Awaiting, Welcoming the New Year - 2019

This year's celebration will include two little "Monsters" my nephew and niece. According to the circumstances we've decided to attend one of the family fireworks at the island of Usedom. Arriving one hour prior to the start of the fireworks we had enough time to explore from which spot we could watch the fireworks best. 

We soon found some room between all the other spectators and the kids were excited. Before we all knew it we counted down from 10 to 0 and here we go the spectacle started. Everyone and in particular the kids were in awe and pretty amazed about the sheer size and duration and colours of the fireworks. And indeed, even for us adults it was pretty spectacular. 

Afterwards we made our way to the Christmas Markets nearby in order for the kids to go for a ride on one of the carousels. Meanwhile others, like Grand Mum, Grand Dad, Thomas and the two of us had something to eat, some German Bratwurst, Crepes and "Glühwein". 

For entertainment a band was playing and Joy was eager to watch them perform standing at the front row....and clapping and dancing away. Just to watch her was so enjoyable and cute. Once the band finished their gig, we also left the Christmas Market and went home to continue our New Year's celebrations in order to welcome another new year.

Of all things on this particular day our traditional "Tüppelziehen" could not be left out to be mentioned and everyone took part in it. We drew a lot of the possible four items, luck, money, bread and a bit of worries. All together it will be another great new year - 2019. Soon midnight arrived and we all kissed & hugged each other followed by yet another firework and watching others.

After we arrived safely in the new year, we enjoyed a cup of coffee and some homemade doughnuts.

Thanks Mum & Dad....they tasted awesome.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

To all my family, friends, followers and visitors….near and far,

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a peaceful time surrounded by your loved ones. May also the new year bring you joy, laughter and happiness.

Let the new year be another great one or an even greater one.

Love to you all.

Yours Kathrin

Project Swimming Pool

Who would have thought that we will be able to start another project this year. However after our well deserved holiday in Spain our batteries are re-charged and we are ready to start with the project swimming pool.

This year we are blessed with a very hot, dry and long summer considering we only have began with the project at the end of September. It helps being well organised and prepared in order to run the project as smooth as possible and again Tobi has outdone himself. He is on the front and I'm in the background and together we wooped it.

Not that we will start the bathing season in 2018 but we are all prepared to have a great next spring & summer time having a swimming pool and cool down whenever we feel like it. For too long I had to do without the pleasure of going for a dip whenever I feel like it.

That is what I call a little bit of heaven….and a little bit of luxury in life. And again it motivates me to work hard in order to full fill a couple of dreams.

Spring 2019 the land scaping will commence as well as paving the swimming pool area but for now we will cover the swimming pool and just rest.

Vacation - Island of Mallorca

This years vacation leads us to the Island of Mallorca, Spain. All these years I've listened to how great a holiday on this so called "17th state of Germany" would be. So I wanted to find out myself what it is all about. Also, Mallorca is called the party island in particular the city of Palma de Mallorca, Ballermann (beach), however we looked for a different spot and booked accommodation on the east side at Cala Millor.

Traveling for almost 12 hours we finally arrived at our destination just before midnight in Cala Milor where we enjoyed a quick midnight snack after checking into our hotel. Who would have thought a trip from Germany to Spain takes halve a day, well....it can only get better. After a good night sleep we decided to take it slow, after all....we are on holidays. So we decided to hit the beach as well as checking out the pool area at the hotel. The swimming pool and area was pretty great, clean and quite compared to the beach which was unspectacular and packed with people, I guess I'm still spoilt by the vast, white beaches in Australia...nothing compares to these.

Nevertheless, we had a wonderful first day relaxing, swimming, enjoying food and checking out the shopping mall as well as the beach promenade. We better take it slow the first couple of days before my parents & brother with kids will join us here at the Sabina Hotel for my BIG 40th Birthday bash.

Project - New Rooftop & Chimney

Our rooftop project started back in April right after the Easter break by putting the scaffolding up. It took us a little longer as anticipated due to some delays and challenges along the way. Nevertheless, we finished just in time before heading on vacation.

Thanks to all that gave us a hand and assisted in completing this major project. Even though it took 5 months from start to finish the result is stunning. I must say we were spoilt with great weather conditions, sunshine, hot temperatures and no rain in sight. To be honest, at times it was a little too hot to work on the roof, so we took that time to take a break and enjoyed the weather instead of working.

Just like last year when you have people who help you out on such a project I was catering food in great variety, from breakfast to having regular BBQs or serving Asparagus which is a special vegetable from April to June or cooking exotic dishes, dinner etc. I nearly reached my limits by preparing and providing food 4 times a day, that includes coffee & cake time.

Tobi also build a brand new chimney which now suits the roof much better than the old one. The new one is smaller and hits my taste in colour and design. Well done!!!

House Warming & Birthday (Party)

Why not celebrating two great occasions on the same day, preferably on the weekend. One is the birthday of Tobi and the other one the completion of the house we've purchased and renovated last year. Sure there are still things that we need to finish but in time we will get there.

A very warm thank you to all who attended, helped and assisted in organising the event, preparing dishes and cakes. We could not have done it without you guys, you are awesome.  And what a surprise by one very special guest who brought along a home made "birthday cake".

