Oh Where Does the Time Go??

So I feel this photo characterizes our year so far perfectly-just diving right in and getting out heads submerged without our body following to well....let me explain.....

After the holidays things got back into full crazy swing around here. The first exciting thing that happened was I took a ceramics class on camp-it was SO FUN!! I have since joined the Ceramics club (for a whooping 3 Euros a month) and have dove right in to making all sorts of things! Tea pots, cookie jars, garden ornaments, bowls, cups, and more to come! It's been a very nice creative outlet for me since I haven't been painting or even taking a huge amount of photos. The ladies are so very nice and HELPFUL! I know I will always have help (and lots of encouragement) with my creations. Matt keeps joking that I can't go to ceramics without spending a ton of money, which is not true!! I only spend a little ;)

These were the ladies in my class-it was such a fun time!

And you remember that horse I was loaning? Yea, he's ours now.

Meet "Harlequin Spam," aka, "Harley," "Doofus," "Cutie," "Idiot," and "Very Good Boy." After loaning for about 2 months we decided to take the plunge and buy him. And I have LOVED IT!!! It's SO wonderful to have my own horse again! No one else riding him (or screwing him up...only me!!). I get to ride whenever, however, and whatever I please. So we've been very focused our dressage and have had some very nice hack outs in which we didn't freak out (and by we I mean him) so things are going pretty well. Oh, there was a mishap with a trailer and he hurt himself and therefore made it so we couldn't compete in 2 shows, but it's not the end of the world, I learned. As much as I LOVE to compete, it's not the most important thing apparently. Why God chose to show me in such a dramatic way is beyond me ;)

He likes to give smooches. He's sweet like that!

He's a good looking boy huh? I am already smitten with him-was after about ride #3.

He's such a good boy-tries SO HARD to do what I ask of him. He is a lot like Rusty in the way he spooks, stresses, and hates me getting angry with him. It's great! But he does know how to work and he's super smart (like Rusty) but now I know how to channel the smarts!



Also in my attempt to get better at photography I've joined a photo club. It's been so fun-the guys who run it are professionals and make money doing it so I'm basically getting free photo lessons. I love it!! We focused on food a couple weeks ago and this is my great masterpiece from that session! The one guy (Andy) wanted to steal my wide angle lens when saw it-goodie! I have good equipment! What do you think of this photo?

Wine and strawberries-yummmm!

So Matt's been pretty helpful with me getting better at photos as well. The other day he suggested that we go to see a shipwreck, let Joey run around, and take photos. Sounds like a good day huh? We threw the frisbee for Joey, which he always goes crazy for! And I played with the camera some, trying out some things I've been learning. It was fun!

Whatcha looking at guys?

Isn't he the most beautiful (and manly!) dog?? Poor guy was pretty tired! Look at that tongue!

We've discussed adding elements to photos to make them a little more interesting, so I added some rocks. What do you think?

I've also been thinking I may need/should/kinda want to make a label/name thingy/copyright thingy to put on my pics, so you suckers can't steal them! Here are some I've come up-what do you guys think? I really want your vote/imput-and if you can't figure out what MLM stands for, we have some problems ;) Right now I'm being nice and adding Matt to this but I may cut him out since he thinks it's a stupid idea to do a moniker so why should I add him to my genius? I'll start thinking of something that is just me as well-we shall see what I come up with :)

MLM Photos  MLM Photogs

MLM Photos MLM Photos

MLM Photos MLM Photos

MLM Photos MLM Photos

MLM Photos MLM Photos

What's Been Going On?

