As Robert and I are hanging out here on Christmas day... I have to say that we are totally blessed! I realized this after our heating wouldn't work for most of the day and then magically... at about 7pm... it turned on! What would I do without the heat?! I guess we should enjoy the cold while we can....
As some people know by now... we are planning on moving to Arizona next year, if everything goes according to plan. Robert is applying for Thunderbird School of Global Management in the outskirts of Phoenix. We're really excited (especially Robert, seeing as he's the one who has to take all of the tests and write all of the essays to be admitted). Robert is aiming for the 2010-11 school year, so we'll see how that goes!
I (Melissa) will be starting my "inburgeringscursus" (or "immigration course") at the end of January. So my posts from then on will probably be in Dutch ;) or maybe just a mix... I'm pretty excited, but mostly nervous at the fast pace of the class. It will greatly improve my knowledge of the Dutch language and culture though, so that's positive.
That's it for now! Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to all!
Friday, December 25, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
What's been happening...
Hey everyone!
So it's been a while since Robert or I posted a blog and that's mainly due to the fact that we're not very good at it. But, we wanted to keep people updated, so here we go!
On April 24, 2009 Robert and I got married! We were married in Barneveld, the Netherlands in a place called "Kasteel de Schaffelaar" (aka, a castle!) ... pictures will be posted soon. It was a beautiful day, and everyone there said so (mostly because it was actually WARM, Not Humid, and SUNNY! Three things that don't happen together in the Netherlands very often). My parents and grandparents from the US and Sweden were able to fly over and attend the wedding. It was really wonderful to have them there. My maid of honor, Sara Scott, and Sara's mom were also able to come. Robert's aunt and uncle from Switzerland flew in as well. So all in all, it was a very international wedding party! The ceremony was in English, and was performed by an "ambtenaar" from Barneveld. It was wonderful! (Besides the fact that Robert forgot his shoes! He was wearing borrowed shoes for the ceremony, and it wasn't until after the ceremony was over that I actually found out!)
The day commenced with toasts, dinner, and a party later that night. We took a limo from the castle to our hotel, called "Hotel de Wereld". This hotel is where the surrender of Germany was signed, ending the Second World War. So cool huh?! It was a very nice, modern hotel and Robert and I loved staying there.
We actually got quite a few visitors during our "mini honeymoon". First, Robert's parents were taking his aunt and uncle back to the airport, when his aunt and uncle realized they were missing two pairs of glasses. They called us to see if we had accidentally packed them...(we didn't actually pack our own bags again after getting everything out for the wedding). The glasses WERE with us, so Robert's parents drove about two hours to get the glasses, and then another hour or so to the airport. Crazy!
Later that day we had to take a train back to the castle to get our car. It was really nice to visit the castle again, it's a beautiful area. Someone had packed a bunch of our stuff in the trunk of the car, and we were excited to see everything that was in there. As soon as we opened it, I just thought "oh no".... The top of our wedding cake had been saved for us and was placed on top of everything in the trunk. The problem is... the cream in the center of the cake had melted, as well as the raspberry filling. Raspberry filling had melted all over our guestbook! Oh boy... good times :) We drove back to the hotel and chilled the cake... I think it was saved.
So, that night Robert and I were relaxing (it was about 11 pm), when I got a phone call from Sara. I was supposed to try on a dress of hers before she left, but since Robert and I were away and wouldn't return before they left the country... it was decided that they would come to the hotel as well! They drove about an hour and arrived when Robert was fast asleep. We had fun trying on the dress and chatting in whispers....another visitor during our "honeymoon"! That was fun.
Well, we headed home the next day and got back to every day life. We went on our "official" honeymoon from May 29 - June 8... and more about that in our next post!!
Tot zo!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
For all the bling lovers out there..
This picture below here is a picture of the actual ring...biggest difference with the ring pictured above is the cut of the diamonds. In the above picture there are brilliants (round stones) the real ring has princess cut diamonds (basically meaning they're square stones)
There ya go!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
The dream dress....
