Merry Christmas from Hawaii

Brian & I spent the holidays in Hawaii with Brian's parents, Lisa, Dave, Andrew, Isobel, & Edward. We loved the beach, weather, sights, and time with family. After a long 14 hours on the plane, we finally landed in Honolulu. After meeting Edward, we headed to our beach cottage on the Air Force Base. Here's the view from our cottage...

On Tuesday, we took an airplane tour of the island - thanks Dave and Lisa! It was amazing and I actually got to fly the plane! Here's me flying!

We also visited Pearl Harbor:

The trip was amazing and I was sad to leave! Brian and I are back to work this week, but get to visit Brad and Lauren this weekend for to celebrate the New Year!

Happy Halloween!

Yes, I dressed my puppies in costumes for Halloween...I'm not proud of it, but they sure are cute. Sammy and Asia were both pumpkins. :)



We had a lot of kids trick or treating in our neighborhood. All of Brian's decorations scared the children - which he really enjoyed.


Oh yeah - Asia doesn't have a skunk like mark on her bum...she sat in paint. haha!



Enjoy the picture of Sammy and Asia!

Housewife?

I am finally updating my blog! I swear I'm going to continue to update it this time! I can blame it on having a job, right?

In June, I started coaching varsity volleyball which was keeping me really busy! Our season went great and we finished with a winning record! Then in August, I started a job after 5 months of searching. Maybe I should change my blog title since I'm no longer a housewife....I work for a wealth management firm...McManus & Sinclair. I've really been enjoying my position and I'm learning so much!

We've been really working hard on our house as well! We installed cabinets in our kitchen, stained the stairs, and are painting the doors this weekend. It's starting to look really nice. We even started furnishing it as well! After years of used furniture, we bought new dining room chairs and a new bedroom set! I can't wait to post pictures...but I'm waiting until we're semi-finished with all of the renovations!

Kitchen

Brian and I spent the weekend updating our Kitchen. We painted the trim, walls, and cabinets. Here are a few before and after pictures....don't mind our mess, I still haven't put everything away :) Kitchen Before

Kitchen Before...isn't the wallpaper nice ;)

Breakfast nook after

Kitchen After

We still have a lot of work to do in the house. In the kitchen, we have to install the hood vent and shelves, put the cabinet doors back on, and replace the counter tops. We're working on painting the doors white and putting the outlet faces back on the walls. The pool is slowly coming along. The motor is being replaced today so hopefully it's in swimming condition by the time Marie and Nick come this weekend!

I hope you enjoy the pictures and I can't wait to post pictures when everything is finally complete...maybe in a few years ;)

New Family Member

Sorry it's taken me so long to update my blog, but I'm going to start updating again!

Meet Asia! Our new family member! She's a 9 week old pug! Since Brian and I close on our home Friday, we decided it was time to bring a new puppy into our home! I adopted her from a shelter. She's so cute and a good little girl. Sammy just loves her. They play and snuggle all day long. Tiki is starting to warm up to her as well. They played for the first time yesterday. :)

Our closing is on Friday, so I plan to post LOTS of pictures of our new place soon! Since we're updating a lot of the house, I'll be sure to post before and after pictures as well! We're hoping that we move in on the 27th. We are trying to paint and install the new bamboo floors and carpet prior to moving in.

Our First Place

Brian and I put an offer on a home last weekend and our bid was accepted!! It is a HUD home so it's going to need some TLC, but it's in a great neighborhood and we really love it! It has 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, & a big yard with a pool! We're nervous for the home inspection to go well. More pictures to come!

Brian at the Masters

As many of you have requested, here are a few pictures of Brian at the Masters.

Life in Augusta

We've had a tough past week. Brian's Grandma Habdas passed away last Wednesday. We spent the weekend in Minnesota with the family. The funeral was very nice and it was wonderful to have so much family there to remember and celebrate Grandma's life. Brian and I are very grateful of all of the support we've received from our families throughout this hard time.



