The winds they are a' changin'

We are currently prepping our lovely home of 10 years for sale. We love this house. We've put so much work into it. The back yard is our oasis. The living room is our go-to when we just want to chill. The puppies have their own little utopia - perfect for when we travel.

And what are we doing? Cleaning out the cobwebs, clearing out the packrat-like piles of "stuff" we've accumulated over this past decade. Most likely moving into a 2 bed/2 bath condo. Taking the puppies from their cozy, comfortable routine of being able to come and go as they want and plopping them in a 2nd floor condo, surrounded by neighbors and placing them completely under my control of their poop schedule. Not to mention the stairs. Stairs and wieners don't always mix...

So why are we doing this? I can't really say. Not because I don't know. But because I can't say. Very mysterious, huh? Let me just leave it at this: we are taking the 1st, albeit huge, step in our __ year plan to new adventures. Yes. __ years. Also a mystery. But don't worry. We have a plan. We always have a plan. :)

Stay tuned. One day I will be able to spill the beans. And what fabulous beans the are!

Ahoy, maties!

Gearing up for the July 4th weekend. We tagged along on Lori's yearly expedition to Dale Hollow last year, and we had so much fun we're going again! I've even made tshirts for everyone to commemorate the event. Seriously. They have a theme each year, and this year is Cowboys and Indians. You may or may not see photos of this event. The shenanigans promise to be abundant.

In the meantime, I'm gearing up for a Premier Jewelry party tonight - hosting it for a friend who's just started selling. I ♥ me some sparklies. :) And who doesn't love a good Girls' Night?

On the real estate front, I was working pretty fervently on a home in downtown Savannah that was built in 1900. It has every single thing we're looking for - except the ideal location. It's a bit further south than we were looking for. But after a few weeks of nonstop quotes and financing hooplah, someone got a contract on the sucker before we could get our offer in. Just so happens we love our current house and were both a bit relieved that the deal fell through. It would've been about 2 years of remodels - that would admittedly result in a GORGEOUS house, and we're a bit tired. So - as a result, we can now pick back up on our plans for numerous road trips throughout the year to explore our fabulous country. Now to pick the first destination... In this heat, I have to say that water/mountains are calling.

Back to the States!

Well, we've finally made it back to the States! It's so nice to be home. We were originally back in Georgia for about 4 days, then loaded up a minivan with three dogs and the kiddo - and headed to Oklahoma City. We spent a week with family and friends,

and are now hanging out in Savannah again. So many plans. I have to get busy. I have several art ideas - my two main projects will be (1) updating the Etsy site with items I've already completed and (2) mosaics. I've been stewing on a "green(ish)" way to make some mosaics, and I'm really excited to get started. Switzerland got me to seriously think about ways to recycle the most unexpected things. I'll be sure to keep you all updated on the progress!

Interlaken, Switzerland - one crazy weekend!

June 19-21, 2009

Mark and I loaded up the back packs and took a train ride south, to Interlaken, Switzerland. We stayed in a hostel, and spent two days trying to kill ourselves...
We checked in Friday night, roamed around in the rain for a while, then hung out in the hostel's bar to listen while DJ Freakadelic threw down the hits. The hits from the 90's. And the 60's. And whatever other era he randomly chose. But it was really funny, none-the-less. Here's the view from our room's window:


Not too shabby a location for a hostel.

Wood carving seemed to be popular in the area:



Saturday we got up, grabbed breakfast, and loaded in the van to head off for Paragliding. After a brief drive, we hiked a bit to the launch site.




After donning the necessary safety gear,



we strapped in and 3, 2, 1, RAN!

Check out that lake view! One to the left,

and one to the right.

We survived!

The view of Interlaken was gorgeous. But we just did not get the rush we thought we would. It was more relaxing than anything. I was not ready for it to end. But we had a schedule to keep! So off to lunch (uh, at Hooter's, actually) and then to the next appointment.

At 4, we headed off for some White Water rafting. First time for both of us on this sport as well. We figured, hey, let's just jump right into some grade 4 rapids. (Well, technically we didn't know this until AFTER we were done...)

Eventually, they let us put the raft in the water. They were very happy to point out that a mere 3 hours prior to being at our spot in the river, the water was a glacier. We could tell - even with all the gear on, our paddling hands were frozen.

