An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away... or Something Like That.

Hi guys! 


I think you all should know that I frickin' love apples. Especially when they're dipped in JIF. It's been a while since I've talked about my JIF PB obsession, hasn't it? Well, consider it talked about.

Anyway... I have a special surprise for you guys today! I don't know if you know this, but I also love apples in the form of clothing. Not like an apple costume, but as in Shabby Apple - the clothing company. If you've heard of them, I'm sure you won't need to ask me why I love their clothes so much, but if you want to know... just look at this picture!

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So what's the surprise, you ask? Okay, okay, I'll tell you. One of you lucky people is going to win a $50 gift card to Shabby Apple! Almost all of those things I posted up there is less than $50, and there's a lot more in the store, or you can choose to put the $50 toward something a little more expensive. 

Until then, you can use the code everydayisanewadventure10off to get 10% off any order! Click the picture below to get shopping, and enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter form below! Note: This giveaway is only open to those who have a US shipping address. 


Good luck, you crazies!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Favorite Things Friday

Hi friends!! 


Are you all as excited as I am about the fact that it's finally Friday?? If not, you are probably definitely smoking crack crazy. 


Anyway... I've got a list of Favorite Things this week, and there's really no theme - it's just a bunch of random really cool stuff.

1. Peanut Butter Frosting. Holy balls, you people know me well. Kylie emailed me with this recipe, and it is to die for. It is also extremely rich, which keeps me from eating the whole pan of brownies in one sitting.

2. YouTube video converter. Ummm am I the only one living in the stone age, completely unaware that you can convert YouTube videos to mp3s? Well, whatever. If you're slower than me, check this out. 

3. Coral Jeans. I ordered a pair in like, March, and they were on backorder. I got an email yesterday telling me that they've been shipped!! YAY!! 

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4. Songs about California. My 8th grade English class is doing a unit on California, so I put together a CD with a ton of songs about California. We're going to do an analysis of "It Never Rains in Southern California" in class tomorrow.


5. Space Bags. I could kiss whoever invented these puppies. As I'm packing our lives into 4 full-size suitcases and 2 carry-ons, I'm reminded of how awesome these suckers really are. And... German space bags are totally superior to the American ones. Amen and amen. 

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So... Promise me a few things: 
1. You will try the peanut butter frosting (it's so worth the 2 seconds it takes to make)
2. You will not make fun of me for living under a rock (I can't be the only one who didn't know about the mp3 thing... can I??)
3. You will have a supercool weekend. 


LURVE YOU!!! 
PS... Thanks for this yesterday (I really can't believe it. Like... I'm in total shock - you guys are freaking amazeballs):

Your Questions Answered! [Part 2]

Howdy! 

If you missed Round 1 of the question answering, you can see it... here. 

I'm hoping to answer the rest of the questions in this post. Here goes nothin'! 

1. Christie from Ma Nouvelle Mode: What is your favorite book of all time (or books if you're like me and have a hard time choosing)? 

A: Hmmm. I think Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is my all-time favorite book. I'm normally not too into that type of book, but I have read it 3 times now, and it just keeps getting better. 

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On the totally opposite side of the spectrum, give me anything Nicholas Sparks and I'm a happy girl. Ya know, I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to books - I just love to read! 

2. Kylie from Love Always: Out of all the places you've been in the world, which is your favorite and why? 

A: I sort of touched on this yesterday, but I mostly answered in terms of places other than the US. I'd have to say my favorite place I've been is Husker Stadium on Game Day. Wow. I'm lame. It's hard to get. If you're interested... you can read an essay I wrote on the atmosphere here. But... if you haven't lived it, you can't knock it down. 

Close seconds are: the bridge over the railroad tracks near my hometown where you can feel the trains pass beneath you, Disneyland, and Rothenburg ob der Tauber. 

3. Kassi from Truly Lovely: If you had to choose TODAY, what would you eat for your last meal?

A: Hmmm. Well, I would probably make it a steak dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy, mac'n'cheese, some tacos, salad with real ranch dressing, apples with JIF peanut butter, and some Vanilla Coke 0. Sound gross? Oh, well. You're not the one filling your belly with all that deliciousness!! 

4. Kym from Bitty and Bunny: What things do you miss from America that you can't get in Germany? 

A: Oh my goodness. Where do I begin? Pants that are long enough, for one... but normal people don't have that problem, so... moving on. Ranch dressing, anything Mexican, normal pizza (not this thin crust crap that you can't eat with your hands without getting weird looks) mac'n'cheese, JIF peanut butter, skittles, starburst, real potato chips, cheetos, taco bell, in'n'out, papa johns, real beef that doesn't taste like crap. Basically anything that makes you fat... I miss. 

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Oh, ICE. And free water in restaurants. And free refills. And cups that a normal human (as opposed to a midget) would drink from. 

Oh, and I miss my normal shampoo. I can't for the life of me find a decent shampoo that isn't 15 EUR a bottle. They also don't sell normal athletic socks here because they're freaks. There's probably more,  but right now I'm drawing a blank. 

5. B. from The Opposite of that: If you won the lottery today, what is the first thing you would do? 

A: Pay off my student loans. Then pay for Mike's schooling. Then start a college fund for future babies with $10,000 in each. Then... buy a house. Then put the rest in savings. Okay, not gonna lie... I might buy a really cool tv and a whole new wardrobe somewhere in there. 

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6. B. again: What would you name the autobiography of your life? 

