you probably noticed that i changed the header and colors of the layout. i did it a couple of nights ago when [rant] once again there was baseball on and i needed something else to do because i just can’t watch baseball every effing evening. last night when i came home C was even watching “the little league” baseball = ten or eleven year old kids. seriously? so you see my dilemma. i got him NASN because i love him and now i’m actually turning into a “sports”-widow. no, not a football- OR baseball- OR basketball-widow, a sports-widow. because he watches it ALL. and not just major league but also college and [from what i found out last night] kids… okay, when he has to prepare in the evening or i really want to watch something else, he usually lets me but as soon as i leave the room [to pee or get a glass of water] he changes the channel to sports… [/rant]

see, i like watching the cubs play and i’m looking forward to the NFL season to start again because i like football better but he just watches every game of all the aforementioned sports he can for the sake of the game [i even caught him watch a nascar race before...]. i watch because i want “my team” [GO BEARS!] to win and cheer for it. if i can’t take a side, i don’t need to watch a game because it’s boring. but that’s just me… [PS: i still love him]

what i really wanted to get to though was that while going through my pictures to find something for the new header i came across this one and decided to use it. i love how it turned out for the header and was happy with the new color-scheme right away.

and i just realized today [from a comment, san made] that i took it exactly a year ago on one of the best weekends of 2006 when san came to bremen to visit me. last summer, i was having a rough time. it had been over seven months since i had last seen C, there were weddings all over the place i had to attend by myself, everyone else’s life seemed to be going somewhere and mine seemed to have stopped. so this weekend with san really was such a life-saver at the time. we were both going through some of the same things, uncertainty about the future, torn between the US and germany, between friends & family and the man we loved.

now here we are, a year later. san lives in california now with her husband and just went back to the job and city she loves. she’s been happier in the last couple of weeks than she has been in months. and certainly a lot happier than she was a year ago… and as you all know, C and i finally ended our over four years of long-distance-relationship almost exactly nine months ago and are living in bremen together [for now]. even though i am not where i would like to be [but who really ever is?] i, too, am so much better than i was a year ago.

do i miss san? do i wish we could just hook up and go ahead and repeat a weekend like the one a year ago? i certainly do! but at the same time i don’t really mind that we can’t because it means overall we’re both happier where we are at right now and that’s what counts. our friendship is still just as strong [maybe even stronger] and we don’t need to see each other this or that often to prove that *. and when C and i stroll over the viertelfest tomorrow i will certainly think of san and how we spent that great weekend together exactly a year ago. :) xoxoxo

* of course it helps to know that we WILL see each other in less than three months… ;)

we had the appointment at the aliens department this morning. and apart from the fact that for some reason they didn’t have the appointment in the system [WTF?] everything went smoothly. C finally has his visa + workpermit to work as an english instructor. we also got his health insurance [not covering his back, but that was to be expected], went to get him a freelance-licence [gewerbeschein] so he’ll get a tax-number and opened a bank account for him. it feels SO great to finally have him here all legal, somewhat settled, able to work, with insurance and everything. and a bonus is definetely the warm feeling in my stomach i get every time i walk through the door of our apartment building and see his and my name together on the nametag by the doorbell …

we’re home! after a nice thanksgiving [man, i ate A LOT but it was SO gooood] and two very stressful days to follow we made it on the plane on time no problem. the chick at the check-in didn’t even charge C for the overweight luggage, and it was quite a bit on every piece. there’s my mr. charming for you ;) the flight actually wasn’t too bad, no problems at all in amsterdam even though C only had that one-way ticket. the guy simply asked for the final destination and boom, C had the stamp in his passport. YAY to that because he was kinda worried about it… no delays or other of problems on the flight to bremen either. we got in around 10.15 am actually 15 minutes early, all the luggage made it here with us in one piece and my brother was there to pick us up.

my sister had cleaned the apartment for us and actually prepared dinner so we just had to heat it up. she dropped by for a coffee and we chatted a bit with her and my brother shortly after we got home and we kicked them out around noon. tried to stay awake but that didn’t work so we went to bed for a short nap that ended up being a four-hour-nap because C turned off the alarm i had set for an hour later instead of snoozing it :) after we got up we went to the grocery store, snuggled up on the couch with a red wine and watched the sunday night football game and a tatort until about 11 pm. we both slept really good despite the long nap and i’m still pretty tired. i took the morning off actually and got into work about 1.5 hours ago. betti is sick so i have loads to do, which is especially fun after two weeks of not very relaxing vacation and with a jet-lag. i didn’t like leaving and could have used another lazy day at home but okay…

everything’s still very surreal. C is not quite here yet [emotionally] and i can hardly believe myself that he is. i hope he will settle in soon and feel comfortable. speedy already loves him so that’s a relief and i’m just SO happy [at least when i'm not worried about him being happy] to have him here with me. i just had to reach over to touch him and get real close every time i woke up last night… he’s actually HERE!

