chasing heartbeats

Casa Camper | Berlin

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Sun, 27 May 2012 15:48:00 +0000

We had the opportunity to check out Casa Camper for my Berlin travel story for Matchbook Magazine last year, and while walking by their Mitte location last week I realized I never shared the hotel here on the blog- which is crazy since I still dream of moving into the hotel. We loved the unique design of the interior and exterior of the hotel and the "home away from home" welcoming feel to the rooms. They have another location in Barcelona which looks equally amazing, which hopefully we will get to visit as well someday soon! Camper not only makes both super comfortable and chic shoes, but I also would use the exact words to describe their hotel. The design is modern, yet functional and cozy. Instead of Mini-Bars inside the rooms, Casa Camper's top floor is a 24 hour a day kitchen, full of delicious food and drinks available free for guests. This might just be the greatest idea ever, I love hotels who don't charge for every little amenity (it kills me when an already pricey hotel tries to rob you by charging for wifi- grrrrrr). Offering free wifi and free snacks make me love Casa Camper even more, surely more hotels would have much happier guests by adopting some of Casa Camper's practices :)

Did you have a nice weekend? We are enjoying our third bank holiday of the month tomorrow and as the last few weeks have been pretty much non-stop, I am looking forward to spending the day with Andreas and Hazel and getting some much needed relaxation.

top image c/o Casa Camper - all others by me

The HIVE part 2

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:22:00 +0000

there were a LOT of stripes on Sunday, but life is more fun when you match, right?

Lindsey spoke about managing life and blogging. It has been a struggle for me since I started working from home to stay focused and I am now trying to make more of an effort to use my time wisely and be more productive. Also, one day per week I will completely unplug- no tweeting, emails or blogging. I am not sure I can stay away from Instagram though...

tweeting the best quotes from each speaker with the #hive12 hashtag

I found Marika to be incredibly inspiring and she was super charming too. She shoots stunning street style photography in her home Bratislava for her blog Tonbogirl and has great personal style as well.

Emily gave a wonderful presentation about creating a great DIY, which is something I knew nothing about beforehand. The conference brought Emily and I together and now I am planning a trip to Dublin to visit her!

Andreas brought Hazel by after lunch on Sunday to meet the girls and she LOVED all the attention she got. She was even featured by Nicole and Lindsey on their blogs!

Hazel & Me by Lindsey

the sweetest (& cutest) sisters in town- Thea and Toni from Sister Mag

Anne from Prêt à Voyager color-coordinated her trip to Berlin AND she matched her dress to her presentation slides. I loved her pops of neon! She spoke about blog etiquette and dealing with negative feedback and you can see her slides here.

cake disguised as a muffin

I am so thankful for the Hive and all the amazing people I met there! A huge thank you to Yvonne, Peggy and Radostina for organizing and for all the hard work they put into the conference. I am already anxiously awaiting Hive 2013, and in the meantime planning some more blogger meet-ups! Any Berlin or Germany based bloggers interested in organizing or attending a meet up, please let me know!

the HIVE part 1

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:48:00 +0000

I have so much to share about the Hive Conference, I am not even quite sure where to start. I opted not to write the world's longest blog post, so it appears this will just be "the hive week" here on Chasing Heartbeats. Admittedly, I was a little nervous to meet these super talented and creative bloggers, not knowing what to expect- and you know what? They were all even more lovely, creative and interesting in person than they are online. There were several bloggers who I had been tweeting and emailing back and forth for what feels like years and finally meeting them in person felt natural and as if we had been friends for years- which is amazing. Maybe because what I do is so foreign to most of my friends, being surrounded by people who not only "get" what I do, but who are also incredibly supportive and inspiring was both comforting and incredible. By the end of the weekend, I felt like I made some lasting friendships, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much and I started planning some exciting new collaborations- I can't wait to see what the future will bring :)

The oh so lovely sisters from Sister Mag who are not only beautiful, but well spoken and smart! Lindsey and I begged Thea to get her Mama to make us a skirt like the one she wore on Saturday, and I might have also asked if I could become the third sister so I could get cute clothes made for me all the time. (only slightly joking)

Design Mom's impromptu photoshoot with the ladies of Hauptstadt Mutti. Not only is Gabrielle incredibly talented and creative- she has SIX kids and is so put together and chic- and on top of that, she is also super nice and she is a big Beyonce fan too :) Her presentation on the business of blogging inspired everyone to make our blogs bigger and better.

