The Road to Hell is Paved with Cookies...

Odd {#Project 365 - Day 31}

2012-01-31T22:12:00.001+01:00

I have had a tough day in work today and there wasn’t really any photo opportunity. That means I was sifting through my vast photo archive and thought to myself that I would share this photo with you, which I took in the ladies room in Dublin Airport’s arrival hall.

Just how this is hygienic & sterile is beyond me but it sure is quick & easy because you know – stepping off a plane looking like a million dollars now just costs € 2 and fifteen minutes of your time.

I’ve never seen a “hair styler” in a ladies room in Germany but then again I’m trying to avoid public restrooms.

The reason why the picture is a bit blurry is that I had to concentrate hard not to shake too much as I was chuckling like a nutcase.

What’s the oddest thing you’ve come across or didn’t expect in the ladies room?

Guess what it is {#Project 365 - Day 30}

2012-01-30T22:18:00.001+01:00

Saw this while shopping at the Hardware store today.

*Update: As this post was published via smartphone App last night, the photo was a tad on the "small" side and I just uploaded a bigger one.

No pictures PURRRLEASE {#Project 365– Day 29}

2012-01-29T22:01:00.001+01:00

Lilly is opposed to having her photo taken today. She is tired of the darn paparazzi chasing her. The paparazzi don’t stop. Ever. They invade your privacy and even catch you while you’re asleep. In the end she just gave up.

(both taken with the Samsung SG II in less than perfect lighting conditions, uploaded via Windows Live Writer)

Finally some snow {#Project 365–Day 27}

2012-01-28T13:25:00.001+01:00

Taken while sitting in the car while hubby ran into our favorite butchers for a “gscheite Leberkäs-Semmel”.

I can not wait to go back {#Project 365 - Day 26}

2012-01-26T21:20:00.001+01:00

Flights have been booked and I can’t wait to return to Thailand in the not too distant future.

Sun {#Project 365 - Day 25}

2012-01-25T23:11:00.001+01:00

Today was a sunny day in the weirdest winter I can remember. It’s either been rainy, or snowy but it’s definitely been cloudy most of the time. So when the sun was showing her face today, I ran outside to lap it up and it felt so good, it reminded me of this beautiful day during the summer of 2011.

John Deer {#Project 365 - Day 24}

2012-01-24T19:49:00.000+01:00

For about a year now, I have been obsessed with deer. Spotting a small group of deer on my drive to work or decorating with it… This is the latest decoration item in my ever expanding collection . I call it John Deer :)

Farewell to Picnik

2012-01-24T10:47:00.001+01:00

The end of all the fun.

It’s no secret, I love photography and I could drool over cameras like a guy would drool over power tools, cars or computers. Mostly I take pictures of daily things, like on my way to work or the way my office is set up or food or people. I have no idea why that is but I get a kick out of looking through these shots years later and remember how things were back then. Every once in a while a photo needs some work to bring out its full potential. Now I have an old version of Photoshop, that I never use to edit my pictures, mainly because it’s “too” much for a complete layman like me and all the features I need, I can get for free from paint.net.

If it’s just a bit of fun editing I am after, I prefer to use Picnik.

Picnik is awesome and in a way it can be considered one of the pioneers in easy photo editing. It has all the fun features that we now take for granted in our photo editing Apps on the iPhone or Android or whatever smartphone you’re using and it gives great results instantly. Well that era will now come to an end as Picnik is moving its photo editing tools to Google+ in April. Until then they give you the Premium features for free – as a parting gift.

I’m not too fond of Google+. Mainly because there is not a whole lot going on over there (which is an entirely separate post) but now they have Picnik, minus some awesome features. The photo editing tool is now to be found under Creative Kit but I am less than impressed. Picnik, sorry Creative Kit on Google+ has some of Picnik’s features but it lacks features and it is certainly not fun and easy to use – I would even go as far as calling the user experience painful.

There may come a time where using this becomes easier – or I get used to the new look and feel but I guess I will just have to look for another online image editor like Splashup, Pixenate or… neither of which is as easy and fun to use as Picnik.

What photo editors are you using?

So long Picnik (I’ll see you on the dark side) and thanks for all the fish.

Baked Beans {#Project 365 - Day 23}

2012-01-23T22:07:00.001+01:00

(taken with my Panasonic DMC-TZ8, uploaded via Windows Live Writer)

More than half a decade in Ireland left traces in my life and tasty baked beans are hard to come by in Germany. So whenever I can get my hands on some Heinz Baked Beans, I just have to by a couple of cans. This is today’s loot. So next Saturday it’s Beans & Toast and Toast & Beans on Sunday! Yay

It's all fun and games till someone cries

2012-01-23T12:02:00.001+01:00

Initially, this was supposed to be a post about complaints but one of my New Year’s resolutions was not to complain so much anymore, which is the reason that this topic will have to stay on the backburner while I will share with you my love for my job.

So far this year I’m really enjoying my work. That was different just a couple of months ago for reasons I cannot disclose on here. After all, I don’t want to be dooced. However, the reason why I now enjoy going into the office every day is this: I love working in an international team – and my team? Is i n t e r n a t i o n a l .

Every morning, as I sit at my desk, sipping my coffee while reading through a seemingly insurmountable batch of emails, I am greeted by my teammates as they come into the office. The door opens and you’re greeted with a happy “Good morning” in at least six different languages. Languages including Bulgarian, Hindi, Hungarian, Slovak, Thai and German. How awesome is that? In my previous job I worked in an international team as well and that was without a doubt the best part of my work.

Working in an international team has taught me a lot about different cultures, politics and best of all, different foods. It has also filled my vocabulary with an irreplaceable repertoire of the best swear words. The French were especially resourceful inventing swear words and to this day, I have the ability to swear like a French hooker outside a dockside bar.

Just this morning I learned about five new swear words in Slovak when my co-worker threw his rental contract on his desk– which was about 20 pages of legal stuff. In German. None of it can be repeated here but I was in stitches. Best of all, the other day, my Hungarian colleague treated the entire team to some original Hungarian Goulash. It was awesome. The taste was heavenly and afterwards we were all so full and happy that a nap seemed the appropriate alternative over our return to work.

Now if only things could stay that way until I retire…

lego {#Project 365 - Day 22}

2012-01-22T21:18:00.001+01:00

I missed a couple of days of posting here as the in-laws were in town. The hubby and I took Friday off to spend more time with them. The weather was awful and sightseeing in town was a bad idea so we decided to just walk around in the mall. Good thing we did too because the heavy rain had turned into heavy snowfall and the roads were horrible.

Here’s a photo of the back wall of the LEGO store. You can buy LEGO pieces by the cup – in all the colors you can imagine. When I was a kid there were three colors. Red, blue and white LEGOs.

SOPA and PIPA

2012-01-18T20:52:00.001+01:00

You won’t find a better OR funnier explanation than on The Oatmeal.

For crying out loud: Do it for the kittens! Do it for L O V E!

End Piracy, not Liberty and sign the petition!

sun {#Project 365- Day 18}

2012-01-18T20:27:00.001+01:00

Is this the sun peaking out from behind the bushes on our way into work this morning?

(shot with my Panasonic DMC-TZ8 from behind the car window, uploaded with Windows Live Writer)

coffee table {#Project 365 - Day 17}

2012-01-17T21:19:00.001+01:00

Missed uploading a photo for #Project 365 yesterday. The weather was beautiful and it was sunny and freezing cold. There would have been plenty of things to photograph - everything seemed to be covered in sparkling frost. Alas I was in no mood of taking any pictures.

The hubby and I attended the funeral yesterday morning and it was overwhelmingly emotional. When you live in a small village, where relationships are closely knit, you expect many people paying their respect. Especially when the deceased was a well liked fellow citizen. What we came to see however, simply left us speechless. The road leading up to the church was lined with cars for about 1.5 miles. The church was crowded and people spilled out into the churchyard. So we were stood between hundreds of people, saying our last good-byes.

Sigh

As part of the photo project I will therefore upload pictures of coffee tables we were looking at over the weekend. Unfortunately, the one we liked best is simply too big for our couch. It is difficult to find a table that we like AND that goes with the rest of the furnishing in our living room.

(all photos shot with a Samsung Galaxy SII, uploaded via Windows Live Writer)

What to do? What to do? I think the search will continue.

flying cars {#Project 365 - Day 15}

2012-01-15T20:56:00.001+01:00

grief {#Project 365 - Day 14}

2012-01-14T20:51:00.000+01:00

Late last night we learned that our good friend and neighbor had passed away. He had only just turned 49. We still cannot wrap our heads around it.

He was a wonderful human being. Our hearts go out to his wife and two teenage kids.

happy anniversary {#Project 365–Day 13}

2012-01-13T22:45:00.001+01:00

Five years ago my sweetheart and I got married.

We received these two rubber duckies from a friend. I think they sat atop of a cake. Since then, these two lovebirds have been sitting on the edge of our bathtub. Whenever I look at them I remember our wedding day and I count myself blessed to be happily married to the one guy that is everything to me.

(taken with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ8, edited with Picnik, uploaded with Windows Live Writer)

Here’s to many more years.

Happy Anniversary - I love you!

take a closer look {#Project 365-Day 12}

2012-01-12T21:32:00.001+01:00

Sometimes it pays to take a closer look...

(shot with my Panasonic Lumix DMZ-TZ8, uploaded via Windows Live Writer)

winter {#Project 365-Day11}

2012-01-11T15:48:00.001+01:00

This post should have been titled “no winter”. It’s been so mild this year, that THIS is what’s happening in our garden right now. I took this about five minutes ago

(shot with my Nikon D40x, uploaded via Windows Live Writer)

Can you believe it? This time last year it looked like this:

200 miles South of here entire villages are buried under snow yet here? Nothing.

The Upside of this, at least we don’t have to shovel snow as much as we had to last winter.

sign language {#Project 365-Day10}

2012-01-10T22:05:00.001+01:00

I am having a hard time finding a photo to post every day. Mostly because it’s still dark when I leave the house and when I return, it is dark again and there’s only so many cat pictures I can expect my small but loyal following to endure.

I’d like to keep it current. My thinking was, that by the end of the year I will browse through this blog and look back at all the things that I encountered this year. However, given the choice of not posting a photo because I don’t have one from that very day or posting a photo that was taken a few weeks back, I’ll take the latter.

(taken with my Samsung Galaxy SII, uploaded via Windows Live Writer)

This photograph was taken at a beach in Co. Wexford, Ireland and it fascinated me. When I first saw it, it made me laugh. Beware of people walking on water? Or beware of rocks underneath the surface while walking on water…? I don’t know what they were trying to tell us (well we knew but they had an odd way of expressing this on a sign)

Last night I missed a bit of an opportunity for a great photo and story. The hubby told me three times but somehow I had blanked him. That’s what grocery shopping does to me.

We were in the supermarket to do our shopping for the week and we noticed that there were quite a few things that were not in stock. There was no cauliflower, no leeks, no mushrooms, no toast, no yogurt…and I remarked that even back in Eastern Germany there was more food to be had in a supermarket than was on display that evening. So yes, empty shelves aren’t anything you come across anymore in this day and age. Luckily.

The real nuisance were the men doing grocery shopping. (Seems that all the single men do their grocery shopping on Monday evenings) Men don’t seem to have a sense of self when in unfamiliar surroundings. They block entire aisles or shelves with their broad shoulders and deserted carts and if you know me, you know that I have no patience for any horsing around in the grocery store. It’s in, grabbing the stuff, paying for it and out. Preferably in under 15 minutes. Well that’s what I aim for anyway.

So there was plenty of opportunity for a photo shoot but I just wasn’t in the mood.

new design, old design {#Project 365 - Day 9}

2012-01-09T21:35:00.001+01:00

good bye christmas tree {#Project 365-Day8}

2012-01-08T19:59:00.001+01:00

It is tradition to take down your Christmas tree on January 6th. Since this is our first ever Christmas tree in our home, we cannot technically speak of a tradition. I had a hard time to let go because it was just so beautiful and so we had decided to leave it up for the remainder of the weekend.

This morning, while sitting in the dining room during breakfast, we enjoyed a long last look.

