Perks

Ok, so I guess I do enjoy the perks of living in Europe....James and I are leaving today for a weekend in Milan. Yep, that's right, just 2 days in and around Milan. We have been very fortunate to be able to take several of these types of trips....Paris, Ireland, Prague and now Milan. (Those trips took place in the months I have yet to post, so pictures and details coming soon.) Looking forward to speaking and hearing Italian all around...and the temp. should be warmer than here...the high is 80 on Sunday! Will definitely post a trip report!

Enjoy your weekend!

(photo from Yahoo Travel - Milan - Pictures)

FALL

So, the weather outside is turning to fall. And for some reason we are getting homesick. Saturday morning was slightly crisp with a bit of sun - perfect for tailgating. We were longing for a UK tailgate, drinking beers and bringing Barley along (our dog currently in foster care while we are in Europe). We haven't been watching much football using the Location Free Player because the games we have wanted to watch are evening games in the US, meaning middle of the night for us. And to top off our longing of all things tailgating....UK BEAT UL....man, what a thing to miss!!

In the spirit of the weather changing, we switched our wardrobes. I am not sure how much use our summer wardrobes got this year as we probably had only a hand full of days that were actually above 80 degrees. No need for cute sundresses this year! (just for the honeymoon of course)

And in the spirit of changing wardrobes.....am I so ready to shop for fall clothes. I did my best to create a good will pile (we'll be bringing it back whenever that is), but I think I could clean out some more if I knew I could do some shopping....hmm, I do have a birthday coming up (hint, hint) and the wares at Banana Republic and JCrew are looking pretty good!

Miss you all and hope you are enjoying your September....tailgates and such (even if the weather isn't changing yet)

apologies

Sorry for the delay in posting the rest of my catch up blogs. I have been under the weather. As it is already fall here (wait, I don't think we really had a summer), colds are everywhere. James caught it first and passed it on to me. Still with a runny nose, but going to try to add some blogs today. I realize I only have 2 weeks left on my goal to be up to date by the 1 year anniversary......

Miss you all!

October - Month 1

So, I arrived in Amsterdam on Saturday morning. We left for the UK on Sunday for Lubrizol training...chemical training on lubricants, yes it was loads of fun! We came back from training and moved into our extended stay hotel. I have no pictures and no good memories from that place. Let's just say, we didn't stay there long!

The weekend we got back from training, we had dinner at the Jack and Kathy's. A bunch of the US Valvoline Expats got together....it was a fun evening. We owe a lot of our adjustment to Jack and Kathy - thanks to them we had a place to store things and use internet so James could attend class.

In our second and third weeks here we went house hunting with our expat integration consultant. Some of the photos are below ....

Notice the purple carpet and paint....definitely not a taker......

This one was in Rotterdam...floors were not finished.... This one was in an area of Rotterdam, notice the shower is in the middle of the bathroom and did not have an enclosure...needless to say we didn't choose that one.

We liked this one. It is also located in Wassenaar, had a nice backyard area and several bathrooms. We didn't get it because the landlord had promised it to his friends in Belgium earlier that morning. It's actually a good thing because the biggest bedroom would have held our bed, and THATS IT. The dining,living and kitchen area were all open. The ground floor and backyard are what made us like it.
And after viewing about 18 different places, we came back to the first place we saw.......(see next post)

In October I met my new friend Courtney. James was travelling the day before my birthday, so Courtney and her mom (who was in town visiting and helping Courtney get organized, she moved here in August) took me to dinner for my birthday. It was a comforting momemt at the beginning of this crazy adventure. THANK YOU Courtney!!

Our Home Away From Home

So this is our Home Away From Home (well not really a home yet as it doesn't have any of our things...look for postings for January)

This is the outside view....our landlords have an office for the business on the ground floor (US first floor, though here its ground, first, second)

This is the kitchen area. Pretty small, but we are lucky with the cabinet space

The living/dining room area. This is the living room side.....
And this is the dining room side.....
This is the master bedroom area

November - Month 2

We spent the first week of November back in Lexington packing with the movers. It took 2 days to pack and I think the rest of the week for us to organize what we left behind in the house.

