101th POST!

Silly me, I didn't notice that I'd hit the 100 mark on ye olde blog until after I posted. So I'll have to commemorate the 101th post instead.

This won't be long, since all the whirlwindery of the last few weeks has knocked me a bit flat (might also have something to do with the miniature bacteria catapults with which I work). The Schatz has a long lab day/night tonight, so I'm on me onesies with my HSE and my sage tea. I SHOULD be writing a paper on something around the general health of small children based on some study or other, or better yet paying bills, or better YET putting together a presentation on the main jewish holidays, but instead I'm ensconced on my couch under several blankets with some physalis (for the vitamins) and some of the Schatz's secret swiss chocolate stash (for the soul) posting to all you internet folks and coughing my face off.

Sounds like a rollicking good time, non?

Berlin has decided to release her winter ire a bit early this year--it's only a shade darker at quarter past six pm than it was all day. It never really got light. Instead, it rained and winded and was generally ugly. Ohhhhhh uglyberlin. It's the jekyll side of this city to be sure. Some cities turn into sparkling winter wonderlands in the wintertime. Berlin is not one of those. From now until April, things won't really change much, barring perhaps an early March thaw. It doesn't really freeze, so snow doesn't really stick--things just get gray and rainy and raw. I think that's what has turned me into such a festive holiday person. I never used to be, but celebrating Thanksgiving and the Advent season in general last year was a turning point for me. It was so great having a mob here cooking and eating and drinking together. I'm looking forward to the planning for this year. It will indeed serve to distract me from the impending hounds of winter hell. Freezing rain was forecast for today. I hauled out my ski jacket and the lined clarks for the trip to and from work and was a happier commuter for it.

Time to get a move on with the Christmas shopping, I suppose. But also alas, time to get a move on all the work I've got to do around here.

So, happy Fall to you of the interweb and happy 101th post to me. May your apple pies be crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside and your jack-o-lanterns well cut.

xo

Renovations and other Fall fun!

Oh, hello internet friends!

Believe it or not, I have missed you so. There's just been so much going on! Well, I suppose not more than normal, but details, details. I'm here now. My dashboard was so kind as to inform me that I last posted on the 2nd of August. It is now early October. That means I left out most of August and all of September. Bad, bad blogger! Oh well. What all went on is the question?

Well, the Schatz had his birthday. For which he came back from Zürich. We celebrated withmany lovely folks here in chez Bänsch and I do believe a good time was had by all. I spent a few weeks in August working in a relatively relaxed fashion, did a Swim & Run with the lovelyMs. Carina (we didn't do very well, but seeing as we were both vacationing beforehand, we didnot train very hard either. It is logical that there would be a correlation between the two).

School started for me (my last year! Oh and how I cannot wait for my exams! Seriously.), the Long Night of the Museums came to pass (I was not out very long at all, visited the Helmut Newton archives, Schloß Charlottenburg and a Synagogue)...I trained my munchkins to run a 1km race, which was charming and rewarding...and last but not least, THE SCHATZ RETURNED!

I picked him up from the central train station here on the 25th of September, at the end of a very crazy week. The last few weeks have been light-duty in terms of work (thank heavens!) and have enabled me/us to get a lot done around chez Bänsch. In fact, last weekend we renovated the bedroom. It was pretty cool and I've got some lovely before/after photos.

Bedroom before ...and after.

Another view of the revamped bedroom and the NEW BOOKSHELVES in the livingroom.

Oh yes, and we finally have a dishwasher. Saints be praised!

This weekend, we helped some friends move. They left the lovely Südkiez in favor of less rowdy Potsdam...I wish them eversomuch love and happiness there. And I hope we get to visit them lots, even though it's quite far away (at least by urban standards). The move is my excuse for not prepping my lesson for il Dottore...I feel like I've been out for 3 nights in a row drinking, when all I really did was schlepp/unbuild/rebuild IKEA furniture for 11 hours and inhale lots of dust. Getting old is a terrible thing.

Since the Schatz has been back, we've started a little habit of going out to breakfast on Sunday mornings. It's been lovely really--last week we went to a tiny cafe and I had a most delectible bagel with some kind of a goat camembert, arugula, pesto & tomato. Today we hit up a place called Kuchenrausch (Cake High) and were very impressed by service & food. Service is a rare commodity here. I haven't felt so pampered by a server in aeons!

On the whole, there hasn't been too much of note going on. My application process for Uni is coming along well--as far as I can tell, I have all of the necessary official documents, and they have all been notarized. Now I just have to put together a detailed resume for one University (so that they can see where I've been in the 6 years since I took my last German proficiency exam) and I'll be good to go. The conversation with the Boss Lady is also imminent. We shall see how that goes. Please do wish me luck and balls.

Hope this finds you well and enjoying all the apple pies, cider and pumpkin delicacies you can all stand!

XoX