Life Happens

Ok. It's obvious that this blog has fallen down my life's totem pole of priorities. It's not that I've lost interest or the desire. I still have funny stories, complaints, recipes, and adventures I want to share. There are still those moments in my life when I say to myself, "Gotta remember that for my blog." Or when I upload pictures and I see a shot that I want to immediately post, because I can't believe I've actually captured exactly what I was feeling at the time. It's just that now, instead of taking the 15 minutes to blog, I choose to do something else. Or something else just needs to be done. I started this blog to record and share the most precious and the most mundane aspects of my life. I didn't know that my blog would inadvertently bring new friends and even allow us to relive some of the most joyous and most painful events in our lives. Blogging has been a blessing. So I know that in time, I will figure out how to get my blogging grove back. Until then, please bear with my catch up posts:)

I teach an early Saturday morning class and to my surprise, G wakes up at 630am and actually takes the class. Every single Saturday. Sweet, right? Well, the other night, he says to me -

G: "So what's up with the Gays?"
S: "What?"
G: "The Gays. You know, the Gays...in your yoga class."
S: "WHAT are you talking about? The Gays?"
G: "The Gays! You always say, Take your gays to the left or up or over your shoulder."
S: "You mean GAZE? Your gaze means where you should look."
G: "Oh. Ok. I didn't know that word."

Priceless.


Recently, I had a super fun weekend with my girlfriend that I have known since I was about 12. G spent a weekend in Berlin so my girlfriend flew in to hang out. I didn't realize how much I needed some girl time. We talked for hours. It's crazy (and a little scary) how much we know about each other! And we had a fantastic dinner in Georgetown at a well known Ethiopian restaurant called Zed's. It's probably the best dinner I've had in DC so far. But I think that had a lot to do with the company.

I finally took my CPR/AED certification course. I've always wanted to take it and I'm finding that a lot of teaching positions require it. I'm happy that I took it and I feel confident with the skills that I've learned. HOWEVER. 5 hours? 5 hours for about an hour of information? Brutal.

1 Night in NYC

Denzel and I decided to piggyback on one of G's business trips to NYC. It was only for one night so we decided to have dinner at a well known north African restaurant near Greenwich Village, called, LeSouk. We figured, how can you go wrong with exotic food, belly dancers, and flavored hookahs? And we were right. Our recommendations - the lamb and the sheep cheese with mint and peppers.

Happy 2nd Birthday Denzel!

Wir lieben dich!

Beef Tips, Potato Pancakes, & Ribs

We started last weekend off right - on Thursday night, we met up with our friend and fellow blogger Maria, for Denzel's first Doggy Happy Hour. Cute, right? We were impressed with the spacious outdoor set up and Denzel was ecstatic to meet so many friends. He also woofed down (ha ha) his appetizer of beef tips and peas. We had such a cool time hanging out and just catching up, I know we'll be back this summer.

On Saturday, we went to a DC United match. We took the train into the city for a change, so that G could enjoy himself. And he did. It was sponsored by Volkswagen and when we walked into the company suite, it was full of German beer, wine, and food. G was in heaven. But I was in rare form - I seriously ate about 40 Kartoffelpuffer. Good times.

Sunday evening, I made a soul food dinner for our friends from Leipzig. I made Baby Back Ribs, Macaroni and Cheese, Greens, Cornbread, and Peach Cobbler. It was my first attempt at ribs - I slow baked them for 4 1/2 hours. And I didn't even taste them - I've officially taken the plunge into vegetarian life but, according to G and our friends, they came our perfect. Yaaah!

Moroccan Style

After three attempts to have dinner at Marrakesh, we finally made it! We were hoping for a fun night - a six course authentic Moroccan dinner featuring live belly dancing - and we left happy and full to capacity. It was our first experience with Moroccan cuisine and it was refreshing to taste some unusual flavors and new spices. The couscous with acorn squash was my favorite. G loved the lamb with honey (sounds strange and smells even stranger) and he couldn't believe he enjoyed the combination of chicken with cinnamon and almonds. He looked at me with wide eyes and said, "It's like a dinner and dessert wrapped into one!"
The belly dancer was intoxicating - we both watched the show in silence!

