Presents for baby Thomas

Mart's brother and his wife had a beautiful little boy recently and I made them a couple of personalised presents. We sent everything to Australia in the mail as we won't be able to meet the latest addition to the family for a couple of months. In the meanwhile they'll have these to remember us by! :-)

I printed the jumpsuit and mint cloth with templates I cut out of freezer paper and the Sydney changing mat is a crumpled city map I quilted together with thick grey tracksuit fabric. The white jumpsuit is a nod to the fact that Mart's brother has a craft beer wholesale company. 

Rome - Via di Villa Torlonia 10

When Mart's dad was 17 he lived in Rome for a year with his parents, brother and sisters. He hadn't gone back since, and so our week there was a very special walk down memory lane for him. 
One afternoon he took us to the house where he had lived with his family; we didn't go in but it was lovely to walk through the neighbourhood and retrace his footsteps almost 50 years later.

Rome 2014 - Vatican museum

Aaaah, time flies! 
We were in Rome in October (October!!), when Mart's parents came to visit us for a couple of weeks... how on earth am I only finding the time to post these pictures now? Life is busy I guess... 
Aaanyways, here are some photos of a delightfully sunny day spent at the Vatican Museum a couple of months ago.   :-)

Alden Biesen, Belgium

A couple of weeks ago my parents came to visit us in Maastricht and it was, as always, delightful. It was during that weekend that my mum and I turned pretty much loom-crazy (have you heard of/seen/tried making these bracelets with small colourful elastics? well, they're pretty addictive and heaps of fun to make - anyway, more on that another time). Since my parents were here with their car (and we don't have one) we jumped on the opportunity to go on a little day-trip to some Belgian castles. The first stop of the day was in Alden Biesen, just over the border in Belgium. It's a truly spectacular place kept in beautiful shape. See for yourself!

Festive dinner

When we returned from our honeymoon Mart's mum had prepared us a beautiful dinner; such a sweet and thoughtful surprise! We couldn't have ended our amazing week in a better way.

Happy birthday me!

 
It's my birthday today! :-) 

I received the sweetest birthday message early this morning from my brother Mathieu who spelled my name with photos of my beloved little nephew... isn't it just adorable?

I'm a very lucky girl: I received dozens of messages and phone calls from all over the world. And I spent the day with Mart and with my mum who is visiting from Switzerland; my first birthday as a married woman was a truly wonderful one!

Driving South, part 6

We drove through so many beautiful areas during our week of travels in the south of Western Australia... these are a few shots I took one evening when the sun was setting and the light was slowly disappearing from the sky... 

 
And I really didn't take many photos because I wanted to fully experience the whole thing (as opposed to seeing it through my camera) but here is one little glimpse at one of the dolphins that came to greet us at the Dolphin Discovery Center in Bunburry where we stopped for our last night all together. It was so wonderful to be in the water with these amazing animals! We could of course not touch them or anything, but it was so special to have them coming so close to us, and to all be in the water at the same time.

And... that's it for the time I spent traveling with my family in Western Australia! I do have plenty more photos from our honeymoon though, when Mart and I drove North... so... if you're not completely sick of sunny Australian scenery yet, make sure you pop by in the next few days to see some more! :-)

Driving South, part 5

Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks... certainly on the list of most beautiful places I have ever had the chance to see. 
So happy I could share these moments with my family.