Europe 2013: Austria

Our trip started out in beautiful Vienna where we were warmly welcomed by our friends Pia and Johannes. It was such fun to see them again and we reconnected and took off our friendships just as they were last summer. On the third day, we took a drive to Salzburg which may have been my very favorite place of the whole trip. Our friends were gracious tour guides and we truly loved their gorgeous country!

Overall my impression of Austria was charming, historical, snow cap mountains, crystal blue lakes, delicious bakeries, and the very best schnitzel! Next up: Germany!

While beating the heat this last week at my parents:
I enjoyed the luxury of Mom doing the cooking and Dad doing the dishes!
We went for hikes and walks and boat rides on the lake.
I painted my nails a bright cheerful red.
Paul and I checked out books from the library and made plans for our backyard.
We watched the sunset over the hills from the front porch.
I had a blended chai from my favorite coffee spot. It was too sweet for me.
Paul practiced swimming laps in the pool.
I read chapter 2 in the Bonhoeffer book with my feet in the water.
Paul said I was reading "college style" because I was listening to music in my headphones while I read.
We talked to Mike about his new apartment and upcoming move to Denver.
I got six inches of hair cut off! My first haircut in 15 months
We had lunch at Oma's and I got cherry pie – the perfect summertime dessert.
Paul got a high score in Mom's Bejeweled Blitz.
I bought lumber at Home Depot.
We took Mom and Dad out to Rosa's, clinked our glasses and said "Cheers!" to our anniversaries this month.
I felt like such an adult taking my parents out to dinner! Paul signed the bill.
We got to visit with Aunt Heidi and sit on the porch at sunset with blankets on our laps.
We did an enormous amount of firewise brush cutting in Mom and Dad's yard.
Everyone said what a hard worker Paul is (I wholeheartedly agreed!).
I heard Mom say "mmm!' from the other room when she tasted my lemon bars.
We slept with the window open and a quilt on the bed.

Making Plans

We've had so much fun this week Skyping with Pia and Johannes as we nail down some of the details for our upcoming trip to Europe. The thing about traveling overseas, is that we know this isn't something we'll get to do very often, so it can be tempting to try and cram in as many places as possible. But the reality is, we won't be able to see everything we want, so we just have to pick and choose what makes sense! So, after much discussion, the four of us decided that the best use of our time and resources will be to take a road trip! Woo hoo! After spending some time in Vienna, we'll head through Salzburg to Germany and pass through the towns where Oma was born and where Paul's family is from. So special! Then we'll head up over to France and spend a few days in Paris. After that we'll start heading back through Zurich and perhaps dip down to spend some time in Milan depending on how we're feeling and our timing. We'll round out our days back in Vienna and perhaps take a day trip to Budapest or Prague. Is this a dream?

A Trip to Remember

Excitement is buzzing around here! Tickets have been purchased and plans are being made. This Fall, Paul and I will embark on the trip of our dreams. We're going to Europe!

Ever since Pia and Johannes visited us last year, we've been just wishing and chatting and whispering our hopes to visit them too. We started following flight prices a little while ago, and found it was just SO expensive to travel. But then this past weekend, my mom suggested a reroute of our flights and we figured out a way to save hundreds of dollars from the original flights! So we jumped on it! Hooray! Thank the good Lord for moms :)

So just shortly after our 2nd wedding anniversary, we'll spend almost two weeks city and country hopping around with our two very dear friends. I can't believe it's real! At night after dinner we've been tossing around which places we'd like to see and the best ways to travel. Our home base will be Vienna, so we'll definitely do visits to bordering countries. But we kind of want to do maybe one bigger trip too. My pick is to Paris and Paul's pick is Rome. I have visited Rome before and absolutely loved it, so I just know we can't go wrong. So much of the fun is in the planning and anticipation!

My Visit to Illinois

I had such a great trip to Illinois this month! It was a big bummer to be away from Paul for two weeks, but other than that it was such a wonderful time of refreshment. I was able to attend two dear friends' weddings, go into work during the weekdays, connect with so many friends, meet lots of new babies and make a visit to MN to see family. Here are some snapshots from my trip!

