excuses, excuses...

So I haven't written in a while, and here's why:

1) I am in the process of renegotiating my contract at work to allow me to work a 4-day week so that I can have Wednesdays for thesis writing

2) I had to give a presentation about my Masters thesis last Monday, and today I had a meeting during my lunch break with an Internet Agency who may be programming our Alumni Portal Website for my project for my Masters. (that's separate from my thesis. right). Tonight, our project group is presenting the concept to the dean of our department. (I never ever want to see another power point in my life)

3) My entire weekend consisted of meetings to organize today's events, coupled with an entire Saturday volunteering at a study abroad fair (for which I had to rise and shine at 7:30am. On a Saturday. Cry.)

4) The planning for my Halloween Party, which is this weekend, has been pushed off to the side, so you can imagine that not much has happened on the wedding planning front.

The only news I have is that Mr. Schnitzel has been doing AMAZING things with our wedding website and I can't wait to show you. And to make up for all my complaining, here's the cutest dog/cat photo ever.

source

a crisis of vision

I had my first sort-of "oh god i'm not a professional and I don't know how to do something like 'maintain a vision' or decide on a specific look or feel and be consistent" moment.T he thing is, I like so many things! I can't decide on just ONE! I guess I understand why people have wedding planners and designers and stuff. That's what they're there for! But then again, the process is exciting (right?!)

This "crisis" arose when I got the first draft of our save the date. I liked it, but it didn't wow me. I was picturing something different. Actually, I was picturing a thousand things. How was I to tell someone that I just wanted them to design exactly what I wanted, without me telling them what that is!?

So I sat down with Mr. Schnitzel. And wow, was he helpful! He seems to have a much better sense of design and vision than me, and had some amazing ideas. I wrote them all to poor Ms. Wenda over at tucci paper- and I sure hope I didn't overwhelm her! I'm SO excited to see what she comes up with.

So, the moral of the story: just ask the boy for help!

the story of the save the dates continues soon...

Introducing...the Bridesmaids!

Since I just introduced the Man and Maid of Honor, it's time for the Bridesmaids, who were all my roommates senior year of college! Together, the initials of our first names spell "BECKS"... so, in that order...

Beth

Beth lived on the same floor as me freshman year, but we were separated by a set of stairs. We didn't get to know each other very well until we lived together senior year with three other close friends of hers (coming right up). That year marked my best time at Northwestern and we enjoyed many a late night discussion, shared knitting projects and goofy stories. Here we are together:

Caitlin

I knew who Caitlin was freshman year of Northwestern. She was the girl with the big crazy blond hair! Since then I have gotten to know her much better, as one of her roommates senior year. We had a lot of amazing conversations, shared our experiences abroad in Europe and I watched and observed and discovered all kinds of things about weird French cheese, Polaroids and a hairstyle called the bouffant. Here, smiling big:

Kate

Kate and I spent quite a few evenings being complete goofballs freshman year, when I managed to sneak my way into the so-called "cave" in our dorm where she lived with 11 (or was it 13?) other women (and one shower). Living together senior year, we also shared a fair share of shenanigans, and when she visited me in Munich a couple of years ago, we found some hilarious men with giant moustaches at Oktoberfest. Here we are, with our giant beers...

Sara

Sara and I were next door neighbors freshman year of college. That means we saw a lot of each other – we even shared a strange single toilet surrounded by a shower curtain with three other women. We didn't become good friends until I begged to be allowed to live with her and her three other close friends (see above and below) senior year of college. That year we had a lot of adventures, from stealing Bush signs from people's yards to hosting crazy parties like our cold-war themed party and doing paint – by – number on our comfy leather sofa. Here we are on a boat in Amsterdam:

Introducing.. the Maid and Man of Honor!

