Cali's got a new water baby

Santa Barbara, CA (Feb 2008)- Andreas has taken a new position with the state of California. Amateur surfer. Check him out ladies... 

Oceanopoly

Santa Barbara, CA (Feb 2008)- After 4 brutal hours of Oceanopoly, the landscape of commercial ocean real estate investments has been re-shaped. Not even foul tricks like: stealing sand dollars from the bank, or giving her seahorses the order to swim through low tide, were able to rescue The Rachel "Rockefeller" Group from drowning. The Andreas "Trump" Organization now owns all pieces of high-end ocean real estate (e.g. Blue Whale and Manatee) and makes him the undisputed Oceanopolist. Although the sea was not always calm for Dr. Andreas "Trump", setbacks like loosing the mermaid beauty contest against Mrs. Rachel "Rockefeller"made him all the more determined to take control of the lucrative ocean real estate market. Dr. Andreas "Trump" who grew up on noisy and crowded city streets said it was his childhood dream to make the beach accessible to everyone ....who pays...

San Diego for Jay's 30th Birthday

San Diego, CA (Feb 2008)- Andreas and I went down to San Diego for the weekend to celebrate my brother Jason's 30th birthday. He rented out a room at this great little wine place in Hillcrest called Wine Steals. We thought it was also a "coming out" party (Hillcrest is the gay district of SD), but it turns out that it was the polar opposite, in fact, he invited 1 of his 4 girlfriends!!! We also celebrated too early on Sunday morning by going to the yummy buffet brunch at the oceanfront restaurant at the Hotel Del Coronado. Finally, we are all together and are able to update our 6-year old family photos!!! As usual, we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the family and look forward to our next excursion to SD.

Andreas' 32nd Birfday

It's the BALD BADASS hisself. And he truly was a total badass yesterday on his birfday! He got the most manliest gift ever to touch my girly fingers... a power tool. Yes, you heard me correct, not only did he get a brand new Panasonic 12V Driver/Drill, but also a Black and Decker 100 piece Power Drill Bit Set and a Strait-line Laser Level. What a lucky man! And just in time too, as we have many a wall hanging to hang. Overall, we had a great day, homemade Betty Crocker chocolate cake for brekky (and dessert!), a walk through the Ellwood Butterfly Fields near our house to see the Monarch Butterflies before they leave for the Rocky Mountains in February, a bit of surfing in the baby waves at UCSB's campus point, a romantic dinner at a new Italian restaurant near our house, and of course, the opening of the presents late at night. What fun! Thanks to everyone who sent wonderful birthday wishes!

Deutschland (Gerrrrr-ma-ny)

Berlin and Thüringen, GE (Dec 19, 2007- Jan 4, 2008)- Pack die Badehose ein, nimm dein kleines Schwesterlein, und nichts wie auf nach Berlin. Actually, it wasn't the swimsuit we packed, but the heavy snow jackets and long johns. After not having been back in 4.5 years, we spent two frigid weeks in Andreas' hometown of Berlin. Although it is still as gray and as cold in the winter as we remembered it, with bratwurst in our bellies and glüwein warming our throats even the harshest of Siberian winds felt like a warm breeze on a tropical island. Let's be fair- we had a great time with Andreas' family and catching up with old friends. Here's the lowdown: Getting hammered with Andreas' PhD supervisor (and wife!) at the Christmas Markets, being lost in the plot of a ballet (I didn't see any nutcrackers, did you?!?), being overfed by the über-zealous German mutter (mom), getting educated the hard way about alternative energy and German efficiency (did we really have to climb up a modern 100 meter windmill in -6 degrees Celcius?), getting a crash course in German history at the Wartburg fortress in Thüringen (did you know that the first Christmas tree was brought into a home by a German, Martin Luther, who just happened to be the first to translate the Bible from Greek to German?), understanding the secrets to successful mating in the Jewish museum (your future love must show proof of her wealth before you take her out on a date- check out our snapfish photos of the "Modern J-Date"), and amongst a thousand other things, leaving the days of college drinking behind playing "Mensch, ärger dich nicht!" ("Man, don't get pissed off"- a game consisting of drinking a bottle of champagne each, etc. tailored to the occasion, of course) on New Years with a bunch of random, but roudy Germans. Bis zum nächsten mal. Ick stehe uf Berlin, eh.

Happy Chanukah and Merry Christmas!!!

These are so innovative, and hilarious!!! Enjoy!
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Car shopping

All over (!) San Diego, CA (Nov 2007)- Oh... and did I forget to mention that we took an entire day to car shop! Having done heaps of research beforehand, Andreas, my parents and I bravely set out to the dealerships in hopes of coming away with a new car. After going to three dealerships and dealing with a few a-holes, we found a dealer that made our dreams come true. It was actually the first dealer that we went to funnily enough. So we bought our first car as a couple (and my first car ever!)- a brand new beige 2008 Honda CR-V! It drives like a dream and got me back to Santa Barbara in under a half a tank of petrol! Amazing efficiency- approx 30.4 miles to the gallon. What beauty.