Schnitzel und Sausage

We have arrived in Stuttgart, Germany!!

Today we took the train from Switzerland and met my Dad at the train station.  He picked us up, and we dropped our stuff off at the house and took a quick trip to Bebenhausen to check out the old monastery.  Bebenhausen monastery is quite pretty.  It was founded in the 12th century, long before anything that we have in the States, and it was cool to be able to walk around an area that has so much history!

After we toured Kloster Bebenhausen, we headed to Schloss Solitude - one of the prettiest 'castles'.  I say 'castle' because it wasn't technically built as a castle.  It was built as a hunting lodge and as a place for quiet and reflection, hence the name 'Castle Solitude'.  Can you imagine just having another residence that you can call your 'quiet' residence?!  One that overlooks Ludwigsburg and that is larger and more grand than your normal residence?!  I can't, but I absolutely love stopping here and pretending to imagine!  The architecture is so beautiful, as are the views, and it is a quick and easy stop from Stuttgart.  If you recall, this was also the venue of choice if we were to get married in Germany!

Tomorrow, Brian and I are headed to Heidelberg, Germany!

Luzern, Switzerland

The Swiss Alps.  Hiking.   Alpen macaroni.  Enough said!

I would leave this post at that, but I have much more to say!  We headed to Luzern, Switzerland yesterday and hiked up [some of] the Swiss Alps.  The views were absolutely incredible!  We went to the tippy top of Pilatus, a mountain in the heart of the Swiss Alps, and we did it with tourism gusto!  Matt's girlfriend, Sandra, drove us to Alpnachstad where we all got out of her Swiss (read: small) car and headed to our first leg of the climb: a gondola ride!  We took the gondola to a small restaurant with stunning views and gobbled down some energy in the form of alpen macaroni (a specialty in the Alpnachstad area), brat wurst, and a delightful salad.  Once our bellies were full, we were ready for our second leg of the climb: a 45 minute hike to a cable car which was to take us to the top of Pilatus.

On our way up to the cable car, we noticed a very long, very sweet looking toboggan track.  (This track, by the way, is the longest summer toboggan track in Switzerland with a length of .88 miles!)  This quickly became a priority for all of us, so before we headed on to the third leg of journey, we took a quick ride down part of the mountain that we had just climbed up.  (Fortunately, there was a track that pulled us back up!)

Once we were all through with our tobogganing, we took a cable car to the tip top of Pilatus.  The views here were absolutely stunning.  You could see for miles and miles.  The snow capped peaks were surrounded by steep drop offs and cliffs, and the sun was shining so brightly!  We had a fantastic day for this adventure!  We bumbled (our new Swiss word, if you haven't noticed!) around the top of Pilatus for a bit and then carried on to our fourth leg: a train ride on a cogwheel railway down the mountain.  (And, this railway, by the way, is the world's steepest railway reaching a slope of 48% in some areas!)  It was unbelievable!  We were able to enjoy the views while we relaxed on the trek down the moutain. 

When we reached the bottom of Pilatus, we then headed on to our fifth and final leg of our Luzern travel: a boat ride from Alpnachstad back to Luzern.  Amazing!  Relaxing!  Beautiful!  And we were surrounded by Swiss Alps, lovely weather, and wonderful company!  When we returned to Luzern, we walked around town, grabbed a bite to eat, and enjoyed an evening in Luzern!

It was an unbelievable day!  We cannot thank Sandra enough for organizing such a fantastic travel route and showing us the town where she lives.  We are still amazed at the beauty of the entire area!

My words will not do Luzern justice, perhaps our photos will!

Zürich, Switzerland

We arrived in Zürich yesterday morning at 7:30, not so bright eyed and bushy tailed, but we arrived!  We left Columbus, OH at 12:30 pm on Thursday, flew to Altanta, GA, and then straight on to Zürich, Switzerland.  When we got off the plane and walked into the terminal, we were amazed at the cleanliness and care placed on maintaining a near perfect airport, train station, train car, toiletten, etc.  Switzerland is an extremely clean city, and it is clearly evident!

