Mother's Day Recap!

Mother's Day was so incredibly perfect this year. Most years we do the same thing: dinner out, maybe a movie or activity of my choosing and some gift giving. But this year, the activity choosing was out of my hands...let me explain...

The day started off with my friend and I participating in a local race. I won't even try to write the name of it, but we had a blast.

You don't have a race in Holland with out a windmill on the course!

....or some farmland...

My friend ran the 5k so was able to get some photos of me on the course!

This was the first time I'd run 6 miles consecutively in years.

I haven't run since. I need to rectify that. I need some running buddies me thinks.

They had a nice festival after with some delicious food.

A Pina Colada in a coconut!

A real burrito made by a real Mexican and some real BBQ ribs made by a Roy. Life was good this day.

After, we biked home I changed and met up with the kiddo and we went down to meet the hubby/her dad at his work. He was running behind so we grabbed some Starbucks..

White chocolate mocha bliss.

Then this pulls up:

How adorable are they?! That is my hubby and our friend Jim. They rented a boat for the day and surprised me...it was pretty epic!

Iconic bridge.

We had a nice ride around the canals.

Makes ya feel like your in there with me right?!

I must say we took a canal cruise last year right after Jim got here and it was ok, but not having the top on the boat really gave you a good look at the architecture.

Very pinterest worthy wine bottle trees...I bet they drank all that on King's Day.

There were tons of other people on the canal that day. After cruising for a solid 90 minutes I think we pulled over and had dinner at this place called Antonio's..it was really good and the service was amazing as well.

I did have something healthy that day!

Veggie lasagna? Yes, please!

We then got back into the boat and cruised around a bit more as the sunset.

I swear this is a different bridge! haha

This was almost a week after all the VE Day stuff, these were laid out on the 4th. All holocaust memorials were covered in flowers. This is the AIDS Memorial.

Going under on of the many bridges.

I love this city!

It truly was a very memorable day. I was even gifted a great top and a very cute skirt that if Amsterdam ever decides it wants to hold on to the warm weather I could actually wear the outfit sometime.

We hope you had a lovely day celebrating your mother in your life!

How did you celebrate Mother's Day? Does your family have any fun traditions?

Currently, Vol. 8, plus Weekly Menu #18

The last week and a half have been super busy and incredibly draining. Hoping to get back to some sort of routine today. Vacation always throws me off a bit, I need to figure out how to jump right back into my routine...maybe I need more checklists! ha!

Anyway, let me tell you what is happening currently in our little neck of the woods...

Supporting....fantastic small businesses like this antique china shop...I'm not sure if it is called The Golden Bend or if it is in The Golden Bend...either way there is a gold bike and it says "The Golden Bend" so I'm going for that.

Yes, everything was on the floor...the stuff you see in Europe!

Also supporting my best friend who is going through the best of toddler-hood!

If I could, I really would help her with this! haha

Crafting....these cute mosaic type sheets that I will frame and put up in my Etsy shop.

Relaxing...have taken a few walks through the park across the street from our house this past week. Really enjoying the last of the flowers that are blooming and am enjoying seeing the trees come to life.

Exploring...the Jordaan. My friend and I went for a photography walk through her neighbourhood yesterday and we had such a great time. One thing we are trying to do is take more photos of one another. She is much better at it than me, I get a bit of sensory overload trying to see everything and often forget to take photos of her! I will remember for next time.

Quote of the Day...after a great day yesterday, for some reason my mood turned sour...just got grumpy for some reason so trying to remember that even though I got grumpy the whole day wasn't a loss!

Source

Goals...
Goals this week

• Get a few crafts done
• Get some of our older clothes we are clearing out up on the local board and sold
• Complete all workouts

Workouts..

Sunday: Rest

Monday: Wound up resting, took long walk through the Jordaan, but I was very tired.