Back in Holland, we got the keys to our apartment on November 15...I was away for a training so James spent the first night there alone....and from what I hear it was a little cold! We brought our blow up mattress and a set of sheets and towels from the US in our luggage. That first weekend we got as organized as we could without our shipment....we borrowed a card table and chairs, tailgate chairs and dishes from Jack and Kathy. We went to the Media Mart (like a Best Buy) and bought a TV, DVD player (enabled for region free as different DVDs are not universal....and to watch DVDs from different areas of the world, you need your player to be region free), and microwave. I bought us a skillet and spatula. At least we could cook in one skillet and eat on borrowed plates!! We called it camping....but it got a little old.

Thanksgiving was our first real holiday away from home. Our friends hosted Thanksgiving dinner and each family brought a dish. It was as close to a family gathering as you can get when you are 6000 miles from home. I went to a church service in the morning in Leiden (there were pilgrims in Leiden, too) and then we had dinner. James was still in school so he did school work while I went to the service. Friday, it was back to work for us as it is not a National Shopping Day like in the US.

Those are the highlights for November.....

December - Month 3

December....the days are getting shorter and shorter....its dark when I get to work and dark by the time I leave...and by the way, it rains a lot in Holland!! More on this later...

I did get to take a trip to Germany this month. James is the German sales manager and had a Christmas dinner for his team in Hamburg. Really nice city. We did a dinner cruise with a folk theme on Friday night and went to the Christmas market and toured the city on Saturday with James' boss George and his wife, Jill. Some pictures are posted below.......

Us in Folk Costumes...given to everyone before dinner

And in our normal clothes....
A view of the Christmas Market

We also went to St Truiden to visit Lieven and Inga for a Champagne party. They served Champagne and foie gras ....needless to say too much Champagne without food (no foie gras for me) gets Jessi drunk quickly....we ended up having dinner a bit later at a local restuarant that James loves....we go there everytime we are in St Truiden....the food is really pretty good.

And then we flew home to share the holidays with friends and family, see coming posts.

December - USA

So, back in the good ole US of A for the holidays.

My wonderful fiance (at the time) was about to celebrate his 30th birthday and I couldn't let that pass without some fune including friends and family. So I organized, with the help of Bobbi and Leigh, a surprise party. Thanks to Adam dragging James to the movies we were able to pull it off without a hitch! Thank you to everyone who helped organize and pull it off (Mom, Dad and Emily even came to Lex for the party). Pictures below.

I think he was surprised.......

Christmas was fun this year. We had dinner with Jim, Ali, Adam, Brooke and Jon at Guiseppe's. It was very good. For Christmas Eve, we spent the day in Lawrenceburg and Harrodsburg visiting James' dad's side of the family and then the evening at Anne's house. Waking early on Christmas morning, James and I exchanged our gifts and headed to Xenia (not without a stop at Starbuck's first. This is a great tradition...starbucks christmas morning!!) We hung out in Ohio for several days and then headed back to Lex for New Years!

Adam, Brooke, Jim and James

Emily, James and I

New Year's Eve was a great time. We went to IHCC with Leigh, Bob, Anne and Warren. I think we all had fun, I might have had too much fun. The picture tells a great story!! Thanks everyone for a great night.

James and I flew back to Amsterdam on the 2nd...

January - Month 4

What an exciting month! We returned from the US on the third and received our shipment - yes our furniture finally - on the 4th, which also happened to be James' 30th birthday. After a day of unpacking (and not getting done), I took James to dinner in Amsterdam. We went to Jamie Oliver's Fifteen...Jamie brings underpriveledged teenagers to work at the restaurant to learn the trade. For more information...
http://www.fifteen.net/Pages/default.aspx
Anyway, James and I enjoyed a wonderful birthday dinner. That weekend our friends Hugo and Daphne came to visit, well, actually they came to work. They helped us get organized....shew it was a lot of work for the weekend and I know we didn't get it all done. To celebrate James' birthday yet again (yes, 3 celebrations for the big 3-0) we went to an Italian restaurant - Impera Romano - in The Hague. It was a fantastic dinner (best steaks we've had) shared with great friends.
We made several trips to IKEA....let me tell you that is an experience. The place is always crawling with people and its pretty much help yourself...as is assembly. Picture instructions.
I can't remember what else we did in January other than to get our house set up properly. Photos to come as I have yet to take them (sorry).

