Christmas

Already December....

....and I am sooo behind all my things I have to do....This year is going to be one of my most stressfull years ever - but nevertheless I love my life!!!
Still recovering from my third degree burned thumb - it looks awful and I am not going to be a "hand model" anymore (I never thought about that lol). But it looks really bad and I got told by my doc yesterday that it will last over the next year to recover completely. I will never never never caramelize sugar....thats for sure.

But I won't bore you with that story - here last week we had an amazing winter week and I enjoyed every day even driving with the car was horrible. We had lots of snow and it was quite cold - til the weekend and now we have degrees in the plus again and the snow is melting away (sadly).

Some pics of our winter so far:

...have a lttle patience.....

...they are "Back for good" - LOL . On friday hubby celebrated his birthday and as every year I have no clue what to give him .....I always have an idea only 3 days before his birthday what makes me crazy ....

this year I ordered two tickets for "Take That" - you know these boygroup from the early 90th???? Robbie Williams joined them and I think he got kicked out. Anyway - they are "back" since 2007 and Robbie is going to join them for their tour.

But what am I going to say with this entry? I have to go through work of 6 long weeks - I have to do entries and to read blogs of all my friends and it seems I am wayyyy behind everything - but I hope to be "on time" within the next two weeks

therefore - have a little patiecne.....

I love autumn.....

...and its not only me - as you can see.....

captured two weeks ago when I walked the dogs....

I am back.......

...... after more than 6 weeks of sickness I feel way better these days - not good or even healthy - but wayyyy better and I want to let it know the whole world!!!!! Especially my dear blogger friends who asked kindly every now and then how I am feeling - girls - without you I wouldn't feel as "good" as I feel now.

It seems this neverending coughing and sneezing comes to an end - I never had something like that before - started as a cold and ended up in a pneumonia with a broken rib - heavens - what a "journey"....

But I am back and cannot wait to get in touch with you all again - I didn't take much photos these weeks but formy 365 days challenge I pushed myself every day to grab the cam - now I have to upload "3 weeks" of photos---- will take me a few "moments" - but be sure I will do it!

See you these days - cannot wait to come back to all your blogs .....

                

Week two - 365 days challenge is up.....

take a look at my second week I am joining and enjoying this challenge

click here

Sick :(

I am sick - for nearly 10 days now I feel sick with sore throat - running nose, headache and feeling tired all the time so I went to the doc today who gave me a prescription with lots of pills and antibiotics and told me to stay in bed for 3 days! Funny she  - isn't she? Told her whats going in here and she said I should stay 5 days in bed instead of 3 - hehe....

Now I am not in bed but with comfort clothes on and every now and then I jump into bed and get off again - my little wee ones don't know how to handle that - but are very nice and don't do the nonsense they normally do. Maybe they feel that "mum" isnt't feeling well......

When I looked in the mirror this morning I saw a face and told myself : I don't know you but I will clean you anyway - LOL. Seems my cold and the nights with less sleep and all other facts are leaving signs :(

Wishing all my blogger friends a nice and lovely weekend - will try to rest a little more as I need to be back on my feet again soon. See you all next week :)

new blog.....

I finally have created a second blog to show my 365 days challenge seperately - will update it every monday to show my week - so here we go - my first (half) week so far:

Kerstins 365 days photo challenge

yes - she is back again and hopefully will stay......

A million thanks to my always positive and inspiring friend and TUT partner Marcelle I cannot resist to join the 365 days challenge - found out I need to do something for me and what helps me though the tough and hectic time I have right now is grabbing my camera and doing photos. So I won't talk a lot about it - I start right now:

This are my first two photos for this challenge:

first is my daily newspaper which I read with two cups of coffee every morning  - second is a blog of a "blogger friend" (you know who you are ;)) - I am always impressed by her photos and her way of blogging
I will upload and show my photos once a week - so keep your fingers crossed I will continue til Oct 01st 2011 :)

Some photos to brighten up MY day.....

ahhh girls (I think there are all girls here who read my blog- lol)  I tell you - my nerves are ..... I don't know - never thought that this renovation would work sooo much on my nerves - maybe its the sum of having not slept a whole night for 8 weeks now - always tired - lots of work here - lots of workers around the whole day - lots to coordinate - haven't been out for a shopping tour for more than 8 weeks now - always in a hurry during doing the grocery shopping - a cold on its way and and and....