Tuesday: P90X2 Yoga

Wednesday: T25 Cardio, P90X3 Agility

Thursday: Long bike ride through Museumplein/Vondelpark; P90X3 Yoga/T25 Stretch

Friday: 2 mile run, strength work on the stairs

Saturday: 2.5 mile run, P90X3 Yoga, T25 Stretch

Menu

Breakfast

• Sunday: Granola
• Monday: Scrambled Eggs and Milk/coffee
• Tuesday: Egg, chicken, and cheese sweet chili wrap 
• Wednesday: Berry protein oatmeal (we only use natural protein so it will have PB and egg whites, new recipe I am trying...)
• Thursday: Egg, chicken, and cheese sweet chili wrap
• Friday: Acai Bowl
• Saturday: Omelettes with toast and strawberries with whipped cream

Lunch

• Sunday: Scrambled eggs with cheese, light since we are going to a food festival
• Monday: Caprese toastie's with chicken
• Tuesday: Leftovers
• Wednesday: Peanut butter and jelly with fruit smoothie
• Thursday: Ladies lunch
• Friday: Boiled eggs, cheese, bread and butter, blueberries, and nuts (picnic style)
• Saturday: We will just snack: smoked meats, boiled eggs, fruit, and nuts

Notes about lunches: everyday hubby takes a variation on the same thing: boiled eggs, cheese, lunch meat, and maybe a small dessert. The kiddo with her new schedule gets out pretty early most days so instead of burdening herself with a million things to take she just takes a small snack and then eats a light late lunch at home. Not ideal, but it is what she prefers and makes it easier on me because then I can just make one nice big lunch and not have to worry about everything getting put together the night before.

Dinner

• Sunday: Rolling Kitchens food festival...it was awesome!
• Monday: Lemon Parmesan Broccoli Pasta
• Tuesday: BBQ Chicken Breasts with mashed cauliflower and brown rice
• Wednesday: Stuffed squash with honeyed carrots and leftover brown rice
• Thursday: Fried rice with whatever leftover veggies are in there
• Friday: Grilled steaks with french fries/veggie fries and corn/squash
• Saturday: Fried chicken wings, french fries

This week has been quite a strange week. We are really looking forward to being back on a schedule. We are now at the 6 week countdown for school to be over. Really looking forward to summer! How about you, what are you up to this week?

Join the rest of the parties over at Mommy Run Fast, Jill Conyers, I'm an Organizing Junkie, and Choose Happy!

Menu Plan Monday #17

Wow! What a week we just wrapped up. I sit here on my couch, utterly exhausted. Started off the week sight seeing around Amsterdam, flew to London, then spent an entire day just relaxing and watched way too many episodes of Gilmore Girls. Saturday I went to pick up my race packet and had dinner with some lovely ladies that are the wives of people my hubby works with. Sunday I ran a 10k and hubby surprised me with a boat trip around the canal's of Amsterdam. Check back later this week for more!

Workout
Sunday: 6 mile run (signed up for this not realizing it was mother's day and that I'd be coming off two big trips), but overall it was a great run I was surprised at how in to it I was!
Monday: Yoga and 2 mile walk
Tuesday: 2 mile run, piyo
Wednesday: 1 mile run and some stair exercises
Thursday: 3 mile run, stretch
Friday: Yoga
Saturday: 100 Burpee Burnout and outdoor exercises

Goals

• Workout each day
• Stick to the menu
• Finish Hawaii part of the scrapbook

Menu

• Breakfast
• Sunday: Granola
• Monday: Bullet proof coffee, scrambled egg whites, banana
• Tuesday: Banana, scrambled egg whites, broccoli
• Wednesday: Banana, mushroom and cheese egg white omelette, broccoli
• Thursday: Acai bowl
• Friday: Egg white oatmeal bowl
• Saturday: Scrambled eggs, toast, strawberries and cream
• Lunch
• Sunday: ate at running expo
• Monday: Sweet chili broccoli egg white scramble (everyone else will eat out because I was unorganized and didn't arrange all the proper stuff for today)
• Tuesday: Carrot chicken bowl for me, protein box for hubby, chicken sandwich with apple slices for kiddo
• Wednesday: Carrot chicken bowl with red lentils for me and kiddo, protein box for hubby, 
• Thursday: Egg white oatmeal bowl for me and the kiddo, protein box for hubby
• Friday: Veggie scramble with red lentils for me, sandwich, apple slices, and nuts for kiddo
• Saturday: snack on smoked meats, cheese, and bread
• Dinner
• Sunday: Mother's Day eat out
• Monday: BBQ Bacon cheese burgers/black bean red lentil burgers, broccoli, and fries
• Tuesday: Chicken quesadillas with corn and broccoli
• Wednesday: BBQ chicken with rice, corn, and squash
• Thursday: Tacos/veggie tacos
• Friday: Homemade pizza with salad 
• Saturday: Chicken wings and fries with carrots