I totally feel in love with this dress. If anyone knows a good seamstress that could recreate this (that is not TOO expensive) please let me know!The Engagement! (the groom's side of the story)
So, for those of you who are interested in how I (Robert) experienced our engagement; this is your lucky day! Because I will tell you how it all went down from my perspective :)
In order to propose I needed a ring. To make a long story short, I had 2 weeks to get one! I searched and searched, after several visits to jewellery stores I didn't have anything yet. SO many options, I kept thinking and wondering "which one would Melissa like? Which one is Melissa's ring?". Then in the weekend of 4 october (on Saturday) while chatting with Melissa, the topic came up and out of the blue she sends me this picture of a ring she really likes! Bingo! So now I had a better idea and it was a type of ring I'd already seen before in the stores so my chances of success just got a boost!
Luckily, through my dad I have some hook-ups that make it easier for me to get a nicer (more expensive) ring, really fast. My luck was even greater when my dad told me that on that monday the 6th, there was this monthly fair where all the wholesalers are selling their stuff to jewellery store owners. He told me he could probably get me in as well and we could go watch some rings and perhaps find 'the one'. And I did. I basically found the exact same ring that was on the picture Melissa had sent that weekend. It also was exactly Melissa's size as well. The man who helped was funny too. He basically looked at me with this face that said "dude, are you going to take it or take it, this is the ring, I know it, your dad knows it, you should know it too". He actually said that sometimes it's just meant to be, a ring is predestined...I believe him. From the moment I sat down and looked at the ring to the moment I said "I'll take it" no more than 10 minutes had passed. I have to say it doesn't happen very often I take decisions with such large consequences that fast. It was kind of refreshing and fun to do! I was SOOO happy! I could just take the ring with me right away as well :D.
This all happened during my lunch break...so that was actually really cool, I go away for about 45minutes, none of my colleagues know where I went and I come back and I've bought an engagement ring. Yes! I like it.
All I could do then was wait for the 15th, the day that I would fly to the USA (and watch the ring over and over again...). I was kind of nervous since I was travelling with this ring that's worth a small car!! "What if they find it? Do I have to pay customs taxes or something? Will I be able to get into the country safe?"...I had put my ring in a little plastic bag and had wrapped it tightly in it. Then I had put it in my wallet so that the coins in my wallet would kind of conceil the ring when they put it in the x-ray machine...since it would hopefully be masked by the many coins....I had really given it a lot of thought. I also felt anxious everytime I had to give my backpack away and let it be scanned in the machine..what if they'd take my backpack!! I tried to play it cool though and pretend I was just the average traveller. I guess it worked because I could hold Mylissa again in my arms together with all my luggage on the evening of October 15th.
So I didn't really have something planned for the proposal nor did I really know when to propose either. The first 2 days didn't really feel like there were any good opportunities to propose. And day 3 wasn't either. Melissa scared me too when she said she has a size 6. For some reason the thought had emerged in my brain that she was a size 6. I was really worried the ring I got her was a size 5, or was it? I got SO confused...so dumb.
But on Sunday I felt like it had to be the day. I could tell Melissa wasn't expecting me to propose but she really wanted me to (for a long time I'm afraid...sorry sweety for letting you wait for so long! I'll make it up to you somehow!) Anyway, we found out too late that church was earlier, so I suggested to go for a walk. But where? Well, I asked Melissa what here favorite place in Logan is. She said Lundstrom park. I remember that place well too. So we took some Dutch study books, a bottle of water and I took my little heart-shaped padded pink box that I'd bought in a store under the Petronas-towers in Kuala Lumpur containing the ring. During our walk Melissa tried to take a peek in my little backpack but I made sure that she wouldn't get that peek while at the same time making it seem there was nothing in the bag she wasn't supposed to see anyway...I guess that worked sufficiently because she didn't suspect anything :)
After studying Dutch for 75 minutes we needed to get active and move a bit again (and stop studying Dutch). So we danced and 'twirled' a bit...I knew the moment was getting closer that we'd naturally leave the park and go home..."Uh oh", I thought to myself "I need to ask Melissa something"! It's important! I kept thinking "what do I say, how do I say..."...Eventually I just took out the box and said it as it was. That I had something for her and that I had a question to go with what is in the box.