Seems like Lilly did too – from underneath the tree. Only yesterday she found out that the tree is the perfect hideout.

(shot with my Samsung Galaxy SII, uploaded via Windows Live Writer)

replacement {#Project365 - Day 7}

2012-01-07T19:37:00.001+01:00

In December 2005 I got this wonderful first generation 2GB Apple iPod Nano as a Christmas present from my parents.

It was a wonderful gift and I took it with me absolutely everywhere. I used it everyday on my 1 1/2 mile long walk into work and on my way back, on the bus into town or on the train. It’s been travelling countless times between Ireland and Germany and has been to the US at least three times and to Thailand twice. It’s been around…

The Nano has been in heavy use. The once bright and crystal clear display and casing are now so badly scratched that it is difficult to see anything.

Despite all those scratches my trusty iPod just kept on working and working and working and I never had the desire to exchange it for anything else. Even when the beloved iPhone came into the picture, I still listened to music on my iPod. Recently the battery life has dramatically decreased and the Nano spent most of its days in a drawer in my office.

Then, in November, I saw on Twitter that Apple had launched a replacement program for the first generation iPod Nano due to defective batteries in some iPods. Well, I was excited to see that my iPod qualified for a replacement. After all, I ♥ that little guy.

After a little wait this arrived in the mail today

(all photos shot with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ8, uploaded with Windows Live Writer)

A brand new 8GB sixth generation iPod Nano. W00t W00t.

Good bye my trusty, first ever Apple product and Hello 8 GB Nano and thank you Apple. I am sure that I will get a few more years of usage out of this fine piece of engineering.

raclette {#Project 365–Day 6}

2012-01-06T23:09:00.001+01:00

We were expecting guests for a small raclette “session”. Halfway through setting the table the hubby reminded me to take a photo for Project 365.

Initially this was supposed to be a blog post about Epiphany and the star singers but the latter never showed up. Probably too windy, rainy, snowy…who knows. So this may be a post for another year.

Anyway, we have enjoyed amazing company, great food and fine conversation along with a few beers and an episode of “Man Lab”. Now on with the weekend.

Hope everyone is going to have a good one!

love {#Project365–Day 5}

2012-01-05T21:14:00.001+01:00

There is a few storms pounding Northern Europe this week, trucks are being turned over as if made from paper mache, trees falling into power lines and it’s been raining as if there is no tomorrow.

I thought it would be better to work from home and i have not left the house all day, which is the reason why today’s photo is not a current one but one that I took with my smartphone on a recent trip to Ireland.

See, the hubby and I met and fell in love in Ireland and we got engaged in a typical Irish pub in the country side. The weekend that we got engaged was spent with sightseeing, building sandcastles and walks on the beach. On one of our walks my “fiancé” took a bird’s feather and wrote into the sand “I love Kat..” It was really cute. He took a picture of it and for the longest time (the lifespan of that laptop actually) said photograph served as the background on that computer.

On our last trip to the Emerald Isle in early December of last year, we went back to that very pub, in which the hubby had proposed to me back in 2006 but not before we had a nice walk on the beach. We were lucky, the sun was out and it was a beautiful, dry day. Just as beautiful as the one in 2006.

The hubby grabbed a bird’s feather, got down and wrote into the sand:

(shot with my Samsung Galaxy SII, uploaded using Windows Live Writer)

The photo of the finished writing now serves beautifully as a screensaver on my smart phone.

star wars {#Project365 - Day 4}

2012-01-04T22:12:00.001+01:00

To this day I had never seen Star Wars. Last year I promised my husband that I would watch it. ALL six episodes of it.

In turn he promised to massage my feet. We’re about halfway through the second movie or “episode V”. So far it’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

(shot with my Nikon D40x, uploaded using Windows Live Writer)

lough out loud funny {#Project365 - Day 3}

2012-01-03T21:41:00.001+01:00

This book is currently on my nightstand and the reason why I want to head straight for the bed the moment I get home.

When I'm finally tugged in, I grab the book and I am torn between wanting to stay up all night, reading it in one go and the urge to restrain myself and savor every moment spent with it. It is a truly wonderful book.

Not that I would agree with absolutely everything Caitlin has to say but it sure makes you think and above all, it makes you laugh out loud, which, makes it worthwhile in my book.

(shot with my Nikon D40x, uploaded using Windows Live Writer)

little pick me up

2012-01-03T13:37:00.000+01:00

If you're feeling stressed out or aggravated and you need an eensy weensy break, just hit the magic button - it will make everything ok. I promise.

The magic button — Make Everything OK

A colleague created it for his daughter when she was sick and wondering why there's no button to make everything ok. Gotta love kids.

On a side note. Just heard that there's a storm heading in our direction. This really must be mother nature's way of saying "Screw you and screw you too..". Sure Mother Nature breaks out the sun and spring-like temperatures while we are holed up in an office but as soon as we near the three day weekend, she blasts us with a storm. Grrr.

Well as long as the power doesn't go out, we have lovely plans for another Raclette and some movies. We'll see about that.

headless santa clause {#Project365 - Day 2}

2012-01-02T21:51:00.002+01:00

Yes little Santa, here you’re still smiling…

… but you never had a chance

(shot with my Nikon D40x, uploaded using Windows Live Writer)

happy new year!

2012-01-02T12:13:00.003+01:00

May 2012 bring health, love, peace and happiness to you and your loved ones.

Here at “Casa de Kat” we rang in the new year with friends, lots of vodka, laughter and watching a pretty decent fireworks display. I am not sure I’d like 2012 to be just like 2011 but should the new year continue the way the old one ended and the new year started, then I’m ok with it. Not happy but ok.

There’s lots of things I worry about. Constantly. I cannot help it. I am a worrier and how can you not be? When you’re looking at the current state of world affairs and you’re not worried, you’re either an imbecile or dumber than a box of rocks, in which case there’s no hope for mankind and we might as well just end it here. Though looking at the dunces in world politics one might say we’re on the edge. Kinda like “disasters in the mirror are closer than they appear”. I’m waiting for a catastrophe to strike. Japan is still being shocked by earthquakes, Thailand is trying to recover from being flooded for several months and this winter has been warmer than last year's spring - mother nature is clearly trying to tell us something but idiot nations think it is ok to jump the Kyoto Protocol like rats the sinking ship in order to follow their economic interests.

The North Koreans have a new leader that seems just as crazy or even crazier than the previous one. Iran and Syria - well let’s not even go there. The Eurozone is taking their last shallow breaths… but let’s not dwell on this either. Things are out of our hands and I don’t know whether to wish for a hard reset or not.

All dark thoughts aside though, I am expecting 2012 to good. There’s a few resolutions I made. Lose weight, spend more quality time with my hubby, explore Munich’s museums and stop complaining so much. Blogging on a regular basis does not feature on this list because it would mean that I would have to specify what exactly qualifies as “regular” because you know, once a year is regular too. They say the key to not giving up on your New Year’s resolutions is to set small goals. So instead of saying I want to be a size zero next year, say you want to lose 10 pounds by xy. So my goal is to blog at least twice a month. Even the most uninspired person could find a topic to blog about then.

Also not featuring on the list of resolutions is a loooong list of books but reading comes naturally and I’ll just keep on updating the “Books I’ve read in 2012” list in the Book Addict page on this blog.

Bring on the new year, be happy and enjoy the trip.

fireworks {#Project365 - Day 1}

2012-01-01T12:38:00.001+01:00

I've just been over at Patty's blog and saw that she's participating in the Project 365 photo challenge in 2012. Neat idea was my first thought and so I'll be partaking in this too and from the first day of the year I bring you a picture, fresh off my cell phone.

Just like Patty I carry my cell phone, a Samsung Galaxy SII, with me almost everywhere I go, meaning most photos will probably be shot with this. I also own a small digital camera and my trusted Nikon D40x.

If you are starting the Project 365 photo challenge on your blog kindly leave the link to your blog in the comments, I'd love to follow.

2011 - the year in retrospect

2011-12-30T09:02:00.011+01:00

Following last year's tradition I look back at the year.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
Bought my/our very first own Christmas tree (at age 35)

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn't make any resolutions but may make some for 2012. Most likely involving weight loss.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
The world's best roommate gave birth to a baby boy in Summer and hubby's best friend became father of a beautiful baby boy on hubby's birthday of all days.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No

5. What countries did you visit?
Egypt , Austria and Ireland

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you didn’t have in 2011?
More willpower.

7. What dates from 2011 will be etched upon your memory, and why?
June 25th, hilarious family reunion

8. What were your biggest achievements of this year?
Watch less TV and read more.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Holding back when I should have voiced my honest opinion.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Luckily nothing serious. A cold and a week ago I had twisted the knee that I injured badly a few years ago.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Gifts for family and friends. Personally for me? My new smartphone.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Hubby's behavior. He's simply the best and amazes me over and over again.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Nobody's I know on a personal level. However, I am appalled by politicians and idiots the world over.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Towards our mortgage, vacations, dining out or BBQs and books.

15. What did you get really excited about?
My new smartphone and returning to Dublin - my old love.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?

Lana del Rey - Video Games

Adele - Someone Like You

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
a) happier

b) same

c) same

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Spend more time with family and friends and I wish I had done more sightseeing and gone on more trips in my own country and my own city.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Complain. Germans love to complain. We've mastered it almost like an artform. I have nothing of importance to complain about. That much I have learned this year.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
This year there wasn't enough time to travel and see our families but we did spend Christmas with six of our closest friends. We had Raclette for Dinner and exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve and enjoyed a wonderful and fun evening.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011? That answer hasn't changed since last year. I am still in love with my husband. Apart from that I am also still in love with that same DSLR camera that I fell in love with last year.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
"Bauer sucht Frau". (Farmers looking for a wife). It's hilarious and one of my guilty pleasures. Especially love it while reading comments about it on Twitter. Same goes for "I am a celebrity, get me out of here"

23. What was the best book you read?
NAMA Mia! by Ross O'Carroll Kelly (or Paul Howard)
I also thought that I would enjoy Steve Jobs' bio a lot. I didn't. Even though I am a sucker for memoires and biographies, I was disappointed to find out that Steve really was the asshole I always thought he was.

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Tim Bendzko. A young German artist. Me likey the dude.

25. What did you want and get?
A new smartphone, time with family and friends, a two week vacation doing f*** all and a happy hubby whose new position allowed him to spend more time at home.

26. What did you want and not get?
The new iPhone. Eagerly expected, then disappointed when all that came out was the iPhone 4s. That's why got the Android Samsung Galaxy II and I could not be happier with it.

27. What was your favorite film of 2011?
Given that I haven't watched a lot of movies in 2011 I'd have to say "Paul". Simon Pegg is simply awesome.

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 35 and celebrated the occasion with the hubby and our closest friends with a neat little party on the day.

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Knowing that everyone was healthy and safe.

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2011?
Same shmame as last year's. Dark pants, V-neck sweaters and tunics

31. What kept you sane?
Knowing that in the end it doesn't really matter.

32. What political issue stirred you the most?
Political unrest and revolution in the Middle East, crisis in the Euro zone, the inability of a great nation's government to get their act together before lashing out at others. You know who I am talking about - I am not only looking at you Germany...

33. Who did you miss?
Everyone I didn't get a chance to see this year. My family and far-away friends.

34. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
NOTHING is more important than your health and it is ok not to sweat the small stuff. LIVE and ENJOY life to the fullest. You only have the ONE and nobody is going to live it for you. In the end nothing really matters because we are all going to die.

35. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Tim Bendzko - Nur noch kurz die Welt retten
Muss nur noch kurz die Welt retten, danach flieg ich zu dir. Noch 148 Mails checken wer weiß was mir dann noch passiert denn es passiert so viel Muss nur noch kurz die Welt retten und gleich danach bin ich wieder bei dir.

Now if you are looking back at your 2011 - please link back. I love reading those.

Sláinte from Ireland

2011-12-07T20:37:00.002+01:00

Mr. Snuggles

2011-10-30T23:08:00.001+01:00

Ooopsie Daisy

2011-10-27T12:02:00.003+02:00

Maybe I should have waited another day before returning to this blog. I could have celebrated the anniversary of my seven-month hiatus but whatever.

