Will You Be My Valentine?

Today is Valentine's Day! I am not really a fan of this holiday but my husband and daughter are! And their enthusiasm is contagious...

 

Heute ist Valentins Tag! Ich bin ja nicht wirklich ein Fan von diesem Tag aber dafuer mein Mann und Tochter umso mehr! Und deren Begeisterung ist ziemlich ansteckend...

 

It started of with breakfast in bed served by Martin and Pasha! I received the most beautiful card from Pasha and a Pandora charm:

 

Fruehstueck im Bed serviert von Martin und Pasha! Ich bekam die suesseste Karte von Pasha und einen Pandora Charm:

At work I got another surprise from Martin. He showed up...

 

In der Arbeit ueberraschte Martin mich. Er kam vorbei...

 

 

... with flowers, a love letter and a croissant in hand, asking me to be his Valentine!

 

Excerpt of Love Letter: "Our love is just a part, but a part that it had to have. Otherwise it would never have been. We the Brewer Family are as necessary to the universe as any great star, planet or galaxy. We are a part of the big bang that made life possible. I know when we look at the universe we can feel so insignificant. But we are a part. And without us, it would be less. It wouldn't shine as brightly as it does now, and it would be alone, colder, and just a little less full of life. And that is how I feel when I think of you my sweet. I would be less, colder, and a little less full of life!"

 

I melted!!!

 

.... mit Blumen, einen Liebesbrief und einem Croissant um mich zu fragen ob ich sein Valentin bin! Ich bin so geschmolzen!!!

 

Tonight we are going to celebrate together at our favorite Italian restaurant.

 

Heute Abend feiern wir drei in unserem Lieblings Restaurant.

 

I feel so loved!

 

How is your Valentine's Day? Do you celebrate?

 

Wie ist euer Valentinstag? Feiert ihr?

 

Take Care,

Me

 

Another Christmas Present on its way!

I just finished another Christmas present. This one is for my aunt and uncle. We have just visited them during the long Thanksgiving weekend. We had such a blast that time flew by faster than any of us wanted it to.

Here is my dad (on the left) with my uncle (on the right). 

They are both so similar! They have the same hobbies (photography and computers) and have the same sense of humour... :-)

My aunt admired some of my quilts. So I decided that a quilt would be the perfect present to them. I chose the Diamonds at Large pattern from Pam Lintott's Layer Cake, Jelly Roll & Charm Quilts book. 

The top went together in one afternoon. It took another to sandwich and quilt it, and of course another one in front of the TV to put on the binding. I had a couple of blocks left over because I made a cutting mistake. So I made a quick pillow out of it. 

It is an 18" square. Very fast, very easy and it used all of my fabric... love that!!!

So now it is in the mail. I hope they'll love it as much as I enjoyed making it! :-)

Take care,

Me

Quirkle Tournament

Have you heard of 'Quirkle'? Its a fabulous game that is so easy to play. You take it out of the box and get started playing right away. Quirkle is similar to Dominos. You play by color or by shape. It is one of our favorite family games!

Hast du schon von 'Quirkle' gehört? Es ein super Spiel das so einfach zu spielen ist. Du nimmst es aus der Box und kannst gleich mit dem Spielen anfangen. Quirkle ist so ähnlich wie Dominos. Du kannst es bei Farbe oder per Formen spielen. Es ist eines unser Lieblingsfamilienspiele!

Since we don't watch TV anymore throughout the week we started to play our games a lot more. We decided to make things a bit more interesting by starting a Quirkle tournament. The rules are simple:

the person with the most Quirkles during a game gets 1 point and the winner gets 1 point. The prize: a dinner and a movie of his/her choice. The deadline is the last Saturday before school starts. 

Da wir unter der Woche keinen Fernseher mehr schauen spielen wir viel mehr. Wir entschlossen uns es etwas interessanter zu machen und haben ein Quirkle Tuner "gegründet". Die Spielregeln sind einfach: die Person mit den meisten Quirkles während eines Spiels bekommt 1 Punkt und der Gewinner bekommt einen Punkt. Der Preis: ein Abendessen und einen Film seiner/ihrer Wahl. Das Ende ist der letzte Samstag bevor die Schule anfängt.

If there is a tie for the most Quirkles in a game we play "Rock, Paper, Scissors" to end it. 