Matt, Brian's friend from Scotland, who has also visited us in the states, picked us up at the Flughafen (airport) and chauffeured us to his flat where we are to stay until Monday morning.  Being that we had just missed an entire night's sleep, we took it relatively easy on Friday.  I snuck in a quick snooze while Brian and Matt headed to the grocery for goods for this weekend's barbeque.  I just couldn't stay awake.  While I was sleeping, they also picked up a small bistro table and two chairs for Matt's balcony and a grill that was going to be delivered later that afternoon.

When they returned, which felt like 15 minutes but really was nearly 2 hours, we headed to the Adidas outlet.  (Ahh, the life of having an extreme sports enthusiast husband!)  In all honesty, this place was amazing!  It wasn't just Adidas workout gear, it was Adidas fashion and European fashion at that which means fashion that us Americans have yet to witness.  It was definitely a cool place.  We got to take the train to Zug and then on to Cham where the outlet was located.

When we returned, the grill delivery guy, who had delivered the grill via a small trailer attached to his bike, was awaiting our arrival.  We got the grill and started the grill assembly.  Two and a half hours later, we had a working grill!  And, of course, had to test it out!  The rest of the evening was pretty much a blur.  Matt's friend Dave came over, we all hung at Matt's place, and then I went to bed.  2 hours of sleep just doesn't keep me going, folks.  I need way more than that!

This morning definitely found both Brian and I much brighter eyed and more bushy tailed!  It was a fantastic day - the sun was shining, the sky was blue, the temperature was good.  We really couldn't have asked for more!  Our first stop, was FIFA Headquarters.  (Would expect anything else touring Zürich with two guys?!)  It was an amazing place!  Very state of the art, very inspiring, very sporty! 

After FIFA, we headed to old town Zürich where we climbed to the top of Grossmünster - a beautiful Romanesque-style church that has incredible views of the city.  And it is a beautiful city!

For the rest of the day, we bumbled around Zürich, took a walk around a part of Lake Zürich, stopped by a boot sale, and headed back to Matt's to have a barbeque.

So far, it has been an amazing visit!  Click on the photo for our Day 1 and Day 2 Zürich, Switzerland album!

Tomato, Tomahto

I absolutely love to do laundry.  I also happen to [sometimes] be quite a perfectionist.  (Ok, that's probably more like a lot of times.)  Either way, to me, laundry is the most satisfying, rewarding household task that a perfectionist could tackle - little piles of alike clothes, fresh smells, warm towels, perfect folds - what's not to like?!  But I've come to realize that not everyone has the same laundry passion that I have.  Again, it's one of those things that you either love or hate, and, lucky for Brian, I happen to love it!

Fortunately though, Brian is just as careful when he does laundry.  He doesn't mix colors, he errs on the side of safe when it comes to a garment that may or may not belong in the dryer, he is great at switching loads and not leaving the wet clothes in the washer for a few days before throwing them into the dryer, and he generally comes out with all of our socks.  I on the other hand am a kind of an efficient freak about laundry.  I err on the side of how will it dry quicker with less wrinkles?  (The answer is always the dryer.)  98% of the time that I do a load of laundry, it's a full load.  (I can blame this on my 'there's always room in the dishwasher for another dish' upbringing.)  But, the one thing that Brian isn't so good at is folding - 1.) He doesn't like to do it; and, 2.) I'm a perfectionist, so I notice when something is folded sloppily.  (This doesn't bother me a bit though.  I happen to love folding!)  A lot of times, Brian is in charge of switching loads, and I am in charge of pre-piling and folding.  (For those of you that are not familiar with pre-piling, that is the point at which you take the dirty laundry and pile it into its specific loads - whites, darks, lights, etc. - which can also involve separating a load if it is too big.  Pre-piling, folks, get with it.)

The other day, however, I had pre-piled the dirty laundry, expecting to take part in each task of the laundry cycle.  Brian came upstairs from the basement.  My nazi laundry intuition kicked in, and I wondered what he was messing with down there.

He explained that he had switched the loads.

I asked slowly, 'which ones?'

He continued to explain, 'there were two piles, the reds and the grays, and I put the grays in.'

I was confused.  I don't usually get that detailed when it comes to pre-piling, but I suppose if my mind was elsewhere it could very well happen.  I wouldn't put it past me.  But I continued to think.  I know I didn't separate our dirty laundry by colors.

And then it dawned on me.  Reds were 'darks'.  Grays were 'lights'.