For those of you who remember me, I gave the old blog a tiny makeover. Then fooled around with my new Android Smartphone and accidently deleted all the pictures from most of the blogposts, which were saved on Picasa. Fuck you, stuff in the Cloud! I hate you.

Not to worry though. I still have all the deleted pictures on my harddrive at home but I will not bother going through 600+ posts and adding all the photos again. Besides, who reads through the archives anyway? So that's me. Back. With a bang (that only the village idiot manages to make).

It's good to be home!

mondays suck

2011-03-28T21:12:00.001+02:00

I wasn’t even in work for an hour when I was ready to go back home. The day had started out crappy already with a jetlagged husband that didn’t want to get up, nothing in the fridge that would pass as breakfast and a litter box filled with turds so big you’d think we gave shelter to a pair of Siberian tigers and not a pair of tame cats.

I was willing to give this day a chance but my hopes were thwarted when I came into the office, put my laptop into its docking station and then watched it do N O T H I N G. Fearing a lengthy call with the remote IT guys, during which I would have to tell them that yes, I did check that the power cord was plugged in and that no, since the computer won’t boot it was NOT possible for them to remote connect to my laptop, I went to grab a coffee from the machine and pressed hot chocolate.

Just what I need in an office the size of a medium kitchen with an average temperature of 80° F because it is harboring 8 geeks with at least 16 workstations that run around the clock.

Anyway, I’m home now, sitting on the couch, waiting for the new episodes of my favorite tv show to start and saying oooommmm, hoping for a better day tomorrow.

noms

2011-03-27T17:00:00.004+02:00

I finally have the hubby back. He returned from Seattle after a week long business trip. The last few months just flew by with me feeling a bit on the sidelines. The hubby's been to Turkey, Norway, England and the US already this year, while I, well I've been stuck at home. Okay so he was away on business and not for pleasure but I admit that I am just a l i t t l e bit jealous. However, he's not called 'world's best husband of the world' for nothing. A title he truly deserves because he's just awesome. He always thinks of me when he's away and that means he always brings something back. This time it was clothes and this:

He just knows what I was craving.

Cat man du

2011-03-27T07:53:00.001+02:00

What we do all day (and night)

how do you spend your fourth wedding anniversary?

2011-01-13T23:07:00.001+01:00

….why the same way you’ve spent your honeymoon. In different locations. That’s if you’re me/us.

When the hubby and I got married on this very day, four years ago, we had a great day. That is, until my newly acquired family wanted to head back early in the evening because wait for it…wait for it…my father in law…ahhh what the heck…I digress and this is really a story for another day.

Either way, the wedding was great. Wouldn’t have changed a thing except maybe the registrar looking up midway through her speech, asking us to swap seats. Apparently there are rules for where bride and groom may stand or be seated during the ceremony. I had no idea. Luckily we had asked beforehand if it were okay to wear our wedding bands on the other hand. Because in Germany it is tradition to wear your engagement ring on your left ring finger and once you are married, you put it on your right finger.

So the hubby and I swapped seats, right in the middle of the ceremony and while I hardly remember a word the lady was saying, two things will always remain etched in my memory. Firstly that the registrar continuously mispronounced my husbands middle name and that she asked us to swap seats…RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE EFFIN’ CEREMONY! Can you believe it?

The day after the wedding we headed off onto our honeymoon. Just not together. The hubby went back to Munich where he lived at that time. And I went back to Dublin, where we used to live and where I still lived at that time.

Don’t worry, I may sound sarcastic but I am really not and we thought our wedding was perfect. Like I said, if I were to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing, except maybe make sure I am sitting in the right seat this time. We also decided that it would be a good thing if we, now as newlyweds, lived in the same country – maybe even the same place! And much later that year, we even took time to finally go on our real honeymoon, to Thailand no less.

These past four years were awesome and there is not a day that goes by that I am not thinking about how blessed I am, to be sharing my life with my best friend, lover, confidant…you name it. To me he is all that and more. Even though we cannot spend this particular anniversary together, I am certain that we get to spend many more anniversaries together.

Happy Anniversary! I love you bhb!

one small step...

2011-01-06T23:51:00.002+01:00

When I'm not blogging from my iPhone (yes Rob, my iPhone not Android) it is most likely that future blog posts will be written here:

The office is making progress and I'm confident that we will be finished this summer. The framed black and white photographs were a gift from my lovely American evil twin Melisa.

—--- blogged from my iPhone

so long sucker

2011-01-05T21:01:00.002+01:00

No, I am not leaving for the hundredth time. After just three days of work in 2011 I am just saying good-bye to the first work week and hello to a four day weekend. Tomorrow is going to be a public holiday in some regions of Germany and we decided to make it a long weekend.

We're expecting international visitors. An Englishman living in Prague and a couple from the US, who are now living in Germany. I am soooo excited. We're going to go skiing, chill and do a little raclette. All of which I am really looking forward to.

The new year started out quite ok. Work was not too busy and we had only one 'boo boo' so far. We accidently left our bedroom window open, from 7am until we went to bed around midnight. When we were about to go to bed I gave praise to the hubby for airing the room before we laid down and he just gave me a blank stare.

I really only grew suspicious when I sat down and my bed was REALLY cold. So we had a little look at the thermometer and it read 30°F. Oooopsy. No wonder we were shivering because outside it was only 14°F and that window had been open for 17 hours. Brrrrr. We were lucky that we weren't robbed or that the pipes weren't freezing. The neighbors must have thought we haven't got it all together.

Anyway, hope the year started out way better for you.

weather, weather, weather

2011-01-04T19:36:00.001+01:00

... and then you're unsuspectingly munching on your breakfast toast and you look back up at the weather report on the Newschannel and you wonder since when is the weather report marked as a commercial? And since when does a stupid looking girl, dressed as a flight attendant, do the weather?

Is this a metereologist dressed as flight attendant or a flight attendant doing the weather? And then you catch yourself looking down at your plate, shaking your head and you are finding yourself too old to understand the logic behind this marketing gag. Well, enjoy the weather sponsored by Air Berlin. Or NOT. Whatever.

—--- blogged from my iPhone

2010 - the year in retrospect

2011-01-03T15:00:00.003+01:00

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
Gathered technical knowledge like a madwoman and furnished our home.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn’t have any but they may as well have been to get done with the house and not lose my mind over it.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not that I am aware of.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Hubby’s grandma, shortly after her birthday and our anniversary. Major sads.

5. What countries did you visit?
Portugal, Italy, Austria and Switzerland

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you didn’t have in 2010?
A vacation somewhere new to us.

7. What dates from 2010 will be etched upon your memory, and why?
January 20th , the funeral of hubby’s grandma, in the midst of all the renovation….it almost made our hearts break.
January 23rd, when we moved into our house in what had to be the most chaotic move in the history of moving.
August 12th, when I finally got to meet Melisa with one S and her awesome family face to face.
September 25th, an amazing birthday/housewarming party with almost all of our closest friends. Awesome!

8. What were your biggest achievements of this year?
Unexpectedly won recognition and an award for my good work, which made me cry like a baby when I was alone.
Tracked our personal finances.
Renovating and decorating our first (and hopefully last) home.

9. What was your biggest failure?
That I did not improve my fitness.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Luckily no.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A new bed for the hubby and I (but only because we purchased the house the previous year)

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My hubby and my parents, who worked like “mules” to fix up my house.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Some so-called friends. I will not go into details but suffice to say they are friends no longer.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Most of our spending went to our house, renovations, furniture and the likes. Ouch.

15. What did you get really excited about?
My (not so) evil American twin’s visit in August.
Re-connecting with my host family from my Au-Pair stay in 1996.

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
Probably anything by Lady Gaga (gag) can’t stand her (sorry Melisa).

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
Happier: Most definitely.
Thinner: but not by much.
Richer: Not at all but happier.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Exercise. Getting out of the house and doing things. Cooking instead of ordering takeout.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Watch TV.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With my in-laws and the entire family until Christmas day, then snowed in at my parent’s house. A great Christmas.

21. Did you fall in love in 2010?
I am still in love with my husband. Apart from that I fell in love with a new DSLR that I’m just going to “have to buy” the minute I got enough money saved up.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Surprisingly nothing. Most of the time the TV is just on for background noise.

23. What was the best book you read?
I love to read and have read quite a few books in 2010. As I tend to forget the bad ones, Iautomatically know that the ones I remember were worth the time. So I would have to say Things My Girlfriend and I have Argued About and Eating Animals

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?
That I still love the music of the early noughties - alternative rock. Played loud and hard!!!

25. What did you want and get?
Visits from great friends. Lots of home furnishing.

26. What did you want and not get?
A new iPhone, magic weight loss, a lottery win...

27. What was your favorite film of 2010?
As with books it is only the good movies that remain in my memory. Among them Kick-Ass (which came as a total surprise) and Inception.

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Turned 34 in 2010, and I can’t actually remember what I did on the day itself. I do however remember the great party the day after. BAM!

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A daily newspaper.

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2010?
Dark pants, V-neck sweaters and long necklaces

31. What kept you sane?
My husband, family and friends.

32. What political issue stirred you the most?
Our politician’s inability to lead a country instead of arguing among themselves and NOT getting ANYTHING done in the process.

33. Who did you miss?
My family and far-away friends.

34. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.
Accept that life is not always a picnic or as we say in Germany Das Leben ist kein Ponyhof.

35. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Our house in the middle of the street by Madness

What a weekend

2011-01-02T21:56:00.001+01:00

We watched a ridiculous amount of movies , slept in aaaaand enjoyed the new year. I wish the year would continue like this. Calm, entertaining and fun.

—--- blogged from my iPhone

Hello

2011-01-01T22:47:00.001+01:00

Hello world,

I'm still alive. Happy New Year. Here's to hoping that 2011 starts better than the past year.

Love xoxo
Kat

—--- blogged from my iPhone

Halloween

2010-10-24T20:31:00.001+02:00

In preparation for Halloween, the hubby and I talked about getting a pumpkin for carving. Whereas I would’ve gotten a pumpkin the size of a basketball, the hubby went for this:

Apparently Texas isn’t the only state where things are bigger….

Look at that beautiful lopsided grin…

The hubby gets to work….

Finished. We then put it out on the doorstep. Not an hour later we had the neighbors call in for a visit after they saw our pumpkin. They loved it.

Now all we need to do is stock up on sweets and look forward to next weeks trick or treating.

Happy Halloween!!!!

that’s why i hate tuesdays – part II

2010-09-07T21:13:00.001+02:00

Remember my rant on how I don’t like Tuesdays about a week ago? Well Karma is a bitch.

What happens when you’re done grocery shopping, which most of you know I hate with a passion? Of course, you load the groceries into your car and you drive home.

That’s what is supposed to happen. Unfortunately that’s not what happened to me. Instead you turn the key in the ignition and your car pretends to start but then doesn’t and then it starts to rain and you didn’t bring a coat and you’re a wee bit cold and your cell’s battery is almost dead and you don’t have a single cent of cash on you. And the last call you’re able to make is to your husband, who, being stuck in a meeting, rushes to your aid. And at least he has a charged cell phone and calls the ADAC, which is the German version of the AAA.

And he patiently waits with you for the mechanic to arrive and the two of you watch the ADAC guy check every little thing he can think of, yet your car won’t budge. And then you wait some more for the tow truck and you sit there in the rain, staring through the windshield, watching your car being towed.

One minute it was running fine and the next it…oh well.

Bye, bye Schnuck…I really hope it’s nothing serious and you’re back home soon.

stop and smell the roses

2010-09-05T23:01:00.001+02:00

My parents came to visit us and brought along my grandma, who had never been to see our house. Not only did they help us with several home improvement projects, there was also enough time for extended family meals and a visit to Dachau’s lovely city center and Schloss.

Before we headed there we had to have a typical Bavarian meal in authentic surroundings. A few year’s ago, when my Dad was working in Munich, he and his colleagues would regularly head to this restaurant and they quickly crowned this their favorite.

Next week’s lunch menu was already displayed outside…yummy

This is what my mom and I had

…yeah…bye bye diet.

My Dad had a huge Schweinshaxn

which clearly made him happy. Would you look at that smile on his face?

