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 – Vacation Style

Yes indeed…it is in fact August 1st already! Where has the time gone? Except, I am FREAKING OUT because we are that much closer to Christmas and you all know how much I LOVVVVVEEEE Christmas!!! Every week I put on my Christmas tunes and sing along as I clean the floors. It’s my thing, don’t judge. Just hop on the happy train and do it with me!

Anyways, starting next week, Toblerone has vacation for 3 weeks. Many companies have mandatory summer vacation. Three weeks is typical, sometimes two weeks. Ridiculous right? Like who made up this rule and didn’t pass it on to the Americans?! The hubs gets the mandatory summer vacation, also two weeks for Christmas into New Years and then he has his own vacation time of two weeks which he can use when he wants. Plus we have to add in all the holidays they have here…heavy catholic region = using God as a reason to party every week and have a day or five off! Its the truth, I’m sorry! I’m just jealous…I’m jealous for all my hard working family and friends back home who struggle to make their 10 days last throughout the year. End rant.

This week’s Throwback Thursday (yes I know I missed last weeks but you aren’t that sad, right?!) I’m going back to a vacation. Toblerone and I went on our first real deal vacation in April of 2010. Real deal as in flying together for the first time! We went to St. Pete’s beach in Florida, met some awesome people, and got rip roaring drunk most days! OH! and he dragged me to a Bon Jovi concert! Ha! But it was fun, I swear!

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

Weekly Photo Challenge: Kiss

The Kiss! This was taken of my husband and I when we first started dating. This moment was captured at my brother’s wedding. I brought him there to meet the entire family! Not easy for a German man!!

Until next time, Readers!!! xoxoxoxo

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

Mini-Honeymoon In The Alps

Toblerone got us a great gift for our mini-honeymoon and a combined bride’s gift. A trip to a 4 star spa hotel in the Alps! We went to the Panorama Hotel in Oberjoch and it was GORGEOUS! It’s a brand new place that opened in September this year so everything still felt fresh and brand new. No gross bed covers or any of that. The snow was falling all around us and the Alps were literally in the backyard.

The hotel had the most incredibly state of the art spa complete with different massages, facials, and the works. Along with a fitness center, an outside and inside swimming pool with an attached bistro, and 7 rooms in the sauna. This particular sauna was ‘textile free’ as they called it. Textile meaning clothing-free. You could wear your robe inside and wrap a towel around you but you looked like an outcast if you did so.

Ladies and Gentlemen….I am conflicted yet proud to report that I indeed went into the naked sauna for the first time in my life and enjoyed it. I actually preferred being in my birthday suit better than in a bathing suit. It was strange…At first I was giggling to myself like a school girl but eventually I was completely comfortable walking amongst the nakeds. But of course, my luck serves me right. In the middle of all the different saunas there was a community shower. More like a rinse off station. You’re loving the details aren’t you? Anywho…I hung up my towel and went into rinse off quickly before trying a different sauna and as I walked out of the shower I saw my towel walking away with a naked man. HE STOLE MY TOWEL!!!!! What are the chances that I was in a naked sauna for the first time in my life and my towel gets stolen. I mean…come on, that stuff only happens in movies….or my life!

Enough about the nakeds! so we freshened up after a lovely day just relaxing and doing a whole lot of nothing. Down in the lobby while we waited for dinner we were given complimentary glasses of wine and the highlight of my night was the bartender knew how to make a dirty martini and in fact had olive juice to make such awesomness. So far in Germany, after two years of searching I have gone without my favorite martinis.

The 5 course meal was incredible! My date was gorgeous and we’re wicked foodies lately so this was actually fun for us. We don’t get out much, can you tell? Of course I snuck photos of all my yummies!

We started with salads from the buffet and then an appetizer of Potato cake with avocado and mango salad and ham.

Next up to open up the stomachs I ordered the Apricot sorbet with pomegranate seeds.

Toblerone had the 3-fish pate.

Main course I had the fish which was a Zanderfilet however I don’t know what that is in English.

Toblerone had the deer meat (which is really popular here)

Dessert I ordered the Tiramisu and Toblerone helped himself to the cheese buffet.

And on that note….We’re going back again in March for 3 days. CAN’T WAIT to get my nakedness on and eat lots of awesome food! Since this place is directly in front of a ski mountain or rather a ski alp, we’ll be going skiing\snowboarding as well. Wish I could take you all with me. It’s hard to describe the amazing views we saw.

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

Taking A Time Out!

HELLLLLLOOOOOO!!!!!! I feel like it’s been so long since I’ve written! Granted, I was in the US for 10 days and what a WONDERFUL ten days it was!

Love from my bestie!

So, last time, I told you that I was headed back home to NY. What I left out was the precise reason why. The obvious is that I need to restock on my reese’s pieces cups and BBQ sauce but what I didn’t tell you since I was sworn to secrecy was that I picked this time frame to be there to share in the fun when my best friend got engaged!!!!! Her boyfr….ahem…fiance… had contacted me several weeks in advance so I could try to get home for on or around the 25th of February. SO thankful I was able to be there so thank you to Toblerone for giving me the greatest gift for Valentine’s Day and to M for trusting me by telling me the plan way in advance!

For me this has been so thrilling! I don’t have my sparkler yet but just watching the joy that comes along with it all got me really looking forward to whats to come! I was there the day these two met and now I’ll be there while they start the next chapter…holy cannoli…there are no words! Let the planning begin!!!!

I tried really hard to fit everyone/everything into my schedule but I ran out of time. One week really does fly and with a stomach bug for 24 hours that made it extra pleasant. I went to Green Beer Sunday for the first time in my life (which is when they bring a truck full of green beer to the Irish pub in the Irish section of town), Had a green beer for the first time ever, went shopping, was part of an engagement surprise party, went to see a movie (The Vow) for the first time in months, went to Zumba, and hugged everyone before I left! Phew!!!

Proof that I had a green beer 🙂

It was tough having to leave again but this time I did it without tears. I managed to get myself on the plane and I suppose having breakfast with my mom helped. Needed her to remind me that I’m stronger than I think! And quite possibly the many glasses of wine I had waiting for my delayed plane helped. The bartender is this guy I see everytime I’m in this airport. He’s older, hilarious, and just all around charming for a 72yr old. They called my flight to board and I didn’t want to gulp down the last remains of my wine so he said he had just the thing for me. He put it in a coffee “to-go” cup and told me that they do this for all the pilots. Hmmm…….that scares me. A plane full of pilots that are 10 sheets to the wind. Fabulous! And there at that moment went my “strength” I got at breakfast!

Wine to go! (sorry it's sideways!)

Anyways, the trip was good and now I’m waiting for March 14th to hurry up and go. This is when I head to the specialist for my Endometriosis (GRAND!) and then after that I can start the partying for St. Patty’s Day. Somehow, I have to get these Germans to appreciate a day dedicated to drinking!! It’s a tough job but someone’s gotta do it!

Am I glad to be back in Deutschland? Not particularly, however, I’m going to make the best of it even if I can’t get decent Peanut Butter here. It’s been 60+ degrees and this is helping to mask the sadness that I miss America, deeply. Oh and by the way, as of yesterday…I have been in Germany for 1 year. Isn’t it ironic that I flew to Germany the exact same day I flew there one year ago? Crazy beans!!!

So here’s hoping we see each other again soon, America. Man, how I miss you!!!

Until next time, Readers!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo