2014: A Retrospective

2014. Oh, 2014.  You were so much better than 2013!  

Today is the first day of 2015, which is actually a really sad day because my mom left us to go back to the US this morning.  (It was really sad.  Like, I'm holding a baby and doing the thing where you start running next to the train as it pulls away to try and keep up with the person looking out the train window.  And everyone is crying...except for the baby who is miraculously asleep?)

But I think 2015 will be a really good year, even if it started off with a sad goodbye scene.

But we're not here to talk about 2015!  We're here to bid a fond farewell to 2014, one for the record
books, in my usual style...

January

I started my job in Copenhagen as a GIS Consultant for COWI/Maersk Oil.  It was really intimidating, but also really rewarding and helped me gain back some of my old self-confidence.  Plus, the lunch food!  And a Danish salary!  Woo!


February

Paul began his course for a Commercial Diving license which involved a lot of studying, a night where we had to measure every single random point-to-point body measurement for his dry suit (like, tip of large toe to ankle bone back to pinkie toe - that kind of thing), and some week-long diving trips.

One of which was during February and to the west coast of Denmark.


I just worked and commuted, but enjoyed it all thoroughly.

March

We had our 6th Engageversary and went to see the UNESCO rune stones in Jelling and to the coastal city of Aarhus on the Danish peninsula to get our annual beach walk.


Paul went on another week-long diving trip to Germany and the day after he got back, I sent him on a biking treasure hunt that ended up at the nicest restaurant in Odense where I told him I was (like, 89% sure that I was) pregnant.

April

Was a bit busy.  I spent the night in Copenhagen one weekend to go to the ballet with a new friend and went on a business trip to Aberdeen, Scotland for three days.   When I was home, I spent a lot of time organizing and arranging for all the travel details for my parents' and sister's upcoming Europe trip.  Seven countries in three weeks...that makes for a lot of ticket-buying and reservation-making. It also began to dawn on me that perhaps I wasn't going to be plagued by morning sickness (and it ended up being true!).

Paul finished his diving course at the end of the month with a big exam in Esbjerg.  (Also, he didn't want me to tell anyone, but I'm going to anyway.  He ended up getting the highest score anyone had ever gotten in the program's history.  So...if you ever have a question about how to calculate air tank pressure or whathaveyou, you know who to call.)

May

Was a great month!  We traversed Scotland for the first 13 days of the month, going from Edinburgh to the central highlands to Loch Lomond the west coast to the Inner Hebrides to Loch Ness and back around again.  My highlight was probably summitting The Storr on the Isle of Skye, just Paul and I alone in the mist with a herd of sheep.  Paul's highlight was...everything.

Paul also briefly traveled back to Rostock for a couple meetings and helped teach a field biology course off in the woods for a week.

At the end of May we traveled to the south of our island and had our first ultrasound appointment.  That was the first time everything began to feel really real.

AND I turned 30.

June

We were traveling with my family for pretty much the entire month and went on an epic and constantly on-the-go adventure around Odense/Aero/Copenhagen, Paris, Pisa/Florence, Rome/Vatican City, and the German/Austrian alps.

If you ever want to go stay for a bit near Garmisch, let me know and I can pass along the contact info for the all time coolest house you can rent right up against the Zugspitze.

June was also the month we first told anyone that I was pregnant - so pretty fun.

July

Mostly this was a lot of work make-up and recovering from our travels in May and June.  The summer in Denmark was unusually warm this year, so we didn't mind hanging around.

At the end of July we had our second, and presumably last, ultrasound and found out we were having en lille dreng (a little boy)!   We were really shocked, actually.  Guess that comes when both parents pretty much grew up with sisters.

August

At the beginning of the month, I planned a huge surprise for Paul.  I planned a long weekend trip to see some of the most beautiful fjords in Norway - places he'd always dreamed about seeing.  I did it because he'd mentioned a couple times how he probably wouldn't be able to go see them now that we were having a baby and so I was determined to get us up there pre-third trimester.    The moment of the surprising was awesome as was the weekend.

Otherwise we mostly worked and hung out at night together.  I continued to be pretty consistent about going to the pool to swim for an hour - something I was really bad at but sure enjoyed a lot.

September

On the first day of my third trimester, Paul and I did a 5K Color Run in celebration.

We also took a weekend trip with the University's International Club to the island of Bornholm, off Sweden.

I had my big glucose test to see if I had gestational diabetes (didn't.  hurrah.).