"....are you serious?".....
NOT really what I expected to be the first words coming out of Melissa's mouth....but it was soon followed by my yes, after which she said YES!! It's serious! HA HAAA! :D
It was just happy then! I was literally shaking on my feet, trembling! I've never 'done' that. I was 'shakin' in my boots' :D So I can say that this was truly one of the most intense, memorable and most joyful moments in my life so far..!
The End.
In order to propose I needed a ring. To make a long story short, I had 2 weeks to get one! I searched and searched, after several visits to jewellery stores I didn't have anything yet. SO many options, I kept thinking and wondering "which one would Melissa like? Which one is Melissa's ring?". Then in the weekend of 4 october (on Saturday) while chatting with Melissa, the topic came up and out of the blue she sends me this picture of a ring she really likes! Bingo! So now I had a better idea and it was a type of ring I'd already seen before in the stores so my chances of success just got a boost!
Luckily, through my dad I have some hook-ups that make it easier for me to get a nicer (more expensive) ring, really fast. My luck was even greater when my dad told me that on that monday the 6th, there was this monthly fair where all the wholesalers are selling their stuff to jewellery store owners. He told me he could probably get me in as well and we could go watch some rings and perhaps find 'the one'. And I did. I basically found the exact same ring that was on the picture Melissa had sent that weekend. It also was exactly Melissa's size as well. The man who helped was funny too. He basically looked at me with this face that said "dude, are you going to take it or take it, this is the ring, I know it, your dad knows it, you should know it too". He actually said that sometimes it's just meant to be, a ring is predestined...I believe him. From the moment I sat down and looked at the ring to the moment I said "I'll take it" no more than 10 minutes had passed. I have to say it doesn't happen very often I take decisions with such large consequences that fast. It was kind of refreshing and fun to do! I was SOOO happy! I could just take the ring with me right away as well :D.
This all happened during my lunch break...so that was actually really cool, I go away for about 45minutes, none of my colleagues know where I went and I come back and I've bought an engagement ring. Yes! I like it.
All I could do then was wait for the 15th, the day that I would fly to the USA (and watch the ring over and over again...). I was kind of nervous since I was travelling with this ring that's worth a small car!! "What if they find it? Do I have to pay customs taxes or something? Will I be able to get into the country safe?"...I had put my ring in a little plastic bag and had wrapped it tightly in it. Then I had put it in my wallet so that the coins in my wallet would kind of conceil the ring when they put it in the x-ray machine...since it would hopefully be masked by the many coins....I had really given it a lot of thought. I also felt anxious everytime I had to give my backpack away and let it be scanned in the machine..what if they'd take my backpack!! I tried to play it cool though and pretend I was just the average traveller. I guess it worked because I could hold Mylissa again in my arms together with all my luggage on the evening of October 15th.
So I didn't really have something planned for the proposal nor did I really know when to propose either. The first 2 days didn't really feel like there were any good opportunities to propose. And day 3 wasn't either. Melissa scared me too when she said she has a size 6. For some reason the thought had emerged in my brain that she was a size 6. I was really worried the ring I got her was a size 5, or was it? I got SO confused...so dumb.
But on Sunday I felt like it had to be the day. I could tell Melissa wasn't expecting me to propose but she really wanted me to (for a long time I'm afraid...sorry sweety for letting you wait for so long! I'll make it up to you somehow!) Anyway, we found out too late that church was earlier, so I suggested to go for a walk. But where? Well, I asked Melissa what here favorite place in Logan is. She said Lundstrom park. I remember that place well too. So we took some Dutch study books, a bottle of water and I took my little heart-shaped padded pink box that I'd bought in a store under the Petronas-towers in Kuala Lumpur containing the ring. During our walk Melissa tried to take a peek in my little backpack but I made sure that she wouldn't get that peek while at the same time making it seem there was nothing in the bag she wasn't supposed to see anyway...I guess that worked sufficiently because she didn't suspect anything :)
After studying Dutch for 75 minutes we needed to get active and move a bit again (and stop studying Dutch). So we danced and 'twirled' a bit...I knew the moment was getting closer that we'd naturally leave the park and go home..."Uh oh", I thought to myself "I need to ask Melissa something"! It's important! I kept thinking "what do I say, how do I say..."...Eventually I just took out the box and said it as it was. That I had something for her and that I had a question to go with what is in the box.
