How can I miss someone I don't know

I've had this overwhelming feeling of missing my little nephew, my brother's son, lately. The funny thing is I have never actually seen the little guy in person. This, I believe, is a testament to the strength of family love. So, little DAB I made a video for you.

Latter-day Saturday Post #1

So I decided when I don't have anything too interesting to share with you I will post something from past the timeline of this blog.

That Day
Latter-day Saturday Post #1 is our wedding day, which I still believe to this day, was the best, most perfect, most romantic wedding ever...in the history of weddings.

 This is the location, The Byodo-In in Kaneohe, Hawaii. It rained earlier in the day, so the ridges in the background had waterfalls running through them. Gorgeous!

 We were married by this nice Buddhist priest. Only our immediate family members were in attendance-just the way we wanted it. Despite my make-up bitch lady not showing up our day was perfect.

This is at the hotel after the ceremony, this location is where chris proposed to me after I repeatedly botched his plan for a proposal. Our reception was a Paradise Cove Luau. Not only did this day go exactly the way we wanted, we shared it with the people who matter most, and we didn't get caught up in the event. My rant on consumerism and the crock "they" sold as the American Dream will come later.

On your 30th Birthday...

...we shall go forth to thy Holy place

Look how happy my guy is! I'll have to check our wedding photos to see if he was grinning like that on  that day. Anyway, we loved Dublin. The people were gracious and down to earth. Of course we had our fill of fish and chips and beer; I was introduced to cider. Cider is good, but not worth 6lbs in 2 days (I really enjoyed the cider). We didn't make it outside of the city, but we will definitely be back.

Good times on the Irish music pub crawl.

Even our shadows are in love at St Patrick's Cathedral

speaking of Holy and St. Patrick's Cathedral...it's sponsored by Bailey's Irish Creme.

Gotta love it

IRISH OUT!

NYE - Danger Edition

New Years Eve in Heidleberg is c-r-a-z-y. It's like (I imagine) being in a drunken fire fight. People actually shoot fireworks everywhere, even at each other. This pic was taken shortly after a fireball bounced off my head. Chris didn't tell me until the next day, I thought it was a cork.

Real Madrid

Who goes to Madrid for Christmas?...We do! Actually looking back, it was bad timing. Everything was closed. But leave it to us to enjoy ourselves. Madrid's architecture is amazing, not in the overused American* since of the word, but in the true essence of the word. The food we had wasn't that great, but since many establishments were closed I don't think we can fairly judge the gastro scene. We ran into a protest, for fair housing- I think, which is always a good sign. Use your right to protest people!
I wanted to march with them, but Chris wasn't having it. He's such a Debbie Downer sometimes ;)
We managed to keep our tradition of seeing the Nutcracker too. The hotel hooked us up with information about a Community College rendition of the ballet. The male lead of the show clearly stuffed his "cup", it was hilarious and my eyes followed that huge thing everywhere. Even funnier is someone must have complained because "it" wasn't there in the second half on the show. Even more funnier, Chris does this great impression of the dancer..okay so sometimes my husband is super fun Please ask Chris to do this impression if you see him. 

Beautiful Madrid...aha! you thought I was going to post a pic of the "Nutcracker" didn't you

*As an ex-pat (I'm not sure if we actually fall into that category, but I like referring to myself as one) I'm starting to notice  ways of the USA and Americans that aren't so flattering. But do not get me wrong, I love my country flaws and all.

Christmas Markets!

How did I not know about these delightful little markets before? German Christmas markets are one of my favorite things about Germany. This weekend we took the train to Hamburg. Did you know? Residents of Hamburgs are called Hamburgers.

Not the best photo of the market, but you get the idea.We had Gluvine and I tried to kill Chris (yet again) by having him taste my yummy soup filled with mushrooms. I thought it was some type of meat, it was so meaty, Chris is allergic to the fungi. I'm learning on German menus mushrooms are not list simply by Champignon (mushroom) but by the mushroom type. Confusing!

Christmas Market in the background and my GQ man in the foreground

Look at my lil' purple book bag! oh will I ever grow up?

Another nice one. In front of a gorgeous Hamburg building (I really should pay more attention, the building is a museum or something).

Did you know? Before the Beatles were famous they played hours and hours at Hamburg music festivals and therefore perfected their craft.  See: 10,000 hours theory

Foggy London town

Now THIS is why I'm excited about living in Europe. travel, travel, travel. We took the crazy-fast train to Foggy London town. Chris loves trains and I am growing fonder of them as time goes on. A part of me wants to just get there - airplanes are so much faster. But, I did enjoy having someone else "drive" while I drink wine, eat, relax, and look. The train is not cheap though, not cheap folks. This is our first trip to London which is a dynamic city, food (yay), luxury shopping (boo), museums, shows (double yay!). Chris is officially banded from being our travel coordinator, this guy had me walking at night, in heels, in the rain, for 10 blocks to our hotel. And the hotel, hmpf! Fired!

We did the tourist thing and throughly enjoyed the pub scene.

I never saw any fog oh yeah Happy Thanksgiving