i haven’t really had the chance to write more when i was still in the states so i will update you now.

we went to see chris’ other grandma who lives with her sister that saturday and stayed the night as we planned. it was nice and they are really sweet, we had pancakes for breakfast and felt very comfortable. but what we didn’t know was that chris’ grandma’s sister had been sick with the flu and just gotten a little better the day we were there …

anyway, we went to see his dad’s side of the family on sunday and had a good time there, too. chris got to see his sister after almost five years and her two kids he hadn’t seen until then. everybody was happy to see him, the food was great and everybody was very nice so we stayed until the evening, went back to fort wayne, got packed, set the alarm for 4 a.m. and were ready to go …

well, unfortunately chris didn’t feel well when the alarm clock rang monday morning and it got worse during the next few hours. so he was sick all day, felt like sh.. and even had a fever that night. i got sick later that evening, too, but we still left on tuesday (31st) around noon to go to minnesota … otherwise it just wouldn’t have been worth going at all any more … so we both really didn’t feel great but we got to stillwater, MN around 8 p.m. after a ten hour drive (scheiss speed limits …).

scott and regina were really great and it was nice to see them again. they took us out for dinner at 10 to a really fancy restaurant downtown minneapolis and the food and atmosphere were awesome (even though we were kinda careful – stomach wise …). after dinner we went to the river to see the fireworks and got there just in time at midnight. it was freezing cold but very beautiful!

HAPPY NEW YEAR and a great 2003!

well, we pretty much went home right after the fireworks, talked for a little while and went to bed around 2 …

the next morning (new year’s day) i called my family and they asked us to join them for a brunch at 11:30. i was so excited and happy to see them all! i found my way there right away and the house really hasn’t changed a lot so it totally felt like coming home … the kids were so big, but other than that it was just like i had never been gone .. we ended up staying for dinner, too and left when the kids started to get ready for bed around 10 p.m. it was so nice to be back and i wish i would have had more time … i feel so comfortable there and the floods really are my family, too! ;o) after the visit we kinda drove around st. paul and i got to show chris all the places i used to go to and we even had a drink at billy’s on grand …

on january 2nd (thursday) we went to the mall of america all day. seriously – we got there around 1 p.m. and left when they closed at 9:30 p.m.. it was wild! we sat down for a few minutes to eat something but other than that we checked out all the stores. i had to buy sneakers at some point because my feet hurt so bad, but it was great. we even went back the next day for a couple of hours before we left minnesota because we hadn’t seen everything then …

well, we got back to fort wayne around five in the morning on saturday and took the car back around noon after just a few hours of sleep. later that day we went to see his dad again, he took us out for dinner and we stayed the night. on sunday i just kinda packed and we hung around the garrett’s house in fort wayne for a little while until we left to spend the last night in a hotel in chicago. when we got there we had dinner and pretty much went to bed because we were both really tired. on monday we did a little bit of last-minute-shopping (macaroni and cheese, cool whip …) and i re-packed my four (!) bags in the grocery store’s parking lot. and i had to leave a few things with chris because i just couldn’t get everything packed … chris took me out to eat at olive garden (mmmh) and we pretty much had to leave for the airport. of course we got there kinda late and i seriously got the last seat on the plane. we had about five minutes to say goodbye and it was horrible …

i got home tuesday night and today is my first day at work. it’s nice to be back, see everybody and have my own place again, but i miss chris already so much! i hope he can come for my brother’s wedding. that would mean only a little over two months and that sounds okay to me … but we will see …

so i had a great time over there and thanks again to everybody for making me feel so comfortable the whole time!!!

lots of love ;o)

howdi,

christmas is over and i’m actually kinda glad it is … since the last entry we’ve been to C’s dad’s on friday and stayed the night. we also kinda “delayed” our trip to minnesota because there’s some family-christmas-thing on sunday with C’s dad’s part of the family we will go to. we just got the car for the trip today though. we got a really good deal for an economy car (small car) on priceline.com for 17$/day and once we were there i kinda sweet talked the guy a little bit and now we have a cool yellow nissan something SUV four-wheel-drive for the same price! yehaaw!!! the power of the german … or something ;o)

well, we’re gonna take off to see (one of) C’s other grandma(s) tonight and stay there. then we will go to his dad’s from there in the morning and should be back some time tomorrow night. we wanna take off early monday morning to minnesota and i can’t wait to get there. i talked to scott and he’s looking forward to our visit and we will spend new year’s there with them …

okay everybody – have a great new year’s party and a drink for me, too. and i wish you a wonderful 2003 (can only get better, right?)

FROHE WEIHNACHTEN and MERRY CHRISTMAS everybody!

christmas eve’s almost over. in germany it has been over for a few hours now. it was really nice here in fort wayne. C’ family is just great. they all made me feel like i was part of the family and were all so nice … i had tough times tonight but i got over it. i mean it’s way better now. before we started it was all a little too much. meeting everybody doing the small talk … at the same time i was thinking about how it’d be back home with my mom and the rest of the family right now. it’s not been easy but definitely good to be here! i just wish i had the chance to talk to my brother or sister. C told me to call earlier but i had to get myself back together at that time and talking to someone from home certainly wouldn’t have helped at that time. plus i really didn’t know where they were at that time. i will try and get a hold of them tomorrow and i really hope it wasn’t too bad for them either! it just started to snow here a couple of hours ago so we don’t know if we’ll go see C’s dad tomorrow. i just hope the streets will be okay to drive to minnesota by the end of the week! for now the snow is nice though …

okay everyone, i hope you’re all having a wonderful christmas. mine is just as good as it can be under the circumstances and i’m glad to be here with C and all these wonderful people!

lots of love ;o)

okay now,

i got to fort wayne last night and this is where we will spend christmas. it’s really nice to be here with chris’ family. although i am a little worried when i think about christmas and it’s really not gonna be easy this year, this is probably the best place for me to be right now! we’ll go and do a little christmas shopping in a little bit so i won’t be able to update you about the last few days. but i’m sure i will find the time one of these days …

so far i’m doing okay and we all know – “what doesn’t kill us is making us …”

have a great christmas now and i hope to hear from you all!

i am in the states! in wisconsin right now – cedarburg near milwaukee … it’s great to be here. i don’t have much time because we’re in a library and we have to get off the computer in two minutes … just wanted to say – IT’S GREAT TO BE HERE!!! i will go to colorado to see carmen tomorrow and i’ll probably update you all once i’m in fort wayne …

gotta go ;o)