Fantastic Vacation

Has it really been since November 20th when I last wrote on my blog? I feel like I have been saying things like that quite often lately and I really need to get it together. We have just had so much going on the past two weeks! Today is my first day back to normal. I am planning on finishing up the laundry, actually putting it away, changing the sheets in the guest room and vacuuming and cleaning the rest of my house. Deaner's dad and stepmom arrived in Germany on the 20th and left this past Saturday. We had such a great time and my house feels very quiet and very empty this morning.

I suppose that I need to back up quite a bit and start from the beginning. Dick and Maggie (Richard's dad and stepmom) arrived on Friday morning. I picked them up at the airport since Deaner had to work that day. We met Deaner for lunch that day and did some sightseeing around Wiesbaden. Friday night we ate dinner at our favorite restaurant, Trenz, before starting our big adventure on Saturday morning. Saturday morning we headed to Koblenz to have lunch with some family friends. Then we continued on to Hirschhorn Castle were we spent the night. I have never spent the night in a castle and it was a really neat experience. Here is a picture of the view from our room.And some pictures of the castle grounds.Before leaving the castle Deaner, his dad, and Maggie decided they would climb to the top of the above tower. I decided I would stay put on the ground! Here they are climbing to the top!After the long climb, we headed to Garmish, Germany and the beautiful Alps. The military has special hotels all over the world specifically for members of the military and DoD employees and we were lucky enough to get to take advantage of the one in Garmish. The Edelweiss Lodge was awesome and we couldn't have hoped for a better vacation. When we arrived, the weather was a bit gray but when we woke up on Monday morning the sun was shining and it was beautiful. Originally we planned on visiting the Neuschwanstein Castle on Monday but since the weather was so fantastic we decided that we should go ahead to the summit of the Zugspitz. The Zugspitz in the highest mountain that is located in Germany but once at the top one can see the Austrian Alps for as far as their eye can see. It was truly one of the most amazing views I have ever seen and we have been to a lot of places in our lives. Here are just a few of my favorite shots. There is no way that I can post them all because I took WAY too many.I mean, does it get any prettier? I don't think so. Deaner and I cannot wait to go back and test out our skiing skills. I'm pretty sure they are non-existant but we can't live here with this sort of oppertunity and NOT going skiing in the Alps!

Anyways, it might be time for me to start all that cleaning that I was talking about earlier. I have plenty more pictures from the rest of the vacation that I will post tomorrow. Plus I have pictures of my first Thanksgiving as the hostess and of my Christmas tree that is up and decorated already! I can't wait to share the pictures with y'all. I also want to say Happy Birthday to Fatboy/Chubs, who is otherwise known as my Dad! Happy Birthday Dad!! Hope you have a great day and that everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving!!

R.I.P. UGA VII

It is a sad day in Bulldog Nation. When I woke up this morning the first e-mail I read was from my mom breaking the news to me that Uga VII, the University of Georgia's beloved mascot, had suffered from a heart attack and died. This was pretty shocking news since Uga was only 4 years old and was only introduced as Uga VI's predecessor in August 2008. My fellow Bulldog fans will certainly understand the sadness that comes with the death of any Uga, but particularly with one that passed away so young.

Several years ago my family got to have our picture taken with Uga VI and it was a day I will probably never forget. And it wasn't because of the awesome family togetherness either! The day was HOT, humid and not a cloud in the sky. My family decided to venture to Athens for picture day in hopes that we would have our picture taken with Uga for the family Christmas card that year. By the time we arrived in Athens the line to see Uga was around the corner and the folks working there laughed at us when we asked where to get our tickets. As it turns out, people started lining up at 2am for the tickets and it was not likely that we were going to make it into the building. Rejected, crabby, fighting and SWEATY we left the auditorium for lunch in downtown Athens. No one was happy. My dad even took us to the bookstore downtown and let us get whatever we wanted in hopes of salvaging the day and repairing our spirits after our rejection. Bummed out and on our way back to the car we passed the auditorium again where Uga was posing for pictures when I happened to notice a red Ford Expedition parked in the alley. Thanks to the Uga coffee table books in my parent's house, I knew this was Sonny Seiler's car (Uga's owner). I noticed people coming out of a door in the alley. The door had no handle on it. Curiosity got the best of me and I waited in the alley until the next people left. Inside I could see Uga, RIGHT THERE, within 20ft of me! We were able to go in the back door and slip into the line, which was dwindling by that point anyways. VICTORY!!! When it was our turn to have our picture taken with Uga, I swear to god my legs were shaking as if I were in the presence of the biggest movie star ever. It is pretty clear how happy we all are in the picture that was taken. Even my brother, who was 16 at the time and did not smile often, was happy!This was our Christmas card in 2003 I believe. My sister added the RIP Old Friend when Uga VI passed away in June 2008. He reigned at the winningest Uga of all time over a 10 year span at the University of Georgia and I was honored to have my picture taken with him. I am only sorry that I did not have the chance to meet Uga VII before his untimely death yesterday. I am sure that meeting Uga VII would have brought just as much joy to my family as his father did. Now Bulldog fans around the world will wait in anticipation for Uga VII's predecessor to be named. Until then, rest in peace Old Friend, you will be sadly missed!

