Off To Italy We Go (Part Two)

After waking up with a gorgeous view of the Italian Alps we headed down for breakfast. We decided we would head into town to do a little shopping.

While there, we went to The Speck Museum which in English means The BACON museum. Very exciting times! As we walked in this jolly old Italian man who spoke VERY little German and absolutely no English, naturally, greeted us and said to me, “Hello Speck!” and I gave him quite the stare down. Did that man just call me fat? Do I smell like bacon?  Then he said I was like the Coco Chanel of Bacon. I guess if I was going to be any kind of bacon, I would want to be the fancy kind 🙂 He laughed and we both understood it was just all for fun.

 

So there we are in a stone basement testing homemade smoked and dried bacon. There was bacon on the ceiling…

Bacon on the walls…..

It was indeed the Bacon Museum! There was also cheese down there but that’s not important. We did buy some to smuggle in our suitcases. Totally worth being a rascal!

We walked around the streets and did a bit of people watching. The Italians are such wonderful people. Somehow they are just so relaxed and inviting. I can’t really explain it!

We went to a little cafe around 11:30 and the scene was something I could definitely get used to. A small cafe with outside seating as well as inside. Every table filled with friends sitting and standing, laughing at jokes, and drinking glass after glass of wine. Oh Italians, you have my heart! Here is a peek from inside the cafe from where I was sitting. It just made you feel like you were part of a bigger story…a big family.

 

Back at the hotel after a day of shopping we spent the rest of the afternoon in the spa. I tried out one of the “quiet” rooms to see if I could actually sleep like everyone else does. I just hung out and read a book and listened to the spa-like music that was available.

After hours in the spa and relaxing we got ready for dinner. I apologize in advance for the bad quality pictures. I only brought my phone with me…which is also a no-no in this type of fancy schmancy place but the things I do for my readers…:-)

 

As with every night they start our table off with bread and a special cream cheese spread. On this night it was with Rosemary.

Next up we had a “Gruß aus der Küche” / “A Greeting from the Kitchen which was a sesame breaded shrimp on a marmalade of sorts.

 

For an appetizer we had fresh made brioche or bread and with two different items made with tuna fish. The first option (on the left) was actual raw tuna that you find often in restaurants. On the right was a creamed tuna fish fluff that was out of this world good!

 

Soup was a tomato cream soup with Parmesan foam and a raw ham chip. (Very salty ham chip…lol)

 

Moving right along, We received a breaded shrimp ball in asparagus salad. Sooooo delish!

 

Time for a little snack to clean up the palette before the main entree, we had a wild berry sorbet with passion fruit.

 

The main entree was veal filet with vegetables and layered potato gratin. I actually opted not to have this because I don’t eat baby anything so veal was out of the question. However, I did order my own amazing shrimps dish (not pictured.)

 

And lastly, to close the stomach we had fresh strawberries with a Sour Cream ice cream (Not like sour cream, but like pudding just not so sweet), with what they call Eier liquor drizzled. It’s not like anything I can compare it to here in the states. It’s an Egg-like liquor. Not like egg-nog…thats a thousand times tastier. lol 🙂

 

That was our lovely evening and we were serenaded by this sweet girl who played the Harp for quite a long time…and really well if I do say so myself! Please excuse the awkward filming but again…was trying not to be too obvious. Here’s a small snippet nonetheless! (And you can hear the Swabian accent from my in-laws while you’re at it.)

More to come later on our trip!!

Until next time, Readers!!!! xoxoxoxo

 

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

My Life Lately

I have been totally MIA and it’s not because I’m ignoring you guys…I’m truly not. In fact I have over 50 blog posts in my drafts folder ready to go!Gotta get with it! I figured I’d catch you up to date on what’s been going on in my life lately and then we can go from there!

Where to begin…ahhh yes….Sweet sweet summertime. No, actually not sweet. I am MISERABLE in the summer. Give me a gloomy fall day and a snow storm ANY DAY of the year. I am not a summer person. This of course all happened once I moved to Germany. Where as you know Air Conditioning does not exist and strange large flesh eating bugs attack me when its the most humid out, constantly. Today it’s rainy and its a balmy 46 degrees. I have found my happy place!

I’ve mentioned this before but in Germany, several companies have a mandatory 2-3 week summer vacation. They shut down the company and everyone goes to Turkey…sometimes Greece or Croatia. Air tickets spike and Germans are EVERYWHERE. This summer Toblerone and I decided to keep it simple. After all, we do have a wedding to pay for in a year! We went to our favorite hotel in the alps, I turned another year older, and got quite a few things done around the house. I got some really lovely gifts from the husband and in-laws 🙂 And in true German fashion very practical gifts! More on this later!

