Good afternoon and Happy Sunday! I’m curious…are you having a productive get all the things done Sunday or a laid back/full of adventure Sunday Fun day? I am currently writing this post on a Wednesday (no shame in my prep game) as we are out of town…or rather driving back from out of town on this Sunday. BUT, I balance back and forth between the two. I definitely appreciate a really productive, prep for the week Sunday, but there is also something to be said about spending it outside, with family, doing something absolutely crazy or fun.
Tell me below which camp you fall into, Productive Sunday or Funday Sunday…
For us, we’ve spent this past weekend exploring somewhere new, somewhere exciting, and just getting away for a little while. We will be doing the same next weekend, going somewhere new and exploring. We’ve done a lot of traveling just in the few months that we’ve been here, but things are going to start settling down a little bit more as we head into Autumn. My husbands schedule will once again start to pick up, we will be in our home/be a little more settled, and the long weekends away will go down to probably just once a month, which honestly is more than we could have even asked for!
So, the second half of May is going to be an exciting travel filled one, so to balance that out we are going to be spending June with a couple of day trips (maybe an overnight one, not sure), but mostly close to home as we will be getting our home towards the end of the month! You read that right, we are going to FINALLY be moving out of the hotel and into a house the end of June. We’ve been jumping for joy as we are beyond ready to have our own home and all of our household goods. It’s been an experience living in a one bedroom hotel room and has given me a whole new respect for families that have to live in cramped quarters on a regular basis (it’s also reminded me just how blessed we are).
I want to share one more little tidbit, food for thought type of deal, within this Round the Kettle post. This past week I worked with a photographer to get some new professional photos done for the blog/social media/etc. and we had quite the conversations while we were shooting. First off, such a fun fun session (I can’t wait to see the final photo’s – keep an eye out as they start to hit Social Media)! We just clicked on so many levels and it was nice to chat with someone that just…”got me”. If that makes sense? She was super cool and laidback and we definitely plan on getting together another time. Friends are everywhere, just waiting to be met. BUT all that aside (I’m getting off topic over here), we talked about a couple things that I want to mention, but will probably do full blog posts on another day for.
The first being the topic of being introverted vs. extroverted and how that comes across. A lot of times people are quite surprised to hear that I am very introverted because I will socialize, I will talk with others, I enjoy hanging out with friends, etc. What you don’t typically see from me is that after that, after I’ve hung out with friends or anything social/noisy/talking/etc. I have to come back home and have some quiet time to myself. I have to be able to recharge myself in my own home on my own terms. THAT is what introversion is. It is all about how you get drained and how you recharge.
This is also something that I was briefly speaking about with another mom at our little playgroup at it really applies in parenting and intimate relationships. It actually leads to quite an interesting conversation with others as well, so…
Tell me, are you introverted or extroverted?
And finally, the last thing was the idea of Self Confidence. We were talking about how we became much more confident in who we were and what the catalysts were for that. I definitely have a blog post on this coming (way beyond the little tidbit that I am going to leave here), but in the moment I just simply said, “I’ve got two kids, I don’t really have time to sit and worry about what others think of me”. While that is VERY TRUE, it is not the only reason I’ve become so much more confident over the past few years. I’ve kind of hit a point in my life where I recognize who I was, who I am, and who I want to be. I’ve realized that I’m not everyone’s “cup of tea” and I’m not going to make everyone happy. I’ve realized that that is OK. It doesn’t reflect poorly on me and you know what? Not everyone has to like me. Life isn’t a popularity contest. I’d much rather spend my time happy, in the moment with my husband and children, than worrying about what this person thinks or what that person said. Like I said, I’ll talk more on this on another post…
So, now that I’ve rambled on for approximately 874 words, I’d love to know what you’re up to on this Sunday afternoon! Leave me a comment down below 🙂
Upon exiting the cave, you come out to this beautiful rock formation and a lite gorge hike to reach the exit of the park. When we walked into the cave we had some light cloud cover, but when we stepped out it was full sunshine and a blue sky. What a wonderful way to come back to ground!
Outfit 1: Right back to what my standard winter outfit is haha. I will say, I’ve been loving the skinny jeans this past week…which is odd for me.
Dam Square is their central town square and it was packed full of people. There was some sort of a party/music/event going on and we only got to slightly see the full square before having to hurry along.
We decided to go to the Keukenhof gardens in Lisse. This is one of the more popular and well known spots (aside from Amsterdam) in The Netherlands. Let me tell you, if you can make it here, do it. It will not be a disappointment and is well worth the time and price. This year was it’s 70thyear of exhibitions and this year boasted 7 million flower bulbs. There is something to be said for the sheer beauty of the garden as you walk through not only a variety of colors, but a variety of tulips. There were tulips I didn’t even know existed on display! Have no fear, it is not only Tulips (although that is the main flower), they also have hyacinth and other flowers on display. We spent a few hours just walking through the center stopping to see different flowers and to walk across the water as well.
