Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Un-nesting

We are about to cross into our last two weeks here in Germany.  WHAT?!  Yeah, that's kind of how we feel about it, too.  It is hard to believe that this adventure is coming to a close. Onward and upward - time to make new memories in a new place.  This is something we are starting to get pretty accustomed to, but it doesn't make it easier.  In some ways, it almost seems that with each move it gets a tad bit harder - probably because we know how tough it is to leave the places and people that we love.  

Overseas moves are especially interesting because the transition seems to last forever.  Whether we like it or not, all that "stuff" we like to live with every day has to climb onto a boat and sail across the ocean (vehicles included), so you live in a limbo state for a little while.  The government was sweet enough to lend us furniture, so it hasn't been too bad.  Sometimes living simply is a good thing, especially when you know it's only temporary.  That said, it is still a state of limbo.  A state of simplicity with a mix of creative complications.  Our house is relatively empty, but we are surrounded with endless lists and paperwork as we attempt to keep this transition somewhat organized (always an interesting feat).  

We had our pre-inspection back when they moved all of our household goods onto a truck.  The list isn't too long of things we have to do to clear housing, but there will definitely be some elbow grease cleaning involved. I tend to fall into this mode of thinking, "why clean much now when you have to scrub the floors in a few weeks?"  So, I go about my days sweeping floors and wiping counters, but otherwise trying not to notice that I haven't mopped in awhile, blah blah blah.  

This is where that whole "un-nesting" deal comes into play.  I decided this viewpoint was ridiculous.  Why live in a mess for a month just to clean it well and let the professional cleaning crew enjoy it.  Yeah, I opted out of that whole opinion and decided that it would be nice for us to have a bathroom floor so clean you could eat off of it, or a refrigerator be spotless.  I started cleaning like a crazy person between homework assignments, naptimes, yoga sessions, and publications.  I actually feel much better.  Weird how that works.

I've also decided that I'm going to stop focusing on how much I'm going to miss it here and start letting myself be excited about moving home.  The sadness has been overwhelming.  It's not a big secret that we love it here. The travel is one thing (because seriously, who could NOT love all this travel), but mostly we just really love living in Germany.  It's a place we have learned to call home, and we feel at peace here.  When we moved to Germany, I honestly couldn't think of anything that I missed about home except for my family and friends (it has definitely been tough being so far away from the people we love and care about these past 3 years).  I started making a list of things I'm excited to go back to now that it's right around the corner.  Simple things like having a mailbox at the end of my driveway, being able to pay for gas at the pump, having a gym membership at a place with daycare, being in a closer time zone with our friends and family... silly little things like that.  I am beyond excited about our plans to visit family this summer. Literally making my heart smile every time I think about it and the people and places we haven't visited in over three years.  

So, here's to un-nesting and enjoying the hell out of Germany for two more weeks.  We have one more adventure this weekend when we head up to Sweden to visit with Big R's family one last time before we leave Europe.  Then we get home and the moving madness goes into full gear - we ship the car, get health certificates for the pets, pack up the remaining items for our final shipment, and I finish up my finals and move one step closer to that LLM degree.  

Speaking of school, it's time for me to get back to work.  See you all when we get back from Sweden!
xoxoxoxo



Monday, June 2, 2014

Wine Club - can't think of a more perfect thing

Yep, a wine club.  Could we seriously come up with anything more awesome than a reason to make sure a group of your closest local friends gets together on a regular basis? Nope, I didn't think so.  I'm actually in shock that I haven't come up with this idea before.  It happened completely by accident, which I think is how most brilliance is derived...

So, when I moved to Erbendorf last summer, one of the first people I met was my friend, Sheri.  She's kind of awesome in just about every sense of the word.  We immediately hit it off, and before long, we would make time once in awhile to take a break from all the mommy madness and share an evening with each over a glass of wine.  Then we started inviting our other girlfriends in the neighborhood.  Somehow this turned into a wine club and it is literally the most awesome thing.  Book club is clearly overrated.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I always love a good book, but who has time to read these days anyway?!  I say that with a heavy heart, though, because it's painful to me that I don't have time to read, but I'm very happy to find another reason to bring a group of amazing woman together on a regular basis.  To make things even more awesome, we all live in the same neighborhood. That means as long as we have hubbies at home or a babysitter hired, we can stroll over to wherever wine club is happening that night.  Yeah, brilliance and awesomeness. I wish this type of luck on all my friends, I truly do.

Wine club night always involves a lot of laughing, often a fair share of eating (especially chocolate, schneeballen, and wasabi peas - yes, all of those things at the same time), and sometimes they can talk me into standing on my head.  (I don't recommend this at home because I have a couple scars on my head to prove it's not exactly the best idea, and yet it keeps reoccurring. hmmmm.)


The t-shirts say "Erbendorf Wine Club"

And the back is a wine bottle pouring our names into a wine glass - so cool!

I apparently make it a habit of standing on my head after a couple glasses of wine...

they are all secretly hoping I crash on my head (which has happened before!)

It's no secret that I love a glass (or two) of wine, and the only thing I enjoy more is being able to share a glass with my good friends.  This wine club is nothing shy of awesome.  I'm seriously tearing up thinking that I have to leave this incredible group of women next month.  Oh, ladies, I don't know what I'm going to do with out you!!!  Sheri, when I leave, your task, should you choose to accept it, is to teach some of these ladies how to drink "real" wine.  (Sorry, ladies, I couldn't help myself, but that sweet stuff has got to go!)

Zumvoll to my wine club ladies.  I will miss you all so much!
xoxoxoxo