Spread the word and send everyone you know over to my daughters site to say Congratulations. she's getting married and today is the day!

AllieMcNally

Today is my birthday.......

......and it's snowing!!

I can only remember it snowing on my birthday once before and that was when we lived on Cape Cod.  It was very close to Easter that year and the kids went out on the back deck and made a snowman on my birthday.  Most of the time we live in places that by April 7th it's way to warm to snow. The cape weather was a bit cooler than Arkansas and Arizona.

Now don't go asking me what we're doing for my birthday cause the answer is a big nothing.  Bear declared over 2 months ago that our anniversary and my birthday present was our trip to Ireland. Which I explained to him was a big pile of dog doodoo because if Brian and Allie were getting married in August he wouldn't dare try to claim it as having anything to do with my birthday. Oh well!
I plan on celebrating their wedding to the absolute fullest extent that Irish law and Guinness allow and screw getting a year older!! rofl. 

Who's with me?

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hello, my name is Elizabeth and I send postcards!  There I admitted it....

It all started when I was a kid, my mom bought postcards everywhere she went because the pictures were/are almost always better than what she could take. She has masses of them stored in shoeboxes.  I love the pictures too but I like to mail them, in fact if your a long time subscriber of mine you have probably gotten one from me.  so when the xanga team asked for postcards to decorate the walls of their office I immediately started looking for a good one to send.  I finally found it a couple of weeks ago in Frankfurt. Here's the link.... link to some of their recent arrivals. They have an photo album of all their postcards too.   I sent one from Frankfurt because they already have one from Berlin so I thought it would be a good way to represent the east and West of Germany.  I will probably send them one from Ireland when we go over for Allison and Brian's wedding. 

Speaking of AllieMcNally  she left yesterday.  I didn't even cry. Of course I boo-hooed before she left so maybe I got it out of my system then.   The apartment seems pretty quiet though and its odd not being able to talk to someone anytime I like 24/7.

Okay, back to the postcards.  I like getting postcards too. I got one from Brazil with a picture of Christ the Redeemer from a friend I met on ringo.  And a postcard from Singapore from a friend I met on KoL, his has a pair of steps in the shape of a heart. But I admit that all the rest of the postcards hanging on my fridge are from me.  Mailed to me and my husband or me to just my husband. Postcards from Ireland, Italy, Czech, France and even from Germany. I even sent postcards from Austria and Switzerland and I was only in those places for one day!  Yup I am addicted to snail mail.  There is nothing like getting a postcard a week or so after you get home to bring a smile of remembrance of good times.  And the cool stamp and postmark is just a bonus. 

If you want a postcard and I don't have your address shoot me an email and I will send you one of somewhere I have been. Or if I haven't sent you a card in forever and you want back on the list.  Sometimes it will have a American stamp and postmark because it's cheaper to mail them from the Army post, but the ones I mail when I'm not home will have that countries stamp and postmark.   Ireland is our next destination...you've been alerted. After that it will be Holland and the Keukenhof Gardens for the Tulips. 

Happy Hump Day everyone!

(All links are in color)

There is one thing about helping Allie get ready for her wedding.  I keep forgetting my anniversary and birthday are right around the corner.  The anniversary I don't mind and won't really forget.  The birthday...well I am getting on up there so it wouldn't hurt my feelings to skip this one.  I bet it rolls around right on schedule though.

Allie is going home to Galway on Tuesday. I will be so lonely.

We get to Galway on the 10th for her wedding on the 11th.  I will have my daughters together with their dad and I for the first time in ages.  Can you tell I'm excited? Emily's boyfriend is coming too so he will get to meet Allie and Brian.  I imagine they will give Emily their official okie dokie of the relationship so we will be a family of 6 for the first time.

glückliches Ostern

This is a more difficult question for me that it might be for others. Mainly because of where we are and my circumstances.  I have no friends or family here.  I have no t.v. to keep me occupied.  I have DVDs and German radio but I get tired of seeing the same movies over and over and I usually forget to turn the radio on.  I don't have a car and the train fare can really add up in a hurry.  My computer is my lifeline to the outside world.  No matter the obscure subject matter that crosses my mind I can look it up.  I can play games, "meet" people, blog, post pictures for friends and family back home and even more important, to me anyway, I can look at the pictures they post for me. I also webcam with my family which helps me not miss them as much.   So for me to give up my laptop for a full year I would need a lot of money. I would want enough money to get a satellite t.v. with dozens of channels, a car, unlimited phone calling privileges to call all around the world and at least 4 round trip tickets home, plus spending money.  So I'm guessing a round figure of at least 100,000. Nah, let's make it 120,000. Ten thou a month, why not?

   

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

Yesterday Barry drove Allie and I into Mainz to pick up my string of pearls that we had re-strung.  She's going to wear them when she gets married.  They are four different colors that can best be described as grey, peach, silvery white/light gray and lavender-ish/pink.  All of them have a silvery sheen and depending on what color you are wearing, will depend on which pearl stands out.  I also have a matching bracelet.  If I had matching earring it would be complete as it is Allie and I spend half our time in Mainz either looking for pink shoes or looking for pink earrings.  Which pink is a relative term since there must be a zillion shades and we have to have a particular one to match the sash on her dress.  A very light almost whitish/lavenderish pink, sheesh!  We had no idea having a little color would cause so much grief.  She will probably end up with a pair of white flats and my white gold diamond earrings that Bear got me for our 25th anniversary last year.  The good thing is, if your a traditionalist and pay attention to that kind of thing we have something old, new and borrowed covered. All she needs is blue. lol. 

