Fun Times with Sis!!!

Hey girls.

I just had a FAB weekend with my sister. She flew up from Cyprus on Friday and stayed until today (Monday) and left this afternoon. I am SO SAAAADDD! I hated to see her go I had so much fun and felt like bawling seeing her go away. I miss her so much especially since we used to live so close and could hang out and talk whenever we wanted.

The weekend was SO much fun! It started with me taking the whole day off on Friday to clean my apartment which was in scary shape and get some groceries in the house so we had something to eat. The weather was uncharacteristically good for Holland - mid 70s and bright sun all weekend! A welcome change to the usual gloom and doom. She got in on Friday and we rented her a bike so we could ride around town. It was perfect biking weather although I was worried being that it is the height of flower mania AND sunny out that there would be more than the usual number of tourists and pedestrians to navigate in the bike path. But she got the hang of it immediately (much faster than me!). Friday we strolled around a bit - took a much needed nap then rode down to the PC Hoffstraat south of the canals to go to a great Indonesian Rice Table. Super yum. Afterwards we strolled around the streets a bit to walk off the wine and make sure we were biking responsibly. :) We came back up to the Newmarkt (a big square right where I live) and it was bustling so we stopped our bikes and got a table outside, sat and had a great time chatting in the nice weather.

This focus of this weekend was the Flower Show - every year Amsterdam puts on a big show of the tulips and gorgeous flowers out at a place called Keukenhof - www.keukenhof.nl. We headed out there Sunday and although it was a crush of people it was gorgeous! Walking through a huge park surrounded by millions of the most beautiful floral varieties you've ever seen. There were literally dozens of tulip types and other flowers I'd never before seen. So pretty. We walked around for about 2.5 hours then were exhausted from our journey so laid down and dozed on the grass for a while. To the cool stylings of the Oompa band in the background! We topped off the weekend with a very fun BBQ at my friend's Chris and Madelon's house were again we sat outside and soaked in the incredible weather.

Claire will never again believe me when I complain about Amsterdam weather given this weekend! Then she had to leave today - too short as always but oh so fun! I will post photos as soon as I download them!

I miss you girls - AND am counting down to GBW! I cannot wait! Melin - any word on whether we can persuade you? Big hugs.

Kate

Fifth Time's a Charm

After four unsuccessful efforts, I am delighted to report that an offer we put on a house was accepted!!!! We're finally homeowners!! Well, almost - we still have to have the contractor's inspection tomorrow and sign our life away with our mortgage broker, but for the moment, we're just happy we didn't get ANOTHER call from our realtor with that sad tone in his voice.

The house is in the Noe Valley, which is due West of the Mission District, which means those delicious burritos and our favorite bakery are more accessible than ever! And we'll have two bathrooms, which means I can finally choose my clothes when I want! (In our current apt, the bathrom is connected to, without door, my closet, so every morning I have to rush in and choose my outfit before Andy and the sports page take over. Is this too much information? Hm.) Anyway, I can't wait for you guys to see it and be able to stay in a guest room, instead of the fold-out couch!