Nuremberg, Germany

I am happy to report that the book club here is still going strong.  Impressively, many people have been willing to travel around the country simply to meet up and discuss books (and drink...and eat...and play games). 

A circus was in town the same weekend we were discussing WFE.  I almost went Jacob on everyone.

Doing our best "Jake Leg" impressions.  We know that Jake Leg shouldn't be as funny to us as it was.

Circus-themed treats.

Lemonade in honor of Rosie.

I am used to dicussing books with 5th graders so this group is a real treat.

While he cleaned up...

The girls got their hair braided.

Slumber party style!

The husbands were so fascinated by slumber party culture.

Braids just seem appropriate in southern Germany.

We had our December meeting for Water For Elephants in Nuremberg and one of the book club members even managed to find us a vacation apartment to rent that was only 10 minutes away from the famous Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt.  We spent a fair share of time exploring the market for goodies.

Snow-covered Nuremberg.

It was so cold.  Thank goodness those copper pots are full of hot alcohol.

The faster you drink, the warmer you get.

This church is beautiful and also serves as a good place to warm up.

The Atlanta booth was representing the US at the market.  Twinkies and Blowpops anyone?

Will elbow people out of the way for Lebkuchen.

Old city towers.

Books bringing people together.  It warms a teacher's heart.

Next up for the January/Febuary book is...

Alles gute zum Geburtstag, honey!

Happy Birthday to my 28 year old husband!  I am trying to tell him 28 is not old.  People aren't supposed to care until after 30, right?  Besides I don't think we're too far off from Stardate: 41309.5 where he will just be able to use the same anti-aging regime as Starfleet Admiral Mark Jameson--in moderation of course.

Don't worry honey, technology will never let you look like this.

We had an awesome celebration in Munich at the Hofbrau Haus to celebrate his birthday.  Every single one of the people from his fellowship came to celebrate with us, which was amazing.  We kept joking that it is like Chuck E. Cheese's for adults who like beer.

Shining like a beacon (ignore the Hard Rock Cafe they sadly put next to it).

The Chuck E. Cheese Oompah Band.

We got there early to save tables and met a couple celebrating their 20th anniversary.  They made us newlyweds take a picture kissing and told us to come back in 20 years.

Always klink from the bottom!  He broke his first glass prosting.

And then was forced to order a big beer that can take birthday cheers without breaking.

One of the three tables into which we managed to squeeze our large group.

With one of our new Hamburg neighbors.

If you can't enjoy beer, you have to have something to enjoy.

The most delicious (and expensive) birthday cake I have tasted.

Soaking up the love and attention.

Yay, I didn't pass out or throw up!

Happy 2011 from Germany

We had a great time celebrating New Yea'rs Eve together in Germany besides being nearly killed by the insane Stuttgarters and their professional-grade fireworks.  There is no official fireworks display, which means that everyone meets up in the main town square and lights off their own at midnight.  It was a terrifying experience and we had to dodge wild fireworks that were surrounding us on all four sides.  We read an article reporting something like 10 deaths across Germany related to fireworks.

Thought we might not make it to the new year in one piece.

Trying to have fun despite fearing for his life.

Just when we thought our backs were safely hidden up against the Ubahn, people stated lighting fireworks off of the Ubahn escalator.

Chaos breeds more chaos.  Two people decide it is a great time to fight in the middle of the fireworks war.  They were Americans by the way.

On the walk home, this is what the streets looked like.  We also saw a guy get tackled against a wall by police for firing what appeared to be a gun up in the air.

More of the aftermath.

Before we went out to see the fireworks at midnight we made fondue for dinner and then melted lead so that we could read our fortunes for the new year.  Apparently this is a New Year's Eve tradition here and we had fun trying to determine what our lead shapes told us about our futures. 

This is the biggest pretzel we have had while living in Germany.  Giant pretzels are also a New Year's tradition.

We managed to find Oreos and marshmellows...very American of the Germans.