So I realize I haven't posted in a little while. The holidays hit and it was craziness around here for a few weeks. Matt went off to Switzerland and had a great time-he's ready to go back again soon! Things have gotten back to normal so that means riding, cooking, church stuff, and crazy Brits (as always). But there are a few new things added to the mix. Matt and I sat down a couple weeks ago and set out some goals for ourselves (personal and together) for 2012 which is something we haven't done before. Some could call these "resolutions" but we want to create new habits permanently so we're calling them goals. Just roll with it ok?
Some of those goals included a very popular one, getting into shape!! I know, I know, cliche! But it is important! So I ordered some Jillian Michaels DVDs (30 Day Shred and "No More Trouble Zones") to whip me into shape! Matt says that riding 4 days a week for an hour doesn't count as "exercise" so I have to do something else!
I also want to improve my photography. Not so I can do it as a business (although if anyone wants to buy them I'm ok with it!), but so I can take AMAZING photos while we're on holiday so we can proudly display them in our home. And maybe give them as gifts sometimes ;) So with that I have joined a local photography club whose chairman is a professional photographer. Yipee!! Free lessons!! I am SOOOO excited about this! He's giving tutorials once a month and then we do "field trips" once a month to practice what we learn. How cool is that? I am seriously over the moon about this! My first time going was last week and we worked on "painting with light." Pretty much, dark room, highlight crap with flashlight. It's a really cool concept. And not too hard to do really. The biggest thing is you need a tripod, or still surface to place your camera, for it and we don't have one. It's ok; I'm making due for now! So I'm thinking I'm going to post some photos on here to show you what I'm up to but also to get feedback on how to improve! So please please please tell me what you think!! Remember I studied art so I can take a harsh critique!
I'm also taking a ceramics class for the next few weeks so I'm going to making and glazing goodies!! I may join that club too-we'll see how I get on ;)
The horse is doing great and we're getting better and better as time goes on! I'm really looking forward to competing in the All Island Show at the end of March. Hopefully we'll bring our "A" game and show some people what's what!

So below is my first at home attempt for "painting with light." I am trying to go for a little story here-horse jumping the little ghost people and freaking them out. Can you tell? How's my light? This is one of the better shots but I still need to look them over a little more and play a LOT more. I also need to come up with more ideas. The cool thing is that we'll vote on who has the best photo and the winner gets their photo printed, framed, and displayed where we have our meetings which is a center on camp. So here's for trying to get the best right??






What do you think?? Can you tell the white "ghost" threw up??

Neuschwanstein and Hoehenschwangau Proves it Doesn't Matter if You're Crazy....

So our last stop in Germany was to see the oober famous castle of Neuschwanstein aka "Sleeping Beauty" castle or the "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" castle.

Look familiar??

Here we are in front "Sleeping Beauty's" castle at Disneyland when we went before we moved!

So yea, it's a pretty famous castle! Matt was actually the one who wanted to go originally since he read about it in a book. Crazy huh? However, it was TOTALLY worth the visit! We were hopeful for snow since it was December and cold and there was wetness in the air, just not snow :( The lack of snow did not inhibit our experience by any means though-the clouds from the rain made the castles look eery, mysterious, and beautiful! But I first need to discuss a German food that we all know (and maybe not love), the bratwurst. Now many of you know how I don't eat hot dogs, sausages, brats-basically any food that at one point in history was a mix of different organs and meat that was then shoved into an intestine (or other organ) as casing-gross. So our first night in Munich we were having a hard time finding a place to eat so we said we'd try some market street food, aka bratwursts. I knew not to try the white ones (veal head, no thanks) and I was so hungry at the time I didn't care that I was eating a brat. I did not regret this decision-it was so tasty! Way better than the ones we get in the states so when we were walking around at the different markets we tried the brats. Yup, almost every city I ate a brat. And I didn't die-craziness I know!! But we realized we didn't take ANY photos of these momentous acts and that is how we came to take these beauties in Fussen:

That's right! I take charge when eating a brat! And it was so tasty!

Just because it's a big deal I was eating them doesn't mean we should document Matt enjoying his too! Yummyyyy....

It was fairly amusing while we took these photos-a man came up to us as asked if he too could take a pic of us eating our brats. We now joke that we're soon to be the face of the Fussen Christmas market featuring brat eating. Be on the look out for our posters ok?

