Archives for December 2011

Friday Link Love

December 9, 2011 filed under: link love

Lessons in Christmas Shopping by Melissa (Press Play). I really agree with Melissa’s thoughts on this.

I am on a plane by Eleni (Hope Dies Last). Perfect analogy.

Meditate on guilt by Alexis (Alexis Kwerk). Do you feel guilty in unnecessary ways?

Photo Friday by Ashley (Our little apartment). Love this decorating idea!

Chicken Potato Soup – with leek and bacon – oh my! by Sarah (Whoorl). As a soup fan, I have to try this.

Picking up the pieces by Mandy (Knowing the difference.) This girl knows how to always look on the bright side.

Are there any blog posts that you’d like to recommend to me this week?
Happy Friday, peeps!

Awkward & Awesome

December 8, 2011 filed under: about me, awkward & awesome

{source: my flickr}

This is a regular feature post on my blog. See the archives here.

The Christmas gift situation at our office. We haven’t done a “Secret Santa” in the past, because we were such a small group, but with 6 people now, buying everyone a gift gets kind of expensive. I am still not sure what to do. Some people do give gifts, others don’t, but I don’t want to be one of the people who don’t. Besides, I love giving gifts. Still, awkward.

How it always feels like Christmas is still so far away, and then BAM, there are only two weeks left! If you keep in mind, that I’ll be traveling in a week in a half, it leaves even less time and I feel a tiny bit freaked out right now if I will get everything done. (But I guess I always have in the past, so I shouldn’t worry too much.)

Passive-aggressive emails. What are you saying? I’ve brought that up before? Yeah, well, they keep coming. Some people are really good at them. Ugh.

When I booked my flight to Germany, my default seat reservation was a middle seat (although I requested an aisle seat). That does not bode well for my flight experience, people. I am really hoping the flight is not booked out and I’ll be able to move to an aisle seat (and in case, I am not that lucky, dear God, please make sure that I won’t end up between two big, sweaty guys who will not only take over both arm rests, but also my leg space. Kthxbye.)

12 days until I leave for Germany. 12 days until I will get to see the little munchkins. 12 days until I will indulge in Glühwein and Christmas cookies (baked by my Dad!).

Our teeny, tiny Christmas tree. It’s not even really a tree, if we’re honest, but it makes my heart so happy.

Very excited about a little project for 2012, initiated by some of my blog friends. “12 changes in 2012” is a different approach to the ever-failing “New Year’s resolutions”. If you want to know more, stay tuned (I’ll blog about it) or contact one of those two ladies.

I’ve been crocheting up a storm these last few weeks and I’ll have a few handmade gifts to give out this Christmas. I hope they’ll be as well received as I had fun making them.

I’ll be writing all my (60+) Christmas cards this weekend. At least, that’s the plan.

Happy Thursday, peeps!

How about some déjà vu?

December 7, 2011 filed under: friends, my so-called life, nostalgia

Last night I saw an old friend from College. We both were exchange students at UC Davis at the same time (only that I went back to Germany after 6 months and she ended up completing her degree in the US) and seeing her again was a bit of a déjà vu. We were both giggling like teenagers when we spotted each other at the “Crêpeville” restaurant and coffee shop. We hugged and stared at each other and shook our heads and hugged again. It was a little bit surreal, like we had been time-traveling or something.

The last time we had seen each other was six years ago. She didn’t want to believe me that it had really been that long, so I got out my iPhone, pulled up my blog and showed her “see! This was 5 years and 11 months ago almost to the day!“.
Honestly, it really didn’t feel like it had been that long. It actually felt more like we had talked to each other last week.

Here’s the funny part though: we didn’t talk last week. In fact, we didn’t even email last week. Or even the week before. We hadn’t really been in the loop with each other’s lives that much at all. I only knew that she had eventually moved back to Turkey. We had exchanged a few Facebook messages over the last two months, after she had let me know of the prospect of her possibly coming to California for a conference in early December, but nothing was certain at the time.
Over the last six years, we had only exchanged the occasional email or Facebook message. We didn’t even really hang out that much back when we were both attending UCD, we only hung out a handful of times really, and still, she was always someone I thought of fondly and who’s name always came up as one of the first ones when I talked about people I had met in Davis. She was this quirky, funny, always-smiling girl that was just fun to be around. The few times that we did spend together were full and precious and had left both of us with the feeling that we had made a lifelong friend. With some people, you just “click”.

Then, she contacted me on Monday. “I am here“. Her trip came together very last minute, there had been no time for us to really plan ahead. She was only in Davis for three days. Here was this tiny window of opportunity to see each other again and we made it happen. She made the effort to contact me and make time to see me, I made the effort to drive out to Davis on a week night and spend my precious after-work time with her.
And you know what? I did it, because she was worth it. I did it, because she would have done the same for me. I did it, because despite our relatively sparse communication, she’s my friend and even after six years I can talk to her just about anything and she “gets” it. Our common experiences as exchange students have put us in a spot, where we’ll always share a lot of the same concepts and feelings about life.

I have no doubt I will see her again. I don’t know when, I don’t know where, but sometime somewhere our paths will cross again. I just know it.

A Christmas wish (come true)

December 5, 2011 filed under: excitement, family, Germany, holidays, yes!

{source: my flickr}

How it is already December absolutely escapes me, but since December is one of my favorite months, I just try to embrace that it is here and focus on enjoying the crap out of it.

Christmas is my favorite holiday and I just love the season. What can I say? I always look forward to this time of year with anticipation and fondness. Every year, though, we struggle with the how and where we spent the holidays.

