In Colorful Waters

Flip Flops and Wanderschuhe

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 20:44:00 +0000

It's been forever and a half since I've written something on this blog, but I just wanted to stop by and say, if you haven't yet figured out where I've disappeared to, I'm not gone forever! I'm just writing about our RTW adventures on a different blog that Micha and I are sharing. I didn't really think it would be right for us to record those adventures here since this is my space.Some things you just gotta keep separate. :)

I'll be back here in February 2014, when we return to Berlin and our normal daily lives (weird!). Because I miss this blog and the stuff I usually get to write about that's not just travel. (Ummm, not that just getting to experience and write about travel isn't awesome. It totally is!) But in the meantime, for the past 3 months and the next 4 as well, you can find me here:

http://flipflopsandwanderschuhe.blogspot.com/

Hope you like it and I'll see you back here next year!

A Second Wedding on a Perfect Summer Day

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 21:09:00 +0000

Remember how a while ago, Micha and I headed to Nico and Claudi's secret wedding in the countryside near the ridiculously named German city, Worms (hehehehe, gets me every time)? Well, this past weekend, we celebrated their wedding once again! That's right, one wasn't enough for those crazy kids, so they threw another, this time much bigger, wedding celebration for all their friends and family to attend this summer. (I no longer question such decisions, as I've slowly learned that people be crazy when it comes to weddings.)

So this weekend, we and a few other Berliner friends packed up our cars and headed down to a little tiny flower-filled town in the countryside of Bavaria for a lovely summer wedding fête.

The weather was perfect (and you know we don't get to say that often here in Germany) and the setting was absolutely idyllic. A sprawling farm covered in colorful flowers, ridiculously loud sheep (who seriously yelled like people! I'll upload proof in video form :), the tiniest of medieval churches for the "ceremony," and the perfectly snow-topped Alps in the background (which I sadly did not manage to photograph). Not shabby for a quick, festive weekend getaway.

The (surprisingly awesome) catch to this wedding: the dress code was hats required! And you'd think that some people would be party poopers and not play along, but man oh man did everybody come through! And it looked oh-so fantastically dapper...

Marie and Katrin

Betti and Dreschi

Hanna and Kerstin

The Brits are really onto something with their tradition of fascinators and hats.

The groom and co-ceremony Meisterin, Sandra | No-longer-so-wee buddies Mia and Aron

The lovely bride (with neon pink shoes!) and her jolly dad

Naturally, I wasn't about to let a hats-required occasion go by just wearing a normal old hat. (I mean really...) So I told Kerstin I'd DIY something for the two of us, already knowing that I without a doubt wanted to try my hand at these fabulous party hats (this one) (and this one) from A Subtle Revelry.

And the result? 1) Easiest things to make ever! Though you do need significantly more tulle than you think, as the directions aren't specific on that; and 2) I solidified my status as crazy American and heard from the bride's father at least three times throughout the course of the night, "you should never take that hat off!" Mission accomplished.

More photos of the ceremony and dancing to come, there are too many cute ones for one post!

Our Suprise Bon Voyage Party

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 21:06:00 +0000

Last weekend, Emily and family were visiting us and we'd planned to hang out with Kerstin on Saturday so Emily could meet wee Hanna and we three ladies could drink and chat while the menfolk watched one of the five million soccer championship games that takes place in May (seriously, why are there so many different ones? Is one trophy not enough??).

So you can imagine our surprise when Micha and I walked into Kerstin's backyard to see a giant tent set up...

...and all of our friends there waiting for us!

Kerstin and Emily had been planning a bon voyage party for us for months!! As you may or may not know, Micha and I will be embarking on a 7-month around-the-world trip in July (yippee!!) - and if you didn't know, surprise! - and the funny thing is, I'd been whining to Kerstin for weeks about how I wanted to plan a goodbye party for us but just couldn't get my act together enough yet to do so.

Wee best friend and I have fun together, even if our expressions tells a different story

Teaching the rugrats (Mia and Aron) how to properly smile for a picture

Aron's a pro: that's his typical picture expression - I taught him well early on!

But that's what great friends are for, right? To know what you want before you want it and to take the party planning load off your shoulders (when you've got enough packing and visa-obtaining and route planning to deal with) and give you the biggest, happiest surprise when you're least expecting it!

There were map garlands all over, a kickass map tablecloth that Emily whipped up, sweet make-your-own banners personalized just for us (Kerstin is as big a fan of Papermash as I am), and the coolest homemade sign listing some of our destinations and their distance on it planted right into the backyard (in the first picture). You bet your ass I'll be stealing and keeping that sign for years to come.

My favorite part about the party - and they really went all out - was that everybody contributed a dish from one of the countries we'll be visiting on our route! How awesome is that idea?! And how much more awesome are our friends for all playing along?

Sara and Christoph made a vegetarian dish decorated with pictures of cooked cuy

The weather was complete crap - it did not stop raining for even a second the entire day - but it happily did not matter even one little bit. Everyone stayed until the bitter end, eating, drinking, laughing, listening to us blabber about our travel plans, and, of course, playing with the adorable little ones.

Micha and his Keule | Photobombed!

Little Mara | Sara and Hanna bonded in the warm indoors

How cute (and adorably jolly) is this little nugget? (Also, please note giggly Charlie in the background)

I really can't thank Kerstin and Emily enough for giving us the perfect send-off before we leave our friends and home behind for 7 months of adventure and who-knows-what-else! Ladies, I tip my hat to you. You rock my world.

