Do We Have To?!

Last week as we had chicken on the grill, I was pre-heating the newly cleaned oven and BOOM. I saw a flash of blue light, jumped back like I had been electrocuted (which I didn't, just call me Mary Kay as I am just as jumpy as my mom!!!). And that was that. Our stove pretty much fried itself. We held off for a week thinking it might just be a part we could replace. After further inspection, we realized it was hopeless. We were going to have to buy a new stove.

WHY!? It's not nearly as much fun buying new appliances when you HAVE to then when you WANT to.

Alas, we have a new stove. And after a scary possibility that we had electrical problems (we don't, thank goodness) we have a working stove.

Now it's time to bake some cookies :)

Dog Toys

Hope you are not expecting more about Germany quite yet. We are having computer issues so I have to wait to work on the pictures, so more Germany pictures won't be posted for a couple more weeks...

Anyway. Dog toys. Tucker is so strong, as most labs are, so finding the right toys to keep him occupied without digesting strings or plastic parts is hard to do. Until yesterday.

One of my co-workers is celebrating her chiuwas 12th birthday so we went to a dog treat store and this toy practically jumped off the shelf and into my lap. It is amazing. It was tested at "dog shows" and stayed in tact when put in blenders and did not crack once when pulled by pulleys. It floats. Its washable. Made from all recycled material, and it is in turn recyclable. The brand is Bionic. If you have a large dog and are in need of indestructable toys, I highly suggest this one!

Wanna see it? Tucker couldn't stop chewing it last night!

 Hope everyone has a great weekend!

3 Days

It has officially been 3 days at my  new job. In a way it doesn't seem like anything has changed. I don't miss my old job much, and I don't find myself thinking about it that much, either (is that a sign or what!?) Although I may do some freelance work for them on the side, I am 100% ready to dive into this job. I already feel more at home in my new cubicle in 3 short days more so than I did in my private office of 2 years.

So far I have met my amazing "team" that I will be working closely with. Three other ladies and our boss, so a total of 5 (two of whom are in their 20's as well!) At my last job, the closest person in age to me was the cleaning lady.

I am diving head-first into the medical world, something I never thought I would be doing. I have a feeling it is going to be a very interesting road.... Speaking of roads. My commute has doubled. If not tripled. Have I told you how horrible the drivers are here in San Antonio? I'm sure I have by this point. Well, when it rains, it gets worse. And not just a little bit. Like, a lot. My commute which should take 30 min now took my an HOUR this morning due to a little sprinkling on the road. No accidents, just traffic. I compare it to the first snowfall/blizzard of the season in MN. You know how crazy people drive at that time, right? Whenever it rains, that is how people drive. Its crazy!

Anyway. Enough about driving. Just a quick update to let you all  know that I am loving my new job (minus the commute across the city)! I have a feeling this year will be a good one!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter filled with joyous hymns, lots of candy, family, and friends :)

Willkommen nach Deutschland!

Don't know German? In case not, the title says "Welcome to Germany!" That is where Kyle and I have been hiding out for the past week or so. Sorry I didn't warn you, but I wanted it to be a surprise. Surprised??

We flew out on Saturday, March 30 and landed in Munich, Germany that Sunday, April 1 at 8am. We hit the ground running and did not stop once all week long. It was great seeing our friend, Max, and his family. Kyle had visited him once  before but it was my first time in the country and I was not disappointed. At all. Not only was his family more than generous and accommodation, Max made for a very fun and interesting tour guide. I laughed a lot and saw a lot of sites. I won't get into too many details, but I will share a few pictures. I took more than enough!

The first day we toured Bamberg, the city where Max's family works. We also visited 3 castles built by the late Bavarian King, King Ludwig II. We saw other "residences" (palaces more or less) and other cool local places. Max took us to the best food around - German AND Italian. I really did enjoy myself. Between the sites, the wine and the beer (such good German beer!) and the people- I had SO MUCH FUN. Minus the 10+ hour plane ride, everything else was perfect :)

This is the first thing we did after getting off the plane.  We visited the Haufbrau house and had white sausage and a liter of beer for breakfast. This also gives you a good indication of what we did the whole week :)

Standing in front of the "upper bridge" in Bamberg.

Once of the 3 Ludwig Castles we visited. This is Neuschwanstein. It's known as the most beautiful castle in all of the world, and it is also the one the Walt Disney based his Magic Kingdom castle off of.

Max and Kyle at another one of Ludwigs castles. Yes, that is snow int he background! Hanging out with him for a week made us realize how much we missed him! It had been 2 years already since the last time we saw each other.

This is only a sample of the pictures taken and things we did. I'll post more later about the castles, because they really were (are) spectacular. And the beer as well. And the food. :)