"....are you serious?".....
NOT really what I expected to be the first words coming out of Melissa's mouth....but it was soon followed by my yes, after which she said YES!! It's serious! HA HAAA! :D
It was just happy then! I was literally shaking on my feet, trembling! I've never 'done' that. I was 'shakin' in my boots' :D So I can say that this was truly one of the most intense, memorable and most joyful moments in my life so far..!
The End.
The Engagement!
Well, I (Melissa) had no idea that Robert was planning on proposing when he came to visit from 15 October to 29 October. But he was! So this is how it went!
On the 19th (Sunday), Robert and I were getting ready for church when my roommate came home and told us that church had already happened. We were too late! So Robert suggested we go for a walk. It was a beautiful day, so I totally agreed!
We drove up by San Juan Hall (where we had met in 2006, while Robert was on his study abroad). From San Jan, we walked towards Lundstrom Park. I had already told Robert this was my "favorite" spot in Logan (so many memories there). So, we walked and talked and had a good time. When we got to the park, we sat and practiced Dutch for almost 2 hours. It was really nice, but towards the end, I was getting a bit tired and started making more and more mistakes.....it was time to put the Dutch away.
I got up and walked around a little bit, then pulled Robert to me and started dancing with him. We danced for a bit and then decided to go.
As we were getting our stuff, Robert said he had another present for me (he had previously given me gifts from his trip to Kuala Lumpur.... so sweet!) So Robert pulled out a box shaped like a heart. It was pretty big so I thought "Maybe he brought a necklace or something...?"
As he came closer he said "and there's a question with this gift...." (I still had no clue what he was going to do).
He came really close to me and said "Will you marry me?"
I looked at him and said, "Are you serious?! Yes, of course!"
He then said I could have the ring.....it was so beautiful, sparkling in the sun. I think out of the two though, Robert looked better that day. (I'm just a sucker for a guy in a suit)
I was so happy I almost started crying! I hugged him and then felt how much he was shaking, it was so cute.
After that we just hugged and kissed and danced in the park....SO happy!
We then walked back to the car and that was that.
On the 19th (Sunday), Robert and I were getting ready for church when my roommate came home and told us that church had already happened. We were too late! So Robert suggested we go for a walk. It was a beautiful day, so I totally agreed!
We drove up by San Juan Hall (where we had met in 2006, while Robert was on his study abroad). From San Jan, we walked towards Lundstrom Park. I had already told Robert this was my "favorite" spot in Logan (so many memories there). So, we walked and talked and had a good time. When we got to the park, we sat and practiced Dutch for almost 2 hours. It was really nice, but towards the end, I was getting a bit tired and started making more and more mistakes.....it was time to put the Dutch away.
I got up and walked around a little bit, then pulled Robert to me and started dancing with him. We danced for a bit and then decided to go.
As we were getting our stuff, Robert said he had another present for me (he had previously given me gifts from his trip to Kuala Lumpur.... so sweet!) So Robert pulled out a box shaped like a heart. It was pretty big so I thought "Maybe he brought a necklace or something...?"
As he came closer he said "and there's a question with this gift...." (I still had no clue what he was going to do).
He came really close to me and said "Will you marry me?"
I looked at him and said, "Are you serious?! Yes, of course!"
He then said I could have the ring.....it was so beautiful, sparkling in the sun. I think out of the two though, Robert looked better that day. (I'm just a sucker for a guy in a suit)
I was so happy I almost started crying! I hugged him and then felt how much he was shaking, it was so cute.
After that we just hugged and kissed and danced in the park....SO happy!
We then walked back to the car and that was that.
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