Grandma enjoyed her Krustenbraten but couldn’t even eat half of it. The portions were ridiculously big.

We then headed to Dachau. The weather was amazing and so was the look over Dachau’s old city center with Munich’s “skyline” in the distance.

We strolled through the beautiful little park that belongs to Dachau’s Schloss

It was definitely a day to stop and smell the roses

Sigh. They were gorgeous.

I didn’t want this weekend to end – ever. Alas, all good things must come to an end. We’ll always have the memories and the pictures.

what a day

2010-09-02T21:04:00.001+02:00

Holy cow, what a day this was. I am not going to go in to great detail but I knew this day was going to suck when I opened a bottle of milk to pour some into my coffee this morning and dropped the bottle. And for maximum impact, just for the off chance that the bottle wouldn’t break, I dropped it when I had not yet put the lid back on.

Yeah so my day did not suck as bad as this golfer’s day. The guy chipped a rock on a Golf Course in Irvine, California, that is said to have sparked a fire and the blaze burnt over 25 acres of land.

Here’s to hoping the weekend will roll around soon.

tuesday, worst day of the week

2010-08-31T22:24:00.001+02:00

What’s the worst day of the week for you?

For me it is Tuesday. On Mondays I’m reasonably relaxed and have gotten over the awkward Sunday feeling (that’s when you know you can’t avoid going back to work tomorrow unless your house is hit by an asteroid but then again that wouldn’t be a fun reason to stay home either but I digress). Wednesday is Hump Day, a reason to celebrate and Thursdays? Well, Thursdays are great because really, it’s only another night and a working day before the weekend. Need I even mention Friday? Fridays simply knock your socks off. Tuesdays however - are strange. Relaxation has worn off and the weekend is far, far away.

So with it being a Tuesday and all, I needed a little pick me up and I received it, just in time, by email. I have no idea where it originated, apparently this thing is all over the web but I hadn’t seen it yet.

Gosh I laughed so hard….it’s simply hilarious. Enjoy, if you haven’t already.

not too long ago in England…

2010-08-26T18:34:00.001+02:00

…a woman was caught on CCTV throwing a cat in a trash can or the wheelie bin, as the Britons call it .

Grrrrrrrr

Now she’s receiving death threats (not from me, mind you) and is currently even protected by the police.

While I think threatening her demise is “a bit” overboard, I am in full support of subjecting her to this:

*SNORT*, ROFL, Gröööööl

go nanie, it's your birthday - we gonna party like...

2010-08-25T16:19:00.002+02:00

Mr. Kat turned 33 today. Happy Birthday to the best husband anyone could hope for. A husband who happens to also be my best friend and soul mate. I love you Nanie, with all my heart too.

Even though I will forever be 11 months older than the hubby, it gives me enormous satisfaction that for the next 31 days he will be the same age as I. See, the hubby loves to poke fun at me and my “old age” and when we are talking about growing old together he cannot resist but saying how I am “old” already. Haha…the joke’s on you now honey. Ok, ok we’re really only 11 months apart but one takes every little chance to make life as fun as it gets.

The reason I share this on my blog? The hubby hates his birthday. Doesn’t hate it as much as he HATES it, with a capital H. And because he’s away on business this week, I wanted to let him know that he rocks and that I am happy that 33 years ago on this day, he came into this world - on the other side of the iron curtain. Had anyone told him that he would meet his East German wife, in Ireland no less, he would’ve flipped him (or her) the bird. But I guess life has plenty of surprises in store for all of us and I cannot express just how blessed I feel that this fate, of one day meeting this West German boy on an Island with more sheep than human beings on it, was bestowed upon me.

I truly want to grow old with you – literally.

Happy Birthday
xoxo

the mojo - it may return

2010-08-24T11:07:00.003+02:00

Hello world. Remember me? I have been missing for what seems an eternity. The reason? I had lost my mojo. I blame stress in the workplace and working on our house to get the guest bedrooms done before my awesome American twin Melisa and her lovely family got here.

What a great week that was and talk about a boost in morale. I will eventually write a post on their visit but until I do (knowing me, I wouldn't hold my breath), head on over to Melisa's blog, if you haven't already, and read about her (their) adventure(s) in Germany.

Melisa is every bit as fun(ny) and beautiful as she appears on her blog and her husband and their two boys are just as adorable. When we met for the first time, face to face, in the airport, it was like welcoming a good friend that I haven't seen in a while. There was no awkward silence or anything...we jumped right in where we never left off...Hehe.

Words cannot do these four justice and when the time came for this lovely family to return home, they sure as hell left two very sad faces behind. From here on in this Thursday shall be known as "Black Thursday". Ok, ok...this may be a bit melodramatic but it was REALLY sad to see them go. So come back soon!!!

It was fun to see Germany, and Bavaria in particular, through their eyes and in the process the hubby and I learned to appreciate a few things we had taken for granted to date. Either way. Melisa's enthusiasm and energy has prompted me to take up blogging again. So I'll be here and I can't wait.

The Wedding Cake Top - Oh So Yummy

2010-08-17T11:51:00.001+02:00

twitteridoo

2010-06-25T12:37:00.001+02:00

blood in your shoe. Well not really.

The other day I was thinking how long I have been on twitter and how, unlike most of the people I follow, I don’t tweet very much.

I have been tweeting since December 11th 2007. That’s 2 years, 6 months, 2 weeks, 6 days and 19 hours to be exact. How do I know? Well, I checked my account’s vitals with Tweepstats and so can you plus anybody else’s really.

Although Tweepstats has tons of fun statistics, it doesn’t tell you what your first ever tweet was. Luckily My First Tweet does. Only drawback, it does not show people’s first tweet who have more than 3200 updates. Blabbermouths :)

Even more fun is New Born Tweets. Sign in and it gives you your Newborn Tweet Sign. Mine is Sagittarius. It also told me that my first tweet is 594 days older and 45 characters shorter than the average newborn tweet.

My first tweet doesn’t say much about me. Who’d have thought that one day, I’d want to go back to see what my first tweet was. Had I had any faith in Twitter, I would have written something more meaningful. Apparently I had a ton of emails to read that December morning so I suppose I may have been in work. Or not. I don’t know. I do not remember anything about the day I joined Twitter, let alone why I did it. Now I tweet in German and English, and I am not following a lot of people. In return, not a whole lot of people are following me and even among my few followers there are quite a few bots or marketing dudes/dudettes.

I use Twitter to amuse myself, mainly by reading tweets for their informational value. It’s faster than most news sites.

Occasionally I enjoy watching a TV show and tweeting about it with like-minded Twitterers. Like Germany’s Next Topmodel #GNTM, Unser Star für Oslo #USFO, Eurovision Song Contest #ESC or the worldcup #worldcup #ger.

Twitter is fun. Writing with 140 characters is fun. Bitching on Twitter is more fun but that’s really it. I don’t live to tweet or tweet to live and I want it to stay that way.

beware of the cat content

2010-06-17T13:33:00.004+02:00

You all know of my love for cats and for those of you who don't or those who forgot, let me remind you.

I love, love, love cats. Yes, I am aware that there is a very thin line between a woman who loves cats and a crazy cat lady, it is called "my husband".

Tonight, I think I may have to cry myself to sleep over this. Well not really, but OMG how hard can life as a cat be?

Bookworm

2010-06-06T12:49:00.001+02:00

After finishing this pile of books in early May

I was happy to receive fresh supplies yesterday.

I must say that from the May pile I especially loved Hummeldumm, a truly hilarious book by German author Tommy Jaud, which I have read in less than two days and Mil Millington’s “Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About.” What a laugh. Both books were hilarious and just the right thing and “pick-me-up” during the dreary, rainy May.

In June I am particularly looking forward to “Du sollst nicht lügen” in which the author has given up lying for lent. Also cannot wait for Jen Lancaster’s “Pretty in Plaid”. Her books are very entertaining. I hear great things about “The Emperor’s Children” so let’s hope it doesn’t disappoint.

What are you reading at the moment?

Show me the money

2010-05-21T17:34:00.000+02:00

There is nothing like receiving a check for $0.28 in a letter that cost $0.98 to mail.

When I go to my bank to cash it and exchange it into Euro (cents), I will have to pay them more in transaction fees etc. than the letter, stamp, check and the paper it is printed on, is worth.

Too bad. I might have been rich.

—--- blogged from my iPhone

where the f* is f*ing?

2010-04-07T11:18:00.001+02:00

It is not every day that I’m being greeted with a friendly What the F***? in my favorite online news mag. The hubby is an avid reader too and actually sent me the article because he thought this might be blog worthy and it totally is.

I am certain that almost everyone in Europe has heard of the Austrian town of Fucking.

Those of you who have been following the drivel on this here blog may remember Fucking from the post I did on weird town names. Well Fucking was definitely mentioned there. How could it not?

Now Fucking and its whopping population of 93 are in the news. They have gotten used to the jokes about their town’s name. For more than 1000 years, yes that is one thousand, the parish carried that name and nobody thought it was funny. Probably because in the German language the word fucking did not have a real meaning. The town’s name is most likely dating back to a nobleman called Focko. But who knows really?

Anyway English speakers are getting a kick out of the town’s name and I bet that Fucking’s town sign is among the most photographed in Europe (according to Wikipedia it is also stolen quite often, which at $400 per sign is also quite expensive for the town) Three years ago the department for trademarks and design patent in the European Union decided to grant the name “Fucking Hell” for a beer brand to a German Marketing Agency. But because a brand name may neither be offending nor blasphemous, the decision was a tough one. In the end the EU decided to grant permission despite or because of the ambiguous meaning of “Fucking Hell”.

The Germans simply claim that it is not a blasphemous swear. Their argument being truly genius. Because the beer is being brewed in Fucking and Hell (as in helles Bier) which means a light colored (as opposed to amber colored or any other shade) or Lager beer in German, the beer is called “Fucking Hell”. A Lager brewed in Fucking.

You have got to love the way they were thinking. I wish them all the luck selling their beer. I would have one.

[Photo via kjd on Flickr]

celeb rage

2010-03-23T20:39:00.001+01:00

A couple of minutes ago I saw a show and Naomi Campbell came up. Now I know, I know…I have formed an opinion about someone I don’t know the first thing about and that I have never met in person. Nevertheless this person stirrs something in me and I will just come out and say it. After all it’s a feeling and my personal opinion so I am entitled to it.

I CANNOT stand her.Naomi I mean. Can’t even stand the sight of her. Looking at her photos makes my blood boil. Now I have no idea how that came to pass, it’s simply a feeling. I can’t help it. Either way it prompted me to tweet this: *

What is it that makes me have such a strong reaction that I would even contemplate hurling my old cell phone at her???

The list of people that, given the chance, I would hurl a cell phone at is pretty long. It prominently features politicians and people that are one sandwich short of a picnic.

What celeb is on top of your list?

* Yes I do realize that in my rage I forgot the word “to” between ‘want’ and ‘throw’. That’s how mad I get :)

Forum and Comment Trolls

2010-03-22T21:33:00.002+01:00

My dear friend Melisa made me aware of a tweet by Liz from This Full House. Liz has received two utterly stupid comments and decided to create a Comment Troll Award*.

*Update: I just received word from Liz herself to use this beauty and pass it on. Thank you Liz for designing this beauty!

Now I haven’t gotten any really nasty comments on my blog but like most of you I have received spam comments. Ramblings that promoted products, plugged other blogs, sex or like these, simply didn’t make any sense of all.

The latter are especially annoying because they don’t make ANY sense WHATSOEVER.

These three comments are currently still visible and were written in response to last night’s Wikipedia Vulva post.

Comment 1

I am very happy to learn that my article has helped you [sic!] altogehter in your college assignment. Hats afar?… What are you studying to become an OB/GYN?

Comment 2

Well again, I am glad I could be of help fill you on or in and this fill in on, you know?

Comment 3

I easily love my own writing choice and I’d like to think it is very unique. After all I speak/write in broken English/German and though I have pondered giving up, your encouraging comment makes me go on. I am hoping my ramblings are worth being followed and I too wish you a good day.

WTF?

