Let's go to the Mall!

Hello Dear Readers,

As a natural consequence of my new obsession with fashion blogs and videos, coupled with the fact that this slow house buying buisines is making me so cranky I can't even stand myself, I decided to take myself out this weekeend.  One of the blogs I watched showed that H&M is running a promotion where when you bring in a bag of clothes to donate they give you 5 pounds off of a 30 pound purchase (or 15% off one item in the US).  Hmm, clearing out old clothes before the move AND finally replacing my holy skinny jeans while AT THE SAME TIME saving money?  Sold! 

I also had 5 Lush pots from the lovely gift set Chris got me last Christmas, which I'm still very much enjoying, so I was planning to turn those in to get a free fresh face mask.   A quick email to a friend who very handily lives a 10 min walk from the mall and I am set!  I cycled up there and spent an enjoyable few hours trying on every pair of jeans in the place, while scoping out all the other goodies too.

Since I knew I had to get up to 30 GBP worth of stuff, I kind of turned it into a treasure hunt, finding exactly what I needed and knew I would use.  In the end I got some slim jeans to replace the ones that had embarassing holes in the ah-hem region, a lovely new top with lace panels (since we are still having a decent summer with temps in the 80's), a semi-statement necklace (which I will sitll be able to wear when the trend for statement necklaces is gone) and some faux tortoiseshell hair snaps, which I think look better in my brown hair than the silver ones.  To top off the day, we had lunch at Yo-Sushi!, one of those places where the sushi goes around on a little conveyor belt.  Since I saved 2.80 on transport by cycling, 5 for bringing in my bag of clothes and 5 on the fresh face mask, lunch practically paid for itself!

To top off the evening I soaked in a long bath with a Lush Twilight Bath bomb, suds-ed up with their Turkish delight body wash, and washed with their Angels on Bare skin facewash and had a Brazened Honey face mask, finished with their Celestial moisturizer.  Sigh.  I love my Lush box, the Christmas gift that keeps on giving.

I also wore my new outfit to work today and felt like a million bucks.  I'm not usually an advocate of retail therapy, but new clothes without holes or stains and fashionable new jewelery, well it can really lift a person's spirits.
 
This weekend felt sort of like a vacation because our two other housemates are away and it's just the three of us at home, so we can relax and not worry about being too loud or bothering other people by taking extra long baths or singing Little Mermaid at the top of our lungs in the kitchen.  For example.  In the spirit of being on a "stay-cation" (and speaking of gifts that keep on giving) I broke into my birthday present from Patrick this year, my emergency knitting kit to make a bicycle seat cover!!  It was a perfect project for a hot weekend in watching the end of the Tour de France, no?

Tah dah!  EVEN Patrick and Chris approved, and let me tell you they are hard to please.  Oh and they liked my clothes, also a rarity. 

 So I'm feeling a lot more chipper today than I was on Thursday when I out crankied myself and decided to do something about it.  We will move. Soon.  At this point it's just nice to take advantage of being able to pack and clean and tidy up slowly.




Patrick and I packed up the bike stuff in the office together, which was a great little achievement, and I packed up the bookshelf in my room (plus the bonus of two bags to H&M, let's not forget) AND my bedskirt to my friend who I went shopping with AND...... I have a friend who is supposed to pick up an extra duvet.  Soon I hope.  Now I just need to get Patrick to turn in those X-BOX games we went through in exchange for Portal, or maybe a party game......


Hope everyone is enjoying the summer!  I'm back to getting a veg box delivered every week and enjoying fresh salad and tons of fruits and veg. And making fruit smoothies in the morning without disturbing other housemates!   SUMMER!

Cheers!

Henly-on-Thames Royal Regatta - At Last!

Hello Dear Readers,

You may (or  may not, as some of you I fear have yet to discover the joys of the RSS feed)  have  missed me last weekend.  The truth is it was so beautiful I didn't have the heart to sit inside and blog.  Chris and I walked all the way to Barnes on Sunday, which is quite close to our new flat and had a lovely day out pretending we had already moved there.  We visited all the cute little shops and admired the French and Italian cafe's with their outdoor seating.  We chatted with local sales clerks about how lovely it is to be in Barnes.  Sadly, we are not much closer this week to being in our new flat, but the Bank's solicitors have assured us that they only received the paperwork on the 4th of July (they received it June 30 according to the tracking number, but whatever).  Congrats and shoutouts to my friends Adam and Melch who have managed to move in to the condo they bought in CA, well done!

