2014: A Crazy Good Year In Review

Another year has gone by…flown by I should say. I guess when you have big life events, time just seems to coast right on through. I’m ok with that and more importantly I’m really looking forward to 2015 being a pretty low key year. More time for acclimating! 🙂

Before I give myself fully to 2015 I wanted to give a proper salute to 2014 by reviewing my favorite memories of the year! I’ve shared many great times between two different countries and strangely enough…Toblerone and I are feeling a bit homesick for Germany. It’s been fun going back through my blog and looking at all the pictures and reliving the moments! Can’t wait to go back there for Easter!!

Here’s a look back into my favorite memories of 2014!!!

1. Father-in-law’s 60th Bday Party – nothing like having a party for the half the town to celebrate your bday! 🙂

2. Fasnet in our town – nothing like crazy costumes, drinking, music, and parades to get you in the spirit!!! We are so sad to be missing it this year!

3. Being in two places at once (First trip to Italy) – The absolute most memorable trip (besides my engagement in Ireland!) thus far. What a fantastic country Italy is… and being on the country line between Austria and Italy, I was able to knock off an item on my bucket list!

4. Hiking in the Alps – I say it every year that I won’t go but I’m glad I went this last time. It was a view worth the exhaustion!

5. Wedding in August – Cape Cod, pink wedding dress, lobster bake…whats not to love?!

6. Going Away party in Germany – Bittersweet, but a great excuse to wear my drindl and party with the family! It was a warm send-off!

7. Buying our first American home – We were lucky to find it so quickly and seal the deal a week and a half later! BAM!

8. Thanksgiving with the family – We loved having Toblerone’s mom and my parents with us on our first hosted Thanksgiving in the US. I just hope we can host many many more!

9. Christmas Market in Chicago – Hands down my FAVORITE city! The Christmas market gave us that little bit of that special German Christmas magic we were missing!

10. New Years bowling with the parents – Great end to the year! We decided last minute to do a little NYE bowling while my baby sis lay sick in bed with some kind of crud. We were home by 10:30 and relaxed while watching the ball drop. Was really low key and I didn’t have a hangover the next day! WIN!

2015 has a lot to live up to and I’m hoping it brings a lot of great changes for us! I’ll be taking my Placement test this coming week for school! Can’t believe I’m really going back!!! Of course we still have hopes for a baby just like every year for the past 6 year. Lets see what miracles will happen!

Wishing you all a wonderful start to the new year! Take a moment to reflect on all the wonderful memories that you made and make a plan to make more this year! Travel, meet up with old friends, make goals, make bucket lists, take a cooking class, join a choir! Do something outside of your box. I think you’ll find a great memory just waiting to be made!

Until next time, Readers!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo

Happy Birthday, Pauli!

There is just something about Germans and their “fests” that they take very seriously. And when they party…they party well! Of course most of you know that from my Oktoberfest survival. I mean…I’m almost 30 (eek!) and I can barely hang with the rest of them because now I think about the pain I will feel the next day. However, this particular party I let loose and had a great time…and paid for it the next day.

It was the 60th Birthday Party of my father-in-law, Paul. Before I go any further, let me remind you quickly how birthdays work here in Germany. When it’s your birthday you are the one responsible to provide cake or breakfast to your colleagues. As well as host your own “kaffee und kuchen” at your home for your family and friends. Personally, I think thats CRAP. With a capital C-R-A-P.

Us American folks know how to get down on our birthdays! We order people around and expect that the world showers us with gifts and pays for all our drinks when we drink away our past years. Afterall, the best gift is that we were born into this world..so people should clearly thank the heavens for this amazing gift. I still can’t believe that my first birthday here in Germany I actually baked myself a cake and invited people over, German style. NEVER. AGAIN. Just….NO.

In Germany when someone turns 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, or 100…these are big years to celebrate. It was no different for my FIL (father-in-law). He planned a great birthday party in the party hall in his town. There was a lot of planning involved. From the invites, catering menu, decorations, table organization, and the events, he had planned it all perfectly. With a little help of course!

His party was basically a concert. He’s big into music and belongs to three different bands. All three of them played a few songs each. All three bands were different from each other so it was a nice change up between each of them.

Inbetween songs was of course dinner but also gifts were presented. Typically, at these parties a group of people say a funny poem, sing a song, or talk about the Birthday boy. At the end he is given a present that usually ties the whole skit together. Makes it a bit more fun!