AND for our anniversary we took a week to travel around Andalucia, visiting the big sites (La Alhambra, La Mezquita, the hill towns, etc.) I've dreamed about seeing since I first learned about the Moors in my 9th grade Spanish class. 

October

At the first of the month, we attended our one-and-only birth preparation class (the English one was a one-time deal, only given twice a year) and I proceeded to pass out in the middle of the presentation and got wheel-chaired to the clinic for observation.  Embarrassing...but a good story!

I also was given a very lovely baby shower by some friends in the middle of the month.

And, since Paul and I couldn't really travel like we used to at this point, we made a pact to go out to a really nice dinner or activity every Friday night until the baby was born.  This was an excellent idea.

I started finishing up my work for COWI since my maternity leave started at the beginning of November.

November

We continued our Friday-night pact, visiting some very, very amazing restaurants (super expensive, no regrets) and one time going to the Odense symphony to watch Pirates of the Caribbean while they played and sung all the background music.  

Paul continued work, I began maternity leave and went to a GIS conference at the University of Copenhagen, and we celebrated a very nice Thanksgiving with friends and neighbors.

I spent a lot of time cooking food and freezing it.  Turns out my nesting instinct is all about hoarding lasagnas.

December

We welcomed our son, Hadrian, to the world.


My mother traveled all the way from the US to spend three weeks and Christmas helping us and loving him.

And last night we all stood at our window and watched the incredible fireworks that happen on a northern European New Year's Eve.  All together.  Three generations in Denmark.  It was a big way to end a big year.

***

Onward.

2013 /// 2012  /// 2011

We Named a Human

Oh hey.

And Merry Christmas and all that.

So, I actually gave birth to a human person boy individual 18 days ago.  If you were wondering. 

Also, we decided to name him Hadrian.

People have asked us, "Why?" So I thought, since I was in the mood, I would write a list of reasons here since there were quite a few (seemed like it to me, at least).

Reasons We Named Our Child Hadrian

• One of the naming category possibilities we both were interested in was Classical history or mythology.  Hence, a name of a Roman emperor made it to the list.
• Hadrian was actually one of the five "Good Emperors" of Rome, so that was a plus.  Personally, I am a big fan of Marcus Aurelius, one of the other Good Emperors (or maybe even the best emperor), but Marcus seemed too popular a name.
• Relatedly, Hadrian isn't a popular name (aka, in the top 600).  This was appealing.
• The historical Hadrian was known for being a traveler - wanting to visit all of the provinces of Rome.  The newly born infant Hadrian is similarly a traveler, having been to 10 countries in utero.
• The historical Hadrian was also known for being interested in learning about and respecting all the different cultures within the Roman empire; even adopting their traditions.  And, well, I don't know, I guess that meant a lot to us since we've had these years over here in Germany and Denmark.   There are a couple big lessons we've learned on this adventure, and one has been how big and diverse the world is, how little we know about it, how you can never assume that just because you've always done something some way does not mean it's the best way, and how we have so much to learn from other cultures.
• Of those ten countries we've been to while he was in utero, a few of the destinations had particular signigance to the historical Hadrian.  First, Scotland and northern England with his famous wall.  Second, to Rome (obviously) and seeing Hadrian's tomb (Castel Sant'Angelo) and the Pantheon which he reconstructed.  And third, our trip to Andalucia where Hadrian was born.
• Hadrian's famous summer villa was named Tivoli.  And Tivoli is the name of the great, famous park in Copenhagen and practically a symbol of Denmark itself.  Ask any Dane.  Serious.
• Hadrian means "Dark."  Sure, that's not the nicest meaning on the surface, but I think it's appropriate in a way since our Hadrian was born during the darkest part of the Scandinavian winter.  And here, the dark time of the year is also the coziest (hygge) time, so it doesn't have a super negative connotation - actually it has a rather warm, loving kind of feel to it.  Go figure.
• It's an H name.  I'm partial.
• It's a three-syllable name (that isn't a long name).  This was a near-requirement for me since Paul was going to claim the last name.  Paul's last name is really short - needed some balance.
• It's not a weird name - as in, like, a name with a completely random spelling or some mash-up like "Tridger" or "Ahliver" or whathaveyou.  
• Aaaaaaaaaaaand that's all I can think of.  

But you know what?  Even with all those reasons, it was still hard to announce it.  A name is a big deal - they mean a lot.  It was (is) way more stressful than I thought it would be to choose one.  I still find myself feeling uncomfortable about naming this kid without his input, still have moments when I consciously call him "baby"  or "little one" instead of Hadrian because it still feels weird.