Believe the Hype

It took over six months but in the end, they got me. Lululemon. I tried. I really tried to hold on to the athletic apparel choices of my youth. Growing up, I played basketball, volleyball, soccer, and softball for seven years straight - I was a Nike girl. Head to toe. I didn't play basketball without my Air Jordans. I didn't go to soccer practice with out my Nike shower shoes. And I didn't step on a volleyball court without my Nike headband - which kept the sweat from falling into my eyes so that I could clearly see who's face I wanted to spike the ball towards. Ha! I swayed a little as I grew up, dabbling in Adidas and after a brief shindig with the company in Germany, I remained loyal. When I started practicing yoga here, I instantly took note of the obvious dominance of Lululemon outfits in the class. I liked every piece I saw but I was happy with my Nike and Adidas ensembles. I was comfortable, my clothes were easy to move in, and in my mind, they were designed specifically for exercise so why would I try any other brand? But over time, I started noticing things. Little things. Like, when I was in Downward Facing Dog, my pants would ease down my lower back, showing way more skin than necessary. I noticed that although I loved my cropped pants, I couldn't find a pair of Nike pants that were long enough for my 5'11 frame. And then, the wire clasp on my sports bra was right in the middle of my back, which was fine for standing poses but when I was on my back for Inversions, it was pretty painful, not to mention dangerous - wire hook + spine + pressure = injury. So after hearing rave reviews about Lululemon's tall pants, I decided to go to one of their stores, just to check out the line. I tried on a few items and I had to admit to G, hovering outside the fitting room door, I loved every single item I tried on. Not only the fit but the fabric. I twisted, squatted, bent over and lunged...and the clothes moved with me. I walked out of the store with a few items and the following day, after a particularly hard (in a good way), hot and sweaty class, I knew it - they got me. Say whatever you want to say about Lululemon...the line is yuppy-ish, over priced, it doesn't fit into the "true" yoga culture.....I've heard it before. I like Lululemon, simply because they make good clothes that are ideal for yoga. And to solidify our new found relationship, Lululemon now offers a discount to all yoga teachers. Yup. they got me!

I (heart) presents!

G was in Germany last week and he brought back some of my favorites.

And my Schwiegermutter sent a present too - Waffelröllchen!

Thinking in German

Why is it so hard to stop in Target, get what you need, and leave? Why is it, that no matter how simple the item, you only recall that item - the purpose of your trip - after you have a shopping cart filled with twenty other items you didn't even realize you needed? I decided to stop in Target this afternoon, with the intent of grabbing a bag of Dingo's, and thirty five minutes later, I found myself looking at cream cheese. I glanced at one of the packages and saw the word, Pfeffer. Pfeffer means pepper in German. So I immediately thought to myself -- ughhhh....how odd....cream cheese with pepper....when did they start making cream cheese with pepper? And then I looked at the package again and slowly read, '...Consumers PREFER the taste of Philadelphia...' Can you imagine? How crazy! That moment was the best part of my day. Funny.

Prenatal Vitamins

I'm not pregnant. And I'm not trying to get pregnant. But my neighbor, who is three weeks away from delivering a baby boy, was telling me that if I want clear skin and longer hair and nails, taking an over the counter prenatal vitamin will speed up the process. Ah....clear skin? Healthy hair and nails? I was sold! After reading the instructions on the bottle, and searching the internet, it appears that it is safe to take prenatal vitamins, even if you are not pregnant or breast feeding. So, I'm in. Here goes my little experiment. I'll try taking them every day, for six months, and hopefully, see results.

House Hunting

Well, after our first experience of looking at potential homes in the US,
only one thought comes to mind:

"Champagne taste...on a beer budget."

0-3 or 6-9 Months?

I love babies. And I love baby clothes. I'm one of those people that purposefully walk through the baby department, even though I don't have a baby yet, just so that I can oohhhh and aahhh over the tiny little outfits. So you can imagine my excitement about my three friends, all pregnant at the same time, with their due dates within months of one another. I've been happily shopping for baby gifts! The first gift I bought, was for a newborn girl - the cutest and softest cream Juicy sweater set I have ever seen. I bought size 0-3 months. Of course, when I got home and called my Mom to tell her about the gift, she goes, "Why did buy 0-3 months? Everyone knows that you always buy a newborn baby 6-9 months." Huh? News to me. My Mom said that newborns throw up so much and grow so fast that they usually don't get a lot of wear out of the newborn outfits. So apparently, the rule of thumb is to always buy 6-9 months, so that the baby can get some longevity out of the clothes. OK. But if that's true, if everyone buys the newborn the larger size, won't the newborn look kind of weird in the big clothes for the first couple of months? Or are babies born so big nowadays that they come into the world wearing 6-9 months clothing? And in giving my friend the 0-3 months sweater set, isn't it still a nice gift if she uses it for when the baby comes home from the hospital? Is a baby clothing gift valuable only when the baby can wear it multiple times? I'm fine if the baby wears it once.

