I only got lost 3 times

That's not bad right?

I rode a train all by myself into Amsterdam yesterday and no one was hurt or arrested. Yay! Unfortunately I got lost after I got off the train when I decided I knew which was north was (it was actually south). So after a quick correction (closer to like 15 minutes of walking the wrong direction and another 15 back) I grabbed the correct bus and got off at the correct stop, only to walk pass the place I was trying to get to. Hmm. Reading signs really would have helped me a lot in both cases.

I finally met up with some friends had a super Dutch style lunch and then headed out to Beethovenstraat to get my touristy shop on. It was a wonderful afternoon to walk around the city and take in all the lovely little shops. I ended up purchasing what could only be called the perfect meal; wine, cheese and freshly made marzipan. Delicious!

I concluded my day by getting lost once more when taking the wrong return train and I went northwest when I needed to go south. Luckily I was able to correct this before ending up at the sea and made it home in one piece. Tomorrow I shall try my luck on the trains again, but to Utrecht and not all the way to Amsterdam. We shall see how this goes!

The Netherlands has some of the most spectacular flowers!

I really want a cheese wall in my house.

A beautiful day. Overlooking a canal.

The trifecta of purchases.

Disney Part Deux

As someone once told me, "The only problem with Euro Disney is it is run by the French". Well said and completely true. We had a great time though this past holiday weekend at the Euro mouse house. Kids had fun, adults survived and everyone ate way too much Disney food. Seriously what is it with theme parks and junk food? Even the so called healthy food is only considered the healthy choice because it is sitting next to the giant donut covered in chocolate. No matter what anyone tries to say it is the same story in every Disney park in every country. Although I am sure they have shrimp flavored chips in Disney Tokyo (I also assume they are tasty if that is your thing).

There were way too many fashion faux pas to count. When you have that many people from all over Europe in one place that is bound to happen. Not that I am the queen of fashion, but I do know a few things about acid wash pants (as in leave them in the 90's). Disney parks all over the world are major people watching sites for bad fashion and hair decisions. Always makes for a good time while waiting in line for Big Thunder Mountain!

All in all it was a good time with the family and it is always fun to go with kids on their first trip to the magic kingdom. Don't know if Euro Disney is worth the trip if that is the only thing you are going to trek over to Europe for, but it's fun if you enjoy Disney. Be sure to brush up on your French as that will help you out in following along, but at the end of the day it is not necessary to enjoy the park itself. Everyone wants to be a princess (or prince) no matter what language you speak!

Somewhere in the middle, but not completely lost in translation

A few things I have learned over the last few days here in Holland. I know more Dutch than I think and I can drink more coffee than I ever imagined! Bottom line is I might be able to survive here without Nordstrom's up the street (but it's doubtful for periods of time longer than two months. A girl has got to get her shop on with her own personal shoe satan, hi Steven!). It's funny I have been to Europe several times and visited so many shops without ever feeling out of place, but this is the first time I have had a feeling of I may not totally understand what I am doing. This may be because I don't want my boyfriends family to think I am a complete American idiot (now I can't get Green Day out of my head), but I think it's because for the first time I am in a smaller and less touristy portion of a country. It's a great learning experience, but a humbling one. The goal is to make sure my parents don't have to hang their head in shame on my behalf or for me personally to cause an international incident. Fingers crossed.

I thought today would be a good chance to answer some questions for my friends and family that they have been asking and to give just a little bit of a FYI for traveling in Europe. I ran across a rather alarming thing that I have not had a problem with in the past, but is becoming an issue for all American tourists shortly!

Are Holland and the Netherlands the same? No, but kind of. There are twelve provinces in the Netherlands, two of them are North Holland and South Holland. Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague (the largest cities) are all located in these two provinces which is why you associate Holland and the Netherlands. So Holland is in the Netherlands and the Netherlands is not entirely Holland. Make sense? No, sorry that's the best I got. Here is a map. 

Do you speak Dutch? No, but I am learning.

Can we visit you? Yes, but only if I am here. I may be in California so double check before coming. Showing up on my door step may be a bad idea for you.

So now for the PSA/FYI:

If you are going to visit the Netherlands or Europe you may want to know about this. Europe is moving all card payment sources (POS) to what is referred to as a chip and pin type of card. We in the US do not have the chip and pin in our cards...yet. The other day I went to buy allergy medicine and couldn't use my US credit card or debit card, because it did not have a chip. Since this was new to me I didn't argue, but just paid cash and went on my way. Of course I came home and searched the internet to figure out how and the heck we are supposed to buy things here. From what I can find out is that you can argue with the clerk to have them swipe the card, but they may not know what to do and you may have to force them to do so. Not a super awesome plan. The best thing to do is to have cash on you to pay for items and avoid having to push for them to swipe your card. ATM's will still accept the mag stripe on the cards so you shouldn't have a problem obtaining cash.