I'm looking forward to getting back in to cooking this week. I've actually missed it the last couple weeks. 

What about you, what are you up to this week?

Btw, I am linking up with Mommy Run Fast, Jill Conyers, and I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Life in 9 suitcases

On my personal Facebook page last year I shared our journey of leaving North America but I didn't share a lot of it here. Not sure why, we were just so busy I didn't really have the time to dedicate to writing the appropriate posts, I guess. So, I figure with our one year anniversary two days ago, I will share this with you now.

After we decided on where we should live and learning what our budget would be we knew this would be unlike any other move as now we had two choices: take our stuff or leave our stuff. 

Our friends who moved to Ireland a few months prior to us leaving sold everything. They said it was too expensive to ship and just wasn't worth the hassle. But, I figured I'd look into it anyway and agreed-for 10 year old furniture-the cost to get this stuff overseas was not even close to what I would describe as worth it. Plus, we were faced with the panic of 'what if we get it all there and it doesn't fit'...so we decided our best course of action was to sell just about everything.

But, before we could start selling, we had to decide what we were keeping. So, we looked at the costs associated with checking luggage and over weight fees and felt we could afford 6 large suitcases and 3 carry-on bags. This meant we would pay $150 extra for our luggage, but if it contained basically our entire lives it was worth it, plus it was less than the some 10,000+\- dollars a shipping container would have cost. 

About two months before we left Canada we started selling items. We started with items that weren't must haves or big items that would sell for the most money and we put a pick up date on them if it was stuff like beds or couches.

During this time I did take a 2 week vacation to Hawaii..which was wonderful, yet stressful. When we got home I had exactly one month before our fly out date. My days were spent on Craigslist and Amazon listing anything and everything that could be sold. In the last week I priced stuff to ridiculously low amounts, on the day before we were supposed to leave I was literally giving stuff away. I have pretty much my entire kitchen to a young girl who was moving in to her first apartment.

I did have 4 boxes 2 very large wardrobe type boxes and two regular medium size boxes that I packed with all our snowboarding gear and memory items and mailed that to my mother. I put some stuff in there for her and she still hasn't opened it. Maybe after this post she will {haha}. 

I will say deducting our lives down to 9 suitcases and four boxes made me feel lighter. Today, one year later I am careful about what I buy wanting to make sure I am surrounded by possessions I truly appreciate and that bring me joy.

Sure we sometimes miss the mindless shopping and buying because we want it in that moment, but know being conscious consumers during this time has only helped to serve our minds better and has let us focus on sharing memories instead of possessions.

Giving up everything for a dream was the best decision we ever made as a family and definitely don't regret it, it has been the most enriching experience for every single one of us. 

Why we chose Amsterdam

In celebration of our one year expat journey I thought I would do a few posts about our expat journey, there was so much I didn't say that I wanted to!

Today I want to tell you why we chose Amsterdam as the country that would host our expat adventure.

In the grand scheme of things (over a 6 month period of trying to make this happen) we had a total of four prospects: Warsaw, Cambridge, Prague, and Amsterdam. It really came down to 1) wanting a completely different cultural experience and 2) a place where a majority of the population spoke English.

I am not a linguist. My husband is not a linguist. Our daughter is okay at linguistics. She is young enough that she can catch on fairly quickly if she uses it enough. But the hubby and I were going to need some serious support.