A: The Adventures of Abnormally Tall Alyx - How I Avoided Getting People Things from the Top Shelf and Other Stories. 

7. B. again: What's the hardest thing you've ever done?

A: You mean besides forcing myself to eat carrots so Husband will let me have ice cream for dessert? Ummm. I guess that would probably be pulling a complete 180 and turning my life around. You can read about that here. 

8. B. again (overachiever. ha!): What's your first memory of being really excited? 

A: Hmmm. This one is kind of a toughy. I think I was maybe 4 or 5 - we were living in Germany at the time. My grandparents had come to visit, and I was able to convince my grandpa to take me to the bakery with him. I was so excited that it was just going to be the two of us, and even more excited when he let me order all by myself and helped me say, "Danke" to the lady at the counter. Almost 20 years later, I still get excited about German bakeries. 

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9. Sarah from Shorelines and Sunshine and Sara from Sara in le Petit Village: What are you going to do after you leave Germany in July? Where do you think you will go? 

A: Well, we're going to move to Buffalo, NY so that Mike can retake a semester of school there, then it will be off to *hopefully* Utah so that both of us can attend UofU. Who knows where life will send us, though? 

Phew! Finished. Props if you stuck with me through that whole post. Hope you all learned a little bit more about me in the process! 

Engagement Story [Bling Bling Ring Linkup]. Oh, AND JIF PEANUT BUTTER!!!!!

Hey fabulous people! You know what I realized today after seeing the Bling Bling Ring link-up (click the picture to join the fun)? That I have never spoken of proposal or wedding stuff on this here blog. I guess that since we've been married a while, I just never thought to do it. Well.... Here it goes. 

This is the only picture taken of my engagement ring. I know, I'm awful. It's terrible quality because it's from my phone, so I apologize.

Engagement Story May 21, 2010: Hubby and I spent the summer before our wedding in a distance relationship. Crazy, I know. So I had come back to Lincoln to spend the weekend there visiting friends and my soon-to-be fiance. I had been in the car for 4.5 hours, really had to pee, had a lady issue, and was starving by the time I pulled up to his apartment. I went to the door, expecting him to be there, but he wasn't. I called him, and he said that he was picking up dinner for us, and that he'd be home soon. 
Ten minutes went by. Then twenty, then thirty. I was starting to get a little ticked off. I was about to run to a girlfriend's house to utilize her shower and bathroom right as future Hubby pulled up. I sprinted into the apartment without so much as a hello. This also caused me to miss the fact that he didn't have any grocery bags with him. Smooth. 
After I had showered and changed, I came out of the bathroom and witnessed a dozen roses on the table, a homemade steak dinner, and a very well-dressed soon-to-be fiance. I didn't really think too much of it. I asked him what the plans were for our date night, and he said that there weren't any. I said, "Great, let's run by the store, because I forgot my makeup, and I definitely need some. He groaned. I ignored it. 
We ran to the store, and right as we were about to check out, I realized that I forgot my wallet in the car. I wanted to run out and get it, but Mike was acting really impatient. He threw some money on the counter and barely remembered to get his change before dragging me out of the store. 

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He drove me to a place in Lincoln called the Sunken Gardens. I saw a friend's truck parked down the street. Said friend had told me that he was out of town. I was a little confused as to why he would lie to me, but tried not to think about it. As we got out of the car and started walking around the gardens, I noticed that Mike had stopped. I turned around and saw him down on one knee. I started freaking out. Do you know what that BUTTHEAD did??? He told me he just had to tie his shoe. 
Anyway, after I looked like an idiot and started mumbling and walked away, he caught up to me, grabbed my hand, got down on one knee, said some really pretty things, and asked me to be his wife. I said yes [obviously]. Some of my friends ran out of the bushes with cameras saying, "MIKE!! YOU PROPOSED IN THE WRONG PLACE!!" That is why there is no picture evidence of our proposal. 
This is my beautiful diamond in the wedding band that we chose:

IMPORTANT: I GOT JIF PEANUT BUTTER FOR CHRISTMAS. I just thought you all should know. If you are confused about why this is a significant event, go here or here.

A Trip to Aldi Turned into...

A trip to the Glauberg Keltenmuseum. Now, since we were originally just taking a trip to the grocery store, I didn't have my camera with me, because I normally don't bring a camera with me to buy groceries. It's just something I don't do. Anyway, we have a super adorable retired old man for a Vermieter (German equivalent of landlord), and he's the one that takes us with him grocery shopping each week. He knows that Mike served his mission for two years in Scotland, so he thought we might be interested in the Celtic Museum in a nearby town. He asked us if we had any plans for the day (we didn't), and then took us to check it out.
I thought it was pretty interesting. Hubby thinks museums are boring, but I think he secretly enjoyed it (as much as someone who hates museums can enjoy them). Since I didn't have my camera on hand, I've had to steal some pictures from the internet (don't worry, I gave credit to the original photo-takers).

The museum (photo credit)

A statue that was found in a prince's grave (photo credit)

It was an adventure that we weren't exactly expecting, but it was something to do and it gave us an insight into this area's history. I thought it was a good way to spend a couple of hours, especially when the alternative was sitting around the apartment talking about how bored we are. 

In other news, we actually did buy something picture-worthy at the grocery store. 

They actually tasted better than the Cool Ranch Doritos, and they weren't all that expensive - 99 cents. Sweet, huh? A little taste of America!

See? He's being a "cool American!"

I even splurged and bought Peanut Butter. Uh oh. Watch out, world. We're being re-Americanized.