To start out the bunch, I would like to introduce the so-called "ring leaders". Yes, there are two. I hear that in ancient Sparta, Rome and Crete, the Diarchy worked quite well. We have…

MAN OF HONOR – Mr. Mike

Mike is has position number one on this list for many reasons, not least of which being that he has known me since I was six months old!! That's a long time! He's put up with my silliness, my whimpiness, my ridiciulous sense of competetiveness for 26 YEARS. I spent the night at his house when my brother was born, we went to kindergarten together, played in the snow and rain and sun and mud together, and swam on the same swim team for years. Mike taught me about everything important in life because he always knew all the dirty details from his older siblings. And his house was where I got to watch all the PG-13 movies. We used to promise each other that we would get married some day. Since I'm the one breaking that promise first, I'll have to find a good way to make it up to him!

here we are:

MAID OF HONOR – Ms. Nicole

Nicole and I met while studying abroad in Italy, where we discovered our mutual love of simple travel: meeting people, walking around, eating and drinking. During that semester abroad, we spent many weekends zooming around European capital cities and sleeping in strange hostels or on uncomfortable trains and having a GREAT time. We also took our spring break together, making stops all over France and Germany, including Munich and Berlin, the cities which would later become our respective homes.

Here we are:

Next up: introducing the bridesmaids! How did you make your "choices" known to the world?

The Bridesmaid Letters

So, I can FINALLY introduce you to the (long) process of producing my bridesmaid's letters. Basically, I bought these amazing heart-shaped papers that fold up into cards - they are so neat, you just fold all the edges together and the tip of the heart becomes the envelope flap.

Then, I set to work on the text for the letters. Like many of you "modern" blog age people, writing comes faster and better to my when I type. It may be sad, but it's true. So I typed up the text for the letters, and set off with a ruler and a silver pen writing the text on the hearts! I had to be really careful, because it barely fit. I embelleshed the hearts with these adorable gold foil edelweiß thingies that i glued in random places, including the flap of the envelope.

I'll tell you, my hand is not used to writing that much! I got quite an ache and used up almost an entire silver gel pen. But they turned out (I think) really nicely.

I packaged them up and got appropriate stamps (i wanted flowers but I ended up with an african-themed painting for most of them, but it was pretty too) and sent them off! And happily, they all arrived at their destinations unharmed (or so I hear AND most importantly, I convinced all the recipients to say YES! Shortly, I'll introduce you to the "gang", one by one.

Days 12 and 13 - Gratitude Challenge

Yesterday for the challenge, I made the "effort to live life with a positive outlook...dared to see the glass half full...listened more than I speak... gave freely of myself..."Or I tried, at least. Ironically enough, yesterday was a grumpy day for me. I did an awful lot of complaining. I ranted about the subway being late, being full, I complained about the cold weather, about the line at the movies, about the annoying girls next to me at the movies, about the fact that the internet doesn't ship anything from the US to Germany (I'm still angry about that one).. So really, I didn't do so well. But reflecting on that has been good for me. I mean, don't we all have grumpy days? Most importantly, I realize that it was just that, grumpiness, and not a perpetual attitude. And it won't happen again (soon), I promise.

Today I am to "pick three friends or family members I see regularly and view their actions and gestures through a positive lens..."Ok.

1) My mom: has been such a big help lately. She's great to talk to on the phone and always has an opinion about my decisions. She supports me and sometimes makes me think twice before acting too hastily, something I (ehem) tend to do. Sometimes, I need to view her constructive questions as just that: constructing, instead of overreacting and feeling attacked, which I tend to do whenever my ideas or inspiration are questioned.
2) Mr. Schnitzel: put up with my grumpy mood yesterday. He didn't even complain! When we got home, he wanted to go to bed ... it was almost midnight, for goodness sake! But I whined at him to stay up. Gotta stop that ... my gosh, if the man wants to sleep, then he wants to sleep! As usual I crawled grumpily into bed (I'm not used to being along in the living room) and was asleep (first!) within minutes. Sigh...
3) The last person is an anonymous reflection, since I don't want to publicize the conflicts here. Suffice it to say that I am having a clash with someone, and I have spent some time rethinking the situation and seeing their actions in the (most) positive light (possible.

Well, I'm almost two weeks in! Tomorrow I'll serenade you all with my assessment of what this challenge has done for me, so far. Tschüß!