Now the next day, after a wonderful nights sleep at our killer hotel (http://www.schlosskrone.de/ you should stay here if you ever make it there-it was AMAZING!! free upgrade-yes please! power shades-yes! huge bed and bathroom-a European luxery!) Anyway, back to the story....after our good nights sleep, we grabbed a taxi and headed 10 mins away to see the castles. We bought our tickets on line before hand which may or may not have been helpful-there wasn't a huge line when we got there but it was 9 am. The first castle they herd you through is Hoehenschwangau, the castle Ludgwig II grew up in. Everything is original from the last occupant who died in 1911. By 1913 the castle was a museum. So all the "modern" amenities (electricity, elevator) and family heirlooms are still in place as well as all original wall and mural art! It was truly beautiful. Sadly, no photos allowed inside so you'll just have to either a)go there and see it for yourself (which I recommend!) or b) use your imagination. We finished up with that tour and had 1hr to make it up to the next castle. Now you may be thinking, why do you need so much time? Well, it's a HIKE! So we opted to take a carriage ride up which takes less time and saves you from the walk-win win right? And you get to pet some cute horses and then your gloves smell like horse the rest of the time-again, win!
Now they don't drive you right up to the castle so we still had to walk a little but it was cool since the clouds were covering the castle slightly giving it a mysterious feeling-I LOVED it! So this is what we saw as we walked up to go to the entrance.....

Spooky!

There was only 1 good spot really to take photos with the front of the castle so it was a jostling contest to get in there-we had a couple from CO (I miss it there!) take this for us, Christmas sweaters and all!

Still cloudy...but I think our sweaters really liven the scene up!

Again, no photos on the inside allowed. And you only get to see the 1/3 completed section. And you're herded like cattle. But it was still really cool! It too was left in it's original state, paintings, furniture, and all so you can see how King Ludgwig II lived, for less than 1 year in this place.

There is a bridge near by called "Mary's Bridge" that was built for Ludwig's mother, Mary, for her hikes. We decided to trek up there to get some good photos. This is what we saw on the way....

Can't beat a view of the alps, clouds, and a castle. Nice right?

It was rainy-hence the umbrella strap in the pic!

Now this bridge crosses a gorge but in the middle you get an AMAZING view of Neuschwanstein. But you have to go through THIS to get a good spot.....


The scariest bit of that bridge is it isn't incredibly stable. As in you took a step and the wood boards would move and bounce. Not that comforting to those of us who are TERRIFIED of heights and the non-stable things we the only barrier between you and the rocks at the bottom of the gorge. But what does Matt do, drag me out 3/4 of the way over since not many people are brave enough to go out that far. Most took 2 steps, freaked out, and left. I wasn't allowed to do that-dang it. That's ok, if I had been a big chicken then we wouldn't have gotten shots like these:

Full view-so pretty!

This year's Christmas card pic. We need to photo shop Joey into it! The guy taking the pic was pooing himself as well since he wasn't liking the bridge or the heights-a kindred spirit for me!

Matt took this of me-promptly leaving when we were done with the pics because I wanted the heck out of there!! It was a battle to get off that thing too! On the way off I encountered some SUPER HICK Americans-it was HILARIOUS! I'm talking trucker hats, carharts, terrible southern accents, the whole nine yards. It was magical.

So we had an amazing trip to Germany. I still want to move there even though it's 63 degrees outside right now. And yes, I'm cold. Who knew one could acclimate so quickly? How sad is that? Anyway, we plan to hit northern Germany at some point as well-we've been told about this cool event in late summer called "The Rhine in Flames" which showcases all the castles on the river at night, with torches and such. I really want to go. It sounds awesome.
Matt is off to a men's ski retreat in Switzerland in a couple weekends so that is the only foreseeable trip right now. That needs change-weekend somewhere in February? I think so...time to start researching ;)

Nuremburg: Not Just a Place for Nazis (oh yea, I went there!)