Now I’m in the midst of throwing myself into little projects. I decided not to continue teaching English lessons through the school and instead will keep my private lessons and search for a more permanent job. Of course these little projects consist of changing my name finally on my social security card, my passport, and filing for the Toblerone to get a green card. Thankfully, the US Embassy here in Germany can help me with the majority of that. And the greatest part about dealing with the embassy…is I call…and its ALL in English. THANK YOU BABY JESUS! Its nice to talk to Americans once in a while!

Other projects are of course…PARTIES!!!!! A dear friend of mine is preggers and although she is due any day now, I’ve decided to throw her a baby shower! Germans don’t have baby showers. It’s quite the opposite due to superstitions. Friends and family bring you gifts well after the baby has arrived. But if it was me I’d want to be showered for a day! So, that’s happening this weekend. Then of course, the 3rd Annual Halloween Party is almost here! We’ve invited even more people than last year, I’m prepping for this and it just so happens to be on our 1 year wedding anniversary too! We have a fun costume that I can’t wait to show you guys!

In other giant news…we decided to completely start from scratch with our wedding. In fact, We changed the venue, cut the guest list down by 75%, we changed the style, and…changed the state! Things back in NY just started to feel complicated for us for some reason. Maybe was it too many people? Was it because everything is just way too expensive? Maybe…but I really think that we just felt like we were settling for something that isn’t 100% us. SO, going back to the old plans…we’re planning a very small and intimate wedding in Cape Cod, Mass. As you all know…we love us some Cape! That’s where we are doing it and already, it’s a thousand times easier. A HUGE weight has been lifted off my shoulders. We realize most people won’t be able to join us…even most family won’t but I had to start thinking about what we wanted. Just us. And the answer was really simple.

And last but not least…Oktoberfest!!! Off to Stuttgart to celebrate and looking forward to it! This year is special, I’ll be meeting a new American friend who is in the same situation as me. You know the story…fell in love with a Germ and moved here to be with him. Yeah..so the story goes! Anyways, that will be fun. I’ve decided this year I really need to put some more effort into making friends here that get me. Looking forward to that! 🙂

Still collecting ideas for 30 things before I’m 30. German recipes is at the moment the one in my head but give me some ideas!!!

More to come about all the fun! Thanks for sticking it out with me while I took a little break from the world! The truth is, I hit a little downward spiral of homesickness and just generally hating people so I figured it was best to keep my negativity off the blog space for a bit. That’s never good for business!!

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

A Day Trip To Switzerland

Toblerone and I decided to take a quick little trip over to Switzerland the other day and it turned out to be really fun. We only live about an hour from the border so it’s silly for us not to go more often. Granted, Switzerland is about 15 times more expensive than Germany so what we do there is kept within reason. After we parked I actually made a comment about how clean the streets were and I literally could lick it and it would probably taste like candy. It was just sparkling.

Well hello there!

First stop on the agenda was the River Rhein. Just a quick bit of information for those of you not familiar with the River Rhein (spelled Rhine in English), its the twelfth longest river in Europe at about 766 miles. It runs from the Swiss Alps, through Germany, and empties into the North Sea on the coast of the Netherlands. It’s a pretty big deal this river and people come from all over to see it. Even little old me!

After visiting the stunningly blue river we decided to go on a search for food. Knowing that we wanted to be pretty careful about how we spend our money we went to the grocery store rather than a restaurant. I really wish they would just switch over to using the Euro but they’re still using their Swiss Francs and I don’t see that changing at any point soon.

In the grocery store I actually had a moment of pure joy. It was like home! (America home, not Germany home!) Everything was clean and properly organized. There were a million options to choose from and it just felt more like a store rather than a warehouse, like the German places. And…it wasn’t swarming with people that stood on top of you. Plus, check out this rockin’ way to travel with a cart! Your cart has it’s own escalator and it meets you at the top where all the cleaning and makeup supplies are or travels with you back downstairs to the cash registers! What on earth?!!

The second stop on our day trip was to a really cool town called Stein am Rhein. This town was a small fishing town for many years until the year 1,007 when an Emperor moved an abbey to this area and began to commercialize it. By the 15th century it was an up and running town. Even today it’s known for it’s historical landmarks kept from the medieval times. Most of the buildings or houses are painted and it’s just a typical Swiss town, in my opinion. I tried to get as many pictures as I could but some of the roads are so narrow so I was at really strange angles, so I apologize in advance! But, take a look!

I called this the peppermint house

Paintings at the Metzgerei (Butcher). A mother bird piercing her own skin to give blood to her babies? This just got weird….

My handsome Hubs

I love this saying, “This is my house, but not really my house because life is short.” Or something like that.

Is that a medieval ghost bubble in my pic?

On this building, the first family claimed it in 1473. Whoa….

So that was our little day trip! Vacation is almost over and next week is my birthday!! EEK! 29 years old…you crept up on me WAY too fast!