Approximately 130 people helped celebrate the 60th birthday of my beloved FIL. It was a great turnout and I think a really special time for him. Something he really deserved.

I stayed and closed up shop with the last of the folks around 5am. I then woke up around 8:30am and cleaned up the mess that was leftover from the night before. And this of course…is the aftermath of no sleep. This 29 year old can NOT hang anymore. 🙂

Until next time, Readers!!! xoxoxoxo

Throwback Thursday – People, It’s My Birthday

Today is my birthday. Holy hell. The past 4 birthdays seem to really bring me back to reality. The truth is as simple as it sounds: I’m not getting any younger. To me, this is terrifying! Like shakin in my boots scared. Where did my life go? Am I where I want to be? Did I do all the things I wanted to do up until this point?

Today I’m 29…Like…whoa…

…and here is a little blurb of me on my 3rd birthday ( I think )

Today I had so many wonderful birthday messages through all sorts of different social networks and emails. It kind of makes a girl feel special. So to those of you who wished me a Happy Birthday, I THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. Being so far away from what is normal it helps me stay grounded. I forget that living in Germany means that I have to follow their traditions, which is hard since I’ve been celebrating my birthday a different way every year. But I know that next year I will get to celebrate my birthday back in the US next year and it will be amazing!!!! Can. Not. Wait.

So I have one year left in my 20’s. One year as of today to do something great. I’ve got my life bucket list, I have my German bucket list which I am plucking away at but I want something different. Another blogger friend did 30 German towns before she turned 30. That inspired me to want to do something of my own. 30 things before I turn 30. But I need your help and your inspiration to give me ideas. What should I do with myself?! Give me your thoughts!

Here is to another year…correction, another wonderful year full of taking roads that are less traveled and making our own stories. Chapter by chapter.

Until next time, Readers!!!! xoxoxoxo

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost

Throwback Thursday

Today’s Throwback is dedicated to my brother who has a birthday today!!! Happy birthday Big Bro! 🙂

Here’s a picture of him…doing god knows what to me as a baby!

Until next time, Readers!!!! Xoxoxoxoxo

Omi’s 88th Birthday and German Traditions

Back at the end of September ( I realize I’m behind in my blogging! Laptop issues, remember!!), Toblerone’s Omi celebrated her 88th birthday party! All her children and grandchildren went to a restaurant to toast a beer to the milestone.

She got presents, we all got loads of drinks, and ate full meals. It was really nice to be with everyone in one place since its unusual that we are.

I forgot about birthday traditions in Germany until the end of the night when the check came. Omi paid for everyone. Almost 400 Euro!! On HER birthday!!! Then I had a moment and I asked her why she was paying on her big day and she said, “Well I invited all of you and besides, who else will pay?!” She’s sweeter than she knows!

Then I remembered the company I used to work for in the US was German and our German colleagues or bosses would bring in their own cake on their birthdays to celebrate. They would provide drinks and food if they wanted as well. So, it’s the opposite in the US. We expect to be treated like royalty on our special day and in the German culture, they treat everyone else! I think I like the American way better!!

Until next time, Readers!! Xoxoxoxoxoxo

30 Day Blog Challenge – Day 29

Day 29- In this past month, what have you learned

That’s a loaded topic. But I’ll give it a shot in numbered format.

1. To Relax – The Europeans have this down to a science. I was never able to really sit outside and enjoy it. I always had to make sure I had water, sunscreen, towels, a book, music and other such distractions. Now, I throw on my sun screen and just sit there. Taking in the silence and the fact that I don’t have to do ANYTHING for that moment.

2. Stop Stressing – It’s no laughing matter that every time I vacuum and mop the floors, which takes me a good 2 hours, it’s dirty within 5 minutes again. This happens with a dog who sheds and loves to play outside. I used to tell Harley and Toblerone that if they didn’t fly through the house then I would have their heads. One little crumb, hair, or spec of dirt used to boil my blood. Now, I’ve learned that there isn’t so much I can do about it. Just have to keep to a cleaning schedule and let it be.

3. Be Patient – It was never my virtue however after these past 30 days I had hospital duty and care-taker duty, and dog-sitting duty, among all the other things I do. So, I was taking it day by day and trying to help Toblerone heal as quickly as possible (so he could get back to doing some chores…ha, jk!) but patiently. I didn’t get upset easily when I had to take the dog out in pouring rain 8,000 times that day as I felt a cold coming on. I didn’t get upset that every time I went to sit down, I needed to get something else situated. So for 30 days, I’ve been exhausted beyond recognition. But patience served me well and now I have some moments to relax and Toblerone is back on his feet and helping out here and there as much as he can. It’s great!

