All things NJ

Friday and Saturday I went to NJ. I don't get there too often, so this was a special treat. Friday I had to go on a press ok for the FSG catalog. It went smoothly and I even walked away with large poster maps of the World and USA. I am posting photos of me by the largest roll of toilet paper I've ever seen and the hazy, hot, and beautiful NYC skyline from the car.

Yesterday we went to Sara's family's Bastille Day Celebration. It was wonderful to relax in a backyard and enjoy french food, wine, and great conversation. I went to this annual party in 2003 and it is amazing to see how it's grown since then.

And today is Henry's (born and raised in NJ) Birthday. Happy Birthday Henry!

Happy Anniversiary Rein & Christa!

Today is the 30th wedding anniversiary of Erik's parents Rein and Christa. We hope they have a wonderful day! I am so happy you met, fell in love, and had your adorbale son Erik.

St.Louis / Alton trip

Flew back Wednesday morning from our vacation to see family in the Midwest. We had a wonderful time visiting everyone. Mike was even able to drive down from Chicago. I can hardly believe how much all of my cousins have grown up! On Sunday Boppa and Grandma had 50 family members over to say hello. They are so used to preparing for big parties that it was amazing to see them go to work with the food preparation. While most of my family live on the Illinois side of the river, we did manage to take a drive to St.Louis and see the Arch. Regrettably, we were unable to go up the arch because of the crazy line, but we did manage to visit my favorite place: the gift shop. The Arch is one beautiful piece of architecture. It is so elegant and such a marvel of engineering. On Monday we met up with my cousins Nikki and Emily and went swimming with their families, including each of their adorable baby girls, Emma and Madeline. Erik and I were also given the driving tour of Alton. Here are some phhotos of us with Alton's most famous citizen, the gentle giant Robert Wadlow who grew to 8'11". Wow!

summer update

Well, June certainly flew by. We spent many of the weekends watching the exciting World Cup games. We watched them from home, bars, restaurants, a beer garden and friends' houses. Erik was sad Holland did not make it further, but he did a great job of showing his orange spirit. The first NL match we watched at a bar in Times Square at 9am with the other Dutch ex-patriats. While it was nice to be in their company, many were still strangers and we realized it is much more enjoyable to watch with friends.

Aside from that, I've been settling into work and we've both been doing some freelance during our spare time. Freelancing is great because I think of it as bonus money to be spent on the apartment, travel, or going out. The other weekk it was "couch money" as we finally decided on a new couch from Crate and Barrel. It was on sale and was just delivered this morning. It was amzing to watch the delivery men finesse the couch up the stairs. I think we can never move, because I cannot do what they just did.

I've posted a few memorable photos from last month.