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

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

Harley and Me – Lessons I’ve Learned From My Dog

I had a dog growing up but I never thought I would be a dog owner.  When I broke up with one of my ex-boyfriends I think I started to miss the dog more than him so I wanted to get a dog out of spite and the possibility I would run into him at the dog park to show off. You all know you’ve been there and wanted to do crazy stalker-like things to your ex. No? Ok…maybe that’s only me! But let’s stay on topic, shall we?

Harley was a sweet little 3 month old pumpkin when we got him and since then it’s been a wild ride with our million-dollar dog. We call him that because he’s always sick and our vet bills are always through the roof with surgeries and the like. How many of you have had a dog eat a sock at 3 months old only to have surgery done that cost $1400!!! INSANE! Anywho, he will be 2 years old in February and since he’s been sick these past few days I thought it would be good to write about him. (He’s snuggling with me right now as I write this to make sure I don’t give out any false information or leave anything out!)

Patience is a Virtue

I can be patient only in circumstances where I have to be on my best behavior. For example: in a meeting, teaching, meeting new people for the first time, dinner parties, etc. However, most of the time, I’m a loud mouth and when I want something done I speak my mind until it’s done. I suppose that would make me annoying. Once Harley came along and during his “puppy training” he had to learn how to sit for X amount of time before he could be rewarded with treats or love.

Harley waiting to get his ball

Every day there is some reason I tell him to “wait” or “stay” and he does just that. He doesn’t complain, he just does it. So now when someone is asking me to “hold on a sec” or “I’ll do it later,” I  try very hard to hold my tongue and allow things to happen as they are supposed to. I know eventually I will be rewarded too!

Beggars Can’t Be Choosers

Harley is a labrador…that means two things to me. 1. The absolute best looking dog there is (I’m biased) and 2. He’s the goat of dog breeds. He wants to eat everything he can find. This proved to us in his first 3 months (as mentioned above) when he ate a delicious smelly black sock of Toblerone’s. We always vowed we would never give him people food since the day one lady told us she keeps all her Lab’s alive until the age of 17 by not feeding them people food. Makes sense but we give in to those puppy dog eyes and he LOVES potatoes. So, he gets to have a snack here and there and we soothe are worried minds by telling ourselves that he gets a lot of exercise and gets to have a really good doggy life by eating really yummy food! I’m welcoming your criticism with this, I know.

Back on topic, as he begs for food, he doesn’t care what it is normally unless it’s kidney beans, cucumbers, or bananas. He doesn’t whine about it when we give it to him (which is not all the time by the way), he just accepts it (obviously…like I said…a goat.)  For me, I’ve learned to be the same. When I don’t see that giant pink diamond ring I’ve been waiting for…I won’t be upset. I’ll just take it ( and at this point, I’ll rip it out of his hands!)

Stop and Smell The Roses….Every Rose

Every single day that we go outside he has to lick every rock, eat every piece of grass, and smell the ground every 4 feet. Walking with him is atrocious so now we just let him run and he does his own thing. Whiplash is so not worth it for me! I take him out a lot every day even though I don’t need too but I like to. He loves to go out and run around and play and he’s in a great shape…so wish I could be!

After a day at school or when Toblerone comes home from work, we take Harley outside to play and it relaxes all of us. We take a moment to chill out and to get ready to relax for the evening together. It’s a nice way to cool down and Harley taught us that sometimes all you need is a little bit of time and some fresh air to get your mind stable. Who needs meditation???

This also taught us to definitely not sweat the small stuff. He doesn’t worry about bills or if the water is too cold in his morning showers. He simply just lives. The simple life…we start to appreciate that more and more each day.

You’re Never Too Big To Be A Lap Dog

Every time I sit on the ground for whatever reason Harley always comes and plops himself into my lap. Literally his fuzzy butt is on my leg. It’s probably the sweetest thing he does. Perfect for snuggling with him. Reminds me that no matter how old I am, I’m never going to be too old to snuggle up to my mom and rest my head on her shoulder or lay my head on my dad’s stomach.

You’ll Never Walk Alone

Harley follows me every where. He snuggles up to my legs as I’m cooking or as I’m putting on my makeup. He’s my little…I mean BIG sidekick. When I moved from the US to Germany I felt really alone at first and as if I had no part of me here. No family, no friends, etc. I had my materialistic things but what I didn’t have was the companionship of familiarity.

Somewhere along the line I had forgotten that Harley came from the US with me. He was just as much apart of the change as I was and he was and is the family I brought with me. I talk to him all day in English….sometimes German since he’s a bilingual smart ass and he loves me. That’s all I need in the world.

What have you learned from the fur balls in your life?