4. Just Do It – Whenever Harley is around Toblerone’s parents…if he needs to go out, his Opi comes right to the rescue. He gets right up without thinking and takes Harley outside. He doesn’t get upset, doesn’t say, “Yeah maybe later.” He just does it. So, before I used to be too caught up with everything else and the thought of having to take the dog out was difficult for me. Then I realized. It’s not that big of a deal, it just needs to be done! So, I made a game out of it and would watch to see how far we could walk and count the steps. I started to lose weight from this and realized that not only was I just doing what I needed to do, I was doing something for me too!

5. Family Ties  – I learned that not only is my family far away, I feel like they are with me every step of the way. When Toblerone was in surgery I must have emailed my mom a million times just updating. Even though on her side of the world, she wasn’t awake yet, I just felt a sense of calm when I would hit the “Send” button. Eventually I would get an email back and it was with overwhelming delight that I would almost hear the words she wrote as if she was saying them right next to me. The homesickness I feel sometimes isn’t too intense, nothing I can’t handle. I think once in this type of situation, you learn that it isn’t easy but your family doesn’t change. Your life may have been uprooted and twisted 180 degrees but your family remains the same. Crazy and there for you no matter what the circumstance. This is exactly the type of family I want to raise as well.

UPDATE TIME: So my birthday was pretty great! Minus the SLIGHT problem with the “condensed milk” portion of my recipe for my cheesecake! That was almost a disaster. Toblerone told me I was having a party at our house but didn’t tell me who would be coming. He only invited a few which was good. It was hectic! And so so so very hot! 86 and humid. Did I mention that these people don’t have air conditioning???? We had one dinky fan trying to cool us all down. I was still sweating as I went to bed!

Anywho, I had a great time and was so happy to have some people over to eat my chocolate chip cheesecake! Recipe will be up soon! 🙂  We played loads of foosball table games and unfortunately the jacuzzi isn’t up and running just yet. Some electrical stuff needs to be properly set up.

On Facebook I had so many “Happy Birthday” comments. I told myself I would reply to ALL of them. That was crazy. This morning I was still replying back! I would still love more subscribers (as my birthday wish of course) so please subscribe in the upper left hand side under “Sweet Tooth”!! THANKS!!!

Today is a cleaning up day, landscapers are still here and should be done this week! I can’t WAIT to show you people. ANNNNDDDDD….I have GRASS!!!! It’s slowly growing but it’s there! Yesterday Harley went outside and smelled around in his new “pee place” and just laid down. Splat! It’s still mud but the little grass that was there was nice and cool for him. So sweet! Anywho, thanks for reading! Last day of this blog challenge TOMORROW! We’ve made it!!! This post happens to be my 100th post! Whoa….I need to get a life, right?

Until next time, Readers!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo

30 Day Blog Challenge – Day 28 (A SPICE BIRTHDAY!!!)

Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?

Ha… Perfect topic for today!! Just another reminder, if somehow you forgot, but today is my BIRTHDAY! I could barely sleep. You know that anxious feeling you get the night before your first day of school or a big game? Yeah… That’s me before my birthday. I’m always excited to see how it turns out!

So… As a birthday gift I would LOVE it if you would be sure to subscribe! The option is in the top right under “Sweet Tooth.” All you do is enter in your email, hit the button, confirm the subscription confirmation in your email and voila! You’ll get tasty little bits to your email when I post a new blog! After all, you wouldn’t want to make me cry on my birthday would you?!

So I’ve made it to 5,500 views since starting this beast of a blog in January! Very happy about my small contribution to the blogging world!

Here’s a pic of me this time last year:

Me in Cape Cod for my birthday! This year we couldn’t go so that’s already different!

What has changed? Everything! I was living in the US still, didn’t really think about going to Germany at this point. Was doing well in my job and started a new treatment for my chronic back pain which we think is caused by Endometriosis. Look it up if you don’t know what it is. So the treatment was putting me through menopause basically for 6 months. HELL in other words. I packed on a bunch of pounds that were out of my control, endured heaps of hot flashes, and serious mood swings. lol, I was a peach! At any rate…that was what I was dealing with then and my life was pretty simple!

