its a small world after all

internet. and suddenly the world is the size of nipomo.

the mind is everything...

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.

school!

today i went with the 2 middle boys to school! they attend the "English Montessori Preschool" in the next neighborhood next to ours called Laim - it takes about 15 minutes to get there by bike. i got to go in with the 2 boys, meet their teachers, and see each of their classrooms!

julius, 5 and gregor, 3 ready to leave for school!

julius ready to start!

the sa-weet slide at their kindergarten, which slides from the 3rd floor to the 2nd! (badass)

biking back from kindergarten!

oktoberfest : round 2

this time we had a table in the Schützen-Festzelt, which served Löwenbräu beer. the tent was not as big as the Hacker-Pschorr tent, but it was decorated beautifully inside.

these are a few of my favorite things...

its no surprise as a stephenson, who suffers from dws syndrome, (fear of change) that i have slowly been adjusting to a new life in germany... however there are many simple things about germany that make my day, every day:

1. old (like seriously old) people ride bikes
2. bakeries every other store
3. how detailed germans are when it comes to recycling
4. biking or using the subway to get to my destination
5. how germans take time to STOP and SIT to have a coffee EVERY afternoon
6. "brotzeit" at dinner
7. beer drinks as liquid bread

welcome to munich

i am living in a neighborhood in the western park of munich called pasing. i live on a sunny little street surrounded by other beautiful houses, schools, cafes, and a huge park. thus the name of the street "am stadtpark" meaning street "on the city park." its a beautiful park that connects to the neighborhoods and same city center of pasing - the park has miles of biking and walking paths lined by a beautiful little river. everyday before work i take at least 30 minutes to sit in the park and be in the nature.

oktoberfest

my wonderfully insane 25th birthday at the oktoberfest, whew. we got off the train and followed the thousands (no exaggeration) of people toward the "Weisn" (the meadow)
it was the 201st anniversary of the oktoberfest. the oktoberfest extends over 100 acres, with 15 large beertents which seats 100,000 people! each beertent is named for the beer it serves - we were in the Hacker-Festzelt, so named for the famous Hacker-Pschorr beer. this tent is know as the "Himmel der Bayern" (Heaven of the Bavarians).

the man you see passed out in the picture is a "Bierleichen" - literally meaning a "beer corpse."

g'day birthday girl!

munich is adorned with the blue and white of the bavarian flags, and everyone is in traditional clothing, sporting their dirndls and lederhosen!

happy birthday = happy oktoberfest day!

feeling the love

"General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around."

pura vida

costa rica with my bestie cousin...

go with the flow...

"Sometimes we need to stop analyzing the past, stop planning the future, stop figuring out precisely how we feel, stop deciding exactly what we want, and just see what happens."