Five Reasons To Be Happy This Friday - Fünf Gründe, Diesen Freitag Glücklich Zu Sein

First of all, sorry for not writing last week. I was out of town for work, again, and didn't even have time to open my laptop for a minute.

Let's start with my happy reasons though and I'll tell you about my new job in reason #2.

Reason #1 I won $150 gift card for a Pinterest contest. Pretty cool, huh? It was through the company that manages the apartment complex that we live in. You had to pick one  of the themes and create a board with a minimum of five pins and one of them had to be a picture of oneself holding a sign saying 'I love Gables', that's the company. 

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Five Reasons To Be Happy This Friday - Fünf Gründe, Diesen Freitag Glücklich Zu Sein

Happy Friday!

This one will be a shorter post since I'm actually out of town right now. I'm in South Carolina for work, doing a promo for a travel agency. But that's a different story. I still wanted to post my five reasons to be happy.

Sunset here in Myrtle Beach, SC

Reason #1 Our anniversary was last Monday. We've been married one year. I posted about the wedding on Monday, if you missed it, click here. I'm so happy to be married to my husband for over a year and it's been wonderful!

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Happy Anniversary - Erster Hochzeitstag

Warning: Wedding Pictures Overload

♡ One year ♡ - Josh and I have been married one year, as of today!

(Don't worry, I'm not actually writing this during our anniversary; I wrote it last week - thanks to the awesome technology of scheduling posts.)

I can't believe it has been a year since our wedding! First, the year went by soooo slow because I had to wait on my visa for forever... or it seemed that way. And now that I've been here since mid-May, and time has been flying.

I'm sooo happy to be married to my best friend. And it has been a wonderful, adventure-filled, fun first year! I'm looking forward to many, many, many more!

Now, let's relive the wedding with some lots of pictures:

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Five Reasons To Be Happy This Friday - Fünf Gründe, Diesen Freitag Glücklich Zu Sein

Happy Friday!

Let's start with all the happy stuff:

Reason #1 I baked cupcakes last weekend!!! And they were great! At least I thought so! I ate way to many of them... ha ha, I think five all together on Saturday & Sunday! *confession time* Oh well! They were the first cupcakes I baked here in the US. And I took them to a special girl's birthday party. And of course, I had to make sure before hand that they were ok! They were not as sweet. I hardly have any sugar in my daily diet. The recipe called for 2 cups of sugar, and I only used 1 1/2 - I think they turned out great. Anyway, they were chocolate cupcakes filled with cheese cream and chocolate cheese cream frosting!

Who wants the recipe?

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Recipe: Lentil Stir Fry with Mushrooms, Spinach and other Veggies - Rezept: Linsenpfanne mit Pilzen, Spinat und anderem Gemüse

This recipe might just become one of my favorites for a rainy fall day - yes, we have them even here in Florida! I adapted it from Noms for the Poor. It really is a great recipe, because it's so nutritious, healthy, tasty and cheap! It's also vegan and gluten-free.

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Happy Friday!

And it is Friday again.

Sunrise at Atlantic Beach

Let me tell you, my morning started off quite interesting!

As usual, I went to work at 5 am. When I opened the door,  it smelled like smoke and it was hazy inside. I called 911 and the police and firemen came. But nothing was on fire inside our space. (We share the building with a few other businesses.) 

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Five Reasons To Be Happy This Friday - Fünf Gründe, Diesen Freitag Glücklich Zu Sein

Smile, it's Friday. Friday afternoon to be exact, and I'm sitting at Starbucks enjoying my latte (with skim milk), while writing my blog.

What are you up to?

Here's my list of five things that made me happy this week:

Reason #1: Last Friday we went to out TacoLu for dinner and drinks with friends. It's an awesome Mexican place here in Jacksonville. It's not a typical Mexican restaurant, more Mexican inspired, but their food is amazing. I cheated a little on my meal. I had their $10-Taco with filet mignon - it's really good. But next time I'll try one of their fancy fish tacos.

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Septembeard - Septembart

So, it's almost the middle of September already, can you believe it? Time is flying.

Josh, my husband, was asked by someone in his company if he would grow a beard for a cause for the month of September, and of course, he said yes! He loves growing his beard out. Last time, he grew it out I was still living in Germany, and I've only seen it pictures of it.