Now, I’ve moved my whole life to Germany – all my things are here but it still feels empty. I do miss the life I had but I also like the challenge of living here brings. It’s not easy, never is but I get by. I don’t work now which is strange since I’ve been doing that since I was Sfull time. I just have to be. I’m soul searching to figure out where I stand in this new life and where my place is in our small family. It’s struggle but it wouldn’t be fun if it was too easy, right?

What have I learned in the process so far? That living away from your family is NEVER easy…and life goes on for them just as it does for you. You will miss birthdays and anniversaries but it’s not the end of the world. Also that taking life by the horns and testing out the waters across the pond is scary but how many people can say they’ve been able to do this? Not many. I’m so lucky to have this opportunity (again!) and these memories.

I’m wishing you all a great day! This birthday girl is off to start her day. And to find that GIANT spider that found it’s way into our house. I’m sure it’s just waiting to surprise me on my birthday. (I’m talking it’s the size of my palm!)

Update: After I wrote that about the spider…I got up to clean and lo and behold, the beast was hanging out in my sink after I lifted up a pan to wash it! Psycho girl went into effect and gasps for air and loud screams could be heard outside. The landscaping guys were slightly concerned.

Anywho you know how the story goes!

Until next time, Readers!!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Geburtstag Fest – Birthday Party!!

First of all, I apologize for my lack of posts lately. Life has taken over and I’ve been a busy bee. Plus, the weather is nice for once so I’ve been trying to enjoy that as much as possible. Maybe get a little bit of color on this pale freckly Irish skin before I return to the states in 32 days!!! I can’t even tell you people how excited I am to get home. I’m starting to feel a little bit homesick and I got to see my family (including Grams and Gramps) on Skype last night and I SO badly wanted to reach through the screen and squish them up in a big bear hug. I also decided that I will celebrate my birthday earlier so I can spend it with them, so mom, plan for my chocolate chip cheesecake!! :-))

Since we’re on the subject of Birthdays – I happened to attend my first German Birthday party for a good friend of Toblerone. He turned 40! A great milestone and obviously one to celebrate! Typically, Germans set up their own birthday party. They supply the cake and decorations and food. This party was super fun. Of course I was only able to speak to a few people but had a good time nonetheless.

Toberlone and I brought over a keg the day before and set that all up. Tents were placed and many seating arrangements were set up. I don’t know what it is but wherever we go here, the standard for seating is picnic table style. Think Oktoberfest! Everybody getting all snuggly with strangers. I prefer more of the intimate setting…you know – on my own island! ANYWHO…I brought my Erdbeerkuchen which thankfully I had Skyped with my mom during the process and she reminded me I was missing a VERY important part..so that put a little bit of a damper on my schedule! Also, I made mini caprese on a stick!  So cute…and these went so fast I didn’t get a chance to take a picture! I’ll make them again at some point! Many other people brought different salads ranging from green salad, noodle salad, potato salad (thats a given) and then we had the main meal. Pig. And yes…it’s sweet little snout was pointing right at me. I refused over and over again and walked away and decided to eat salads all evening. It’s just wrong. And it’s wiggly tail….no longer wiggled…UGH! sorry…I’m traumatized and want you all to feel the pain I feel!

Moving on, We all we able to choose a mug that the birthday boy had been collecting from Flea Markets for over a year! Such a cool idea. Each were of the same color but different style and size. Along with that he was playing music from the past 40 years – German Party Music. This in itself is hilarious. Of course we get a few songs from the musical, Grease and The BeeGees but also some really random songs that make you want to do the Polka. Oompa Oompa!

My favorite part of the evening…. GAMES! Who does party games at the age of 40? Well…now I do! I forgot how fun these Germans are. They still do sweet things like games at their parties and it’s actually really fun and hilarious. One game was something silly that his brother and sister-in-law put together. Another had me actually in tears! Check out the pic below, I’ll explain.

There is the yellow team and the green team. Both teams have the exact same letter that one man represents. The man standing in the middle tells a funny story about some old people or something. I didn’t quite follow that but whenever he said the name of the old man who was “Johan”, whichever team stood up the fastest got one point. They also got a point for spelling out a few specific words the fastest. In the second picture you can see them scrambling over each other to spell out one of the words. What made this funnier was the fact that everyone had quite a few drinks by this point and it had rained all day so the ground was slippery and muddy and these guys were flying all over the place or not spelling things correctly. Hysterical. Yeah you had to be there but man oh man…good times!

Birthday boys uncle (older man) brought out his accordion and all were singing traditional German songs and I had a flash forward to what I think Oktoberfest will be like. I can’t wait!