What I have learned about Planning a Wedding from my Halloween party

Alright. This is going to sound really strange. I am planning a Halloween party, and I am doing so partially (only partially) to practice some of my new found wedding planning expertise! I have been reading the blogs for two months now (and writing my own, of course) and so I have a PLETHORA of ideas just waiting to be done. And for those who don't know me personally - I am not really Miss Patience. If I see something I want to own/ to make/ to try, I do it right away. So the idea of SAVING ideas and using them in 9 months (9 months! That's how long it takes to have a baby! So long) is just so agonizing to me.

Now I'm not sayin' that my wedding will resemble my Halloween party. In fact, I most certainly hope that it doesn't, in any way, especially the creepy eerie icky scary way. But in "testing" out my wedding skills, here's what I've learned!

1) Making any sort of paper product is really time consuming. I have been crafting labels for my food and punches and spent all yesterday evening cutting out mice and bat decorations. It takes FOREVER
2) Buy supplies early, when you see them. Don't wait, unless it has an expiration date. Because there will always be something you will remember that you need. Then you can worry about getting that instead of all your other things.
3) Do everything in advance that can be done in advance! It gives you piece of mind and frees you up to do fun stuff the day of, like putting on your costume (or in the case of the wedding ? getting dressed?!)
4) Do a little every day. I have been using TV watching time as an excuse to cut and craft. I find it enjoyable and it feels like a game, not a chore
5) Limit yourself! Pick 2 or 3 or 4 (or 7) projects and stick with them! Don't keep adding stuff. Work on making the things you're doing really good. Do them in advance. And then call it quits.

That's all for now. I am quite sure that I'll have more to add when the party nears. Today, for example, I will be attempting to purchase:

*clear packing tape
*black spray paint
*zombie costume stuff at the second hand store

and THEN go to the gym to do my wedding workout. Ayayay (just testing out that pre-wedding halloween stress!)

Days 10 and 11, Gratitude Challenge

Yesterday, for the Gratitude Challenge, I used my ears to observe the world in a new light. It was really interesting. Mostly, I noticed how loud my office is, even though I never thought it was! Here is a little snippet from my sound diary:

I hear:

music, from my accuradio (love songs) station

Typing noises (from me and my colleagues)

Chairs moving around, sighing

Printer printing, colleague singing, colleague talking to her husband
Other colleague walking around - lawyers walking around

Lunch Break: Rain drops falling, leaves rustling

Tip tip tip typing, Typewriter turning on, typing, Crunching, Footsteps, Voices

Eating pear, munch munch

Today, I attempted to see the world through the eyes of a child. In order to do this, I channeled my days as a kindergarten teacher, and tried to think of all the things that one of my kids would have enjoyed about my day that I, erm, less than appreciate. Here's what I came up with:

- Riding the subway - oh boy!
- Cake - not once, but twice
- Lots of pens and markers at my desk
- Lots of scrap paper to draw on
- Headphones with a fun pedal contraption (that's my dictation device. Work of the devil? but I'm trying to see it in a good light).
- I can go to the kitchen whenever I want. I can get my own water, get my own tea, cook my own things
- Freedom! (I wouldn't call it that ? but they would have)
- Retrieving files from our basement archive ? adventure!
- Going out to lunch, every day

I have a big (grateful) smile on my face!

270 days to go...

I have just been informed that we have 270 days to go till the wedding. That's a lot of days! Of course, I could probably list many more than 270 tasks to be done in this time span... hmmmmm

What do you think - am I on track? :)

Wedding fit...

In preparation for the "big day" I've started on a little program to whip myself into shape. I am following The Knot.com's 6 month wedding fitness program AND the wedding abs program. I am just starting week 2 (after a couple of "false starts") and I feel good! I like that the program starts you out nice and slow and takes the focus off of weight loss. Right now I am mostly just trying to get myself moving!

I am also working on changing up my eating habits a bit by following some of the advice here about how to slim down. Mostly, I have been trying to drink 8 glasses of water a day, eat 9 fruits and vegetables, and alternate my alcoholic beverages with non alcoholic ones. Little changes make a big difference!

