Fastnacht Celebration

We're going on a week now. A week of stuffy heads, runny noses, coughing, aching, oh, and let's not forget the whining (mostly on my part). And to add insult to injury, I have been without a computer this whole time....until now, obviously.

What brought this on, you might ask? I'll tell you. The Fastnacht Celebration. Germany's equivalent to Mardi Gras. And man, was it worth it!!

It just happened to fall on President's Day this year so Brad had the day off. We took the trolley into downtown from our place and within a few stops the trolley was PACKED with people in costume. Picture Halloween but where the grown ups get into it waaaaaaay more than the kids. I had a "rubber ducky's" tail in my face for a good 15 minutes. Unfortunately, Brad and I didn't get the memo about costumes until it was too late but next year, IT'S ON!!

Here's the kicker - it was bitter, nasty cold. We're talkin' freezing temps and rain/snow mix throughout the day. But that seemed to stop no one. Thousands of people turned out to watch the parade and, well, drink. We enjoyed a couple mugs of gluhwein to keep warm but had more fun watching the silly intoxicated people dressed in costume stumble around the streets. Like I said, picture Mardi Gras just without the beads.

Even Gutenburg wanted to party!

We met up with some friends and watched the parade for quite a while. As things were nearing an end on the street (and I could no longer feel the lower half of my body) we made our way over to a pub that our friend knew about. It turns out that this place is open only twice a year, once for Fastnacht and once for something I don't know about. It was in the basement of some building and designed like a big cave with a lot of little lights. I can only imagine what this place was used for back in the day.

We rocked out with all of the locals and pretended like we knew the words to all of their Fastnacht songs. They didn't seem to notice and we didn't seem to care. It was a blast! I find it hard to believe even half of those people showed up for work the next day. Unfortunately, Brad did have to work the next day so we called it a "night" around 5 pm and headed home.

We had plans to meet up with our friends again Wednesday night for the final Fastnacht celebration, a sort of official end to the party. But once Wednesday rolled around, it was too late. We were already sick. Both of us. And it was miserable. Even Stella had the sniffles. So we settled into our places on the couch and were lazy for days.

So while the outcome of Fastnacht was less than desirable......I can't wait until next year!!! Now here's where YOU come in. First - does anyone have any ideas for fun costumes for me and Brad? We want something super creative and super funny. And second - who wants to join us?

Fun In the Snow

To say I was excited to see my husband after being apart for three weeks would be an understatement. I was ecstatic! I have a whole new respect for families who have sons, daughters, husbands, and wives that serve in the military. Three weeks was plenty long for me; I don't know how they go months at a time being away.

But we were finally both home and with our sweet pup. I think Stella's time in the kennel did something to change her (or she may just be growing up). All she wants to do is cuddle and be loved on. The spastic, wild puppy was no more. We knew there was a change when it was time to put her in her bed, which usually took some serious coaxing...not anymore, the minute we say "Stella, are you ready for bed?" she'll jump up and run in her room. Such a good girl.

Since I returned on a Sunday, Brad took Monday off so we could spend some more time together. We spent the morning being lazy, watching movies and by that afternoon we were ready to go play. It had been snowing all day and we didn't want to waste it. All of the neighborhood kids were still at school which left a whole lotta fresh snow for the Bingham "kids" to go play in. And we did.

The snow was fantastic and perfect for making a snowman. However, it took a little while to get started because the minute we had a snowball big enough to start rolling, Stella was there to jump on it. But once we got going, there was no stopping us. Before we knew it, we had a 6'2 snowman.

The problem was we hadn't gone to the grocery store in over three weeks which meant we didn't exactly have much to make our snowman friend a face. But we got creative. Red potatoes (which looked more like a science experiment by the time we got home) for the eyes, an apple for the the nose (which didn't work out so it ended up on the top of his head) and my favorite - Life Savers for the smile. Throw on a scarf and taaa daaaa!



He lasted several days but once rain came through he didn't last much longer. Stella found some of the Life Savers on the ground on one of our walks, which she thoroughly enjoyed. It's been two weeks and she still has to go see if there are any left on the ground when we walk by.

But now life is back to normal....well, as "normal" as it was before the holidays. Guess that means it's time to start planning our next adventure!

Spoiled? I Think Not.

What's a birthday without candles...or candle. Stella enjoyed her favorite treat on her birthday - Frosty Paws, ice cream for dogs.

Here she is making a wish. She "blew" the candle out with her paw. Too cute not to share.

Then it was time to cuddle with Dad...

