Cohen's Quiet Book

I made an adorable quiet book for my dear friend Erin's son Cohen. It includes Cohen's baby clothes and fun felt pages. It was a lot of work but resulted in a very satisfying product.

Change

I love rain. Most people desire a sunny, happy day, but I love a good rainstorm or thunderstorm. Maybe this gives you a little insight into my soul. It is raining now, possibly the beginnings of tropical storm Katia. I haven't felt like writing for a long time, but the rain pitter-patter influenced my mind.

The title of this post is change because in the last few months, just about every aspect of my life has changed. Change is very difficult, particularly for a control freak like me. Imagine what it would be like to leave your job that you know through-and-through, your best friends, your home, your school, your routine, and all the little things that you do just so. Well, here I am, transplanted in Mississippi. No German countryside, no gallivanting to Scotland or Italy for the weekend. No bank, yes I know I complained about it horribly, but I was truly lucky to work with my best friends every day, be an "expert" to a certain point, and be an active part of the community. Now I'm in my Mississippi house, which is a great house and I'm so glad we purchased it, but it's different from our European duplex in a quaint German town. The light switches are different, the door handles are different, we have air conditioning (thank goodness), no stairs, and unfortunately, due to the arrival of our belongings, too many things for our new space. What better time to purge, I suppose.

The up side to Mississippi is that Chris is finally happy, and I am finally able to pursue my dream of becoming a music therapist. I am going to school to complete the music therapy courses and internship required to become a board certified music therapist. However, I am having a difficult time adjusting. The change from graduate courses to undergraduate courses is easy, of course, but it is so odd to be in a music department other than the one at Northwest, where my music family is. It makes me long for those days when I was studying music (yes, I see the irony in this), seeing my friends in the hallways, spending time with my dear roommate, and all those wonderful Sigma Alpha Iota memories.

So here I am, new house, new climate, new life. I didn't ask for it, however it is part of the deal. I didn't want it, but I do want to be with Chris, who was generous enough to put in for overseas and take me to Germany in the first place. Does this life ever become easy? I suppose maybe not easy, but familiar. Familiarity in leaving routines and friends, starting over every few years. I never planned for a life like this, and most days I'd say I'd rather be in this life than any other, but not today. Maybe tomorrow.

New Blog

As much as I love my blogspot, it is not compatible with iPhoto, and I am not computer literate enough to make iPhoto work with Picasa. Thus, I created a new blog! Here is the website:

http://web.me.com/sweetyellowplumtree/ck/Welcome.html

Hope to see you there soon!

Prague

This weekend Chris and I had a lovely adventure in Prague!

Friday morning we took the ICE train to Dresden, a 7 hour ride. We then took a train to Prague. The Dresden-Prague train followed the Vltava (the Moldau) river the whole way, it was beautiful. Arriving in Prague, we hiked our way to our fancy hotel. Venturing out for dinner, we struggled to find an ATM, and then ate a nice Italian meal. It was very hot on Friday, and once the sun went down it was pleasant and lots of people were out and about. We walked to the Globe bookstore and purchased a traditional Czech cookbook. Following the river, we walked toward the castle which was lit up beautifully at night. we walked a little on the Charles Bridge, and continued to the Old Town Square which was lovely at night.

Saturday we rose early and took the metro up to the Prague Castle. Walking up the hill to the castle we had a wonderful view over the city of Prague. At the castle we walked in the courtyard and immediately entered St. Vitus's Cathedral. The cathedral was beautiful and had both mosaic and painted stained glass windows. Next we visited the Royal Palace was also nice. St. George's Basilica was painted red on the outside, but had a traditional inside. We stopped by the Powder Tower, where the alchemists sought the Philosopher's Stone. Leaving the castle grounds, we headed toward the Loreto. It was closed for lunch, so we decided to take a break and had lunch at the Loreto restaurant. Chris was happy drinking Czech beer and eating the traditional Czech goulash. Returning to the Loreto, we walked through the beautiful courtyard and Santa Casa situated in the center. Taking the metro back to the New Town, we visited the Dvorak museum. It included his viola and piano, and a kitty cat (which I do not believe was part of the museum exhibit).

