pumpkins & blooming baroque

It’s all about pumpkins these days in Ludwigsburg. And a castle. Fantasy. Soup. And of course unicorns.

Autumn vibes

It’s late summer. It’s the beginning of fall.
Days get shorter. It gets chilly in the nights & mornings but the day warms up and it gets beautiful and sunny. It’s almost time to unpack (those nice) boots & coats. Time to snuggle in. Time for pumpkin (latte or champagne). Time for orange, rust red and brown tones. Time for fall decorations. Autumn vibes.

In China they started eating the moon again. Golden Week is about to come. Of course we celebrated with moon cake for lunch in the (German) office with lots of Chinese colleagues.

It is great to be back in a part of the world where you feel the change of seasons. We haven’t had that for the past few years. I missed it. I love autumn. Happy fall, y’all!

B E R L I N

It’s been (already) 15 weeks back in Germany.

Do I miss the city life in Shanghai? Well, yes & no. But always (had and will have…) a desire to big city life 🙂

Not only a weekend in Berlin but in best company: 2 besties from America. Farewell sounds too sad (one is moving back to SC) that’s why we called it simply and beautifully: a girls weekend.

Berlin is always a good idea. I haven’t been here in many years. And I almost forgot what a fantastic city it is: busy, bustling, hip, loud, crazy, lots of history, a wow cabaret, KaDeWe, Berliner bus drivers… I love it. We loved it and had a blast.

Guten Morgen, Berlin! Currywurst is always a good idea… even for breakfast.

Berlin – an all-time favorite city. Hope to be back soon!

Two wheels

Ducati. Racing yellow. My bike. Ready for adventures on two wheels. Soon. Hopefully. Let’s get the motorbike lessons started. I’m ready. Let’s get on the bike. My bike 🙂

housewarming party

We invited to our housewarming party. A garden party. Lucky us, the sun was smiling, the sky blue and filled with blinking stars later that night.

Preparation is all:

…and a well deserved Schwabian dinner after finishing preparation the night before – our mothers.

Happy mothers and fathers, happy family and friends – all very happy that we are back (and that makes us very happy). Back in Germany after 8 years abroad. We received so many wonderful hugs, kisses, cards & wishes. And interesting gifts: how to make Spaetzle with Frankonian ingredients (an interesting idea, I love it), lots of wine glasses (most of ours broke moving so many times), a kettle from the Irish mummy (I believe this was in first sight for getting her cup of tea faster…), a craft beer tour in Stuttgart, local wines and liquors (super delicious!), a wooden basket for fire wood hand made by my great uncle, friends who know us so well: Weizenbeer, coffee beans and chili 🙂 … and so much more. Thank you!

It was wonderful showing you around in our farm house, talking to you, enjoying a drink with you and just simply being surrounded by great family & friends. Thank you all for coming despite the long way for some of you. It made us super happy.

We loved having guest from around the world and different life states: mummy from N.Ireland (the other one from Germany 🙂 ), school friends, Shanghai friends, US friends, new work colleagues, long-time friends, brother, god child… and it seemed everybody enjoyed the others company (it didn’t matter that most people hadn’t met before): the Germans teaching the Americans how to open a bottle of beer with a lighter, the Americans showing the Germans what s’mores are and how to prepare them (marshmallows “want some more”).

Fantastic party with wonderful guests and a 40th birthday. Happy Birthday!

People were asking for the next party… haha.

PS: many many thanks to all helpers!!!

August

What an exciting month. Wedding anniversary. Sea freight arrived. Started my motorbike license. Moving into our new home. Unpacking, shopping, decorating, falling tired but happily asleep. Ending August with a housewarming party with family & friends. Wonderful.

We can see the moon and the stars from our bed.

I love to pass by blooming sunflower fields. Daily.

Weekends which start with a cappuccino in bed and end with Aperol Spritz in the garden.

First, second and third BBQ…

Late night shopping: in the sunflower field.

Having family & friends for our housewarming party. Thank you all for coming. Our neighbors have hens… Frida & Friends.

August has been wonderful. Looking forward to the next couple of months.

Mini turns 60!

Happy Birthday!

The Mini was originally designed by Sir Alexander Issigonis for the former British Motor Corporation. The small car has become a big star over the years – especially in films such as The Italian Job. One thing that has not changed is that it is still made in Oxford, by BMW.

Even Mr Bean has been invited to the birthday party in Britain.

Mini seems to run in the Turley family.

We love our Mini. It drives like a go-kart. It’s fast (hubby got already flashed twice). It’s spacious: 4 adults, a baby and a dog or 7 suitcases or 5 big boxes of beer… we always find parking (well, the mirrors are a bit too big for Stuttgart parking garages… or am I just bad in parking???).

It wasn’t planned to get one in June. Now we are happy we have our Mini one. Happy birthday! To many many more miles together.

Home Sweet Home

Home sweet home.

We are still busy setting up our new home. And we are loving it. Love to spend time with family who’s been very supportive. We love being in the garden. We love adding a bit Asian touch. We love to grow our own herbs. Our French wine found a beautiful new home (let’s see how soon we need another trip to the south…).