A good week

I'm wrapping up a great week in Amsterdam. Took some pictures but have to wait to get home to get them off the camera. In the meantime.. I "borrowed" some imagery so you can get the jist. Here are a few things that I did:

Canal tour of the city- yes it's touristy... but you can't beat the view from a canal. We wound through the city looking at the beautiful Dutch row houses and houseboats. Really sweet. Highly reco to anyone coming here for the first time.

Dam Square - the palace is huge and the square is buzzing with street performers and tons of tourists taking pictures. Bought some Delft Christmas ornaments and some fun slippers for my nieces.

Leidenplein - watched the skaters on the tiniest skating rink I have ever seen, ate some chocolate dipped waffles and ate at a restaurant that was good, but experienced possibly the worst service ever to date, including turning the light on over our table to give us the hint that dinner was over. Real Dutch hospitality.

First let me start off by saying that if you are into art/art history and like to take your time to see EVERY piece on display... GO ALONE. There's nothing better than taking your time if you want to really get down and check out the textures, brush strokes, watch exhibit videos, etc and nothing ruins it quicker than someone saying "hurry up."

Anne Frank Museum- A must-see for anyone. Made me want to go read the book all over again. Got to the see the chestnut tree that Anne wrote about in her journal before it's felled next week. Very sobering.


Rijksmuseum - Saw The Masterpieces exhibit and took the audio tour. I've always loved Dutch painting so it was pretty sweet to see Rembrandt, Steen and Vermeer up close and personal. One bummer was that one particular painting that I wanted to see "The Kitchen Maid" by Vermeer was on loan to another museum in Tokyo. Saw one piece in particular that I really liked- Winter Landscape with ice Skaters by Hendrick Avercamp.



It's so detailed- you can sit and look at all of the little different scenarios going on in the painting. These types of paintings used to be my favorite in college...

Van Gogh museum - AMAZING. The one museum contains the largest collection of his work in the world. They've curated the pieces in a way that you can track his progression as an artist. Have been pronouncing it incorrectly apparently. So awesome. Took the audio tour. Had to navigate through a bunch of school kids, but it made me happy to see them there and most of the actually looked like they were enjoying it.

Cruised around the Museumplein and checked out the dog park. Really made me homesick for my furry babies. Happy to see that the ChuckIt is alive and well in AMS.

Did alot of walking in general, rode the tram around. One thing that I didn't do is go through the main Red Light District. We went out to dinner one night and walked by one of the small Red Light Districts. I found it to be a little depressing, even though they are choosing to do it. But just sitting there on display, trying to look sexy when the women that I saw just had a dead look in their eyes. Just thought it was sad.

The Euro headquarters for Nike are interesting. Very small in comparison to WHQ in Beavertron. Also people don't really walk around much in contrast. But everyone was very friendly and it was great to meet people in person - see the whites of their eyes - instead of always just having conference calls.

All in all - a good week. Looking forward to getting back to home, the dogs, but most of all Vin.

A really long day.

Greetings from Amsterdam! I'm sitting in the hotel Barbizon business center, wasting away some time before I can check in. My journey started about 21 hours ago - left a rainy (surprise) Portland and hopped on a plane to Atlanta. Spent some time in the delta lounge, partaking in a few rum and cokes and free wifi for a couple hours. Then hopped another plane to Amsterdam. Where it was raining.

First time riding up in the front for a transatlantic flight. I must say... coach is really going to suck when we come back to EU for a vacay. I had some champs while the coach peeps were loading in and spent about 10 minutes exploring every possible position I could make the seat get into. I watched all of season 1 of Entourage and Big Love. Vin-- we need HBO. Speaking of Vin... I felt like I was right at home because the dude sitting next to me was sawing some major logs. I wanted to pelt my little ear plugs at him. Eight and a half hours of snoring. Rough.

Anyhoo- got into Amsterdam, went through customs, got my bag, bought a train ticket and rode into Central Amsterdam. (As I type the church bells are ringing away and it looks like the sun is starting to peep out!) One thing. The skies in Rembrandt's paintings are for real. That was the first thing I noticed as I was walking over the canal to the hotel. The light and the clouds together was really amazing.

