Our Suburban Traveler

Hi kids – I thought I’d share some pix from my recent travels with you. I went to Amsterdam for work – yes…Amsterdam…as in The Netherlands. I promise you the experience was far less glamorous than it sounds – but I was grateful to be able to go nonetheless.

I was shocked to discover that they force you to wear wooden shoes there,

but I quickly adjusted once I found out there were at least more size appropriate options (I know…I’m hilarious) :).

But seriously, Amsterdam is a seriously gorgeous city. Here are a few pix for your viewing pleasure. Isn’t the architecture amazing?!

I had a free day the last day I was there, and I was able to get out to the countryside where I saw some seriously fantastic windmills. Like…seriously.

Aww, see the ducks?

And I knew only YOU would appreciate the beautiful of this bicycle. The lettering, the basket, it’s state of casual repose….Perfection.

Vaarwel

(that’s goodbye in Dutch – although I’m not saying “goodbye” goodbye…just “until next time”)

One of My Favorite Places on Earth

I'm on vacation this week in one of my favorite places on earth, Park City, Utah. You may have heard me mention (like 5 billion times) that I'm originally from Utah...and really, Dorothy knew what she was talking about when she said "There's no place like home."

So I hope you'll bear with me a little this week while I show you inside some local homes, and maybe throw in a little scenery. Like this from yesterday...

Forget about it....(that's pronounced in a New York accent..like "forgeddaboudit"in case you were wondering)

They had a Sunday street festival going on yesterday, and we know that I'm never one to miss a street festival...

Especially one with live music, good food, and...

Lots of shopping...

And don't adjust your monitors. That's not Enrique Iglesias...that's my son...I like to call him "Coolio" :-).
So, stay tuned for a glimpse inside some great local homes this week.

XO ~ AnNicole

An American Girl in Germany

Hey everyone! I'm happy to say my feet are firmly back on American soil....although I think the coherent part of my brain is still somewhere over the Atlantic. Oh well...

First, I want to give a BIG thank you to Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick for her great guest post last week. Like many of you, I desperately want to start using power tools, but I'm just a little bit skeered. I admire Sarah and her "Just Do It!" attitude.

Okay...so let's talk Germany. I honestly didn't have a lot of time to get out and explore, and I would have looooved to have taken more pictures, but I did grab a few I thought you'd be interested in. If the picture quality isn't top notch it's probably because I took it in the span of 5 seconds...better than nothing, right?

I basically had one day when I wasn't in a conference center, and on this day we traveled to a charming little town called Aachen. It's about an hour outside of Cologne (where I was staying).

Isn't it cute?! It was hot that day so we decided to stop into this little pub for a cold beverage. I think it's one of the few old buldings that's left in the town (since most towns and cities were flattened during WWII).

I loved this old blue and white tile.

And (being the decorating geek that I am) I was transfixed by this old painted lettering.

We then wandered down the street, and this little row of homes stopped me in my tracks. I love the blue next to the yellow, etc. So charming.

Care for a Lilien?

Or a Hortensien?

And I lagged behind my group just so I could discretely snap a photo of this menu board. If I'd had the chance I would have eaten there just so I could have stared at the menu board and flowers.
We then crossed over into Belgium so we could visit a U.S. WWII War Cemetery. It happened to be Memorial Day in the U.S. so this was especially fitting.

Isn't Belgium beautiful?! I could easily imagine myself living in a little farm house in the Belgian Countryside....where we'd eat Belgian Waffles and Belgian Chocolate...oh yes, I could just picture it :-).

It's hard to capture the vastness of the headstones in the cemetery. There were thousands. Apparently most of the soldiers laid to rest in the cemetery perished in the Battle of the Bulge.

It was truly awe inspiring.

Finally, I snapped a few photos of my hotel for you. I've noticed that in European hotels (even in nice ones) the public spaces are usually pretty grand and the guest rooms are fairly humble.

Here are a few photos of public spaces in my hotel (I really should have taken more).

Doesn't this drape look like a ballgown?

And look at its graceful little puddle! It's almost like a train on a wedding gown.

I actually ghasped when I caught a glimpse this fabulous courtyard.

Notice all of the window boxes in the photo below? They were everywhere in Germany.

And here's my little room.

Surprised at how plain it is? I was too...especially since this was a very nice hotel. It was perfectly comfortable though, and the down comforter and duvet cover were to.die.for. I wanted to sneak it out of there it was so light and cloudlike and the cover was so incredibly soft and smooth. Ahhh...

Oh, and here's a gratuitous shot of the bidet...which I was never adventurous enough to use.


And I loved this little "Do Not Disturb" sign...it could have just been the jetlag though.

It's good to be back! Thanks for your patience last week.

XO~AnNicole