Happy Anniversary

Almost 5,000 miles traveled in two years.

1 Trans-Atlantic move. 1 deployment. 1 reintegration.

There is no one else I would rather be on this adventure with than you. 

I am so looking forward to our third year of marriage. 

To have you in my arms. To see what kind of memories we make. To see where we travel. 

I'm looking forward to making up for those 9 months we were apart. 

We have been given a blessed life and I love living it with you. 

I'm so glad we said "I Do".  :)

Skiing the Austrian Alps

We skied and snowboarded for two days in St. Johann in Tirol at Berg Bahnen. Surprise, surprise- but skiing the Austrian Alps did not disappoint. Definitely the best skiing of my life. The snow was perfect even for late season, spring skiing. The runs were probably on average 15 minutes long. Amazing compared to the short runs we were used to on the east coast on the Appalachian mountains. The first day we got our "ski legs" back and mostly stayed toward the bottom half of the mountain. I have to admit I was a little timid to go to the top of the mountain in THE ALPS. Ross probably would have gone all the way up on his second run, but by the end of the day we made it to the top of the mountain and it wasn't that bad. Turns out we're not shabby skiers/snowboarders for east coast Americans. :) We held our own and didn't embarrass ourselves by falling in front of these European pros. 

Added benefit of skiing from the top of the mountain..... the view. 

We also took a couple videos on my waterproof Olympus camera. It's an older camera and not the best quality, but I'm still glad we decided to film our trip. In the first video Ross started filming at the top of the mountain. Amazing video! The second video I took of Ross snowboarding down the bottom half of the mountain. Enjoy! :)

Merry Christmas from the Leighs

Is it weird that...

the most normal part of my Thanksgiving was watching Clemson lose to SC?

This was an unusual Thanksgiving. I'm not complaining in the least bit. I was surrounded by good people here in Germany and I'm blessed to have great relationships with family & friends in the States. So really there was love all around. It was just different this year. Not having RC around was the worst part and knowing he's stuck in "the sandbox" and can't really embrace/experience the holidays hurts my heart. Fortunately they had a fairly traditional Thanksgiving meal and were able to have some free time to have a ping-pong tournament.

So with a quick recap let's compare the difference between Thanksgiving in the States vs Germany...

Typical Thanksgiving:
THANKSGIVING DAY:
start the day with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
spend time with family
meet up with extended family
football in the background all day long
enjoy a deep fried turkey and all the southern fixin's ;)
nap after eating a ridiculous amount of pumpkin & pecan pie

BLACK FRIDAY:
breakfast at Cracker Barrel
hunt for the PERFECT Christmas tree
decorate said Christmas tree

play Christmas music since its AFTER Thanksgiving and the appropriate time to do so

PALMETTO BOWL:
surround yourself with family & friends .... even if they're Carolina fans
experience every range of emotion
(and for the last 4 years at least) pout because your team lost
practice extreme self-control and do not engage in the idiotic comments on Facebook

Black Friday-- Christmas tree shopping circa 2011

Thanksgiving in Germany sans husband:
THANKSGIVING DAY:
drive to a friend's house 40 min away
watch old hockey games??? yah, I know
eat squash soup, turkey, and mashed potatoes with leeks (a first!)
try gluhwein (forget spiked eggnog! I'll take gluhwein as my holiday drink)
wait the appropriate time to get behind the wheel
drive to another friend's house 30 min away
notice that there are babies and little ones EVERYWHERE
have your first taste of pumpkin pie
finally some football in the background

talk to your husband for maybe 10 min on the phone
know how blessed you are to have him in your life
quick Skype session with family

BLACK FRIDAY:
sleep in
realize that the PX has nothing remotely worth getting up for
come to terms with the fact that you will not have a Christmas tree this year
nor will you decorate for Christmas (highlight: because YOU'RE GOING HOME)
jealousy sets in... your family is eating hashbrowns & pancakes at Cracker Barrel
you had granola cereal for breakfast
watch Fringe for the majority of your day :)

PALMETTO BOWL:
stay up until kick off at 1 am
Skype with brother & SIL during the entire game (BEST part)
feel less crazy when yelling at the tv because you're watching "with" someone
experience every range of emotion
pout because your team lost AGAIN
practice extreme self-control and do not engage in the idiotic comments on Facebook
go to bed because it's 5 o'clock in the morning

Neuschwanstein Castle

I was recently looking through my pictures and realized I never did a post on the Neuschwanstein Castle. 

So here it is! During RC's last weekend here we decided to make the drive down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen for a nice & relaxing weekend. The Neuschwanstein Castle was only an hour away from where we were staying. So after seeing the Zugspitze we decided to drive over to the town of Schwangua where the castle was located.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Neuschwanstein Castle was built by Ludwig II, the King of Bavaria as a place where he could retreat. Construction began in 1869 and the architecture was based off of medieval castles and the operas of Richard Wagner. However Ludwig II died in 1886 before the castle could be completed. Only 15 of the 200 rooms were completed prior to his death. Since the castle was so far from being finished it was opened up to paying customers for viewing. Those revenues were used to balance construction debts, and later became a large source of income for the Bavarian family. Ludwig II was a popular king after his death because of the amount of money he brought into the state of Bavaria.

