Labor Day Weekend 2016

We just enjoyed a beautiful 3-day weekend and I hope you all did too.Our weekend started off with a play date at Chick-Fil-A from my new MOPS group (Mothers of Preschoolers) here in TN. I met some lovely ladies and I'm excited for what this year has in store for us at MOPS. I also met with Cheryl, another mom from our group, that same night for some coffee and treats. We had a lovely chat and time flew by. I'm looking forward to making new friends and as soon as I started putting myself out there this week, people welcomed me with open arms here. It feels good and I desperately needed it too. 

As the weather finally turned a bit cooler over night and in the mornings this week, the kids enjoyed their outdoor picnic. Daddy mowing the lawn was their evening entertainment. 

On Saturday, we got up early (no, not really as our kids are usually up between 5:30/6am) and left the house right after breakfast as we wanted to explore the area. Our first stop was Lock 4 Park, where the kids (and Daddy) had fun on the playground.  

Next, we continued on to Laguardo State Park, which sits right on Old Hickory Lake and has a sandy beach. Since the boat ramp is right next to the beach, we decided to go and swim at our next stop instead.

We headed up to Bryant Grove at Long Hunter State Park and it was beautiful. Only a handful of people were there and the beach and lake were very clean and the water temperature just right. 

Of course, a good, satisfying lunch was needed after an active morning. Milkshakes and Burgers:

Since this weekend was college football kickoff, we had to have some game day staples: Derrick cooked up some delicious chicken wings on the BBQ and while drinking a cool beverage, we cheered on our teams (Go Gators!). I also planted some fall flowers in hopes that the temperatures will drop a bit and it starts feeling a bit more like fall is nearing. Until then, we keep enjoying the pool:

Today, we all went to the park again...the kids biking and Derrick and I running. It is nice that we all enjoy exercising together and teaching the kids early on that a healthy lifestyle is very important. The rest of the day we took it fairly easy: swimming, napping and some reading. We were supposed to got to a friend's house for a BBQ but her son unexpectedly got sick and so we postponed it till next weekend. 

And I have to add this little video from today of my baby boy playing by himself in the pool. Such a cutie pie and I love his half English, half German sentences!

HAPPY LABOR DAY!!!

Blog-tember Challenge: Day 5- Most Memorable Birthday

Today's prompt from Bailey's  #blogtemberchallenge is to write about our most memorable birthday. I'm not sure if it is just me or others too that I can't decide which one is the most memorable. At least 5 birthdays pop up right away and put a smile on my face just thinking about them. I spent my 18th birthday celebrating with a bunch of friends at my house; my 28th and 29th birthday I spent with my husband together in Washington DC and Chicago, respectively; my mom celebrated my 34th birthday with me and my family here in the U.S. and for my 33th birthday I went horseback riding.

But I think the most memorable birthday was my 30th BIRTHDAY because I was able to celebrate it in Berlin with my friends and family. After spending my past 11 birthdays in the USA, it felt so good to finally celebrate a birthday with my loved ones in Germany again. I missed that. And to make it even better, we combined my daughter's baptism with my 30th birthday party. A lot of friends and family members were able to come and we enjoyed a fun afternoon filled with food, drinks and laughter.

The day of my actual birthday, I spent with my best friend visiting an indoor tropical garden and eating the most delicious birthday cake.

This truly was a birthday to remember as the chances of me being able to go home to Germany for my birthday again are very slim. For me, birthdays are not about gifts or having the greatest party but about who do I spent them with. 

Blog-tember Challenge: Day 4- Currently

It's Sunday and a 3-day weekend...what a perfect way to start off September. And on we continue with Day 4 of the #blogtemberchallenge. Today's challenge is to name a few things we are currently up to:

READING... Carry on Warrior (Thoughts on Life Unarmored) Glenn Doyle Melton

PLAYING...  Candy Land with my two children

WATCHING... The Americans on Amazon Prime with my hubby at night. Still on Season 1 but catching up quickly.

TRYING... to get ready for Fall by planting flowers and decorating.

COOKING... Hubby just grilled the most delicious chicken wings on the BBQ, so no cooking for me today :)

EATING...Brookside Crunchy Clusters, my favorite and no, I'm not sharing these with the family. 

DRINKING...Lots of cool water to stay hydrated in this heat.

PINNING... Instant Pot recipes as I only used the pot once since buying it this summer.

LOVING...that I had the chance to meet new people and are in teh process of making new friends.

HATING... This heat/ humidity. I'm so ready for Fall to start

THINKING... That my to-do list just keeps getting longer and longer and that it is time to do something about it. But first, we play Candy Land.

FEELING... happy to be home for 3-days with my favorite people.

LISTENING (TO)...Taylor Swift (1989) on repeat as my daughter loves her songs.

SMELLING...freshly baked chocolate chips cookies coming out of the oven. Yum!

ORDERING...more books. I couldn't let a 40% coupon for books go unused.

THANKING...God for everything! 

CONSIDERING...future career options for myself. I love staying home with my kids but I feel it is time to look for other job opportunities. Not easy at all.

STARTING... to tag some items for a consignment sale coming up next week.

FINISHING... 3 books at the same time. 

And what are you up to currently???

Blog-tember Challenge: Day 2 - Current Goals

For today, we are asked to share our current goals. Honestly, this challenge got me thinking of what my current goals really are. We just moved here and we are still adjusting to life in Nashville. So there are some obvious short-term goals and some that I want to just accomplish for my personal well-being. And since I love making lists, here we go with some current goals of mine:

1. Finish decorating the house: Since the last few weeks here have been a bit hectic with a new school routine and figuring out our way around town (i.e: finding doctors, dentists, shopping etc.) I have not put much time nor effort in to decorating the house. This may also has something to do with the fact that I still don't know if I really want to stay here (this crazy summer heat doesn't help either). But this month, I will make it a point to finish putting pictures on the wall and then decorate some for Fall too...making the house a home. Pictures will come soon.
2. Meet some new people: The thing about constantly moving is that you have to leave behind friends and I truly miss hanging out with them on a regular basis. It feels a bit lonely here... In Mooresville, we had such a  great and fun group of women and we constantly were doing something together. But I made an effort this week to connect to some women from my local MOPS group on Facebook and can't wait to meet them in person. No one knows I'm here if I don't come out of my house and start looking for people to connect too. MOPS is a great organization to meet other moms and I'm excited that our bi-weekly meetings will start up this month. 
3. Finish our summer vacation blog posts: I still have 3 posts left from our summer vacation in Germany and I will finish them in the next couple of weeks. It took longer than expected but I love to look back on it one day and to have all of the pictures and happening in my blog.
4. Read 3+ books: As you know by now, I love to read and so do my kids. We have already gotten our library card and the other day, I scored some good books at our local Goodwill store. Currently, I'm reading 3 books and I hope to finish those plus start another one or two. Reading relaxes me and makes me happy. Also, my goal for this year is to read at least 20 books, which I should easily surpass if I keep it up. 
5. Workout 2-3 times a week: This has been one of my goals this year and since we have been back from our trip, we all go regularly to the YMCA or the park for a workout. I feel much better when I take just 35 minutes to run, swim or do some weight exercises and it is my goal to continue this trend. 
6. Explore the area on the weekend: Take the family and go look around and see what this area has to offer. Explore new parks, caves, hiking trails, downtown Nashville, visit a high school football game, etc. We won't know if we like it here if we don't explore the area. With the temperatures finally cooling off a bit, we are looking forward to be outdoors more often and to see new things.
7. Find a new church: We have not been to a local church here yet and it is time, to try and find one that suits all our needs. I'm looking forward to hearing God's word on Sundays and to find a great church community where not only I feel comfortable but also the kids. 
8. Work on my parenting skills: This is something I constantly have to improve on and with the kids growing up, it is an ever evolving thing. Amelia is at the age where she likes to test us and my temper can be very short sometimes, especially when I'm low on sleep. So my new motto this month is: Attack with love, not words - don't raise my voice, be reasonable with my demands and keep in mind that they are just small children. 
9. Look for new career opportunities: This one is a big and important one for me as I think I'm ready to put my little guy in to preschool and start working on my future career. There are a couple of things I would like to pursue but I have to do some research to see if it makes sense for our family. Also, I have been a stay-at-home for the past 5 years and returning to the workforce may bring some challenges with it. 

Wow, after thinking about it, I got quite a list of current goals. I guess it will be a busy month for me. I will let you know next month, how I did on these goals and may make it a habit of putting up a monthly list. 

Blog-tember Challenge: Day 1 - Introductions

It is officially September and Fall sure is around the corner. I can't wait for the cooler temperatures to arrive and the leaves to turn yellow, red and brown. Also, starting today you can buy anything pumpkin you desire and bake pumpkin bread without anyone looking strange at you. Hooray! 

