A Harvest Party

Happy Easter

xo From all of us

A short list of things accomplished in one week:

- Successfully completed 25 years of life. Began undertaking of 26th year.
- Wrote essays on a topic I've never studied, received high marks regardless of knowledge deficit.
- Sang ABBA songs in France and Belgium.
- Walked well over ten thousand steps per day while visiting the major tourist attractions of Paris.
- Ate a genuine Belgium waffle. Subsequently obsessed over potential frequency of visits to Belgium to consume aforementioned waffles.
- Photographed my father posed as Napoleon in front of the Butte du Lion at Waterloo.
- Saw Luxembourg while the sun was shining.
- Spent so much energy remembering French phrases that, upon return to Germany, I am still saying "oui".
- Bathed two rambunctious, unappreciative dogs.
- Discovered location of a portrait taken of my great-great-great grandfather. Potential for family history research suddenly multiplied by about one thousand percent.
- Came to realization that I'm probably too old to continue watching America's Next Top Model; also realized that I need not stop because I love reading Four Four too much to give up on the show altogether.

I will actually review our fabulous vacation, perhaps even in a timely manner, but for now I'm off to bed so I can be a productive and reliable member of society tomorrow. Being an adult has some lame points.

Eine Kleine Augenblick

Here are a few of the moments I've neglected to blog in recent months, visited in photographs.

~ We visited Luxembourg with Katie and Matt. It was a very foggy day and there was a protest going on, following us down the road. We saw a gorgeous cathedral and impressive gorges.




~ I went home in November to visit my family and some friends. I rode with cargo on an Air Force plane. I remodeled the extra room at my parent's so it is now a guest room. Margaret came to visit and we toured Baltimore and Philadelphia.







~ We explored a few of the December Christmas markets. Here are shots from Saarbrücken and Kaiserslautern.





~ We had our first live Christmas tree, which subsequently died and left dry pine needles all over our floor. I made the cards we sent out this year- a labor of love, for sure.




That should do for a catch-up. More to come... we've got a big month ahead!

Welcome to 2009!

We realized last night that this is the final year in the first decade of the new millennium. That's pretty difficult to believe, but time does seem to go by faster with each year of life. For example, I remember when I was in elementary school and the time between Thanksgiving break and winter break was a horrible, tormenting stretch of almost a month! This year, I blinked and went to work and then it was time for Christmas. Now it is the first day of 2009, the year in which at least one of us will be a quarter-century old. The person turning 25 is freaked out. Decency dictates that I not specify which one of us is the "old one".

Last night we celebrated the new year with food and drinks from around the globe, "Around the World New Year's Eve". It was a wonderful night, but the best part was midnight. We obviously didn't get to see the ball drop on television, since we are six hours ahead of the east coast. We got to see something better- fireworks set off by neighbors, people in towns and in fields all along the mountainside and the train track. We saw fireworks going on for miles. It was a beautiful way to start this year.



We wish you all an exciting, fulfilling, and blessed new year. Make the most of it; we plan to do and see all the we can!

*Happy Christmas*

We wish you a merry Christmas...




As to the happy new year, we've got BIG plans- and you know they must be big because I capitalized the word. I'm always trying to make things more clear for you, dear reader. It's the least I can do.

Anyway, enough nonsense. We have been keeping a mid-shift schedule, meaning that I'm up all night and I sleep during the morning. It is lousy and today was the first time in about 40 hours that I saw the sun. The point is, it was after midnight and we decided to extend the Christmas Eve happiness into present-giving. Yes, we cheated. Oh well. Christmas is not nearly as festive without your family, in my opinion; maybe I feel that way because of how much I enjoy gathering for holidays. Despite the relative calm of our celebration, we still had a very nice evening. On Christmas day, I cooked a roast for the first time in my life, and we had a small feast with some sweet wine. Afterward, Matt and Katie joined us for a round of Mario Party on the Wii. An evening well spent! Early this morning, we enjoyed Josh's favorite meal, Brinner. That's breakfast for dinner, for those of you who are confused. Again, I do what I can to help.

I hope that you all felt your holidays were well spent, full of love and warmth and family or friends. Full of the things that you enjoy this time of year. We wish you happy hearts and many blessings as 2008 draws to its close.

Yes, we did!

"...the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope."

-President Elect Barack Obama

This is an historic day for our nation, and we are proud to be a part of it. May we never forget the determination, self-sacrifice, and hard work that led us to this moment. May we press ahead with the same commitment to our nation!

For all the saints, who from their labors rest...

I've had lots of music in my head lately, and most of it from my time as a singer in an Episcopal church. My all-time favorite hymn might always be "Earth and All Stars," chiefly because I cannot sing the entire song with a straight face. That's worth something. (If you follow the above link, do yourself a favor and read verse five.)

