Seiffen

If you've ever purchased woodworking made in Germany, it most likely came from some town in the Erz Mountain region of Germany (probably even from Seiffen!). Seiffen is a small, woodworking town that is home to miners turned woodworkers when the mining declined in the area. (To be honest, there are haven't been miners in the town for several hundred years.) Woodworking is the major source of the town's income. That fact is very obvious as on practically EVERY corner, there is a shop filled with more turned wood (a process unique to this area) than you can even dream of buying!

I'll be honest, I spent A LOT OF MONEY in this town both this time and last time. I purchased a really neat wooden angel display that turns when you light candles below. I'll post pictures of my finds at Christmas (that is, the ones I didn't give away!).

On our way into town, we went on a summer Rodelbahn (luge track). It was awesome, except when one of my students had a freak allergic reaction from the grass and his face/eyes turned red and started swelling up. We rushed him to the doctor! Thankfully, 2 shots later, he was fine and we all got to do our gift-shopping in Seiffen. :)

Mt. Rainier & Other Adventures

While I was in Germany, Evan decided to go up Mt. Rainier... not once, but twice. In fact, in total, he attempted to summit 3 times and made it up once. The other 2 times, the people he went with got altitude sickness. Not fun!

Additionally, I would get pictures from Evan saying he all of a sudden decided to go camping by himself in the snow somewhere. That guy!

Camping on June 21st, the day after I left:

Climbing Rainier on June 23rd:

View of Mt. Adams

Skiing up to Camp Muir, June 29th:

Augustusburg Fortress

Because of an error in scheduling a youth hostel earlier in the year, we had the pleasure of staying the Augustusburg fortress (it says castle in the picture collage, but it should say fortress)! After leaving Seiffen, we drove to the top of the hill to our castle home. The views from up above of the rolling hills and the city below were breath-taking. It was hard to believe that we were staying in a place so beautiful FOR SO CHEAP! If you're ever in the Erz Mountains in Germany, I highly recommend staying at this youth hostel. We had good food, beautiful views, and they even tout having a bird sanctuary and show with hawks and other types of birds. I would love to come back just to see that show!

P.S. While we were walking to eat dinner, a bunch of motorcycles starting driving up. I guess there is an annual motorcycle convention in the middle courtyard of this castle! Kind of random.

Schloss Pillnitz

On our trip to Germany, we went to and saw more castles than I can count on my fingers and toes! European architecture astounds me. You just don't see things like that in America because of how relatively "young" our country is.

There are a few things that I really LOVE about Schloss (German for castle) Pillnitz:

1. It's right on the water. In fact, you can take a boat tour from downtown Dresden to the castle outside of the city. (And the royals used to travel via water way back when.) The water combined with the green makes it stunning as well as a calming place to reflect.
2. It has FABULOUS POTTERY! Not that I needed to buy any more pottery, but I love the pottery that they have here. I can't help but buy something every time I go.
3. The gardens. One of the oldest Camellia trees in the world lies in these expansive gardens, planted in 1776. You know, when our country signed the Declaration of Independence. So cool.
4. The Japanese style chateau architecture. It seems to fit right into the surroundings.
5. Did I mention the pottery?

This is my second time taking students to the castle (meaning the second time I've been there myself). It's a place I plan on coming to again and again!

FIFA World Cup Game

As we were planning our trip to Dresden, we noticed that there was a Women's FIFA World Cup game while we were there! I bought front row tickets (only 8 rows up from the field!) to the game, USA vs. Korea. It was a fun game that the USA won. It was so cool to watch their first game and then see them play in the final game, even if they didn't win the world cup (at least they won 2nd!). I'd never been to a soccer game in that big of a stadium before and it was awesome. So many Americans were there dressed up ready to support our country! Also, as pictured above, the Germans represented themselves too. All in all, it was a great game and my students and I had a wonderful time!

Poland & Görlitz

(As written on August 28th, 2011...)

While we were in Dresden, we couldn't help but make a trip to visit Boleslaweic Poland (Polish pottery, baby!) and Görlitz (the eastern-most city in Germany). We stopped both places last time in 2009, but it was still so fun to go back. And it was even more fun to add to my Polish pottery collection! (Evan wants me to add that I have a bunch of Polish pottery and no hutch to put it in... YET. I'm looking all over Craig's List. Working on it.) If you've seen Polish pottery that's blue and white with the circles on it, (some pictured above), that is made in here in Boleslaweic (pronounced Bowl-es-la-veetz).

I'll tell you what, though, going to a non-German speaking foreign country sure makes my students (me too!) realize how much German we all understand. We ate at the same pizza place as last time. It was too delicious to not go back!

We stopped at Görlitz on the way out of Poland. It is a beautiful city that lies directly on the border of Poland. It's so fun to visit and be able to walk across a bridge to Poland. Even more fun, though, is the famed "whisper arch" (Flüsterbogen) where one person whispers on one side of the wide arch and feet away the other person hears it amplified louder than the person even whispered it. SO COOL! I love going to Görlitz if only to go to the whisper arch!

Dresden Sights

Our second stop on our Germany exchange trip EXTRAVAGANZA was to bus our way down to Dresden. Dresden is a beautiful city that, sadly, was bombed heavily during World War II. One specific thing that was bombed was the beautiful Frauenkirche (Church). It has since been rebuilt. Where possible, they used the former stones from the church. Any black stones in the church are the former stones. This city is full of history and culture! Maybe you've seen the little angels at the bottom of this painting before? I think so! That is in Dresden's beautiful Zwinger museum.

Near the Zwinger museum is the Grünes Gewölbe or the royal treasury. The gifts the royals received (and had made for themselves) is astounding! This is just a small sample of what we saw there all hand carved out of ivory. (Is it bad that the ivory things were my favorite? I just loved them because of how small and intricate they were. The craftsmanship (pun... get it) on this is amazing!)

Another thing I love about Dresden (and big cities in general) are the types of people you see and meet. I specifically loved seeing the actors come out all dressed up (see man painted black above) who stand still on the street. When people give them money, they start to sing, bow, or do something else to make the audience impressed and/or laugh. Love it.

All in all, we had a great time, most specifically because I ate a fabulous crepe and also the BEST sausage I've ever eaten in my life! More on that to come in an upcoming food post.

Schloss Moritzburg

On our way down to Dresden from Berlin, we stopped two places that we stopped on our last exchange. The first was the Lausitz raceway. It is so cool to go there and to see how fast those cars can go! The second place we stopped to each lunch. It is the beautiful Moritzburg Castle. Words cannot describe the beauty of this castle built on an island in the middle of a lake! Below is a picture that STARTS to do it justice, but still isn't the same (or as large) as it appears in person.B-E-A-UTIFUL! If you ever are in this part of Germany, you should definitely take a carriage ride through town, check out the pottery shop at the castle, and even take a tour. It will knock your socks off!

Berlin 2011

Some fun pictures from Berlin... We're all having a great time!

Portland Road Trip

I got out of school on June 17th and left for Germany June 20th. Because my former roommate, Beth, was down in Portland visiting Darcy (another former roommate), Evan and I decided mere hours after I got out of school to leave to Portland to visit for a few days! We had a blast going to the famed Portland food carts, the Pittock Mansion, and just having fun together! It was awesome seeing Beth and Darcy. Thanks, Darcy, for letting us sleep in your bed and for hosting us at your house. You are awesome.

Portland Farmer's Market

Made it to Portland and had fun at the infamous food carts last night where we all got amazing crepes at midnight. This morning, we headed to a cool farmer's market downtown and ate delicious biscuits and gravy. It was wonderful. Now to the Pittock Mansion for an aerial view...

Spur of the Moment Road Trip

Evan and I are driving to Portland right now in spite of the fact that I leave to Germany Monday morning. I know, I'm crazy to go on a road trip the Friday before I leave!

