At long last, blog silence is broken!

In the long and storied history of our blog (tee hee), I have frequently let a few weeks slip by sans post, but this long period of blog silence has really set a record. In my defense, it has been an unusually busy and exciting few months for us. There is WAY too much to write about in detail, so instead please turn your attention to this timeline and summary...

Picking up from where we left off in early November and our visit to Champagne:

November
15th - Black Keys Concert - Ancienne Belgique - Brussels - Click Here for Photo Album

25th - Simone/BCS Concert - We performed Carmina Burana to an enthusiastic sold-out crowd at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. The first half of the program was the world premiere of a piano concerto, plus the concert was recorded for a DVD!




Photo credit: Bernard de Keyzer

Me, caught in action at dress rehearsal the afternoon of the performance



View of the stage - I'm on the first row, far right, practically standing in the orchestra

27th - Thanksgiving 2010 Chez Raarup - Click Here for Photo Album

December

December ushered in the season of Christmas markets, parties, concerts, and travels. Oh, and super cold, unusually snowy weather.

5th - Brussels Winter Wonders Christmas Market



12th - Aachen (DE) - Christmas Market - It seems that the Germans invented christkindl markets and they are always great, so we try to visit at least one each year. Last year was Cologne and Frankfurt. This year, we chose Aachen.







Mosaic ceiling inside the Aachen Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.



The altar and Charlemagne's remains in a golden reliquary.





Aachen Christmas Market (plus other stuff from Christmas, birthdays, Luke & Kristen's visit, etc...) - Click Here for Photo Album

15th - Jamie Cullum Concert - Paradiso - Amsterdam - Click Here for Photo Album

18th - Simone/BCS Concert - We performed a somewhat unusual Christmas concert of works by the English composer John Rutter with the Brassband Buizingen at the Salle du Conservatoire Royale de Bruxelles.



Two days later, Troy and I set off for a three week holiday in Colorado. We narrowly avoided a repeat of last year's unexpected visit to Frankfurt, under eerily similar conditions, but with a little Divine Intervention managed to make it to Denver only a few hours late. We celebrated Christmas with our families, plus celebrated birthdays with Troy's father - 80! - and my sister Blythe. We also spent an inordinate amount of time at our storage unit, sorting, repacking, donating, tossing, and ultimately shipping some and re-storing the rest. After 3 years living without a large chunk of our stuff, it was time to rethink and rearrange. We shipped off an air-crate, which arrived a few days after us and has been sitting in an Antwerp warehouse awaiting the call for delivery to our new apartment (more about that in a bit).

January & February

The New Year seemed to inspire friends and family to visit La Belgique, and so we only had a week or two to readjust before we welcomed two sets of visitors, two weekends in a row.

27th - After a few days in Paris, where they got ENGAGED, my brother and his lovely fiancée Kristen spent a long weekend with us in Brussels.



Luke & Kristen in front of Brussels' iconic Mannekin Pis



Lukie & Me, freezing our butts off in Bruges

The following weekend, my best friend Angie arrived for a whirlwind few days tacked onto the end of a business trip. We were so busy having fun that we forgot to take a single picture. Oops!

After all that fun, it was time to get down to business -- the apartment-hunting business that is. It is just as common for people to rent, rather than own, their homes here in Belgium. As a result, a crazy system of 9-year leases has evolved, and our 3rd year on our current lease officially ends on April 15th. This means that we can terminate the lease and move out without having to pay a penalty (which is significant -- in the first year, you pay 3 months rent penalty!!! second year, it's 2 months; third year is 1 month; then freedom...).

We have really loved our apartment -- lovely exterior, modern interior, great location -- but have also grown weary with the seemingly unending stream of construction and management-related issues. (Remember this one?) Most recent case in point, it took us three successive winters to finally prove to our landlords that we had a faulty thermostat and heating system, resulting in the heat never turning off. That kind of thing, combined with a desire for a little more space, really pushed us to look for a new place. So, I spent some part of every day for 6 weeks scouring Immoweb, contacting real estate agents, and visiting apartments. We had this triangular sort of equation, trying to balance our ideal location against our ideal apartment against our budget. Ultimately we found something that met most of our criteria, including the most important ones: superb location, across the street from a lovely park, around the corner from a great grocery store and pastry shop, more space, two big bedrooms, 1.5 baths, and with an elevator. We hope it will be a great new home.



On visit Number 1 to what is now our new apartment. Note my measuring tape and notebook -- this was serious business!



A sneak peek -- looking through the archway at the living room (with some of the old furnishings in it). Don't worry -- once we actually move in, you'll be seeing a lot of the new place.

As you can see, quite a lot has transpired since November. But, oh my, I haven't yet mentioned the other BIG thing that has been going on:



Yep, that's a baby bump!!! (Much more pronounced these days -- this was taken in February). We took the plunge and are expecting a little girl in early August!!! Needless to say, there will be much more to come on that topic, but for now it's time for this installment of Days of the Raarups' Lives to come to a close. I have errands to run and things to prepare for our third houseguest of the year(!), Troy's sister Tami, who arrives tomorrow. And don't worry, it won't be nearly as long before I post again. À tout à l'heure...