I'm not really thrilled about the beard, but it is for a good cause, so I'll be a good wife and support him! 

So, this organization Septembeard wants to raise awareness of prostate cancer and wants to find a cure and eradicate it. They are asking men all over the country to grow a beard and raise money for the cause. After all, prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men.

This is really close to my heart, too! Only last year my cousin past away because of cancer. He was only 31 and left behind a wife and four children.

I'm glad my husband joined a his company's team to raise awareness and help find a cure for prostate cancer. This is a worthy cause and if you agree, you can donate to their team directly or to the organization. Here's a link to their teams site: Gables Growin' For Good


This is a picture of my husband on September 1st. He was growing his beard for a couple of days already at that point.

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Recipe: Easy breakfast eggs - Rezept: Einfache Frühstückseier

Breakfast is such an important meal and you should never skip it. Really! It is so important for our bodies to get a healthy meal in the morning!

I'm usually pretty good about it but since I have to be at work by 5 am three times a week it is getting a little harder to eat healthy breakfasts in the early morning. Most early mornings I took Greek yogurt with fruit or oatmeal with me to work which I prepared the night before. But I get bored with food... I don't like eating the same thing every day. So yesterday I thought I'd try something I saw on Pinterest the other day. 

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Pinterest, it's an online pin board where you can organize what you find online. If you find a website, recipe, picture, song, blog, etc. online, instead of bookmarking it, you can pin it to a board on your pinterest. I love it. I've found quite a few blogs I follow on it. 

But back to the recipe:

Here's a link to Amy's Kitchen Creation blog, where I found the recipe: Eggs for breakfast sandwiches

And here's my attempt:

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Five Reason To Be Happy This Friday - Fünf Gründe, Diesen Freitag Glücklich Zu Sein

It's Friday! Starting today I will post five reasons to be happy every Friday. This past week has been great and I have many reasons to be happy and thankful, and I just wanted to share them with you.

Reason # 1: On Monday it was Labor Day and to enjoy our day off, Josh & I went to Little Talbot Island to spend the day at the Beach!

It was great! The sun was shining, (almost) no cloud in the sky and the great thing about Talbot Island State Park beach is that it usually doesn't get that crowded, even on a holiday! On the way to the beach through the marsh we even saw a bunny. Can you find it in the picture?

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Recipe: Butternut Squash, Potato & Carrot Soup with Spicy Meatballs - Rezept: Birnenkürbis-, Kartoffel- & Karottensuppe mit Pikanten Fleischbällchen

So, about two weeks ago we signed up for a service that delivers organic veggies and fruits right to your door. It's called Palmetto Organics and our gym has a partnership with them where we get a even better deal! Last week on Monday we received our first delivery. Here is what we got:

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4th of July - 4. Juli

Well, I know that the 4th of July has been over over a month, but in my defense, I didn't have a camera and I had to wait for the pictures!

It was my first 4th of July as a permanent resident in the US. My husband got me the perfect shirt a few weeks before! And we had friends visiting us from Germany.

Krizi and Chris arrived in Jax on the 3rd; they had been on the road for over two weeks, starting their east coast trip in Chicago!

In the morning we enjoyed an all American breakfast with pancakes, eggs and bacon! Not necessarily healthy, but oh so good! It was so good that I don't even have a picture of it! I LOVE breakfast! It's my favorite. Just ask my husband if you don't believe me!

After breakfast we got ready to go to the beach. It was hot and sunny - a typical 4th of July in Florida - perfect for a day at the beach!

We packed a cooler, snacks and a mini-football and off we went!

Photo by Krizi H.

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Curious - Neugierig

Photo by Nan Ramey, July 27th

I've had this blog for about five month now. And I enjoy writing about my life and sharing recipes with you.

But I am quite curious to know who's reading my blog.

I know my family and some of my friends stop by here to see how I'm doing, but I'm wondering who it is. 

So if you could just leave a quick comment, I would really appreciate it. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have any request on recipes or post, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

So long,

Judith

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Recipe: Broccoli Salad with Chickpeas, Spinach and Bacon - Rezept: Brokkolisalat mit Kichererbsen, Spinat und Speck

Yesterday I felt like something light for dinner. Plus, I didn't really feel like cooking for hours... I checked the fridge and found some broccoli, spinach and bacon. I knew I had some chickpeas in the pantry as well, and I just love the taste of chickpeas!

