Picture Day #4 - Random Things

Good afternoon all (for those of you who are currently in a European country, otherwise, hello!),

So I'm feeling a little down today and in order to perk up my spirits I have decided to do a random blog post with bits of random information and tidbits (and who doesn't love tidbits).

First off I will start with news that I haven't relayed to many of you and this is I am leaving tomorrow to go to Heidelberg, Germany with the family for the weekend. (Somehow, I feel a Squishables blog post coming on...) I'm sure this will be fun because I'm told it's a very historic town with lots to see. I've done some research and discovered there are quite a few things I can do, and most of it is very cheap or free. Not to mention a castle or two... and I love castles...

Second, Paris is rapidly approaching for me and I can hardly contain my excitement. May 29th is the day I leave, just so everyone's aware, and I could not be more excited. The week I will be going to Paris is also the week I have decided I will go to Salzburg to spend a day. For anyone who is not American, and for those of you who are and have lived without knowing the wonders of "The Sound of Music" movie, it is a must-see and I plan on watching it before I go.

I have complied a list of things to do while I'm still here in Munich, plus a few things to see if I can manage to do while I'm still in Europe. I would love to go through Amsterdam if I can afford it, and if not Berlin would be on the list. As far as Munich goes, I have an aquarium, BMW Welt, the Deutches Museum,  and Olympia Park, to name a few, on my list. My time left here is surprisingly short now, leaving me wondering where in the world the time as gone!

Here's a tidbit for everyone: if you click on the first link in any Wikipedia article that is not within a set of parenthesis or italicized and keep going, you will eventually end up at the Wikipedia "philosophy" page. I did not believe this until I tried it. (Thanks xkcd!)

Okay, I think that's all I have for now. I have a few pictures below with captions. Be happy!

Okay so in the spirit of my yogurt based smoothies, I developed my strawberry-banana smoothie! Four-five large strawberries, one banana, 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt, 1/2 cup milk of choice, 4 ice cubes. Blend until smooth. Yum!

Okay so this is an odd color, and I know it has black flecks in it, but hear me out. A third of a mango, a kiwi, a third of a banana, a small squirt of lemon juice, 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt, 1/2 cup milk of choice, 4 ice cubes. Blend. Taste. Ahh... (Full amount a fruit I had on hand was a whole mango, a whole banana, four kiwis, and half a lemon squeezed over the fruit. Divide into thirds or fourths for serving sizes.)

Okay so I wanted to buy a coloring book so bad that well, I bought a coloring book! They were hard to find; here in Germany they have a thing with mandalas to color. But I eventually learned that "coloring book" in German is "malbuch."

I went a little nuts with the coloring. Not seen here is a mallard duck and a VW Beetle I also colored.

Maybe Never Wrote A Song. Be Marlboro. I wish I could find the Maybe Never Fell in Love poster I saw. That one was very funny.

This is kinda interesting: they had a Frühlingsfest here (Spring festival), and I just wanted to stop by to see what it was all about. Well, aside from being in Germany, it felt like every other carnival or fair I've been to. Kind of disappointing actually. Might have been fun with the kids or a friend. I stayed for about 5-10 minutes then left.

Pretty day here in Munich.

DUCKIES!! I love duckies.

Sitting area just outside the Pullach train station. Pullach is not technically in Munich. It's right on the border though, and only about a 10 minute walk from where I live. It's also where I go to school.

Fred der Frosch close up. Isn't he cute? It's only been five days since the last picture but he is really growing quick. I'm going to find another container to put him in and give him more fresh pond water when I get back from Heidelberg.

Good Food is a Destination!

Hi everyone!

Welcome to May! For some of us, it has been a blissful May so far because the weather has been fabulous. The weather here in Munich has been nothing short of ideal, with beautiful 70 degree weather, mostly sunny, and slightly breezy... perfect Holly weather!