Why would I post comments like this to a blog over and over again. It’s not the first nor will it be the last time that these same comments were posted in response to some of my blog posts. I just don’t get it. If you’re spamming me then at least advertise something dick enhancing feature or whatnot but these stupid ramblings, well they simply DON’T MAKE ANY SENSE at all so if you have nothing to say, don’t say anything at all.

wooha about a hoo-ha (may not be safe for work)

2010-03-21T18:25:00.001+01:00

Most of us have seen one or even possess one. Either way, it’s nothing shocking. Well at least not in the this part of the country/world. You would assume that most of us know about the birds and the bees and that we ladies have, well lady bits.

You know how Wikipedia has that daily featured article? Well today’s featured article on Wikipedia’s German site was “Vulva”. I doubt that the article itself would have caught a whole lot of attention because let’s be honest, when you go onto Wikipedia, you’re searching for something. And if you’re anything like me, you pay little to no attention to the featured articles that are mostly as interesting as, well as an enema or a feature about the life of Prince Henry von Battenberg.

The outrage was because of a photo in the article – featuring, you guessed it, a vulva. Now you could argue that it is inappropriate, shouldn’t be shown in the feature or not be shown at all but come on. This is not some pornographic article. There’s nothing wrong with it and I don’t see what the big deal is here. Granted, if I had a say in it, I would’ve just chosen another article and ended this discussion but I don’t and it is as it is.

Do you find it offensive or not? Discuss.

the world really is small in the blogosphere

2010-03-19T19:53:00.001+01:00

A lot has been happening lately. That’s where the Hase im Pfeffer liegt because if nothing happens, you’re asking yourself what to blog about? If finally something does happen, you’re too busy with whatever is going on that you forget to blog about it.

Only later you realize that a lot of things are actually happening all the time. I wonder how some of my favorite bloggers are able to churn out one great blog post after the other and I keep on asking myself what am I doing wrong?

Then I realize that I’m not doing anything wrong. I write when I have the time or the mood strikes me and if I have a dry spell, I continue to read or lurk on my favorite blogs.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I ♥ the blogosphere.

Take today for example. I was working from home and when I was finished I tuned into the Suburban WoW livestream. If you don’t know it, it’s an interactive chat show, sort of a live webcast with chat, from my not-so-evil American twin Melisa with one S and WeaselMomma. These two girls are great plus you get to chat with the other cool kids like NYCGirl0501 from NYC Girl at Heart or Tara_R from If Mom Says OK.

Sometimes I feel like I don’t really belong anywhere in the blogosphere. I have no kids, so I am not a mommy blogger and I don’t want to blog about tech stuff because tech stuff, well it’s what I do in work. I will never be able to write beautifully or with great wit because I am not a native English speaker and I simply lack the vocabulary (as well as the wit) to start with. I tried blogging in German but feel like a fish out of the water there too and when I try to think up a blog post, what comes to me is English. Weird.

Now apart from a few kids on my blogroll, that come from England, Scotland or Australia, most of my bloggy friends seem to live in the United States. Some of them have met face to face and share a special bond through, lets say an interactive chat show, driving a van full of meat across the country or donating blood while wearing a tiara etc. I feel left out. Boo hoo. But fingers crossed all of this is hopefully about to change this year and if the hubby and I are really, really lucky, we too will meet a wonderful blogger face to face. We’re thrilled and are hoping that everything works out.

Have a happy weekend everyone.

The heating OMG the heating

2010-03-15T22:48:00.001+01:00

well it is working again and never before have I appreciated it more. Temperatures are still around 30°F outside and it has been snowing heavily again. Just when we wanted to cozy up on the couch last night, we noticed that it was unusually chilli in the living room.

So down we went to the basement to check on the heater and it was off. OFF. Just like that. Simply OFF when it is f****ng freezing outside. The fancy heap of metal just sat there and laughed at us and its evil display demanded maintenance, which, sadly it being a Sunday night, we were unable to provide.

So we went to work un-showered, cold and pissed off this morning and if there’s something I hate, it’s having to wash myself at the sink with freezing cold water. Thank God at least the bathroom was warm because the floor heating is electrical. I just wanted to roll on it or go back to bed to hide under my duvet.

Luckily the hubby is very, very flexible and stayed home organizing a plumber to come over and do the necessary maintenance work to get the heating working again.

Sitting in a warm room is truly a blessing that I can now fully appreciate.

Sun

2010-03-12T19:25:00.001+01:00

As long as we wake up to this (from this morning)

this

is all they are doing.

I wish I had the patience and time to stare out the window all day...

—--- blogged from my iPhone

George is in West Virginia

2010-03-10T14:23:00.001+01:00

and I know most of you are now wondering who the hell George is and why you should care?

Last year I went to Seattle on business and I was handed a dollar bill for change and it was marked www.wheresgeorge.com. Well I had read about the website and thought it was a neat idea. To spend the dollar and see where it would end up. The German’s just aren’t cool like that. Even though your chances would now be pretty good that your Euro would end up somewhere else than in Germany, in another country also belonging to the Euro Zone, I doubt anyone would care. Plus the smallest bill is a five Euro bill. I wish we had 1 Euro bills. I hate change and bulging wallets (unless it was a wad of 100’s LOL) But whatever.

So I received the Dollar, went online to see where it had started from and it came from Blair, Nebraska. Cool. I knew I would continue on to Connecticut and took it all the way from Seattle, Washington to North Granby, Connecticut. Too bad I forgot to register it there straight away but did so in September. Anyway, just last weekend I received an email that George has been found and is now hanging out in Bud, West Virginia. Way to go George.

Here’s a photo of “my George” as I call him ever so lovingly:

Wikipedia states that:

A hit is when a registered bill is re-entered into the database after its initial entry. Where's George? does not have specific goals other than tracking currency movements, but many users like to collect interesting patterns of hits, called bingos. The most common bingo involves getting at least one hit in all 50 states (called "50 State Bingo"). Another bingo, called FRB Bingo, is when a user gets hits on bills from all 12 Federal Reserve Banks.^[6]

Most bills do not receive any responses, or hits, but many bills receive two or more hits. The average hit rate is slightly over 11.1%. Double- and triple-hitters are common, and bills with 4 or 5 hits are not unheard of. Almost daily, a bill receives its 6th hit. The site record is held by a $1 bill with 15 entries.^[7]

I doubt that “my” George is gonna make the “50 State Bingo” but should you see him, please register him and send greetings across the pond :)

Click here for George’s URL.

early easter bunny

2010-02-25T15:44:00.001+01:00

So the other day my lovely American twin sis Melisa with one s uploaded a picture of Cadbury Creme Eggs. It was funny to see how those were able to to divide the blogosphere into those who love Cadbury's über-sweet chocolate eggs and those who wouldn't go near one if it was the last edible thing on this planet.

I happen to love them. What? Sue me.
Unfortunately or luckily(for my out of shape body) Cadbury has not yet conquered the German chocolate market and I guess they never will because one thing the mainland Europeans are great at is making chocolate. I am not particularly fond of any of the other products in Cadbury’s product range and believe me, I tried almost all of them. Anyway, the English are great at making Cream Eggs. So there you have it (before I digress even more).

Well I saw Melisa’s photo and remembered the super sweet taste of the eggs from my stint in Ireland and I commented on her picture via Twitter.

The wonderful Melisa just so happened to make a run to the post office and because I'm a slow-ass replier, she even went back home (imagine that!!!) to verify my new address before sending the surprise on its way.

Now wonderful Melisa wouldn't be the awesomest (yes I realize this is not a word but it is now) ~~chick in town~~ cross-pond-twin if she didn't put in some other things too. I mean of course she would still rock as much... you know what I mean. Just see for yourself.

That was like Christmas and Easter at the same time – well for me anyway, because sis is Jewish and I don’t know what Jewish holidays would best be used to express that feeling. Hannukah and Passover? Which in turn makes me remember something I found here this morning…see for yourself

Idiotic yet a little bit funny. The things people come up with…tststs

Well I digress. Again.

What I really wanted to say is: THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH awesomest sis anyone could ask for. That was a wonderful surprise. Can’t wait till August ;o)

what’s wrong with this picture?

2010-02-24T19:18:00.000+01:00

Ok well not exactly with this picture but the following story. I don’t know exactly how many times I have written about it, here or elsewhere but again I am ticked off.

Reading the online newspaper – the one that I also used to enjoy reading offline- I came across an article by a journalist that really struck me as pathetic. Now don’t get me wrong…I get worked up over a lot of things but the moment I close the paper or turn off the computer, it is forgotten.

Only this time this oh so selfless experiment by this journalist/dude, pissed me off. Granted he was writing about the hype around “Chatroulette” and if you ask me, “Chatroulette” is silly but hey, who am I to judge? Really, whatever floats people’s boats…

Anyway this so called journalist writes about how anxious he was while he typed chatroulette.com, not knowing what would expect him before he continues to enlighten us with the fact that he is a “social offliner”. That he doesn’t particularly enjoy chatting online, doesn’t need to use 140 characters to express himself on Twitter and how unnecessary constantly updating his status on Facebook is. Judging by his name he’s in his twenties or thirties but I could be wrong. I have to say if you’re a journalist, who doesn’t know shit about web 2.0 and you couldn’t care less about it, then shut the hell up and get on with your “real life”.

A lot of people actually enjoy blogging, Twitter, Facebook and Chatroulette. It’s a hobby like any other. You’re socializing online but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have friends in the offline world. And to slash someone for displaying exhibitionism to a certain extend online, you may as well go into a club on a Saturday night and do the same with the scantily-clad masses, expressing themselves while dancing.

If you’re calling yourself “social offliner”, you’re not entitled to have your say about what does and doesn’t fly in the online world. You can say that it is not for you but don’t get all judgemental and act all high and mighty. Dipstick.

P.S. Dear ……. Online Paper,

If you insist on paying someone to write about things they don’t know anything about, think again next time. You wouldn’t want to be treated by a doctor’s assistant the next time you’re in need of urgent medical attention now, would you?

I know for a fact that you employ competent people, with actual IT/computer/online knowledge. Why not let them write about online stuff they actually know about like they have a hundred times before?

Just a thought.

Yours truly

overtime

2010-02-23T21:27:00.001+01:00

How come I already worked more than half of my hours this week and it is only Tuesday? If I keep this pace up I’ll be burned out by the time Saturday rolls around. Yawn.

Which reminds me of something I saw on television today. Something that I got really worked up over. They followed three families. Two of them had a Dad who was the sole provider. One of the three families, consisting of a Mom, Dad and two kids, lived on wellfare and neither of the adults was working. They said they’re also not looking for a job because then they would be out of the house, would have to work hard would end up coming home with only $70 more than what they had now that the state provides for them.

The other two families in which the Dads were working, were just as poor as the people who lived on wellfare. How horrible is that? At least they wanted to earn their own money and not depend on others to provide for them. The world is really unfair. On the one side you have a family that wants to work and who does. On the other side you have lazy bums who don’t want to lift a finger and both get the same amount of money…. Upsetting.

When I heard that I realized have no right to complain about having to working much because even though there are days, weeks and months when things are a bit crazy, I am lucky to have a job at all and not everyone is that lucky…

the cat is out…

2010-02-20T11:45:00.001+01:00

…of the ~~bag~~ house.

After a horrible four weeks of having to stay inside to get used to the new ~~construction site~~ house, we finally opened the door to the porch so the cats could take their first real sniff at freedom.

Lilly couldn’t really believe her luck. She stormed to the door, went through, walked around and ran back in. Maunzerl was a bit confused at first but definitely curious.

Lilly’s second attempt involved snow and resulted in an immediate return to the safety of our living room. In her third attempt she made it all the way to the garage by walking alongside the house where the snow was already melted as Maunzerl was looking on, not quite daring to follow her yet. We have happy cats now.

The sweet smell of freedom

Making sure I can safely retreat

walking alongside the house where there’s no more snow

Maunzerl is enjoying the view of Lilly’s backside from a safe distance

then gets more curious – but that’s about it

Both cats are now at home and are peacefully sleeping in their usual spots.

staying alive

2010-02-18T20:55:00.001+01:00

Hubby and I were watching a TV program last night. One of the topics was what you should do in case someone goes into cardiac arrest.