The first two weeks of the programs have me doing 20 minutes of aerobic activity 3 times a week. I have added the "wedding abs" program to this schedule. My aerobics have been 20 minutes of elliptical machine at the gym, followed by wedding abs in the mat room. Keeping me powered up and my feet moving fast has been the Indie Soup podcast – Runner's edition. What a thrill, and a great way to discover new music!

So I'll be keeping you posted on my progress.. What did you do to get fit for your wedding?

Days 8, 9, 10 - Gratitude Challenge

So, it's been awhile! I was quite busy this weekend and wasn't able to write - Mr. Schnitzel and I had a car (his parents') on Friday so we took time off from work to go shopping for our Halloween Party (all the heavy stuff!). It was fun, but totally exhausting. Saturday we had a birthday party, and I, erm, overindulged a bit, and spent Sunday recovering. So that's that!

At any rate, I wanted to update you on the progress of my Gratitude Challenge. Friday's assignment (day 8) was to "send out thank you notes to five people who deserve a little recognition". Luckily, I had just done this, in the form of my bridesmaid letters! I crafted personal "invitations" for each of my Bridesmaids and my MOH(s) (more on that to follow?). In each of these invitations, I thanked the person for their unique qualities. It was a lot of fun, and really confirmed my choices.

For day 9, I was instructed to "enjoy the people around me, and take a moment to appreciate their unique talents, abilities and personalities". I was at a friend's 30th birthday party on Saturday night, so I took that opportunity to look around at all the different people and observe them, noting their quirks as unique and special instead of (how it can sometimes seem) annoying or strange. It worked pretty well!

For day 10, I am to pick one of my five senses and focus on it, "taking note of how many gifts come to me via that single port of entry." Hmm. Well, I wasn't up to it on sunday, so I'll focus on this one today, shifting the challenge a day. The sense I am choosing is: my sense of hearing. I'll let you know later how that's going!

Oktoberfest couple..

Day 7 - Gratitude Challenge

Day 7 of the Gratitude Challenge instructs me to "take a picture of one thing, person, place or specific moment that makes you feel grateful". Alright. Hmm. I thought about this one all morning, and then I started working, and then I kind of forgot. I just remembered again. So I tool a picture of this:

This is the "fall" display that me and my colleagues have created for our office. Actually, the only part I contributed was tying the curvy sticks with a bit of raffia. But I think it looks rather nice. The best comment from our coworkers had to do with the popcorn filled candle holder: "hey, when you light the candle, you'll have a snack!" hmmm.. we didn't think about that problem.

I chose this photo because, for me, it represents the reason that I (for the most part) enjoy my job so much. My colleagues! I work in the same room with two other women, and they play such an important role in keeping me sane and making me laugh. And we enjoy each other! I love to bring things to share or nibble into the office, and we all really love to decorate. We even have a box in our office labeled "christmas deco". So on day 7 (the first week is almost over!) here's to great co-workers AND the coming of the lovely season of AUTUMN.

Sneak peak at the cake topper...

Just a sneak peak at the progress of our cake topper by Ashley Daugherty... my likeness! (sans wedding garb). WOW!

Day 6: Gratitude Challenge

For day 6 of the gratitude challenge, I am supposed to "call someone I haven't talked to in a while and tell them how much I appreciate them".

Well this one was pretty obvious to me- my grammy (see pic on the right of my mom and my grammy together)! It just so happens that my mom is visiting her right now, so I got to speak with both of them - my grandma is just someone who is so amazing, she never ceases to impress and surprise me with her incredible wit and complete sense of self. I am also always surprised how modern she is? she knows everything!

My family loves to play the game "balderdash" wherein a word, law, movie title or acronym is read aloud and everyone gets to write down a definition or answer for said item. Then they are all read aloud to the group and the group has to guess which is the correct answer. My grandma is always the one who writes the hilarious, slightly vulgar, completely amazing answer.

I love her. My only big regret in the wedding planning so far is that I know that by holding the wedding in Germany, she will not be able to be there. We are working on ways to include her in the day anyways. Any ideas?

Planning a Halloween Party - Wedding-Style!