So head off for every mum who had gone through this without getting crazy - hehe...... no its not only the puppies but honestly two of them is a hard job. Once the older makes some nonsense you can be sure the little one is copying him..... how many times I said "no" these days..... but it seems I speak hebrew .... when I turn they keep on doing what they shouldn't!

So I want holidays - I need holidays - I am ready for holidays and hub and I thought of going to SA for a few days but then we thought when going to SA then we should stay there for 3 weeks. And right now we cannot go away for three weeks - our home will be "ready" around Oct 23th and then we go for 10 or 12 days. No clue where but we will find a place to relax. My parents will do the dog sitting - love them for staying in our house for that time.

I went through my folders yesterday to make a little space - sooo many photos which are blurry or not good - I have to delete them and then I found myself "hanging" in the folder "holdidays SA 2008" and there are some shots I want to share with you - shots about nature and animals - how beautiful nature is....

team up thursday - break

yes - again its thursday again and today I have no photo uploaded : /.....

Marcelle and I have decided to "take a TUT break" - which doesn't mean we won't join this challenge anymore.

Its that in the next weeks Marcelle and I don't have the time we need to do that proper. I am in the middle of a complete house alteration and everyone who did something like that can imagine that there is not a little space of time for something like that. Instead of my TUT I will update you with some photos about my building site that you all can see in what kind of mess I am "living" right now. But with a lot of  fantasy I can see its worth it all - all the dust and dirt and the noises and people walking through my house...

Neither I have the time nor I have any good ideas for themes - it breaks my heart because I have to stop for a while but I want to to this challenge accurate and not with pressure in my mind. I want to take time and think about the themes and not pick one just because we need a weeky's theme.

Thats hows my living room looks like right now : /

I want to thank all my TUT friends very very much for the last few month - for your company - for your always positive comments - for your  inspiration - for your  support in any way - for your  "just being here" - for your I think I can call "kind of friendship" - for everything. You all pushed me in the right way - I now know exactly what I want to do - I want to improve my photography and want to change my lack of knowledge in knowledge.

A special thank you goes to my TUT partner Marcelle - she always lifted me up with her comments - with her photos - with everything. Thank you Marcelle and lets "come togehter" in 2011 :)

Autumn - or is it the "old womens summer"? (german: Altweibersommmer)

team up thursday - theme of the week is "clouds"

This weeks theme is chosen by me and its clouds:

Honestly when I've chosen the theme I thought it would be an easy one - looking at the sky - finding a few clouds (not a problem right now - we have them lots and lots here) and then "klick" - "take" them and fine...

BUUUUUUUT - since I have decided to take a photo for this theme I didn't "find" anything nice at the sky - the dramatic clouds weren't nice - the nice weather clouds were not what I wanted but finally on sunday it cleared up and in the afternoon I had such a nice sky.

 I think this was a perfect moment - the weather was fine, the sky was just blue and no small clouds around and I think it also depends of smog or no smog - air pollution and whatever we find in the air. So sunday was the perfect day as maybe there are not as many cars on the road as during the week - not the usual daily dust and dirt in the sky... maybe its that why my photo turned out so clear.

I love clouds - when I was a child I often laid down in the grass and watched the "sky animals go by" - there were clouds which looked like a dog or a horse - sometimes a face or just something what came up to my mind.

Marcelles photo is amazing as the sky is "covered" with white dots and clouds - I love that kind of sky - it looks like the sky is coverd by cotton balls. Their "didn't make the cut" photos are amazing as some of the clouds make me feel just to "jump in them" and be covered with them - so cozy!!!! Well done partner!!!!

