Christmas in The Netherlands

"Who would win in the Hunger Games?" I forgot to add this to the other post, but this came up in a conversation I had last night, which made me laugh. Over dinner one night, Becca, Lukas, and I were discussing who would win out of all of us in the Hunger Games. Lukas said that me and him would win together, because we would never kill each other. Now as for everyone else....I won't go into details, but I decided Dena would be my biggest competition because she's outdoorsy, and would team up with Charlene and Jarno, because they are the careers. They have to go first. Sorry Dena. It was a pretty funny discussion, and I honestly can't remember all of it, but I do remember those parts because they made me laugh the hardest.

Ummmm. I had to put the picture up, because it looks like Marijn and Becca are secretly in love. Really, we were just waiting for the train to get to Marijn's family's house. The morning we got to Marijn's was the only morning that Becca and I really slept in. It felt so good. We went to the store to get stuff to bake when we were at his family's house and ingredients to make some spaghetti with homemade sauce. #spoiled

YAY Charles Dickens!!! Turns out Deventer has a Charles Dickens festival and have murals on the walls of scenes from Charles Dickens books. It's pretty cool. I just love this quote.

We took a walk around town on Christmas day in our fancy dresses. I was planning on wearing flats to be more fashionable with my dress, but then realized, it's cold outside. #badidea Nevertheless, Deventer is an adorable town. 

 Jarno and Marijn are from the same town, so we went to see him on Boxing Day. We met his dad and it turns out he's awesome, and I have a crush on Jarno's dad. He was telling us how he roadtripped across America in his younger days. He bought a vehicle and just did it for a few months. No big deal, right? Super legit. He travels everywhere too. He's is wise and told me "if you have the money, you have to travel". I must say, I think of money in things I can do traveling, like "I could spend money on this, or it could buy me a plane ticket to *blank*".  He was really cool.

 We were at the Paleis Het Loo. It was awesome. The only constructive criticism I would have for the palace is for them to have English tour headsets for the rooms that speak to you in Dutch. Are you kidding me? My Dutch is almost non-existent. Twin pose! 👯 Becca and I did twin pose around Europe. Next trip...we will have more twin pose pictures until I can make an epic twin-pose collage ;)

 Bread, Cheese, and Maple Syrup?!?!?! I know, right? We were in Haarlem for the morning to see what's there to see. We found this adorable little cafe for lunch and were very curious by the menu with has two of our favorite European foods: bread and aged cheese. (seriously, the Dutch have great cheese). We were confused by what it meant by "syrup". Nope. It was what we thought, but it tasted better than expected. It was soooooooo good! They are genius.

Classic windmill picture.

This was at the Amsterdam Festival of Lights. I was super mean and wouldn't let Jarno eat until we walked around and saw ALL the exhibits on the trail. I'm terrible. At least I let him eat before we went on the trail 😏

We went to Maastricht! This, in and of itself is quite the accomplishment, as Marijn didn't want to go because it was "too far". #2hourtrainride we arrived and it is a lovely town. They were still having their Christmas market going on and the first thing we had to do was the very big Ferris Wheel! It was really high up, and I had to close my eyes at a couple of points. Crazy.

This is after going through the underground tunnels of Maastricht. We decided we needed a group photo, so we asked a random person. He was walking his dog and said if we hold the dog, he would take a picture for us. Deal. Later, we were at a bar and it was uncomfortably crowded. The best part was when Jelmer asked me if bars in Texas were like this one. I said, "I don't know. I don't go to bars in Texas." He looked at me and repeated the question. lol. I had to explain to him, in Texas, my friends know that I don't drink, so we normally do other activities than going to bars. I think something was lost in translation. He didn't seem to understand, and Becca was sitting there chuckling about the whole conversation.

We went back to Munich for the night before Becca flew home. We decided to go to Restaurant 181 in the spinning Olympic Tower. I had wanted to do this when I lived in Munich, but never found the time. It was epic. Becca and I should have probably been more dressed up, but we used the tourist excuse and enjoyed it anyway. The food was glorious!!! The bread and butter, I probably could have eaten that all day. First course was crazy good. The soup was so fluffy and amazing. The main course, sublime. Dessert was classy. I love food. It was worth every penny to eat there. I felt very posh.

This is the view from the front of Petra's family home. Wow. Enough said.

