June - Month 9

I have had to look back at my calendar to remember what it was exactly we did in the month of June. Unfortunately nothing exciting to post. Once we got back from the honeymoon it was right back into it at work. We did have visitors (Alex and Angie) the second weekend in June, so it was nice to finally share our Home Away From Home with friends from our Real Home. We took them to the Heineken museum (a must) and around downtown Amsterdam (yes, the RLD was on the tour). Other than a quick trip to Brussels to see Hu and Daphne, it was a rather uneventful month....more photos and updates coming.

May - Month 8 - Honeymoon

(So, I will leave this out of order so you can find it.)

After what might have been the best wedding in history (yes, I am biased, but it WAS everything I could have imagined), James and I set off for the best honeymoon in history. We went to Mauritius. Where is Mauritius you ask? It is off the coast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Why Mauritius you ask? When else would we actually make it to that part of the world? We flew back to our home away from home and spent 24 hours unpacking and repacking. The flight from Paris to Mauritius was 13 hours...yes it was a long one. But thanks to Skymiles we were sitting in First Class! (that was nice). We split our 10 day trip into 5 nights at 2 resorts. We stayed at the Oberoi Mauritius (http://www.oberoi-mauritius.com/index.asp?leftinfo=1&leftitem=1). It was fantastic. We were greeted at the welcome center and escorted directly to our room, which was fantastic. We had great dinners and enjoyed the pools and beaches. After the Oberoi, we went to the One and Only Le Toussrok. (in the middle of our stay it changed hands and is now just Le Toussrok - http://www.letouessrokresort.com/) It was absolutely fantastic as well. We enjoyed great food, some snorkeling and time on their private island. The resorts were so different, its hard to say one was better than the other. All in all it was a fantastic trip!! See favorite photos below:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8gkpuuo.3rrn172s&x=1&y=-4ltam5

ONE YEAR

Ok, so I haven't met my goal of being up to date on the updates by the one year anniversary. But, in my defense, work has been absolutely hectic lately. And, James and I did enjoy some of the perks of European living - weekend trips to great European Cities.

As I have been updating this blog and remembering the last year, it is amazing how much we have packed into the year....getting married being the best and most exciting thing that happened!! Its been one heck of a year (read posts below) and actually feels like it has flown by. We have gotten used to Holland life, but still not used to being away from our family and friends. I feel like I am missing out on so much, bridal and baby showers, baby births, and the trials and tribulations of my friends' pregnancies (yes I can count on 2 hands the number of friends pregnant or who just recently had babies). But, we have seen so much and have many memories of our first year in Europe.

I hope you are enjoying my update posts and regular musings on life....stay tuned more to come!

See Posts Below

We're up to May now!!!

Sorry for the delay. Work is crazy and we had cutover weekend this past weekend. Stayed in the hotel close to the office so looking forward to going to our house tonight....am trying my best to get caught up!!

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!!