And...We're off!

to Rome! We are so excited and thankful that we get to spend Christmas in Rome! As Christmas is getting closer, we miss family and friends more & more! We love and miss you all! We wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Stuttgarter Weihnachtsmarkt

Brian and I went with some friends to the Christmas Market in downtown Stuttgart on Monday night. It was really cold, so we drank some Glühwein. Glühwein is usually prepared from red wine, heated and spiced with cinnamon sticks, vanilla pods, cloves, citrus and sugar. It's a Christmas tradition in Germany. It's pretty good and makes you feel a lot warmer :)

Esslingen Christmas Market

Today was my Christmas Party for work. We went to an awesome restaurant in Esslingen. After lunch we went to the Esslingen Christmas Market. There were so many neat authentic things here, I don't know where to begin. The market had a medieval section where you could throw a bow and arrow & ax's. Yes, you get to throw an ax at a target with crowds watching at a minimal distance! So if you miss, not good. I had a great time!

Chillin' at the entrance...

This is an incense holder. The smoke comes out of the computer.

: Yes, they have mimes here too! I caught him on break :)

The Ferris Wheel. Yep, no motor.

Snow!

It has been snowing since yesterday morning. It is really beautiful down our street. I took the train to work and brought the camera along. The weather is predicting 4-6" by Friday. That would be great! We love snow!!!

The Big Move

Sunday was our first night at the apartment. We spent the afternoon cleaning, went grocery shopping and did some much needed laundry. Dinner was none the less Pizza! We slept on the camping air mattress. We expected the movers between 11 & 1, so at 10:45 we were wondering if they were going to be on time. Brian looked at his watch and we realized that it was an hour too early. I set the alarm clock an hour earlier than I should have! So, we took a nap. The movers showed up at 11 sharp. Brian stood outside in the cold for 3 hours while I watched the door to the apartment. The move went well, EXCEPT when the mattress was coming in they drug it across the floor!!! I saw it happen and looked at the floor right away. So, I told the crew that they scratched the floor and showed them. They looked at me like I was crazy! They kept telling me no, no, no. I said "new floor", no scratches. Then they said yah, shook their heads, and looked at the swiviling trail from the front door to the bedroom as I showed them. They knew they made a big boo boo once they got down and felt it. After all furniture and boxes were in the apartment, the "lead" of the move came to take a look at the floor. He told us that a mattress would not have done this. Well it did!!! I watched it happen. When he finally realized that the floor was new, the floor in the rest of the apartment had no scratches, dents etc., we started the damage claim paperwork. He turned to the crew, exchanged a couple of words in a not so nice tone and the crew left. We told our landlord and he was to say the least, not very happy. I wonder why?? Well on the bright side, nothing (that we have unpacked so far) was broken.

Yeah!

It was was wonderful to sleep in our bed last night!

Now on to Christmas decorating!

Below are pics of our place without furniture.

The LAST night in the hotel, after 2 months

Our last night in the hotel was Saturday! We packed up all of our stuff on Sunday morning and headed to the apartment. All of our junk filled the Jetta to the brim. Thank goodness we didn't have much more or we would have to make 2 trips to the apartment. We decided to take a picture of the room before we left. It looks a lot bigger in the picture than it actually was. The picture was taken from standing outside the bathroom door. Yep, you guessed it very small.

The Hair Cut

I have had many questions about the hair cut. There wasn't actually a drastic change. Long and short of it, I got my hair trimmed about 3 inches. I was scared that it would be short to my shoulders or something.