I can't check into until 3.30pm (thank you travel department. that was real swell.) so I'm going to see if I can check my bags in and go for a walk/get some lunch or coffee.

Feeling back up to blogging - we'll see how long it lasts!

It's coming.....

I'm brewing up a new post.

In the meantime... Katie just reminded me about this ad. I've forgotten how friggin' funny it is.

BABIES EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!




No I'm not preggers.

Random post

While Vin was out catching bass fish, I was back in Oregon holding down the fort. Interestingly enough- I became increasingly aware of how much crap there is to do (well. crap we make for ourselves to do) when you are the only person doing it. So while I was taking out the garbage, mowing the lawn, picking up 2 dogs' worth of poop, pulling weeds, doing laundry, cleaning the house, etc (you get the point) I was thinking about NOW vs. THEN.

Some observations

NOW: two dogs equals twice as much poo.
THEN: one dog pooping in the snow made it not seem so bad. until the snow melted.

NOW: I don't know how to grow roses.
THEN: I didn't know about goldenrod.

NOW: Why do men always assume the role of the garbage taker-outer/recycler?
THEN: I had to do it myself.

NOW: Cleaning one bathroom is more fun than cleaning two.
THEN: I only had one bathroom.

NOW: Mowing the lawn takes forever when you have three times the amount of grass to cut.
THEN: Mowing took about 30 minutes.

Here are some pics as of late...





I also am putting up some cute pictures of the furry babies.



On a side note.. I've been thinking about choices a lot lately and how do we decide to make the decisions that we make, and how you deal with the consequences, good vs bad. And how do you determine if they are good vs bad. And really, for me, it seems to come down to the level of control you feel you have over your life and situation. It's made me really mull over some decisions. Getting married to Vin? Best decision ever. Moving out of the comfort zone in Vermont and coming to Portland? Good decision. Letting the dogs eat some mayonnaise? Not a good decision. Dying my hair dark red with magenta highlights? Probably not a good decision. I won't get into anything super deep- but you get the jist. It's really about taking ownership over the choices that you make- not playing the role of the victim. Something sucks? Then make a choice to make it better or make a different decision. Something kicks ass? Then keep making similar decisions. Own the choices you make. Keep making it a point to have/keep choices. Does more freedom = more choices made? Or does making less choices= feeling more in control?

Discuss.

Sunny time in PDX

It's been a rather delightful week here in PDX. There weather has been rad- sunny every day. Dogs are panting when they are outside- and that means summertime! Woo hoo!

we've officially been in PDX for 1 year+ now.

Here is some possible summertime business I'd like to get down to:
- somehow figure out how to get rid of the catshit (really. the cats) in our neighborhood.
- finish edging the front yard and do the back yard.
- somehow organize the "garage"
- identify the plants that the previous owners have planted.
- go berry picking somewhere on the coast
- go see Mt St Helens
- go snowboarding in June
- learn how to make video work on my damn website
- teach sirius how to play catch. catching the ball once and running around with the ball does not = catch.
- learn how to make gazpacho
- have brunch on the back deck once a month
- have some friends come visit me
- ride my new bike alot
- go camping alot
- learn how to surf
- learn how not to be afraid of sharks whilst learning how to surf
- hang out with my swingles more often
- take pictuers more
- blog more
- stop using the word 'fuck' with such high frequency
- get rid of some chub
- pick bellydancing lessons back up
- make dinner at home more often
- learn more than "basics" of CSS
- get some more furniture


This is a good place to start I think.

Who doesn't like kittens?

Last night we had a little intervention with nature.
Our good friends Katie and Bill had some furry tenants living in their backyard.

Katie has been out of town- so I volunteered to help out.

In a nutshell- we got the kittens together, put them in a box, managed to not the scare the mother off, trapped the mother and got took them to an animal rescue group here in PDX. Check out their site- PDX Pet Adoption

Now most of you know my current feelings on cats-- it's not really the cats as much as it's the cat shit. And really- what chaps my ass the most is the totally lack of responsibility on "the owners". It's not hard to get your cat or dog spayed (next door neighbors... that comment is directed at you.)