This past week I indulged in two days of Holiday for the 4th of July and went to NOT see Patrick race at Henley-on-Thames royal regatta. Something I meant to do every year I was here and just now got around to.  Above is a photo of Thames boat 'A' who made it to Friday's race...

 Sadly Patrick's boat (Thames 'B') did not, but then they drew the boat favored to win so it was no surprise they lost on Wednesday.  Thames 'B's loss was our gain though, as it meant Patrick got to hang with use at the Remenham club.  Pronounced not remen-ham as it's spelled, but more mumbled as a one syllable word like remenom, though I can't do it properly since I'm not English.

 For the first time ever I went to a public event with a dress code, much like Ascot's horse-race, ladies are advised to wear hats, and they MUST wear a dress to the knee.  Men wear jackets, ties and slacks.  The men were allowed to take their jackets off this year because it was actually warm, but not the ties.  Chris didn't have a jacket so we went shopping on Thursday and got him this lovely tweed number from TopShop, where Matt Smith (current Dr. Who) I think does a lot of his shopping.  This coat, with a red bow tie would be very Doctor-y, and frankly that's just a bit sexy to me.

 I'm wearing my favorite new dress with starts on it, pearl necklace and earrings, and my hat, also from TopShop.  Very conservative, very English.  Some women went all out in the hat department
as you can see here.  I think this is a wig, but I'm sure these are two tiny oars she had sticking out of it...

 And this woman I Kinneared on the train on the way to Henley.  It isn't so clear in this shot, but there is a full on bird sitting atop her fascinator, and how fascinating it is.  Turns out she's the friend of a rower on Patrick's team, small world!  Well, I suppose as big as the world of English rowing anyway.......

 Chris and I really enjoyed our day out, and everyone was in high spirits.  Mosley's team even went for the traditional pyramid shot, this was attempt two, and I managed to get the photo just before they all tumbled down again.

I've been enjoying the nice weather here, it's gotten up to the 80's just about (27 C yesterday) and I'm loving it.  I've invented a new soft serve vegan ice cream, which I call call Go Banana's!.  It's frozen banana, pureed with a tiny bit of milk (almond, coconut, soy, anything really) sprinkled with some chocolate chips and swirled with some Reese's' Peanut Butter that I snagged at TKMaxx (that's not a typo, that's what it's called here). The warm weather is also bringing out all the neighbors which is lovely.  We have two kids that moved in next door and they are so inquisitive and friendly, a refreshing change from most English who feel it is polite to pretend like they can't see you.  When I said my dad had been in the army, he said in all earnestness, "Does he carry a spear?!"  when i told him, no of course not, he corrected, remembering that I said my Dad HAD been in the Army, he said, "Oh, well did he USED to carry a spear?"..  I hated to disappoint him.  Maybe he thinks my dad was a Roman centurion?

Hope everyone had a lovely 4th of July holiday, and to my English friends, how about this weather?  I'm watching Battlestar Galactica at the moment, otherwise I'd be outside every waking moment.  Happy birthday shout out to my friend Nina, who had a lovely picnic in Regent's Park for her birthday yesterday (I made her cashmere socks, just realized I forgot to photograph them, meh.)
Cheerio!

Just Under the Wire

Hello Dear Readers,

Had another really great weekend (this year seems to have been full of them!).  Adding to the list of my high school friends who have made the trek out here to visit me (Jennifer, Adam and Melch, Matt, Devin, Luke, Amy) Susan sneaks in right at the end of the year!  Hoooray!  She came under the pretense of giving a talk at the Institute of Physics, but I think we can all agree that seeing me is the highlight of the visit!

 Sunday morning I took the tube out to pick her up from Heathrow.  We went up to Great Portland Street to drop her luggage off at the hotel.  Fortunately it was very close to Oxford street so we could spend the day doing a bit of shopping!

 I took her to YumChaa, my favorite tea shop in Berwick Street, then we wandered around such highlights as Liberty, where I fondled the yarn section (as usual, they have ALL the Rowan yarns!)

 And we had fancy tea in their tea room, complete with Christmas themed mini mince pies and a delicious but mysterious jelly (English jelly, Jell-o to Americans) thing with cinnamon flavor.

