Paris

What a beautiful city - if I had to rank my top three cities in the world, Paris is definitely in there. It's hard to describe the feeling I've had both times that I've been there, but a few words that come to mind are as follows: awestruck, breathless, absorbed, enlightened. Sean had never been to Paris, so it was fun to take him to my favorite places, and to discover a few new ones on our own. We got in on Saturday morning (again, with no problems - I think my travel karma has improved!). We dropped our stuff off at our hotel in Rue Cler, then began our adventure. We started with Notre Dame and St. Chapelle, both special and impressive in their own ways. I could stare at the stained glass in St. Chapelle for hours, and the internal construction of Notre Dame leaves me amazed every time. We had some yummy "croquettes" and freaking expensive beer after this, then made our way into the never-ending Louvre. I had elected not to visit the Louvre on my last trip to Paris, so going inside was something new to me. I have to say, this was not my cup of tea. It was nice to see all of the famous artwork, and there were definitely a few (Venus, the Greek Goddess of Victory, Napolean's apartments) that were absolutely amazing to look at, but, for the most part, a lot of it all looked the same to me. I know I'm going to have a lightening bolt sent down from the artists in heaven for saying that, but that's how I felt. Anyways, after about 3 hours of strolling around, we decided it was time to go. We waiting in line for about 90 minutes, and then happily took the elevator up the Eiffel Tower. Can I just say that while it was cold at ground level, several hundred feet up it was absolutely freezing?!? :) We certainly enjoyed the view, but enjoyed coming down and warming up as well. Dinner that night was traditional French in Rue Cler. We absolutely crashed that night, and woke up on Sunday morning ready for more fun. We started the day with a trip to the top of the Arc de Triumphe, enjoyed the views, then made our way to Monmarte for a look at the breathtaking Sacre Couer. I hadn't had time to actually go inside the church the last time, and, wow, was I so glad we had time to go in this time. It is amazing! After checking out the church, we drank a lot of wine and strolled the streets just taking it all in. We had a great time, and will certainly never forget our first trip to the beautiful "City of Light".

My New Apartment

Well, folks, it's all becoming so real. Sean and I got back yesterday from our trip to Europe, so I have a lot to catch up on. The flight to Europe went pretty smoothly, despite Sean's intense fear of planes. We touched down in Amsterdam at about 8 in the morning, with a whole day ahead of us. After a quick jog in Vondelpark, we got ready and headed down to Hilversum to see the Nike EHQ for the first time. We learned a few lessons at this time: 1. You can't use credit cards for a lot of purchases in Europe and 2. You have to use coins in machines to buy train tickets. Both of these things made it a real pain in the butt to get from Point A to Point B, but after we figured out the system, things got easier. We got to EHQ, walked around a bit, and then Sean went back to Amsterdam while I met my new team and discussed expectations, etc. We had a good ol' American dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe that night. Sean was ready for something familiar after touching down in a place so foreign to him. Wednesday was the day of apartment shopping. I viewed 5 apartments, and ended up falling in love with the first one that I saw. It's in the "Old South" part of town, and right on the Tram line that I'll take every day to get to work. It's got some beautiful features - lovely hardwood floors, a huge kitchen, and two bedrooms. Perfect for guests! :) The photos of the place that I selected are above. One funny anecdote from the trip: I wanted to look at a few places on the canals, as that would be so "Amsterdam" to live on a canal, so the realtor had arranged to view one apartment on the Singel canal. As we are getting out the car, Sean says to me, "Um, there's a woman in that window, just smiling and starting at me. Um, and, yeah, she's wearing lingerie.". I didn't see the woman at the time, but on the way out of the apartment, one look at the red light above her window clued me in pretty quickly as to why she was smiling at Sean. It certainly wasn't because she thought he was cute! :) We had Dutch pancakes for lunch (and Sean got to experience European eating - and smoking - for the first time), then took a little rest. We tried Indonesian food for the first time that night and loved it. Thursday, we took some time to get to know the city a little better. I went into some grocery stores near my place (there are small grocery stores, but a lot of little shops where you can buy only one thing - like only meat, or only cheese, etc), and walked down the main drag in my new neighborhood to find out where things are. It feels really safe, and the best part is that I can get a parking permit right away. There are some parts of town where parking permits will not be available for 3 years or longer!!! As Thursday was Valentine's Day, we also took a romantic canal tour and then had a very nice dinner at an Italian restaurant called Casa di David (is the common theme of this trip - eating - becoming clear to you???). Friday was our last full day in Amsterdam, and I spent most of it in Hilversum with the new team, getting to know people and finding out exactly what my new role will be. I felt like I was doing so well taking the train back to Amsterdam, until I second guessed myself on the stop I was supposed to get off on and ended up adding on an additional 30 minutes to my trip! How frustrating! Sean and I hit the hay early... as the next morning we took off for Paris!! :)

Cupcake City

This past weekend, two of my dear friends, Rebecca Wright and Cristina Beck, had baby showers to celebrate the upcoming births of their little girl (Baby Wright) and little boy (Baby Beck). Since both my gal pals knew that I love to make cupcakes, I was asked to make my cupcake trees for their showers. It was fun to do the trees, and, since they were two very different showers, I got to get creative. Another friend, Raelee, partnered up with me to do the cupcakes for Cristina's shower, along with some awesome decorated bears. All in all, the cupcakes were a hit, and the girls were showered with many awesome gifts!

Getting Closer

I've booked a house-hunting trip to Amsterdam, so this whole thing is getting a lot more real. I have to say, Nike has been absolutely wonderful about everything. I like to think of myself as a person that always has her i's dotted and t's crossed, but Nike has everything double dotted and triple crossed. Every single thing that you could think of that would be an expense or an inconvenience has been taken care of, and it just makes me feel really good about the whole move. I met with HR last week to talk about the whole process, and there is a team both here in the US and another one in Amsterdam that is working to make this a smooth transition.



It's funny - the sadness really hasn't hit me yet - it's pure excitement for now. I'm sure as my days here in Portland get fewer and fewer, it's going to hit me, and I know in my heart that moving to a foreign country probably isn't going to be as sexy as I think on an everyday basis, but I'm still excited nevertheless.

Sean and I leave for Amsterdam next Monday to look for an apartment. He's still uncertain of whether he'll eventually move or not, but it means a lot to me that he's coming with me. We're both pretty excited to spend V-day in Europe. :) Since we have the following Monday off for President's Day, we'll travel to Paris for the weekend. I've been there before, but the last time, I went by myself, so I'm sure it will be exponentially better to travel with someone I'm in love with. :)