They had 30 dummies in the TV studio and people from the audience were supposed to reanimate them. Not a whole lot of people knew what to do and so they had a doctor later on explaining how it is properly done.

Among the things he said was that you should do a cardiac massage at a speed equaling 100 beats per minute. The host of the show then asked how you're supposed to know how fast that is, the doctor had this tip. Sing the Bee Gee’s song ‘Stayin' Alive’ in your head. It has the perfect rhythm. 'Stayin' Alive' .... let that sink in.

It’s a serious topic but that just made us laugh out loud

how to cook a cat

2010-02-17T23:40:00.002+01:00

For those among you who know me, you will also know that I love our two cats with a passion.

Every evening I tell the hubby that I love our cats so much that I want to eat them up. Of course I don’t really want to eat them. I’m just saying they’re so sweet that I would. (Ok there may have been situations where I have taken a bite into one and then the other cat but I have never taken a bite out of either of them)

Anyway, that’s also when I come up with recipes like cat casserole or roast haunch of cat with rosemary and root vegetables or fried cat head with potatoes….After a few of these the hubby tells me to stop. Not just that. He also threatens to take me to a restaurant that has cat on the menu, the next time we’re in Asia. Long live the stereotypes. But that’s not what this post is about.

This post is about the Italian TV chef, who told viewers that cat is delicious. Holy cow. On TELEVISION. I’m speechless. The hubby sent me the link to the article and he wasn’t joking.

Now I don’t know what to think…I just knew they’d be delicious, I didn’t need encouragement.

Who wouldn’t want to take a bite out of that? (If you could find the beginning and the end) Ok, ok I realize that the answer is probably no one apart from myself - but still.

you know who else can suck it?

2010-02-15T18:29:00.001+01:00

Our phone provider. Ever since we moved house, we have had nothing but trouble.

Judging by our recent experience, moving and taking your old number with you (in the same community I might add) is rocket science. But first things first.

The hubby, God bless him, contacted our phone provider well in advance to let them know that we will be moving and that we would like to take our current phone number with us. Shouldn’t be a problem, right? So we were told.

One week later we receive a confirmation letter that yes, we can take our old number with us and yes we can keep the fast DSL.

STOP right there. We can keep the fast DSL? Really? Because the hubby called the helpline three times before and spoke to three different call center agents to hear the same statement over and over again – you CANNOT get the fast DSL but you can get DSL lite.

Yes it’s come to this. In order to get a valid answer you gotta call at least three times because you’re guaranteed a different answer almost every time. With that you can kinda guess that if two out of three agents said the same thing…it might actually be true….

Good lord. DSL lite – for two geeks like the hubby and me this is living hell – but we didn’t care because our contract with said phone provider would only last another three months anyway and we would then be free to choose a new provider, One that could give us a faster broadband connection here in the boonies.

Also, in the same confirmation letter the provider was “happy” to confirm that our address and phone number would be made public for the world to see. Something the hubby had repeatedly said we did NOT wish. In vain.

So we called the provider. They said they’d send out a new confirmation with the corrected data and take our name, address and number out of the phonebook, on-and offline. Noting happened. NOTHING.

We moved and several calls later our phonebook entry was deleted – after being visible online for at least two weeks.

Then a technician came, pretended to work, stuck the plug into the socket and a mere € 50,- later we had a phone line again. Yes we could’ve plugged the phone in ourselves but somehow the provider needs to justify a poor technician’s job. He’s only trying to earn money to feed his family.

After repeated calls from the phone company to our landline during day time, when the hubs and I are both at work, we tried to call them back and spent 40-50 minutes on hold three days in a row only to be told “We’re sorry but our call centers close at 6pm. Please try again tomorrow”. WTF? First you stalk us, then you don’t leave a message and when we try to call back you don’t take our calls? Great customer service too…

Then today came around and almost sent hubby over the edge when he was advised that due to the move we had a new contract with our favorite phone company and that we could no longer get out of the contract in May but instead had a new 24 months contract on our hands. Aren’t we ever so privileged?

WE WERE NEVER, EVER, AT NO POINT in time advised of that. The hubby nearly went ballistic and wrote en email in which he clarified a few things. He let me cross-read the email in work. Funny. He also explicitly wrote that he wished a response in writing. DO NOT CONTACT US BY PHONE!!!!!!!

Too bad that he saw the lights on our answering machine flashing when we got home before I could get to it. Don’t want to be in the poor call center agent’s shoes right now. I know it’s not fair to the agent – I have been one, so I know what I am talking about but something’s gotta give!!!

IDIOTS.

facebook can suck it

2010-02-04T15:44:00.001+01:00

Seriously, sometimes I just want to punch facebook’s lights out. NYC girl had a great post yesterday about what pisses her off about facebook and I have to say that I felt just like her.

I have pondered a million times to close my facebook account but then curiosity prevails.

Anyway, I am 33 and I have no issue to admit that. Sure we all get older, our hearing get’s worse as do our eyes but seriously? My eyes are fine. FINE I tell you. So go suck it you stupid facebook ad. I am ONLY 33. THIRTY THREE. That’s a three and another three. Three decades and three years. No need to assume that just because I was born in the dark ages that were the 70’s, I will now already need glasses, or laser treatment…Fuckers! I know the code in this diddy will change to show whatever year you entered as your year of birth but still…. Fuckers!

Huh, that was oddly refreshing.

Today’s rant was brought to you by an angry facebook stalker. LOL.

blast from the past or ghost of friendships past

2010-02-03T13:07:00.001+01:00

Recent events have made me mull over life – a lot.

When hubby’s grandma died, we attended the funeral service which was, given the sad circumstances, beautiful. It made me wish to be able to look back at my life when I am old and grey and when I do, I want to think that yes, I’ve made mistakes and the road was bumpy but heck, it was one hell of a ride.

Between my twenties and into my early thirties (well I am only 33 after all) there was a lot going on. I returned from a year abroad, studied, fell in love, fell out of love, moved to Ireland, made great friends, fell truly in love when I met my husband and moved back to my native Germany. While my twenties were pretty wild and carefree – I didn’t own anything of value, had no responsibilities except for myself - my thirties are a whole different story now.

I’ve become a worry wart…extremely careful if you will. I don’t drop everything right there and then to do what comes to my mind. I weigh my options. Sometimes weighing options is all I do and I’m contend with the slowness of life. With nursing and nurturing what I have got. I don’t have to have everything. I don’t need to prove anything. I am just me. The road that lead to this conclusion was a rocky one and sadly some friendships pave that road. In the end though, the overall picture – well just makes me really happy.

My parents grew up and went to school in the same small town they still live in today. They made friends in school and through sports and those friendships last for more than 35 years now. I am sure there were good times and bad times too but basically they have this tightly knit circle of friends that is almost like family. You can’t penetrate that circle and nobody’s been able to get in (or out) ha.

When I was 13 years old and the wall came down, the world cracked seemingly wide open for me. And boy did I want to explore it. So after high school I took some time off and spent a year as an Au Pair in the US. It was the first time I had ever really been away from home. Left my comfort zone and my friends. Friends that I had had since kindergarten or first grade. The year abroad was fantastic. Easily one of the best years of my life. I made a bunch of really great friends, most of which I am still in touch with today. But it also made me realize for the very first time that friendships DON’T last forever. That realization came as quite a shock, hadn’t really sunk in until I came back to Germany and started University then went off to Ireland. By now I had four circles of friends. High School friends, Au Pair friends, University friends and Irish friends. A circle for each period of my life to date. Each time a friendship ran its course I was sad. Very sad. It was kinda like breaking up with someone you loved and in a way it was. Today? I am no longer under the illusion that friendships last forever and sometimes it is better for those involved to just let go. Over time we confided everything in each other and we thought we’d be bff forever alas - nothing is forever.

Our friendship has changed as did you and I. As I matured, I weighed my options and I know that whoever isn’t with me, is against me. Sometimes life really is black and white. Without a scale of grey and that’s ok. For me. I have few very good friends. One from each period of my life it seems. I let friendships fizzle out. Deliberately. Because I have learned to differentiate between those, with whom I want to share my life and those that only occur in it. And you? Simply occurred in it.

I have become immensely careful about who I let into that life I have created for myself and since true friendship is about trust and unconditional and sometimes tough love, I learned that at times it is better to let go. To open up for something new. You find friends in the most unlikeliest of places. And for that I am grateful.

happy anniversary the third

2010-01-13T22:30:00.001+01:00

We celebrated our third wedding anniversary today. While we went for Chinese and bought a dining table last year, we were too exhausted from all the work in the house to do anything big this year.

There’s not a whole lot to say apart from this to the hubby: “I love you to the moon”!!!

Happy Anniversary.

sleepless in munich or don't shit where you eat

2010-01-12T09:56:00.003+01:00

I don’t know what it is lately but it is the same thing every single Sunday night for as long as I have joined the working forces. I simply can’t sleep like a normal person the night from Sunday to Monday.

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t have trouble sleeping. Ever. Except for Sunday night. I read up on it and it seems there are a few people out there experiencing the exact same thing.

It’s been said that your inner clock is messed up because you tend to stay up late on weekends and you sleep in longer but that’s not the case. Also I don’t worry more about things on a Sunday night than I do on any other night of the week. So what is it that’s keeping me up and driving me insane on a weekly basis?

I go to bed on time and don’t do anything different, yet I can’t go to sleep until the wee hours of the night. Then am so tired and grouchy the next day, that anybody is at the risk of life and limb when daring to address me.

In other news, it’s been snowing heavily across Europe and it took me one hour to get into work yesterday. That is ONE hour for two and a half miles! Ridiculous. Anyway, because it’s been snowing so much, it was the first time we had to shovel snow as homeowners. Luckily I was having so much fun with it that I didn’t really mind.

Also we’re watching the neighbor’s cats for a week while they are off in sunny Dubai, living for a place to live. They have really cute cats. The downside is that they pee in protest. The cats I mean. Not the neighbors. The first time I was cat sitting I went to get the cat food from the laundry room and one of the cats snuck in and peed on a pile of dirty laundry. I couldn’t just leave it so I did the laundry – much to our neighbors joy. Actually I didn’t mind at all and our lovely neighbors were so embarrassed.

The second time around the cats found a new place to pee. The kitchen sink. Ugh. Easier to clean but man, they really do not take separation well. This time around they got a bit more inventive because I came downstairs and found this:

Can you see it? You got to look just a little bit closer. See it? See it?

I thought they were trying to fool me but it really was cat piss. So I thoroughly cleaned everything in the morning, only to come back to the same situation that evening. These poor little critters. They must really love and miss their owners.

Which makes me wonder how well our cats will take the move from our third floor apartment to our two story house with a beautiful yard.

duh

2010-01-09T22:55:00.001+01:00

A real duh moment, when you are blonde and you find long brown hair on clean sheets in your linen closet and then realize that not four months ago you were still a brunette. Duh.

—--- blogged from my phone

strange

2010-01-08T16:51:00.000+01:00

For some strange reason I'm really into painting deer at the moment. Not only that but I'm also bidding on a pair of antlers on Ebay to paint white and am thinking of hanging them in my new living room.

Anyone have an idea what's wrong with me? Next thing you'll know I'll be doing my crossword while listening to polka music. Please send help.

How do you like my deer painting?

—--- blogged from my phone

wherein madness ensues

2010-01-07T10:06:00.001+01:00

Just five days ago I blogged about losing my husband in Europe’s largest electronics store and if it were not for work I doubt I would have him back by now.

See, said electronics store currently has a promotion whereby every tenth purchase is free. Yes, you read that right. F R E E.

The way it works is this. You buy any item(s), you pay for it and take it home. Every night at 10:30 pm they draw a number from 0-9. If the number drawn is the last one in a row of consecutive numbers on your receipt, you can take your receipt to the store and get your money back. Sounds pretty great. And I am sure it is but this is where the husband and I start to disagree.

See my husband is never one to pass up the opportunity for a great deal. I on the other hand couldn’t care less about advertisements, special offers or deals. Three shampoos for the price of one? Wasted on me. I am pretty sure that I only need the one shampoo for the moment and it will last me a while. And who knows if I want the same shampoo again when I’m done with it??? So I only buy what I need.

