Eguisheim and Riquewihr, France

While visiting Colmar, we hit the road to a couple other nearby towns. The Alsace region of France has a seemingly endless number of adorable little towns to explore. Our time was short, so we focused on Eguisheim and Riquewihr. 

This is a popular photo spot in Eguisheim. Some say it inspired Disney's Beauty and the Beast. We were really lucky to find the area devoid of many tourists so we could take a few pictures uninterrupted. 

This shows the same spot but a little farther behind with wisteria framing the shot. The spring flowers around the towns were gorgeous!

We stopped for a coffee at a shop that is 125 years old (if I read the French correctly). It was a lovely spot next to the square with views of a fountain and a church.

Our next stop in Riquewihr started with lunch. We opted for pizza and tarte flambé. I indulged with a limoncello spritz which was the perfect refreshing drink.

Each little town seemed to have a small train to learn some of the history and see the town. We took the little train ride in Riquewihr which drove us up into the surrounding vineyards for an amazing view of the town below. 

The pictures do not do the town justice. It was picturesque and pleasant. You can stop to taste wine at a number of wine shops serving Alsatian wines. You can pick up Alsatian gingerbread. You can shop for pottery or antiques. There is a wealth of possibilities and I cannot wait to return to explore some more!

Colmar, France

One of the fun things about living in Europe is being able to take weekend trips to other countries very easily. For Mother's Day weekend, some of my gal pals and I headed to Colmar, France! It was an easy 2ish hour drive from here. We stayed in a very girly Airbnb that was in the perfect spot to see all the popular sights in town. It was across the street from a park with a carousel (we did not take a spin) and a large parking garage. 

Colmar has a Little Venice section and we took advantage of a beautiful evening with a boat ride on one of the canals. Our boat captain gave us a little bit of history and some cheesy jokes that had us laughing. 

We thought about purchasing a lock to add to the bridge to celebrate our friendship, but ran out of time to find one in a local gift shop. 

This is one of the oldest streets in Colmar. Colmar and the surrounding towns are chock full of half timbered homes just like these. 

We had fun walking around town searching for the giant Colmar sign for our photo opportunity.

Design: Summer Retreat

One event that has been on my mind since helping create the Alpha Omega Alumni Chapter is a retreat. However, since the start of the chapter I have lived out of state. This makes planning a trip of this nature hard to execute. Now that I am back in the state, this was one of my priorities for this summer.

We are doing some fundraisers to help bring the cost down. Our first was a flower fundraiser through Flower Power. It was not hugely successful, but I like to try things out to see how well they do. That way we know if it's worthwhile to do again in the future. It was really easy to organize. I highly recommend it if you have a fundraising need and have some gardeners in your group.

Our group was interested in going to the mountains for a retreat. Originally I was planning on Hendersonville, North Carolina. Charles worked at a summer camp up there and we have been several times. It is a cute town, but a little off the beaten path so it isn't too busy or crowded with tourists. However, a couple of the other ladies suggested Asheville. I have only been there once, but it was at the tail end of winter. So I am looking forward to experiencing it in another season.

We will be discussing topics from the book Messy Beautiful Friendship by Christine Hoover. I just started the book and am really enjoying it. It addresses a lot of issues that I struggle with. And it sounds like most, if not all, women struggle with the exact same things. It should provide some good discussion in our group.

Fonts used:
Just Realize
Parisienne
Quicksand

Goodbye California

Lately I have been reflecting on our time in California since it is coming to an end. It is important to reflect on the events and people in our lives from time to time. It is a good way to appreciate all the amazing things that happen in our time on Earth and help us to move forward to be the best person we can be.

Prior to finding out our assignment to California, I never thought I would live in the state. To be honest, I was most afraid of experiencing an earthquake. Luckily, we have not had one near us.

My favorite part of our time on the West Coast was all the friendships I made. At our last base, I felt alone many times because I had a hard time making friends. I was determined not to repeat that this time. I joined a book club (and eventually ran it), I joined the Officers' Spouses' Club, and was heavily involved in our squadron spouse group. I put myself out there more than I usually do and it ended up being a big blessing. I am thankful for the ladies I have come to know and I hope our paths cross again (many times).

I have also valued our travels while living here. We have visited the Bay area several times, Lake Tahoe, Eureka, the Avenue of the Giants, L.A., Anaheim, Monterey, Yosemite, Ventura, Apple Hill, Reno, Stockton, Oregon and Hawaii. Hawaii is one of my favorite places we have ever visited.

I am so thankful for our time on the West coast, but excited to be home during our next assignment. I hope to take the things I have experienced and learned here and use that knowledge throughout the rest of Charles' Air Force career.

Mini hat

My annual get-together with my college sorority sisters is THIS weekend! I am making the long journey from California this year and I am not looking forward to a long afternoon/evening in the air. But I will get to see my friends and my real sisters while in town, so it should be worth it.

Each year there is a brunch and the theme for this year's event is hats. I own baseball caps and that is it. I figured wearing a baseball cap to a brunch would not be very cute. And being unemployed at the moment I did not want to go out an buy a hat to wear once. Pinterest to the rescue! I found a tutorial for a fun little hat that I can pin in my hair. The tutorial and pattern are on FleeceFun.com.

If you are doing the no-sew option, the directions called for spray adhesive. I did not have any, so I used scrapbook adhesive. I didn't know if it would work, but it worked out alright. The tutorial also calls for fleece, but I used regular fabric.

