Over The River and Through CDG

We are back on the road at the crack of dawn tomorrow (or as you are getting ready for bed on the west coast) and heading back to California. We will move into our new place this weekend and I can't express just how excited I am to unpack all my stuff. I haven't seen most of these things in at least 5 or 6 months. It will be like Christmas, but just for me. I am sure there will be a few things I forgot I had. I also have some packages at my parents to go through. Double Christmas! Yay!

Even though we are getting up at the crack of dawn tomorrow I can at least comfort myself with the fact that we are stopping over in Paris at the CDG airport. This means I will get to hit up the Ladurée counter and nosh on some of the most amazing macarons I have ever had. They are so lovely that I may just have to get a sampler pack. Going to the cafe in Paris is definitely more fun, but I am not one to be picky when it comes to getting my hands on these!

I will have one in every color!!

Sticks and Stones

Over the last few years I have been connecting and discovering so many interesting bloggers/writers on the Internet. There are so many talented people whose voice jumps off the page and captivate me on the first post and I haven't been able to stop reading since. In recent months I have read some incredibly powerful and moving posts that tackle difficult topics such as mental illness, body image acceptance, grief, abortion, domestic violence and sexual orientation. These posts were so heartfelt and incredibly brave for each person to write much less hit the publish button. This is why I was so stunned to read the sheer hate in some (not all and definitely not most) of the comments of these posts. Conflicting views and not agreeing with the writer is something that should foster discussions, view points and intelligent arguments from all sides. But the comments of wishing people ill, death and just plain hate made me feel sick. How is it acceptable to wish such dreadful thing for people? There is freedom of speech and there is hateful, useless words that people use to attempt to harm others. They say that words will never hurt you, but they do. I am not trying to suggest that we censor things that we don't agree with, but rather encourage people to use their words without hate to help us all understand each others point of view. While I may not agree with everything you say I respect it when it is presented without hate. I can only hope that others will do the same.

Why Gwyneth Paltrow and I would be besties

So I have a bit of a thing for Gwyneth. I know sometimes she seems like she's a bit too much, but so do I. So I sat down and thought of all the reasons we would be best friends.

1. We are Americans living part time abroad because of our significant other so we would have tons to talk about.
2. We are both 5'9" and can bond over all the short friends in our life and refusing to let that stop us from wearing 4 inch heels.
3. Have seen Coldplay in concert and met the band afterwards (it was back with their first album for me and was one of those dreaded meet and greets. She married the singer, I just said hi).
4. We both love to cook and tell people how awesome we are at it. When questioned if it was difficult to prepare we both say 'oh no it is so easy' when in reality it took 6 hours and three tries to get it perfect.
5. We both are way over Ben Affleck, but would totally do a movie that he was directing if for nothing else than to prove that we are always the bigger person. (Bonus we are also over Brad Pitt, although secretly think it's awesome that he dumped Jennifer Aniston for Angelina Jolie. Jennifer just seems so annoying). 
6. Like to eat healthy, but not afraid to indulge every once and again.
7. Come up with ridiculous things that people should buy that they can't afford. 

So some of those things may be a bit of a stretch, but I like to think the Gwynnie in my mind is close to reality. And in case you are interested I love her cookbook. You should check it out.

Are You Ready?

Going to the Hunger Games movie this weekend? I have been prepping the BF for weeks, since most everyone else I know here in Holland is not even a little bit interested in it. One of the great things about the Netherlands is that they do subtitles on almost all foreign movies so I can enjoy the movie with the actors real voices. I feel this way about movies the other way around too. Watching a German movie dubbed in English is a little freaky. So in honor of the Hunger Games opening weekend here are two choices for you. You can watch the trailer for the movie:

Or if that is not your speed head over to Funny or Die to watch the trailer for The Hungover Games. No sunglasses, no water and no Advil. Let the games begin.

Typical Dutch

One thing I have picked up on here in Holland is that to talk with a Dutch person you will get the impression that the Dutch invented most everything. If they didn't invent they improved it. While it may not be 100% true they have mastered many things and there is no denying that, however they did it wearing clogs. In simpler terms they have not mastered or minored woman's fashion. There are many talented Dutch designers, but they tend to have incredible men's collections and the women's tend to be less so. Which is so sad because I really wanted to experience Dutch fashion, but there is still hope for the future. In the meantime you should check out these "typical Dutch" (a phrase I hear often) items as they are all fantastic and most can be ordered in the US.

Stroop waffles are about the most amazing thing on
the sweet side of food that they have to offer here. They are delicious.
I suggest ordering them. You will not be disappointed.
Image via Amazon

This is a truly lovely scent by designers Viktor&Rolf.
I can't wait to have the BF try the men's cologne SpiceBomb.
Image via Sephora

Oh the cheese! I love the cheese here and always have requests
for me to bring some back. Tasty stuff.
Image via iGourmet

I love this brand for bath and body. They have so many
scents and variety to choose from. It's a bit addictive!
Image via Rituals

While that is not all the country has to offer these are some of my personal favorites. Any Dutch favorites you think should be included?

Greener Grass

I get so many comments about how lucky I am to be living in two counties, traveling all over and generally living a lifestyle I assume people think is out of a novel. Why it is true I am lucky and thankful to have these experiences, I sometimes wish it was not so complicated and I can guarantee no one would write a novel about it! There are all sorts of things that we we see in other peoples lives which we envy or wish we had. Who hasn't thought about being a movie/rock star and having money, fame and designers at our beck and call? We just ignore the fact that they work endlessly, have no privacy and have to stay crazy skinny (goodbye cake pops and cheeseburgers). Are the trade offs worth it? I wish it was that simple.

My life consists of not always knowing where and for how long we will be somewhere, which is at the mercy of several factors and people, all of which are out of my control. My BFF's all live in zero of the cities I am currently residing in and when in Europe it's hard to just pick up the phone (or Skype) and call whenever because of the time difference. Getting a job is difficult considering you have time zone and placement issues...blah, blah, blah (I totally sound like a whiner, which is not the intent). While I am not saying I want to go back to my life before the crazy, I wish I could have people understand that this is not all as glamorous as it appears to be. Sometimes the grass just appears to look so much greener on the other side. Believe me because I still have my receipts for the spray paint.

Red Wine and High Heels

Umm so...anything new with you?

As you can see this weekend had some changes in store for the site and the best part is there is still more to come. This is just the interim graphics until the new layout is rolled out, but I am having a fight with Photoshop right now. She is a little feisty, particularly since I tend to just keep clicking things until it looks right. Since it doesn't look right yet we will just have to go with this until it's ready or I give up (wagers on what will be first?). Currently the biggest change is the new name and URL. No one tells you how hard these things are to come up with until you have to type it over and over and over again. The great news is that there are no changes you need to make. All the archives are here and the old URL redirects and will continue to do so.

If you know me, you know this is a pretty obvious name choice for my blog. If you don't know me yet I'll let you know that red wine and high heels are pretty much my favorite things outside of people and puppies and cheese (and sometimes it's just cheese). Since I talk about wine and heels here pretty often I figured it was a natural progression of things, plus the URL was open and Go Daddy had a sale. Outside of the look and feel everything else is the same. I will keep captivating you with my wit, recipes, shopping benders and of course wine and heels. Feel free to tell me what you think, unless of course you dislike it then feel free to keep it to yourself. Happy Monday!