Our life in Germany - take 1.

I don't even know where to begin, so much has happened since my last post - which was back in December of 2014. I've been neglecting my little space because of all the crazy loops and twirls life has put us through.

A quick summary of basically last year and some of this year:

• I shaved all my hair off and restarted my natural journey. (too much heat damage from straightening and coloring) I've been natural since May of 2012 - almost 3 years soon! I love my afro and I'll never mistreat it with the straightener again. Sorry, if you're confused.
• We threw some get togethers and spent most of our free time with our friends here.
• My parents flew out and my mom helped teach Sicily to walk, but her clubfoot still wasn't fixed. This in turn lead to us finding a new doctor and getting a second opinion! Hallelujah that we did - I can't even begin to type about her old doctor here. *rage*
• We've been redoing the house room by room. First it was our room, then the kitchen, the living room and now we're working on Sicily's.
• I started a Geek Girl Brunch chapter for Kaiserslautern, Germany area. I also found another officer to help out with the chapter. We launched our first brunch in Feb (as most of you know if you read my Geek Talk post) What is that? Check out Geekgirlbrunch.com or click on the badge at the side of my page. It's been fun so far! See if there is a chapter in your area!! If anyone is interested in becoming a officer of our chapter, shoot me an email.
• My life got turned upside down with my recent diagnosis of Celiacs, though, I wasn't wholly surprised considering I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and anytime I ate gluten my joints would flare to high heaven. 
• We have been saving to see.....*drum roll* JAPAN! Yeah, yeah, I know..we're in Germany, there is a lot of Europe to see. Honestly, Japan has been my dream since childhood. My dream was to become a translator and live in Japan...just ask my mom. There are only a few places I have on my bucket list to see in Europe and that's based on history that interests me. Other than that, if we go somewhere here and I love it, then that's that but I'm daydreaming about Japan these days. 

Enough summary. Want to see a sneak peak of our new home and the decor? It's not finished but once it is in about a month, I'll do a photo tour and get all the detail properly. Everyone who knows me knows I love vintage, always have...so why can't my house be my spin on modern vintage? Now, I just need a stand for my record player, and a display shelf for all my comics, action figures and manga anddddd my house would be perfect! 

Before I offer a sneak peak of my pad...I'll let you know what direction this blog is going in this year! The same direction as normal but with a few new things. I'll have giveaways as normal every couple of months, so don't worry about that. But, as most of you know, Geek Talk has been on my blog since my new design back early last year..I'll be expanding on this and letting you know what my current manga reads are, geeky products I've found that I love and want to share etc. Other new things? Well...not new, but I'm getting back to adding recipes on the blog. There has always been a section, but I've been super neglecting that after all of Sicily's clubfoot treatments so I'm back in business for those who loved my recipes and adaptions. Another thing, I'll be trying to do more of these Our Life in Germany series. 

I'm happy for all my readers who have stuck around and have been checking on the blog even when it was empty and sad. Here is to a new year and finally having life under control enough to take the reins back onto my blogging! Lets get back on this crazy ride!!!!

What has been new for all of you?! 

I got that summertime, summertime giveaway!

Seriously, I'm ready to give my awesome readers another giveaway for supporting my little blog and continuing to read my adventures, along with leaving comments!

The giveaways this month? A gift certificate to get whatever you desire from Lush, and/or a yummy box delivered to your door from Cravory! I've personally had their cookies delivered and I must say, they are extremely good!

Lush is a open to everyone worldwide.
Cravory is only open to those with APOs or who're in the US!

Well, what are you waiting for?! Enter and share.
There will be two winners.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Home is...? Home is...?

(Used photos from my iPhone)

Home is? Home is what exactly? What makes a place a home? Is it the actual structure of a building? Is it the feeling you get when you walk into a place you can call your own? Is it a city? Is it the people you love? This has been itching at me lately, what home is; what home is to me. 

My husband and I chatted and I've realized I've been feeling unsettled and down because this home doesn't feel like home. This doesn't feel like a place I can call home when I know I'll be leaving. I went to IKEA, finally bought a kitchen table and I felt amazing, felt a little more cozy, but it still didn't feel like home and I soon realized because home to me isn't a place, but a feeling + the people I'm there with. 

I will be headed to IKEA more to make this place seem more like home to US, but home is whenever these two are. Home is being able to see their faces everyday and enjoy a space, even if temporary to live and create precious memories. That, is what home is to me. 

