Clear Skies

Its a beautiful day in Berlin with clear blue skies and a cool breeze.  I am 14 weeks pregnant today, and despite the stress planning for a new addition can bring - I am feeling excited optimistic.  Things are just good when the sun is shining, right?

Summer is here!

That picture above illustrates reason no. 357 why I love Berlin - my terrace.  I have never had an outdoor space anywhere I have lived and I can't possibly describe how happy it makes me.

A week ago it was like 10 degrees Celcius (50 F) and it was grey as can be - then like one day later we woke up and the sun was shining, it was 27 degrees (80 F) and it was like summer suddenly and dramatically arrived.   My garden sure is happy about it too  (though birds keep trying to destroy those flowers above). 

I love to sit out on my terrace in the warm sun with a good book... pausing every now and again to tend to flowers or plants...or maybe sneak a strawberry or cherry tomato or two (they are like little snack trees!).

 I am excited to see my tomatoes and peppers grow through the season.  I am loving learning how to take care of these plants, even with their little problems. I have already had to play with the fertilzer because the peppers weren't getting enough nitrogen (I think...they seem to be perking up now);  and the aphids (grrr) seem to like my tomatoes so I sprayed them with a mix of olive oil, hot pepper and water which supposedly will get rid of them and deter them.

I think right now I am going to quit blogging and got study for German class outside :)

How Does Your Garden Grow?

The happiness that little tiny sprout brings me is hard to explain. I have never, until this spring, attempted to grow anything in my entire life. I have never even had a houseplant. But that little bit of green right there is (hopefully) going to bring me lots of happy little jalapeños this summer.

I have always wanted to have a garden, but have always had something keeping me from it. I move a lot and have rarely had a place to start one (let alone stayed there long enough to make it worthwhile), and I have never had any clue where to even begin - I sooo wish I would have paid more attention to what my mom was doing all those years!!

To be honest, I still have no clue what I am doing whatsoever. I went and bought some containers (I have a large terrace on the 8th floor - but no actual garden), some dirt (200 liters and counting), and some seeds and plants and just kinda went at it. I have a random selection of flowers (all purple and yellow cause you know, its the playoffs and we're Lakers fans)(and kinda dorky apparently), some strawberries, some rosemary and some lavender.


From seeds I started some peppers and some tomatoes (if I can find some Cilantro I will add that to the mix as well - then I'll have everything I need for salsa). So far, everything is doing......ok. The strawberries are very very happy, the Dahlias and Gladiolas are starting to sprout so I guess they are happy too. The rosemary is alive - so far so good on that (I hear its hard to kill so - yay for rosemary!). I already killed some lemon-thyme and the lavender looks pretty sad....but its alive. And my little seedlings are plugging along.

And I am completely and utterly devoted to gardening. Its heaven.

Côte d'Azur

For almost a year now, I have been preoccupied with Provence. I have been obsessed with the food and flavors of the region - fresh goat cheese & olives, roasted lamb, scallops, sardines, fresh herbs, Rosé, and of course truffles. I feel like this past year I have been discovering what so many foodies already have - that Provence might just be heaven on earth.


Even though we live (relatively) close to there - it seemed like some exotic, far away place that I would probably never visit until I was old and rich (ha!). Yet somehow, as we tried to find a place to go for a last minute save-our-sanity getaway over the Easter holiday (a trip that would probably be Cory's only break from work for the year), we found ourselves booking plane tickets to Nice.

I'm not gonna lie. It was everything I ever dreamed of. It was a beautiful blue water, delicious local wines, Tapinade from Nicois olives on fresh croutons (um yes please for every meal thank you), and the warmest, friendliest people like, ever.

I completely fell in love. The trip was just what we needed to sooth our haggard souls after a long, stern winter in Berlin (which doesn't exactly bring out the best in people). Fresh air, a slower pace, good food and stellar service everywhere we went. Its amazing what seeing smiling faces can do for you. Its no wonder the French Riviera has been the escape of artists, poets, and royalty for centuries. Lucky for us, its just as enjoyable for regular folk too :)

(if you are one of the like three people who cares, you can see more photos on Flickr)

Where have I been?!

The past few months seem like they have gone by in about 1 nanosecond. I left for a long trip to the United States on December 15 (my first trip home in the year and half I have lived in Germany) and got sick pretty much the day I was supposed to come home. After long flights and a long recovery from a nasty virus and lots and lots of snow in Berlin, I am finally coming up for air.



Before I got sick though, that trip in beautiful and sunny Southern California was awesome. I got to take advantage of the exchange rate and do some shopping, eat all the fish tacos I could, drive around in my parents convertible, and even spend some time on the beach. The weather was positively dreamy and I soaked up all of the sun's warm rays that I could, hoping that they would carry me through the winter (January still almost killed me with the lack of sun and ridiculously cold temperatures in Berlin).



I also got to play with my camera quite a bit - including making my cute 15 year old (almost 16! woohoo!) sister and her BFF model for me while I got a bit of much needed practice with my speedlite. We had so much fun taking the photos and enjoying the sun (they even took me out to an awesome Hawaiian cafe after where I got to indulge in some kalua pig and mac salad....mmmm hawaiian food....).



It was a lovely trip that made me miss Berlin terribly while also wanting to move back to SoCal. That is the problem of moving around so much - you never quite feel planted and always find yourself missing someplace else, no matter where you are.

Seeing the Sky Again

I have never lived in a big city like Berlin before, and I was starting to feel swallowed up by the concrete. Now I have some space to be outside up above it all and every evening I just have to stop and watch.

The sky at sunset is an amazing thing.

I heart Berlin

I am so in love with the city lately. Maybe its all the sunshine mixed with thunderstorms, I don't know. But lately, I have been enjoying beautiful Berlin more than I have in months. In the past few weeks I have gone to Wannsee and taken a boat ride, explored an abandoned hospital, taken my dog on a picnic to the park, visited KaDaWe and discovered there is a place to get Diet Dr. Pepper in this city, attended a wedding of a good friend, eaten copious amounts of Asparagus and Strawberries, and had a birthday party where I heard a really frickin awesome cool new band (who also happened to just be the coolest people ever). Tomorrow I have a friend from the states coming to visit (yay!) and I can't wait to get out and explore even more!

It's almost here....

Christmas in the Middle East

I spent the past week in Oman visiting the inlaws for the holidays. It was beautiful! It was like 27 degrees (80s), not a cloud in the sky with all the delicious arabic food I could eat (mmm Schwarma...). Oman is a very clean and safe country, as well as fairly liberal as far as Muslim countries go. The people are also incredibly friendly. You can not meet anyone...even in the middle of nowhere, without out them inviting you to their home for coffee.

If you are wanting to visit or live in the middle east but were a little leery or wanted to skip the extravagance of Dubai - go to Oman! It really is an amazing place. Here are pictures from the trip - if your are interested you can see the rest on Flickr.

Spreadin a Little Sunshine

Because today was a rainy day.