catching the sea breeze

While back in the States my mom and I decided to be tourists in our own town. 

We walked along the battery and toured the Edmonston-Alston House & the Russell House.

My only regret from the day was that there was no photography inside these historic homes. 

Highlight from the day? The fat orange cat we found basking in the warm Charleston sun. 

Friday Night Lights

One of the main reasons I went back to the States was so I could see my littlest (only not so little) brother play in his senior year of football. He'd previously attended the same private high school I graduated from, but decided to transfer to the local public school where both his athletic and academic talents would flourish. The coaches at SHS were so excited to have him transfer and I think they'd agree he's fit in perfectly on defense. 

I should also add that there were two stars that friday night. Obviously #88 was on the field. 

And the other... a cute little boy in the stands attending his first football game. 

How handsome are these two? I love being a sister and an aunt. :)

Prague, Czech Republic

Munich, Germany :: Third Reich Tour & the Hofbrauhaus

Earlier this month we took the train down to Munich. Highlights of the trip? 

Third Reich Tour led by an Irish man. Dinner at the famous Hofbrauhaus. 

Stumbling upon Taco Libre- where we ended up eating TWICE in less than 24 hrs. 

 Don't judge. Good Mexican food is hard to come by in Germany. 

Boleslawiec, Poland:: Polish Pottery

I'd already been to Poland for pottery once, but when a friend told me about the MWR trip that was coming up- I knew I had to go again. Poland is kind of a tricky trip. It's a far enough drive where you wouldn't want to do it all in one day, but there's not much else around Boleslaweic to validate staying the night. So when I was told that I would be driven on a chartered bus in the company of some of my favorite girls and not have to worry about a thing I was sold. The only down side was the time schedule. It was a little crazy. We left at midnight on Friday night and arrived in Poland at 5:45 am. Believe it or not, the owners of multiple shops were ready for us and the shopping officially began. We continued shopping until about 11 when we stopped for lunch. Just a few short hours later and we were  at it again. After touring 14 different pottery shops we finally called it a day. When I finally made it home I was exhuasted and proceeded to fall asleep before 9 pm. I slept for about 12 hours straight. :)

At our second stop I found a limited edition collection that I just had to get my hands on. It was perfect for so many reasons.

1. I was actually able to find complete set- which can be really hard to do. 
2. The set had everything I had on my list: pitcher, ice cream bowls, and a coffee cup for Ross. 
3. It was the perfect mixture of modern and classic Polish pottery. If you've ever seen Polish pottery you know it's customary for a lot of floral patterns and blues. Neither of which I have in our house. So when I found this fun polka dot pattern I was so excited. 

Auf Wiedersehen, Geldersheim!

As I mentioned in THIS POST we have left our quaint little German town of Geldersheim and are in the process of moving on post at USAG Grafenwoehr. We have so enjoyed living in a German town and I wanted to take a few pictures around Geldersheim to remember our time here. 

Our apartment in Geldersheim was perfect in so many different ways. We had the nicest landlord who was always very kind to us. He spoke a little bit of English, but when he felt he couldn't communicate something clearly he would use Google translate, print it out, and tape it on our door. The commute to work was short for Ross and we had beautiful views of the fields from our living room windows, which you can see from many of my Instagram posts (1, 2, 3, 4). Germany is absolutely beautiful when the weather is nice! A short walk from our house were bike trails that led to towns over an hour away. Many times after dinner we would walk along the trails. Especially on nights when the sun didn't set until after 9 pm. Tractors were a common sight and occasionally we experienced all that came with living in a farming town aka: the wonderful aroma of manure. 

I am so glad we were able to live in a private German rental our first year in Germany. 

I'm afraid I wouldn't have felt like I was really living in Germany if we hadn't. 

Pisa Shenanigans

jumping   //   throwing   //   handstands   //   drinking

(Plus a little photobombing from an almost 2 yr. old)

All necessary for a day of fun in Pisa. 

first glimpse:: Leaning Tower of Pisa

Bagno Mary:: Seafood Spaghetti Buffet

It took us a couple days, but on our last night we finally did dinner right- Italian style! We waited until 7:30-8:00 to go to dinner. The unusual stares and modified dinner menus the first two nights were our hint that dinner at 6:00 was way too early for the Italians. We went next door to Bagno Mary and made a reservation for their 25 EURO All You Can Eat Seafood Spaghetti buffet. We weren't really sure what was in store, but it was recommended as having some of the best fresh seafood and, lets be serious, as Americans we were all over a 'buffet'. For 25 EURO we were given 1 bottle of wine per couple, an appetizer, three different types of seafood spaghetti, and dessert. A ridiculously good deal. The food was amazing! And there was so. much. food. We were told we could order as many plates as we wanted, but after "sampling" (i.e. an entire serving) each type of spaghetti we were barely able to muster up enough room for one more platter of spaghetti for the table. Bagno Mary was the perfect way to end our adventures in Tuscany.