Our year from A to Z!

I got this cute idea from a Christmas card that we got this year. I thought considering we have had quite an eventful year, this was fitting for us! So, Tyler and I sat down the other night and made a list of our own! I am sure we have gone for hours and hours changing the letters, eventually we just had to quit!

• Absolutely amazing year, from beginning to end!!
• Beach-spending the week before our wedding relaxing at the beach with the people that mean the most to us in the world!
• Czech Republic-And INCREDIBLE weekend in Prague with Reagan and Mikey
• Daddy-My daddy walking me down the aisle to Tyler on our wedding day.
• Erlangen, Germany-The town we lived in while we were there. I have to secretly admit I learned to appreciate it.
• Flights-I haven't sat down and counted the total number of combined flights that we took over the last 6 months, but it was a lot!! Enough to get us both to Salt Lake City in February
• Georgia-Where we will make our home. :)
• Hedgehogs!! Such a fun discovery for us while we were in Germany...and the puppies too
• Italy-Traveling to Lake Como and Milan with my mom!! What an awesome experience, can't wait to visit Italy again!
• Journey to Germany-I have so enjoyed writing on this blog. I love going back and looking at it even if no one else is reading!
• Kilt-We met the most fun group of Scottish guys in Prague and spent the entire night hanging out and even learned all about their kilts!! They were in Prague for a soccer game and guys in kilts were EVERYWHERE!
• Lexus-Our new car! If you know us very well, you know we are obsessed with our car. First major purchase together.
• Moving-My big adjustment of leaving the city I was born and raised in to move to Atlanta to pick up and go to Germany a short 1.5 months later!
• New jobs-Tyler started with Kilpatrick Stockton in February and I transferred to Vaco Atlanta in May!
• Oktoberfest-Having the awesome chance to take the ICE train to Munich and go to the 200th Anniversary of Oktoberfest. And sneak our dogs in.
• Persian Gulf-Standing with our feet in the incredibly warm water of the Persian Gulf in Dubai
• Questions???="Sprechen Sie Englisch?" I wish I had a dollar for every time we asked that question. I really wouldn't have to go back to work!
• Red Bar-I think we successfully kept this and Bud & Alley's in business the week of the wedding. I ate Red Bar for lunch I think 4 out of 7 days
• St. Lucia-Our honeymoon in paradise!
• Travel-Boy have we ever this year! Tyler and I have always loved to travel and we got to visit some amazing places this year including Florida, St. Lucia, Germany (MANY cities), Prague, Italy, Vienna, Dubai, and a few more
• Unemployed-I was lucky enough to be able to take a "leave of absence" from my job (Yes, they are awesome and held my position for me!) to travel to Germany with Tyler, but my days of unemployment are quickly coming to an end. I start back with Vaco January 3rd.
• Visitors-We were so blessed to have the visitors that we did while we were in Europe! Reagan, Mikey, Mom, Cissy, Susan and Sonja. Now we just need to start scheduling visits to Atlanta!
• Wedding-Becoming Mr. & Mrs.! What an amazing day, I could probably do a whole A-Z just on that!
• Xeric-(dry or desert like conditions)-Tyler spent a total of 15 days in Saudi Arabia. He even kissed a camel! Not sure that is a place he ever wants to vacation (we had to get creative here)
• Yikes!! Just a general description of some of our experiences over the last year! Like...Sprocket falling under the train in Munich and an oil spill threatening to damper our wedding, just to name a couple!
• Zwiebel-Onion in German. Tyler took a liking to this word and would say it all the time! I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year!!! I am off to finished preparing for our company this weekend! It is so fun to have people in our house!! I haven't told the puppies that their cousins Sydney and Marley are coming to visit yet, they get too excited. They are going to have a FUN weekend too!!

It's Wednesday, right??

