Jan 30

Steve @ AELOPE tagged me with his Google Earth Meme. His challenge is to google our childhood homes and tell five stories that are accompanied by Google Earth. After introducing Granny Anni in my Part #1 my favorite beech tree Part #2 , Part #3 dealed with the most embarrassing moment in my life (so far).
I´m going to share some “special memories” of my childhood today:


Earth Childhood Recollection Meme - Sanni´s Part #4:
First Kiss


German summer holidays used to be six weekes each year during the time I went to school. We have spent most of our holidays at the beautiful island Fehmarn, Germany located in the Baltic Sea. Fehmarn has an area of 185 sq.km - a small island where everybody knows each other… maybe not, but it seems to be this way when you are born and raised in a large city. However, our holidays were quite familiar.

Fehmarn is connected to the German mainland by the Fehmarn Sound Bridge, which is nearly 964 m long and 69 m high. Whenever we passed the bridge we felt like “our holidays are starting right now”.

This island is in use for the resting of the birds and therewith a nice place for ornithologists. I love to watch those birds until I was 12 years old. Thereafter my interests were directed into another direction:
disco, dancing and boys… instead of sun, beach and birds.

So 1987 was the year when I turned out to be the most interesting birdie to watch for some of the boys on Fehmarn.

A friend of mine, Ute from Bochum, lived in the summer cottage next to us. She was the one who introduced me to the teenager of Lemkendorf. We´ve had so much fun visiting the places-to-be on Fehmarn and Hamburg, visiting discos… and listening to U2 music.

- 1987 was the year I turned out to be a U2-maniac…
- 1987 was the year my little piggy bank was close to burst because I played tricks with my parents - or better they played tricks with each other. When I left to cruise (HA! Manic Monday themes on Tuesdays) with the guys my Daddy gave me 20 DM (our former currency - about 20 $) and I was told: “Not a single word about this!”. And guess what: My Mommy did the same… “20 bucks for you. Not a single word to Daddy!” LOL
- 1987 was the year I got drunk first (spending the bucks for beer and “Küstennebel” (an aniseed liquer) at the disco instead of buying some food during the day).
- 1987 was the year of my very first crush ever - my little heart beated faster than ever when I saw him: Torsten M., a 15 year old plumber apprentice - and the other teenies told me he felt the same!!!

Good for me? Mhhh… yeah, he was the best-looking guy on the whole island… and the most shy guy in whole Germany as well.

We´ve had so much fun together and partied all night long. I had to be at home at 10 p.m. but I, hmmm, let´s say I escaped after my parents went to bed.

After 3 weeks of holidays my last evening came. We celebrated it at a disco located in a large barn… I wished so badly to get a kiss by Torsten… but nothing happened. Oh… I was so sad.

On our way back Torsten asked my why I were so sad and took my hand… *BOOM* my little heart bursted like my piggy bank… when we reached our house I was not able to move in. We stood about 2 hours outside, right in front of our front door and did NOTHING, just stared at each other… no word, no motion.

Than he did it. He kissed me. Close your eyes and count till 0.5 - open your eyes again.

This is exactly how long it took my shy guy to kiss me AND to run away.

=)

(Ed. Note: We wrote tons of letters during the following weeks and felt so so lovesick… I stopped answering some day. I don´t know why… I guess the fascination was gone.
I haven´t been at Fehmarn for ages because I started to go on summer vacations with a sports club thereafter.
But I recieved a letter of Torsten many years ago. Torsten is married with children today… Ute has told me he reminds her a little bit of Al Bundy =)
However, I will never forget my first “splitsecond kiss”)

xoXOxo,

And now…
… our moment of Homer J.:

Marge: Homer, the plant called. They said if you don’t show up tomorrow don’t bother showing up on Monday.
Homer: Woo-hoo. Four-day weekend.



Jan 23

Steve @ AELOPE tagged me with his Google Earth Meme. His challenge is to google our childhood homes and tell five stories that are accompanied by Google Earth. After introducing Granny Anni in my Part #1 my favorite beech tree Part #2 I´m going to share some “special memories” of my childhood today:


Earth Childhood Recollection Meme - Sanni´s Part #3:
Dancing School


It´s usual to visit a Dancing School in Germany - that´s why my 14th birthday present has been a certificate to visit a dancing class. 15 weeks à 2 dancing lessons later we all were invited to a ball.
My first ball - Oh how I was looking forward to this event.

There were so many things on my “ball-to-do-list”:

- buy a new dress
- get a new haircut
- buy high heels
- visit beautician
- find a present for ball-partner
- girly girl blablabla

After my invitation the high heels idea was replaced by “buy moccasin” because my dancing partner was as tall as a dwarf me… but all the other things went well. *ROFL* About 1.000 plans were to be launched and I was happy as a sandboy

until…

… the event evening.
OMG, I felt so sick while I was having my bubblebath. I nearly didn´t make it to jump out of the bathtub before I threw up…
But I wanted to visit the ball. I needed to visit the ball! THE BALL - the coolest event in 1989.
THE BALL - THE PLACE 2 BE!

So I tarted myself up… nice underwear, my ball gown, my panty hose…
My Pantyhose? Where the heck? Oh no! I forgot to buy a new one.
“MOMMYYYYY!”
I borrowed Mommy´s nylons… and a garter belt =)
WOW - It felt good to wear the lingerie.

I felt like a dancing queen. A dancing queen? No! THE dancing queen!

Until…

I felt this pain in my stomach again. Right after the 1st dance I had to run upstairs in order to visit the restrooms. I didn´t know if I should puke or s*%t first. So I decided to sit down on the toilet to “satisfy” my runs, hoist my dress and puke into the toilet right through my legs… *yummy* But I felt better immediately.

Thereafter I freshed up myself and went back to the ballroom. I swaggered down the huge staircase…
… but …What was going on? Everybody watched my! EVERYBODY -

My 1st thought: “Thanks folks, I´m honored. I know I´m f%#king beautiful!”

Such a neat feeling…

Until…

my dancing partner spanked on my behind and said: “Nice piece of NAKED ass!”

Welcome to the most embarrassing moment in my whole life (so far)!!!

My 2nd thought: “Okay, calm down, Sanni… everythings gonna be alright… as soon as you dig a hole to China and disappear in a splitsecond!!!”

What happened? Wearing such lingerie was so new to me - I didn´t realize I´ve pluged the whole back of my grown into the garter belt… and that´s exactly how I left the restrooms… showing my naked butt, better: my half-naked self to about 400 ball-visitors!

My 3rd thought:“Dancing lessons? Me? NEVER AGAIN!”

Okay… I confess: I´ve visited 4 other dancing classes. Dancing means way too much fun for me to quit after this tiny little… “common talk” =)

Bite me - I don´t give a s*%t! LOL

xoXOxo,

And now…
… our moment of Homer J.:

Homer: Aw, twenty dollars! I wanted a peanut!
Homer’s Brain: Twenty dollars can buy many peanuts!
Homer: Explain how!
Homer’s Brain: Money can be exchanged for goods and services!
Homer: Woo-hoo!



Jan 22

Steve @ AELOPE tagged me with his Google Earth Meme. His challenge is to google our childhood homes and tell five stories that are accompanied by Google Earth. I´ve introduced my beloved Granny Anni in my Part #1 yesterday. Most of my childhood memories deal with “Oma Anni”, because she was the one to take care of me while my parents were working. She lived in a residental estate in Dortmund, Germany - in an apartment with a great backyard. We´ve had lots of fun in this backyard - so my Part #2 is about a wonderful tree at the backyard.


Earth Childhood Recollection Meme - Sanni´s Part #2:
“My” Tree


When I was a little one we used to play outside as often as possible - whenever the weather played along all children of different ages met in the backyard.

It might be inconceivable for today´s generation to spend time without ipods, XBOXes and playstations - but that´s exactly what we did: having fun outside.

The backyard offered many opportunities to play: junglegyms, sand-boxes and some swings… but we had the greatest fun with nature itself: playing hide-and-seek, building “caves” in the coppice or just climbing on the trees like little apes. My favorite tree was a beech tree growing in the centre of the backyard.

I can remember one situation as if it happened just yesterday: I was aged 5 and wanted to climb up the beech tree so badly, because I considered the other older kids to be soooo cool when they climbed uo this tree. It was very difficult for me to climb up this beech tree and I tried and tried, but I was not able to make it. I guess you can easily imagine how uncomfortable I felt with my failure… so I waited until the other children went home and dared to give it another try. Just one! I had to go up there - to overmaster this old tree… I had to climb up the tree at least as high as the other kids managed it. And guess what!

