Autumn's Here

I was running this morning when this song by Hawksley Workman came on.

And then there was a blog post about autumn.

I love, love, love the vivid colours around here.  

This river was so calm this morning.  It's not normally this glassy.  It made for a perfect morning of picture adventuring!

(click on the photos to enlarge them.  they look so much nicer that way)

<3 reflections!

For those of you not on facebook, I'm sorry for the lack of Madrid photos.  I'll get around sooner or later.  I'll sum the trip up for you though: it was freakin' awesome.  

The End.

Run Forrest, Run!

Last weekend, I willingly subjected myself to physical torture-- running for two hours non-stop, as I participated in the 36th Annual Amsterdam Marathon.

Okay fine, I trained for almost two months, so it wasn't that bad (in fact, I was actually under my goal time) until the next day when I couldn't sit down without bracing myself because my quads decided they didn't want to function anymore.  It was only around kilometer 14-17 that I truly wanted to fall over and die.  The only thing that got me through was knowing that I had a team of people spread throughout the route cheering me on....and singing "O Canada". 

Attaching The Official time tracking chip to my shoe.  Telltale sign that this race is for realsies.

Finally found my starting chute and am ready to run!

I believe this was around the 5km mark, still feeling great at this point. Seeing Sander's parents gave my energy levels a good boost too.

Finish line! I'm somewhere in that crowd...

The amazing banner that Sander made.  Funny story though, I was so focused on spotting familiar faces that I missed the banner, not once, but twice as they cheered me on throughout the race.

My support team cheering me on.  At this point, I was so happy to be going downhill...that is until I realized that I had to run up the hill I just went down. 



When I arrived in Holland, I said "by the end of the year I want to be able to run half a marathon".  Little did I know I'd reach this goal just two months after arriving.  I am so proud to have reached my goal, and so thankful that I had a wonderful group of people there to support me.  I couldn't have done it without them!

You're the one that I want

I went on a date with John Travolta this weekend.  My attire was suspiciously similar to Olivia Newton John in the movie Grease.  It may or may not have been planned that way.

A pre-party shot of most of the house gang.  The short one on the left (sorry Mia! That's the best way to describe you, you're teeny) is Mia.  We're going to Spain together next week.  

Side note: I have a funny story about Mia being short.  I rode her bike to the pool over the weekend.  I felt something along the lines of this, minus all the American attire obviously

It was hilarious.  I wish someone was around to snap a pic for me.

We are sitting on 25 crates of beer.  That's 600 beers for those of you whose math sucks as much as mine.  

Pre-party dinner (thanks Nicole!).  These are all Sander's housemates (minus Mia who is taking the picture).

It was a fabulous party.   The next day was a little rough for some, but rocking out to Disney tunes while cleaning helped a lot (Jamie you would have loved it!  We started off with Bear Necessities).  Sunday evening, the whole house got together and we watched Lion King as we nursed ourselves back to health. 

Releasing my inner child

Apparently I've gotten lazy with the blogging.  I'm sorry!

Over the weekend, I went to Efteling which is a Dutch theme park.  There were so many wicked rollercoasters! My favorite was this one: Joris en de Draak.  It was a very magical and truly Dutch experience complete with a fairly tale forest and nice long lines.  Oh, and the garbage bins look like giant faces and when you put garbage in, they say thank you!  

That's all I have for now.  I haven't been up to much these days, so I think it's safe to say I've settled into my Dutch life.  My weeks have been much busier now that I have started my Dutch class.  I've also been running more (1/2 marathon is in 9 days!!) and spending more time with the kids.  

I have a few things to look forward to in the next couple weeks (ie: costume party, marathon, trip to Spain) so stay tuned for some exciting updates!

Love to you all!