this weekend lily and i met my sister and her family for a hotel overnight in the middle of iowa half way between mankato and omaha. i was able to deliver the little vest i made for their baby-on-the-way in person.
henners got a hold of it and it turns out it also makes a charming hat!
aside from ridiculous 2 year-old fashion shows there was swimming:
more swimming:
cousin snuggling:
sister snuggling:
and general hotel room shenanigans:
a whole lot of fun packed into 24 hours!
-melissa
for these posts about our amazing european sandwich meetup lindsey and melissa will be making tag-team posts. lindsey will post in orange and melissa will post in green.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
we spent our last day in portugal soaking up all that makes lisbon such an amazing and glorious city.
more tiles:
More hills:
more stunning cathedrals:
And a very cool museum.
we visited the port institute and sampled the different types of port. my assessment: port is good, but it tastes a bit like drinking raisins. Apparently I like drinking rasins because I loved every sip.
then we watched the moonrise, and said a sad farewell to beautiful lisbon.
it was such a marvelous adventure, it was hard to leave. but it is just the first of many european sandwich meetups
-lindsey & melissa
for these posts about our amazing european sandwich meetup lindsey and melissa will be making tag-team posts. lindsey will post in orange and melissa will post in green.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Claire and Georg's wonderful wedding we returned to lisbon for a little more exploring.
We hiked up many hills (seriously - there were lots of hills. i believe lisbon is built on seven hills and i feel like we hiked each one at least twice!) to see beautiful panoramas. (but the city was so gorgeous - it was completely worth it!)
and you know, we couldn't come all the way to portugal and not squeeze in a little time for knitting!
That evening we met up with some friends we met at the wedding and attempted to go to Claire's cousin's restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately it was closed so the taxi driver said he would drop us at the docks. After the initial shock and some convincing that he wasn't going to leave us in a scary part of town to be murdered (luckily "i'll just drop you off at the docks" means something completely different in portugal!), we had an amazing meal at a swanky restaurant right on the water.
It was a beautiful night for a walk so we strolled along the river to see the statue celebrating the explorers setting sail.
and then we journeyed just a tad further to see the gorgeous torre de belém, an amazing building built in the late 15 century.
then we caught a cab (because at this point we had walked quite a distance and it was almost midnight) and headed back to our hotel for a good night's sleep so we'd be ready for one more glorious day in lisbon!
-lindsey & melissa
for these posts about our amazing european sandwich meetup lindsey and melissa will be making tag-team posts. lindsey will post in orange and melissa will post in green.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the next morning was the big day! we went over to the pink house to help claire decorate the reception tent.
We got to hang the lovely hearts that friends and family knit.
We scampered home to get ready for the wedding and got back just in time to watch claire's cousin putting on her makeup.
Claire's dad did an amazing job with the ceremony. By telling his sweet stories in both English and German, I don't think there was a dry eye in the garden he dubbed the 'cathedral of nature'.
On to the reception! the food was amazing
the cake was topped with a traditional portuguese rooster.
Entertainment was charming. Claire's cousin's son sang traditional Portugese Fado
claire and georg didn't sing, but they did give heartfelt thank you speeches in both english and german.
We crashed Claire and Georg's photo shoot
But really, who could resist this beauty?
seriously, have you ever seen a more beautiful bride?
we even taught their portuguese photographer the word, "smootch!"
The shawl turned out perfectly and looked amazing with Claire's dress and feathers.
It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed it long into the night.
-lindsey & melissa
for these posts about our amazing european sandwich meetup lindsey and melissa will be making tag-team posts. lindsey will post in orange and melissa will post in green.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the next day (which was, i believe, friday) claire and georg had graciously arranged a bus to take all the out of town guests up to the village where the wedding would be held. We met at the bullfighting ring of all fabulous places.
after an hour-long ride through the gorgeous portuguese countryside we arrived in the charming village of a dos francos. linds and i were staying in the guest house of the white house with claire's lovely british cousins.
the property was absolutely amazing. The tiles were stunning inside and out.
after some time spent exploring we strolled down the lane to the pink house for the rehearsal.
This house is truely amazing, there are hidden gems everywhere you turn.
we then went to the neighboring village of òbidos to explore a bit and partake of a delicious pre-wedding dinner with claire and georg's family and friends.
The town has gorgeous tiles
And cute locals.
Next up, the big day!
-lindsey & melissa
for these posts about our amazing european sandwich meetup lindsey and melissa will be making tag-team posts. lindsey will post in orange and melissa will post in green.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After an exciting but exhausting day in Amsterdam, the fabulous Clarie and her amazing aunt, Tia Christina, picked us up in Lisbon and whisked us off to Christina's house for a much needed sleep.
