Another Great Thing About Germany

Yeah, yeah, the region might have run out of salt for the roads, it might have snowed every single day for the past 2 weeks (causing me to have to scrape my car EVERY morning), I might not have seen temps above 32 F in a month, but I still love Germany.

Why?

Their geldautomats (ATMs) dispense small bills. It's genius.

German Radio is Way More Powerful than American Radio

So. I was listening to a new CD on my way to work this morning (thanks, Mom! I love it!) when all of a sudden, the radio interrupted my music for an hourly news update. I didn't push any buttons, my hands were nowhere near the controls, and bam! German radio!

I guess it decided that whatever it was saying was way more important than my new tunes.

Very powerful.

Today's Deep Thoughts (Actually Not Very Deep)

I really love green bean casserole. How did I make it through the first 20 or so years of my life without knowing it existed? I know it's no good for me, I know those fried onion things are kinda gross, but it makes me very very happy to see it at a potluck.

I am voraciously hungry lately. What gives? (No, I'm not pregnant)

My iPod just crapped out on me. No warning signs, nadda, nuthin. I had it with me on a run last weekend and it just stopped playing, so I figured it was out of batteries. Then the screen froze. Then it wouldn't charge. Then none of the buttons worked. Then the screen blacked out. Now it's just an expensive paper weight that I can't send back to Apple to get fixed because - guess what? - my product is no longer under warranty. Figures.

I've had clean dishes in my dishwasher for two days now and I have no intention of emptying it tonight.

Now I have to go eat another heaping bowl of Grapenuts because I'm still hungry. I wish I had some green bean casserole (see Deep Thoughts #1 and 2).

Happy Friday!

New Year, New Scoff

Dear Guy at the Grocery Store Driving a Truck,

Really? The confederate flag sticker? Really? Scoff. I bet you're buying steak and then going home to watch professional wrestling. I scoff.

From, Lindsay, a proud Yankee

Missing Home Already...

Didn't See the Ball Drop

My New Year's Eve was awesome, except that Hubs wasn't around to kiss me at midnight. Last year we celebrated with thousands of Italians on the Spanish Steps in Rome. This year, one of my besties and I went to dinner, got hot chocolate, went home, put on pajamas, and watched television shows about sexual disorders and polygamy. I was asleep by 11 pm. 

And you know what? 2010 arrived without me, and I'm looking forward to it! In the past decade, I:

graduated from high school

graduated from college

graduated from graduate school

fallen in love

proposed to my boyfriend

became a wife

moved to Europe

been unemployed

worked for The Man

cooked a cake from scratch

sent my husband off to war

learned to drive a manual car

watched a sunset in Santorini

had 2 surgeries

worked my worst job

lobbied in Washington DC

lived in Morocco

met the girls I call my closest friends, now scattered in MO, WI, MA, IL, NY

celebrated Christmas Eve with a German family

run 2 half marathons

drove across the country too many times to count

Etc, etc, etc.

Here's to another great decade! Cheers.

Best and Worst Things About Being Back in America

Reasons to Love Being Home:

1. Time with my family, obviously.

2. Their adorable dog, Flynn, who is seriously so sweet and fluffy and hilarious.

Sidenote: I went to visit my parents' friends' puppy, Otis, last night. He gets so excited when you come visit that he pees on your leg. Seriously. Puppies are awesome.

3. Constant snowfall. It's gorgeous here- freezing, but gorgeous!

4. Choices. Mom and I almost couldn't decide which movie to see yesterday afternoon (by the way, movie matinees are awesome, too). 

5. New York Times in print.

6. Television!

7. Christmas cookies. I think I've eaten my weight in peanut clusters. For breakfast. Each day.

8. The time change is wreaking havoc on me, but that means I wake up each morning between 5 and 6, which allows me to enjoy the best part of the day (that I never really see when I'm living my normal life).

9. Milkshakes! I've been craving a decent milkshake for over a year. Coldstone Creamery, however obnoxious with their singing and whatnot (I can say that, I worked there in college), delivered. Cookies'n'cream milkshake, I loved you!

10. Pay at the pump gas stations. Totally righteous.

11. Midwest friendliness.

Things About America That Make Me Want to Claw My Eyes Out:

1. So many SUVs! Granted, the roads get pretty bad here sometimes, but c'mon! 

2. Strip malls. They're just depressing.

3. Towns that are dying. My parents live near several small towns that, due to the recession and job losses, are just hanging on by a thread. It's sad. 

4. Choices. Do people really need 876 types of shampoo to choose from? I might complain about the lack of selection available at our local commissary, but it certainly makes life more simple, and my hair does just fine with it's limited selection of cleaning products. 

5. Crowds of disgruntled and pushy shoppers.

6. Plastic water bottles. 

7. Local news channels and 24 hr news stations that never really get around to saying anything of substance. 

8. Bad drivers. I'd like to see some of these people attempt the Autobahn! I nearly got hit by a car that was trying to pass me in the right lane. I scoffed at him, right after I cursed the day he was born.

9. Stuff, and the feeling that I need to accumulate more of it (I'm fighting the urge!).

10. No schnitzel or sauerkraut.