And if you want to follow our travel adventures starting in July, you can find Micha and me over here: Flip Flops and Wanderschuhe, where we'll be sharing our adventures as much as we possibly can on the road. All the details about our trip can be found there, too (soon enough :)!

New Coffe Table!

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Wed, 15 May 2013 21:55:00 +0000

Ahhh, the new coffee table. It has significantly improved my mood at home because for the first time since living here, I have space to move in the living room! It's really amazing. Our old table was just too darn big for the space but hey, we had to furnish a whole apartment within a couple months so obviously, it was up to Ikea. And as a result, when it came to replacing things slowly but surely, I wanted to make sure I found pieces that 1) aren't Ikea, and 2) we both really really like (not even a remotely easy task). Hence the over one-year long coffee table hunt...

To jog your memory, here's the old ~~ginormous~~ too-large-for-the-space table that took up half the living room (I have very few pictures of it, apparently; probably because of my ever-growing disdain for the thing, so this is one from my surprise birthday party a few years ago):

And here's the new guy:

Look at all that space around him! You can actually stand up from the couch without hitting your knee on the table!

And not to mention, he lets the bar cart shine in all its brass glory even more. Hoo-rah.

The box frame is what drew me to it in the first place, and I'm pretty sure it's also what lured Micha in, after we'd fallen in love with this one at West Elm during our Miami visit. (Thanks to sister for making Micha fall in love with West Elm - he even picked out our future couch. Now she just has to get them to open in Europe...)

Can you spot the wee gnome?

And here's my new view from the couch (clearly, I'm too incoherent in the morning to even bother turning off the news while taking pictures...). My biggest issue before was feeling so closed in by the old table, but no longer! I could not be happier! And I know, I know, we need a rug, but baby steps, right? (We also can't wait to replace the couch but that is an investment for another day. Or year.)

p.s. as usual, our furniture isn't actually that crooked; it really is our crooked floors that make that lamp tilt so much!

My Weekend in Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:50:00 +0000

I was totally thrown off from all sense of normalcy last week by a last-minute work trip to Copenhagen (such a cool city!) (though getting stuck there an extra night wasn't my favorite) and another mid-week holiday (Herren-/Männertag) for which Micha was gone with the menfolk, resulting in us not seeing each other for a whole week. (Also resulting in one giant mess of an apartment while he was away, but that's another story...) My oh-so-loving quote when he got back? I missed you...but not that much... I had meant it in a good way (I was so busy!), but somehow, that's not how it came across. It really is amazing that he still puts up with me. :)

Tivoli at night

I spent the holiday Thursday with Kerstin and Hanna, first at a lovely late brunch at Zuckerfee - where Hanna and I rekindled our best-friendship - then at their home getting our craftiness on for Hanna's upcoming first birthday (one! eek!). We also enjoyed a fantabulous rhubarb cheesecake that Kerstin had made as a reward for both successfully spray painting against the wind and finally getting the baby to sleep. We make a good team.

Scooting around the house using just her upper body (babies move in the weirdest ways!)

Crafting requires sekt cocktails

The wind tried to thwart our plans but we persevered

Saturday I spent relaxing at home (aka sleeping in and being lazy) and cleaning up the embarassingly messy state of the apartment before Micha got back. I got in a nice long run and was glad I did after being rewarded with such lovely pink scenery.

The pink streets of Weißensee

Quality time with the balcony flowers

Micha came home that evening so we cooked up a delicious meal of lemon braised chicken and beans with mint pesto. I picked this meal fully thinking, oh, it looks yummy and not terribly complicated, but managed to fail to see the time involved. So, yet again, as always happens when I cook, we ate at 10:30 pm. If I tried to cook every night we'd likely half-starve to death. Which is why our meal absolutely required mojitos on the side. Along with this side salad - the dressing was stupendous, so I had to share.

Dinner at 10:30pm! That's normal, right...?

A well-deserved mojito

Sunday wasn't terribly eventful - more time spent with the plants and giant mugs of coffee - but I did pick up some lovely peonies and made it to the track for a workout without getting rained on (despite the lingering storm clouds). Success!

I hope your weekend was full of relaxation as well! (And if you're in Germany, did you know next weekend is a 3-day weekend? I just found out and am so stoked!)

My Weekend in Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Mon, 06 May 2013 21:45:00 +0000

midweek holiday grilling

arrival of the coffee table!

spring from the balcony

gold spray painting (again)

brewing a pilsener

high-tech hockey watching

sunshine

We have midweek holidays last week and this week, which are always a bit funny but nice in the fact that, it basically feels like a long weekend even though you have to work in between. So I can't complain.

We kicked off the pretend long weekend - after I finally recovered from a random and obnoxious cold - with a grill evening on the balcony before joining the first of May festivities in Kreuzberg the next day. After a couple days back in the office, we spent the real weekend taking full advantage of spring and the warmer temperatures and sunshine it finally brought. We spent a morning on the balcony repotting plants and getting crafty (ok, that was just me), a day in the park with friends and beer, an evening at Schalander catching up with another friend, and the next day watching the hockey WM while brewing a new batch of pilsener with Kai, cuz we've got to get in as much brewing as we can before July.

Oh and in the biggest news of all, the new coffee table arrived! Aaaagh, I can't wait to share it with you because I'm guessing you, like me, had basically given up hope that this day would ever come. :)

Things You Don't Want to Hear from Your Boyfriend

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Thu, 02 May 2013 21:09:00 +0000

Random side note: As I rapidly approach old age, I'm starting to strongly dislike the word boyfriend, which makes me feel about 13 (not that I had a boyfriend at 13, but you know what I mean) and am leaning towards going all Kiwi/Australian on you and just saying partner from now on. You've been warned. (I already know what Emily's solution for this problem would be... ;)

So anywho, over the years, an intercultural relationship leads to a lot hilarious misunderstandings and plenty of entertaining quotes. Here are some of my favorites from Micha, at different stages in our relationship. Luckily, he never managed to offend me enough to scare me off!