Falls es ein Unentschieden gibt wird "Stein, Schere, Papier" gespielt.

Martin one this one!

Martin hat dieses Mal gewonnen!

Jake wants to be with us of course. So he always lies down next to one of us!

Jake moechte natuerlich mit von der Partie sein und legt sich immer neben jemanden von uns hin!

So far it stands at: / Spielstand:

Karin - 3

Pasha - 2

Martin - 3

Do you play Quirkle?

Spielst du Quirkle?

Take care,

Me

No TV Side Effects

We are making a conscious effort to leave the tv off during the week. This is only our 2nd week... but look... it already gives us some new memories to look back on later!

Wir versuchen den Fernseher unter der Woche ausgeschalten zu lassen. Es ist erst unsere zweite Woche... aber schau... wir machen schon wunderschöne neue Erinnerungen!

Martin is teaching Pasha chess

Martin bringt Pasha das Schach spielen bei

Take care,

Me

Be My Valentine

Last night was the Teen Center Valentine's Day dance. Pasha was worried all week that she wouldn't be able to go with her being sick for a week. But it worked itself all out in the end :-)

Gestern Abend war der Teen Center Valentinstag Tanz. Pasha hat sich die ganze Woche Sorgen gemacht das sie nicht in der Lage sein würde daran teilzunehmen. Aber die ganze Sorge war umsonst :-)

She had a blast. Several boys went all googly-eyed (is that even a word?) over her! Good gosh, if this happens now what will happen in a couple of years? We will have to lock her up in her room :-)

Sie hatte soviel Spass. Ein paar Jungs haben sich in die Pasha verguckt. Meine Güte, wenn das jetzt schon passiert was wird dann erst in ein paar Jahren los sein? Wir werden sie in ihr Zimmer einsperren müssen... :-)

She can be so sweet... but then you turn around and her naughty side comes out :-)

Sie kann so Süß sein... aber dann dreht man sich um und ihre "Teufelshörner" kommen raus :-)

Take care,

Me

Happy Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day. I have never been sure what to think about Valentine's Day. On one side it's pretty nice! I mean who doesn't like to get a little bit of extra attention from your significant other. I definitely do! But on the other side, it's also the day where the most hurt feelings are caused. I see it all the time... people who are waiting for flowers or chocolates or a card from their partner and end up getting nothing for whatever reason. In all honesty, I don't need Valentine's day. I am one of the lucky ones.. Martin makes me feel special every single day. And not just me, Pasha too!

Heute ist Valentinstag. Ich weiss nicht was ich von Valentinstag halten soll. Auf der einen Seite ist es ganz nett! Ich mein wer mag es nicht etwas mehr Aufmerksamkeit von seinem Partner zu bekommen. Ich auf jeden Fall! Aber auf der anderen Seite ist es auch der Tag an dem viele traurig sind. Ich sehe es oft.... Leute die darauf warten das sie Blumen, oder Schokolade oder eine Karte kriegen und am Ende gar nichts bekommen fuer was auch immer einen Grund. Ich brauch wirklich keinen Valentinstag. Ich bin eine der Gluecklichen... Martin laesst mich jeden Tag wissen das ich etwas besonderes bin. Und nicht nur mich auch Pasha!

We both got gorgeous flowers and chocolates. But he also baked us some awesome oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (the best ever!) and he is making us a wonderful dinner.

Wir haben beide wunderschoene Blumen bekommen und unserer Lieblingsschokolade. Aber er hat uns auch tolle Schokolade - Haferflocken Kekse gebacken und macht uns ein klasse Abendessen.

Pasha (who is still sick and recovering in front of the TV LOL) loved it when Martin got on his knee presenting the flower and the chocolates to her asking her to be his Valentine. I told him that his future son-in-law is going to hate him because he set the bar so high :-)

Pasha (die immer noch krank ist und sich vor dem Fernseher erholt Grins!) fand es absolut toll das Martin vor ihr auf die Knie gefallen ist mit Rose und Schokolade in der Hand und sie gebeten hat sein Valentin zu sein. Ich hab ihm gesagt das sein zukuenftiger Schwiegersohn ihn hassen wird da er den Standard so hoch angesetzt hat :-)

 

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!

Alles Liebe zum Valentinstag!

Take care,

Me

Today is Thanksgiving...

... and I am grateful for (in no particular order!):

1.) my husband who I love more than life!

