my boys ! Hope to see you in 2016, wish you all the most wonderful year of your life  💖

 

Very busy, but oh so nice!!!

It seems like there’s always something happening in Fort Lauderdale. The boat show is still fresh in our memory and now another big boat-event is taking place. We just unpacked from our trip to NY and we’re getting ready for the traditional Winterfest Boat Parade. Broward County is expecting 1.000.000 spectators alongside the New River and Intracoastal. We have a slight idea what to expect, because we saw a Boat Parade a couple of years ago in Newport Beach.

We are so lucky to find a parking spot at a charity event organized by one of the churches. We always have our beach chairs in the back of the car and we “score” a 2^nd row view with a bunch of enthusiastic people. It’s like one big pick-nick and the atmosphere is so friendly ! We’re having a blast just watching the people.

 

Houses are lit, garden parties are organized. Let the Boat Parade begin!!!!

We had a nice talk with a lovely family who immigrated from Libanon. It’s always so refreshing to meet enthusiastic, positive thinking people. After the parade we take a stroll on beautiful Las Olas Boulevard to have the most delicious frozen yoghurt in the world.

And then it’s time for our friends Mae and Jaap to return to Fort Lauderdale after their road-trip to the Keys and the Floridian West Coast. Just in time to celebrate Dominique’s birthday together!!! Early in the morning I started to prepare dinner, so Mae and me can get some girl time together.

We used to live about 3 hours drive apart, so we always see each other “halfway” in Breda. Since 2008 (we met through MySpace where we were both David Cassidy fans) we gather on a regular base, chatting for hours and hours always in the same café/restaurant… No need to say I miss my regular chats with her, so we desperately need to catch up!

By sunset we take them to our favorite spot: Pier 66. There’s always a huge yacht docked there and this time it’s Steven Spielberg’s “Seven Seas”. The yacht is an impressive one with an infinity pool (with a 15-foot glass wall which doubles as a movie screen), accommodations for 12 guests and a crew of 26, a master bedroom with private deck and jacuzzi, a helipad, gym, spa and massage room. In case you’re interested, it’s for sale for $26 million.

And then it’s time to unwrap presents and enjoy dinner on our small, but cozy terrace. Almost every evening in wintertime, we have dinner outside (in summer time it’s too hot there, even in the evenings!). But it’s extra special tonight because we’re spoiled with some nice company. 

Sorry Dominique… I know you were expecting a little dog, but instead it’s a happy looking Zen frog. I spend hours finding our new friend whom we fell in love with when we saw him in a friend’s house here in Fort Lauderdale. They don’t sell them anymore, but I managed to find one 🙂 We can never say we don’t have anything to read anymore either… Jaap & Mae’s present was a memory card with a 1.000 books on it!!! 

The next day our friends were leaving back home. Thank you so much Mae for all the European goodies you brought and for visiting us!!! Hope you had a good time here 🙂

For us it was time to prepare our next trip: spending Christmas time with Charlie in LA!!!! I’ll tell you all about it in my next blog. See you then ❤

Merry X-Mas !!!

A year ago, on Christmas Eve, we sold our house Antwerp in order to start our new lives ! Today, I want to give “Thanks” to all my friends who supported us in such a positive and encouraging way in our process to get there.

Right now we are celebrating Christmas with Charlie, so I will write more about this when we get back home. Have a wonderful end of the year dear friends, know I think of you and feel grateful for all the experiences we’ve shared together.

No photos to post yet, but I did made a short clip of our trip to NY.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS !!!!

Part 2 of the city that never sleeps

The official count of visitors to NY last year was 56.4 million and they spend $41 billion!!!! Shop till you drop is the motto here.

THE place to be in NY in December… Rockefeller Center with it’s famous ice skating rink. It took 9 years for Rockefeller to build it in it’s beautiful Art Deco style. The construction of the project employed over 40,000 people (1930-’39).

It’s been a wonderful 2nd day, but time to go home and catch some sleep…. Tomorrow the conference is starting and I need to discover more of this fascinating city!!!!

And who do I run into the next day ??? Well, even Morgan needs to do some Christmas shopping!

 

 

If you ask any local what area of the city they will try their hardest to avoid, it will undoubtedly be Times Square. I can’t help but gaze up in amazement at the lights and billboards! It’s crowded with hordes of tourists but it’s still awesome and inspiring! Hard to decide which Broadway show I want to see.

At Toys’re us I am reminded of Charlie’s favorite Power Rangers when he was a kid. 

 

 

Not one single moment I feel unsafe here. NY must be one of the safest cities in the world, thanks to these 2 mayors who cleaned up the city : Rudy Giuliani & Mike Bloomberg

A stroll down Fifth Avenue for some fabulous decorated window shopping at famous department stores like Henri Bendel, Dolce Gabbana, Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Ave. This is fun and free (as long as you don’t buy anything) and a must-see!

In the midst of he most expensive street in the world (rental $32.000 per m2 per year), the catholics build St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Many celebrities have held their weddings and funeral at this church. What I love the most about it, is the contrast… the new and the old next to each other ❤

Another huge contrast in American cities like NY is the difference between (very) poor & rich. Homeless people are to be found all over the place. Loads of volontaires who distribute clothing and food for them.

And so the last full day has arrived ! My poor feet are worn out from walking… From Soho, to China town, to Little Italy…

And then all the way back to Broadway & Times Square again to meet Dominique.