Which means I only have 2 more work days to stay at home!!! And one really if you count that Friday is a holiday for most people. That makes me sad!! I have SO not gotten bored being at home everyday. I am sure if I continued for a long time, I would. Who knows. :) My Christmas "break" was great, super busy but lots of fun. I drove to Nashville on the 18th, stopping in Murfreesboro to pop in to Ivelisse's store since I hadn't been there in a while. After that I headed to Nashville to get ready to hit up Broadway and honky tonk with Leslie, Erin and her friends that were visiting from Arkansas. Then Sunday morning we drove out to Opryland to see the ICE exhibit...it was fun, but I have to say, definitely not worth the $24 that is cost to get in! Here are some pictures from ICE That night it was time for GARTH!!!!! I have never seen Garth Brooks in concert and knew that if he ever toured again, I would be there! Reagan and Mikey fought the crowds and got us tickets to the Sunday night show. Let me tell you, we had a blast!! Such a fun night! Oh what a night... Monday I had lunch with my buddy JT at Yolos in Green Hills where we saw Reba. Then that night we got to spend some time with cousins from my dad's side of the family that we haven't seen in years!! It was really good to catch up with them. Tuesday, lunch with Amy and then dinner at Jackson's with Paige and Jenn!! Wednesday mom and I did last minute shopping before Tyler got in town that afternoon. He requested Red Lobster for dinner and I agreed since we had a coupon. :) Thursday was our "Christmas Eve" in Nashville and we cooked all the old things we always have on Christmas Eve and then decorated cookies while watching Elf. It was a great night! We woke up early on Friday to open gifts with my family before loading up the car and heading South to MS. We spent Christmas Eve at Rita and Marty's and then had a lazy day around the house on Christmas! Which was great! We are back in Atlanta now with everything FINALLY put away! Every time we get home with more and more goodies, I have to rearrange closets to get everything put up! Shannon came over and had dinner with us last night and hopefully my dad will be here tonight. He is doing some business in Atlanta today and is staying the night. THEN Thursday Reagan, Mikey, Sydney and Marley get here to ring in the New Year with us!! Leslie and Erin will be in Atl too and we are all going out. I can't wait! Back to the grind next week, so I am living it up now! (Which means laying in my bed blogging at 10am) Here are some more fun pics from the holiday!!

100th Post!

Woo hoo!! That is such a huge milestone for me! No, really... Not much new here in the Scarbrough household, just general day-to-day stuff. Today we are getting the fun "wintery mix" that has been happening everywhere else in the south. Already, I am over it. Tyler left work an hour ago and he still isn't home. I mean, Atlanta traffic sucks, but it usually only takes him about 25 minutes to get home. We have been building fires every night because it is SO cold in this apartment!! Also, we keep blowing the fuse with the little space heater, so the fires help a lot to keep the living room warm. Wembley HATES the fires. I think it is the constant popping of the wood, but he sits behind the couch and barks at us most of the time. Last night I had to take him in the other room so that Tyler could get some work done. He won't stop barking!! I have been on a cleaning spree today. I want to get everything clean before I leave town for Christmas!! I am headed to Nashville on Saturday and Tyler will meet me there next week, we will spend a few days and then head to MS. Just doing our own little tour of the South again! Friday night is Tyler's Christmas party for his practice group at the law firm. It's being held at an partner's house out here close to us. I hope that all this funk weather clears up before then!!!

I should go to Walmart more often!

Just wanted to share some pictures of the pups and some of their fun new things they got from Walmart today!! (Well, the last 2 pictures at least) I rarely go to Walmart anymore, it is just more convenient for me to run in Target, etc. But I was out close to one this morning, after having to drop the car off at the dealership at 7:30am!!!, so I decided to run in and get some things. I was very excited to find these HEDGEHOGS!!! Now Sprocket and Wems can "sniff em out" here in Atlanta too! They were so excited when I brought them home, they ran all over the apartment fighting back and forth over them! And tell me they are not the cutest things EVER in these sweaters!! I think they are so stinkin cute! Tyler said they look like they are dressed and ready for school. I tried to get a picture of them in their holiday outfits last night, but I had zero success.