So, I thought, I'll just make a salad :-)

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90 Days - 90 Tage

Home - I've been "home" for 90 days today! Here at my new home in Jacksonville, Florida. 

Today, if I wouldn't have a visa and green card, I would have to leave the USA.

It seems short and long, at the same time. I don't know how to explain it. So much has happened, but at the same time it went by so quick!

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Cruise Part II - Zweiter Teil der karibischen Kreuzfahrt

This time you didn't have to wait as long for my next post :-) 

Back to the cruise:

On day four we docked in Cozumel Mexico. Dani, Josh and I had booked a shore excursion to the Mayan Ruins of Tulum. We got off our ship, and got on a smaller one, because Cozumel is an island off the coast of Mexico and the ruins are on the mainland. 

Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

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Old news from our cruise (Part I) - Endlich Bilder von unserer Kreuzfahrt (Erster Teil)

Part I

I can't believe it's almost two month since our cruise and I haven't posted anything!

What an amazing trip it was! I really enjoy cruises. They are so relaxing. You don't have to worry about anything. They have almost anything you could imagine on a cruise ship - food, pools, shore excursions, gambling, food, hot tubs, miniature golf, food, shows, and of course, food! Yes, lots and lots of food... I did enjoy quite a few treats but made some healthier choices too.

My husband and I had been on a few cruises before. This time our friend, Dani, joined us.

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Recipe: Thai Shrimp - Rezept: Thai Shrimp mit Kokusmilch

This is probably my favorite recipe to cook and eat, as of lately! It is so easy and fast to make, and tastes amazing every time. And it is healthy!

You could substitute chicken or fish for the shrimp, or leave it out all together and add more veggies.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of shrimp
• 1 lemon
• 1 onion
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 1 zucchini
• 1 bell pepper (red, or yellow for the color)
• 2 carrots
• peas
• mushrooms
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1/2 can of tomato paste
• Thai curry paste
• curry
• chili
• salt
• pepper
• olive oil  (or cooking oil of your choice)

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Recipe: Shrimp with Mashed Cauliflower and Asparagus - Rezept: Shrimp mit Blumenkohlpüree und grünem Spargel

Time for a recipe again!

I made this a couple of nights ago and it was really yummy! Thought I'd share it with you. And yes, it's a recipe that fits into my diet.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb uncooked shrimp (peeled and veined)
• 3/4 of a cauliflower head
• 1 pack asparagus
• 1-2 lemons
• salt
• pepper
• (olive or other cooking) oil 
• chili powder
• 1 clove of garlic 
• some butter

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Home, Sweet Home! - Wieder zu Hause

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted.  So much has happened in the past few weeks. I did want to post but I just didn't have any time.

Well, first some good news: I have a job! I'm so excited about it! It is only a part time job, but I'm happy to get started. And I'm really happy where I'll be working, because I got a job at my favorite gym, Atlantic Beach Performance!

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Easy, healthy and yummy dinner recipe - Einfaches, gesundes und leckeres Abendessen

This is my first recipe post. 

But I'm sure not my last :-)
And it is gluten-free and it is in accordance with my diet.

I made this dinner a couple of nights ago. Here in Florida it gets quite hot already in late May, early June, and when it is that hot, sometimes you don't really feel like a hot, dinner. So I came up with my own recipe:

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Florida Keys Part II - 2. Teil

Today, I'm starting this with this beautiful picture! This water is sooo blue! I had a great week in the Keys, thanks to my friend Katie and her amazing family! THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN! 

As you might have read in one of my earlier posts, my weekend in the Keys turned into a full week down there. 

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Zip Lining - Kletterpark

One of my last adventures in Germany was a trip to a zip lining adventure park, Abenteuerpark Schloss Lichtenstein, close to Reutlingen. I've been to the same one about a year ago but they have so many different zip lining routes that it didn't matter. 

This time I went with a big group of friends including my roommate Tine.

If you have never been to a zip lining park before, it is so much fun, if you aren't afraid of heights.

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Florida Keys

Last Friday I came down to the Keys with my amazing friend Katie for her bachelorette party. Eight of Katie's amazing friends (including me) came down here with her to celebrate with her. We had such a great time. Saturday morning I went for a run with Ashley. Afterwards all of us hung out at the pool, enjoying the sun. The house down here is beautiful, right by the canal with its own dock and a pool.