The lead poisoning supplies.

First you breathe in all of the lead fumes while it melts over candles.

This is the before it starts melting.

Once it liquefies...

You dump it into a bowl of water and then analyze the shape it forms.

I swear he has more pants than just these pants.

We decided that mine looked like an owl, which meant that I am to expect a favorable development this year.  And we decided that his was a broom, which meant that he is to expect a small conflict or argument in the new year.

Wedding Helpers

Right before Christmas I managed to make it back to the US to spend some much desired time with my family.  I also got our professional wedding photos while I was there.  The photos reminded me that I have one talented bunch of family and friends.  When we found out we were moving to Germany we had to drastically change our original wedding plans.  That left us a little over 8 weeks to plan an entire wedding.

This level of happiness was made possible by...

Big, dorky grins brought to you by...

Intense amusement and warm fuzzy feelings sponsored by...

The only reason we pulled this off is because of the insane amount of help we received from family and friends.  This post is dedicated to their wonderful talents.  They should put themselves up for hire.

Flower girl basket and ring bearer pillow hand-made by my aunt.

My talented aunt made the pillow out of the exact same silk as my dress.

She also lined the basket with the same silk!  And made the color-coordinated sash for my goddaughter's dress.

Garter and toss garter hand-made by the same aunt.  I adored the little something blue!  She even sewed tiny crystals in the center.

I took a picture of the veil a bridal store was selling for $125 and my aunt made me a perfect replica.

The flower pins in my hair were also designed by the same aunt.  She sewed pearls and crystals in the center and used the same silk to match my dress.  My hair would not have looked good without them.  These would have cost over $100 to buy in the store.

Hand-crafted, five-tier, wooden cupcake tower custom made by my dad and painted/decorated by my mom.

Close up of the cute little bows.

The amazingly talented artists, my mom and dad.  They could retire and just make and sell cupcake stands.  Brides would pay so much for them.

The award winning bridesmaids are wearing pearl necklaces handmade by one of my bridesmaids, the bridesmaid's mother, and me.  By the way, half of these girls would have been naked if a certain friend had not remembered to pick up their dresses from the dry cleaner when I did not.

The earrings I am wearing were also specially designed for me and gifted to me by the same bridesmaid's mother. She is extremely talented with jewelry and made these earrings in about 20 minutes based off of a sketch of something I saw. She also made the coordinating pearl necklace the flower girl is wearing.

Programs designed and printed by my oldest sister.

The little design you see on all of the wedding stationary was drawn by one of my students and then digitally rendered by my older sister.

My mother and sister worked together on the beautiful table number cards for each table.

My student's design was also on the place cards made by my sister.

All of my students composed original metaphors about love on little orange cards that were stuffed inside every napkin.  Another one of my bridesmaids spent a good amount of time making signs for the tables that explained where the metaphors came from to guests.

That was a small fraction of what we actually had help with in terms of the entire wedding process. From day one, I had my best friend in DC/my bridesmaid helping me plan with a specially made wedding planning document. This same friend along with my best friend from college/bridesmaid planned the most hilarious and perfect bachelorette party for me.

The cake that made me give up the other man in my life.

This is before he ended up covered in all of my lingerie.

They also helped me make a last minute dinner and dance playlist the night before the wedding. They also made sure that everyone had food on the day of my providing breakfast at the salon and lunch in the bridal suite.  Like I said, award winning people!

I was even further blessed by the help of my best friend from high school who flew out early just to help me with last minute things. She even went to Target with her husband rather than sight-seeing to buy emergency supplies for the day of the wedding. Other DC friends of mine went out of their way to see to the day-of logistics at all of our wedding sites (including restaurant set-up, ceremony set-up, cupcake delivery, and bus transportation).

I better stop here because I doubt that anyone is still reading, but somebody owes a post to team groom.  I know he had a lot of help too, including help avoiding a major dinner fiasco.