All that talk about where home really is yesterday made me start to wonder… who are you?

Since starting Making This Home, I’ve gotten to know so many really cool people.  I’d like to know a little more – who you are, what you love, and why you like reading the ol’ blog here.  I really like building a community of people with a few like-minded ideas.  Today I need your help.

Let’s talk about you!

I’d really like to get to meet you and learn about your ideas.  So if ever there was a time for you to comment, now is that day.  (If I knew a really cute and clever way to say that in German, I totally would.)

There’s a little hat tipping for you – the way folks say thank you back in my hometown.  (I think I met my German guy, Martin, a couple days after this shot was taken.  He didn’t know what he was getting into!  …neither did I!)

If you’ve never left a comment before, it’s super easy.  Scroll to the bottom of this post.  See where it says “comments”?  Yep – that’s where you click.  You just need to fill in your name and email address at the bottom of everyone’s comments.  Heck – they don’t even have to be your real name and email address if you don’t want.

I’m so excited to see what you have to say.  So let’s get started!

1. Who are you? male/female?  age?  any kids?  marital status?
2. Where are you? state/country?  expat?  is that where you’re from? (gotta love a chance to plugin your home state sometimes!)
3. What would you like to see more of on Making This Home?  Or less of?
4. Any advice on how Martin and I can make the blog better?
5. Why do you like to read Making This Home? Simple living?  Expat life?  You’re my mom?  Something else?
6. Anything you wanna add? Here’s your chance to shout from the rooftops.  A favorite simplicity tip?  The coolest ice cream flavor?  (if you’ve got a blog or online shop – tell us here!)

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts.  (insert hat tip!)  I can’t wait to read every one of your comments.

(Thanks to Sherry for the inspiration.)

I changed the desktop wallpaper on my computer to an image from back in the US near where I grew up:

One thing I’ve been thinking about lately is the idea of home.  I see home as a very positive thing, and I’m learning that home is what you make it.

For a long time, I was working very hard to reach out and meet the expat community in Berlin.  I’ve met some really amazing people (like my friend Toma!).  It’s beyond inspiring to sit at an outdoor cafe, chatting over coffee with people who love where they live.

You don’t have to be fluent in the local language to call a place home.  You don’t have to completely understand the culture around you to love it.  You just have to be open.

At the same time, I have been meeting expats who just ache to get back to where they came from.  They hold on so tightly to the world where they came from – to the place where everything was comfortable.  I come home feeling drained.  Somehow, I’d love to give them passion for this fabulous place where we get to live, no matter if we are in Berlin or any other place.  It’s all about your attitude and the way you look at everyday life and the choices you get to make.  No one can alter that for you – no matter where you live or have lived.

So what is home?

If you’re not there right now, what do you suppose could change that?

Is it physically moving to a new place?  Or is it moving your heart?

The interesting thing about the picture I just showed you is that I snapped it as we were moving.  We were leaving one home and going to create another.  Definitely one of those glass half-full or half-empty moments.

We had to let go of the place we were leaving and embrace the new place where we were heading.

Home.

How do you make a place home?

I have been known to speak with grocery store managers about the egg selection in the United States.  Martin either rolls his eyes and thinks, “There she goes again.”  Or he joins me.  I do not like supporting businesses that only offer styrofoam containers.

Gosh, I’m realizing I have spoken with a lot of managers about using styrofoam… hotel managers about the continental breakfast, the auto repair shop with free coffee, small town restaurants I love, the deacon of my hometown church.  Yikes!  They’re probably glad I’m thousands of miles away.  ”Here goes that Katie girl again, off to ask us to switch our practices.”

I guess I feel like it’s important to speak up.  I just read that Ford Motor Company wasn’t hearing mothers demand something like the minivan, so the company actually fired Hal Sperlich – the man who began developing the idea.  So he took his idea to Chrysler; the company sold half a million minivans per year.

The lesson?  Well obviously Ford learned its lesson and lost a lot of money.  I learned a different one – companies often don’t know, don’t care, or don’t realize something is important to their consumers until YOU SPEAK UP.