Brittany's business cards! I totally took a stalker photo of her bag :) That "book" spine you see is actually her computer cover- sneaky and awesome :)

Jeanette's photography is absolutely stunning, she spoke about online magazines and if you haven't checked hers out already, do it now. It is absolutely gorgeous.

a cardboard digital camera from IKEA were gifts for the speakers

Sadly I didn't take too many pictures from the first day.... Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow!

expat bloggers + lunch

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Mon, 21 May 2012 07:14:00 +0000

image by Lindsey

Rebecca, Anne, Rubi, Alex, Brittany, Emily, Moi & Lindsey- not pictured: Anthony (who took this photo) & Bryan

This weekend was amazing for MANY reasons. Now that it is all over I am feeling incredibly inspired and motivated, but more importantly so thankful for the amazing bloggers I finally got the chance to meet in person. Emily suggested the idea of an Expat-Blogger Lunch before the Hive Conference started and naturally I waited until last week to find a place to host it, but luckily I found a great little restaurant on Linienstraße in Mitte. Lokal had been on my "restaurants to try list" for ages and the long tables and gorgeous window light were the perfect fit, on top of having organic, modern German food. It also seems fitting that they use a blog as their website ;) Would it sound totally crazy if I told you that it felt like I already knew some of these girls even though we had never met before? All of them were even more lovely than I had imagined and SO creative and inspiring! I have really needed a bit of a push lately to get myself on track creatively and this weekend and the support of my incredibly supportive blog friends was exactly what I needed. Stay tuned for a post about the Hive Conference (which is the reason everyone was in town)- there is LOTS more to share from the weekend!

Musik für Mittwoch

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:08:00 +0000

The Paper Kites // Featherstone

I have been playing this song on repeat lately, and seeing another Paper Kites song on my friend Alex's blog reminded to share it with you guys :) Hope your week is off to a great start! Happy Wednesday

weekend

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:24:00 +0000

at the Kollwitzplatz Farmers market- which might just be my new favorite place to spend Saturday morning and WAY better than the Thursday market :) thanks to Rebecca and Anthony for the tip!

Strawberry Mint and Rhubarb sorbet? i died and went to ice cream heaven. normally I am strictly a fruit ice cream kind of girl, and I was obsessed with Andreas's Honey Rosemary scoop.

my farmer's market flower purchase- they make me oh so happy.

cold, rainy weather called for giant bowls of Korean soup at YamYam

It sort of feels like I blinked and the weekend was already over. It started getting caught in a crazy rain storm- and I realized that trying to carry an umbrella and a puppy at the same time is not such an easy task. I also discovered that if I actually blow dry and style my hair, it will most likely rain. I hope you all had great weekends! For once I am actually looking forward to the week to start- one of my oldest friends arrives on Tuesday and The Hive Conference is already this weekend! It will be so much fun to actually meet some of my blogging friends in real life, and some new faces too!

exploring berlin | C/O Berlin

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Thu, 10 May 2012 07:02:00 +0000

This city has over 170 museums and I have to admit I have only had the chance to visit a handful of them, but my long standing favorite is C/O Berlin- International Forum for Visual Dialogues. It was the first museum I visited in Berlin (the trip that made me fall in love with this city), and every visit back has been memorable and incredibly inspiring. C/O is a photography museum housed in the old Postfuhramt (Royal Post Office) building, and the museum has shown work from the some of the world's best photographers. The old building and its peeling paint only add to the allure of the place- I always recommend C/O to friends visiting the city as I consider it to be a "must see" when in Berlin. My friend Alex and I attended a lecture there a few weeks ago, which if you get the chance to attend one I also highly recommend. Have you visited the museum? Did you love it as much as I do?

All images (except top image) are from my first visit to Berlin in 2007 from a Karl Lagerfeld exhibit "One Man Shown" featuring photographs and multimedia installations of his former boyfriend and muse, Brad Kroenig. It almost felt like you were viewing someone's diary, which was a very different showing of work than the Karl Lagerfeld show I visited in Paris 2 years ago at my other favorite photography museum in Europe, Maison Européenne de la Photographie.

exploring berlin is a series where I share my favorite places and explorations in my new home city.