 We walked around Regent street to see the lights, and of course hit up UniQlo and LUSH!!  Walked to Chinatown, Leicester Square where the Hobbit grand opening was on Friday, Trafalgar Square for some truly weird carols before walking Susan back to her hotel, wet and tired but so happy.

Monday night Susan came to my house for a traditional English dinner of Bangers and Mash.  Don't get excited, that just means sausages (vegan in our case) and mashed potatoes, which I served with a side of stir fried kale.  Yum!  And mango for dessert.

Afterwards we went into the living room to try to get a nice serious photo together, unfortunately we were talking so much and laughing so hard we couldn't really get one.

It looks a bit like that strip of photos you get in a photo booth.  In the third one Susan is recreating a funny high school photo which I don't think I have an electronic copy of (Jennifer?).  I like the last one which is a classic Susan pose where she is clearly explaining something to me in a hilarious manner.  My brother came downstairs and asked what all the laughing and screaming was about but really we couldn't say, it was just funny!

 We did get a semi serious one over here by the fireplace, which is in full Christmas swing now.

My mother and sister sent boxes with gifts, so they are piled up, PLUS the huge mystery present from Chris to me.  No idea.  Also, if you look closely to the right of the American flag is a sweet handmade hand painted Nativity scene Susan's mother, avid reader of this blog (Hello Mrs. Clark!!Thanks for the gift, I love it!) made and sent to me.  It's fantastic!  I'm sure I took a close up photo, but I think it might have been on Susan's camera, which is very similar to mine.

Well, Christmas will be a let down now after Susan's visit, but what can we do? Just get along until the next visit comes around, which I hope will be sooner, rather than later.  Miss you already Susan.

We are spending a quiet Christmas at home, I have Monday through Wednesday off (the day after Christmas, called Boxing Day, is also a national holiday here) so I plan to do ALL the laundry in the house, sheets, towels, heck, maybe even curtains!!  We'll see.  It would just be nice to know that everything was clean starting in the new year.

Hope everyone has a good Christmas, I'll report back soon.

Cheers

Lady in Red

Hello Dear Readers,

Took a little break from blogging, now I'm back, so here we go..... I'm still working only part time at Kew (but it looks like that will change soon) so last Thursday I enjoyed a day out with a girlfriend from knitting who took some time off work.  I wanted to check out the Portobello road area, made famous for a lot of Americans in Bedknobs and Broomsticks.  It is well known for it's antiques and/or vintage market, the busy day with all the stalls is Friday and Saturday but I thought a quiet Thursday morning was fine for me.
We walked along the shops, just window shopping, seeing a lot of nice antiques.  Further down the road it turns a bit more into name brand high street shops, but with some interesting restaurants (the first vegetarian place in London, for example) down the way.  Along the way I was talking to Lucy about how I was really thinking of buying a nice leather jacket (I know, I know, some people will be confused about a vegan buying a leather jacket, but my issue with fake leather is that it isn't environmentally friendly, and I'd rather use the whole cow anyway than let it go to waste.  Eating vegan is more about reducing my carbon and pesticide footprint than anything else, not that I feel I have to justify myself, I'm just explaining). I have been influenced lately by stylings from Wendy's Lookbook to try to define what I like and how I want to look.  Plus, as it's the Year of Me, I think I need to stop dressing like a graduate student.  I really like the fashions of Emma Swan in Once Upon a Time,  Elena Gilbert in The Vampire Diaries and leather jackets are a key part of their look.  Plus, after seeing photos of myself in my old spring/fall coat, I didn't think it was flattering at all and it's gone into the charity bag as of last night.  Anyway, while talking to Lucy about this we happened to walk right by - a leather jacket shop!  Thirty minutes later, with a little haggling for 20% off the price, in a very uncharacteristic move for me, I walked out with this beauty.

And haven't been able to take it off since!  I would never have thought of red, preferring brown or black, but I felt like it would go with a lot more of my current wardrobe, any color brown boots, black, my navy jeans or a black dress.  Anyway, I'm feeling like a sexy FBI agent, or a cool biker chick when I wear it and since it's been such a cold spring, I think it's going to get a lot of use.

