our 2013 Christmas letter

You can stop holding your breath, because it’s once again time for Ian and Anna’s annual awkward, third-person Christmas letter!

Advent Conspiracy: handmade knitwear from the Philippines

"One size fits most." —Fingerwarmers in the honey winnower's cowl

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably already know that Ricefield Collective, which I supported on Kickstarter, held a photo contest for their Kickstarter backers and early customers. Fingerwarmers won the grand prize, and the Ricefield Collective blog Q&A just posted today!

"Look! I'm a hipster/Berklee student!" —Ian in the peacoat dreamer hat

The contest grand prize was seven pieces from the winter collection (which fortunately fit Ian and I much better than Fingerwarmers), and we love every single one. They are all warm, soft, and cozy, which is very important here in New England (currently 15 degrees). They also are beautiful, hand knit, and feature patterns difficult or impossible to replicate on a machine. And every purchase supports women in the Philippines, providing them enough of an income to stay and farm their ancestral lands.

"Knitwear from Ricefield Collective makes a great holiday gift." —Anna in the elf/huckleberry seedling slouchy

Since today is the last day of guaranteed first class shipping before Christmas, Ricefield Collective is offering 20 to 40% off everything until midnight EST tonight (December 17). Don't miss out!

Color Us Rad, or, we ran our first 5K!

"I don't want to say I was surprised that it was fun, because I knew it would be fun. But it was way more fun than I expected." —Ian, race participant

Because both of my brothers were star cross country runners in high school, a lot of people back in Kansas assume I'm a runner even though I am not. At all. I went jogging with Ian once in college. By the end of approximately one mile, I was so fatigued and also irritated at Ian's happy, not-winded encouragement, that I vowed I would never run with him again.



Then we moved to Boston. Running culture is huge here, and we thought maybe it was time to give running another shot. We laid some ground rules: Ian couldn't be a perky cheerleader, I couldn't complain out loud. It worked. Karen and Jeremy's encouragement to sign up for a 5K clued us in to setting a running goal. But a serious 5K was still intimidating. Enter Color Me Rad.

I'd heard about Color Me Rad/The Color Run via friends and blogs, so we decided to sign up for the first one to post a race date in Boston. We "trained" and set a goal to run the whole thing, but with no pressure to make a certain time (and the run is in no way timed).



On race day in late July, we woke up bright and early, threw on our white shirts, and jumped in the ZipCar. We picked up some sweet sunglasses and tattoos (and race shirts that we'll actually wear) with our race numbers, then lined up at the start, behind a giant bunny and three guys in speedos and spray tans.



We started jogging and didn't stop, through every color station. I realized adults forget how fun it is to be messy. We passed groups of college girls, dudes in crazy outfits, moms pushing strollers, walkers, joggers. Everyone was beaming, bright white teeth gleaming through rainbow lips.

After crossing the finish line and consuming several coconut waters and greek yogurt popsicles, we joined the color party in front of the stage, where every five to ten minutes the awesome emcee would announce color throws, and the crowd would count down to another round of throwing color everywhere.



While Color Me Rad hasn't turned us into serious runners, it has inspired us to keep going. I learned that I can actually run (my confidence got a huge boost passing all the walkers). I learned that running doesn't always have to be a chore, and can even be fun. I think I've finally moved past my grumpy runner stage, and I now know that if Ian's cheerleading gets out of hand, chucking handfuls of cornstarch at him is an effective and non-lethal way to deal with it. (Just kidding... or am I?)

We're already planning to sign up for the 2014 race and are recruiting friends to join us. Are you in?

Ianna goes to Europe: serendipity on Rue Cler

For our fourth anniversary, Ian gifted me an original Paul Ferney oil painting from his Paris collection, as a nod to our someday trip to France. When we finally started planning, I meant to email the artist to find out the address of the flower shop that was the subject of our painting. But I forgot. I remembered again the first night we were in Paris, walking to our apartment in Montmartre, a place the Ferneys had blogged about. I decided to keep an eye out for that flower shop. If we found it, it would be serendipity. Unfortunately, I never saw a flower shop that looked quite like a match. C'est la vie.

A few weeks after we got back from vacation, I saw a notice that Paul Ferney's Paris paintings were now available as prints. I browsed the collection to see if I recognize anything after our week in Paris. Then I noticed another flower shop painting, which was a different vantage point of the same shop as the painting Ian got me. And that one had a location in its name. Which happened to be Rue Cler. I freaked out a little. I immediately looked for the flower shop on Google street view. Rue Cler isn't that long, and we had walked it's entire length. I found the shop. We had walked right past it and not noticed, since the shop was closed and we were huddled under an umbrella with an eye for dinner. I wondered where the flower shop was in relation to L'Eclair, where we had dinner. I couldn't find the restaurant on street view, so looked it up online to find the address. It was right next to the flower shop from our painting. Serendipity.

See all our photos from Paris on Flickr, and catch up on our trip posts.

*We turned our celebrity couple name, bestowed by my brother Caleb, into an Instagram hashtag (#iannagoestoeurope) and now it's virtually impossible to refer to our trip in any other way.

Ianna goes to Europe: to Amsterdam!

Wednesday morning, Ren walked us to the station to say goodbye (and to make sure the German language barrier didn't result in us getting on the wrong train). By the time we had to transfer trains, we were in the English-friendly Netherlands.

Our first order of business upon arrival at Centraal Station was to purchase 72-hour metro passes. Next, Ian popped into Starbucks for wifi to call Boaz, the owner of the apartment we rented via VRBO. We lugged our suitcases out to the metro platforms, then huddled under our umbrella in an attempt to avoid the downpour until we were safely seated on the dry tram.

We met Boaz at the door of the apartment so he could hand off the keys and give us a quick tour of the space (pointing out thing like the "weefee" password and extra blankets). The rain paused as we got settled, but started up again when we headed out for dinner.



We walked to a nearby restaurant recommended by our Lonely Planet guide, only to discover it was closed for the evening. Our next choice was also closed, and the rain began to pick up. A pit stop at a hotel lobby resulted in a recommendation for a nearby Italian restaurant, after being advised that traditional Dutch food wasn't very exciting. The food was decent, and Ian had his opportunity to try Jenever, a traditional Dutch spirit recommended by a coworker. Ian didn't mind it, but I can't imagine how anyone enjoys it.

By the time we finished dinner, it seemed the rain had stopped for good, and we took a stroll around the city before heading back to the apartment. Amsterdam is well known for it's bicycle culture, but it's an entirely different experience to see the infrastructure and the number and variety of people whose use it as their main form of transportation: men in expensive suits, moms with toddlers in trailers, punked out teenagers, little kids. We imagined what it would be like if Boston could someday attain an equally successful bike culture (currently an initiative in the city).

The next day seemed to have the best chance for clear skies (or at least no rain), so we dedicated it to Ian's landscape architecture sightseeing. To make the day more interesting for me, I decided to photobomb as many of his photos as possible.




The first park we visited was Westergasfabriek. Ian analyzed different aspects of the park, while I enjoyed attempting to read Dutch (and successfully photobombing Ian). We stopped at De Bakkerswinkel, and discovered that Dutch food is actually quite delicious, contrary to the warning we received the previous night.



We headed back towards downtown, and took a stroll down Haarlemmerstraat, recommended by the store owner when we picked up breakfast that morning. Apparently it's a popular shopping street for young and hip people (and we tell ourselves we're hip).



We also continued to be fascinated by the amount of bicycles everywhere, filling multi-level bicycle garages, rolling along separate lanes with bicycle stoplights, and locked to every inch of railings along the canals.



We walked back to Centraal and hopped on a tram that took us to the Borneo-Sporenburg housing district and it's iconic bridges. We may have snuck into The Whale, an apartment building, so Ian could take photos of the interior courtyard.




Our next and final landscape destination was Funenpark. Each of the 16 residential buildings in the new urban quarter were designed by different architects, the wide variety of shapes, sizes, and materials unified by a single, continuous landscape. Ian's excitement led to a couple epic photobombs, but I also was happy to serve as a size reference in his photos.




By the time we finished Ian was ready for a snack, and he couldn't pass up the pickled herring. Like Jenever, Ian enjoyed it while I was less than enthused.



On our way back to the apartment, we noticed the line for the Anne Frank House was considerably shorter than it had been in the morning, and we jumped on the opportunity. It's one of the best museums we've ever visited. Anne is so well known, but the museum manages to expand her story even further. I learned so much, and have a much fuller picture of Anne, her family, and what they went through. After the war Anne's father, Otto, not only published her diary, but devoted his life to educate others on the dangers of racism and discrimination, and the importance of freedom and equal rights. One of the most thought provoking exhibits shows quick current events stories dealing with issues of freedom and equality—and then gives visitors the opportunity to vote on the question and see how those answers compared to other visitors. It is a powerful reminder that when human rights and freedoms conflict, there are no simple answers. We must find balance and "understand that no right is unlimited."