“Your legs aren’t fat. They’re just sporty. Like mine.”

“Are you pooping money?”

Me: “Do you like my new scented candle?!”

Micha (wrinkling nose): “It smells like my dad’s weird girlfriend.”

“You haven’t been to the hairdresser in a while, have you?”

“Hey, my little construction worker!”

-------

He sure does have a words with words, doesn't he? :)

I Love Lucy pictures from TV guide

My Last Couple Weekends in Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:30:00 +0000

Plant bath time

Springtime repotting time

New balcony plants

Someone's turn for a makeover

So handsome in gold

Steaks for three

Warm temps and a balcony dinner

Beers and hockey

Celebrations for the DEL champions (once again)

Beer brewing prep

Brewing progress

The braumeister (and his serious face)

Brewing protocol

Spring arrived slowly and with a couple false starts, but I took full advantage and joined the rest of Berlin in filling my shopping carts with flowers and soil last weekend to beautify the balcony, which is sadly lacking in tomatoes this year (there is an explanation for that...), as best I could. We also enjoyed our first grill evening outdoors with Kai after I happily spruced up seasick gnomey's look with a shiny new coat of gold spray paint (he was in dire need of less green).

This past weekend, we got to celebrate the Eisbären's third championship in a row (and seventh total) on Sunday, which would have been more exciting if it weren't so expected at this point, after having spent Saturday brewing a fresh new batch of Summer Ale, just the two of us. I'm told I make a darn good brewery helper and I'm pretty freaking proud of it. Also, this batch is already showing signs of being awesome and we haven't even put it into bottles yet. Not that I'm biased or anything...

My Heart is with Boston

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:30:00 +0000

I'm still at quite a loss for words as to how to express what I'm feeling about the tragic Boston marathon bombings on Sunday, but luckily, somebody else, another former BU student, was able to capture exactly those feelings and write them out much better than I ever could in this article. It is most definitely worth a read, whether you know (and love) the city or not.

Stay strong, Bostonians. You're in my thoughts and heart.

View of Boston from Alyssa & Erik's house - photo by Micha from our trip last year

Happy Weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:30:00 +0000

Just as my final work day of the week is coming to a close, the rain (that drenched me so badly this morning on my bike ride to work, I had to take off my pants and wear my gym pants around the office half the day) has conveniently disappeared and the sunshine (that I'd almost forgotten how it looked) has made a very welcome appearance. This can really only mean good things to come.

I was not nearly as cute in the rain this morning as this guy...

We have a bit planned for the weekend: some beer brewing, some triathlon training, some Ikea plant shopping (did you know the Ikea garten center in Lichtenberg is the largest in all of Europe?! It's magical...), and some new recipe trying.

So along those lines, here a little food for thought if you find yourself lazing on the couch with your morning coffee over the next two days:

Hanging planters are the perfect way to spring-ify the apartment, I say.

This pasta definitely deserves the chance to try and steal its way into my heart.

I love the idea of thinking of your living room as an awesome library.

This table would look pretty perfect in basically any and every room.

I cannot wait to own this book! (Clearly, I'm obsessed...)

Kerstin and I need party hats for a hats-required wedding this summer (yes, seriously), and this adorable one just made it to the top of my list.

A Few Good Things from the Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:47:00 +0000

Thankfully, the next weekend is already almost here, but here a few things from this past one that I found to be pretty darn great.

We went to our friends' (Sara & Christoph) place on Saturday to catch up on life and vacations and they planned that we should make dinner together. I feel like this is a long lost art between people that should be officially revived. Making dinner with friends is awesome. Not having them make it for you, but actually going to their place and contributing. While you all drink too much wine or beer or whatever and maybe overcook or undercook a dish or two... It's just so much better than trying to be the perfect hostess because it's so effing relaxed! Friends - take note. I'm putting you to work next time you come over for dinner! ;)

Instagrammed ingredients

On Sunday, we met up with other friends for our monthly brunch at a new location that, at first, I did not have high hopes for, but I was oh-so-pleased to be proved completely wrong. I get skeptical when people make reservations in the 'burbs, but I guess this wasn't really that far outside the city - it's reachable by tram - and dammit, if the location wasn't perfection for an almost warm, less-winter-more-spring day.

We went to the Hafenküche, which, while the website is abominable, the location, design, and food are fantastical (totally a real word ;). We got a big ol' platter of wurst, cheese, random mixed salads (egg, wurst, caprese, and the like), unlimited bread, and more for a very reasonable price of 12€ per person. And then we got to walk along the river together afterwards and spy into all the gorgeous fancy apartments that have been built up along it. (One day...!)

Die Hafenküche

Also on Sunday, Micha randomly pointed to a pack of raspberries he'd bought and said, "I thought you wanted to bake..." And since we all know he's not the biggest baked goods fan, I jump at any chance I get to bake and share it with someone. So I whipped up a batch of this raspberry buttermilk cake from Smitten Kitchen (my go-to, on-the-spot, crap-what-do-I-make-right-now?! source) and fell madly in love with the recipe. So simple. So yummy. So quick! Quick really being the name of the game here, but I love that I already had all the ingredients on hand (substituting lemon + milk for buttermilk like I always do, since buttermilk packs in Germany are ginormous) and I also love the fact that it wasn't too sweet.