Here is a picture of them last week after they got their hair cut. I really like the girls at our PetSmart here in Atlanta, I have always been pleased with the way they cut their hair, but I REALLY wish they would just save a bandanna and not put them on my dogs. I just end up with them all over the house. And I just had to add this picture of Sprocket with the deer antler, because they don't play with it very often, but for some reason he pulled it out last night!

Pictures

Puppies all piled up on a crowded train ride. They were so good! Again on our tour Munich train station

Trying to polish the scuffed up boots that Reagan left in Germany for me! She was going to throw them away because they had seen better days, but I knew I could get the last little bit of use out of them!! I wore them almost every day too!

For weeks there were 2 guys with goats outside the mall trying to collect money for the circus. You know, because when I think circus, I think goat! Waiting for the bus! Obviously it was a little warmer this day because we don't even have on heavy coats. Little did we know what we were in for later in the week and the following week was brutal! On the tour again in Munich... Town Hall in Munich. The 2nd most over-rated tourist attraction in Europe according to our guide. I am proud to say I also saw the first! Which was the clock tower in Prague. We took a free tour of Munich while we were there and the guide made everyone do this little "dance" before we started. Of course Tyler decided to step back and take pictures. Good thing the guide didn't see him because the one girl that he did catch not doing it, he called out and made her do it alone. The tour was great and they have them in cities all over Europe! I highly recommend if you are visiting a European city, Google Sandeman's Tours!

No news is good news, right?

I have zero exciting news to share. I seriously feel like we are so boring these days!! No hedgehog hunting, no getting yelled at my old German ladies, none of that fun stuff! But we are so content it is great!! I talked to my mom on Sunday night and we chatted a little while, you know, the usual. Then she called me on Monday to see what was new...really, nothing! We are pretty dull! One of Tyler's friends from MS came to Atlanta this past weekend for the SEC Championship Game. We dropped him off at the game and then met them out later for dinner. We went out and stayed out WAY later than we had in a long time. It did a major toll and both of us because we literally didn't leave the house on Sunday except to let dogs out to the bathroom. It's funny how many times you can say "I am never doing that again". But we did have a good time while we were out!! Got the GA tags for our Jeep today. It is a process to change the state of your car tags! I had no idea. I am so grateful for the super nice lady at the Cobb County tag office...she was so helpful. Something you usually don't get out of government employees sadly. Right now I am sitting on my couch being barked at by two little black puppies to throw the ball. Dinner is on the stove and I am just waiting for Tyler to get home from work, well from happy hour after work. :) Little Sprocket used to be so good at catching the ball when you throw it to him, just now he just let me hit him in the head. Maybe I don't throw it as good as Tyler does so he doesn't put forth any effort to catch it. Maybe we will have something really earth shattering (in a good way) happen to us this weekend for me to share! Until then, I am going to post some pictures from Germany I never got around to sharing!

Puppy Cake!!

Oh how the babies loved their cake!! Well, Wembely loved the cake, Sprocket has to be the most neurotic dog I have ever seen in my life. He was scared of the freaking cake. He wouldn't come out from under the table unless I took a piece and fed it to him. He is special like that.

Daddy wanted a bite too!!

I love Wembley's tongue in this one...he was all over that cream cheese! And this picture totally busts me that I didn't ice the whole cake, just the front side. :) Cream cheese is hard to spread!!

You can see where he took a big bite out of the corner in this picture

Hiding under the table licking icing off his lips.

They got haircuts the other day and when they got home we noticed a new white dot on Sprockets nose that had been hiding under all his fur!

On a more serious note....

Nashville people!! I am sure most of you have seen the story on the news of the house fire earlier in the week. Well, the young girl that died was a student at Overton (where my mother works) and the faculty and staff are collecting things to help this family out. There were 20 people living in that house, including 13 children and they lost everything!! They are pretty much collecting clothes of every size, if you have any clothes that you are cleaning out or anything else to donate, please email me. If you would like to make monetary donations, email me and I will give you the details for that too.

katiewoodward12@gmail.com

Thanks in advance for anyone who is able to help!

Two posts in one day!!!