February - Month 5

So, there are no pictures to remind me of what we did in February. So I guess I will talk about SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder
I am not sure I ever believed that such a thing exists. Well, let me tell you I am a true believer now. The winter months in Holland are not fun. Sun is up from about 8:30 to 4:30 and as a working woman, that means I didn't get to see much of it. In addition to the dark, it was rainy and windy most days. With James travelling most days, I would come home from work (usually after a drive of about 1-1.5 hours because of traffic), maybe run 30-40 depending on weather, eat dinner and be in bed by 8. That was my first symptom........

Speaking of traffic, let me just tell you I will never complain about drivers/traffic in Lexington again. This place is crazy. First, Holland is densely populated in certain areas. Second, there are 4 cities where work is concentrated. Third, these cities are all within about 60 miles of each other....Let's just say the roads are busy. In order to beat traffic, we would have to leave home by 7. To beat traffic in the evening, you either left right at 5 or wait until after 6 to head home. For some reason, the time in the car doesn't bother me as much as I thought. It's annoying, but I use it as wake up time or decompression time.....

Sorry for no pictures this month...

March - Month 6

So the highlights of March....

James and I headed to the US for 10 days to celebrate our upcoming marriage by having our bachelor and bachelorette parties. Mine was in Cincinnati on St Patrick's Day. It was a great night. We started with dinner at Palomino's (yum). Then went on to an Irish bar, of course! Nothing too wild (except the guy dancing for us....I think those around us were WAY more drunk than we were). I don't have any pictures to post, I was having too much fun to take pictures and I haven't gotten any from anyone else. I spent the rest of the week working....I had just been assigned to my new role as Data Coordinator for our SAP implementation (Oct 1).

James had his party in Las Vegas. From what I hear they had a great time. Not sure how we swung a 4 day trip out of it, but don't worry girls...I'll get a girl trip sometime soon!

I also had a shower while I was home....it was hosted by Cher, Tara and Jayme and it was perfect. Thank you all so much!!! Mom and Emily came down for the shower. We also had my dress fitted and went shopping. It was a nice girls weekend while James was away.

Sorry for no pictures this month!! Stay posted the fun is coming!

April - Month 7 (post 1)

SORRY - FIRST POST BUSY MONTH Happy Easter....to celebrate Easter (and enjoy our 4 day weekend) James and I headed to the south of France. We drove to Provence for 5 days. It was a wonderfully relaxing trip! We stayed at Caroline's place, which is a bed and breakfast type place in a perfect location. Very centralized for all the wineries and sightseeing opportunities. We went to wineries, cellars, local markets, great landmarks, it was wonderful.
The drive home was quite fun and interesting....It was an 11 hour drive and i agreed to drive for part of the time....well, James pulled over to a typical French reststop for us to switch drivers. Well let me just tell you about the toilets....its a porcelain hole in the ground with two foot rests and no rubber to keep from slipping...that's right, its glorified squatting....NEVER AGAIN FOR ME!!

View from Caroline's to Venasque

Avignon
Fontaine de Vaucluse (The fountain, or spring, of Vaucluse, situated at the feet of a steep cliff 230 metres high, is the biggest spring in France. It is also the fifth largest in the world with an annual flow of 630 million cubic metres.)
Yes, we pulled over on the side of the road and took these pictures. All the cherry blossoms were in bloom. It was absolutely beautiful!
Wine tasting room (yes, we came home with a few bottles, I mean cases)

April - Month 7 (post 2)

April - Part 2

In mid April, we went to Keukenhof in Holland. It might be the most flowers I have seen in one place (well, this is Holland after all). So many varieties of tulips, I was amazed! We have plenty of pictures to show from our visit (in below link), but really you cannot capture the beauty on film. You will Jack, Kathy and Courtney in the pictures, as well as Kim. Kim was here visiting for work......MOM - notice the Lady Jane's
Keukenhof Gallery
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8gkpuuo.2bomguwg&x=1&y=5pzb18

