Excuse me, where's the nearest Big & Normal?

Before getting into our weekend, I got two pieces of great news . . .

1 . . . We now have home phones, so our friends and family can call either of our Atlanta numbers and it will ring on our house phone -- free of charge! (well, free for you, anyway, and really cheap for us) Keith ported our numbers using VoIP, which sounds complicated and fancy to me, but he assures me it's not that hard to do. Regardless, I am totally impressed and happy that I can pick up my phone, call a friend (without using country codes or anything!), and not be charged with international fees. So feel free to call us anytime! (but check the time zone first : )

apparently I like food . . .

Errands . . . with a little spoiling thrown in

Yummy lunch 

Thursday was a busy and productive day for me here! I was out and about for most of the day, and my feet paid for it later. My first exciting find of the day was a maternity store! I hadn't found one yet and couldn't believe my luck when I saw pregnant mannequins in the centrum today. I made a beeline for the store and was able to walk away with a few necessary pieces to help me get through the next six weeks in cooler weather (Victory #1). At another shop I bought a scarf and interacted with the cashier, who never even knew I didn't speak Dutch (Victory #2). My next good find was a couple pairs of flats for €10 a piece -- but I unfortunately returned them today because they were out of the size I wanted to exchange them for (Victory #3). Oh well. By that time I was starving and had a nice lunch at a bistro I hadn't seen before. The server suggested a baguette with chicken, bacon, and chili mayonnaise -- it was uh-mazing (see left).