i have to get back to work now but will certainly let you all know what’s going on. i hope to find some time to catch up on what’s been going on with you guys soon as well. it may be until the weekend though so don’t be upset if you don’t hear from me before then – all is swell in C & K land :D

today is a good day! first and foremost because my girl san is on a plane to LA to finally after almost a year of dealing with immigration issues start her life with her husband. i’m thinking of you, sweety! also, the weather is really beautiful and we pretty much have the day to ourselves today which is great. no plans with any family members, no appointments, no nothing… of course we still have a lot to do but we can do it in our pace and don’t have to be anywhere at a certain time today. that’s definetely a first since i got here…

the trip to nashville was fun. i’m gonna have to make this short so i’ll just give you the highlights. the drive wasn’t too bad and the hotel turned out to be really awesome. we had a suite with two double beds which was great. that gave us enough room even with three people because there was a nice sitting area up front and all. still, three nights in one hotel room with two guys, even if i really love one of them, is about enough for me…

we went out to a club downtown nashville friday and saturday night and while i drove and partied on red bull, C and M went through almost a 1l bottle of jaegermeister on those two nights. it was fun trying to find my way from downtown nashville back to the hotel at 3 am with two drunken hillbillies in the car. they kept calling people from M’s cell and left messages which meant C had to turn up the hillbilly music every five minutes in order for M to have the perfect soundtrack to his messages from nashville. good times :)

well, we went to the jack daniel’s distillery (i just couldn’t get those hungover guys out of the hotel room until after 2 pm on saturday so we had to do it on sunday…) which was really great. i took a few cool pictures there, that you will have to wait for until i’m back though. we stopped at the mansion of some president (jefferson i think) on the way back and while i read in the cafe up front, M & C took the tour. i’m really not that much into history and it was 14 bucks to go in so i decided some time by myself would be just perfect, and it really was :)

we got back to fort wayne late monday night and went straight to bed. M left to go back up to chicago around 1 pm yesterday, i did some stuff around the house to help out C’s grandma while C had a dentist appointment and we went to see his dad and take some stuff over again in the evening. dude, my man has some seriously huge collection of baseball cards – i was really impressed. that’ll probably be the down payment for our house one day, and i’m not even kidding :) we’ll probably be doing some shopping today and maybe take his grandma out for dinner tonight as a thank you for letting us stay here. other than that, we’re free to do what we want today.

tomorrow is thanksgiving, which i’m really looking forward to. it starts here at his grandma L’s house around 1 pm and we’re gonna head over to his aunt’s house to see that side of the family and his other grandma around 4 or 5 pm. it should be a fun day and i can’t wait for my turkey :) even though i may be complaining about not having a lot of time to ourselves, i’m glad we have the chance to see his family quite a bit while we’re still here. especially with his grandma’s all being in their 80ies and not all that healthy any more you just never know… and i love his big family. and after all, i will have him to myself all the time now so it’s really okay to share him with them while we’re still here.

we’ll probably go over to his dad’s one more time on friday and wrap things up around here before his mom will take us to chicago on saturday. once we’re there and all checked in it should be a lot better and time to take a deep breath. until then, a lot do do and still kind of a “O.M.G. this is really happening-feeling” going on but i a totally good way. in a few days we’ll be in our apartment in germany, unpacking and settling in for our life together and i can’t wait. i’m ready. man, this month ROCKS! don’t you think, san? :)

have a happy thanksgiving all of you who get to celebrate and have off and a good weekend all the rest of you. we’ll be leaving chicago at 4.30 pm local time and get into bremen some time around noon on monday i believe. next time i will update from my new life!

my bags are packed, i’m ready to go… i can’t believe this is the last night by myself in the apartment. i can’t believe i’m getting on a plane in less than nine hours, will see C in about 21 hours and bring him back with me in 18 days. i can’t put into words, let alone in english, what and how i’m feeling right now so i won’t even try. thank you all SO MUCH for all the patience listening to my whining, being excited for us and just basically for caring. this means a lot to me and i can’t express how grateful i am that a bunch of [almost] strangers, a lot of whom i’m actually lucky enough to call friends by now, seem to care about what’s going on in my crazy life. and thanks a lot to all of you who sent an email or a text-message or left a comment to wish me luck tomorrow and tell me you’re thinking of me. i wish i could hump all of you guys’ legs to show you how i appreciate your caring :)

okay, enough of the cheese and back to actual numbers here. i know that at least one of you [hi san, HDGDL!] likes to track flights so i’m giving you some more info on my day tomorrow. my big brother will pick me up at 5:15 am [see, he's good for so many things besides saving me and my door a lot of trouble after locking myself out] to take me to the airport. i’m leaving bremen at 7 am on KLM flight #KL1750 and get into amsterdam at 8:50 am. on to chicago at 10:30 am on KLM flight #KL0611 which will [hopefully] get into chicago in one piece at 12:15 pm local time. if all goes well, i get through customs without any problems and my bag is there as well i will probably walk through the magic doors at o’hare to kiss C for the first time after ten months and eight days right around 1 pm. *sigh* my tummy feels all bouncy just thinking about it :)

i don’t know how much time i will have to be online while i’m over there but i will try and keep you guys up to date as good as i can. OH.MY.GAWD. it’s happening…