Kyria's journal

 Eliza is turning two this weekend! Woohohhh!!! To celebrate the passing of the last year in which we rediscovered what it felt like to sleep through the night, and had lots of fun memories and first times to compensate for being tired and having a double load of husekeeping, we're throwing a party!

Family members will be present, I pray that not many presents are given (we asked for experiences like taking her to the zoo , or het park, or baking cookies with her). My mothe rin law is knitting a doll, my own mother got her a walking bike. I am planning on making the cake myself, and I want to make a Miffy cake as she is quite fond of Miffy. Plus our wedding cake had two Miffy's on top so it's kind of a thing we like. Last night I baked the cake parts and researched designs. Holy shit, people really go overboard with birthday cakes these days. Makes me want to elaborate on my design. I started with a one layer cake but I might as well make it two layered.

Her birthday coincides with the arrival of Sinterklaas so it's a busy (and fun!) for all of us. I made tiny Pete's hats for her plush toys, and I'm making one for her and me as well. Probably not as cute as matching mommy and me dresses but still pretty awesome :-) 

As a gift to myself, I am celebrating my own birthday this year! Last time I had a party is three or four years ago. I invited friends over for a high tea, where everyone brings something to eat as a gift. Less preparation for me, more fun for all! As far as happy events go, I am quite pleased with the photoshoot last weekend and we have a percussion workshop planned on the 3th of December. We asked mucisian Sattar en Saaid to teach us a drum solo and some extra techniques on darbouka so we can accompany ourselves. I am excited about celebrating my birthday! Let's party (between a reasonable time, like, say, eleven in the morning and five in the afternoon).

The last three days were all about parties. I am the kind of girl that can dance all night, yet fall asleep around 23.00. I don't like crowdeed places where the music is so loud you can't hear what the other person in saying. Every day had a different kind of party in store for me. 

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I had a wonderful weekend and I am grateful for being blessed with love, good health and good times.

the Utrecht University library! I kicked myself today and went to the library to dig for literature for my thesis. Only three more months before the deadline, I need to set the theoretical framework in january. Yesterdays christmas dinner/party at work was great, after the obligatory speech from the director and handing out prizes for publications, we got to digg in on delicious Italian food and chat with our colleagues. This year, they hired a DJ and put a small dancefloor with colored lights in one of the rooms. Nothing fancy like John Travolta's dancefloor, but it did the trick. By nine o clock the floor was full with people having fun and dancing around! Joyce was there too and together we did fun stuff while dancing. She's also a dance fanatic, though more into ballet and modern dance. The traintride home took half an hour longer then ususal due to the snow, so we used it to talk. She might drop by tomorrow during our birthday party. We got our chirstmas present from HEC: a box with fair trade goodies. If you're visiting for our birthday tomorrow, you can enjoy water from a glass bottle made in brasil :) It's my birthday today but I don't feel like partying. First find and read some more literature, then go home and prepare for party tomorrow. We already did a lot of stuff this morning, getting groceries, an extra trip to the liquor store (the dutch word slijterij sounds way classy compared to liquor store) and cleaning and decluttering. We decided to give away books that we like but don't want to keep to friends so our bookcases remain uncluttered. Sort of, anyway. We put everything in a big box, let me know if you're interested in a particular style and I'll see if I have something you like. Lots of English books in there too. Swas, thought that you might like Twilight and other vampire novels. Hanging on to the sookie stackhouse novels, I want to reread those a couple of times the next year. Tonight we're going to make stuff: apple pie and several quiches. Jeoffrey is in charge of those, so I can clean the bathroom. I'm excited because the christmas holiday is finally here!