Champaign trip

My mom and I visited my sister and nephew up in Illinois last week. After a rocky start (thanks, American Airlines), we had a great time. We spent one rainy day in Chicago so I could try on wedding dresses at J. Crew(!) and then stayed at Amy's house in Champaign. 

So you know what that means: Jonas pictures! Dude's huge!

Cuddling!

Mom and Amy making me dinner. Meijer's grocery store has some awesome produce (and Halloween costumes!)

Jonas hugged his new Halloween costume all the way home, even after falling asleep.

Looks like his dad here.

Amy (in the striped socks on the left) had roller derby practice while we were there. It looks hard! We had to leave early to put Jonas to bed, but I doubt she even fell unless it was on purpose!

Tiger!

Now taking trip tips

We're going to San Francisco next month! What should we do? We've already got our hotel near Union Square, but otherwise, we are open to suggestions. Restaurants, activities, scenic walks, whatever. Let me know!

A little bit of Vail

Do I really need to post captions for these photos? I took them in Vail, Colorado a couple weeks ago. You guys are smart enough to figure the rest of it out, right? 

A year ago...

I was flying off to the Netherlands for three months! It's hard to believe it's been so long and how much my life has changed since then. A year ago today (and tomorrow and the next day) were the hardest/loneliest few days of my life and I survived. I can conquer anything! Right? There can't be that many hard things left in my life (except maybe childbirth...and marriage...and root canals... and death....).

Vail, here we come!

Headed to Vail, CO for some skiing (and falling) this weekend. Wish me luck!

image source: flowersplane

Austin weekend

Will and I went to Austin over the weekend to celebrate the end of his finals and use some hotel vouchers he had. We stayed on South Congress, an area with lots of vintage/antique shops, food trucks, outdoor markets, and dog lovers. I bought this little print, probably for my bedroom, at some used bookstore.

We stayed at Hotel San Jose, which was really hip, with a nice outdoor lounge area that made it feel like we were far from the middle of the city.

Room service, NYT included.

We went bowling (I wasn't nearly as good as I imagined I'd be after my office party Thursday at the bowling lanes downtown), ate at Trudy's (famous for Mexican martinis and amazing fried avocados), and saw a holiday-themed Master Pancake Theater at Alamo Drafthouse.

It was a perfect little break after a long semester for Will and the realization that I don't get a long Christmas vacation anymore now that I'm an adult.

Wanderlust

I did an article yesterday on the best parks for outdoor lovers. It made sitting in an office all day unbearable. These are the places I've now added to my must-go list.

Denali National Park, Alaska

Did you know flights to Alaska are only $300ish?

Banff National Park, Canada

Iguazu National Park, Brazil/Argentina

Eleanor Roosevelt said "Poor Niagara!" when she saw the enormous falls here.

Yosemite National Park, California

Netherlands nostalgia

Today I'm wearing my boots for the first time since getting back from the Netherlands and it's making me miss that place, even with the cold and all the rain and the annoying roommate. It's nuts to think it's been more than six months since I got back! I cannot believe it's been that long and at the same time, it feels like a lifetime ago.

Some of the things I loved:
-Going down the street with my coworkers to Blooming Cafe for coffee/cake instead of working.
-My mom laughing at a joke during the all-Dutch tour because she knew it was a joke even though she didn't know what the joke was.
-Watching Will eat a nieuwe (raw) herring (and hearing him speak Dutch).
-Never having to get gas.
-Comparing sayings in different languages.
-Albert Heijn.
-Train rides to other countries.
-Fries and mayonnaise.
-The Hague.

Kansas City

This past weekend, I made a trip to Kansas City to visit Naomi and her fiance, Bruce. And while we did some other fun things (wedding dress shopping, regular shopping, dog snuggling), the food was my favorite part. Probably not surprising.

One night, Bruce grilled up some pork chops, peppers with cheese and one very special pepper with an egg inside. It looked really awesome and I kind of want to try to make something similar, even though it probably won't be as good. This is as close as I can find in recipe form and it's making my mouth water. Must have it.

We also had seriously delicious barbecue (though officially as a Texan, I can't say it was better than ours) at this restaurant in a gas station. Yes, in a gas station. Only part of its appeal. It's called Oklahoma Joe's and I would highly recommend it if you're ever in the area.

I should've taken some pictures of all the delicious food I ate but my hands (not to mention my mouth) were full. Sorry!

International feast

I've been putting this post off because it's really the last one I have from The Netherlands. I've been back 3 weeks now but it feels like 2 months. So here's my last goodbye to European life, with a post about our goodbye party/international feast. 

All the interns met at Emanuele's place in Delft and we each brought something from our home country.

I ended up making 7-layer dip (with weird taco seasoning in the beans and jong kaas because I couldn't find cheddar or any Mexican cheese blend, unsurprisingly) and my addictive corn salsa. Here's Sarah and Øystein gobbling it up.

And we barely saved room for the tons of other food. Seriously, there was sooo much food.

JJ, who's from Chicago but has some Filipino blood, made Adobo chicken and eggs.

Adista made Indonesian peanut sauce that I could eat all day on top of anything. I don't know if that linked recipe will come even close, but it's worth a try for the most delicious sauce imaginable.

 Øystein said Norway has a lot of salted meats and fish, so he made us a great salad instead. I've actually made it a couple times since I've been home. It's got spinach, avocado, sunflower seeds, cherry tomatoes, roasted red bell peppers, feta cheese and olive oil/balsamic vinegar.

Nuno's Spanish omelette.

Emanuele made some gnocchi and Giuliana made sangria (which isn't really Italian, but she's spent some time in Spain), but I didn't get any photos of those because I was too busy eating. But here's them arguing in Italian because Emanuele let us drink the vino Giuliana was going to use for the sangria. And I understood the whole conversation. Proud?

And to top it all off, JJ and I introduced them all to S'mores! I hadn't thought about it before, but that's very American, one of those things they'd only seen in movies. This might be because they don't have Graham crackers in Europe. I had to buy them at an ex-pat shop for something like $10 a box.

 JJ was an excellent (and graceful) marshmallow roaster.

Here's everyone stuffed (we also had some desserts made by Nancy and Sarah) after all the food, yet still not quite as stuffed as we were in that office. Is it strange that I kind of miss that place?

Holland's tulips (and other flowers)

I know I'm back in the States now, but I can't not post photos of the huge garden in The Netherlands: Keukenhof. It's only open from the end of March to the end of May, so I was just barely there long enough to see it.

Pretty, right?

Flower fields.

JJ and the giant tulips.

Don't you just love springtime?