Home Sweet Home

Cafe con leche at Floridita= best coffee in NYC

My favorite New Yorker

Jaap and I spent the first two weeks of May visiting family and friends in NY. It's always good to come home and this time we got to celebrate the pregnancy (complete with a surprise baby shower!) with family and friends. 

No trip to NY would be complete without an evening with Shannon, my best friend, and our NY buddies. After a night out on the Lower East Side we enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Floridita. If you want the best coffee in NYC, go to Floridita and order a cafe con leche. It's up on the West side on 125th St and Riverside Drive. 

Sculpture art on Park Avenue

My niece Elin enjoying the Baby Shower

Mastura & Mom

BFFs forever

The Pardo Family

What was planned as a casual lunch with my aunts turned out to be a surprise baby shower complete with Muppets! Thanks to my amazing sister and mother for organizing the day. It was such a great surprise to see our closest famiy and friends there. What a day. We got so much great stuff for the baby and Jaap was able to celebrate in Muppet style. We felt very loved. Now we just wait for the little Jansen-Pardo to arrive!

The Kermit Diaper Cake made by Catherine Pardo

Weekend Fun, Onze Verjaardagen

Our weekend was jam packed with parties, visitors, and music. Jaap and I have been running non-stop this past week.  From my book club meeting, to dinners out for our birthdays, parties,  visits from the Jansens, and a trip to Rotterdam for North Sea Jazz. We've been busy, but having fun!

The school year officially ended for me on Thursday (always a great feeling), which was followed by a book club meeting complete with tapas and wine with my International Women's Club friends. It was such a great day. Perfect way to kick-off the official start of my summer vacation. Every time I come home from book club I tell Jaap how much I love it. This month we read The Great Gatsby and had one of our best discussions of all time. I look forward to it every month. I'm happy to have this literary and stimulating outlet in Maastricht. It's such a great group of women.

And the weekend just got better from there. Jaap and I celebrate our birthday 5 days apart, so and we gathered up our family & friends for some drinks out on the town... Dutch style. Meaning, we pay for the drinks. Another culture shock for me as an American where you're friends won't let you pay for anything on your birthday. We had a great time with our friends at Café Forum. It was a nice way to say good-bye before we part ways for our summer holidays. 

Jaap's parents, Trees & Jan, came to Maastricht for the party and a weekend at our place. The weather was perfect for walking around town on Saturday. We strolled around the Stadspark, through the Jekerkwartier, and around to the Vrijthof for some lunch on a terras. 

The Jansen men outside St. Servaas Basiliek 

And since the the weather has been fairly nice this past week (excluding todays' downpour of rain) we had dinner with Trees & Jan out on the balcony. It's become my favorite new place in our apartment. Good weather, good German wine, and good company. Het was gezellig!

As I write this post, Jaap is sitting next to me on the couch writing his first guest post for the blog. He'll be writing about our visit we took to North Sea Jazz on Sunday. I'm looking forward to what Jaapie has to say about "all that jazz"!

Best night ever!

Me, Angela, Céline & Jenny

Last Friday night was officially my best night out in Maastricht...ever! It was a New York kind of night.

Jaap and I spent the day at the Efteling with the Jansen clan. Despite the constant rain all day, we still had a great time with the family. Welcome to a Dutch summer.

Later that evening was the International Women's Club Summer Party at a castle just outside of Maastricht. My friend Jenny had the idea to have a girls night out in town afterwards. What a night! We danced, had fun (and maybe drank a little tequila) until the sun came up. The perfect girls night out. It's nice to have fun girlfriends in Maastricht who remind me of home. And who knew that Maastricht had this kind of nightlife?! 

Alaaf til you drop: Part II in Maastricht

Carnaval in Maastricht was a blast, but I'm glad it's over! Day into night partying takes a lot out of you. Year 2 in Maastricht and I still love this lively celebration. The costumes, bad music, and happy people in the streets. It's all good fun. I can't believe how much time and effort people put into their costumes. Bright colors, huge hats, headpieces, face painting, costumes that light up or stand 5 feet in the air! It's always fun to see the creativity. 

Here is one of my favorites. I saw them last year, so it's gotta be an annual tradition. A group of people made costumes that replicate some "Carnaval" artwork that's publicly displayed in the Vrijthof. 

One of my favorite costumes

Actual artwork in the Vrijthof

Parade

The Mooswief

Despite the bad weather which included: snow, hail, and sunshine, we partied on!

It was pretty chilly so heading inside was a must. Here I am with my "gypsy sister" Angela.

Another one of my favorite costumes

What a great 5 days! Til next year Carnaval... Alaaf!

Alaaf til you drop 2012: Part I

My favorite thing about living in the southern part of the Netherlands has to be Carnaval. Hands down, it's the most exciting and unique thing about Maastricht. Brabant and Limburg come alive with costumes, parades, all day long partying, and bad Carnaval music. What's not to love?

Even though Maastricht is THE place to celebrate, I really enjoy celebrating in Jaap's hometown. We went to Oirschot on Friday night along with our American-Dutch group of friends from Maastricht. Seeing the Redtband is a great way to get the festivities started. Thank you to Trees & Jan who hosted us for the night. It was nice to spend time with you. And one of the best parts, we got to see Jaap's party band live. Always a good time!

Here's some footage of our Friday night with the Redtband. 

The Redtband

Jaap's parents met us out for a drink

Pete, Jacob, Arie & Jenny ready to party

Carnaval isn't over yet. We still have one more day of partying, drinks, and good times. I'm glad that I took today off to recover. I "alaaf-ed" til I dropped. But, the fun continues tomorrow for the closing night of this wonderful holiday!

One more day...

Carnaval 2011

It's almost time. Carnaval is right around the corner and the celebrations will commence tomorrow. We're spending our first night in Jaap's hometown with our Kolonisten (Settlers of Catan) gaming friends. (We've grown quite close to our American/Dutch crew of friends here). I'm excited they get to see Jaap's party band in action. So veel plezier to everyone in Brabant, Limburg and places in the northern parts of the Netherlands that wished they lived here this week. :) Alaaf!

The Mooswief: A Maastricht Carnaval icon

Jaap's party band in Oirschot, Carnaval 2011

Kolonisten gaming friends: Pete, Arie, Jenny & Jaap

Me, Pete & Jacob