#1. Petra bought me this tiara, because she decided it was a Princess Day at the Castle!!! She's the best.
#2. To get this view, we had to climb around several "Do Not Enter" signs to go up to the bridge. I'm sure it's normally a great walk during the Spring and Summer, but trail was iced over. It would have been better to have ice skates. We had to walk on the side of the path to avoid slipping and falling. That almost happened many times. But it was awesome.
#3. I almost had an anxiety attack on the bridge. I hate bridges. It was super high up, and I kept having a vision of me breaking one of the boards as I stepped on it and falling to my death.
#4. Since this was on New Year's Eve, the place was pretty uncrowded, so there weren't too many people on the bridge or at the castle.

Ok. I know. Two pictures of the same place?  I really love the Neuschwanstein Castle.

This is a little game that they play on New Year's Eve for kids, where you melt down this metal toy and then drop the metal in water. When you pull it out, the shape indicates something, which is a prediction for the coming New Year. It was awesome. 

I would just like to say, I realize now, I didn't take any pictures of Marijn's family, otherwise they would be on this blog like nobody's business. They were amazing to let Becca and I join their Christmas festivities. They are the NICEST people and super cool. They do a very classy Christmas, which made me doubt I've ever had a moment of class in  my life. Thank you to Marijn's family!!! Thank you to Lukas' parents for letting us roadtrip across Germany with their car. Last, but not least, thank you to Petra and her family, who let me crash at their place in Allgäu. Petra's dad was super nice, even though he didn't speak English, and I don't really speak German. I like to think we are friends. It was an honor and privilege to be the first American to stay at their house. #blessed #grateful #thankyou

And now, I know what you are all thinking, "Natasha, you ate so much food in Europe! How much weight did you gain?!?!?!?" Fact: I lost weight! #win Turns out walking for miles and miles everyday is a good idea as long as you are eating tons of yummy calories to give you energy. #apfelmuscrepes

I Believe in Miracles

You remember the 2003 version of Peter Pan when Tinkerbell is dying and people around the world begin to chant "I do believe in fairies, I do. I do."? Yeah. That's me. I love that part. Let your childhood self free and believe. After all, the Bible teaches us that unless we "be converted, and become as little children, [we] shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3). Now, many people who read of my miracles will say, "No. That's a coincidence, not a miracle" To you I say, "Curly hair don't care." I ignore your attempts to destroy my love of miracles and belief that they still exist today.

On Wednesday night (3/27) I was finishing up my golf class and went to return the empty bucket. The owner of the driving range asked me how I was doing. I told him I didn't think I was improving. He asked if I owned some golf clubs to practice my swing on. I told him how I didn't want to buy anything expensive, and I was having a hard time finding cheap girls clubs. He suggested only buying one club to practice on, and I said something about feeling like a loser only buying one club. Then he said "one moment" and went to find a girl's golf club. He gave it to me; I said I would bring it back next week, and he said "no. keep it." It was so nice. My heart melted. I thanked him and went on my merry way. I love kind people. Time to pay it forward. #miracleofkindnessandgenerosity

Thursday I had a long day in a very important meeting in our downtown office with Addy. I had to get there early, so I was expecting lots of traffic, except there wasn't. However, there *was* time for me to hit up a starbucks to get a hot chocolate (it was a little chilly). There was a cute guy in behind me who asked "isn't that a christmas drink" to which I responded "you should have the spirit of christmas with you year-round." #wittyme After my long day in meetings, I went home to finish last minute packing and have some dinner before heading to the airport.

I was going through security, putting my stuff on the conveyor belt, when the guy behind me says something along the lines of "are you following/stalking me?" As someone with residual stalker-like tendencies, this is always a valid question ;) I turned around to say something super sassy, but turned to see the smiling face of someone I actually know! I was kinda stunned. What are the odds? It turns out we were both heading to PHX for the weekend, and we were on the same flight. Well, you know how when you meet someone you kinda form this idea about who they are and what they're like? I've realized a few weeks ago that my ideas about him have about a 40% accuracy rating, which I thoroughly enjoy. He once again surprised me by suggesting we change our seats to the emergency row together. As explained in my previous post, say yes, unless you want the fun to end. I did not. It turns out you have to pay money to change assigned seats to the emergency row, so instead we got assigned regular seats together. Now you may say, that's just what friends do when they see each other, but you see, until this point, I thought he only talked to me in group social events to be nice. It had never crossed my mind he might actually *want* to get to know me. Once again, I was surprised, because for *some* reason he wanted to sit next to me on an airplane for a 3 hour flight. We talked over food, and we talked during the plane ride. He continuously surprised me as our conversation flowed, and I loved it. Was the 4 hour conversation the beginning of a beautiful friendship, or was he just being a nice/polite person? Well...only time will tell. More than likely, whatever the outcome, it will probably surprise me. #miracleoffriendshipwhenleastexpected