Our first day in Lisbon we started off at the river
Walked up many hills
I love Portuguese graffiti, so creative
and also amazingly beautiful...
Walked past beautiful tiled buildings. The tiles were stunning and every place you looked.
although there were also lots of untiled building that were beautiful as well.
we were quite the relaxed tourists, but we did have one rule: if we passed a church and we could get inside, we would go in.
after much wandering and wandering and coffee and more beautiful wanderings we finally ended up at the castle (the Castelo de São Jorge).
we then scampered down the hill in time to meet up with claire and georg and some wisconsin friends.
we had coffee (of course) and the most delicious pastries to be found in portugal, the beloved pasteis de nata. (this was the first portuguese words lindsey and i learned. and we put them to good work - ordering them everywhere we went!)
we wandered over to claire's cousin's home to watch the sunset...
then strolled our way back to claire's aunt's apartment, enjoying every single sight.
- lindsey & melissa
for these posts about our amazing european sandwich meetup lindsey and melissa will be making tag-team posts. lindsey will post in orange and melissa will post in green.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
on our way to portugal we planned ahead so that both linds and i were on klm flights that convienently had a 12hr layover in amsterdam. after meeting up at the airport and taking the train to the city center our first order of business was to find caffiene:
that accopmlished we discussed our plan for the day: the fact that beyond a visit to the anne frank house we had no plan. we would just wander and soak in the beauty of amsterdam, stopping for coffees when the jet lag would start to kick in.
Coffee and fabulous food kept us going. Bacon and mushroom pancake or nutella bananna pancake? Both please!
this was my first ever trip to europe and i was swept away by the beauty and charm of amsterdam - the architecture alone was enough to convince me that i loved this city!
And the canals, I love the canals. me too!!
a sundial on a cathedral!?!?! how amazing is that?!?! love it!
i think this last picture sums up our opinion of amsterdam: love!!!!
- lindsey & melissa
reflecting on the seemingly quickening pace of the passage of time this june, i stopped to consider that my summer is indeed full of riches. i am privileged to have so many wonderful friends and family who want to visit us or have invited us to visit them.
this past week was no exception. i spent an amazing two days in la crosse, wi at a meetup with melinda for a no-children, no-husbands, craft-a-ganza!!
a yarnbombing! it's like they knew we were coming!
ironically melinda and i met on ravelry due to our love of knitting, but upon arrival she busted out her sewing machine and i busted out my drop spindle.
confession: we bought this solely because of the label. (and drank it out of hotel issue styrofoam cups - classy!!)
we took a break from all that crafting to go to the bowling alley. click here if you want to know who won.
melinda also won the best of five dart tournament.
it was a wonderful two days full of laughter and crafting and all together too much food! i can't wait to get to do it again!!
when i first got word of their engagement i started right off with the handcrafting. (because that is how i show my love, with the handcrafts.)
through a bit of serendipitous scheduling i was able to deliver the towels in person to claire and georg whilst they were visiting her parents in racine.
it was such a treat to get to meet georg, to see him and claire together, and to be able to share in their joy for a couple of days.
-melissa
while winter continues to rage across minnesota i was lucky enough to take a trip to miami, florida. my friend laura (whom you may remember from the bat post or as my co-cancer hater in the 3-day walk) earned a free trip for two to miami through her work, and when she called and asked if i wanted to be her travel companion, after picking my jaw up off the floor, there was no question - of course i would love to go!
we stayed right on south beach, in the heart of old-school, art deco miami. it was truly a feast for the eyes.
each day they had a different group activies for us to chose from. tuesday we took an airboat tour of the everglades.
the tour was run by a member of the miccosukee tribe and so not only did we learn about the everglades but also the history and traditions of his people. (and i got to hold a young gator!)
the next day we took a tour of historic cuban miami.
the tour was led by a first-generation cuban american and it was fascinating the way she wove her family's personal story into the larger history of the cuban exodus to miami.
thursday we went swimming with dolphins! amazing! i still can't believe that's me there hanging on to the dorsal fin of a dolphin!
there was also plenty of free time, when we would stroll on the beach...
or explore the neighborhood of south beach.
(pictured above, española way and soundscape pavilion.)
it was a wonderful trip with a wonderful friend, thank you again laura - i had an amazing time!!
-melissa
ps - if you want to see more "what i did on my winter vacation" pictures they're in a flickr set here.
