Monday, March 19, 2007

Moving and A Marvelous Meetup

I know you all miss me so so much--- BUT I've been busy these past two weeks! Since Peter decided to extend his contract for an extra 2 years we decided to move to a house. It's very exciting- we belong to that odd category of people who actually love being in new environments- and everything fell into place at rapid speed. In a couple of weeks we'll be in the new place and we'll say goodbye to this fabulous apartment where we've lived for two years. It seemed large enough to begin with, but somehow we've gathered more "stuff" and are starting to feel cramped here. The new house has plenty of room and we may even have space that won't be used (at least for a while). I'm looking forward to having my own studio, and a room for my collection of exercise equipment. However it's a brand new house which means I am needed everyday either at the house or at the kitchen design shop. It takes up a lot of time. Tirana is not that large but the traffic is getting worse and worse, so two errands per day is my limit. Anyway, by the middle of April we'll be moved in. (Fingers crossed!)

Now for the really great news--- I was away for the last three days-- did you miss me??

I did something so so exciting-- I went to a Blogger Girls Weekend!! In Germany!! On my links you might have noticed that I have several blogs written by terrific expat women in Germany, as well as one in Switzerland. Well, Jen of Heisse Scheisse, got us all organised and hosted the weekend in her awesome loft apartment. Jen is one awesome female- just as whacky and witty as she comes across on her flog-I mean BLOG!
Here's the list of the Truly Amazing Women I met and got to know.

Christine, An American Expat in Germany Sweet and a seriously good COOK!
Christina, Mausi Funny, warm and ever so easy to be around!
Claire, My Euro-American Life Strong and courageous- running her own business in Germany!
Ann, Ann Ona Moose Beautiful and adorable in an Audrey Hepburn kind of way.
Tatiana, Von Tauber I wish I could spend a month discussing VIT's (Very Important Things) with her.
Brigit, Eurotrippen Incredibly gorgeous and funny in a whispery way.
Maria, Country Hopping No one can be THAT TINY right after having a baby!
Jessica, In Search of Dessert Intelligent, deep, and an incredible way with words.
Penny and Christina Both funny and interesting women who really do NEED to start blogging.

We ranged in ages from 24 to 48 but that honestly didn't matter. We never stopped talking! A lot of secrets were revealed at 3 AM but we've made a pact to keep our lips sealed. Sorry- if you want to know-- next time be there! We all come from different backgrounds, different places, and now live abroad. We all know what it is to be lonely and far away from the place we used to call 'home'. I am so lucky to have finally met this incredible group of women.

Thanks to each one of you who made the effort to be part of the magic.

14 comments:

Maria said...

Ah, come on now. It took me three months to get this way! :)

It was great meeting you too, and I hope that some day we can meet again! You are living such an adventure, and I can't wait to read more about it!

Anonymous said...

That sounds like a great meetup. I would have loved to be there.

christina said...

It was so nice to finally meet you in person, Kim! We should do it again some time. :-)

Unknown said...

I so enjoyed meeting you! I have been checking out your blog, and there are some pretty great pictures here. Maybe Albania is going on my list of travel destinations.

oreneta said...

Sounds like everything is pretty wonderful with you, although I don't envy you the set up on your new house, the hassle factor there could be pretty epic. How is your Albanian?

Christina said...

Hey Mama,
so lovely to spent time with you and the gals. what a riot. cant wait to do it again. i'm inspired so stay tuned.
good luck with creating your new home. woo wee!

Anonymous said...

Hi Kim, first of all, I am so happy for you that you have opted for a house. That will be great also for the little "princess" ! And so you are joining me in the kitchen designing crazyness...

And I so much like to hear the sound of your report regarding the expat girls' meeting - oh I can imagine how much fun you had ! (I love the way you "described" the other "girls" - just a few words but enough to pictue them...)

Much love and I hope you will be one of my first guests - soon ! ;-)....
angelika

Tatiana von Tauber said...

Kim, time always keeps me from the most interesting conversations!!

It was fantastic meeting you and we'll have to get Jen to come up with something else again...soon!

I can't wait to start reading your blog and I can only thank Jen for the introduction. :-)
Namaste,
Tatiana

ITS said...

Hajt ta gezosh shtepine e re!

Edhe me nje cun se shpejti ishallah!

Ginnie Hart said...

I was SOOOOOO upset, Kim, when I found out I'd be in the States then (and actually had my own girlie weekend with Judy)...AND found out you'd be there. I sure hope Christina gave you my BIG HELLO. Maybe next year!!!

BTW, by April we will be doing our own move, from Hannover to Amsterdam. But that's another story that I'll get to eventually on my blog. We'll both be moving about the same time, I see.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had a fantastic weekend.

Good luck with the move - looking forwards to seeing pictures of the new house :)

Thank you for the links you left me!

R. Duckie said...

Girls time is always so much fun!! Oh to be a fly on the wall! :) I'm glad everyone had a great time.

Anonymous said...

do you ever work?

Anonymous said...

congratulations on your new home by the way!