So did you know that Nuremberg boasts having the best Christmas market not only in Bavaria but in all of Germany. And I do have to say it's pretty awesome! It is HUGE too! But we'll get to that soon....
We did very little research before hitting this city-always a mistake in my opinion. My main goal here was to see the market and do a little shopping. However, there is actually a good bit to do here. One being the Albrecht Durer House/Museum. Who is Albrecht Durer you ask? First of all, I can't believe you don't know who he is. Secondly, I'm glad you asked! He was a pretty awesome painter and print maker from Nuremberg. He's kind of a big deal-if you've studied art you know him. To view who he is and what he's done, click here: http://www.albrecht-durer.org/
So I was pretty jazzed about getting to go to the home he bought in Nuremberg where he lived (and died) and created his works. It was quite an expensive house when, and where, he bought. I didn't take too many photos because I was so enamored with the (INCLUDED!) audio guide and looking at the house. Sadly there are no original pieces in the house but we did see some in Munchen at Old Pinakothek (where one of his most famous pieces resides, the "Self Portrait" in which he looks like Jesus [so they think/say]). But we did see his studio and replica presses that would be like the ones he used. It made me miss printmaking so much! I love that medium-I'm always jealous when my sister-in-law, Sarah, sends out cards with prints she's done. One day I too will be artsy and she won't be the only one in the family, muahahaaa!
Anyway, I digress....

Here is a reproduction of a press with a print on it-I really do know how to do that!

Of course we hit some churches but I figure you're getting tired of me posting photos of those so we'll skip to the market and food! Oh how I love food!! I'm not a big foodie and you all know how Matt and I are not the most adventurous when it comes to trying new things but we ate almost anything here-most things were pretty safe (except the white brats-don't eat those!) So when we saw these babies sizzling in a cart and had to try some....

Yummy potato pancakes....sooo greasy....soo good!

Now although these are made of edible things, you're not supposed to eat them. They are nut and prune people-yea I'm not kidding. We only saw them here and in Munchen, but a lot more people had them here. Matt wouldn't let me look at them closely-he was probably afraid I'd want one.

They're PRUUUUUUUUNE PEEEEOPLE!!!

The decor and atmosphere here was pretty awesome. The market was HUGE!! It covered all sorts of parts of the inner city. They even had a creepy kids are-why must animatronics be so creepy? Seriously, they're supposed to welcome kids not lure them into the dark, pedophilic lair.

No creepy Santas here! Just lovely decorations!

O (big, outdoor, plastic) Tannenbaum, How steadfast are your branches!

And no wintery, Christmasy, wonderland is complete with out horse drawn carriages right? Of course!! The answer is no-we didn't ride one. Those things can be rather pricey and we had a train to catch.

What are those Belgian horses doing in Germany?? Silly ponies-wrong country ;)
(Those are Belgian Cream Drafts for those who don't get my joke....)

All in all it was a fun day. We got some GREAT presents and ornaments and enjoyed walking around and seeing some nice churches. We didn't get to do any of the Nazi things (I know you were wondering when I was going to tie in the Nazis!) like the rally spot (which is supposed to be really cool!) so we'll have to visit another time.
Next stop, Sleeping Beauty's Castle!

Rothenburg ob der Tauber: Torture in the Imperial City

So our next stop for Christmas Marketpaloosa 2011 was Rothenburg. We didn't go there because of their Christmas market, although it wasn't too bad (small though), but we went because it's a SAWEET example of a walled medieval town. This town went from being the peak of commerce and trade to nothing to being bombed in WWII to being rebuilt after being destroyed and to the great tourist gem that it is to. Not too bad for the few hundred years it's been around. This place is situated on the Romantic Road (which we didn't get to drive on-next time!) and is a must stop place along the way. They also have Christmas stores that are open year round which was cool since we went at Christmas time but would be kind of weird in the middle of July in the heat.

Here is Matt in front of the year-round Christmas store-can't beat cider and a giant nutcracker!

So we took this AMAZING tour called the "Night Watchmen" which is totally worth the 7 Euro a piece! It's an hour long and really informational, funny, and shows the history of the town so well!

"Night Watchmen" sounding the alarm for the town!

The next day we went around town to see the sights. First stop, town hall complete with tower. I know you're wondering if we went up into the tower and the answer is yes we did. Remember how I don't like heights. Especially cold, windy, scary ones. Case and point below.....