As everyone knows it is the time of the Soccer World Cup yet again, so we had to put the TV outside in order to follow one particular game, France vs Australia. We also followed the other games of the day but not as intense as the Australian game.

At night time we finished the celebration with a bonfire as we still have the fireplace on the property which came with the house and as long as we have it we will use it. The following morning we had a big breakfast with family & friends and around lunch time we finally had a breather, everyone  was gone and we enjoyed some quite time.

On Vacation

Finally, I'm on vacation for one week and I'm not leaving the country. I will stay in Germany and take it easy. So, I got picked up directly from work not wasting any time and heading up north to Ferdinandshof aka "woop woop". Leaving behind the city of Berlin in order get some quite time, fresh and clean air at the countryside is exactly what I need to recharge my batteries.

Having checked the weather forecast it looks like we are in luck of having a sunny and hot week ahead of us, perfect to actually hitting the beach and getting into the water of the Baltic Sea, our sort of "the ocean". Going to the Baltic Sea we just had to drive one hour to get to the island of Usedom which has a German and a Polish part. This time we stayed at the German side of the island. However, I've heard a lot of great feedback for the Polish part of the island which we'll keep in mind for our next trip.

What a fantastic day trip, doing a bit of everything, from sun bathing, swimming, enjoying some food to just walking up and down the promenade.

Fit in front of the Castle - "Fit vorm Schloß"

For the summer season the city of Oranienburg invites everyone each Sunday morning to get fit in form of a light work out in front of the castle of Oranienburg. As I have participated in previous seasons and sometimes motivated even visitors like my brother and kids so I do too this year and get Tobi to accompany me this session. Have I mentioned it's free of charge so it attracts more and more people every year and weekend.

Getting to the castle on our bikes is a pretty great warm up followed by a light to medium workout. Every weekend an instructor voluntarily is present and leads the session. Each year more and more people are joining the trend and the opportunity to get healthy and fit. Believe it or not the other week we were just one person shy of reaching 100 people.

Orangefest in Oranienburg - orange is the colour

Each year Oranienburg celebrates the Orangefest remembering where the city got its name from. It was because of Countess Luise Henriette of Orange-Nassau. Oranienburg also has got a castle because of this Countess likes this place so much.

So, to this day we are enjoying ourselves in early spring when everything comes back to life. In the court yard of the castle will be a market with little stalls selling hand made and home made products just like in the old days.

Adjacent to the castle is a huge garden which attracts many locals and tourists because of its beauty and relaxing atmosphere. Every year a lot of effort is put into planting hundreds and thousands of flowers according to the season.

Countless events are also held in the garden of the castle each year ranging from symphonies, concerts, flower expos and other highlights for adults as well as kids. There is just so much to chose from all year round, something for every one.

Anyway, today we are just walking around enjoying the awesome spring weather with lots of sunshine, hanging around, lying in the gras, gazing around and looking at the beautiful flowers everywhere and have some delicious food on the go. I guess summer is just around the corner, can't wait….bring it on!

2nd Project - Floorboards...to be continued

As we have finished one project we can start another. The stairwell downstairs is done as you could see and read in one of my other posts published earlier this month. Now we are moving upstairs. The floor boards have been delivered and the measuring and calculating is done.

So, Tobi...get your hands dirty and get the job done, please. The reason my other half is putting the floor boards down is, the company we've purchased and installed the staircase from wanted to charge us 1.6K for about 3 square meters. No thank you, that money can be used for another project around the house and there are plenty of them.

So here we go, one more week working on the floorboards and it is all finished. I'm pretty impressed how great it looks. Tobi, you have done an awesome job, I couldn't be happier about the result and the savings on this job, well done!

Finally - Going to the Movies

Being back in Germany more than 2 years I still have not been to the movies over here. One reason is the language (I prefer watching US movies etc. in English than synchronised German) the other one is that not around each corner over here are movie theatres. But hey, I shouldn't complain the next one is just 30 minutes away.

I was actually quite shocked how pricy it is over here watching a movie as well as buying snacks at the candy bar, luckily we had a voucher. The great thing about going to the movies on a Monday evening 5.20 pm, its empty and it felt almost like a private session. I guess the next movie is not too far away not waiting another 2 years being back to the movies.

New Year - New Project

The new year brings new challenges, adventures and projects which we will tackle. One of the first jobs around the house is the entry to be tiled. The tiles were picked at a local warehouse which is not far from the house. It took only three days from start to finish and I guess it looks pretty good considering Tobi is not a tiler.

By the way, to decide on the colour of the grouts we had some arguments but in the end I got it my way. Believe it or not, Tobi likes the colour I chose, he was actually impressed with the end result. One more detail is missing the skirting boards, but that will be another small project which will be done hopefully in the near future.

First Trip in 2018 - Greifswald - Utkiek

To take it a bit easier on the first weekend of the new year we decided on visiting my home village Ferdinandshof where my brother and the kids spend time with my parents, the kid's grand parents. From there we just traveled a little bit further and reached the city of Greifswald, known in Germany for it's University.

The reason we went to Greifswald, I wanted to check out the hotel I was once working and of course having a nice meal for lunch and we did not get disappointed. I can't believe this is now 20 years ago but time really flies.

To finish our trip we just walked for a while along the water. Even in winter it is a quite but nice place however not to compare with the summertime and the beauty of the water, boats, nature and people.