Note the confetti in my hair and on the floor :)

Speaking of beautiful friendships, I was picked up at the airport by the lovely miss erica, who suddenly had a lot of errands to run and wanted to endanger my life by texting and driving after picking me up. Of course, I stayed in a state of ignorant bliss. We finally got to her place, and she encouraged me to go put my stuff in her room. As I was putting my jacket on the chair at her desk, I screamed as someone smashed cascarones on my head and confetti fell everywhere. I turned to see the guilty culprilt who gave me a mini heart attack only to shout with joy and laugh as I saw Ben. Surprise! I wasn't expecting to see him till later in the weekend. Great surprise, because I was expecting anything and seeing Ben always makes me happy. I was covered in confetti, but I could only laugh and try to ignore the OCD feeling of having to clean the up the confetti off the floor immediately. Quidditch practice ran late, so Erica had to stall by running her funny errands, and was texting Ben to make the surprise work. So really she risked my life for the good cause of bringing me joy. Ben, Erica and I ended up chatting for a while. Eventually Erica brought in a lot of pillows and we made a mini lounge on the floor. We were all sitting into a comfy zone which led to all of us falling asleep as we were talking. Finally, around 3pm, we somehow woke up and Ben staggered out the door, and magically made it back to his place unharmed. #miracleofsurprisesandjoy

Friday morning started a wee bit sluggish as we were functioning on a few hours of sleep. Erica had to get to work, and I had to get to Stine's to hang out with her a lil' Lia. We bid Erica farewell to work and Jordan (Stine's husband) farewell to school for his Calculus quiz (even though it's Good Friday). Stine, Lia, and I went on a walk. I felt so domestic pushing Lia in her stroller, with Stine walking the dog. We went to the park, where all the kids loved the dog and we loved swinging with Lia. The rest of the morning was us talking about everything  possible and me soaking in Lia-time. She's unbelievably adorable. Erica got off work early, and Jordan finished his test so we were able to get together for a little bit longer, till Jordan and Stine had a sealing to go to. Erica and I met up with Matt to have papusas at the papusaria we love. We accidentally told Matt the papusas were smaller than they were, so he wasn't hungry for Bahama Bucks after lunch. Oops. But really, I feel horrible because no one should ever miss an opportunity to eat at Bahama Bucks. The shame. But we had a great time! Matt is one of the handful of friends I still have from freshman year! (because they turned out to be terrible people or got married so single people no longer exist to them). He's awesome, and he served his mission in Germany, so he loves it as much as i do :) We hung out at Bahama Bucks, as Erica had to go back to work and eventually Stine and Jordan joined us. Then I said my goodbyes to Matt, and went over to Jordan's family's house to dye Easter eggs!

Now, I've known Jordan and Stine for a while. I also am friends with one of Jordan's older brother's, Marshall. Last time I saw Marshall was when Stine and I had a girls night and went to see him in Much Ado About Nothing. It was great, and he was so happy to see me. Call me vain, but I was expecting the same reaction. I saw him playing on the floor with one of his neices, and when he just looked up at me and casaully said "hey", I was a little disappointed. As I was looking around the room, *REAL* Marshall popped into my sight and gave me a hug and an enthusiastic welcome. I had seen Marshall's twin on the ground, and I only met him briefly once before. Sneaky twins. It was a lot of fun. I got to dye eggs with the kids and help pass out gifts after the Easter egg hunt. That's right. i'm not sure if it's just this family or all white people, but they their easter eggs have the name of presents inside them, and they get to collect their presents after the hunt. say what?!?! Gifts for doing an easter egg hunt? #whitepeople When i grew up, you hunted those eggs for ammunition so you can smash them on each other's heads! #mexicanpride We got root beer floats, yum. And while I was outside watching people play on the trampoline, like a ninja, Doug appeared out of no where on the trampoline. I was super impressed. Didn't see him coming. Doug is so funny, and he's their backyard neighbor. #hadnoidea

Then it was girl time. But first we needed our fake booze for the BYOB art class we were going to. I've been wanting to go to one of these for MONTHS! So I booked it up for us this weekend. The hardest part was finding a store near by. Of course there are tons of liquor stores...but we needed a Wal-Mart to get some Martinelli's. That was a little more difficult to get to.When we got there, I was surprised by the lack on instruction at the art class, but also surprised that my painting didn't turn out terrible.