'Oh, Love!'  I explained gingerly that the piles that Brian assumed were 'red' and 'gray' were actually 'darks' and 'lights', respectively.

I could blame this on my Ohio State Buckeye loving husband seeing only in 'scarlet' (red) and 'gray', but, in his defense, there were a lot of reds in the 'dark' pile and a lot of 'grays' in the light pile.

In the end, the laundry was done, perfectly folded, and put neatly away.

Eh, you say tomato, I say tomahto!

29 Years and Counting!

Yesterday I turned 22, ah hem, 29 years old!  And it was a lovely weekend to celebrate my birthday!  The weather was beautiful, the surprises were amazing, and the company was lovely!

On Friday, I came home to this:



Yes, that is a room full of balloons!

Brian got quite creative with his birthday gift this year.  I was highly impressed with his skills, and it was so festive and fun to have balloons around all weekend!  (At first, Jack didn't want anything to do with the balloons, but, by Sunday night, he was quite the professional balloon popper!)

Also on Friday, Mary and Tom joined Brian and I for dinner at Figlio, an Italian restaurant right down the way, where we had a wonderful dinner!  When we returned home, we had cake, sang the birthday song, and opened presents!  It was a fabulous start to the birthday weekend!

On Saturday, my true birthday, Brian, Jack and I headed to the dog park.  All I wanted to do was have a pic-a-nic, but we decided it would be more fun for Jack to have fun playing at the dog park.  Plus, we thought that we could have a picnic at the dog park (it's a very nice dog park), but that did not work out well at all.  The minute we pulled out some food, every dog droppped what they were doing and stood around us.  We should've thought about that a little bit more... So we decided on rain checking the picnic for another day that we don't have a dog in tow!

Then, on Saturday night, we went to Tim and Erin's for a wonderful reuben casserole dinner, which was amazing, and we topped the night off with another birthday song and a delicious lemon cake!  Thanks, Tim, Erin, Miles, & Ben!

Everyone made my birthday weekend so special!  The cards, the texts, the birthday wishes, the delicious food, it was all so wonderful!  I still don't feel like I'm 29.  I'm not loathing the fact that it's my last year as a 20-something.  I don't fear turning 30 at all.  It has never once crossed my mind.  Honestly, I'm just excited for the future!  It seems like every year life gets a little better, and I am so thankful for the people around me that make my life so wonderful, for the opportunities that I get to experience, and for the person I am still becoming.  I welcome my 29th year of life (and beyond) with open arms! 

Thank you, Everyone, for making my birthday so wonderful, and Happy Birthday to me!

Leaning Tower of Treesa

As we have mentioned before, the previous owners of our house did not take great pride in their immaculate (or lack thereof) landscape.  We've had to do quite a bit to get our landscaping presentable and are still working quite hard to keep it presentable.  We had some major overgrowth that was taking over our yard, if you recall, and our trees hadn't been trimmed in over 15 years!  We had a lot of deadwood and overgrowth, so today we decided to nip them in the bud...literally.

We had an arborist come out and prune and trim our Linden which is leaning quite tauntingly toward our house.  (If this baby decided to go, it would probably take the entire house with it.  Well, except for the sunroom.)  We also had an Ash and a Maple in the rear that had a few large branches that needed to be pruned, a Magnolia that had a double leader that needed to be removed, and a Maple in the front that seriously needed to be shaped.

When I returned home from work, all was complete, and the transformation is wunderbar!

See for yourself!

Roseum Elegans

We purchased the most beautiful rhododendron yesterday!  We bought six plants and think we will be planting them in two groups of three in the yard.  One set on the north side by the shed and the other on the west side by the fence.  (At least, that's the plan for now!)

We are both very excited to get them in the ground, and, as Brian has reminded me, 'have a little bit of Augusta, GA in our yard'!  (He sees all the azaleas and rhododendron blooming while he is at the Masters Golf Tourney in April.  Now he will have his own little Augusta sanctuary!)

Click below to see a few more photos!

Eviction Notice

Dear Dust Bunnies,

You are hereby given an eviction notice and are politely being asked to vacate the premises as soon as possible.

The reason for this eviction notice is: your failure to remain in your specified areas.

A demand for your seclusion beneath the couch, under the bed, in the far reaches of the corner behind the entertainment stand (aka: where our guests won't see you and, consequently, think that we don't clean our house...) has been ignored. 