But we had our reasons!  And I hope this can be considered a "good name" for a good kid.  I promise, little Hade, we really put a lot of time and thought into this!

Round

Eight weeks pregnant...

 Aaaaaaand seven months later, same dress, additional tired face...

Short-torsoed women of the world, I am with you!  

(But I am only with the ones of you who also get stretch marks.  If you don't get stretch marks, then we can't be friends.)

I Think We're Gonna Be Okay

 Today I went to a baby shower.  It was for me.

I'm generally the kind of person who tries to avoid situations where people do stuff for me (probably to the point of being obnoxious about it).  I try to keep my birthday on the quiet, for example.  I don't know why...  I always really enjoy the parties I go to for other people and really cherish the times when others have given me, say, surprise birthdays (my "Double-Dos" Birthday--yes, I still remember, Dani-- is one of the most purely joyful memories of my life).  So, I was trying to figure it all out and I think it's because I worry that sometimes people may just be doing something for me because they feel obligated to, not because they really want to?

I guess I'd rather be a want to kind of friend in the minds of others rather than a have to. 

I don't mean to blabber on with excessive navel gazing here.  I just want to say that, well, I try not to expect much, socially I mean, because I'm afraid that if I expect a lot then I will just end up discovering that I don't have many (any?) want to friends and that discovery would just destroy me.  I'd rather not try to figure it out sometimes, just in case.  Safer that way.

So, back to this baby shower.  For me.

I...almost cried.  A lot?  I'm pretty sure I did a really good job of hiding it.  But from the minute I walked in the door, I just felt overwhelmed with everything everyone had done.  So many small details and big details.  Taking the time to order decorations that were internationally shipped in so they were in English (and because Baby Showers aren't really a thing in Europe).  A homemade pin for me to wear and a designated spot on the comfiest chair.  Quizzes printed on themed paper.  Italian cake (!).  Oreo(!!) cupcakes (!).  Lemonade (!).  Games that were weeks in the planning.  Even presents!

I just sat there, looking around at those who came and who spent the time and money to make this beautiful thing ... for me, and feeling so darn grateful for them.  And undeserving of so much. 

I live far, far away from my family.  From my sisters.  From, well, the people who, in "my culture" would traditionally be the ones to throw me something like, well, a baby shower.  Paul and I, in a way, we've come to see ourselves as being a little bit on our own over here.  But today...today when I was told that they had tried to make a real American-style baby shower for me...today I learned that we're not alone and that there really are people here who care about us.  Who actually take time out of their own busy, crazy, amazing lives to do things like make themed party gift bags in our honor.  Who will bike all the way across town to go to a party that I'll be at-- ... maybe even because I'll be there.  Who freely and happily offer to let us borrow things like entire cribs or car seats or piles of baby clothes or just good, plain advice.

I guess I learned that, just maybe, we might have want to friends afterall.

And right now, right now especially, that means more than anything in the world to me.

Why I Like My Job

Over ten years ago (it's super gross to say that, but such is life), I remember my Freshman Writing course did a section on memoir and reviewed an article by Louise Plummer on keeping a journal using only five minutes a day (and I still stalk her on her personal blog here).

It's probably one of the most memorable things I've ever read. (You can actually buy her collection of hilarious personal essays, Thoughts of a Grasshopper, here.)

Aaaanyway, one of the suggestions is to just make random lists:  what is in your wallet or under your bed, what you ate that day, what you're wearing, what you're afraid of, what makes you mad, what you are doing tomorrow, your top five favorite flowers, etc.

So, here is my five-minute journal for the day:  Why I Like My Job.