Musik für Mittwoch

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Wed, 09 May 2012 05:30:00 +0000

Yasemin Turan // Holocene

I am not even sure how I originally stumbled upon this girl and her amazing voice. I really don't spend much time cruising youtube, but once I heard one of her videos I couldn't stop listening. I find this cover of Holocene particularly stunning. Click through to her other videos, she is crazy talented. Happy Wednesday.

And from the bottom of my heart, thank you all so much for your comments on yesterday's post. This crazy world of blogging never ceases to amaze me. Would you call me crazy if I told you that a few of your comments brought tears to my eyes? I was totally blown away by not only the willingness to open up in the comments here, but by the amazing "things I am afraid to tell you" posts around the internet. It made me realize that while I have always tried to keep this space positive and upbeat, I can definitely work on sharing a bit more of my "real world" here as well. Thank you for reading, and thank you for being amazing.

things I'm afraid to tell you....

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Tue, 08 May 2012 07:14:00 +0000

I was incredibly inspired by these "things I'm afraid to tell you" posts around the blog world last week, which started in an effort to bring some transparency to bloggers by Ez from Creature Comforts. I let this post hang out as a draft since Friday because I wasn't sure I wanted to press publish. I think last night's lack of sleep is the reason I feel so brave this morning. I usually don't get too personal here, I think because I share so many personal photos, I keep the written insights of our lives to a minimum to maintain a bit of privacy. Sometimes that feels stupid. Other times it seems right. Sometimes I think about how strange is it that I feel much more comfortable sharing my life here on my blog than I do on my own facebook page. The blog world is sometimes strange, but in my experience it is also pretty amazing, and full of such lovely and supportive people. So here are a few things I would never normally share with strangers (especially without a glass of wine):

// I am learning to accept the fact that depression will probably always be a part of my life. Learning to deal with it and acknowledge its place in my daily life is a struggle, but a challenge I am trying to both understand and balance. Yoga and a very supportive husband help keep my bad days to a minimum, but I don't think they will ever really go away.

// The thought of moving back to the US terrifies me, and I don't really know why. Two days into my trip home in February I was looking at apartments in San Francisco, then I suddenly wanted to teleport back to Berlin. It breaks my heart to be so far away from the people I love, but Europe feels more like home at this point in my life. It is a point that Andreas and I don't always see eye to eye on.

// The last few months have been simultaneously great and incredibly difficult.

// No one will tell you that during the first few weeks of owning a puppy, you might think you made a terrible decision. Hazel made me cry at least one time. Fortunately those weeks seem to be behind us :)

// After years of freelancing beside my full time job, I am finally going 100% freelance and throwing myself into my wedding photography business- and it is absolutely terrifying.

// Living abroad has destroyed my grammar. I know I can only blame myself for that, but I am incredibly embarrassed by the amount of mistakes I now make when both speaking and writing in English. (this would also hold true for German as well)

// I am at times (more often than not) incredibly socially awkward.

// Working from home means that during the week, more often than not, I am probably wearing some sort of spandex. Somedays I shower at 5pm.

// Missing my friends and family has begun to feel normal, and I think I have learned to desensitize myself in order to live so far away. that scares me immensely.

// We have lived in our apartment since the new year and are still have boxes hiding behind the couch which need to be unpacked. And we still have a fair amount of furniture to buy, and curtains to hang...

// I have dyed my hair since I was 17 going from platinum blonde to black and pretty much everything in between. Now I actually have a reason to dye my hair, as I have a colony of grey which hang out directly in my part line. It almost makes me want to go back to my natural blonde so the grey will be easier disguised. **& for the record, I think grey hair is gorgeous and wish I could let mine show, but I feel like my wrinkles age me enough already. Maybe someday I will be brave enough.