In addition to trespassing into non-dust bunny friendly areas, you also do so no more than five minutes, five minutes, after either Brian or I has so diligently swept the entire house in an effort to rid you of 'our areas' and transport you back to 'your areas'.  This we are not pleased with.  We try our best to keep our areas clean and dust bunny free.  You continue to make our efforts seem useless.  Therefore, we have decided to take the necessary action.

You are hereby notified that if you stay in your obligatory areas from this date forth, you will be able to remain on the premises.  This is met with the understanding that you will continue to remain in those areas and will not trespass into non-dust bunny friendly areas (aka: the entire rest of the house.)

We appreciate your speedy assistance with this matter and look forward to living with you in peace or living without you entirely.

Sincerely,

Management
Hendricks Hotel

(One of the many joys of living in a house with hardwood floors and animal hair!)

Evolution of a Name

We talked for months on what we would call our new puppy.

We decided on Jack.  He was born on Halloween, after all.  (Jack-o-lantern...get it?!)

It fits him perfectly!

It has sinced morphed into: Pooch, Pooches, Poo, Puppy, Puppy-Poo, Lu, Lu-La, Moo, Mooches, Waggles, Doggie, Doggie Doo, Bob Barker, Christopher Columbus, Dora the Explorer, Smash, Smash Box, Socks, Jingle Jangle (personal fav!), Huff and Puff, Grumble in the Jungle...I could keep going...

But we noticed that he responds particularly well with Lu, which we now may have to respell to 'Lou'!  When you call our puppy Lu, or Lu-la, you get a smile and waggles!  Any other name and you get a 'what now?' expression. No waggles.

So, in lieu (no pun intended) of our recent revelation, meet our new dog, Lou:

What a happy puppy!

Think Pink

We will run and we will walk until we find a cure.  Yes, we will.

Yesterday, Brian and I walked in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure with Than and Darcy and Than's parents.  (Along with quite a few other supporters!)

Than's Mom, Mary, was diagnosed with breast cancer last fall, and we are all in support of her making a fast, full recovery.  There were over 50,000 supporters in downtown Columbus fighting the war against breast cancer.  The turnout was incredible.  There are so many people affected by this type of cancer, and they are all taking a stand against it.  It was truly inspiring and made both Brian and I proud to support our friends and this wonderful cause.

In addition to the walk, we hosted a little gathering (our first official!) at the new pad.  It was a great day for a cookout, not too hot, not too cold, and we enjoyed the rest of the night hanging with some very good people!

It was wonderful to see Than and Darcy!  We can't wait to see you guys again soon!

Jailbird Dog

Our Operation Block the Dog in the Backyard is becoming a success!  Today, we had a fence contractor install some old wrought iron fence that we inherited to block off the two access points to the front yard.  Tomorrow, they will hang the gate on the left side to complete the mission!

I wonder what the visitation rights are?!

Hopefully that ball will end up on the right side of the fence!

We are now functioning under Operation Safe House, for we can't have any unsafe conditions for our dear sweet Puppy Poo!  (We are secretly wondering how long it takes before Jack freaks out about this new 'thing taking over the yard' and just starts barking at it.  We have no doubt that it will probably be at a very inopportune time!)

Either way, the fence looks fantastic, better than either Brian or I had envisioned, and we are incredibly happy that we can now let our pooch out to roam as long as he likes!

Ahh, the life of a very lucky dog!

Amazeballs!!!

Yes, we booked with the most incredible photographers in Columbus, OH - Picture the Love - for our wedding.

Yes, we received the most unbelievable engagement and wedding photos.

Yes, Kim & Eric, the Love in Picture the Love, were FANTASTIC!

Yes, we just received our photo album from our wedding!  (It was an incredible surprise to come home to!)

And no, we have absolutely no regrets!

If you'd like to download and see our entire wedding album, click here! (A google account is required.  All you have to do is log in!)

Or, if you'd like to just look at the real thing, check out the photo below!

True Love

[Spoken in your best Princess Bride Clergyman impression.]

"Mawage.  Mawage is wot brings us togeder tooday.  Mawage, that bwessed awangement, that dweam wifin a dweam...And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva..."