2.) my baby who makes me so happy that I have a permanent smile on my face!

3.) Alex my German Shepard who loved me the best (at least according to Martin)! :-)

4.) Jake who is the only dog that was ever able to fill the hole that Alex left behind when he passed

5.) my parents who brought my in this world and decided to not take me out even though I deserved it on occasion I am sure!

6.) my sister who is the best sister anyone could have!

7.) my friends who are just like my family!

8.) to live the life I have! I wouldn't want to change one thing. The trials and triumphs gave me my life and made me who I am! I am so happy!

What are you grateful for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Me

Where We've Been...

I loved the map on my best friend's blog. It showed which countries she had visited in her lifetime so far. So I had to make one too! Yup, I am such a copy cat!!! :-)

Countries visited/lived in Europe (in no particular order):

UK, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, Denmark, Poland, Czech, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Austria, Albania, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegowina, Croatia, Romania, Italy, Kosovo, Netherlands, Switzerland, and my favorite Germany :-)

I don't think I have to name the States :-)

We've also been to Mexico...

But there are so many places we still want to see. We really would like to get stationed on the Asian Pacific side. That really would be a dream come true!

How about you? Which country do you want to visit next?

Take care, 

Me

Different Toys for Different People

Our weekend was crazy yet so relaxing. Martin and Pasha joined me at work! I had to run up to the airport for a surveillance and they decided to join me even if that meant getting up at 5 in the morning.

They had MacDonald's for breakfast and I got me a bagel at Starbucks as well as one of their new winter flavored coffee. It was delicious.

After the airport, Martin and I decided to surprise Pasha with a trip to Toys'R'us on the way home.

I remember being Pasha's age and how I wished for a certain Barbie. But my parents deemed me too old for stuff like that :-)

I know that she probably will "play" with them for maybe another 6 months or so. But what's the harm in extending her childhood for a few more months with toys that she'll love! So yes, I might have made a note of one or two that she particularly liked from Monster High :-)

By the way, we walked out of Toys'R'us with the game "Quirkle". It won the "Spiel des Jahres" and everyone is talking about it. So we'll try it out and let you know if we liked it!

Also, I went to the post office. I got a package from my bestest friend! I am totally spoiled! 

 Yes, I am already playing with my toys!!!

And I may have already ate one (maybe even 2) of my favorite candy bars! But I am not telling... LOL

Take care, 

Me

A little bit of friendly Competion

Do you know all 50 States? I bet you do! But could you put the name on a blank map with the capital and the postal code abbreviations?  

Pasha has to do exactly that. Next week she and all her classmates will be tested on that! When she told me about that I realized that I couldn't do it! I know most of them but not all and I sure have my problems putting the tiny little upper east coast states correctly on the map. I talked to Martin and realized that he had the same problem. And with that a family competition was born!

We had the last 3 days to learn the state names, capitals and postal code abbreviations. And tonight exactly at 18.00 we will all sit down with a blank map in front of us and test each other. The winner will get a $50 iTunes card... 

...and it has my name written all over it!!! LOL! 

But we'll see tonight!

I'll let you know who got it!

Take care, 

Me

Martini Market

On Sunday was the annual Martini Market in Garmisch. The weather was gorgeous and we didn't have anything else planned so we went.

Am Sonntag war der jaehrliche Martini Markt in Garmisch. Wir entschieden uns zu gehen da das Wetter wunderschoen war und wir hatten nichts anderes vor hatten.

On our walk down town we "discovered" a memorial dedicated to the former 44 jewish citizens of the city. It was just put up last year in November!

Auf unserem Weg in die Stadt "entdeckten" wir ein Denkmal fuer die ehemaligen 44 Juedischen Buerger der Stadt.

I also had to make a picture of Pasha. She was in a really good mood!

Ich musste auch ein Bild von Pasha machen. Sie hatte richtig gute Laune!

The Market offered everything you can imagine: hats, scarves, traditional clothing, sweets, food and much, much more!

Auf dem Martini Markt gab es alles was man sich nur vorstellen kann: Muetzen, Schals, Trachten, Suesses, Deftiges und vieles meht!

