Quick Takes #235: Happy Belgium Day!

In honor of Belgium National Day I decided to focus on that lovely little country today.

1. About the size of Maryland, Belgium rest in western Europe above France and below the Netherlands. Luxembourg and Germany sits on the eastern border.
2. My mom is just back from a visit and I.can't wait to see the pictures and catch up on the news of friends and family.  While I never lived there; having visited many times and knowing that it is the homeland of much of my family (my mother's whole family, she was the only one of her siblings to stay here permanently) it has always felt familiar and dear.
3. The food is amazing with frites (french fries), chocolate, beer and waffles forming the four most commonly recognized cornerstones.  Other national favorites include mussels, rabbit, salad liegeoise, and tomato stuffed with shrimp salad.
4. Officially bilingual with Flemish spoken mostly in the north and French spoke mostly in the south.  My mom grew up in the capital Brussels which is in the south and so my mom's primary language is french, though all of my cousins also learned flemish in school and their children also attend bilingual schools.

5. Bruge, a canal city often called the Venice of the North, and Antwerp are two other wonderful cities to visit.  I was luck enough to visit Bruge shortly before my wedding and pick-up some its famous lace to carry.

6. There is also forty miles of beautiful seacoast,  and the Ardenne (the hill country) in the east, plus the Waterloo Memorial as other wonderful options to check out.

7. Happy Belgian Day, to those celebrating and Good Weekend to the rest!!

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Quick Takes #149

1. So how is 2014 treating you so far?  So far it is crazy here; nothing like getting ready to return to work, while your husband is revving up a big project, while cleaning-up from Christmas, while celebrating a first birthday...while surviving an Arctic Vortex!!
2. My Saint for the Year selected for me by the Saint Generator is Saint Angela Merici whose primary mission was teaching young women ~ yup sounds about right!  Seriously excited to learn more about her and see where her help brings me.
3. Word for the year I'm still working on but in the meantime still working on gratitude; I met my goal of recording 500 gifts on my 1000 gifts app last year; and am curious to see how long it will take me to reach the 1000 gift mark.
4. My mom is safely home from her trip to visit family and spend Christmas in Belgium.  She had a wonderful time and I'm enjoying see the pictures and hearing the stories about my cousins and their children ~ and my chocolate drawer is restocked!!
5. We had a nice little family party for Caitlin this week on her actual birthday where she got to feast on a birthday cupcake.  She will get another chance this weekend with our Church family.
6. Since the Giants (Charlie) did not make the playoffs and the Eagles (Elisabeth) went out on the first round we are now a house united.  Go Patriots!!!
7. Kid Shot: I think she liked her cupcake

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7 Quick Takes #138

Blogger not letting me put picture at the bottom, enjoy.

1. Somewhere in the past week I passed 600 posts, Hoot!!
2. In researching links for Diners, Drive-in and Dives for a recent post I came upon this link which shows a map of local places featured.  Have so far been to one but now that I've found the map; we'll be changing that.
3. I'm having one of those 'they must be growing in their sleep' weeks.  Elisabeth is doing wonderful in her swim lessons and this week started swimming without any floatation aids.  She is also going through the math summer stuff I found so fast I'm starting to look for more.  Reading continues to be a challenge but even that is coming quicker and smoother.
4. The King of the Belgians is abdicating in favor of his son later this month.  This coming after the abdication of Pope Benedict and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands has me wondering of longer life spans and jobs thought to have lifetime commitments. In the meantime enjoy this fun Belgian Video.
5. Liam speech evaluation went really well, the therapists are happy with the progress he is making but argued to continued therapy for the moment to not lose momentum.   He ages out of the program in September anyway.
6. We have also started potty training; so he can tell us what is suppose to go in the potty, now hoping for some practical evidence of understanding.
7. Have a wonderful weekend; mine will hopefully include a haircut (resisting urge to hack at it myself)!!

Please head over to Conversion Diary for the rest of this week's Quick Takes.

Five Favorites: vol 2

Linking up Hallie of Moxie Wife for another addition of Five Favorites.

In honor of my mom's birthday which is today ~ 5 Belgian inspire faves



1. Tulips ~ usually associated with Holland but grow in abundance throughout Belgium as well.  Love all the possible colors, the elegance and beauty of the blossoms, and the slight but not overpowering scent.






2. Cote D'or: Belgium has some of the most amazing chocolate shops and if ever there please visit, savor and enjoy ~ and then before coming home go to a local supermarket and pick up some of these for yourself, and maybe me.









3. Stella Artois ~ My favorite Belgian beer, unless I'm in the mood for a white (or wheat) beer in which  case...

3.5 Hoegaarden Blanc is my favorite Belgian beer

4. Mussels: One of the quintessential Belgian meals is Moule Frites or Mussels with french fries, delicious anytime of the year though technically you are only suppose to eat mussels if there is a 'R' in the month.

5. Beach: The North Sea is very cold much of the year (as is the Atlantic of the New England coast) but my mom has passed on her love of walks on the beach to me, as I hopefully am to my littles.

Disclaimer: Taken on Prince Edward's Island on my honeymoon.

Quick Takes 109: Belgian Style

In honor of Belgium National Day tomorrow ~ A Quick 7 about Belgium

1. About the size of Maryland, Belgium rest in western Europe above France and below the Netherlands. Luxembourg and Germany sits on the eastern border.
2. My sister and mom are there now having attended the wedding of a cousin last weekend.  I'm loving all the FB updates and can't wait to see the pictures when they get back.  While I never lived there; having visited many times and knowing that it is the homeland of much of my family (my mother's whole family, she was the only one of her siblings to stay here permanently) it has always felt familiar and dear.
3. The food is amazing with frites (french fries), chocolate, beer and waffles forming the four most commonly recognized cornerstones.  Other national favorites include mussels, rabbit, salad liegeoise, and tomato stuffed with shrimp salad.
4. Officially bilingual with Flemish spoken mostly in the north and French spoke mostly in the south.  My mom grew up in the capital Brussels which is in the south and so my mom's primary language is french, though all of my cousins also learned flemish in school.

5. Bruge, a canal city often called the Venice of the West, and Antwerp are other wonderful cities to            visit in addition to Brussels if your sight-seeing preference runs to cities.

6. There is also forty miles of beautiful seacoast, the Ardenne (the hill country) in the west and the Waterloo Memorial to check out.

7. Happy Belgian Day, to those celebrating and Good Weekend to the rest!!

Please visit Conversion Diary hosted by Jen to enjoy the rest of the week's Quick Takes.