The Masters have come and gone and life is back to normal in Augusta. Life in Augusta has been slower than we're used to. The job search is not very hopeful right now, but I'm still working hard to find a job. In the meantime, I'm starting a pet sitting and walking business to keep me busy during my job search. Hopefully I'll make a few extra dollars and meet some great pets. :)

Brian says he should get the Master's pictures from his co-worker soon and I'll post them as soon as I have them. I hope everyone is doing well and we miss you!

Lauren & Brad Visit!

Last weekend I was lucky to have Lauren and Brad stay with us on their way down to Naples, FL. I miss all of my friends and it was so nice to see them. We went downtown Augusta for some beer (not me since I gave beer up for Lent) and pizza. We came back to enjoy a night of SingStar...I'm pretty sure my neighbors hate us now...haha! Although Brian is always the champion, Lauren did manage to beat him in Baby Got Back. I had so much fun with them and can't wait to visit them in FL!

Brian and I are preparing for a Spartan Championship tonight! I'm really excited for the game tonight! Brian was able to attend the Masters Practice Rounds today. He says it was amazing and has some pictures I'll post soon! Maybe I'll see Tiger around this week ;)

Go State!

With March Madness in full force, I've really been cheering on the Spartans! Brian really wishes he was in Indianapolis with Marie and Nick. Last year, all four of us traveled down to Houston for the Sweet 16. Hopefully this year MSU comes out with a victory! We're off to the bar tonight to cheer on MSU!

Things have been pretty busy in Augusta so far. I've been working hard to get settled into our apartment and get to know the city. I'm really starting to like the area and am more than ready to get out of apartment life and move into a house. Our apartment is nice though. It's much older than our place in Fort Worth, but still nice. I'll post pictures of it as soon as I get a new camera. Mine broke in Germany, so I'm waiting to get a new one. I'm still job searching daily and hopefully soon something will come up. Brian is off nights and back to the 5am-4pm shift.

I'll post some pictures of the area and our place soon! I miss everyone, but can't complain about 75 degree weather! ;)

Europe Video

Here's a slideshow that I made with some of our photos from Europe. It's about 25 minutes long. Enjoy!

Home in Augusta

After a 9 hour flight from Germany to Chicago, Brian and I spent a relaxing week in Michigan with family and friends. We were able to get a lot done while we were there and had some time for fun as well. The picture below is of me, Michelle, and Lauren at Bayview watching Drop35!



Brian and I finally made it to Augusta, GA on Tuesday. We drove about 13 hours and 30 minutes from Michigan to Georgia. It actually wasn't a bad drive at all. We stopped in Knoxville, TN for the night and were able to drive through the mountains as well.


So far we're really liking the area. I've been busy getting our little apartment put together and looking for a job and car. We were planning to go to Savannah for St. Paddy's Day, but have changed our minds since we have so many things to do to get settled.

Sammy and Tiki are adjusting well. Tiki loves that our apartment has a loft he can look over. We're just hoping that he doesn't fall off since he's a tad over weight...


Brian's liking his job so far. He started yesterday and feels really good about his objectives. He will be working on the line next week and learning everything there is to know about building a golf cart. The following week, he'll be working 5pm-4am job shadowing the production supervisor and the week after that he'll actually be leading his own line. He'll probably work in production for about 3 or 4 months before transitioning into procurement.


I'll keep you updated on our new adventure here in Augusta!

Auf Wiedersehen

It's time to say Good Bye to Germany... This is a picture from our Good Bye Dinner in Bonn. We had our last schnitzel (picture below) and goulash, plus a little German beer to say our good byes to all of our friends here. It was really bittersweet, but we were able to celebrate our time here and are excited to get back to the States.

We arrive at the Chicago airport at 4:30 central time Saturday. We'll be spending a week in Michigan and will head to Augusta on March 9th. I'm happy to get back and see family and friends. I can't wait to see everyone next week!

