Negligent Blogger Backlog…

Since I have been back in NH I have been running around like crazy.  I have been seeing friends, cleaning and polishing the house along with all the regular pre-wedding stuff.  A quick run down…

Bacon.  Pork.  Pork chops, pork loin, eggs and bacon, BLTs, etc.

The first morning I was in the States I went out for breakfast with a friend.  BACON!!!

Also my mom makes the BEST dirty vodka martinis! I have been practicing since I have been home.  Practice makes perfect, and also is tasty!

 

Bachelorette party in New York with my aunt and cousins!

I also took this opportunity to stock up on ridiculously expensive make-up for my wedding.  ‘

BT DUB—Totally worth it!

 

 

And a bridal shower.   I can’t carry much back with me to Turkey so my friends organized a lingerie bridal shower.  I will be the best dressed women who has ever gone to bed.

And then on July 24th, I got married!

Bulent’s parents are in town for a week, so I will try to update on the upcoming New England adventures. 

Married!

More details later!  And Wedding Porn (I mean photos!)

Getting Ready!

My parents have a very old home.  About 150 years old.  They have been working on it for years.  Each year they tackle a problem or redo a room.  Well, the wedding gave them a little more momentum.  Since I was home last January they have redone..

The upstairs bathroom, the downstairs bathroom and the entire kitchen.  They have also repapered all the walls downstairs and many of them upstairs and refinished most of the floors. They do most of the manual labor themselves, though my strapping younger brother did alot of the heavy stuff.  Better Homes and Gardens meet This Old House.  I am seriously impressed.

So now we are working on the outside.  There has been a heat wave lately so outside work means lots of sweating, swearing and water breaks. So while my brother was on a ladder painting the house (he should get a medal!), I was pulling weeds from flower beds.  I need to be careful not to get tan line because of my strapless wedding dress, thus this fetching ensemble…

Obviously I am totally glammed up for the wedding!

Home

I will be posting as often as possible, though coverage may be sporadic.  I am at my parents home in New Hampshire, hanging out, visiting family, and prepping for the upcoming wedding…Mine!

So in between the bachelorette party, (this weekend),Bülent flying in (next week) my bridal shower, (next weekend) and the wedding (the weekend after) I may be fairly busy.   I will try my best though.  I have some awesome food photos coming so be on the watch.  Happy Fourth!

What The HELL Was I Thinking?

I must have been out of my mind. Our apartment was painted by the school (we did not choose the colors.)  So,  the painters had to finish painting about 20 four-bedroom apartments in two weeks.  T o facilitatie this arbitraty time period we had 13 painters in our place.  Craziness.  So when I came home from work, the white molding was green, the paint was all over the floorboards and the floor length curtains were in piles on the floor.  I argued (in Turksish) with the painters that since they took them down, they should put them back up.  My strongest argument--I don’t own a ladder (Their response, we will lend you ours.)  So after losing the battle I decided, what the hell, since they are all down why not wash them.  WTF! Apparenty they have not been washed, EVER!

Exhibit A:

Ignore the multiple shampoo bottles and focus on the color of the water.  Black!  And this was the second soaking in hot water and oxi-clean.  After this, I washed them twice with bleach.  They are still a little grey.  I hung them up when they were wet, thinking it would help with the wrinkles.  Sort of.  The chiffon front curtains (I don’t know what they are called) straightened out but the thick back curtains are all wrinkled. 

I will never do that again.  The washing, the bleaching, the arms burning from the weight of the wet curtains.  And then they still had to be taken down again and ironed to get the wrinkles out.  What the hell was I thinking?!?!? I have a lovely cleaning lady.  I will have her do it next time.  I will be putting money back into the Turkish economy, someone who needs work will get it, and I will not have to f*cking deal with 15 washer loads of extremely dirty curtains. 

* This post is for you Laurie.

Visit to Eskişehir

A few weeks ago, before my life was consumed with correcting exams, processing grades and nailing down details for my upcoming wedding, we took a trip to Eskişehir.   It is about an hour an a half on the fast train.  The train was great.  It ran frequently all day, was clean and convenient.

  The city itself is fun, but certainly a day trip—no need to stay overnight.  We walked around all day and were able to see most of the city.  Eskişehir has a university and was considered to be a supporter of Ataturk as the city sacrificed itself during the Independence war, holding off the invasion of the British.  The city was razed then later rebuilt.  I was very surprised considering it liberal past, that there was such a conservative religious community.  While religious people aren’t against Ataturk, and those who support Ataturk don’t deign religion, there tends to be a correlation between liberalism and Ataturk supporters.  Most of the women I saw in Eskişehir wore headscarves, a few did not, but they were the minority.  Though the closer we walked to the university the fewer “covered” women we saw. 

The first stop was the creek that runs through town.  Now it is touristic and cute however, twenty years ago the creek apparently was rancid and stank and the cafes by the waterfront were ramshackle.  The current mayor has done an enormous amount of renovations in town and it has made a huge difference. 

The next stop was boza, a fermented (nonalcoholic) wheat drink.

  It was slightly sweet, and very thick.  You could eat it with a spoon.  The shop sold only boza, and you could sprinkle cinnamon on top if you wished.  It apparently has a lot of protein and vitamins and is healthy—though caloric. 

I was not nesaccarily a fan, though I could see the appeal. 

Later we went to visit the city’s real attraction.  The restored Ottoman Style houses. 

The Ottoman style houses have been preserved and restored.  The neighborhood has turned into a tourist area with cafes and chai houses, though many locals still live in the houses, above the businesses. 

From Ankara it was a fun, inexpensive, quick day trip.  The fast train takes only an hour an a half to reach the city.  Everything in within walking distance from the train station so there is no need to tax about.  The round trip train tickets are 32 liras for one person.  It was a very lovely trip and a fun weekend activity.

Epic Cuteness

Bulent picked me up from the Servis bus the other day and told me he had a surprise for me.  He could not keep from smiling.  I kept trying to guess but was no where near close.  We drove around the neighborhood and finally ended up a nearby park.  I thought maybe he had set up a romantic picnic.  

Until I saw the fuzzy wriggling bodies. 

To be precise, seven of them. 

A neighborhood street dog had puppies and the den is in the park nearby.  The mother is part German Sheppard and from her behavior she may have been an (abused) pet.  She is very shy and non confrontational.  If you speak to her she wags her tail but if you get get close she runs away.

The puppies are absolutely adorable.  They loved to be petted and cuddled. Unlike the last puppies we found.

They hate to be ignored.  If they want attention they will clearly state their needs.

They are NOT shy.

If we owned a house with a yard I know Bulent would have wanted to adopt at least two of them.

However, since that is not an option we have been bringing them, and their mother, food and water, as is a teenage boy who lives in the neighborhood.  The mother is quite thin – she has been nursing seven pups and has been scavenging for food.  Bulent posted photos on a Craigslist-ish type site advertising the puppies.  There are many people with large homes who want guard dogs.  This would be better than if the dogs were left to scavenge.  They would eventually be picked up by the city and vaccinated and be spayed/neutered, but then released back on to the street.   The problem is that in Turkey dog-ownership outside of villages is new and dogs are a status symbol. People want purebreds not mutts. 

So… if you are in the Ankara area and want a FREE PUPPY who is sweet and trainable, leave a comment.  We would love to hook you up with one of these darlings.  They need a home. 

Look!  He likes you already!