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Amsterdam

This past year has been a really good year for me when it comes to
traveling...which I love to do! (in case you haven't noticed or heard
me say already) Last summer we spent 2 weeks in Hawaii...in March we
headed to Ireland and we just took a short trip to Amsterdam!
Nick was sent to Bologna, Italy...home of the delicious bolognese
sauce and Amsterdam, Netherlands for two client meetings. Since the
end of his trip was the Thursday before july 4th, I convinced him to
extend his stay so I could meet him for the 4 day weekend! It took a
little arm twisting, but a week out, I booked my flight!
I had no time to plan or research our stay in Amsterdam so I grabbed a
guide book in the airport and read, highlighted, and made notes the
whole way there. My travels have taught me that if you're equipped
with a map, a decent guidebook and an idea of the currency and
language, you'll be good to go.

First Heineken in Rembrandtplein (Rembrandt Square) behind our hotel

typical Amsterdam square...Rembrandtplein

We had a great time!! Amsterdam is such a clean, beautiful, and
efficient city!  Holland is really flat and there is water everywhere,
so there is a canal every other street in Amsterdam and about 1,300 bridges.
They use a lot of this water for energy, but the canals are also lined
with house boats.  Also bc the land is so flat, bikes are a way of
life for the people who live there and everyone who visits. EVERYONE
bikes and its the main mode of transportation....as a tourist you have
to go with the flow and use hand signals. Nick stopped short in front
of me once, so I stopped short and the guy behind me cursed at me...as
we were 2 inches from a bus moving along next to us. Not so smooth for
the Americans.

lovely Amsterdam canal

Houseboats

bikes, bikes, everywhere.

biking like the locals

So we covered everything we wanted to do in Amsterdam....drank
Heinekens and saw the brewery, toured the Anne Frank house which was
so moving and interesting (The Frank family actually had a big space with multiple
rooms but the blacked out curtains and silent living for such a long
period of time made it seem tourtureous), toured the Van Gogh museum
which chronicled his life in paintings (so glad I did the audio tour
and heard the stories of his troubled life), toured the Rijksmuseum
to see tons of Rembrandt paintings.

Dutch frites!  they serve them with mayo

Heineken Brewery

Heineken green gift shop

Anne Frank house - the 4th building from the right.  The other 3 buildings are part of the museum.

relaxing on the Museumplein with Rijksmuseum behind me

We also really enjoyed the scenery by renting bikes for a day, having
a leisurely brunch in the famous market area, Neiuwmarket and hung out
on some of the lawns and parks.  We had some different
foods...Indonesian one night, Brazilian steakhouse another, and modern
Dutch (very local and fresh) the last night.  One afternoon we sat out
in one of the plazas and enjoyed some beers...relaxing and people
watching.  We also took an awesome boat tour through the canals...it
was more of a fun tour than an educational one...we brought beers and
were joined by an undergrad study abroad group.

European brunch

Neiuwmarket

Hemelse Modder dinner

Holland is known for it's tulips...this is an open air flower market on a houseboat

tulip bulb market

boat tour!

boat tour and our driver

We were sure to walk through the red light district which I found
weird, much smaller than expected and of course skeezy and visit some
coffee shops.  Coffee shops are literally like a cafe with food,
smoothies, milkshakes, coffee, soda and then a list of marijuana you
can buy like a beer or wine list...a different experience for sure.
Amsterdam seems to be changing though - rumor has it that they are
moving the red light district farther out, closing some coffee shops
and making it only legal for Dutch citizens to buy marijuana. So its
likely they will see a huge decline in tourism and therefore their
economy!

one of the coffee shops...they aren't all neon-ish.

Overall it was a great trip and we spent the perfect amount of time
there. The only negative is that I wish it had been warmer! The locals
told us it was unseasonably cool.  I don't think I'd return, but if
you're making a trip to Europe its a great place to visit.

we love to travel!



Relaxed and enjoying traveling

Two years.

Two years ago, on this very day, Matt and I got married.

 

We have been through so much in two years – three moves, three jobs, flight school, new puppy, being away from friends and family – it has been quite an incredible adventure. And through it all, we have had each other. And that has been the best.

 

You are probably wondering why I am posting a blog when we should be out celebrating. Well, of course, Matt is scheduled to fly tonight so I don’t get to see him. But don’t worry – we had plenty of time to celebrate this weekend - and celebrate we did.

 

Since we weren’t able to take a honeymoon (we had to leave from the wedding and get down to Corpus for flight school) or celebrate our first year anniversary (we were in the middle of the move from Texas to Florida), we decided to go all out for this one. Matt planned a surprise for me on Saturday and I planned one for him on Sunday.

 

Here is Matt’s surprise for me:

 

yep, that's right. sky sailing!

we glided through the air in a plane. kind of like hang gliding, but in an aircraft.

i look calm, but looks can be deceiving...

this is the plane that towed us...i didn't realize that they were going to release us until i heard the radio call.

what an amazing view!

this certainly gave me a deeper appreciation for matt's job!

this was when we decided to get a little crazy...

i survived! it was such an amazing experience - a once in a lifetime adventure.

well done, matt, well done.

