It's all fun and games..

So one of the reasons that we picked our venue the Landhaus Sommerau is because it has a duck-pin bowling alley AND a miniature golf course. WOW! We have been brainstorming ways to use these amazing resources. Here are our ideas so far:

- Each guest gets a monogrammed minigolf ball in the OOT bag (maybe like this but in color)?

source

- A family minigolf tournament

- A bridal party/groomsmen minigolf tournament

here's the minigolf course!

- Duck pin bowling tournaments (also as a bad weather alternative to minigolf)

this is the hotel's "kegelbahn"

- A rehearsal dinner/out of town event involving barbecue outside, beer on tap and minigolf

Oh wait. Did I mention that the hotel also has volleyball, tennis, a playground AND a mudbath? Yes, I know I have mentioned the mudbath. But I'll mention it again. A wild, in the forest amazingly beautiful MUDBATH! Complete with a beautiful pond to rinse off in. What could be better?

this is the "rinsing off pond"

Not to mention that any number of alpine hiking paths, bike routes, cheese tours and amazing castles are within breathing distance. Now I just need to devise a plan as to how to best take advantage of all the entertainment possibilities. I can't wait! How did you incorperate fun into your wedding?

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!

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?

Musical thoughts

So I have been thinking a lot about music lately. It's been making me really excited, especially because I am a person who LOVES to be in a great atmosphere with lovely music. But really, don't we all? Luckily, Mr Schnitzel and I have very similar musical taste, so I think we should be able to agree on some wonderful songs that will complement our wedding. We have already decided that we will have a band for our reception, a cover band with an alpine vibe. Our venue gave us a list of about 20 bands that people book for weddings often, so it shouldn't be too hard to find something!

But recently, I have been thinking about the ceremony music, because it's something that I've never really thought about. I just started to click my way through online wedding classics, and then crept out of the box and into some of my favorite non wedding songs about love. I came up with a huge list of music we both adore! We still have no idea about which songs for the processional, recession etc, but then again, we do have 10 months to go! I did get this little thought in my head that I would adore it if my dad would play for at least a portion of the ceremony.

My dad is actually a law professor, but in his spare time he is part of a fabulous bluegrass band called Midlife Crisis. He plays the upright Bass and the guitar. I think I wouldn't make him schlep his Bass all the way across the ocean, but he just so happens to have a guitar hiding out in Vienna (long story – he plays songs for lawyers there every year for a moot court competition – for more details go here) or for a video, here. So I thought – wouldn't it be great if he played some tunes for us on his guitar at the ceremony? He has tentatively said yes – and then I started daydreaming about having my uncle (who I am not sure will make it. But if he does..) play with him on his fiddle. And then I recalled that my brother also plays the guitar! At any rate, I do hope there will be some family guitar music going on. I fell asleep so often to the strumming of my dad's guitar downstairs…

Scoping out the site

Hi all, so I'm here for the weekend at Mr. Schnitzel's family home, in the small town in the Alps where all of the wedding festivities will be taking place! We're here for a visit, but also to scope out some things, most particularly the Landhaus Sommerau where we will be holding our ceremony and reception. It looks like the whole date change debacle is shaping up into a great idea, namely holding the civil ceremony the day before with close family and friends, dressed in Dirndl and Lederhosen, followed by drinks at Mr. Schnitzel's family home and dinner at a cozy local German pub. Sitting here, with this lovely view of the church spire of Buchenberg, I can really picture it.

We haven't gotten a chance to go over and scope out the Sommerau yet, most because it's saturday in August and they, of course, have a wedding going on! (which would actually be kind of great to spy on, maybe I'll tramp up there later...) but we plan on heading over tomorrow to get something to eat and check out the event room again, as well as one of the hotel rooms, and just generally ask some basic questions. I have been endlessly flipping through their brochure and they really just offer everything and I think they will be really flexible with our ideas. I can't wait!

Yesterday when we arrived, Mama Schnitzel fed us and we got to talking about the wedding, of course. We hadn't yet discussed who she was interested in inviting, so she rattled off a list of names that I, of course, have never heard and Mr. Schnitzel looked confused, mostly because they are his polish relatives that he has, in fact, not seen for at least ten years, since he last visited Poland. And I got to thinking about how weddings are really amazing because they bring a whole bunch of people together who haven't seen eachother for a while or maybe ever for a common, joyous occasion and I got really excited about the chemistry that fills a room when so many people from so many different backgrounds and families and cultures get together for a fun event. I can't wait to meet everyone, and for everyone to meet eachother! Really, that's the most important thing to me (as I've said before, stitching together two families!)

Otherwise, I have been relaxing and staring with a giant goofy grin on my face at my husband-to-be :) *sigh*