More directly, the title of this post refers to this Labor Day holiday, and its own juxtaposition of labor and rest. When I was young, I really thought that Labor Day was either a celebration of any women who happened to have babies on September first. Later, perhaps the people who had to work despite the national holiday got some kind of special reward. Maybe a cake, a bouncy ball, or a small pony. Whatever. This is all coming from the girl who created a cost-benefit analysis presentation to convince her parents to get a dog, but who truly believed that lyme disease was contracted from those little green bugs that look like the end of a grass blade.

I didn't spend too much brainpower thinking about the meaning of Labor Day, and that has been true for much of my life. In all fairness, I didn't get to celebrate Labor Day once I started working, or during college. In fact, this is probably the first year that I've been both employed, and had a day off for the holiday; actually just a coincidence, since Josh happened to be scheduled off today. Sadly, due to the current state of affairs in my kidneys (did I write about going to the ER? I went to the emergency room, and I have the nervous eye twitch and four bottles of medicine to prove it!), I'm missing a Labor Day barbecue right now. So much for celebrating a day of rest.

This is totally round-about, but what I mean to write is that far too many workers in the United States are under-appreciated. I am not just whining and citing myself as example. Any person who toils for hours upon hours at a store like Wal-Mart or the local grocery will understand. Talk about thankless jobs! Far too many people are taken advantage of, and it's most apparent on the national holiday celebrating labor. If your job turns a profit for someone above, and if another could easily step in and complete your tasks, you don't get a paid day off. Sometimes you can't even get a non-paid day off.

Today we were able to shop at the commissary, complete transactions at our bank, and eat chicken sandwiches at the food court. I was in shock that these places were all open. When the Germans have a holiday, you had better believe that planning ahead is essential. You may not find anyone willing to sell you another package of sausages for your grill, and if you do you will probably drive far and pay dearly. And although that can be a pain (especially if you are a student or a shift worker's wife... both said with personal experience), I think it's wonderful. Why shouldn't the guy who stocks the shelves at Globus have a day off? Why shouldn't the woman at the bank counter be rewarded for her constant customer service with one day off? Why shouldn't waitresses be granted this day to relax? Why can't I be expected to not spend my money excessively for one day?

I'm sure that economic theorists have tons of replies to this question, but what I'm really getting at is what I believe are twisted, corrupted priorities in American culture. The dollar above the individual. Productivity, revenue, trumps all. Germans- really, most Europeans- could teach us some important lessons in regards to taking care of our labor force.

I don't know what we average citizens can do. Petitions, public interest campaigns... they all seem over-used and too easily ignored. But I'm going to be thinking about it. After all, I've written a cost-benefit analysis before. I'm not afraid to do it again.

Goings-On

Josh has been working a lot lately. His training days are longer than ever. It's getting to the point that I feel I hardly see him! Thank goodness the mids-shift is almost over; only a few weeks more!

We're most likely buying a new car. Ack! It's a 2009 Ford Focus, dark metallic gray, with lots of great features.

It's a four-door car; we're trying to prepare for down-the-road things, if you know what I mean. I'm both excited and nervous. This is the first new vehicle I've ever purchased; in fact, it's only the second vehicle I'll have owned. It's also the biggest thing we've ever purchased together!

Our two-year anniversary is just a few days away. I don't know if we'll do anything on the day; Josh works of course. We are making plans for a trip to Dublin in mid-September to celebrate.

I've been trying to navigate the rough waters of employment, through the Air Force. They are so disorganized, and this is the most work I've ever done to get a job. The dumbest thing is that it's not even a great job; it's just part-time work at a coffee shop so I'm not home alone all the time. I basically have to fill out the application for a security clearance (listing the exact locations I've lived in for the last seven years; every school I've attended; every job I've had including periods of unemployment; people's middle names, etc)just to work in a coffee shop!! And I have to get a physical, but the office in charge didn't have a doctor and wasn't expecting one until September, so they had me calling all of these other places. When I tried to explain that Occupational Health didn't have a physician, I kept getting the run-around; no, call this person or that person. It took a week of phone calls to finally discover that Occupational Health had 1) given me the wrong appointment date for paperwork (I have no way to get there b/c Josh works) and 2) actually was in charge of getting my physical set up after we completed the paperwork. I can't wait to just have the job and be done with all of this!

Let's see, what else? I got a hair cut, Josh has me completely addicted to Scrubs, and Maggie is cute as always. This was probably a pretty boring blog to read; I apologize! Take care!

The pieces fit

We've kept ourselves quite busy in the last few weeks. We had a wonderful Fourth of July, including a barbecue with friends and co-workers, and plenty of Rock Band for all involved. (No more Metallica, please!) Last Saturday, we experienced the Altstadtfest downtown with Kara and Steve.
We ate (too much) wonderful food, perused many handmade goods, and even saw a doner kebap stand with a little special "something".


After a grueling working set, Josh spent the next few days off... helping me to deep-clean our apartment. We've been working almost non-stop to get the place looking better than ever before. We're finally hanging things on the walls!


