Look, Kids - Big Ben, Parliament!

That's right - we're headed to London for one, last fantastic travel opportunity while living in Europe.

Check back on Monday for a full report!

Word of the Day: Douchebag

Because I tend to overuse this word, and probably offend several people along the way with my overzealous potty-mouth, I thought I'd share some insight into one of my very favorite, man-made nouns.

So there you have it. The next time you're pondering just how much of a douchebag your co-worker, under-the-speed-limit-driver guy, new office intern, brother-in-law, or generally any living, breathing annoying organism is, feel free to refer to the above information for further reference and explanation. Be careful not to over-douchebaganize someone; Level 1 douchebagedness is a highly coveted spot on the heirarchy and should be reserved only for those that rightfully deserve the title.

Updates, Updates, Updates!

It's been a heck of a week! On March 25th, Jeff & I boarded a trusty airplane, planted our behinds in an oh-so-comfy coach seat (I'm saving up for 1st class next time...), and headed to sunny South Carolina in search of our future home.

Day 1: We met with our fabulous realtor (who has since become a great friend, too!), Julie bright and early and set sail across Sumter in hopes of landing our dream home. We scoured subdivision after subdivision finding this or that wrong with each place we looked at. We saw beautiful homes, dirty homes, some not-so-pretty homes, and some homes that were just out of our reach (even though we did our best to haggle for one...it just wasn't in our cards). I think we managed to cover every listing I'd ever pulled up in my quest for finding a home. And, even though everyone kept insisting that, "...they're just so different in person...", it couldn't have been more true.

At 3 o'clock that afternoon, we mosied on over to look at the house I was most excited about - the home I'd raved and raved about in a previous blog. The house itself was gorgeous but honestly, it just didn't feel like "home" to us. It didn't have the space we were looking for and the yard scared me. Yes, it scared me. All I saw was hours and hours of labor. Pretty, but not for us. I just don't have time to be tending to 500 different species of plants (hell, I can't even keep one house plant alive, let alone 40 hyperficusiliisicus plants). I have no idea what that is. In fact, I made it up. But if it were real, it'd probably be a pain in the ass to take care of.

Moving on...

At that point, we pretty much called it a day. We had a date to meet up with Jeff's kiddos, who were just as excited to see us as we were them. We grabbed their overnight bags and took them to Logan's or, as they so fondly call it, the "peanut restaurant". Taking kids to a restarant where they can spend hours peeling and eating peanuts, then getting a kick out of the fact that they can throw the shells on the floor was a fantastic idea. After their peanut dinner (because really, why bother eating the grilled cheese we just ordered you when you can just throw peanut shells all over the place?), we called it a night - and crammed the 4 of us into our little hotel room. This same scenario played out for the next 6 nights... We think mommy needed a break and we were happy to have them. (Although, I will say that having their own rooms will be a nice relief since I fell asleep with visions of Sponge Bob dancing in my head every night).

Day 2: We decided to go back to see a couple of the houses that we looked at the day before. I even took pictures for good measure. Julie warned us that all of the houses would start to run together - I thought that my crazy OCD-like memory would win and I wouldn't need a second look. Silly me. Good thing we looked again because we eliminated one right off the bat since the crazy master bathroom didn't have a door on it. It was off the bedroom but it was still just... weird. Later that afternoon we had yet another appointment for a house that was occupied. It was for sale by owner, so we weren't sure how it'd work out. We both ended up really, really, really loving the house and decided we'd think it over...

Day 3: Back to see the house we really, really, really loved. Still loved it. Talked to Julie about how to get them to work with her. Julie agreed to talk to sellers. Talked with mortgage girl at Bank A in the meantime. Filled out 5 tons of paperwork between realtors office and bank. Decided to shop around for best mortgage rate. Bank A came out on top. Spent the rest of the evening with the kiddos while still trying to fight jet-lag. Turns out, jet-lag usually wins. Asleep by 8 PM.

Day 4: Went to Mikey's tee ball ("No, Daddy, it's baseball!") practice. Enjoyed every second of it - adorable 5 and 6 year-olds running around on a baseball field. Too cute. Kids went home with mommy. Jen & Daddy needed to tend to some business. Returned to see the house we really, really, really loved for a second look. Decided we were done house-hunting. Met again with Julie to go over paperwork. It was already 4 PM. Needed a beer. Or 3. Parked our asses at Outback and sucked down several frothy beverages. Got an exciting phone call from Julie telling us the sellers agreed to meet with her...

Day 5: Breakfast at IHOP (mmmm, IHOP). Took the kids to a cool kid-friendly indoor museum/adventure thing in Columbia. Obsessively checked my cell phone for missed calls. 2 missed calls from Julie. Dammit, Jen. Called her back. Sellers wanted to negotiate closing costs. We accepted. Jeff & Jen very happy. Very, very happy. Holy crap. We're really buying a house together!