Kisses for Dad

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STELLA!

**Please note that we are well aware that we treat our dog like a child. I like it that way.**

Happy Birthday Stella!

It was almost exactly one year ago that Brad and I found out we'd be moving to Germany. And to prepare for our arrival, God created a sweet little pup just for us. So today we say HAPPY BIRTHDAY STELLA!

Seems like just yesterday...

When In Rome

Let’s see – last place we left off I believe I was getting on yet another plane. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE that I’ve been given the opportunity to be able to work and travel to some pretty great places; however, by this point in my “January Journeys” I have been away from my husband for two and half weeks (including missing our first anniversary). Needless to say, I was a little anxious to get home to him as well as my pup. But I put that aside and geared up for another exciting program in Rome.

If you didn’t know, Italy is hands down my favorite place in the world. I just love everything about it. The history, the food, the wine, the people, the accents, everything. Granted our hotel was about 15 minutes outside of the city, I’ll take what I can get.

I arrived just after noon and went searching for Ginger and Hilde who had arrived the day before. The look on their faces when I walked in the office told me that this wasn’t going to go as smoothly as the Barcelona program (but who am I kidding, I don’t know that any ever will). Apparently they had been working non-stop since the minute they arrived putting out fires and just trying to get caught up. Flights were a mess, the rooms that had been booked for attendees were all wrong, we were missing supplies, you name it. But we bunkered down and worked as hard as we could and by the time dinner rolled around, things were looking a little better.

Now for the fun stuff – at the recommendation of the concierge the three of us took a taxi into the city in search of a tiny restaurant near the Pantheon. The main dining room only had about eight or nine tables total but the atmosphere was great. We each ordered an appetizer which were all fantastic but my favorite was the scrambled eggs with truffles (strange, I know). I’m talking WOW! But when my steak arrived…..let’s just say those Italians would give Bob’s Chophouse a run for their money. Mmmmm mmmm mmm!

After dinner, the three of us went on a little walk. I couldn’t stand being that close to the Pantheon and not seeing it. We came around a corner and there it was, standing right in front of us….it brought back so many good memories. Seems like just yesterday I was standing in that same spot with my family and Giancarlo, eating gelato, taking pictures, and trying to be the first one to figure out the Roman Numerals on the top of the Pantheon.

Since it was almost midnight by the time the three of us got there, we were unable to go inside. We walked around for just a bit then made our way back to the hotel. As funny as it is, it’s dinners like that that make the difficult programs all worth it.

View on the taxi ride back to the hotel

The program should have been a walk in the park as it was technically a one day meeting with a welcome reception and dinner the night before. But several weeks of pretending like I was doing a good job at handling the stress of Brad being in Iraq finally caught up to me and before I knew it, I had my first (and hopefully last) ulcer. So I wasn’t feeling well, the majority of the attendees were high maintenance and obnoxious, and we were all fed up with the whole thing. I was counting down the hours until I got to go home.

The good news was that the meeting broke early and the majority of the attendees left that same evening giving us the opportunity to have one more dinner in the city. Unfortunately, we couldn’t all the leave the hotel (just in case something happened) so Ginger and I waited and enjoyed a late dinner.

With our map in hand, we were dropped off in the Piazza Novona and made our way over to a trendy little place called Naboo. (Not Nobu, the sushi place.) We split a couple of pizzas and bottle of wine and discussed how great married life is. Sappy, I know but we’re both still newlyweds so we get to do that kind of stuff.

On our walk to the restaurant

I saw several groups off the following morning before departing to the airport myself. It was a short flight but not fast enough. I was dying to get back to Brad and Stella. I stepped through the doors of the baggage claim hoping to see my favorite bald head…but I didn’t see him, not right away at least. And what was funny was he didn’t see me either. In fact, he probably would have missed me all together if he hadn’t noticed some brunette chick carrying our luggage….oh wait, that was me. I dropped my bag and finally got that hug and kiss I’d been waiting three weeks for.

Hola From Barcelona!

As always, my trip home seemed too short but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to the next two weeks. I flew out of Oklahoma City on Monday morning and arrived back in Mainz on Tuesday morning. This gave me about 20 hours to unpack, do all of my laundry, repack and get over my jet lag for my exciting journey to Barcelona! No prob.

I was back at the Frankfurt Airport the following morning and things were looking good. The ground was covered in snow but the sun was shining, I had the entire row to myself on the plane and we were actually pulling away from the gate 5 minutes ahead of schedule. Hold that thought! What’s that you say? The air traffic controllers in France have decided to go on strike? And we’ll need to fly AROUND France? Let’s think about this for a minute….

