AOTA Fun In Baltimore

The first weekend of April, I had the tremendous privilege of giving a presentation with a colleague of mine at the American Occupational Therapy Conference in Baltimore.

This was something I had already committed to prior to our big move and I felt so fortunate to still be apart of it. To make things even more exciting, my closest OT gals from NYU decided to come for the weekend too! It was three FULL days of laughter, libations, reminiscing, nerdy OT talk, stalking OT celebs, and making grand plans for our profession. 

Oh, and hanging out with this cutie-pa-tootie Isla.

Isn't she yummy? I could eat cuddle her all day. 

 

On our first full day of conference (and the day before the presentation), I was feeling incredibly nervous. Someone had the brilliant idea that a crab hat and a stiff bloody mary might fix that problem. It certainly helped! 

Later that night, the festivities continued over tapas and sangria. Becky wore her Kate Middleton shirt.

Future OT???

The next morning, we were up bright and early with our coffees in hand, ready for another full day at conference. Despite my nerves, our presentation turned out a success and I had tons of fun! It was very inspiring to be able to talk about my own experiences and collaborate with other OTs across the country who I share the same passions with. 

With the presentation behind me and conference finishing up for the day, we were mentally checked out and ready to celebrate! 

Love these two! Bona fide Brooklynites and soon-to-be-married.

It quickly morphed into an "Empire Space Needle" kinda night, full of OT silliness. You can take the girl out of NYC but you can't take NYC out of the girl.

On our last day in Baltimore, we trekked over to the charming Fell's Point neighborhood for brunch before saying our goodbyes and parting ways. 

Can't wait until our next reunion!

Amsterdam Part 2

On our third day in Amsterdam, we woke up early and walked over to the Jordaan neighborhood in hopes of avoiding a long queue at the Anne Frank House. Unfortunately, everyone else visiting that weekend had the same idea as us.

An hour and a half later, we finally made it in. The wait was definitely worth it, though. It was incredible to see all of the hiding places inside the building and to learn how the Frank family managed to keep quiet day in and day out.

As we were leaving, we were greeted by several local news crews and journalists outside of the main entrance who were waiting for the Chinese President to arrive. Turns out, he (along with Obama) was in town for the Nuclear Security Summit. The Chinese president requested to see the Anne Frank House and Obama requested to see the Rembrandt at the Rijksmuseum. Needless to say, there was a lot going on that weekend!

Next, we had to try one of Amsterdam's delicacies, Dutch pancakes. Yum! So we walked a few blocks down the street from the Anne Frank house to a place called the The Pancake Bakery.

There were so many choices! We ended up getting one savory and one sweet and switched plates halfway through.

After a very satisfying meal, we explored more of the Jordaan neighborhood. This area was, by far, my favorite and definitely where I would want to live if I ever had an opportunity to move there. Tons of charming canals, quiet streets, unique architecture, and lots of bikes. 

 

After we had crossed every canal, admired every picturesque view, and strolled through every block in the Jordaan, we made our way back to our apartment.

We ended the night at a highly recommended jazzy-blues club, where we treated ourselves to dancing, Heineken for Jason, and whiskey gingers for me!

The next morning, we had a few hours before heading to the airport so we walked over to the Jordaan one last time. We found a cafe serving lunch on a canal boat.

After a relaxing lunch in the sun, we hurried over to central station to catch our train to the airport. Until next time, Amsterdam!

Amsterdam Part 1

I'm baaaaaack!!! And I have tons of posts to catch up on. Can't wait to update all of you with what we've been up to over here across the pond. It's hard to believe we've been here for over 4 months already!

Back in mid-March we took a spontaneous weekend trip to Amsterdam thanks to some extra airline miles we have. We booked a prime location apartment through Airbnb (which I highly recommend, btw) that turned out great (minus the clean-but-super-small Dutch style bathroom.)

After dropping the pups off at their hotel mid-afternoon, we hopped on the tube to central London where we caught an express train to Luton airport. One of the downsides to using airline miles was not being able to use the most convenient airport for us, which is usually London Stansted. Oh well, nothing that a little public transportation couldn't fix.

Luckily, Amsterdam is only about an hour-long flight from London. However, by the time we arrived at our apartment that evening, we were feeling pretty tired and decided to stay in, drink some wine, and enjoy the views of Amsterdam nightlife from our window. 

The following morning, we were well-rested and ready to conquer the city. While I was finishing up getting ready, Jason popped down to the bakery below our apartment to grab a quick dessert breakfast for us.

We started our "walking tour" near central station and slowly made our way down to the museum district, admiring the architecture along the way.

Lots of goodies displayed in a storefront.

As we approached the Spui neighborhood, we came across the The Begijnhof, a hidden courtyard that was originally a sanctuary and living quarters for the Begijntjes, a Catholic sisterhood of nuns. Today, it is occupied by single women who have chosen to live simply.

Next up was lunch at Cafe Luxembourg and a chance to rest our feet.

We snagged a seat right next to the front window and enjoyed watching locals walk and cycle by, busy completing their Saturday afternoon errands.

Espresso for me, hot chocolate for Jason (naturally).

And delicious, fresh salads to make up for our rather sweet breakfast!

After lunch we were re-energized and ready to check out the flower market. This was a much anticipated sight for me. Tulips are my faaaavorite!

Here you can see the backside of the market, hence the term floating flower market.

Beautiful flowers everywhere!

And bulbs, seeds, and starter plants of all varieties!

Just when I thought things couldn't get any better with all of the gorgeous flowers, I spotted several cheese shops across the street. 

All of the shops offered generous samples. Let's just say Jason had to cut me off.

I. love. cheese.

We continued our walking tour, crossing our first picturesque canal.

When we finally arrived in the museum district, we decided to purchase our tickets to the Van Gogh museum for a specific scheduled time, in order to avoid the long lines. This turned out to be a great choice, as the crowds were in full force.

With 30 minutes to kill, it was a perfect opportunity to capture a classic Amsterdam photo.

It was really interesting learning about Van Gogh's life and seeing his paintings. He was an incredibly talented artist who constantly battled mental illness, which unfortunately eventually took his life. After a solid two hours at the museum, we were ready for some late afternoon downtime. We took the tram back to our apartment and rested up for a flavorful evening in the Red Light District (RLD).

Unfortunately, I didn't capture any photos of the RLD. I think I was too busy taking in every detail of people watching (and I had previously heard that if you're spotted taking pictures your camera will get thrown into the canal, ha). It was certainly an experience, to say the least. It left me rather intrigued with the prostitution industry in Amsterdam. So much that I gathered a few facts for you:

-about 1,000 prostitutes work in Amsterdam every single day
-prostitutes pay taxes just like any other job
-prostitutes even have a union called De Rode Draad
-on average, prostitutes pay 85 euros to rent a window during the day & 115 euros at night
-they typically charge 50 euros for a 15-20 minute service
source: www.amsterdam-advisor.com

Stay tuned for Amsterdam Part 2!