Scent of a European Man

For giggles, I'd like to muse on scents. For one, Brussels stinks. I'm talking smelly men, who either don't shower at all (God, I hope that's not the case) or who happily allow their sweat glands to produce and produce and produce (A stinky "macho," if you will). And if it's not one of these two things, it's the scent of a Smoker (we all know it - especially those of us who don't smoke).

There are a number of ways we could solve this issue:

1. On the Tram or the Metro: lots of stinky men in close proximity. Solution? Febreeze, freshens air, cleans odors. You also could use a dab of perfume on your wrist, hold the bar higher, and - yes - sniff your wrist.
2. In the office, enclosed in a conference room with a guy who clearly just came back from break. Solution? Gum for him. Coffee, in close proximity to you, and for the room.
3. In personal life: maybe a roommate or a Pre-PH (who's just too smelly to be a PH). Soap, and deoderant. Offer to demonstrate use. On him.

Have a solution of your own? Tried one of mine? Let us know!

*Please note, Scottie has nothing to do with this post.

Pretty view

I have the most spectacular view out my window at my new office. There is a big, grassy area and all sorts of trees and I get the perfect amount of sunlight. There are a few office buildings and a nice residential area off in the distance, but no roads, no traffic, and no noise. I must say, I absolutely LOVE it!

I suppose I should start by saying that I've left my PR job in the city to take a position out in the suburbs. After four years of living downtown I'm ready for a change. As soon as our condo sells my boyfriend and I are planning to move to the burbs. It's a big move, but one that I've given a lot of thought to and that I'm VERY excited for!

After starting together as PR interns, I love how Big Red, Brown Eyed Girl and I are all on such exciting paths! Big Red is newly married and living out in beautiful San Diego, Brown Eyed Girl is in Brussels pursuing a new job (and a whole new culture) and I'm ever-so-slowly achieving my suburban life goal.

Cheers to us! And cheers to everyone else who is busy off achieving their goals!

-Blondie

European Men

My girlfriends commonly request information about European men (I imagine they want to live vicariously through me), so I'd be remiss if I didn't mention upfront that I believe this post will whet their appetites. (Really, this post is rather long, so I promise to please, if not at least shock.)

My living situation in Brussels is this: I am the temporary flatmate of a 6'5, brownish-blonde-haired Scottish 28 y/o with an English accent. For the purposes of this post, and at his request, I'll call him Mr. Walters.

Mr. Walters and I met for the first time on Sunday, June 27. When I returned home the following evening, Mr. Walters informed me that his friend from the UK had rang and asked if he (ID: Harry) and a friend (ID: William) could stay at our flat. Mr. Walters had agreed, and he ensured me that the three would be respectful and stay out of my way.

That evening - or should I say morning? - however, a different story unfolded.

Let me pause for a moment and describe my "neglige" for the evening, and that matters a bit, if you're going to put yourself into my shoes over the next few paragraphs: I hopped into bed a black scoop-neck long tank and a pair of grey running crops. I also wore a bra, given that I hadn't been sleeping through the nights lately and thought there would be increased chance that I'd run into the guys elsewhere in the flat.

Anyway, Mr. Walters and his friend strolled in at approximately 4 a.m. Tuesday morning. I woke up to the sounds of hushed-whispering in the hallways, discussing the impossibility of finding the bathroom through the dark hallways, as well as someone's desire to "[Verb omitted purposely] Mr. Walters' Mom.," among other niceities. The voices disappeared shortly thereafter, and I nodded to sleeep, knowing that they were in the common area of the flat.

Or so I thought, until what seemly appeared only moments later, follows:

[BAM. BAM. CREAK.] My door opens, and a belligerant William stumbles in.

He asks me if I am awake. I'm not really. He wobbles a few steps forward, half-turns, sits on my bed and begins to explain how in the UK it would be rude of him and the others not to invite me for a drink if I am awake. I sit up on my elbow, (a sore attempt to discourage him from laying down) and he croons at me "laying so in my night clothing."

[Enter Mr. Walters.] He clearly expected that William would put himself into this position, sitting comfortably at my stomach-level, wavering slightly, attempting to figure out a way to spend the night here, and so he jokes a bit and asks if I'd want to sleep in another room. He also wonders if it would be a bore to leave William there. [I don't respond, but the answer clearly is yes.]

Mr. Walters spends a few great moments attempting to distract William out of my bed, then speaking sense into William, but to no avail, as William now stretches into my bed, full-body length next to mine. A few additional "gentle" and physical attempts to lift William out of my bed later, Mr. Walters finally given him a hard tug.

The tug, unfortunately, rips William out of my bed, into the wall in the hall outside my room, and onto the floor of the hall just beyond. William doesn't like this one bit, and he lunges at Mr. Walters, pushing him backwards, back into my room, onto my bed, half-onto me, and [CrackPlop.] All of a sudden - as if in slow motion - I fall backwards, spilling my water, Mr. Walters falls into and my bed breaks.

No, really.

This infuriates me, and Mr. Walters insists that William leaves the flat immediately. This generates quite a stir, because all of a sudden, not only is Harry there and flaming mad, a third unknown man also appears in my room.

I retreat to the kitchen - I mean - there are four guys in my flat fighting and yelling because one of them tried to get it on in my bed, with me. AWKWARD.

I let the guys battle it out for a bit before I decide to get involved - the short of it is that I am not comfortable with William staying in the flat after his advance and then his violence (which, if I can remind you, wound up in my bed being broken!). Mr. Walters takes my side, and the third guy escorts William outta here.

I end up sleeping in the room next to my original room (and currently am still sleeping there), while Mr. Walters orders the replacement parts for my broken pieces. And that's the end of that.