I made it!!! I sat on an upper limb … beaming with pride. For about 30 minutes until I wanted to climb down again because I realized nobody was there to come along and celebrate my victory. Nobody? Oh, well…

… my granny who missed - I was way too late to come home.
… my mommy who wanted to fetch me at granny´s place
… my daddy who tried to “rescue” me
… granny´s neighbor who lended a ladder to my daddy
… other neighbors who owned hugher ladders
… oh, and a “few” firefighters who saved me

YUP… little Sanni climbed up the beech tree and sat near the treetop, on the last limb that was able to bear my little weight - in the dizzy height of round about 10 meters (395 inches/49 feet)… *Ooops*

My beech tree - although my daddy forbade me to ever climb up any tree again in my whole life I was never able to resist my beech tree… just like many many kids before and after me… it makes me very sad to tell you my beech tree fell prey to the severe storm “Kyrill” a few days ago.
R.I.P. - my good old friend

catch ya,

And now…
… our moment of Homer J.:

Mother Simpson: [sings] How many roads must a man walk down / Before you can call him a man…
Homer: Seven.
Lisa: No, dad, it’s a rhetorical question.
Homer: OK, eight.
Lisa: Dad, do you even know what “rhetorical” means?
Homer: Do *I* know what “rhetorical” means?



Jan 21







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Sunday… I love Sunday´s - especially those Sunday´s starting with a copious (healthy) breakfast, nice background music and some newspapers… in other words: A typical Sunday @ Coffee 2 go. Skimming through the entertainment section of my newspaper this morning I found myself fetched by breaking news:

Mimi - Queen of MEMEs rose from her bed of meme-itis yesterday morning and uttered these royal words:

To All My Royal Subjects in The Blogosphere:
I Hereby declare Monday, January 22nd as
Bestest Blog Meme Carnival Day

The Bestest Blog MEME Carnival Day will be held in Bloggingham Palace, formerly known as Mimi writes….! Please make sure to tart up in your best robes and pay attention to Mimi - Queen of MEMEs tomorrow.

I ´m so excited to be recieved in audience - I´m trying to cultivate my formal curtsy since I read the breaking news. I can´t imagine any better way to render hommage than completing the 3 MEMEs I got tagged with =)
This is for you, Queen Mimi! *dropping a curtsy*

Lovely Coco @ A Corner 4 Coco tagged me - better to say: “re-tagged” me after I tagged her:

“This is still flipping early for me, but TAG right back at you! Lol”

Here we go:


25 Questions MEME

1. If you could build a house anywhere, where would it be?
Mmmmh, a little winter residence somewhere in the warmer parts of Europe like Mallorca, Spain.
Mallorca is not too far away - so I can visit my family and friends and they can visit us, too.

2. What’s your favorite article of clothing?
My Replay “Electra” Jeans - too bad it does not fit again. It´s a 28/32 - so I guess I have to get rid of another 11 pounds. But I´m looking forward to post a current picture wearing my favorite Jeans again very soon =)

3. Favorite physical feature of the opposite sex?
Well, it´s a tie between captivating eyes, well-tended hands and a cute ass behind!

4. What’s the last CD that you bought?
Robbie Williams: Rudebox

5. Where’s your favorite place to be?
My home is my castle…

6. Where is your least favorite place to be?
I hate be in any kind of crowded places.

7. What’s your favorite place to be massaged?
Erm… *trying to keep this little coffee corner a family friendly place*
No, honestly: It´s my neck.

8. Strong in mind or strong in body?
Strong in mind, but working hard to be strong in body, too. Thanks for your help by commenting!

9. What time do you wake up in the morning?
Our living alarm-clock Luis goes off not later than 5:30 am.

10. What is your favorite kitchen appliance?
I can´t imagine how live has been without her:

11. What makes you really angry?
Those stupid people in Germany who vote right wing extremists (again).

12. If you could play any instrument, what would it be?
Bass guitar

13. Favorite colour?
Mmmmmh, let´s have a look around… turquoise and brown?!

14. Which do you prefer…sports car or SUV?
Sports car! Although the transport of all the lovely baby-stuff is hard to handle we did not replace our little Mini Cooper Cabrio…

15. Do you believe in an afterlife?
Yes, I do.

16. Favorite children’s book?
The little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. This is one of my favorite books. It is a reminder to never grow up entirely. I confess, I can´t tarry to read it to Luis.

17. What is your favorite season?
My personal fifth season: Christmas =)

18. Your least favorite household chore?
I hate hate HATE ironing.

19. If you could have one super power, what would it be?
I would love to be invisible by the push of a button.
Hey, don´t even think about it! I am the only one to push this button =)

20. If you have a tattoo, what is it?
I got 3 tattoos and about 3.000 others planned. Guess I have to start an affair with a tattoo-artist *kidding*.
And no: I´m not going to talk about motivs or bodily parts =)

21. Can you juggle?
No, but I can catch a flies with chopsticks

22. The one person from your past that you wish you could go back and talk to?
My beloved Grandma Anni…

23. What’s your favorite day?
My favorite day ever was April 26th, 2006: the day I gave birth to Luis.

24. What’s in the trunk of your car?
It´s impossible to name the little Cabrio´s behind a trunk =) - inside the wanna-be-trunk you can find a diaper bag and some trash.