Here is my surprise for Matt:

a massage for two at the hard rock hotel.

matt provided the adventure and i provided the relaxation:)

We were able to fit in a few more fun anniversary activities between surprises. On our way back to the city on Saturday afternoon, we stopped by Julian, California. It is a small historic town in the mountains filled with my favorite things – antique stores, bookstores, bakeries, wineries, and coffee shops. We walked around, shopped, and tried some of their famous pies. Unfortunately, we did not get pictures because I dropped the camera for the 50^th time. I guess 50 is the max dropping capacity, because it broke. So we also got another unexpected anniversary surprise – a new camera.

That evening we walked down to Seaport Village, a cute touristy area in downtown San Diego. I felt bad about leaving Sadie all day, so we decided to bring her to dinner. Besides how could we celebrate such a momentous occasion without her! We have a long-standing (7 years) tradition of getting crabs on our anniversary, so we found a seafood restaurant that had anything crab on their menu and were set.

As we were walking home, we heard fireworks in the distance. Comic Con was this weekend in San Diego (more on that in another blog post) and they were setting fireworks off on Saturday evening. It was such a fun way to end the evening. And for those wondering, Sadie did much better with her second round of fireworks.

All in all, it was the perfect anniversary. So perfect that we just might have to celebrate it every yearJ

dinner at seaport village

beach sunset

and the tradition continues...snow crab sushi

family shot

the end.

Life is a (dog) beach!

Warning: You are about to be overloaded with pictures of Sadie. I know, I know. This tends to happen during every blog post. But, really, this is about to get ridiculous. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

 

As I have said before, San Diego is just about the most dog-friendly city out there. Dogs are allowed practically everywhere – from coffee shops to Yogurtland to boutiques – they can just tag along wherever you go. And if they aren’t allowed inside, there is always a big bowl filled with cool water for those hot (wink, wink) San Diego days. But if Sadie could talk – something I often wish she could do – she would tell you that - just like her mom - she is happiest by the water. And her favorite little spot of water is the Coronado Dog Beach.

 

Coronado Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches in California. I'm not kidding when I tell you that the sand shimmers. But the best part of the beach, in my opinion, is that they block off about 300 sandy yards and let the dogs run free. You should hear the happy yelps from the excited dogs as they realize that they are about to experience doggy freedom. Sadie can barely contain herself as we make the long walk from the car to the water. We are horrible dog parents and make her stay on the leash until we are a safe distance from the road – the nerve of us. We usually go to the Dog Beach (or DB as Matt and I have to call it, so as not to rile Sadie up) every weekend for a few hours and Sadie never slows down. She is in the water, running around, stealing Frisbees from unsuspecting families, playing chase, and kicking sand in the faces of other beach-goers. We bring our beach blanket and chairs and try to relax, but most of the time we are running after our little dog. It can get a little crazy at times, but seeing Sadie so happy makes it all worth it. And, yes, as I re-read that sentence I realize that I sound like a crazy dog parent!

 

Here are some pictures of our happy girl enjoying her not-so-lazy days at the beach.

just another day at the beach.

action shot - doesn't she look scary?

hotel del coronado

point loma

she listens so well when you have something she wants, not so much any other time

where's sadie?

some dogs even surf - hang 10!

even the dog beach has rules

waiting her turn to wash away all that sand

least favorite part of the trip - the towel

that looks says it all - "when are we going back to the dog beach?"

Family Fun

This past weekend we had our first Cali visitors – my brother, Chris, and his fiancé, Meghan. We had a lot to jam into the weekend, but we started with a little celebration for the two. They got engaged a couple of weeks ago and Matt and I haven’t been able to see them since the big question. What better way to celebrate than with Babycakes cupcakes and wine!

 

Side note: Babycakes is a local SD cupcakery that makes ridiculously delicious food. I couldn’t resist and bought six huge cupcakes of all different flavors. Although it is hard to choose, I think that my favorite is a toss-up between mint chocolate and pistachio. I have no doubt that I will be making weekly trips back to test out future cupcake purchases for visitors…(hint: come to SD and I will buy you a cupcake!)

 

While they were here we were able to hit up a few of our favorite restaurants and bars (Craft & Commerce, Maloney’s, In-n-Out Burger, Pappalecco), try new restaurants (Trattoria Fantastica, Old Town Mexican Cafe), visit the Little Italy farmer’s market, make (and burn) brunches, visit the San Diego Zoo, go to the Coronado Dog Beach, and play games. I should add that Meghan and I were victorious and, yes, we remained humble and didn’t gloat at all;) I am exhausted just typing all of that out (and full – did you see all that food?!). Needless to say, it was a great weekend! 

 

One of the hardest parts of being a military family is being so far away from your family and friends. So Matt and I look forward to these weekends more than you can imagine. As sad as it was to say goodbye to Meghan and Chris on Sunday evening, we miss you already, it helps to know that we have a lifetime of these fun times ahead of us. At least that is what I kept reminding myself driving away from the airport stifling tears.

 

We are so excited for them and for Meghan to become a part of our family! And, selfishly, I feel even luckier because now I will have two amazing sister-in-laws. And I am being serious when I say that – I am one of the lucky few that has awesome in-lawsJ

Until next time, love from the West Coast.

 

let's celebrate

the happy couple

punch bowl for four at craft & commerce

despite this valiant effort, they still lost

my favorite brother

great way to start the morning - with raw oysters

sisters-to-be

footsie wootsie at the zoo

family

the weekend wouldn't be complete without massive beers

i heart this guy...

...and this dog.

these did not turn out exactly as expected

meghan's first gelato...hopefully not her last

come back!!!