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to join in on the #blogtemberchallenge and try to write a few prompted posts this month. I probably won't get a daily post together as I'm still catching up on our summer adventures but I sure to try to post at least 3-4 times a week. Let's see how that goes. The idea of the #blogtemberchallenge and the daily prompts for the next 30 days are derived from Bailey's blog (www.braveloveblog.com). If you are interested in joining in on the fun, you can find the link here: Blog-tember Prompts 

Day one starts with introductions. Most of you know me by now and thus, I figured that I keep it short and sweet. When I was 19 years old, I left my hometown of Berlin, Germany to come to sunny Florida for a year as an Au-Pair/ nanny. I got along very well with my host family and I loved it here, even though I never in my dreams imagined that I would live in America, and decided to stay longer. After earning my AA and BBA degrees while working different jobs in between, I got my first professional job at a bank in West Palm Beach, Florida, in 2007 and I met my future husband Derrick a year later at a local charity event. We fell in love and got married in July 2010 in Germany. In August 2011, our daughter Amelia was born and a few weeks later we moved to Miami and I decided to become a stay-at-home mom. In December 2013,our son Elliot was born, which made our family of 4 complete.

Because we were worn out from the stress of living in Miami and my husband's crazy work hours, we explored to move to Costa Rica in Fall 2014 (that's how this blog got started) but after taking a 3-week vacation there, we found it not suitable for us at that time. So we looked around a bit more and decided to move to Mooresville, NC in Spring of 2015. While we loved it there, my husband got a great job offer in Nashville, TN in March 2016 and so we all moved here in the beginning of summer. At this point, we are still debating if we like it here enough to stay for a longer period of time or if we may just pack up again and go where God will lead us. This life of ours is never dull and we learned that nothing ever is perfect!

And here a few fun facts (I totally copied the idea from Bailey) you may not know about me: 

1. Coffee or tea? Tea, I never had a cup of coffee in my life.
2. Black and white or color? Color.
3. Dresses or skirts? Dresses!
4. Books or movies?  Books. Give me all the books.
5. Pepsi or Coke? None. Seldom, I drink a Sprite or Fanta
6. Chinese or Italian? Italian all the way.
7. Early bird or night owl?  The early bird catches the worm.
8. Chocolate or vanilla?  Vanilla ice cream and anything else chocolate.
9. Introvert or extrovert?  Extrovert but since having children, I feel like I become a bit of an introvert.
10. Hugs or kisses? Both.
11. Winter or summer? Winter because we lived too long in Florida
12. Spring or fall?  Fall. My favorite season of the year.
13. Rural or urban? Somewhere in-between. 
14. Cake or pie?  Cake
15. Ice cream or yogurt?  Frozen yogurt.
16. Comedy or mystery? Both
17. Boots or sandals?  Sandals 
18. Jazz or classical? Classical music to wind down.
19. Dancing or singing?  I can’t sing or dance well but I still enjoy doing both.
20. Board games or video games? Board games. Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Risk, etc
21. Wine or beer?  Wine. Sweet and sparkling please.
22. Body weight exercises or Cardio?  Cardio…I’m a runner girl.
23. Football or basketball?  Football: Go Gators but also watch basketball. 
24. Crossword puzzles or sudoku? Both 
25. Smile or game face?  Smile.
26. Fruit or vegetables?  Both, and mostly raw
27. Sausage or bacon?  Bacon. 
28. Scrambled or fried? Scrambled.
29. Dark chocolate or white chocolate? Milk chocolate.
30. Dress up or dress down? Dress up.
31. Cats or dogs? We are cat lovers over here.
32. Numbers or letters?  Letters. Even though I was a credit analyst and I guess good with numbers.
33. Fair or theme park? DISNEY WORLD!
34. Money or fame? Uh.... money?
35. Washing dishes or doing laundry? Laundry. I hate dealing with dirty dishes.
36. Snakes or sharks? Neither. Nope nope nope nope.
37. Sunrise or sunset? Sunsets in Key West get me every time. 
38. Slacker or over-achiever? Typ  A personality and over-achiever…sorry, folks.
39. Pen or pencil?  Pen and Fountain pen
40. Peanut butter or jelly?  Neither, Nutella
41. Multiple choice questions or essay questions? Essays!
42. Adventurous or cautious?  More adventurous if you can tell by our constant moves.
43. Saver or spender? Trying to save by buying bargains
44. Call or text? Text. Duh.
45. Curly hair or straight hair? So, so straight and I’m still dreaming of wavy hair.
46. Spicy or mild? No spicy here. 
47. Paying a mortgage or paying rent? Daydreaming of owning a home someday, so mortgage?
48. Sky dive or bungee jump? If hubby would let me, sky dive.
49. Jello or pudding? Warm homemade vanilla pudding.
50. Truth or dare? Truth.

So, this is a bit about myself and what makes me go. Hope you are enjoying this and I'm looking forward to Day 2 of this #blogtemberchallenge.