Back in Biz...

Oh man. Sorry for leaving ya hanging, high and dry, up shh-ee-t creek without a paddle, etc, etc, etc. I had the best of intentions last week. I was traveling to "Mormon country" for work and brought my lap top to blog away my evenings. Go figure I schlepped the damn thing cross the nation and couldn't connect to the wireless network. Freakin' technology. Can't live with it and certainly can't live without it. Anywayz, in case you were worried, the "thin" oxygen-less air didn't make me go LDS (Latter Day Saints that is) crazy. I still enjoy a beer, cocktail or glass of vino, I am only married to one man and I don't plan on having enough kids to fill a short bus. To be honest those "full mo's" as I heard em referred to (full Mormon) make me more nervous than all those conservatives from the RNC. So I'm back in the land of 10,000 lakes and so HAPPY to be home. I got lots to tell ya. Until then-TTFN.

PS As promised a new slide show with 31st birthday photos! Thanks to all the goof balls who celebrated with me-it really meant a lot.

XO,

34bcup

Surfing and Bathing Forbidden!

I'm hoping you didn't forget your passport because today our little international rendezvous continues. Munchen, (Munich for all the Americans who need to mess with tradition) Germany is a fabulous place to visit. Let me start by telling you how hard it was to get here. We arrived in Chicago just in time to see our connecting flight to Germany pull away from the terminal! As you guessed I immediately started with the lip quiver as my husband tried to negotiate our seats on another flight (and pleaded with me to turn off the tears) so of course I fell into a full out break down. All you really need to know from that point forth is that we...

A: rented an overpriced hotel room instead of the kind offer to sleep on a cot guarded by the Chi-town police.
B: we were not able to retrieve our luggage so by the time we arrived in Munich I had officially been wearing the SAME underwear for over 32 hours.
C: my husband shirt was so stretched out it could have doubled as an old woman's nightie-AND-he had practically grown a full beard.
D: all of the above are reasons I look like this after one "rattler" (1/2 lemonade and 1/2 German beer) at the famous Hofbrau Hous.
E: just for the hell of it we were drinking our jet lag away listening to this!

Sooo, anyway who cares we made it and had a great time. We took a fab drinking/biking (mostly drinking) tour with a crazy group of folks from all over the place (this tour is so cool it was my second time-the first was with my friend Krissy in the ole MSU days). So funny to see the transformation that happens when a bunch of strangers (all individually normal) people get together spend an entire afternoon on cruisers together. Just think of men acting like boys on bikes-racing, rubbing tires, popping wheelies, blood, sweat and this time no tears. Click here to see a group photo our Mike's Bike Tour Clan (I got to meet the "mike" and he's a cutie too). A seriously fun troop, minus the girl in the green tank top, who bounced her C cups around like no one's business. By now you are thinking, geeezhuz, get to the friggin' point... which is it was so cool watching these dare devils blatantly ignore the warning sign and surf in the English Channel! Check it out!

One last thing everyone should be aware of when traveling to Deutschland. Cable TV has "soft-core" on every other channel if you know what I mean. Guys won't want to leave the hotel room. If you aren't catching my drift you have bigger problems... See ya for Fashion Friday!

S-C-H-A-D-E-N-F-R-E-U-D-E

Bueller... Bueller... I know I promised ya'll a little lesson in German and I know you thought it was a typo because of my fluidity in Francais (the kind if French you don't speak in front of your Grandma). So just as I promised we tackle the proper usage of my favorite German word. Don't panic no deep, guttural inflections necessary here. Just let it roll of your tongue... schadenfreude. If you need a little help with the pronunciation crank up your volume-your cube mate won't mind.

Definition:
malicious-joy; malicious glee; gloating; Schadenfreude f; Häme fSchadenfreude

Just admit it you all know exactly what I am talking about. Laughing at some poor fool who slips on the ice and takes a header. Getting a good chuckle out of a male type receiving accidental and unwanted contact to "jim and the twins". Whatever you get the idea and you and I both know you think it's funny.

