Today, 4 years ago, we had our house warming party. That’s how long we have been already back in good old Germany.

That also makes 4 years living in Swabia (minus 2.5 years due to Covid). Well, we are still getting to know our old new home. Stuttgart is not a town to fall easily in love with. It takes a 2nd or 3rd trial. We keep finding our happy places. We love living in our old house, though. We love our garden and the fresh air (still appreciating after Shanghai).

Germany knows culture: Historically, Germany has been called „Das Land der Dichter und Denker“ (‘the land of poets and thinkers’).

We have our traditions: Oktoberfest and Christmas customs and usually the month of May is off, thanks to bank holidays & bridge days. Lol.

We are not the fastest, when it comes to digitalization (the pandemic has helped speeding up things a bit)… we are also not the fastest to finish up building airports (Berlin) or train stations (Stuttgart), but that’s another story.

Germany is culinary: 80 million Germans and I are convinced, we make the best bread in the world. Lol. I mean, who produces about 600 main types of bread and 1,200 types of pastries and rolls (Brötchen)?!?

Our national alcoholic drink is beer, of course! The German beer consumption per person: 110 litres per year and remains among the highest in the world.

We also have the most complex ticket machines… all you need is an Arbeitsanweisung (work instruction) and you are good to go!

*Arbeitsanweisung or Verpackungsdatenblatt are words all my international work colleagues know!

More fun facts about Germany:

Apparently our language is dead easy. You don’t need to learn vocabulary if you know how to play Lego. You just need to know a few words and you can create a lot more words: e.g. doc: Kinderarzt (child doc), Zahnarzt (tooth doc), Hautarzt (skin doc), Hausarzt (general doc), Tierarzt (Animal doc) – easy, isn’t it? Now you can make up your own doc. Practically, you can add as many words as you like and create nice (new) word combinations: Rinderkennzeichnungsfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz – yes, that’s one German word and makes 79 letters (it’s not the longest) and the meaning: a law for how to label & monitor beef meat.

Swabian dialect is even easier: you just add a „le“ after each word. And: it’s „Der Wasen“ (not die Wasen!!!) (Wasen = Octoberfest).

Well, to sum up: Germany is a great county and we love living here (the French border for weekend escapes is very close, lol) & Stuttgart is more than road work.

Leaving the French Alps region and traveling south. Lunch break in Uzes. Just west of the Provence lies a storybook sunshine-y village, wrapped in golden hued limestone and perfect for flaneurs — Uzes. We were delighted by the laid back little honeypot.

Arriving at the holiday house in the Ariège. I like that place, it’s quiet and just the minimum needed to have a peaceful time.

Vacation in France de Sud. Up to >40C – siestas, a dip in the water and ice-cream is all what helps to survive the day until it cools a little down for a nice cold glass of rosé. It’s summer! No bed duvet needed. Mosquito bites inclusive. Of course.

La Bastide sur-l’hers. Camon. Mirepoix. Carcassone.

Everything is a little more relaxed and laid back in the south of France.

Daily late morning strolls to the little bakery for croissants and pain au chocolat.

Spending a week with hubby’s family, Charlie’s new favorite drink: a cup of tea with milk.

A stopover between Montpellier & Avignon – or the end of our road trip in the southern Provence. Here’s the Camargue, a magical marsh area, with beautiful untouched nature, wildlife and bright pink salt lakes. Magnificent.

Once more, I’m very impressed about the diversity of the French countryside. Amazing.

That was a very much needed relaxing vacation. After our obligatory shopping, we are on the way back home, getting ready for my godchild’s wedding.

Arevoir, France de Sud!

Leaving with a lavender scent in the car. Mmmhhhhh.

The Alsace. The Lorraine. Riviera des Alpes. The Ariege. Or from the north to the south of France.

We (I) spent the last couple of weekends in France. Stuttgart being so close to the French border makes it a nice weekend escape. France, a huge & beautiful country with so many different landscapes included. Je t’aime!

Now enjoying summer holiday in France. Looking forward to meet friends & family.

Happy summer vacation. Tomorrow, we are going south. Bon voyage 🥖🇫🇷🍷☀️🐶🍦

9 years ago we said “yes” to each other. A day to remember like it was yesterday: an old Camaro from 1978. Getting married in a vineyard. Andrettis Vineyard. Napa Valley. Lemon cake. California. A daddy parking the car so we could run away if I wanted. Lots of happy tears. Mum and mother-in-law almost wearing the same dress. Music notes gone with the wind. 8 guest and us. Olive trees. 5 course menu. Lemon tart for wedding cake. Curly hair. Ave Maria. A dance. Newly weds. My mums almost broken ankle. Wine. Plenty of delicious wine. 2 families who (still) don’t speak the same language but like each other (maybe that’s why). 2 weeks later an earthquake. Lucky us. It was a fantastic day! It’s been wonderful 9 years!

Happy anniversary!

