We're proud homeowners and boatowners!

All within a week, Arno and I have become official, first-time homeowners and boatowners! Merry Christmas to us! Lol. What more could we ask for, honestly?

Needless to say, these new "firsts" - combined with the Christmas holiday - have kept us quite busy.

We started on the interior of our new apartment today (23rd) and will be continue with it throughout the next couple of weeks...we need to paint, put in a new floor and an entire kitchen! Not to mention, we need to buy some key pieces of furniture! Whew...! I know it will look great when we're done and I am really looking forward to it. You're all welcome to come and visit :)

As I mentioned, we also managed to buy a used boat from one of my colleagues for a very good price! This will be a fun Spring project...just need to get some of the rust off, give it a fresh coat of paint, a new name, and then we're set for some Amsterdam canal-cruisin' :) It's one of the most popular and pleasant things to do here in the city on a sunny warm day!

And, in the midst of all of this, Arno surprised me with a cute and real Christmas tree! This is my first time not going home for the holidays, so I really wanted to make it cozy and Christmas-y in our (current) apartment. We went retro and used color lights - it seems most people go for the all white lights these days...alas, we won't have any presents under that tree though because a house, furniture and a boat will just not fit! (Also, the Dutch have a holiday earlier in December called Sinterklaas and we exchanged some gifts then).


















We've got all we wanted and more this holiday and we wish you all the same. May your gifts, friends, family and holiday season bring you much cheer and love.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Amsterdam!