So many plays, musicals, shows… I really don’t know what to chose !!!! Finally we decided to buy tickets for Lord of the dance. An Irish musical and dance production that was created, choreographed, and produced by Irish-American dancer Michael Flatley. What an experience! Judge for yourself 🙂

And then it was time to go back home! We enjoyed a last couple of hours in this fascinating city. It was half december but it felt like summertime. No coat or scarf needed today…

One last look at that impressive skyline and off we were!

We’ll be back… it’s only a short 2 hour flight from where we live now. It was such an inspiring trip for both of us! We learned a lot from it… but most of all we realize we have such a good life too! We worked hard to be here and the work is not done yet. A lot needs to be accomplished, but we’ll get there, you’ll see ❤

 

The city that never sleeps… but I did!!!

I’m writing this blog on our return flight back “home” after an amazing 6 day trip to the big Apple.

We booked this trip 6 months ago when Dominique decided to subscribe to the Business Insider conference. We left Fort Lauderdale last Saturday, saying goodbye to our Dutch friends Mae & Jaap. They arrived 2 days before we left and stayed in our apartment while we were gone. We didn’t had much time together, but they will be back next week to celebrate Dominique’s birthday with us 🙂

We arrived late afternoon @ LaGuardia and a great Uber driver was so kind to slow down on Williamsburgh bridge so I could take a few shots of the skyline. Fog or smog, the view is soooo impressive!  I could feel the vibe already !!!!

We don’t really like to stay in hotels, so we booked an Airbnb in East Village. Michelle welcomed us in her cute, very female apartment.

We just dropped our luggage and left to discover the neighborhood. Originally named New Amsterdam & renamed as New York in 1664, the city is build by Dutch pioneers and in some areas it really feels very “Dutch”.

But typical are the fire staircases on all the red brick buildings. In the hot summer months (before the arrival of the air-co), residents would sleep outside on the platforms of their fire escapes.

Just a couple of blocks away, we found ourselves on Union Square.It used to be a gathering point for radicals to make speeches or demonstrate, but tonight it was all about Christmas.

We ended our first day in a small Thai restaurant which didn’t serve any alcohol, but strangely enough, the owner told us we could buy a beer in the night-shop just around the corner and we could drink it with our meal. A very unusual custom for us Belgians who can literally buy beer almost everywhere.

The conference didn’t start before Tuesday, so Dominique had time to discover the city with me. In 2008 he visited NY with Charlie on a father&son trip, but for me last time I was here, was in 1990! I can still remember how impressed I was the first time I came in 1986 though. Of course the city has changed, but the “vibe” is still the same. Everything at “fast speed” on a very high competitive level.

I have no idea how many miles we walked, but we were “dead” by noon already. All the way from Chinatown,

The Financial district,

Ground Zero, which has two reflecting pools located where the Twin Towers once stood. Engraved around the edges of these pools are the names of the 2,983 victims who were killed in the September 11 attacks.

We were happy to sit down for a second and enjoy the sunshine on this beautiful Sunday morning in one of the fastest cities of the world.

A beautiful day to take the Ferry and check if Miss Liberty is still there… and yes, there she is… to me as magical as ever… seeing her always brings tears in my eyes and I can’t help but think I’ve been on that Mayflower boat in a previous life, feeling so excited to start a new life in the new country… just like I’m doing right now.

Next on our list : Greenwich village, in earlier days called Groenwijck, one of the Dutch names for the village. Later on it was called the Bohemian capital, an artists’ haven, but nowadays it’s very upscale with prices exceeding US$2,000 per square foot ($22,000/m²) !

Some Belgians who made it here 🙂 Pain Quotidien and fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg.

A common thing worldwide these days… buying a Christmas tree  (and struggling with it!)

 

 

 

 

On our way to Meatpacking district (a thriving community with top restaurants, corporate headquarters, and fashion forward thinkers) & The High Line (a linear park built on the former NY Railroad, elevated above the streets).

 

People everywhere, enjoying the extra- ordinary warm, sunny december day.

What a creative, inspiring environment… I could easily live in this (million dollar) neighborhood!

And so we reach the heart of NY… Madison Square Garden, the most famous stadium in the world. I’ll be back one day to see a concert here!

 

 

 

The next day Dominique worked till noon and took half a day off to have some fresh air in Central Park. The fastest way to get around is the subway… looks like my hubby is the only one “off-line” ! 

Central Park is one of the most amazing and iconic spots to visit in New York City. The only problem is knowing where to start! It’s so enormous,  you could easily spend an entire day here and not see everything it has to offer. And while we hear from Mae that it’s cloudy and raining in Fort Lauderdale, right here it’s another beautiful sunny day.

We were one day too early to visit Strawberry Fields, the monument close to the place where John Lennon was killed. The next day was his birthday… no cake for John anymore, but he still lives on in the heart of many people.

I just HAVE to eat a chili hot dog before I leave this place!Approximately 37% of the city’s population is foreign born (wikipedia). 

As I shot 750 pictures, I’ll divide my efforts over 2 blog posts (just in case you might fall asleep!). To be continued one of these days….

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s working again…

To my blog readers… if you got an email saying the link to my previous blogpost didn’t work, now it should. Apologies for that.  Have a great day, wherever you may be ❤