This is on the cathedral in Aachen....on a side door!

The front door of our old apartment building in Bavaria.

Bronze doors in the Forum in Rome

My favorite door plate in Prague.

The door leading to the punishment shelf.  So that everyone can see you publicly humiliated.

And...

last but not least, possibly my favorite door of all.

We came upon it quite by chance in Prague on a side street.  I love all the details of it, the stained glass, the clock, the enameled iron work, the shape, everything about it is perfect.  And if I hadn't been rushed by Barry and Mike I would have taken more pictures of it close up to enjoy all the little details, alas this is the only one I took. 

If I find more of my old door pictures i'll post those too, i think this is all for now.

We drove to the Odenwald today and went to the easter Egg Market in Michelstadt. It was pretty cool!

There are some of these pictures that you really need to look at large as the detail on these handcrafted eggs is wonderful, I made a Easter  egg album in my photos.

 I needed a whole lot more money to satisfy my urge to own these, so I settled for one measly little egg.  But it's a genuine duck egg as opposed to wood, glass or another material and the lady that carved it is from Utrecht, Holland and the best part it was within reason price wise.  Her and her husband were really nice and believe it or not theirs was the first table as you entered the hall. Even though we spent the next three hours going to every table in the hall I didn't see anything that appealed as much as the very first ones. 

The one in the middle top row is a green version of my egg, mine is wine red!

Same table.

This is one of the ones I would have gotten if I had money to throw around.  Which I don't, so no fairytale egg for me.

Another of my faves!

These are enamaled wood.  The one on the right is a detail from the stained glass windows in St. Stephens Church in Mainz.  The windows were the last thing the artist Marc Chagall made before he died and they are the only stained glass windows in a Catholic church made by a Jewish artist.  Mainz isn't more than 15 mins from where I live and I've been in this church and in a word the windows are spectacular!  This is a 50 euro egg and I would have bought it as sort of a double souvenir if and there's that darn word again, IF we had more disposable cash.  Believe me this picture doesn't do it justice, but then pictures rarely do.

Zodiac eggs.  That's Taurus right in front.

There were artists from Romania, Russia, India, Holland and of course Germany. This is such a small sampling of what was in the hall. 

I hope you take the time to look at some of the detail on the eggs. 

This woman and I must be related!  At the very least she's my new hero.  I don't know if it's REALLY an actual letter or not, it was forwarded to me from back home, either way it's laugh out loud funny and sometimes that's all that counts.

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This is an actual letter from an  Austin  woman sent to American company Proctor and Gamble regarding their feminine products. She really gets rolling after the first paragraph. It's PC Magazine's 2007 editors' choice for best webmail-award-winning letter.

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Dear Mr. Thatcher,

I have been a loyal user of your 'Always' maxi pads for over 20 years and I appreciate many of their features. Why, without the LeakGuard Core or Dri-Weave absorbency, I'd probably never go horseback riding or salsa dancing, and I'd certainly steer clear of running up and down the beach in tight, white shorts. But my favorite feature has to be your revolutionary Flexi-Wings. Kudos on being the only company smart enough to realize how crucial it is that maxi pads be aerodynamic. I can't tell you how safe and secure I feel each month knowing there's a little F-16 in my pants.

Have you ever had a menstrual period, Mr. Thatcher? Ever suffered from the curse'? I'm guessing you haven't. Well, my time of the month is starting right now. As I type, I can already feel hormonal forces violently surging through my body. Just a few minutes from now, my body will adjust and I'll be transformed into what my husband likes to call 'an inbred hillbilly with knife skills.' Isn't the human body amazing?

As Brand Manager in the Feminine-Hygiene Division, you've no doubt seen quite a bit of research on what exactly happens during your customers monthly visits from 'Aunt Flo'. Therefore, you must know about the bloating, puffiness, and cramping we endure, and about our intense mood swings, crying, jags, and out-of-control behavior. You surely realize it's a tough time for most women. In fact, only last week, my friend Jennifer fought the violent urge to shove her boyfriend's testicles into a George Foreman Grill just because he told her he thought Grey's Anatomy was written by drunken chimps.  Crazy!

The point is, sir, you of all people must realize that America is just crawling with homicidal maniacs in Capri pants... Which brings me to the reason for my letter. Last month, while in the throes of cramping so painful I wanted to reach inside my body and yank out my uterus, I opened an Always maxi-pad, and there, printed on the adhesive backing, were these words: 'Have a Happy Period.'

Are you kidding me? What I mean is, does any part of your tiny middle-manager brain really think happiness - actual smiling, laughing happiness is possible during a menstrual period? Did anything mentioned above sound the least bit pleasurable? Well, did it, James?  FYI, unless you're some kind of sick S&M freak girl, there will never be anything 'happy' about a day in which you have to jack yourself up on Motrin and Kahlua and lock yourself in your house just so you don't march down to the localWalgreen's armed with a hunti n g rifle and a sketchy plan to end your life in a blaze of glory.

For the love of God, pull your head out, man! If you just have to slap a moronic message on a maxi pad, wouldn't it make more sense to say something that's actually pertinent, like 'Put down the Hammer' or 'Vehicular Manslaughter is Wrong', or are you just picking on us?

Sir, please inform your Accounting Department that, effective immediately, there will be an $8 drop in monthly profits, for I have chosen to take my maxi-pad business elsewhere. And though I will certainly miss your Flex-Wings, I will not for one minute miss your brand of condescending messages. And that's a promise I will keep. Always.

Best,
Wendi Aarons
Austin  ,  TX