After relaxing at the pool, we got ready to go to Key West. Katie and some of the bridesmaids had made special skirts for all of us to wear. We had so much fun with the skirts and it fits perfectly for Katie's bachelorette party! 

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My First Week as a Floridian - Meine Erste Woche in Florida

Today I finally feel like a Floridian. I got my license today. Yeah for me! :-) 

This means a lot to me because I won't have to carry my German passport with me anymore and it feels good to have something official with my address on it!

My social arrived yesterday already. All in all, everything got here pretty fast. I'm happy that all the running around last week paid of!

Besides going to all the different offices last week, I've done quite some shopping to stock up our fridge and pantries. While I was out looking for some ethnic food I remembered the Word Market. So I stopped there and found some things I was looking for (tahini or sesame paste for hummus).

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Home, Sweet Home! - Zu Hause

Finally I am finding some time to write. It is Thursday already, so I lived in my new home for about three days. It feels so good to finally be here, it is hard to describe the feeling!

I left Germany on Monday, May 14th in the early morning. My parents brought me to the airport.

But they weren't the only one.

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Good Bye - Auf Wiedersehen

Just a quick one this time:

My visa arrived on Thursday!!! You can't imagine how happy I am! :-)

So, I booked my flight Thursday night for Monday! This Monday, as in less than two days Monday, Monday, May 14th!!! I can't believe it either! I had to wait for forever, or so it seemed, and now I'm going to be in Jacksonville in less than 72 hours. And no, I still haven't finished packing and my farewell-party starts in two hours. So, I have to get back to preparing and packing. But I wanted to share the good news with you! 

See you soon, Jacksonville...  :-D

Almost time to say good bye, Germany... :-(

Nur ganz schnell:

Mein Visum ist am Donnerstag angekommen. Du kannst dir gar nicht vorstellen, wie glücklich ich bin! :-) Also habe ich noch am Donnerstag meinen Flug für Montag gebucht. Ja, diesen kommenden Montag, ich fliege in zwei Tagen, am Montag, den 14. Mai! Ich kann es auch noch gar nicht richtig glauben! Erst musste ich ewig warten und jetzt werde ich in weniger als 72 Stunden schon in Jacksonville sein! Und nein, ich bin immer noch nicht fertig mit packen. Meine Abschiedsfeier fängt auch schon in ca. 2 Stunden an. Also, ich muss jetzt auch weitermachen, aber ich wollte euch die guten Neuigkeiten mitteilen. 

Bis bald, Jacksonville... :-D

Bald muss ich auf Wiedersehen sagen, Deutschland... :-(

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Packing - Packen

I feel like I've been packing for a long, long time and I'm really over it! I hate packing now! Yes, HATE! Uugghhh! I just want it to be done. And my mom has even been helping me, so I don't have to do it all by myself... and I'm still complaining. THANK YOU, Mama!

I'm so excited to move to Florida next week - next week! wow! - but can I be done with packing already? 

Tomorrow, well actually later today, I'm going to Tübingen for one night, so I have to pack for that too... 

In the past seven years I've been traveling to Jacksonville at least twice or three times a year. In the beginning it was fun to pack for the trip, never when I had to go back home, but now, I'm really over it! 

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Visa approved - Visum genehmigt

Yesterday my visa got approved! FINALLY!!!

This are the best news. I am so happy! The whole processes started almost a year ago. Around May 25th last year we send the petition to the USCIS. I should get the visa by the 14th, maybe a bit earlier... I'm so excited! I can't hold back all the exclamation marks, sorry!!! :-)

So, let's start over in case you want to know how my interview went:

I took a train to Frankfurt on Saturday. There I met my friend Isamae and we had dinner together at this wonderful Asian restaurant, Coa in Frankfurt. If you get a chance, you should go. I had an amazing coconut-pumkin soup with shrimp and Thai curry with shrimp and fish. I was able to stick to my diet the whole time I was in Frankfurt, believe it or not!

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Preparing for my Interview - Die Vorbereitungen für mein Interview

Tomorrow is the day of my interview - FINALLY. 

I'm getting really excited and pretty nervous! I reread all the information to make sure I have everything I need. 

