It’s time!  It’s time!  After teasing you all month long with little hints about our summer plans in the United States, I’ll bet you’re ready for some answers, huh?  I must say you all gave us some fabulous ideas in all of your lovely comments.  Next summer maybe?  To start things off, maybe I should tell you a few things about the pictures you’ve been seeing.

Hint #1 was Martin working in an old airplane.  His head was about where a pilot’s feet would go, and he was showing all of us an outdated instrument used to fly the plane.

And these were obviously clouds… a picture taken from in a small airplane.

Hint #2 was the dirt road we’ll be living on.

But look what happens when you get to see the entire picture.  Another airplane!  (I suspect you’re seeing a pattern now, right?)

Hint #3 was the tail of an airplane.

Hint #4 would be a view of the Rocky Mountains.  This picture is a couple of years old, so for those of you up to speed with pine beetle in the Rockies, I’m sorry to throw you off with the timeline.  Today there are far more dead trees here.  Now what kind of clue would this be if we didn’t mention airplanes somehow, right?  That’s the compass of a plane in the foreground.  That square of grass just below the mountains is a runway.

Hint #5 was a picture my family took when I was “getting in touch with my roots”.  The shirt was borrowed from a ranch clothing store.  It didn’t fit, so my sister taped up the back of it for the picture.  The hat was my dad’s.  I also wore my grandfather’s old leather chaps over my jeans in a couple pictures.  Ironically, I met Martin one week later.  To this day, he greets my family with a big ol’ “Howdy!”  (You didn’t know a country girl was behind this blog now, did you?)

Hint #6 wrapped things up.  In some ways, I realize how totally odd this hint would be.  At the same time, it did state exactly what I’d be doing this summer.

Yep.  This summer, I’m GOING TO GET A PILOT’S LICENSE.  So no babies, no time machines, and no dude ranches for us this year.  I am determined to take Martin to his first rodeo, though.  I figure it’s the least I can do.  After all, he’s going to be my flight instructor.

Martin is giving me an early birthday gift this year.  Well maybe “early” isn’t the right word as it’s really quite an investment for the rest of our lives.  Today we’re giving you one last clue before the Big Reveal for our summer plans in the United States.

As a quick recap, the clues we’ve shown you so far were:  lots of wires and clouds, a long dirt road, a green hunk of metal, mountains with a pretty important item in the foreground, and then me dressed as a cowgirl.  Ready for Hint #6?

Today’s picture comes from the book, Everything But the Kitchen Sink.  This image has a lot of random statistics.  In our case, one isn’t quite so random.

There you have it.  Our last clue.  You can probably guess:  it isn’t 30 pairs of shoes.  Boots might be good, though.

Stick around for the results in a few days.  In the meantime, wanna guess your little hearts out one last time?

It takes bravery to be simple.  The internet, our favorite stores, and magazines are filled with so many beautiful things.  I don’t know about you, but sometimes it’s so easy to feel depressed because home and life don’t match the grandiose things I see in other places.  Through A Simpler Life Series, we’ve talked about so many things (like letting in fresh air and eliminating paperwork).  Why not take this week to be thankful for what we do have?  What if we spent just a little time embracing ourselves?

By trying to embrace the life you have instead of focusing on all the things you aren’t and that you don’t have, you can keep a simpler, happier life.  You can begin to feel an appreciation of the natural gifts in your life.  One of the best ways to do this is to go on a walk.  Company is nice.  Being lost in your own thoughts is nicer. 

When I used to walk home from German class, I always listened to audiobooks on my iPod.  Other times, I would be reviewing flash cards.  I thought that I had to multitask and make my walks worth my time.  It’s funny to think back on those walks now.  I was surrounded by German culture, and instead of embracing it, I was listening to English stories.  I wasn’t speaking to people; I was hiding behind a list of words I thought I had to know first.  The day I pulled out my earbuds began the greatest transformation.  I began embracing the simple details of the community around me.

I suppose this point of this article would be a good spot to post a pretty picture.  But as I think about a simple, pleasure-filled life, I don’t think of a simple looking space that has been polished and arranged to look simple.  Sometimes those images only overwhelm my sense of simplicity even more.

Instead all I can think about is these three guys near the UBahn (subway).  This little street bands knows something about happiness.

Guard what you value, and try to embrace who you are–flaws and all.  So life isn’t perfect.  That doesn’t mean it isn’t beautiful.  Think of the beautiful colors the dirty laundry creates on the floor.  Feel the breeze.  Touch the texture on your keyboard.

Promise that you’ll take time today to take a deep breath and savor the simple beauty in your life.  And please, share your thoughts on how you find your happiness and truly Just Be.

If you’d like to read more thoughts on embracing life, you might like these posts:  Get Lost on Purpose and Hold onto the Senses of Smell and Touch.