Raspberry buttermilk mini bundt cakes

I put them in mini bundt forms that Micha's momma had just given me for Easter and they could not have been cuter. In fact, there are still two cakes hanging out in our fridge right now that I might just have to take out and devour before I go to bed...

Personal Lap Pools

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:55:00 +0000

Did you catch this post on Apartment Therapy the other day? Damn that site for always making me want completely ridiculous things for my apartment. A personal lap pool at home that could fit (perhaps) in a city and not just in the 'burbs?! Perfection!

source: Houzz

source: Dwell

I wouldn't have to deal with terrible German swimmers who think they belong in the fast lane (seriously, I want to buy each and every one of them a dictionary and highlight the word "schnell" in rainbow colors) and just think, sister and I could work out together every day and then treat ourselves to poolside cocktails directly afterwards. I think my future goal is quite clear. And since the sun seemingly never wants to shine in Berlin again, perhaps a move to Miami is in store... ;)

(No seriously, sister, get a house with a pool like this and we're there!)

Image credits: Top pool by Secret Gardens via Houzz | Bottom pool photo by James Knowler for Dwell, both via Apartment Therapy

My Modeling Career

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 19:39:00 +0000

I'm almost ready to start babbling away about our recent ridiculous/hilarious/drama-filled trip to LA and Miami with sister that we just got back from, but in the meantime, here's what may be the the most random post ever seen in these parts. (I mostly wanted to post this here to remind myself in years to come, but you know, I thought that you also may possibly get a kick out of this hilarious little random tidbit of life, too.) So enjoy. :)

As you know, Liz visited last a little over a month ago on her annual pre-or-post-Rome Berlin pilgrimage, and was busy busy busy writing articles and blog posts for Context Travel (yeah, her job is way cooler than mine) during all the free moments in which we weren't baby-cuddling or stuffing our faces or imbibing different microbrews.

One of the articles she was working on was about Rome for Condé Nast Traveler and, as we have been there together on our biannual girly trips a couple times now, I helped her pick out pictures for it. For fun she even chose one in which I showed off my ~~modeling~~ gelato-eating skills.

And then even more hilariously, they chose to use it! So there's li'l ol' me, permanently immortalized on the pages of Condé Nast, peacefully enjoy my artisan gelato in a rare empty corridor of Rome while Kerstin snaps my picture. In an article that includes the word "pope" in the title nonetheless, which hasn't yet ceased to make me giggle (I've been known to start sentences with "If I were pope..." and confuse the heck out of people.)

Since this is actually my second pretend-modeling job (I previously appeared in a random Sunday Times article about DriveNow), I'm pretty sure I'm already on my way to Top-Modeldom and should start charging soon.

Putting my GNTM-learned skills to use at long last!

So the question is: Which one would you rather see me on, ANTM or GNTM...?

Extending the Gallery Wall

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:45:00 +0000

I'd said quite a while ago that I would at long last put all the remaining frames we had lying around to good use (and some of the new ones I bought, too - I know, I have a problem!) and I'm proud to say that, finally, many months after planning that, it's done! And fabulous.

I went about extending the frame wall differently this time in that, for the first time, I actually planned it. Up until now, I've just arranged the frames once on the floor, then pretty much starting hanging and making it up as I go. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not much of a planner... (Surprisingly, Micha is very un-German when it comes to projects like these and let's me wing it - unplanned - all in the name of just getting it over with as quickly as possible. He knows by now that me + planning = week-long procrastination.)

I used this method I had recently read on Young House Love that seemed simple enough and for which I already had all the necessary materials. It definitely took more time than I expected, but worked out quite nicely in the end. Basically, you lay all your frames on big pieces of paper (I just cut some off my roll of craft paper and the width worked out perfectly for our space), trace them onto the paper once you've got the arrangement, measure the distance to where the nail should be from the top of the frame, mark that on the paper, then hang the paper on the wall, hammer in the nails, rip off the paper, and hang the frames. Whew! That was a mouthful. Young House Love explains it in detail much better.

You can almost see the frame outlines here...

A lot of steps, yes. But every now and then, a bit of perfectionism really pays off. Especially when you're dealing with this ~~ridiculous~~ mess of frames.

After ripping the paper off, it was smooth sailing hanging the frames (remembering where each one went was not the easiest. It would have been wise to mark them on the paper somehow, now that I think of it...) But we (yes, of course Micha got involved once the ladder was pulled out because he does not trust me - fairly enough - with a hammer and a ladder at the same time) finished it all in one evening and now it's done and I love it!

And, more importantly (cuz I obviously knew that I'd love it), Micha loves it! Victory is mine (again :)!

I like that that wall seems so much more balanced now. Since our ceilings our so high, it really didn't make much sense to have the frames stop below the top of the door like they previously had (for way too long). (Ohmigosh, looking back on that, I can't believe I ever thought it looked ok! :)

Here's a shot with our fabulous Thanksgiving lights still hanging strong. And, um...some empty frames. All but one are happily now filled with pictures that make me smile on a daily basis.

Our fun prints include: a Bruins poster we got at a game a few years ago | Santa Monica pier anniversary poster from The Poster List | grey, hand-drawn map of Berlin from Dussman | Picasso print from Nat's and my Euro travels | old b&w print of the Friedrichstraße S-bahn (from a calendar) | Let the Sun Shine In print and Turn on Your Love Lights print, both from Slide Sideways

Our Long Weekend with Liz!

