theinbetweenismine

just a girl living the expat life

Archives for April 2011

Meet Ashley

filed under: blog stuff, crafts, Etsy, friends

Aaaand… here’s one more crafty lady that I’d like to introduce this month. Ashley and I did a little button swap in April to I am happy to showcase her on my blog today.

Name: Ashley
Blog Name/Link: After Nine To Five
Describe your blog in five words: Laughter. Food. Design. Photography. Crafts.
Describe your personality in three words: Risky. Compassionate. Creative.
Tell me something – anything!: I could spend all day and night on the beach by the ocean if I could.

I’m Ashley, owner of After Nine To Five – a blog about life, love, design, and food. I love to take risks and take on too much at once. I like to live life to the fullest and hope to die with no regrets. April is a HUGE month for me – I’m getting married and going out of the country for the first time! I’m excited to come back and share all of the photos we take kayaking, snorkeling, and hanging out on the beach.

My shop After Nine To Five Designs is filled with everything for the person that loves to travel. Jewelry, cards, headbands, and more. Coming in May 2011, After Nine To Five Designs will expand to cover more hobbies and interests that most people do outside of the daily nine to five grind.

blog | twitter | shop

Tell me this is normal…

filed under: I can't make this shit up

It’s Tuesday. We’re supposed to move into our new apartment in 5 days. I have yet to hear from the landlord about walk-through, key delivery and actual move-in day. To be quite frank…

I’M FREAKING OUT A LITTLE.

I don’t know if it is the European in me  that just gets nervous about theses kind of last minute arrangements or if it is the fact that, even after having lived in this country for the better part of the last 8 years, I am still not used to the laid-back attitude of Americans in all kind of (im)possible situations.

FYI, moving in Germany is a three months long ordeal from the point of giving 90-day notice to renovating the new place and fixing up the old place to actually physically moving furniture, boxes and whole kitchens to the new apartment. You won’t be in and out of a place over a weekend. Just forget it.

Everybody keeps telling me that “things will sort themselves out”, but with a super-busy work schedule at work during the first week of May, let alone the fact that we have to be out of our current apartment by May, 6th (I believe),  I really don’t have the nerves to just cross my fingers and hope for the best.

But I guess that is what I have to do, isn’t it?

Feeling in limbo is not one of my favorite feelings and I will just have to suck it up and go with what I have. My biggest concern is that I won’t be able to get a moving truck (and possibly some movers) on such short notice.

What really bothers me is the fact that I had such a good feeling about the place and the landlord and now she turns out to be so … flaky. (Or maybe, that is just my perception at this point. I am just not used to not being able  to plan ahead, especially if it comes to something big like a move.) I can only hope that she won’t be a pain in the butt to deal with if there is anything that needs fixing at the apartment.

Hopefully next Tuesday around this time, I’ll be laughing about this post, because we were able to move everything into our new place over the weekend and the whole fuss was for nothing. But for now, all I can do is worry.

 

Easter weekend

filed under: Expat stories, food, holidays

I have to say, holidays are always a little tough for me. Not being able to spend time with family on holidays is really something that weighs heavy on my heart time and time again and I don’t expect it to get easier any time soon. While my whole family gathered at my parents’ house for an Easter Egg Hunt for Greta and Tom…

Tom and Greta, Easter/Ostern 2011

I was packing boxes and at least managed to bake some Easter goodies on the side.
I usually bake an Easter Bread every year, as you might recall, but I wanted to try something different this year.
So I decided to make little Easter knots with sugar on top instead.

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They were pretty good, although they didn’t turn out quite as I wanted them to, because a) I messed up with the flour again (I can never seem to find the right kind) and b) I had to improvise with the sugar on top. I was looking for “Hagelzucker” (“hail sugar” = crystal sugar), which is hail-sized sugar crystals which are commonly used for baking in Germany.
In the US? No such luck. I went to four different stores and raw cane sugar was the closest match that I could find. I guess the taste was pretty similar, it just didn’t look as pretty. (If you have any tips on where to get Hagelzucker, let me know!)

How was your Easter weekend?
Did you get to spend time with your loved ones?

Meet Chrissy

filed under: crafts, friends

Today I’d like to introduce you to my new friend Chrissy, a fellow German girl. She has a very sweet personality, she has an awesome blog and runs a supercute Etsy store. I recommend you check her out.  See for yourself!

Chrissy

Hi, I am Chrissy and I blog over @ Whimsical Poppysmic about my life after moving to Chicago from Germany with my family 2,5 years ago, my crafts and whatever’s on my mind.

I have always had a passion for knitting and felt and I love sewing and embroidery, so last December I opened my very own Etsy shop Whimsical Poppysmic! It is so much fun creating new items and coming up with new ideas for designs and it is awesome to be part of such a great community like Etsy!

I love tweeting, so why don’t you come and tweet with me over here !  

Things I Love Thursday

filed under: about me, love, TILT


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This week I am loving…

... those paper hearts garlands.

… my new Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens which arrived in the mail yesterday!

… the people in my life who remind me of what really is important.

… the decluttering of our apartment in preparation for the move. Yeah, I know the stress of moving and all the work it brings with it is usually not really that much fun, but I’ve enjoyed going through some of our stuff and looking at things that I haven’t touched in a while. Also, I love throwing things out that I truly don’t need anymore. So deliberating!

… french fries. I really have a craving for them this week.

… the local Country Music Station. I’ve been cheating on NPR a bit lately and am listening to more music on my way to and from work. Country Music puts me into such a good mood.

… the anticipation of moving to a brandnew place. What I am not loving is the fact that our new landlord is taking her sweet time getting back with more information about walk-through and move-in date. We’ve technically signed the lease for May, 1 and you’d think that it’s about time to make arrangements for moving truck and such. We’re only 10 days away from May.

… mint dark chocolate.

… some reality TV to turn my brain off after work. Newest show that got me intrigued and shocked at the same time:  Extreme Couponing. My goodness :)

What are you loving this week?