Extended Vacation

That was a long vacation, huh? Not one post for the entire month of August. What can I say? Life happens. Ok. First things first. Our family vacation turned out to be the best family vacation EVER. For real. The monkeys were soooooo cool - my favorite memory of Honduras. Can you believe that the first photo is G's Dad? Love it! After the cruise, my Mom came to visit. Fun times - we laughed non stop, shopped non stop and managed to even bake together. I have some yummy From Scratch recipes to post. Since her visit, I have been totally engulfed in yoga. My website is up. Yaaaaah! And I finally found a yoga studio in my area that not only challenges me in my personal practice but also has two amazing teachers that truly inspire me - I know for a fact, I am becoming a better teacher because of them. And finally, we are in the midst of making some really important decisions regarding the next couple of years - we are thinking about finally growing some roots here in the good old USA. More to come:)

Family Vacay

Tomorrow morning, we are headed to Miami. We are meeting G's parents, flying in from Frankfurt, and from there, taking a Caribbean cruise together. I'm soooo excited to visit Belize and Honduras!

Auf Wiedersehen!

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!

I Heart Germany

We are back home after a two week mini adventure! The highlights are: In Chicago, I took G to Portillo's - a fast food restaurant that every one of my meat loving friends agree has the best hot dogs in town. We ended up eating Portillo's twice that day. He loved the fully loaded hot dog AND the polish sausage and can't stop telling his German friends about it and how he was wrong about America's hot dogs. In Michigan, my Mom celebrated her 60th birthday and we were there, along with sixty of her closest family members and friends, on a dance floor, in a huge circle with my Mom in the middle, singing the Stevie Wonder version of Happy Birthday! It was pretty cool. And then we were off to Germany, to surprise G's parents. We didn't tell them we were coming in town - we just flew in and caught a taxi from the airport to their house, and rang the doorbell. They were stunned! We spent the majority of the week in Frankfurt and we drove to Munich -
I really missed that city....every where we went, there were so many good memories. But the highlight of our time in Germany was with G's parents. We didn't stop laughing the entire time we were there. Of course we had amazing food and cakes. Even with just showing up on her doorstep, unannounced, G's Mom made our favorite meals and desserts magically appear, as if she knew were coming all along. Oh, and I went over to their neighbor's house again to take some more pictures of the cows. What can I say... once a city girl, always a city girl!

Trust your Gut

Yesterday my Mom decided to quickly make lunch, change into her jeans, and head out to run some errands. Exactly in that order. She decided to steam some fish - but in order to make the most of her time, she wanted to steam the fish while she was changing her clothes. So she turned the stove on the lowest setting, just enough to slowly cook the fish, ran upstairs and changed her clothes. She was so focused on her errands, she put on her coat and left the house. When she got out of her truck at the grocery store, she immediately smelled a little smoke. She checked the truck but everything seemed ok so she continued on. In the grocery store, she couldn't get that faint smoke smell out of her nose. When she finished her shopping, she got back in her truck and realized that she still smelled smoke, like someone had been smoking in the truck...impossible. So she sat there, and thought about it but for a couple minutes but couldn't figure out an explanation. Right then, she got a gut feeling that she needed to go home as soon as possible. So she didn't event think about it, she immediately drove home. When she opened the door and smelled smoke, it hit her. She knew. As she walked in the kitchen, she saw the fish, a burnt smoky brick, still burning on the stove.

How was your Christmas?

Our Christmas was full of family time fun, some surprises, and of course, amazing food. We spent the holiday with G's parents, near Frankfurt. Instead of driving, this year we decided to take the train. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that the whole train experience was the exact opposite of what I imagined. It wasn't the cold, uncomfortable, and extremely loud train ride I remember on Amtrak from my college days. We had a small glass encased room, with a table, reclining seats, and even wait staff. Anyway, Christmas is celebrated on the 24th in Germany so my Christmas Eve was fantastic. As I've mentioned before, G's Mom is the Martha Stewart of Germany, so to say that we overate is an understatement. She served a different meal for every dinner and every plate on the table was practically licked clean - I started wearing my loose fitting jeans in the evening! She has a way of making every meal just perfect. Here's our table on Christmas Eve afternoon.


Denzel's first Christmas was full of more firsts...

His first Christmas present wasn't an instant hit. He was freaked out by the squeaking starfish. But after one day of close inspection and a lot of test bites, now it's his favorite toy to try to rip apart!

He also had his first experience with stairs. He was brave for the first two steps and then he got stuck.

And he survived G's first "let's see what he does when we....." idea.


We spent a lot of evenings playing Monopoly. It was the first time I played with G and his family and let me just say, they take the game to another level. It was a Monopoly War! Now I understand how G can make me go bankrupt, every time we play. But I had to forgive him for kicking my butt in front of his family because he gave me such a cool Christmas gift. It was a small white paper package and when I opened it, it was a piece of cheese. Huh? You can imagine my facial expression. But then he told me to read the inside of the wrapping....