• I get to walk around with an ID badge clipped to my shirt.
• The cafeteria food.  No, for serious.  It's amazing.
• I can speak English whenever I want to and everyone understands me.  But I can try and speak Danish when I want to and everyone only laughs a little bit.
• I get to finally use words like "georeferencing," "feature class," "ArcCatalog 10.2," and "point cloud dataset" in a job...to people's actual faces...rather than in papers for school.
• I like my nerdy coworkers.  My project manager is an older British version of Cousin Dave.
• I now have separate work and personal e-mail accounts.
• People care about what I can do and what I know and how I can grow and contribute.  And ask me about it.  And actually listen when I answer.  And treat me like a serious person who has "skills" and "potential."  Because I am!  It's...it's just been a while since I've been seen and treated that way by people other than, like, Paul.
• I get to have legit international conference calls in legit conference rooms drinking legit cups of hot chocolate (while everyone else has lattes or whatever they have).
• For the rest of my life I can annoyingly say that I was once "in consulting."  Hah. What a Manolo Blahniky phrase to use.   
•  I get to work with two really amazing super cool companies that do two completely different interesting things.
• 37-hour work week
• The 7:22 commuter train to Copenhagen where it's so quiet and nice and fast and uncrowded and I can watch the sun rise over the water through giant picture windows while sitting in my super comfortable chair with all the legroom in the world.
• It took me out to a fancy restaurant where I ate the hands. down. best. steak of my life that also cost $50 (just for the steak.  I mean.  $50 for one single steak.  Insanity.)  Also, thank you Uruguayan ranchers!  You did your job really fantastically well there.
• I am getting paid what I consider to be "a lot" of money.  Which is awesome because that Master's Degree wasn't free, folks!  Technically I'm not in debt for it, but that was $20,000 that didn't go into savings.
• There's a company swing dance club.
• Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand, I have a Danish keyboard.  Now I can do this: æåøøåææææååååø

Engageversary 2014

Numbah six.  On Saturday

As Paul joked, "It's been six years since I didn't ask you to marry me!"

(Because he didn't.  It created a humorous and awkward moment.  Man on knee with ring, expecting an answer to the sentence "I would be honored to be your husband."  My non-answer was, literally, the action thumbs up, man!)

As traditional, we went to the beach.  This time as part of a surprise trip into Jutland to see the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Jelling and then on to the city of Aarhus on the Baltic Sea.

Black Dot Days are pretty great.  Even better when it is one's Engageversary.

Fancy Rune Stones in Jelling.  

A Short Mid-Blog Reintroduction

Today I'm pretty sure that my little intro to Odense, Denmark thingamijgig posted on Janssen's Everyday Reading blog.  So, if that's the case, welcome to you potential visitors who were probably like, "Denmark?  What the heck is in Denmark?"

Bikes.  Bikes are in Denmark.

Also, licorice-flavored chocolate bars.

And blonde people.

And us!  We're in Denmark.  See!

Well, I don't know why this photo would be self-evidently Danish, but you're just going to have to trust me.  I promise.

So, I'm Heidi and my husband is Paul.  We moved to Germany in 2011 and then Denmark in 2013.  We both work at the local university and generally spend our off-hours being super interesting people, what with all our book reading and walk taking and food...cooking.

I'm also super fashionable.  Ever since I was a child...

Workin' it!

So, you know. There's that.

We do this other boring thing though, sometimes.  We travel around Europe.  Whenever we get the chance.  And we try to report about our trips here for our families and passing observers.

In a week and a half, for example, we'll be going to Lisbon ("Down that old South American way...").  To...do something mysterious because I have absolutely no preconceptions about what Portugal is like.

Also, in September, we'll be going to Paris for about a week where one of our goals is to stand in line for forever to get an official "Best Baguette 2013."  

And one of my personal goals is to figure out a way to use the word "fragonard" in a way that sounds legit to some other American tourists--even though it actually doesn't mean anything in French (it's just the name of a Rococo artist that I once studied).  But, I lived twelve years of my life somehow convinced that it meant "duck" so something's gotta go down with it when we're there.

Something like, "Oh, be sure to order the fragonard paté!  It's not on the menu, but they'll make it special."

or, on the subway, "Perhaps we can go to the Luxemborg Gardens to feed the fragonards?"

At any rate, we're here.  We're learning Danish.  We're working up the courage to try curried herring.  And we are the Hunns.

Aaaaaaaand we're back.

The thesis is done.  The week-vacation-from-everything-in-the-world-after-turning-in-thesis has passed.  And life goes on here in Denmark.

And so I thought that this first "Hello World" post since the dark times could highlight something that I remembered while going grocery shopping today: the expat experience of buying basil.

You know how in the U.S., if you want to buy basil it's like, "Here's this tiny packet of sad shriveled leaves for five dollars or a giant, giant two pound bag that maybe people use to feed horses because there is so much of it for fifty cents." And you're like, "Conundrum!"  You know that?  Am I even remembering that right?  I seem to be pulling this vague memory of basil-buying out of the mists of time (aka two years ago).

