tree street in your husband's blazer or a red convertable

about every twenty minutes worth of driving in belgium you will run into one of these streets lined with canopy trees. i remember adoring the canopy trees on the provo canyon trail nearby my childhood home. with one so close by here, it's hard not to want to walk down it with every setting sun, even if it means you have to wear your husband's blazer to stay warm. now i gotta build a tree street of my own...

...and drive this car down it, wearing those same old man caps and all:)

take home chronicles: ivy

europe cannot come home with me, but if i remember i may be able to recreate a few a my favorite things. to help my memory here is the first of a few take-home design ideas starting with IVY. i was not a fan before coming here. but my how my eyes have been entranced with the growing green vines. i love their prominence, dominance-their untamed unruliness. a wall, not the entire home, looks so much more alive with some ivy on it. plus when fall comes around, it's like your wall turns into a little chameleon. enchanting, no?

antwerp: love at first sight

we mozy-ied on up to antwerp and happened upon the neatest design street in europe. kloosterstraat. go there. antwerp is known for it's fashion, they have an urban o there:) yet, i was grateful we spent most of our time in the antique home area. clusterstreet, as i nicknamed it, is a narrow road with endless of antiques, hardware, ceramics, furnture, metals, lights, architecture, clothes, and anything innovative in design. i normally stress about where we go on the weekends, but left this trip up to devin. of course, without any planning, or any idea where we were, we accidentally had the one of the best outings yet. we spent the whole drive home mentally creating our dream home-and anxious to dive back in to it when we are finished here. you will see more of us kloosterstraat, i still haven't found my belgian plate.

Temple

the Hague Netherlands Temple is in a city called Zoetermeer, which directly translates to Sweet Lake. so while back in Utah we have a Salt Lake Temple, here we have a Sweet Lake Temple. the city of Sweet Lake was darling. perfectly crafted, as most things are in God's plan, for a Temple to fit in.

we met some incredible folk at the temple who drive ten times as far to the temple as i did in utah. it deeply humbled me to give more of myself to this sacred work. we were grateful for going to a new place that feels so familiar. we met "willem," an old man and new friend, on the temple grounds, and tried to explain the purpose of God's temples. we were touched by the quote on the Temple schedule card:

"Hasten the work in the Temple, renew your exertions to forward all the work of the last days, and walk before the Lord in soberness and righteousness. We need the temple more than anything else."

-The Prophet Joseph Smith-

oh and ps, if you ever go to the netherlands, don't waste your time in rotterdam. we were there long enough to grab some grub, sneak a few pictures, and realize it was time to leave. i would not call it europe's finest place to visit.

to amsterdam and back

we're home from the weekend exursion. it was a strange weekend, aside from the peace in the temple: mid-night sick spells, uncooked lasagna-i mean really butchered uncooked lasagna, and visiting a hopeful city that felt, without a better explanation, a little dingy. but we're back, ready for a new start. bonjour to a new day.