Queen's Day - April 30

Queen's Day is a national holiday here in Holland, so we all had Monday off work. It had been a busy month already, so I wasn't convinced we had time, but James really wanted to go to Paris...so we decided late Saturday that we would go to Paris. James found a room at the Hilton near the Eiffel Tower and used points and we got up early Sunday and drove to Paris. We arrived around 11 on Sunday morning and immediately set off for lunch and exploring Paris. I think we walked all over that town!! We spent several hours in the Musee D'Orsay. There are some beautiful impressionist prints there, as well as some sculptures. The museum was once a station. (See pictures below) After that we visited the Notre Dame, walked by the Louvre, and down the Champs Elysee....LONG DAY....so to unwind we headed to a Cuban bar. The mojitos were so fantastic, I even tried a cigar. On Monday, we got up and explored some more. Starting at the Eiffel Tower (taking the STEPS up to the second observation deck) and walking along the river. We ended at the Sacre Coeur. Yes, its at the top of a hill and yes we walked up it!! We had a late lunch and bought a beautiful painting before heading back to our car at the Hilton and back to Holland.
Paris Gallery
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8gkpuuo.bi9cdc1c&x=1&y=-z2mtwd

(You will have to log in to Kodak Gallery to see the pics.....ENJOY!!)

May - Month 8

WHAT A MONTH.....I became a MRS....

James and I headed back to the US on May 11 and were off to a busy start. I left Saturday morning to head to Ohio where I had to pick up my wedding band and find jewelry for the bridesmaids. I got to spend most of Mother's Day with Mom, Grandma M and Grandma F before heading back to Lexington. My wonderful friends from Lexington had organized a dinner celebrating my last weekend as a single woman (as if I was really single, I guess unmarried is the right term). Dudley's was fantastic and the juicer will be put to great use when we're finally back in the US (too risky with wattage differences!). I worked Mon - Weds mornings. In the afternoons, we ran errands, marriage license, dress fittings, final payments, meetings with the wedding coordinator to lay everything out, etc. Mom and Dad arrived Thursday morning. Mom and I headed to our little treat...a massage with Flo! Shew that woman has powerful hands! It was great. Thursday evening we had a cookout at our house....didn't know it would go that late, but boy was it fun! Friday was a whirlwind...James and Brice had their massages and the girls headed to get nails done. One final trip to the mall and back home to get ready for the rehearsal. The rehearsal went well (we were the last to arrive) and dinner was magnificent. Thanks to Jim, Ali and Leigh...it was one of the best meals I have ever had in Lexington. The Saturday - THE BIG DAY....I tried to go for a morning run for stress relief (worst run ever, not sure why) and after a little traffic panic, got everyone organized at the house for hair and makeup. Lisa did a fantastic job making the ladies look their best!! Then off to IHCC for the wedding....the ceremony was perfect (I was a crying fool, so much emotion) and the reception....wow, I can't put it into words. Other than, Chef did a fantastic job with our dinner, the cake tasted wonderful, the band was so much fun, and the drink, well much was consumed. James and I retired to the Gratz Park Inn (sorry we didn't make it to the bars, I had had enough). Sunday morning was quite hectic. But the brunch at Anne's was fantastic. The food was perfect for the day after and it was nice to say goodbye to everyone.

After frantically opening all gifts, packing and saying goodbye to family, we boarded a plane back to the Netherlands.....(honeymoon posting coming next)

Living Abroad

So, I have been here almost a year (the anniversary will be in a little over 3 weeks) and finally decided I needed an outlet to share our experience with friends and family. I know its a little late in the game, but better late than never, right? To get us caught up, I think I will do a post for each month we have been here. I'll highlight whatever was going on that month - trips, work, nonsense, whatever. Once we are caught up, I will use the blog to post random thoughts and events, trip journals, and other updates for everyone.

Hopefully this will be a way to share with you all....I know we don't get to talk as much as I would like.

Miss you!

J