Sure if I could have my Nikon D3, worth approximately $6,000 and not having to pay for it, that would be totally awesome. But going into town, finding a parking space, fighting with 500.000 other people over the goods, then not winning and having to drag that stuff back to the store and get get in line to return it? Not happening with me. The husband on the other hand has no problem with that. He happily bought and brought the stuff back when his number wasn’t drawn. His brother won something, which only incited more.

Granted, the offer is no hoax and every tenth customer does get reimbursed and if I could muster up enough energy to round up ten friends to spend $ 6,000 each and stand in the same line with me at the cash register, and tell nine to go back to the store to return the stuff, that would be cool but hey, do I really need that camera? I guess not.

What’s your thought on it? If you didn’t really need anything would you still go on the mad shopping spree?

Btw. the hubby reported that while in the beginning the staff would happily take back the items if you didn’t win, they are now growing really tired of it :). Who would’ve thought???

The promotion runs until January 09th…Good luck to all the folks. I’ll be hanging out at home, enjoying the madness from a safe distance.

judge a book by its cover

2010-01-06T22:20:00.001+01:00

Do you catch yourself checking out other people’s reads in public, i.e. on the subway, bus or plane? Have you ever wondered if whatever they’re reading is what they would have chosen were they curled up comfortably on their couch? Whether they are really reading that 1000 page classic or if they just picked that very book to come off as “smart”?

I do and sometimes I catch myself looking for a particular book in the bookstore, when I have seen someone that seemed really wrapped up in a book but I digress.

The next time you’re using public transport or you’re out and about and you have the opportunity to check on what other people are reading, this website may come in handy to judge a book/its reader by its cover ;o)

Stereotyping People by Their Favorite Author

Ok the list may not be accurate and I admit that I am a huge fan of Stephenie Meyer (because the Twilight Saga was awesome) and a ton of other authors that don’t do so well on the list. I just think it is really hilarious.

airport run

2010-01-05T23:35:00.000+01:00

One of the advantages of living close to the airport is that you are there in a jiffy aaand you get to pick up your friends all the time.

I really love going to the airport, as long as I don't have to fly myself. Tonight I got to pick up my "adopted" brother. We're not really family but if I had a brother he would be like him. So as I'm waiting for him to come out I have plenty of time to study the faces of the other passengers exiting the security zone and you would expect to see a few happy faces but I don't see even one happy face. And I am thinking to myself that this is weird. Ok, travel can be exhausting but isn't anybody happy to be home or to return to your loved ones?

As much as I enjoy being abroad, there is nothing better than coming home.

—--- blogged from my phone

big brother sucks

2010-01-04T21:58:00.001+01:00

I still remember the first season of Big Brother being aired in 2000 in Germany. Even before the first episode was aired, it was heavily discussed in the media. And because reality tv was something of a novelty back then and I had loved MTV’s Real World and Road Rules, which I was introduced to while living in the US in 1996, I thought Big Brother would be fun to watch.

And it was. At least in the beginning. The first season was hilarious. The German edition featured a guy who had never read a book and had no clue who Shakespeare was but by God at least the dude was an original.

Then I watched half of the next one and it was all like: seen that, done that, been there (not literally)…and I was done with Big Brother by the time 2001 rolled around.

The show was a big hit and 70 countries have adapted it. I totally get it but the show is getting stupider and stupider with each passing year and has now become unbearable to watch. One of the seasons even lasted an entire year. 365 days of BB. WTF? Who cares about the same bunch of boring people and who wants to watch them e v e r y s i n g l e day of the week for a whole year??? Haven’t they realized it’s been getting old? Are there really people who want to watch yet another episode? And while I was hoping that the world would grow tired of it, I was very disappointed to see that this year we will live to see season 10 being kicked off. Blech.

inkheart

2010-01-03T21:11:00.001+01:00

Not a big fan of movies like The Chronicles of Narnia or Stardust but I’m sitting here with hubby, watching Inkheart. It’s a beautiful movie and I loved the book. So all I want to do right now is cover myself in books. Unfortunately there are only very few books left in the apartment because every day that we go over to the new house, we take heavy boxes, filled with books because surely on moving day the last thing you want to be lugging around is 20 huge boxes of books.

Only now our living room’s never looked this empty without them. I miss my books.

My grandmother always warned me to be suspicious of people who own no books, which makes me check out other people’s homes to see whether or not they own any…

what's a girl to do?

2010-01-02T12:53:00.001+01:00

It is Saturday and we need a few things for the house. We get up at 8 am after we only got into bed at 2 am. The hubby brings me coffee to bed and 15 min later we're out the door. We spend several hours in the hardware store before driving across Munich to go into hubby's favorite electronics store. Europe's largest. What's not to love about it? If you are a man, this mother... of a store is like a wet dream.

We bought a dishwasher, which was a feat in itself. Hubby them continued browsing and has now been MIA for what seems an eternity. So long Media Markt. Take good care of him. He's second hand and easy to handle but you of all should know best.

—--- blogged from my phone

Welcome 2010

2010-01-01T22:31:00.001+01:00

Happy New Year to all of you. May 2010 be a great year and may all or most of your wishes be fulfilled.

It’s been a while since I regularly posted on this blog and when I looked through my archives it became clear that I have absolutely been slacking the past year. Now I am not really into new year’s resolutions, mostly because I know from experience that I gotta want something bad enough to make a serious change and then I don’t need a day to decide to change something. A resolution uttered under my (boozed) breath as the new year is being rung in just won’t cut it. What that means is, that I will continue to blog on here whenever the mood strikes me though I am afraid that the house will still be taking up most of my time in January and February.

We have to move by the end of this month and the house is a mess. It is gutted and I am beginning to panic that we won’t be able to finish at least a bedroom and the bathroom before moving in. Who wants to shower in the gym at work every morning? Not me, that’s for sure.

So how did you ring in the new year? We were invited to bff’s house. My friend threw a party which also doubled as her 30th birthday party. Though it wasn’t a big party, we were only eight people, it was great. You got to talk to everyone and it was really fun. Overall we had a great time and being there and not at some anonymous party or somewhere out in the cold was just what I felt like.

So let’s wait and see what 2010 brings. I hope only good things for each and everyone of us.

about to drown

2009-12-31T10:45:00.001+01:00

Remember when it was sunny & cold???

Now it's all rain, rain, rain...that's all I have seen the past few days. Hope the weather is better where you are. Happy New Year!!!

--- blogged from my phone

See ya 2009 - NOT!

2009-12-29T13:30:00.002+01:00

2009 can suck it. What a year this has been. I am tempted to say it was an asshole. Do I have kind words for it? Not really. So let's take a look at what's been ticking me off on a grander scale.

2009 saw the introduction of a witholding tax and mass surveillance - a directive allowing the EU member states to retain internet and telecommunications data. Dun dun dun.

Barack Obama was inaugurated as the first African American and the 44th president of the US. The world has high expectations.

The swine flu swaps across Mexico and out into the world. In its neverending panic to grab the fattest headline, the media ~~neglects~~ unfortunately forgets to inform the public that more people die due to the "common"influenza A virus infection than the swine flu each year.

Shit goes down in Iran and several politicans make a fool of themselves. That wouldn't be anything new but the foolery reaches new levels of ridiculousness. Yes, I am looking to you Italy.

General elections take place in Germany and the Federal Republic of Germany celebrates it's 60th birthday. The festivities continue. It's been 20 years since the Fall of the Wall.

The world economy is down and the Treaty of Lisbon, signed by the Eurpean Union member states, finally came into force after the Irish were "subtly reminded to please vote 'yes' (or else) the second time around. Long live Democracy.

The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen brought together the big'uns. AND? NOTHING came of it. We're all gonna die. Well we were all gonna die anyway but now we're taking the planet down with us.

And since we're talking about death. What was up with that this year? I haven't been collecting statistics. Is it just me or has death been especially unkind this year?

John Updike, Natasha Richardson, David Carradine, Walter Cronkite, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Frank McCourt, Les Paul, Ted Kennedy, Patrick Swayze, Stephen Gately, Roy E. Disney, Al Martino, Brittany Murphy and Yves Rocher among others. So sad.

A good year? Certainly not. Even though I can't complain personally but that will be enough fodder for another blogpost.

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. Good bye 2009, you old sucker. Bring on 2010.

formspring

2009-12-17T11:15:00.003+01:00

Haven't decided yet whether to love or hate formspring.me . It's like social network-stalking made super easy. Also publishes your more or less stupid answers, depending on how serious you take this, on facebook and twitter and whatnot....just what the world's been waiting for.

twilight was my highlight

2009-12-11T10:10:00.003+01:00

Bookwise that is. I wondered about the hype around the book last year. Then Patty recommended it and got me hooked on it. I couldn't put it down and had to read the entire saga. Even though vampire stories aren't my thing really, the books were enjoyable. Don't worry, I am not going to write another post about how lovely the characters are captured etc. but I always had one question in the back of my mind and today, while getting my daily dose of lamebook, I couldn't believe my eyes.

Someone voiced my thoughts. I laughed out loud and at the same time I was happy to learn that I am not alone in thinking stupid thoughts. At least I didn't voice my opinion on this topic on Facebook or anywhere else for that matter, though it did cross my mind.

What was I laughing about? Only this:
Anybody else thought the same?

the one where i take a break

2009-11-19T15:00:00.002+01:00

for what seems like the tenth time this year. I'm getting depressed visiting all the other blogs of my fave bloggers who, as it seems blog as if there's no tomorrow. And I am always lef to wonder, where they get all their ideas from and why don't I have anything of value to add?

Life has been busy. Work is busy. We bought a house and we will start our major home makeover on the 15th of next month. That's all I can think about right now. Between the hefty renovation and an even heftier workload at work as well as the Christmas holidays and the pressure of moving all our staff and paint the old place, there's not much of a breathing space. So I am enjoying every day without packing boxes or ripping out old floorboards because the day will come, where this will be all we're going to be doing. At least for a while and then some. We're expecting the whole thing to last well until fall of next year. An outlook I could do without but what the heck. If we're lucky this will be the last time we'll ever have to move house but surely not the last time for a renovation.

On top of that I haven't seen the hubby much this month. In total maybe four days. He's been in London, Lisbon, Berlin, Prague. The only place he's not is here. When he's gone, it's like he's taking my mojo with him. Bummer.

So there, that's all that was on my mind now. The plan is to feature the renovation on this or another blog but then again, knowing me, I'm probably too lazy to keep track, though it would be great for later to look at it and see what we have accomplished.

obituary

2009-11-13T19:36:00.001+01:00

I am sorry for not blogging yesterday but I am mourning. What am I mourning you might ask? I am mourning the death of NaBloPoMo 2009. That’s what. As of today (actually yesterday) NaBloPoMo is dead to me.

I had a feeling that NaBloPoMo and I wouldn’t be friends this year and I will not make excuses. Although I would have quite a few at hand. Some of them valid but I’d rather keep them for another occasion. So I will follow into my friend Tara R’s footsteps and I will say it loud and I will say it proud: I post when I want as often as I want and when I damn well feel like it.

Ha….in your face NaBloPoMo. See you next year. Or not. We will see.

stubborn little brat

2009-11-11T12:24:00.002+01:00

So what happens when you're forced to work from home because there was a swine-flu outbreak in the office? You're starting to lose it. My marbles? Nowhere even close to me. Working from home because you want to? Awesome. Working home because you're forced to? Not so great.

I don't know why this annoys me so much but I remember I have always felt this way.

When I grew up in the GDR German Democratic Republic, we had an awesome schoolsystem. All the kids were cared for and if you didn't have parents that were able to stay home with you (which was true for everyone because in Socialism? Everyone had jobs (we will cleverly leave out that not all were very productive))or grandparents, you had the chance to go to summer camp.

There were different kinds of summer camps. Betriebsferienlager were summer camps for the kids of larger company's employees and Pionierlager were camps for pioneers but I won't get into that now.