Hmmm. I still have 2 more gifts to buy....

The Power of Paper Towel

Last night...

S: Good night mein Schatz.

G: Good night. I love you.

S: I love you too.

(20 seconds later)

G: Oh, I forgot to tell you - I'm really unhappy with the new paper towel. You can't tear off the smaller sections like the old roll.

Play Date Zuhause

For the first time, Denzel had a friend come over to our house for a play date. Bogey, a Pug puppy that lives in our building, and Denzel have been friends since the summer. His Mom and I decided that they both needed an outlet from being cooped up this week, due to the snowy and icy weather. So last night, when our friends arrived, I opened the door and instead of the crazy sniffing and licking and whining and falling all over each other with excitement greeting Denzel usually gives Bogey, Denzel turned into Mike Tyson. He immediately chased after Bogey, snapping at his face and barking. He was trying to bite Bogey. I could not believe my dog. Denzel has never even snapped at another dog, EVER. As I held Denzel back, Bogey, probably confused but overexcited all the same, ran around our house, jumping on the couch, playing with Denzel's scattered toys a bit, and even drinking from Denzel's water bowl. This only infuriated Denzel more. So, Bogey's Mom and I stopped, put the dogs on their leashes and asked ourselves, "What would Cesar do?" Yes, we are both fans. We decided that we totally messed up the introduction. We brought on the stress. First of all, Denzel has never had another dog in our house, his domain. So by bringing Bogey in and letting him have the run of the place while I held Denzel back, was really stupid. He was being aggressive because he was being territorial. And my shock and nervousness - negative energy - only made Denzel more agitated. So we needed to defuse the situation. Bogey's Mom took Bogey out of the house and into the hallway and waited. Then I followed out into the hallway with Denzel. We wanted to let them greet each other in a neutral place first and then allow them to come back into the house together. Denzel was still a little agitated but after 10 minutes in the hallway, the growling stopped and they were back to being buddies. We then allowed Denzel to enter the house first, kind of look back waiting for Bogey to come along, and then we let Bogey enter. It worked! They played nonstop for 3 hours.

Guess the Vomit

I know. It's sooooo gross. But when Denzel ate a bowl of ____ and immediately threw up, the throw up had formed into such interesting shapes, we couldn't help taking a picture!
Don't worry, we didn't let him eat it - even though you know he tried!

Sweet yet Annoying

G has a new obsession. Laundry. Every time I leave the house for yoga teacher training, he has about 8 hours all to himself. He usually does the same thing every time I'm gone - he works in his home office, takes Denzel to the dog park, does stuff with wires and cables (???), works out with the intern - you know, guy stuff. But lately, guy stuff includes doing at least, AT LEAST, a couple loads of laundry. Now, I do our laundry during the week. And since it's only the two of us, we really don't have a lot of clothes that have to be washed. But it seems like now that I am out of the house for hours at a time, he wants to the laundry..."his way". This means going through his closet, sometimes reorganizing the closet, searching for missing dirty socks or old workout T-shirts that need to be revived or even creating small piles of clothes all over the office that will eventually be pieced together with other piles, that he wants to wash. Yesterday, as soon as I walked in the door from class, he didn't ask me how my day was or if I was sore or if I learned anything new. The first thing he said was, "Hallo. So, do you have any dark clothes? I've got the washer almost filled, just waiting on you!" And because I didn't have enough dirty dark clothes in my laundry bin, he insisted that I take off all of my sweaty clothes on the spot and throw them in, in order to start the wash immediately. But I guess I should be happy that at least he isn't overloading anymore. Last week I finally managed to convince him that stuffing the washing machine beyond it's capacity is not "efficient" and does not save water and money when the clothes don't get clean and I end up having to wash them a second time. I wish he would develop an obsession with cleaning. Or shopping for presents for his wife.

The Inauguration of Barack Obama

Yesterday, over two million people traveled to Washington DC to witness the highly anticipated Inauguration of Barack Obama. I was one of them. I woke up at 4am, spent 2 hours on the Metro (normally a 20 minute ride), and stood outside on Pennsylvania Avenue for over 6 hours, with temperatures teetering just above 20 degrees. I even had to use a Porta-potty...several times. And you know what? It was worth every effort. The overwhelming energy of the people and the significance of that moment in American history literally brought me to tears. Amazing.

Here are my highlights:)

Frohes Halloween!

Last Minute Budget Conscious Costumes

Barack-o-Lantern
Dress in head-to-toe orange, write “change” or “hope” in black letters across your chest, and look really, really earnest while raising a lighter in the air.

