Ursula :)

Ok, I just have to share this :) It's too funny!

so, today I did some christmas shopping in the city (Copley and Prudential as usual) and I was contemplating getting lunch somewhere. It was already way past 12 and I was getting hungry but I didn't want to spend money on food and so on... Finally, I decided to try out California Pizza Kitchen. I've wanted to for a while, but I just always ended up at the Cheescake factory instead ;) So I walk into the restaurant and look for a place to sit at the bar (ah, the single life...) and there are two free chairs next to this adorable but grumpy old lady, so I sit down there. She comments on my jacket (that looks very warm young lady) and I notice her accent, so I decide to ask her "So, where are you from?" I kinda already knew she was from Germany, but oh well. Sure enough, she says Germany and I reply "ah, dann können wir auch Deutsch reden!" because, let's face it, her English is not very good... She lights up and replies "oh, sind sie auch aus Deutschland?" yeah, I am, believe it or not ;) she continues "Ich komme aus Hamburg!" I laugh. Of course she's from Hamburg! :) I tell her that I've lived there for a while and she lights up even more. Apparently, she is from Winterhude (which explains her fancy dress) and came to Boston for love :) *awww* so we keep chatting while I desperately try to check out the menue (I eventually gave up and settled for the first pasta on the list: Chicken Taco Linguine - delicious!) and we reminiscent about Hamburg and the Alster and the Elbe (I still get homesick talking about it, by the way) until eventually, we start talking about languages and she says "mi piache molto la lingua italiana" and and I say "anche io!" we laugh - I can't believe it.

It gets better :) so, apparently she used to go to Italy on holiday a lot. So did I! So I said "Northern Italy" and she said "there's this place.... Lago di Garda" Yep, there is this place where MY NEIGHBORS have a house and this place is Malcesine, Lago di Garda! Sure enough, her brother usually goes to Limone - right across the lake from Malcesine :) And we laughed some more :D I just... I still can't believe it. I can't believe it! She's from Hamburg, she loves Italian and her favorite place to be in Italy is Lago di Garda and she just happens to be living in Boston! And I just happen to meet her! *I love my life*

Oh, and then the whole Heidelberg story :) So she tells me about living in Vienna for a while and starts singing this song about Vienna (she wanted to be a singer) and then I say "Well, my song would be 'Ich hab mein Herz in Heidelberg verlorn' because I'm actually from Heidelberg" and she grabs my arm - again - saying "Oh I love Heidelberg! We were married there!" she was married in Heidelberg... Because the guy from Boston was in the military.... and because Heidelberg is so romantic.... oh man!

I'm gonna meet her again for lunch on the 12th (provided she'll remember) I can't wait! I can't believe it... Ursula! I'm so happy I've met you :)

Texan Thanksgiving!

And there goes another item on my bucket list :) Jaynelle invited me to TEXAS for Thanksgiving *yay*

THANKS JAYNE!

I had such a great time in the Lone Star State! Jayne picked me up at San Antonio Airport on Thanksgiving to take me to her meemaw's house for their family dinner! My first thanksgiving *yay* I was so excited! The Stokes family welcomed me with open arms and I will be dreaming of Janet's sweet potatoe casserole for a loooong time *yuuuum* The whole athmosphere was just so perfect, football, lots of food and fun stories :) Believe it or not, Jayne's dad makes these cameras with which he can scan fragile documents and he just happens to be the guy who built the cameras they use to scan those old paper printouts of turn-of-the century movies they store at the Library of Congress! How cool is that?! (yep, still a nerd ;) ) Once I found out about that, John T and I talked about all kinds of techniques and he showed me some scenes from The great train robbery - the original! *very cool*

The next day, we went to their ranch in Thorndale to feed the horses :)
That's my kind of friday morning :D I made some new friends... Honey and Sammy are two adorable dogs and this buckskin? It's the perfect horse for me! we also had a bit of action on the ranch: the next door pony stallion got loose and ran around the ranch, harassing one of the mares (men...) since it's such a small, cunning pony, we had quite a workout tryingt to catch him again. Finally, his owner came over and caught him for us *phew* Janet's stallion would have killed him...

And then the girls took me to a Mexican restaurant... and they got the sombrero... yeah... the sombrero... :D But, hey, it's Texas! everybody needs a little Tex-Mex fun :D

That same night, we did some Black Friday Shopping and then went to downtown Austin where we had some great pizza. We asked the waiter for a nice little bar where we could continue our conversation and were sent to the tiniest bar in Texas :) so cute! AND I really liked their decoration :D SO true!

Saturday we visited the capitol (everything's bigger in Texas - even the capitol!) and went back to Jayne's place to get ready for a night out in Gruene :) That's right, Gruene :) There are a lot of German settlers around here...

Gruene is soooo cute! Jayne took me to a small winery (see first picture) and we tested some of the local wines *yummy* Of course, I couldn't help myself and bought some more gifts for y'all (can't wait to see y'all again) we also had dinner at the old cotton estate (very stylish) and were browsing through the gift shops... I really enjoyed meeting some of Jayne's friends :) Uch, I'm just having such a great time down here!

Today, we spent some time in San Antonio. I learned something about Texan history at the Alamo and enjoyed the beautiful San Antonio river walk! So cool!




We met a couple of Jayne's friends at nice little restaurant called the Cove where they serve local and healthy food and soda. Best turkey sandwich EVER!  They even gave me a little potatoe heart *the small joys in life* I love Texas!