We went in, chose from about 50 pictures which one we wanted to paint. We were given the colors and set free! After the base coat, you have to go blow dry the painting dry and then use chalk to draw what you are going to paint next. They said if you didn't finish in time you can come back some other time. Problem is, I'm not coming back anytime soon. Luckily, I finished. Our inner artist shown through our painting. We are awesome! Then we went for the next best part about girls night...cake. Erica promised me a cake when I came, and she did not disappoint. We went back for her to make the homemade icing, only to discover she was out of powdered sugar! What did I do? called ben to bring us some. duh. However, erica hates accepting help from others, so we ended up going over to Stine's where she has powdered sugar and ben had to wait an extra day to get cake. The cake was wonderfully delicious. And we had more Lia time, because Lia would not fall asleep! Poor little Lia.

Saturday morning was beautiful. I went to the temple with Stine & Erica for the first time. We've never made it all together before. It was great. Much needed peace and revelation happened.

After the temple, Erica and I went and hopped into our swimsuits and laid out by the pool for the rest of the afternoon. #sogood It was cloudy, but nice and warm. No sunburns for us. Sadly, Erica forgot some headphones, so she had to listen to the frat boys at the pool. #realtragedy Then we went to go get groceries because Erica was cooking us dinner! Except Stine cancelled on us. Sad. I really wanted her to finally meet Ben. We got back and Erica started cooking, and she sent me to bed because i was crazypants. I slept until right before Ben showed up. I was only incoherent for a bit after waking up luckily. We had a GREAT dinner with cake for dessert and a wonderful time talking and feeling judged by the imaginary hypothetical guest at our table as we tried to mesh different groups of friends. #dontmixfriendgroups Ben and Erica taught me the Wobble in an impromptu dance party. And we finally left to go to meet up with Stine & Jordan at the Mesa Temple Easter Pageant. Parking was terrible, so Ben dropped us off on a corner as he went to find parking. We managed to find Stine in the crowd and sit down in time for the BEST PART OF EASTER! His resurrection. Spoiler Alert: Jesus lives! It was great, and I love the Easter Pageant. We wandered off and Ben found us in front on the temple, waiting. Then two of my friend groups finally intermingled! It was quite entertaining. I'm such a good friend-matchmaker! We all went to Dairy Queen and had a marvelous time. After Stine & Jordan left, Ben said "I like that you have mean friends". lol. me and my friends tease each other quite often. Ben, Erica, & I stayed out a bit later and we shared our inner most thoughts and feelings and Ben dropped us off at Erica's. Erica and I stayed up until we started falling asleep, which wasn't much longer after being dropped off.

Sunday morning was quite pleasant  We went to 9am church at the Institute (my fav place on ASU campus) and it was a great service. I love how everyone is so musically gifted. The Spirit was there, and the message about the Atonement and of our living Savior was a powerful one. I really enjoyed it. Then it was time to hop on the plane back home to Texas. I read Clockwork Prince the whole plane ride back. I feel like book 2 is where Cassandra Clare really differentiates this trilogy her previous trilogy and the story becomes better (I acknowledge that there are now more than 3 in that series, but it irks me that she made it a trilogy and changed her mind a year later and wrote more). The plane ride was longer than anticipated, due to bad weather. I was tired and hungry as the shuttle driver taking me back to my car thought I was a teacher and then a secretary. Really? Would you like to stereotype me based on my sex some more? Men. When I got home, I had a nice surprise! Grandpa was there!!!!!!!!!!! Dear world, my grandpa is dabomb.com. We had a lot of fun and it was awesome. Especially when my mom, dad, and grandpa started trying to one-up each other on childhood stories. #grandpawon It was a great Easter weekend.

ps. As a book update. I stayed up super late Monday night to finish book 3, Clockwork Princess. LOVED IT! I cried the entire epilogue, although I am not sure why. It was perfect. I think I was crying from happiness of the perfection of the ending. I dont think I could have thought of something that wrapped everything up so nicely. And I wasn't expecting it. (I love surprises, but only when I don't know there is going to be a surprise, because my imagination always thinks of something cooler than the surprise) If only Mockingjay had that perfect of an ending, but that's beside the point.

pps. I really wanted to post the picture of ben and erica when we all fell asleep on Friday night, but decided not to because I dont want anyone to see it and for erica to feel more of the wrath of ben's fan club #understandable #prettypeopleproblems