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 22:09:00 +0000

So, I'm finally over the flu (yay!), our visitor has left us (boooo!), and I at long last have a free minute away from my Half-Year of Improvement (Spanish class being my newest evening endeavor) to blog again. Yippee!

Liz arrived here - on her way to Rome - on Friday and in a very happy turn of events, brought the sunshine with her (thanks again, lady!). She was only staying for a short four days, so we had precious little time to pack in lots of fun and shenanigans.

The theme of the weekend turned out to be sunshine and microbreweries, though of the second we have few pictures. On Friday, we headed first to an Eisbären game - she also brought hockey luck to them! which promptly disappeared once she left... - then to Hops & Barley in Friedrichshain for some beers with friends.

After a leisurely breakfast on Saturday morning, we headed to our neighborhood weekly market for some of their gorgeous flowers (tulips and ranunculus, but of course) and then to the bigger farmer's market at Kollwitzplatz to bask in the newly arrived sunshine (seriously, it hadn't come out in months before this).

Who doesn't have Lust auf Käse (desire for cheese) at all times? | A wannabe Gulaschkanone

It's never too late in the season for Glühwein

Heheheheh, that yarn name still makes me giggle...

Later that day, we'd invited some folks over for the very first beer tasting of Micha's home-brewed beer, an American-style I.P.A. I may be biased, but it was damn fantastic! And not just for a first beer, for any! I'm a big fan of this new hobby of his...

Market treats and homemade beer, yummmmm

No beer tasting would be complete without a set of absolutely ridiculous, mustachioed beer googles

For some reason, pretending to give babies beer never gets old
...

Liz and Hanna bonded over the wee one's love of spoons | Liz and I channeled our inner 11-year-olds with Tattly BFF tattoos

We also made our way later that night to our second microbrewery of the weekend in Wedding and yet still managed to make our 11am brunch reservations the next day at Cafe Schönbrunn. Food is clearly our priority.

Hanna subtitle 1: "Life is so hard! Who are you and what am I doing here?!?"

Hanna subtitle 2 (one minute later): "Oh, hey dad. What's up? Life is good. Elmo is awesome."

We ladies went on a sun-riddled stroll over to Mauerpark - with an obligatory prosecco stop, of course - while the menfolk either cheered on the Eisbären again or took care of baby to let momma off the hook for an afternoon (good man!).

That night, we brought Liz to her third and final microbrewery of the trip, where we also met up with an old university friend of Micha's, Glen, who Liz met when she first visited me here 5 years ago and whom her friend called Conan for the entire night. Apparently, he looked like Conan O'Brien to her (he really kind of does) and one year later, when Liz was back, we randomly saw him on the street and he actually answered to her shout of "Conan! Hi!" So now, to him she's the random American who very frequently just shows up in Berlin and calls him Conan and to me, he's the guy that's not actually named Conan but then what actually is his real name...

I merrily took Monday off to play one extra day with Liz, which we kicked off by heading to the least exciting place on earth, the Ausländerbehörde (Foreigner's Office) to renew my visa. While it didn't go as hoped - I didn't get the permanent one, just a two-year extension, darnit! - it did end up resulting in Hanna finding her new, most favorite and delicious toy: my expired passport. Which is now covered in baby drool and I don't even mind a bit.

Our very first Hanna-and-her-favorite-auntie self portrait | A comfy lap and a yummy toy equals a happy baby

We wrapped things up with tea and oh-so-decadent cake at the adorable Princess Cheesecake in Mitte (the name was obviously very fitting for us), then whipped up some red-wine-and-leek risotto (it's good to have a foodie friend) for dinner and just like that, the weekend had to end.

I'm really lucky that Liz visits so much, I have to say. Once you live in a place long enough, you stop getting frequent visitors as the newness wears off, but she makes it out here about once a year on average and I really really really really really am so thankful that she does. As Harriet the Spy once said, "good friends are one of life's blessings. Don't give them up without a fight."

A Wall Map Goes Magnetic

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:58:00 +0000

Micha's had this giant wall map ever since I moved in with him and, while I always like the colors of the map, I was never really satisfied with how it was hung on the wall with push pins that had to be restuck every month or two because the map would slip a few centimeters and the corners would rip just a little bit as gravity took its toll. Plus, I thought it would look a heck of a lot nicer with a frame.

Fast forward five and half years later and I finally did something about the map. To jog your memory, here's how the map used to look, back when it was on the other side of the wall.

Nice colors, no? But the push pins and saggy corners? Not so much. (The first picture in this post really demonstrates the sad sagging I'm talking about.)

So I devised a plan to first mount the map on some kind of large piece of wood/foam board/something so that it would hang flat and we could do away with the push pins once and for all. Which is where we ran into the first snag in my plan. Picking out and buying the giant piece of MDF was no problem. But when we brought the thing out of the Baumarkt and over to the car, we quickly realized that there was no way of getting the 163 cm x 109 cm (oh yeah, I came with very precise measurements) board into the trunk of the Mini (while a tiny-ish car, it's trunk is not actually that small).

After a bit of back and forth about what to do - I could walk with it home! It's only 1.5 km... Maybe we could get it on the tram?... Who could we call...? - we finally agreed that maybe, just maybe it could fit in a bigger car. So Micha trekked his way to the nearest DriveNow car while I waited around with the board, and then, lo and behold, it just barely fit!

Seriously, a few centimeters wider and I'd have been walking it home. Somehow... (Glad we didn't have to find out how!)

