Sharing weddings from all around the world has been really fun.  Through the entire series, there’s been this little voice in my ear, asking when I might share this next wedding.  You might even recognize the face of this next bride…

Yep.  It’s my ever-so-happy and generous sister and her new hubby.  They got married right before Martin and I moved to Germany last summer and had some of the coolest wedding ideas ever.

1. Transportation

They got from the church to the reception on a tandem bike – a wedding gift to each other that they spent an entire summer saving up for.  I love how green this idea is.  And let me tell you – they could move!  The only way Martin and I managed to snap a few pictures of this buzzing duo was when I realized my sister wanted to bike by the house we grew up in.  A stream of honking cars followed, and lets just say Martin and I were lucky no one was out patrolling when we made our detour around the block to snap a few pictures.

Then my sister had to wait for Martin to come unhook her and her four foot train.  Can you believe they got all of that tucked in?

I kept suggesting I ride in a sidecar on the side of the bike to help with any dress troubles.  The groom said no.  I couldn’t really complain, though; I did get to sit right next to the happy couple as “Maid of Honor”… err as my sister preferred “Her Maid”.

2.  Decorations

Except I didn’t have to worry too much about cleaning up – maid or no.  My dad made pottery vases to decorate all of the tables.  The flower girl (our cousin) and her sister glazed them in pale blue and yellow.  Then on the morning of the wedding, we picked up enormous bunches of daisies to fill the vases.

As the crowd died down, my parents invited guests to pick a vase of flowers to take home.

3.  Cake

Of course, it took a little while for the party to end.  We all dined on a huge spread of food and stared at this:

My sister made her own wedding cake!  Can you even imagine?  She needed an entire fridge just to store the layers and all the frosting daisies before she assembled them at the reception place that morning.  Isn’t the cake topper the cutest, too?  I love how it almost looks as if the bride and groom got off their bike and hiked right up the cake.  (Bet you can guess how the lovebirds spent their honeymoon, right?)

Now they live entirely too far from us.  Wahhh.

Hope you enjoyed the unique twists my sister and her hubby incorporated into their American wedding.  What is your favorite part?  Quite different than my sister’s-in-law Vienna wedding, huh?  Thanks for letting me share – and get all gushy!  Ready for some more wedding action next Friday?

Peek into all the international weddings our friends and family have shared on Making This Home (from Vienna to Japan) on the International Wedding Page.  Of course it includes our wedding, too!

You all know how we try to kick out the chemicals in our house with moves like making our own cleaners and using plant-based detergent.  In early June, we started wondering about a topic we never really thought about much in the city:  the quality of our drinking water.

According to the EPA, public drinking water systems have experts regularly checking the water quality and its source in the United States.  What if you’re on a private well like our house and 15% of the American population?  Well you have to take extra precautions to ensure the safety of your water.

We make a conscious effort to make water our primary beverage at home.  After finding ourselves really exhausted all the time, Martin and I started thinking what culprits might be affecting our health.  When he mentioned our water quality, I had my doubts… an attitude that I now realize was rather foolish.  I had been claiming that our water tasted a little funny or smelled strange, so I wasn’t drinking much.  Red flag.  I know.

Martin started researching.  While standards for septic system and well locations are pretty strict, the county has no regulations for pesticide use.  All the open land around us is constantly being sprayed for weeds.  We have some friendly neighbors that quickly offer to spray weeds around the house for us, so we pull weeds around the house like maniacs and kindly turn down their offers.  I don’t mean to imply that everyone around us sprays weeds more than anywhere else in the United States.  The chemicals are just scary to think about when they seep into your water system.

The water table is low here.  Getting our drinking water tested would cost $400.  (The well hasn’t been tested in at least 10 years.)  That kind of expense just doesn’t make sense for our summer stay.  So for the last six weeks, we’ve been reaching for the bottle.

Our 5-gallon jug only set us back $20, and water costs less than a quarter a gallon in town.  $2.50 a week is a drop in the bucket compared to what might have happened if we kept drinking our well water.  We’ll never know.

Anyone else have experiences with water risks or a preference for bottled water?  What would you do?

My plan to eliminate my childhood collection of over 100 postcards has backfired.  I’m still slowly getting rid of them while we spend the summer in the US.  The problem is that I’ve also started getting postcards in the mail.  It seems several members of my family have also decided to get rid of old postcards.  This wasn’t supposed to happen!

When I checked the mail yesterday, all I saw was this:

Hmmm.  I do have to admit it’s pretty funny to get these letters in the mail… especially because two of them are from places I’ve been to this year (living in Denver suburbs for a bit and flying over Arches National Park).  It means war.

