Spice Gets Married (AGAIN!)

Don’t let the title fool you. Two weddings, same man, under 2 years 🙂 Yup! Thats how life works sometimes when you are in a multi-cultural relationship like ours. I got double the wedding fun! And ever so fitting is that in 10 days we will be celebrating our 2nd year anniversary from our first wedding. A lot of people have asked us which day will we celebrate and the answer is both! Something German for our October 26th anniversary and something American for our August 18th anniversary. We’re lucky enough to have two awesome days to remember…why not celebrate both! 🙂

Hit play on the video below and listen to the song I walked down the aisle too. This song is more of a party song from the 80’s early 90’s but this version lets you actually hear the lyrics. It was beautiful and made a bunch of us cry! Even Toblerone! But how cute is it that a man that has been with me for 6 years, married for 2 would still cry when he sees me walking down the aisle. Beautiful moments all around, people!

During the past two years I have had MANY expats ask me about the wedding planning process from 3,000 miles away. You want my advice? DONT. DO. IT.  Not only did things come out a bit differently than if I had actual time to do things but the amount of stress compressed into the few days before the wedding is just not healthy. Weddings are stressful but imagine seeing your decorations and things you ordered online for the first time one week before the wedding day. If I had a month to go home and organize all wedding things, I would have in a heartbeat. It would have saved us all from combustion!

We held our wedding in a house we rented for the week in Cape Cod, MA. It was the most beautiful setting for our wedding day. It wasn’t on the beach but I didn’t really want that necessarily. We just wanted it to be in our favorite place on earth.

We had over 65 guests and every single person there came from out of state or out of country. Think about that for a minute. 65 people (including kidlets) that came for this moment. This special day. It’s this kind of feeling that just can’t be described but that fact that our destination wedding pulled in that amount of love and friendship was just jaw dropping. We were speechless.

My darling cousin did my hair and makeup and surprise!!!!!!…… My dress is PINK! Wouldn’t want it any other way! We took wedding pictures at the gorgeous Mass Audubon Nature park and wildlife sanctuary. It was a perfect spot. We had the ocean, we had sand, we had forests, we had ponds. So many different cool aspects for a great backdrop. One would even say magical.

It was 78 degress, sunny (hot in a massive dress), slight seabreeze, and little tiny bugs just LOVED getting up in between the layers of pink tulle I was wearing! My groom looked crazy handsome in his blue suit specially bought in Germany. Our wedding party looked fantastic! It all turned out well considering this was all primarily discussed through email before hand. Everyone looked perfect for the part!

The morning of our wedding I woke up around 7am and asked Toblerone to walk with me around the yard to take it all in. That was the one and only moment of “calm” that I felt! lol…but I suppose thats normal! Everything was slowly getting set up and we had lemonade and iced tea set up for our guests as they arrived. They got “fan” programs, noise makers, some got rice butterflies to throw in honor of our grandparents who were looking down on us.

Alot of what I did was DIY. I found a bunch of templates online and the real deal of it is…no one cares about the paper products at a wedding. The name cards, escort cards, programs, all of that gets thrown out or drinks spilled over it. I knew that going in so I did ALL of that myself. Even our invitations. I found a lot of great stuff over at weddingchicks.com. But doing a simple search for “templates” is very helpful! Don’t spend a dime on stuff if you don’t have to!

The ceremony was perfect and personal. Private and intimate. Everything we wanted. AND…done in two languages thanks to our very good friend who did the whole ceremony for us. Just perfect! We had a “stone and time capsule” ceremony.  On each seat we placed gold painted stones that each person was instructed to hold tightly and say a blessing, prayer, wish, and simply put their love and energy in to while Toblerone’s Dad and brother serenaded us with a trumpet duet. These stones were collected and placed into a box with wine and a love letter for us to open on our first anniversary. This was my absolute favorite part of the whole ceremony.

The reception started off with me sobbing basically while I thanked everyone for coming all this way just for little old us. Our Cape Cod Clambake was fantastic and people raved about the meal. It was a lot of food and for a great price. More importantly kind of fun! I literally was cracking a lobster in my wedding gown. I highly recommend it!

As for the music, I did it all myself. I spent WEEKS….no make that MONTHS working on a playlist long enough to keep the crowd going! I used an app on my phone called Wedding DJ which was great through all the testing but suddenly stopped working by cocktail hour. Thankfully I had the playlists on my computer in iTunes and we used that the rest of the night. I never left the dance floor. For some reason I felt like if the bride was on the dance floor…people would always dance. No one wants to leave the bride alone up there! Right?! I also didn’t have a sip of alcohol. I was sober through the COMPLETE thing! It was awesome! 🙂 Nothing classy about a drunk bride!