Anyhoo- they were cute little buggers. Good deed done for the day.

A Year Ago...

A year ago today I was packing up my house.

A year ago today I was beyond excited for a new direction in life.

A year ago today I was sad to leave my friends that I had met and who had become my family.

A year ago today I was scared to start over at a new job.

A year ago today I was stoked I wasn't going to ever have to use StudioManager again.

A year ago today I was pondering what a week-long trip in an RV with two dogs and a man would be like.

A year ago today I was lamenting that had I not dicked around for the year before that, I would have enjoyed the kitchen I (and lots of friends) helped me get finished up so I could sell. And someone else got to enjoy.

A year ago today I was worried that maybe I won't find a buddy to go to the mountain with. (I MISS YOU ROBIN)

A year ago today I was bummed that I wouldn't get to have grill outs with Kevin and Anne.

A year ago today seems so long ago.. and at the same time feels like it was just last month.

So now I have some reflections on what's happened in the the last year...

This year I quit a job and took a new job.

This year I moved across country.

This year I bought a house with my husband.

This year I didn't freeze my ass off.

This year I learned about "allergies"

This year I learned that there is a big difference between working at a design studio and working at an ad agency.

This year I got married to the best guy I could ever hope to be married to.

This year I ended up with a second dog.

This year I didn't have to scrape ice off my car.

This year I didn't have to let my car warm up for 15 minutes before leaving to go anywhere.

(sensing a theme here?)

This year Suki didn't have to wear MuttLuks or a furry jackets. (I'll admit.. I was a little sad. But now she has a sassy rain coat!)

This year I've met some great friends that I hope to have when I'm old. (PruVallens Rock!)

This year I've become really good friends with people I didn't really know that well.

This year I've learned how to "compromise"

This year I have declared war on all "outdoor" cats.

This year I will not let the goldenrod become 9 ft tall.

This year I will spend alot of time in my "pre-owned" hot tub.



So, you see? So far so good. More to come. I'm turning 35 next month so I have lots of deep thoughts on that.

Moving In: 2 rooms down. 4 to go.

So tonight we hauled 5 carloads of stuff over to the new place. The Allens came over and helped us out with some brawny strength and their pickup. We moved the dining room stuff, a bunch of clothes, the office stuff, boxes of stuff that hasn't been open since we left vermont, and the dressers over to the new place. Fairly satisfying to have stuff at the new homestead. Tomorrow night if we get the beds moved we'll be staying at the new place for the first night.

Some pictures to share....

Random Sushi Night

We went to sushi tonight for dinner. I was looking forward to some nice albacore and some spicy tuna. Sushi was good. Fellow dinners were not so good. There was a table next to us- one elderly (but snappy!) elder woman, a young-ish guy with really bad sideburns and his hippy girlfriend, who was knitting throughout the whole meal. The older woman was pretty chatty- I mean REAL chatty. And she had this old smoker's voice- so it was like this low buzz throughout the ENTIRE MEAL. I think she might have been a little hard of hearing because I heard her entire life story. She had a horse growing up named Honeybabe. She was a ballerina when she was little. Her mom liked to play the piano. She had a son with a guy - they were never married- and her son met his dad when he was a grown man. Yes... we heard it all.

Then this weird drunk guy with a mullet came in solo and sat down on the other side of us. He ordered up a big ole plate of sushi and while he was waiting, some of his friends came in. They were quite animated and then they left. Then his phone rang- on like volume level 10. Then he proceeded to talk loud enough that the kitchen dudes came out to see what was going on. Needless to say- we finished up and left our loud co-eaters behind. The old lady was still yapping away when we walked out the door and the Dirtbag was still talking to himself while he ate his maguro.

Weird.

Anyhoo--
we've been real busy trying to get moved into our new house and I've really sucked at calling people and keeping in touch lately. So I'll be steppin' it up soon! In the meantime... some photos.....