When we finally got it home, it was time to get down to business using the other item I'd gotten at the Baumarkt: magnetic paint.

I won't lie to you. I had high hopes for this magnetic paint and it kind of let me down. Not in that it didn't work (it did!). But rather, it was really the most difficult paint I have ever used. And on top of that, while I knew from reading other bloggers' experiences with magnetic paint that I'd need at least 3-4 layers of it to get a magnetic effect, I completely underestimated how much paint I'd need to paint that many layers (I ended up doing five) on this giant board.

I naively got the small can thinking, it's not like it's a whole wall! Oh, self from 2 months ago, how silly you were.

Two hours and two layers of paint later, I promptly returned to the Baumarkt to buy another, full-sized can of paint. At this point, my dreams for a cheap DIY magnetic map were dashed and I came to terms with the fact (amid Micha's laughter) that this would just be a cool magnetic map that cost me 55€ in supplies. Live and learn, right?

And then Christmas happened and the magnetic board sat around like a sad old museum piece for a month and a half.

Finally, a couple weeks ago, I decided it was high time to mount the map to the board, so I busted out the spray adhesive I'd gotten just for the occasion and, once again full of high hopes, went through a thorough process of spraying the board, then unrolling a small portion of the map, sticking it on, then spraying again, unrolling, sticking, and on and on. I applied plenty of pressure, then left it for a while to dry and came back a bit later only to find out...

... the darn thing hadn't stuck at all! You could just peel it right off! Hopes dashed again! The weird texture from the magnetic paint - it's bumpy from all the small magnetic pieces in in, but we paint over it with another color because we like the gray so much (laziness may also have played a role...) - meant the spray adhesive was a no-go.

I was ready to throw in the towel but luckily, Micha was not so easily dissuaded. He busted out the super glue - yup, super glue - and suggested I go over all the edges with super glue because it's super glue! It works on everything! And sweet valley high if he wasn't right! (It also stuck to all of my fingers and caused me to rip out entirely too much of my hair with said sticky fingers but what can you do?)

So after 1.5 tubes of super glue, much cursing, and then a few cautious tests to see if it really truly stuck, and some cheers and high fives once we realized it did, the only thing left was to nail it to the wall (we'd pondered other hanging methods, but this seemed the easiest and most secure).

And tada! The "frame" I'd been longing for around the map!

But wait there's more... magnets!

Oh, do I have big plans for this map now... :)

Quick tips if you want to make one yourself:

1) Painting over the magnet paint would certainly make a smoother surface and then the spray adhesive would probably even work.

2) Get a sturdy, but not too thick piece of MDF (or whichever material) for the backing. We went with 5 cm, which made for easy hanging.

3) Buy the super strong magnets - I got these guys that work like a charm, because regular magnets didn't really hold, even with 5 coats of paint.

4) Don't compare the final price to that of a new map. It's the charm of the old one (and in our case, Micha's love for his map) that counts.

The Last Few Weekends in Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 22:50:00 +0000

Micha's brewery back in action | As you can tell, I'm his favorite helper

Visit from this cute little nugget

The ohmigod-it's-finally-finished map beautification project!

Date night in the kitchen

Much-needed greenery for the apartment

More greenery | Laid-back Valentine's celebrations

The return of the ranunculus! | Gallery wall expansion (it's not the picture that's crooked, it's our floor!)

We've been all sorts of busy lately without being overwhelmed by plans - just how it should be during these cold, gray months. Things we've gotten up to recently include: brewing Micha's second batch of beer (an American I.P.A, ready for tasting at the end of the month!); taking wee Hanna on her visit to The Bird (she wanted a burger but had to settle for oatmeal); tackling and finishing two projects that have been nagging me for a while - hanging the giant map in the spare room and expanding our living room gallery wall (details on both to come, but of course!); cooking together to eliminate evening grumpiness, including on Valentine's Day (it works every time); and greenifying our apartment because plants (and mostly flowers) really can bring happiness.

And now I think you're all caught up!

p.s. Promised I'd be back with exclamation points. :)

Blog Break

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 22:39:00 +0000

I have about 10 draft posts piling up that I really do want to share here and catch up on... but I just can't bring myself to finish them lately. January and February get me very meh and I'm not the most enjoyable person to be around at the moment, (so you know, you're not missing much. ;)

So I'm taking a little blog break. Well, continuing, I suppose, for a bit longer. Until I get my desire to add exclamation points everywhere back. Life without exclamation points is just plain not right.

I'm off to channel channel my inner awesome princess now. I'll see you again here soon(-ish) with happy thoughts and plenty of exclamation points.

Fancy Decanters for the Bar Cart

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:54:00 +0000

Maybe it's the relief that alcohol-free January is finally over (it's a great tradition we have but sweet valley high it's good to taste beer again!), or maybe it's just my affinity for all things sparkly and unnecessary, but I've become rather smitten with some completely random vintage decanters that would make a great (fancy and sophisticated) little statement on our bar cart.

1. from Charming Snake | 2. from Zest Vintage | 3. from Vintage Ringo | 4. from Hobart Collectables | 5. from Young Heart Old Soul

I started a random Etsy search for these after seeing this Instagram picture from Bri of Designlovefest.

The last thing I actually need to be splurging on right now is more goodies for the bar cart, but a girl can dream, right? Which one (or more) would you pick?

A Very Beefy Birthday Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:50:00 +0000

This may be one of the least attractive posts I'll ever show you here, picture-wise, but I had to do it. I apologize in advance to all vegetarians.

