Updates!

Snipits from my life this summer since I've basically been MIA. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this wasn't my best summer. I know, Debbie Downer over here, but things have definitely turned around over the past couple weeks so fall is looking to be awesome!

-If you haven't heard- summer barely made it to Chicago

-BUT I did manage to make it to the beach twice this weekend to make up for not going earlier this summer

-Work has been pretty busy for the past few months which is good

-I'm extremely happy that Flipping out and Rachel Zoe are back on! And coming up Sept. 20th Curb Your Enthusiasm starts new episodes.

-I attempted to train for this Urbanathalon coming up in October but my stress fractures are back and I'm basically an old woman.

-The pepaw and I broke up a couple months ago

-BUT I am seeing someone new and its going great! (More updates on this situation at a later date ;)

-I had to put my childhood puppy, Tori, down :( I plan on writing a sappy post but I can't talk about it yet without losing my shit.

-BUT Bruiser is on top of his game pooping everywhere. Although, he did swim for the very first time a few weeks ago which was exciting.

-I'm going to see Britney in concert tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I owe Eileen my life for this one.

-I will be heading to NYC late October for a conference and hopefully meeting up with a few friends while I'm out there. I've never been (I know) so it should be exciting.

-Summer Heights High is hilarious. I posted this video a while back and I now have it memorized. We've been going through You Tube videos of Jonah and I'm now obsessed. SORRY HOMO.

More to come later...

Adventures at Camp K

So every couple months I head out to the burbs to spend time with the fam. They LOVE when I come home. And by that I mean, Wendy prepares herself for a weekend of constant nagging and annoyance from me. Les just got back tonight from China and Japan for business, and I'm fairly sure he was more excited to Bruise than me. That's pretty standard.

This is my weekend so far:

Friday 7:45pm: In the car minutes from home, Bruiser pukes all over my lap, and then proceeds to have diarrhea on the floor mat of the car. Awesome.

7:49pm: Arrive at "Camp K" while Bruise runs around barking hysterically, the other two dogs (Tori and Amber- yes, I'm aware that they have stripper names) try to avoid him and greet me with dirty stuffed animals.

8:15-10:00pm: Wash my vomit jeans while watching HGtv.

10:15pm: Bed.

Saturday 6:00am: Awake to the sound of Bruiser crying outside my parent's door, trying to wake them up and take him for a walk. Evil.

7:15am: take Bruise to the groomers and debate leaving him there permanently.

7:30am: Take the other 2 dogs for a delightful walk in the park for 15 minutes and I then decide its much too cold to be out there.

8:30am: Reluctantly pick Bruiser up from the groomers. I now like him again that he's clean and has a cute bandanna.

9:00-1:30pm: Shop with Wendy and spend money that I do not have on things that I do not need.

4:30pm: Jay surprises me by coming home to see the fam. I try to get info out of him about girls, he lets me know nothing.

5:30pm: Les returns home bearing gifts! I have a new scent- Hermes Kelly Caleche.

7:15pm: I feel immense RAGE against chocolate companies that do not include a "legend"* with the chocolates. Am I supposed to guess whats in there? No, I don't trust that. I cannot risk getting a gross cherry cordial chocolate. Its almost not worth it... But I can't resist so I risk it and this time I was lucky- caramel and truffle.

7:45pm: Sit down to watch various pirated DVDs from Shanghai.

Then apparently we will be stopping the movie at 8:30 for Earth Hour, per my Dad's demands. I am not sure what we will do for one hour in candlelight while staring at each other. My guess is that he'll plan on falling asleep at 8:31 and leave the rest of us to entertain ourselves.

*What the HELL are these things called? Legend? Map? Diagram? I tried googling it to no avail.

The V-Day love letters have starting pouring in!

"Roses R red

Violets R grey

Special wishes 2 you

on Valentines Day"

"Love Mom and Dad"

This should explain HALF of my family quirks

(Oh look its me dressed as a "little Dutch girl" for Halloween...how fitting)

You Know You're Dutch When... (P.S. my mother sent me this)

-The temperature is so low in your house that 2 sweaters is a bare minimum if you want to be remotely warm. (I am permanently scarred from sitting too close to the fire at home)
-You were green before it was popular. Why recycle when you can just reuse! (And this whole time I just thought that they were cheap?)

