Happy Friday, dear friends. This week was full of sunshine and a little extra time with my niece as my mother-in-law, who regularly babysits her, had knee surgery. I was only too happy to fill in!

I’m between freelance projects at the moment, with a few weeks of calm that I’m trying to spend with my friends and family before things pick up again. Michael and I have some big changes on the horizon in the next few months, so we’re trying to take advantage of the rest when we can get it. We took a few walks when the sun was shining and worked on planning our trip to Croatia in a few weeks. Spring has sprung and the days feel long and full of promise.

Here are a few things that made my week.

My friend Anne introduced me to the iCloud shared photo streams this week and I spent most of the evening sharing photos with my family. Sometimes technology is just awesome. I’m sure I missed a trick on this one – I think it’s been around for a while – but I’m loving it!

Did you know St. Patrick had such a lovely prayer on his breastplate? Or that he was an escaped Welsh slave? This is a cute little video history of St. Patrick.

I’m excited to try Cocu Kitchen, which just opened today in Dublin, serving healthy salad-y things. On their opening day, they donated their proceeds to Foodcloud Ireland, which connects businesses that have too much food with food pantries around the country.

I was going through old earmarked articles and found this post from Jane Flanagan (an Irish expat living in Canada) about authenticity and it’s profoundly quotable and important in this ultra-curated-Instagram world. “Authenticity can be captured by a photograph taken in a certain moment, but it can’t be constructed for a photograph.” A good reminder.

I’m in the market for a spring jacket, but I think this one might be too heavy? It’s awfully cute, though.

Michael and I have moved another small step toward owning a home here in Dublin this week, so of course I have responded by pinning home inspiration like a lunatic.

Baked French toast bite kebabs sound like an awesome idea – and they sound like a mouthful, in more ways than one!

I hope you have a restful weekend, full of friends and family and sunshine.

It’s hard to believe that just ten days ago I was in Amsterdam walking and talking with my friends Anne and Ashley. It’s even harder to believe Anne is on a plane to Japan right now and Ashley spent last weekend in Rome! These girls share my travel bug and we were all so grateful to squeeze a little girlfriend visit into our busy lives.

I thought I’d start by giving you all the details of where we ate/explored/shopped in our short three days in Amsterdam. Next week I’m going to share eight million photos of bicycles and canals, because I realized they were cluttering up this post. I must have stopped on every corner to take photos of bicycles and canals that were *slightly different* but mostly the same. But you’re going to get that post anyway, because that’s what makes Amsterdam so ‘dam appealing.

And there’s a little round-up at the bottom of all the spots we visited and links to their websites!

My travel buddies!

First things first, we stayed in the Volkshotel on the southern side of Amsterdam. We were swayed by their triple rooms, and when we arrived we all enjoyed the big open plan work spaces, beautiful flower arrangements, and hilarious signage. The hotel is a former newspaper headquarters, so there is blown up newspring of actual Volkspaper pages on the walls. They also have a selection of rooms designed by local artists, some of whom work out of the studios in the back of the hotel. One of the rooms has a life-size plastic deer and you are allowed to climb on it. That’s an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. 

We also had lunch our first day in the restaurant at the top of the hotel, overlooking the city. Their open-faced sandwiches are awesome and cheap on delicious bread. Their menu also includes moments of hilarious translation that cracked us up for our whole trip. Instead of chickpeas, they called them chicken nuts, and that about did us in. 

We had much needed coffee the first day at Coffee and Coconuts, which we initially thought was Coffee and Donuts. The enormous and airy interior made up for that initial disappointment. Exposed brick, Michael Jackson posters on the walls, and three floors of seating.  

Another day, in another moment of starvation, we happened upon Toastable at just the right moment. Toastable does triple decker toasties, or toasted sandwiches, and they were life-saving. The girls went for normal-ish combinations (I say normal-ish, but Ashley ordered the “old cheese” version of every meal on this trip), but I went for Grandma’s meatballs with cheese and peanut sauce. It sounds bizarre but it was one of the yummiest sandwiches I’ve ever had. And I can safely say I will never be able to properly recreate it again in my life. A once in a lifetime triple-decker toastie! 

We loved the de Pijp neighborhood, which was in walking distance from our hotel. Lots of cool restaurants and cafes, and a giant daily market. You can spy a little more on this neighborhood on my friend Ajda’s Instagram since she lives very close! 

We also loved the Noordmarkt in the opposite area of the city, but it’s only open on Mondays from 8-1pm. Can you believe there was a selection of gently worn LL Bean boots at the market in Amsterdam? I nearly bought some just because they reminded me of Maine. I’ve decided that once we buy a house in Dublin, I’m going to rent a van and drive it to Amsterdam and stock up on furniture. I’m quite convinced it will be cheaper and the furniture will make me happier than anything we’d find here. We’ll rent a big van, anyone want in? 

We visited possibly the coolest travel bookstore on the planet, and Anne was in heaven. Anne teaches a Skillshare class on creating your own maps, so it was her mecca! So many maps and globes! Anne visited the Stedelijk Museum and loved it, and the other two girls also tried the Foam Photography Museum while I took a wander on my own.

Of course, we also took lots of photos and shared lots of Instagrams! 

Ashley shot a bunch of film, so those will be fun to see when she gets them developed!  

So, here’s what you can pack into three short days in Amsterdam with girlfriends!

Eat: De Ysbreeker / Toastable / Winkel 43 / Juice & Salad Cafe / Volkshotel / Flamingo

Coffee: Headfirst / Scandinavian Embassy / Coffee & Coconuts

Explore: Foam Photography Museum / Stedelijk Museum / Noordmarkt

Instagrams to follow for more : Ashley / Anne / Ajda / Me!

Next week, more beautiful canals, millions of bicycles, and lots of leaning buildings!

I mentioned in my post about our upcoming travel for 2015 that I’m heading to Berlin in April to attend and help with The Hive Conference. I haven’t been back in a few years (here’s a post about my time there in 2012!), but I’ve been sending out their newsletters for the last year and a half, so I’m very up to date!

The Hive is a conference for digital influencers – Instagrammers, YouTubers, bloggers and online personalities. I’m so excited about the speaker lineup this year – Chelsea Fuss of Frolic and Natalie Holbrook of Hey Natalie Jean are among them. The world of blogging and social media has changed so much in the last few years, and will continue to so rapidly, and I’m excited to have some conversations about what that might look like.

Of course, I also love The Hive because I met my friends Anne and Ashley, whom I traveled with last week to Amsterdam! I have so appreciated their friendship and advice over the last few years as we all navigate these freelance creative careers we’ve built. I’ll be sharing more about our trip to Amsterdam tomorrow!

I’ve been given a special code for €40 off the ticket price for any Irish blogger who wants to go over for the conference. Just send an email to emily@fromchinavillage.com if you’d like to know more! My flights were very cheap and Berlin is such a fun city. Plus, we could hang out for the weekend!