So I learned my favorite German word from my favorite Broadway show Avenue Q. If you ever are in NYC and have time to take in a show this is the one you need to, have to, absolutely must go see! It is so bad it's GOOD! Not a single race, gender or sexual preference (hoping by now you are just pickin' up what I'm droppin'-cuz not sure if that makes sense) is safe. This show is no doubt an equal opportunity offender! A little side note to all parents: you have messed up your offspring enough already-these Sesame Street look alikes are NOT rated G. We are talking about topics from a pretty hot puppet scene "in the sack" to discussions of the "Burt" look alike puppet coming out of the closet. I know! Better than an entire afternoon of soaps-fur sure. The rest of the week I will keep the old Ipod link of my blog loaded with Avenue Q songs pirated from the dubya, dubya, dubya.

Zurückkommen morgen klugscheißer-hose (return tomorrow smarty pants) die brandung ist bis deutscher stil jungeeee (cuz the surfs up German style boyeeee)(check my work here if you don't trust me).

34b Guided Tour of Powell Court

Gather round all my international blogging travelers for a tour of Powell Court.


A prologue before we get started...

As if you don't know me by now, BUT just in case beware... I am a crier. There I said it! And just the thought of Miss Kato leaving this mortal earth for the big dog bones in the sky makes my heart heavy. Probably have MOM to thank for the instant lip quivering thing-cases in point... Remember when I hatched baby duckies for my 4th Grade science project? Once they were too big and pooped too much to call a cardboard box in our kitchen home we had to set them free... Dad banded their legs and told me we could keep track of them that way and MOM cried the whole way to Wylie Park pond AND home. We tend to be a little sentimental ya know? The grass in my parent's backyard grows green and fertile... R.I.P. Gretchen (dog), Pookie I and II (hamsters), Za Zoo I, II, III (parakeets) and Corkey I-? (birdies too).

The Powell Court pet cemetery drew me in like my Grandma and a K-Mart blue light special. Tucked in the most perfect and peaceful part of the garden each and every beloved pet has a place to rest and a heartfelt monument for remembrance. Click here for Bully, the pony. Here for Kilfang the wolf hound. This is the spot for Doodles and Sun Yat Sen the chows. And here to see my hubby in the background wishing I would hurry the you-know-what up. Gheeez!

The rest of Powell Court ain't so shabby either. I found it intoxicating (fine maybe the pint of ale we had with lunch helped too) with the lush green grass and the perfect gardens. Even I could capture this somewhat artistic shot with the ole Sony Cybershot. I mean is this Green #8 and Granny Smith Apple #40 right from the Crayola box or what? I am so lucky!

Be sure you are present tomorrow for role call as we are gonna have a lesson in German 34b cup style.

Full Moon Over Ireland

Happy St. Patty's Day my Irish or Irish wannabe bloggers! In honor of this clover leaf day go ahead and indulge in a pint Guinness (or if you must just add a little green food coloring to your Miller Lite-crazy yankees). My hubby and have been fortunate enough to do a little traveling together and last year we spent a little in time in Ireland. I thought in observance of the day I would give you a little tour of our travels. You see we started in our excursion in Wickow where we had to act like totally tacky tourists and take this photo at some really important monument. Is it any wonder we Americans get a bad wrap? One the way back to our bed and breakfast via the Wickow Mountains (where Braveheart was filmed) we passed signs like this and I heard my hubby recite (siiiighhhhh, again) his favorite line "William Wallus... with fireballs from his eyes and bolts of lighting from his arse". I know you are wondering how we managed to drive all over the countryside on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side in the car!?! Let me just say when Jerrid turned into oncoming traffic I hauled off and smacked him in the head with the map (I wish I were kidding-look at his glasses)! In all seriousness the scenery is like no other AND the Irish really are a cool group of lads and lad-ettes (I just make it up as I go) with a lot of love for their history. Only in Ireland do you visit the Dublin Castle (state the obvious why don't I) and learn where the word "plastered" (you know, bomb'd, wasted, housed) came from. Our guide said the pot-o-gold was getting a little low during construction and they couldn't afford the fancy stone for some of the towers... so what do the Irish do? They add a little stout beer to the wall plaster in order to get that darker finished look-hence the term "to get plastered" (I have no clue what you would do without me)! There you have it-just enough to keep ya coming back for more.

Speaking of more-saunter back again tomorrow one of my fav stops in Ireland: Powell Court (including the pet cemetery)(Powell Court Waterfall shown here).

I leave you my friend on this St. Patrick's Day with one final Braveheart (again) thought: "The lord tells me he can get me out of this mess, but he's pretty sure your f'd!"