Some of my friends wrote these posts as well and pushed me to be brave enough to write one for myself- thank you blog friends for being so wonderful. and for reading :)

Lou Lou magazine feature

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:52:00 +0000

We just received a copy of Lou Lou Magazine (thanks Daniel + Davina! - their stunning wedding is also in the mag) where our wedding is featured, and we are both completely flattered and honored to have two full pages in the Bridal issue in addition to being featured on their website this week. It was a wonderful surprise especially as we did not have a lot of the gorgeous little details which grace most weddings featured in the blog/print world, but every time I see these images the memoires of the weekend come flooding back- details or not, it was a damn good party :)

may day

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:19:00 +0000

I love Gözleme :)

the balloon says "no place for nazis" for my non-german speaking friends :)

The First of May is a bank holiday here in Germany as it is the Tag der Arbeit (labor day) and May Day in Berlin is celebrated quite differently than it is in the South where we used to live. There it is a day to ride bicycles from village to village eating Bratwurst and drinking Maibock (a strong, dark beer made only in May- it is my favorite). Here in Berlin, May Day is a day of protests with a long history of riots as well, some are labor unions while other demonstrations are more radical. We rode our bicycles to MyFest, which is a giant party in the streets of Kreuzberg and a peaceful alternative to the demonstrations which sometimes turn to into violent clashes with police. You all know I love festivals, we drank a couple beers, listened to music, ate turkish street food and enjoyed the sunshine- all in all, a pretty amazing afternoon.

It now seems we are back to spring weather, but the little taste of summer got me so excited about the months to come- this city really shines when the sun is out.

moonrise kingdom

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Thu, 03 May 2012 08:09:00 +0000

I have no idea when this will make it to Berlin, but it looks amazing. to say I am excited would be a huge understatement :)

Musik für Mittwoch

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Wed, 02 May 2012 05:00:00 +0000

Carrie Manolakos // Creep (Radiohead Cover)

Lindsey posted this on facebook last week and after listening to this cover of Radiohead's creep, I proceeded to listen to it over and over and now I am passing the baton for you to do the same.
enjoy and happy wednesday!

weekend

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:03:00 +0000

a farmers market treat to myself :)

Andreas's lemon-cinnamon sorbet from Hokey Pokey was amazing

Friday's post reminded me of the AMAZING minted lemonade they serve at the House Café, my attempt to recreate it was not nearly as pretty, but SO delicious.

This weekend we skipped spring and went straight to summer- the weather here in Berlin was AMAZING, and it appears that it is here to stay at least through the week :) We went to my favorite Saturday morning farmer's market (the Boxhagenerplatz Wochenmarkt), on our first bicycle ride (to get ice cream, of course) and enjoyed time with the pup. I decided that our mission for the summer is to try out all the best ice cream shops in town and find our favorite. We made some huge progress in puppy training: we are actually getting some sleep again and we finally got the courage to leave her home alone for a couple hours (in a safe place of course) and she handled it like a champ. And because I am more than a little obsessed with her, I decided that Hazel needed her own blog instead of turning Chasing Heartbeats into all Hazel all the time. Check it out here.

I hope you all had lovely weekends! How is tomorrow already May?!?!?!

the house hotel | Istanbul

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:05:00 +0000

I was sitting at my desk dreaming of returning to Istanbul again and I realized I had never posted about the hotel I toured for my Matchbook Magazine story last year. I fell hard for The House Hotel's three locations around the city, each of them different and amazing in their own way and beautifully designed by Turkish designer Autoban. I know I have professed my love for Istanbul here on the blog many times before, but it truly is such an incredible city, and for our next trip I definitely want to stay at one of the House Hotels.... the only question is, which one?

for a little Istanbul wanderlust check out this awesome tumblr - I even discovered one of my istanbul photos there

Happy Weekend! The weather here in Berlin is finally looking like spring and I cannot wait to take my bicycle out for her first ride around the city, and hopefully take the vespa for a spin too!

weekend

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:34:00 +0000

family portrait :) it should be noted that Andreas is sitting down as I am standing in heels and we are the same height.

Little Hazel had her first taste exploring the city this weekend, including trips on the U-Bahn, S-Bahn and Street Trams and she rode them all like an old pro. She slept through most of the rides, and while she is super curious absorbing all the new sights - new people, places and other pups, she is pretty calm and collected. Overall our first week with her has been great, although honestly a really big adjustment. We still have lots to learn about puppy training and any tips or reading recommendations would be SO appreciated. I don't really feel comfortable leaving her at home alone yet when she is awake, hopefully we can work on that this week. We made a quick stop by the Slow Travel Berlin "Celebration of Creativity, Culture and Cuisine" yesterday held at Markthalle IX, it looked amazing and I wish we could have stayed longer to really enjoy the event.

