Mom Is Here! Crystal, Knitting, Cookies & More!

Hello, all! Sorry you haven't heard a peep out of me in a few days! I've been having fun with my Mom! Hooray for family! The night she got in, we had quite the snow storm. Her flight from Frankfurt was two hours late, & the others for the day were all canceled! Eek! What is normally a 35 minute drive back home turned into a two hour drive! Needless to say, I've been shoveling snow & we both bundle up when we leave the house. But it sure is pretty in this German winter wonderland!

We spent time yesterday shopping at the nearby Nachtmann Crystal Warehouse & Outlets {I got pieces made for Vera Wang, Tiffany & Co., Waterford...amazing!}

I made twelve dozen chocolate chip cookies {from scratch, of course!} to send to Don & his Company in Afghanistan!  There were 144 dozen total that were made!  How fantastic!

We ate dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant...that is run by Germans.  What a world we live in!

And for all my fellow knitters out there, we found The Irish Hiking Scarf.  I think we'll go get supplies to make this today.  Isn't it beautiful?!

Hope you all have been having a productive & lovely week!  Can you believe it's December?!!

Photos from TinyWhiteDaisies & Fath, Hope & Love

No Saturday Around The World this week.  I still need to do my write-up for last week's Featured Blogger!  Was it you?!!  :)  Come back to find out!  And thanks for joining in on the fun!

Have a fabulous weekend, everyone!  ♥   What do you have planned to make you smile?!

Mountain Views, Endless Shopping, Home Sweet Home

My Mom & I went to Target the other day & I was very unintentionally cracking her up.  "Look at all these candles!  Oh my goodness, they have a lot of picture frames!  You guys have so many different flavors of Coffee Mate!"  I'm back in the land of shopping & endless choices & possibilities!  No more of this "everything closes at 5 or 6 PM" business.  No more of this, "If they don't carry it at the PX, I'm not exactly sure where I can find it next" news.  My goodness, there are so many shops.  And restaurants.  And I'm loving it!

But more than anything, I'm loving being at home.  No matter where I am in the world, I will always be missing my Don & thinking of him, praying for him, wishing he was already back home.  But it's as though all my other worries have been left behind in Germany.  I haven't even been having to sleep alone at night!  It's it wonderful having sisters?!  :)

Sorry that I've been off my regular blogging schedule.  My Saturdays Around The World & their follow-up Featured Blogger of the Week posts have been neglected, but I assure you that they will start up again.  Have no fear!

My Mom even put this beautiful new bedding in my room for me!  Garnet Hill always has pretty bedding.  Love it!!

And look at these Hunter Rain Boots & Liners that I found at Nordstrom!  I've been wanting something like this so that when I walk my dogs & their little muddy paws step on my feet, I can just hose of my shoes to make them all clean again!  So cute!  Black with the zebra liner would be great, don't you think?!

Don has been back for about a week & a half already.  The time does go by.  And the prayers do give me Peace!  ♥

Time to get dressed, make a mani & pedi appointment for my Mom, sister & me, & then to see what the rest of the day holds!  I hope that you all are enjoying yourselves this week!  Thank you so much for all of your sweet sweet comments & words of encouragement!  XO!

2 Great Danes = Lots of FOOD!

When this girl goes shopping & finds that her dogs' food is $5 off each bag, oh it's a good day!  As you can imagine, we go through food preeeetty fast for these two.  An 18 pound bag might last a week.  That is, if Lushie isn't growing like a weed just then -- & that isn't usually the case!  But even though they cost more to feed than other dogs, their size also means that they sure do give a lot of love!  ♥

See how happy I am?!

See how many bags of food I got?!

See how full the Mini is?!

...see Lushie's pouty face?

It's a good thing I love them so much :)

A Coat In Summer?!

My brother & I crossed off one of his Germany "To-Dos" today: we went shopping at Jack Wolfskin! If you haven't heard of it, don't be alarmed. This company is strictly European! Think of it as Europe's version of North Face...  Fantastic quality outdoor gear, coat & jackets, gloves & backpacks, etc.  It's what you see the Germans wearing, but if you have it on the States, well... people will wonder where you did your fabulous shopping!  Ok...so they're just jackets...but their logo is a paw print, & so to me this brand is extra awesome!  Can't you just see me, a Great Dane on a leash in each hand, out walking through the German countryside while wearing my new Jack Wolfskin?!  Well, not now in this 94 degree heat, of course!  Phew!

My brother got a jacket that is very similar to mine {with the paw print on the back--it could belong to Lucius!} & a wind jacket too.  Scratch this off the list!  But for now, my new jacket {which I got in a dark chocolate brown} will have to wait for Autumn...  Oh, that sounds so nice right now.  Is it winter yet?!  I'm ready for snow instead of this wretched heat!