Quick Visit Home

I was able to find a great deal on a flight for a quick trip home and to join Jamie during his last week of three for a work trip to the U.S.  It was way too short of a visit but was great being home. We spent a lot of time catching up with many of our friends and family and of course our puppy Samba.  I was also able to spend a lot of quality time with my sister, nieces and nephew since the kids were off from school for MEA.  And luckily I was able to attend GNO, Girl's Night Out, a monthly night out that a group of girlfriends put together.  It was great seeing you all and we'll see you in a couple months for Christmas!  

Aamodts Apple Orchard with my nieces & nephew

 Afton Apple Orchard - yes we went to 2 Apple Orchards!

GNO - October at Barrio in Edina

First Visitors & Trips to Amsterdam, Brussels & Aachen!

It was a fun time with our first visitors.  Amy and Alyssa came for a week and we accomplished a lot in a short amount of time.  We spent two days in Amsterdam walking around the canals, visited the Anne Frank House, had an amazing dinner at Humphrey's and another delicious brunch at Gartine.  Then we headed to Hasselt, Belgium to pick up Kellie and spent a few days exploring the cutest city in the Netherlands (Maastricht of course!).  The first night we went to a Tapas restaurant right on the Maas River and then checked out the local Irish Pub, John Mullens.  The next day we grabbed coffee's to go at Coffee Lovers, walked around the city centers, did some shopping, had lunch in Markt Square, visited the cathedral and then out to an Italian dinner at II Giardino and a stop at the gelato shop.  On Sunday morning we had brunch at Boulevard in Maastricht and then headed to Brussels, Belgium.  We dropped off Kellie at the airport and then spent the day in Brussels city center.  We toured the Grand-Place, visited the Mannekin-Pis statue and many of the well known chocolate shops.  Today we took a trip to Aachen, Germany.  It is a very cute quaint town where we wandered the cobble-stone streets, squares and toured one of the gorgeous cathedrals. We had a lot of fun this week and covered four cities in three different countries in one week!  Thanks so much for visiting ladies and a special thanks to Amy for coming all this way while 6 months pregnant and leaving her daughter for the first time!

Amsterdam

 Dinner at Humphrey's in Amsterdam

 Maastricht

standing on De Hoge bridge in Maastricht
looking over the Maas River and Sint Servaas bridge (the oldest bridge built in the 13th century)

 shopping & wandering the streets of Maastricht

 Dinner at II Giardino

 The High (De Hoge) bridge at night

Drinks at Cafe t'Pothuiske in Maastricht

Brussels, Belgium

 Grand Place - Brussels

  Grand Place

 Mannekin-Pis Statue

 Shopping in Brussels

 the cutest street near all the finest chocolate shops in Brussels

Thai dinner in Maastricht

 Imperial Cathedral in Aachen, Germany

Home Improvement Projects & Girl Time!

I dropped off Jamie at Brussels airport on Sunday morning as he will be in the U.S. on business for almost 3 weeks.  We spent all day Saturday on household improvement projects - framed and put up the Van Gogh print we bought at the Van Gogh museum our first weekend here, bought new rugs and throw pillows and a few needed kitchen items and rearranged the furniture.  It feels a lot more comfortable here now (compare the 'After' pics below with the 'Before' pics from my first post in August).
So far this week, I attended the International Women's Club first Friday drinks at Cafe t'Pothuiske.  It was a great night out and I met 15-20 women that I had not met at previous events.  I also attended our next door neighbor, Alex's birthday party Sunday afternoon/evening along with the other neighbors.  It was another fun evening of great food, delicious cakes and good conversation.  Last night I went out via bike to dinner and the best Tiramisu at II Giardino and then a movie with 5 of the neighbor ladies.  This may turn into a monthly ladies night out (GNO-Netherlands)!
And now I just got back from Yoga and I am getting ready for our first visitors to the Netherlands.  I have 3 girlfriends from home coming at the same time!  I pick up Amy and Alyssa in Amsterdam tomorrow and then pick up Kellie in Belgium on Friday.  A household full of ladies . . Jamie is probably glad he is gone.  ;)   Can't wait to see them and have a fun week of girl time!

Leaving for a ladies night out!

Night out with the neighbor ladies

 Our Living Room with the new rug, plants and Van Gosh print.

 Dining Room with new decor

 DIY Project  - I framed different fabrics for decor & to add color to our white walls!

Van Gogh print called Almond Blossom

Trip 4: Munich, Germany (Octoberfest!)

This past weekend we took a trip to Munich, Germany to take part in the authentic Octoberfest celebration.  We got up early Friday morning and headed out on the 6 hour drive to Munich.  Thank goodness for iPads loaded with movies and books!  Once we arrived and checked into our hotel we walked around Munich's city center and headed to the Hofbrauhaus for dinner, large pretzels and beers.  Then we were off to check out the Octoberfest site and get the lay of the land.  It was the last weekend of Octoberfest and was supposed to be very busy and difficult to get into one of the 14 official tents without a reservation.  Each tent has a unique theme but all serve liter beers, German food and lots of pretzels.  Many people were dressed in the official attire with men in Lederhosen and women dressed in Dirndls.
The next morning we headed out early to Octoberfest (about a 15-20 min walk from our hotel in the city center) and were lucky to get into the first large tent near the main entrance, called Hippodrom, with a fairly short wait.  We stayed in this tent for most of the day since the people we had met said not to leave as we would have no luck getting into any other tent since it was so busy.  We drank beers, listened to the German folk band (which sounded like polka music), had our fill of sausages and yes more large pretzels!  All in all I think the guys had a very successful Octoberfest visit (this was definitely more of a guys trip).
On our way home on Sunday we took a break in the middle of our 6 hour drive and stopped in Stuttgart, Germany to visit the Mercedes-Benz museum.  We had a very nice lunch in their cafe and toured the 8 floors of the history of the motor car as well as a general history lesson and admired the buildings unique architecture.

Hofbrauhaus

Munich

Octoberfest

Mercedes-Benz Museum