-You have a pair a wooden shoes in your house. (I don't want to talk about it)

-You like pickled herring. (Lester does even though he's not Dutch)

-You enjoy chocolate sprinkle (hagelslag) sandwiches. (duh.)

-You have cousins who wear size 14 shoes and are over 6'4" (In Holland, the rest of us got the short genes)

-You wash and reuse plastic cups and plastic cutlery. (must I remind you)

-You have soup and open-faced sandwiches for Sunday lunch. (All I ever want is pizza or something, no more soup!)

-The most frequent phrase uttered growing up was "Turn off the lights!" (oh...only growing up? I still get it)

-You get a chocolate letter every year for Christmas. (While writing this post...I ate it)

-All the tables in your house are covered in tablecloths. (How dumb are tablecloths anyway?)

-You drink tea with breakfast, coffee at 10 am, tea at 3 pm, and coffee again at 8 pm (I do enjoy my tea!)

-You collect coupons like they're going out of style. (Uhhh only when I'm really poor)

-Your Oma had a calendar with everyone's birthdays & anniversaries spelled out in capital letters (bonus points if it hung in the bathroom!) (Its still in the bathroom.)

-You wipe the last of the butter out of the container with your bun (love butter)

-You make the bed in your hotel room. (I have accidentally done this before...multiple times)

-You have lace on your windows but not on your underwear (I don't, but the relatives sure do)

-You've put mayonnaise on your french fries. (mmm heavenly delicious dream)

-You have a spoon collection (Wendy. Oma.)

-Your fridge is always stocked with leftovers. Throw out food? Never! (To this day I hate leftovers because that's all I grew up with)

-Everything is Do-It-Yourself - it's cheaper than hiring someone. (I prefer to outsource...I'm lazy)

-You have to explain what 'om' and 'tante' means when you're discussing your relatives with non-Dutch people.

-You own tea towels and oven mitts patterned with windmills and dancing women in clogs. (The roommates really enjoy them).

(Me in Holland...in wooden shoes...)

I've turned into...

...my mother. Yes, this is a Ziploc bag that I washed and will reuse. Why did I do this? I have no idea. It was barely used and I felt bad just throwing it out and single handedly ruining the environment. For as long as I can remember, Wendy has been known for reusing Ziploc bags and we make fun of her for it. And here I am...

I know what I'm getting Ash for xmas next year!

Are people actually going to buy this?

A look back at my 2008

A few highlights from my ultra exciting 2008.

One year ago today!

Kitty reunion in LA/San Diego Jan. '08

Reuniting with Bridget and Cunty Cat in DC for St. Paddy's day

Costume birthday party for Carrie's boyfriend

Cubs game this summer!

Jamie's bachelorette party and then wedding June/July

North Ave. Beach

Iowa vs. Iowa State game

Canada for my grandpa's 80th

"I die" Halloween
Back to Canada for Yola's wedding

TBox barcrawl

And last but not least: Wedding and Christmas 2008!

Belated Feliz Navidad

Well the holidays were a blast! First to Canada for a night to see one side of the family. Travelling was a giant bitch, but we did see Dan Aykroyd at the Hertz counter in Toronto. So that counts for something. And then we were off to a little tropical getaway for my Cousin's wedding. It was a great week of beach, hanging out with the family and maybe one or two cervezas!

Me and Ashley on the beach

Coconut cabs to the wedding

Little Evan

Me and Jay on Christmas Day

The bride and groom!

"Playing" volleyball...and yes I posted this picture because I look tan
Me and Dad downtown

My uncle Ray choking me in the airport

Jay and I

GUANTANAMERA!

Maya and I in the "Discotheque"

The fam at the wedding

Cousins on the beach

Most of the family

I love shopping...