The party ended around 2am and I ended the night with two of my best friends in my bed talking about the day and life in general while Toblerone hung out with the late-late night crew in the tent. Catching up and just loving the moment. It was the most stressful day of my life and I would NEVER do it again but it was the greatest thing in the world to have everyone we love there (and a few missing!).

So again for all other expats out there planning a wedding from afar…take the time to sort out the big stuff as best as you can and be prepared for nothing and everything to go wrong on your special day. I received one piece of advice from everyone and that was “Just enjoy the day.” But as a perfectionist, that’s impossible and I wish I could have enjoyed it more. Looking back at it now though, I wouldn’t have changed a thing! Wouldn’t be our story if it wasn’t a little bit crazy and out of hand!

Until next time, Readers!!! xoxoxoxoxo

 

So Much To Share, So Little Time

Hi All! I have been MASSIVELY M.I.A. for over a month now. My deepest, sincerest apologies! But something tells me you didn’t even notice I was gone! 🙂

I have so much to share with you all and so much to tell about the wedding in the US and our vacation there, new hiking trip in the Alps and all that.

We have exactly 19 days until we step onto a plane to our next chapter in life. I’ve been busying myself with packing even though there is a moving company coming to do that for us on the 25th of this month. Keeps me focused though! I can’t sit around all day and look pretty now can I?!

We’ve been looking at homes to buy and researching things to do in the areas around us in Michigan. We can’t wait to start this chapter! Harley Jones has NO clue what is going on…thankfully! He will be going in to get all his shots updated and to pick up some good drugs to keep him calm during his excursion back home. I’m worried that he will remember what it was like coming over here for him and he may have a panic attack. At least, I know I will. Heck, I need drugs for this trip!

I’m going to start with throwing you a few pictures from our wedding and then the rest of the tales and stories will come later this week hopefully! Must.Find.Time.To.Blog.

Until next time, Readers!!! xoxoxoxo

Engagement Pics Are HERE!!!

We only had to wait exactly one week for our pictures and I am SO excited to share them with you guys. Our friend is a great photographer and mostly did scenic shots but is just starting to get into doing people, weddings, etc. And in my opinion, he’s off to a great start! It certainly wasn’t easy with two languages flying back and forth plus a VERY rambunctious 3.5 year old puppy! Harley was playing with his frisbee all morning and being a big crazy. For the “picnic” shots I put his frisbee in our picnic basket to make him sit there! lol. It’s not as easy as it looks!!

The most special part about our pictures is that all were taken here in our little town. This way, no matter where we are in the world, we can always look back on these pictures and have a piece of this chapter of our lives with us forever. We could have gone somewhere else around Germany or even had the pictures done in the US but then Germany would just be a blurb. Somehow we have to mix both worlds in this whole process and this was the best option! I hope you like them!

Note: Images are not as sharp as they should be because I had to downsize the file! 🙂 But you get the idea!

Until next time, Readers!!! xoxoxoxoxo

Throwback Thursday On A Friday

Yeah I know, I’m a bit late on this but all for a good reason! I was busy! That’s a good reason right? Ok ok…maybe I was just lazy and then at night when I went to do my post, random guests showed up and by the time they left I was doing the drunken stumble up to bed. Thats the truth.

SO….Today is Throwback Thursday on a Friday! And what a great Friday it is!! It’s July 5th, the day after a fantastic drinking and blowing things up holiday in the US. But today is a special day for two reasons.

The first is one of my best friend’s birthday!! This throwback is to 2008 when we met and became instant BFFs over martinis and broken wine corks! Happy 30th to you, dear friend!

And the other special thing is the 61st wedding anniversary of my lovely grandparents! This is them leaving after their wedding. How classic is this picture? The way my grams cute little dainty gloved hand is just holding the brim of her hat! So darling!! Happy Anniversary to them!

Until next time, Readers!!! xoxoxoxoxo

Throwback Thursday!!

It’s Throwback Thursday again!! And in two days I will be off to America…PRAISE THE LORD!!!!

This weeks throwback is a happy happy joy joy one! This is the hubs and I when we first started dating, circa 2009. We went to Cape Cod for my 25th birthday, which I almost didn’t make it out alive! This was his first time going and its exactly what started the tradition that we go there to vacation every year now! In fact, in the short two weeks that we will be home in the US, we will be there for a few days which is A-MAZ-ING. Seriously necessary!

Anywho, this is us at our favorite beach in Chatham, MA. Happy Throwback Thursday, ya’ll!