25. Which do you prefer, sushi or hamburger?
Sushi for me, please!

Christy from Are we there yet, Mom? tagged me a few days later:

I’m tagging, Annie from Where the Green Grass Grows, Karianne from Practicing Contentment, Sanni from Coffee 2 Go ,Jessica, and Allison , and you! Let me know if you do this so I can come and visit.


Have fun with the

Thinking MEME


1. If you had to choose one vice in exclusion of all others what would it be?
Shoes! Hey, excuse me, please - I´m a woman… this means the shopping-chromosome is part of me!
I´d rather set coffee aside.

2. If you could change one specific thing about the world what would it be?
I´d wish to hand over a peaceful type of world to our children and grandchildren.

3. Name the cartoon character you identify with the most.
The Ice Age - Scrat:

4. If you could live one day in your life over again which one would it be?
The day a good old friend of mine was killed in an accident… I wish so badly I´d have a chance to turn back the clock and prevend him…

5. If you could go back in history and spend a day with one person who would it be?
My beloved Grandma Anni.

6. What is the one thing you lost, sold or threw away that you wish you could have back?
The most important thing I have ever lost are the cuff links my Grandpa handed me down. This is an extraordinary loss to me, the more so as I can´t reconstruct how I lost them. I have never had them on - they were in a small box for many, many years… The box is missing and so do the cuff links. Hopefully they appear someday, but the chance is a tiny one - I turned everything topsy-turvey. Mysterious, isn´t it?

7. What is your one most important contribution to this world?
To show Luis how to love unconditionally and to never give up.

8. What is your one hidden talent that nearly no one knows about?
I can can lock my legs behind my head (seperately)

9. What is your most cherished possession?
My Engagement Ring =)

10. What one person influenced your life the most when growing up?
Again: My Grandma Anni.

11. What one word describes you better than any other?
Creative


Last, but not least: Steve @ AELOPE tagged me with his Google Earth Meme. His challenge is to google our childhood homes and tell five stories that are accompanied by Google Earth:

You are hereby requested to do the Aeleope Google Earth Childhood recollection Meme.
Yes. You had to go and open your trap over at Lizza’s place…
Scott–

Earth Childhood Recollection Meme - Sanni´s Part #1:

I told you in the 2 MEMEs above, the one person of my past I which I could go back and talk to is my beloved Grandma Anni (Oma Anni). My Granny was my babysitter while my Mommy went to work.
The arrow shows the house my Granny lived in: Neuer Graben 96 - 47137 Dortmund, Germany. The ZIP code was changed many years ago, but I can still remember the old ZIP code: 4600 Dortmund-Mitte.

Spending time at Granny´s place was always great fun. There were a lot of children in the neighborhood. We used to play outside very often, mostly in the backyard of the house. There have been many many old trees - a perfect place to play hide-and-seek or to climb on the huge trees…

The house is still there and I still have to have a look at my Granny´s window whenever I´m near the street… although I know Oma Anni won´t be there and look out of her window… I so miss her. She is the one person who taught me to be patient, to show love and to be beware of green drinks. Her advices were priceless and I still adopt those tips she gave me… except for once:

I´ve had some Absinthe on my 29th birthday party - what can I say? The Green Fairy erased about 4 hours of the party out of my mind. My home looked like crap and I´ve had the most evil hangover ever when I woke up the next morning… If I only had heed on Granny´s wise advice =)

It´s astonishing how intensiv I can remember my Granny. I´ve talked to my Mommy about Oma Anni a few days ago… and I was able to name the perfume my Granny used: 4711 (”Echt Kölnisch Wasser”) for everyday and Tosca for special events. I also can remember the holidays we´ve spent together… how she took care about me, the games we played - and the day she gave this mouse to me.

Granny passed away in 1980 - I still feel her guiding me into the right direction. Love you, Oma Anni!

*Phew* I hope you enjoyed the MEMEs as much as I did. My Part #2 of the Google Earth Childhood Recollection Meme will be up here tomorrow - just as well as my last week´s exercise survey - so feel yourself invited to have a look at how I implemented your comments into my daily sports… AND to have a look if I was able to get rid of some pounds again =)

So, the Sunday´s I love most are those ones which start with a copious (healthy) breakfast, nice background music and some newspapers… ending as a sweatpants and DVD evening… Guess what happens next?!

Thanks for stopping by - Enjoy your Sunday,

And now…
… our moment of Homer J.:

Marge: I think you should do it, Homer, you might learn something new!
Homer: Oh, Marge, whenever I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out. Remember that time I went to those duff brewery classes and I forgot how to drive?