Category: life
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Celebrating King’s Day in Amsterdam
When we began researching a trip to Amsterdam, we came across several articles claiming that the best time to visit the city is April 27th–when The Netherlands celebrates their national holiday Konigsdag or King’s Day. Celebrated since 1890, the holiday is in honor of current King Willem-Alexander, who took the throne in 2013. Before that, the…
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48 hours in Amsterdam
Many “cutesy” stereotypes came to mind whenever I pictured Amsterdam…and after visiting this week, I found most of them were actually true. Tulips are everywhere. Gouda is in abundance. Bicycles are more common than cars. Minus residents wearing clogs, Amsterdam was in many ways what I had dreamt about. But before being written off as a complete fairytale land, Amsterdam…
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Freckle face
The other day I came across the funniest beauty how to: an article detailing how to draw on fake freckles! I must be way out of the loop because the more I researched, the more I found that this has been a major trend over the past year. Some evidence: Fake freckles are officially trending (Refinery29)…
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This week I am…
…in Amsterdam! I’m celebrating their national holiday today and wearing orange. …toasting my grandfather’s 91st birthday. More on what makes his generation the greatest. …reading about the White House correspondents’ dinner. I met this funny guy when I attended. …still dreaming of tacos. Apparently it is the official state food of California? …hanging onto my beloved watch, especially after…
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Rainy day French onion soup
What are you up to this weekend? We’re headed to Amsterdam on Sunday and I’m so excited to see the land of tulips! When I looked up the weekend weather here in Geneva and then in Amsterdam, there were little rain clouds over both cities. But what can you do? April showers, indeed. Considering I…
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Wine tasting 101
Written while drinking a glass of 2012 Les Perrierés Chardonnay de Peissy. Having grown up in California, I considered myself pretty well-versed in wine…that is, until I moved to Europe. Walking around the wine section of my local grocery store there were a few names I recognized: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot. Everything else–I didn’t have a clue.…
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Why you should stop washing your jeans
I’m not going to ask you to hug a tree in honor of Earth Day (today!), but I hope you’ll read this story I wrote for Thrive Wire which brings together issues close to my heart: water conservation, climate change and a good pair of jeans. When Levi’s CEO Chip Bergh last year announced he…
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My ‘California cool’ salad
My first week as a freshman at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill I stopped by a local sandwich spot and ordered a turkey on wheat. Add avocado. “That’ll cost you extra,” the server said. “That’s ok, it’s worth it,” I said. “Let me guess, you’re from California,” he responded. I was taken aback.…
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This week I am…
…learning about the new generation of deliberate “spinsters” via this author interview. …watching this video of the best supermarket movie scenes (and dreaming of Trader Joe’s!) …adding garlic to everything after reading this article, not that I needed much convincing. …following these “cool moms” on Instagram (remember this?!) …disagreeing with my 1982-born husband on who is…
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I want to go to there…
…Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Called the “Venice of the North” this canal-built city has always seemed utterly idyllic to me… …maybe it’s all the windmills? …or that tulips is one of their main industries? Doesn’t it seem like a fairy land? But after reading a bit on The Netherlands, I’ve come to realize that this city’s…