Day 6: Met with mortgage girl. Filled out 5 more tons of paperwork. Approved for a mortgage and got a great rate. Jeff & Jen still very, very happy. Farted around in Columbia for the day. Bookmarked all shopping sites in my brain bank.

Day 7: Relaxed. Finally. Packed our crap. Hung out some more with the kids. Checked out some furniture stores in the area and realized everything is ridiculously overpriced. Decided we didn't really need anything new right now. Although if I land the job I'm hoping to (keep your fingers crossed for me!!!), we might be able to outfit our pretty new house sooner than we think... More on that at a later date.

And, here she is - our pretty new home, which will officially be ours on May 20th:

In other news, I finished up a fabulously wonderful book. I'm a bit behind the power curve on this one but it definitely lived up to all the hype:

I will say though, don't bother with the movie. I was determined to finish this on the plane ride back to the states because I saw that the movie was playing on my little On-demand movie screen. Well, I did just that and ended up shutting the movie off about half-way through. I just couldn't do it. The book though - if you haven't read it, just pick it up and give it a shot. This guy is an amazing writer and the story is just so good. His other one, A Thousand Splendid Suns, is also just as good. I'm really not sure which I like better but they both top the list of my all-time favorites.

That's about as far as updates go. We literally have 18 days left here in Germany, which really isn't much time at all. I think we'll lay low this weekend - next weekend we'll be spending 3 wonderful days in London! After that, we've got one weekend left, which will likely be spent hanging out with friends and our German family that is here. It's been a quick 3 years here... Almost time to begin the next chapter!

Happy... Easter?

Something tells me the Easter bunny froze his ass off last night...

Luckily, I have this little guy to console me while I wallow in snowy, miserable self-pity:

Thank you creators of Lindt chocolate bunnies; you make my Easter bright and sunny even when I'm faced with an arctic tundra and slushy disgustingness on this third lovely day of spring.

Paris in 2 Days

Can I just say... Paris is one of my all-time favorite places on the planet. We loved every single minute of that fabulous city (even after walking for what seemed like an eternity and my legs felt like they just finished the Boston Marathon). It was a great time - and I have the pictures to prove it (in no particular order, of course):

At the Rodin Museum - "The Kiss"

You can see Rodin's "The Thinker" & the museum in the background where Napolean's tomb is kept

I got a little up-close and personal with "The Thinker"

The Socre-Coeur


Another shot of the church at Les Invalides
Another sculpture from Rodin

And another...

And more of the Rodin Museum


Courtyard area of the Rodin Museum - Paris was very cool in that there were many areas like this - parks, courtyards, etc. They were so peaceful and quiet.

This Rodin guy was a fan of sculpting naked people.

And random hands

This is the view from the top of the Arc de Triomphe - they say it's the best view of the city

And of course, who goes to Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower?
The random guy that took our picture didn't quite "get" that we wanted the Tower in the background...

The Louvre

Notre Dame

Jeff on the Seine River

And after all was said and done, we indulged in some yummy pizza and lots and lots of wine...

We've definitely put Paris in our memory bank of places we need to visit again. We'll be back, Paris!

Road Trip to....

Full report to follow after this weekend!!

Rain, Rain, Go (the F*#&) Away.

Since it's been a while since I've bitched and moaned about the miserable (f'ing) weather here (approximately 6.4 seconds, to be exact), I figured I'd share a dose of my misery with the world.

Weather forecast for Germany, everyday:

Rain. Wind. Gusty, shitty wind. More rain. Oh, and cold. Can't forget the cold. Did I mention wind? Wind that turns your umbrella into a useless piece of dog poo.

Here, see for yourself (taken directly from our wonderful friends at Yahoo! Weather):

Detailed Local Forecast: Mackenbach, Germany

Today: Cloudy and windy with periods of light rain. High 44F. Winds SW at 20 to 30 mph (20-30 mph - are you f'ing kidding me?). Chance of rain 70% (nice.).
Tonight: Rain likely (weird). Low 43F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph (awesome!). Chance of rain 90% (fabulous).
Tomorrow: Windy with periods of rain (a nice change at least). High 48F. Winds W at 20 to 30 mph. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch (beautiful).
Tomorrow night: Mainly clear skies (suuuuure). Low 39F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph.
Thursday: Light rain. Highs in the upper 40s and lows in the upper 30s.
Friday: Showers. Highs in the mid 50s and lows in the low 40s.
Saturday: Chance of showers (Yay! Something different!). Highs in the low 50s and lows in the upper 30s.

And a pretty picture with lots of pretty colors, just to show how lovely it is here:

The weather gods are officially off my Christmas card list this year. There, take that, weather gods!