love.

“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” 

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”


Steve Jobs

beautiful

I could sleep there...

Clearly too lazy to write.

Ok - "quick" update! Random fact - Chocolate is not allowed at our school. Weird. I bring it everyday.

Went to Brussels with Susanna two weeks ago (Friday to Monday) to spend the weekend with some friends of hers from school. Ate a lot of chocolate (chocolate shops EVERYWHERE!!!), waffels smothered in nutella (heavenly!), and other yummies. We wandered the city a lot, eventually could give other directions. :) Her friends were super sweet and we were spoiled. It's a comic book city so a lot of the building sides have cartoons on them. Walked and saw lots of sights - the main square in the city, the Mannequin Pis (fountain of a baby peeing). the anatonium and mini Europe (has 350 miniture models of famous European buildings like the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, etc.).

German wine and Belgian Beer.

Night art event?

At Erin's favorite place in Brussels

Best Doughy Waffels w/ Nutella

The weather was AMAZING. Definitely happy about that since this past weekend was rain rain rain. We went out to a night festival called "Nuit Blanche"- an art festival that runs from 11pm-5am. There was a whole bunch of exhibits throughout the city - many of them were very strange, like whoever made them was on drugs. Yeah? Watched and cheered on the runners in the Brussels Marathon while we walked around. Reminded me of watching the Venice Marathon w/ B and Mom last year. Tender. 

Me in a nutshell.

Melting wax art.

Grand Place.

TinTin!

Anatonium and Mini Europe

 

 

Amsterdam this past week with Hanni, Sarah, and Susanna was pretty awesome in that I got a lot of shopping done. I bought boots!!! Who's proud? Not cheap boots either. Amsterdam has some pretty awesome shopping. We shopped everyday, went to the Rijks Museum, Sex Museum, a Coffee Shop, and walked a lot and shopped a lot. The library is SWEET and has an awesome view of the city. I want to live in that library. The weather was crap pretty much the whole time. Rain, no rain and really cold, more rain. The day we left the sun shined. Ugh. So Frankie is beautiful right now. Just really cold. Yay for warm sweats!!!! peace and love.

Amsterdam Church Cobblestones

the bike that seated four.

Susanna, Sarah, and Me

View from library

The trees are changing colors.

Sometimes I think I am having deja vu. Other times it is just the strange feeling that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. We have an outbreak of lice. Not the deja vu that I want to have.

3 years ago.... Unreal.

Monday I hung out with the women after school. We went and had a picnic snack on the river embankment. Ning had brought us a lot of goodies from China and Adriana sweets from Mexico. Yummy yummy. Then we went out for dinner with the husbands as well. It is the season for fresh pressed apple juice and it is soooooo yummy. Tomorrow I am going on a school trip with the my second grade class and Sarah's class  to make apple juice ourselves. YIPEEE! Shall be fun. Friday I am off to Belgium, after the dance party with my second graders. Got to love Friday's.

No gluten day three. Only chocolate w/ no milk day 3. This weekend is going to ruin me. Then I will be back on it. Promise!

I needed a hug today from Germs. Sarah was telling me about hugs and it made me homesick for my friends and family. There you go guys - it does happen sometimes. So better come visit soon.

lovelovelove
--
live simply.

Ouch

Had a get together with The Women this week to celebrate Charlotte's new baby and also to visit with Ning (who got back from China the same day) and Adriana (got back from Mexico the same day). I saw Marlene for the first time in a long time with her 4 month old too. Husbands were also in tow. Got to get me one of those... Just kidding! :)

I fell off my bike yesterday on my way home from school. One sure does feel funny as an adult getting an "owie" from falling off their bike. I woke up super early today (hence the blog) and I think it's bc of my owie adrenaline. Oh dear.

It's Thursday! How the weeks do fly! Today I'm going to do some shopping after school. Yipeeeeee! I might even by some pretty expensive boots. Who am I eh??

Tomorrow there will be a Soccer game rematch. Should be funnnnnnn, if I participate that is.

The famous Frankfurt car show maybe afterwards? Who knows...

different country, different rules.

View into the city from my bike ride to school

I'm having so much fun. SO much fun! Had a great week at school. Need to start writing down all the cute things the kiddos say to me. They are just darling. Had a hard core soccer game with my colleagues after school Friday. My whole body is sore from the 90minutes that we played. Afterword we had "girls night" and 12 of us met up and had dinner at a super cute trendy place that I want to go back to for drinks. I have my kiddos this weekend so we have been playing in between play dates. I made it to brunch this morning with friends - delicious, and then went over to see Charlotte and her new baby!!! So small! He is a week old now and I made sure to give Leanne lots of attention. :) My suitcase is full of chocolate. I am just really happy.  :) Don't worry - I sill miss you fam and friends! There are a few I am anxious to talk to in fact..... For now here are some fun things I would like to share with you.

Interesting things about Germany/Germans
- windows open like doors or tilt inwards and only the top part opens
- door handles are not round
- bathroom doors are always closed regardless if someone is in them or not
- staple food - bread, cheese, meat
- they (most Germans) don't like Peanut butter and don't know what a PB&J sandwich is, or s'mores for that matter
- LOVE soccer
- use bikes and trains as their main modes of transportation
- many cannot communicate in what we would think of as "friendly" English, so therefore what they say in English often comes out sounding a bit harsh/rough
- All shopping stores are closed on Sundays except for 3 or 4 times a year when there is a "shopping sunday"
- they have no problems with nudity - pretty much no big deal seeing your parents, grandparents, brothers, or sisters naked. Or anyone else for that matter i.e. naked spas, naked people in parks, etc.
- you can drink alcohol in public (on the street), starting at the age of 16 (alcohol under 10%)
- Germany is one of the top beer consuming countries (although, contrary to belief, Heineken is not from Germany people)
- windows don't just have curtains - they have these sheets of something that come down to block out all light - it is truly fabulous
- don't get their driving license till 18 (they think it is crazy that we start driving at 15 but can't drink until 21)
- there are a ton of English words used in the German vocabulary (all with a fabulous German accent) such as hi, happy, swear words, cool, and my personal favorite: sorry.
- they think that if you don't wear socks you will get sick
- don't know how big the US is - one person didn't believe me when I said you could drive all day and be in the same State. They also didn't believe me when I said I owned a bike in the States...

Bike ride to school

lovelovelove