So, what do I think about European men? At first glance and experience, while their potential blood lines and language abilities may make them appear strikingly handsome at first, there is much to be said about differentiating their behaviour from that of those devilshly handsome American men we attempt to love.

Big Moves - Update!

Here's the latest in Big Moves News:
Brown Eyed Girl is in Brussels! My FBI Background check arrived a day after my latest post - so Thursday, June 10. After that, a two-week whirlwind began and I hopped on a plane to jet over here by June 25/26 (red-eye). This is day three, and abotu an hour.five from now I'm heading into the office for the first time and to complete some paperwork.

Big Red had a Big Deal wedding, and now also has been up to some Big Moves! She's currently living in xx, doing xx, with xx and yy. How's that for a teaser?

Blondie also is a mover and a shaker! She recently bought a xx, is selling a xx, and has changed her daily ritual as well!

I'll let these two tell you all about their moves, but in the meantime, may I encourage us each to raise our glasses (of water, being as it's 9 a.m. here and 2 a.m. and 12 a.m. there LOL), and toast each other to a job well done! Missions "follow-your-dreams" are being accomplished.

Big moves (and holding ...)

Well, One month later, I am disappointed to say that I am waiting. Still. My 5-year FBI background check has not yet come back. I'm sure it eventually will, but waiting is annoying.

In other BIG MOVES, before the end of the month I will move back to my parents' home temporarily (until my paperwork is done). One huge benefit of this move - as unthrilled as I might be - is that I will be able to see one of my best friends - PregnantGirl - more frequently than I have in the last several years. Even though she's the pregnant one, I think I'm the one with Baby Fever! I notice pregnant people everywhere: this afternoon on lunch I saw a pregnant girl speed walking, and it made me smile bc PregnantGirl's doctor just cut her off from running, and so maybe me and PregnantGirl can go for little speed-walks when I move to the burbs, too ;)?

Anyway, it goes without saying that I will leave you with a piece of inspiration, and today's is this: "You've gotta take the good with the bad, smile when you're sad; love what you've got, remember what you've had. Always forgive, and never forget. Make mistakes, but never regret."

While I am completely displeased that I took HR's advise and waited until I signed the Brussels contract before I applied for my background check, I have to remind myself that in the end it will all work out. No regrets. And THEN I will laugh at being upset about not being able to control something I could never control in the first place ;)

Big Moves, Part II

So to echo Brown Eyed Girl's last post, there are a LOT of changes going on with us Three Chic Chicks - all very life-changing and none of which really seemed "real" when we started this blog.

However, this past weekend, my life changes all culminated into a big ball of REALLY REAL. My wonderful fiance graduated from medical school this weekend. It was a beautiful ceremony and I was so happy to be there to watch him walk across the stage. Since I first met him almost eight years ago, he has always wanted to be a doctor - and I knew he'd make it happen. Now that he's got the diploma (and ever-so-exciting title of Dr. Big Red's Fiance, MD) the next big thing coming up for us is the wedding. Yikes.

I'm not one bit nervous. I've never been so confident about a decision in my life. But I'm nervous-excited to see how an entire year of planning, stress, tears, fights (though not many) and all-around hard work will come together for one day with family and friends. We're almost through the planning - just the darned seating chart still needs to be done - and then it is sit back, relax (sort of) and ENJOY!

Probably the biggest move is the literal move that we're making after we get back from our honeymoon, moving to San Diego for the fiance's residency program. I couldn't be more excited to start our new life in a new city with a new adventure, but the packing part has me a bit worried. I have hardly started and only have about four days to get my entire life packed up to go. Normally this wouldn't be all that difficult - throw it all in some boxes and call it a day. But, since I'm off to sunny Cali, I'm trying to pare down my wardrobe from bulky, Chicago-winter-appropriate sweaters, to only include what I'll REALLY wear. Which means sorting through the 8,000 T-shirts I've accumulated since fifth-grade cheerleading camp through today and only keeping the ones that I actually wear, and detaching myself from the memories that the other ones hold.

One year ago today, the fiance proposed to me. When we set our wedding date to be a year later, it seemed like we had all the time in the world. Now, the fiance has graduated medical school, superseded a rank in the Navy (hello Lieutenant!) and we're 6 days away from getting married, heading to the Bahamas for a much-needed relaxing honeymoon and moving away from our families and living across the country.

It's such an exciting time, but a bit scary too. I know it'll all work out and I can't wait for all the opportunities that we'll have together. I think I most look forward to being able to share my stories with my family and friends, and hearing their reciprocal stories with all the changes they're facing as well. I probably won't be back to post until after the wedding and big move, but there will be great stories to share then!

XOXO,
Big Red

Big moves

The last few weeks have flown by (although they didn't feel that way back then). I realized when I got to work today that I have three weeks left with my Chicago office, five with my apartment, and about the same with my friends. You'd think it would make me fill with glee, but my auto-response was more in line with "fight or flight." For a second I thought, "Holy crap, I'm going to kick these weeks' butts!" and then I thought, "Oh my gosh. Is it really only three weeks??"

Anyway, that got me thinking about how precious time is. Big Red's wedding is just around the corner (10 days, to be exact). And so is her Big Move. The once-2006-wonderment that was "Blondie, do you ever think you'll live with him?" has turned into "Blondie! Your dreams are coming true! You guys are moving to the suburbs!"

And me? Eh, for me it's still, "I wonder what my life will be like in five years." Only now I know that I will have that blissful checkmark designating the accomplishment of one of my life goals. I'm excited, nervous, and hopeful for what's about to come for each of the ThreeChicChicks as we embark our new ways, on what we each secretly believe is our perfect (or soon-to-be-perfect) life :)