Whoa!!! That is some exciting stuff. I just had to share this because I was afraid I would forget.... Tyler and I bought 2 steaks at Kroger yesterday and we were planning to grill them tonight. Well, we got home after running errands and I opened them up to put them in marinade and a BUG ran out!!!!!!!! How gross is that!! So, we got in the car and took them back to Kroger and got some more. My mom had a point, we probably should have gotten our money back and gone to another store for steaks!! We got a Costco membership today, so maybe our steaks will have to start coming from there.

Home Sweet Home

We are both back in Atlanta now and I have been working like a dog to try and get all this stuff put away!! These pictures are seriously after hours of working! But I did find some time to hang the stockings. I have to have a LITTLE Christmas around here. We aren't putting up a tree this year because I will only be here in Atlanta for about 2 weeks before the holiday, so I am trying to put out a few things here and there. The problem I am running into now is that I don't have anywhere to put all this stuff. I am going to have to do some major reorganizing of closets. We went to the grocery last night and I think Tyler almost had a heart attack at the cost, but there was A LOT that we had to throw out before we left since we weren't going to be here for 5 months. We are excited to start eating at home again and I am excited to start using some of our new things to do that cooking! The weather was totally yuck here yesterday and the temperature dropped a lot. So tonight we are laying low with a fire in the fire place and continuing to unpack. Tomorrow is the puppies birthday, so stayed tuned for their birthday cake pictures!! Glad to be back in our little apartment even if we are growing out of it!!

Gotta love the holidays!!!

I don't feel like I have slowed down long enough to even get on my computer! Especially now that I have my phone back and I can check email and facebook from there! We got back to the States on Tuesday night and we were DEAD! Our flights went pretty smooth....when we got to the airport early Tuesday morning, the lady at the KLM counter told us that our dogs weren't confirmed on our flight. I asked what our options were and she said we could wait on the next flight (4.5 hours later) or leave the dogs. Ha, so we got on the phone and started working on getting those muts on the plane!! We were successful, thank goodness cause we were so ready to get home. We also had a sick guy on our long flight into the US and had to wait for the CDC to come on board and clear him to enter the country before we could get off the plane. That was interesting... We spent a few days in Nashville with my family before we packed up one car and headed down to MS to see the Scarbroughs! We had a great weekend there and Tyler headed back to Atlanta, while I brought the Jeep back to Nashville to pack up the rest of our things! I am amazed at me and my father that we got everything in the car. Well, ALMOST everything...we had to leave behind golf clubs and summer clothes, those won't make it back to Atl until after Christmas! I can't wait to get to my apartment and start organizing all of my new things. And to grocery shop and buy more than I can carry home in my arms!!

Bye Bye Germany!!

We are hanging out at Coffini tonight for a few hours for the last time! I will miss our little coffee shop. :) We have 5 BIG suitcases, 2 hanging bags, 1 medium suitcase, a duffel bag, 2 dog carriers, 2 backpacks and a shopping bag all packed up and ready to go! I need to take a picture of all of it in one place because it really is a sight to see. They are all busting at the seams too! Today is raining and really cold...perfect weather to make us realize how bad we really do want to be home. We have a 4am taxi picking us up in the morning followed by a long day of traveling and then Mexican dinner tomorrow night!! OH!! I almost forgot. Today Tyler and I were waiting for a table at the running sushi restaurant (yes, Sonja and Susan, we ate it AGAIN!) and we saw all this black smoke coming up over the buildings. So, after lunch we headed to see what had burned...it was one of the booths that has been set up for the Christmas market...it burned totally to the ground! It was still smoking when we got there! So sad. Wish us luck tomorrow on our long journey home! Next time I blog it will be from the good ol' USofA! There is NO place like home!!

This is really happening!!!

