Currently, Vol. 1

I've decided to join Becky over at Choose Happy BB for her new weekly link-up of "Currently". Currently is a fun weekly update about what is going on in my life! I love these and would love to know what is going on in your life!

Currently Thinking About....

I am currently thinking about a lot of things. I don't get super personal and try to keep things positive 100% of the time and this definitely won't be sad, but my brain is actually pretty active and it is super stressful, I have really got to figure out how to calm all the noise down. But, forefront on my mind is Miss Thang up there...being an expat and a teenager that moves around a lot isn't easy, I know this and I try to be sympathetic. In daily life you come into contact with a lot of different personalities and sometimes those personalities mesh really well and sometimes they don't. Right now, those personalities are not meshing. She had a really close friend that she is arguing with off and on and when the arguing is on it is stressful for all involved. Hopefully things will be learned from girls on both sides and as parents we can just talk to them, keep the lines of communication open, and hope they make the right decisions and do their best to keep things civil. These teenager years are hard and I hope they remember all these little things (boys, clothes, etc) will all soon someday be forgotten and all that will be left are memories and all the fun things they did together, I hope they can remember that during these times of hormonal arguments.

Loving

Well there are two things I am loving, first is all the time I can get with this guy. We had almost a whole weekend together because Friday night the kiddo volunteered and served dinner at charity event (where she was the main Dutch speaker, the world as we know it is ending lol) and then Saturday night she went to a friends house to work on cheerleading and then didn't get home until Sunday evening! So, we have had a lot of QT and he has a business trip that takes him away all next week so I will be glad when that week is over!

Second thing I am loving...

Is having an expat friend here who loves exploring the culture and the chance to live in Europe as much as I do! Each week her and I get together and spend the day doing something that explores European living or Dutch culture in some way. We fell into this by going to the free concerts at the National Ballet and Opera and since those haven't started back up yet we are exploring other fun things to do and see around the city.

Reading

I just finished Flawless by Jan Moran. Great book and a quick read. Can't wait to start the second one in this series today.

I am also working on "personal development" this year and the first book I am reading is....

I a working on learning some more Dutch beyond basic greetings and pleasantries. This is not easy as with my accent pronunciation can be hard, but if I go in with confidence no one usually corrects me, if it is really horrible they laugh and practice with me until either they give up or I get it...no one ever says which...or maybe I just can't understand them! haha oh the joys of being ignorant! :P

Planning

Barcelona

We have a lot of breaks coming up so I am actually planning quite a number of things. The first thing I am planning is our early spring break at the end of February. We will be seeing a lot of things around Amsterdam focusing our efforts on a lot of the Jewish history and WWII. Second, I am planning our May Break, we have a few places we would like to visit but won't know until two weeks before break where we are going as that is when the train tickets are the cheapest. The only thing we do know is we are getting there via train! Lastly, we are already planning our summer holiday for Barcelona. We are looking to stay a week where the hubby comes in at the weekend. We will be doing some surfing, sup'ing, and just having a relaxing European beach holiday.

Baking
Oh baking I don't do much of you since moving to Europe! But...this week I will be baking these beauties for snack...

Banana Coconut Slices on Pinterest

Check out my weekly menu for more snack ideas.

Thankful for

The opportunity to live in Europe. This was a long time dream of mine and the fact that it actually became a reality is still going strong in me. I think it also helps that my friend and I get together once a week to see the sites and explore something new so that keeps this whole experience fresh and exciting for me. 

So, that is what is currently happening in my world! What is happening in yours? I would love to hear about it!