cinco de lee.

Happy Graduation Lee!

Today, my awesome and beloved brother Lee graduates from ECU's Doctor of Physical Therapy program. He will surely be an excellent physical therapist and already landed a job like a champ.  I love my brother tons & would like to be at his graduation today, where I would undoubtedly text him and try to make him laugh instead of behaving. Lee is brilliant, hilarious, caring, an excellent chef, boyfriend to a really cool girl, and 

pretty much an olympian runner (at least compared to me). Really though, he is super speedy.

lee at his graduation earlier today, compliments of my mom.

Here is an entertaining sequence of my brother photobombing us girls at the beach. 
This is quintessential Lee: playful, funny, and forever working towards his life 
goal of trying to irritate his sisters. He puts a fun and/or competitive spin 
on nearly everything, one reason I like him so much. 

Congratulations smartie Lee! Love you brother.


. . . 

cinco de larry.

Happy Birthday Daddyo!

Today is my Dad's birthday. It's from him that I get my love of breakfast foods, puns, playing catch, Calvin & Hobbes, putt-putt, and rooting for the underdog. My silliness has undoubtedly been passed on from his genes and we've been good buds for all my life. He's a hard worker, a fantastic listener, a loving husband, a kind and selfless man, and a really fun dad. I wish I could be with him and my family today. 

I love you Dad, hope you have a great day!

. . .

stateside.

(pinned from strangemaps.files.wordpress.com)

I'm back home in San Francisco! Due to some unforeseen delays, the 

trip back from Belgium ended up being 24 hours long and I was 

totally exhausted by the time it was over. Our kind friends Al & Carly 

picked me up from the airport late last night, an act of kindness 

I GREATLY appreciated. Our apartment is so clean, cozy, and peaceful 

& I slept like a rock. It feels good to be back!


. . .

hangin' with the kestens.

Davy arrived to Belgium a few days ago & since then, we've been spending time with the Kesten clan! They've showed us around, served as our translators, and have been excellent hosts, even if they do make us read the Flemish menus to laugh at our mispronunciations.

Our first evening in town, they took us to a pub in Hasselt that 

has over 350 beers from which you can choose, all Belgian. Just for reference,

Belgium is about the size of Maryland. And has 350 beers. How crazy is that?

Mr. Kestens! He's great!

Davy and his sweet girlfriend Fedra. She's moving to SF this summer &
I'll be so happy to have her along as a friend. 

Every beer has its own glass here, designed to enhance and prolong the flavor
of each specific brew. I guess you could say it's a step up from budlight.

This is an example of the beer menu. There were 24 pages like this.
Again, ALL of them are Belgian brewed. Isn't that unbelievable?

Yesterday evening, Davy was a featured speaker at a Belgian University student start-up forum in Leuven. The presentation was in Flemish so I made up a game called "act-like-you-understand-and-trick-all-these-other-people-into-thinking-you're-also-Belgian".  Afterwards, he said 

he noticed me smiling and nodding as if I understood. SUCCESS!

davy being a rockstar.

we played foosball while we waited for him to speak. thanks to these
little badges, we got treated like kings!

( ( I would also just like to say, I met André Duval, founder of 

Duval Guillaume, the agency behind this genius commercial ) )


Tonight, we joined the whole family for a birthday dinner celebrating Mieke, Davy's mother. 
We felt so welcomed to be invited along and really enjoyed the great company 
of his family. Plus we had delicious dinner & desserts...a great night indeed!


. . .