Towards the end of the school year all the teachers would come around asking who would want to go into summer camp and who was looking forward to it 19 hands shot up only mine was down. When asked about it I firmly stated that I had no intentions of going to camp because my older cousin went and wrote home on a postcard "I have to go now because we have to go hiking now and yesterday we went swimming." Yeah that wasn't gonna fly with me. I had the luck of being able to stay at my grandparent's who just so happened to live next door to my best friend. We got up in the mornings, packed our backs and headed to the lake only returning home when the sun had sunk so low that we got too cold or we were about to starve. And if we didn't go swimming we went roaming through the woods. We would take care of the animals my friend's parents kept and we would have regular sleepovers. We even opened a little "restaurant" where my grandma or my friend's mom cooked. We would come in and pretend to be a guest or a waiter (not at the same time of course). After the successful lunch we even helped with the dishes.

Why would I want to trade that kind of freedom and fun for sleeping in a bunk bed in a room full of other kids? I resented the thought of having to do whatever it was that was planned for during summer camp. I hated plans. Period.

No amount of persuasion by my parents, teachers, classmates or cousins could convince me otherwise. Come to think of it, never having to go to summer camp may have been the reason that I have the greatest memories of my summers. Sigh. How I miss those times.

just a matter of time

2009-11-10T22:04:00.001+01:00

It was just a matter of time but it has happened. Swineflu. It got to us. Today is the day that we were advised that all of us had to go and work home for the next couple of days. Effective immediately because someone in the team came down with the swineflu.

Every case of the swineflu has to be reported. If you came in touch with someone affected, you have to report it.

So this is what it feels like for the team at the moment:

mr. gorbachev tear down this wall

2009-11-09T21:47:00.001+01:00

It was twenty years ago today, when I witnessed the wall come down. I was thirteen years old then. A normal teenager, born and raised within the confined space that was the German Democratic Republic. A so called democratic state that as it turned out was anything but.

Not that I would have noticed or cared a whole lot back then. After all I was only a kid. My family lived really close to the border. So close in fact that looking out of the attic window in my grandma’s house the next town you could actually see was a small town in Western Germany.

I remember playing in the attic with my best friend and we would look out the window and stare into the “West” and we would take wild guesses at how it must be “over there”. That’s what we called it. “Over there”. Where people drove real cars like Volkswagens and Audis and BMWs and not some cardboard version of a car like the Trabant

We would picture ourselves drinking a can of coke and eating a bar of yummy chocolate. The kind that the GDR exported into the West. The kind that we never got to taste unless some far aunt or cousin would send in a package once a year, along with oranges and Nutella.

As kids we never really missed anything. I could live with or without the Coca Cola, the fancy cars or Milka chocolate. What we did start to crave and could only fathom the older we got was freedom – or lack thereof. I am convinced the GDR would still exist in one form or another, had it’s creepy founding fathers allowed people to travel across the world. But they feared if they would see beyond the walls they would find the grass was greener on the other side and they saw that the only method of keeping them from just wandering off was to wall them in.

It’s like living in Arizona and having family in New Mexico only you can’t visit them. Ever. And you hear all the great stories about New Mexico and Colorado and California but the chances of travelling there, even for just one day, were so slim that all you could do was dream about it.

But as a thirteen year old, living in the rebellious times that was 1989, my biggest fear was that my parents were going to leave everything they had worked for to make it to the west. Thankfully they never did and for that I am eternally grateful. Just as I am for the courage of hundreds of thousands of people who peacefully demonstrated for freedom Monday after Monday and whose courage enabled me to travel the world and live abroad for the most part of my adult live.

To those who cleared the path and lead us to the events on November 09th, 1989 I salute you.For the rest of my life I will get goose bumps thinking back to the night that my parents woke me up and allowed me to stay up late so I could witness that historic moment. If not live then at least glued in front of the television…

punny

2009-11-08T10:48:00.000+01:00

Sundays are usually slow days and I was trying to think of something to post. See I have to schedule this post because last Friday wasn't only my American twin sis Melisa's but also my mother in-law's birthday. She turns sixty. My mother in law, not Melisa but I guess you already figured that because she doesn't look a day over 29. I mean Melisa, not my mother in-law. Though my mother-in law doesn't look a day over 35 if you get my drift.

Anywho. What I am trying to say is that while I am a lame, lame friend, who has not yet managed to bring a birthday gift on the way across the big pond, I drove across Germany, picking up various family members along the way. Munich? Choochoo. Next stop Heidelberg, where my lovely sister in-law jumps in. Next stop? Frankfurt, where we make room for Nana, who no doubt appreciates the sports seats in the car and whom we will eventually hoist out of them once we have reached our final destination Cologne.

Weekend trip.

So while I am gone I will throw this bad pun joke your way in the hope that it will last till I come back and post something decent tomorrow. That's what Nablopomo does to you :)

The big chess tournament was taking place at the Plaza in New York. After the first day's competition, many of the winners were sitting around in the foyer of the hotel talking about their matches and bragging about their wonderful play. After a few drinks they started getting louder and louder until finally, the desk clerk couldn't take any more and kicked them out.

The next morning the Manager called the clerk into his office and told him there had been many complaints about his being so rude to the hotel guests....instead of kicking them out, he should have just asked them to be less noisy. The clerk responded, "I'm sorry, but if there's one thing I can't stand, it's chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."

my first album

2009-11-07T10:04:00.000+01:00

I had a little fun with this cute meme. Create your own album cover. Before doing that however, you should find a name for your band and think of an awesome album title.

But don’t fret, the meme is nothing more than a quick fix to your problem. Simply follow the rules below and no cheating!

1. Go to Wikipedia and hit Random Article
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

NEUTRAL MUTATION

2. Go to “Random quotations”
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

HOW TO ACQUIRE WITHOUT MEANNESS

3. Go to Flickr and click on explore the last seven days
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

Picture via Flickr. Photo credit to Pica

4. Use Photoshop/Paint or whatever to put it all together

5. Post a link to your album in the comments!

I wonder how many bands came up with their band name and album title by using this or something similar.

an interesting point of view

2009-11-06T16:00:00.002+01:00

Being overweight myself I have been following the ongoing debate about anorexic models with interest. The German woman’s magazine “Brigitte” even decided to abstain from using anorexic looking models and from photoshopping normal sized models into rail thin beanstalks, in the hope of preventing young girls from falling prey to today's admittedly off beauty ideals.

Ironically “Brigitte” is the inventor of the famous Brigitte Diet that at least 70% of Germany’s female population has tried.

German Designer Anja Gockel has her own theory as to why a lot of designers want extremely thin models. The reason lies in the designer’s homosexuality. Say what?

She claims that designers judge others by their own standards. Meaning that a homosexual man prefers a boyish silhouette while lesbians go for an androgynous figure. Thus the rail thin models.

Go figure.

Slutty buddy…

2009-11-05T22:06:00.002+01:00

…and no, I am not talking about Megan Fox. Did I ever mention that she’s among the celebs that I simply cannot stand? No? Probably because I don’t even care so on to the topic of the day.

Things I overheard today. There’s only two and only one is really funny and it is probably the type of funny where everybody just had to be there to know what I am talking about. Yada, yada, yada so here it goes anyway because it is NaBloPoMo and I am desperate.

The first one was overheard during a phone conference and almost caused me to die right there at my desk. That’s what you get for laughing at someone else’s misfortune.

Unfortunately I laughed so hard that I’m sure everyone in the conference thought I was an immature idiot. And they would be right. Although I wasn’t the only one to start laughing, I was the only one who couldn’t hit the mute button in time because I was busy trying not to choke on a piece of gum that I had been silently chewing. The reason for my little outburst was that one of the managers in Spain had trouble pronouncing the word slot. Thus he “banged” on and on about how many open sluts there were to fill. I simply wasn’t able to pull my mind out of the gutter and I will rot in hell for this.

Number two was overheard on television. The woman simply couldn’t say body. Not as funny as the many sluts that were to be filled but come on buddy. The Bellamy Brothers would wonder “If I said you had a beautiful buddy would you hold it against me?” And John Mayer? Your buddy is wonderland…and Nelly ft Ashanti…Buddy on me…the list goes on and on and on.

just what i’ve been waiting for

2009-11-04T14:05:00.001+01:00

Anyone remember this rant? Boy was I pissed off. Still am actually.

For those of you who haven’t got the time to go back and read that July post, here’s a recap:

Today I read a blog post on one of the numerous blogs I’ve been reading for a while. It was about how this new mom’s lifestyle had changed since she and her husband had a baby.

In unnecessary harsh words she explained that she has no more patience for the self-pitying and so called ’whining’ of her childless friends since the baby’s birth. Whereas in the past she may have listened patiently, she now has other priorities and no longer needs this. I’m cool with that. I bet that’s how nature intended it to be..putting the offspring first. But life around you doesn’t stop.

For some reason this struck a chord with me as I remembered all the blog posts she wrote during her pregnancy (believe me, nine months worth of blogging is a hell of a lot of blogposts [sic!] about pregnancy) And I am sure her real life friends got to hear an earful about the same. No doubt – this is an inexhaustible topic and I am excited for anyone who is having a baby. Baby stories are great and I can’t get enough of them but I couldn’t get this thought out of my head: How dare she say that she’s now bored with the things her childless friends care about when all she’s talking about is her baby?

Don’t childless people have lives as well? Interests, hobbies, things and thoughts they want to share? Does the fact that they haven’t procreated (yet) make them less valuable? Though I am sure she meant no harm her post still made me angry.

Hypocritcal? No, but worth putting things into perspective.

Funnily enough a while ago I came across this video and always meant to share this. Haven’t gotten around to it yet because I am lazy and I had to get my priorities straight but NaBloPoMO makes me grab onto every little straw coming my way these days.

The ladies who call themselves Garfunkel & Oates are hilarious and if you like them, check out their other stuff.

The Road to Hell is Paved with Cookies...

Odd {#Project 365 - Day 31}

Guess what it is {#Project 365 - Day 30}

No pictures PURRRLEASE {#Project 365– Day 29}

Finally some snow {#Project 365–Day 27}

I can not wait to go back {#Project 365 - Day 26}

Sun {#Project 365 - Day 25}

John Deer {#Project 365 - Day 24}

Farewell to Picnik

Baked Beans {#Project 365 - Day 23}

It's all fun and games till someone cries

lego {#Project 365 - Day 22}

SOPA and PIPA

sun {#Project 365- Day 18}

coffee table {#Project 365 - Day 17}

flying cars {#Project 365 - Day 15}

grief {#Project 365 - Day 14}

happy anniversary {#Project 365–Day 13}

take a closer look {#Project 365-Day 12}

winter {#Project 365-Day11}

sign language {#Project 365-Day10}

new design, old design {#Project 365 - Day 9}

good bye christmas tree {#Project 365-Day8}

replacement {#Project365 - Day 7}

raclette {#Project 365–Day 6}

love {#Project365–Day 5}

star wars {#Project365 - Day 4}

lough out loud funny {#Project365 - Day 3}

little pick me up

headless santa clause {#Project365 - Day 2}

happy new year!

fireworks {#Project365 - Day 1}

2011 - the year in retrospect

Sláinte from Ireland

Mr. Snuggles

Ooopsie Daisy

mondays suck

noms

Cat man du

how do you spend your fourth wedding anniversary?

one small step...

so long sucker

weather, weather, weather

2010 - the year in retrospect

What a weekend

Hello

Halloween

Happy Halloween!!!!

that’s why i hate tuesdays – part II

stop and smell the roses

what a day

tuesday, worst day of the week

not too long ago in England…

go nanie, it's your birthday - we gonna party like...

the mojo - it may return

The Wedding Cake Top - Oh So Yummy

twitteridoo

beware of the cat content

Bookworm

Show me the money

where the f*** is f***ing?

[Photo via kjd on Flickr]

celeb rage

* Yes I do realize that in my rage I forgot the word “to” between ‘want’ and ‘throw’. That’s how mad I get :)

Forum and Comment Trolls

wooha about a hoo-ha (may not be safe for work)

the world really is small in the blogosphere

The heating OMG the heating

Sun

George is in West Virginia

early easter bunny

what’s wrong with this picture?

overtime

the cat is out…

The sweet smell of freedom

Making sure I can safely retreat

walking alongside the house where there’s no more snow

Maunzerl is enjoying the view of Lilly’s backside from a safe distance

then gets more curious – but that’s about it

staying alive

where the f* is f*ing?