I realized after I finished that my middle section is upside down. Ever since I have considered making a new one, but have not done so yet. It still looks like a hat and I would probably be the only one to know. The hat isn't perfect, but it is good enough and it was FREE! I already had all the supplies I needed.

Preserving Memories

I do not blog about this at all, I don't think. But I greatly enjoy scrapbooking. I am not one of those that does a ton of embellishments and all that stuff. I like to focus on the pictures. I K.I.S.S. I recently bought a bunch of prints so I could catch up on some scrapbooking. I was a little behind, by my standards. I thought I would share some of my favorite pages from my current scrapbook.

I love the retro vibe of this one.

Simple, but I like it. Scrapbooking does not have to be intimidating or time consuming. It is all about preserving those memories.

July 4th page

I use my Silhouette a lot to cut out fun shapes for my pages. I love these suitcases. I have 2 more pages from this trip that I used the same suitcase border.

My favorite scrapbook-type thing on this page is the "Score" with the diamond ring.

Simple page, but I just love the paper background. I love, love, love scrapbook paper. Take me to a scrapbook store and I'm bound to come out with at least a few pages.

Blessings

Yesterday I was a part of something really cool--a proposal!

I met my friend Angela down at Maxwell AFB when our significant others were graduating from Officer Training School. They ended up being stationed here so we have been hanging out. It's been a ton of fun. She moved up here to be with him which I think it is a huge leap of faith.

Last week, Matt emailed me to invite me to the Columbus Crew soccer game with them. And he informed me that he was going to propose at halftime. I replied back "OMG! (I never use that word, but I am so excited)" The only proposal I've witnessed is my own.

I had to act normal and not give it away. It was fun to have a little secret. Then at halftime, after all the birthday announcements, they said her name over the loud speaker and told her to look at the screen. I think she was a little confused. Then the message came up and he proposed. It was so cute! She was incredibly happy and stunned.

For only knowing them since May, I felt extremely blessed to be given the chance to be a part of such a huge event in their life. I can be quite stingy with my friendship and I don't know if I could have done that. But it is so gratifying.

The ring is GIGANTIC and gorgeous!

I had the sash waiting in my purse for after the big question.

Another cool thing is that my friend Jenilyn over at Grits and Giggles named one of her dresses after me! She makes beautiful clothes for her babies and herself. I don't know where her amazing talent came from, but it definitely inspires me to be more crafty. I think she'll be selling the pattern soon so everyone can have a Kristen dress. That just makes me smile!

Porcupines and other things...

I've been M.I.A. lately! Sorry about that.

I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend away to visit my husband. Fredericksburg was a neat town. Our cabin was wonderful and like a little world away from everything. I think one day I would love to own a bed and breakfast. I just think it would be so rewarding. We ate some good food and saw some neat things.

It was unbelievably hard to leave. I just feel so good when I'm with him and it's like I'm incomplete without him. I know that sounds really sappy and maybe a little anti-feminist (not that I care about either), but it is true for me.

This past weekend was a good distraction because three of my college friends came all the way up to Ohio to visit me! It was nice to sit around and talk, show them around town and just have some company from people I feel truly comfortable around. It is so hard making new friends because I always feel an uneasiness until you really get to know the person and they get to know you. I've known these girls for close to ten years now (which blows my mind).

While they were here, I took the opportunity to make a recipe from my childhood. I asked my sister to email it to me a while back and had not made it yet. The recipe is for Porcupines (aka meatballs). Unfortunately we ate them all without taking any pictures, but they were delicious and super easy. I stole the picture below from Google. 

Ingredients

Quick tomato sauce (recipe below)
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup uncooked rice (I used brown rice)
1/4 cup minced onion
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Lightly grease a 2 1/2 qt. casserole dish. Prepare and set aside tomato sauce, adding 1/2 c water. Meanwhile combine beef, rice, onion, salt and pepper. Mix lightly and shape into 1 1/2 inch balls.
Put in casserole, cover with sauce. Cover with lid or foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour or until rice is tender.

Quick Tomato Sauce
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 c chopped celery
2 Tbsp finely chopped onion (I didn't actually have onion, so I didn't add this)
1 1/4 c (10 1/2-11 oz) condensed tomato soup
3/4 c water
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard (I also didn't have this)
1/2 tsp. salt
pepper to taste

Heat butter in small skillet, add veggies, cooking until soft, remove from heat and add everything else. Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes or until warm. (I somehow missed the simmering direction, so my sauce came out really thin and watery...oops!)

My sister suggested that if you want to avoid the canned soup in case of MSG or other reasons, you can use canned tomato sauce with a couple tablespoons of tomato paste. I was lazy and just used canned tomato soup.

Baby Shower!

Baby showers make me think for the tiniest second that maybe having a baby would be fun. You have an excuse to get together with your friends and family. People shower you with presents. Then I remember all the stuff that comes after the baby is born. No thank you!

I had the chance to help with a baby shower this weekend. One of the girls in my new group of friends is pregnant with a little boy and her shower was today. Casey planned the whole thing and recruited my help with prep and setup.

The shower went really well. I thought I would share some pictures:

Guess the belly width game

Baby charades

Bottle chugging

Build a baby out of Play-Doh

Balloon backdrop (which got severely ruined)

Rhonda and Casey