Now I have to pack because the interview is in the embassy in Frankfurt at 8 am tomorrow morning. I'm glad I have friends in Frankfurt who let me stay with them tonight. But when I thought about packing, I realized I didn't think about what to wear for the interview. 

I've been to the embassy before, twice for a visa interview, first for my J-1 as an Au Pair, and a few years later, for a J-1 as a student. I never really gave a thought about what to wear then, but this interview is the one that counts! I am going to go through three different suitcases to find what I want to wear. Yes, all my clothes are in suitcases still. 

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Life is precious! - Leben ist kostbar!

This post might be a little jumbled - I apologize in advance.

My plan was to post about my last week in Tübingen. I moved out of my apartment yesterday. It was quite emotional - I lived there for the past six years and I love my roommates. We have made many very happy memories in that apartment.

Well, that was my plan anyway. 

My parents came with two cars and a trailer yesterday to help. On the way back to my parents house, after we had packed everything in the two cars, I drove one car with my mom and my dad drove the other with the trailer. 

On the highway we had an accident. Everybody is fine, nobody was hurt, but it was a miracle! A motorcycle crashed into our car. It all happened so fast.

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Geographical Center - Geographischer Mittelpunkt

Today is the 60th birthday of Baden-Württemberg, the state I (still) live in. How funny is it, that I went to the  geographical center of Baden-Württemberg yesterday? So, my post for the day is in accordance with the birthday of my state.

The geographical center is right here in Tübingen, but I have never been there before. So, finally, my running partner, Edith, took me there on our run yesterday.

It is actually quite beautiful. The center itself isn't very spectacular, as you can see, it is a stone monument,  but it is surrounded by a little forrest and there is a little stream, which passes it. 

The forrest is called Elysium. It lays in the "Käsenbach"-valley.  It is so quiet that you could forget that you are actually in the middle of a city. We could only here some birds singing, the purl of the little stream, and a woodpecker pecking. 

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The diet - Die Diät

As I already mentioned in my last blog post, I'm on a diet now. 

I know, I know what (hopefully) most of you are thinking - why am I on a diet. I'm not fat. BUT I'm not 100% happy with my body - and that's why I'm doing it. I've been working out very regularly for quite a while and I did loose some weight already but lately I haven't seen any change. I knew, even though I work out, I had to change the way I eat to see the change I want.

I don't really care how much it shows on the scale but loosing a few inches here and there, lowering my body fat total would really make me happy! 

I'm not ready to show you my "before" pictures because it has only been a week, but I can tell you, I've already lost about 4 pounds, and 1 inch around my waist! And that was only in the first week!

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Frankfurt in a day

Yesterday I spent a day in Frankfurt am Main. The morning was spent on the train and in a doctor's office. I had a medical examination for my visa. They checked my vaccination records. - Oh, yeah, after going to my doctor on Tuesday, I had to get a vaccination. Somehow we missed my second shot for measles and mumps. - So at the medical exam everything was fine, nothing exciting happened... There were quite a few people there for the same medical. I'm not the only one planning on moving to a different continent! 

Anyway, the medical part was mostly boring, quite a lot of waiting; good thing I brought a book with me. I'm finally reading The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. I've had the books for years but never got around to it.

After the medical I had lunch. That's when the fun part began :-)

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Planning a trip to Frankfurt - Einmal nach Frankfurt und zurück

On Thursday I'm going to Frankfurt for my medical examination. 

(For the visa I have to go to a doctor appointed by the American Embassy. There are about six of them in Germany and Frankfurt is the most convenient one for me.)

I went to my doctor in the beginning of March to make sure that I have all the needed vaccinations. Today I checked my vaccination record again, just to be on the sure side, and now I think I'm missing two (measles and mumps)! So, I'll be at my doctors again tomorrow to verify if I still need some or not... 

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Welcome - Herzlich Willkommen!

Welcome here on my blog!

Soon I'm moving to Florida to finally live with my husband!

Currently, I live in Germany - in Tübingen, a lovely small town in southern Germany. 

My husband is American. We met eight years ago when I was living in Jacksonville during my year as an Au Pair. 

We got married last year and submitted a petition for my visa - so I can live and work in the US. (Yes, even if you are married to an American, it isn't that easy!) 

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