So this post is a little off topic, but since I am waiting to post about my preparations for writing my bridal party letters (I am starting to get concerned about them - two of the girls have received them, but two haven't responded yet! I hope they made it safe and sound!!) until they arrive, I thought I would digress slightly and tell you about how I am putting some of my newly acquired wedding planning skills to use:

Planning my Halloween Party!

Here are the elements that I have decided on:

DRINKS

Slime Punch

Bloody Black Current Punch

creepy shots:
jäger (label: black death)
erdbeer limes (label: bloodthirsty)
jello shots (black? Orange? Green? Not sure what color of german jello I can come up with)

Beer (Mr. Schnitzel suggested calling it "Virgin Juice" but that is incredibly vulgar sounding and I'm not even sure what he means by that?)

FOOD

black candy corner

ladies fingers and men's toes
except that I will be using store bought pastry instead of making the dough.

"devilish eggs" wait, a great idea from shoestring jetsetter: these: Spooky Spider Eggs

mummy dogs

Jack-o-Lantern Cheeseball (something like this recipe, but perhaps without the poppyseeds?and something to make it orange (paprika?)

DECO

Gauze-wrapped candy bowls
Black shapes on the windows and crepe paper curtains
table cloths (plastic)
floating candles in the bathroom tub (the only place I trust candles at this party)
lotsa jackolanterns
furniture wrapped in white sheets
appropriate lighting

GAMES

Costume contest
Flip cup (the germans really loved this last year)
Other game ideas? Something easy that doesn't require too much "organization"

We will also have a photobooth in our cleaning closet - we aren't sure how to best document the photos. Should we just let people take them with their own digicams? Should we provide ours? Should we rig something up? Or should we spring for a Polaroid? Decisions Decisions!!

Other deco thoughts:

scary movie running the background (suggestions?)
music, of course! But dancy music, instead of scary music. Maybe scary music in the bathroom?

So, those are my thoughts! We have the car on Friday so we're off to buy the heavy stuff ? beer and other drinks and pumpkins!! Hooray for Halloween.

Oh, and my costume: the winning idea at the moment is for he and I to dress up as Bacteria. Like wear green and have purple dangly things coming off of us. change of plans. We are now planning on dressing up as zombie bride and groom. FUNNY and good practice. What do you think?

Day 5 - Gratitude Challenge

Today for the gratitude challenge, my assignment is to write for five minutes about how grateful I am for all of the wonderful things that I currently have in my life. I am instructed not to "long for what I don't possess ? instead, to take stock of all the blessings I already enjoy."

Well, here we go! Five minutes starting now:

I am so grateful for all of the things I have. My amazing fiancè, of course, and all the fun and relaxing times we have together. I am so thankful every day to come home from work and spend the evening with him... sitting on the couch, eating dinner, talking, watching tv or a movie, or just clicking away at our own computers. I am so happy when I wake up in the morning, not because I have to get up (I hate that) but because I am happy to be in our apartment, even if, when I wake up, the place is a mess and I feel overwhelmed with all I have to do. I am so glad to have a job, which is not to be underestimated in this economy, and that my colleagues are fun and enjoyable. I am glad that my work is somewhat challenging, and that I have the freedom to do things in the order I choose.

I am so happy to have such wonderful friends, who do hilarious, adventurous things with me but are still happy to sit on the couch and watch tv or play video games. I am thankful for the alps, the most amazing mountains, and my family and Artur's family. I am so happy that my office is close to my house, and that I only need a short subway ride to get there.

I am thankful for all the fall foods that are coming in season: apples and grapes, pumpkins, pomegranates, potatoes and sweet potatoes. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage. I can't wait for soup and cozy evenings, beautiful technicolor trees, crunchy leaves, jeans and boots and wool jackets.

I am so thankful for technology: spell check and email and facebook, blogs and google reader, discount telephone rates and the postal service.

Well, my time is up, but as you see.. I could have gone on for quite a while. Feels good to have so much to be thankful for!!

Day 4 - Gratitude Challenge

For the gratitude challenge today, I am supposed to "write a short message of thanks for some of the "negative" things in my life. This requires me, I suppose, to think of negative things. Hmmm.

