40

It's the age I'm about to be and I'm excited, folks. There's new energy and I'm looking forward to the adventures ahead. I decided to become certified to teach bodyART after reading about this great gift that Germany is offering. If you meet the criteria (which isn't all that difficult), you will be awarded up to 500 Euro to "study" something. It can be anything. Absolutely anything! So, I opted for Robert Steinbacher's bodyART program and I'm all aglow. I've been doing yoga for seven years and pilates for two, so I'm happy to be continuing in the direction I've been going in. I must admit, though, I have no idea what these upcoming weekends will entail, what I should pack, if I'll understand everything, or where I'm going to stay; all I know is that I will sweat my popus off and be in Munich. Crazy as it sounds, surprises are my secret drug and I think I would wallow up without them. With kids, most every minute is planned or evolves around an upcoming "plan". I'm finding that, as necessary as organisation is, I need a little bit of space devoted to the unknown, a little bit of space devoted to me. The unknown balances the order of the everyday out and helps ease that little mite of screaming rebel inside.

Hey out there in cyberspace! Some of you may have noticed the dustballs collecting in the corners of my blog. I admit. I've been slacking. I realized that the folks I was posting about, namely my boys and husband, were getting the short end of the stick; blogging was consuming more time than I had ever imagined and I was neglecting some of the people I loved the most. There were years when time dripped like honey, when the boys were at home and my days were simple blocks of time tables. I was tending to the nest, changing diapers, feeding little mouths, busying tiny hands, and putting growing bodies to bed. It was amazing being able to observe the everyday, wallowing in the drip-drop of time ticking by. The last couple of years, though, the pace has picked up and the days, hours, moments are zooming by so fast that I have to jump off the merry-go-round, dizzy with the buzz of life, to let a moment, any moment, sink in. My oldest son, once a preemie weighing two pounds, can fit into my shoes and will be graduating from elementary school (grundschule) next year! My youngest son is loosing the last bits of his chubbines and with his loss, I realize that I am loosing my baby. I need to stay focused on these guys; I need to stay focused on the moments at hand. I love blogging and will not give it up entirely, but right now I.need.to.watch.them.grow and I can't do that if I'm here...

Hallway Love

We've been in our apartment long enough to loose eight teeth, go on six vacations, and celebrate our cat, Mikey's, second birthday, so I'm quite relieved to announce that the eyesore I've fondly referred to as my hallway is finally complete! It's a weird shape with a stairway at the end going down to the bottom floor, so color is still a topic I have to tackle. But, after more than 600 days of contemplating what the heck to do with this baby, I finally found a solution thanks to two scarves and a honkey a.k.a. cross-bred wooden figure with a horse's mane and fiesta donkey colors that I stumbled upon while browsing two of my favorite haunts last week...

Just so you know how miserablely horrifying (great word, Carolyn) our hallway was before I spent four "mäuse" on stuff I neverever thought I'd own:

Here's the pimped version sin color on the walls, but a bit cheerier nonetheless:

See those babies on the back wall and the honkey on the dresser? They set me on fire. Soon I hope to get the scarves into larger frames, but for now Ikea medium-sized will do just fine! Here's a close-up:

I love closing a decor-chapter! Don't you? What are non-print things that you've framed??

Happy Monday!

Thank you, Tanya Davis and Andrea Dorfman!

Sometimes, out of nowhere, when you're desperately looking for something, hectic and running late for the everyday, fate intervenes and forces you to stop.the.search, take a deep breath, and celebrate the moment:





Happy Thursday.

Ulla Eisbrecher: Two Months of Bliss

image found here

For those of you looking for a bit of noctural pep, Ulla Eisbrecher a.k.a. Arte Noah is the place to be. Gallery by day and club by night, Ulla's two-month long afterhour cultural program in January and February is the winter companion to Würzburg's Hafensommer and a surefire way to beat the winter grumpies. Initiated by Dominik Straub a.k.a. DJ Mistaa, this project is a welcome change from the norm and promises good times with musical guests, films, exhibits, and more. Tonight Bayern2's Zündfunk will broadcast live from the Ulla, something I hate to miss, but duty calls elsewhere. Doors open at 18:30 and airing will begin at 19:00, live music will follow the show until DJs Achim Bogdahn and Björn Szostak take over mixing at midnight. Stay tuned for more infos or check out the February programm on Ulla's blog or FB site.

Flea Markets in Würzburg

I swoon over flea markets. They clear my head and put a jump in my step. The beloved flohmarkt-saison is approaching us in good 'ol Europa and Würzburg has quite a few jems that deserve a drop-by. I wrote about the Talavera Flea Market a.k.a. Mainwiesen Flohmarkt here; it is one of my favorite stomping grounds and the first "event" that caught my eye when I moved to Würzburg in the late 90s. It takes place a couple times a year and is always jam-packed. The next one is planned for March 19. I found this site the other day where some of the big flea markets in and around Würzburg are listed. If you can't make any of these, there are some great stores with mini-flea market flare that are open year-round.

I didn't buy any of these, not one singlesolitary thing, and I'm still kicking myself!

 

Each of these shots were take at Krempeltempel in the city center. Everything is orderly and displayed nicely, but you still have to keep your eyes peeled or else you might miss something. One of my other favorite spots at the moment is Querbeet in Grombühl. This place is crazy full with.stuff.everywhere and it forces you to come with time which I love. Here, as with Krempeltempel, it pays to look...on the walls, under tables, in corners, and in the cabinets. Unfortunately I don't have pictures, but this jem of a store can be found in Brücknerstrasse 8 and is open on Tuesdays from 3:00 to 6:00pm, Wednesdays from 11:00am to 3:00pm, and Fridays from 11:00am to 5:00pm. This weekend I hope to check out an antique store near Ochsenfurt that I've had my eye on for a year now, but never had the time to stop. Will keep you posted! Until then...

Happy hunting!

Sundays in Würzburg

 

Sundays. Most everything is closed up tight and people are out in Germany. Walking. Running. Window-shopping. Coffee-drinking. Biking. Movement and proof that winter has not sucked up the world into a deep, snow-tipped hole. I love Sundays. Quiet strolls through the forest without t.v., phones, or a computer within reach. Sometimes even the sun comes out to remind you that spring is just around the corner...

Hope your Sunday was a good one.