11.23.2011

"Fakesgiving"

In honor of the real thanksgiving tomorrow (which we will be celebrating...pictures to come), here are some pictures from Germany's "Harvest day" which we celebrated at our church.

Steffi's creation...very festive!

She made this arrangement in a pumpkin. 



The girls with our newest edition (Rebekah, our British friend, on the far right end)



The kids did a special presentation for us at the end.



Big A was not slapping them....but it sure looks like it!

Semi awkward, but not bad.

Happy Thanksgiving from Germany! 

11.18.2011

"It brought me to my Knees!"

First off I would like to thank my dear friend Anita (seen in the picture below) for her continued thoughtfulness in trying to make me into a gardner.   

Anita and me in Basel Switzerland (near to where she lives)

This past May she very kindly bestowed upon me some lovely plants she started growing from seeds. I was ever so delighted to oblige and attempted to keep the two tomato plants and one pepper plant alive. I am not the best at remembering to water my plants every day....I mean people have lives, but somehow they survived for a time and even produced a couple little vegetables or fruits (that is an argument for another day).

As you see below we received one ever so cute pepper and thought we better eat this thing after months of "watering". At the time Anita said she was unsure as to what kind of pepper plant it was, but I am pretty sure I know now!


Deceptively cute, isn't it!

Stephen decided we should both take a sliver to try it.....I think he forgot I am a girl! My mouth is burning just thinking about eating that tiny pepper. I literally was sitting on the ground drinking milk out of a coffee cup...it was that bad!

Ridiculous, I know!
 Thought you would enjoy!

11.16.2011

Goodbye Sheena!

Sheena (fellow softball player and friend) who I wrote about in an earlier post headed off to college a couple weeks ago and to celebrate we had a team breakfast at a local restaurant. It was a nice Saturday morning with the girls + Sven (one of our coaches). Enjoy the pictures.

Sheena and Maria

Evelyn, her daughter Zoe, and Anita

Evelyn's other daughter May and Claudine

Anita, me, and Sven



Together at the field

11.06.2011

Swiss Indoor Championship!

Last weekend we had the pleasure of attending the Swiss Indoors Tennis Championship in Basel, Switzerland (a 25 minute drive). I am not sure you can call the qualifying tournament an actual part of the championship, but it is much easier to get tickets to and a lot less strain on the pocket book so I am counting it!

Sorry we are looking a tad....greasy, it was a saturday is my only excuse.

Some of our close friends Ralf Widmann and his wife Margitt (you may remember them from the wedding) were headed their to watch Stefane Bohli play and we could not pass up the opportunity! I know what you are thinking, "I have always wanted to see Stefane Bohli (Swiss competitor currently ranked #233 on the ATP Tour, who has in the past hit with Roger Federer) play tennis!" 

Stefane Bohli

My exact thoughts! Okay, but lets be serious, no one has ever heard of this guy including myself, until last year when I found out that he is Margitt's first cousin. All of a sudden I was very interested.....I mean we are basically related, how can I not go and watch him play, right? So that is what Stephen and I did. He was playing the qualifying tournament to get a spot in the main draw so we took a Saturday afternoon off and headed to cheer on our "almost cousin"!


It was a great match and he defeated a higher ranked American player (I know a little sad, but we couldn't root against our "almost cousin").


Stefane's Opponent

Altogether it was a nice day and now we are great friends with our "almost cousins" father...even if we didn't get to meet up the Stefane, maybe next time. 

Spring Rolls that almost made up for their ridiculous price tag.

We ate some delicious Spring Rolls and finished the tournament off by watching a not so exciting upset between another low ranking Swiss player and a decent Uzbekistan player.

"I love Spring Rolls!"

And just a little bit more proof of how famous our "almost cousin" is, we basically know Roger Federer!

Stefane and Roger Federer

11.03.2011

Trip to Rome in Pictures!

It would be too much to try to describe all my mom and I saw, did, ate and bought on our quick 3 day trip to Rome so I will give you the highlights in pictures.


The Pantheon

Campo Navona

Lots of Nuns

Trevi Fountain

This is the day we arrived so we are looking a little rough!

Similar to America's "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier"


An Italian Wedding
 
Vatican City: The Pope's first Carriage

St. Peter's Basilica

Inside St. Peter's Basilica


The Colosseum

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Skirt Issues, I know!
Well there you have a very short synopsis of our trip minus the delicious pasta, pizza, and icecream. I'll be back soon.