Karneval

Oh German Karneval...what fun it has been so far! As you can probably tell, we went as bananas. It wasn't just me and Brian though, there's a group of 14 bananas! Karneval started on Thursday at 11:11am. When you look out the window or walk down the streets, all you can see are people dressed up in costumes! There are parties set up in tents all over Bonn and Koln! I really can't compare it to anything I've ever seen or been to before. Oktoberfest was in tents and a lot of drinking, but not nearly as crazy as the parties are here!

We have so many of our friends here and it really makes this such a great experience. We still have 3 more days left of Karneval and 8 more days until we're back in the states!

My German Class

This is a picture of my German class from our celebration dinner. The entire class didn't come to dinner, but these are the students who attended class daily. I'm really glad I was able to meet everyone in my class and really enjoyed learning German!

Barcelona!

What a wonderful vacation spot! It has been about 5 years since I've been to Barcelona, but I realized quickly why I remembered loving it so much! Although we only had about 1 1/2 days to see the city, we were able to see everything we wanted to see. On Saturday, we headed down to the beach to walk around a little bit. We didn't expect the weather to be so wonderful and we were able to spend some of the day relaxing by the water. It was about 65 degrees and sunny. After we spent time in the sun, we walked through Las Ramblas, the market, and El Ravel. We also saw La Sagrada Familia Church (picture below) and Santa Maria del Mar.

At night, we were able to go to my friend, Josh's, favorite bar and have some great sangria! We ate some unbelievable food too! I forgot how much I loved Spanish food since it's really hard to find good Tapas or paella in the US, but I made up for lost time. We ate at great restaurants and really had a great time! We were able to do more sightseeing on Sunday before heading back to Bonn late last night.

We have quite a week ahead of us as well. It's Brian's last week as a TLP and also the start of Carnival! We have 14 people who are dressing up like Bananas and all attending parties from the 18th-24th! We have 2 of our friends from Augusta staying with us, 2 of our friends from Fort Worth here, Lacy and her friend visiting as well! It's going to be such a great end to our 6 months abroad!

Prague

Brian and I spent last weekend in Prague, Czech Republic. We really enjoyed a new city and culture. I was a little nervous about our hotel since it was only 50USD per night and when we arrived they had to move us to a different hotel since they didn't have heat, but we were put into a 4 star hotel just down the street. The hotel was great and even had heated tiled floors!

I had been told by many people that Prague was their favorite European city, but until experiencing it, I didn't understand why. It's a lot different than I imagined! The architecture is unique and a little different than Germany. We loved the castle, especially the golden lane (picture below) and Charles Bridge. We also loved the old town hall tower and clock!

The tourist attractions were great, but I never expected the town squares, shopping, and dining. Prague is known for it's glass and Marionettes and Puppets. There is a large shopping area which not only has everything you could ever want to buy, but also great for people watching! The food was also great. It was similar to the German cuisine, but with more sauces and dumplings. Overall, Prague was amazing and would recommend it to anyone...but maybe in the summer since it was really cold! We have a pretty slow week, but leave Friday for Barcelona. This will be our last trip before leaving on the 28th!

Georgia Peach

That's right, we're officially moving to Augusta, GA in March 2009! After 5 months of deciding where we would want to go, Brian accepted a position with E-Z-GO Golf Carts with 3 weeks to spare. I'm finally going to get the warm weather I've always wanted and the location I was hoping for. We're just starting to figure out the details. I'm working on finding housing, a job, and organizing our 13 hour drive from Michigan. We're excited that we'll get time off to spend with family too! Hopefully we'll have time to see everyone when we're back home the first week of March.

Rome

Brian and I returned back to Bonn yesterday after spending a perfect weekend in Rome, Italy. We had the most amazing time and were able to see almost everything! The picture above is of us in front of the Roman Coliseum. We also toured the Forums, Palatine Hill, The Vatican, Sistine Chapel, and so much more.