After shopping we walked down to Hyde Park to check out Kensington Palace, where Queen Victoria was brought up and Princess Diana lived.  They have recently renovated it so it was shiny new and stunning.  Afterwards we went to Lush on King's street to stock up on essentials, and made our way back to the palace for Afternoon Tea in the old Orangery.  The building is lovely, really a good afternoon tea feel without the bustle of having it at a hotel or department store.  We had small cucumber sandwiches, scones and a selection of sweet things like shortbread, lemon tart, macaroons and a small layered chocolate cake.   I had a white tea with mine - the whole thing was divine!

I really can't remember the last time I had such an amazing day, Lucy brought out the daredevil shopper in me and I'm very grateful.

Though the weather here has been drizzly and overcast (perfect for leather jackets, btw.) it has made the bright spring greens of London really pop out, as you can see in this shot of the Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace.  Makes me nostalgic for William and Mary's sunken garden.

On the craft front, my good friend Molly sent me quite a few of her worn out t-shirts and clothes to do a little magic on to turn into things for Katelyn.  I was so excited to get the box, the only thing to tear me away from it was the above trip and jacket adventure.  A few frantic sewing days later (apologies to my housemate for the sound of the machine at 7 am on a Friday), here is the majority of stuff in all it's glory.  Three leggings/pants, two adorable dresses and two summer hats (she threw all the other hats I made her out of the stroller already!)

 I love this little dress to the left mostly because it highlights a science fair held at Cambridge, not a feature on most baby clothes and I don't know why.  With an astronomer father and a biologist mother, this girl is bound to have a curiosity about the natural world - whether she wants to or not!  When they were here last month Molly said Katelyn is really into lady-beetles so I sewed two lady-beetle buttons I found in Portobello road.  The dress below I'm very proud of too for my recycling of lace from the bottom of a much loved but now see through camisole top I got many Christmas's ago in a Kohl's Christmas sale.  Sigh.  The tissue thin top also got used for the lining of the slightly thick spandex white top, and the sleeves for the top were turned into leggins for a matchy matchy look.  The only trouble is since I don't have the kid here to try things on I just have to go on faith and measurements that they will fit........ I'm a little bit nervous, but I figured if they don't' fit her, surely Molly will know someone else with a smaller baby, or wait for Molly to grow into things.

 Fun fun fun, would love to have more little kids (not of my own) to sew for as the projects are so quick and fun.  My brain was bursting with possibilities after I got the box, and I still have more ideas left, though less raw materials.

I also made the two hats, and this little crocheted one should be good for our spring, cotton so as not to be too warm, but pretty enough that she hopefully won't mind wearing it every day (until she throws it off that is).  Oh well, baby clothes should be like babies anyway, their ephemeral nature are what make them so special.



Enjoying a "Bank Holiday" weekend this Monday.  Bank Holidays are a bit weird here, they don't commemorate any event as far as I can tell, or mark any pagan or christian ritual, or even come evenly spaced.  There is "early May" bank holiday, and late May, and Early August, and some others throughout, but nothing like Memorial Day, Forth of July or Thanksgiving.  Christmas and Easter are marked, but the other special days like St. George's Day (patron saint of England) or Remembrance Day (war memorial) pass by without a day off to reflect and BBQ.  Anyway, not complaining about a day off,  just observing and celebrating cultural differences.

Cheerio!

Playing Tourist

Hello Dear Readers,

The part Chris ordered for his computer finally came in, and tomorrow is my last day working at the museum so I should be doing a lot more blogging in April.  To catch up, two weeks ago my good friends from high school came over and we got to play tourist with them.

We took the Big Bus Tour around the city which I had never done before, it was a really good way to see all the highlights, some things I hadn't even had a chance to see yet.  We had the obligatory South Bank/Big Ben photo op. before going to Waterloo for lunch at "A Hole In the Wall" restaurant under the tube bridge.

We took a cruise along the Thames to see the stuff that can really only been seen on the river like the Globe Theatre, Somerset House, the Mayor's office, the Shard in progress and lots of pubs.  Simon was our captain, he said he's a 6th generation Waterman.  The waterman have a long history in Putney too as they are the ones that used to ferry people back and forth until Putney Bridge was built.  The above bridge of course is the Tower Bridge, made famous recently in the new Sherlock Holmes movies.

Later in the week Adam, Melch and I took a day trip to Stonehenge and Bath.  I was a little worried that I would be disappointed by Stonehenge, but it was totally worth it, I spent the entire hour walking around and had to scurry back to the bus!

