Moving, decorating and manual labor

Part of the whole having houses in different states (or countries) means you need to have two of almost everything. Which is great fun in the beginning, but then I keep thinking what if I want those super cool glasses in the US and not just NL? Then I have some perspective put on me by my loving, but down to earth friends who inform me to get a grip, but it doesn't mean I can't have a little fun right? Right.

In my search for all kitchen type products I have found some great items that would work in any home in any country. Care to see what's at the top of my list?

Schott Zwiesel wine glasses specifically the diva line. I saw these the other day at a cook shop here in the Netherlands and can't stop thinking about them. The pictures do not do them justice, but image a big beautiful glass filled with your favorite wine. Enough said.

They are also made of Tritan glass that is supposed to be
stronger than normal glass to keep them in one piece at parties.

I love to entertain and really like the idea of having individual bottles for water, juice and other liquid products and these bottles add the right touch of fun and useful. Plus at the price of $14 each (at Uncommon Goods) I need one in each color!

As someone who enjoys cheese in every shape and form I love having cheese plates and these are quite perfect for the job. They are super cute and also found at Uncommon Goods.

As mentioned previously on this site I do adore a good vintage piece or in this case a faux vintage, but totally looks a like piece I could find in an antique shop. Love these trivets from Anthropologie

A big thing in the Netherlands is the usage of the tablecloth at dinner. I personally love the idea and have quite a few vintage pieces to use, but here is my absolute favorite (so far at least) that I have found on the web from Macy's.

I haven't actually purchased anything yet, but I am working on it!! Any ideas that you have come across?

By the way I think I am obsessed with drinks because I could have filled this whole page with glassware and pitchers (decanters, cocktail shakers, etc. I think you get the idea), but refrained to maintain a slight sense of dignity and not the alcohol consumer that I can (and sometimes often) be. I am way to classy for that. Right?

Musings and a discount

Been a bit of a crazy week. Lot's going on yet nothing accomplished. Know the feeling?

Loved it so much!
Me and my handbag at the handbag museum.

The week started with some fun with the girls in Amsterdam. We went to the Van Gogh museum and the museum of handbags and purses. The Van Gogh museum was great and I learned a whole bunch of things, BUT the handbag museum was AMAZING. I could have spent the entire day there looking at all of the different items and then perhaps going through the displays again to see what I missed. They of course have a cafe there so I could take breaks for coffee and food. Next time that is the plan and I should go by myself to spare others the pain of hours in a purse museum (Thanks for hanging in there as long as possible Erika and Christa!!). We then finished up our day (which just happened to be Halloween) in the red light district where we found a great little Argentinian restaurant for dinner. Perfect way to end the day having steak next to ladies selling their wares. All good fun.

Having a traditional sugar waffle before hitting the museums.
These are soooo good.

The rest of the days were spreadsheets, expenses and other fun administrative tasks. So I didn't have too much time to patrol the internet, but I still managed to find a cool site that has some very fun retro dresses at a perfectly reasonable price. It's called the Shabby Apple  and while I can't comment yet on the quality (I did order a dress and will let you know the outcome) I can at least say they are super cute on the web! The best news for all of this is that if you clink the link above you will automatically get 15% off all regularly priced items. Not bad right?! Here are a few of my favorites and the first one is what I purchased.

So cute! I can't wait to try this on.

This is lovely and hopefully mine if I like the quality of the first one.

This was made for me! I know it. I see a holiday
party in my future with this dress!

This is just the icing on the cake, there are so many more that I want (I do have this thing though about needing to move, get two houses, etc. etc.. So perhaps I should do that first then buy more clothes. Priorities suck.). Anyway check out the store and see for yourself, you might find something you can't live without (and with 15% off to boot!).

Next up for me is the shoe museum. That's right not only does this country have a handbag museum, but a shoe one as well. I love the Netherlands!

Cozy Up

So I am off to Amsterdam today to catch up with some friends and do some super touristy stuff around the city. I will definitely post some photos tomorrow or Wednesday. In the meantime I cam across this totally helpful tutorial (via the Average Girls Guide) on 25 ways to wear a scarf in 4.5 minutes. It's getting colder out and I love accessorizing with scarfs. They add that little bit of cozy and warm I almost always require (forever cold no matter where I am). I am rocking the men's tie today, tomorrow infinity. WooHoo.

Boots for all

While walking around the Netherlands for the last two weeks I have noticed that almost everyone has kicky boots that they wear with jeans, skirts, dresses, pants or whatever they want. Of course it's fall/winter weather so it is totally appropriate. The styles they are wearing really has me lusting after new boots. The are practical with little to no heel for walking or biking around the city and are in pretty neutral tones with not a lot of bells and whistles. I may not need them, but I totally want a new pair. Here are some of my top choices.

1. Seriously I have these on my list! Hunter knee length boots

2. Perfect for the city. MICHAEL Michael Kors 

3. I love the low height of the heel. Not too much. Timberland 

4. Total wish I could have them boots! Stuart Weitzman

5. I love the color. Belle Sigerson Morrison

6. Love, love, love. Barbour riding boots

7. $100 on sale at Piperlime.  Bandolino

Wish me luck with the trains and happy Friday!!

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!