Back in the Swing of Things

Ok, this is my attempt at getting back in the swing of things this week and actually blogging about my daily activities. This week has brought what I expected the German winter weather to be like. I don't think we have seen the sun since we left England on Friday and it is definitely a bummer. While it isn't all that cold yet, the dreary rainy mess is definitely going to get old quickly.

So, for the past few weeks I have been trying to get back into a routine of going to the gym. Just admiting that gives me a headache. I was so good about going to the gym with Deaner back when we lived in Atlanta and I was even pretty good about it while we lived in the hotel for 5 months. But once we moved in here I just have not been motivated. At first, I didn't blame myself since I was working in the house 10 hours a day painting etc but lately I have not had THAT much work to do. So, I started trying to meet Deaner at the gym after he got off work each day. This did not go very well. I pretty much dreaded going to the gym all day long and it really hung over my head all day long. We talked about it yesterday and decided that I should just start going to the gym in the mornings and getting it out of the way so that I have the rest of my day to enjoy. I feel a little guilty about not waiting and going with my husband in the afternoons but it was making me too cranky. I have been in the mornings the past two days and so far so good. Let's just see if it sticks!

I have been getting ready all week for our next round of guests. Deaner had a college friend in town this weekend and it was nice getting to see him. Deaner's dad and stepmom fly in on Friday morning and I can't wait to see them! Deaner has to work on Friday (he is taking off the whole next week) so I will be fetching them from the airport on Friday morning. I can't wait for them to see our house and I have been cleaning obsessively for their arrival! We are leaving on Saturday and staying the night in a Castle. I am really looking forward to this. Sunday we are going to make our way to Southern Germany and we are staying at the Edelweiss Lodge in the Bavarian Alps. I am really excited because I know how beautiful it is going to be and I can't wait to take pictures. I hope that the weather cooperates!

Now it is time to go shower. I've been putting it off since I have been cleaning but I can't put it off any longer! Exactly 1 month from today we will be on a plane to Atlanta for Christmas! I really can't wait. I hope that the time flies between then and now!

Another Day?

Did I seriously just let another day pass without writing on my blog? I wasn't even very busy today! I promise to write tomorrow. I'll be around the house getting ready for the next round of guests!! Yea!! I love it when people visit and Deaner's dad and step mom will be here on Friday. Can't wait to share the details of our trip with y'all and the plans for my first Thanksgiving in charge!! Tomorrow, I promise!

Bad Bad Blogger

Is it true that I really haven't written on my blog since MONDAY? I think that might be a new record for me! This week passed very slowly being in England and not at home. Wednesday Deaner had the day off of work and we ventured over to Cambridge to visit the University. It was really pretty and only could have been better if the weather wasn't so gray! Here are a few of my favorite pictures.It was a pretty good time. They were having a market in the middle of town and I was able to get 3 practically new books for 2 pounds! We will definitely visit here again next time we have a chance!

Yesterday we were happy to finally return home. I have to say that it was pretty much my worst experience ever on Ryanair. I have heard the horror stories and have been happy with our travels on the airline so far. Yesterday I was pretty sure we were going to die. During the landing we went through some very thick fog and apparently overshot the runway because the pilots didn't have their Cat 3 equipment set. They had to pull up the airplane hard at the last minute and it was very obviously something was wrong. I was not impressed when they came on the speakers saying not to worry the weather just "caught them a little off guard". During the second attempt at landing Deaner leaned over, tightened my seatbelt and told me not to look out the window. Nice. When we were finally safe on the ground (I was drenched in sweat) I was really surprised we could land at all with the thick fog on the ground. I probably won't be nervous to fly again but I was definitely scared for a solid 10 minutes or so. I'm a pretty good flyer but turbulence can unravel me pretty quickly! Unless we have to go to England again in December, I think our next flight will be the 10 hour one home to Atlanta for the holidays! The length of that one is the only thing that makes me nervous!

