Coffee from a Cardboard Cup

I keep thinking of great, funny things to post. Then, life happens and I haven’t posted that great post before something else interesting happens, and then I get a bit muddled trying to keep track of my ideas. Then, I just forget about it and move on. I think a great blog post is becoming my white whale.

Anyway, so here is a not so great blog post about a bunch of stuff that could have potentially made interesting posts all on their own if I could ever make the space in my life to blog properly.

1) I made a bit of a leap recently regarding my cultural orientation here in Germany. Being a foreigner gives one the feeling of constantly being slightly confused.

My new revelation came while I was starting to compose a post about how the Germans were all trying to shop while I was shopping last week. If I haven’t mentioned it before, I hate shopping, generally. I do it because that is part of my job as a grown up, but I generally try to do it with good company (Hi, Sarah) and at times when many other people do not like to shop.

Last week, there were people all over my shopping! I couldn’t get my parking spaces and there were lines everywhere. I thought, really, is it ALREADY Christmas shopping season here? Then, my friend Micha pointed out that last week was the fall school break!

So, what I learned was a new thing about how Germans spend their time during the fall break. I already knew that spring break was mostly for the last ski runs, summer break is to go to Spain or Italy (mostly, as far as I can tell). Now, I’ve learned that fall break is for shopping! I was wondering why the stores were going nuts with the Christmas stuff, but apparently, that is when people get started on the Christmas plan. I mean, what else are you going to do stuck with your kids at home for a week? Well, honestly, I can think of about a thousand things I would rather do than drag them to a crowded shopping center, but that is just me, apparently.

2) I have awesome friends! My friend Jentry, who is super enthusiastic and awesome, was thoughtful enough to send out a message like last April seeing if anyone was interested in a spa weekend. After trying to coordinate ten women, the soonest date we could do it was in November!

She booked the rooms, and last weekend, me and nine of my closest friends headed to a spa for a fancy slumber party (OK, technically, I never met one of them before, but she fit right in)! It was just over night, but it was a blast. It was a spa in the Czech Republic, which is less than 2 hours from us. We were the youngest (and loudest) guests several years and a few decibels. Seriously, you could hear us cackling from anywhere in the place. It was awesome.

Plus, there was drinking and giggling without ANY children for over 24 hours! Sarah was my roommate, and it was a great match because we both prioritized sleeping in over breakfast. Oh, sleepy mornings. How I miss you.

There was almost no picture taking on my part because that would have required work and focus. Both of which were forbidden on this trip in my mind.

We all gathered in the spa’s library just before leaving, and I found my friend monet enjoying the interesting selection:

The Medical History of Adolph Hitler

And, of course, don’t forget

Is this the kind of thing they have in all Czech spas?

3) Hacking more furniture

Since we have just over a week before our big trip (!!!), I suddenly had an urge to procrastinate from preparing. So, what do we need more than anything? Why a standing desk, of course!

After checking out what IKEA and amazon had to offer in this area and being shocked by the 600 Euro sticker price, I decided that I could hack up something for about 25 Euros. Plus, the ones I saw that electronically raised and lowered looked like great finger pinchers, and we are trying to avoid chopping of our kids fingers, generally. They all also looked like they were a bit unstable for having a three year old climb up them, which is bound to happen.

So, I built a couple of stilts for the desk today. I still need to clean up the space around it, but that can wait until we get back.

I am standing at it as I post this, and I LOVE it! I am kind of surprised at how awesome it feels. Admittedly, part of my motivation behind it is that I simply cannot sit at a computer when both kids are here. It is like they have a sensor that goes off if I try to sit down. They are in my lap before I can blink or pulling me out of the seat. If I am standing, they seem to suddenly be able to entertain themselves for longer periods of time.

Yoga Thought of the Day: What is Important

It’s coming upon 14 years since I started practicing Yoga. This is the only thing I have stuck with this long so far, and I cannot imagine my life moving forward without it. I can list a lot of details of the positive benefits I have from returning to my Yoga practice regularly, but they are all kind of side effects of what I think is the bigger result of this kind of inner work.

Yoga has given me a way to ask myself, everyday, “What is important?” The profound impact of this question is becoming more apparent with time. Thinking about this everyday can have a detrimental effect on the unimportant things, but it also having a powerful effect on the important things.

Although Yoga helps one ask the question, it doesn’t provide the answer. All of the answers are already there just waiting to be seen, if you ask me.

As for my personal journey, I am finding that as I grow, my life is generally moving in a direction that supports what is important to me. What is important changes with time and experience, but I am developing a deeper respect for the choices I make and faith in the direction that these choices are taking me. As a result, I feel much more comfortable in my own skin no matter where I am.

When was the last time you asked yourself, “What is important? How are my actions today supporting this? How are they working against what is important to me?”