Real women can do more than just hold the flash light...

We can change the car battery ourselves! And get a little dirty in the process!

Of course, we also might be wearing pink long johns and Burberry boots in the process, but that doesn't mean we didn't get the job done. :)

Hela

What is one thing German "Home Depot" style stores (called Hela) have over American ones? They contain bakeries!

A successful trip of locating lightbulbs (incredibly hard to do in Germany) and a fresh baked loaf of bread! Gotta love it!!

Cuteness

Clara is missing her Phillip! I left the bedroom door open when I was out tonight, just in case I got back late and she wanted to go to bed. I had placed Phillip's shirt under his pillow because it still smells like him and I wanted to keep it close. While I was out Clara flipped up his pillow and made a little nest on his shirt! She loves her daddy!

Happy New Year!!!

It's a new year so I thought I would try to resurrect my blog! I hope that you all had a wonderful New Year's Eve. We celebrated in London this year! It was fantastic!!

Last year our little travel group celebrated in Zurich and after the fireworks there we went back to our hotel room and watched on the t.v as other countries rang in the new year. When London came up the show they put on was awesome so we decided then and there that the next year we would be in London to see it ourselves! Soo....

365 days and an hour on RyanAir later and we arrived in London. We spent a total of about 4 days in London, which we absolutely loved! London is one of our most favorite cities to visit, because they have such great food, shopping, and entertainment. We never run out of things to do when we are there.

On New Year's Even we started our night pretty early at Marco Pierre White - Wheeler's of St. James for dinner. We made our dinner reservation for 6pm because we wanted to have a nice meal before we had to stand in the cold to wait for the fireworks. Since all the instructions we were reading online stated the viewing areas for the fireworks start to close up at about 9pm we wanted to be sure to give ourselves plenty of time to make it there.

Dinner was AMAZING!!! You never know what to expect when a restaurant has a set menu, and so far our tract record has not been good, but Wheeler's did not disappoint! I had the Lobster cocktail to start then the Lamb and Mussels with Potatoes as my main. Phillip had Salmon as his appetizer then the Steak and Potato puree for his main course! Then we both finished our meal with the most incredible Chocolate Tarte!! Delicious!!!

The only strange thing about dinner was that we were mainly in the restaurant by ourselves!!! We thought it was extremely odd (and scary) when we first showed up! We thought for sure the food was going to be terrible. When we asked the waiter if they were expecting more people he said of course, but not until 9pm and that most people would be staying in the restaurant to celebrate the new year. Not us though, we came to London to see fireworks!

After dinner we walked to the Thames to try to secure our spot for the show and just as we arrived the first viewing area closed. We were told to start walking towards Trafalgar Square and there would be more entrances along the way. Well, as we kept going, the viewing areas kept closing! We were seriously starting to believe we would not get in. Finally we reached the last viewing area and luckily they were still admitting people. This was only about 9:30pm! We worked our way in and after some jostling we settled on a spot to stay in. While we were quite a ways down the river (at least a mile from where we first started), we could still see the London Eye, so all was ok.

We had to wait around for almost 3 hours for the fireworks show, but London did not disappoint!!! The show was incredible!! It also helped that they are trying to show off for the Olympics this coming August, so they really put a lot of money into the display!! No doubt it was one of the best New Year's Eve's we have had!

Coming up on the first fireworks viewing area by Big Ben.

Finally made it in and found a spot!

Rhiannon and I.

Our group. We didn't make any plans yet for next New Year's since we likely won't be able to be together, but rest assured our New Year's tradition will continue in the future!

Happy 2012!

While I don't like making resolutions, I am going to make more of an effort to blog this year! Talk to you again soon!!

Turning 29

Turning 29 was a little hard this year, not because I am almost done with my 20s, but because Phillip is back in the States. He's attending a class and will be gone for a month, so unfortunately he had to leave 2 days before my Birthday. I still had a good day though, and spoiled myself thoroughly!

My Birthday Card and Presents! A new wallet and perfume!

Birthday Cake! I called Phillip and had him sing me Happy Birthday over the phone then blew out my candle!

And then the spoiling...I took the day off work and went to one of my favorite Spas and had a massage, manacure, and pedicure. :) I then took myself out for Mexican food. Overall, not too shabby of a way to turn a year older!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

This post is especially for Amanda! Not only has she been asking for a blog update, but she and B.J sent us some AMAZING jalapenos which we just opened today to celebrate Cinco de Mayo! Thank you Amanda and B.J! They are delicious and pretty darn spicey too, which we love! I'll be updating the blog more often now. :)

Tonight's dinner: tacos and homemade jalapenos!

Christmas 2010

This Christmas we celebrated at our home in Spangdahlem. It ended up being just Phillip, Clara, and I since we had a huge ice and snow storm the night before and our friends couldn't make it down. We had a nice time though and cooked a great meal!

What we called our Christmas bush! It was more of a bush than a tree. The German who sold it to us told us that our expectations were just off because German trees are not like American trees. Or...Americans are just suckers and will buy anything sold to us!

Christmas dinner!

Clara with one of her Christmas presents. Just pooped from a long day.

Yep, I realize this post is just a little past due, but I am at least back to blogging again!!

Christmas Markets

One of my favorite events of the year are the German Christmas Markets in December! They are wonderful!! It is just fun to go, get a mug of gluhwein, share a Brot with Phillip, and peruse the stalls. Oh, and I can't forget my chocolate covered strawberries! This is one of the few times of the year you can get them, so I can't say no.

This year we went to Bernkastle-Kues and Trier for their Christmas Markets. We had planned to do more, but the weather wasn't very cooperative and we just ran out of time. However, these are two of my favorite markets so it was still a successful season.

Bernkastle-Kues Christmas Market

Trier Christmas Market

Fuerteventura

Since we couldn't be in the States this year to celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving, Phillip and I decided to do something fun and warm! We headed to Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa! We had a wonderful time since it was still warm there, and being off season, it was uncrowded and less expensive than regular.

The view from our hotel room! GORGEOUS!!!

Check out the Camel on the beach!!

We were essentially located on a giant sand dune. The sand blows in from the Sahara Desert.

Phillip playing in the water. The water was around 70 degrees, which really was ok after you were in it about 5-10 min.

Spending a windy day on the pool deck. That sand hurts when the wind whips up!

Since we stayed at an all-inclusive hotel, we felt like we were kinda on a cruise ship that never went anywhere (honeymoon, anyone!). So, we found it kinda funny that our hotel was shaped like a boat.

One last picture before we headed home. :( It was a wonderful vacation! Just rest and relaxation on a white sandy beach! Lucky for us we had gorgeous weather the entire 5 days until the day we left, when it started to rain. We must have really hit at the right time since they started to store all the beach supplies for winter on our last day.

What we came home to! So so sad!! :(

:)

Milan and Venice, 2nd stop - Venice

Oh, how I fell in love with Venice!! It was so beautiful! I'm sure it had a lot to do with the fact that we went in winter and it was basically empty, but that made it all the more perfect. Wandering through the alleyways, crossing all the little bridges, taking a gondola ride, spending an evening in a fantastic wine bar, just lovely!

Love at first sight!

Aww, a bed just for Phillip! ;)

Making our way through the alleyways to Piazza San Marco

Picture from Rialto Bridge

Love the gondolas!

Taking our own gondola ride!

Drew and Rhiannon enjoying our ride

You know we couldn't visit Italy and Phillip not get gelato!

Piazza San Marco and the bell tower where Galileo tested his telescope.

View from the bell tower

Murano Glass Shopping! Got some beautiful glass bead necklaces!



Rialto Bridge

Ahhh, how I can't wait to go back!