Right now I am wondering if it is too early to open a beer? It's 5:30pm on a Friday so that should be okay, right?? Deaner is at the airport picking up a friend of his from college who lives in Rome. I'm making pulled chicken BBQ for dinner with a vinegar BBQ sauce and my mouth is watering for it already!! I hope that everyone has a great weekend! I promise to be better about writing next week!

Houston, We have a problem.

No, our Ryan Air flight did not crash this morning, surprisingly. However, we are checked into the hotel room on the Airforce base and all I can hear is beep....beep....beep......beep......beep. It is coming from somewhere on the base and it is LOUD and CONSTANT. I have been in this room for 4 hours now and it is all I can hear. I have no idea if it will ever stop. I don't think I can listen to it all night. I'm already about to go CRAZY. We might have to make a stop at the BX on the way to dinner for some ear plugs. What was the Edgar Allan Poe book? The Tell-Tale Heart? I think that is me right now. Check back tomorrow to make sure that I am still alive.

I can't think of anything else to report today. Beep....beep.....beep......beep.....

Bruxelles

Hi everyone! I just got all checked into the Marriott in Brussels and got my internet all hooked up. This day started out without much potential but it has steadily gotten better. We had to wake up really early this morning to head to Brussels and y'all know how I feel about waking up early! It rained most of the way here and I feel like this drive gets longer each time we do it! However, the stars seemed to align when we got here a bit early, found a parking spot on the street and got to eat PIZZA HUT BUFFET!!!!! (I just typed Pizza Butt Buffet and that would not have been as good!) I know it might seem like something small but trust me, this was big for us. And it tastes just like the in the States! The only downside is that the buffet is like $15 a person. We certainly did not care and completely gorged ourselves. Deaner even suggested going back for dinner but that was BEFORE we ingested pounds of pizza and had to roll ourselves home. It was SO good. I'm not sure what we are going to do tonight for dinner but Chi-Chi's might be calling my name. Pizza Hut and Mexican in the same day? It is almost too good to be true.
After getting checked into the hotel I was very surprised and VERY happy to see that MTV was working in Belgium (two weeks ago when we were here, it wasn't) and I was able to watch The Hills!!!! It is my secret flaky guilty pleasure. I can't get enough and if they had a 24 hour live feed, I'm pretty sure I would subscribe. Deaner always tells me that the show is so fake but I just don't care! I wish LC was still on because Kristin's voice really annoys me. And I just can't understand why anyone would want to date Justin because he is nasty! So, next up on my agenda is to watch The City. I don't love it as much as The Hills but it will do. My current beef with that show is that Whitney answers/comments on everything with a question. Example........

Someone: "That guy is so hot"!!!
Whitney: "I know, right"?
Someone: "This is the cutest dress"!
Whitney: "I know, right"??
Someone: "This party is so much fun"!
Whitney: "I know, right"??

You get the point. It just bugs me. Almost as much as it bothers me when someone asks where something "is at". UGH.

Anyways! I'm off to watch The City and then I will probably read until Deaner gets home from work. I'm so happy that tomorrow is Friday but wish we didn't have to ride all the way back to Germany! Deaner and I have hair appointments with Steph tomorrow and then we are having dinner at their place. I can't wait. I have to set this laptop up on the desk in the hotel room and there is a mirror right in front of me. I can hardly stand to look at my roots! Then on Saturday we are having some friends over for dinner and football watching. Should be a good weekend! If I can't write tomorrow y'all know why!! Happy Thursday!

I'm stumped for a post title!