After a quick nap at the hotel, we walked through St. Wenceslas Square and over to the Powder Gate (not to be confused with the powder tower at the castle). The Powder Gate was used to store gunpowder during the 17th century. Back to the Old Town Square we experienced the Astronomical Clock chime 6:00 pm, watching the bell ring, the figures move, and the trumpeter trumpet from the very top of the tower. We had a nice dinner just off the square, and walked across the Charles Bridge. On the other side of the river we found the John Lennon Wall, and Chris contributed to the graffiti by writing a note for Dad Q. We wandered back across the bridge and did a little shopping in the numerous shops.

Sunday morning we were up early again, and took the metro right up to the Jewish quarter, Josefov. We went in the Ceremonial Hall which exhibited the burial rituals. The Spanish Synagogue was beautiful, the inside was decorated with Moorish designs in burgundy, blue, green, and gold. The Maisel Synagogue had several silver items on display. The Pinkas Synagogue was amazing, the walls were covered with the names of Czech and Moravian Holocaust victims. From there we entered the Jewish Cemetery. Returning to the hotel, we packed up, checked out, and made our way to the train station for our return trip home.

We had a nice time, and now that we're home we realize how nice it was to get away for the weekend. Chris has been very very busy at work, and I'm feeling overwhelmed with work and school as well. I have a new piano student, she is a natural. My guitar lessons are going okay, I need to make more time to practice. On the train from Dresden to Prague I had a "Katie Pawling this is your life" moment because in our train compartment were a composition major and three teachers who were in Leipzig for a month intensely studying Bach. I also met a woman at the bank who is a professional accompanist, and I am going to work up some pieces so we can play together.

We only have 11 months left in Germany. Chris is counting down the months until we return to the states, and I am seeing the time get shorter and shorter while my travel list is still very long. I have to stop and remember that I have been to several places already. I think that when we return next summer I will enjoy being in the states for a few months, and then be ready to go back to Europe. We're starting to wonder where we will go too, Chris keeps looking at placement lists to see where finance people are needed. We should find out our next base in the December-January time frame. It is starting to get hard, several of my good friends are starting to leave Germany. I like my friends, and I like my house. I suppose I'll get used to the moving eventually, or at least it will be easier to deal with. I'm thinking of it as an adventure, our opportunity to see the world! And see the world we will.

Prague

Jetlag

Oh jetlag, why must you make my body not sleepy at 11pm? At least I have plenty of energy to study and finally figure out my photo posting situation! Due to lack of computer knowledge, I have not posted a blog in oh, 5 months because I could not figure out how to upload the photos on my new iMac. But today, I overcame my obstacle.

The first album is from our trip to Amsterdam over Easter weekend. It was very pretty and we enjoyed exploring the squares and canals. Chris's favorite museum was the Heineken Brewery. I loved the flower market and the Anne Frank House. Touring the Anne Frank House was an amazing experience. We walked through the hidden staircase behind the bookshelves and walked among the rooms where they hid during WWII. Otto Frank did not allow the museum to be furnished, but there were photos in each room depicting the layout from the time of use.

Amsterdam April 2010

The second album shows the events of my travels home to Missouri over the past two weeks. It was so great to be home, I can't believe it has been 2 years since I was last there. I spent time with my parents, granny, and aunt Donna, as well as high school and college friends. Joe and Erin were married last Saturday and I was honored to help as a bridesmaid. The wedding was beautiful, and I'm so happy for my two wonderful friends. Of course, I was quite thrilled to walk down the aisle with Harry too :-)

Missouri 2010

Oh kitty cats. Phooey is growing so big! I look at photos of her as a little kitten and I can't believe she was once that tiny. Callie has had a bit of a traumatic time; she was sick and one day escaped for a romp around the neighborhood. Since the climax of her illness, lots of time at the vet, and new eating habits Callie has slimmed down to a healthier size and is so playful and active! Since her little jaunt around the block, both Callie and Phooey are wearing collars with nametags. Callie doesn't mind as she has worn one before, but Phooey is confused about her new jingling sound and tries to bite off the tags.