Until next time, Readers!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo

Something Like Love

Happy (belated!) Valentines Day!! Here’s a fun fact: Did you know St. Valentine is buried in Dublin, Ireland?! Well…now you do!!

I hope you all had a lovely day spending time with loved ones or taking the time to appreciate your fabulous self and how totally awesome you are!

This year is the first Valentine’s Day as a married couple for me and Toblerone and just like all the years before, we don’t buy in to all the fancy shmancy stuff but we still recognize how much we love each other with the little things. This year I made “Honey Coupons” and tied each to a balloon.

The balloon gave a clue where to find the next balloon and coupon! 😉 I thought it would be fun to send him on a goose chase! And of course…I was at the end with the last coupon 🙂

Then we had a nice dinner together. Candles and candy hearts decorated the table and we had a tomato, basil, and mozzarella heart salad. Then gyros with tzaziki with homemade flour tortillas. For dessert I made a filled pastry. Kinda like a poptart but with fresh berries, honey, and cream cheese. Was super yummy!!!

I got a sweet card, my favorite tea (earl grey), and a garden magazine! Totally love it!

So here we are snuggling on the couch…Harley in the middle of course! We’re a happy family and happy to have a day that we get the excuse to spoil each other a little more than usual 🙂 However usually, I make Tobi’s breakfast and lunch with a love note every day, and he makes sure we have a roof over our head and my health insurance is paid. Oh, The things you do for love! And when I was young, my mom always gave us pink milk and something with spaghetti sauce to keep within the colored theme. And of course we would have little heart candies or a special prize at the dinner table. Traditions are important, but saying I love you in the littlest way is the greatest!

What do you do for you loved ones? Did you do something unique and special this year? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time, Readers!!!!! Xoxoxoxoxo

Spice Gets Married!

Surprise!!!!! Toblerone and I are married!!! I know, you’re shocked…and wondering why I didn’t tell you, right? Well, this wedding we wanted to be simple and private. Something shared with family.

We always knew we would have two weddings. One in Germany and one in America, but weren’t sure on the specifics until recently. There are typically two parts to a German wedding. A civil service is the town hall ceremony so the government can recognize the wedding. The other part is the church wedding so it is recognized by the church. We only did the civil service option at the town hall and plan a bigger wedding in the US in 2014. (Something to look forward too!)

So for the town hall wedding, I didn’t need a poofy white dress or any of that but we wanted to look nice, of course. My mom flew in as the representative of everyone back home which was really great!

I ended up, without even realizing it, having my something old, new, borrowed, and blue.

Old – my dress (worn once for an event in CA on business)
New – my black jacket
Borrowed – the black clutch
Blue – my lucky underwear!!

Along with that I had my mom bring little trinkets of my immediate family to carry with me in my clutch. I had Toblerone’s grandmothers bring photos of his Opi’s as well.

The ceremony was a quick 15 minutes held by the mayor of our town. He said most of it in German but said the vows in both languages which was nice…just so I knew what I was agreeing to! Afterwards he gave us a new umbrella for the good and bad days as well as a bouquet of flowers.

Afterwards, we all went to our favorite restaurant on the Lake of Konstanz and followed it up with pictures at my favorite pink church across the street. It was a great day all in all.

Do I feel different? Not really. I have to keep calling Toblerone “husband” to make it sound more real! But since we are married I noticed we have a lot more respect towards each other. We aren’t so quick to get angry and we take more care of the other! However, we are only 1.5 weeks in…lol. I’m enjoying it while it lasts!!

Now we have to focus on planning our big American wedding!! Getting excited all over again!!

Until next time, Readers!!!! Xoxoxoxo

Spice Gets Engaged!

Moving on with our journey through Ireland, I wanted to get to the greatest part!!! So… ON WITH IT, right?!

Day 6 started with us in Kenmore at our B&B called the Hawthorne House where I had porridge with cream and brown sugar. DELISH!  It was pouring rain so the morning of shopping in the town was out of the question so we just jumped in the car and headed towards Galway. Of course stopping  along the way to check out what there was to see!

We hit up part of the famous Ring of Kerry. This “ring” is just a loop you drive around but as you’re doing so you hit all the best parts of Ireland. You see mountains, waterfalls, the beach, ocean,castles, lakes, rivers, green hills, etc. To do the whole thing would take about 4 hours driving and of course to add in stopping for pictures so we decided to just head on our way to my favorite place in the world! But first some shots from the piece of The Ring of Kerry:

And a stop at the Killarney National Park to see the Turoc waterfall which just so happens to be hidden among a fairytale land. Like seriously…fairies live here. I can feel it! See for yourself!! And Note: I did nothing to enhance these pictures. It was literally that green. In fact, these were taken with my iPhone!