May Recap

This month we've really just been livin' life. Paul is getting into the swing of his new job (and hitting it out of the park I might add) and I've just been doin my thing. It's warmed up here quite a bit, but I haven't really minded it as much as I thought I would (ask me again in August...).

So, to recap some of our fun times:

We made a couple visits up to beautiful Prescott to visit my parents. It's too hot (in our opinion) to hike down here in the valley anymore, but it's perfect weather up there in the mountains!

We also went to the Scottsdale Rib Fest. One of Paul's favorite summertime events to attend back in IL was the Rib Fest in Naperville, so we thought we would give this one a shot. It was their 3rd year, and overall we'd say it was okay...we were glad we had a Groupon. Paul looks a lot cuter in his picture than I do. I just think it's hard for a girl to look cute holding a rib. But he made me do it for the picture. Plus it was really hot that day (although surprisingly comfortable under the tent).

And this past weekend we went with my parents to the Western Art Show on the main square in Prescott. It was a lovely day, and Mom and I got shaved ice! Yummm.

All-in-all it's been a great May and birthday month for Paul (my main squeeze turns the big 2-9 on Thursday!).

Come back tomorrow for a really exciting Schmitt Family Announcement! The adventures continue...

Homecoming & Other Updates

Is it already Wednesday?!  I can hardly believe it.

We had a great time at homecoming although a lot of our favorite people were missing this year :(  Here's a shot of a group who were there at the football game (which they won!).

 

Go Tigers!  It was fun to watch the game although it was suuuuper windy – which I'm showing here with my super squinty eyes.  yikes!

So some news from my adventures in cooking. Last night I spent almost two hours making parmesan chicken. Whaaat!?  Paul said it was delicious in the end, but for real, how am I supposed to maintain that kind of cooking time in my busy lifestyle?!  I'll admit it was worth it to see such a happy, FULL husband, but while I was cooking I was not having fun (not to mention all the homework that didn't get done). I'm really actually pretty scared looking ahead to the future. I love Paul so much and I really want to provide and work hard for our little (and someday hopefully bigger) family, but I feel so defeated in this area!  Seriously ladies. How do you juggle cooking big, whole, healthy meals with work and school and husbands and kids and friends and life!?

Phewy!

Well I do have something fun to share today.  It's an online magazine that my sweet friend and former roommate, Katie sent to me. Some of you may be familiar with "Sweet Paul" the design blog.  Well apparently he publishes an online magazine as well, and it is GORGEOUS!  Maybe I'm late in the game, but I have loved looking through this little beauty and have even been super inspired by it at work today. Always love a new little treasure found. And of course, how could I not be in love with the name ;)

Hope you all have a lovely evening!  I'm off to a mid-week date with my dashing husband :)  Lucky me!

Happy New Year: Where I've Been...

Hello again! The holidays came and went and now we're already a week deep into 2011! I cannot believe how fast the time has flown. I had a great couple weeks with my family as well as visiting Paul's family and some dear friends in New York and North Carolina. It has truly been a whirlwind! Although it was a wonderful time, I'm ready to settle into a more slow-paced season :)  

I didn't take too many pictures in NY...but here are a couple shots from our trip to NC...

{New Years Eve with our friends Eric and Shelly}

{Paul's favorite team by far is Duke Basketball so we of course had to catch a game!}

Since I've been home, I have been a busy little craftster and I am looking forward to many more winter days and nights of diy projects!

Here's a little peak at what I've been up to...

{Stationery... of course :)}

and my latest endeavor was to make one of those cute ruffle pillows you see in the store. So last night I started pinning and sewing like this...

until I ended up with this!...

It looks really cute on my bed, and I think I could do an even better job with the next one :)

And with some of the leftover fabric I made a cute flower clip for my sweet roomie!

