Well it is obviously fall as most of you can feel with the new chill in the air and the new colors coming to the trees. It was weird how fast the change happened here in Belgium. One day it was hot and humid to where we were sleeping with the fan on and the next it was windy, raining, and bone chilling cold. I have spent summers and winters here in Belgium, but never the fall. During the move I threw out a lot of clothes and I guess I was in a summer frame of mind because I realized the other day that nearly all of my clothes are summer clothes, but when I really thought about it the clothes I have are the types of things that I wear all year long.
I am a girl from the California Bay Area and fall/winter for us is our normal weather with an added chill, some extra wind, and rain. I normally wore jeans or tights with a shirt or dress and when it was fall or winter I wore the same exact thing with a hoodie. In the past few years it has been my Simpson University hoodie that I bought during my year attending the school. I did have one big winter coat that normally I only wore that one day a year when we would drive to Tahoe and play in the snow for a day. That coat did come in handy last winter when I visited Belgium, but that was only after my first winter in Belgium from December 2009 to March 2010. I arrived with my adorable wool peacoat thinking I would be perfectly warm…I was very wrong and I froze my butt off. I also had my $1 gloves from Target which when I actually wore gloves at home they worked perfectly…wrong. I ended up being taken to the store by my now husband’s parents so they could buy be a proper winter coat. During the winter I still wore my Target gloves, but two pair at one time.
This winter I felt like I was going to be prepared I had left a few sweaters here, but I knew I needed more. I think I maybe own one long sleeve shirt that isn’t a PJ shirt which is my 2nd one. I think in the moving process I got rid of too many clothes. Many of them I could have worn this fall and winter. After my 2nd paycheck from work which was way better than my first I decided some internet shopping was needed and I recently purchased many more long sleeved shirts. I am now a resident of Europe and in this season I need to start dressing like one I suppose and try to not freeze my butt off.
During the whole wardrobe issues I have been working very hard at my job on the Air Force base. I have nearly mastered the cash register and so on the busiest day I was assigned to cash register all day. By the end of the day I felt like my mouth was tired of talking. I am working hard to be the “bread buyer” in that my income is that to buy the groceries for our little household. We are on a “eating more healthier” kick and we have been doing pretty good especially with that I am mixing American foods and Belgian foods into our week’s menus. Yesterday we had homemade Philly Cheesesteaks while today we are having salad with grey shrimps and shrimp coquettes. The healthy eating kick is part of my journey to lose weight. I want to lose the weight mainly for my health because truthfully I find nothing wrong with the way I look. I feel beautiful in my own body, but losing weight would help reduce health complications such as high blood pressure which I am currently on medication for. I am also on this journey because my husband and I would want to have a baby someday and it would be best for my health and the health of our future fetus that I lose weight. It would be great to be off the blood pressure pills by the time I have conceived. I know that overweight women can get pregnant and have successful pregnancies, but there are more life-threatening risks with being overweight such as gestational diabetes. I just want to check all my Ps and Qs before we attempt to bring a life into the world.
NOTE: Please pray for an extended family member of mine Javonna who is in the hospital in pretty serious condition. We pray that she recovers and gets well soon.