See what I mean?? Fairies. Definitely leprechauns and fairies. After being totally blown away by this whimsical fairyland we drove on towards the next destination. My favorite place in the world….*drum roll*…..The Cliffs of Moher.

When I was young my dad brought me here and I knew I always wanted to get married there. I thought it was the most incredible place I had ever seen (and for being 12, it was!)

Check this out…a little bit of old school for you:

It was just as I remembered. Most places where we once were able to lay close to the edge was now blocked off….for obvious reasons. Lots of death is happening up in here. Dumb tourists as you know. But it was fun to relive a memory I had since long forgotten!

We walked our way up to O’Brien’s tower. Just a small place to get a better view. To really feel like you’re on top of the world. As we headed into the tower the man at the door asked for 2 Euros per person to go all the way to the top. Toblerone, being the Schwaebisch German that he is would not want to pay 2 Euros for views that we could see on the ground as well. I told him the situation and he immediately said, “Yeah ok! Let’s go!”  So I was shocked and starting to get a little suspicious. Odd behavior for him!

So we head up to the top and there is a small platform that can hold maybe 3 people at most so we had to wait our turn to get up onto this platform. We were packed like sardines at the top of this tower and finally it was our turn. We stood up there and Toblerone snapped away with the camera as I was off in my own memories snapping away with my iPhone. At this point there was only one other man up top really getting into taking his own pictures. Whether they were any good or not, we’ll never know! As I’m turned away from Toblerone he says, “I’m just going to switch lenses real quick.” Again, I thought it was strange that he was telling me that. Then all the sudden I hear a big *THUD* and I hear a sweet little voice say, “Babe?”

With that I turned around and realized the loud thud was Toblerone’s knee hitting the platform and there he was with a little box in hand. I don’t remember exactly what he said but it’s the same as most I would assume! The man that was still on top of the Tower came over to us and he said, “Is this a happy moment?!” In broken English. He tells me to hand over the camera which I did and although the angle wasn’t so good at least we have the memory.

It was a beautiful moment! Getting married in Ireland would be out of the question considering the two other countries our families come from but an Engagement was the most perfect thing for me. I’m a lucky girl!

After the moment of shock we walked around the Cliffs. Toblerone almost tripped off the side which was very close to becoming a tragic wedding proposal day! He is a bit clumsy at times 🙂

Then it was time to go celebrate the Engagment (EEEEE!!!!) and head into Galway for a nice dinner. We found a cute B&B, got settled in and had dinner at a bar/restaurant. Toblerone had the steak and I had salmon.

We ate and went out in search of a cool bar which we did find. A huge place called Skeff Bar where we got to pour our own pints from our table. Such a cool contraption. I’ve gotta get one of those put into my dinner table!

We walked around Galway a little bit and I tried to remember the place from when I was young. I started to feel a bit yucky so we went back to the hotel where I was plagued with food poisoning until 4 or 5 in the morning. Nonstop puking for hours. I was exhausted and had to get up at 9am for breakfast the next morning. Lord help me!! What a dream on our Engagement night.

All in all it was a magical day! From fairy land to fairy tale Engagement… life was good on June 18th! A happy Irish girl indeed!

Until next time, Readers!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo

Doctors, Surgeries, and News

Yesterday was my first appointment at the Women’s Clinic here in Germany. I had been pretty nervous about this for a few days but was trying to mask it by keeping busy (hence the lack of a blog post! SORRY!) Now that my nerves are back together, I’m doing good and can tell you all about this stage of the journey!

So this place is known for it’s specialists in Endometriosis and even though I was nervous I was still hopeful that they wouldn’t get my hopes up right away. Unlike my regular doctor who flat out told me that babies and me weren’t meant to be. Bitch. After the hour long drive we arrive to this massive city and to this massive University Hospital with multiple buildings. I got right into my appointment with maybe a 4 minute wait time which was excellent considering how I couldn’t focus on anything anyways.

After the tests and what not (you’re not getting the details) they told me that they will need to do another laparoscopic surgery. It’s through the belly button which makes me want to barf just thinking about it. Did I ever tell you guys that I HATE belly buttons? They make me gag. Anywhooooo WAY off topic.  So another surgery – and if there is a lot of endometriosis they won’t touch anything. They will sew me back up and after the surgery will put me back through the miserable menopause injections called Lupron for 2-3 months to shrink up the large masses. After the 3 months is done, I will go back in for a second surgery where at this time it’s easier for them to zap all the crap out. That’s option number one. Number two is they go in for the surgery and where there isn’t a lot of tissue to remove, they will just zap it out of there and sew me up. Then the baby making process will start.

