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!

Currently, Vol 6

It has been a long time since I've done an update post of any kind really; no weekend recaps, no currentlys...I need to change that!

I am linking up today with Becky over at Choose Happy for this weeks currently. 

Exploring...my neighborhood through my runs...finding some fun stuff and enjoying the gorgeous skies we've had lately! 

Remembering...how awesome it feels to sweat!!! Really finding my love of fitness and eating well to fuel my body again, I forgot how good it feels!

Eating...all sorts of goodies. I made a homemade tomato sauce and combined it with some whole wheat noodles, steamed up broccoli, baked up some chicken legs, and have been noshing a piece here and there of Tony Chocolneys chocolate bar ;)

Thankful...for a many number of things but since the time change I've been really in to my workouts and have been doing two-a-days at least so I am thankful I have the ability to workout, the tin to devote to caring for my body like this, and a supportive hubby who listens to all my fitness ramblings :P

Singing...Lulliby, in my head cause I sound most like Shaun Mullins in there haha his voice is so sultry and calm...I love it!

So, what are you up to...currently?

Currently, Vol. 7

This last week has been full of some interesting and fun days. We are going through a rather complicated issue with the kiddo and school, I was sick for four weeks, and spring is definitely on the way. So, here is a little recap of what is going on Currently.

First off I want to give a great big thank you to Motherhood Through My Eyes for featuring one of my instagram photos in her Moms Who Motivate post yesterday, really made my day as Instagram is my favorite social media and I am glad I made her feel like gettin' up and movin'! Now groove on over there and check it out, and follow me on Insta if you don't already, would love to "see" you over there! 

Making...a lot of smoothies lately. Trying to use up the frozen fruit so I can defrost the freezer, it has a lot of ice build up.

This gem is from Angela over at Oh She Glows, it is her Flu-Buster Clementine Smoothie. Full of Vitamin C and just really makes your throat feel awesome when it is raw and dry and just feeling awful.

Watching...sunsets, around 18.30...so lovely to have no clouds and sun until 18.30!

Enjoying...my workouts. Took me a long time to fall back in love with exercising again. I had continued on my workout path but wasn't truly enjoying them, I am happy to report I am truly loving my workouts again.

Loving...the date nights my hubby and I have had and the yummy restaurants we've been finding.

Thankful...for all the time I get to spend with this young lady and that she is so adventurous in exploring our city and Europe in general.

Quote of the day...Things haven't been easy the last few weeks for the kiddo at school, but as soon as she gets home and can be herself and we can goof off laughter seems to cure all. So, chin up, everyone...if you are having a bad day, try and laugh it off....will at least bring down the stress levels ;)

So, what have you been making, watching, and enjoying?

What are you thankful for lately?

Currently, Vol. 6

Well, it has been two weeks since I've done a currently! I was so sick for two whole weeks then my kiddo had her "early spring break" and now I am still fighting something in my chest...but I am still operational, thank goodness!

 Enjoying....all of the sun we have been having! It has been soooooooo nice! I am also 

enjoying the flowers I am seeing popping up all over! 

This was my 3rd day in a row of sunglasses!

These flowers are amazing. There are all different sorts popping up all over in all different colors. It is make the city very vibrant.

Attempting....to get back on track with healthy eating. Less sugar, less treats. Not doing half 

bad so far, really enjoying the salads I have been making lately, I think my body was greens deprived.

This is my favorite salad lately...arugula, other green of choice, tuna, cottage cheese, avocado, apple, onions, and tomato with a drizzle of balsamic and some salt and pepper.

Shopping....just for groceries this month. We are spending on nothing but the necessities, so 

that is all we are buying.

Excited about...the upcoming night away hubby and I have planned. Should be fairly 

romantic...cute little dutch town planned around a castle. Can't beat it.

Quote of the Day...Not really a quote but more a series of statements I try to live by.

Christmas Day Recap!

Now that we are done with the 2nd Day of Christmas, aka Boxing Day I thought I would do a recap! We had such a lovely, wonderful two days. Christmas, even with a teenager is still magical. It is so funny because sometimes, this "in between" time where they aren't really kids anymore but they aren't grown up are the times when we have to work harder to make it even more magical than we did when they were little.

My kiddo's birthday is 10 days before Christmas. She just turned 15, she is loving being "Santa" and giving gifts, but she is also still obsessed with the magic of Christmas as if she were 5. So...here is our recap of Christmas...

Breakfast

Since our kiddo is older, and there is just her we get up and have coffee and breakfast first. No presents are opened, just stockings. I've found this helps to extend things and gets the anticipation high!

Gift time.
Once breakfast has commenced and is cleaned up we begin opening presents. We guess at what we think it could be and then open.

Guessing first gets everyone involved and puts the spotlight on that gift.

As you can see for the kiddo her favorite was her Nike Air Force One's and her guitar. Due to having to replace her laptop for school in early November since it is a required item and being treated to an iPhone 6 when we started a new contract in the Netherlands. Christmas was smaller than we would normally make it, which I think made these two gifts all the better.

The Nike's she'd been asking for for months and I told her after her laptop she would just have to do without. I had these things in the closet for over a month, it was killing me not to give them to her! haha

YES!!!! hahaha I think this is the best one!

She has long been a music lover and had been asking for a guitar for months. This was a last minute purchase (thanks to a lovely woman on Marketplaats) and has brought her much joy. She is great at teaching herself to play and has devoted a few hours everyday to playing it.

For hubby, his favorite gifts were his Assasin's Creed Unity jacket and his Sandalwood shorts.

The jacket I found at this great store called Pop Cult on the Kalverstraat. Being a video game producer you can never have too much video game apparel and this is such a different item.

The Sandalwood shorts were a gift from my mom to him. Totally unexpected, as that is his old high school where he played basketball all 4 years of his high school career. He is very nostalgic about his school and was excited for this to be a surprise item!

As for me, no one ever takes pictures of me opening gifts, I need to change that next year! haha my two favorites are the special edition plum compact from MAC and this necklace my parents got me.

The compact I found months ago at MAC but didn't treat myself too...not sure why just didn't want to splurge so for hubby and the kiddo to remember that meant a lot...plus, look how pretty and sparkly it is!!!

It is also so versatile. With my brown eyes these are great day colours in the top row and fantastic night colours in the bottom.

Plus, look at the new brushes the compacts come with! I love the blender...I will never lose this thing! haha

This Brighton necklace from my parents is a gem. The background is topaz, my birthstone and the back says:

...which is me completely. To find something that described me so well and to buy and send it to me really meant a lot.

After opening gifts I did my daily workouts: Cardio Recovery. No photos but woke up boxing day with sore ribs and back!

After that we got dressed and headed out to dinner and to the movies the movies.

We went out to the Bijlmer ArenA area, they had some adorable Christmas Decor up and hubby and the kiddo were goofballs as usual.

Dinner was at this great little restaurant called Mamaris....check back Wednesday for the in-depth review! It was fantastic and just what we needed for Christmas Day!

After dinner we decided to treat ourselves to Unlimited Gold Passes at our local theater.

We did this for a couple of reasons: 1) we have a teenager that is constantly asking for money for movies so this will resolve that problem 2) we never go to the movies because they are so expensive, this eliminates that 3) hopefully this will help hubby deal with not having a proper surround sound and a 60" television.

So far we've seen The Hobbit in IMAX 3D and Mockingjay, Part I. Totally worth the €26 a month!

When we got home we decided to cuddle up and watch The Santa Claus and drink cocoa...

We ended with the lights off enjoying the glow of the tree...

How were your holidays? What do you celebrate this time of year?