After a few weeks of cold weather here in Berlin, it started to feel like spring again this weekend and it is so nice to go outside without my winter jacket again. I love how the moment the weather starts to warm up, people spill out on to the streets into the terraces and parks- it reminds me a lot of San Francisco, where on any sunny day above 65 degrees, the parks are full of people enjoying the day. Towards the end of the week it is supposed to be even warmer, hopefully spring will stick around this time.

How were your weekends? I will be back blogging more this week with some interesting travel posts coming your way :) Stay tuned!

Musik für Mittwoch

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Rosie and Me // Home

The lovely Allie posted about Rosie and Me on her blog and I really liked their music and thought I would share this video with you. I am not sure if you knew this about me, but I am a really big fan of the banjo. that is all. Happy Wednesday.

introducing.... miss hazel blue

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:45:00 +0000

little hazel blue is the newest addition to our little family, and Andreas and I are madly in love and more than a little obsessed with her. We brought her home Saturday morning and spent the weekend getting to know our pup, we have learned that she LOVES sticks- the bigger the better (carrying them around and trying to eat them), is a wonderful cuddler, loves to roll in dirt (and sometimes eat it too), gives lots of kisses and enjoys running around our apartment like a madwoman followed by the most epic naps. We are completely and utterly in love.

I should probably apologize to my instagram friends ahead of time for the flood of photos of my little girl that I have already posted, surely it is only the beginning :)

Also, I finally created a facebook page and would love your support! I hope you all had lovely weekends!

weekend

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:33:00 +0000

We spent a really nice long relaxing Easter weekend with Andreas's family in the South of Germany. We caught up with friends, ate way too much cake, walked across the border to France, and I read and loved the first Hunger Games book (and as soon as I finished it, immediately ordered the 2nd and 3rd books). On Tuesday, we drove a van back to Berlin with our bicycles and my vespa which we couldn't squeeze into the moving van in December. On the way back into town we got to visit some of the cutest pups ever, and I decided puppy kisses can turn any day around- after eight hours of driving it was the perfect end to our trip. Be ready for lots of puppy pictures to come here on the blog because come Saturday we will be puppy parents and could not be more excited :)

Musik für Mittwoch

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Nick Bluhm and The Gramblers // Patsy Cline's She's Got You

My friend Courtney posted this song on facebook last week and I had to share it. I have been a huge Patsy Cline fan for as long as I can remember, and her music always takes me back to my teenage days waiting tables in my hometown and playing Patsy Cline's greatest hits on repeat every night I worked.

The rest of their van sessions are pretty awesome too, check them out here.

boarding pass feature

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:05:00 +0000

I was incredibly honored to be asked to contribute to Anne's Boarding Pass series, as I have long been a fan of both Prêt à Voyager and the boarding pass posts and feel so lucky to be featured among such great company. It was great fun going through my photo archives and reliving my favorite travels. It also made my normal wanderlust go into overdrive and I am obsessively planning trips for the rest of the year. I am really looking forward to meeting Anne and hearing her speak at the Hive Conference here in Berlin next month, and also seeing more of her work as art director for the new (and impeccably designed) Wayfare Magazine. Check out my boarding pass feature here.

photo from sunset in Big Sur, aka my favorite place on earth

to the black forest we go!

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:00:00 +0000

We are hopping on the train to spend a long weekend in the Black Forest visiting family and friends. When we moved to Berlin, I never imagined getting homesick for the Black Forest, but I am really looking forward to catching up with friends, taking long walks through the forest, riding my vespa through the fields, eating cherry streusel from my favorite bakery and hopefully enjoying some spring weather! It is the said to be the warmest region in Germany, so hopefully it will live up to that claim this weekend!

exploring berlin | Gedenkstätte Hohenschönhausen

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:34:00 +0000

Since you said you would be interested in following along while I explore my new home, I decided to make this a series :)