Alright, well here goes nothing:

I am grateful for the stress of my Masters program. I am thankful that I have been able to make it work, somehow, and that working full time plus studying in the evenings has proved not only possible, but really quite enjoyable (most of the time). I am grateful for all that I've learned about organization and time management, and most especially, that I have learned how wonderful it is to come home from work and having nothing else to do! I appreciate my relaxing moments even more.

I am also grateful for the strain of my inefficient project group. Although working with this group of people has caused me many sleepless nights and hours of aggravation, I have learned many things about working in a group, and about trust and delegation (or lack thereof) and have learned when to express my feelings and when to keep my frustration to myself. I have also come to understand that I cannot control everyone and that I can't fix everything by simply taking responsibility for all of it.

I am thankful for the distance between me and my friends/family, not because I enjoy being away from them, but because of the amazing opportunities we have had to enjoy each others company in unconventional locations and ways! I have gotten to meet up with friends all over Europe, show them around my hometown of Munich, exchange long emails and groups of facebook photos. My parents came and lived in Augsburg, a neighboring town, for a month, and we had the amazing opportunity of living together in a "foreign" country! I have gotten to witness both my parents working on learning to speak German and adding to their food and experience repertoire. And I always have good stories to share when I come home for a visit.

I have to say that this exercise really helped me "look at the bright side" of things and I am going to try to dissect every problem that comes up by attempting to see things like this. It's hard, but I'm sure I can handle it. What "bright side" do you see in your "negative" things?

Day 3 - Gratitude Challenge

For day three of the gratitude challenge, I am supposed to write about something I feel grateful for in my life today. There are so many things that I am grateful for and so it's hard to decide which to pick. There are some things that go without saying – my family, Mr. Schnitzel, my friends, my health. I thought that maybe I would blog about something a bit less than obvious, namely, my (current) hometown, Munich!

I have been living in Munich for over 4 years and I LOVE it here. I was always one of those people who enjoyed visiting cities but got bored of them very quickly. I would visit other people and think "what a fun city – but I don't think I could live here". Munich was always different. From the very moment I set foot here four years ago I loved it and could picture myself staying. Here's a quick list of the reasons I am so GRATEFUL for Munich:

1) The lovely "small town/city" combination, the feeling that there is always plenty to do and take part in but at the same time it's not overwhelming. I never feel like a nobody and I constantly run into friends around town.

2) Being able to "escape" the city into the Alps so quickly! A 30 minute train ride is all you need

3) The central location within Europe – Austria, Czech Republic, Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands, France, Poland, Denmark, Luxembourg – all bordering – and the other countries are just a step farther!

4) The delicious food (like cheese, wonderful breads, amazing local fruits and vegetables) and (of course) Beer!

5) Oktoberfest, which just ended yesterday :(

6) Embracing the seasons! Every time of year brings new traditions, new delicious food and fun celebrations! I especially love how Munich embraces the COLD by placing blankets at outdoor cafès and serving mulled wine and tea. No hiding indoors for us!

7) The AMAZING public transit network that makes it totally unnecessary for us to have a car

8) The myriad of activities available – from hiking in the Alps to beautiful public pools and saunas, to theater and film festivals – I could never keep up with it all if I tried!

9) Winter sports – beyond skiing, you can go sledding (on big beautiful wooden sleds), skating (on amazing giant frozen lakes), cross country skiing (through wintery alpine paths) and so much more!

10)Tradition Tradition Tradition! Dirndl and Lederhosen, Bavarian Blaskapellen, Alphorn players, alpine huts, men riding the Ubahn wearing bavarian hats with giant goat tails… the list goes on.

11)Grilling on the Isar with friends, with cases of beer floating in the river to stay cool. My ultimate favorite summer activity in Munich.

Phew. So that was only a small taste of why I love it here so much – and writing all that reminded me to GET OUT THERE and enjoy it all as much as possible!

Thanks for listening out there. What do you love about where you live?

Day 2 - Gratitude Challange

So I am writing this a bit early because I am going to Oktoberfest today AND Sunday (i know, it's really debaucherous...) and I am...er...worried about what I might right write (oh dear!) if I waited till I get home...