This is me freaking out.

I bolted rather quickly after that photo was taken. Matt stayed to take more, like this one....

Now you all know how I LOVE churches right? So of course we had to go into the main one here too. St. Jacob's has some amazing wood carvings, which is a thing in Germany in case you didn't know. The altar down stairs and the other altar piece upstairs were spectacular truly.

The Last Supper. Amazing right?!

So they had this really cool carving from Africa on display. See below for info:

Isn't it beautiful??? The funny thing is when I saw it I said to Matt "What the heck is an African piece doing in Germany?" Then I read the sign.

So I entitled this post "torture in the imperial city" because there is a wicked Medieval Crime and Torture museum in Rothenburg. I was a little worried about going, because of the whole torture aspect, but it turned out to be so cool! There was so much info on law, crime, punishment, and life in the middle ages. My favorite were the "shame masks", which were put on men and women who were gossips, acted like pigs, and who in general needed to be put to shame a little. I know a few people who could have one put on every now and then ;)

Can't you imagine it? You got caught gossiping so now you have to wear a mask in the town square for a few hours until you learn not to have big ears and a big mouth!

This was the other cool thing-a "double, neck violin." This was for squabbling women-they were put together in it until they could resolve their differences. Matt and I need that sometimes....

Next up, a walk around the town wall. The cool thing about this is that during WWII the town was bombed and parts of it were destroyed, like the wall. In order to raise funds, the city sent out a plea to the world asking for donations. In essence, you "bought" so much of the wall-you could donate so much and buy 1 meter (or more if you like). Your information (name, city, country) is then put on a block in the wall and you are immortalized forever as a helped of the city. You can still by a piece today which I think is pretty awesome.

See how close the homes are to the wall? Truly protected huh??

Hey Matt!! Having a nice stroll?

We walked as much as we could all along the wall and then went to ground level and continued out walk outside the city wall some. Here you could see the neighboring area and the pretty countryside. I think it would be so beautiful in the autumn with all the changing colors!

Aren't we so cute?? And cold!!

We finished up our day with some dinner, as usual. They had some table decorations that were too good to resist playing with.....

see.....

It was a great day! We had so much fun and learned a lot! I think if we went back to Bavaria I would like to do the Romantic Road and stay here again, just so we could stroll in some warmer weather! We did have another night here but the next day we went to Nuremberg.

Munchen: Pretty Stinkin' Awesome If You Ask Me!

So Germany was AMAZING!!! We loved it. I want to move there, right now! Our first city was Munchen, also known as Munich. It was really fun! We mainly went to Germany to go to the Christmas markets, which we went to a lot!! We also visited the Residence and the Science Museum. They were both wonderful and worth a visit!

In the Residence-what has been used as a dining hall!

They have a large collection of Asian art since that was a popular thing to collect-this makes me think of Lord of the Rings though-"my preciousssssssss"-you hear it too!

They also have some great porcelain figures. I thought it was funny that a fox was playing the piano for her.

So needless to say, Matt LOVED the science museum! It was pretty cool but I'll admit I got bored after 3 hours of Matt hitting every button known to man to make things light up and move. I know understand how he feels while we're in an art museum. At least he has a place to sit down!

He's getting ready to go to work in the coal mines!!

He's such a happy man! Flight simulation!

I think it's pretty obvious we were in Matts paradise!

Although it was freezing cold we did walk around a bit.

Who could resist such a nice view?

And obviously no trip to Germany is complete without beer.....

...and gluewhine at the Christmas market. Who doesn't love a mug in the shape of a boot???

Sadly we didn't make it to the BMW museum. It's kind of on the outskirts of town and rather pricey to get in to. We did make it to 2 art museums for a euro entrance at each-that was pretty awesome. And we got to see the largest collection of Rubens so that was cool too! We were silly and didn't take any pics of the markets in Munich-way to screw the pooch on that one right?? We did like this market a lot; there was a lot of variety and there was one that was like a renaissance festival-people and booths in traditional costume. It was really cool. Next stop was Rothenburg ob der Tauber.