Kitties Spring 2010

Chris has been working very hard as well as taking classes at one of the universities on base. I don't get to see him much, and I always remind him to leave a photo on his pillow so that I don't forget what he looks like. After being indecisive for over a year we finally decided that Chris would re-enlist in the military and the ceremony was before I flew to Missouri. We have one more year here in Germany, and a long list of travel destinations that is impossible to complete. We are to the point of choosing our absolute desired places to visit, and leaving the rest for another time. We should find out our next base around January. I have been busy as well, I just got a promotion to a higher level of customer service representative at the bank and I am in full swing with my master's classes, as well as taking guitar lessons and giving piano lessons.

New Year's Eve in Paris

Chris and I decided to party big this year and spent New Year's Eve and New Year's Day in Paris! We rode the ICE train directly into Paris, it only takes 2 hours and 26 minutes from Kaiserslautern. The speeds reach over 300km! We booked first class, it was nice and roomy. After finding our hotel, we made our way to the Champs-Elysees and over to the Eiffel Tower for midnight. New Year's Day we explored Paris. January 2nd we took the train to Chateau Versailles which was amazing. We had a fun and eventful trip!

Paris

2010 Is Here!

Hello! I apologize for the delay in blogging, we have been very busy bees! November was exciting with the new kitty, and Chris's family came to visit for Thanksgiving! They went to London, Paris, and Heidelberg while here. In December Chris and I went to the Nurmberg, Bamberg, and Rothenburg Christmas markets for my birthday which was awesome. I had a class too, so I was busy studying and writing papers. Our Christmas was nice, though it is still very hard to be away from home during the holidays. We celebrated with several friends, and the company was great to help fill the void of missing family. The holiday season went by so fast I feel like I missed it! Here are a few albums of our travels and of course our beloved kitties!

November Kitties

Kitties Nov 2009

Heidelberg with Chris's family

Heidelberg with the Q's

More November Kitties

More Kitties Nov 2009

Christmas Markets and My Birthday

Christmas Markets 2009 & My Birthday

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

Chris Graduates

Today Chris graduated from Airman Leadership School. He was the class leader for the 6 weeks of class, as the highest ranking in the group. Tonight was the graduation ceremony at the Officer's Club. One of the perks of being with the class leader is that our table was front and center, perfect view of the stage. Chris earned the Distinguished Graduate award for being in the top 10% of his class. He's definitely ready to go back to working his regular job after the last 10 months, and I'm ready for the alarm to not go off at 5am anymore.

The kitties are making progress, they are getting closer to each other more frequently. There is more sniffing, and less hissing and swatting. Chris promises me they just need more time, and I know he's right, but I'm not good with the transition period. Can't we all just get along?

Nov 5 2009

Phooey

Today we adopted Phooey, a kitty cat for Callie. Callie is lonely while we are at work all day, and when we're out exploring Europe. Phooey is so cute! She looks like a shrunken, miniature kitten. She spent the morning bouncing around the house exploring, and all afternoon and evening passed out on my or Chris's lap. Surprisingly, Phooey was the first to hiss and growl at Callie. Callie follows her around sniffing and watching her, but Phooey doesn't want to spend time with Callie yet. But for day one, it has been very successful.

Phooey 1

Trier

Yesterday we took a lovely day trip to the German city of Trier. It was filled with Roman ruins, which we explored and took many photos of. We also went to the house where Karl Marx was born.

Trier 10-24-09

Ponza and Rome

Our last day on the cruise was spent on the island of Ponza. It was almost uninhabited, only two small towns occupy the island. We took an excursion in which we sailed around the island with a tour guide and learned about the mythology and history of the island, as well as getting to jump off the boat and swim in the Mediteranean! Ponza was beautiful, as you can see in my numerous pictures. After the boat tour we went to the water sport deck on the Wind Surf and swam in the Mediterranean! I think that was probably the coolest part, swimming in the Med. It was something I'll always remember, splashing around with Chris with the beautiful island of Ponza in the background. Later that night we had dinner at the fancy seafood restaurant on one of the decks with a couple we met from Canada, and we popped open Chris's winning bottle of champagne.