Here's a picture of the Sistine Chapel. It's "forbidden" to take pictures inside the Chapel and believe me did I get yelled at....but here's a shot we still managed to get of the ceiling. The artwork is unbelievable! I actually pictured the chapel being a little more impressive or maybe bigger, but it was unreal to imagine one person painting the entire room!

We were also able to drink some wonderful red wine and eat like kings and queens! The food was great and we loved it! Brian convinced me to stay in a hostel and while I was a little hesitant (I've stayed in some pretty BAD hostels!), it actually turned out to be really nice. Our room was clean and had a lot of charming details.

This week should go by fast. It's my last week of class and my big test is on Thursday! Brian will be in Northern Germany Tuesday and Wednesday for work and we leave Friday for Prague!

The End is Near...My thoughts on Germany

Last weekend was the last "real" weekend Brian and I had left in Bonn. I've really been trying to take in the city and enjoy my time in Europe because it's quickly coming to an end. I can't believe we have less than 5 weeks until we leave and we're traveling the next 3 weekends. The week after our travels end, carnival begins and the following weekend we're on a plane to Chicago. Time goes by so fast! My class is coming to an end as well. I'm done on February 6th. I've really enjoyed learning German and am glad I decided to take the classes.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what I love about Germany and what I'm definitely not going to miss. I love the simplicity of life here. Just thinking about all of the boxes in our parents' basements makes me laugh at how much we have back in the States. Brian and I have been living with the least amount of "things" we've ever lived with, but it makes life a little simpler without so many material things. We don't have a clothes dryer, a microwave, only 6 glasses and plates, 6 towels...etc., yet it isn't ever a challenge. (except to get Brian to use what we do have...jk) Our refrigerator is the same size as the one I had in college in my dorm, yet we've learned to live with it. We only use cloth bags to shop and we go to the market every other day, including the fresh street market(in the picture above). That would have seemed so inconvenient 6 months ago. I walk everywhere here and enjoy it even though it's cold outside. All of the restaurants and cafes still have tables outside and put blankets out so people will enjoy sitting outside. I love that dogs are everywhere; they are allowed inside restaurants, malls, airports, etc. (although I miss mine every day) I love that you always see people drinking beer at every meal and with that said, I'm going to miss the wonderful German beer! I'm definitely going to miss jumping on a plane Friday and being in a new country in just an hour.

There are still a few things I'm not going to miss about Germany...I definitely won't miss the smell...You're probably wondering what smell...well I like to call it "dirty European" The smell of the people. Not everyone smells, it's just the majority. Haha! But seriously, there are a lot of smelly people here! ;) I also won't miss German TV or internet. It's terrible! I won't miss not having a car - it's very inconvenient when we need one! (although I hate driving, so maybe I won't miss not having one) That's about all I don't like about Germany. There isn't much and that's probably why I've loved living here.

We leave Friday for Rome and I can't wait! I'll definitely update my blog as soon as I'm back! I hope everyone is having a great week!

Budapest

Brian and I spent the last weekend in Budapest, Hungary. It was only a 90 minutes plane ride and I was thankful when we landed safely without any birds getting in the way. (I was a little nervous before the flight) Budapest was a really unique city. The architecture is beautiful and a lot different from the places I've visited in Europe. Every time we were outside, I wanted to take pictures of every building. We were able to see the Parliament (the picture above), a few churches, Heros' Square, and a lot more. We ate at great small family owned Hungarian restaurants and enjoyed the amazing food.

We were only in Budapest for less than 48 hours, but I was happy with what we were able to do. We didn't make it to the spas, but still saw so much of the city. Our next stop is Rome. I can't wait to enjoy a weekend in Italy. We'll be in Bonn this weekend, but go to Rome the following. I hope all is well in the US. I can't believe we'll already be home in 6 weeks. Time really goes by fast!