„I Got You

I got everything

I Got You

I don’t need nothing more than you

I got everything

I Got You“

-Jack Johnson

A week with Charlotte, my 8 year old god child and niece. We had a fantastic and busy week: Minigolf. BBQ. Curly hair. Making chocolate. Barbie & bed cinema. Being asked to get married. Uhhhh. Ahhhh. Motorcycle mandalas. Baking muffins. Making popcorn. Monopoly. Sleeping in every morning. Taking Charlie for walks.

A week filled with laughter. Dancing & singing songs. Me eating kids dinners: fish finger & piccolino pizzas.

Friday night:

Saturday: family reunion. It was wonderful seeing you all again! Making Dutch ovens for dinner and sitting around the fire is simly the best.

Sunday lunch: hungry again after last nights amazing dinner.

Ready for a wee family break. Lol. Cu all again in 5 weeks, and then it’s wedding time!

Barbie Fever. Barbie mania.

Did you know that “Barbie” had a German Mama?

Here she is… Lilli in her up-to-the-minute ski outfit, a “Blond Bombshell” based on a comic strip character first published in Germany’s Bild-Zeitung on 24 June 1952.

Ruth Handler, wife of a co-founder of Mattel, saw “Lilli” in 1956 while holidaying in Europe, and bought six dolls to take back to the US. Including this one where she was dressed ready for the slopes.

Mattel’s designers were ordered to come up with a similar doll for the US market, so they “tweaked” Lilli’s shape and Ruth Handler renamed the doll “Barbie”, after her daughter Barbara.

On 9 March 1959, the first Barbie doll was unveiled to the toy industry at the New York Toy Fair.

So Barbie is a German American… but it was not until 1964 that Mattel managed to obtain the rights to “Bild Lilli”, and production of the doll had to end in Germany. Then Lilli became a part of history.

In fact it had been sold in the United States as just “Lilli” or as “Lilli Marleen/Marlene” and marketed briefly to young girls.

And in 1958, a year before Barbie appeared, German cinemas were showing a murder comedy, Lilli – ein Mädchen aus der Großstadt, – Lilli A Girl From The Big City, where Lilli used her charm and good looks to help the police deal with “baddies” at a hotel, while also holding down her job at a newspaper.

Lilli was young, pretty, flippant and quite a character, and with her wardrobe of over 80 outfits, including this typical Bavaria Tracht, she mirrored the trends of popular female culture and international fashion of those post war times.

Catalogue photo of Lilly in her ski outfit is from fondationtanagra. In those days snowfalls were heavier and lasted longer than today, so skiing was something of an “everyday” experience during the winter months in many of Germany’s regions.

I watched “Barbie” today in the cinema. I loved it. My 8 year old god child was rather bored (she was excited about the bed cinema & popcorn). It’s not a typical kids film. It’s about the “real world”. It’s about feminism. It’s comedy. It’s fun. Barbie is leaving her Truman’s world. Good job, Greta Gerwig!

The movie is ending, that Barbie decides to be a human living in “our humans world” and making an appointment at the gynecologist. And she’s not in love with Ken! Oh dear! Ken may not sell anymore…

Enough told. Everyone who loves Barbie should watch it.

Weeks of sunshine & blue sky. Ice-cream & hanging out outside. Beer garden. Daily BBQs. A garden full of veggies & fruits & flowers. A summer where the living room is outside, and the stars are the television program. Mosquitos inclusive, of course. And visitors: friends from France, South Carolina, Cyprus, Spain, Lilienthal and Ireland (on the agenda). And the best part: summer isn’t over yet.

More concerts! Yesssss!

Wow! Wow! Wow!

Summer Carnival in Munich! And we were part of show 1 (out of 2) in Munich. And what a show it was!!!

She’s a rockstar!

I love spending Wednesday nights in Munich with Pink! She rocks! Her music is powerful, she makes statements. She’s sexy. She’s confident. She’s amazing! She’s great! I’m proud to be one of her fans. lol.

What a show! We thought about getting a ticket for the 2nd show tonight… but getting up this morning was hard… so we decided for the beer garden instead.

Munich, enjoy P!ink tonight!!!

More photos from Facebook:

Wow!

“I Got You

I got everything

I Got You

I don’t need nothing more than you

I got everything

I Got You”

“I’ve got an angel

She doesn’t wear any wings

She wears a heart that can melt my own

Wears a smile that can make me wanna sing

She gives me presents

With her presence alone

She gives me everything I could wish for

Gives me kisses on the lips just for coming home”

…how could you not love him… I mean his songs… lol

It’s the year after Covid. It’s the year of concerts. It’s summer & Jack Johnson in Europe!

My bestie discovered his tour dates in Europe many months ago. We purchased tickets. She organized a baby sitter. We got her camper ready and off we went! A girls weekend in Austria to see Jack Johnson, a singer we both adore since 2005/2006. A throw back. Fabulous music & memories.

It was soooooooo good! Despite a little bit of rain, we had a fab time. Repeat in 2024!

Roses everywhere. Pink. White. Red. Small ones. Big ones. All of them have one thing in common: they are beautiful & smell wonderful.

Just roses. The color of love, desire, and hope.

Our garden. Our oasis.