Happy day after Thanksgiving everyone! I hope that everyone ate more than should be allowed. So I finally made it home Wednesday after nearly a 4 hour trip home. Its a long story, but we did get to check out the lovely Hyde Park.
The first thing that I did when I got home on Wednesday was study the many sale flyers strewn across the kitchen table. After thinking about it for a while, I decided against standing outside of Best Buy at 2am for a new computer. Not worth it. However, I did decide that it was worth it to go to Target at 5:45am for a camera. So my mother and I got up and headed over to Target (sans egg mcmuffin :( ). It actually wasn't that bad, believe it or not! There was a long line outside the store, but we got there only a few minutes before it opened. I headed straight to find the $89 Kodak camera. Yes, this will be perhaps my 5th or 6th camera. I seem to have really bad luck with cameras (even worse than computers). After the Target madhouse we also went to Kohls, Express, DSW etc. I love the deals!! So does the whole family:
Mom got right to work with her new purchase....Dad spent his morning at the luxurious Home Depot and came home to play with his new power drill...

Jay got up bright and early to go... oh no wait, I woke him up at 12:30...
Bruiser stole Amber's bed, forcing her to curl up in his bed. Ha, he is pure evil. The rest of the day I have spent making a soup with the leftover turkey, and watching MTV True Life: I can't Stay Skinny...Don't be jealous!

Wedding

So this past weekend I headed back to the homeland for my cousin Yola's wedding. We flew in Friday and immediately went for dinner at Swiss Chalet. Swiss Chalet is basically a casual family dining restaurant that specializes in roasted chicken. I go for the gravy. Yes that's right- more fries and gravy.

Saturday morning my Dad and I ran a couple errands and then got food at San Franos. Now, San Franos is a little hole in the wall that my Dad loves, but his cholesterol doesn't need. I decided to go the healty route and have more poutine. Then it was off to the wedding!

The wedding took place in Hamilton at a Polish Catholic church. It was a really cute church and the ceremony wasn't too long (you know those Catholics!) Afterwards we went to a classy bar called the Honest Lawyer to kill time before the reception. The reception took place at a renovated train station and was awesome. There was another (larger) wedding going on in another room. So, in true K fashion we ended up trying to sabotage them by the end of the night. And by sabotage I mean we wrote in their guest book and drank from their open bar. What? We're rebels! The speeches were great and my cousin's band played. I colored with my little cousin Evan (he did not like my artistic talent).

Oh Canada!

So this weekend was my Opa's 80th birthday so we made the trek up to the homeland. Ever since we moved to the US 12 years ago, we have really only been able to make it back once a year at Christmas time. We have driven every time which can take anywhere from 8-12 hours depending on weather. My parents discovered what I think is a MUCH better plan. We now fly into Buffalo and drive another hour or so to our hometown. This is much easier to swallow than a 10 hour drive sitting in cramped quarters.

We stopped in Niagara Falls for a quick photo op.

This is also a mandatory stop as soon as we get into Canada. For those of you who don't know what Poutine is, it is the most delicious fat person food ever! Its fries with cheese curds, and gravy smeared over top. Aka delicious in every way. I inhaled it.

So after travelling all day, stopping by to see Babci (my dad's mom) we surprised my Opa by taking him to a CFL game: the Hamilton Tigercats vs. the Calgary Stampeders. The Tigercats (or Ticats is what the cool people call them) gave my Opa a jersey with his name and the #80. I was of course busy shoving hot dogs and caramel corn in my mouth. Oh, and the cheerleaders wear parkas? It really wasn't that cold out...

We even got to sit near Walter Gretzky, who is actually just as big a celebrity as his son, Wayne Gretzky. He lives in our hometown, Brantford so we saw him often growing up and I swam my whole life in the Gretzky Center. He is a cute little nugget.

Saturday we were headed out to dinner and got the entire Van Dongen side of the family to stop by my Babci's apartment to say hi. She could not have been more excited, but then she cries and then I cry. It definitely made her day!

Dinner to celebrate the family all being together and my Opa's 80th bday was at the Old School House. We celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary here, so it was nice to get back. This is the entire side of my mom's family. So it was a great weekend, had an awesome time catching up with the family! I will be heading back to Canada in 2 weeks for my cousin's wedding on the other side of the family! This will maybe be the first year since we moved that we will actually get to see everyone.