All this is to say that I don’t complain about my local grocery store’s egg situation.  Okay, there’s the whole speaking German dilemma.  But even more – I can’t think of a single reason to complain about this:

An entire corner of our grocery store is beautiful stacks of eggs.

They are not refrigerated.

Sometimes you’ll find a feather stuck to one.

At my grocery store next to all those eggs are empty cardboard egg cartons for six eggs.  You hand select your eggs.  If you only need two, you only buy two.

We obviously consume more than two – probably because I follow more of an American grocery schedule (going once a week) instead of several times a week like most Germans.  I have no idea how my eggs all make it home with me.  (I’m biking over a lot of cobblestone.)  But so far, so good.

They’re home, safe and sound.  They’re also whispering to one another, “Is she seriously going to put us in the fridge?!  Brr.  What a weirdo.”

*An egg can be stored at room temperature.  One day at room temperature = one week in the fridge in terms of aging.  We chose to refrigerate our eggs like Americans.

My favorite part of picking our own eggs is that I can bring my egg cartons back and reuse them over and over.  (My gosh – I’m a hippy!)  A lot of other people seem to be doing the same.  Now the question is:

Do you think those grocery stores using styrofoam cartons in the US would be up for an open egg display so we can stop tossing so many cartons?  Maybe a few feathers?

Would you?

Is it true?  Are we about to hit the one year mark with the No New Clothes Challenge?  Have Martin and I really, truly quit buying clothing that we didn’t absolutely need?

My gosh.  My wallet loves us!

As you know, I’ve been steering more toward the idea of:

1. repurposing the clothes we have

2.  shopping handmade

3. perhaps going vintage/thrift shopping down the road

One side effect that I was not expecting was the increase in handmade goods throughout our entire house.  Since most malls are primarily filled with clothing stores – which we’re not shopping for – we’re not going to malls much at all.  We’re noticing more and more little shops in our favorite neighborhoods.  We’re supporting more handmade crafters and small shops.

I know the No New Clothes Challenge can be tough.  You don’t have to completely give up clothing shopping.  Just try doing a little less.  By becoming a conscious consumer in the world of clothing, I cannot believe how much more conscious we’ve become about so many of our purchases.

I know it’s a journey.  It can’t happen overnight.  Yet if I could offer you one piece of advice, it would be to not purchase something at your favorite store.  Go see if you can find the same thing being handmade and sold on the internet.

Kim at Everything Etsy found some amazing discoveries when she browsed Anthropologie and Etsy side by side.

First she found these earrings at Anthropologie for $18:

Then she found these earrings being made by an Etsy shop owner called Vintage and Glam Jewelry.  The price?  $9.50.

I managed to get somewhat similar earrings from yet another Etsy seller who offered great shipping from the US to Germany.    (Check that item off the spring No New Clothes new challenge list!)

So many of the splashes of color and change you saw in our kitchen during yesterday’s post came because of the No New Clothes Challenge.  I know that sounds crazy at first.  It’s like our values are just completely shifting about so many of the products we buy.  It started with clothes.  It continues to grow.  Here’s another shot Martin took as I cooked so you can get a little refresher of how the space is looking:

I can’t tell you how much this handmade and small business feel transforms our feelings about our home.  We can’t write up a source list of department stores. (Even the clock is a handmade gift!)  We spend a few dollars/euros more (and love each item more because it’s not just another thing in the house). We can only know we’re helping so many small entrepreneurs.  And they’re helping us create a handmade home where we love to be.

What are your thoughts on handmade and small businesses? Is it worth the extra cost to get a handmade mug instead of something from a department store?  How about supporting a local business that doesn’t get everything from China?  It’s a tricky balance – especially in today’s economy.  Of course, maybe that’s why we’re so drawn to small businesses these days.  They could use our support via our dollars and euros oh so much.  Do you agree?  Or have I become far too verbose (you know – since I’m writing in English, NOT GERMAN.)?

And in case your wallet is looking for a little inspiration, you can check out our entire journey in the No New Clothes Challenge right here.