Ponza Sept 2009

Early the next morning we had arrived in Citavecchia, the port of Rome that's really an hour away from Rome. It was funny to eat breakfast on the deck and look down to see a concrete parking lot/road rather than water. We ventured into Rome and checked our bags at the train station for the day. I took Chris to the classic Roman sights, we started with the Colosseum and explored the Roman forum. We ate yummy pasta for lunch, and went on to the Pantheon and the Trevi fountain. We walked around and explored more, and then made our way to the airport to come home.

Rome Sept 2009

Today we went to a farm festival in Hitscherhof. It was lovely! Craft booths, pumpkins, food, and wine. Chris ate his bratwurst (my ever-promised bribe to convince him to go places with me) and I found pumpkins, a fall wreath, and a friendly ghost. Oddly enough, I didn't take any pictures - it looked exactly the same as it did last year.

Sicily and Amalfi

After Croatia we had our day at sea. Chris and I played Wii tennis with and against other couples. We also joined a putt-putt golf tournament in the lounge. Let's just say that one hole involved a popcorn bucket and a swimming flipper. Chris won the tournament, and the prize was a bottle of champagne!

Returning to Italy, next port was Sicily. Gritty is a very good term to describe Sicily. We took a bus nort of Messina and laid on the beach for a few hours. It was lovely! The scenery was beautiful. We walked in the sand, and found a spot on a pebbly part of the beach. The Mediterranean is so beautiful! It's a beautiful blue color. We read and wet our feet. After sunning ourselves, we took a bus back to the ship and read on the deck by the pool until dinnertime. The sail away was during dinner and it was nice to watch the coast lights as we ate.

Messina Sicily Sept 2009

The next port was Amalfi. The Amalfi coast is beautiful! We hopped on our tour bus and rode along the coast, then through the mountains to Pompeii. We spent two hours exploring Pompeii, seeing remains of shops, houses, ampitheaters, and temples. It was really neat. Returning to the town of Amalfi Chris and I went into town and had a delicious Italian dinner. We walked around the shops for a bit, and then returned to the ship.

Amalfi Sept 2009

Croatia

The first two ports we sailed to were Rovinj and Split Croatia.

In Rovinj we excitedly walked to the aquarium, which though it had several examples of Aegean sea wildlife, it was very small and run-down. Then we got lost in the residential area because of Chris's lack of attention to detail on maps. Eventually we righted ourselves and enjoyed the main part of town. We walked up and down lots of narrow alleys. In the middle of town at the top of the hill we finally found the cathedral we had been looking for. It had beautiful courtyards and awesome views of the sea. We were able to walk right down to the sea and sit on rocks. Then we walked over to the marina, explored a few more streets, and found the monastery. Feeling we had experieced Rovinj to the best of our ability, we returned to the boat.

Rovinj Sept 2009

The next day in Split we had our first excursion, canoeing on the Cetina river. We had a beautiful drive from the coast of Dalmatia through the mountains to the river. At the river we met our Croatian guides and slipped into wetsuits. The water was cold! We canoed (well they call it canoeing, but it was a raft for 3 people and the first 2 people have canoe paddles and the third person in the back of the raft steer with a kayak paddle) 12 km in 2:20. The scenery was nice, and we had a few rapids. We saw ducks and fish. I did not particularly enjoy wearing the wetsuit. The wouldn't let us take the camera :-( so I have the scenery embedded in my mind. After lunch we returned to the town of Split and had just enough time to go to Diocletian's palace. I was impressed, it was much more intact than the Roman ruins in, say, Rome. Also Diocletian's palace is still thriving today, it was filled with shops and other things, it is a big part of the town. We walked through and bought our Split shot glass, and had some gelato as well.

Split Sept 2009

Venezia, Italia

Chris and I went on an Italian cruise last week! We started with a weekend in Venice. After finding cruising down the Grand Canal and finding our hotel, we started exploring. We came across a church having a performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons that evening and bought tickets. The next church we saw hosted an exhibit of musical instruments from Vivaldi's time. Past all the music fun, we explored alleys on our way to St. Mark's Square, which is very impressive. We had a delicious Italian meal, and went back to the hotel to rest before the concert. Out and about again, we had pizza and watched the Vivaldi concert. It was amazing! The musicians were fantastic. The cellist had quite a bit of character, he was very entertaining to watch.

