Marco&Niki

Second anniversaries (Or: Executive suites in Amersfoort)

On Saturday Marco and I went to Amersfoort to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. We decided to book an executive suite. Let me just say I’ve never stayed in “the best room in the hotel” before. It was great. And while the room description said that there were be a 52″ television, it turns out the room had three 52″ TVs. Sheesh.

We did end up exploring Amersfoort a bit, but mainly the area near the hotel. There’s another, proper shopping area about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. We did visit it briefly to get some bagels from Bagels & Beans for breakfast in the morning.

Mercure hotel Amersfoort dining room table

Dining room table, complete with complimentary fruit. This was TV #1 of #3.

Living room Mercure hotel in Amersfoort

Sitting room with free water (normal and with bubbles) – quite un-Dutch to offer free water! There were also two cold waters in the fridge. This was TV #2 of #3.

View from the bedroom – the tower in the distance is the ‘Onze Lieve Vrouwetoren’

Executive suite Mercure hotel in Amersfoort living room

Bed, including bathrobes and slippers. This was TV #3 of #3 (not shown).

Jacuzzi at Mercure hotel in Amersfoort

Two person jacuzzi. Or four, really… It was huge! And definitely the highlight of the room (and why we booked it in the first place).

When we checked out we were told that it was the best room in the hotel. It definitely seemed like it. Bye room 1001!

Executive suite Mercure hotel in Amersfoort

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Marco’s gift (Or: A new watch!

After work Marco surprised me with a new watch! A bit crazy since I don’t normally wear watches, but we had been talking about the Apple watch lately…

Isn’t it great? Marco is so sweet!

And so is the watch…

Watch made of candy

 

Hopefully it is 5:25 am or pm before I get hungry enough to eat it, just so I can say it was right once…

(I have no interest in wearing a watch. I tried it as a kid but it was more annoying then useful. I find it interesting to follow news of the Apple Watch, but only to see how it develops from afar. I don’t think it will really hit its stride until version 3 or 4. Until then my wrist stays bare.)

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Wafflemania (Or: Valentine’s Day 2015)

Marco surprised me with another Valentine’s Day themed breakfast. It is becoming a sort of tradition. 😉

This time he used the waffle maker!

Valentine's Day waffles

Whar can I say, I am a sucker for his chocolate waffles (which is just the normal mix with cocoa powder thrown in). Another was dusted with sugar, and the last was “regular”. It also came with coffee (which we usually drink after dinner so that is a lovely novelty) and a large glass of milk. Yum.

And then halfway through I decided to get creative:

Valentine's Day waggled with candy hearts

Another use for the candy hearts! 🙂

Happy Valentine’s Day, all.

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Further anniversary surprises (Or: Cheesecake waiting in the fridge)

When Marco and I returned home last night from our vacation, we found a note on a paper bag from Roger. He had left two slices of chocolate cheesecake in the fridge. Double chocolate chip cheesecake to be precise – one of the the three flavors we had at our wedding reception, along with strawberry and cappuccino. Marco and I also had some Prosecco in the fridge.  That was the welkomstdrankje (welcome drink) at the wedding reception.

1 year anniversary double chocolate cheesecake

So – reliving memories one year later!

The cheesecake was from the Cheesecake Company in The Hague. I highly recommend it (and mention it frequently).

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Holding hands (Or: A year ago today)

A year ago today Marco and I were married.

wedding photo

This morning he surprised me with this:

IMG_1623.JPG

These were the wedding favors we handed out during the reception that night. 🙂

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17 June 2014 (Or: Pearl Jam concert in Amsterdam)

This photo was from the 2nd night that Pearl Jam was in Amsterdam, taken by Marco:

Pearl Jam concert in The Hague June 17 2014

I wasn’t present at the second night, only at the first one. You can see where we were standing — in the standing area in the middle you can see a definite line/division where they had placed a metal divider to keep people from pushing too much to the front. We were right outside the first area with the divider right in front of us. The second night only Marco and Roger went; they definitely had nosebleed seats!

It was a great night of course – the only thing I wished was that they had played Future Days from the new album. (YouTube | Lyrics)

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Awwww (Or: birthdays and romance)

From Marco. 🙂

20140413-093615.jpg

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Valentine’s Day (Or: PB&J sandwiches)

So Marco surprised me this morning with a Valentine’s Day themed peanut butter and jelly sandwich in bed.

Valentines Day pbj sandwich

Definitely a surprise since he came into the bedroom at the normal time he comes in (to give me a hug or two and then go to work). But as he has to work pretty late tonight, he surprised me by saying he wasn’t going into work until 10am. Yay.

It’s also the first time I had a pb&j sandwich since I left New York… I used to have them every work day for a few years, since they were easy and quick to make. Of course, I varied the other stuff I had. So yeah… it’s been a long time since pb&j!

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Surprises (Or: White roses from Marco

Apparently I have already written a blog pot with a similar title (I had to add in “white” to this one). I guess I am just not creative enough…

Marco randomly surprised me a few days ago with a bouquet of white roses:

white roses from Marco

Of course the other surprise is I haven’t managed to kill them yet. (I did manage to kill a different set of Dutch-themed orange roses within 36 hours last year. Sad.)

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Een jaar geleden verhuisde ik naar Nederland!

One year ago today I moved to the Netherlands. One year ago today I nervously had this conversation with the passport control worker at Schiphol:

Worker: And what is your business in the Netherlands?

Me: Ummm.. I’m moving here? (pause as he looks a bit confused. He definitely wasn’t expecting that response!) But there’s an MVV in the back? (MVV being a sticker which gave me permission to enter the country with the purpose of moving here.)

Worker: (flips to the back of the passport) Oh okay. (stamps the sticker) Thanks.

And that was it… done. We (I) fretted about that moment for weeks, and it was that simple!

Christmas tree in Bijenkorf

Christmas tree in De Bijenkorf, Den Haag

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