Wallpaper and Windmills (and tacos)
November 29, 2018
Dorothy is the best guest for many reasons — she’s simultaneously adventurous and low key, she’s up for anything, she has her own ideas of what she wants to do, she’s creative, easy going, fun, good with Google Maps, she loves to eat, she’s a cat whisperer, and she’s generally one of the loveliest people currently living on the planet.
I’m pleased to report that I also discovered she’s quite adept at hanging wallpaper. In fact, she actually bought me this wallpaper months ago when I was lamenting the process of having to depersonalize my house in Falls Church to get it ready for the rental market. I painted over my Black Tulip (deep purple) parlor walls, and Dorothy sweetly bought me a tube of fancy peacock stick-on wallpaper in case I wanted to spruce things up again during the time between when the rental contract was signed and when we moved out. (She’s thoughtful that way.) I didn’t end up using the wallpaper at home in Virginia, but when we got to Amsterdam I found the perfect use for it.
Our apartment is unfurnished, except for a huge wardrobe in our bedroom. It’s super functional, but it’s fugly. I was hoping the wallpaper would fancy it up a bit. Dorothy agreed it was a good idea, and low and behold, we did a little home improvement project one night when James was in Spain for business. Even James Wilson helped out. It was really fun, and it’s a huge improvement.
When it rains it pours, and it turns out that not only was I lucky enough to have Dorothy visit, but another good friend, Christine, came to town for a business trip. Also, it really was raining. Christine had a free day on Thursday so, despite the weather, she and Dorothy and I took a little excursion to Zaanse Schaans, the cute little windmill town just outside the city (which you may remember from one of my previous blog posts.) The benefit of going in the offseason is that aside from a few small groups of tourists, we mostly had the place to ourself, which was a much different experience than going in summer when it’s high season. We explored the windmills, sampled cheese, drank hot chocolate — the entire town smells of chocolate thanks to the chocolate factory, and we had a wonderful, cozy lunch with a fabulous view of the water.
Later that night we went to dinner at Foodhallen, which is my new favorite place. Again, props to Dorothy for scoping it out first (while I was at a PTA Winter Fair meeting) and reporting back.
James Wilson got sushi, I got a platter of tacos –my first since moving to Amsterdam. An unfortunate aspect of Dutch food is that they put gouda on everything, including nachos, which I don’t have to tell you is simply wrong, Dorothy got dim sum, and Christine got croquettes and bitterballen. It was a feast! James Wilson had a blast tooling around all the food stalls with my bank card in hand, ordering whatever struck his fancy. I had a moment of panic the next morning when I couldn’t find said bank bard, but fortunately I sleuthed around and found it in his jeans pocket in the laundry hamper.
Having not one but two friends visiting truly made it feel like we were living life as usual with Amsterdam as our (most excellent) backdrop. I am so, so happy to be here, and to have friends to share it with.
Hashtagblessedforreals!