Through research we decided England was too familar, Poland wasn't it because pay wasn't even close to what we had been making, location wasn't central, and we'd pretty much be stuck there, hubby wasn't sold on Prague because he didn't encounter a single person in his travels that spoke enough English to get by for us, so we finally settled on Holland. Through much research we learned that 90% of the population of Holland can carry on a conversation in English, coupled with a drastic culture change..it was just what we wanted.

But, in addition to having a well educated population that spoke English we chose Amsterdam for the following reasons:

• Culture: they have an open and supportive culture. Everyone looks out for one another and we wanted our daugther to experience that.
• Freedom: to be yourself and accepted by others regardless of sexual orientation, religion, or background.
• Outspoken truth: this is a very outspoken society, they always tell the truth even though you may not want to hear it. They are never mean, just truthful, I felt that was an important virtue for the teenager to learn at this point in life.
• Location: central Europe with an airport and train station where you can get anywhere in the world at the blink of an eye. 
• Language: the home language of the country was Dutch so we knew that over time and in school she would learn Dutch and it would add a little flair to our everyday experiences, yet everyone within the city is educated enough that they can speak English quite well so if we get stuck we ask, "uw sprek Engles" and they switch over to English for us (although within the city when they hear our accent usually they will automatically switch to English, a bit frustrating)
• Easy to get around...we knew when we moved to Europe we wouldn't be investing in a car so a place that uses bikes and mass transportation as their main mode of getting around was right up our ally. I will say with all the extra exercise from riding our bikes everyday we are happier people.

All-in-all moving to Amsterdam has truly been everything we thought it would be. We have seen a lot of Europe and really enjoy all the people we've met throughout our travels. We've met people from all over the world and have learned so much about their backgrounds. Every day I am so thankful for this experience and that it has been everything we thought it would be. 

I know my teenagers view on the world-understanding her friends home culture, learning about different political systems, and hands on history-has made an impact and broadened her personal knowledge and made her a deep thinker. Which is actually everything I wanted her to get out of this experience to carry with her in the future. 

I'm not sure what the next year will bring but given that it has started with a trip to Berlin and then London, I can only imagine how it shall pan out. 

Menu Plan Monday #16

This last week was a pretty darn hectic one. We spent the week in Berlin and then after we got home the teenager and I just could not sit still so Saturday we used our Amsterdam travel book and did a walk of the Jordaan area.

Preview of Berlin:

Preview of Jordaan Walk:

Sunday everyone but me had work so I cleaned like a mad woman then we decided a movie was in order so we finally checked out the new Avengers movie.

This upcoming week is our last week of May break so we are headed to London for a day and a half and then we will do a Holland day trip on Friday to an outdoor museum called Zuiderzee, and Saturday we will finally really check out the Stadelijk Museum and will take a bike ride around the Vondelpark. Sunday my plan is to just relax and get ready for the upcoming week back to school.

Workout

Last week I didn't do any real workouts. I planned them, but once I started to really enjoy the week with my loved ones it just wasn't at the top of my priority list...I did stretch everyday because we walked a solid 8 miles everyday...at least. I didn't record it but we walk the city of Berlin a number of times and took no public transit...so I'm gonna call that even ;)

• Sunday: Stretching
• Monday: P90X3 MMX
• Tuesday: P90X3 Yoga
• Wednesday: Sightseeing and stretching
• Thursday: PIYO Sweat
• Friday: T25 
• Saturday: 2 mile run and stretch (6 mile run Sunday)

Goals

None for this week, just to enjoy what is ahead in our travels.