This past "weekend," we also managed to get a new radio for Josh's car. His old one went missing in the move, so we've been without music. The new head unit is going to be great- it has iPod jacks, Blue Tooth so that you can talk on speaker phone through the radio, and will pick up HD radio when we are back in the states. It was a great deal! We found a local American who will install it for a really reasonable price, and I'm sure that Josh can't wait to set up an appointment. Beyond the car situation, we fixed our bedroom curtains so that we can sleep (it's light here for about 18 hours a day), I got an official job offer (which I accepted), I made some headway in learning to drive the manual car, and we finally created a digital version of the monogram that I designed for our wedding. I just put the finishing touches on it and created copies in multiple colors. I used it to make return address labels, but it will be nice to have for all sorts of correspondence and online media.

Lastly, we're hoping to take our first trip to France next week! We have got to pick up an International Driving Permit to accompany Josh's license... it's basically a paper that translates proof of a license into multiple languages. We're hoping to visit Strasbourg, which should be less than two hours' drive. I'm very excited, but a bit nervous due to the reputation of French attitudes toward Americans who cannot speak French. We don't speak French at all... they could cut me a break, I do speak passably well in three languages, but I doubt that it will matter much! :o) Hopefully it will be a fun experience, regardless of the language barrier.

Time flies when you're traveling!

Becky here, bringing you the latest news after nearly a month of silence! If you've been following along, you may remember that I took my trip to the US last month, so I spent most of the month overseas. I had a fabulous trip, thanks for asking! :o)

It was such a thrill and an honor to help Margaret through that last pre-wedding week, and to be present at her marriage to Mike. They met just a few weeks after Josh and I met, so we always say that the summer of 2005 was a lucky one. Their wedding was beautiful and heartwarming, not to mention a ton of fun! I'll write it again, because it merits repetition- many blessings to you, Margaret and Mike!

After the wedding in Chicago, I headed back to the east coast for some quality time with my family. The scheduling worked out perfectly, so I was able to spend time with my grandparents in Philadelphia, and then head to the Jersey shore for the Lomady family beach week. It was great fun and relaxing, as always. I got a bit of color, but was very careful to use my sunblock! My beach cover-ups (very cute dresses that I can wear all summer) still smell like the beach. I am tempted to avoid washing them altogether!

I was also able to visit a few friends in Maryland, which was wonderful and refreshing. Seeing so many friends and family members, who have been with me through all stages of my life, really made me feel grounded, renewed, and above all else, thankful. I returned to Germany with a new, more positive outlook and with excitement for everything that our future holds.

Oh, I also returned with a puppy. :o) Yes, thanks to the hard work of many people (including receptionists, vets, parents, and airline workers), Maggie made it to Germany. She was a bit shaken when I found her in the baggage claim, but soon after she saw Josh and was allowed out of her crate, she seemed much more relaxed. I've been keeping a close eye on her- big changes could cause chaos, but she seems quite well-adjusted now, and is as comfortable as ever with sprawling her tiny body across as much surface area of a couch or bed as is possible.

Josh recently celebrated his 5 year mark- that's five years devoted to the Army thus far. Only three years and some months to go! Congratulations to him! He impresses me because I have never held one job for that amount of time. I guess that college life and then military spouse life doesn't really lend itself to long-term employment, but still, I think his commitment is to be applauded! As far as employment for this writer goes... well, I had an interview the day before I left Germany, and later this week I get to fill out the paperwork! I will be working in a coffee shop once again, and I'm excited. I see it as a way to get out of the house, make some spending and traveling money, and most importantly, to meet some new people! Perhaps we will buy a second vehicle down the road (hopefully a Smart Car!). For now, I'll work around Josh's schedule and be happy to be working at all!

In closing, it is bloody hot in Germany right now. Today our indoor/outdoor thermometer said it was 102 degrees outside. I don't know if it was completely accurate, but it certainly felt like it may have been correct. I will welcome fall with open arms, if this is going to continue!

Health, news, and pins.

Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm on another health binge, and this time, Becky's coming with me. We both joined this cool website called Sparkpeople.com. They enable you to track the calories you are consuming, the calories you are burning, and they let you make goals to those ends. You can also find people with similar goals and plans, and commune with them in the ways of healthiness, as well as hear a helpful and encouraging word or two from those that were once in the same place. I find it very helpful. You should check it out if you are wanting to lose some weight.

In other news, I have one more day of in-processing, and then I'm done with it. I'll be back to my regular job after that. I did learn some cool stuff while I was in-processing, like a little bit of German. Living here is definitely a bit of a change, I'll say that much. I'm walking a lot more than I used to. Of course, we don't have a car yet, but I don't think that'll change too much once we do. It's real nice overall, and Becky and I have met a lot of new people that I hope we'll stay friends with for a long time to come.

We actually celebrated Becky's birthday last night with most of those people. We all went to Chili's for dinner, and then bowling afterwards. We all bowled for about 4 hours! It was crazy. I actually tried out a new style of bowling (where you spin the ball), and it actually seemed to work pretty well for me. When I didn't gutter ball, that is. I think it'll do me good once I practice with it for a bit, though.

Well, that's all for now, I think. Watch for new pictures on our Picasa site.