It was a good time had by all and I think Toberlone had more of a good time being with his old buddies and laughing, making inside jokes, singing loud as hell….the usual ridiculous boy things that friends do.

Until next time, Readers!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

IKEA Shopping Spree

Each week is getting easier, I swear it! I clearly miss my family, but do I miss America? I’m not sure yet. I do know that Germany has a very old and magical feel to it and I absolutely ADORE it. I try hard to immerse myself in the culture when I can and of COURSE keep you all updated on what I’m experiencing.

This week we celebrated the 24th birthday of Toblerone’s brother with chili con carne, my Erdbeerkuchen, lots of family and friends, and a playboy magazine. For you American boys, wondering what issue it was, we bought him the Top 100 European Playmates. What does this mean? Not many blondes with fake ta-tas!!! Enough about that!

A former co-worker from the states also joined us for Dinner one night so it was nice to speak to someone without an accent and someone who gave me a reminder of home. I think it was also good for Toblerone to have his old pal here to drink massive amounts of German beer and bless their little cups of whiskey (which were awesome thanks to my whiskey stones I bought him for his bday.) At any rate, we feasted upon some 36 hour marinated pork tenderloin, spaetzle, and salat.  Dad and brother stopped by to join in the fun, have a little snack, and then they were back on the road to home. All was well!

On Friday afternoon, I met up with my friend and we went to an Ice Cream Cafe and chit-chatted about everything from Zumba to gross Romanian men gawking at us from the next table. It was nice to have conversations with someone like I do with my best friends back home. I need that. I feel a little misplaced without the girlfriend side of my life so this is great for me! After that, we went into a great hair salon and made an appointment for me, my GAWD do I need to get these highlights fixed! My head looks like Tara Reid’s mess.

Saturday morning Toblerone promised me to a 5 hour shopping spree at IKEA! GAH! Who is so lucky? ME! For those of you who are thinking about our poor dog, no worries, he was at his Omi and Opi’s house for the day/night for some serious walks and play time.  So, off we went, early in the morning to get the worm. The only time I ever went to IKEA was when I was maybe 12 or so when I was in England. It was 5-stories tall and I remember these announcements constantly asking people to stop what they were doing and look for missing children in the store. lol. Great Parenting skills there!

We actually managed to get through the store and purchase boatloads of fun stuff in about 2 hours. Here’s a preview of what we stuffed into our car!

                                    We got two of these bad boys! Needed for our storage room!!

    

                 This is the picture from IKEA, but it’s great for our small downstairs bathroom. It’s got plenty of space inside for the basics. According to most, this looks like: American Style. 🙂

    I’m in the midst of turning one of our guest rooms into my “Cape Cod” room. I’m not only obsessed with the nautical theme of the navy and white stripes but equally if not more obsessed with Cape Cod. It was my wedding venue of choice until this move happened. So, I transported the sand and some shells from there and they are throughout the room. You’ll see this once it’s finished! However, here is a dresser I picked out for this room.

    And of course a few random items I picked up along the way. Imagine those kids that sit in the cart and as mom goes to check out she’s finding all sorts of things she doesn’t remember grabbing. That was me. I just put my arm out and cleaned off some shelves along the way! The ever necessary pretty napkins, meat smusher (what is the real world for this?), heat pads for hot pans, etc., the tray for ice tea and lemonade for outside, and cinnamon apple candles (my FAVORITE!)

     

We picked up everything in their massive storage place and BAM! I’ve turned Toblerone into carpenter. Thankfully, he is able to follow directions and all the projects are under way. Next up, the foosball table for our game night on Good Friday with friends! I’m thinking about making really fun drinks for this and good appetizers. Any ideas?

 IKEA purchases totaled $300 approximately! I mean, HELLO! What a deal for all of that. I can’t wait to go back and fill up the rest of the house. Slowly but surely, it’s all getting done! 🙂 

To wrap up we went to a great music concert which I will elaborate more on with music clips (if I become tech savvy in the next day or two). Great stuff!  Oh! And we got a quote on some landscaping idea some one designed for us. Wait till you find out how much it will cost!!! All these things coming this week!

Now I’m off on this Snuggle Sunday to Toblerone’s soccer (fussball) game where he is quickly becoming a team favorite. Scoring goals and in the paper constantly – I think we have a star on our hands here, folks!

Cheers for now readers! Until next time!

xoxoxoxoxo