(Image by Martin for Making This Home)

Every house has those little trouble spots that make people shake their heads and ask, “What were those architects thinking?”  Our house is no different.  The crew that designed our house did an awesome job with the 480 square feet they had to work with in our long, skinny house.  Sure there were still a few problems that we worked hard to eliminate:

First there was the narrow alcove off the hallway. We turned that into our bike rack (or “our double garage” as we call it) and put a huge drawer under it to store extra blankets and pillows for when guests come.

Then there was the obvious nightmare that was the 36 square foot kitchen. It cut into the living room and offered no counters or storage.  So we attacked that wall with a saws-all.  Then we slowly built up our dream kitchen… or “American kitchen” as Germans are quick to note.

It seemed we were finding a solution to every problem that came our way. We were feeling really proud of ourselves until one night.  We’d just finished building the basic framework of the floor-to-ceiling cabinets and slid the appliances in to make sure they fit.  We were also tired of tripping over them.  Between all of the tools and lumber in our house, we were eager to get the extra space.  Then instead of eliminating another problem in the architecture of our home, we discovered that we had created a problem ourselves.

This is our convection oven/microwave combination unit.  With a switch of a dial, it can microwave our tea or bake some German cookies.  We love it to death.

Well that is to say we love it to death as long as we’re not using the sink when it’s on.  The vent on the oven/microwave is at about nose level.  You can’t actually see the vent, so we had no idea it was there above the handle.  When the microwave or oven is on, the fan kicks in.  The fan blows air right up.  Into our eyes.

I guess it goes to show that even the most detailed planning such as our measure-five-times, cut-once strategy can’t always guarantee success for everything.  Like I said, every house has those little trouble spots that make people shake their heads and ask…  Oh well.

Now that we’ve confessed our house’s weakness, how about you tell us about yours.  What’s the flaw that really drives you batty?  Obviously, if you created the problem yourself, we’re not going to judge.

As we make our way toward revealing our summer plans to all of you since we can’t stay in Germany, we thought we’d narrow things down a bit for you today.  I’m also going to embarrass the heck out of myself.

For those of you just joining us, here’s a quick recap of the clues we’ve shared so far:

1. Martin surrounded by dirty wires, showing us an old instrument.  And a shot of clouds
2. A dirt road where I expertly cropped the horse poop out of the shot
3. A green airplane tail
4. Mountains thick with pine trees

I thought we’d talk about location today.  On one side, we’ve got 50% of your guesses for the Rocky Mountains.  On the other side are all those voting for the Appalachians.  Let’s see if this picture clears things up.  And be nice, ya’ll.

Looking for more laughs (preferably not at my expense)?  Check out this menu translation we found and the doormat Martin wanted.

So the thing about being girls is this: we’re probably always going to be interested in going to a mall or shopping for a new shirt sometimes.  It’s just part of who we are.

Unfortunately, we seem to come home with a lot more than just that shirt.  I don’t mean the pants and purse and four other shirts.  I mean the trash.  The bags, the tags, the tissues, the lack of reuse…  You’re thinking I’m going to bust out in rap with all these rhymes, but I’m just trying to cut down on all the unnecessary stuff that comes with a shopping trip.  Here are four things I try to avoid:

1. The pretty tissue paper to protect your purchases

It’s one thing to get a glass wrapped in tissue paper; it’s an entirely different thing to have a pair of jeans wrapped in tissues.  I know it looks pretty.  I just don’t see the point.  I’m going to go home, tear off the tissue, and throw it away.  We have more tissue paper ready for future gift giving than we can handle, so I always tell the clerks to skip the paper for me.  (They think I’m crazy.)

2. A new detailed bag from every store

Every store loves to free advertisements cruising around the mall, so they’re quick to offer bags that says “Macy’s” or “H&M” with big exclamation marks.  (Even stores in German malls offer bags for free.)  I’m not going to be able to reuse a lot of their bags, so I ask the clerks to put items in my bag from the last store or one from home.  To accomplish this in a foreign language like German, either move quickly and grab your item before the clerk can bag it or wave your hands frantically, point at the bag, and say, “Nein!  No!” like a total looney because you can’t remember that the word for bag is Tüte.

3. The scramble for the primo parking spot

In the US, I watch people drive and drive and wait for others to leave when they find the perfect, close spot.  Why not just park in the back of the lot, save the fuel, and enjoy a little air every once and a while?  (It’s always easier to find your car when you’re the only one at the back of the lot.)

4. The poofy styrofoam containers at lunch

When we’ve gone to the food court, I think that Martin and I have based our decisions half on what was available to eat and half on how the business was going to package our food.  If a store puts their pizza on a styrofoam plate, I don’t want it.  That plate will take thousands of years to break down, and let’s face it, no pizza is THAT good, especially in a food court.  Needless to say, because of our huge opposition to styrofoam, we don’t really eat anything in US food courts.

So buy the shirt if you want.  Just think about the extras that come with it on that trip.  Won’t you pretty please?

And now it’s your turn.  Anyone else do these types of things?  Would you be willing to?  We’d love any tips in the comments that you’ve got for less waste, too!  We eat it up, you know.

(Images from picapp and telenav)