Purpose of the trip: See two of my former roommates and buy Evan ANOTHER mountaineering rope for climbing Rainier this week. Hopefully I still get all my shopping and preparing done! Updates to come...

Friend Reunion

Nikki and I have been friends for ages and ages. Sadly, because we are both such busy people and we have both moved SO MUCH over the past 12 years, we hardly see each other! That's why meeting up with her shortly before my Germany trip and her big move was so awesome. We met up to eat sushi at Big C at Southcenter Mall. We stayed until closing and then went to the mall to chat on couches even until AFTER it was closed. Love this girl and our chats! She is always so uplifting and inspiring!

Memorial Day (Belated)

Well, it's been a crazy last few weeks! First of all, our internet is on the fritz so I mostly just use my phone for quick posts (if you can't tell). Second of all, school ends tomorrow (WOOT, WOOT!) and I leave for Germany in 4 days. I cannot express to you the stress I am feeling right now with school ending and not everything being done that needs to get done... yada, yada, yada.


But, you don't want to hear about that! You want to hear about our amazing Memorial Day adventures, right? Even if you don't, I'm going to tell you because I'm sick of talking about the height of my stress and excitement about our Germany trip.


For Memorial Day, Evan and I decided to venture over to the other side of the mountains to rock climb at the Tieton River. It was awesome. The mountain views combined with lakes, rivers, greenery, and, at one point, SNOW were wonderful. The normal pass we take to go through the mountains is still closed because of snowfall, so we went a little longer route. Can you see how tall the snow banks were in the pictures below? Yeah, it was crazy! Here are some pictures. (We climbed on the columns pictured.)

I'm flexible!

Once we were done climbing, I got the opportunity to reconnect with a good friend from college! It was so great to see Bradley and his family, especially to meet his kids for the first time. I had so much fun reading with Anna and holding Oliver. It was also nice for them to meet Evan for the first time too. I look forward to more getting together this summer and next fall while the passes to the other side of the mountain are still open. Thanks Bradley and Brittany for a wonderful dinner! :)

Megan's 3rd Birthday

Sweet, little Megan celebrated her 3rd birthday with the Stout family today! For some reason, everyone in the family (besides Evan and I) thinks it is a good idea to have kids repeatedly bash in a pinata for a birthday party. We have always joked that the kids would then take it too far. The funny thing is that Jordan (pictured below) DID take it too far! He actually bashed in their TV hoping candy would come out. We all had to laugh at that one and his dad wasn't too sad to get a newer, better TV out of the deal. Good trade for him.

 The guys wanted to show the kids how eating the cake was done!

Megan and her mommy

Fly Swatter

Saw this bad boy at Winco tonight. I'm wondering what kind and size of fly this must be for. Yikes!

Our First Date

Dear New Asics,
Even though we met a month ago, I finally decided to accept your offer of a running date. I've never been out with Asics before and I was pleasantly surprised by the enjoyable company. We ran over 2.5 miles together and walked another 1 or more to cool down. We should definitely go out more often! Sorry it took me so long to try something new. I'm glad I did. How about dinner on Monday?

Sincerely,
Your New Running Partner

Healthy Living & Weight Loss

A family friend writes weekly about her weight loss journey on her blog. I love seeing her motivation and spiritual inspiration that she uses to make wise choices about weight loss! It has been really inspiring for me to read what she writes and learn from what she has to say.

Today, something she wrote truly caused me to reflect about the purpose behind healthy living and "weight loss." I wrote a lengthy comment on her blog about it and decided to share said comment with you:

Your thoughts on weight loss reminds me of something I my students brought up
the other day. I never grew up with a scale at my house. To this day, I STILL do
not have a scale at my house. When I do weigh myself (usually every few weeks at
the Stout's house), I often find myself feeling depressed and that I haven't
accomplished my own healthy living goals. That's why I don't buy a scale! If I'm
trying to be healthy and I'm happy with the way I look, then the number on the
scale doesn't and shouldn't matter!