I’m buying more postcard stamps.

I went to a women’s university for a couple semesters of college.  It taught me a lot of really fascinating things.  The Art of Engines was not one of them.  I had no idea what the difference was between an engine and motor.  (po-tato, pot-ato – right?)  While I love the all-girl learning environment, I’ll admit there are a few times when a girl really needs to get down and dirty… or at least know what she’s talking about while the guys get greasy.  Remember our talk about table saws?  Well now we’re on to engines versus motors – the heartbeat of half our home.

Here’s that half now!

Martin is preparing to give me another engine lesson with one of the planes that’s being worked on at the airport.  As you can imagine, a pilot needs to know some basics here in case of engine failure or troubles mid-flight and how to maximize performance.  I’ve started calling him “Teach”.  And “Professor”.  And sometimes “Smarty Pants”.

The differences between motors and engines are so vague.  You look them up in a dictionary, and they practically sound like the same thing.  Then you go up to an airplane mechanic who is working on a plane and try to start a conversation by saying, “Boy that motor is ready for an overhaul, aye?”

You may have no idea what it means to do an overhaul on a plane.  It doesn’t matter.  He’s already rolling his eyes.  You just called an engine a motor.

So bare bones (and completely subject to dictionary debate), here’s all you need to know:

* A motor converts electricity or other forms of kinetic energy into a mechanical motion *

* An engine is a mechanical device that uses a fuel source to create an output *

When I talk to the guys, I just try to remember that in their world, if it needs fuel, it’s an engine.  So a car = engine.  An airplane = engine.  A remote control car = motor.  Electric toothbrush and your blender = motor.  A weed wacker = engine or motor (what’s your energy source?).

You get the idea.  And we learned it all without getting grease on our hands.  Yeah!

Any other slips you know of?  Technical words that always trip you up?  Or maybe you don’t even notice.  I’m wondering if women’s universities should offer a class like Man Talk 101.  What would be mandatory topics, I wonder…

Guess what.  It’s time for another unique idea for all you house hunters out there.  Kacie found this Utah house that the owner, Earl, calls Montesilo.  Clever, huh?  I think you’ll love how this old American icon has transformed into a hip, livable space.

You can buy a silo kit for around $5,000.  The kit includes all the metal pieces you’ll need.  It’s your job to follow the instructions and put it together.  Many airplane hangars and storage sheds are built the same way.  Of course, none of these things include guidelines for turning the storage facility into a home.  That’s where the real challenge rests.

Here’s a good picture of the rough carpentry that Earl had to do to be able to cut windows out of the metal structure and add basic staples of a home (like electricity!) in the walls.

Could you imagine drywalling all those rounded walls?  I think that project would have to be incredibly challenging.

In the end, despite the drywall struggles (and mountains of other challenges, I’m sure), Earl’s home was complete.  Just look at this dreamy kitchen.  He even carried the exterior metal style into the space as a beautiful backsplash.

Wouldn’t these little bedroom cubbies be such a fun place for his grandkids to visit?

This bedroom has such a beautiful balcony, which makes the flow between the country landscape outside with the indoors work beautifully.

Have you fallen for this creative home, too?

If you’d like to see more pictures of Earl’s creative home, he shares them at his former blog.

So now that we’ve been in a 350 square foot Prague apartment, a house made from an old airplane, and the tire house where Martin and I live, where do you suppose we should head next? Let me know if you stumble on anything.  We’d love to share your find.

(Images from Montesilo)

Bet you didn’t know de-cluttering could actually be fun.  I know I didn’t.  But here I am addressing old postcards to everyone in our address book in an attempt to downsize my childhood collection.  I’m not trying to send serious notes to people, just something fun.

Would you like to see a few?

I haven’t seen my brother for a while.  That’s why we’re sending him this postcard:

With this message:

Heya little brother.  Haven’t seen you around lately, so figured we’d better update you with the latest and greatest.  Since pictures = a million words, here’s a photo of us and the fam in the new digs.  Love Katie and Martin

And we’re really trying to convince a few non-travelers to visit us in Germany with these types of postcards (from England):

Oh my gosh!  Can you seriously believe it?  They’ve actually turned our house in Berlin into a postcard!  It’s beyond amazing here.  When should we give the maids the go ahead to get your chambers ready?  -K

And another card I can’t wait to send:

Alrighty – which of these studly dudes do you want?  You know I’m all about the international guys… and I think the one on the far left just winked at you.  Go for him!  -K

Like I said – who knew getting rid of clutter could be so fun?  Now just for kicks – you want to take a shot at a message for this one?