Christmas is coming!!!

Have I bragged enough about the fact that I was done with my Christmas shopping weeks ago? Because if I haven't, let me take a moment and toot my horn a little bit. This year I was determined not to get stuck spending a million dollars at the last minute and scurrying around picking up last minute stuff. We have a big family and that means TONS of gifts to purchase each year. For those who don't know me, I love buying gifts and I really like for it to be something that I think the gift getter will really like. And that means that I run out of ideas OFTEN. This year I think that I did really well. We had to buy for a grand total of 14 different people and 4 white elephant gifts. The only thing that I have left to pick up is two of the white elephant gifts and I already know what I am going to get. This doesn't include the shopping that we do for each other! Yikes! This year the vast majority of what I bought has been shipped to my parent's house and I will wrap everything when we arrive home before Christmas. That is really my favorite part! The only sad thing is that this year we have a big house and a fantastic tree and I will have NO gifts to put under it since they have all already been shipped to the U.S.! Oh well!

Last Friday we went with Deaner's parents and picked out a Christmas tree. It was a lot of fun and thankfully we didn't have the same incident with the tree on top of the Jeep as I did with the bed. It all got home in one piece and we didn't even have to stop on the Autobahn to re-secure it! It was exciting to pull out all the Christmas ornaments because at the end of last year I bought a TON of ornaments at Pier One on sale and I had forgotten how cute they all were. I also got to put our new Christmas Weinachts Pyramid out that we bought in Rudesheim this summer. Here is what the finished product looked like!Sorry the pictures aren't the highest quality but I took them with my iphone. And don't get me started on the colored lights. Deaner and I have this argument (nothing huge) over what kind of lights are going to go on the tree. I always want all white and he always wants all colored. This year I told him that being the fantastic wife that I am, I would concede and he could have the colored lights. That and that we already had the colored lights and I couldn't find any all white ones and I was sick of shopping that day! :) So, I think it turned out pretty good. We wanted to get it up early so that we could enjoy it before we leave to go home on the 17th! Two weeks from tomorrow we will be on a plane home! I really can't wait to get there! I haven't been counting the days as closely as I did this summer but I am definitely excited.

Today was relatively uneventful. Steph and I met at Ikea to shop but I found NOTHING that I had to have. I was looked for some frames but the sizes didn't fit right and I wasn't really into forcing it to work. I also grocery shopped. I'm in a serious food funk lately and need some new ideas for dinners during the week. Any suggestions welcome! Hope everyone is having a good Wednesday!

Neuschwanstein Castle and Thanksgiving

We weren't so lucky on our second day of vacation in Garmish. It hardly mattered to us though since we had seen the most beautiful view ever the day before. Tuesday morning we got up nice and early and headed to visit perhaps the most famous castle in Germany. Neuschwanstein Castle was built by King Ludwig in the 1800's and it is said that the modern day Disney Castle is modeled after Neuschwanstein. Deaner and I visited here last summer while on vacation but we were happy to come back. The weather, like I said, was sort of typical for Germany but since the tours are inside, no big deal! There is another castle right next to Neuschwanstein called Hohenschwanganau (God, I hope I spelled that right!) and we toured this one first. It was actually built by King Ludwig's father. Here are a few pictures of it. Imagine it with a bright blue sky in the background and it might look better!Our second tour was of Neuschwanstein and here are a few shots from that.In the next picture you can get an idea of exactly what elements we were facing!All in all it was a successful day of sightseeing. When we returned to the hotel late that afternoon we boarded a bus to head on a tour of the Greisbrau Beer Brewery. What a treat this was! We had a tour of the brewery before settling in for dinner and our beer tasting. Normally on beer tours the tastings are really skimpy and we were not disappointed this time. After taking our test, receiving our beer diploma and a big ole German dinner (don't worry, I got to have pizza!) we had our picture taken with the Brewmaster, Wolfgang.We also left with a mini 5 liter keg of the Christmas beer that was AWESOME. I think that Steph and Jon can vouch for that since we got to enjoy it on Thanksgiving. Which brings me to Thanksgiving! It was the first time that I have hosted a Thanksgiving dinner of my very own and I was really excited about it. I quickly found that I don't have NEARLY the amount of decorations that my mom has always had for our Thanksgiving dinner table. Here is what my table looked like. I was not thrilled about it the way that it looked. So bland.Here is my Mom's table.It's just not fair!! I am going to be searching year round now for good decorations for my table! So annoying! I do think that all my food turned out well. Deaner's dad grilled a 7 pound tenderloin, Steph and Jon made a turkey and I made hashbrown casserole, toasted almond green beans, green bean casserole, gravy and rolls. We also had sweet potatoes and stuffing. Not to mention the desserts! Needless to say, no one went home hungry and a good time was had by all!

Tomorrow I will post pictures of my Christmas tree which I am happy to say we are enjoying very much. I went to spin class today and it was a great workout. I was slightly surprised when two mothers rolled their infants into the class in strollers and parked them by their spin bikes. No big deal but this class is a little on the loud side with the instructor constantly yelling over the music. Towards the end I glanced over to see how the babies were fairing. I was quite surprised to see that the mother was HOLDING THE BABY while continuing to spin!!! I'm sorry, but how can this be safe? I think that the instructor was thinking the same thing because when she noticed it she got off her bike and took the baby from the mother so she could finish up the class. A little bizarro but whatever!! Hope everyone had a good day! More pictures to come tomorrow!

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!