I think the most interesting part revolves around King Ludwig II's death. The construction fees of the Neuschwanstein castle ended up almost doubling the estimate and Ludwig began to run into serious financial problems as he was also building two other castles. Along with his financial problems there were also claims of mental insanity. In June of 1886 Ludwig was deposed of his power by reason of mental illness and removed from the castle. Just a few days later he was mysteriously found dead in the shallow waters of Lake Starnberg. 

WALT DISNEY'S INSPIRATION

Okay. So here's the thing about the Neuschanstein Castle. Before we actually visited I kept hearing about hearing how it inspired Walt Disney. TRUE! And about how the Cinderella castle was modeled after it. WRONG! Apparently it inspired Sleeping Beauty's castle. Being an east coast girl I've been to Disney World numerous times. I'm not going to lie. I didn't even know Sleeping Beauty had her own castle in Disneyland. 

THE TOUR

Now, the tour. You cannot go inside the castle without taking a tour. That was kind of strike one for me. I'm more of a fan of going at our pace on our own time. But it was not too expensive and while we're in Germany why not!? Y'all, I'm not going to lie the tour was gawd-awful. The tour guide spoke "English" which was more like Germish... maybe. So I had no clue what he was saying the entire time. His accent was very thick, echoed in the large rooms, and our group was so large I couldn't try and read his lips. So that was kind of strike 2. It was also unclear on whether or not you could take pictures which was strike 3. So I have no pictures of the inside, but I think I'd rather be safe than sorry. So while the tour wasn't very good I would still recommend going! I found King Ludwig II's story interesting and I loved the ties back to Walt Disney.

The Zugspitze in Garmisch-Partenkirchen

If you are in the military and located somewhere in Europe you have most likely heard of Edelweiss, a lodge and resort located in Garmisch-Parktenkirchen. With RC's upcoming deployment we wanted to plan a relaxing and memorable trip. So based on many recommendations we decided Garmisch-Parktenkirchen was the place. Although we weren't able to get reservations at Edelweiss (they're booked months in advance) we found a nice hotel right down the road. 

Garmisch-Parktenkirchen is a mountain resort town located in southern Germany. So southern, in fact, that part of our drive to Garmisch was through Austria. Nestled in the valleys of the Alps at every turn you have a breathtaking view. Not too from our hotel and the town of Garmisch is the Zugspitze, the highest peak in Germany. So we decided to pay for our expensive (but well worth it) tickets and take the cable car up 2,962 meters above sea level. The ride up was a little nerve racking and our cable car was packed. It was hard to see anything, but once we reached the top the view was unbelievable! The border between Austria and Germany runs right over the summit so we were able to look out upon to gorgeous countries at one time. 

TSCHUSS!

Georgia Happenings- River Walk

RC got off work super early today and suggested we go for a walk around town. During my mom's last visit, we walked along the River Walk and had a wonderful time. RC had never been, because the boy works so darn much, so we decided today would be the day! It was beautiful weather and I so enjoyed the unexpected alone time with my love! Also, I should add he was a complete doll letting me take a ton of pictures along the way. 

Happy Wednesday! I hope you all are enjoying the new year. I'll be spending the evening chowing down and watching my Clemson Tigers in the Orange Bowl. :)

Merry Christmas, all!

Happy Holidays, everyone! 

We are thoroughly enjoying the holidays and are really looking forward to an oyster roast on New Years! Oh, and did I mention we are in SC? It's so good to be home. Luckily RC had almost 3 weeks off from work so we were able to travel home for a nice long visit. Almost as long as the Christmas Break we've been used to having in college. We began our Christmas Exodus with a trip to Snowshoe, West Virginia with RC's family for some snowboarding (him) and skiing (me)!

We had a wonderful time hitting the slopes together every morning and walking around the village for some Starbucks in the evening. We also threw in a few night-ski sessions here and there. The weather was oddly warm (like high 40s) and we only had one day of semi-bad weather (rain). The plus side of "bad weather" is no one is on the mountain! RC and I took advantage of that and got in a ton of runs that day! If you haven't been to Snowshoe it's a great ski resort! It's definitely in the middle of nowhere (and there's no cell service AT ALL), but they've created a great atmosphere in a place they call "the village" where everything is located- restaurants, hotels, shopping, and rentals! Here's a cheesy picture I stole from Google to give you an idea.  We made it back to Charleston on Christmas Eve Eve and settled in with my family. We took our annual family Christmas picture and RC and I took our first Christmas picture together as a married couple! Unfortunately we didn't take many pictures together Christmas morning neither at my house, my grandparents, or the in-laws. But believe we had a wonderful time and Santa was very good to us!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving Day

This year, for the first time, our families had a joint Thanksgiving dinner.

Since this is the last time for a while that RC and I will be in South Carolina for the holidays, our families wanted to have one big Thanksgiving celebration instead of making us split up the day. And we were so thankful! It was so nice to have everyone together. We're blessed that our families get along so well!

Ross and his dad playing Bocce.

My stud of a husband.

Hanging out with my "little" brothers.

My sweet momma

Giving RC's cat Toby some lovin'.

The Day After Thanksgiving

My family has always had a special tradition. It's almost bigger than Thanksgiving! The day after Thanksgiving we always go to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and then head out to pick/cut down our Christmas tree! And from the picture below you can tell there are a lot of us! This was the first year RC was able to participated with us! :)

The whole loud and crazy group.

My love.