May first is a day some of you may know as "May Day." Now, I wasn't aware of the significance it had on Germans, at least Bavarian Germans, until on that day. Wow, did I ever walk into a celebration! They set up a HUGE maypole, and it was an incredible celebration with beer (at like 10:30-11:00am), traditional dress, dancing, and general eating and celebration. They even blocked off the street for the event! I missed the rising of the pole, but I got to see the flag being raised, the traditional dancing around a smaller maypole, and of course, watching lots of people holding beer mugs, several of them in traditional dress. I got there sometime around noon, and there were easily 150 people or more there... and this was just down the street from me! I realized the the small Munich community I live in is very close. It's nice to have people who care and support tradition and the members of the community, old and young. Shared below are some pictures of the exciting day.

Maypole as the flag was being raised.

Up close picture of the maypole. The artwork is just beautiful.

2012 maypole sign.

Traditional maypole dancing!

Why is good food a destination, you may ask. Well, Holly is here today to tell you why. Simply put, anyone can go to the McDonald's down the street (yes, sadly even here in Munich), but if you want to find quality food, you have to look further. In today's world, it's too easy to just walk into a store, grab a box of cereal, and walk out. No one cares to read what's actually in the cereal, or where those ingredients come from as long as it looks and tastes good. Not to mention the prices of today are just outrageous. The reality is: everything, and I mean everything, can be made from scratch, by hand, in your own home. You can even very easily grow your own organic fruits and vegetables in your own backyard. How much money can you save doing this? A lot. Take my plants for example. Leftover seeds from one pumpkin can create multiple pumpkins and even more from those pumpkins, and so on. Okay so there is something I recognize: not everyone has the time to make everything by hand. (Note: Homemade food takes far less time than people think. You don't need to be a gourmet chef and you will have more than enough leftovers.) What do we do in these situations? Search for the good food! Whole Foods Market is a great place to start. Don't have one nearby? Check out these sites for amazing healthy/organic restaurants, grocery stores, bakeries, and more in your area:

Happy Cow

Eat Well Guide

On the topic of food, I made two AMAZING smoothies and I will be making new one today (strawberry banana, a classic, but Holly reinvented). I also found the perfect vegetable rice dish to make: vegetarian chili! Serve it over rice and BOOM! Awesomeness! I have compiled ideas from three different websites so I will let everyone know how it turns out when I make it.

Avocado Smoothie!

Welcome to deliciousness. Recipe here. I substituted regular milk with oat milk (my favorite). Still tastes amazing!

 Holly's Banana-Almond Butter Smoothie!

I came up with this smoothie because I wanted to use up the rest of my almond butter (I was eating it by the spoonful and I had to stop).

Ingredients:

1 Banana

2 Tablespoons Almond Butter

2 Teaspoons Honey

1/2 Cup Plain Yogurt

3/4 Cup Milk of Choice (I used oat milk again)

4 Ice Cubes

Directions:

Blend everything to a beautifully smooth consistency! Very healthy for you.

There are a couple more pictures below with captions to explain their significance. Today I have most of the day off, so I will be doing a lot of shopping and running around. I tried to mail a box to the States with a UPS office here and the small box would have cost me 108 EUROS to mail! Ow! (And it's not even that heavy!) So I'm going to see if the local post office is any cheaper. I also grabbed two tadpoles from the pond, but I think one of them had hit its head on a rock that I had placed in the jar, so it died the next day. The other one is quite the fighter and the oldest child and me collaborated on a name: Fred der Frosch! (Fred the Frog in English.) I'll be taking lots of pictures to show his progress. (I also hope to find butterfly eggs!)

Maybe Never Learned to Fly. Be Marlboro. Sorry this picture is such low quality, I didn't have my real camera on me and had to use my cell phone.

FRED DER FROSCH! He's adorable.

The little boy found a strange bug. It looks like a bee but it's not. It has a pointy nose, so he called it "Spikey Mouth," but it actually sounded a little better in German.

I got lost trying to find the UPS place, and I ended up in Karlsplatz (Stachus). So much architecture I hadn't seen yet!

Okay so I might be a really big kid here, but I found a set of mini building blocks and I had to buy it. There was no other option for me. Aren't they adorable??

My plants as of today. I love things that grow, can you tell?

Take care everyone!