Yep. Dumb.

Anyway, it worked out quite nicely as my dear friend and colleague, Mandy, landed shortly after I did due to the delay and we were able to meet up at the airport. Unfortunately, Mandy is notorious for her luggage never making it to its destination and wouldn’t you know it, this was no exception. There we were trying to explain to the “Lost Luggage Squad” how imperative it was that this luggage be located immediately as EVERYTHING for our upcoming program was in those two bags….including all of Mandy’s clothes. “They are both very large, bright colored bags with polka dots all over them. You can’t miss it.” Luggage Lady – “Pokemon?”

Well, there was nothing else we could do so off we went to our fabulous hotel – The Hotel Arts by the Ritz Carlton. By far one of the greatest hotels ever – swanky yet comfortable. My room was on the 27th floor with a view of the Mediterranean Sea to my right and a view of the city to my left. I was lovin’ it!

Snap back to reality – I was here to work. Our first priority – FIND MANDY’S LUGGAGE. We couldn’t really do a darn thing without the materials in that bag unless we just started over. Which is pretty much what we did. Two years ago this might have really thrown us for a loop but this wasn’t Mandy’s first rodeo with losing her luggage on a program so we took a deep breath and got going. One late night in the business center was all it took and we were ready to rock and roll for the next day. She borrowed some clothes and makeup and no one even knew of our little “situation.” (Except for the concierge, of course, as we were harassing them to follow up with the peeps at the airport about every hour or so.)

Fortunately, her bag was found that afternoon and we soon learned she was one of the lucky ones. As it turned out, due to storms throughout Europe and the strike going on in France, luggage was being sent all over the place. Thousands of people lost their bags and they never did get them back. Can you imagine?

I’ll skip all of the boring details of the program – just know that it went really well and the clients were super happy with how things turned out. We almost felt guilty because we knew the rest of the girls with DFF were going through hell in New Orleans with a 3,000 person program. And there we were with our 65 people who were, for the most part, low maintenance. And it sure didn’t hurt that we were in Barcelona at such an amazing hotel.

Here’s a fun story for you. So there I am sitting at the Hospitality Desk checking attendees in when Mandy informs me she just ran into Kelly Clarkson in the lobby. My first reaction was: “OMG!!! Kelly Clarkson is in our hotel. How cool is that?!” And after second thought my reaction was “OMG!!! Kelly Clarkson is in our hotel and I’m wearing a coral sweater set from Land’s End (our “uniform” for the day) and a stupid name badge lookin’ like an idiot. Not cool.” We learned the following day that Michael Bolton was also staying there. This is when I realized our Land’s End sweater sets needed to be retired….immediately. Sorry DFF, but they do.

Anyhoo, the meeting ended Sunday afternoon and Mandy and I hopped in a cab to head over to La Rambla to do some shopping and exploring. Such a neat area! We learned from another die hard Dallas Cowboys fan that the playoff game against the Vikings was going to be shown at a little pub at 7:00. Mandy and I were pretty much the only women in this smoke filled bar….and also the only people in there that understood American football. If something big happened, the table in front of us would just chant “USA! USA! USA!” Good try boys, but they are both from the USA; this isn’t soccer. Oh, sorry – futbol. We did make friends with some Vikings fans that showed up later and it was fun talking trash….until the Cowboys got embarrassed and it was less fun.

The following day was again rainy but that didn’t stop us from doing a sightseeing tour all day. The minute it quit raining, we were on the top of that double-decker bus taking it all in. Mandy jacked some towels from the hotel before we left so we were the only ones up there with dry bums. It was cold but so worth it. My favorite part was the Park Guell. It was a hike to the top of the hill and we trudged through some serious mud but again, so worth it. We actually ran into the couple from the night before (the Vikings fans) and learned they were on their Babymoon; one last hoorah before they have their baby in a couple of months. All in all, a successful day. But I definitely want to go back. There’s more still to see.

We finished the night off with room service and a glass of cava before crashing. Mandy left the following morning and it was just me. My original plan was to depart that afternoon back to Germany then leave the following morning for Rome. Unfortunately my flight to Rome was booked before my flight to Barcelona and we didn’t realize at the time what a stupid idea this was. No worries, we were able to change flights around and I ended up staying an extra day in Barcelona then went straight to Rome the next morning.

Barcelona – I will be back! Until then, ADIOS! Vaya con dios mis amigos!