The blue in this photo is brilliant - looks like the sea and the clouds are small ships who pass along....

Nice to let your fantasy go - WELL DONE MARCELLE - I love photos which make me start thinking ....

12 of the 12th - by Ben and Max

Okay here we go - our "mum" is downstairs and cleans the kitchen while we are here having fun in front of the computer. Mum told Dad that she has to do that "12 of the 12th"- thing and she hardly has time for that so we decided to show you "our" day yesterday.....

Heeeehe - the right one is my brother Max - he always lies down like that when he feels very comfortable and that happens mostly after brekkie - a few mins we are jumping around and making "mum" crazy but then we calm down and take a little nap (for max. 20 mins)

When mum is ready for a walk with us we aren't - lol - always run and jump back in our bed - its funny!!!!!

Mum found a new way for us to walk - its a nice little park very close to us and we love it there - lots of grass and not as many trees as in the wood - sometimes we are a little afraid in the wood because of all the noises and things..... There are a lot of cycler and here in the park we are just dogs and their mums and dads... very very nice to play...

Mum told Dad that it is going to be autumn very soon - she can see that because of the colours of the leaves - We are born in spring and the leaves weren't already there or just small and green - but of cours - as mum mentioned we see the leaves are changing their colors - beautiful....

Wau Wau Wau - we had a laugh when mum got down on her knees to take a photo of grass - how funny is that? its just something to lie down or to eat - not to take a photo of - what do you think?

This is what is called a "men conversation" - both of us with Dad who told us some things we should do and shouldn't do - cannot remember what we shouldn't do :)

After walking in the park mum had this crazy idea just to have a small walk in the forest - so here we are again in the "darkness" of the forest - honestly here we have some sun

Oh man- what boring - mum always takes photos of boring things - what is sooo interesting in this photo????

And this - a flower - just a flower - there are millions of those here - why taking a photo of that? Mum told us she loves the light in this photo....

Maybe this tree in the background is dead because all of the doggies pees???? Mum doesn't only take photos of boring things - no she is doing photos of dead things too...... unbelievable.

In the evening mum had to play the piano again - she told us she hasn't played for weeks and tomorrow the teacher will be back again after a 6 weeks break. She told she has to play well - so she "tried" several times - maybe the song sounds like she'd played it - heheheeeee wau wau wau - we did sing along - wau wau wauuuuuuuu....

Mum is proud of this photo - no clue why - she said it has something special - maybe the light or the blurry or the "sharpness" in the middle of the photo - we don't  understand but we are just dogs....

This was our 12 of the 12th - wau wau wauuuuuuuu WAU WAU!!!!

September 11th 2001.....remember that horrible day

  
I bet you all remember what you were doing and where you have been on this horrible day when the twin towers in New York werer hit by two planes....

I can remember exacly where I have been - in the middle of New York - it was my honeymoon. Can you imagine that? Normally you won't forget your honeymoon but this honeymoon was such a "special" one.... But let me tell from the beginning (if you are interested):

Hub and I got married in a civil ceremony on August 9th 2001 in Schluechtern (the town where I was born and grown up as my grandparents and some close family members  were not able to come over to Munich where we had our church marriage on Sept 7th 2001). It was a nice day with sunshine and the ceremony was a nice one as it was held in an old little "castle". We had a nice day and after the ceremony we had lunch with the family and close friends and in the evening we had a party which is called "Polterabend"" (eve of wedding day) with lots of friends around.

So 4 weeks later we had our church wedding in a small valley close to Munich and again it was a great day with sunshine and full of joy and fun and all my beloved people around. It lasted til four in the morning and we all went to bed with a big grin on our faces as it was a thoroughly successful party. On saturday we had breakfast together with all guest who stayed in the hotel we did our party and later on we and my family drove back to Munich. 

