Anniversary

Monday, August 31, 2009

Germany again

Hi all

Matthias and I are in Germany again. I am typing on Anja's German keyboard and it is going slowly. Y and Z are flipping and all of the special characters are in different places.

We've mainly spent the weekend visiting with Matthias' mom and Oma, oh yeah, and the dog. We played Fluxx (in German) with Matthias' mom and despite the language disadvantage I won 3 times. We've had some wonderful home cooked meals also. We both woke up in the middle of the night last night (which is 9 am USA time) and decided to take advantage of being in the country to check out the northern sky. There is so little light pollution it was easy to see the Milky Way and make out tons of constellations.

Today we went into Flensburg and walked around, had lunch at the "most northern brewery in Germany" the Hansens Breurei, and then went to Glücksburg Castle for the afternoon.

Tomorrow we're catching the train from Flensburg to Copenhagen. We'll spend basically 2 days there before we get on the cruise.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Mrs Poehler

It's hard to summarize the emotions of the weekend and all of the experiences. I'll say that it was a wonderful weekend. All of the stresses ahead of time paid off, as Friday evening and Saturday went off without a problem and I was stress-free. It was a wonderful wedding day and Matthias and I had a great time, especially being surrounding by such awesome friends and family.

I've seen some pics taken by friends and didn't cringe at them, so I guess that's a good sign. When I get a chance to download some I'll post them.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Wedding Planning and Arrivals

Wedding planning continues to unfold. I now have created a "master schedule" for the weekend and my to do list isn't too bad. Let's hope I still feel that way tomorrow after work!

Tomorrow starts the arrivals of guests for the wedding, starting with Matthias' best man. Soeren and his girlfriend Anika will arrive from Germany late tomorrow. Matthias and I spent a few hours today cleaning up a little bit more - moving boxes around, providing a light for their bedroom, making the bed, etc. There's still stuff everywhere but it's somewhat livable, I think.

I also introduced Matthias to Wegman's today. It was insanity at that place! And no, the Wegman's in Virginia looks nothing like the Wegman's in Henrietta, NY; the VA one is definitely designed for the $, whereas in NY it's designed for poor college students. Or at least it was back in the day...maybe they've remodeled. :)

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

A House Full of Germans

After a whole lot of drama, rain, and a new roof, Matthias and I signed on the dotted line and, as of April 17th, own a home! We are now living in Burke, Virginia.

The past week has been a little crazy! We spent that Friday moving in a few things, fixing very leaky faucets, and cleaning to make the house a little bit livable. We moved Matthias things into the house on Saturday and several more days cleaning, moving things around, and unpacking boxes. On Wednesday evening my parents arrived for the weekend to help us with appointments so we didn't have to miss too much work. That same night 3 interns arrived from Germany. They are staying with us until they find a place to live while working with Matthias for a year. Saturday was move #2 to move my stuff into the new place. We had a lot of help from Vickie and David, Kyra, Alicia, Cathy, and Colin. We were also grateful to have the German students with us, as they were somewhat willing to carry stuff into the house. Yesterday Matthias gave them power tools and let them assemble his office furniture. It was like listening to the German version of "tool time" in the house!

There's a lot of work to do in the house. From replacing a 20-something year-old very poorly maintained heat pump, to replacing just about every faucet in the house, to new appliances, and quite a bit of electrical work. We'll be busy for awhile!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Eruption!

I'll interrupt the moving and wedding posts to mention that a volcano on Fernandina Island in the Galapagos, one of the stop of my tour a year ago, is erupting!

http://www.gct.org/apr09_3.html

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

I'm Homeless!

It's not as desperate as it sounds but I'm not really in any place of my own now. This past Saturday several of my friends helped me pack up the house and move it into storage. They were awesome friends who did all of that work for me! My house is bare and echo-y. There are a few items still in the house that will be completely removed on Thursday. Next Friday the house is officially no longer mine.

So, now I'm living with Kyra (and her bird, Georgia). It's been two days and we're surviving. Living with a bird that flies around the house in the evening has been interesting. I can't tell if Georgia is diving at me or just wants to sit on my should half of the time. Kyra says she likes me...I think I'll wait and see what Georgie's like when Kyra's not around. :)

Matthias and I found a house in Burke, VA. We can't move in until April 17th though. In the mean time there are PLENTY of things to keep me busy (and somewhat insane) right now. Moving + Wedding = Insanity