That movie is an all time fav!  One my brother and I could watch a million times over and still not be sick of it!  It makes me smile thinking of all the funny one liners that we used within our daily vocabulary after we watched the movie, "...anybody want a peanut?!", and it makes me smile thinking of my brother and his beautiful wife.

We headed to Maryland on Thursday to attend my brother, Travis' wedding.  It was spectacular!  We got in relatively late on Thursday and spent Friday tying up some of the loose ends.  Mom and I dropped off the flower arrangements at Tonic, the rehearsal dinner spot, in Washington, DC, while Brian, Scott, and James headed to the hotel to check in.  Once we got everything situated at Tonic, we reconvened at the rehearsal at Mount Airy Mansion, and then we headed back to the hotel to find Brian and get ready for the rehearsal dinner.

A fancy tour bus picked us, the bridal party, grandparents, and, of course, the bride and groom all up and took us to Tonic where we laughed, celebrated, ate delicious food, celebrated, toasted, congratulated, and laughed!  The wedding festivities were well underway and we were all so excited for Saturday's shindig!

After the rehearsal dinner, that same fancy tour bus took us on a monument tour around DC.  It worked out perfectly.  The sun was setting, our bellies were full, the sky was relatively clear, and it was just so wonderful to be surrounded by so many loving family members and friends.  Tomorrow was going to be a very special day!

When Saturday rolled around the excitement was definitely high!  It was an absolutely gorgeous, sunny, 70 degree May day!  We had our complimentary hotel breakfast, picked up Amy and her friend, Jan, from Amy's dorm in College Park, and got ready for the main event!

We arrived at Mount Airy Mansion around 3:00 pm.  The wedding was scheduled to start at 3:30 pm.  The mansion was such a pretty sight!  There were flowers in the sunken gardens where the ceremony was to take place, and the weather was still perfect.  It was simple and so beautiful!  Amy and Jan were in charge of handing out bubbles, James was a junior groomsman in the bridal party, and Nico (Shanel's bro) and I each did a reading during the ceremony.  It was so awesome that Travis and Shanel incorporated all of their siblings into their wedding.  It meant a lot to us, and we were so happy to be a part of such a special day.

I cannot even begin to tell you how important both Travis and Shanel are to me.  Travis has been, is, and always will be my brother.  And I am so proud to be his sister.  He is an incredibly caring, loving, light hearted person, and I would say we have a very special connection.  Shanel is his equal.  A lovely, caring, generous, light hearted, funny woman who will definitely be keeping Travis on his toes!  Together, they are an amazing, inspirational, admirable couple that you just want to be around.  Their love is contagious, and we feel (speaking on behalf of Brian and I, and family, and friends) SO special to be a part of their lives.

The ceremony was lovely.  It captured both Shanel and Travis' loving, laughing, beautiful personalities, and it was a reminder to all of us there of the special bond that we all share.  I cannot speak highly enough of Shanel's family either.  They are an extremely special crowd, and it was incredible to be able to share this day with them.

The reception was equally beautiful and fun and special.  The flowers were stunning, the music made us all shake what our Momma's gave us, and the people that we were all surrounded by made it a night that we will never, ever forget!

I could go on and on and on about the details and amazing-ness of this extremely special day and these two extremely special people.  My words would not do either justice, but I could (and would) try!  Instead, since this post is already a bit lengthy as is, I will stop there and let you peruse the photos of the incredible day, the gorgeous bride and handsome groom, and the love that they share.  It was perfect! Click the photo below to see the album, and check out this short viddie of the grand entrance!

Congratulations, Travis and Shanel!  We love you!

Sir, Yes Sir!

Your duty is as follows:

Please click here.

(Note: This message will not self destruct. That's impossible.)

Weekend Shenanigans

We went to the dog park.

We purchased a new rug for our front door!

We assembled our wheel barrow.

Ta Daaaa!
(And Jack learns that humans are very strange animals!)

In addition, we also put the final touches on our Mother's Day cards and gifts, got to see Kevin, Brooke, John & Leah and Tim, Erin, Miles & Ben (which was wonderful!), hung three pictures (one in our bathroom, and two in our kitchen), did the weekend cleaning and laundry (sigh.), ran some errands, played some golf, (well, Brian golfed...), and mowed the lawn!  (Brian mowed the lawn too.)

All in all, I would say it was a lovely Spring weekend!