Harvest Apple Cranberry Oatmeal Loaf!

Happy Fall!

With fall comes all kind of my favorite things to bake. My Mom had sent me this magazine with some fun recipes in it, and today, I attempted one!

A little oatmeal, flax seed, dried cranberries, apple and voila! Here you have some lovely Harvest Apple Cranberry Oatmeal Loaf. Yum!! Let me know if you want the actual recipe. I would be happy to give it to you!

Happy fall baking, everyone!

Don't worry...this will be going to the office. I did have a small slice though, strictly for quality control!

Sunrise

This was a picture of the last sunrise jog I took before my trip. Now I jog in the evening after work. Still nice, but not as cool as watching the sun rise on my jog back home. Maybe when we "fall back" I will be able to jog again in the morning again, and enjoy beautiful sunrises like this one again!

Kleiningersheim = Hollywood?

When I got back from the trip I asked my colleagues if I missed anything exciting while I was away for a week. Oh yeah, you know, nothing really. Other than they are filming a tv show/movie in the castle and in Kleiningersheim. Oh ok, that's not much....

The thing about living here and working in the castle is that it really is quite the attraction. It is really beautiful, and has a lot to offer as far as a film set goes. At least I think!

The other day I was walking through town to go to the bank and low and behold, the street has been blocked off (I went around the blockade anyway! haha!) and they were getting ready to film. Random people dressed as priests were hanging out around the church (I am certain they were not actual priests!) and everyone seemed to be enjoying the Kraft services.

At first I used to think the bells of the town clock were kind of annoying, ringing all through the night, randomly at 11am and 4pm, non-stop, and then again at 12pm and 5pm, again non-stop. Sometimes it just doesn't make sense to me. However, when they film, they actually have the authority to turn off the bells. Craziness! What I once found annoying, I have come to rely on as a way to tell time without having to look at the clock. The bells ring once for quarter past, twice for half past, three times for quarter till and then on the hour it dings four times and then however many times for the hour that it is. Ok, that was a very complicated way of explaining the bells, but you get the point!

This whole filming thing is kinda messing with the rhythm of the town by turning the bells off. But it is kind of cool at the same time!!

I enjoyed playing paparazzi!

Happy October!

Fall has officially hit in Europe. I used to be able to wake up at 6am, get my run in and go to work. It seemed as though fall hit as soon as I came back from vacation with my sister. The mornings are dark until at least 7:30am (and I mean really pitch black...) and the air is crisp and cool. I love this weather!

On Saturday last weekend, one of the towns here had Apple Fest. It was a little disappointing in that there were only about three or four stands actually selling apples, but there were many artisans selling their wares and all kinds of jewelry and art.

Fall is here!

Sisters in Europe

A couple weeks ago, my sister stepped on European soil for the first time. She has some vacation time at work that she needed to use or loose, so what better way to use it than by flying to Europe?!?

We decided that since there are so many great destinations all over Europe that are so close once you actually get here, that we should try to see if we could swing a trip to another country. We thought about going to Paris in France, and Barcelona in Spain. We also thought about London, England and Edinburgh, Scotland. I had been to Paris and London before, but never to Barcelona or Edinburgh. By looking at the hotels and everything, Paris was eliminated based on cost. Hotels there are seriously expensive. London was also out, because it just didn't seem as attractive as the other two. So, we were left with two very different choices. Barcelona or Edinburgh. Sun or not? English speaking or not? Euro or not? By the time I figured out the cost of everything, it was a wash anyway. Hotels in Barcelona were kind of expensive. But then again, changing from the Euro/Dollar to the Pound was kind of expensive. In the end, it was just about the same as far as cost went. In the end, we decided on Edinburgh, and it couldn't have been a better choice!

Overall, the trip was pretty interesting! We saw quite a lot of Germany in 10 days, and also Edinburgh. We rented a car, drove on the Autobahn (some portions of it don't have speed limits), went through every small town near the Germany/Austria border thanks to our navigation system, and survived Oktoberfest. Here are some of the highlights!

On the gondola in Rüdesheim am Rhein

Beautiful Edinburgh Castle

 Greyfriar's Bobby

 Where J.K. Rowling supposedly wrote Harry Potter

Possibly the inspiration for Hogwarts

 On the Marien Bridge at Neuschwanstein Castle

 View over the Hohenschwangau Castle and the Alpsee

Gingerbread hearts at Oktoberfest

Hope you enjoy the photos! 

Edinburgh, I will be back!

Heidelberg Grand Opening

On Thursday several weeks ago, I was asked to help prepare for a dinner for some important guests from the States. Board members, vice president of international affairs and the president of the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, TX came to visit Ingersheim as part of their trip for the grand opening of the European Study Center in Heidelberg. My company and UIW are 50/50 shareholders of this new joint-venture, and came for the innaguration.

After having set up, Silke (one of my colleagues) and I anxiously anticiapted their arrival. They couldn't have come on a more gorgeous day. The weather was perfect, and the atmosphere at the castle was a perfect way to welcome our international guests. I had a great time getting to know the board members, and enjoyed talking with them.

The next day, Antje (my office mate and mentor) and I picked up Heide (the American who has been with the company for more than 10 years, and who is on maternity leave at the moment) and drove to Heidelberg after a half-day at work. We helped with some last-minute prep before mingling with the guests, and once everything was ready, we sat in one of the large halls and listened to some very interesting speaches as part of the opening ceremony.

Afterwards, the champaigne flowed (thanks to me refilling everyone's glasses) and everyone was having a fantastic time. It was a really great party with many important guests (all of the UIW folks, members of the press, the German government, etc...). The party that I had been helping plan since I set foot in Ingersheim was finally off and running without a hitch. It was great, and I think people really enjoyed themselves. It was great to see everything finished (remember when Christine and I went to help move furniture and cleaned?), and that all the hard work pays off. It was a great success! I met many great people, and look forward to hopefully keeping in touch with them!

Spread the word! European Study Center in Heidelberg, Germany is now open for business!

Castles with Katja

One of the major bonuses of living over here and that I live so close to some good friends. It makes being away from home that much easier. It is amazing to be able to take a break from the hectic work week and überstunden (overtime hours) and just let yourself relax and hang out with your friends. Appreciation, I'm telling you!

Weeks ago now, Katja and I went to Schloss Solitude. No wonder, given it's name, because this place was pretty serene. Perched up on a hill overlooking Stuttgart is this palace. In 1763 Duke Carl Eugen chose the site in the heights, southwest of Stuttgart, as the location for the palace. Hard-pressed by the Württemberg Diet and the "Reichshofkammer" (highest court) in Vienna and cut off from an increase in political importance, the Duke poured all his strength into the building of this palace, which he oversaw.

Fun fact that the tourguide told us: Duke Carl Eugen fathered, they think, more than 100 children. Uniquely enough he was a ginger (red head), and at that time and still today there aren't many gingers walking around Germany. So therefore, whenever a new baby is born in this area and has red hair, it is commonly joked that he/she is a descendant of Duke Carl Eugen. (So Ashley, you want to do a little more research? Maybe you have Germany roots...!!!)

A beautiful day for some fun in Stuttgart...love living next to a big city, and love being able to leave it at the end of the day.

Where's Waldo???