The German Way

These are my very tired feet! I felt very "German" today, as I did a whole lot of walking! Jonathan had the car today and I had some things I really wanted to get done. Among these things I wanted to accomplish were going to the library to print out some maps so I could do this awesome picture frame idea I found on pinterest.

This cute idea shows a map in the shape of a heart of where we met, where we married, and where we live. I had some frames that I have been letting collect dust since my mom sent them to me because I wanted to do something extra cute with them. When I saw this idea on pinterest.com I immediately knew it was time to get those frames dusted and cleaned! Now if I can just get them on the wall where I want them. We have concrete walls all over the apartment and the wall I want this to go on (above our bed) is particularly stubborn. I managed to find some special nails at the store that I am hoping will work out.

Anyhow, after walking to the library, working out, walking to the store, then home, back to the store, on the train, walking to a different store, walking back to train, then walking home from train stop my poor feet are begging for rest. This was probably a total of 5 and a half miles all together. Needless to say I felt very "German" today with all the walking I did and am quite proud of myself. Now if I can just rest my feet enough to where I can get up and fix dinner and finish cleaning around the house...not sure if it will happen! :)

Ride the Wind

Today is ride the wind day. I immediately thought of dandelions. I never thought dandelions would be something I would find myself thankful for but I do. I remember picking them proudly as a little girl for my mother, who always graciously accepted them- she never pointed at that they were weeds. I remember my friends and I blowing as hard as we could to make all the little seedlings spring loose in hopes that whatever we just wished for would come true. I am little bit older now so I no longer pick dandelions for my mom, I do not think she would enjoy withered weeds in a package from Germany. I do, however, still make wishes. I am a firm believer in continuing to be a kid at heart. I think you should never stop making wishes. So I am thankful for dandelions because they mean I get to retreat back to childhood, blow as hard as I can, and make a wish. So today I will be sure to pick one up and let my wish ride the wind!

How Fitting!

How fitting that today is friendship day as well as sister day. If you are as lucky as me you have a package deal! If you would have asked me when I was a little girl if my big sister was my friend I probably would not have hesitated to tell you, "no." Shocked? Haha. Don't get me wrong, my sister is an amazing person but being 6 years older than me I wasn't always the coolest accessory to my big sis. However, I would have told you even then that my big sister was my idol and that I wanted to grow up to be just like her! Perhaps, that is why we grew to be friends somewhere along the way- or so I thought. The reality is that we were friends all along. It happened without me even noticing it. I think it was somewhere in between coloring together to helping my sister take her adorable boys to the swimming pool for the day. I still look up to and admire my big sis more than I think she knows. I miss her more than I think she knows, and I have to stop right there before my keyboard becomes soaked in tears. My sister and I are friends and I am proud to say I can celebrate sister and friend day with one person...thinking about you big sis!! I love you!

This weekend has been a fun and busy weekend. Friday night Jonathan and I made a trip 30 miles to Ramstein to pick up some items, catch a movie, and get dinner at the Chili's on base there. It was our anniversary date since he will be working on the day of our actual anniversary, which I will proceed to post a mushy gushy post about tomorrow! ;) Anyhow, dinner was delish! It had been forever since I have been to a Chili's and it was particularly exciting to be going to one in Germany! Saturday we were able to plan a trip to the zoo in Heidelberg with a family that is our platoon. We have been trying to get together with them for a while and it finally worked out to hang out yesterday. We enjoyed walking around the "zoo." I put that loosely because this was by far, the most interesting zoo I have ever been to. I, by no means, claim to be a zoo expert but I still don't know if I would consider this a zoo. Half of the animals in the zoo were interesting typical zoo animals- i.e. elephants, lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, etc. Then we had goats, donkeys, pigs, and a bee exhibit! We agreed that the bee exhibit was probably the most ridiculous thing. I am unaware as to if there was ever more to this "bee exhibit" at some point in time, but when we happened on the exhibit we saw a lot of pictures and facts about bees on the poster and this fenced in area with wide open air! There was no roof, no beehives, none of that. So take what you will out of that. Here are a few of the pictures from our zoo trip.

We caught the tail end of the seals show!

Dumbo!

The flamingos that Isaiah wanted to take home.

Sleepy tiger!

This little guy really liked Jonathan.

We also were privileged enough to get an up close encounter with a couple of birds that we later discovered had escaped from their exhibit. They came strolling down the walkway and I snapped a couple of pictures. We thought it odd that those kind of birds would just be walking around. Well, about two minutes later we saw two employees- one with feed, one with a net. We then laughed and figured those birds must belong elsewhere. It was definitely an interesting day. Here is a picture of the escapees.

Tonight I have been busy attempting to make a delectable dessert for the first time, well let's hope they are delectable! I tried my hand at Oreo Truffles. I have not had a chance to eat one yet as they are chilling in the fridge but they sure do look yummy. Check out what we will be having as an anniversary treat tomorrow!

YUMMMM!!!