I can DRIVE. and make pottery :D

Since my last posting I have become a legal German driver!

yay for my temporary license- had to black out some personal info :D

I took the test on Tuesday. The first time I took it I missed 17, instead of the acceptable 15. This time around I only missed 4- what up for passing with a 96!?! Can't wait to get the real one in the mail!

Afterwards, to celebrate, Danette picked me up and we went to the Arts & Crafts Center on post to explore. I printed some new pictures for the house and was so overwhelmed by the little store! It was like a mini Michael's almost. Danette mentioned that you can paint pottery there- sooo we totally decided to do so as a part of our celebration!

This is the beginning of my doggy treat cookie jar.

We both decided to paint a dog treat jar. So cheap- only $8.80 for the whole shabang. You can paint it whenever you want, take a break, leave it there and go back when you're free to continue. We painted for a few hours but still have a lot left to do!

Love this girl. We're painting amigas.

aaannnddd: This week I started back in the gym and counting calories for real! I'm super excited to be back at it. I even ordered a new blender to make breakfast smoothies! I'll be sure to write about the weight loss journey in my posts!

Then today I went to a little mini interview for a voluntary marketing position at ACS. I'm going to start there as a marketing employee next week. They don't have anyone working for them in their marketing department right now but I figure a voluntary position is as good as any. With me being a college student getting any experience in my field is great.

A few random pictures: a super cute car I saw on post. Wish it was mine.

so teeny and adorable! I WANT.

I saw this on the way home from ACS today- the German moving company
was moving a family out of their 4th floor apartment. Literally loading boxes onto a sliding ledge latter thing and lowering it to the ground. And that box was HUGE. I thought it was an interesting approach.

P.s. for anyone reading- does anyone have any digital camera recommendations? We want to get a new one that is good for taking pictures of our travels. Good with people and scenic views and one that also has a great zoom!

So I'm slacking... But, IKEA and such!

So since the last posting:

Firstly, I think I need to post more often. I keep meaning to and I get busy. That's a fail. Too early on in our Germany experience to suck at keeping up with it now. Lo siento. I'll try to change that!

But so Friday was valentine's day! We didn't do anything crazy special but the hubby got me roses and chocolates and we headed out to the knot with some friends. A chill evening but it was nice. We're not huge valentine's day people so it was perfect.

Saturday we field-tripped to IKEA in Mannheim. Super fun. Danette and I shopped for roughly 5 hours while the guys went to look at gun safes for Austin and browse Media Mart (kinda like best buy).

As far as IKEA goes. First I have to start with the funny stuff. Austin and Rob drop us off in the parking lot and Danette and I walk inside. It was raining so we figured we'd just snag a dry cart inside. Once inside we saw no carts and an escalator up to their restaurant. Registers to pay were to the left and really the only way to go was up. We figured we'd find carts up on the second floor...

When we got up there it was the restaurant on one side and the beginning of the show room on the other. (For those who don't know, IKEA has a beginning portion of the store you're supposed to walk through that has nearly all of their products set up in fake rooms so you can see them in action. Everything is tagged so you write down the information and snag it all in the store part afterwards.)

Example: super cute dining room set up.

Next to the top of the escalator we saw an elevator so, since we saw no carts we figured we'd hop in the elevator and go back down to get one. Once we get in the gigantic elevator and the doors shut there is only one "level" button to press. OG. So we press it. And press it. And wait some more. And nothing happens. We press the button to open the doors and were still on the same level. So that was a fail.

We decide to get off, since that was getting us nowhere in a hurry and I man up and ask someone- A if they spoke English and then B where the stinkin carts were. Since we didn't really understand his broken English we decided to start the showroom and hope we'd find them later.

*who knew shopping could be so challenging*

But anyways. Flipping love IKEA. Wish their stuff wasn't so cheaply made though. That part is a bummer. Especially for us military folk that move a lot because the cheap stuff cant handle all the moving stress. -_-

But we trekked through the showroom and the massive crowds of people (since we did come on a Saturday). After the show room we were all hearded down to the lower level for the store. And there were carts! (The bags we got while walking in the showroom were really beginning to suck a lot)

Lots of cute stuff was purchased by use both. We couldn't help it.

