aer lingus sounds dirty.

back again from another wonderful weekend in amsterdam. it was james' birthday on thursday, so on friday lauren and i headed there for some celebratin'. best of all- his dad was there! and we have heard so many stories about this man, so it was an epic visit, really. we got to see a video of highlights of hilarious and adorable james as a kid, had some awesome conversation, and of course, lived the high life.

on friday, we went out to a bar for a drink with some of his friends, who were super easy to talk to and it was just lovely. then we went home, made some guacamole, uncorked some wine, and had an easy night. on saturday, we went out to lunch (at the 404, of course, where else for the best lunch in a'dam?), and ended up home for more cooking. we made a caprese salad, pesto pasta, elephant beans in some delicious herbs and spices, and then BAKLAVA. see the pic. oh man. delicious.

and after that fantastic weekend of conversation, walking around amsterdam, and cooking up feasts that don't end until the sun is almost rising... i'm back to week 2 of being a kept woman. i just went to the store and made some raw vegan tabouleh for dinner tonight- i hope it goes over well. it's something my mom has made before and i love it! it's basically cauliflower, parsley, cucumber, tomato, garlic, green onion, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. i think i changed it up a bit but i think it's really, really good!

we're doing a light dinner tonight because i think we're going over for a bikram yoga class... the really, really, hot/awesome classes. it should be really great, as long as i don't pass out! i haven't done a hot yoga class since high school, so i'm going to be pretty rusty. on the up side, i ran six miles yesterday (or so we estimate with our park-laps), and i'm feelin' pretty great.


also... my flight home hath been booked. this wonderful adventure is indeed coming to an end on july 21st... but really, it's just the start of another one, i'm sure. i'm feeling so good about my life choices, which i literally never thought i'd say! but i am. not that it won't be terribly, terribly awful to leave holland, and lauren, and james, and our love nest, and the stroopwafels and the bikes and the tulips and... yeah. but it's going to be great.

so, if you're home when i'm home, we're hanging out. f'sho.