Vanishing Act Part Deux (and now it's getting ridiculous)

It's not my fault.

I don't know why but it seems like we've been in a perpetual rough patch for months now.

I'm trying to remain hopeful and hopefully with spring there will be a turn around.

Until I figure out how to put a spin on what I've just been through (I'm not in the mood for a deep post ya know?), I leave you with a little peak into the last 5 days.

If 5 days on bed-rest taught me anything, it's just that I'm thankful for my health.

and my friends.

and my husband.

and my son.

and their health.

oh...

and that sometimes things happen.

we don't know why they happen.

we never will.

but you can't lose hope.

so we won't.

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Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent.

-Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

Saturdays

I love Saturdays.

It's my favorite day of the weekend.

I look forward to it all day Friday and it always reminds me that I still have an entire day left of the weekend tomorrow.

I woke up this morning to the stirring of a little man. When I finally looked at the clock and realized he definitely wasn't going back to sleep... we did our morning routine and headed down to the kitchen.

Because Rhett is awesome he likes to pull out his highchair and scale it's side to alert me to the fact that he's been awake for 8.5 minutes and hasn't been fed yet.

He wasn't that crazy about his cottage cheese and fruit breakfast but he ate three slices of pumpkin chocolate chip bread so it was okay. Isn't that what every good mom feeds her kid at 8 in the morning?

After breakfast we danced to the "great movie music of all time" because it was on AFN and we were totally digging it.

Then we dog-piled on top of Daddy and the dog because it's fun.

You've never felt more loved than when you're at the bottom of a wife and baby dog-pile.

Trust me.

Only after we reached our saturation point for laziness we decided to get dressed and go to the store to buy things we don't really need.

You know... like a movie, dryer balls (those plastic balls that are supposed to speed up your drying process), and girl scout cookies.

We seriously could have done without the dryer balls but those are just the types of things you do on a Saturday.

"Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless."

-Bill Watterson

Wishing you an equally exciting Saturday.

Vanishing Act [& Strasbourg Christmas Market]

I'm getting really good at unintentional disappearances. I really do not do it on purpose but it seems to be a habitual problem around here. You see, I've been trying to finish up our market visits but we took a mini vacay to Paris (more on that later) and returned with not only two suitcases of dirty laundry... but a sick baby. It's been a little stressful.

Anyways, that's all I have to say about that.

Moving on....

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I know the holidays are long since gone but over New Year's weekend I was feeling particularly sad to take down our Christmas tree and pack up all the decorations.

In a last stitch effort to prolong Christmas 2011, I bribed the husband and bundled up the baby for our last Christmas market of the year.

Most of the German Christmas markets close up shop right before Christmas Eve but Strasbourg's stays open until the 30th which is convenient.

The market is bigger than I remember but it's layout is mildly confusing. Next time, I'll download a map from their website (here).

We really enjoyed their sweet pretzels (imagine a sugar donut in the shape of a pretzel), perusing our favorite shops (La Cure Gourmand), and enjoying the festive decorations all over the city.

j'adore strasbourg!

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Read my other posts about Strasbourg here, here, and here.

3 Years.

Three years ago today... there was a lot more white on the ground in Stuttgart. Meatloaf, however, had a lot less white on his face (er... gray).

On a more random note, Chad & I both own all those clothes pictured above. We wear them too. I haven't decided yet if this is a good thing.

Happy 3 year Anniversary in Germany to us.

Prost.

Ulm Christmas Market

I know the holiday season has officially come to an end and I'm not ashamed to say that I'm glad.

I didn't even wait till New Years to remove our Christmas tree. I couldn't take another day of pine needles and drooping branches. I love Christmas.... I love Christmas trees... I love the ornaments, wreaths, baking....

for one month.

Then I want my house back to normal- decoration free, wrapping recycled, cookies distributed.

The end.

(Until November 25th of next year.)

There is one holiday season practice that never gets old... those Christmas markets.

I do currently get nauseated at the thought of gluhwein but that should pass in the next few weeks and I will miss all that comes with German (and French) Christmas Markets.

With that said, I have a few market visits that I didn't get to cover before Christmas... one of them being our visit to the Ulm market.

I had heard mixed reviews about Ulm's market but we had been to Stuttgart's twice at that point and the weather wasn't that great so we chose Ulm because it was new and only an hours drive away.

I've only been to Ulm one other time but I enjoy the city. I think it's pretty nice and they have a lot of shopping. You know... if you're into that kind of thing.

Anyways...

I had heard their market was small but I wouldn't consider it so.

It surrounded the Ulm Minster (um, which is quite large) so it was big enough for me.

Unfortunately, it was practically freezing and the babies stopped cooperating so we ended up going into a Tapas bar and spending the rest of the evening there.

Then we went to Ikea and Toys 'R' Us before calling it a night.

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Birds are the mascots of Ulm. The tale goes that the timbers of the church wouldn't fit through the gates around the walled city until the builders saw a bird fly through the gate, holding a twig, by turning it to a 90 degree angle. After rotating the timbers, the building of the cathedral could continue...

Read more about the Ulm Christmas Market here.

Year in review: 2011

---January---

---February---

---March---

---April---

---May---

---June---

---July---

---August---

---September---

---October---

---November---

---December---

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2011 was an amazing year.

Travel. Growth. Exploration.

Bring it on, 2012.

Happy New Year.