We toured around the famous Roman baths and had the obligatory glass of "Bath Healing Waters" which didn't taste of warm rusty nails as much as our bus guide would have us believe.  These are the elegant pump rooms, now a restaurant but used a lot as a plot device in Jane Austin's Persuasion and Northanger Abbey.  We walked around the town a bit which was lovely and sunny in stark contrast to the cloudy morning at Stonehenge.



After this they came to the museum to see behind the scenes where I worked, then we took a whirlwind tour of Ireland!  More stunning photos of that to come (and 2 lbs of raw wool for spinning - win!)

Leap Day Madness

Hello Dear Readers,

Leap years are fun arn't they?  There is something about a secret day that only comes up once every year that is divisible by 4.........like an Easter Egg in a video game.  Here in England apparently there is a tradition of girls asking guys to marry them on Leap Year, it seems that is the socially sanctioned day for tradition to go all topsy  turvey.  DON"T PANIC!  I'm not asking Chris to marry me, but in the tradition of Leap Year weirdness, Chris spotted my doppleganger on the bus today.

Freaky!  I promise that's not me (I cycle and dont' take the bus, and anyway that is Waterloo bridge if I'm not mistaken), but the hair, the shape of the face, everything is soo similar.  Chris assures me that she is a less attractive version of me, though the photo I'm sure doesn't do this girl justice.  I wonder if she has a goatee, like evil Spock in that Mirror episode of Start Trek TOS.  I guess it shows that you really can find anything in London, even your doppelgänger.

Cheers!

Year of ME, cont.

Hello Dear Readers,

This weekend we experienced some really nice, sunny weather.  Not so warm, but sunny enough to dry the sheets on the back porch!  I managed to get Patrick's done too Mom, while he was out cycling, you have to be quick though.

Chris and I took a walk near the Thames and I took the opportunity to try out my new camera a bit.  If you squint you can see some sailboats in the background by the shore, everyone was out enjoying the weather.

We even found some wooly friends near the Barnes Wetland Center,

Sheep!

Lovely brown and white wooley sheep!

I swear gov, this fleece just came off in my hand.  Shears? What, oh THESE shears.......how did they get there?

Today, in continuation of my year long celebration of ME for my 30th birthday, Chris and I took a trip the salon where I had gotten us gift certificates for Christmas.   Chris had a choice of 3 out of 5 treatments, and today had his hair cut by the very nice and lovely Fidel.  My certificate is more fixed, and I already  had the haircut last month.

This visit was supposed to be 15 scattered highlights, but I really wasn't sure what I wanted.  He was asking did I want to go a different color or really dark or different or what.  I'm not sure that I would keep them up so I asked for subtle highlighting. I should have taken a better before photo, but Chris was ready with his phone.

 

He mixed up his potions and applied the foils to my head very neatly, then cut Chris's hair while I waited.

I think in the end the result was more subtle than I intended, though Monica said she could tell it was lighter in the front than in the back.  Oh well, it was a good opportunity to try something out since on average each visit is only 10 pounds (about 15 dollars) and I had a nice time with the little head and neck massage before and the cup of tea and everything.  Perhaps tomorrow in the sunlight the lighter bit will shine through more.


Not too much else going on, I'm applying for a bunch of jobs now since my contract at the museum expires at the end of March, but I'm still hopeful that I'll find SOMETHING.  If not, I'm making plans to travel the UK more.  I'll keep you all posted.

Cheers.

Heather

Happy Birthday Chris!

Hello Dear Readers,

It's been too long since my last post, but exciting developments have happened since then.  For a Christmas/Birthday present Chris bought me a new camera! Of course he's not a great planner when it comes to gifts, and the worst at surprises, so he told me about it on the 11th of Feb, the day he ordered it....... it's fine, it arrived on Valentine's Day, the perfect halfway point for me between Christmas and my birthday, so it's kind of official.  He got me the Canon IXUS in BLUE!  Our old camera had a tiny screen, battery life problems, the CF reader on our computer was going, and it was just plain BIG.  The new one is a little smaller than an iPhone, perfect for me to slip into my pocket, even my skinny jeans, and take with me to shoot some blog photos to share with all of you.