Pasha wanted a picture of her and the Pig. I teased her as she was posing: "Which one is the Pig?" LOL

Pasha wollte ein Foto von ihr und dem Wildschwein. Ich musste sie ein bisschen aergern: "Wer ist denn nun das Schwein?" LOL

Take care,

Me

The First Time - Premiere

I haven't been able to sew much this week because my parents are visiting. I am loving every minute of it!

Ich konnte diese Woche nicht sehr viel nähen da meine Eltern bei uns zu Besuch sind! Ich genieße jede Minute!

I might not have been sewing at all but my mom has!

Auch wenn ich überhaupt nicht genäht habe, hat meine Mama umso mehr genäht!

She sewed up a Christmas present (which I can't show here!) and she got partially done with a fleece jacket! Unfortunately her machine malfunctioned on the last day. But no worries! I will take it to the Pfaff doctor :-)

Sie hat ein Weihnachtsgeschenk gemacht (das ich hier nicht zeigen kann), und sie ist halbwegs mit einer Fleece Jacke fertig geworden! Leider hat die Nähmaschine auf dem halben Weg angefangen zu spinnen! Aber kein Problem! Ich bring sie zum Pfaff Doktor :-)

Take Care,

Me

17 Years of a Wonderful Time

Today Martin and I are having our 17th wedding anniversary! We are a very low key couple in regards to our wedding anniversaries. In fact, most of the time we don't do anything special really! 

We agreed on a "no presents or cards or flowers" policy! But we always spend the day together. Just puttering around the house, doing things in each others company!

This year we went to have breakfast at the Edelweiss with Pasha who is the cherry on our marriage sundae! And on a spur of the moment, after we dropped of Pasha at the Halloween dance, we went to have dinner at Pullmann's where they serve the best steaks ever (at least according to Martin!).

It was a perfect day with hopefully many more to come!

Martin, I love you more each day!

Take care,

Me

I am so grateful...

...because she is my mother! She has always supported me in all my adventures... even the stupid ones:-)

She is wonderful, funny, kind, patient, oh so patient!, giving, supportive and most of all loving!

(My mom with her two blonde granddaughters Pasha and Natalie!)

I love her and hope that she is having the best Birthday ever! We got her an iPad for her birthday! She is now emailing me daily, reading ebooks, surfing the net and watching movies. She is discovering a brand new world :-)

Take care,

Me

Arts and Crafts Fair in Benediktbeuern - Part 2

One of the booths at the fair had this "spinning" (or so I thought!) wheel sitting if front of it...

Someone from the booth took his time to demonstrate this old way of weaving. 

He told us that the Celtics used to weave their bands like this. You basically manipulate the thread with those card boards. It was a lost art but an archeologist found one of these card weaving machines and reconstructed it. So there has been a new revival of this wonderful art. He also said that it took him 3 years of practising before he was able to do the band that is laying right next to him. 

Pasha decided that this would be her souvenir from the fair.

Pasha always had this fascination with grave yards. So we can’t get near a church without Pasha asking if there is one close by.

Most of the time we take the few minutes to walk through it. We always wonder what kind of lives people led… were they happy? Were they loved? Pasha loves to speculate about that!

Of course, if I get to go to an Arts and Crafts fair, she needs to have her grave yard visit :-)

I don’t mind (at least most of the time!) because there is just a quiet peacefulness that sneaks in to my heart during our walks… weird!!!

Anyway, this time we found a really great tombstone. I wonder if it is real or man-made? What do you think?

And because it would be just weird to sign off with a tombstone as the last picture, here is a picture I took of Pasha during the fair. 

Hach, I am in love with her baby blue eyes...

Take care,

Me

Arts and Crafts Fair in Benediktbeuern - Part 1

If you drive from Munich to Garmisch, you'll see a brown sightseeing sign for the monastery Benediktbeuern. We've never stopped there before until now. I don't know anything about it except that it is still used by monks and that Tobi had stayed there for 3 days in with his 4th grade class. Well, we are going back to "discover" it but this time we went there to see the Arts and Crafts fair that we saw advertised all over the place for the last couple of weeks!

Martin, Pasha and I walked in and just stood there for a couple of minutes. We looked at each other and said that it almost was too much to take in. The colors and textures were just so amazing! Pasha kept on saying: "Come here, look at this!"

And that was just the beginning!

We saw quilts...

... clothing....

... art....

... and much much more!

Next year I am going to bring a lot more money with me than what I had on me this time!!!

Take care,

Me