Living in a city that has seen such dramatic change within my lifetime has turned me into a bit of a history nerd. I read (and loved) Anna Funder's book Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall, which details the role the Stasi secret police played in the lives of East German citizens. If you have any interest in East German history, Stasiland is a must read. One of the women interviewed in Anna's book had been arrested and taken to Hohenschönhausen Prison, and a visit was high on my list of places to see here in Berlin. Hohenschönhausen Prison is located in Lichtenberg, in the far east part of the city, and is smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood. From the tram stop, there are no signs leading to the prison, no tourists, and without knowing where you were going, you might not find it. During the years which the prison was in use, the streets were blocked off creating a restricted area, and residents most likely did not know what lay behind the walls. The woman interviewed in Stasiland who had been taken here had no idea that the prison she was kept at was inside of Berlin. When prisoners were captured, they were driven around in a windowless truck for hours to manipulate their sense of direction, only after they were released did they realize they were still within the city of East Berlin. Prisoners were kept in complete isolation with absolutely no personal belongings and had no contact with anyone other than the prison guards; I cannot even begin to imagine how horrible that must have been.

the trucks which transported prisoners was disguised as a normal delivery truck and prisoners were stuffed in tiny cages in the cargo area.

The guided tours of the prison are given by people who were once prisoners at Hohenschönhausen, and our guides story completely blew me away. He had tried to escape East Germany by traveling to Prague and then trying to cross the border into Bavaria, which at the time was West Germany. He was caught and sent to numerous prisons, including Hohenschönhausen. Years after his release he discovered that his father was an informer for the Stasi and had been the one who alerted the secret police about his plan to escape. Stasi informers received nothing in return for the information they provided, which makes his story even more heartbreaking. Andreas's mother asked him "why don't you leave East Berlin, isn't it painful to stay here and relive your experience?" his response was that he stayed and worked to make sure people do not forget the past, and surely it must be therapeutic as well.

Certainly I am no expert, but the tour really ignited my interest in German history and specifically that of the DDR. I really want to go back to take the tour in English so I can understand 100% of the information given, understanding everything from the German tour was..... difficult (Afterwards I had to discuss everything I heard with Andreas in english to make sure I understood it all). For more (and much better) images of the Stasi Prison check out the work of Philipp Lohöfener who was granted special access to photograph the prison, and created a wonderful series of images.

Gedenkstätte Berlin Hohenschönhausen | Hohenschönhausen Memorial

Genslerstraße 66 | 13055 Berlin

German Tours offered daily | English Tours offered Wed & Sat 2:30pm

Musik für Mittwoch

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 04:00:00 +0000

The Three Pickers // Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs and Earl Scruggs

Sadly Earl Scruggs passed away last week, but his music continues to bring a smile to my face, something about the banjo and bluegrass music just makes me happy. I think it might be because it conjures up a lot of great memories and reminds me of home. This video is also pretty amazing :) Thank you Earl Scruggs for making Bluegrass what it is today.

weekend

noreply@blogger.com (ashley // chasing heartbeats) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:21:00 +0000

nerds

Elderflower Prosecco sorbet? It was FREEZING outside, but it was delicious.

After a week of gorgeous spring weather it seems that winter has returned :( Saturday had the craziest weather, one moment it was cold, but sunny and 5 minutes later it was HAILING. Mid hail storm we ran back to our apartment to grab an umbrella and in the few moments we were inside, the wind and hail stopped and the sunshine returned. It was completely bizarre. We went to our first soccer match here in Berlin at Olympia Stadium, where Berlin lost badly and we froze our bums off, but had a great time nevertheless. (some photos on my instagram here because apparently SLR cameras could be used as a weapon? they are sometimes allowed, sometimes not- I didn't even try this time) Sunday was spent making a tour of Berlin Flohmärkte (we hit up FIVE flea markets) looking for some amazing new things for our apartment, and I learned two things: 1) Andreas and I have very different taste in furniture and 2) we need to get out of the house way before 12 to beat the crowds and snag the good pieces. Even though we came home empty handed it was fun to be explore and visit some new parts of the city.

How was your weekend? I am already looking forward to the upcoming long Easter weekend visiting family and friends in the South of Germany and hoping spring will return in time for our trip, the Black Forest is especially beautiful in the spring.

In Case you are interested, here are the flea markets we visited:

Arkonaplatz Flohmarkt in Mitte **

Mauerpark Flohmarkt in Mitte

Boxhagenerplatz Trödelmarkt in Friedrichshain **

RAW Flohmarkt in Friedrichshain

Nowköln Flea in Neuköln