This lesson is brought to you by the letter H and the number 1 1/2 🙂

Until next time, Readers!!! xoxoxoxoxo

A Writer’s Heaven

Finally….a place for me to sit and do what I LOVE to do most! 🙂 AN OFFICE!!!

I know I’ve been talking about this for months and how excited I am to show you guys. It’s still not 100% yet but I’m working with the small space. Got the furniture bits in there and now it’s time for all the decorations/plants/etc. So…Here it goes!

After much discussion I decided to go with dark gray walls and white furniture. Seems to be “in” for the moment so I went with it! Funniest bit was I worked forever on painting this room. First coat didn’t really dry as dark as I wanted but I was ok with it. Went back to the store to get more paint, started painting and found they were two totally different colors. The girl who mixed the paint the first time around completely gave me the wrong shade of gray. THANK YOU, MORON! So, I decided to leave the largest wall as the lighter gray and the rest as the dark gray….and this is what we have!

Walking into the office you see (right side wall is lighter gray)

Then we have the cubed bookshelf. It’s my stock of English books! 🙂 And a few of Toblerone’s. I told myself I would go back and read all of these again. Doesn’t hurt! I definitely need to add to it though, no empty spaces!!!

This picture is amazing. Everything old is what I want in this room and this is a scene of NYC in 1932. Not sure you can see it so good because of the glare (SORRY!) but the harbor is missing quite a few buildings and this is long before World Trade Center was built. Back before all the terror and Prohibition was just ending. Just a great piece if you ask me!:

And of course this is my favorite part so far. Right now there are pictures of my grandparents and family – all B&W pics of course. It was these pictures that gave me the idea for the room so I went with it. I felt I needed a special place for them to be displayed. Soon this will be overflowing with them and from Toblerone’s grandparents too. Just have to make the copies but it will be all different sized frames all overlapping one another…chaotic…because that’s what family is. A whole lot of love and chaos and in this case – a mix of cultures and memories:

So, that’s what I have so far. I’ll be adding more vegetation to the room to add some color to it but for now it’s my little hole in the house. It’s my sanctuary to write and have peace of mind. It may not be anyone else’s Heaven but for me…it does the trick as far as inspiration goes.

Let me know what you think and what ideas you have for other decorations to liven it up a bit!

Until next time, Readers!!!! xoxoxoxoxo

30 Day Blog Challenge – Day 16

Day 16-  Photos of yourself 2 years ago

In South Beach, Miami for New Years 2008-2009…hanging out with my best friend (wife), super fun french guys and an Aston Martin. Nothing was more fun then my pink fluff of a dress.  I have no where to wear it to now but what a good night that was. I saved a girl from death in the bathroom climbing under the bathroom stall  (in my dress!!!) sliding on the floor to save her. She was completely passed out…I’m sure alcohol poisoning and was completely unconscious! It was crazy! Then I danced until 6 in the morning. Absolutely amazing night…I’ll never forget it! 🙂  So this pic was from my first day in 2009, I wish I could do it all over again! There’s always drama on New Years for most but the wife and I managed to just say, “whatevs” to the drama and had a great time..heck…a great week!

On December 5th, 2009 – the most beautiful nephew in the world was born!! MY nephew! A first for my family and we were SO excited! He was the most perfect burrito baby I ever did see. Now he’s so big with blond curly hair (almost two!!) There is no words to describe the love I felt for him when I first saw him. 

So, I’m known as the weird one.The loud and obnoxious one, always trying to be the jokester. Here we are on Christmas day at my Grandparents house…found a decorative little penguin and there starts the wacky girl that I am. X-mas always makes me a little funny – full of eggnog, chocolate, and cookies, I’m bound for destruction! I’m just glad my family hasn’t disowned me yet!

I have hot friends. That’s all I will say about that for now…more on that later. This was Halloween, I’m on the right there making my best “duck-face” and two of my besties. I was a Ballerina that year with my friend Roblet, which was super exciting for me. I LOVED being a ballerina! I’ve always wanted to be one and what better time to do that then at Halloween! 🙂  What was the best costume you ever wore for Halloween? I need to hear some ideas for my Halloween party I’m throwing this year. These Germans don’t know whats about to hit them! (For those of you who don’t know..they don’t have Halloween) Worst costume gets thrown in the jacuzzi!

When I wasn’t all dressed up and going somewhere or acting like a maniac, I did partake in some relaxing time. I was out with Toblerone downtown for a dirty martini, per usual. He snapped this pic and there ya have it! 🙂 He calls it my Jennifer Aniston pic. If Only…

2009 feels like just yesterday but I guess as you get older it all starts to blur together. I wish I could rewind the time. I’m getting to that point, aren’t I? Wishing it were yesterday rather than today. Well, I can’t turn back time but I need to start making today count…and tomorrow…and the next day….and the next….and….

Until next time, readers!! xoxoxoxoxo