Well, here, there is only one kind of way to purchase basil: as a potted plant.   Yessir.  Right there in the produce section, a bunch of potted plants of basil.  In Germany, basil was the only potted-option but here there's potted basil and parsley and chives and (if you're lucky) cilantro aaaaaand some other things that I still don't even know what they are because...Danish...and I'm not Julia Child.

So, other than the annoying part of trying to get a potted plant home in tact when you're carrying home all your groceries in a backpack and four hand-held cloth bags (super fun), it's actually quite a smart solution.  Use as you go, you know?

Also, three more weeks to Lisbon!

I don't even know what in the world we'll even do in Lisbon, but I do know it will be hot and people, after living in coastal Oregon then coastal Germany then coastal Scandinavia (latitude = Homer, Alaska)....I'll just let you fill in the rest of this sentence with whatever the heck you want.

5th Engageversary

Friday was our 5th Engageversary.

On March 8, 2008, we were alone on a hidden beach in Oregon.  Paul's knees were wet, I was still a little
     carsick from driving through forested backroads, but we were pretty cheery all the same.

On March 8, 2009 and 2010 and 2011 we went back to that same beach.  The first year, in a fit of romantic
     insanity straight out of some 18th century novel, I thought it would be a memorable idea to both drink a
     bit from a waterfall near the cliff where we first got engaged.
            "Come on Paul!  It's, like, a testament to our love!" I said, as the water trickled down off the edge of        
                   a giant cow pasture.  
     We didn't get giardia, so win!

On March 8, 2012, we went to Warnemunde beach in Germany.

And on March 8, 2013, we went to Kerteminde beach in Denmark.  This year won, hands down, for face-
     smacking coldness, but we still went.  We still walked.  We still took pictures.  And we still have our
     tradition!  Because when you make up a word like "Engageversary" just because you want an excuse to
     say the phrase "testament to our love" and drink cow pasture water... you have to follow through on that.

So now March 8 always means beaches.  And if we ever live somewhere that is more than a ten hour drive away from a beach, we will find a sandbox, fill part of it with water, and walk back and forth across it.  We're not crazy, we're just sort of stubborn.  And romantic.

Public Service Announcement

Heeeeeeeey.

Sooooooooooooo

We're moving to Denmark?  I mean, like, we are currently in the actual process of actually moving to actual Denmark?

Aaaaaaand, I'm taking this Lidar class?  And it's super interesting while simultaneously being super time consuming, as most interesting things tend to be.

Soooooo there's just not going to be much going on here for a bit  (maybe for a month or so?).  Thought you might want to know.

In other news, we took one final Germany trip a few days ago so I could go see this...

It's even more beautiful in person.  Also?  He's wearing a green suit?!  I had no idea.

Because, as you may recall, this particular painting holds a place of some importance in my life.

Seeing that painting at the Hamburg Kunsthalle along with serendipitously discovering that we could see The Hobbit in english (?!) just down the street made the day trip a good way to round out our German sightseeing.  I got 19th century romantic art galleries. Paul got hairy, short people with slight British accents.  Everyone was happy.

The next time you hear from us, we will most likely be freaking out in a new language.  

Bis bald!

2012: A Retrospective

Bastai Bridge, south of Dresden.  October 2012

Happy Silvester/New Year from Rostock!  We hope you all ate a jelly-filled donut and watched this (don't worry, it goes into English right after the introduction)--as per German tradition.  We had the opportunity to watch all the fireworks across Rostock from eighteen floors up which was a perfect end to a really spectacular year.

Without further ado, I present the year in review with links to old blog posts and facebook photo albums.

***

January

I finally returned to my beloved London and dragged Paul around on a half marathon walk each day from Kensington to Canary Wharf, Shepherd's Bush to Waterloo.  

We also bought our giant map of Germany and put our first four black dots on the places we'd been already.  

February

We had a housewarming party where our map was plastered with post-it note suggestions from new friends of where to visit in Germany.  The rest of the time we spent saving up a little money for a big trip to...

March

... ITALY!

Rome: Day one,  Days two and three 

Siena: Day four 

Florence: Days five and six

Ravenna: Day seven

Venice: Days eight and nine

April

April was another savings month and we mostly puttered around town, working on experiments and a master's degree.

May

Paul's parents, brother, sister, and brother-in-law came to visit us and Germany.  We saw Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Berlin, Leipzig, the Black Forest, Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber, Neuschwanstein and the Alps, and Munich.  (Whoa)  The pictures are not yet edited, but that's an early goal for 2013.  Stay tuned.

