{Happy Friday!}

Happy, happy Friday! I am so excited it’s the weekend! It’s supposed to be a rainy one here in Amsterdam, but that’s okay because I’ve got lots to do inside in anticipation for my Mom’s arrival on MONDAY. I can hardly believe I’ll be greeting her at the airport so soon! We are going to have such an amazing time. She’ll be here for two weeks, and next weekend we’re jetting off to Barcelona for the long Easter weekend.

Hopefully I can find some time for something other than cleaning. If I had it my way this weekend I would…

+stay in for friday date night. make this cocktail and watch The Descendants .

+buy fresh flowers from our neighborhood market

+check out the COS store in the 9 Streets 

+browse all the colorful goodies at Kitsch Kitchen 

+make something yummy for breakfast. Maybe this? 

+finish The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society and start a new book.

{A Mexican Dinner Date in Amsterdam}

Do you want to know what makes me reallyyy happy? New shoes + big hair + margaritas + date night, that's what. Saturday night the huz and I decided we were in the mood for some chips and salsa and lime margaritas. We'd been hearing a lot about Los Pilones, a Mexican restaurant in Amsterdam. Supposedly it was good Mexican, just like home. Now, I can't say I was blown away by the food (still on the hunt for an incredible Mexican restaurant here!), but the margaritas. Oh, the margaritas!! Seriously rivaled my favorite Portland margarita (which can be found at Casa del Matador on NW 23rd), which is saying a lot. We had such a fun time on Saturday night. It was just one of those dinners where we didn't run out of things to talk about, or get tempted by the pull of the iPhone (come on, admit it, it happens to you too!). It felt like date nights back in the day, before we were married and lived together and knew everything about each other. After a few margs the laughter just wouldn't stop - and yes we got stared at (it was a tiny restaurant), and yes we were totally "those Americans". But I was having way too much fun to care about any of that. It's nights like Saturday (and Friday) that I never want to forget. 

And a couple iPhone snaps!

{Photos © Liz Denfeld Photography}

P.S. My shoes are from Zara and I used Katie's tutorial to do my hair!

{Bike Ride to Ouderkerk aan de Amstel}

A few months ago Carly wrote about her bike ride from Amsterdam to Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. It sounded like a fun thing to do on a sunny day, so I kept it in my back pocket until just the right moment. Saturday morning we had no plans and the sun was shining and I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the gorgeous weather. 

We rode along the Amstel River the entire way to Ouderkerk and back (a healthy 22km roundtrip). We passed by windmills, joggers, tons of farm animals, peaceful pastures and more kayakers than we could count. Once we got to the tiny little town, we sat along the water's edge and enjoyed a cup of coffee before turning back around to Amsterdam.

There is something to be said about the peace of the countryside. Amsterdam is very crowded and we live right in the heart of the city, where there are swarms of people constantly around us. Most of the time I like it, but being out in the peace and quiet of this adorable town refreshed me in the best way possible.

{Photos © Liz Denfeld Photography}

{A Perfect Little Friday Night}

Well, things haven’t slowed down around here, but I still managed to find some time to enjoy a few amazing moments this weekend. We’ve been having some incredible weather the last couple weeks and one of my favorite things about Amsterdam is how when the sun comes out everyone swarms the city to find and enjoy their sliver of it. It might be a big sunny terrace, it might be sitting at a tiny set of table and chairs on your stoop, or many times it’s just grabbing a beer or a bottle of wine and sitting along the edge of the water and soaking up the rare, blissful rays of sun. It has taken us a little while to get used to this whole consuming-alcohol-anywhere-you-want thing, but we decided to embrace it on Friday. I picked up a special bottle of Dutch IPA and we headed to a bench situated right on the Amstel River. Between Corey studying for finals and me having a busier than usual work schedule we haven’t had a lot of time to just sit and catch up, so that’s exactly what we did. Then we grabbed portobello burgers around the corner at Burger Bar and ended the night seeing The Hunger Games.  Friday night was all kinds of perfect, and I never want to forget it.

{blazer: necessary objects (similar), scarf: nordstrom, skinnies: J. Brand, striped top: lucca couture from urban outfitters, shoes: river island, bag: cole haan, sunglasses: D&G}

{Photos © Liz Denfeld Photography}

{Edinburgh: Part I}

A quick note before this post actually starts. I've been feeling overwhelmed. Like there aren't enough hours in a day. Like I am doing a lot of things just okay instead of a few things really well. I wish I had more time to spend with Corey (and him with me), more hours in the day at work to accomplish amazing things, I wish I had the energy to blog at the end of a long day, talk to my mom longer than I do, spend more time training Henry, returning emails and a bajillion other things. I'm basically just feeling kind of crumby and a little bit like a failure lately. I know it's just a funk, but just so you know, even though I don't have a lot of time for this blog sometimes, I miss it when I'm gone. And even though I don't always comment on all your blogs or respond to all your comments, I am reading every single one and visiting all your blogs as much as I can. I feel so lucky to be part of such an amazing community of bloggers and I hope you'll ride out this little funk with me, because I'm sure things will be back to normal soon.

Now on to the post I started writing a few days ago and never got around to finishing. Until now.

--------------------

Well, it's finally here! I'm posting about Edinburgh - yippee! 

So - we all know I love a good blogger meet up. Meeting up with a blogger for the first time in a different country is definitely an extreme version of a blate (blate = blog + date, Megan coined the term a while back). And when it's just you and your blogger friend, that's pretty cool, but when you throw your men into the mix you know things are serious. But Megan and I decided to go for it anyways. I think both Corey and Stephen were a little freaked out by the whole idea, and if I'm honest, there was a tiny part of me that was afraid maybe the boys wouldn't click or something. But luckily there was absolutely nothing to worry about. By the end of our two days together we were acting like we were all old friends we'd known for years. We laughed, we talked, we explored, we drank, we ate...We just had a really freakin' good time. We are hoping Megan and Stephen get over to Amsterdam soon because we already miss them! 

Now, here are some photos from our first day in Edinburgh. And a few things you should do if you ever find yourself there.

Somebody needed to stop for a break... And looking glamorous while doing so :)

To be continued...

{Photos © Liz Denfeld Photography}