I thought this stuff was tricky, when I had a boyfriend, who lived literally not even a mile away from my house and we had to decide if we see his family on Christmas Eve and mine on Christmas Day or vice versa. Now imagine a 400 mile-distance separating us from J’s parents and 6000 miles (including an ocean) separating us from mine. It’s a whole different ball game.

If I am quite honest, my only true wish for Christmas every year is to go back to Germany and spend the holidays with my family. I realize that this seems kind of selfish and I know most couples probably work it out so that they take turns every year (depending on where their respective parents and in-laws live), but I have a hard time compromising this way. It’s not that I haven’t spend Christmases in California with J’s family before or that I didn’t have a good time. I did! It was just different.

I think Christmas is just not as important to J (and his family) as it is to me and my family. I think, J only gets excited about Christmas, because I get excited about Christmas. I don’t want this to sound mean or judgmental in any way, because I really have respect for everyone’s feelings around Christmas. It’s just that for me personally, there is no holiday more wonderful and nostalgic. It’s a holiday that needs to be spend with family and family traditions. I think (and hope!) J gets why it’s so important for me to see my family around this time of year.

Our holiday traditions obviously have changed a bit over the last few years, but a lot of things are still the same.
I am still expected to decorate our Christmas tree when I am home for the holidays (we don’t decorate the tree until the morning of December, 24) and my sister sets up the nativity scene. We go to church in the afternoon. Surprisingly, we don’t have one traditional Christmas dinner, but my Mom and Dad put together an original four-course meal every year. It’s always outstandingly delicious! While we prepare the food, we light candles, put on some Christmas music or a Christmas movie on TV and snack on Christmas cookies. My Mom and I put a lot of effort into setting and decorating the dinner table in a very festive way.

Now, with two kids as part of our family, Christmas Eve has even become a tad more magical again. Witnessing my niece and nephew experience the holidays is the sweetest thing and it makes my heart soar with happiness.

All this to say, I booked a flight home.

J and I will be splitting up for the holidays this year. We’ll be spending some time with J’s family before Christmas and then I’ll hop on a plane and see my family for the holidays, while J will spend more time with his family this year (as his brother will be home for Christmas for the first time in years).

I am hoping to go to the Christmas Market in Cologne, since I missed out on it last year due to my involuntary stay in London. (Just FYI, I will not have a stopover in London on my way to Germany this time!) I am hoping to spend some quality time with my great-aunt and other relatives. I am hoping to see a few of my friends, who I didn’t get to see last time when my visit was cut short. I am mostly looking forward to spending 8 days with my parents, my sister, my BIL and the kids in Austria in the snow and finally get on my skis/snowboard again! Hooray! It’s been much too long!

What are your plans for the holidays?

Summer Tales – Bodega Bay

December 3, 2011 filed under: family, good times, photography, summer tales, travel, USA

I am recapping the three weeks of fun that I had with my family this summer.
See all related posts under the category: summer tales.

We left San Francisco today (8/8) to head north on Highway 1. Our plans were thwarted, though, by some mechanical issues with our brand new rental car, which spontaneously decided to not accelerate anymore when we were crossing the Bay Bridge. Of course, I was driving (I hate when something happens with the car while I am driving – I had a tire blow out while I was driving once), so I crept along at 35 mph in the right lane until I had crossed the bridge and could pull over.

We sat in a side street underneath the Bay Bridge for another hour, on and off on the phone with National Rental Car Roadside Assistance, eventually drove the car a few more blogs to a National branch office just to waste another two precious hours to get a different car. There were only two (completely overwhelmed) employees working, the line went out the door and the manager was completely full of himself and a jerk. I am glad I have learned to be persistent and to insist on my rights and we finally got a new car (Kia Sorrento) – though significantly smaller than the one we originally had – and could continue our travels.

Since we had already lost so much time, we had to skip our stop in Sausalito and made our way up north to Muir Beach. The weather was gorgeous and we stopped for a short walk on the beach and to enjoy the fresh ocean breeze.

Then we continued north on Highway 1, passing Stinson Beach and driving along Tomales Bay.

We arrived at Nick’s Cove right around 5:30 p.m. for an early dinner. After the eventful start of the day, we had all earned a delicious meal right on the waterfront with a beautiful view of Tomales Bay. My Dad had steamed halibut, my Mom and Basti tried the Fish & Chips and I went for fried Monterey Sardines. Yum!

Behind the restaurant is a small pier that we used for a short after-dinner walk and to enjoy the beautiful setting of the sun.

We had to drive about another 30 minutes until we reached our accommodation for the night, the Bodega Bay Coast Inn right on the water.

Since temperatures were significantly lower on the coast than in Utah and Las Vegas, we skipped our obligatory jump in the pool and instead got some snacks and drinks at a tiny local supermarket and had a little room party instead.

….stay tuned for more.

Friday Link Love

December 2, 2011 filed under: link love

It’s time by Danielle (Sometimes Sweet). Please watch this – to the end! It’s beautiful.

How I learned to start saying “no” by Jena (Miss Modish). I can really use some advice on that.

Making Christmas – Hot chocolate 3 ways by Erin (Sunshine and Carousels). Is there anything better than hot chocolate for the holiday season?

30 days of holiday goodies: DIY peppermint patties by Ashley (Indie Pretty Projects). Peppermint and chocolate = holiday season, right? :)

Are there any blog posts that you’d like to recommend to me this week?
Happy Friday, peeps!