I bought so many pillow forms :D

Then that night we all came back to our place for an applewood pork roast rob had in the crock pot all day (thanks to Judy for our spices on that, we used a pampered chef applewood rub.) Dinner and Mexican train of course. We had to teach Danette and Austin how to play but Danette didn't need much help and was a natural winner. (We said it was because of her authentic Mexican-ness, which I still blame for her glory.)

Love Mexican train. Good way to end the day.

Sunday was just homework and cleaning as usual. I'm a slave to the college life, *hopefully only till 05/2015¡¡!! Fingers crossed! Plus Rob had CQ. So I did the learning thing ALL day and made some pillow cases at night. 

Forgotten Grocery Escapade

I meant to add this in our last post but totally forgot!

So everyone always says "get groceries off post, it's way cheaper and has a better selection". With knowing this Rob and I decided to try it last night, and it went horribly. Funny and horribly.

Firstly, here in Germany you need to pay to get a shopping cart. Stick in a quarter or a euro and you can unplug it. Well, not only did we not have any paper euro, we didn't have any euro change either. So, instead, since we were already there we figured we'd at least look around and grab a few things that we could carry (since they didn't have baskets either).

The prices on some goods were a lot cheaper like some types of meat and some dairy products. Also, I loved how there was fresh baked goods there too, fresh pretzels, rolls, and breads :D
It was nice to have a different selection of things to pick from for a change.

Too bad once we got in line we realized that people not only traditionally bring their own bags but that their credit card reader was broken. After the woman rang up all of our items, and we found where the plastic bags were (which we didn't know they had and were prepared to carry our items out in our arms) we had to put all of our goods back. Talk about embarrassing.

We go walk back around and put our items back and then, when it came to leave we didn't know how to get out. There is a little gate thingy that opens when you stand in front of it and lets you in when you come in the main doors but standing in front of it to leave it wouldn't open. We couldn't figure out what to do and, icing on the cake, we don't know any German. Rob tried to pull it and an alarm went off. *more embarrassing* Finally some lady came in and the gate opened for her so we followed it out.

So embarrassing.
It may be cheaper for some items but I like shopping on post at the Commissary for now. Less stressful and I don't feel so stupid, not being able to read the packages at Netto didn't help at all. We'll try the off post thing again later maybe but for now the commissary will do.

:D

Nearly V-Day

Our household goods are finally here!! So exciting and nice to actually look like we live here. They came in last Thursday on the 6th :D and then on Friday the 7th the government furniture left.

Rob started working in the kitchen just emptying boxes. So much STUFF!

Unpacking was such a mess! We have so much! Jamming all of our stuff into a 2 bedroom apartment seemed to be a task.

Friday night we went to Ramstein with some friends and squeezed in some shopping. We had a few things we needed to get for the house and then we all went out to dinner at Macaroni Grill.

Saturday was more unpacking, with a little bit of homework in the middle. Rob ended up working on the new car a bit, Saturday wouldn't be normal without car work. Then Saturday night our friends, Nicole and her husband CR, hosted us and the Murphy's over for dinner and drinks. The lasagna was great and I LOVE Danette's sangria.

Sunday wasn't anything crazy, more unpack and more homework. Homework homework homework.

Yesterday my first round of fabric came! Ten throw pillows and a shower curtain!! I'm trying to start the curtain now and hoping that we can go to IKEA this Saturday for pillow forms :D So excited!! And my paint came yesterday too! I want to run to the Self-Help store on post today to get some drop cloths and painting tape to start the rug this weekend. I'm so excited!! I hope it turns out great.

I CANT WAIT TO SEE HOW IT ALL LOOKS TOGETHER!

Decorating is totally a hobby of mine! I love it and get so excited when I get to decorate!

Tonight is a ladies-night birthday dinner for one of the wives, Sunshine. So now I'm off to getting some homework done and taking my trip to self help before the evening out. :D

Lots is Happening!

Well lets see, since my last post all of my fabric swatches came in. (which is first since I'm so excited about it!) I was able to narrow down my selections for all the throw pillows and the drapes too. Too bad I can't share pictures of the decisions till my final showing of them in action! *Suspense* These are most of the swatches together though- such hard decisions!!

Sooo many pretty ones!