Meals

Breakfast

• Sunday: Strawberry stuffed crescent rolls
• Monday: Monkey salad
• Tuesday: Veggie scramble with homemade bread
• Wednesday: Provided by our air bnb hosts
• Thursday: Provided by our air bnb hosts
• Friday: Veggie scramble with homemade bread
• Saturday: Oatmeal

Lunch

• Sunday: Leftovers
• Monday: Pancakes
• Tuesday: Peanut butter and jelly with apple slices
• Wednesday: Picnic-will pick up some sandwiches and fruit most likely
• Thursday: Eat out
• Friday: Soup and salad
• Saturday: Homemade pizza

Dinner

• Sunday: Chicken wings, fried rice with peppers 
• Monday: BBQ Cheese burgers with broccoli and corn
• Tuesday: Eat out
• Wednesday: Eat out
• Thursday: Rotisserie chicken with broccoli and rice
• Friday: Taco/taco salad
• Saturday: BBQ Chicken breasts with broccoli and potato slices

Nothing super exciting this week on the menu but tried and true things that are quick to whip up. 

Linking up this week with Mommy Run Fast, Jill Conyers, and I'm an Organizing Junkie.

One Year European Anniversary!

Well, we have officially been expats in Amsterdam for one year, folks! Can you believe it?! I can't.

I will admit, I had to look back through all my emails to find out our actual date of arrival in Amsterdam. So much has happened this year that I honestly could not remember for the life of me the actual date we got here. But, I found it and it was today, May 1-May Day. Gawd, we were exhausted! But, give me a minute to go down memory lane.

When 2014 started all I dreamed of was visiting somewhere I hadn't been before...Seattle (which was going in be in conjunction with my daugther's cheerleading competition.) I quite honestly had no bigger expectations for the year. However, since we are dream chasers, we had someone schedule an interview with my hubby in Cambridge, so I had my first trip overseas and the opportunity to visit London. Hubby then flew on to Amsterdam, which I sadly could not make. However, it is the destination we wound up choosing. Stay tuned because next week I will be telling you why we chose Amsterdam to be the city that hosted our expat adventure.

I'll admit, I was very worried that horse was gonna kick me! haha

Prior to making the decision to move, my best friend moved to Hawaii, within weeks of her moving, my husband surprised me by booking the kiddo and me tickets to visit her. A place I'd always desired to visit came true, Honolulu, Hawaii was on my list of places to check off my bucket list.

Once we made our decision to vacate North America, I wasn't sure what the future held. We took a major paycut, but knew if we were clever with our money the experience would be worth it. ..and it has been, let's take a visit to the cities we've been to:

• Brussels....this was our first European adventure as a couple. The kiddo was off in Germany, at a theme park much like Universal Studios, called Movie Park, where the European National Cheerleading Championships are held. It was a grand adventure I will never forget.
• Paris...this was our first European adventure as a family. It was to celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary. An adventure none of us will forget, I know the teenager knows why we went, but I wonder if today she'd remember it was our anniversary, she was totally in her element and really enjoyed the city.
• Rome...It was fun to tell our friends, while they were on their honeymoon, "sure, we will meet you in Rome for the weekend-no problem!" ...and then actually go and spend an entire weekend wandering through the streets of an Italian city we've always dreamed of wandering. No real plan and just enjoying the time exploring.
• Zandvoort aan Zee...this is an amazing place...totally catering to tourists though...which is probably why we love it haha for more see our Day at the Beach in Holland Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
• Otterlo, Holland...visited the Kroller-Muller museum. Such a unique and lovely place. I have a post coming soon...but there are several Vincent Van Gogh works that if you are a fan you should not miss.
• Muiden, Holland...this was one of the first day trips within Holland the kiddo and I took...we had a really great time and if you have any extended period of time in Amsterdam I really recommend you visit this place.
• Berlin...this one barely made it to the one year cut off haha But, the kiddo and I had a lovely time exploring the uniqueness that is Berlin. Check out Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 for a full recap...if you have an extended period of time in Europe and you area  history buff...particularly if you can put up with the horrors of WWII, I definitely recommend you check this place out.

I feel as though our year has been very productive and I couldn't be more pleased. 

So, happy Anniversary to us!! If you are considering a move, please overseas and have questions ease don't hesitate to contact me, I am happy to share our experience with anyone who may want more info. This was the best thing we ever did for our family and I would love to share it with you. ☺️