Home Sweet Home

Today my parents picked me up from the airport waving this lovely sunflower - one of my favourite flowers. I am finally back home and I am soo enjoying it. It is great to be with my family again.

Cannstatter Wasen

While visiting a couple of friends in and around Stuttgart we also had a look at the Cannstatter Wasen. Apparently this is the worlds largest Volksfest (festival) by the number of rides, compared to the Oktoberfest which is the worlds largest beer festival in terms of yearly visitors. It was nice just to stroll past carousels, roller coasters, various booths, the world's largest mobile Ferris wheel and of course several beer tents. We just soaked up the atmosphere and watched families, couples, Asian tourists and of course drunken blokes :-)

One of the many crazy rides at the Wasen :)

A hell of a trip

I arrived back in Frankfurt this morning after departing about 24hrs ago in Perth! Which means that I am awake for more than 24hrs now and still have to stay awake for the whole day. But today is a beautiful day! I watched the sun rise through the morning mist that covered the surrounding landscape. I can't remember the last time I saw this. It was just beautiful and a nice welcome :)

Our Wedding Rings

We picked up our wedding rings. Another tick on the list of things to do before the wedding :-)

Going Home

Only two more sleeps :-) I will be back home soon and I am sooo looking forward to it!

Spring has Sprung

This beautiful flower bed is just in front of the building where I work. They are just lovely and I smile every day when I walk past them :-)

Empty House

After we sold half of our household on ebay I tried to schedule all the buyers for Saturday afternoon to pick up their items. Unfortunately Australians are not as punctual and as reliable as Germans in general ;-) but we were surprised how smoothly the whole thing went. Within 2 -3 hours everyone turned up, paid and collected parts of our household. It went really well! And now the unit is nearly empty and ready for the first demolishing weekend ;-)

Ebay fever

Our renovations required us to sell parts of the household. So apart from the oven we also put a sofa bed, a kitchen pantry and all our bathroom furniture up for auction. And last night was the big night when all the auctions ended and I must admit I was a bit excited :-) Sitting in front of the computer and watching the last minutes go by hoping that we would get a good price for everything. And considering the total sum I think we did. Another tick on the renovations-to-do-list :-)

Yoga is exhausting

After my 1h yoga class yesterday I could feel my muscles this morning - they are sore :-) Yoga looks so easy but especially as a beginner some of the poses are quite exhausting - but very good for your flexibility, balance and to strengthen your muscles. And our yoga teacher is great, too. She corrects your pose and makes sure you are doing to properly.
My supervisor told me that if she would have to name a few things that changed her life or had a big impact on it - Yoga would be amongst them! She encouraged me to continue with yoga since she wished that she would have started earlier.

Full Moon

We are currently staying in the loft at our friend's place. The bed sits right next to the dormer window, so when we lay in bed we can see the stars above us. Last night the full moon shown into the window :-)

Grass Widow

It's been a long time since Ian was away for more than one or two days. But his new job required him to fly over to Singapore for 4 days, and so he left this morning. But I am glad that our friends just came back from their trip, so I don't have to stay alone in this big house. And I am sure time will fly until Thursday :-)

From House Sitters to Guests

We've been house sitting our friend's place for nearly 2 months now. After feeling a bit unsettled first we settled in rather quickly and actually feel at home now. But yesterday was our last night as house sitters. We will pick up our friends from the airport tonight and then we are guests - sharing kitchen and living room with them. I think it will be good! We spent the whole day cleaning their HUGE place ;-) and we are looking forward to welcome them back home.

WA state government election

After last weekends state election WA has a hung parliament at the moment - apparently for the first time in history. So for the first time non of the major two parties (Liberals, Labour) did win enough seats to form the government. Which means that they now need to negotiate with smaller parties and independents. While this is absolutely normal in Germany, for instance, and happened after every election as far as I can remember, it seems to cause some hiccups over here. They are still negotiating... but ok, they haven't done this before...

Moving, moving, moving

Another weekend of packing boxes and moving cupboards and shelves. Our unit is nearly empty now. Only the things that we are going to sell on ebay are still in there. In fact we spent hours cleaning the oven - which is up for sale as well. And we are proud to say that it never looked better :-)

City 2 Surf - Results

They published the City 2 Surf results this morning on the official web page. Have a look yourself since I am not going to post my time here ;-) I am still disappointed about my time. But to see the positive sides: I can run 12km! My legs were not sore at all the next day! And with some more training I should get my breathing and the stitches under control as well!