This was great. The river eventually dumped into one of the lakes, and a few of us went for a bit of a swim back to shore. The water was so much "warmer" in the lake, you couldn't pass it up.

This finished day 1 of extreme sports, and we headed back to town to find some dinner and try to sleep through a party in the bar... Yes, we are wild and crazy and like get to bed by 10pm...

Sunday, we headed down for the fabulous breakfast buffet (white bread, dried cheese, coffee, etc - but some really great apples!) and roamed around town a bit more. Around noon, we headed off for the final event - Canyoning! Yeah - we didn't know what it was before we got here either... They drive you up river, you take a bit of a hike, then you start rappelling, jumping, sliding, swimming, climbing - you name it, to get back down river. It was fantastic!

The canyoning was, by far, the best event! I still have the bruises to prove it. And if you're ever in this general vicinity - you have to check out the company we did all the stuff through: http://www.alpinraft.com/ This will be a tough weekend to top!

Sunday June 14th - welcome to Medieval Times!

Sunday, Mark and I headed to Weil-am-Rhine - just across the border in Germany. They had a weekend-long Medieval festival that we wanted to check out. Now we'd never been to a medieval festival before, so what better place to check one out than Germany! We missed the first day, as we were hanging out at the castle in France, but managed to make it to the park around lunch-time on Sunday.

Here are a couple of the more elaborate costumes on display/for sale:

There was live music - sometimes on the stage, and sometimes just randomly in the park. They were actually really good:

Sunday was family day, and here's a shot of a guy demonstrating blacksmithing techniques to the kids - in between turning around to smoke his cigarette:

Must have the occassional damsel in the stockade. And apparently, she must beg you for your ice cream/water/beer as you walk by...:

The day was hot and sunny - not exactly typical here, and it was gorgeous. We had some meat on a stick, grilled sausage, kraut with bacon and some German noodles, and Mark had a cherry flavored beer. And of course we had ice cream. It was a good day of just hanging out in the sun and people watching. And lots of walking. We finally made it home for dinner, watched a movie, and crashed after the crazy weekend!

Saturday, June 13th continued...

Part two of Saturday - the trip to the wine cave...

We were late getting there, but fortunately Joseph's friend kept the place open for us. I'd never been to a wine tasting before - much less a wine tasting in an authentic "Wine Cave" in France. We tasted 5 different wines in all - and purchased 4 out of the 5 to bring back to the apartment. I seriously doubt any of them will make it back to the States...

Mark in front of one of the barrels:

This particular wine cave has been owned by a family for generations. The pictures carved into the barrels tells the story of the family members through the years. Elise, one of the daughters of the most recent generation, is the person who explained everything and hosted the tasting. We even bought two bottles of the wine that was named for her and developed the year she was born. It's very good!

A picture of the village we were in for the wine tasting:

We made it back to Basel around 8pm and 5 of us headed to a fantastic Italian restaurant for dinner. Then home to bed - Sunday we had plans to hit the Medieval Festival in Germany! That, of course, is another blog.

Exploring Alsace

Saturday, June 13, 2009 - Off to a French castle!

I met up with Mark and a group from Jet for a tour of a French castle on Saturday. We had two wonderful French guides, Sophie and Joseph, also from Jet - they shuttled us to lunch, the castle and then on to a wine cave. We are very thankful for their hospitality, as we could never have gotten all of this done as a group! After stopping for a wonderful lunch at a French restaurant, we headed further north to Colmar - home of Haut-Koenigsbourg, the only restored castle in the region, if I remember correctly... We had a great guided tour (in English...) that made the visit so much better than just roaming around would've been. Tons of pictures follow:
The short but steep hike up to the castle:


The view of the valley below was magnificent - as are most views we've had so far:

Our first glimpse of the castle:


This is one of our French friends/tour guides/chauffeurs, Sophie (on the left):

Another breath-taking view - this one from inside the castle:

A ceramic "oven" - very inspiring for the ceramist in me!

Weapons, anyone?

Some furniture from the 1500's - not original to the castle, but cool none-the-less:

French dorks:

And what trip would be complete without a picture of a door?

This really was a great day. After the castle, Sophie and Joseph hauled us all back to a border town of Switzerland for a wine tasting! See part two of today's blog for the wine story!