{Checking In}

Well, after several comments from friends and family about my lack of blogging, I finally decided it might be time to check in! It’s hard to believe we’ve already been back home in Portland for a month (as of tomorrow!). I am happy to say that my reason for not blogging isn’t just because we’ve been busy catching up with people, but also just because we’ve spent a good portion of time just being lazy and getting settled into life in Portland! Corey are I have both been back at work for a while now (took a whopping 3 days off!) and have been living between my in-laws’ house and my mama’s house. We’re currently searching for a place of our own and hoping to be out of the parent’s house by the end of the summer. But I can’t complain about living rent-free and having dinner cooked for us when we get home each night. Yeah, we’re pretty spoiled at the moment!

A lot of people have been asking if we miss Amsterdam. Mostly, I must admit we’re just happy to be home. Everything feels so familiar and comfortable. But there are certainly times my heart aches for those canals or our perfect apartment where we made such amazing memories. There will always be a big, special place in my heart for Amsterdam.

So what have we been up to? Lounging by the pool, eating lots of home-cooked meals, venturing downtown for dinner + drinks with friends, welcoming our new nephew Ryder into the world, and working on checking things off our summer to-do list. Time is flying!

I have an overwhelming amount of travel posts to blog (some even going back as far as Switzerland in December!) and I can’t wait to get back to it. I keep telling myself this week is the week I’m going to get back to blogging. And somehow it just doesn’t happen. I know I just need to make it a priority! I’ve just been having too much fun being lazy :) So bear with me… I’ll be blogging regularly again soon…

Hope you’re all doing well out there! I’ve so appreciated the few emails and comments I’ve gotten from those saying they miss my posts. It makes me feel so good, you have no idea! And a little guilty, but mostly just really good. I miss you guys and can’t wait to be a regular blogger again soon! Thanks for hanging in there with me! Below you’ll find a bunch of iPhone photos from the last month at home!

{Snow Day!}

Well, remember last week when I said "Hopefully I won’t have anymore snow photos to share with you anytime soon"... I clearly spoke to soon because Sunday morning we woke up to a beautiful blanket of fresh white powder! But seeing as it was Sunday and I didn't have anywhere to be (more specifically, a train to be on headed towards the office...) I was giddy with excitement. I practically jumped out of bed, threw on 17 layers of clothes and took off for a snowy morning walk with my boys. It was early enough that most of the city was still sleeping, so we had the fresh snow all to ourselves. I loved every minute of it! Now that it's back to work for the week I am back to hoping it doesn't snow again... At least until the weekend :)

 

 {Photos © Liz Denfeld Photography}

{Our Swiss Chalet}

Staying in a Swiss chalet was very much like my dream of staying in a Tuscan villa. So cliché, yet so necessary. When Corey and I realized we wouldn’t be making it home for Christmas we knew we had to go somewhere super awesome to help temper the sting. And we couldn’t have picked a better place to spend a week relaxing. We were in the most beautiful, tiny Swiss Alp town of Val d’illiez. There’s not much to do there except stare at the gorgeous mountains and cuddle up by the fire. Exactly what we had in mind! I started every day with a bubble bath (pure heaven!) and ended each one with a glass of wine, a cozy fire and a Christmas movie. The only thing missing was our little Henry. There will be many more posts about our trip to Switzerland to come... For now, here are a few photos from our dream Swiss chalet. 

 {Photos © Liz Denfeld Photography}

Oh Christmas Tree

Getting a Christmas tree in Amsterdam was an experience we didn't want to miss out on. We knew we'd only have it up for less than two weeks so we didn't want to get a big tree, or spend a lot of money, so the plan was to go down the street to Nieuwmarkt (conveniently located about three blocks away) where they had a stand set up and pick up a cute mini tree.

We walked up to the stand excited and ready to get our Christmas festivities started and I immediately spotted the one. It was an adorable, perfect tree. A noble fir, I think. "This is easy!" I thought to myself. We quickly flagged down the young man who was running the stand and showed him the tree we wanted and asked him the price. 42 Euros. What?! That's about 60 US dollars. And that would be more than we had ever spent on a tree, let alone a 3 footer. I tried to hold back my shock and quickly let go of my dream of my perfect little Fir tree. He explained to us that this type of tree is the best because it doesn't shed as many needles and it smells the best (well duh, we already knew that, that's why we picked it!). He then showed us the cheaper trees. One of the types didn't smell at all. Clearly that wasn't an option. The last type of tree, he explained, still smelled nice but would shed many needles. He told us it was actually the "original" christmas tree and the one we had picked out initially was actually the modern Christmas tree popularized by Western Culture. And lastly, and most importantly, this "original" Christmas tree was the cheapest and would only set us back 15 Euros. Sold! We picked one out and as we were paying asked the kind fellow if they sold stands for a tree this small. He literally told us to not even bother because it would die just as soon with no water. He assured us it would look pretty for the two weeks we'd be in Amsterdam, so we went on our merry way and carried our tree home.

Finding decorations was an adventure in itself. We'd walked by a year-round Christmas shop, the Christmas Palace, in the nearby floating Flower Market many times before so we figured we'd give that a try. To no surprise it was crowded with tourists and when we finally located the lights we found a box that would set us back 20 Euros. Insane! As much as we wanted to decorate our tree and as much we had no idea where else we would find Christmas lights, we could not bear to fork out that kind of cash for a box of lights we could buy for $5 at home. Thankfully as we walked home my genius husband remembered this store he'd been in a couple times that he assured me sold a little bit of "everything" and would surely have some Christmas goodies. Luckily, he was right! We walked out of the store Xenos with lights, ornaments ribbon and garland all for 20 Euros! Success! These are the moments I feel so proud of ourselves for navigating the city and finding things without any help at all. We then went home, lit some candles and cozied up with some Charlie Brown Christmas tunes and decorated our little tree. It was the perfect festive Sunday, indeed.

 {Photos © Liz Denfeld Photography}