On Sunday 9th my parents brought us to Munich Airport as we started our honeymoon which should bring us to New York for 3 days - San Francisco for 2 days and to Hawaii for 12 days. When we walked through the check in I had the feeling that the controls were a little stronger than normally (but after all that happened maybe its just a thought) and we took a seat on our plane and arrived safe and sound on sunday evening in New York. We had a very small hotel which is called "The Inn at Irving Place " . So we left our suitcases there and even I was tired like hell Achim took me to the Empire State Building and we had an awesome view over the city of New York - meantime it was around 09 o clock in the evening and after that fantastic view we went back to our hotel and to bed.

Next morning (Monday Sept 10th) we had full programm - went to the Wall Street, Central Station - lots of places to see and to be and in the afternoon we went to the World Trade Center - bought a ticket which allowed us to go up during the day and for a entry the other night. When we arrived at the platform I really was breathless - never did imagine what a fantastic view I would have from above - never thought this city is sooooo soooo big and sooo sooo beautiful. We spent nearly 2 hours on the platform and took photos and just enjoyed this beautiful view and this feeling you are "on the top of the world". Went downstaris around 5 in the afternoon and had a nice dinner close to our hotel.

Tuesday September 11th in the morning I just sat on my bed after coming out of the bathroom and I said to Achim: Do you hear that - it sounds like a plane crossed the hotel"- Achim said that a plane can never be soo close to Manhattan and I thought maybe its the sound of a big big dustcard (as everything in the US is much bigger than in Germany :) ) So we went downstairs at about 09:00 and right as we passed by the reception we were asked from the guy if we did hear what happened - we had no clue - and he told us about a plane that hit one of the towers. We thought its a special kind of humor and when we said no he pulled us through a door where we could watch tv. We couldn't trust our eyes what we had to watch there - first thought of mine was this is a movie - then I recognized that all the stuff of the hotel watched this and had tears in their eyes.
I looked at Achim -shook my head and asked: What happened? Whats that? OMG what happened? They told us what they knew at that time - that a plane hit one of the towers and that might be a terrible accident....
A few second later we could see the other plane crashed into the second tower and we knew immedately - that is NOOOO accident - that is an attack.... I felt my knees began to shake like hell and I had to sit down.
We all were bewildered and unable to speak - to do anything.....We just watched - talked - opened the front door of the hotel to see if this is not a terrible dream or movie - couldnt see anything that time  and came back to see what went on.....
I jumped up and thought I have to make a few telephoe calls to let my family know we are okay  - tried to get my parents on the phone but alway a busy line - couldn't leave a message and began to cry hysterical..... I tried it more than 20 mins  - Achim tried to get his parents on the phone - no chance. We decided to ask the receptionist if we can send a fax home - right when I began to write down a few lines we heard the stuff screaming in the room the tv stood - we jumped in and saw the first tower collapsed! UNBELIEVABLE.
We opened the front door of the hotel again and immediately you could see a huge cloud covered the sky...
I have to mention the hotel we stayed is located very close to the twin towers - maybe 4 km away.... So we took our bag and told the stuff that we wanted to go out - to see and maybe to help. They told us to be very very careful but could understand our thoughts but nevertheless told us if we see people running away we should follow them maybe something has happened again.... So we took our bags and went down the streets - we saw people coverd with dust - people crying - people had their radio and listened to it - we found a blind woman whose dog was so confused that he didn't find his way home - because of all the fire dept. pump cars, ambulances and police cars with their sirens.... All streets were blocked in minutes and you could "dance" on the 5th avenue in New york - no cars except fire brigade, ambulances and police cars.We helped the blind woman while telling her which street and which crossing we were and then she knew her way home...

We walked and walked and walked and were speechless - sometimes we talked - sometimes we hugged each other and cried - tried to get our parents on the phone - nothing..... line dead!

I have to mention that our first choice was the Marriot Hotel - directly located by the twin towers - a colleague of Achim told him that he knows a nice and very romantic little hotel which is way better for honeymooners than the Marriot Hotel - imagine we had chosen the Marriot Hotel - you would not be able to read my blog - I would not be able to write my blog because it collapsed as well.....