Travel Plans

Well, we made it safely back to Bonn and have been enjoying our time back in Germany. After Marie and Nick left on Wednesday, we spent the next few days relaxing. Brian's cousin, Lacy, arrived on Friday and spent a few days with us. She's working as an au pair about 15 minutes away and left this morning to meet the family.

Brian is in Northern Germany this week for work, but will be back Thursday night. He's keeping busy at work, but we still have no idea where we'll be in March. I just have to stay patient and I'm sure we'll end up in the perfect location.

We booked our flights back to the States last week. We'll be arriving on February 28th at 4:30pm in Chicago. We're not sure how long we'll be in Michigan, but it should be a least a week. We're spending the next 6 weeks enjoying Europe. We have a big travel schedule coming up. Here's how we'll be spending the next 6 weeks:

1/17 - Budapest

1/30 - Rome

2/6 - Prague

2/13 - Barcelona

It's going to be a great end to our German adventure!

Skiing (and Sledding) in the Swiss Alps

After our one day rest in Bonn, we headed to Switzerland to Ski in the alps. This was my 3rd time visiting Switzerland and every time I get into the mountains, I'm still amazed at the sight. This time, we were actually ON the mountains not next to them. I still can't believe I'm here!

Marie gave me a bit of her cold, so I've been pretty sick. I was still able to make it sledding and skiing though. Our first day here we decided to ease our way into the Alps by sledding down them. It sounded like a great idea and it probably was if we would have found the sled path.
Unfortunately, we ended up sledding down the ski runs, almost died a few times and when we got to the bottom (2 hours later) we decided that sledding when we were 12 was a lot more fun. ;)

The next day it was time to test our luck skiing. The fear started pouring out of me. When we got to the top of the first ski lift, I thought A: Why is everyone yelling at me, B: Why did I agree to this, and C: Wasn't the last time I went skiing 8 years ago? Well, the reason everyone was yelling at me was because I didn't put the bar down on the ski lift which stops you from falling down the mountains. (I guess I'm not in Michigan anymore) After getting over my fear, I was informed that we still had 2 more lifts to go. We got off the second lift and my luck saved me because the 3rd ski lift was broken and we had to only make our was down from there! Skiing was fun, a little scary, but the views made up for my fear. It took us 4 hours to make it down 4 runs, but we made it. I only had 1 BAD wipeout, but I blame it on Brian since he took me down the equivalent to a triple black diamond at Bittersweet. Brian had a bad fall himself. He lost control and ended up face first in snow on the edge of the mountain, very far away from the ski path. It was scary at first, but then pretty funny!

It was so much fun skiing, but a lot harder than any place I have ever been before. Switzerland is such a beautiful place and I hope I'm lucky enough to come back here again someday. We head back to Bonn tomorrow. We all hope it's an easy drive. Marie and Nick leave on the 7th. :( I wish they could stay here! Luckily Lacy arrives on Friday so I'll have family around until I leave in March!

New Years in Dublin

Happy New Year! It's hard to believe it's already 2009. Time is flying and Brian and I only have 2 more months in Germany. I can't believe we've already been living here for 4 months. We spent the last 2 nights in Dublin to celebrate the New Year. It was definitely the perfect place to bring in the New Year. After a scary Ryan Air flight, we made it to Ireland. We took our time getting ready, dragged my sick sister out of bed and headed for a local pub for some yummy Irish food!

After some amazing Irish Stew and a few too many pints of Guinness, we headed to a few local bars to drink and celebrate the quickly ending year. We had a group of 9 people with us and we definitely had a great night. We were pretty sure we drank all of the beer in Dublin when our eyes opened around noon the next day. It was a rough start, but we actually made it to the Guinness Museum, Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and a few other city sights. I really loved Ireland. It has such a relaxed feel and I definitely enjoyed speaking English to locals for the first time in 4 months.

We left early this morning and headed back to Bonn. Our flight was great, no delays, and have been relaxing most of the day. We leave tomorrow morning for a 3 day skiing trip in Switzerland. We're staying right in the Alps! I hope everyone had a great New Year!