Phewy! I have to admit that I was avoiding the blog the last few days because I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to do an awesome 2011 new years post. But even though I've done a lot of thinking and praying about my goals for the upcoming year, I'm still not ready to make a definite list of them yet. My mind is swirly whirling with thoughts for my personal, creative, spiritual, career and relationship growth! So for now I will just continue to process and hopefully in the next few days and weeks I'll feel a lot more confident on what I will be pursuing this year. Do any of you have any great new years goals or resolutions? 

Photo Booth

Last weekend I got to celebrate the marriage of two beautiful friends, Chris and Caroline :)  They had the most gorgeous winter wedding and the reception was in an old train station - how cool is that?!  One of my favorite parts of the night was the photo booth where guests could use props and take fun pictures to take home as well as to put in the newlywed's scrapbook. I went a little photo booth crazy and basically jumped in with whoever I could find to do it with me :)  Aren't they such a fun keepsake though!?

Updates from Thanksgiving Week

Hello Blog-world. I am sorry I have been away so long. But you see, I had some important things to attend to the last 10 days...

As I mentioned in my last post, my Pops was very sick, and he and our family was in need of your prayers. His health continued to fail quickly, so Paul and I decided to head up to Minnesota earlier than planned last week so that we could spend some time with him. We had a really sweet week with my family and I am so thankful we were able to spend so much time up there.

It became apparent a couple days before Thursday that the "adults' would need to be spending most of their time with Pops and there were no plans for the holiday meal. So Paul and I offered/were strongly encouraged to take control! We did all the shopping and cooking for Thanksgiving together (with the help of one of my cousins who made the mashed potatoes!) and it was such an adventure! I am kind of glad that we only found out we would be doing this 2 days before, otherwise I would have been stressing about it for weeks :)  But everything turned out delicious and we enjoyed the meal as a family at Pops' residential hospice home. It was bittersweet to eat together as Pops slept in the other room, but we were thankful to have one last Thanksgiving with him nearby. The rest of the evening we told stories, played games and took turns holding Papa's hand.

Sadly, just after midnight my precious Pops passed away. Thanksgiving would be his last day on earth with us and somehow it seemed appropriate. Pops loved his family more than anything else in the world and his favorite thing was when we were all together. I know he was thankful this Thanksgiving that most of his immediate family was by his side, and there was no where else in the world I would have rather been.

The home where Pops spent his last days was in a beautiful setting and we would often see deer, birds and even a fox outside his large window!  I took the pictures above to remember the sweet place Pops spent his last days.

Hi from New York City! (And thanks to guest photographer Mary Schmitt for all these lovely pictures!)

 We saw the sights in Times Square...

 ventured to Carlos' Bakery in Hoboken NJ... Cake Boss anyone?!...

 enjoyed a delicious cupcake just like the ones Buddy makes!...

saw Mary Poppins on Broadway!...

 ate delicious pizza at Lombardi's (Zagat's best pizza on the planet!)...

 and then we finished off the day with these amazing canolis before taking the train back to Princeton! 
It was a super fun adventurous day!



Milwaukee is calling.

wait.

highway riding.

7 hours to go.

I was able to take a little trip to Bermuda with my mom this past week.  Although I was not feeling well most of the time, I was able to take a few pictures!  It was such a beautiful place, I wish I could have enjoyed it more.  Oh well!  Here are a few moments I caught:

Thinking about him today.

Does he know the love of his Maker?

Past Journeys

Tonight a friend requested a copy of a picture I took during one of my trips to East Asia.  This got me thinking about images from the past that I love and that remind me of places and lands I have journeyed through.  I love a good photograph because it can take you right back to the exact moment it was shot - in an instant I can hear the sounds, remember the emotions, feel like I am there again.  And a really great picture will bring you back to that moment whether you were there the first time or not.

Anyways, I've decided that I'll start posting photos from journeys past - to report to you where God has already taken me and what my eyes have seen.
 

 

Missing the moments as they pass.

 

Hands.

 

Sixty years.