(Images from sources referenced)

My dreams are all in German now.  It started about a month ago.

I was kind of shocked to wake up that first morning.  Everything seemed so natural, like dreaming in a foreign language is something we all do every night.

Now don’t get too excited.  Because in my dreams?  I am not speaking German.  In fact, I’m downright refusing.  In my dreams, Martin is speaking in German.  He no longer speaks in English to me.  In fact, he’s talking 5x as much in my dreams as he ever has before.  (That’s how I know it’s a dream!)

Then we wake up, say, “Hello” and “Good Morning,” and the German communication between us never really gets going.  I’m okay with that.  If we were trying to start off the morning in German, I would be late for absolutely everything.  I would run out of time and never get to write to all of you (my German is soooo slow and ridiculous sounding!)

I thought it might be fun to poke around the web with you a little bit today.  There are some women out there with some fabulous thoughts.  Shall we go take a visit?  Here we go…

1.  Instead of ditching her unwanted art and craft supplies, SimpleSavvy started a vintage and recycled craft supply shop.  I think it’s brilliant.

2.  Another brilliant idea comes from The Borrowed Abode.  She had some beloved items that she just knew she needed to part with.  It’s hard to say goodbye to sentimental things, you know?  But if you’re a blogger, you might just love this idea.  She gave one beloved item away on her blog with plans for more.

3.  The coffee pot at Remodeling This Life’s house gave up.  Her husband pulled out the french press, and now they’re really looking at the question of convenience at the expense of value and quality.

4.  Keeper of the Home pulled together some recipes for natural beauty products you can make at home.

5.  A Lil Welsh Rarebit was one of the very first readers on Making This Home, and I cannot resist the opportunity to wish her an enormous congratulations on the new baby boy!

6.  And finally, way back in February I was interviewed on Almost Frugal about what  frugality means to me.  Somehow, I mentioned  it on Twitter and completely forgot to tell all of you.  So you can check that out if you’d like.

So there you have it!

Martin and I have been snapping photos of our daily life to insert into our Love Where We Live journal (still have some in the shop!).  I cannot believe how much fun documenting our home and Berlin has been – for both of us!

Have you found any inspiring articles online?  (Feel free to include one from your own blog!)  Or how are you coming with your own home journal?  Aren’t they a blast?!

From cooking tofu to sauteing egg plant, I’ve been building up quite a few skills in the kitchen with different ingredients thanks to this handy collection of vegetarian cookbooks.  I was starting to have problems with my baking projects.  Namely: all of the cookies and baked goods I was making were coming from random places.  I would jot down ingredients and simple instructions or print off pages only to lose them or leave them in the wrong country.  I feel kind of silly to say, “I can’t bake X because my recipe is in America.  Or behind the bookcase.  I’m not sure.”

So at Martin’s suggestion, I began searching for the perfect baking book.  It’s been over a month, and guess what.  I think I’ve got one.  We really like The Craft of Baking.  Not only do the authors, Karen DeMasco and Mindy Fox, teach you how to bake different items, but they also challenges you to reinvent the recipes.

Take this scone recipe for example.  The left page is all about making chocolate chip scones.  The right page includes guides for changing the recipe and understanding the core ingredients – kind of like a “how to” combined with a “how to do it yourself”.

I thought I’d pass our good find on to you not just because it’s a book I like but because investing in a baking book has seriously cut down on a major paper problem for me.  I’m also using a binder with clear protector sheets for all of the different blog recipes I try. This way I have a baking source that I know yields good results just when I need them.  And as you probably noticed… I kind of like to make up and alter personal projects as I go.  It yields some of the best creative results.  Now I’m doing it with baked goods and don’t have to worry about collapsing cake.  Baked goods aren’t so flexible as tofu after all.

Now it’s your turn.  Are you a rule breaker in the kitchen?  Or maybe you can whip up your family’s favorite foods without a single measuring spoon.  Then again, maybe not.  Any baking books we should all know about?  How ever you roll in the kitchen, you’ve gotta let us know.  We’re starting to get a cookie craving around here… any suggestions…?