The inside of the wrapping is a flag and printed in the middle are the details of our trip to Amsterdam! Anyone have any suggestions on things to see or do in Amsterdam:)

Expect the Unexpected

Hey party people! Long time, no see, right? Well, we had a meeting with the "Flower Lady" on Saturday. We were supposed to choose the flowers for my bouquet and the table centerpieces for the wedding reception. I already had a certain variety and color in mind but if you know me, then you know that I'm really indecisive and horribly picky. So while this particular appointment for the average person would normally take 20 minutes, it probably would have taken me an hour to decide. Anyway, when we got there and started talking about ideas, she totally surprised us when she decided it would be better if we were able to see all of the flowers available...and I do mean ALL. She invited us to go shopping with her at her local grower. That means that we will look at a zillion different flowers and yup, choose whatever we want. And guess what? My Mom is here, so she's coming too. That's why I've been out of the blogging loop for so long - I've been hanging out with my best friend:)

Ein deutsches Gespräch

G's Mom: Wie geht's? Bist du krank? (How are you? Are you sick?)
Me: Nicht so gut. Ich habe ein Schlumpf. (Not so good. I have a cold.)

My answer was followed by a lot of laughter. Because I meant to say:

Ich habe einen Schnupfen.







But I actually said:

Ich habe einen Schlumpf.

Crossing the Line

As I've mentioned before, I have an uncontrollable fear of spiders. If I find one, I can't even kill it. Don't you realize it could wait until the precise moment I get close enough and jump off the wall and bite me on the hand, which would definitely hurt and then the venom would quickly start to dissolve my skin and poison my blood because with my luck, it would be some exotic spider from the rainforest, that somehow survived years outside of it's normal habitat and was living in my kitchen, waiting to kill me? G always indulges my fear by coming to the rescue and killing them. Well, to put things in perspective, the average sized spider in Germany seems to be four times the size of the ones in the US and they have no fear whatsoever of humans. So, on Saturday morning, at G's parents' house, I found myself in the bathroom, standing naked in the shower, staring face to fang with a spider about the size of a silver dollar. I immediately screamed for G. No reply. I yell his name again and his Mom comes to the door, telling me that he's upstairs. I couldn't think of the German word for spider (spinne) fast enough to explain the problem, so I just grabbed the closest weapon available, the shower head. I turned on the water and doused the spider and blew it off the ceiling, to the corner, to the floor! I definitely killed it. But I couldn't bring myself to actually pick up the carcass with toilet paper and throw it away. Of course, after all of the drama, G finally comes downstairs. While I'm explaining what happened, his Dad comes into the bathroom. Luckily, I have my pajamas back on but I'm totally sweaty with my hair all over my head and obviously, having a little breakdown. G's Dad listens and as I'm talking, I see him looking at the ceiling and the walls, completely drenched with water. He says, "Meine Güte!" and picks up the carcass and explains, in an irritated voice, the innumerable reasons why I shouldn't be afraid of spiders. At this moment, I realize that I have just crossed that line of being a "guest" in their house. I am officially getting cussed out, politely, but cussed out, all the same. After he leaves, G says, "He's totally pissed." Perfect. So, I take a shower and get dressed, all the while trying not to really freak out about my soon to be Father In Law thinking I'm some skittish, silly American city girl (accurate). Thank goodness, G helped to smooth things over - we went out and bought a package of his Dad's favorite candy, Lakritz, and with a sincere apology and the peace offering, I think everything was okay. I hope!

City Girl

We are back in Munich after a relaxing and cake filled weekend with G's parents. G comes from a tiny village of about 700 people, just outside of Frankfurt. Our childhoods couldn't have been more different. He woke up to the sound of a rooster every morning while I woke up to the sounds of morning rush hour traffic. Every time we visit his parents, we take Roby for long walks through the village and in the woods. I know it's such an adventure for Roby - so many new smells, plants, and animals - but it's also sort of an adventure for me. To G's family's amusement, I am still amazed by cows, frogs, and walnut trees. And terrified of flies, bees and spiders (embarrassing spider freak out story to follow). In the meantime, here are some pictures from Saturday's walk.

NYC Mama

My Mama loves me. She really really loves me. She's flying to NYC next week, to look for wedding gowns in the bridal district. She is convinced that she will find my dream gown. Isn't that sweet? And crazy! I know it sounds risky - my mother choosing my wedding gown - but we have a very unique relationship. We are best friends (for real) and we have the same sense of style. She knows what looks best on me and vice versa. She is the only person I trust enough to shop for something so important to me. She's taking my photos and measurements and of course, her digital camera so that I can see her favorites every night. And she's bringing her girlfriend along for a second opinion...and mental support if it comes to down to me actually making a decision! Wish us luck:)