Micha is not a huge fan of baked goods (which irks me to no end some days when I just want someone else to bake and eat cookies with!), so every year for his birthday, I hum and haw over what to make him. Because I really like making ridiculously large layered cakes for people's birthdays (to varying degrees of success and aesthetic pleasantry). But luckily, a few years ago, I found the perfect solution in the form of meat cupcakes, inspired by my friend, Jessica.

This year, I decided a repeat performance was in order, but this time only a larger, personal-sized layer cake would do. Luckily for me, Micha was away in Munich the last couple days before we left for Rügen on his birthday weekend, so I had plenty of time to prepare these while keeping them a surprise (I stuck them in the refrigerator and presented them to him when we returned home on Sunday, his actual birthday).

I used this recipe for meatloaf - because it looked yummy and easy - and then whipped up some mashed potatoes for the "frosting." It took all my willpower not to just devour the mashed potatoes on the spot. They're the one food I would bring with me to a desert island to happily subsist on for the rest of time.

I cooked the meatloaf in a springform cake pan (which was somewhat yucky, I'll admit) and then, after it cooled, cut three large circles out of it using a Maß beer glass. They were the perfect size! And when in Germany...

Then it was all about layering and frosting - first a "crumb layer" and then, after waiting about 15 minutes, another layer of mashed potatoes to make it nice and smooth. You could make the mashed potatoes super creamy and skin-free, but that's not how I roll. I don't peel potatoes ever (our mom never did so that's my excuse) and I like my mashed potatoes with a little bit of crunchiness, which sounds gross but tastes fantastic.

And tada! A wee manly man cake!

I highly recommend making one for the carnivore in your life.

Micha's Snowy Birthday Weekend in Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 22:30:00 +0000

We took a trip to Rügen this year for Micha's birthday, as we tend to do, to play his usual game of escaping any birthday hoopla (he's very silly like that) and to get our annual dose of winter beach time, which we love so much. You can take your mountains and ski poles, I'll stick to my snow-covered beaches and Fischbrötchen for a short winter getaway every time.

The view from our hotel

We had this entire house - hilariously called the "Villa Honey" - all to ourselves!

Super creepy The Shining-style topiary | Micha put some random outdoor workout gear to use

My typical, ridiculous stance in below-freezing temperatures

Icicle alert!

I was in awe at the seagulls' ability to stay warm while chillin' (ha!) in the snow or icy waters

I swear this was Germany and not the Arctic...

Enjoying our mansion for two! (Not falling. Really!) | Blue champagne for the birthday boys

We relaxed for most of the weekend, which including walking along the beach and marveling at the crazy ice structures that had accumulated everywhere; laughing at the seagulls who were either merrily napping or frantically chasing each other away from their respective territories; testing out each of the seven different saunas, as well as the pool and whirlpool, in the wellness area; and catching up on our beer intake following alcohol-free January (we end on Micha's birthday, or in this case, right before) accompanied by Fischbrötchen and the amazing fish soup at the shop near the beach.

Randomly enough, when we headed to the Hanseatic bar for some pre-birthday drinkies on Saturday night, the only other couple there was an adorable little British couple (ok fine, my age ;) with a gigantic (and so sweet) dog who were, naturally, celebrating the dude's birthday too! It made for a lovely night of joking and exchanging stories of what it's like to get to know the Germans and their ways when moving here (he was in the army and she'd just recently moved to Niedersachsen to live with him there). When the entranced (by so much English) bartender happily offered up glasses of a blue champagne cocktail upon hearing there were two birthday boys in the house, he earned himself a little happy face next to his name in my book. Well, played, guy.

How was your weekend? Can you believe it's almost February already?? Eeek!

The Year of Improvement and Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 22:56:00 +0000

It's taken a lot of thought and consideration but I've finally decided on my theme for 2013. I like the idea of calling it a theme, like Anne does, instead of a goal like I did last year, so that it feels less formal and restrictive and instead more motivating. Though I couldn't settle on just one theme so my year has two: improvement and adventure.

The first half of my year will be all about self-improvement. I started things off by signing up for my first two Skillshare courses and purchasing a Photo 101 book that I've so far been loving. I'm also on the hunt for a Spanish course at the Volkshochschule that fits my schedule. It's been a while since I learned a new language, so I'm itching to get back at it. I have other plans in mind, too, to improve and simplify some other aspects of life, so there's definitely more to come.

Once the second half of the year rolls around, it's going to be all about adventure - taking risks and trying new things.

This year is going to be a great one, don't you think?

(p.s. I changed the header up a little bit to make it less chunky, but mostly because I was sick of the fonts. One day, I may make over things more drastically, but for now this satisfies my virtual redecorating whim quite nicely. Hope you like it!)

Favorite Moments of 2012 {Part 2}

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 22:17:00 +0000

To finish up my roundup of favorite moments in 2012 (started yesterday), here are the final 11. Man, it was a mighty good year...

12. Watching Jan join in on the water gun fight between the wee ones - Aron and Mia - and trying not to crack up when little Aron went flying dramatically through the air, slow-mo movie style, when Jan shot him in the back with a water gun (only his pride was hurt) at one of Matze & Anja's fabulous summer pool parties.

13. Getting to experience just how good Die Ärzte really are in concert on a rare painfully/awesomely hot summer day at the Waldbühne.

14. Realizing we beat last year's tomato harvesting record and ended up with a whopping 387 delicious morsels from our balcony garden this year.

15. Squealing like a happy schoolkid as we walked into Disneyland Paris for the first time (best birthday present ever!).