Sometimes I think we get so focused on a NUMBER in creating a healthy lifestyle for ourselves that it becomes debilitating and defeats the purpose of what we're trying to do.

I know it can be hard in the throes of weight loss to stay focused on that number to feel a sense of accomplishment, but weight loss or living a healthy lifestyle
doesn't always mean that the number on the scale goes down. Sometimes it simply
means that you're building muscle, becoming healthier, and having more energy in
your everyday life. I know PLENTY of people who are not healthy, but weigh very
little. Numbers don't equal health. If I got frustrated every time I weighed myself and my weight didn't go down, I would be frustrated all of the time! All the exercise and healthy eating I do doesn't decrease my weight and, in fact, has only increased my weight.

I guess my point (and the point that came up in the discussion with my students) is: Don't live your life by the scale! What if you look and feel good at a higher weight than you anticipated? Will you be then be unsatisfied with the healthy lifestyle that you're living just because of a number on a scale? Keep on being proud of the accomplishments and life changes you have made in your life and stick with the healthy lifestyle that you've created for yourself! :)

What are your thoughts, readers? Why do you exercise? What gauge do you use on your journey to improving your looks and your physical health?

Made it out again...

Pulled another 23 today, but am honestly proud of myself for getting out again in spite of the rain! Here's to being active and healthy. Now for the down run...

A 23 Day

I was lucky to even go hiking today! I almost opted for a nap instead. One glance at my back side reminded me of my need for exercise. After a strenuous day at school, I'll definitely settle for 23 minutes. Now for the hike down to evade these misquitoes, the only downside to warm weather!

School Lunch

I ate school lunch for the first time as a teacher today! It is a momentous day in my life. I started teaching in September of 2005 and have brought a lunch (or starved) everyday since then!

What changed? you ask. Well, this weekend I was with 4 of my sister's kiddos for 3 days. This meant that I wasn't home and, consequently, didn't have time to grocery shop. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are usually my "go-to" lunch, but they get old after a while! I was running late and I didn't feel like packing anything. I just decided today was the day.

Honestly, I felt nervous as a little Kindergartner on her first day of school! I had no idea what to expect and what to do. On top of it, I felt as if everyone was staring at me. (I guess they were because I had students telling me they saw me waiting in line and asked what during class what I was doing buyin lunch.) I had to have the lunch lady take 5 minutes to show me around and how to order. If I were a student, I would have been so embarrassed! Thankfully, I'm a teacher, so it's cool to not know how to order lunch. I can blame it on the lack of training.

All in all, I got the job done and found out that there ARE choices for eating healthy while eating at school. (I got low fat chicken tacos on whole wheat tortillats.) There are, however, a LOT of unhealthy and disgusting choices for students too. With all of the fried/sugary/greasy foods, I kept thinking, no wonder so many kids are overweight! YIKES!

Watching the Kiddos

My sister and her husband are gone this weekend, so Evan and I are watching the kiddos. Here a few of our pseudo-parenting adventures from the last few days:

Friday:  We braved a school family night complete with hot dogs and losing a child (momentarily). Thank goodness I found this little one!

Saturday: Ward Temple Day- I took the kids up to the temple for their temple day. Emma wanted me to stay with her the ENTIRE time. Look at her with all of the boys and as the only girl in the group. Awesome.

For some reason, I thought it was a good idea to take the kids to get some food at the mall after the temple day. I am highly reconsidering EVER taking kids to the mall again. Although the kids may think I'm the BEST aunt because I allowed them to each choose a different place to eat. The two girls scoured the whole place and even got samples before choosing their food. Smart.

After the temple/mall excursion, we met up with Evan to enjoy a beautiful summer's day up at Mud Mountain Dam. Admittedly, we wanted to take the kids up there to go a little hike. Sadly, the hike was closed, but everyone still had fun anyway!

Love this shot Evan took...

And the view of the sunset from my sister's house... AMAZING! This is why we had our wedding reception here!