“Generally speaking, the internal clock resets at a rate of about one hour (or time zone) per day.” –Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
This is the reason I am giving for waiting 9 full days before writing the blog on our USA trip – seeing as Colorado and Munich have a 9-hour time difference. It’s science!
Noah and I spent our Valentine’s Day in airports and planes – making our way from Munich to Houston via Chicago. Our original flight plan took us through Newark, which we were luckily able to change for free due to the massive winter storms hitting the east coast. Thanks to my mom for telling me I should call United! Turns out our original flight out of Munich was 5+ hours delayed, which would have made us miss our connection… and left us stuck in New Jersey. That would have been romantic! We still met some delays with the new route, and made it to my parents place for VDay pizza at 10 that night. Thus begun our quest to fulfill every culinary desire we knew we would be missing out on for the next year(s?).
Our 4 days in Houston flew by, with barely any downtime. Between visits with my friends and family, Noah’s friends and family, plenty of shopping and returns, and a trip to my mom’s Water Aerobics class – we never had any rest and relaxation on this part of the ‘vacation’. But that was fine with us because it was great to see familiar faces and indulge in Which Which, Rudy’s BBQ, Los Cucos Tex Mex, Whataburger, Chipotle, Jimmy Johns…. Yes. We were gluttonous.
Wednesday morning we (Noah and myself and my parents) flew out to Colorado for my brother’s wedding. The highlight of the drive between Denver and Beaver Creek is definitely Smokin’ Yards BBQ. Of course it would be food related! The BBQ sandwiches, fountain Dr. Pepper, and fried okra…. Let’s just say that if anyone is interested in opening up a good BBQ place in Munich – you could count on us to be your first regulars.
Once we got to Beaver Creek, we met up with my brother and his then-fiancee (now wife). We gave them their gifts that we hauled all the way from Germany – some beer glasses, a stein, and coasters, all from the Steffens brewery. Since Ashley agreed to marry into the Steffens family, I thought she might need some drinks to get through it. Kidding. Mostly.
The next day kicked off the beginning of the wedding festivities. Us gals (my mom, Ashley and her mom, and her bridesmaid Julie, and this Julie) all went for manis/pedis. I haven’t had one since my own wedding almost 4 years ago, so it was definitely a treat for me and my nails. Though I learned my sis-in-law is on the ticklish side – she could barely handle the foot massages.
We met up with a large group of wedding goers for lunch at the Northside Café, where Noah and I had a delicious burger/shake/fries combo. Between getting a junior Whataburger earlier in the week and thinking it was giant (I would always wolf down the regular sized burger in the past) and having our friend Jason comment that the burgers are small when he saw our order…. Noah and I are learning that our ideas of portions have changed the past two years. And here I am talking about food again. Apologies. Here, have a group shot of everyone that Noah took:
Thursday afternoon was the wedding rehearsal, and as the Best woMan, I had some major responsibilities. Wait, that isn’t true. I just had to walk down the aisle with the other Julie, see where to stand, and walk back out with her again. Easy enough!
Later that night it was time to dress fancy for the rehearsal dinner. It went really well – with my mom’s signature slideshow of the couple, and way too much good food (what, did I just say that?). We wedding party folks also got our presents (yay!) from the bride and groom. I got a nice fusion of the girls and guys gifts, which included a really pretty snowflake necklace with my initial like the other ladies, and a warm furry winter hat like the other guys. Because I was both a lady and a guy for the wedding.
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| The Groomsmen working it |
Finally it was the wedding day, where my day started at 8:45am for hair and makeup. Unfortunately I couldn’t start my day with the guys (12:45pm), because technically I am a lady. But Ashley and her family made the morning wonderful for us – not only covering the costs of the hair and makeup, but providing us with breakfast and lunch too! Since there was a lot of down time (7 of us and only 3 ladies doing hair and makeup), I got to play around with my camera and amateurishly mimic the typical ‘preparing for the wedding’ photos.
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| My sweet 'artsy' shots |
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| Left: Clearly a Pinterest bride (well, maybe not so clear in the small version of the photo) |
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| This lovely one was taken by my wonderful mom. Thanks Mom! |
Soon the wedding party and family was at the venue for pre-wedding pictures. All I can say is I am very curious to see the outcome of the groomsmen pictures. Hopefully the photographer was able to capture one nice one for the photo album. At least we were able to capture one last family photo to capture a pre-married Logan.
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| No longer just a family of 5! Wait - to be sure, this is NOT a pregnancy announcement. I mean Ashley is now officially a family member 20 minutes after this photo is taken. |
The ceremony went without a hitch, though from my point of view I could see Ashley’s face always near tears. And when I heard the emotion in my brother’s voice, I started tearing up, which caused my parent’s to tear up (and apparently a few others), but I think we mostly kept it in check. One side note – the day before I had asked Ashley if she had her something old/new/borrowed/blue. She told me she had everything but ‘borrowed’. I had the idea to lend her my granny’s (mom’s mom) wedding ring that I wear sometimes. I didn’t tell my mom my idea beforehand, in case Ashley already had something borrowed in mind. Luckily it all worked out, and I think my mom especially enjoyed this little touch.
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| I am double-chin exited! |
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| Left - you can see my granny's wedding ring |
Soon the reception was underway, and before long it was time for dinner / speeches / cake / dancing. I think I did pretty well at all four. I successfully ate my dinner without it ending up on myself (Noah can’t say the same – the horseradish found its way on his tie). I calmed my nerves for my Best woMan speech and delivered it without spontaneously tipping over. At the end of the night I was given to go boxes for the cake I wanted to eat later. And I tore it up on the dance floor (there might have been a dance off between Logan and me).
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| I left the dance floor for 2 minutes… and I have no idea what was going on here |
All in all – a very successful wedding in my book. And I have a new sister-in-law! Congrats you guys.
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| Mr. and Mrs. Steffens |
After a night of dance-induced altitude sickness (all the water in place of alcohol I drank at the wedding wasn’t enough), I was ready to take it easy the next day. Plus it was our last full day in the US! Noah and I spent the morning resting, packing, and buying last minute groceries to take back with us. After lunch, the two of us took the shuttle up to the mountain. Originally we thought we would be skiing ourselves, but after a hectic week of shopping, traveling, and weddings, we were fine to simply watch the newlyweds ski/snowboard down the mountain in their suit and wedding dress.
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| Left: Dec 2011 Right: Feb 2014 Same outfit, different instrument. |
Our last night in the US was spent eating pizza with our family (which includes Kathleen) and the Ricke family and watching the Olympics. It was hard for us to believe that our USA trip was actually over, but I think my waistline was happy about it. We currently have no plans to travel back home any time soon as there are still too many places we want to see here (and our budget isn’t limitless). Instead it is time to focus on what we will miss in Germany when we eventually move back, and don’t take it for granted. Because I sure took Whataburger for granted all those years back home!
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