However, this baby making process is freaking me out a little bit. I’m not sure what is to come after the surgery. There is still the possibility that it will be too difficult for us to conceive naturally. There is the possibility that the fertility processes may not work. There is a possibility that after years of trying we still will come up empty handed.  I need to stop waiting for the “bad news” and focus on the positive but thats really hard when the one dream you have could be crushed in one appointment. Luckily, I like my doctor and she will not be harmed if in fact the news is bad. I promise!

So here’s to stage one of the process. Really wishing it wasn’t going to be such a long and winding road. (Queue: Beatles) I guess the part we are waiting to hear is whether or not I have stage I,II, III, or IV of this illness. One and two we can work with…three and four is much too difficult I think and we will consider our other options. Anyone up to be my surrogate?! Anyways, thanks for reading, listening, and following my babble of a journey. I’m super glad I have my Toblerone right by my side through all this, I know it hasn’t been easy for him either. (Thanks Bubs!)  It helps me for some reason to just get it out in the open. I’m gonna show this mean old Endo that I’m not scared of it and I will fight it to the death!

Until next time, Readers!!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo

Valentine’s Day Aftermath

I do realize that posting about a holiday that has passed (5 days ago now as I’m writing this) is somewhat annoying especially to those that don’t particularly like that day (or run-on sentences) BUT I do feel it necessary to share with you anyways 🙂

I was up early at 5:45am for a busy day! While I was getting ready I heard Toblerone rumbling around downstairs which isn’t part of the every day routine. It’s usually something like he’s in the shower, I go downstairs to feed Harley and make Toblerone’s breakfast and lunch. Then Toblerone comes downstairs to take Harley out. Then that’s it! This all happens within 15 minutes or so. Today however was different. I go downstairs and find a tea and my FAVORITE breakfast (toast with egg) ready and waiting for me! *LOVE*

After breakfast I finished getting myself ready to go see the kids in the school again. I was SO excited for this. For some reason – when I see these kids, it absolutely makes my week so much better! Another reason why I should be a teacher…just need to get my butt back to school! Anywho, I did the usual with them. We talked about Valentine’s Day and how we celebrate it in the US, I passed around chocolate chip cookies for them to try (they aren’t popular here and certainly don’t taste like my family recipe!), then I had them make a Valentine for someone special.

After a few minutes they asked me to leave the room for a little bit and I was slightly confused. They guarded the door and when I was finally able to come back in they had for me a sweatshirt and mug signed by each of their names. Both items say, ” I *heart* Germany.” HOW DARLING! These kids are incredible! I mean, I’ve met with them now for the second time and this is how they thank me! Unbelievable! I’m starting to really question how children are raised in the US. These kids already learn at a young age to shower me with gifts?!?!?! SOLD!

So after I started to cry from the sweet gesture it was time to wrap up the class and head home. I had a VERY busy day ahead of me!

Harley helped me clean up the entire house and set up our V-Day Extravaganza for Toblerone. In the midst of the vacuuming, dusting, laundry, and the like I stopped to check my Facebook for a split second. That’s a lie….30 minutes maybe. I was doing my regular search through boring status updates and what not and I see that Toblerone posted something (which he NEVER does) with the caption “Happy Valentine’s Day. I love you!”

What was it do you ask?!?!?!…….. A TICKET HOME!!!!!!!!!!!! He posted my ticket itinerary and left it there for me to find! So as I sat there I tried to read the dates through blurry tear-filled eyes and figure out if that was real or not! I was FREAKING OUT and poor Harley is running back and forth looking for his toys to play with. He figured that I was happy so this was an opportune time to get some play time out of me!

Do I not have the most amazing boyfriend in the world?! Granted a giant sparkler for the ring finger would also be welcomed however this took the cake! So off I go for 10 days to great old US of A!

To finish the night I had a warm bath drawn with candles waiting upstairs for Toblerone. As soon as he got home he jumped in there, I put on a boy movie for him, handed him a whiskey, a little snack, and off I went to the Kitchen to make a special dinner! (Recipe comes later…DELISH!) I made linguine with a Dijon Cream Chicken with almonds, the cheddar biscuit just like the ones we love from Red Lobster, with chocolate covered frozen banana bits for after dinner 🙂 

I gave him a photobook of our year (I’ve done this for the past 3 years with him), a memory jar, and home-made cards from Harley and myself.

It was one of the best Valentine’s Day I’ve ever had…and I can’t wait to see what I get next year!!!! How does one top a ticket home?

Hope you all had a great day whether single or taken! Bon Voyage!

Until next time, Readers!!!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo