Back in the Good Old US of A

    Well Friends, we made it back! And boy what a journey that was! We started off Tuesday at 5am (German time, 9pm Pacific), got ready, packed up the car and made our way to the airport. After some technical problems, our plane finally left almost an hour later. Ugh. Of course. We had a direct flight to California, so we only landed 15 or 20 minutes later than we were supposed to...still trying to figure that one out. Oh the wonders of flying.
    I was both happy and sad to leave Germany. Sad to leave the new friends I made, but happy to return to old friends and family. You know what's really weird about this whole situation? We're not just visiting for a couple weeks, we're moving here! It's so hard to fathom. You know what else is crazy? Tyler's out of the Army! What?! AH! So weird.
    I'm so excited to start this new chapter in our lives. It will take some getting used to, but I bet it will be great! :)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you have a great day with family, 

friends, and loved ones. :)

{Via}

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

    It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Well, that and Christmas is only 3 days away! Ahhh! Can you believe it?! Where has all the time gone? Wasn't it just the summer? Man, how time flies! It's been a busy year for us...and this week, man oh man, boy has it been busy! I've been sick, we've been packing, cleaning, and buying last minute Christmas presents. So, sorry for my lack of posting. I will try to get back on my schedule after the holidays.
    Today, we had to say bye to our first place here in Germany. It may have been old and falling apart, but it had it's own charm. I'm sad to leave it. The guy who came to clear us came at 8 this morning! It's already been a long day. Unfortunatley for us, the Army only pays for us to have 3 days in the hotel. But, God bless great neighbors/friends who let us store our stuff in her apartment and even spend the night. :)

    This year, Christmas will be a bit different for us. We're not going to be with any of our family, plus, we're going to be in a hotel room on base, oh yeah, and we're in Germany. Weird, huh? Though, Germans do Christmas very well.
    As I've said before, we are blessed to have great neighbors/friends. Several of them are also going to be around for Christmas, so we're all pitching in and having Christmas dinner together. Tyler and I are making green bean casserole and apple pie. Mmm, I'm getting hungry already!
    This would be the perfect year to start some of our own traditions, but it's a little hard since we will be in a hotel and not a home of our own. But, if we do come up with anything, I'll be sure to let you all know.
    When I am in Texas for Christmas, we go to church Christmas eve for the candlelight service. When we were younger, Santa would come while we were at church Christmas Eve, so we would get to open the presents from him after church.
    After Christmas day church, we would have brunch and open the rest of our presents. Then, later in the afternoon, we'd go over to a family friend's house for a big get together. My sister and I usually had a friend or two there, but it could still be awkward. Hey, at least we had each other! I know my parents enjoyed it, and as we got older, we would also chat with the adults, so it became more fun I think. :)
    For the past few years, I have been doing Christmas with Tyler's family. Usually the weekend before Christmas, Tyler's dad's side of the family would get together to have dinner, chat, and do a gift card swap game. You all bring $35 gift cards (from anywhere) and you wrap it up. They kind of play it like white elephant, so you all draw a number, you can pick a gift, trade, etc. I think it's a great idea so you don't have to buy a present for everyone, plus, it's fun.
    Sometimes on Christmas Eve they would go to church, but so far, we've only gone one year. On Christmas day, it's an immediate family affair (this includes grandma and possibly and aunt and uncle). Tyler and I last year served everyone mimosas in the morning with Christmas brunch. The mimosas are definitely becoming a tradition, hehe. Then, after brunch, we open presents (still in PJs of course), and after that, it's kind of a lazy day.
    Last year, since Tyler had just gotten back from Afghanistan, we decided to split our time between the two families. First, we flew to Texas for a few days (and had an early Christmas with my family), then, a few days before Christmas, we flew to California.
    People with both parents in the same state or close together are EXTREMELY lucky. I wish we didn't have to choose which family we get to spend the holidays with, but alas, we do. Since we're moving to California, that means that we will see Tyler's family for holidays more, which is fine, but I would really like to see mine as well. I do have a family afterall. Someday we will have enough money to fly all the time to see my family for holidays. Until that day, we will try to split it up the best we can, or maybe just have some on our own. Hmmm...I like that idea!

    What are some of your Christmas traditions?
    Do you have to split your holidays between families? If so, do you have any suggestions, tips,
    or advice?

Pressure...ahhh!

1. There's pressure in my nose/head. Stupid cold.
2. There is the pressure of moving and making sure we have everything packed and cleaned up. This is approaching WAY too quickly :(
3. There is pressure, oh so much pressure about finding a car, a job, and an apartment once we get back to the states.

AH! Oh, so much pressure. Now, if you're like me, the song, Under Pressure by Queen is stuck in your head. Please enjoy :p

{Via}

Weekend Review

    Hello Friends! I hope you all all having a good Sunday. Let's discuss my weekend, shall we? Ok...
    Friday, after I went and rescued my neighbor (long story short, she locked herself out of her car lol), I went and ran errands before our Going Away Party. Friends and neighbors came to our very empty apartment and brought LOTS of food and drink. It was actually a really good time! We were a little sad that some people couldn't make it or just didn't show up, but life goes on.
    The next day, after cleaning up a little more, I noticed that my throat was really hurting. Oh no. Usually what this means is that a cold is coming. Ugh. Great. Just what I need right now. I loaded myself up with cough drops, and went downtown with one of my neighbors to do some Christmas shopping. By the time we were on our way home, my head was pounding, and I felt all cloudy. :(
Once I got home, I decided to take a nap. A few hours later (lol), I woke up and we ate dinner and went and watched a movie with a neighbor. But man, I was definitely not 100%. Best part, we saw Contagion lol.
    Today, my throat felt a little better, but I could tell that I was getting stuffed up. Isn't that worst? Well, ok, it's not the worst, but it's up there. Once Tyler and I got ready for the day, we were off to post to meet the people buying our air conditioning unit and to finalize the selling of our car. Both sold! Great success! After that, we went downtown to the Christmas market and ate delicious food and got some good Christmas presents. Once we got home however, I felt well, not great. Ha. Then I took a nap and woke up just in time to get ready to go to our friends J and B for dinner and gluhwein. Mmmm. It was a pretty good day/night. I just wish I could shake this cold.

Source: google.com via Jessica on Pinterest

I know I don't look like that, but I feel like that. Ugh. I think it's time for me to go to bed before I have to get up and let the maintenance people in to fix our patio shutters.

Goodnight all. Happy Sunday! I hope you all had a good weekend :)

Wedding Wednesday: Random Photos I Enjoy

Hmmm. I probably should've split up my trip to Madrid into a couple parts...that was a really long post! Oh well.

So, today is Wednesday. And you know what happens most Wednesdays, right? I talk about weddings! Woohoo! I'm obsessed...I might have a problem. Today, I'm not really going to be talking, no, I'm just going to post some pictures I've seen of weddings recently that I really enjoy. I think we can all use a break from my blabbing :p.

Source: Uploaded by user via Beth on Pinterest

Source: frillsandfrolic.blogspot.com via Beth on Pinterest

Source: stylemepretty.com via Beth on Pinterest

Source: stylemepretty.com via Beth on Pinterest

Source: alexmphotography.com via Beth on Pinterest

I think that's enough for now. I hope you enjoyed these photos as much as I did :)

Our Travels in Madrid and Toledo

    Wow, I feel like it's been awhile since I've done one of these. Anyway, without further aidue, here is the post about our trip to Madrid...

Day 1 - Thursday (Thanksgiving):
   When we got to Frankfurt, we were early, so walked around and looked for something to eat. Nothing looked good to Tyler, so we decided to go to our gate and eat around there, only problem was that out flight didn't have a gate. Hmmm, that's suspicious. So, we asked around, and we were told what terminal and gate it should be. Once we got to the area, we went and ate at McDonalds. Normally, I would rather not have McDonalds, but in Germany, they have these holiday sandwiches, and oh man, let me tell you, they're SO GOOD! I died. After lunch, we went to the gate our flight was supposedly out of, and waited. Tyler and I started to freak out a little because, while our flight was on all the info boards, there was no gate assigned to it. Then, it got to be boarding time...still no gate. WHAT?! Then, about the time we were supposed to take-off, we had a gate! We checked in and waited in the waiting area. Then, in true Frankfurt Airport fashion, we were driven by bus to the plane. Finally we were on the plane! Almost an hour late...ugh.
    Once we landed in Madrid, we met Tyler's cousin Jenna at the airport train station, and made our way to the city center. Once we were there, we then went to meet up with the woman who's apartment we rented for the long weekend via airbnb.com. The lady was so nice, and the apartment was so cute and clean!Thanks Airbnb :) haha.
    After we all chatted and got settled, we walked around Madrid. Thank goodness it was a lot warmer there! haha. We ended the evening at a tapas bar and, of course, had to get ice cream afterwards. Mmmmm.

Day 2 - Friday:
    On Friday, we got up and ate breakfast at this cute little cafe  and got churros with chocolate to dip them in. No, not like the ones you get at Disneyland, but they're similar and delicious. Once we were done, we then made our way on a "guided walk" that would lead us to the Palace. Now, when I say "guided walk," I don't mean those tours you pay for, I mean one that was in our Eyewhiteness Travel Book on Madrid. Man, I love those books. Such great tour guides. Below are some of the sites we saw on our walk:

Puerta de Toledo

Cathedral of Madrid. So cool. The Crypt is so beautiful.

The awesome door of the Cathedral

Palacio Real

The walk ended at this cool Egyptian monument. Has a GREAT view of the city.

    After going on our walk, seeing the Palace, and going to a cool park, we decided to get some lunch. So, we consulted the book. You know what we all were craving? Mexican food, and sure enough, there are some great Mexican food restaurants in Spain. I know what you're thinking, you go all the way to Spain JUST to ear Mexican food? Why aren't you eating the Spanish food? Ok, here's the thing...Jenna lives in Spain, so she has to deal with their bland food all the time. Tyler and I, well, we just miss Mexican food. Plus, German Mexican restaurants are awful (sorry Germans) and Spanish food, well, some of it is good, but I can see it getting old fast. Oh yeah, I was also the only one out of us all that likes seafood, so that limited their choices at many places. Anyway, the Mexican food was AMAZING. We were just so excited about it, we had the waiter take our picture :D
    After our wonderful Mexican food, we were really tired, so decided to go back to the apartment for a little siesta. What started off as all of us reading and watching tv, turned into a couple hour nap! haha. I guess we all needed it, huh? So, by about 10, we make our way out to walk around and eventually get dinner. I felt like a true Spaniard!

Madrid is so pretty at night! :)

Puerta de Alcala

Bank of Madrid

Day 3 - Saturday:
    On Saturday, we made our way via train to Toledo. There are really no words to describe how cool this city is, so I'm just going to put some pictures and captions. :)

The Fort of Toledo

Such a cool building! Look at all the detail.

El Greco's house. There were even some of his paintings! Epic.

View from El Greco's house.

A church with one of El Greco's paintings in it. Wasn't allowed to take a picture of the painting, but I thought the church itself was pretty cool. Love the arches.

Such a cool cathedral spire

All of us in front of the Cathedral

Bridge of Toledo

Toledo is so pretty, don't you think?

    After a full day in Toledo, which included walking around, an interesting restaurant, a horrible museum, cool houses and churches, we made our way back to the train station. Once we got back to our apartment, we quickly changed and made our way to our dinner and Flamenco show! The dinner was delicious and the flamenco was amazing, even Tyler enjoyed it. I'm so excited that I got to see a flamenco show in Spain!

Day 4 - Sunday:
    Our final day in Spain was museum day. We went to both Reina Sofia and the Prado. Reina Sofia was ok...I'm not really one for modern art (Picasso is about as modern as I can go), so, needless to say, it was not my favorite, but hey, it was free. The Prado on the other hand, I loved! I mean, don't get me wrong, the religious art can get old, but I really like Spanish art and artists.
    For lunch, we wanted to a Cuban restaurant, but because of some random protests, it was hard to get the restaurant. Luckily, we found a way to get there, and I'm glad we did! It was delicious!
    Afterwards, we made our way back to the apartment to pack and cleaned up the apartment a little bit. Then, we made our way to the metro to get to the airport. Tyler thought we were cutting it close for our flight, and I remembered it being later. Just to let you know, I was right :p. Haha. I was sad to leave Spain, but happy to be going home. Unfortunately for us, we didn't get home until about 1:20 am, and Tyler had to be at work at 6am. Yikes! Worth it? Yes. :D

Empty

    Yup. Our apartment is empty, save for the military furniture and 4 suitcases of stuff. The movers/packers came around 8:30 this morning, and boy were they efficient! I feel like this needs to happen every time I move! Haha. Tyler and I awkwardly walked around watching them, until he had to leave to go to the dentist, then it was just me. And I had to have them open up boxes twice (whoops!). Once, for my jewelry, and the second time for a book I'm borrowing. Now, the apartment is all empty and echoy. It's so weird.
    This past weekend, we organized and packed clothes/things we wanted to bring back ourselves, went to a horrid FRG Christmas party (why I volunteered to help I will never know. I don't even really go to FRG meetings.), and, you guessed it, organized some more. Fun, huh?
    Well, with everything organized and gone, I guess I can get back to a semi-normal posting schedule again. :D Hooray! I say semi, because, let's face it, no one's perfect. haha.

Happy Monday Friends! I hope you all have a great week!

Moving, Packing, and Waiting

    Well hello there, friends. And a happy Thursday to you! I'm all dressed and ready to go, waiting, with the hubs, for the inspector to come. We have to get our apartment inspected by the Army before we move out and clear. Weird? I guess it's so we know if we need to fix anything before we move. But, why do I have to fix things?
    Sorry about my lack of a Wedding Wednesday post yesterday, I've just been so busy with trying to get stuff together for the big move. Sorting through my clothes, and seeing what I can live without for a few months is a bitch. Seriously though, you all try and do it. Here's the real kicker...I can't pack up my things. WHAT?! Yes, you just read that right, the moving company has to pack up and box everything for me, otherwise they aren't responsible for what happens to it. This is going to be fun...
    Anyway, I will try to get back on a normal posting schedule, or actually plan out my posts ahead of time (haha...I like never do that, but I really should start). Oh yeah, and I promise that post about Spain is coming soon! It's a wonderful work in progress! hehe.
    Now, if only the inspector would get here, so I can move on with my day. I have clothes and other things to sort! Ha. Moving sucks.

Time to Move On...

    So, I've been forgetting to mention something...Tyler and I are moving soon. No more Army for us, at least, for now anyway. Moving is always stressful, but this move, well, I really don't know how I feel about it. On the one hand, I'm super excited to go back to California and be with friends and Tyler's family, but on the other hand, I know I'm going to miss Germany and the new friends I made here. Plus, I don't even get to see my family or some friends I still have in Texas :(. I feel like there is still more I could do here in Germany, but alas, my time is coming to an end. I'm also scared, well, maybe nervous is more accurate, about finding a job and going back to work.
    Now, along with deciding what things I can live without for about 3 months (that's how long it can take for them to ship our stuff to us ahhh!), I'm looking for jobs, and an apartment. Looking for an apartment is fun, but sucks because I can't go look at any yet. I absolutely hate looking for jobs. There are so many I feel I could do/am qualified for, but according to the requirements, I supposedly am not qualified for the job, sigh. Anybody have any good sites I should look for jobs on? I am using a lot, but I am always open to suggestions.
    Speaking of job hunting, I always thought I was pretty good at interviews, but, 2 or 3 years ago, I was told after one interview I did for my school I wasn't. What?! No one else had ever told me that. And trust me, if I didn't get a job that I really wanted I inquired why and what I could do better next time. Ah well, maybe it was a fluke thing, or maybe I need to prepare more. I do know one thing I struggle with is what questions to ask. Anybody have any suggestions on questions to ask and/or interview tips for me?
     Anyway, I'm excited and yet very scared for this new chapter in our lives. But, ya know what? I bet it's going to be a good one. :)

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Weekend Review

    Hello everyone, and happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend. Here's a little bit about my weekend...
    On Saturday, I went to a baby shower/good bye party for one of the other medic's wives. There was a lot of food (I made cheesecake bites and bought some German Christmas cookies) and socializing. Now, I was the ONLY one without a kid, but I still had a good time, and I think she did too :). Now, here's a funny story for you...when I was talking about kids and saying I didn't have any, I guess some took it to mean that I didn't bring my kids to the party. You see, most of the women brought their kids. So, after I say I don't have kids, one woman looks and me and asks, "oh? Are they grown or something?" WHAT?! How old do you think I am woman?! I politely answer, that no, my husband and I do not have any children yet, nor are we planning to have any in the near future. But again, WHAT?! Most people say I look younger than 24, or about my age...I'm confused. Haha. Ah well, just got to laugh it off I guess.
    When I got back home, I cleaned the apartment a little, and got ready to go to the Christmas Market in town. You see, we were planning on going to the Christmas Market with our good friends J and B, but it just kept pouring on and off. Ugh.  After many facebook messages and phone calls, we decided that there was too much rain, plus, it closed earlier than we thought. Closes at 8 on a weekend is ridiculous! But, since J and B we're about at our apartment when we finally decided not to go, they came over and we hung out, watched movies and drank two bottles of gluhwein. Mmmmm.
    On Sunday, Tyler and I relaxed, played computer games (lol), and watched TV/movies. Typical Sunday. For dinner, we went to the Christmas Market. It kept raining, but we didn't care, we wanted to go. Plus, the food is delicious. Worth it. While we were there, we scouted out what we wanted to buy for presents for others as well as ourselves. We just need to go sometime this week or weekend to get some of the things we want to have shipped home.
    Today, I started making a list of places I want to apply, did a great Jillian Michael's workout, starting writing lists of things I can live without for like 3 months (that's how long moving our stuff with take...yay?), watched our neighbors little yorkie...ya know...the usual. Haha. Now, time to make dinner. We're feeling tri-tip. Mmmm...so good.
    Happy Monday everyone!
P.S. A Post about Spain will be coming SOON! I Promise :) 

December!

    Wow! Can you believe it's already December? Crazy, huh? I know I missed the first day (World Aids Day if you weren't aware), but hey, it's only December 2nd! Christmas is right around the corner, as well as Tyler and I moving back to California. AHHHHHH! So much going. We need to get on our packing and Christmas shopping! Yikes. I guess we should get on that this weekend, huh? Christmas markets, here we come! Happy December and happy Friday everyone! I hope you all have a great day! :)

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