It is hard to believe that I haven't left the house today! I heard a rumor that it was pretty cold out there today! My iphone tells me that it is 39 degrees outside so perhaps I wasn't missing much. While in a tizzy this morning about finances I decided that Deaner can no longer bring his dress shirts to the dry cleaners. It is truly ridiculous to get your clothes dry cleaned here. At first I was ironing Deaner's shirts but it just took too long. After the last batch came back to the cleaners I was through with them. They take about a week to clean them, they come back wrinkled and 8 shirts cost approximately $35. A far cry from $.99 a shirt in Atlanta. All those factors combined with a financial meltdown of sorts, guess who stood for hours this afternoon behind the ironing board! Deaner has assured me that we are fine but I will just be happy once we pay off the salary advance that we took when we arrived in Germany. There is no way that we could have done it without it but that extra money each pay check will be great! That, and if I start to substitute teach soon!

Let's see. I have actually done a lot today. My house is finally clean since I was able to usher my husband out the door to work this morning. I just can't seem to get anything done when he is around! The kitchen is spotless, dining room free of clutter and the den is straighted. The house is vacuumed and 4 loads of laundry are finished and more impressively, put away! Dinner is also on the stove. I made a new recipe tonight of Cannelini Bean soup. The only obstacle is that the commissary didn't actually have Cannelini beans! This could be interesting! My mom told me that I could substitute navy beans and that it would be fine. It smells good so I'll let y'all know!

Now I am finally getting a chance to sit down and write my blog post for the day. I have Jeopardy on in the background. I was actually just really impressed with myself for knowing like 10 questions in a row. Of course when I glanced up I realized that I was actually watching TEEN Jeopardy! That sort of took the fun out of it. Especially when I didn't know the answers! :) George came over today. He was holding a plate full of cake. He announced in German that he wasn't speaking English to me anymore (I understood this much) but I didn't catch what kind of cake it was or why he was bringing to me. I hope it isn't poisonous.

How is everyone doing with their Christmas shopping?? I am almost finished! I only have one more person to buy for and then two gifts to purchase for our family's white elephant gift exchange. The price point is between $30-$40 if anyone has any good ideas! I like for my gifts to be the best! Also, I do an ornament swap every year with my girlfriends from college and I have the best ornaments already to give to whomever I draw! Last year my ornament got to me and it was smashed in a million pieces. I thought it was pretty funny and I wish that I could get the picture off my old cell phone but I am not sure how I would do that? It still cracks me up to think about. Anyways, I am off to read while I wait for Deaner to get home. Hope everyone is having a good day!

Come Monday.......

I didn't get anything done today that I was planning on accomplishing! I had piles of laundry, a house that is a wreck and no groceries. Instead of sending Deaner off the work this morning like a good wife should, he decided that he was not feeling up to par and needed to take the day off. I should have known right then and there that I needed to wipe my agenda clean because I wasn't going to get anything done with him hanging around!!

It has been a very pleasant day though! We slept in, read, had lunch together, went to the gym, went grocery shopping and now we are home and Deaner is making a big pot of soup for dinner! Doesn't he sound just like he is on his death bed!? I'd call it more of a mental health day I guess and I am happy to report that our patient is recovering nicely. At first I felt as though I had just been duped into going to the gym but it was nice to get a hard workout in and feel like I did something worthwhile. It is also nice to have it done by 4:00pm!!

This weekend was a lot of fun. Friday night we went to eat dinner at the new pizza place that we have discovered. It was great and afterwards we can home and had a quiet evening. Saturday we had a Halloween party that started at 3pm at some of our friend's house. It was great! Their house is phenomenal (right on the Rhein River) and the party was definitely a blast! They had more food than I have seen in a long time! We had to leave pretty early because we had promised to be home to hand out candy to the neighborhood kids. Thank goodness we can home because I think every child under the age of 12 came here. Even one child that definitely needed to shave. At one point I thought we were running low on candy and Deaner and I had an emergency ghost tootsie pop making session and of course, once we got the bag made, not one more child came to our door!!

It was not a good football weekend for any of us. Ole Miss tanked against Auburn, Georgia got clobbered by Florida but perhaps the most awful loss of all was for Deaner as his Virginia Caveliers lost to DUKE. Seriously? This is the second year in a row to lose to Duke. If their coach isn't fired this year I'll be dumbfounded. All in all it was as bad a football outing as you can get in our family. Guess we will just have to buck up and wait for next weekend!

I hope that everyone is having a decent Monday. It is pouring rain in Wiesbaden, it's 5:00pm and dark, and it is getting cold. Thank god we already went to the gym and I am cozy and comfy in my pjs!