We walked up and down and came to a barriere - there were lots of policeman and ambulances and we were able to speak with them - asked how to help (they said blood would be needed badly so we decided to donate blood) and then he got a call - talked to his colleagues and then said in a hurry: " You better move quickly - this building will come down soon" (we could only see the back side of the building which was the WTC 7 - you couldn't see any damage but the front side must have been damaged terribly....) So we moved and made our way to one of the blood donation stations - later we walked around (we couldn't go home to our hotel and sit there - we were sooooo unsettled and nervous). When we came home late in the afternoon we were told that the WTC 7 - we stood in front of its back side hours before - did come down also!

The whole day we couldn't reach our parents - that made me crazy because I wanted to tell them we are okay - later we were told that my dad was the one who recognized that it was nine o clock in the morning when the attack happened (in germany it was 3 o clock in the afternoon) and he tried to reasurre the whole family by sayng that honeymooners won't be on their feet at 9 o clock in the morning  - besides he knows his son in law and knows that he isn't that early bird..... So he told everyone he is sure we are okay.....
We spent the evening at the hotel - normally they don't serve a dinner but for their guests  the stuff were able to organize something - but no need to mention we all were unable to eat anything. At about 10 o clock we went to our room and watched tv til late in the night - couldn't sleep.....
I had my parents on the phone in the night (about midnight in NY - 6 o clock in the morning in Germany) and the line was very bad but we told them we are okay.... then the line collapsed. I was soo happy I could talk to them - even it was just for a minute.... Our plan was to leave NY on  Thursday morning .... but that is another story .... more tomorrow.....

BAH - while writing down this story everything comes back soooo close and I sit in front of my screen and have goosebump all over......We've been at hell with one feet!!!! And I never was a very religious person but I was sure "HE" thought: this newly married couple has to be protected.....

more to come tomorrow::::::

team up thursday

This weeks theme was chosen by Marcelle and its....?????? (guess what)

So this week I have to apologize because not one single photo I took turned out like I wanted so I think this week I am not the best TUT partner - sorry Marcelle.

I am not a .....-drinker and for that reasons I don't have.....-mugs - this are my normal - every day - mugs.

Marcelle's photo is just perfect  - I really feel like I am asked what kind of tea I would like to have - this photo makes me feeling to take a  seat and ask for a cup of the tea of the green tea (left) - so beautiful arranged - such a nice mug and such lovely teas  love the black background and the bright colours.
Marcelle this week you "shoot me up" again - BEAUTIFUL and PERFECT PHOTO.

Something on my own account - if you are interested please come over to my blog entry on Saturday September 11th - I have a story to tell about this day - I bet you all know what you've done and where you've been when the two planes hit the twin towers in 2001 - I want to tell you where I've been on that day and what happened to me....

Team up thursday - week 17

Already thursday again - time for TEAM UP THURSDAY and the theme I've chosen for this week is:

                                                                   LEAVES

Unfortunately we now can wait til the first trees will lose their "clothes" and the streets and everything will be covered with leaves soon. I cannot believe that it is September already and our summer is gone :(

We had some cold days - today its sunny but chilly outside and the first snow is on the way to come down in the German uplands - can you imagine???

But honestly I have to say I love the autumn because of the colours - I LOVE all those colourfull trees and the light is fantastic sometimes (when the sun is out)

So here we have some leaves that were found in my garden - I think its a kind of canadian maple - correct me if I am wrong. I love the colours of the leaves - they are in this colours during the year so its not a sign of autumn with that red-orange.

This is Marcelles' photo - I love the light and  the colours and I am surprised that there are soo many leaves off of the trees - I think here in Munich and the area we don't have as much leaves on the ground as the Hessians have. For me its a perfect "autumn-photo" - which was my original plan when I choose the theme.

Perfect captured Marcelle!!!!

This was my first choice but then I thought I take the other one because of the lovely colour:

Girlfriends shot...