The second travel trip that we took was to The Netherlands for, basically, the Tulip Blooms. This was an absolutely incredible trip and one that I will remember for a long time yet.It was such a good little get away and was just what we needed to finish out the month. I’ve got a post coming up this week detailing our trip, so keep an eye out for that. A little spoiler/sneak peek was that we absolutely loved this trip (everyone did, including the husband), and it was so incredibly beautiful from the flowers, the location, and the weather. We couldn’t have asked for anything more.
Ok, we are starting of with the obvious. Everyone knows and uses Trip Advisor, but it’s really been a wonderful tool for us. We’ve found some really good hidden gems of places on the app and at times it’s been the only thing we could get to work and show us what’s around. I don’t think I really need to say anything further about Trip Advisor as it’s the most popularJ
We are just going to keep up with the obvious here, with a pair of sneakers. When we moved here I came with my Under Armour workout sneakers. I love these sneakers, but I”ll be honest- they didn’t really work with most of the clothes that I wear. They go with the screenprint tee’s and such, but not with the sweaters that I typically wear in winter/spring. I looked around for a little bit across three brands: Puma, Adiddas, and Superga’s. I found shoe’s that I liked with all three brands, but I finally settled on a pair of Grey Puma Sneakers and I’ve loved them ever since. They are a great pair of walking shoes that let me get away with wearing them with Sweaters and they look like sneakers without looking like sneakers. I don’t know, I think it works…
Ok, so still obvious, at this point they may all just be obvious ones. I talked about this new bag in my quarterly favorites, but I wanted to talk about it a little bit more. When we prepped for the move I had purchased an inexpensive bag that I could use for travel, didn’t care much about it getting scuffed or scratched, but still looked nice. I didn’t want to take one of my nicer “designer” hand bags and worry constantly that it was getting damaged while we were traveling. Admittedly, a shoulder tote bag was not the *BEST* option while you are traveling, but I hadn’t really researched any of the backpack purses at that time. Now, the first couple of weekends while we were here we were doing long day trips and that shoulder bag started to get really uncomfortable. So, I looked around to find a smaller “backpack purse”. I was going in between practical and stylish with a Michael Kors/Coach/Kate Spade OR a Fjallraven Kanken Backpack. I ended up settling on this Michael Kors backpack as I felt it was just more of what I wanted. It is the absolute perfect size for our family, fitting the diaper clutch, cups, and snacks for the boys, along with my wallet and a book or notebook (if I’m being generous) without feeling really heavy. It sits comfortably both on my shoulders and back. My only complaint is that it has a drawstring with a magnetic enclosure, which makes me a little wary, but I just shuffle things around so that everything is secure. Either way, if you are a mom with older children that still needs to carry quite a bit (but not enough for a diaper bag) a small backpack is the way to go. And honestly, if you are a traveler at all, a backpack is a better option and a more comfortable option than a purse.
So, Europe is rainy…it rains A LOT. We knew we were going to need rain jackets and we look around constantly for jackets that we liked. We picked up thick waterproof jackets before we came over and those have been perfect for the winter time here. They are perfect for layering underneath and have just enough to keep us dry when those rains hit. I wore this jacket everyday of our Berlin weekend and felt more than warm enough and dry as a bone under it. I’ve also picked up a light weather jacket for Spring/Summer when it is a warm rain. Again waterproof and I can still fit a long sleeve shirt under it for when fall comes.
Ok, we are getting to the expensive part of this post. The truly expensive part. I LOVE photography. I love taking pictures, sharing pictures, using photo’s as a way to commemorate our time. So much so, that sometimes I drive my husband a little crazy with the amount of pictures I take and the amount of times we have to stop to take a picture. It’s just who I am and how I choose to remember things. Now, your phone has a decent enough camera. You can take some good pictures with it and there are times that I just pull my phone out and get the picture that I want. BUT it honestly doesn’t replace an actual camera. Now, I use a camera for both photo’s and video’s and will use a different camera for different things (for the record I have this one and another DSLR style camera that I would eventually like to sell and replace). For travel, I only take my Canon G7X. You’ve probably heard of this camera before and it is totally worth the hype and the price. It is a really good camera and is very user friendly.
The first thing is I would recommend an umbrella stroller, unless you are at a zoo/park/somewhere that offers the carts. Umbrella strollers get a lot of “crap” talk, but when your 3 year old is tired (or your very heavy 22 month old) having something that is not your arms/shoulders to let them fall asleep in is such a blessing. It’s also a little bit of fun for the two kids to push each other. We are actually going to purchase a second one (we only have one at this time). 
My second favorite is The Dover Little Activity Books. We purchased a set of these prior to our Germany flight and our kids loved doing the little sticker activities. They aren’t big, take up practically no space, and come with everything you need for about 30-40 minutes of quiet. So easy to just throw in your bag and pull out when you need to stop and eat or have a longer train ride or whenever you need just a bit of peace.
A Cuppa Cosy 