Next was a great day out on Friday with friends and new cellphones. Rob and I ended up getting two new cell phones, only costing 1 euro each with our new plans (winning). I got a white S4 mini and Rob the black one. We figured that, even though contracts over here can be a pain, not having one and doing prepaid phones was going to be more of a hassle, and more expensive. Plus, who doesn't want a new phone!?  After T-Mobile, since Rob had CQ Thursday and was tired he went back home to sleep and Danette, Nicole and I headed out to lunch and to explore Baumholder a bit.

First stop was my first visit to a German McDonalds.

To the left, that red building is the "play place".

Next, once inside it looked like a super jazzed up McDonalds with a German menu and a separate McCafe coffee and dessert bar.

This is the view from my table. Over in the top left corner is the McCafe bar.
The separate food counter is to the left out of the picture.

But, the food still looks the same! A few different sandwiches,
separate charges for mayo and ketchup, no free refills, and instead of
tossing your own garbage you leave your tray on a shelf!

After lunch we walked around Baumholder and explored a few shops. We found a fabric quilting shop, a few floral shops, and even a small craft store. All in all a great afternoon! Then we all split up and headed home to relax before the evening festivities.

Friday night a bunch of people headed out to go bowling before hitting up the knot. I forgot how much I like bowling, especially when I'm not sucking. After a game we headed to the knot! On the way we snagged some food at a little place next door- called Doner. We got doner boxes, which look like this:

sorry for the crappy photo editing to fix the lighting
I took this picture in the knot, which doesn't have great lighting.
With a phone that was dying.

For the box you can pick whichever ingredients you'd like: onions, cheese, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, and a special sauce (kinda ranch like), also probably a few more I'm forgetting but basically its amazing. But no matter which ingredients you pick- the main ingredient is lamb meat, like on a gyro. So delicious!

Saturday we went to Mannheim with Austin to look at cars. That was a fun adventure in itself. We drove out there and looked at our first car. It was a scary sight in a creepy dungey lot lol. It only cost 350 euro so of course it was cheap but a little too much so. We decided to pass on it and look some more while we snagged a bite to eat. First, I googled "food near me" and found a diner we could eat at. The GPS didn't take us to the right place. Then the mall nearby didn't have any food places open. So we bailed on the food hunt and went to a nearby McDonalds, because they always have food.
After MickyDs, we looked at another car. It was a 900 euro Fiat and it wasn't a bad option. Too bad it was Saturday and we didn't bring temporary plates nor could we find an ATM that would take our debit card. But it turned out to be a kind of blessing in disguise.

Once we gave up on the car hunt we left to come back to Baumholder. Then got lost because I turned off my GPS b/c my phone was going to die. We ended up all the way in Frankfurt before we realized we were lost. :D At least it was a fun trip.

Saturday night we stayed in. Sunday Rob went to look at another car, a '95 BMW 318 here in Baumholder. Which we ended up buying this week. So nice to have a car and be to able to get around!!  Then we went over to a friends house for the Superbowl and a little party. Too bad I couldn't stay up late to watch it, not like I missed anything.

Monday was Rob's birthday. (His birthday present is still in the mail so I can't say what it is!) I made him pancakes for breakfast and then baked some slutty brownies! So yummy! Cookies on the bottom of the pan, covered in crushed Oreos, and then covered in brownie batter! Delicious! Had to freeze the rest of the pan to make sure we didn't try and eat them all! It was a busy day for him at work, running around trying to get the car straightened out! A bit for me as well. I had a doctors appointment to get checked into the system and then Kaela had her first vet visit afterwards. Lots of running around.

Yesterday was actually calmer for a change. Homework homework homework! And some car cleaning. It really needed to be vacuumed and wiped out. It was a bit gross. The previous owner was a bit of a pack-rat and had left a lot of garbage too. But it looks way better now!

Last but not least! Today was full of great things! First we woke up to learning that our household goods are going to be delivered tomorrow!! YAY!! WHAT UP!! I'm so excited to have our things and get our apartment into working order! I'm excited to be putting everything away and actually feel like I'm at home again. Then, the second round of good news, I met up with two dog trainers at the dog park on post to get a few pointers about Kaela and training her. It went great! I just needed to learn how to work with her better. Malinois are so smart. After working with her she listened to me at the dog park and the whole way home. Another win!

Now, more homework and getting ready for the moving people tomorrow. SO EXCITED!