We're going home!! TWO MORE DAYS!!! We go home in less than 48 hours!!! I have SOOO much to do before we leave, but I am pretty sure I will get it all done. :) We are up early this morning while Susan and Sonja pack up the rest of their things and wait for their cab to the airport. We had such a great visit and got to see some amazing little towns here in Germany! I think overall, Fussen may be my favorite town I visited the entire time in Germany. The snowcapped Alps in the background are beautiful! Tonight Tyler and I are going over to Christoph and Trixie's house for drinks before we leave! It has been so fun getting to know them. Then tomorrow is a full day of laundry, packing and cleaning and getting ready for our 4:30am taxi on Tuesday!

Cissy's Guest Post!!

"OMG"!! (i laugh now everytime i hear that b/c KT actually says the letters! haha) I had such an amazing and fun trip to Germany!! KTand Tyler were both great hosts and I am very thankful that they sheltered me for 10 days!! I dont even know where to begin...my flights were actaully ok, and i read an entire book on my trip....and i hate to read! It was mostly cloudy during my stay in Germany, and i took a picture of me and KT's shadows when it finally came out for about 30 minutes!! I love the ease of everyday life in Germany...riding the train and bus was a fun experience. Im glad my visit was after they had been there a while b/c i cant imagine having to learn how to do everything....props to KT/Tyler!! After this trip I def think that me and Tyler are "kickin it pals"!! ha We all visited Munich one weekend and went on a tour to Dachau...which, for lack of a better word, was an "amazing" learning experience. KT and I visited Heidleberg on Tuesday and Wednesday and visited a castle and did "a little" shopping! We had an interesting hotel arrangement...our hotel's front desk was the bar! ha From the looks of the bar we thought the room was gonna be shady but it was really nice and we got the only room with a balcony!!! I did get to experience KT and Tyler's everyday life...from watching English tv to trying new meals to getting around town, and grocery shopping. I def commend them for their lifestyle the last 6 months and how they have adapted to living in Germany! I know many people will be glad to have them back in the good 'ol US of A...including me!! Thank you both again!! See you Tuesday!! and widdle Wimbley and Sprocket!!!

Lake Como

Our visit to Lake Como was amazing! If I would have know ahead of time how pretty it is, I would have planned for us to spend more time there. It actually ended up being a pretty late minute decision to go at all. We went to the main train station in Milan Saturday morning to find out train prices to get there. We had already been told it was only about a 20 minute train ride. The next train wasn't for about 2.5 hours so we had to decide whether or not we wanted to kill that much time in the station or just leave and explore Milan a little more. We decided we wanted to go. We headed downstairs to the ticket office and the lines ended up being so long that we barely had time to get a cup of coffee and a croissant before we had to catch our train. The beginning of the ride from Milan out to Lake Como was depressingly ugly. Lots of run down apartments and graffiti. Oh my, the graffiti in Milan AND Lake Como was so sad! Like mom said...all these beautiful buildings with "tagging" all over them. When we arrived at the very small station we walked in a few circles looking for the tourist office. The girl was very helpful and gave us a map and some tips on things that we might want to see. Of course, Bev asked where we could find George, but his house was too far away from where we were. It was very cloudy/foggy that day, so later in the day when we finally did make our way to the lake, the views weren't as great as I assume they are on a clear day. Most of our day was spent wandering in and out of shops, walking through the outdoor flea market and enjoying white wine and hot fudge Sunday's for lunch. (Hey, we were on vacation and we could eat whatever we wanted!!) Once we got to the lakeside area, we looked in to taking a boat tour of the lake, but decided that we wouldn't have enough time and still be able to catch our train back to Milan. So, we decided to take the tram (I know there is a "proper" name for that thing, but I can't remember) up the side of the mountain to see the views of the city. I suddenly realized my fear for those things! All I could think about was the cable snapping and us falling all the way to the bottom. Of course mom has to let me know that she thinks we would probably topple over in the car instead of just cruising straight back down the track. That was reassuring for me too. When we got to the top, it was almost too foggy for us to even see all the way down. But there were some amazingly beautiful houses at the top and we peaked through a few gates too. :) Overall, Lake Como is somewhere I would highly recommend anyone who is able to make it to Italy to visit. I hope that I can make it back some day and spend more time!! The pictures below are in NO order, obviously...