We headed back to our apartment, stopping by Bilder & de Clercq to pick up ingredients for dinner. We had a chance to speak to the owner. It's a fairly new store, and unique in concept. They have ten recipes at a time, which rotate every few weeks. At each station are all the ingredients measured out to make the recipe for two people: no leftover ingredients you have to use up or throw out. All of the recipes look delicious, and include local ingredients (still a newer movement in Amsterdam). The goal is to make homemade weeknight meals easy, particularly for singles and young families. We loved the idea, the store is brilliantly designed—although that's no surprise in Amsterdam—and the products and recipes are delicious. We hope they do well enough they can open up a second store in Boston...




We dedicated our last full day in Amsterdam to museums. We started at the van Gogh Museum, making our decision based on current line length. My appreciation for van Gogh has definitely grown thanks to seeing so much of his artwork in person. It is so much more captivating to see his brush strokes in three dimensions, and to know more about the way he worked and why he painted. (My favorite is Wheatfield under thunderclouds, 1890.) But we were less than impressed with the current exhibition. It starts on the first floor, and winds up to finish on the third. We realized only when we reached the end of the exhibit that by going up the stairs instead of the elevator, we were starting each floor halfway through the narrative. And while much of the information next to each painting was interesting, it quickly became repetitive. Thankfully, the flaws in the exhibition layout (and arguably building design) didn't make van Gogh's work any less impressive.



By the time we finished, we realized we wouldn't be able to squeeze in a visit to the Rijksmuseum before our tour appointment at UNStudio, an architecture firm our office has worked with in the past. So instead, we took a walking tour of the city via Rick Steves audio tour, reliably educational and entertaining.




One of our coworkers had connected us to one of the principals at the UNStudio office, who was kind enough to take time out of his day to show us the office and some of their current projects. Ian was especially intrigued by their model shop and 3D printers, and I enjoyed seeing how another design firm operates.



That night, Ren showed up to see us one last time (and then take an impromptu educational trip that included the Anne Frank House). We ate dinner from Bilder & de Clercq while packing and watching Dutch television (the Dutch language reminds us so much of the Swedish chef, and it's interesting to think that if European colonial expansion had gone a little differently, we could all be speaking Dutch).



The next morning we headed back to Centraal to take a train to the airport. After 30 minutes of panic that we didn't arrive early enough to make it to our gate in time, we realized their airport was backwards from American airports: waiting in long lines to print tickets and check baggage, with short security lines at the gates.

All too soon, our bucket list European vacation was over, and we were left with a large pile of laundry, a delayed checked bag, and a mean case of jet lag. We decided to make the best of being wide awake way too early Sunday morning while waiting for our bag delivery, and headed to the Paris that doesn't require a passport. I'm hoping a fairly regular stream of crêpe nutella noix de coco et croissants will tide me over until we have the opportunity to revisit the City of Light.

See all our photos from Paris on Flickr, and catch up on our trip posts.

*We turned our celebrity couple name, bestowed by my brother Caleb, into an Instagram hashtag (#iannagoestoeurope) and now it's virtually impossible to refer to our trip in any other way.

Ianna goes to Europe: onward to Germany

After a quick train ride (during which I may have imagined I was on my way to Hogwarts) and just one transfer, we were at the platform in Wuppertal, hugging Ren and our friend Megan, who was visiting for the weekend from Budapest, where she was finishing up her last year teaching at an elementary school. We walked back to Ren's dorm (Ian's luggage lost a wheel along the way; that's the last time we put all the heavy stuff in one suitcase) and made dinner before heading to the student center to watch the Champions League final soccer match. We were in Borussia Dortmund country, so Ren was in the minority cheering for Bayern Munich. It worked out for him though: he was one of the few people happy with the outcome (Bayern won, 2-1).



The next morning, we met up with a couple of Ren's friends, and the six of us headed to Essen to spend the rainy day indoors at the Ruhr Museum. It's an old coal plant transformed into a natural and cultural history museum. The museum covers just about everything related to the Ruhr, from the Middle Ages to WWII, from cultural artifacts to rock samples, from antique religious garb to local (taxidermy) wildlife.







And Ian was over the moon about the landscape, with the coal plant remnants repurposed into a stunning park.





The next day, Megan, Ian, and I took a short ride on the famous Schwebebahn, a hanging car rail line suspended over the picturesque Wupper River. Thanks to my ineptitude with the German language, Schwebebahn turned into "Shwarmybarm." (Fortunately, Ian's German is much better than mine.)



We hopped on another (firmly grounded and less idyllic) train to Köln. Our first stop was the Ren-recommended Kölner Dom. We climbed 533 stairs to reach the top of the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe. The journey to the top is full of twists and turns, worn down steps and narrow passageways. But every so often, you have a chance to pause and peek through intricately carved windows to the city below.




Back on the ground, it was time for some refreshment, so we popped into a pub in the old city for local fare: wienerschnitzel, Kölsch — the local brew, apfelkuchen, and apfelsaft. Those Germans really love their apfels, and I was happy to reap the benefits. (Apple soda is my favorite!)



We strolled around the historic part of downtown, then walked Megan back to the train station so she could get back to Budapest in time to teach the next day. (Thanks for meeting up with us, Megan!)



Ian and I finished our day in Köln snacking on Haribo goldbären (which taste even better in Germany) while searching for landscape architecture on Ian's can't-miss list. The landscape topping that list was the biggest challenge to find. Thankfully, the trees in front of the building were sporting some of the project's iconic seating, so we ventured inside to discover the landscape was actually the interior courtyard of an office building. From the photos, you'd never guess it was inside.



Our final stop in Köln was a brand new development along the Rhine River. The architecture was crazy - very modern, hip, and shiny. While we were walking in and around the buildings, Ian informed me that the chances of seeing this sort of creative development in the USA are slim.



For our last day in Germany, Ren pulled out all the stops. We headed to one of his favorite German cities in the area: Düsseldorf. Our tour of the city started at Schloss Benrath, or the Pink Palace, where we wandered the extensive grounds.




Next, we headed downtown to check out the impressive modern architecture along the Rhine. It was incredible to see the work of so many famous architects, all squeezed into such a short stretch of riverfront. This, of course, meant lots and lots of photos and pauses for Ian to sketch.





We also took a ride to the top of the Rhine Tower, a broadcast tower with an observation deck, for a unique view of the city. We were surprised to see a herd of sheep dotted along the banks of the Rhine, in juxtaposition to the bustling modern city surrounding it.



We finished our time in the city strolling along the Rhine Promenade and exploring downtown. It's a beautiful city, and I understand completely why Ren loves it so much.





We headed to the train station, purchased some snacks (more Haribo!), then were on our way to our last destination: Landschaftspark in Duisburg-Nord, just north of the city.

On our way, we had our one and only run-in with the German train system. Instead of using security checks or ticket validation prior to boarding a train, plainsclothes officers conduct surprise checks. If you are caught riding without a ticket, you get slapped with a hefty fine. Overall, this seems like a good system to reduce delays while keeping riders honest. However, this can put unfamiliar riders in a bind, as the system is complex. We had purchased day passes that we thought were valid for the train to Duisburg-Nord. We flashed said passes when asked by the officer, and then watched as three teenage boys were issued a fine. Then we watched as he consulted with two other hidden officers, who kept glancing our way. A few minutes later, one of the other officers forcefully asked us questions, asking for our ID cards. Thank goodness for Ren, who explained, in German, that he was a student, and we were family visiting him. The officer didn't fine us, but required us to purchase the correct ticket on the train to continue riding. After those few moments of panic, I decided I'm totally fine waiting in line to tap my Charlie card, erasing all doubts of whether or not I've paid the right fare.

We finally arrived at the park and met up with a couple of Ren's university friends. We walked around, exploring yet another creatively repurposed industrial site, this time an old ironworks.

Ian kept commenting on the brilliance of the landscape architecture and taking countless photos, while Ren climbed things people technically probably aren't supposed to climb. Just another day with the Scherling brothers. We hung around and watched the sunset, then walked through the meadow back to the train station, trying to count all the rabbits we saw silhouetted in the fading light (final count: overwhelming).

Ren, thanks for being a great host and sharing Germany with us. We're so glad we got to spend time with you!

See all our photos from Germany on Flickr, and catch up on our trip posts.

*We turned our celebrity couple name, bestowed by my brother Caleb, into an Instagram hashtag (#iannagoestoeurope) and now it's virtually impossible to refer to our trip in any other way.