16. Explaining the rules of baseball with sister to our two Germans and one Italian at a Red Sox game in Boston in the midst of a weekend of fun in our old college town.

17. Sitting down with the girls for the first time in our inflatable bar on the lake in New Hampshire and realizing that I could very happily stay right there forever...

18. Spreading my love of Halloween to little Aron/Keule while carving pumpkins with him during our Fall Day of Fun.

19. Sitting down to our Thanksgiving table once again, surrounded by great friends, amazing food, and my favorite decorating scheme of all time (to pat myself on the back a little there...).

20. Merrily imbibing eight glasses of wine during a post-wedding wine tasting and realizing that all weddings could benefit from an insanely long wine tasting after the ceremony.

21. Watching the boys haphazardly decorate the bajillion cookies we'd baked - which amounted to them dunking them in icing and getting sprinkles all over the floor - after their first attempt at beer brewing on a chilly, gluttonous weekend.

22. And while the one thing that was missing from my year was a visit with the fam in LA, videochatting with with sister and mother, accompanied by multiple cats on screen, on Christmas Eve in reindeer antlers gave me a good fix to get me through the holidays.

All right, 2013. I think I'm finally ready for you...

Favorite Moments of 2012 {Part 1}

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 22:56:00 +0000

Before I look forwards towards 2013 and the things I want to accomplish, I thought I'd take a brief look back at my favorite moments from the past year, to help me remember just how fabulous it truly was. Here's part 1.

1) Finding surprise birthday (for Micha) champagne waiting for us in the hotel room when we arrived for our very wintery beach visit to our favorite German island with two of our favorite people.

2) Winning a kickass bar cart on ebay for 1.50€ and taking a day trip to Quedlinburg with (a rather hesitant) Micha to pick it up.

3) Stepping into the resort and seeing our island-paradise bungalow in Siquijor and its perfect ocean view for the first time on our Philippines vacation.

4) Meeting and cuddling some new wee friends, Charlie and Hanna.

5) Getting laughed at by Liz, Kai, Micha, and Kerstin as I adamantly insisted all night at a pub that Liz's favorite color is sparkles during her Easter visit.

6) Getting soaked by the rain on top of the mountain behind the Glengoyne distillery in Glasgow with new friends, old friends, and a flask of whisky.

7) Meeting some super fun bloggers and twitter friends in real life at The Hive in Kreuzberg.

8) Seeing lots of happy tears when we surprised Kerstin with an activity- and gossip-filled baby shower.

9) Celebrating five years of awesome with my favorite dude.

10) Laughing my ass of with Micha, Sara, and Christoph when we were woken up in our tents on a camping trip by raindrops falling on our heads.

11) Getting to see lots of pictures that make me happy all at once each time I look at the colorful, oh-so-me gallery wall in our spare room.

Our Christmas in Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Nicole) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 22:34:00 +0000

The holidays definitely snuck up on me this time around, despite a weekend of cookie-baking madness and twice weekly visits to the Christmas markets (as I'd aimed for!). We did manage to get our tree up and decorated nice and early this year, since it was my turn to decorate.

Side note on that: We switch off years choosing decorations for the tree because you never know what a big role your cultural background plays in decorating a Christmas tree until you see someone else doing it wrong. Germans like Micha like white lights on their tree - preferably the big ones that look like candles but the usual small ones will do too - and they like to pick a color scheme or ornaments and stick to it entirely for that year. I - being what I consider typically American but feel free to call me out on this - like colorful light strands and lots of colorful ornaments, but the usual balls and special ones that have been collected over the years. This sharp contrast in decorating schemes led us to agree to switch off years with decorating the tree, saving us each a few gray hairs in the process (if only it were that easy when coming to choosing a coffee table...)

Some of my favorite ornaments, mostly courtesy of Nat or Emily

In addition to our lovely, bushy tree, I also had an advent calendar from Liz to look forward to every morning (oh boy did it live up to my expectations!) and goodies from Sister to stash under the tree...

...but somehow, the whole holiday spirit didn't really hit me until Christmas Eve itself when I donned my jingly reindeer ears and light-up earrings and headed with Micha and a car full of presents, cookies, and homemade eggnog to his mom's house in the 'burbs. And then I promptly managed a nice, leisurely holiday videochat with Natalie (in Florida) and Mom (in California) to make my day complete. Sweet valley high, sometimes I really could just kiss technology as a whole for giving me moments like that.

Enthralled in a serious discussion of jinglebell antlers or the Royal Baby or something to that effect

On Christmas Eve we ate würstchen and potato salad, as tradition dictates, drank our fair share of eggnog, conducted the annual viewing of Christmas Vacation (Kai and his mother know the movie verbatim), opened the presents (Germans always do on Christmas Eve), and rounded things out with a lively, albeit at first rather reluctant from the German contingent, game of Cranium (which really is just as awesome in German, except that I totally suck at the trivia and am not quite the whiz at the spelling-backwards challenges that I am in English).

Christmas Day was much lazier. After breakfast and mimosas, we spent a fair share of our time reading our new books on the couch while their Grandma did some puzzles or watched cheesy tv shows.

Then came the big meal - goose and rabbit with sides of Klöse, potatoes (for me, Klöse aren't my fave), buttery green beans, and Rotkohl - and by then I was ready to return home to our own Christmas tree, call the rest of my family at Gramma's house to wish them a merry Christmas, and end the night cozy and full and happy that a week of vacation was just beginning.

The fact that it's a new year is still sinking in and I'm taking my time digesting it, reflecting back on the last one, and planning for this one (which I know with an almost certainty will be fantabulous).