It seems the US is trying to get this implemented into our cards but they are taking their time. I found a few good articles on this if you want to find out more information below.

http://travel.usatoday.com/deals/inside/story/2011/04/Travel-friendly-chip-and-pin-credit-cards-coming-to-US/46327546/1

http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/231400073

The reason behind this is apparently in Europe they have a massive skimming problem and the chip and pin make it much harder to steal from the owner. At least until the thieves find a way around that too!

This is just good information to have! 

Jet lagged and internet shopping

So I have made the trek to the other side of the Atlantic and this comes with the price of no sleep for 30 hours and a mixture of not wanting to sleep and the need to sleep for 20 hours at the same time. I can't decide if I should sleep or if I should stay up all day and not go to bed until as late as possible. So while I am trying to come up with a suitable solution I have been shopping online. I have no idea why I think the right thing to do is to shop on the internet during these times as I usually end up spending money on things I don't really need, but would be super cool.

This all started with me at the airport having severe bag envy when I saw a to die for bag at LAX. It took a lot of will power not to beg them to trade me for my worn out but highly noticeable pink hard case luggage. Somehow I just know they would have declined my offer. Anyway I haven't been able to stop thinking about this luggage. I know I saw these in a magazine once or twice, but didn't pay much attention to it as my pink and noticeable luggage was quite new. Now as mentioned prior it is a little worn (by little I mean a lot) so new luggage is on the mind. Here is a stylized photo of what I saw.

I know, right? I totally want and would love these forever. It's like old world charm and modern functionality. Oh and did I say it comes in pink? No? Well it does. AWESOME!

This is from SteamLine Luggage and comes in all sorts of colors and styles, but I had better luck getting exactly what I wanted at Neiman Marcus. Expensive yes, worth the price? We will see.

Salemania

I don't talk about sales very often, but I am making an exception for the YOOX sample sale that is going on right now. I have found some pretty awesome deals on some great brands. I just found out about this sale this morning and as of my last check there are plenty of sizes available. So if you are interested get on it!

Here are some things I have in my cart and trust me there are many more. The prices I have listed below are real, you are not missing any digits. Promise.

William Rast Jeans $25

Cynthia Rowley short dress $45

Halston Heritage Sweater $49!

Get U ballet flat $45

OBELINE Sandals $29 Yes only $29!

There are so many other items to choose from it's ridiculous! Check it out and get yourself a pair of shoes or 10. There are also a ton of jeans available to choose from at $50 and under. What are you doing still reading this, go! YOOX Sample Sale!

Cross body love

I love a good big fall handbag. It is roomy and can fit all of my necessities. I mean how can you leave the house without your wallet, make-up, hairbrush, sunglasses, camera (in case you have a super photo op), first aid, phone, wrap (you always want to make sure you can be warm) and kitchen sink. Every time I take one of these items out I end up needing it later that day. I swear it is just how the universe works.

However some days you just want to take your money, phone and sunglasses (give or take a few items). So you need a small yet convenient bag that can potentially take a little more, because you may need to add something along the way (of course you do). I think a medium size cross body bag is the answer. I recently purchased one for an upcoming trip and gave it a test run the other day. I love it so much I wanted to share a few of my favorite cross body bags for fall. Oh and they are all pretty affordable. Yay!

1. MICHAEL Michael Kors leather handbag, $155

2. Juicy Couture cross body handbag, $128

3. American Living cross body shoulder bag, $40

4. MICHAEL Michael Kors michael kors handbag, $145

5. The Sak bag, $149
6. Crossbody handbag, $20

7. Cross body shoulder bag, $56

And that's how I consumed a gazillion calories

This weekend was full of all sorts of fun stuff that I did with my parents. We went shopping at the farmer's market and the mall, saw my niece play some Fall Ball and checked out the most amazing store I have ever been to, Total Wine. They have practically every type of alcohol and wine you could imagine. All they need to add is a cheese section and I would move in. If you are in the vicinity of one you must check it out. They have wine tastings and classes and did I mention almost every type of liquor you can imagine? Including whipped cream vodka that we used to make all sorts of fantastic, calorie filled, totally decadent drinks like chocolate martini's, espresso martini's and coconut cream pie martini's. They were delicious, but should only happen once in awhile if you don't want to buy bigger clothes.

After much testing we did have a clear winner of the evening, the espresso martini. Unfortunately it was after lots of tries so I totally forgot to take a decent photo. But just for you here is the winning recipe courtesy of my dad:

The Anderson Espresso Martini Special

2 oz. Double Espresso Vodka (or a coffee liquor)

2 oz. Whipped Cream Vodka

1 oz. half and half

Pour all into a shaker with ice. Shake and serve.

Seriously yummy. 

Also not to be out done mom made a coconut bread pudding that was out of this world. Recipe can be found here.

We had coconut pie ice cream too. That's just how we roll.

Jack and I approved.

Total Wine is truly awesome. You can take photos with Jack!