So here we go! My Gratitude Challenge Alphabetic List of Things I am Grateful for:

A is for Artur, my fiancè!

B is for balloons, lots and lots of them in a big bunch, like in the movie UP

C is for crusty bread, fresh from the bakery, the brown and hearty german kind

D is for Dirndl. Especially mine. Purple and pretty and all ready to be worn for the third time in a row tomorrow!

E is for envelopes. Especially unopened ones, awaiting me on the floor in front of my mail slot when I come home from work, hand addressed to ME

F is for fried clams from the clam shack in Kennebunkport, ME (almost) every summer with my family on summer vacation

G is for gin and tonic. Best drink ever.

H is for hurrying for the subway. Because I do this every morning, and something about it just screams Munich and Me

I is for ice skating. On big giant bavarian frozen lakes, if at all possible.

J is for Jammin' with Bob Marley

K is for knödel

L is for looovvveeeeee

M is for money, because, let's face it - aren't we are grateful for money?

N is for napping in front of the TV on the weekend

O is for office supplies. All kinds. That I order by sending an email to the office supply man at work and that appear magically on my shelf in lovely packaging.

P is for parties, hosted by me, and another p for planning them!

Q is for quiz shows, the TV kind

R is for reruns, especially of law and order

S is for singing ridiculous versions of songs on the radio, making up our own lyrics according to what we are doing at the moment

T is for Target, which I miss soooo much

U is for Ubahn

V is for velvet, the black kind, as in the song black velvet.

W is for water, especially the Isar river behind our apartment

X is for the X-chromosome. Because we've all got it!!

Y is for yodeling

Z is for zither, because you can actually slip the sheet music beneath the strings and play by sight.

Inspiration...

Just a little inspiration board I put together....

The Gratitude Challenge

Dear friends,

I am taking part in the Gratitude Challenge, sponsored by Tiny Prints, a great way to keep myself on the positive side of wedding planning!

Join me in expressing my gratitude for both the positive and negative parts of my life. The very first day (today!) I am instructed in the Gratitude Challenge Calendar to sign the Gratitude Pledge . Here's the text:

THE GRATITUDE PLEDGE
With a hopeful outlook, I, ______________________, promise to fulfill the terms
of The Gratitude Challenge. Over the next 21 days, I pledge to complete the
activities on my gratitude calendar, including writing journal entries, taking
photos and connecting with friends. I promise to take note of life’s little blessings
and to give thanks for the relationships, experiences and opportunities that make
my life unique. From this day forward, I commit to living on the brighter side of life.
Signature: _____________________________________ Date: _________________

Well, here I go! Who'd like to join me? Tomorrow I will be making my alphabet gratitude list... stay tuned!

Movin' along...

So! I'm back in the swing of things.

We are in full gear for our save the dates, which will be designed by tucci paper company (i love etsy...don't you?!) More on that to follow

AND we are having a custom cake topper designed by Ashley Daugherty (etsy's custom section is my lifesaver) Here's a sneak peak at what we're aiming for:

Yes, we're Wall-E fanatics :) What do you think?!

Riiiiiiiiiccccooolllaaaaaa

We are also thinking about a surprise for our cocktail hour… one that may or may not include these guys…

Bzzzzzzzzing favors

Hi! So we have been brainstorming about favors and our "favor"ite idea thus far is to give each guest a small jar of local honey. Germany has so many wonderful tiny bee keepers, so I set to work researching who is nearby. I found out that the "Oberallgäu Beekeepers Association" is actually located in Mr. Schnitzel's hometown, Buchenberg! Hilariously enough (and confusing to me for a few long moments) the president of the association is named Theo Buchenberg. That's right. His last name is the same as the town he lives in. He must be a pretty important guy! Anyways, I emailed him to find out how much it would cost to order about 80 little jars of honey that we could affix our own labels to. (I don't plan on filling my own honey jars ... that sounds like a sticky mess to me). He is apparently on vacation now, but we are awaiting his response!

The other part of the idea is to give each guest a honey dipper with their nametag tied to the handle and to have this serve as their escort card - so when they get to their table they will find their honey jar awating dipping!

What do you think of the ideas? bzzzzzz