 It did a great macro shot of the yarn I finished spinning this weekend:

And managed to capture really well in the low light of our office some before and after shots of this neat-o pattern I did for a pair of toddler's sweatpants out of a single t-shirt using just *3 seams*

Aren't they the cutest?  This pattern comes from Hammer and Thread, at this link.  I whipped up this pair in the morning before going to teach knitting, and a second pair when I got back.  Now I just need to find out if they are even close to fitting the toddlers I sew for....somewhere out there I'm sure there is a baby for them.

 The other significant event this weekend was Chris's birthday.  I've been planning a great surprise for a month now, and could barely contain myself, but I did a much better job than Chris with my camera.


Here he is, all unsuspecting on Saturday night. (Everyone was out of the house except us, so of course we stayed up late playing UpWords, which my friend Kat from Chicago gave me years and years ago and we still enjoy).

Sunday after I got home from teaching Knitting in the morning I asked him if he had eaten well and to shave and get dressed nice-ish.  He had no idea what was in store, but dutifully got on the 22 bus with me all the way to Piccadilly Circus.



As we walked down Shaftsbury avenue, past the Windmill street (of Judi Dench movie fame) and through the heart of the West End Theater district.  When he saw the sign for Thriller Live, he knew what was on! If you zoom in you can even see a smile on his face.

For those who don't know, Chris in his misspent youth applied his characteristic laser focus on learning everything there was about Michael Jackson, right down to his dance moves and I catch him doing Billie Jean in the kitchen to this day. Actually, dancing Billie Jean is part of how we met and got together, but that's another story....

After a fantastic show (most people tap their feet or sing along, Chris on the other hand was dancing along to the show......) we headed around the corner to Ed's Diner, a fantastic American 1950's style diner for a chocolate shake, cheeseburger (veggie for me) fries and onion rings, one of Chris's favorite meals.  The place was so cute, and they even had that jukebox system where the tables and booths had their own that you could put 20p in and dial up a song.  Great birthday? or Greatest Birthday Ever?  I'm glad I was able to capture it all on my new camera too.

As my birthday is coming up and Chris's is going down, the last bit of exciting news is that two of my best friends from High School, Adam and Melch (remember them from this post?) are coming to visit me on my birthday FROM L.A.!!  How cool is that?  Skippies visiting me is always something I daydream about, and since Jennifer and Amy's visits last year and this visit on my birthday those dreams have been coming true!  Not sure exactly what we'll be doing, but I know we'll be having fun and laughing so much it hurts. Hooray!

Busy As Usuall

Hello Dear Readers,

We've had some lovely weather these past two weekends here in London, nothing to rival the heat and sunshine baking the US but pretty nice for us. Last weekend I spent all Saturday with some knitting friends, we started the day with breakfast knitting in a cafe, then moved to a picnic lunch at Ravenscourt Park for the rest of the afternoon. It was lovely, and we got a new crocheter and a new sock knitter out of the day. Hurray for Icy and Sian!

I also finished my mother's sweater this weekend. It looks ok on me, I hope she will like it.

....and I finished the baby skirt for my friend, now I just need to find the time to give it to her!


Yesterday Patrick and I went down to the rowing club to clean our bikes. I got pretty filthy, but black beauty is looking pretty good. All that crap that I thought was actually part of the gears came off and though she doesn't look new, I like to think she rides a bit more smoothly. Hopefully this nice weather keeps up so that she doesn't get trashed again Monday morning.

In the afternoon Patrick, Jess, Chris and I went down to the SouthBank where they were having both a Vintage and a Street Food Festival. If you are ever in London on a weekend and want to do some people watching, the SouthBank is the place to do it, it was crammed! We had some cider, I had these interesting deep fried risotto ball wraps (with apple slices and corn) and we finished up with churros and chocolate and Flake ice cream.

Today I tried to do my taxes yet again, but realized that the last form that they sent me didn't have the activation code I needed, only my ID number, and the activation code will come in another letter soon. I hope. Sigh. Why doesn't the government make it easier for me to give it money? No wonder we are in such financial trouble! Chris starts his new job at HMRC (the tax office) on the 15 th of August, so maybe he can straighten them out for me!

This afternoon I have a friend coming over to learn to knit a sweater, I'm really looking forward to it, and then Friday Chris and I are headed to Germany! No post next weekend as I'm traveling, but I'm looking forward to posting pictures of my childhood home soon!

Auf Weidersein!