The next morning we started walking the opposite way and walked around to the Rialto bridge. We found lots of good Venetian souvenirs, such as leather goods, a silk tie for Chris, a Venetian mask for me, and a Murano glass wine stopper. We continued on to St. Mark's Square again and went in St. Mark's Basilica. It was breathtaking! The inside was covered in gold mosaics. I loved it. We decided to take a gondola ride and it was wonderful. It was relaxing and fun to see the city from a gondola. Chris loved being on the water. We had lunch at a restaurant on the bay and decided to make our way to the cruise ship. It's a good thing we didn't take the vaporetto to the port because we would have been on the opposite side of it as our boat! We walked along the bay toward a stop recommended by our hotel host, and it ended up that we were walking straight toward our boat! We could tell because ours was the only cruise ship with sails, the Wind Surf is the largest sailing vessel in the world.

We hopped on the boat and settled into our room, then we went exploring. We had a free acupuncture appointment at the spa (eek!) and Chris got poked with needles whereas I opted for pressure points instead. We had dinner, watched the boat sail out of Venice about 10:45, and passed out in bed.

Venice Sept 2009

Sunday in Germany

Here are the photos from Chris and Gennie's visit to Germany.

Germany with Chris and Gennie July 2009

August is Here, 2009

Apparently I used the same title for a post last August ;-)

This has been a crazy week! I bought a car! I bought a 2005 VW Jetta, and I LOVE it. It's so much fun to drive. Particularly because it doesn't die, like it's sister our BMW. It's still not registered under my name though, because the military vehicle reg people are jerks. In the states we would have a real DMV with real people. Argh, I'm not even going to get into it.

Chris put on Staff Sergeant today! 4 stripes in 4 years, his 4 year "militarversary" was July 26. I can't wait to see him. He's supposed to come home in 5 weeks or so. 7 months down, 1 to go. Thank goodness it has gone by fast. We booked a Mediterranean cruise for when he comes home! It will be so great. We can't wait.

I also enrolled in a Master's program! I'm getting my Master of Human Relations through the University of Oklahoma. My first class is at the end of September, so I ordered my books so I can read them in August before Chris comes home. I'm really excited about my classes, the syllabi show good things in store.

This is a big month for the bank, we're moving into our brand new sparkling pristine "crown jewel of Community Bank" branch in the new KMCC at Ramstein. It's going to be so nice! All the CSR's actually have glass cubicle/offices, and I'm really excited about the host station to greet customers as they enter the bank (a few months ago our sign-in sheet was removed and thus we have mass chaos among the customers). I can't tell you how sick I am of people asking "where is your sign-in sheet?" or "do you have a sign-in sheet?" Every time I'm asked I think to myself "we got rid of it, you just have to fend for yourself." I am extra excited about the air conditioning in the new building! It has been so so hot in the branch, and the fans just aren't cutting it. Keeping the windows closed with air conditioning will also reduce the bee population, they're fond of bankers apparently.

So here we are, in August. I made it through the short dark days of January and February, Texas in March, the Netherlands and Spain in April, Istanbul in May, traveling all over with Mom and Dad in June, Chris and Gennie in July, and now I'm in August. I think I'll take a break from traveling this month, plus I'm working all the time anyway with all the big changes going on. Little does Chris know, when he returns I have many more travel plans! My list is still very long, and we only have 24 months left! It's been hard, really hard with him gone. But I'm starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Road Trip #2

For the next trip, Mom and I ventured north to Belgium and the Netherlands. Included are photos of my town, Steinwenden, and my neighborhood.

Liege & Maastricht

Road Trip #1 With Mom

While my mom was here we spent a weekend exploring Triberg and Mainau Island Germany, Zurich Switzerland, and Colmar France.

Germany, Switzerland, & France

Heidelberg

The day Mom and I dropped Dad off at the airport we explored the Medieval city of Heidelberg.

Heidelberg June 2009

Roma

We spent a lovely weekend in Rome. I have 2 personal rules for Rome: 1. When in Rome, do as the Romans, and 2. Eat 3 servings of gelato per day.

Roma June 2009