Boo-Tooth
Wear a bed sheet, strap on your wireless communications device, and make no apologies for using it throughout the night.

Gossip Ghoul
Wear the most heinous mask you can find and a tartan mini. Say OMG and dramatically text message about other partygoers all night.

Henna Montana
Tattoo your palms and dress in western wear. It might help to sing a bit.

Palin Comparison
Grab a friend, fashion similar updos, wink a lot, and ask people to size you up.

Pirated DVD
Wear your best eye patch and glue on some favorite discs. Tell the requisite jokes about being rated aaarrrgh.

Walk of Shame
Wear oversize button-down boxers, and heels. Tease your hair, mess up your makeup, and walk furtively through the party.

-Daily Candy

The Fine Print

Well, after two hours of sitting in the dentist's chair with my lips pulled back and an intense tingling (almost slow burning) solution on my teeth, I'm happy to say that Zoom definitely worked for me. I saw instant results. My teeth look ten years younger. Really. However, in the process of telling me about all of the wonderful benefits of Zoom, my dentist forgot to mention two important things. One, the shooting pains called "zingers" that are like the feeling you get from brain freeze, except in a single tooth. These random "zingers" last for 24 hours. And two, for 48 hours following the procedure, I could only eat white foods. Anything that would stain a white t-shirt was considered off limits. My diet consisted of Cream of Wheat and Grits, which is always nice for breakfast but for dinner...not so appealing. So the with the "zingers", the bland diet, and also having two fillings replaced on the same day, I was a walking nightmare. But my teeth look fantastic! For my first day without pain and back on colored foods, G and I were invited to the soft opening of Passion Fish, which means everything is complimentary - it's part of the training process for the waitstaff and a nice way to entice customers that live in the neighborhood. The official opening is tomorrow. Man oh man. The raw bar and sushi selections were excellent and the fish - perfect. We truly enjoyed everything we tried. Our dessert was especially cool.

In a Nutshell

I had a hard time signing into Blogger - almost forgot my password. It's been a loooong time, right? Bis nächste Woche! Ha! Well, here's the short version of the story. Our reaffirmation ceremony was absolutely perfect. The night before, we spent some time "catching up" with my Sis and her husband. Why is it when you know you have to be up early in the morning for something really important, when you know that you really need to rest, why do you always end up doing damage!? We are planning on picking up where we left off on New Year's Eve. Oh, and our favorite present was from my Girlfriend P - we've been friends since we were 4 years old! She sang At Last for us and brought everyone to tears. On Friday, G's parents headed back home to Germany. His Mom flew like a rock star, she slept through the entire flight and woke up totally refreshed. We couldn't believe how well she did for her first flight - ever! We had such a good time together. Some of the highlights include playing Taboo in German and laughing until our sides hurt. And I cooked a traditional Thanksgiving dinner - they loved my macaroni and cheese and cornbread. We spent a day in Annapolis and of course, we did the Blue Crab Beat Down after seeing the sights.

And because a visit to America isn't complete without a little Wii, we also taught G's Dad how to bowl, play tennis, and natürlich, how to box.

On being back...and bloody.

After my longest break from blogging to date - 11 days - I'm back.
And the theme of my blogging break was - Planning. I've been sorting out the final details of our American wedding reception with my Mom, developing an itinerary of places to see and things to do when G's parents arrive from Germany in October, planning a couple of much needed and well deserved mini vacations (Miami & San Fran), and planning Denzel's 1 year birthday party. My baby's growing up! So today, I decided I needed some girl therapy to unwind and de-stress - yup, I headed to the salon. And as I was having a manicure, for some odd reason, one of the manicurist's utensils scratched the top side of my right pointer finger, near the cuticle. I'm not sure what utensil she was using because I had my head down, looking at pictures of Brangelina's new twins for the first time in People. But the pain caught my attention. And then came the blood. She immediately started apologizing and trying to clean the cut with antiseptic. But for what seemed like 10 minutes, she was totally focused on stopping the bleeding and continuing to apologize while I was more focused on not allowing my blood to drop on her table or touch any of her utensils. It was an interesting dance between the two of us. Isn't that crazy - that I was so paranoid about my own blood? So much, that although my finger was bleeding and stinging, all I could think about was not contaminating her work area. I kept thinking, I would not want to have a manicure on a table where someone else bled all over it. Right? Eventually the cut dried up and everything was fine. My nails are very purty and I am officially caught up on all of the celebrity gossip, babies, beach bodies, and fall fashion.

Aren't the never ending supply of trashy magazines one of the best perks about the salon:)