Hundred Days of Happiness - Week Thirteen
Busy week filled with meetings, family time, and delicious pancake experiments!
It’s been quite the week of full on work - lots and lots of meetings and events which I had to plan and I was away from home a lot this week. It’s quite a strange transition from working from home and being close to my family, to being away. It’s taking some getting used to. But, I am glad to for the work and I believe in what we are doing at the Stichting Internet Archive, so it’s all worth it.
I have moved my newsletter to a new-to-me service called Buttondown. I sent out last week’s missive, but it went into my spam folder, so hoping you all received it alright. If not, check your spam folder or have a read in the archive. I tweaked some of the settings and now hopefully the email should arrive from my personal domain - murchstudio.com - and arrive directly into your inbox.
Monday Feb 3 – Day 86
Went swimming Monday morning - not here! - but in the municipal pool and had to stop on my bike ride back home to appreciate this gorgeous view in MaximaPark. The canals stayed mostly frozen all day. A glorious crisp and sunny winter day.
Tuesday Feb 4 – Day 87
Spent the day in Amsterdam in an daylong meeting which finished off with dinner with 13 colleagues in the Restaurant Seven Seas. It is part of the incredibly beautiful hotel that gave us a tour of their space - Grand Hotel Amrâth. The Art Nouveau architecture is steeped with maritime themes as this was originally created as a joint venture by major Dutch shipping companies in the early 20th century. If you ever get a chance, either stay as a guest, or just go there for drinks because, wow - it’s gorgeous.
Wednesday Feb 5 – Day 88
The second full day of work at an offsite meeting to discuss a project. I think we might be able to do something really cool - all the pieces need to fold together just right… On the way home, I saw this beautiful sight of the “Amsterdam” ship - it’s actually a replica - in front of the Maritime Museum. The Dutch ruled the seas for a very long time and that part of their history is on prominent display.
Thursday Feb 6 – Day 89
My husband is learning to play the guitar and I absolutely love hearing him play. This makes me happy beyond measure and I cannot really explain why. Just accepting the goodness.
Friday Feb 7 – Day 90
We had an afternoon gathering at Cafe Droog to see what cool collaborations we can cook up here in Europe with the Stichting Internet Archive.
Saturday Feb 8 – Day 91
We started reading The Hobbit in late December and have been slowly reading the story before bedtime ever since. We finished reading on Saturday afternoon. I have been gone a lot for work this past week and will be gone in France all next week attending the AI Action Summit in Paris as part of the Public AI Network. I wanted to get in some extra time with our son and give DH some time off as he’s going to be a single parent all next week, so we snuggled on the couch to finish reading the book after going for a walk and playing in the playground. As an added bonus, with the book finished, we had family movie night and watch the last movie of that trilogy. I cried when Thorin died in the book, and then again, in the movie. But, 100% worth it.
We will have to see when our son is old enough to read The Lord of the Rings. Seems like The Hobbit is good for children around 8-10 and LOTR is better starting around 12. We came to an agreement that he can read LOTR once he has read The Hobbit for himself.
Sunday Feb 9 – Day 92
Sunday morning, I opened up the fridge to look for my overnight oats for breakfast and slowly closed my eyes realizing that I had forgotten to make them the night before. Oops. So, I figured I could make myself some oatmeal, but then realized, hey, it’s Sunday - pancakes are always an option on Sunday - it’s a long-standing Murch family tradition. I made “three ingredient” pancakes (mushed banana, egg & oatmeal), but then added a fourth ingredient of chia seeds. I then spread peanut butter on top, added some hagelslag and berries. This delicious and healthy breakfast was accompanied by a most excellent coffee. DH bought some amazingly good coffee beans from 30ML Coffee & Food and wow - so good.
This week’s song is inspired by the fact that both our son and DH are learning to play Imagine. I am hoping that we can have a little trio in a month or so. That would make my heart just burst with love. Have a good week everyone. Stay strong, spread love and joy, and practice random acts of kindness.