What is home to you? How do you make a place feel like home?

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

designed by Kaelah - click here -

*I highly recommend her work. I got one for my kitchen and now this one for my travel themed living room. Go support her and add some awesome pieces to your home or as a gift!

I've been on a blogging hiatus, and it was definitely a much needed one. Living overseas in a new place, with no real support system except my husband and when I Skype my family it's overwhelming dealing with all the punches we've gotten since we got here, but..I've made it through it, with mostly a smile on my face and I'm damn proud to say that I'm still not letting these things get me down, staying positive and I'm moving forward. Between meeting some of the most toxic wives (which, I'm convinced, this base is the worst and I've met some of the worst people but I've also made THE best of friends), Sicily's surgeries and appointments for her clubfeet, which I must add is completely exhausting and quite frankly, I've been tired of people making it seem as if this is so easy, it's not. I may make it seem like sunshine and rainbows because who wants to be a downer all the time? Between me finding out I have RA and trying to change my lifestyle around it and just all around being away from family, my own family was what I needed to focus on most, so blogging took the backseat for a little while. I'm happy to say I'm back and in full swing. 

Now, stay hungry, stay foolish. You may be sitting here wondering what that means and why would you want to stay hungry or even foolish? Well, I mean, obviously you don't but in this way you would want to. Stay hungry, means to stay hungry to learn new things, to explore, to continue to grow as a person and never stop. Stay hungry for the good times and bad times in life, try everything; to find out what life is. Stay foolish means to never close your mind to things in life, keep an open mind, thirst for knowledge in life - about different cultures, current events, just be completely open to things you may not have been comfortable with before. That is what stay hungry, stay foolish means to me and you know what? That will be my motto while I'm here.

There may be people here who ignore the opportunities they have by being given this chance to be overseas but not me. I'm going to explore, I'm going to make friends and not be afraid anymore because of bad experiences with toxic people, I'm going to roll with the good and the bad, I'm going to make mistakes and laugh about them later, I'm going to help Sicily rise above her clubfeet everyday, I'm going to be the wife my husband fell in love with, always and not let my RA take control of my life even when I'm having a flare up. I'm going to eat my way across Europe, I'm going to cry and be annoying happy...you know why? Because I've realized how short time is, how fleeting friends and people are, and how important a positive attitude and how much I am living a dream many people would kill for with the best husband and my child. It's time to continue to grow, be a foodie and an adventurer!

There are so many things to learn while here in Germany, and heck, throughout Europe. I'm ready to come to you with awesome recipes, whether they fail or out of this world delicious - I'm bringing back the travel blogging, and things I've come to love and dislike in Germany; you are all in for a treat. I'm going on a mommy and baby trip with some awesome ladies who I'm so thankful to have say I get to go on this adventure with to Florence, Italy. I'll be posting how we booked, what sites, what we saw and what we ate. Be here or be square!

I'm back and back for good!

Aspire to Inspire

I'm setting up goals and hopes for this year. Going with the flow of change.

• Read 6 different books this year.
• Keep a log of everything I'm thankful for everyday. 
• Start a baby & travel book -- get photos from camera developed.
• Bake something new each week. 
• Throw an outstanding Halloween party.
• Play in the snow and have a snowball fight.
• Read or sing to the baby each night.
• Keep up my health and get back in shape.
• Start crafting and learn to sew.
• Do something special for Jerod every other week.
• Travel, travel, travel.
• Continue to use the Nikon D600 on manual and stay away from auto, typical point and shooting, so I can continue to get much better.

The list is shorter than I'd want, but I can't include goals I have for next year. Germany has been far above my expectations. It's beautiful here, the people are absolutely lovely and it's truly inspired me. I feel an inner happiness, and I'm not going to complain. I hope as I grow and change, I'll inspire someone, somewhere and leave my mark on them as this place is doing to me. Anyway, freezing the strawberries I picked yesterday so I can make a strawberry lemon custard tart when we return or strawberries in marshmallow puff toasted with my pastry torch. I'll decide, heck, I might actually even make an actual southern strawberry shortcake with biscuits from scratch and fresh cream.

Keep an eye out within the next few days for the recipe. Heading to Metz, France. I'll have photos and lots of food places to recommend hopefully when we get back. A romantic trip is far overdo for us! Everyone take care, and find something that inspires you, or instead of putting your goals off, just go out and do them.