June

Athens.  Holy moly.  I loved this trip like a Greek guard loves giant pom pom shoes.

And we took a trip to scope out Denmark.

And I went to my sister's wedding in Utah (see below).

Four countries in four weeks.  Boom.

Wedding Proof

July

Paul went to Canada and ate poutine.  I stayed at home and ate macaroni and cheese.

August

We went swimming in the Baltic and saw naked people.  We also saw the third of the three palaces of Mecklenburg.  More black dots for the map!

September

Four years and a ride on an old train.

October

Paul's birthday, his schmancy trip to Washington D.C., and our last-minute road trip to his old stomping grounds in Saxony.

November

Well, we may have had a cancelled trip to Paris but that just means that we're moving to Denmark for three years.  And, as an additional upside, we took our Paris train tickets and traded them in for a quick trip to see Bremen.

December

We ate our fill of "hot sheep cheese" and corn on the cob at the Weinachtsmarkt during our last German Christmas.  

At the end of the year, we counted the dots on our Germany map.  On January 1 we had four.  

On December 31st?   44

***

Here's to our 2012 and the upcoming 2013 where the Hunn invasion will continue in Nordic lands.

Da' Goose!

 

Goose.  What a weird meat!  

Last night we finished off our dinner clean-up carving what looked like roast beef off a bird's skeleton.  It tastes like a turkey-flavored pork chop covered in crisp turkey skin.    Huh.

But, I'm inordinately happy to have two large jars of rendered goose fat in the fridge and there's a pot on the stove of simmering goose broth on the make.

Happy Boxing Day!

Happy Birthday, Paul!

Yeah, we may use apple-scented tea candles instead of birthday candles.  Yeah, our lighter may have stopped working so we never lit the candle.  Yeah, we may not own a cupcake pan so we made blueberry bread instead of the traditional muffins.

But, that's how we roll here at the Aquahaus, and it's a party here today.

We Will Survive

Thanks to a package we got yesterday, we can now tell you with confidence that we will survive (and flourish) another six months here.

This can of pureed pumpkin, however, barely survived the trip.

Graffiti on the Way Home

Facial Hair is Different Hair

Paul walked out of the bathroom this morning looking like General Burnside...

He says that it was just to get a reaction out of me.

I say that he's just showing weird hair solidarity.

Either way, I've dared him to go to work like this.

Short Hair is Different Hair

So....I tried to do pin-curls again last night not really thinking about how, the last time I did them, my hair was about twice as long.

Well...so...turns out that having short hair can be really different...

In other news, I now know that I have the ability to pull off a pretty good lion for any Halloween in the future.

Dunnn, Dunnn, Duuuuuuuunn!

The family members cometh...

Just a quick 37,000 hour trip and they'll be here tomorrow.

Hence, there shall be limited blogging till later in May,

When we're back from Bavaria--the land of lederhosen.

This Is A Real Letter

Today, Paul.  


As in, just five minutes ago (though, technically, it could have been thirty minutes or an hour ago, it's all very unclear), I reached a level of culinary mastery that very few people ever aspire to, let alone achieve.

I have just succeeded in burning three boiled eggs to little, blackened, exploded, crispy, carbonized balls of ash.

I know, I know--what a marvelous thing.

Subsequently, I have lost all desire towards using the oven or stove or, in fact, entering the kitchen for any reason at all in the forseeable future.  This is, of course, because my mortal eyes cannot withstand the glory of my prowess that still glows brightly therein...also it smells like campfire and sour milk and ozone.

So perhaps, in celebration of my culinary achievement tonight, we could make a visit to our esteemed Edeka Grocer for no fewer than five Oreo Milka Chocolate Bars and then parade onwards to our Doberaner Kebab Shop where we will toast my bright, bright, ruined-saucepan future with some lamb-meat pitas and a shared bottle of schorle.

Triumphantly,

Heidi

And I Didn't Leave the Apartment for Five Days

This is what happens when I get bored after five days of being sick in bed.

I read three 600-page books and then googled "1930's Pin-Curls."

Taa Daa.  I'm shocked they actually worked.  Slept with a green polka-dotted scarf wrapped around my pinned-hair-head even.  The works.

This is also what happens when I'm procrastinating doing my final paper for my coursework.

P.S. Our apartment is like a used-tissue wonderland.  Everywhere you look!  Used tissues!  Who knew there was even that much excess mucus in the world?  Magical.